China, Australia to collaborate on genetic research

Australian and Chinese researchers have agreed to collaborate on a new genetic research project to find a link between genes and diseases.

They will use the information gathered to develop new medicines that can help people according to their specific genetic make-up.

Liver disease and obesity are just two conditions that can benefit from a better understanding of human genes and personally-targeted drug treatments.

The director of the China-Australia Centre for Phenomics Research, Dr Ed Bertram, has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program, the project will be fast-tracking research by many years.

He says they are teaming up with the Beijing Genomics Institute, a world leader in genome sequencing technology for more than 10 years.

"One of the key projects that we will be working with is to build a large-scale library of some 10,000 unique fully-sequenced genetic mice with mutations of every gene in the genome," he said.

"Researchers can then access to study or validate genes from the human genome sequences for finding cause and mutations that are involved in disease."

Dr Bertram says the information will allow them to develop new therapies and drugs, as well as look at current drugs and treatments and their suitability for patients.

The China-Australia Centre, located at the Australian National University in Canberra, was one of four joint research centres set up with the support of the Australian and Chinese governments in 2008.

Dr Bertram says the new initiative is the start of a long-term partnership.

"It's really the latest technology development that will allow us to rapidly increase that output," he said.

"And we've found working with China to be a very good collaboration, particularly in this area."

 

source: Radio Australia News

Biocon arm partners Bristol-Myers

Syngene International Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Biocon, has formed a research partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The initiative is to provide research and development services for discovery and early drug development, Biocon said here on Wednesday.

Bristol-Myers Squibb will significantly increase the scope of its existing relationship with Syngene to develop integrated capabilities in medicinal chemistry, biology, drug metabolism and pharmaceutical development.

The partnership will include a dedicated research facility at the Biocon Park here which will eventually house a team of 400 scientists.

Biocon Chairperson, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, said, "The new research facility will take us forward in our evolution as a vaulable partner to the global pharma industry. Syngene has advanced capabilities in high-end services in discovery research." This one-of-its kind alliance in the biotech sector will leverage the current global demand for `bio-partnering' and access to top scientific talent in India for the overseas partner.

Chief Scientific Officer and President, Pharmaceutical Research, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Elliott Sigal, said, "This broad expansion of R&D in India will allow us to grow competitively and provide access to world-class talent to deliver and grow our robust product pipeline."

Syngene International is a custom research company that does research for client companies across the world and has multi-disciplinary skills in synthetic chemistry and molecular biology. It also leverages the convergence of information technology and biotechnology to conduct early stage drug discovery and was started in 1994.

Microsoft Announces Synthetic Biology Grants

Microsoft Research (MSR) has announced the six winners of its inaugural grants in synthetic biology. The company issued a request for proposals a few months ago, seeking to identify outstanding research projects aimed at tackling the computational challenges in two areas of synthetic biology:

• The re-engineering of natural biological pathways to produce interoperable, composed, biological parts; and
• The development of tools and information repositories relating to the use of DNA in the fabrication of nanostructures and nanodevices

The company said that 49 proposals were submitted from 11 countries, including many leading researchers and labs in the field. Following external peer review, six proposals were chosen. They are as follows:

• Computational Interchange Standards for Synthetic Biology -- Herbert Sauro, University of Washington
• Design and Synthesis of Minimal and Persistent Protein Complexes -- David Green and Steven Skiena, Stony Brook University
• BioStudio: A Collaborative Editing and Revision Control Environment for Synthetic Genomes -- Joel Bader and Jef Boeke, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Identification of Standard Gene Regulatory Sequences for Synthetic Biology -- Robert Holt, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Using programmable stacking bonds to combine DNA origami into larger, more complex, reconfigurable structures -- Paul Rothemund and Erik Winfree, California Institute of Technology
• Noise Suppression and Next-Generation Cloning Vectors -- Johan Paulsson, Harvard University

Summaries of the six selected research abstracts can be found here.

In announcing the program in December, MSR Bioinformatics Program Manager Simon Mercer said the challenges faced by scientists today will be faced by business tomorrow and eventually by everyone. “Encouraging and participating in basic research helps us to better understand these problems and their potential solutions.” Synthetic biology is a particularly interesting field, Mercer said, because it has “the potential to provide insights into living systems, transform biotechnology and perhaps generate entirely new industries.”

Gene therapy for blindness clears hurdle in mice

researchers have used an experimental therapy in mice to shut down a gene that plays a crucial role in a leading cause of inherited blindness.

The technique, detailed in an upcoming issue of Vision Research, involves injecting the eye with a bit of genetic material called interfering RNA, which helps disable the gene.

Normally the gene is essential for healthy eyesight, but mutated versions of it are passed from generation to generation in some families and can lead to blindness.

Disabling the gene is a step toward developing a gene therapy to treat people with retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease that attacks the light-sensing cells in the eye. It affects about one in 60,000 people, with an estimated 1.5 million people afflicted worldwide.

Read the complete article here