Healthcare, molecular tools and applied genome research

Biotechnology 2000 offered a rare opportunity for scientists from academia and industry to present and discuss data in fields as diverse as environmental biotechnology and applied genome research. The healthcare section of the meeting encompassed a number of gene therapy delivery systems that are successfully treating genetic disorders. Beta-thalassemia is being corrected in mice by continous erythropoeitin delivery from engineered muscles cells, and from naked DNA electrotransfer into muscles, as described by Dr JM Heard (Institut Pasteur, Paris, France). Dr Reszka (Max-Delbrueck-Centrum fuer Molekulare Medizin, Berlin, Germany), meanwhile, described a treatment for liver metastasis in the form of a drug carrier emolization system, DCES (Max-Delbrueck-Centrum fuer Molekulare Medizin), composed of surface modified liposomes and a substance for chemo-occlusion, which drastically reduces the blood supply to the tumor and promotes apoptosis, necrosis and antiangiogenesis. In the molecular tools section, Willem Stemmer (Maxygen Inc, Redwood City, CA, USA) gave an insight into the importance that techniques, such as molecular breeding (DNA shuffling), have in the evolution of molecules with improved function, over a range of fields including pharmaceuticals, vaccines, agriculture and chemicals. Technologies, such as ribosome display, which can incorporate the evolution and the specific enrichment of proteins/peptides in cycles of selection, could play an enormous role in the production of novel therapeutics and diagnostics in future years, as explained by Andreas Plückthun (Institute of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Switzerland). Applied genome research offered technologies, such as the 'in vitro expression cloning', described by Dr Zwick (Promega Corp, Madison, WI, USA), are providing a functional analysis for the overwhelming flow of data emerging from high-throughput sequencing of genomes and from high-density gene expression microarrays (DNA chips). The importance of bioinformatics was stressed throughout the conference. In particular, its applications in the storage, analysis and visualization of data, but also the linkage of databases and data mining tools. It is the storage and linkage that generates insight into disease processes, enabling the nomination of candidate drug targets.