The Change Mariner: Category: Theme - 'The Biotech Century'

July 8, 2004

Study Signals Promise for New HIV Therapy

Yahoo! News: Researchers may finally be on track to fight the AIDS virus by blocking a long-elusive target, an HIV enzyme called integrase. An experimental drug that inhibits the enzyme helped to keep the infection in check in monkeys. Far...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 8:06 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

June 26, 2004

Cancer Survivorship in The U.S. Triples

RuggedElegantLiving.com: More and more Americans are surviving cancer, a disease that was previously perceived as a death sentence for those diagnosed with it. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. after heart disease. The four top...

Posted by Jennifer King at 10:16 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

June 6, 2004

Drugs May Turn Cancer Into Manageable Disease

The New York Times: BAY 43-9006 [developed by Onyx Pharmaceuticals], which could reach the market in one to three years, is one of a new generation of "targeted" therapies that are transforming cancer treatment by attacking the underlying molecular mechanisms...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 5:43 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 15, 2004

EU: Genetically Modified Food OK To Eat

San Jose Mercury News: The European Union's head office said Friday that it would approve a type of genetically modified corn for human consumption, ending a six-year biotech moratorium that the United States has challenged at the World Trade Organization....

Posted by Bob King at 9:01 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 14, 2004

Stem Cells: Repairing The Engines Of Life

BusinessWeek Online: Ames's story captures the tragic collision of hope and promise that defines the nascent field known as "regenerative medicine." A growing cadre of scientists in academic and biotech labs across the world are pioneering a new approach to...

Posted by Bob King at 4:40 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 3, 2004

Key Stem Cell Mechanism Discovered

Medical News Today: Adult stem cell transplantation offers great therapeutic potential for a variety of diseases due to their ability to replenish diseased cells and tissue. While they are unique in this ability, it remains a challenge to effectively treat...

Posted by Bob King at 5:14 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Stems Cells: Making New Teeth

Medical News Today: Researchers in London have been awarded a grant of �500,000 ($820,000) to develop human teeth from stem cells. This could spell the end of dentures. The scientists who work at King's College London, UK, have set up...

Posted by Bob King at 4:53 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 28, 2004

DNA Computer Detects, Treats Disease in Test Tube

Yahoo! News: Scientists have come a step closer to creating a minuscule DNA computer that may one day be able to spot diseases like cancer from inside the body and release a drug to treat it. Professor Ehud Shapiro and...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 6:53 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 25, 2004

Life Expectancy: Now Only Death Is Certain After 100

New York Times: For nearly 150 years, people who lived past 100 could claim this accomplishment: They had outlived the point at which the life insurance industry technically predicted they would die. Now the industry is raising the bar, and...

Posted by Bob King at 9:29 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 21, 2004

Mice Created With 2 Genetic Moms, No Dad

Yahoo! News: Just ahead of Mother's Day, scientists have found a way to cut dads out of the picture, at least among rodents: They have produced mice with two genetic moms -- and no father. It is the first time...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 5:13 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Happy Mother's Day! Mice Created With 2 Genetic Moms, No Dad

Yahoo! News: Just ahead of Mother's Day, scientists have found a way to cut dads out of the picture, at least among rodents: They have produced mice with two genetic moms" and no father. It is the first time the...

Posted by Bob King at 1:45 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

States' Interest in Stem Cell Research Up

KTOK-AM Oklahoma City: Growing U.S. interest in embryonic stem cell research has produced some 100 bills in 33 states, USA Today reported Wednesday. In California, for example, there is a voter initiative in November that could pump nearly $3 billion...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 9:53 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 15, 2004

Genetic Breakthrough in Leukemia Treatment

Mercury News: Looking deep inside the genes of malignant cells, two teams of leukemia researchers have uncovered new ways to help identify the severity of a patient's cancer, the best treatments and how long a patient might live. While this...

Posted by Bob King at 8:51 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 14, 2004

Genetic Link Between Cancer Cells and Stem Cells

Medical News Today: Researchers from the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam have discovered a common link between cancer cells and stem cells. Together with colleagues from the University of Zurich, Merel Lingbeek and NWO pioneer Prof. Maarten van Lohuizen published...

Posted by Bob King at 7:59 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 6, 2004

The Altered Human Is Already Here

New York Times: Many people, however, have already made a different kind of leap into the posthuman future. Their jump is biochemical, mediated by proton-pump inhibitors, serotonin boosters and other drugs that have become permanent additives to many human bloodstreams....

Posted by Bob King at 5:30 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 4, 2004

Fukuyama: Our Posthuman Future

Maybe we have a future after all: Our Posthuman Future is political historian Francis Fukuyama's reconsideration of his 1989 announcement that history had reached an end. He claims that science, particularly genome studies, offers radical changes, possibly more profound than...

Posted by Bob King at 8:24 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 30, 2004

First Comprehensive Proteomic Analysis of Developing Animal

EurekAlert: Carnegie Mellon University scientists have performed the first comprehensive proteome analysis of protein changes that occur in a developing animal, making surprising findings that could require scientists to revise standard thinking about how proteins orchestrate critical steps in embryonic...

