[searcabic] Latest news postings on biotechnology, 14 Oct 2008

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*Posted 14 October 2008*

*PHILIPPINES*
1-RP'S SCIENCE INNOVATIONS NEED TO BE COMMERCIALIZED
2-FILIPINO FIRM SEES HIGH DEMAND FOR BIO-FERTILIZERS IN ASIAN REGION
3-SCIENTIST ISSUES WARNING ON 'NANO-INGREDIENTS'

*KOREA*
4-NORTH CHUNGCHEONG BETS ON BIOTECH

*INDIA*
5-BIOTECH MAKES EGGPLANTS RESISTANT TO DEVASTATING INSECTS

*GLOBAL*
6-BIOTECH'S GLOWING BREAKTHROUGH WINS NOBEL PRIZE


*1-RP'S SCIENCE INNOVATIONS NEED TO BE COMMERCIALIZED*
by Sara Fabunan (Correspondent)
12-October-2008 BusinessMirror

THE progress in science and technology (S&T) in the Philippines should
continue not only for innovations but also for investments to be able to
bring progress and development to the country, Sen. Edgardo Angara said in
his speech at the awarding of the 10 former Department of Science and
Technology (DOST) administrators or secretary at the Manila Hotel on Friday.


The DOST administrator-awardees was the last category to be awarded in the
50 Men and Women of Science by the science department in celebration of its
50th anniversary.

"We should not wait another 50 years. We must act now. If we want to move up
our global competitiveness, we must improve our S&T sector. And that
requires massive concentration of attention," Angara said.

He added that most Filipinos, especially politicians, have very short
attention span. He then called on the S&T sector to capture attention by
giving the spotlight to innovators of S&T by partnering with the private
business sector for commercialization.

"We should not only start on putting money into research. We have to go now
into commercialization and that is lacking in the innovation movement in the
Philippine S&T. There is so many creative ideas for the innovations, but we
don't show or turn that idea into commercial use to make it work into the
market," Angara suggested.

Dr. Antonio Arizabal, one of the awardees, agreed. He said the country needs
to maximize and utilize its resources.

"As a developing country, our resources are definitely limited. Therefore,
we should concentrate more on the commercialization of S&T to advance the
socioeconomic development," Arizabal told the BusinessMirror.

Another awardee, Dr. William Padolina, said the country's S&T is improving
but there are still things that should be done.

"A lot of catching up [needs to be done], but I think we are on the right
track. Both Congress and the Executive are working together, because we now
realize that we cannot survive in a very competitive world without the
application of S&T," he said.

Besides Arizabal and Padolina, the other eight administrator-awardees who
each received a trophy by sculptor Juan Said Imao were Dr. Paulino Garcia,
Dr. Juan Salcedo Jr., Brig. Gen. Florencio Martin Medina, Dr. Melecio Magno,
Dr. Emil Javier, Dr. Ceferino Follosco, Dr. Ricardo Gloria and Dr. Filemon
Uriarte Jr. They were awarded by Science Secretary Estrella Alabastro and
Undersecretary Fortunato de la Peña.

Former DOST secretaries Garcia, Salcedo, Medina, Magno and Gloria were given
posthumous awards.

Arizabal added that there are countries which are in a better position to
create and innovate, so instead of focusing on innovators or creators for
S&T, "we should shop around, look for the best and then utilize these to the
maximum extent."

Arizabal expressed concern in the progress of the country, especially in its
competitiveness in productive enterprises.

"We should never forget the fact that development is always associated with
the better management of resources. And since our resources are very
limited, we should manage [them] in such a way that we acquire technology
that would enable us to be more competitive in the local and the world
markets," he said.

However, he said the Philippines' political system does not jibe with the
socioeconomic situation.

"We need a system that will do what is good for the nation, rather than talk
of what is good for the nation; do what is good. We have a lot of people who
know what is good for the country, but we don't have enough people who are
doing what they can to do what is good for the country. Because our
political system is not jibing with the socioeconomic condition. We need a
government for the people, not necessarily of the people and by the people,"
he stressed.

Dr. Arizabal was the secretary of the DOST from 1986 to 1989. During his
term, he led the reorganization and staffing of the department's different
institutions and reviewed their functions.

