Archives of Junk DNA Portal

July, 2008
(Jul 31) Admission upon Resignation - End of an Era
(Jul 30) deCODE and SGENE Consortium Discover Deletions in the Human Genome Linked to Risk of Schizophrenia [Junk DNA diseases "beyond SNPs"]
(Jul 26) Rewriting Darwin: The new non-genetic inheritance
(Jul 22) How the Personal Genome Project [of Church at Broad Inst.] Could Unlock the Mysteries of Life
(Jul 20) What You Should Know Before You Spit Into That Test Tube
(Jul 16) Principle of Recursive Genome Function Supersedes Dogmas; By Andras Pellionisz, Online Ahead of Print; (Scientific Visionary Vindicated)
(Jul 14) Intel, Others Back New DNA Sequencer
(Jul 07) New Targets For RNAs That Regulate Genes Identified
(Jul 05) Science is being held back by outdated laws

June, 2008
(Jun 25) When's a Gene Test Not a Gene Test?
(Jun 20) First Anniversary of ENCODE: The Principle of Recursive Genome Function
(Jun 19) Genetics Became Information Science - The Holistic View of Genome Structure and Function
(Jun 18) BIOCOM 2008: Turning personalized medicine into reality
(Jun 17) First Anniversary of ENCODE - video interviews with leading Genomics experts in Cold Springs Harbor
(Jun 16) Calif. cracks down on 13 genetic testing startups
(Jun 14) First ENCODE Anniversary
(Jun 13) Applied Biosystems Joins 1000 Genomes Project
(Jun 10) Apple in Parallel: Turning the PC World Upside Down?
(Jun 02) Third Wave to Acquire Stratagene's Full Velocity Patents for $3.9M

May, 2008
(May 28) Genome 'trailblazer' Francis Collins departing research institute
(May 28) Government's gene guru to resign [Francis Collins to go ... where?]
(May 26) Dutch scientists first to unravel a woman’s DNA
(May 24) President Bush Signs Genetic Nondiscrimination Legislation Into Law
(May 15) Genetics firm to build online health database [of Parkinson's disease]
(May 13) Agilent Technologies Announces Licensing Agreement with Broad Institute to Develop Genome-Partitioning Kits to Streamline Next-Generation Sequencing
(May 12) Merck's Informatics Mission [What should be the result of long-predicted "Genomics-IT confluence"?]
(May 08) Research firm bases FPGA on fractal-like structure
(May 03) Intel Seeks Partners to Develop FPGA-Based Solution for Next-Gen Sequencing Analysis
(May 03) Unlocking the human genome: Pioneering researcher joins Buck Institute
(May 03) Slaughter's Anti-Genetic Discrimination Bill Becomes Law

April, 2008
(Apr 28) Mitrionics FPGA-Accelerated Computing Platform for Bio and Genome Informatics Demonstrated at Bio-IT World Conference
(Apr 28) Baylor College of Medicine to Use Applied Biosystems Genetic Analysis Technology as Part of 1000 Genomes Project
(Apr 24) Beijing Genomics Institute Signs Multi-Million Dollar Order for 11 Additional Illumina Genome Analyzers
(Apr 24) Genetic Discrimination Law Passes Senate with Compromises
(Apr 18) The $100 Genome
(Apr 18) GNS: Building a SNPs-to-Outcomes Engine
(Apr 17) New technologies speed development of personal genomes ["Jim Watson project"]
(Apr 16) Sydney Brenner Urges Cancer Researchers to Consider 'Bedside to Bench' Approach
(Apr 15) The [Dreaded] DNA Data Deluge
(Apr 14) New DNA sequencing strategy could be vital during disease outbreak
(Apr 14) May We Scan your Genome? [Newsweek skips on Genome Revolution to herald DTC business model]
(Apr 13) Global Biotech Competition Heats Up
(Apr 10) Al Gore Helps Navigenics Launch Personal Genomics Service
(Apr 09) Navigenics Debuts Gene Dx Service, Allies With Mayo to Study How Patients Use Data
(Apr 08) Enter Navigenics, Where Personal Genomics Gets More Medical
(Apr 07) Gene Regulation Video in Science website
(Apr 06) Gene Regulation in the Third Dimension
(Apr 04) BioNanomatrix Lands $5.1M in Venture Financing
(Apr 02) Roche NimbleGen Launches NimbleGen Sequence Capture Technology for Targeted Genome Resequencing
(Apr 02) NanoLabs Raises £10M to Aid Race for a Cheaper Genome

March, 2008
(Mar 29) New Research Provides Greater Insight into Gene Regulation
(Mar 28) New Software Aids Researchers Analyzing Millions of DNA Sequences
(Mar 26) BGI to Ramp up Sequencing Abilities with Illumina, Roche Tools
(Mar 24) Genetic Testing Gets Personal [and now they are more then 20 companies]
(Mar 21) Navigenics will Launch [its Personalized Genomics web service] April 8th in NYC
(Mar 17) Tapping miRNA-Regulated Pathways
(Mar 17) All Connected
(Mar 12) Applied Biosystems Surpasses Industry Milestone in Lowering the Cost of Sequencing Human Genome
(Mar 11) GATC opens up shop in Sweden
(Mar 07) New Partnership with Helicos Puts Expression Analysis at the Forefront of Genomic Research
(Mar 06) Helicos BioSciences declares first shipment of single molecule DNA sequencer
(Mar 04) Gene Map Becomes a Luxury Item [an American got it on taxpayers' money, another by non-profit funds, a Chineese (don't ask the source) - and now a Romanian entrepreneur -AJP]
(Mar 02) Illumina technology can lead researchers to new drug therapies, links to disease

February, 2008
(Feb 29) Google Backs Harvard Scientist's 100,000-Genome Quest
(Feb 29) Basically, DNA is a computing problem [Ballistics, in WWII, was also a computing problem]
(Feb 27) Upheaval in Genomics - news censored, exodus of academics to lucrative industry, proprpietary IP abound...
(Feb 14) How One Protein Binds To Genes And Regulates Human Genome
(Feb 12) PacBio Plans to Sell First DNA Sequencers in 2010; Aims for 100 Gigabases Per Hour
(Feb 11) California company claims faster, cheaper gene map
(Feb 08) Race is on to produce a personal - and cheap - genome readout
(Feb 07) On the front lines of the genomic revolution
(Feb 07) Illumina says inexpensive genome testing here
(Feb 07) RNA-associated introns guide nerve-cell channel production
(Feb 03) The Final Meltdown of JunkDNA Myth
(Feb 01) Florida Gives Miami Genetic Institute $80M

January, 2008
(Jan 31) Faith in the landscape of modernity [Francis Collins at Stanford, 5th Feb, 7:30pm]
(Jan 30) Reinventing the Sequencer
(Jan 29) SeqWright Announces Personal Genomics Service
(Jan 28) Fueling The Future: The oil well of tomorrow may be in a California lab full of genetically modified, diesel-spewing bacteria
(Jan 25) Life: A Tech-Centric View
(Jan 24) Venter Institute Scientists Create First Synthetic Bacterial Genome
(Jan 24) NIH Announces New Initiative In Epigenomics
(Jan 23) Navigating the Genome for Autism Clues
(Jan 22) International effort to catalog complete DNA of 1,000 people
(Jan 21) Supergene Labs Design Microbes to Change Sun to Fuel, Eat Waste
(Jan 18) Scientist hopeful about future of medicine, but funds needed
(Jan 17) Invitrogen Enters Non-Coding RNA Licensing Agreement with IMBcom [Mattick goes commercial]
(Jan 16) IPGS Founders meet in Silicon Valley this week for the "Next Big Thing" in "Genomics beyond Genes"
(Jan 16) Body Weight Influenced By Thousands Of Genes [6,000 genes - 25 percent of the genome]
(Jan 11) Is most of the human genome functional? ["Wait and see" is professionally negligent -AJP]
(Jan 10) Knome and the Beijing Genomics Institute Enter into Exclusive Strategic Alliance
(Jan 06) China makes 1st volunteer genome atlas
(Jan 05) Nutrigenomics: The Genome - Food Interface [Protein to DNA interaction "never" happens under Central Dogma - watch for upcoming release]
(Jan 04) New Route For Heredity Bypasses DNA [Post-ENCODE Genomics puts new light on Lamarckian concepts - watch for upcoming release]
(Jan 03) Seeking God in the Brain - Efforts to Localize Higher Brain Functions [Mathematical identification of brain functions in the genome - watch for upcoming release]
(Jan 01) Seattle research to map disease with U.S. grant

