Biotechnology, Genetically Designed Crops, etc.
Genetically engineered or altered seeds, trees, microbes, animals and crops,
"Biopharming" engineered pharmaceuticals, growth hormones and proteins,
Biomedicine (gene therapy, custom medicines),
and possibly human organs and embryos (stem cell)
The year 2005 through 2010
The year 2005.


• 1/25/2005 - Monsanto will buy seed company by Jim Suhr, Associated Press.
      St. Louis - Agribusiness Monsanto said it will buy vegatable and fruit seed company Seminis for about $1 billion, looking to capitalize on a diet trend while moving further from its chemical herbicide business.    Monsanto will assume $400 million in debt by Seminis, an Oxnard, Calif., supplier of 3,500 seed varities to commercial fruit and vegatable growers, dealers, distributors and wholesalers in more than 150 countries.    Competition in Monsanto's Roundup product has made them to focuse on seeds, including genetically modified offerings able to withstand weeds, insects and disease.    The company markets DeKalb and Asgrow seeds.    Monsanto said it expects to continue Seminis' focus on developing products using advanced breeding techniques, with biotech applications an option.    Monsanto's new holding company, American Seeds, aquired Channel Bio Corp., a seed company in Kentland, Ind., to support regional seed businesses with capital, genetics and technology investments.
• 2/17/2005 - Nanomedicine's promise is big by Rick Weiss, The Washington Post.
      The coming of medicine and nanotechnology, the new branch of science that deals with things a few millionths of an inch in size will bring small robots that will cruise the body looking for signs of disease.    "Nanobots" remain imaginary for now, but other nanodevices are proving their potential in animal and human experiments.    Quantum dots, known as "qdots," are bits of material - silicon, just a few atoms across.    Illuminated by ultraviolet light, they glow very brightly with a specific hue that depends on their size: qdots with diameters of 2 nanometers glow bright green; 5 nanometer dots glow brilliant red.    These are already being used to understand how proteins, DNA and other biological molecules catch rides on the various transportation systems inside cells.    Qdots shine brighter and longer than conventional dyes, which makes it easier to follow the various color trails, and to diagnose diseases, and bring cancer cells to light.
      Samuel Stupp and John Kessler at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., are using nanotechnology by creating tiny rodlike molecules called amphiphiles, capped by a cluster of amino acids known to spur the growth of neurons and prevent scar tissue.    When they come into contact with living cells they align themselves allowing the nerve-healing amino acids to spur neuron growth and inhibit scar formation.
      A new one called carbon nanotubes made of carbon atoms and coated with an enzyme that in the presence of sugar, makes hydrogen peroxide, which in turn triggers a flow of electrons into the tiny tubes, which makes them glow when exposed to ultraviolet light.    Thousands of these nanotubes can be implanted under the skin, resulting in an easy way to measure blood sugar with a handheld device by the intensity of the glow.
      The best way to destroy a tumor is to burn it, which is the goal of Jennifer West at Rice University in Houston.    The shells are gold-coated spheres about 130 nanometers in diameter, which absorb infrared light.    The nanoshells concentrate around the tumor and when exposed to infrared light absorb the energy and heated up to about 122 degrees Fahrenheit, cooking the tumors without harming the surrounding tissues.
• 3/1/2005 - New multiple sclerosis drug is withdrawn by Mark Jewell, Associated Press.
      Boston - The makers of Tysabri, a new drug used to treat multiple sclerosis, announced they are voluntarily suspending sales of the drug after one patient died and another developed a serious disease of the central nervous system.    The biotechnology company Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp. suspended supplying the drug and advised doctors to suspend prescribing it, or in clinical trials.    The FDA approved Tysabri, which was called Antegren during clinical trials, in November after a study showed it reduce MS relapses by 66 percent.    About 5,000 patients have received intravenous infusions of it since approval.    It has been withdrawn from the market as a precaution till research is done because the drug was used along with the drug Avonex.
• 3/23/2005 - Farmers inadvertently get experimental corn by AP.
      Swiss biotechnology company Syngenta said it mistakenly sold farmers hundreds of tons of an experimental corn seed genetically engineered to resist bugs between 2001 and 2004 that was never approved by U.S. regulators, bolstering critic's claims that the industry needs tighter regulation.    The seed was similar to another Syngenta product approved for consumption.
• 3/24/2005 - Genetically modified foods little noticed by Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press.
      Trenton , N.J. - Can animal genes be jammed into plants?    Would tomatoes with catfish genes tatse fishy?    Have you ever eaten a genetically modified food?    The answers are: yes, no and almost definitely.    Americans have been eating genetically modified foods unlabeled for nearly a decade.    Roughly 75 percent of U.S. processed foods, boxed cereals, other grain products, frozen dinners, cooking oils and more contain some genetically modified ingredients.    There have been no reports of illness from the biotech products, but then there is no system to report allergies or other reactions to the foods since 1994.
• 8/7/2005 - Mutant mice now easier to create by Paul Elias, Associated Press.