Posted by Bob King at 3:39 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Stem Cells Used to Grow Blood Vessels

Daily Yomiuri (Japan): A Japanese research team has become the first in the world to grow structurally complete capillary blood vessels from human embryonic stem cells, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Monday. The team, led by Prof. Kazuwa Nakao of Kyoto...

Posted by Bob King at 3:32 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Stem Cells Attack Cancer in Mice

Yahoo! News: Stem cells, immature cells already showing promise as tools to regenerate and replace damaged tissue, may also help target and destroy cancer, U.S. scientists said on Monday. Tests in mice showed [stem] cells could deliver powerful cancer-killing...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:33 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 21, 2004

Pfizer's Pregabalin: $3 Billion Painkiller

WBBM (Chicago): Now awaiting final approval from European regulators and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, pregabalin is expected to generate sales of at least $3 billion a year for New York-based Pfizer. Sales could reach $6 billion "within 10...

Posted by Bob King at 1:37 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 19, 2004

Genetically Modified Athletes

Yahoo! News - Back in the depths of time, athletes used ginseng, opium and steroids from sheep testicles to enhance their performance. Anabolic steroids made their debut in sports in the 1940s and 50s, and chemical agents followed. Now the...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 4:13 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 14, 2004

Biotech: A Risky Bet on Antibiotics?

BusinessWeek: Forget genomics. Forget original drug research. Many biotech companies have. Eager for reliable revenue streams, biotechs are increasingly looking to an area that the pharmaceutical industry has long overlooked -- antibacterial drugs, better knows as antibiotics. The trend of...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:32 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Stem Cells May Cure Baldness

Yahoo! News: Research showing that bald mice can grow hair after being implanted with a type of stem cell could lead to a cure for baldness, a group of scientists says. The project marks the first time that "blank slate"...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:06 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 10, 2004

A Breakthrough in Artificial Blood

The Herald (UK): Scientists may have solved the problem of creating artificial blood, a potential breakthrough that could relieve shortages and prevent patients from being infected by contaminated supplies. It could also stop the potential spread of the human form...

Posted by Bob King at 7:51 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 9, 2004

Cholesterol Targets Should Be Set Far Lower

New York Times: The findings, cardiologists say, will greatly change how doctors treat patients with heart disease and will provide the impetus to re-evaluate how low cholesterol levels should be. The study compared high doses of one of the most...

Posted by Bob King at 9:09 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

Striking Benefits Found In Ultra-Low Cholesterol

WashingtonPost.com: High doses of a popular cholesterol-lowering drug can sharply boost protection against getting or dying from a heart attack, according to new research that many experts said is likely to transform the treatment of the nation's leading killer. The...

Posted by Bob King at 6:06 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 1, 2004

Greek Scientists Weaken Cancer Cells

Yahoo! News: Greek scientists said they have found a way to lower cancer cell resistance to medical treatment in what could be a major step in treating a disease that kills more than six million people every year. The procedure,...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:33 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

Is Biotechnology Losing Its Nerve?

New York Times: Biotechnology companies were once known for going boldly where the big pharmaceutical companies would not, developing genetically engineered medicines like Avastin, the Genentech drug, approved on Thursday, that attacks cancer by a new method and prolongs the...

Posted by Jennifer King at 12:33 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 27, 2004

First Anti-Angiogenesis Drug Wins Approval

New York Times: The Genentech drug Avastin, which validated a decades-old theory about a new way to attack cancer while spurring investor enthusiasm for the biotechnology industry, won approval yesterday from the Food and Drug Administration. The drug, approved for...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:54 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 24, 2004

Genetic Map Of Bird Flu Complete

China Daily: Chinese experts have completed the genetic map of the killer H5N1 bird flu virus and their next step will be looking at how the virus mutates. The mapping result was achieved by an avian disease research lab at...

Posted by Bob King at 2:08 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 22, 2004

Vertex Drug Reverses Cancer in Animal Study

Yahoo! News: A new type of cancer drug stopped tumor growth in an early animal study, boosting hopes that the approach may prove promising in humans, according to data released on Sunday. The treatment, called VX-680 and being developed by...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 11:38 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 21, 2004

Exploring The Border Between Natural & Artificial Life

Mercury News: If it's not alive, but not dead, what is it? That's the riddle posed by the new field of "partial life'' technologies, to be explored today in a symposium sponsored by San Francisco's Exploratorium. An international panel of...

Posted by Bob King at 9:35 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 12, 2004

Korean Researchers Make Therapeutic Cloning Breakthrough

Yahoo! News: Researchers in South Korea have become the first to successfully clone a human embryo, and then cull from it master stem cells that many doctors consider key to one day creating customized cures for diabetes, Parkinson's and other...