Archive of June - December, 2007< To access archived news click here

December, 2007
(Dec 30) Study Maps Life In Extreme Environments
(Dec 21) Breakthrough of the year - Human genetic variation [Misnomer: 2007 was the year of BreakDown]
(Dec 25)_Beijing Genomics Institute to Offer Sequencing Services [How big nations do in a Global Competition?]
(Dec 23) Hereditary diseases taking toll on Arab region [How big nations (will) do in a Global Competition]
(Dec 14) 4th International Greek Biotechnology Forum [How small nations (should) do in a Global Competition]
(Dec 13) Forget mistletoe - what about DNA?A new dating service matches singles using major histocompatibility complex genes
(Dec 12) More “Functional” DNA in Genome than Previously Thought
(Dec 10) Humans Evolving More Rapidly Than Ever, Say Scientist
(Dec 06) Craig Venter is the future
(Dec 06) Gene Security Network Raises $4M Series A Funding [Sunnyvale - Portola Valley]
(Dec 06) Swiss Government Launches $354M Systems Biology Initiative [Switzerland is to the lead]
(Dec 05) Mathematicians to decipher secrets of immune system [The Indian community in Thailand...]
(Dec 04) Danish Hotspot in Personalized Medicine [in San Francisco...]
(Dec 03) Chinese DNA. How China Uses Genome Projects to construct Chineseness [China is the next superpower]
(Dec 02) A Changing Portrait Of DNA [A Changing Story of Newsweek on Genetics Beyond Genes for USA Consumption]

November, 2007
(Nov 30) Knome Kicks Off Whole-Genome Sequencing Service
(Nov 29) MicroRNAs go from stop to start: MicroRNAs can both dampen and activate gene expression
(Nov 27) How low can a genome go? [The question is no longer the data - AJP]
(Nov 25) Decoding DNA fast and cheap
(Nov 24) European honour for Queensland scientist [Mattick]
(Nov 23) New Consumer Genomic Services Raise Questions About FDA Regulation
(Nov 20) Retail genomics: Within spitting distance
(Nov 18) The DNA Age - My Genome, Myself: Seeking Clues in DNA [Personalized PostGenetics?]
(Nov 15) Ancient retroviruses spurred evolution of gene regulatory networks in primates
(Nov 13) Bush Vetoes Bill that Would Raise NIH Funding Around 4 Percent over White House Request
(Nov 13) Are there rearrangement hot spots in the human genome? [Ohno proven wrong, again...]
(Nov 09) Characterizing the cancer genome in lung adenocarcinoma
(Nov 06) Dandruff is leftovers from meal on your head
(Nov 03) Cracking the code to life [how Venter's science and PR outsmarted the rest of the World]
(Nov 02) President Bush names Christian scientist [Francis Collins] a recipient of the President Medal of Freedom
(Nov 01) Bioinformatics - New Potion for Biotech & Pharma Firms
(Nov 01) Germany's Merkel pushes big business in India
(Nov 01) Shaking up scientific research [Venter shattering the 500-year assumption that businesses cannot do fundamental research]

October, 2007
(Oct 29) [Francis Collins] Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees named
(Oct 28) Richard Gibbs and the Baylor genome center are developing next-generation technology for sequencing DNA
(Oct 27) Where are we today with the real agenda of "re-thinking" "Post-ENCODE Genomics" (PostGenetics)?
(Oct 26) Watson, DNA Discoverer, Retires After Race Remark
(Oct 25) [How to avoid] The Brewing Biggest Embarrassment of the American R&D Since Sputnik
(Oct 24) How much [experimental] genomics is too much?
(Oct 23) Google Execs Really Do Hate Evil [Data format, Algorithm, Access]
(Oct 22) [Poitras' Gift] MIT Lab Wins $20M Gift to Study Genomics of Mental Illnesses
(Oct 22) James Watson: To question genetic intelligence is not racism [Where did he go wrong?]
(Oct 19) [Venter at] Web 2.0 Summit: Google The DNA Of Prospective Mates?
(Oct 19) Race row Nobel scientist James Watson scraps tour after being suspended
(Oct 18) The genetic map maker
(Oct 15) New Method Of Selecting DNA For Resequencing Accelerates Discovery Of Subtle DNA Variations [Differential Sequencing]
(Oct 12) Scientists map out first Asian genome
(Oct 10) [San Francisco] Bay Area Biotechs Poised to Win '07 VC Honors, But Living Costs Unnerve New Blood [where is Texas?]
(Oct 09) MIT Wins $100M [Koch] Gift to Create Cancer Research Institute That Melds Genomics, Cell Bio, Engineering
(Oct 09) NHGRI Unveils Second Phase of ENCODE Project With $80M in Grants
(Oct 08) The Human Genome: RNA Machine
(Oct 15) The Year of Miracles [2007? PostGenetics was founded 2005, IPGS formally abandoned "Junk DNA" in 2006]
(Oct 15) The Ten Hottest Nerds [The main theme is fighting "junk DNA diseases"]
(Oct 06) Gene genie [will it be out of the Petri dish by the 18th of October?]
(Oct 05) Emory Lands $3M Grant for Autism Research; [From Simons Foundation]
(Oct 05) Evolution Transforms "Junk" DNA into Genetic Machinery
(Oct 04) Sigma-Aldrich and the Universite de Montreal Establish Collaboration for RNA Interference Studies
(Oct 03) USC's Keck School Lands $10M Gift for Epigenomics Center
(Oct 02) The facts never speak for themselves ... scientists need to "frame" their messages to the public
(Oct 02) Beyond A 'Speed Limit' On Mutations, Species Risk Extinction
(Oct 01) [Inside the $100 Genome] BioNanomatrix Announces Issuance of Key Nanofluidics Patent Enabling Single Molecule Whole Genome Analysis

September, 2007
(Sep 29) Companies striving to sequence genome in a jiffy [$100 Genome! What to do with the avalanche of data?]
(Sep 28) DNA pioneer Watson far from elementary [a remarkable interview minus some cardinal questions]
(Sep 27) DNA repeats - a great chunk of "Junk" - or "Master Switches"? [The death of "Junk DNA numbers' game]
(Sep 27) Gene Regulation In Humans Is Closer Than Expected To Simple Organisms [Let's go for the simplest]
(Sep 27) DNA Collection Project in South Africa ["Everyone is a settler"]
(Sep 26) 2007: The Year of the Personalized .[PostGenetics; PPG]
(Sep 25) Slater Fund Invests in DNA sequencing “factory” of the future ["Put your money where your DNA is"]
(Sep 24) A 'scientific revolution' is taking place, as researchers explore the genomic jungle. DNA unraveled.
(Sep 24) He trolls genome for cancer clues
(Sep 21) Peer-reviewed publication in science journal to provide quantiative and experimentally testable predictions for "biological complexity"
(Sep 21) Human Genetic Ancestry uncovered by Algorithm [Now it is Microsoft, Google and Yahoo]
(Sep 21) Oxford scientist keen to set up subsidiary in India
(Sep 21) [Post]Genes in rheumatoid arthritis
(Sep 21) Personal Genomes: Mainstream In Five Years, But Who Should Have Access?
(Sep 20) Google Wants to Track Your Medical History -- And Your Genome
(Sep 19) Nova Scotia biotech sector has recipe for success [Biotech is a Global Race]
(Sep 18) Dutch Cabinet awards NGI € 271 million ($376 M) to Second phase Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI)
(Sep 17) Chinese scientists will soon complete the first genome atlas of the yellow race
(Sep 17) Perhaps They Should've Called It "One Man's Treasure" DNA
(Sep 14) Stop Calling it Junk!
(Sep 13) Google's Genetic Start-Up [Finally, the "Big One" starts shaking the IT World]
(Sep 11) European Science Foundation Proposes 'Massive' Systems Biology Program; Aebersold's on Board
(Sep 07) Genome 2.0 [Another misnomer. The "Genome" did not change. Genetics (1.0) changed to PostGenetics (2.0)
(Sep 06) Genomic, Proteomic Consortia Join $210M NIH Project Exhorting Interdisciplinary Research [NIH paradigm-shift]
(Sep 05) Are “Ultraconserved” Genetic Elements Really Indispensable? [Or even Darwinism is in Doubt?]
(Sep 03) In the Genome Race, the Sequel Is Personal [Venter presents Personal PostGenetics]
(Sep 01) ENCODE wrapped up early - the 2 years young IPGS calls for PostGenetics 1st World Congress