      San Francisco - Since researchers published the mouse's entire genetic makeup in map form three years ago, increasingly exotic rodents are being created with relative ease.    One mouse is injected with muscle-building genes.    Another, the marathon mouse, never seems to tire.    Researchers recently engineered some mice to be extremely addicted to nicotine, and other to be immune to scrapie, a close cousin to the brain-wasting mad cow disease.    Scientists also are in hot pursuit of a Methuselah mouse, able to cheat death long after its natural brethren meet their maker.    They do this by injecting designed genes or knocking out genes in mouse embryos in pursuit of all manner of disease cures.    They have discovered that the club drug Ecstacy reversed Parkinson's-like effects in dopamine-free bioengineered mice.    Mice and men are nearly genetically identical, each possessing just a few hundred different genes out of a possible 25,000 or so.    Cancer in mice is a lot like human cancer.    Millions of mutation mice have been created by Charles River Laboratories in WIlmington, Mass., shipping about 7 million mice worldwide annually.    Another one is Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine and West Sacramento, Calif., at a price of $11 per mice or $200 each for mice without immune systems.    Many animal rights groups oppose all animal experimentation as cruel, even though that the FDA requires that all drugs be tested on animals before people.
      Eventually the labs will engineer multiple gene mice, so treatments can be gaged for the effect of diabetes and cancer which are caused by multiple gene malfunctions.
• 8/28/2005 - Hormone that extends life of mice could do same for humans, but much more study needed by Rob Stein, The Washington Post.
      Washington - Scientists have identified a hormone that significantly extends the life span of mice, a discovery that could mark a crucial step toward developing drugs that boost longevity in people.    The hormone is the first substance identified that is produced naturally in mammals, including humans, and can extend life span - a long-sought goal.    The deciphering of the basic biology of aging.
      Makoto Kuro-o of the University of Texas' Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas discovered a gene in mice that, when damaged, caused the animal to experience all the hallmarks of aging in humans - hardening of the arteries, thinning bones, withered skin, weak lungs - and to die prematurely.    They dubbed the gene Klotho, for the Greek goddess who spins the thread of life.    Suspecting the gene may play a role in regulating life span they engineered mice with overactive Klotho genes.    These mice lived an average of 20 to 30 percent longer than normal without any signs of ill effects, showing that the Klotho gene regulates aging.    They then identified a small protein component, called peptide, that the gene produces and found it circulating in the animals' blood at double the normal level.    Then they isolated and purified the substance, reproduced it through genetic engineering techniques and injected into normal mice.    More studies are needed, but research has shown that humans have the protein in their blood, and people with certain variation of the gene are prone to age-related diseases, such as heart attacks, strokes and osteoporosis.    Will this eventually explain aging?
• 9/1/2005 - Scientists decode chimps' DNA by Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press.
      New York - What makes us human?    In a step toward finding biological answers, scientists have deciphered the DNA of the chimpanzee, our closest living relative, and compared it with the human genetic blueprint.    How did humans pick up traits such as walking upright and developing complex language.    They still have a long list of DNA differences which may hint about the ones that are crucial.
• 10/30/2005 - Science gets simpler map in gene search by Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times.
      The search for the causes of complex genetic diseases received a major boost with the first map of human genetic variation, the subtle genetic changes that make each of us different from our neighbors.    Humans worldwide share 99.9 percent of their genetic blueprint.    It is that 0.1 percent difference that makes each person unique and that is the root of the genetic mischief that causes diabetes, asthma, hypertension, cancer and a host of other diseases.    It has become clear that each of those individual changes, called "single nucleotide polymorphisms," is linked to a large block of DNA called a "haplotype" that is generally inherited intact.    By focusing on halotypes that reduce the number of sites to search for 1 million rather than 3 billion.
• 12/12/2005 - Tiniest particles may yield big trouble - Nanotechnology's effects under study - by Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press.
      Providence, R.I. - Those stain-resistant khakis you just picked up at the mall, the tennis ball that holds its bounce longer and sun screen that's clear instead of white have something in common - nanotechnology.    Scientists manipulating matter at the molecular level have improved on hundreds of everyday products in recent years and are promising dramatic breakthroughs in medicine.
      But relatively little is known about the potential health and environmental effects of the tiny particles, which can easily penetrate our lungs, brains and other organs.    Studies have shown that some of the most promising carbon nanoparticles - including long, hollow nanotubes and sphere-shaped bucky-balls - can be toxic to animal cells.    There are fears that exposure can cause breathing problems from inhaling through the nose, wreaking havoc on brain cells, or that nanotubes placed on the skin could damage DNA.    OSHA is developing guidelines for working with nanomaterials regarding health issues to workers, consumers and the environment, which is a little too late considering people are presently rubbing them on their skin as sunscreens and as cosmetics.
  
  The year 2006.
  
