Biotechnology in Vietnam
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Vietnam has developed demonstrated skill base in electronics, computing and software and has been able to attract both domestic and overseas investments in these fields. Not so well known is the biotechnology research in the country. Vietnam has recognized that biotechnology can help the country improve healthcare, as demonstrated by the biotech remedies developed in technologically advanced countries for hemophilia and detection of genetic diseases.
Developing countries like Vietnam face health problems such as increasing incidence of chronic diseases like diabetes and cancer, organisms that cause TB and malaria that acquire increasing resistance to conventional drugs, and outbreaks of infectious diseases like the flu. Biotechnology can help in this context by developing better preventive, diagnostic and treatment tools.
Researchers at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City had conducted a series of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) experiments starting mid 1990s. PCR is a DNA-based diagnostic method for quickly and accurately detecting pathogens and its use has expanded rapidly since then. It is being used widely in Vietnam now to detect various local influenza viruses, and diagnosing malaria and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
Well equipped biotechnology research facilities, such as the Institute of Biotechnology and the Military Medical University in Hanoi with microarrays, high-resolution electron microscopes and mass spectrometers, are being established in the country. These institutions are able to carry the research into fields other than PCRs.
Read the report of one top researcher in Vietnam at SciDev.net.
Tags: biotech research, improved healthcare, vietnam
Posted in biotechnology, diseases, research equipment | 2 Comments »
The Ocean can Provide new Products and Cures
Friday, May 14th, 2010
NFkB is a protein that has a critical role in many cancers, arthritis and asthma. It can switch off the natural death process of cells, allowing some cancerous cells to multiply. Researchers have been studying marine animals including sponges, corals and sea lilies to see whether any of these can prevent NFkB from working.
The researchers have found that one of the molecules isolated during the study can allow normal cell death to restart again. This property is being investigated in more detail.
A compound isolated from a Mediterranean sponge variety can create spores in cell membranes that can be reversed. This property is considered to have vast potential, including drug delivery to desired places in the body. The possibility of using this molecule to deliver drugs to tumors, genes for cystic fibrosis and drugs into the eye are being investigated.
The examples above illustrate the new possibilities that marine life offers for curing diseases. The oceans are also the source of many products with health benefit claims. The potential has hardly been explored.
It is in this context that the Census of Marine Life (COML) becomes significant. The census is a global network of researchers in more than 80 countries. The ten-year scientific initiative is intended to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans.
A great deal of information, with stunning pictures, is available at the COML website.
Tags: biotechnology, cures for diseases, marine life census, marine organisms
Posted in biotechnology, diseases, marine life research | No Comments »
What should We Believe about Genetically Modified Crops?
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Genetically Modified (GM) crops are targets for an often violent debate. Advocates of GM crops point to the higher yields and benefits like built-in pest resistance that modifying the genes of the crops can provide. Opponents say that the safety of GM crops has not been proven through long-term use and that they might cause unforeseen harm to environment and consumers.
Traditionally, the technique of cross-breeding between different species has been used to transfer desirable characteristics from one species to another. However, this procedure is time-consuming and cannot often produce the specific results that we want.
Genetic modification involves working with the genes of crop plants. Because it is genes that determine the characteristics of organisms, it is possible to change the characteristics by modifying the genes using molecular biotechnology. Scientists might, for example, locate a gene that provides drought resistance, and insert that gene into a plant used as food crop. Done successfully, this can provide drought resistance trait to the food crop.
Genetic modification has provided several advantages:
- Crops with pest-resistance eliminate the need to use pesticides, with consequent lower costs and also elimination of the health hazards that pesticides cause
- Crops resistant to herbicides can also provide a somewhat similar benefit. Herbicides are used to destroy weeds that reduce crop yields. Application of herbicides can affect the crop and also cause environmental damage. Both these results can be reduced by making the crops herbicide resistant
- Genetic modification that can improve resistance against viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause damage to crops can increase crop yields
- Tolerance for drought, cold and salinity can make it possible to grow crops in conditions formerly not possible, and thus meet the ever-increasing demand for food
- People in poorer countries often depend on a single food, such as rice. These food items might not provide adequate nutrition. Genetic modification can make such food items more balanced in nutritive value
- If food crops can be modified to provide medicinal and disease prevention benefits presently provided by medicines and vaccines, both availability and affordability of the medicines and vaccines can be improved
- Non-food plants have been modified to clean up the environment, e.g. remove metal pollutants from contaminated soil
Opposition to GM crops have been also gaining strength, mainly because of:
- Toxins designed to kill one type of organism, viz. pests, can also kill other, unintended, organisms. For example, pollen from B.t. corn is reported to have killed monarch butterfly caterpillars, a finding that is being contested by industry groups and others
- Pests might become resistant to plants that have been modified for pest-resistance, just as mosquitoes become resistant to DDT
- Genes can be transferred to other species through natural cross-breeding, causing not-so-beneficial results and other problems. For example, weeds might gain herbicide resistance from herbicide resistant crops, making them “super weeds.” GM characteristics might also be passed on to non-GM crops in neighboring fields, resulting in problems for farmers growing non-GM crops
Read more about the issues at ProQuest.