August, 2007
(31 Aug) A Genome within a Genome: The surprising finding suggests a new mechanism of evolution
(30 Aug) Barnsley's "SuperFractals" - Fractal Transformations; one fractal governing the growth of another fractal
(30 Aug) Gene regulation in humans is closer than expected to simple organisms
(24 Aug) What is a gene, post-ENCODE? History and updated definition [PostGenetics; "Genomics beyond ENCODE"]
(16 Aug) Human Genome Ultraconserved Elements Are Ultraselected
(15 Aug) A neurodegenerative disease is the second disease caused by mutant RNA
(15 Aug) Identification of hundreds of conserved and nonconserved human microRNAs [by computers]
(15 Aug) MIT's MicroRNA 'sponges' could aid cancer studies
(14 Aug) Rosetta Genomics to Develop Microrna-Based Therapy for Infectious Diseases Based on Viral MicroRNA
(10 Aug) Readying to Deploy Dx Products, Rosetta Genomics' CEO Moves to US
(10 Aug) Alnylam Seals $330M RNAi IP Deal, $42.5M Investment with Roche
(03 Aug) Biotechnology - Planet’s Next Big Opportunity
(03 Aug) [Big Pharma] Intellectual Propery Rights' Changes in China

July, 2007
(31 Jul) Duke to Create Systems Biology Center Through $14.5M NIGMS Grant
(26 Jul) Brain Cells Need MicroRNA To Survive [more precisely, to develop]
(22 Jul) Is most of our DNA really rubbish?... ["Oh, no", dear Dr. Ohno]
(19 Jul) MicroRNA Regulates Psoriasis [PostGenetic Medicine will improve your quality of life]
(14 Jul) Punctuating the book of life
(10 Jul) Roche Acquires Alnylam Lab to Build RNAi Excellence Center; Buys Stake and Forges Alliance
(10 Jul) Framing the debate about Junk DNA
(09 Jul) Junk and genomes in The Scientist [What's the new frame of Genomics? - AJP]
(08 Jul) From Genes to Energy [skipping "Junk"?]
(08 Jul) Genetic Engineers Who Don’t Just Tinker
(05 Jul) Junk Worth Keeping [Editor of "The Scientist" on Ohno and PostGenetics]
(03 Jul) A Challenge to Gene Theory, a Tougher Look at Biotech
(01 Jul) Bike guy at the controls ["How will 'beyond the genes' play in Peoria?"]

June, 2007
(30 Jun) Obituary of Junk DNA as a scientific term (1972-2007)
(30 Jun) Few genes underlie most microRNAs [microRNA self-similarity]
(29 Jun) New genome transplantation technique works in bacteria, and could ultimately enable synthetic biology
(28 Jun) A vision for the convergence of synthetic biology and nanotechnology
(24 Jun) DNA barcodes suggest fractal nature of genome
(22 Jun) Genes, move over: DNA Study forces rethink of what it means to be a Gene
(21 Jun) Really New Advances (RNA)
(18 Jun) Non-Gene Diseases
(13 Jun) "Junk DNA" isn't Junk [NIH becomes second after IPGS to formally abandon this "scientific term"]
(13 Jun) Blogging ENCODE [The Scientist]
(08 Jun) Venter Institute Claims Patent on Synthetic Life
(07 Jun) [Junk] DNA In Sperm Altered By Cigarette Smoke, Genetic Damage Could Pass To Offspring
(01 Jun) Genome of DNA Pioneer Is Deciphered ["Deciphered" - NO. Personal PostGenetics - YES]

Archive of January - May, 2007< To access archived news click here

(31 May) Humans have a bit of shark in them
(30 May) Researchers discover gene essencial to cerebellum formation
(25 May) Astrophysicists Find Fractal Image Of Sun's 'Storm Season' Imprinted On Solar Wind
(23 May) How Google wants to know everything about you [Searching in your Junk?
(17 May) Genome Is Larger and More Complex Compared to Fruit Fly and Mosquito Species That Carries Malaria
(15 May) Rosetta Genomics Receives First Ever Patent Supporting MicroRNA-Based Diagnostics and Therapeutics
(12 May) [Viral microRNA] - Cancer Virus' Genetic Targets Identified
(11 May) Is the universe a fractal? [With the DNA no exception to the universe? - AJP]
(10 May) Opossum Provides Insight into Human Evolution
(08 May) [Los Alamos] Genome Institute Reaches Milestone with a Mighty Microbe [to neutralize Uranium pollution]
(02 May) The Next Human Genome Project: Our Microbes [MetaGenomics and PostGenetics; Common computer algorithms]

April, 2007
(30 Apr) MicroRNA found in unicellular organism
(28 Apr) Mouse microRNA knockout uncovers critical roles in immune system
(26 Apr) Japanese Tohoku University International Innovation Forum in Silicon Valley, California
(25 Apr) Cure for Alzheimer's: Japanese Vaccine Works On Mice
(24 Apr) [Eric Mathur] named vice president of the J. Craig Venter Co. [La Jolla]
(23 Apr) 'Junk' DNA now looks like powerful regulator, Stanford researcher finds
(20 Apr) Could US scientists get EU funding?
(20 Apr) MicroRNAs Debut [at NIH] as Key Actors in Health and Disease
(14 Apr) Genomicists Tackle the Primate Tree
(12 Apr) J. Craig Venter Institute Announces Management Team and Organizational Structure
(12 Apr) Internationally Known Scientist [Claire Fraser-Liggett] to Head Institute of Genome Sciences at [University of Maryland] School of Medicine
(10 Apr) Scientists reveal structure of gateways to gene control
(05 Apr) Is Biology Reducible to the Laws of Physics? [Philosophy of PostGenetics is to come]
(02 Apr) Trillion-dollar prize turns dotcom into watt-com
(02 Apr) 'Junk DNA' Offers Up Prostate Cancer Clues
(02 Apr) Cancer epigenomics: DNA methylomes and histone-modification maps

March, 2007
(25 Mar) An Introduction to Synthetic Biology
(25 Mar) Biofuels launch biotech's 'third wave'
(25 Mar) Microsoft Goes Bio
(24 Mar) A Tiny Knock Out [effect of "knock out microRNA"]
(23 Mar) MetaGenomics: Ocean Study Yields a Tidal Wave of Microbial DNA [Dawn of Scientific PostDarwinism]
(15 Mar) Copy number linked to autism [a growing shift of focus towards PostGenetics]
(12 Mar) A [fractal] theory with the potential to unify all of biology
(12 Mar) Bucking the Zeitgeist - What happens when biologists and a physicist try to create a grand unifying theory of biology?
(10 Mar) Researchers Create Bacterial DNA Memory [The "Triple Helix" of "Biotech-Nanotech-Infotech" is complete]
(09 Mar) Rosetta Genomics underwriters exercise green shoe option [If the genome is a goldmine, where is the gold?]
(07 Mar) Little genomes for big dinosaurs [C-value fractal interpretation]
(05 Mar) Alnylam and Isis Announce Allowance of First U.S. Patent Covering Human microRNAs
(04 Mar) Netherlands Genomics Initiative: Strategic Plan 2008 - 2012: additional € 298 million public investment
(03 Mar) Microsatellite Instability and EGFR Testing in Colorectal Cancer ['Junk' repairs DNA?]
(02 Mar) Non-coding RNAs: lessons from the small nuclear and small nucleolar RNAs

February, 2007
(28 Feb) Study moves chimp-human split to 4 million years ago
(25 Feb) Biotech specialist hits near-record $570m
(23 Feb) Killing The Messenger RNA -- But Which One?
(21 Feb) LS9 Launched to Create Renewable Petroleum(TM) Biofuels [Khosla and MIT-Harvard-Stanford into Synthetic Biology]
(18 Feb) News Analysis: UC’s Biotech Benefactors [Biofuels or "H2 Economy"?]
(14 Feb) What is the purpose of noncoding DNA? [Wired beats Scientific American - Open letter to Sydney Brenner]
(12 Feb) What is junk DNA, and what is it worth?
(11 Feb) Stratagene Acquires Rights To microRNA Sequences
(09 Feb) Which genome variants matter? [What really matters may be the algorithm...]
(08 Feb) Pharma giants grab piece of RNAi pie
(08 Feb) Abingworth co-drives £9m Dutch fundraising [Abingworth pitches to corner the "junk" DNA market?]
(07 Feb) China Planning Major Investment in Biotech R&D
(04 Feb) Abingworth raises Europe’s largest ever life sciences venture fund
(04 Feb) High-density tiling array reveals introns and extensive regulation of splicing
(01 Feb) New Life for "Junk" DNA

