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Microarrays in disarray?
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Millennium boom Figures released by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicate that 2000 was a bumper year for biotechnology drugs, reports ChemWeb.com. Twenty-one new medicines were granted FDA approval, which brings the total number of commercial biotech drugs to 113. The Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) expects this figure to increase dramatically in the coming years, with another 350 biotech medicines in advanced stages of development but warns that public trust and confidence in biotechnology needs to be gained if the industry is to continue to grow. M.J.D.
TRENDS in Biotechnology Vol.19 No.5 May 2001
Influenza virus replication blocked
Nano-electricians Possible components of a self-wiring ‘nano-circuit’ have been reported by a team at Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA (Advanced Materials, 13). Thomas Mallouk and colleagues cast 200 nanometre-wide, 6000 nanometre-long gold wires within a porous membrane, which were then tagged with molecules of single-stranded DNA. These were allowed to bind to complementary DNA strands fixed to a gold film and were found to be four times more likely to bind than noncomplementary ones, although some mismatching and non-specific binding occurred. Ultimately, the group envisages that surface-bound DNA molecules could be used to anchor complex arrangements of complementary ‘nano-wires’, to spontaneously form self-assembled electrical circuits. M.J.D.
that, in the future, synthetic analogues of adenosine could be used as NGF drugs. M.J.D.
Genomics joint venture 1
Microarrays in disarray? The reliability of data held in publicly accessible genome databases has been questioned following problems experienced by researchers using microarray technology (New Scientist, 14 March). ‘GeneChip’ manufacturers Affymetrix have reported a flaw in one of their chipsets of probes prepared using data from the public mouse genome database. Owing to uncertainties about the direction in which DNA fragments are assembled in the genome, large proportions of the chips were prepared with the probes’ sequences reversed. Affymetrix hopes to have rectified the problem within a few months and users have counselled caution when using sequence information held in public databases. M.J.D.
163
© Aventis Pasteur MSD.
The influenza virus can cause world-wide epidemics, the most famous of which is the pandemic of 1918, responsible for killing more people than the Great War itself. Stephan Pleschka et al. (Nature Cell Biology, March issue) have reported stopping the flu virus from replicating inside infected cells by blocking the action of a protein kinase known as Raf. Infection of cells with flu virus leads to the activation of a group of protein kinases, some of which are used by the flu virus to copy itself. After inhibiting Raf kinase, the researchers found that although inhibition didn’t stop new viral material from being made in the cell, it did somehow prevent it from moving out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm, where it is assembled into a new virus. Because protein kinases also perform crucial regulatory roles in cells, such as controlling how they divide, the employment of inhibitors of Raf kinase would have to be used with great caution and targeted to infected cells only. D.M.
Adenosine nerve growth factors Artificial nerve growth factors (NGFs) have been proposed as treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, but researchers at New York University have discovered that the body produces its own NGF mimic, the nucleoside adenosine (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 13 March). In vitro tests with rat nerve cells showed that adenosine binds to the same receptors recognised by endogenous NGF, suggesting
Genomics and proteomics are continuing their impact on the direction of the biotechnology industry. US-based companies Incyte Genomics and Genicon Sciences Corporation have recently announced a joint venture. They aim to develop a system for the detection of very low levels of proteins in biological samples, using Incyte’s proprietary antibody microarrays and Genicon’s resonance light scattering (RLS) technology, which will be combined to speed up proteome screening and drug target identification (ChemWeb.com). M.J.D.
Genomics joint venture 2 A further genomics-driven link-up has been announced by pharmaceutical giant Bayer and US firm Curagen, in what is the largest ever biotechnology agreement (Chemistry in Britain, March 2001). In a 15-year collaboration, worth some $ 1400m, Curagen will use its functional genomic and bioinformatic technology to identify 80 potential drug targets, for which Bayer aims to develop new small molecule drugs, specifically targeting treatments for obesity and diabetes. M.J.D.
Nano-sequencers A prototype biological ‘nano-pore’ detector, capable of differentiating single-stranded DNA has been reported by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA (Nature Biotechnology, March issue). The team, led by David Deamer, describes how they used the alpha-hemolysin ion channel produced by Staphylococcus bacteria as a tool for identifying different hairpin DNA structures. Under the influence of an applied voltage, single-stranded DNA molecules pass through the channel, which is held within a membrane, but double-stranded DNA is too large to negotiate the pore. A decrease in current is measured when the DNA temporarily blocks the pore, before losing its secondary structure and passing through in its single-stranded form. The researchers have developed new computational tools to identify the hairpin DNA sequence on the basis of changes in the current and have been able to differentiate
http://tibtech.trends.com 0167-7799/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Millennium boom Figures released by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicate that 2000 was a bumper year for biotechnology drugs, reports ChemWeb.com. Twenty-one new medicines were granted FDA approval, which brings the total number of commercial biotech drugs to 113. The Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) expects this figure to increase dramatically in the coming years, with another 350 biotech medicines in advanced stages of development but warns that public trust and confidence in biotechnology needs to be gained if the industry is to continue to grow. M.J.D.