  
• 2/6/2006 - Iowa supercomputer will map corn genetics to boost uses by David Pitt, Associated Press.
      Ames, Iowa - Scientists at Iowa State University are using one of the nation's 10 most powerful computers, IBM BlueGene, to help decipher the corn genome, a project that could allow them to expand the plant's uses in biodegradable plastics, ethanol fuel and fiber.
      To determine how a corn genome - the basic genetic structure of the plant - is put together, scientists must assemble more than 60 million bits of genetic material with the speeds of 5.7 trillion calculations per second.    This would have taken two or three months, but with this supercomputer it is just days.    The project is expected to take about three years.    They will also try to understand protein networks in organisms, which can lead to breakthroughs in disease research.    Such networks can involve 30,000 proteins interacting with one another, too many calculations for a typical computer in adequate time.
• 3/6/2006 - Mighty Mice - Genetically modifying rodents may save the day - by Matt Crenson, Associated Press.
      Bar Harbor, Maine - What's the price of a mouse?    A mouse with arthritis costs nearly $200.    For a genetically modified mouse, expect to pay as much as $100,000.    Mice have become a critical tool in the quest for new drugs and treatments, as many as 25 million mice are used in experiments each year.    The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, ships more than 2 million mice a year.    Breeder Charles River Laboratories of Wilmington, Mass., makes about $500 million annually selling and caring for lab animals, mostly mice.    There are freezers full of embryos that contain 2,850 different strains of lab mice.    Genes of mice and humans are virtually identical, with the difference in where, when and how those genes are activated.
• 3/18/2006 - 2,800 sign petition against bioterrorism laboratory by Associated Press.
      Somerset, Ky. - Residents opposed to building a bioterrorism laboratory have collected 2,800 signatures on a petition.    Scientists at the research lab would study treatments for viruses and diseases that could be unleashed on America through the food supply.    Some Pulaski County residents said they worry that there could be leaks from the 500,000-square-foot lab, or that it could become a target for terrorists.    Two other states are vying for the proposed $451 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility and its 400-plus jobs.
• 5/8/2006 - Bad for the birds? by The New York Times.
      Most of the debate over genetically modified crops focuses on concerns about food safety and the potential effect of transgenic material.    Researchers in Britain have looked at the effect of growing herbicide-tolerant GM crops on seed-eating birds.    They discovered that hebicides that can kill just about anything except the food plant can reduce the amount of weed seeds, an important food source for birds.
• 5/12/2006 - Owensboro Grain Co. plans biodiesel plant for mid-'07 by Associated Press.
      Owensboro Grain Co. plans to build a 50-million-gallon biodiesel plant, to be in operation by the middle of next year.    It will employ up to 15 and use vegetable oil from Kentucky-grown soybeans to make the fuel, which is blended with diesel.
• 5/22/2006 - Frankencotton by James Gorman, The New York Times.
      Genetically modified foods have caused no end of anxiety and distrust.    But not genetically modified shirts.    Why?
      Genetically modified cotton, also known as Bt (genetic material from a bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis) or transgenic cotton, is grown all over the world and is present in unknown numbers and styles of garments.    Many consumers want food that is made from genetically modified plants labeled, so they know what they are getting.    What is more personal?    Corn?    Or shirts?    But how about the fact that you may be wearing transgenic underpants.    Bt is widely used by organic gardeners as an alternative to stronger pesticides.    What Frankencotton does is produce its own Bt toxin, which makes life easier for the farmer and harder on the pests.
      Genetically modified cotton has faced no trade barriers like corn has.
• 8/2/2006 - Biotechnology makes a fashion statement - Genetic engineering worries some - by Paul Elias, Associated Press.
      At a Toronto biotechnology conference, now dresses are made from a new fiber called Ingeo, made largely from genetically engineered corn.    Biotechnology is promoting this because of the country's reliance on foreign oil used to make synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon.    Concerns are being raised by the environmental purists who oppose genetically engineered crops of any kind.    Clothiers are developing biodegradable fabrics from natural fibers that have their start as genetically engineered crops.    Cotton is still the most popular natural fiber, but chances are that even the T-shirt you're wearing is made at least partly from genetically engineered crops.    That's because 52 percent of cotton grown last year was genetically engineered with a bacteria gene to resist bugs, without the need for pesticides.    Nearly half the nation's corn crops are genetically engineered to withstand sprayings of a popular weed killer.    Ingeo is used in almost all clothes and depending on how it's used, the fiber can feel like cotton or polyester.    Protesters fear that the engineered crops will commingle with conventionally grown crops.
• 8/7/2006 - Going green: golf tees from corn - Indiana company ships worldwide - by Rick Kreps, Plymouth (Ind.) Pilot News.
      Knox, Ind. - Golf now has tees made from corn, 15 million Eco Tees were produced during the past year in Knox, located in northwest Indiana's corn belt.    Eco Golf, a subsidiary of Hoosier Custom Plastics, makes the biodegradable golf tees using an injection molding process.    Pelletized material - in this case a corn starch mixture - is heated to liquid form and injected into a golf tee-shaped cavity in a tool.    They produce 10,000 tees per hour, and each tee cost 1.25 cents.    The tees last longer than traditional wood tees, and will decompose in two months.    The PLA (polyactide polymer) biotechnology is used in other products ranging from packaging to eating utensils.
• 8/10/2006 - Pulaski a finalist for biological lab by Associated Press.
      Pulaski County has been selected as one of the 14 finalist for the site of a $450 million biological research lab for the Department of Homeland Security.    The new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which could employ more than 400 people, would conduct human and animal research and replace the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York.
• 10/29/2006 - Drug sales lift quarterly profits 58% by Associated Press.
      Biotechnology company Genentech Inc. (DNA) saw third-quarter profits surge 58 percent on hefty drug sales.    The company reported a profit of $568 million, or 53 cents a share, compared to $359 million, or 33 cents a share, last year.    The increase was due to a demand for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treatment Rituxan, colon-cancer drug Avastin and newly apporoved Lucentis, which treats macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among seniors.
• 12/12/2006 - DuPont to cut 1,500 agriculture jobs by Associated Press.
      Baltimore - Chemical maker DuPont Co. is cutting 1,500 jobs as it restructures its agriculture and nutrition division, putting the $100 million it expects to save into its seeds business, where it is in an increasingly tough battle with rival Monsanto.    DuPont's Louisville operation, which makes neoprene, is in a different division.    Monsanto Co. has improved its dealer network, taking market share from DuPont's Pioneer Hi-Bred seed division in the important corn seed market.    Pioneer is fighting back by developing new strains of genetically engineered seeds and poses a long-term threat to Monsanto.    The job cuts affecting about 10 of 250 sites worldwide make strategic sense for DuPont's battle against Monsanto.    Five years ago, Pioneer had 40 percent of the market for corn seeds, and Monsanto 10 percent, now it is 30 percent Pioneer and 29 percent Monsanto.
• 12/19/2006 - Amgen plans expansion of distribution center by The Courier-Journal.
      The California-based Amgen, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies, will spend $38 million on a 27,000-square-foot expansion of its U.S. distribution center in eastern Jefferson County.
  