January, 2007
(28 Jan) [Antigene RNA] Novel laboratory technique nudges genes into activity
(28 Jan) A windfall for RNA
(27 Jan) BIG PHARMA consolidates for PostGenetics; PFIZER, GLAXOSMITHKLINE, BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB
(24 Jan) Mapping the human genome wasn't enough. Venter is trying to create a microbe to free us from additiction to oil
(24 Jan) Genetic cause of schizophrenia proposed
(22 Jan) AVEO [USA] acquires rights to anti-cancer compound from MITSUBISHI PHARMA [JAPAN] [The anti-cancer revolution marches on]
(21 Jan) 'Quiet revolution' may herald new RNA therapeutics
(19 Jan) Google-funded genetic start-up?
(17 Jan) BioDiscovery Joins Microsoft BioIT Alliance [How about GOOGLE?]
(12 Jan) Micro[RNA] Molecules Can Identify Pancreatic Cancer
(11 Jan) ASURAGEN Licenses Yale miRNA Inventions with Potential in Lung Cancer
(10 Jan) NMC Group to set up facility at DuBiotech [put Dubai on the map of PostGenetics]
(06 Jan) Renegade RNA: Clues To Cancer And Normal Growth
(05 Jan) Improved Quarter for Biotech on Capital Markets ... and Financings and Partnering Deals Remain Red Hot
(04 Jan) SIRNA's Shaky Shareholder Settlement Sheds Light on MERCK Acquisition
(03 Jan) How Do MicroRNAs Regulate Gene Expression?
(02 Jan) The Evolution of Junk DNA from mostly Non-functional to Mostly Functional

2006 < To access archived news click on year

December, 2006
(30 Dec) Areas to Watch in 2007 [for "Top 10 of Science", Whole-genome association studies]
(29 Dec) Sirna shareholders approve $1.1 billion sale of company to Merck
(28 Dec) Minute manipulations [piRNA in "Top 10" of Science in 2006]
(22 Dec) Ancient Noncoding Elements Conserved in the Human Genome
(21 Dec) And in the beginning was RNA
(15 Dec) Repetitive Elements Round Up
(15 Dec) Korea to Invest $14 Billion in Biotech
(13 Dec) A Cryptologist Takes a Crack at Deciphering DNA’s Deep Secrets
(12 Dec) Genome scientist knows himself inside out
(09 Dec) What will be the biggest benefit from mapping human genome?
(08 Dec) Peering Into The Shadow World Of RNA

November, 2006
(28 Nov) Venter hopes to develop drugs from ocean microbes [Scripps, San Diego]
(27 Nov) New Technology Used To Construct First Map Of Structural Variation In Human Genome
(26 Nov) Junk DNA in Y-chromosome control functions
(23 Nov) New diversity discovered in human genome [welcome again to PostGenetics...]
(23 Nov) The Discovery of DNA variability
(22 Nov) DNA methylation profiling of human chromosomes 6, 20 and 22
(21 Nov) NLM Awards $75M for Biomedical Informatics Training Programs
(19 Nov) Taking 'chips' to the next level of [non]-gene hunting
(17 Nov) God vs. Science [article on Junk or article permitting junk?]
(16 Nov) RNA polymerase III transcribes human microRNAs [FractoGem-s are miR-acle sites?]
(08 Nov) TCAG - The Institute for Genomic Research, Venter Institute, Venter Science Foundation Consolidate
(05 Nov) Study to genotype six common ["junk DNA"] diseases
(02 Nov) MIT's anti-microbial 'grammar' posits new language of healing

October, 2006
(31 Oct) Human Epigenome Project generates DNA methylation profiles of three chromosomes
(30 Oct) MicroRNA evolution put to the test
(27 Oct) Genetic Repair Mechanism Clears The Way For Sealing DNA Breaks
(25 Oct) NSF awards UGA $4.1 million grant to study so-called 'jumping genes' in maize
(12 Oct) International PostGenetics Society European Inaugural
(05 Oct) Broad Institute to study causes of cancer as part of $100 million award
(04 Oct) Time Aping over Human-Chimp Genetic Similarities
(03 Oct) Nobel in Medicine 2006 - for the discovery of RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA
(03 Oct) The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2006 is awarded to Roger Kornberg

September, 2006
(28 Sep) Cancer Research UK: 'Junk’ RNA could help halt development of cancer
(26 Sep) Implications of fractal organization of DNA on disease risk genomic mapping and immune function analysis
(23 Sep) RNA-what's next? [Tip of a very big iceberg]
(22 Sep) IBM & Genome Institute of Singapore Collaboration May Lead to Better Understanding of Cell Process Regulation
(21 Sep) Genome encodes a hidden RNA regulatory system that controls differentiation and development
(20 Sep) After the Genome [in PostGenetics, "sand dunes" of "junk DNA" are beneath waterline...FractoGem peaks emerging...]
(12 Sep) PostGenetics "housekeeping" announcements
(11 Sep) Sheep need retroviruses for reproduction
(09 Sep) The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
(01 Sep) Human Evolution: The More the Merrier [Journalists, too, may wish to think outside the box]
(01 Sep) What’s Shaped Like a Pear and Has Two Genomes? Check The Pond. [For "junk" DNA - Check the source]

August, 2006
(31 Aug) Variability in SNCA associated with increased risk of Parkinson's. [A FractoGem of SNCA]
(22 Aug) NHGRI Grants $54 M for "In Toto" Genomic Analysis
(16 Aug) Region of DNA strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease [clue of Alz may lie in the "junk"]
(16 Aug) Sequencing the Seven Seas - "Google for Genomics"
(16 Aug) Research finds 'unique human DNA' [clue to being human may lie in the "junk"]
(15 Aug) RNA translation misfolding proteins
(08 Aug) Non-coding RNA in the nervous system
(05 Aug) Sinking the Iceberg: GOOGLE Genomics?

July, 2006
(31 Jul) Rosetta Genomics signs agreement with Max Planck Society [short sequences are a goldmine]
(28 Jul) Beyond Genetics - Nucleosomes; sequence repeats and DNA binding with proteins are established facts
(19 Jul) Venture capitalists awash with cash -- may soon beg you to take some
(19 Jul) The Quest for the $1,000 Human Genome [Venter or Watson? Private business or Government? competition is nice]
(14 Jul) Craig Venter plans to publish the entire code of his own DNA
(13 Jul) The Biggest DNA Ever Made
(12 Jul) Photoshop For DNA
(09 Jul) Down syndrome traced to one gene [FractoGem emerges!]
(04 Jul) How did all this junk get here anyway?

June, 2006
(27 Jun) RNAi Gene silencing causes marked behavior changes, may help map brain circuitry
(27 Jun) Epigenomics and Sanger Institute Release First Results from Human Epigenome Project [Methylated DNA sites and PostGene Discovery]
(26 Jun) DNA or RNA? Versatile Player Takes a Leading Role in Molecular Research
(17 Jun) New class of small RNAs found
(15 Jun) Live From Nanobusiness 2006: Synthetic Genomics and the "Triple Helix"
(14 Jun) Rosetta Genomics buys rights to Rockefeller U MicroRNA [Cornering the junk-market on the cheap]
(13 Jun) Nutrigenomics may have go-go potential [It is not so much the Junk Food - it is rather the 'Junk' DNA]
(12 Jun) FractoGem of Alzheimer's
(07 Jun) * NEWSFLASH * FractoGem-s Found in DNA of 3 Human Non-coding DNA Diseases

May, 2006
(30 May) FractoGem Found in California - A Gem in Junk DNA
(30 May) Essential genes of a minimal bacterium [How about "Essential PostGenes"?]
(25 May) Integrating artificial life with synthetic biology [life without non-coding DNA?]
(25 May) A new code for life [Artificial genome?]
(29 May) Grandpa! Leave that chimp alone! Who knows what it might lead to?
(26 May) FractoGem found in California! [Full material of Press Release submitted]
(26 May) Blood disease caused by SNP-built promoter
(22 May) FractoGem-s Identified in both non-human and homo sapiens DNA [Press release bullet points]
(15 May) Watch for announcement of a major development regarding "Pyknons and FractoGene"
(14 May) Bird Flu Fatality in Humans Climbs to 64%, Virus Spreads [Any computational approaches to better prepare?]
(10 May) "Junk" RNA regulates important cellular processes ["Methylation Prediction of FractoGene" is indirectly confirmed]
(09 May) Learning The Language Of DNA [Transcriptomes, Pseudogenes; where is the Algorithm?]
(08 May) MICROSOFT Forges BioIT Alliance [Welcome Bill Gates to the "Big One" in Genomics]
(07 May) IBM System Blue Gene Solution [IBM hardware in the"Big One" in Genomics]
(06 May) SUN Discovery Cluster [SUN hardware in the "Big One" in Genomics]
(05 May) NIH $71M Over 5 Yrs for Genetics of Rare Diseases [PostGenetics of Too Frequent Diseases]
(04 May) TraceSearch - 100-fold faster DNA sequence search engine ["Coming 'GOOGLE' algorithm disruption of Genomics"]
(02 May) Oxidation drives SNPs, recombination [don't let your DNA go to junkyard, you need a non-random antioxidant diet]