He also implemented contract-research agreements and commercialization, or
technology-transfer agreements, with private companies on technologies such
as improved alcohol production, extraction of essential oils, coconut water
beverage production, large capacity lumber kilns and many others.

"Thank you for this honor. I am not so sure if I deserve it, but I have
tried my best to set up the [DOST] as an easement of government to elevate
the level of [S&T] in our productive enterprises," the former secretary
said.

Padolina said he was overwhelmed by the award bestowed on him, having mixed
feelings of humility, pride and a sense of satisfaction because, somehow, in
his term, he was able to contribute to the progress of S&T in the country.

"I feel that my efforts have been appreciated because the science community
is building an accomplishment and I can see that there is a sense of
continuity," he said.

During his term Padolina said he implemented a development agenda that
included technological advances in agriculture, manufacturing and services,
an education program focused on technological systems and industry
application, and the improvement of research-management system.

The development of S&T human resources also gained attention through the
Engineering and Science Education Project, which supported scholars in
science, engineering, science education and technology management.

Padolina also agreed with Angara's statement that the Philippine S&T is
"very weak" in the commercialization phase.

"We need to do a lot of work so that the discoveries our scientists made
will find their use in the marketplace. One way of doing that is to make a
good reading of the market, the demand, so that you can respond to that
demand. While it is true that you can create demand, it is more difficult to
do that," Padolina explained.

He recognized that the country is not left behind, but there are some areas
that need improvements, besides commercialization, like in basic research,
the emerging sciences, biotechnology, materials science and nano technology.

"In some areas we need to catch up. But in geothermal technology, we are
top, being second in the world. I think in seismology, we are very good, and
also in marine science, we have many things to be proud of," he said.

Angara also noted that most, or 75 percent, of the country's teachers in
physics and mathematics are nonmajors in these fields. This, he said, is the
reason the students are performing poorly in domestic and international
examinations.

During the budget hearing of the Department of Education, Angara required
the department to submit a five-year plan where its investments and budget
would be focused.

"We shall now put money, and we are we willing to put money, within five
years we are going to retrain our science and mathematics teachers. Those
who are teaching [S&T] must hone their specialty, then, we can go on a
massive recruitment because that is the only way I think that we can beat up
the academic and educational standards of the Philippines. If we don't have
science and mathematics in mind, we cannot train good engineers and
scientists."

The Philippines need to "confront this lack of education," he added, in
order to advance the country's S&T and boost its global competitiveness.

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*2-FILIPINO FIRM SEES HIGH DEMAND FOR BIO-FERTILIZERS IN ASIAN REGION*
by Melody M. Aguiba
05-October-2008 Manila Bulletin

A Filipino biofertilizer company sees a high-growth market for
environment-friendly fertilizers not only locally but in Laos, Thailand, and
Australia with inorganic fertilizer's price soaring in the world market.

Arnichem Corp. has already completed a field testing for its biofertilizer
Vital N in Laos. It is seeking registration for the product in Thailand,
Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and even in the United States.

"There's so much interest in it because of the high price of fertilizer.
People are looking for an alternative," said Dr. Saturnina C. Halos of
Arnichem in an interview.

In order to tap its target markets, Arnichem has been working with another
Filipino firm which is already supplying agricultural chemical products in
these countries.

In the Philippines, it has reached 200,000 independent Filipino farmers
through dealers nationwide. Among these dealers are Agrivet Marketing
(Regions 1, 2, 3), Mandy Floro (Regions 9, 10, 11), Nene Torres (Negros
Island), and other dealers in Panay Island, Bohol, and Laguna.

This local market is growing too as Arnichem's farmer-users represent only
five percent of rice farmers in the country.

Bio-fertilizers have become the cheaper alternative to fossil fuel-based
fertilizer. Arnichem's Vital N requires just half of the normal eight bags
of urea fertilizer used to grow rice. It yields one metric ton (MT) more
than rice fields applied with inorganic fertilizers.

Inorganic fertilizers' cost has risen to P1,700 to P1,800 per bag while the
equivalent amount that can be applied on the same area for a rice field only
costs P450 using this local bio-fertilizer.

