Category Archives: Genetic Engineering

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

30-Sep-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, September 30, 2014Levothyroxine (L-T4), long the standard of care for treating hypothyroidism, is effective in most patients, but some individuals do not regain optimal health on L-T4 monotherapy. New knowledge about thyroid physiology may help to explain these differences. An expert task force of the American Thyroid Association on thyroid hormone replacement reviewed the latest studies on L-T4 therapy and on alternative treatments to determine whether a change to the current standard of care is appropriate, and they present their recommendations in the article "Guidelines for the Treatment of Hypothyroidism," published in Thyroid, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers and the official journal of the American Thyroid Association (ATA). The Guidelines are available free on the Thyroid website.

Task force co-chairs J. Jonklaas and A.C. Bianco, with colleagues from the Clinical and Translational Science sub-committees, coauthored the Guidelines on behalf of the American Thyroid Association Task Force on Thyroid Hormone Replacement. The authors reviewed the clinical literature related to three main therapeutic categories: levothyroxine therapy; non-levothyroxine-based thyroid hormone therapies (including thyroid extracts, synthetic combination therapy, triiodothyronine therapy, and compounded thyroid hormones); and use of thyroid hormone analogues.

The task force concluded that levothyroxine should remain the standard of care for treating hypothyroidism, noting that no consistently strong evidence supports the superiority of alternative therapies. They emphasize that the recommendations are intended to guide physicians' clinical decision-making on thyroid hormone replacement therapy for individual patients.

"These very comprehensive guidelines provide a superb overview on the current evidence about treatment modalities for patients with hypothyroidism," says Peter A. Kopp, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Thyroid and Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois. "In addition, the document highlights gaps in our knowledge and indicates which topics are in need of future research, for example the need for long-term outcome clinical trials testing combination therapies and continuing research on thyroid hormone analogs."

"These ATA guidelines, developed by an expert team, provide useful, up-to-date information on why to treat, including subclinical disease, who to treat, and how to treat hypothyroidism. Information is evidence-based and recommendations are graded. I think they will be used extensively by all clinical endocrinologists, especially by our members," says Hossein Gharib, MD, President of the ATA, Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota.

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New hypothyroidism treatment guidelines from American Thyroid Association

Farmer Paul Schlagel tills acres of sugar beets in Longmont last week. Schlagel uses GMOs and is against the labeling measure. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

With the Nov. 4 ballot measure, Colorado is at the forefront of a fierce food fight raging across the nation: whether or not to label foods made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, so consumers can easily see if the food they buy is a product of genetic engineering.

Similar ballot initiatives failed in California and Washington in the past two years.

This spring, Vermont became the first state to approve GMO labeling. But then a group of national organizations led by the Grocery Manufacturers Association filed a lawsuit in federal court that challenges the new law. This could be the first of many lawsuits to block mandatory GMO labeling, experts say, and now Colorado jumps into the high-stakes debate.

"It will be a hot issue for quite a while in this state," said Katie Abrams, an assistant professor at Colorado State University who researches consumer understanding of food labels. "And it's going on in more places than just Colorado."

GMO labeling will also be on the ballot in Oregon, and this year about 35 similar bills were introduced in 20 states.

If the measure passes in Colorado, by 2016 packaged or raw foods made with GMOs that are sold in retail outlets must be labeled with the phrase "produced with genetic engineering." Exemptions include processed food intended for immediate human consumption, like at restaurants and delis.

Most processed food sold in America today, from beverages to baby food, include GMO ingredients such as corn syrup, corn oil, soy meal and sugar.

More than 90 percent of Americans believe the federal government should require GMO labels, according to an ABC News poll.

Chef/owner Bradford Heap tastes a dish at Salt Bistro in Boulder. Heap has eliminated GMO foods at his two restaurants. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

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GMO labeling measure in Colorado triggers heated debate

Genetic engineering in plants
This plant genetic engineering lecture explains different process and techniques used in plant biotechnology in overview session. For more information, log o...

By: Suman Bhattacharjee

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Genetic engineering in plants - Video

Ebola Field Trial in Genetic Engineering Financed by Pentagon? 2014 news
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Ebola Field Trial in Genetic Engineering Financed by Pentagon? 2014 news - Video

Salary For A Genetic Engineering Research Scientist

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Salary For A Genetic Engineering Research Scientist - Video

Even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on his US visit, the Sangh Parivar has come out with its demands. Vijnana Bharati, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-inspired organisation working in the field of science, told Modi, through an open letter, not to invite any sort of investments in the field of genetic engineering technologies to produce seeds in India.

"Indian farmers and scientific community are engaged in a relentless war against the field trials announced by the Union government and the introduction of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) without adequate research," said A Jayakumar, secretary-general, Vijnana Bharati.

According to Jayakumar, the PM had already mentioned he would seek investments in the biotechnology sector during his US visit.

"While investments in other fields of biotechnology might be desirable, investments in genetic engineering for producing seeds should be strictly avoided due to certain critical factors. Most importantly, genetic engineering technologies go hand-in-hand with royalties. The monopoly of Monsanto in Maharashtra has led to serious debts incurred by farmers resulting in large-scale suicides," the open letter said.

The letter noted the experience in the US, where herbicide-resistant GMO seeds have led to the emergence of super weeds, which are uncontrollable.

"As the Technical Expert Committee appointed by the Supreme Court has rightly recommended, there is no place for herbicide-tolerant GMO crops in small farms of India. Besides, organic, agro-ecological systems are proven over the tides of time to be the best path to food security," it said.