April, 2006
(28 Apr) Moore Foundation-funded link of UCSD and VENTER Institute [Big IT bites into Genomics, next round]
(24 Apr) IBM seeks treasure in 'junk DNA' [IBM found repetitions - GOOGLE might search by the algorithm of patterns & silencing]
(21 Apr) Of cod and code [It is fishy to say "To code or not to code - that is the (IT) question"]
(20 Apr) Counting the dead [Lesson of Chernobyl 20 years ago: 'Junk DNA' Minisatellites mutated]
(18 Apr) Genome scan pinpoints common obesity factor [Junk Food or Junk DNA?]
(10 Apr) PERLEGEN files for IPO; Seeks to raise up to $115 M [Junk DNA Intellectual Property question]
(10 Apr) Victoria, Australia and VENTER INSTITUTE join for whole genome sequencing. [Juan Enriquez was right]
(06 Apr) GOOGLE accused of biopiracy [New type of DNA dabase needed: safedna.com]
(05 Apr) HHMI Investigators J. Steitz and R. Evans Awarded [Gairdner prize for 'JunkDNA']
(02 Apr) Scientists in the making bag laurels [from DuPONT Student prize towards Nobel in 'JunkDNA']
(02 Apr) Matt Ridely: Selfish DNA [of Richard Dawkins] and the junk in the genome
(02 Apr) Antifreeze fish make sense out of junk DNA

March, 2006
(27 Mar) AFFYMETRIX new ChIP-on-Chip array; Tools for DNA-Protein interactions [Bingo; Methylation Prediction of FractoGene]
(26 Mar) Regulatory DNAs may be missed [without new tools for PostGene Discovery]
(24 Mar) Junk DNA may not be so junky after all [Zebrafish is a great PostGene discovery platform, but where are the tools?]
(22 Mar) Loveable rogue, or selfish killer? [The Selfish PostGenes are to be found by "Methylation Prediction"]
(20 Mar) Justices reach put to consider patent case [The question is not if IP has value - the question is the limit of value]
(14 Mar) GTG reports breakthrough in the genetic basis of drug addiction [the new definition of "Junkie"]
(12 Mar) Differences between chimps and man lie in fraction of code ["Probably the biggest aboutface in the history"]
(10 Mar) Most human-chimp differences due to gene regulation - not genes [Platforms of liver and perhaps the brain?]
(09 Mar) Time for a human interactome project? [www, re-visited]
(06 Mar) J. Craig Venter: He might change the world [which World?]
(05 Mar) Advances in aging research [The limit of information for life]

February, 2006
(28 Feb) Non-coding RNA vital vor gene activation and protein expression [PostGene sets found for differentiation]
(27 Feb) ISIS - ROSETTA Collaboration for micro-RNA therapies for liver cancer [Next PostGene Disease & Next Business Model]
(25 Feb) [continued...] A question for 150,000 diseases - Parkinson's is a good example
(24 Feb) Michael J. Fox: Welcoming remarks at inaugural World Parkinson Congress [to be continued...]
(22 Feb) Unlocking the secrets of longevity genes [How big is your 'season ticket' to life?]
(19 Feb) Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Forms $200 Million Pandemic and Bio Defense Fund [PostGenentech or Manhattan Project?]
(19 Feb) Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Forms $600 M Fund, $100 M Greentech Initiative [KPCB throws in close to a Billion in 3 funds]
(14 Feb) COMPUGEN Announces In-Silico Protein Discovery from ''Junk DNA'' [PostGene Discovery at work]
(08 Feb) NIH 2 Initiatives for Genetic Causes of Disease; PFIZER & AFFY [The PostGenetics Avalanche has started]
(07 Feb) Scientists Sort Through 'Junk' to Unravel a Genetic Mystery [New York Times - PostGenetic Medicine]
(02 Feb) PostGenetic Information Technology & Intellectual Property [Articles on Venter/Genentech/Microsoft/Google/UCSD/Affymetrix, GTG]
(01 Feb) PostGenetic Medicine [Neurological and cardiovascular diseases and CArG box]

January, 2006
(31 Jan) Missing steps of jumping-gene replication discovered
(26 Jan) Olympics time? Try Little Italy [NBC TV: According to the research, you are half a banana]
(26 Jan) Changing of the guard as UQ Institute reaches maturity [Mattick resigns in order to challenge the dogma of "Junk" DNA]
(24 Jan) New Affymetrix Tiling Arrays DeliverView of Entire Genomes; Experiments Using GeneChip Microarrays Challenge ''Junk'' DNA
(24 Jan) Are chimps our second cousins? [A science issue is dangerously neglected]
(19 Jan) Tiny RNA molecules fine-tune the brain's synapses - A new mechanism for regulating brain function
(18 Jan) Science Matters: The ups and downs of evolution [PostGenetics; the Science and Medicine of non-coding DNA]
(18 Jan) GOOGLE and Venter Mum on Collaboration Reports
(13 Jan) Taylor & Francis publishes Experimental Evidence Supporting Algorithmic PostGene Theory [FractoGene].
(12 Jan) "PostGenetics" (Journal of IPGS) is planned to be launched with European Inaugural of IPGS
(12 Jan) CETT Program in U.S. for rare genetic diseases [Proposal for "Congressional Lobby Activity on PostGenetic Medicine by IPGS"]
(08 Jan) The Big One [Steve Jurvetson of DFJ funds $ 30 M to Craig Venter's Synthetic Genomics - 30 December, 2005]
(07 Jan) "Ultraconserved elements [UE]" - "Disease Gene Conserved Sequence Tags" [DG-CST]" - "Transposon-free regions [TFR]" - "FractoGene BrowserBook" [FractoGene] - "PostGene Diseases" [PGD]
(07 Jan) Evo-devo next big thing, not intelligent design
(03 Jan) Non-obviousness of "junk" DNA theory - and inventory as 2006 starts
(03 Jan) Origin of a big idea [with small evidence...]

---
2005 < To access archived news click on year

December, 2005
(31 Dec) Biotechnology bucks the market trend [the "Big Picture" of 2005]
(30 Dec) 2005 ends with a flurry of deals, positioning for the emerging disruptive PostGenetics business
(29 Dec) Perlegen, Pfizer Pen Four-Year PGx Partnership; Deal Covers IP Rights, Research Payments ["Bidding war" in the offing?]
(28 Dec) Pfizer Buys $ 50 M Stake in Perlegen; 12-Percent Ownership Could Grow If IPO Launched
(27 Dec) Banned in biology [Welcoming Bill Gates]
(24 Dec) Role of MicroRNA Identified In Thyroid Cancer ["PostGenes, PostGene Diseases, PostGenetic Medicine"]
(23 Dec) Cedars-Sinai researchers demonstrate a new way to switch therapeutic genes 'on' and 'off [PostGenetic Medicine is just a turn-on?]
(25 Dec) Breakthrough of the Year [of 1859]: Evolution in Action [What is news? Dog Bites Man, or "Man Bites Dog"?]
(23 Dec) Evolution in Action Highlighted in Science’s "Breakthrough of the Year" [of 1859]
(19 Dec) Civilisation has left its mark on our genes [correction, on human Genome]
(17 Dec) Probing Connection Between Regulatory DNA And Disease [ NEW TOOLS ARE NEEDED]
(19 Dec) GTG/GENE stock holds steady - what's next?
(16 Dec) Plan matures for partner to genome quest. Forget mutations: geneticists are hunting for subtler changes to DNA [Methylation].
(16 Dec) Genetic wins little fight over DNA work ["Junk" DNA is cheap or it is still an incredible bargain?]
(15 Dec) GTG Provides Further Details of the Settlement with Applera
(14 Dec) New Effort Aims to Unlock Secrets of Cancer Genes ["Don't blame me, I joined 'PostGenetics', focusing on 'Junk DNA' diseases"]
(13 Dec) [Hold it! - there is more to 'Junk DNA Industry'. Further announcement regarding GTG / APPLERA settlement]
(12 Dec) [Now it is official - The "Junk DNA Intellectual Property value proposition is forever validated"]
(10 Dec) [Half a Billion Dollars from Bill Gates for] Anti-Malaria Donation [Maybe software would help more directly?]
(09 Dec) Barking up new trees in search for cures [ALERT! The secret of your illness may well be in the 'junk' DNA"]
(09 Dec) Veil of secrecy "costs" GTG/GENE a 10% drop in stock price on a single day
(08 Dec) Man's best friend shares most genes with humans: [Triple whammy - time sobering up!]
(06 Dec) 'Junk DNA' Stock of GTG [NYSE symbol "GENE"] jumps 8.47% on a single day anticipating settlement tomorrow
(05 Dec) Further Update regarding Applera Dispute - [Court allows one more workday to settle with "GENE"]
(01 Dec) Startup Haplomics to Muscle In on Gene-Testing Market
(01 Dec) MicroRNA may have fail-safe role in limb development
(01 Dec) SETI and Intelligent Design
(01 Dec) Treasures in the Trash [Forbes Magazine]