The local bio-fertilizer also promotes the rice plant's resistance to
bacterial leaf blight (BLB).

While planning its market expansion, Arnichem is also into product
development. This is in bio-pesticides which offer the same
environment-friendly properties of being non-toxic to human and animals and
non-persistent on the environment.

Target pest of Arnichem for bio-pesticides are rice black bug, mango
insects, vegetable pests, coconut brontispa (rhinoceros beetle), mites
(papaya, malunggay), and a substitute for the effectively banned (but still
being used due to the absence of a better alternative) endosulfan.

"We want to come up with a good delivery system – how farmers will use or
apply it," said Halos.

Such method may not involve spraying in order to prevent inhalation by
farmers.

A Department of Agriculture research consortium in Region 1 earlier
identified Vital N as the most effective bio-fertilizer for hybrid rice in
the market.

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*3-SCIENTIST ISSUES WARNING ON 'NANO-INGREDIENTS'*
by Ira Karen Apanay
10-October-2008 The Manila
Times<http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/oct/10/yehey/metro/20081010met3.html>

AN award-winning leader of an international civil society group warned
Thursday that the foods Filipinos may be eating and the cosmetics they are
using may contain nano-scale ingredients that are harmful to human health.

Pat Mooney, executive director of Erosion Technology and Concentration, said
these nano-scale ingredients could go inside the body and may affect the
immune system.

"It is too small and mostly invisible, it could be found in your food,
cosmetics, laptop, cellphone and clothing," Mooney said.

Mooney is in the Philippines to speak before the government and the
scientific community on the potential impacts of nanotechnology and
synthetic biology. He was invited by The Third World Network and Southeast
Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment.

He worked with civil society organizations on international trade and
development issues related to agriculture and biodiversity, for more than 30
years.

He wrote or co-author several books on the politics of biotechnology and
bio¬diversity and received The Right Livelihood Award—known as the
"Alternative Nobel Prize"—from the Swedish Parliament in 1985.

In 1998, Mooney received the Pearson Peace Prize from Canada's Governor
General. He also received the American "Giraffe Award" given to people "who
stick their necks out".

He explained nanotechnology manipulates matter at the scale of atoms and
molecules, resulting to changes that scientists call quantum effects.

"Scientists predict that within a decade, giving birth to a living,
self-replicating organism from a simple bacterial genome inserted into an
empty bacterial cell will become no big deal," said Mooney.

He also urged the Philippine government to regulate the use of
nanotechnology to assure that it will harm Filipinos.

Mooney said the market for nanotech¬nology is $700 billion and expected to
hit $2.6 trillion by 2015.

He cited 26 studies regarding the effects of nanotechnology and "no one said
it is safe."

Mooney also said there are about 800 products being sold in the country that
went through the process of nanotech¬nology, the latest being sunscreens and
cosmetics.

"No nanotechnology should touch a human skin," Mooney said explaining small
organisms will sink through the skin and circulate with the blood.

Mooney said any effort by governments or industry to confine the debate
solely on the health and safety aspects of nano-scale technologies will be a
mistake.

"At stake here is the world's $3-trillion food retail market, agricultural
export markets valued at $544 billion, the livelihoods of some 2.6 billion
farming people and the well being of people like us who dependent upon the
farmers for our daily rice and bread," Mooney said.

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*KOREA
4-NORTH CHUNGCHEONG BETS ON BIOTECH
*by Kim Tong-hyung (Staff Reporter )
08-October-2008 The Korea
Times<http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/10/123_32386.html>

Korea desires to become a high-tech utopia and North Chungcheong Province
expects to be the center of innovation, according to the region's governor.

The small town of Osong is the venue for ``Bio Korea 2008,'' a three-day
biotechnology conference and tradeshow that started Wednesday, aimed at
helping local companies develop overseas trade and find investors and raise
the region's profile as a hub for research and development.

The event brings together nearly 400 companies from around the world,
including Korean biotech players LG Life Sciences and RNL Bio, and
multinational pharmaceutical giant, Merck.