Tags: biotechnology issues, GM crops, molecular biotechnology
Posted in biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, crop science, diseases, genetic modification | No Comments »
Fighting Allergies and other Inflammatory Diseases in a Strange way
Monday, April 12th, 2010
Evidence points to the unappealing fact that infection with fecal-dwelling hookworms can protect against a number of inflammatory diseas. The diseases include asthma and allergy, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and type 1 diabetes.
Scientists are hoping to decipher how these organisms control the immune systems of their human hosts. Once the deciphering exercise progresses sufficiently, the scientists hope to replicate the parasite’s beneficial effect and develop effective therapies for the inflammatory diseases.
Swallowing pig whipworm eggs or deliberately infecting oneself with hookworms are effective. However, these are prospects that even severe allergy sufferers are not likely to accept. Hence the focus on finding out how the hookworms do it and trying to replicate the process through drugs. One scientist feels that the solution might lie in inducing the types of immune responses that chronic worm infections produce.
The rise in alergies and other ailments in rich countries is matched by a decrease in parasitic worm infection, which has been with us for a long time. Such long associations between two organisms, humans and parasitic worms in this case, tend to become mutually beneficial. By eliminating parasitic worm infections, we might be making ourselves vulnerableto immunologic diseases.
Research in animal models designed to mimic these diseases supports these conclusions. Infection with parasitic worms induces the type of allergic response triggered by allergens. This in turn raises levels of an antibody immunoglobulin which, when it binds with specific immune cells in the blood, causes the the cells to dump their contents into the bloodstream triggering allergic symptoms.
In people with parasitic infections, there are lots of immunoglobulins and lots of the cells that cause allergies, and yet they don’t suffer allergies. The mechanism for this phenomenon is not fully clear though one scientist has noticed that worms produce an enzyme that prevents the immunoglobulins from binding with immmune cells (and causing the latter to dump allergy-triggering substances into the bloodstream).
Read more details at TechnologyReview.com.
Tags: allergy treatment, parasitic worms and humans, symbiotic relationship
Posted in biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, diseases | 1 Comment »
Biotechnology Revolution will Exceed Internet Revolution in its Impact
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
According to experts, biotechnology will change the shape of things more extensively than what the Internet have done. Biotech companies are already driving economic growth and innovation.
A book titled “The Coming Biotech Age” by Richard Oliver, author of “The Shape of Things to Come” provides an accessible overview of biotechnology business, its implications for all industries and the vast opportunities, according to a review.
The completion of the Human Genome project will increasingly lay bare the genetic basis of various diseases and and physical problems. Biotechnology works with genes and is proving itself capable of finding cures for the diseases and problems, at a more fundamental level than earlier symptoms based treatment.
And working at gene levels can also change the charateristics of organisms, such as crops and animals. Crops that are more pest resistant and higher yielding have already appeared in the market. So have opposition to them on the grounds of suspected health impact. As things develop, their shape can indeed take a very different form.
According to Amazon.com review, the book goes far into the possibilities of altering and creating new “bioterials” and even inoorganic new materials.
The Coming Biotech Age
Tags: biotech business, biotechnology
Posted in biotechnology, business, crop science, diseases, genetic modification, technology commercialization | No Comments »
Leukemia Vaccine to Kill Remaining Cancer Cells
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Leukemia patients taking the drug Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) still had cancer cells present after one year. Human clinical studies of GVAX Leukemia vaccine developed by BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. showed that it was possible to reduce or eliminate the last remaining cancer cells in some chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients taking Gleevec.
Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center investigators used a vaccine made from CML cells. The cancerous potential of the CML cells was halted by irradiating them. The cells were also genetically altered to produce an immune system stimulator called GM-CSF.
The treated cells also carried antigen molecules specific to CML cells that prime the immune system to recognize and kill circulating CML cells.
Cancer vaccines may be a good way to mop up the residual disease according to Dr Levitsky, Professor of oncology, medicine and urology at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Read the news at BioMed Reports.
Tags: cancer cells, chronic myeloid leukemia, vaccine
Posted in biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, diseases, genetic modification | No Comments »
Transhumanism or Human Enhancement through Technology
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
Transhumanism is an international movement that supports the use of technology for enhancing human physical and mental capabilities. Members of the movement believe that disability, disease, suffering, aging and involuntary death are neither inevitable nor desirable, and look to technologies like biotechnology to eliminate these.
Transcendentalist ideas of going beyond human limitations have a long history. The quest for immortality, Elixir of Life, Fountain of Youth and such ideas represent such transendentalist yearnings. Even Charles Darwin’s theories were used to suggest that we humans are only at the beginning of evolution and much more can be expected.
