Russ Savage: BioTech

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 12:34:55 GMT

As Uses Grow, Tiny Materials' Safety Is Hard to Pin Down. Investors and policy makers are finding that pinpointing the potential environmental and health impacts of nanotechnology could take years. By Barnaby J. Feder. [New York Times: Technology]

Name That Cancer in One Molecule. Intel and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center collaborate to develop a nanotechnology that, if it works, will be the most senstive cancer diagnostic tool ever invented. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News]

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 11:24:01 GMT

Our Genetically Modified Future. In its 10th anniversary issue, Wired magazine takes a look at the potential for 'new and improved' humans, plants and even bacteria. By Charles C. Mann. [Wired News]

Sat, 15 Feb 2003 12:05:11 GMT

Biology to make mini machines. Scientists look to the day when computer components are built not by factory machines but by living cells such as bacteria. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

They have described how wires can now be made by yeast organisms, and how solar panels could be built using substances produced by sea sponges.

Researchers believe these kind of technologies will be essential if we are to continue to shrink the size of electronic devices.

Mon, 10 Feb 2003 00:32:09 GMT

Scientists of Very Small Draw Disciplines Together. Nanotechnology, biotechnology, electronics and brain research are converging into a field of science vital to the nation's security. By Barnaby J. Feder.

...Nanoscale innovations include novelties like tubes of carbon that are far stronger and lighter than steel and tiny light-emitting structures, called quantum dots, that are being used as identification tags in biological research. But because all the activities of living cells are governed by nanoscale interactions of atoms and small molecules, nanotechnology researchers looking for new ways to make and use nanomaterials are increasingly finding their interests overlapping with experts in biotechnology.

Similarly, electronics experts are looking to biotechnology and nanotechnology as they seek innovations that will allow them to construct far smaller and faster computers than today's silicon processors, and to create equally tiny data storage systems and communications devices....

[New York Times: Business]

Sun, 19 Jan 2003 12:05:41 GMT

Researchers translate DNA code as music. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

"Imagine the human genome as music. Unravel DNA's double helix, picture its components lined up like piano keys and assign a note to each. Run your finger along the keys."

Ah, but is it a catchy tune

Wed, 15 Jan 2003 02:38:59 GMT

Now playing: The human genome. Researcher downloads data to iPod [InfoWorld: Top News]

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 11:54:22 GMT

Insider: Biotech Can't Blame FDA. Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David Kessler exhorts those in biotechnology to stop whining about the time-consuming U.S. drug-approval process and start investing in better research. Kristen Philipkoski reports from San Francisco. [Wired News]

Tue, 31 Dec 2002 12:47:37 GMT

To Study Disease, Britain Plans a Genetic Census. In 2003, Britain plans to assemble a database of medical information about 500,000 Britons, including their DNA. By Gwen Kinkead. [New York Times: Technology]

Mon, 30 Dec 2002 13:36:38 GMT

Alert after GM crop altered other plants. UK: Genetically modified crops being grown in Britain are likely to have cross-pollinated with ordinary crops and weeds. [Guardian Unlimited]

Fri, 27 Dec 2002 13:17:54 GMT

Gene Maps: Building a Better Cow. Understanding the genetic code of animals like shrimp and cattle could help companies reap untold profits through better breeding. By David Lipshultz. [Wired News]

Tue, 24 Dec 2002 13:44:47 GMT

Sick? DNA Scanner Tells What Ails
By Daithí Ó hAnluain, Wired, 02:00 AM Dec. 24, 2002 PT

Who doesn't worry about skeletons lurking in the gene closet? Soon, instant DNA mapping could ease those fears -- or deliver the cold, hard truth.

A prototype diagnostic tool under development by two London companies and set for rollout next year is an important step on the path to genotyping-while-you-wait. In the short term, it offers rapid genetic analysis of infectious diseases.

Tue, 24 Dec 2002 13:23:13 GMT

Human Kidneys Created In Mice: Transplanted Tissue Could Offer A Solution To Kidney Donor Shortage
ScienceDaily, Dec 23, 2002
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel (December 22, 2002) -- Instead of searching for a kidney donor, a new study suggests, one might be able to grow a new kidney. A team headed by Prof. Yair Reisner of the Weizmann Institute of Science has induced human stem cell tissue to grow into functional kidneys, and have accomplished the same with porcine stem cell tissue. Published in Nature Medicine, the method could lead to a promising solution to the severe shortage of kidney donors.