Also making appearances will be Ian Wilmut, the famous Scottish scientist
responsible for the cloning of Dolly the sheep, and William Rutter, the
founder of biotech pioneer Chiron, both delivering opening speeches for the
academic conference held on the sidelines of the trade fair.

``The idea of the event is to provide a one-stop connection between
biotechnology and industry, offering the world's most innovative researchers
and firms the chance to share their ideas on technology and products, and
find new business relationships,'' Governor Chung Woo-taik told The Korea
Times.

``Leading Korean biotech companies and pharmaceuticals like Chong Kun Dang,
Hanmi and Green Cross will be provided a chance to expose themselves better
to the global market. And regional authorities and local research institutes
like the Gyeonggi Bio Center, Gangwon Technopark and the Gyeongbuk Institute
for Bio Industry will get the opportunity to court investors as well,'' he
said.

The event will be divided in three parts ? the trade show, conference and
business forum. More than 250 companies will participate in the tradeshow to
showcase their technology and products and negotiate with potential buyers.

The business forum will feature more than 70 companies announcing their
business plans and discussing partnerships.

Last year's event generated about $30 million worth of export deals, Chung
said.

``We have great participation especially from biotech firms from Australia
and Scotland this year, who are seeking partnerships with Korean
companies,'' he said.

*Heralding Osong Complex *
The Bio Korea event, now in its third year, will also be a somewhat lavish
opening ceremony for the Osong Bio-Health Science Technopolis, a 4.6
square-kilometer industrial cluster which will be declared completed next
week.

About 558 billion won (about $408 million) has been invested since 1997 for
the construction of the biotech complex where six state-run organizations ?
the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA), Korea Health Industry
Development Institute, Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Institute of Toxicological Research, Korea Human Resource
Development Institute for Health and Welfare, and the National Institute of
Health ? will be relocated by 2010.

More than 50 Korean biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including LG Life
Sciences and CJ, are planning to move their offices, production facilities
or research and development centers to the new complex. About 4,300
apartment units are currently being built to house employees.

The completion of the Osong Technopolis will create 13,000 new jobs and
generate more than two trillion won annually in industrial production, North
Chungcheong officials claim.

The regional government is expected to complete the construction of a second
Osong complex by 2015, a 6.9 square-kilometer site designed to lure firms
from the information technology sector. By then, Osong will grow into a
vibrant, industrial town with a population of more than 60,000, if
everything goes as planned.

``The Osong complex will provide the heart to our efforts for regional
development and we expect it to eventually establish itself as the `Mecca'
of Asia's biotech industry,'' said Chung.

``The concentration of research and development centers, testing facilities,
licensing organizations and also marketing and retail centers will benefit
businesses. The complex will also allow a stronger connection between
academic circles and the industry and grow into an international biotech
hub,'' he said.

As well as the Osong complex, the regional government is also investing
heavily in the Ochang Scientific Industrial Complex, located in the
neighboring county of Cheongwon, as an industrial area for information
technology and the emerging area of bio-IT convergence, such as
bioinformatics and biochips.

The areas of Yeongdong, Okcheon and Boeun are collaborating to foster a
research hub for agricultural technology, while another plan is to develop a
production center for oriental medicine around Jecheon.

*North Chungcheong Sees Fast Growth*
Realizing the ambitions for ``Bio Chungbuk'' is dependent on the regional
government's ability to attract investment. And Chung, elected as governor
in 2006, is certainly proud of the results.

In his past two years as governor, North Chungcheong Province has lured
investment of about 17 trillion won from more than 100 companies based here
and abroad, including LG Life Sciences and Hynix Semiconductors.

During the process, 45,000 new jobs were created and the population rose by
more than 20,000, accounting for the fourth largest increase among Korean
provinces.

On Tuesday, the provincial government signed a deal with Korean drug maker,
Shinpoong Pharmaceuticals, with the company planning to spend around 260
billion won by 2018 to establish a production facility at the Osong complex.


TheraJect, an U.S. company, is also planning to spend about 25 billion won
to build a factory in Osong by 2013.

``We have been committed to ease regulations and provide dramatic incentives
for companies willing to invest in North Chungcheong, and our plans for the
industrial complex have certainly helped,'' said Chung.

