SOLVING PROBLEMS OF GENE THERAPY
Two pitfalls of gene therapy are the way the gene is delivered in the body and the randomness with which it inserts itself into the chromosome. Stanford University researchers have developed a new delivery method that does not use risky viral vectors as transportation and are working to ensure DNA is inserted at known, safe locations. In experiments on mice, researchers hijacked the mechanism a bacteria-infecting virus -- bacteriophage -- uses to integrate its genes into bacteria. The bacteriophage makes a protein called integrase that inserts the viral genes into a specific DNA sequence on the bacteria chromosome. Humans also have a version of that sequence and when a copy of a therapeutic gene and a gene coding for integrase is inserted into a human cell, the integrase inserts the gene within the human sequence. The research team believes each tissue may have a point where the DNA is most likely to enter the chromosome. It is working on modifying the integrase so it targets only sites known to be safe. The use of viral vectors has made gene therapy risky to patients' health and uncertain delivery, in one case, resulted in the DNA being randomly inserted into a neighboring oncogene, causing a patient to develop leukemia.
BUILDING IN SPACE
A Georgia Institute of Technology aeronautical engineer says big buildings could be constructed in space using focused radio waves. In an article in New Scientist, Narayanan Komerath says the idea came from "acoustic shaping," through which sound waves build solid objects in weightless environments. He says speakers in a closed room transmit sound waves that can push objects around. The items come to a stop when they hit acoustic dead spots, which can be controlled by the placement of the speakers. The items are held in place because air pressure surrounding the dead spots is higher than in the spot. When the dead spots are filled, the objects can be solidified with a hardener, such as epoxy resin. While using sound waves would be impossible in the airless vacuum of space, Komerath reasoned electromagnetic waves should also be able to create a force field that can push objects around.
JET ENGINE SOFTWARE REVS UP DESIGN PROCESS
Software developed by Purdue University researchers is revving up the process of improving jet engine designs. The software analyzes engine models to quickly show if a design is mechanically sound. Jet engines have rotating disks containing blades and the mechanical properties of the blades are difficult to predict because they change as they wear and because no two blades are perfectly identical. Researchers say even tiny variations can lead to drastic changes in vibration levels, compromising engine performance and safety. Conventional software takes weeks or months to fully analyze the blades and that costs the industry money. This new computer model is 100 times faster and is based on an "optimization algorithm," a step-by-step procedure for solving a math problem. The algorithm calculates the worst-case vibration level of the blades due to variations in mechanical properties. Although you cannot predict all variations the engine will see in the field, you can establish variation ranges and establish worst case scenario.
HIV RAT LICENSED TO HARLAN
The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute has licensed the patent for the first HIV-1 transgenic rat model to Harlan Sprague Dawley Inc. Researchers developed the rat model to help develop new drugs to treat AIDS and related diseases. The rat is genetically engineered to contain the entire genome of the AIDS virus HIV-1, except for two genes that make the virus non-infectious so the rats cannot transmit the disease to humans. The Indianapolis-based Harlan provides research-related products to domestic and international research programs of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and government agencies in more than 30 countries. The model will be easily available to researchers studying the effects of HIV-1 gene expression in different organ systems of the body. The UM lab also is producing other HIV transgenic rats and has started developing embryonic stem cells from rats.
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(EDITORS: For more information on GENE THERAPY, contact Amy Adams, 650-723-3900 or e-mail [email protected]. For SPACE WAVES, Claire Bowles, 44-207-331-2751 or [email protected], for JET SOFTWARE, Emil Venere, 765-494-4709 or [email protected], and for HIV RATS, Rita Khanna, 410-385-6324 or [email protected])