  The year 2007.
  
  
• 1/29/2007 Modified Crops by AP.
      Last year was a record one for the cultivation of genetically modified crops, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.
      The industry group reported that worldwide in 2006, 252 million acres of land were devoted to cotton, soybeans and other crops that have been engineered to be resistant to certain pests.    That is a 13 percent increase over 2005.
      More than half the land is in the United States, which has about 135 million acres planted with genetically modified crops out of about 450 million acres total.    Argentina is the second-largest adopter, with about 45 million acres, followed by Brazil and Canada.
• 2/4/2007 Monsanto by AP.
      The St. Louis-based maker of Roundup herbicide and genetically engineered crops said first-quarter earnings surged 53 percent and strong orders for the next growing season suggest it will hit the high end of earnings guidance.    Monsanto earned $90 million or 16 cents per share, its CEO is Hugh Grant, and employees 17,500.
• 4/4/2007 Genetic Engineering by The Washington Post.
      Washington - Providing a kaleidoscopic upgrade to creatures that are largley colorblind, scientists have endowed mice with a human gene that allows the rodents to see the world in full Technicolor.    The advance, which relied on imaginative tests to confirm that the mice can perceive all the hues that people see, helps resolve a long-standing debate about how vision arose in human ancestors tens of millions of years ago.    The practical advantages of spotting ripe fruit, autumn voilage, magenta sunsets, and the blush of a potential mate.
      The work also points to the possibility of curing some of the millions of color-blind Americans - and even enhancing the vision of healthy people, allowing them to experience a richer palette than is possible with standard-issue eyes.
      Mice have limited color perception, equivalent to people with red-green colorblindness.    Their eyes have just two kinds of color-detectors, or "cone" cells, each sensitive to a different part of the spectrum.    Unable to differentiate between reds and greens, they see the world as a blend of blues and yellows, with gray overlays added by black- and white-registering "rod" cells.
      Jeremy Nathans, of the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, led the new study with Gerald Jacobs of the University of California at Santa Barbara, by snipping the red-detecting gene from human retinal cells and inserted it into mouse embryos.    To test the mice they place each engineered mouse in a box containing three small illuminated screens, then using changing combinations of black and white screens, they trained the mice to touch the screen that was different, and rewarding them with a drop of soy milk.    Then they tested them to discriminated among various colors, focusing on the crucial green-red distinction.    Of five mice tested, three proved they could make use of their new cones, choosing correctly about 80 percent of the time.    Only 33 percent would be expected by chance.
  