``Gyeonggi Province has been the role model for regional governments in
garnering investment, as former governor Sohn Hak-kyu lured more than 14
trillion won in investments during his four years in office. So I am proud
to say that it took just two years for us to outdo them,'' he said.

thkim at koreatimes.co.kr

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*INDIA
5-BIOTECH MAKES EGGPLANTS RESISTANT TO DEVASTATING INSECTS
*by John Dale Dunn, M.D., J.D.
09-October-2008 The Heartland
Institute<http://www.heartland.org/publications/environment%20climate/article.html?articleid=23925>

Researchers in India have begun field testing on eggplants genetically
improved to resist devastating attacks by the fruit and shoot borer.

The pest currently destroys 40 percent of the eggplant harvest in South and
Southeast Asia, where food shortages cause rampant malnutrition and
resultant diseases and death.

*Avoids Use of Pesticides*
Efforts to fight the fruit and shoot borer currently entail massive
applications of pesticides in eggplant fields. Such large amounts of
pesticides are necessary that many eggplant farmers themselves are afraid to
eat their own produce.

"We have to spray pesticides on eggplants every two to three days," an
Indian eggplant farmer reported in the Journal of Risk Research. "Because of
this practice, we do not eat the eggplants that we grow. ... But we put them
directly in the market and sell them anyway. If [biotech] eggplant is
invented, we will be able to eat the eggplants we grow because there will be
less chemical residue on the vegetable."

"The fruit and shoot borer is a major threat to eggplant production, causing
significant yield loss and reducing the number of marketable fruits,"
explained Henry I. Miller, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.
"Farmers often resort to intensive use of pesticides to control the insect,
with varying results on the pest, but not infrequently causing toxicity to
farmers and their families.

"The new [genetically modified] varieties, which boast enhanced endogenous
resistance to the fruit and shoot borer, have been exhaustively tested and
evaluated for their agronomic performance, safety, and efficacy in
controlling the pest, as well as for any effects on beneficial insects,"
Miller noted.

*Improved Health, Yields*
The new, borer-resistant eggplant has been created by the Indian
agricultural company Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Co (Mahyco) and Monsanto. The
fruit and shoot borer is similar to the corn borer that plagued corn and
maize crops throughout the world over the years until defeated by pesticides
and genetic improvement of corn.

Experts believe the genetically improved eggplant will reduce pesticide
applications by 30 percent, making eggplants much safer for human
consumption.

The reduced need for pesticide applications is also expected to have a
strongly positive impact on the environment. In addition, initial research
indicates the genetically improved eggplants may have higher yields than
conventional strains.

*Activist Obstacles Remain*
Opposition from anti-technology groups trying to stop biotechnology,
however, may delay Indian government approval of the improved eggplant,
cautions Gregory Conko, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise
Institute.

"Although it is good news that the Indian regulators have finally permitted
field trials of these plants, it's likely to be several more years before
they are approved for commercial cultivation," Conko said.

"There is a very strong anti-biotechnology presence in India from both
Greenpeace and several homegrown activist organizations," Conko continued.
"And, like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, India's Genetic
Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), which is the biotechnology regulatory
body, is very heavily influenced by the green movement.

"So, like Bt cotton, we should expect this process to take quite a long
time, with the GEAC demanding three or four years' worth of field trial
results before finally doing what it should have done years ago," Conko
said.

Conko added, "a lot of Indian farmers are very excited about the possibility
of growing Bt brinjal [eggplant] because they've been watching for the past
four years how well cotton growers have done with crops that incorporate the
same trait.

"And," Conko continued, "because the fruit and shoot borer has developed
increasing resistance to many of the frontline insecticides used in Indian
agriculture, if Bt brinjal is even half as effective as Bt cotton has been,
it could end up raising yields and saving farmers a lot of money they would
otherwise spend on relatively ineffective insecticide sprays."

Miller agreed, saying biotech opponents are the real danger to farmers and
consumers alike. "The greatest 'biohazard' in the testing and
commercialization of these new varieties is the opposition to them from
dishonest, dissembling, antisocial, anti-technology activists," he said.

