Celera's Venter Hopes for Joint Research With
Japan: Comment
By Ryoko Imaizumi
Tokyo, March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Craig Venter, president of Applera Corp.'s
Celera Genomics unit, comments on the company's move to develop
diagnostic products, drugs and vaccines. He was visiting Tokyo to attend a
conference of scientists in Asia and the Pacific Rim on Thursday and made
comment at a press briefing with Yusuke Nakamura, director of the human
genome center at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo.
On the possibility of joint research with Japan:
``I think some of the leading science in genomics is now beginning to take
place in Japan. Celera is very interested in participating in that science. We
are having pretty good discussions with Dr. Nakamura, his team and other
groups in Japan about exciting approaches for combining tools at Celera and
laboratories here. We are very excited that such discussions are beginning.''
On research into cancer:
``With our basic science efforts at Celera, we hope to sequence up to 1 million
proteins per day. We are starting with very key cancers -- breast cancer,
colon cancer, pancreatic cancer -- and our program will expand to many
diseases. With new sets of instruments with a complete genome, we can now
measure every protein for the first time in the blood, in other tissues, and find
specific markers associated with cancers. It not only can be diagnostic
markers, but we think it's going to be the basis of new therapies, cancer
vaccines.
``Our goals is to have new diagnostics and new methods for treating diseases.
The first phase of things that will come out of the genomics will be new
diagnostics. The time to bring new diagnostics out will be much shorter than
new therapies. New therapies can maybe take 10 years. New diagnostics,
once they are discovered, maybe take one to two years.'' |