• 4/8/2007 Generic biotechnology drugs urged - Congress targets pricey treatments by Robert Pear, The New York Times.
      Washington -- Senior members of Congress from both parties are working on legislation that could give consumers access to lower-cost copies of biotechnology drugs that now cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
      The proposal faces formidable scientific and political obstacles.    Brand-name pharmaceutical companies contend that biotechnology products, made from cells and living organisms, are so complex that a copy will never be identical to the original and therefore cannot be certified as safe without testing in humans.
      Biotechnology medicines are the fastest-growing category of health spending, with sales of $40 billion last year, up 20 percent from 2005, according to IMS Health, a market research company.    More than 400 biotechnology products are in the pipeline, for more than 100 diseases, including cancer, AIDS, diabetes and Alzheimer's.
      Conventional drugs are synthesized by putting atoms together from basic chemicals and are often in pill form.
      Biotechnology drugs, also known as biologic products, are typically proteins made by modifying the DNA of bacteria, yeast or mammal cells, and they are often given by injection or infusion.
      The chief medical officer of the FDA, Dr. Janet Woodcock, told Congress that the agency had the expertise and experience to decide what types of human and laboratory test were needed to ensure that copies of a biotechnology drug worked as well as the original.    The other side waNts all equivalent drugs to go through human tests first.
      Many biotechnology drugs are effective but expensive.    Avastin, a cancer treatment made by Genentech, can cost $4,400 to $8,800 a month, or $55,000 a year.
      Cerezyme, a drug made by Genzyme for Gaucher disease, costs $200,000 a year.    Embrel, made by Amgen for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, cost an average of $16,000 a year.    Biotechnology treatments for multiple sclerosis range in price from $16,000 to $25,000 a year.
• 8/5/2007 Kroger to drop synthetic-hormone milk by Associated Press.
      St. Louis - Kroger Co., one of the nation's largest retail grocery chains, has announced plans to switch to milk free of synthetic hormones.    The announcement is another blow to Monsanto Co., which already had been reducing inventory of its milk production-boosting hormone as Starbucks Coffee Co. and other retailers rejected it.
      Monsanto, based in suburban St. Louis, markets the hormone rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin, under the brand name Posilac.    The FDA and the company insist the hormone is safe.
• 8/18/2007 FDA more cautious in drug reviews by Associated Press.
      Trenton, N.J. - Under growing scrutiny since the blockbuster painkiller Vioxx was pulled from the market, the FDA in recent months has rejected a slew of experimental drugs or delayed their approval and required more data.
      This has battered drug company stock prices and will in the end increase cost and the time it takes to develop a new drug.    Pharmaceutical giants such as GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Merck & Co., Novartis AG, SanofiAventis and Wyeth are affected.    Drugs such as Avandia and Actos, and Zelnorm have had their warning labels stiffened.    This was enacted because many drugs were being used for treatment they were not intended for, and were causing heart and liver side effects.
• 12/18/2007 'Dead zone' in Gulf tied to corn by Henry C. Jackson, Associated Press.
      Jeffereson, Iowa - Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any other time since World War II.    And sea life in the Gulf of Mexico is paying the price.
      The nation's corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of notrogen-based fertilizer.    And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River, and eventually pours into the Gulf, where it contributes to an expanding "dead zone" - a 7,900-square-mile area so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp suffocate.
      This has been known since 1985, and it is now at a tipping point with around 210 million pounds of nitrogen fertilizer enters the area each year.
  
  The year 2008.
  