###
*John Dale Dunn, M.D., J.D. (jddmdjd at web-access.net) is a civilian emergency
medicine faculty member at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center and a
policy advisor to The Heartland Institute and the American Council on
Science and Health.*

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*GLOBAL
6-BIOTECH'S GLOWING BREAKTHROUGH WINS NOBEL PRIZE
*by Matthew Herper
08-October-2008
Forbes<http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/10/08/nobel-chalfie-shimomura-tsien-biz-healthcare-cx_mh_1008gfp.html>

Three researchers won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry today for their work
turning a protein found in jellyfish into a ubiquitous biotech tool that is
used in drug discovery, genetic engineering and most types of research.

Green fluorescent protein was first discovered by Osamu Shimomura four
decades ago. Columbia University's Martin Chalfie had the insight that it
could be used throughout biology. Roger Tsien at the University of
California, San Diego, improved the protein by making it brighter and easier
to use. Forbes.com wrote about the discovery of the protein in 2001. (See:
"Biotech's Glowing Breakthrough" for lots of photos.)

Shimomura first noticed green fluorescent protein (GFP) in 1962. At first,
it was a mere footnote in a scientific paper about a small, bioluminescent
jellyfish called Aequoria Victoria. The study of that jellyfish's glow
became Shimomura's life's work.

For 20 years starting in 1967, Shimomura made summer pilgrimages to Friday
Harbor in Washington state. With his wife, son and daughter, he might gather
more than 3,000 jellyfish per day. Over several months, that could add up to
50,000 jellyfish weighing a total of two and a half tons.

>From that massive payload of jellyfish, it would be possible to purify
perhaps a few hundred milligrams of the glowing proteins for study. A single
jellyfish does not need much light-emitting protein to make its lens-shaped
body glow.

The average Aequoria Victoria is three to four inches wide and shaped like
an umbrella, with 100 light-producing organs the size of poppy seeds spaced
on its outer rim. Inside each organ, two chemical reactions produce the
green glow.

A protein called aequorin produces the light, through a reaction that
involves calcium ions. But this light is blue. Green fluorescent protein
absorbs this blue and re-emits it as a green glow. For years, aequorin
received most of the attention. Seven years after GFP was first identified,
a team of Harvard researchers "discovered" it, never having heard of it
before.

Aequorin proved useful, particularly as a tool for studying nerves, which
use the calcium ions it reacts with. GFP would eventually become a vital
tool that molecular biologists would use to earmark genes they want to
study.

But first, the gene that creates the GFP protein needed to be found. William
Ward, a professor at Rutgers University, met Douglas Prasher on a
jellyfish-hunting expedition in the 1980s. Ward, a professor at Rutgers
University, had spent a decade becoming one of the world's experts on GFP
and the Aequoria jellyfish.

Prasher, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, already
knew Aequoria well. He identified the jellyfish's other glowing protein,
Aequorin, while doing his graduate work at the University of Georgia. But
finding the GFP gene would prove difficult.

After scrounging for funding, Prasher landed a three-year grant from the
American Cancer Society. He used up all three years trying to find a genetic
sequence that matched the protein--a task that could be done quickly today.
When he finished in 1992, he didn't have enough funding left to put the gene
in bacteria--a necessary test if he was to be sure he had the right DNA
sequence. He did not receive tenure at WHOI and became a population
geneticist.

In the early 1990s, a Columbia professor named Martin Chalfie heard about
Prasher's work. Excited, Chalfie called Prasher and asked for a copy of the
gene. But when Prasher finally found the gene, Chalfie was away on
sabbatical at the University of Utah. "At the time, he was never at the
phone," Prasher told Forbes in 2001. "He had a girlfriend out there."

Prasher went ahead and published his description of the GFP gene; Chalfie
found that scientific paper while working with a graduate student, and the
two researchers finally made contact. Prasher sent Chalfie a copy of the
gene.

Many doubted the GFP gene would produce the glowing protein on its own. But
when Chalfie put it in bacteria and shined a blue light on them, they
glowed. Chalfie's 1994 paper on the gene popularized it as a genetic marker.
Scientists could link GFP with another gene; were this piece of DNA present
in a cell, it would shine.

