Biotechnology's potential barely exploited: scientists

Jean-Louis Santini

CHICAGO (AFP) – New research tools will bring a boom

in biotechnology that will unlock the enormous potential of

using synthetic life to cure disease and develop

environmentally friendly fuels, scientists say.

"If you look at all the things biology can do with

technology, we have not yet scratched the surface," said

Drew Endy, assistant professor of bioengineering at

Stanford University.

The past 35 years of biotech development have

introduced a number of "tremendous applications,"

particularly in the area of bioengineered drugs, Endy said

at the annual conference of the American Association for

the Advancement of Science here.

Research is now moving ahead at a rapid clip, with

"geometric improvements" in tools used to construct DNA

from scratch, he said.

And in the area of gene sequencing, it took researchers

just six years to go from reading a simple bacteria

genome to being able to sequence a human genome.

Last year, researchers at the Venter Institute built a

bacteria genome from scratch, he noted.

"I bet we will be able to construct a human chromosome,

and the yeast genome," Endy said, offering a six-year 

forecast. "It sounds a little bit crazy because it's an

exponential improvement in the tools."

There is both public and private interest in making these

basic tools more relevant.

"We are advocating now a national initiative in synthetic

biology that would include in part a route map for getting

better in building genetic material, constructing DNA from

scratch and assembling it into genes and genomes," Endy

said.

An open technology platform "where the genetic

componentry is available for anybody who might want to

start a biotechnology company" is critical to advancing

the field.

"In the next month we will announce a public agreement

as a new legal framework for sharing standard biological

parts," Endy added.

An open platform could significantly reduce the amount of

time and money it takes to develop new drugs, said Jay

Keasling, professor of biochemical engineering at the

University of California at Berkeley.

Keasling is using a microbe to produce a lower cost anti-

malaria drug to replace Artemisinin, a plant-based drug to

which resistance is growing and which faces expected

supply shortages.

"We anticipate in one or two years that the optimization

process will be completed and that production of the drug

will commence and have it in the hands of people in Africa

shortly thereafter," Keasling said.

Meanwhile, Christina Smolke, assistant professor of

bioengineering at Stanford University spoke about her

efforts to design molecules that go into the cell and

analyze the cellular state before delivering a therapeutic

effect.

"Our goal is to make more effective therapies by taking

advantage of the natural capabilities of our immune

system and introducing slight modifications in cases

where it is not doing what we would like it to do," she said.

Smolke said she hoped to translate her technologies into

intelligent cellular therapeutics for glaucoma cancer

patients in the next five years.

"That's a very optimistic view... but so far things are

moving quickly," she said.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090214/sc_afp/ussciencebiotechnology

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