November, 2005
(28 Nov) The elusive fountain of youth
(27 Nov) Rosetta Genomics' Isaac Bentwich: "Dark DNA" may be even more important than active genes in causing disease
(25 Nov) The earliest animals had human-like genes
(24 Nov) GTG and APPLERA ask Court time till 5th of December to finalize Junk DNA patent settlement
(19 Nov) Oops - the price of junkDNA just took off ... "junk DNA" is the word ...
(11 Nov) Further update regarding 'Junk DNA on Wall Street' (GTG settles with Applera) - an analysis
(09 Nov) JunkDNA made it to Wall Street - GTG earmarked to escalate to a $ 2 Billion business alone
(07 Nov) "Stipulated Revised Case Schedule and Order" on GTG website GTG, Applera Look to Be Nearing Settlement
(02 Nov) The American Heart Association donated about $1.23 M to fund University projects

October, 2005
(27 Oct) NHGRI's Collins Says US Must Launch Its Own Biobanking Project
(27 Oct) The Role of Junk DNA in Social Behavior
(20 Oct) Study: Junk DNA is critically important
(17 Oct) METHYLATION HYPOTHESIS OF FRACTOGENE;Predictive Scientific Theories on the Function of 'junk DNA'
(17 Oct) "Taxpayer Alert": Large-scale Sequencing Research Network Sets Its Sights On Disease Targets
(12 Oct) Smoking chimps show similarities to humans
(05 Oct) The greatest discovery of all time ("ET joins ED")
(04 Oct) Harmful Mutations Selectively Eliminated

September, 2005
(28 Sep) Experimental support of the FIRST PREDICTION OF "FRACTOGENE accepted for publication (in Press)
(26 Sep) New Analyses Bolster Central Tenets of Evolution Theory
"You only believe theories when they make predictions confirmed by scientific evidence"
(26 Sep) NIH Launches Program to Study Genetics and Genomics of Xenopus
(26 Sep) Search for genetic origins of disease
(23 Sep) There is more to non-coding DNA than meets the eye
(13 Sep) Rosetta Genomics raises $ 6 M in fourth round
(05 Sep) Importance of 'junk' DNA found
(05 Sep) Junk RNA Begins To Yield Its Secrets

August, 2005
(31 Aug) Scientists find chimps, people are 96 percent identical; San Jose Mercury News
(31 Aug) 'Life code' of chimps laid bare: BBC
(31 Aug) What does the fact that we share 95 percent of our genes with the chimpanzee mean? Sci. Am.
(31 Aug) Sisters under the skin; The Economist
(31 Aug) Study_compares_human_and_chimpanzee_DNA; Nature News
(31 Aug) Reading the chimp book of life; BBC
(31 Aug) Scientists find missing links in chimp genome; Guardian
(19 Aug) Genetic Efficiency and the Carbon Cycle; New Scientist

July, 2005
(30 Jul) Newsweek on JunkDNA
(14 Jul) Genomics study highlights the importance of junk DNA in higher eukaryotes
(04 Jul) The most successful business model of California Gold Rush - *toolmaking*

June, 2005
(29 Jun) Venter launches Synthic Genomics; Bacterium to generate hydrogen
(23 Jun) Junk DNA on National Television - "Extra DNA Makes Voles Faithful"
(21 Jun) Rosetta Genomics identifies hundreds of novel human microRNAs
(20 Jun) Founders of "The Human Genome Project" are ready to "re-thinking it all"... The Uncertain Future for Central Dogma
(16 Jun) The Economist: Helpful junk
(16 Jun) Rodent Social Behavior Encoded in Junk DNA

May, 2005
(31 May) Affy to Buy ParAllele for $ 120 M in Stock; Deal Expected to Close in Q3
(31 May) Agilent, Rosetta Biosoftware to Integrate Gene Expression Analysis Software
(27 May) Biochemistry Graduate Student Receives UCR Award for Outstanding Research
(30 May) Israel’s Rosetta Genomics - Cracking the RNA Code
(25 May) Agilent to Acquire Informatics Company Scientific Software for Undisclosed Amount
(22 May) Israel's Rosetta Genomics - cracking the RNA code
(18 May) Debating the Merits of Intelligent Design
(18 May) Gene researchers find variations by ancestry

February, 2005
(14 Feb) New Theory of Life's Digital Complexity
(07 Feb) Power tools for the gene age - Affymetrix chips digging deeper into the genome

January, 2005
(27 Jan) Scientists Find Genome Structure Responsible for Gene Activation
(20 Jan) Highly Conserved Non-Coding Sequences [Submitted by IPGS Founder M. Achiriloaie]
(19 Jan) Scientists Decipher Genome Of Bacterium That Helps Clean Up Major Groundwater Pollutants
(14 Jan) Study finds more than one-third of human genome regulated by RNA [Affymetrix]
(14 Jan) Fujitsu BioSciences Licencses BioMedCAChe to GPC Biotech; New Version Due This Quarter
(07 Jan) Pharmacogenomics to Benefit from Steven Burrill's New $ 300 M - $ 500 M Life Sciences Venture Capital Fund
(05 Jan) Agilent Acquires Computational Biology in Bid to Expand Microarray Platform
(07 Jan) Pufferfish genome clue to human and animal development
(05_Jan) Affy Says Sales Surpassed $100 M in Q4 '04, a 17-Percent Increase
(05 Jan) Shares in Affymetrix Jump 6.95 % on News of Record Sales Growth

---
2004 - 1972 archive < To access archived news click here

December, 2004
(31 Dec) "Junk DNA":Top 10 Science Discoveries - 2004 Science Magazine
(28 Dec) Top 10 Science stories, 2004 ["Junk DNA" "shapes the coding for protein production"]
(27 Dec) Sun Gives Grid Cluster to India Institute of Bioinformatics
(27 Dec) Researchers Shed Light On Intron Evolution
(13 Dec) In our Post Gene Era a clear emphasis is put on Information Technology [see Pellionisz-Simons]
(13 Dec) Allen Institute Debuts 'Google for Gene Activity' [$ 100 M]
(10 Dec) DVD: "Junk DNA is not JUNK" [Creationism]
(05 Dec) The Sunday Times - Britain's 10 M Pounds - Chicken genes help crack the dinosaur code
(05 Dec) Tiny microbes make us who we are, scientist says
(04 Dec) Complete chicken genome map revealed

November, 2004
(26 Nov) German Research Foundation to Fund Collaborative Genomics Project [$ 490 M]
(26 Nov) The Government Funding Dam broke; NSF, NIH programs
(20 Nov) Human gene number slashed [to 20,000]
(15 Nov) Agilent and ExonHit Partner to Develop Microarray for Splice Variants
(11 Nov) Research effort seeks A's to gene expression Q's [Perlegen and J&J]
(03 Nov) US genetics win a shot in the arm [GTG vs. Applera]

October, 2004
(22 Oct) Affymetrix Launches Encode Array to Uncover Hidden Function of Human Genome
(20 Oct) Golden DNA goose [Rosetta Genomics, Israel]
(20 Oct) Mice do fine without 'junk DNA' [Questioned by Haussler, Pellionisz, Simons]
(20 Oct) Fish Tales Solve Genetic Puzzles [Fugu]
(11 Oct) 'Junk' DNA may be very valuable to embryos
(03 Oct) Doctor's race against time [Malcolm J. Simons' GTG and Haplomics patents]
(01 Oct) The Hidden Genetic Program of Complex Organisms [Mattick, Sci. Am.]