As for Chalfie's girlfriend, a noted fruit fly researcher name Tulle
Hazelrigg: The two married, and both are professors at Columbia. Hazelrigg
made her own large contribution to GFP research: She was among the first to
attach GFP to other proteins, allowing scientists to watch where individual
proteins go within a cell.

Scientists found they could attach the GFP gene to other genes. Instead of
running complicated tests to see if they had managed to insert a gene into
an organism, scientists could just shine a blue light and watch for the
glow.

"It's like having a spell check that underlines words if you've made a
mistake," says Rutgers Professor Bill Ward, who was shocked that Chalfie's
bacteria shone at all. "The rest of us knew it wouldn't work," Ward told
Forbes in 2001.

Other bioluminescent proteins don't light up unless certain enzymes are
present. But GFP is a concrete wall of a molecule--it curves around itself
such that there is no place for an enzyme to bind. "It's like someone's feet
in Jersey gangster movies where you're given concrete overshoes," says GFP
researcher Roger Tsien.

Another surprise: Many genes produce half-baked proteins that need to
interact with other proteins, made by other genes, to function. But this is
not true for GFP--it doesn't need any help at all.

The green fluorescent protein was originally used to discover whether genes
were present at all. Then Tulle Hazelrigg, a professor at Columbia, modified
genes in fruit flies so that the proteins they make have GFP glued to them.
The result is rather like tying a flashlight to your dog's head. Even in
total darkness, you can see where he is.

Using such fusion proteins, a scientist can follow exactly where a protein
moves in a cell, or in an animal's body. In this case, Hazelrigg was
studying a protein involved in the production of sperm and egg. The bright
spots on this male larva are the fly's testes. The rest of the larvae is
green because of bioluminescence in its gut; the GFP is expressed mostly in
the reproductive organs.

Creating transgenic animals that contain the GFP gene has become
increasingly important. In mice, for instance, GFP has enabled adult
stem-cell research. Stem cells taken from one mouse and put in another can
be identified by their green glow.

Scientists who want to insert green fluorescent protein into cells are no
longer restricted to green. The protein now comes in yellow and blue
varieties. Generally, the GFP seen in the lab is not the same stuff found in
jellyfish.

Roger Tsien, a professor at University of California in San Diego, mutated
and otherwise altered the GFP gene to produce various colors. He also
managed to make it brighter. The GFP found in the Aequoria jellyfish
produces some of its light when hit by ultraviolet light, some when hit by
various shades of blue. Tsien's version of the protein produces all of its
light when hit by a single color.

GFP is a valuable tool, and Tsien's tinkering made it more valuable. Along
with Chalfie and Shimomura, he is sharing in today's Nobel Prize.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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*Let's look for
solutions…*<http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/oct/web/10.html>

*Ecotourism: enjoying nature at its
best*<http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/oct/web/06.html>

*OFW lady turns biotech corn
farmer*<http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/sep/web/29.html>

*Pinoy is new president of Asian economists'
body*<http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/sep/press/23.html>

*Nobel Peace Prize 2007 goes to IPCC with 6 Filipino Scientist
Members*<http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/sep/web/23.html>

*---------------------------------------------------------*
<http://www.searca.org/web/announcements/photocontest2008/index.html>
*---------------------------------------------------------*
*Download available paper and/or presentation handouts of some notable
speakers presented at SEARCA Agriculture and Development Series. CLICK HERE.
* <http://www.searca.org/web/adss/2008/index.html>

*SEARCA ADSS: The International Protection for Foreign Investments in
Agriculture: From UN, to BITS, to RTAs * <http://www.searca.org/>
*by Atty. Marvic M. V. F. Leonen
Drilon Hall, SEARCA, College, Laguna Philippines
14 Octoberr 2008, 4:00 - 5:00 PM*

*6th Scientific Convention of the Philippine Association for Plant Tissue
Culture & Biotechnology (PAPTCB)* <http://www.bic.searca.org/>
*Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines
26 - 30 October 2008*

*5th Asian Conference on Food and Nutrition
Safety*<http://www.ilsiacfns2008.com/>
*Shangri-La's Mactan, Cebu, Philippines
03 - 07 November 2008*
         [image: visit discussion board] <http://bsearcabic.runboard.com/>
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