Sangh Parivar organisations such as Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh had been instrumental in the government holding back its decision on allowing field trials for GM crops. There is a feeling within the Parivar that the government is under pressure from US seed companies to introduce GM crops in India.

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RSS wing against investments from genetic engineering firms

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Sep-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, September 25, 2014The increasing popularity of social media, online dating sites, and mobile applications for meeting people and initiating relationships has made online dating an effective means of finding a future spouse. The intriguing results of a new study that extends this comparison of online/offline meeting venues to include non-marital relationships, and explores whether break-up rates for both marital and non-marital relationships differ depending on whether a couple first met online or offline are reported in an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website until October 25, 2014.

In the article "Is Online Better Than Offline for Meeting Partners? Depends: Are You Looking to Marry Or to Date?" Aditi Paul, Michigan State University, East Lansing, provides data showing higher break-up rates for couples who met online compared to offline whether they were in marital or non-marital romantic relationships. Additional factors besides the meeting venue can help predict whether a couple will stay together or break up, according to the author; these may differ for marital versus non-marital relationships and include the quality and duration of the relationship.

"The time-tested qualities of trust and intimacy still remain important factors on determining whether a couple stays together, regardless of whether they meet offline or online," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium and Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California.

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About the Journal

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies, plus cybertherapy and rehabilitation. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website.

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Looking for a spouse or a companion

Genetic engineering is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including thetransfer of genes within and across species boundaries to produce improved or novel organisms. The techniques involve sophisticated manipulations of genetic material and other biologically important chemicals.

Genes are the chemical blueprints that determine an organism's traits. Moving genes from one organism to another transfers those traits. Through genetic engineering, organisms can be given targeted combinations of new genesand therefore new combinations of traitsthat do not occur in nature and, indeed, cannot be developed by natural means. Such an approach is different from classical plant and animal breeding, which operates through selection across many generations for traits of interest. Classical breeding operates on traits, only indirectly selecting genes, whereas biotechnology targets genes, attempting to influence traits. The potential of biotechnology is to rapidly accelerate the rate of progress and efficiency of breeding.

Novel organisms

Nature can produce organisms with new gene combinations through sexual reproduction. A brown cow bred to a yellow cow may produce a calf of a completely new color. But reproductive mechanisms limit the number of new combinations. Cows must breed with other cows (or very near relatives). A breeder who wants a purple cow would be able to breed toward one only if the necessary purple genes were available somewhere in a cow or a near relative to cows. A genetic engineer has no such restriction. If purple genes are available anywhere in naturein a sea urchin or an iristhose genes could be used in attempts to produce purple cows. This unprecedented ability to shuffle genes means that genetic engineers can concoct gene combinations that would never be found in nature.

New risks

Genetic engineering is therefore qualitatively different from existing breeding technologies. It is a set of technologies for altering the traits of living organisms by inserting genetic material that has been manipulated to extract it from its source and successfully insert it in functioning order in target organisms. Because of this, genetic engineering may one day lead to the routine addition of novel genes that have been wholly synthesized in the laboratory.

In addition to desired benefits, novel organisms may bring novel risks as well. These risks must be carefully assessed to make sure that all effectsboth desired and unintendedare benign. UCS advocates caution, examination of alternatives, and careful, contextual, case-by-case evaluation of genetic enginering applications within an overall framework that moves agricultural systems of food production toward sustainability.

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What Is Genetic Engineering? | Union of Concerned Scientists

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Sep-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, September 25, 2014The staggering growth rate of the global population demands innovative and sustainable solutions to increase food production by as much as 70-100% in the next few decades. In light of environmental changes, more drought-tolerant food crops are essential. The latest technological advances and future directions in regulating genes involved in stress tolerance in crops is presented in a Review article in OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, the peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the OMICS website.

Coauthors Roel Rabara and Paul Rushton, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Dallas, TX, and Prateek Tripathi, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, focus on the role of transcription factors, described as "master regulators" because they are important components of many genetic regulatory pathways and may be able to control clusters of genes. Drought tolerance is a complex trait that is regulated by multiple genes.

In the article "The Potential of Transcription Factor-Based Genetic Engineering in Improving Crop Tolerance to Drought," the authors describe current strategies for using transcription factors to improve drought tolerance and discuss how novel, advanced technologies will help study promising, genetically engineered food crops under field growing conditions.

"With limited water supply continuing to constrain food crop production, understanding and improving crop tolerance to drought is a grand challenge for 21st century biology and medicine, and to feed a massive world population," says OMICS Editor-in-Chief Vural zdemir, MD, PhD, DABCP, Gaziantep University, Faculty of Communications and Office of the President, Gaziantep, Turkey, and Co-Founder, the Data-Enabled Life Sciences Alliance International (DELSA Global), Seattle, WA. "Transcription factors are veritable candidates for innovation in the next generation of transgenic crops because of their natural role in plant growth and development. Field studies (not only greenhouse measures) will provide additional insights to measure their actual impact and innovation. This state of the art review article offers a timely analysis and topline summary distilled from the past several decades of leading literature."

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About the Journal

OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online, which covers genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and multi-omics innovations. The Journal explores advances in the era of post-genomic biology and medicine and focuses on the integration of OMICS, data analyses and modeling, and applications of high-throughput approaches to study biological problems. Social, ethical, and public policy aspects of the large-scale biology and 21st century data-enabled sciences are also considered. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the OMICS website.

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Can genetic engineering help food crops better tolerate drought?

Robert Priest_Idea For Genetic Engineering

By: Linda Stitt

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Robert Priest_Idea For Genetic Engineering - Video