By 19th century, the idea of using technology to enhance human capabilities began to receive attention and the trend gained momentum in the 20th. Bionic implants have already become a reality helping the diseased heart to beat and the deaf to hear. Research into cognitive enhancement is beginning to show results.
Another related development is space colonization that allow people to migrate to other hospitable worlds. It can perhaps help improve things back on earth, which is getting increasingly overcrowded in certain areas while the reverse is happening in other areas.
Developments in nanotechnology gave a new dimension to transhumanist ideas. Nanobiotechnology is a field where biotechnology works with nanoscale elements. Nanorobots could be traversing our blood vessels curing diseases and the new properties of materials at nanoscale might lead to better healing of wounds, for example.
The movement is also concerned with the possible dangers of using technology in this manner. There are opponents to this movement such as Francis Fukuyama who considered it the “world’s most dangerous idea”.
Universal access to tranhumanist technologies across classes and borders is a key ethical issue. Unless such access is made possible, the movement can lead to an elite few benefiting from the technologies to the exclusion of the vast majority. It could lead to a nightmare world where the majority become slaves of the elite “superhumans,” a popular theme in horror films.
See the four possible scenarios for transhumanist developments at the Institute for Emerging Ethics and Technologies.
Tags: emerging technologies, transcending human condition, transhumanism
Posted in bionics, biotechnology, diseases, emerging technologies, transhumanism | No Comments »
Nanomedicine for early Detection and Treatment of Cancer
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
New technology for cancer detection and treatment developed by nuclear physicist Dr Edward R Flynn requires no radiation and is much more sensitive in detection of cancer than existing diagnostics.
The body of work on this subject has now been bought by Manhattan Scientific Inc., a nanomedicine technology transfer and commercialization company. The company has purchased all commercial rights to the technology from Edward R Flynn.
Current mammography technology cannot detect cancers until it has grown to over ten million cells. With Dr Flynn’s technology, breast cancer can be detected at one hundredth of that level. It can also detect ovarian cancer, for which there is no effective screening now.
Considering that success in cancer treatment depends largely on early detection, the new technology can thus enhance treatment effectiveness in a major way. The technology can also effectively monitor chemotherapy in leukaemia, allowing more effective treatment and less side effects.
Read more details about the technology and the approach used at Nanotechnology Now.
Tags: cancer detection, cancer treatment, nanomedicine, technology commercialization
Posted in diseases, nanomedicine, nanotechnology | No Comments »
Stem Cell Treatment for Lou Gehrig’s Disease
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
Stem cell treatment includes taking a patient’s own cells from bone marrow and developing them into specialized cells such as nerve cells in the laboratory, for injecting back into the patient. Scientists hope to find cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s using this approach.
A report from Israel mentions about a clinical research agreement for Lou Gehrig’s Disease between Hadassah Medical Organization and biotechnology firm BrainStorm. Hadassah will make its top experts in neurology and stem cell research at the disposal of BrainStorm, which will invest NIS 5 million into the research effort.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) leads to progressive degeneration of motor neurons, the nerve cells in the central nervous system that control voluntary muscle movements. It has come to be known in North America as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Gehrig was a New York Yankee’s baseball icon who died from the disease in 1941 at age 37.
The world-renowned sceintist Stephen Hawking is a victim of the disease, illustrating how a brilliant mind can reside in a wasted body and still continue to function with its full power. In certain cases, ALS can affect cognitive functions also.
The Israeli scientists hope to prove that the proposed treatment can slow down or even halt the progress of ALS in victims. Success can help BrainStorm to tap a billion dollar market.
Read the report at Haaretz.com.
Tags: ALS, biotechnology, Lou Gehrigs, motor neuron disease, stem cell treatment, stephen hawking
Posted in biotechnology, diseases, stem cell research | No Comments »
Vitamin D Reduces Risk of Cardiometabolic Disorders
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Vitamin D is present in certain types of fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel. It is also synthesized when ultraviolet rays from the sun strikes the skin, and is also available as a diet supplement.
Cardiometabolic disorders include cardiovascular diseaes, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. A research into the literature of vitamin D and cardiometabolic disorders has now revealed a relationship between high levels of vitamin D in middle aged and elderly people and reducing their risks of developing heart disease or diarbetes almost by half.
The studies reviewed by researchers cover a variety of ethnic groups including men and women. The researchers were led by Johanna Parker and Dr Oscar Franco, Assistant Professor in Public Health at Warwick Medical School. 28 studies covering 99,745 participants were reviewed by the research team.
“Targeting vitamin D deficiency in adult populations could potentially slow the current epidemics of cardiometabolic disorders,” said Dr Franco.
Read more details at: Science Daily
Tags: cardiometabolic disorder, diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, vitamin d
Posted in biotechnology, diseases | No Comments »