Posted by Jennifer King at 9:38 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

Cloning Creates Human Embryos

New York Times: Scientists in South Korea report that they have created human embryos through cloning and extracted embryonic stem cells, the universal cells that hold great promise for medical research. Their goal, the scientists say, is not to clone...

Posted by Bob King at 9:20 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 10, 2004

Leptin Turns Fat-Storing Cells Into Fat-Burning Cells

University of Texa Southwestern Press Release: Increasing leptin, a protein involved in regulating body weight, in laboratory animals transforms fat-storing cells into unique fat-burning cells, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas report. They speculate that these findings could...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:49 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 9, 2004

Genetics: Does Race Exist?

Mercury News: In the stratified world of high school, where cliques often form along racial lines, Carolyn Abbott's biotechnology students recently made a startling discovery: More than half of the class at San Jose's Piedmont Hills High School, students from...

Posted by Bob King at 9:23 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

Gene Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

New York Times: Decode Genetics, the Icelandic company that discovered genes for schizophrenia and osteoporosis, has found a variant gene that doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke among Icelanders who carry it, the company's researchers are reporting today....

Posted by Bob King at 9:21 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 3, 2004

New Ovarian Cancer Test

New York Times: Jill Doimer's mother died in 2002 from ovarian cancer, detected too late to be effectively treated. So Ms. Doimer is eagerly awaiting the introduction of a new test that holds the promise of detecting early-stage ovarian cancer...

Posted by Bob King at 10:57 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

January 31, 2004

China Clones Rare Wild Animal

Mercury News: BEIJING - China announced Friday that its scientists had cloned a Siberian ibex, a threatened mammal that dwells in the crags of central Asia, in a feat sure to heighten debate over whether cloning can help reconstitute endangered...

Posted by Bob King at 8:42 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

January 30, 2004

Synchrotron Machines Illuminate Small World

Mercury News: Then they realized the light could be put to good use. Now dozens of synchrotron machines have been built around the world for the sole purpose of generating light, including X-rays 10 billion times brighter than those from...

Posted by Bob King at 5:55 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

January 19, 2004

Personalized Medicine On The Horizon

Mercury News: [John] Doerr, [Silicon Valley's] best-known VC, scored the first solid green by predicting 2004 will mark the arrival of "personalized medicine'' -- genetic testing to show whether a specific drug will or won't benefit an individual patient. Genomic...

Posted by Bob King at 8:35 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 16, 2003

FDA OKs 1st Chewable Contraceptive

(HealthDayNews) -- A chewable birth control pill that tastes like spearmint? That's exactly what Ovcon 35 is -- an oral contraceptive tablet that can be chewed and swallowed. This new version of Ovcon 35, which received U.S. Food and Drug...

Posted by Jennifer King at 1:07 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 13, 2003

New antibody delivers a double blow

New Scientist: A two-pronged assault on diseases such as cancer and arthritis could soon be delivered by a single drug, thanks to a breakthrough in antibody engineering. Antibodies are proteins that bind to specific targets, such as a virus. Their...

Posted by Bob King at 2:32 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 6, 2003

Cure Closer for Diabetes

Herald Sun (Australia): MELBOURNE scientists have made a world-first breakthrough that offers the best hope for a cure for diabetes. A team of surgeons and chemical engineers is growing a mini-insulin-producing organ in a diabetic rat. A million Australians and...

Posted by Bob King at 12:36 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 4, 2003

Researchers Make Spare Body Parts Using Stem Cells

NBC11.com: Researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago claim to have discovered how to make spare body parts from a person's own stem cells. Dental researcher Dr. Jeremy Mao set out to make new joints for people who suffer...

Posted by Bob King at 2:20 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 24, 2003

Glowing Fish To Be First Genetically Changed Pet

New Scientist: A tropical fish that fluoresces bright red is set to become the first genetically modified pet to go on sale in the US. Alan Blake and colleagues at Yorktown Technologies LP say the GloFish will be available from...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 11:32 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 23, 2003

Animals Cloned for Food No Longer Draw Collective Yawn

New York Times: ... But cloning is back. And this time, the F.D.A. and consumer groups are involved, asking, Is it safe to eat a clone? Can you safely drink a clone's milk? If you breed a clone, can you...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:41 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 15, 2003

Suit targets genetic crops in Hawaii

Honolulu Star: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has failed to properly regulate food crops that are genetically engineered to produce pharmaceutical compounds, according to a coalition of environmental groups suing the agency in federal court. In allowing several dozen permits...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 3:19 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 14, 2003

Scientists create a virus that reproduces

USA Today: It is the stuff of science fiction and bioethical debates: The creation of artificial life. Up until now, it's largely been just that. But an important technical bridge towards the creation of such life was crossed Thursday when...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:46 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 12, 2003

Stem Cells Improve Heart Function

Washington Times: The first rigorous test using a patient's own bone marrow stem cells to repair a heart has significantly increased the organ's pumping ability. German scientists meeting in Orlando, Fla., announced this week they had successfully extracted about 2.5...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 3:32 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

The Change Mariner Theme - 'The Biotech Century'