After Presenting In Vitro Data on siRNA Delivery Tech, Copernicus Eyes Partners

June 14, 2007

By Doug Macron

Although the in vitro data is promising, Copernicus officials concede that more work is needed to prove its technology, originally designed for gene therapy, can be applied to RNAi. As a small company, Copernicus expects that work will only be done as part of a collaboration.

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Young Investigator Profile

Erin Carlson

Assistant Professor
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Bacterial Pathogenesis

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DARPA's Synthetic Army

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Papers of Note

Connection Between Epigenome, Selective Mutability, Evolution, and Human Disease
Li, Harris et al., PLoS Genetics
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere propose a "connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease" based on the findings of their study on associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination mediated by low-copy repeats. "Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability," the Baylor-led team writes.

Genetic Data for Modern Genetic Breeds 'Have Yet to Shed Light on Dog Origins'
Larson, Karlsson et al., PNAS
A team led by researchers at the University of Durham investigate the value of modern genetic data to elucidate the origins of dog domestication by analyzing 49,024 autosomal SNPs in 19 wolves and 1,375 dogs, representing 35 breeds. The team reports having uncovered conflicting evidence when correlating the earliest archeological dogs with the geographic locations of 14 breeds thought to be ancient. "These genetically distinct ancient breeds only appear so because of their relative isolation, suggesting that studies of modern breeds have yet to shed light on dog origins," the authors write.
People on the Move

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Science
A pair of studies, one published in Nature and one published in Nature Genetics, detail the efforts of researchers who used exome sequencing to look into the mutational profiles and pathways that can contribute to prostate cancer. The first group found nine genes with recurrent somatic mutations, six of which had previously been implicated in the disease. The second group demonstrated that recurrent mutations in the ubiquitin ligase-coding gene called SPOP define a non-ETS gene fusion containing prostate cancer subtype.
Business
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Funding
The UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council will invest £19 million ($29.8 million) in the Genome Analysis Center at the Norwich Research Park in the UK as part of a broader, five-year £250 million ($392 million) investment in the biosciences. As part of the larger investment, the Roslin Institute in Scotland will receive £23 million to further its livestock animal genomics research, the Babraham Institute in Cambridge will get £37 million, and the John Innes Centre will receive £42 million.
Genome Technology Magazine
More than a decade ago, fluorescent reporter studies highlighted the stochastic nature of gene expression, and biologists then began to examine the phenotypic heterogeneity they saw in clonal cell populations, through they chalked up what they saw to noisiness in gene expression. Still, researchers wondered about the cause of the randomness they had observed. Now, biophysicists and systems biologists are looking into that question and aim to figure out how and why single cells and molecules behave the way they do, and the consequences of that behavior.

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After Presenting In Vitro Data on siRNA Delivery Tech, Copernicus Eyes Partners

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In this issue of Gene Silencing News

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Young Investigator Profile

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