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Biotech / Medical : Celera Genomics (CRA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: allen menglin chen who wrote (331)	5/10/2000 9:07:00 AM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 746

I wouldn't mind if he Venter waits another week. Greenie scared off all the buyers until the 16th. Anyway, Nature should be online around midnight et. that is 11 mytime. I will try and check it tonight. Here's a good on article on Greenie content.entrypoint.com And re: Celera - From yesterday's wsj: May 9, 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scientists Map Chromosome Linked to Several Diseases Associated Press BETHESDA, Md. -- In an achievement that could point the way to treatments for a host of illnesses, scientists have mapped chromosome 21, the smallest human chromosome and the one associated with Down syndrome, epilepsy, Lou Gehrig's disease and Alzheimer's disease. It is the second human chromosome whose DNA has been deciphered almost completely; chromosome 22 was mapped last year. "Now we really have to roll up our sleeves and assess what these genes are doing there, what role they play in causing disease," said Francis Collins, chairman of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The team that mapped both chromosomes is part of the Human Genome Project, an international effort to decipher chemically the human genetic blueprint. It is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust of London. The NIH project is in fierce and increasingly bitter competition with Celera Genomics Group, a Norwalk, Conn., biotechnology company, to map the entire human genome, or sequence of chromosomes in humans' genetic structure. It is expected that J. Craig Venter, Celera's president, will announce as early as Thursday that his company has won the race. Monday's announcement by the NIH team came three days before the information is to be published in the journal Nature, and it was seen by some as an effort to prevent Celera from being crowned the undisputed winner. Also Monday, DoubleTwist Inc., an Oakland, Calif., provider of research services to the biotechnology sector, and Sun Microsystems Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., said they teamed up to analyze the collection of human genes compiled by the NIH effort. The companies plan to provide the data to pharmaceuticals companies-in direct competition with Celera. Humans are typically born with 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are made up of genes. The researchers found that chromosome 21 contains far fewer genes than the 545 in chromosome 22, the second-smallest chromosome. The relative sparseness of genes in chromosome 21 may mean the total number of genes in human DNA is less than 40,000, not the 100,000 or more that had been thought, said Andre Rosenthal, a professor at Germany's Institute for Molecular Biotechnology. That means "we are not so different from drosophila [the fruit fly] or yeast," he said. The map of chromosome 21 is 99.7%; technical limitations prevented a complete mapping, said David Patterson, an American scientist involved in the project. He said the map may allow researchers to home in on specific genes in the chromosome that cause mental disorders in Down syndrome patients and then perhaps develop drugs to treat them. Down syndrome occurs when a person is born with a third set of chromosome 21. The disease, the most common form of genetically caused mental retardation, occurs in about one in 700 births.

To: allen menglin chen who wrote (331)	5/10/2000 10:16:00 PM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 746

Nothing in Nature but a short article on wacky genome races. Them darn brits are just so cute, aren't they! How the relationship between the two groups will be characterized in the coming weeks depends heavily on the behaviour of those involved. So far, good sense and manners have only occasionally been overtaken by bouts of claim and counter-claim, hype and counter-hype. Then, the most appropriate road-race image was that of a scientific Wacky Races (the cult 'sixties cartoon series and current kids' computer-game hit; readers bemused by the analogy should consult hotink.com. Some coverage already suggests that the genome community has its Professor Pat Pending, a Gruesome Twosome, an Ant Hill Mob, even a Dick Dastardly.