September, 2004
(29 Sep) New research shows plants can shuffle and paste gene pieces to generate genetic diversity
(15 Sep) Human chromosome 5 sequence analysis released.Disease genes,regulator elements populate terrai
(02 Sep) Glowing Green Proves Darwin Theory

June, 2004
(29 Jun) Newborn Introns
(22 Jun) The Scientist : Lab mouse genome isn't simple
(02 Jun) Junk DNA regulates neighboring gene [contributed by Steve Jurvetson, DFJ]

2003
(10 Oct) The 64-Bit Question

2002
(21 Nov) Junk DNA Revisited. Silicon Valley startup claims to have unlocked a key to its hidden language
(03 Sep) FractoGene patent on mathematical language of genetic code

2001
(16 Feb) The news that shocked the world: We have only about twice as many genes as your average fruit fly

1972
(1972) Origin of the term "Junk DNA" (Dr. Susumu Ohno, 1972)

========== NEWS IN DETAIL ==========

New chips bring more speed and much more memory.
But choosing the right processor for life science work involves more than just wanting to go faster.

BACK IN THE day when dinosaur microcomputers roamed the Earth, their brains could handle only 8 bits of data at a time, and their memory capacity was a paltry 64 kilobytes. Then Intel came along with a chip, the 8086, that doubled the amount of instructions a computer could chew on at once, and expanded the amount of memory a program could access to a whopping 1 megabyte. Deciding to upgrade was a no-brainer.

Now we're at another historic juncture. Intel, AMD, and Apple/IBM have introduced new 64-bit processors that will power the next generation of high-performance computing systems. The challenge for life scientists is figuring out which processor will deliver the best price/performance to meet their computing needs.

The new 64-bit chips are the Itanium from Intel, the Opteron from AMD, and the PowerPC G5, based on IBM's design and starring in Apple's new G5 PowerMac. In theory, all three offer substantial raw performance improvements over 32-bit processors.

In practice, the true performance will depend on many factors, including the amount of memory a company is willing to purchase and whether applications are optimized to take advantage of the processor's capabilities. Additionally, if the 64-bit systems are part of a cluster, the efficiency and performance of the interconnection software and switches in the cluster will also affect performance.

That said, the main advantage of using a 64-bit system is that much more data can be put into memory — which means faster results.

A 32-bit system can access only 4 gigabytes of memory. (There are ways around this limitation, but these solutions are typically complicated and expensive.) In many common life science applications — searches of a huge database, for example — this 4GB limit can be a real performance stopper.

[This article, that appeared Oct. 10, 2003, on the occasion of AMD's 64-bit "Octeron" chip, provides the backdrop against which the cut-throat IT competition should be evaluated - comment by Andras Pellionisz, Dec. 5th 2004]

Junk DNA Revisited. Silicon Valley startup claims to have unlocked a key to its hidden language

When the human genome was first sequenced in June 2000, there were two pretty big surprises. The first was that humans have only about 30,000-40,000 identifiable genes, not the 100,000 or more many researchers were expecting. The lower -- and more humbling -- number means humans have just one-third more genes than a common species of worm.

The second stunner was how much human genetic material -- more than 90 percent -- is made up of what scientists were calling "junk DNA." The term was coined to describe similar but not completely identical repetitive sequences of amino acids (the same substances that make genes), which appeared to have no function or purpose. The main theory at the time was that these apparently non-working sections of DNA were just evolutionary leftovers, much like our earlobes.

But if biophysicist Andras Pellionisz is correct, genetic science may be on the verge of yielding its third -- and by far biggest -- surprise.

In addition to possessing an honorary doctorate in physics, Pellionisz is the holder of Ph.D.'s in computer sciences and experimental biology from the prestigious Budapest Technical University and the Hungarian National Academy of Sciences respectively -- institutions that together have produced nearly a dozen Nobel Prize winners over the years.

In a provisional patent application filed July 31, Pellionisz claims to have unlocked a key to the hidden role junk DNA plays in growth -- and in life itself.

Rather than being useless evolutionary debris, he says, the mysteriously repetitive but not identical strands of genetic material are in reality building instructions organized in a special type of pattern known as a fractal. It's this pattern of fractal instructions, he says, that tells genes what they must do in order to form living tissue, everything from the wings of a fly to the entire body of a full-grown human.

Another way to describe the idea: The genes we know about today, Pellionisz says, can be thought of as something similar to machines that make bricks (proteins, in the case of genes), with certain junk-DNA sections providing a blueprint for the different ways those proteins are assembled.

The notion that at least certain parts of junk DNA might have a purpose appears to be picking up steam. Many scientists, for example, now refer to those areas with a far less derogatory term: introns.

Other investigators are also looking into introns from a variety of perspectives. A group at UC Berkeley, for example, recently won $14 million from the National Institutes of Health to study the role introns might play in cardiovascular disease. Other researchers have begun looking at similar questions, with most focusing on intron strands located near genes whose functions are better understood. Scientists at UCLA, for example, recently made a promising association between what appears to be an intron abnormality and spinocerebellar ataxia, which is similar to Huntington's disease.

What makes Pellionisz' approach different is his suggestion that fractals will be found to play a critical role not only in these conditions but also in tens of thousands of others that have not been studied yet. His patent application covers all attempts to count, measure and compare the fractal properties of introns for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

"It's certainly possible that such a patent could be granted," says C. Anthony Hunt, Ph.D., a holder of nine patents who heads the Hunt Lab in the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmocogenomics at the University of California at San Francisco.

To win a patent, Hunt notes, all an inventor must do is describe or teach some new skill that is not obvious.

"And this would certainly qualify as non-obvious," he says. "If it works, [fractal intron analysis] could become a very important tool."

Hunt adds that most biologists simply don't know enough about fractals or the advanced math behind them to understand how they might apply to the field of genetic medicine.

"We need someone to tap us on the shoulder and explain it to us," he says. "But if it clicks as a tool, we would be more than happy to use it."

"Overall, we know very little about what is referred to as 'junk DNA,'" he adds. "But every year that goes by, there are more insights into the possible role they might play."

Pellionisz hopes his patent application will help him launch his company and make him one of the field's key players. The provisional application lets him put the words "patent pending" on any related creations for one year, after which he must file a complete application. Like other inventors, he's also free during that time to disclose his concept through other means, such as in professional journals or at scientific gatherings.

In a move sure to alienate some scientists, Pellionisz has chosen the unorthodox route of making his initial disclosures online on his own Web site. He picked that strategy, he says, because it is the fastest way he can document his claims and find scientific collaborators and investors. Most mainstream scientists usually blanch at such approaches, preferring more traditionally credible methods, such as publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals. Scientists who don't follow that tradition are usually treated with suspicion.

But Pellionisz' credentials and prior accomplishments make him much harder to dismiss than the average cyberspace sci-fi wacko.

A biophysicist by training, the 59-year-old is a former research associate professor of physiology and biophysics at New York University, author of numerous papers in respected scientific journals and textbooks, a past winner of the prestigious Humboldt Prize for scientific research, a former consultant to NASA and holder of a patent on the world's first artificial cerebellum (a part of the brain), a technology that has already been integrated into research on advanced avionics systems. Because of his background, the Hungarian-born brain researcher might also become one of the first people to successfully launch a new company by using the Internet to gather momentum for a novel scientific idea.

Fractals are a way that nature organizes matter. Fractal patterns can be found in anything that has a non-smooth surface (unlike a billiard ball), such as coastal seashores, the branches of a tree or the contours of a neuron (a nerve cell in the brain). Some, but not all, fractals are self-similar and stop repeating their patterns at some stage; the branches of a tree, for example, can get only so small.

Because they are geometric, meaning they have a shape, fractals can be described in mathematical terms. It's similar to the way a circle can be described by using a number to represent its radius (the distance from its center to its outer edge). When that number is known, it's possible to draw the circle it represents without ever having seen it before.

Although the math is much more complicated, the same is true of fractals. If one has the formula for a given fractal, it's possible to use that formula to construct, or reconstruct, an image of whatever structure it represents, no matter how complicated.

Basically, Pellionisz' idea is that a fractal set of building instructions in the DNA plays a similar role in organizing life itself. Decode the way that language works, he says, and in theory it could be reverse engineered. Just as knowing the radius of a circle lets one create that circle, understanding the more complicated fractal-based formula that nature uses to turn inanimate matter into a heart might -- in theory, at least -- help us learn how to grow a living heart, or simpler structures, such as disease-fighting antibodies. At a minimum, we'd get a far better understanding of how nature gets that job done.

