CONTENTS May-Jun 2002
IN THE NEWS
India’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan Ö Ranbaxy ties up with Chinese and Korean companies Ö BresaGen joins research consortium Ö Reliable information on genetic diseases Ö EU to catch up with the United States Ö Germany permits ES cell work Ö India says ‘yes’ to transgenic crops
MARKET NEWS
Monoclonal antibodies offer opportunity for India Ö Growth of biotech crops for food processing Ö Consumers get health bug as probiotics enjoy sales boom Ö British biotech delegation explores Indian market Ö Wockhardt buys out Rhein Biotech from joint venture Ö Biocon, Shantha in joint venture for human insulin
INVENTIONS/NEW PRODUCTS
New protein target for atherosclerosis drugs Ö New cancer drug from Shanta Biotechnics Ö Live cell imaging Ö Multiple antibodies screening kit Ö Protein marker
R&D IDEAS
Breakthrough in understanding of human DNA repairing Ö Can personalized drug pay off? Ö Proteins walk this way Ö Gene technology set to decode traditional Chinese medicine Ö Italian gynaecologist may be first to clone human
GENOMICS
New maize genome mapped Ö Structure of dengue virus revealed Ö Draft genome sequences of two rice varieties ready Ö Durum DNA to be mapped Ö TIGR to sequence many more anthrax strains
MEDICAL BIOTECH
Inhibiting cardiac proteins Ö Troublesome cures Ö Genetic link to migraine Ö Breast cancer profiling Ö ‘Zinc finger’ protein for gene therapy
BIOINFORMATICS
Bioinformatics is happening Ö CDC Linux, CSIR in bioinformatics pact
AGRI BIOTECH
Codex drafts GM food principles Ö Research on to develop drought-tolerant rice Ö IARI develops world’s first hybrid onion Ö Chinese plant biotechnology Ö Papaya with longer shelf life Ö New cottonseed from CSIRO
ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
Marine microbes for biological pest control Ö Populus genome project
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Landmark judgment on biotech patent Ö New centre for IP advice Ö BresaGen granted leukemia drug patent Ö GeneMedix approved in China
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
CATCHING UP WITH EVENTS