TRENDS in Biotechnology Vol.19 No.5 May 2001
Influenza virus replication blocked
Nano-electricians Possible components of a self-wiring ‘nano-circuit’ have been reported by a team at Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA (Advanced Materials, 13). Thomas Mallouk and colleagues cast 200 nanometre-wide, 6000 nanometre-long gold wires within a porous membrane, which were then tagged with molecules of single-stranded DNA. These were allowed to bind to complementary DNA strands fixed to a gold film and were found to be four times more likely to bind than noncomplementary ones, although some mismatching and non-specific binding occurred. Ultimately, the group envisages that surface-bound DNA molecules could be used to anchor complex arrangements of complementary ‘nano-wires’, to spontaneously form self-assembled electrical circuits. M.J.D.
that, in the future, synthetic analogues of adenosine could be used as NGF drugs. M.J.D.
Genomics joint venture 1
Microarrays in disarray? The reliability of data held in publicly accessible genome databases has been questioned following problems experienced by researchers using microarray technology (New Scientist, 14 March). ‘GeneChip’ manufacturers Affymetrix have reported a flaw in one of their chipsets of probes prepared using data from the public mouse genome database. Owing to uncertainties about the direction in which DNA fragments are assembled in the genome, large proportions of the chips were prepared with the probes’ sequences reversed. Affymetrix hopes to have rectified the problem within a few months and users have counselled caution when using sequence information held in public databases. M.J.D.
163
© Aventis Pasteur MSD.
The influenza virus can cause world-wide epidemics, the most famous of which is the pandemic of 1918, responsible for killing more people than the Great War itself. Stephan Pleschka et al. (Nature Cell Biology, March issue) have reported stopping the flu virus from replicating inside infected cells by blocking the action of a protein kinase known as Raf. Infection of cells with flu virus leads to the activation of a group of protein kinases, some of which are used by the flu virus to copy itself. After inhibiting Raf kinase, the researchers found that although inhibition didn’t stop new viral material from being made in the cell, it did somehow prevent it from moving out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm, where it is assembled into a new virus. Because protein kinases also perform crucial regulatory roles in cells, such as controlling how they divide, the employment of inhibitors of Raf kinase would have to be used with great caution and targeted to infected cells only. D.M.
Adenosine nerve growth factors Artificial nerve growth factors (NGFs) have been proposed as treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, but researchers at New York University have discovered that the body produces its own NGF mimic, the nucleoside adenosine (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 13 March). In vitro tests with rat nerve cells showed that adenosine binds to the same receptors recognised by endogenous NGF, suggesting
Genomics and proteomics are continuing their impact on the direction of the biotechnology industry. US-based companies Incyte Genomics and Genicon Sciences Corporation have recently announced a joint venture. They aim to develop a system for the detection of very low levels of proteins in biological samples, using Incyte’s proprietary antibody microarrays and Genicon’s resonance light scattering (RLS) technology, which will be combined to speed up proteome screening and drug target identification (ChemWeb.com). M.J.D.
Genomics joint venture 2 A further genomics-driven link-up has been announced by pharmaceutical giant Bayer and US firm Curagen, in what is the largest ever biotechnology agreement (Chemistry in Britain, March 2001). In a 15-year collaboration, worth some $ 1400m, Curagen will use its functional genomic and bioinformatic technology to identify 80 potential drug targets, for which Bayer aims to develop new small molecule drugs, specifically targeting treatments for obesity and diabetes. M.J.D.
Nano-sequencers A prototype biological ‘nano-pore’ detector, capable of differentiating single-stranded DNA has been reported by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA (Nature Biotechnology, March issue). The team, led by David Deamer, describes how they used the alpha-hemolysin ion channel produced by Staphylococcus bacteria as a tool for identifying different hairpin DNA structures. Under the influence of an applied voltage, single-stranded DNA molecules pass through the channel, which is held within a membrane, but double-stranded DNA is too large to negotiate the pore. A decrease in current is measured when the DNA temporarily blocks the pore, before losing its secondary structure and passing through in its single-stranded form. The researchers have developed new computational tools to identify the hairpin DNA sequence on the basis of changes in the current and have been able to differentiate
http://tibtech.trends.com 0167-7799/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.