The complicated quality of the idea is helping encourage new collaborations across the boundaries that sometimes separate the increasingly intertwined disciplines of biology, mathematics and computer sciences.

Thinking about whether junk DNA has a purpose "is a rather obvious question for scientists to ask," says UC Berkeley mathematics Professor Jenny Harrison, a world-renowned expert on fractals.

When Harrison examined the strings of amino acids involved, the idea that had also dawned on the mathematically inclined Pellionisz, in addition to several other theorists, immediately jumped out at her: If junk DNA really is junk, some of it is certainly organized in a pretty peculiar pattern, one that looks amazingly like a fractal.

"This is a fractal form of nature that must stop at some stage," Harrison says simply, adding that the fractal pattern looks exactly like others that appear in nature. She's been batting the topic around with Pellionisz recently, and is continuing to think about it.

"I'm not sure he has the right answer," she says, "but he is asking a very important question."

Pellionisz has been working on understanding the possible linkages between math and physiology since his earliest days as a college student in Hungary, when he first decided to devote his life to understanding how the brain works. It's that pursuit that has helped lead him to his latest ideas, he says.

"When you consider how the brain tells the fingers to pick up a pencil -- all the many different muscles involved, the senses, vision, touch, the distances involved, and how it is all managed by the brain -- you quickly realize there has to be some form of math involved to coordinate everything," he explains. "I always knew from my earliest days that it had to be math, and I knew it wasn't calculus, because of the distances involved [e.g. from the brain to the tip of the finger]. So it had to be a form of geometry, but it had to be a very special kind of geometry."

Pellionisz has dubbed his new company Helixometry Inc. The name ("helix" refers to the unique spiral folded-over shape of the DNA molecule) alludes to what he says is the fractal math at work inside DNA.

His theory is highly speculative. But there is at least one other important piece of anecdotal evidence that he might be on the right track: As organisms become more complex, they seem to have more intron DNA.

"It's not a perfect correlation," says UCSF's C. Anthony Hunt, "but it is a trend. It's as if the more advanced organisms had made a larger number of steps to get to where they are now."

In other words, although people are made up of the same basic stuff as other organisms, the instructions for making a person should in theory be more complex, which could account for the large amount of intron DNA found in humans.

While they remain generally cautious, a number of top biomedical researchers and other scientists say Pellionisz might be onto something really big.

Experts generally agree that a breakthrough in figuring out the role junk DNA plays, if any, would represent a spectacular advance in our understanding about how DNA in general turns inanimate matter into living organisms. If that happens, humanity would take a giant leap toward gaining control of the machinery of life itself, which would open up a wild new frontier in medicine and science that could lead to everything from growing new organs designed for specific patients to preventing and curing any health- or age-related problems that have a genetic origin or component.

Pellionisz says his main goal is to set the stage for the next and even more promising generation of research into genetics. Given the fact that he may be the first person to assert a patent on intron fractal counting and analysis, it's also conceivable that Pellionisz could wind up with related commercial rights worth billions of dollars. If he's wrong, of course, any patent he might receive will be worthless. And even if he's right, he could have to contend with other inventors who may also have recently filed similar patent claims that, like his, have not yet been fully disclosed.

Meanwhile, Pellionisz has several additional patent applications in the works that he says will build on and further protect his original claims. At the same time, he's also looking for the investments he says he needs to move forward more quickly, including completing his formal patent application by the deadline, as well as ramping up his company's first commercial applications, which other researchers would use.

Wary of all the startup horror stories Pellionisz has heard, he's hoping to avoid working with a traditional venture-capital company. Instead, he says he's looking for a single "angel" investor, ideally someone knowledgeable and connected in the biosciences and database worlds who can help him develop his patent portfolio and formulate a business plan that links his efforts with those of some larger organization in a related field. Pellionisz even has a short list of names of specific people who he thinks would be ideal partners at this stage. He is, he says, more interested in building a successful company than in selling the idea for a quick buck. Given the stakes, additional competitors seem certain to join the fray.

It could be years, even decades, before the dust settles and Pellionisz learns whether his patent application has any real merit, as well as whether someone else beat him to the punch with an earlier enforceable patent claim.

"All I know is that I'm in a race," Pellionisz said last week. "And the clock is already ticking."

[SF Gate featured the above on their website - not archived - in late November, 2002 - comment by Andras Pellionisz]

HelixoMetry, inc. announces that its FractoGene USPTO patent (pending) on the mathematical language of genetic code is available for exclusive or non-exclusive licensing.

Dr. Andras Pellionisz, Founder and CEO, is USPTO customer 32892, Associate Member of the National Association of Patent Practitioners, NAPP. He electronically submitted patent application called FractoGene and received hard copy confirmation.

When the human genome was mapped out little over a year ago, up to 97% of the DNA was found to contain, instead of genes, so-called non-coding sequences, termed in acute embarrassment "junk genes" says Andras Pellionisz, inventor of FractoGene. "One person's junk is an other person's treasure", he continues. Now he is proud to have incorporated his HelixoMetry Company, and to have submitted a Provisional patent application to protect FractoGene, his invention for the mathematical language of highly repetitious genetic code.

Dr. Andras J. Pellionisz, a former University Professor of New York University, 1976-1990 and Senior Research Fellow of the National Academy of the USA to NASA, 1990-1993, later senior Executive of Silicon Valley Internet Companies (of Ernst & Young, inc.). Subsequently, he was Chief Intelligence Officer and Chief Software Architect of Fabrik, inc, Verge, inc, Xmarksthespot, inc, and Mindmaker, inc. Dr. Pellionisz incorporated HelixoMetry in early 2002 in Sunnyvale. He is an internationally renowned inventor-scientist who pioneered pattern recognition neural network technology. His first patent was obtained in 1984, and in 1990 he received the Alexander von Humboldt Prize for Senior Distinguished American Scientist from Germany for his pioneering in neural networks...

Pending Patent of FractoGene is a utility to count the extremely repetitive number of base-pair sequences in the genetic code, based on the axiom that - contrary to current belief held by many - these supranumerary genes are not "junk" but constitute fractal sets. In turn, body organs and organelles (brain cell arborizations, coronaries, lungs, bowels) that are known to be most suitably modeled by fractal mathematics, develop in self-similar "generations", where the basic template determined by the undifferented genetic information encapsulated in the "stem cell" , and physiological and pathological differentiation governed by regular- or erroneous number of base-pair repetitions.

Information regarding the use of fractal mathematical language of genetic code is available in the websites http://www.fractogene.com.

Accomplishments of the inventor of FractoGene are shown in http://www.usa-siliconvalley.com

[The FractoGene approach was conceived on the 17th of February, 2002; one year and one day after the revelation that the already patented 140,000 human genes - were a myth. A. Pellionisz, an Information Technologist, never accepted either the notion (see below) that the paltry 30,000 genes [by 2006, only 19,000] contained enough information to determine a human, or that the paucity of the number of genes were compensated by "nurture". Most importantly, both from an Information Science viewpoint the "Junk DNA" notion of 98.7% of (human) DNA were rejected by AJP, and based on Evolution it was unthinkable that Nature carried in the most compact information depository (DNA) 98.7% "junk". Moreover, the patterned nature of "Junk" was already recognized as not random, see patents by Malcolm J. Simons, conceived from 1987. Thus, (in part motivated by his own research published in 1989) the original FractoGene concept went beyond the state of art drawing practical utilizations of the causal relationship of DNA as fractal sets and the organismal fractality determined by them. From this core, the Intellectual Property of FractoGene Patent Group developed by 2006 - comment by Andras Pellionisz]

The most shocking surprise that emerged from the full sequence of the human genome earlier this year [16 February, 2001] is that we are the proud owners of a paltry 30,000 genes -- barely twice the number of a fruit fly.

After a decade of hype surrounding the Human Genome Project, punctuated at regular intervals by gaudy headlines proclaiming the discovery of genes for killer diseases and complex traits, this unexpected result led some journalists to a stunning conclusion. The seesaw struggle between our genes -- nature -- and the environment -- nurture -- had swung sharply in favor of nurture. "We simply do not have enough genes for this idea of biological determinism to be right," asserted Craig Venter, president of Celera Genomics, one of the two teams that cracked the human genome last February. [With all due respect, Craig Venter drew the wrong conclusion from the paucity of genes, clouded by the 1972 "Junk DNA" noti