  
• 2/3/2008 Biotech giant's profit is up 6 percent.
      Genentech barely scraped past Wall Street's expectations when the South San Francisco biotech giant, renowned for its phenomenal growth, posted a 6 percent increase in the fourth-quarter profits, to $632 million.    Revenue rose to $2.97 billion from $2.71 billion.
• 5/13/2008 Lilly completes work on biotech complex by The Indianapolis Star.
      Indianapolis - Eli Lilly and Co. said that it has completed the final phase of its biotechnology research and developemnt complex, a project worth about $1 billion.
      At 475,000 square feet and a four-story laboratory will be home to nearly 500 scientist and research support staff and will be the largest part of Lilly's biotech operations.    They will research the next generation of biopharmaceuticals for such afflictions as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.
      Biopharmaceuticals, which use cells or biocells as the building blocks of new drugs, are different from the traditional chemical-based pharmaceuticals, such as Lilly's antidepressant Prozac.
• 8/11/2008 Study raises questions about how we age.
      Countering the prevailing theory that aging is the accumulation of wear and tear in cells, scientists studying worms have found that aging might be hardwired, a sort of unintentional sabotage by genes gone wild.
      The study, published in the journal Cell, found that metabolic processes important during development might shift later in life in ways that unintentionally sabotage the worms, causing them to age and die.
      The scientists studied tiny worms called Caenorhabditis elegans.    Of the worms' approximately 20,000 genes, 1,256 were regulated differently in young worms versus old worms.    In particular, the aged worms had different levels of transcription factors, key genes that influence development by turning other genes on and off.
      Chemically squelching certain overactive genes later in life made the worms live longer, said Stanford University developmental biologist Stuart Kim, who led the research.
      The researchers also found that the age-related molecular switches weren't affected by stresses such as radiation, heat, infection and oxidation, which are thought to cause aging through gradual accumulation of damage, a process akin to rusting away molecule by molecule.    Kim acknowledged that rusting played a role but said he doubted it was the sole force that made living things wither and die of old age.
• 9/19/2008 FDA offers rules for genetically engineered animals by Karen Kaplan and Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times.
      The Food and Drug Administration opened the way for a bevy of genetically engineered salmon, cows and other animals to leap from the laboratory to the marketplace, unveiling an approval process that would treat the modified creatures like drugs.    Although the guidelines make explicit the regulatory hoops companies would have to go through to sell salmon that grow twice as fast as wild fish, pigs with high levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids in their meat or goats that produce beneficial proteins in their milk.    So the federal government has finally regulated these animals to ensure their safety, but does it go far enough since the approval process would be highly secretive and it does not cover the environmental effect of creating Frankenstein animals, since drugs do not go out and breed with other drugs.    The new regulations do not cover cloned animals, which are genetic replicas of existing animals.    Only one genetically engineered animal is now being sold in the U.S., a glow-in-the-dark aquarium fish called a zebra, approved because it is not eaten and requires warm water.    Labeling may not show the origin of the product and would only reflect the change in its content, such as more omega-3 fats.
• 10/8/2008 Harvard given $125 million for bioengineering institute by AP.
      Cambridge, Mass. - A business school alumnus has given Harvard University $125 million to start the Hansjorg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.    Its mission is to discover the engineering principles nature uses to build living things, then use that information to create devices and technologies to meet medical needs.
• 11/25/2008 USDA wants to allow modified corn for ethanol by AP.
      Washington - The Agriculture Department is moving to make it easier to grow genetically engineered corn for ethanol production, despite fears among safety advocates that some might end up in the food supply.    The agency seeks public comment on a request to deregulate corn that's designed to produce a special enzyme that makes it easier to convert into ethanol.    The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service concluded that the corn, developed by Syngenta Seeds Inc. is safe.    But Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Washington-based Center for Food Safety, says the alpha-amylase gene inserted into the corn could trigger allergies in people exposed to the crop.
  
  The year 2009.
  
  
• 1/11/2009 Genetic engineering helps produce drugs by Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times.
      They have four legs, fuzzy faces and udders full of milk.
      To the uninitiated, they look like dairy goats.    To GTC Biotherapuetics Inc., they're cutting-edge drug-making machines.
      The goats being raised on a Massachusetts farm are genetically engineered to make a human protein in their milk that prevents dangerous blood clots from forming.    The company extracts the protein and turns it into a medicine that fights strokes, pulmonary embolisms and other life-threatening conditions.
      GTC has asked the FDA to approve the drug, called ATryn.    An expert panel voted overwhelmingly that it is safe and effective, putting it on the verge of becoming the first drug from genetically engineered animal to be approved in the U.S.    The agency is expected to make a final decision early next month.
      If approved, the drug could be followed by perhaps hundreds of others made from milk produced by genetically engineered goats, cows, rabbits and other animals.    Other products in the pipeline are designed to treat people with hemophilia, severe repiratory disease and debilitating swollen tissues.    Some companies are using genetic engineering to make milk with proteins for vaccines, a class of cancer drugs called monoclonal antibodies, and nutritional supplements.
      "As soon as we were able to make genetically engineered animals, this was an obvious thing to do," said James Murray, a geneticist and professor of animal science at the University of California, Davis.    "It's totally cut and paste.    This is kindergarten stuff with molecular scissors."
      The biotechnology industry is rooting for ATryn, which would signal to Americans that they have nothing to fear from the futuristic technology and the technology could soon begin to pay off on the investments.
• 10/11/2009 Local biotech firm regains momentum by Patrick Howington, The Courier-Journal.
      ApoImmune, a Louisville biotechnology company, seemed about to break out of the pack in 2002, only after it was founded by a University of Louisville researcher.    The company had developed a promising treatment to thwart cancer cells ability to slip undetected past the immune system.    The technique had proven effective in killing tumors in mice and was on track to be tested in humans in 2003, but was slowed because of money.
      Private investors were more interested in a less invasive treatment - like a cancer pill or injection - whereas ApoImmune's technique required extracting tumor cells from a cancer patient, manipulating them and reinjecting them.    They pressed on over the next few years and found new ways to execute Haval Shirwan's concept of triggering the body's immune system to attack diseased cells without relying on controversial gene alteration.    Instead of extracting tumor cells through a biopsy or surgery and manipulating them, they developed an injectable vaccine fashioned from an immune-system protein and other components.    And the vaccine can be tailored to mobilize the immune system against various infectious diseases as well as cancer.
      ApoImmune also is developing a treatment that, instead of boosting immune-system response, defuses it to keep the body from rejecting transplanted organs.
      The first trial of Shirwan's technique in humans, involving cervical cancer patients, is expected to take place next year at U of L's James Graham Brown Cancer Center and other sites if the U.S. FDA gives approval.    The technique's promise has drawn millions of dollars in federal and state grants recently.
• 10/23/2009 Local bio-tech company scores coup by Patrick Howington, The Courier-Journal.
      A small Louisville-based biotech company has struck a multi-million dollar deal to sell rights to a potentially groundbreaking drug it is developing to Alcon, the world's largest eye-care company.    Potentia Pharmaceuticals said it expects to recieve hundreds of millions of dollars if the drug for age-related macular degeneration - the leading cause of blindness - is approved for widespread use.
      The Switzerland-based Alcon licensing rights to the drug and an option to buy the company will pay a series of payments if Potentia achieves certain milestones, such as the three phases of a clinical trial and receiving clearance from the FDA said the CEO Cedric Francois.     Potentia mechanism is called POT-4, used to attack macular degeneration, and inhibit the activation of an immune-system protein linked to the disease.
  
