The order of the chemical units (bases) along a piece of DNA or RNA.
A Maltese biotechnology firm claims it has identified a loophole in the controversial patents on two genetic tests for breast cancer held by US company Myriad Genetics. Synergene says that the patents do not apply in Malta, as the country has not signed the European Patent Convention. It plans to...
A trans-Atlantic consortium of laboratories has announced that the mouse is the latest organism to have its genome mapped. Scientists from Canada, the US and the UK say they have a map of 98 percent of the genes in the laboratory mouse and expect to have a complete sequence by...
Patents on gene sequences are granted all too readily, according to a discussion paper published by the UK's Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Instead, the paper suggests, patents involving DNA sequences should be 'the exception rather than the rule' and the legal tests that applications must be novel, inventive and useful...
Last week saw the release of a new report on the protection of genetic information, from the UK's genetic watchdog, the Human Genetics Commission (HGC). It coincided with news of a millionaire film producer embroiled in a paternity dispute, following a secret DNA test carried out on dental floss stolen...
A team of international scientists have announced that it has sequenced the mouse genome. The results of the publicly-funded project will be of benefit to scientists studying the human genome as, to quote one of the scientists involved, Dr Tim Hubbard of the UK's Sanger Centre, the mouse is 'a...
Craig Venter, the scientist who led the biotechnology company Celera Genomics in its attempt to sequence the human genome, has announced that the genetic data used was largely his own. At the time, it was said that the genetic data used came from anonymous donors, and the sequence presented was...
Celera Genomics, the private US company who participated in the sequencing of the human genome, has been accused of cheating by three of the scientists who participated in the publicly-funded rival project. They say that Celera used data from the public project and so has not actually published its own...
Craig Venter has resigned as president of Celera Genomics, leaving Tony White, chief executive of Applera Corporation (Celera's parent company), to fill in until a replacement is found. Although Venter will remain as head of the company's scientific advisory board, analysts speculated that the swift departure without a replacement signified...
Scientists working on a year-long project to sequence the genome of the poisonous puffer fish have discovered that the genetic make-up of the fish is surprisingly similar to that of humans. Dr Greg Elgar of the UK Medical Research Council's Human Genome Mapping Resource Centre said 'it's extraordinary how similar...
The Sanger Centre, near Cambridge, has recently announced a five-year plan to follow up on its key role in the publication of the human genome sequence. Research into the understanding of the way genes function and express themselves, to develop tools, and involving comparisons between humans and other organisms is...
Subscribe for free to what PET does best – informing you of the latest in fertility, genomics and embryo research.
