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 Patients with impaired vision because of a damaged cornea could soon regain their sight without need of a human donor transplant. Instead, such patients could be aided by an artificial but biosynthetic implant. One such implant has now been tested in patients over two years, and the results are as good as, or even better than, those achieved with donor corneas.  With a precise motion, Li Ma, a technician at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, MD, pipettes a cherry-red solution of bacterial cells into a vial that contains a clear solution of fragile DNA loops. These loops, the largest pieces of DNA ever assembled in the lab, are each capable of controlling all the ordinary functions of a cell. But the DNA didn’t originate in any bacteria: instead, scientists pieced it together from bottled chemicals. The process they recently developed for doing this is the first to yield synthetic cells that are capable of surviving. Some of the bacterial cells that Ma is working with will fuse together in the solution, engulfing the synthetic genome and then replicating and living under its control.  A startup is developing a new and potentially much cheaper sequencing technology based on microfluidics. At a time when the longtime goal of a $1,000 genome is still just out of reach, a Harvard University physicist is promising an even cheaper [...] 
Researchers at the Venter Institute explain their groundbreaking techniques. Last month, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute announced that they had made the first synthetic cell by piecing together a genome made from bottled chemicals and transplanting it [...] 
Mimicking human disease in a dish. The small plastic vial in James Thomson’s hand contains more than 1.5 billion carefully coddled heart cells grown at Cellular Dynamics, a startup based in Madison, WI. They are derived from [...] 
In a surprise ruling, Myriad’s controversial patents on breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes are struck down.
A federal court has ruled that key patents held by Myriad Genetics, a diagnostics company based in Salt [...]  [By Kevin Bullis @ www.technologyreview.com]
At Copenhagen, China may have been reluctant to sign an international treaty that heavily restricts its carbon emissions, but a new report from the Pew Environmental Group says that private investors there are [...] 
[Source: www.technologyreview.com] A startup’s catalytic process converts biomass directly into components of gasoline. Sawdust to gasoline: A process called catalytic pyrolysis converts biomass, such as sawdust, into valuable chemicals. From left to right: sawdust; sludge-like chemicals produced without the [...]  [Source: www.technologyreview.com] In first human trial, particles successfully reach cancer cells and silence the target gene. A specialized nanoparticle filled with an RNA-based cancer therapy can successfully target human cancer cells and silence the target gene, according to results from an [...]  Experiments in mice show that the brain’s ability to adapt might not disappear with age. Transplanting fetal neurons into the brains of young mice opens a new window on neural plasticity, or flexibility in the brain’s neural circuits. The research, published [...] 
Heartbeats: Spontaneously beating iCell Cardiomyocyte cells. Stem cell advance will help drug development! Last month, Madison, WI-based Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) began shipping heart cells derived from a person’s own stem [...]  Advances in antiaging drugs, acoustic brain surgery, flu vaccines–and the secret to IQ. We may look back on 2009 as the year human genome sequencing finally became routine enough to generate useful medical information (“A Turning Point for Personal Genomes“). The [...] 
The novel particles could last longer in the blood. Since the 1950s, researchers have been trying to mimic the abilities of red blood cells. These flexible discs carry oxygen throughout the body, squeezing [...]  Craig Venter and colleagues compare consumer genetic tests and suggest ways to make them more useful. Geneticist Craig Venter and colleagues have tested two of the leading consumer genomics services and declared the fledgling industry to be promising, but still very [...] |
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