  The year 2010.
  
  
• 8/9/2010 Wild hog herds spreading in Ky. by AP
      Owensboro, Ky. - State wildlife officials say herds of wild hogs are spreading in Kentucky, but a booking agent for hunters says he can't find enough of the animals to justify bringing in clients to hunt them.    In 1998 wild hogs were in two counties, by 2005 in seven counties and in 2008 herds were reported in 15 to 17 counties and to date it is 32 counties.    In 2008 the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that there were 4 million wild hogs in 37 states which caused an estimated $800 million in property damage.
  [Comment] Its "The Planet of Hogs," so I bet they can find someone to hunt them now.
  
• 9/7/2010 FDA staff OKs gene-altered salmon by Molly Peterson, Bloomberg News.
      Washington - Aqua Bounty Technologies Inc.'s genetically engineered salmon are safe to eat and unlikely to harm the environment, according to U.S. regulators considering whether to approve the first gene-altered animal for human consumption.
      The modified Atlantic salmon, known as AquAdvantage, are unlikely to escape into the ocean or reproduce with naturally occurring fish, Food and Drug Administration staff said in a report, which will be looked at on Sept. 20 in a meeting.
      Aqua Bounty has been seeking FDA approval since 1995 for its salmon.    They are design to grow to full size as much as twice as quickly as regular ones with help of genetic material taken from two other types of fish.    Environmental groups objected to the farming of such fish.    Data submitted by the company indicate it is unlikely that the slamon will establish and reproduce if they escape facilities, nor eating the fish can cause harm.
      Aqua Bounty, a biotechnology company based in Waltham, Mass., aims to sell genetically modified salmon eggs to companies that would raise them in enclosed facilities such as land-based tanks.    The gene-altered fish can grow to "market weight" of up to 13.2 pounds in two or three years, Ronald Stotish, chief executive officer of Aqua Bounty, said.    Natural Atlantic salmon take three to four years to reach that size, he said.
      Aqua Bounty's Atlantic salmon eggs contain a growth-hormone gene, from Chinook salmon, that is activated with a genetic "on-off" switch from an eel-like fish, the ocean pout.    The modified fish, all female, are sterile, Stotish said.    The company would sell the eggs only to people who agree to keep the fish isolated form wild salmon populations and whose facilities have been inspected by the FDA.
      Stotish said 97 percent of the total tonage of slamon now consumed in the U.S. is imported, and could help domestic salmon fisheries gain a larger share of the market.    Almost 427,000 tons of salmon, valued at $1.39 billion, were imported last year from countries led by Chile, Canada and Norway.    The U.S salmon industry dissappeared about 15 to 20 years ago for economic and environmental reasons.
      Everyone knows that FDA approval of the salmon is the lead-up for the floodgates opening to this type of technology.    We know pigs will be next.    GTC Biotherapeutics Inc., based in Framingham, Mass., won FDA approval last year for the first drug made from a genetically engineered animal.    It's an anti-clotting medicine Atryn, made from the milk of goats bred with genes that produce a human protein that prevents blood clots.    Genetifcally engineered plants have been used in food for more than 20 years.
  
• 9/21/2010 FDA looks at approving genetically modified salmon by Mary Clare Jalonick, AP.
      Washington - Federal food regulators pondered whether to say, for the first time, that it's OK to market a genetically engineered animal as safe for people to eat.    The FDA is holding two days of hearings on a request to market genetically modified salmon.    Critics are calling the modified salmon "frankenfish" that could cause allergies in humans and the eventual decimation of the wild salmon population.
      The agenda will focus on labeling of the fish, in that consumers would not even know they were eating it, since the modified salmon is essentially the same as the Atlantic salmon.
      So is it safe as food to humans and is there effects on the environment?
  