Sun, 22 Dec 2002 11:51:59 GMT

False dawns in the brave world of New Genetics. Mike Bygrave asks the scientists at the cutting edge of gene science to separate the hype from the reality. [Guardian Unlimited]

Wed, 18 Dec 2002 22:03:59 GMT

Biotech's yin and yang
Dec 12th 2002, From The Economist print edition
China's biotechnology industry is growing fast, but faces several challenges

In A vast room in one of Beijing's new industrial parks, legions of white-coated workers mill around machines, pushing samples through a well-oiled assembly line. One wall is adorned with a banner reading [base "]The first step of the great long march[per thou]. The original Long March, in the 1930s, is fabled in Chinese communism. This time round a more commercial revolution is in the works.

The factory is not turning out television sets or low-cost clothing, but information: 50m units of genetic sequence a day. It is part of the Beijing Genomics Institute. The institute's industrial-scale sequencing operations played a key role in the international Human Genome Project, making China the only country in the developing world to have joined in....

Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:13:32 GMT

Biotech and F.D.A.: Blame Game. Biotechnology executives say the F.D.A. has become too cautious in approving drugs, but much of that may change in 2003. By Andrew Pollack. [New York Times: Business]

Fri, 13 Dec 2002 11:35:40 GMT

Waiter, There's DNA in My Food. Keeping track of genetically modified organisms in food is not simple. An Israeli scientist has a possible solution, but so far both GMO supporters and opponents are against it. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News]

Sat, 07 Dec 2002 14:16:50 GMT

Eye microchip could save sight. Scientists are developing an electronic eye implant which they believe could help millions of people to see again. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

US Government scientists, who are spearheading the project, believe they could have a human implant within three years.

Fri, 06 Dec 2002 18:21:10 GMT

CRYONICS CONFERENCE BRINGS OUT NANOTECH'S EXTREME OPTIMISTS

By Mark Frauenfelder, Small Times Correspondent NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.,

Dec. 6, 2002 - At Alcor's fifth annual Conference on Extreme Life Extension here recently, two well-known scientists presented their visions for the far-out future of nanotechnology.

Ralph Merkle and Robert Freitas of Zyvex Corp., a nanotechnology and MEMS research and development company in Richardson, Texas, asked the 200 or so conference attendees to imagine a time in the coming decades when doctors will routinely inject billions of nanosized robots into patients' bodies.

Thu, 05 Dec 2002 13:33:29 GMT

Perspective: Nano-hype and market reality By Daniel Leff, Cnet, December 5, 2002, 4:00 AM PT

Nano-hype is everywhere, obscuring the real news.
For example:
"Nanobiotechnology is a hybrid discipline that combines biology and nanoelectronics. Nanobiotechnology companies are building a variety of biological diagnostic tools from an array of tiny sensors that can detect specific biological molecules or individual strands of DNA. These devices will provide far faster, cheaper and more comprehensive diagnoses of complex diseases. For example, a single nanochip could provide a comprehensive diagnosis from one drop of blood, while other applications will include new tools for rapid drug discovery."

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 12:16:21 GMT

Scientific American: Mud-Loving Microbes May Aid in Manufacture of Nanoelectronics : "Proteins produced by microbes living in extreme environments can be used as building blocks for nanoelectronics. The new technique could help researchers assemble electronics 10 to 100 times smaller than those available today." [[ t e c h n o c u l t u r e ]]

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 11:59:11 GMT

'First human clone' due in January. A controversial Italian fertility doctor says the world's first human clone will be born in two months - but some scientists are sceptical. [BBC News | Front Page]

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 11:49:42 GMT

Stem Cell Mixing May Form a Human-Mouse Hybrid. Some biologists argue that the best way to test stem cells for their usefulness in treating diseases is to see how they work in a living animal, such as a human-mouse hybrid. By Nicholas Wade. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 11:46:41 GMT

Time for a New Pair of Genes?. Ethicists and scientists are grappling over whether it makes sense to alter the genetic makeup of embryos. It's a question for the ages, since such changes would be inherited by future generations. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News]