Anyone understand the following enough to relate it to ABSC?
CuraGen stock surges after gene map 'breakthough'
NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Shares of CuraGen Corp. <CRGN.O> surged on Thursday after a scientific journal said the drug company completed the first map of protein interaction within an entire model organism, a "breakthrough" that may lead to new ways to prevent or treat cancer and other diseases.
CuraGen's stock was up 38, or 28 percent, at 170 by Thursday afternoon, after climbing to a record high of 179 earlier in the session. The company's previous 52-week high was 140, and its year-low is 5.
"Right now this is one of the largest scientific breakthroughs that has been," a CuraGen spokesman said. "We're able to work with the human genome, and this gives a better understanding of cancer and other diseases such as central nervous system disorders, metabolic disorders and cystic fibrosis."
Over the past 12 months, Curagen's shares have risen 2,403 percent, including Thursday's movement, topping Qualcomm Inc. <QCOM.O>, which rose 1498 percent in the past year.
The New Haven, Conn.-based company, working in collaboration with Dr. Stanley Fields of the University of Washington in Seattle, said completing the map within a model organism such as yeast was a milestone in its efforts to identify the protein interactions within other known genomes -- or genetic material in a cell -- including those of fruit fllies
and humans.
CuraGen expects it will take 24 months to identify the protein interactions for the human genome once the sequence is publicly available.
Scientists may one day be able to tell what proteins are interacting in cancerous human cells, pushing them to divide uncontrollably.
"Genes encode proteins with instructions for directing cellular activity. By gaining a more complete understanding of this process, CuraGen scientists have gained a greater insight into identifying and developing products to influence these instructions and ultimately inhibit the onset of certain diseases," the company said in a statement.
The research paper was published in the Feb. 10 issue of Nature and is entitled, "A Comprehensive Analysis of Protein-Protein Interactions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae."
Although the sequence of the yeast genome has been known for a number of years, until now understanding the function of those genes and resulting proteins was impossible, the company said.
19:23 02-10-00 |