• 9/23/2010 Creating a monster? by Seth Borenstein and Malcolm Ritter, AP.
      For thousands of years, humans have practiced selective breeding -- pairing the beefiest bull with the healthiest heifers to start a new herd.    That concept was refined to develop plant hybridization and artificial insemination.    Today we've got tastier corn on sturdier stalks, bigger turkeys and meatier cattle.
      Now U.S. regulators are considering approving genetically engineered salmon to our dinner plate.    Whatever the decision on salmon, it's only the start of things to come.    In labs and on experimental farms are:
  • Vaccines and other pharmaceuticals grown in bananas and other plants.
  • Trademarked "Enviro-pigs" whose manure doesn't pollute as much.
  • Cows that don't produce methane in their flatulence.
  • Goats at the University of California, Davis, have been genetically altered to produce milk with a high concentration of a human enzyme that fights the bacteria that causes diarrhea.
      And in the far-off future, there may be foods built from scratch - the scratch being DNA.
      Sometimes when science tinkers with food, it works.    Decades ago, Norman Borlaug's "Green Revolution" of scientifically precise hybrids led to bigger crop yields that have dramatically reduced hunger.
      Sometime it flops.    Anyone remember the Flavr Savr tomato?    Probably not.    It didn't taste good.
      To the biotech world, precise tinkering with the genes in plants and animals is proven way to reduce disease, protect from insects and increase the food supply.
      To skeptics, genetic changes put the natural world and the food supply at risk.    Modified organism can escape into the wild or mingle with native species, potentially changing them, with unknown effects.
      Over the last 15 years, genetically engineered plants have been grown on more than 2 billion acres in more than 20 countries.    American consumers eat genetically engineered plant products in large quantities, often in unlabled products such as oils and processed foods.
  
• 10/2/2010 Alltech to develop human drugs by Patrick Howington, The Courier-Journal.
      For 30 years, Altech has been developing products to improve animals' health and nutrition, selling them to feed companies around the world.    Now the Lexington, Ky.-area company plans to apply its scientific discoveries to another population - humans.
      Alltech expects to launch a new company soon, Alltech Life Sciences, that will develop treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes, as well as aids for joint and bone health.    Some are surprised to hear that discoveries about animal health could be applicable to humans, but the same gene families and biochemical pathways are involved in animal and human disease processes, common to all living creatures.
• 10/4/2010 Spun Gold - Scientists Genetically Engineer Silkworms To Produce Artificial Superior Spider Silks by Dan and Michele Hogan, ScienceDaily.
      A research and development effort by the University of Notre Dame, the University of Wyoming, and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc. has succeeded in producing transgenic silkworms capable of spinning artificial spider silks.    "This research represents a significant breakthrough in the development of superior silk fibers for both medical and nonmedical applications," said Malcolm J. Fraser Jr., a Notre Dame professor of biological sciences.    Natural spider silks have a number of unusual physical properties, including significantly higher tensile strength and elasticity than naturally spun silkworm fibers.    The artifical spider silks now have these properties.    They are used in fine suture materials, improved wound healing bandages, or natural scaffolds for for tendon and ligament repair or replacement.
      Spider silk-like fibers also are used in bulletproof vests, certain type of fabrics, athletic clothing and automoble airbags.
      Kraig Biocraft overcame the limitations by using recombinant DNA to develop a biotechnological approach for the production of silk fibers and entered into a research agreement with Fraser, who discovered and patented a powerful and unique genetic engineering tool called "piggyBac."    PiggyBac is a piece of DNA known as a "transposon" that can insert itself into the genetic machinery of a cell.
  
• 10/8/2010 Engineered corn strain fights pests near and far by Steve Karnowski, AP.
      Minneapolis - This corn turns out to be a very good neighbor.    Corn that's been genetically engineered to resist attacking borers produces a "halo effect" that provides huge benefits to other corn planted nearby.    Since the borers that attack the genetically modified crops die, there are fewer of them to go after the non-modified version.
      Given that the corn borer has cost U.S. farmers $1 billion a year, the economic benefits are dramatic.    The genetically modified plants, Bt corn, have had an economic benefit of $6.9 billion in the past 14 years in the five Upper Midwest states studied by the etomology departments at University of Minnesota and University of Wisconsin agricultural economist.
      Bt corn is engineered to produce a toxin with a gene from the common soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis; it kills the European corn borer caterpillar but is harmless to people and livestock, and became popular in 1996.    It's planted on about 63 percent of all U.S. corn acres.
      To guard against corn borers developing resistance to the toxin, federal regulations require that farmers plant a certain amount of non-Bt corn in "refuges."
  
  Return each year for updates beyond 2010.
  
  

This file created March 15, 2006, and updated on November 15, 2006, December 31, 2006, August 17, 2007, January 23, 2008, January 31, 2009, January 1, 2010, August 4, 2011, and October 7, 2011.