July 2014
ISB News Report - June/July 2014
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2014/JunJul14.pdf
Table of Contents
REGULATORY NEWS
At the Federal Circuit, DuPont Gets Sanctions While Clones Get the Boot
Phill Jones
Dupont: In March 2013, Monsanto announced that the company had ended various patent-related disputes with E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company and its subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. One of the disputes concerned a 2002 license agreement that gave Pioneer the right to use Monsanto's glyphosate-tolerant Roundup ReadyR trait.
Clones: During 1996, Ian Wilmut and Keith Henry Stockman Campbell of Roslin Institute produced Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. Wilmut and Campbell obtained a patent for their method of cloning mammals. In 2008, a patent examiner rejected the claims on the grounds that they were directed to nonstatutory subject matter.
Scientific Opinion on application for the placing on the market of herbicide-tolerant genetically modified oilseed rape MON 88302 for food and feed uses, import and processing under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from Monsanto
EFSA Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
Oilseed rape MON 88302 was developed by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation to express the CP4 EPSPS protein, which confers tolerance to glyphosate. The molecular characterisation of oilseed rape MON 88302 did not raise safety issues. Agronomic and phenotypic characteristics of oilseed rape MON 88302 tested under field conditions revealed no biologically relevant differences between oilseed rape MON 88302 and its conventional counterpart, except for days-to-first flowering.
TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
Environmentally Modulated Evolution through Genetic Regulation
Faiza Abdur Rab
Abstract
An understanding of the origin of life may provide answers to many biological riddles. Hypotheses about the precise mechanisms are largely speculative at this point, because scientists lack sufficient means to collect data to prove or disprove the theories1. However, the results of investigations on the origin of life could help improve the effectiveness of the application of the biotechnology techniques used to modify organisms and to find therapies and environmental remedies today.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Agricultural Bioscience International Conference
October 5-8, 2014
TCU Place - 35-22nd Street East - Saskatoon SK
The heart of agricultural bioscience in Canada, the birthplace of canola, home to the Canadian Light Source synchrotron and the Global Institute for Food Security, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is also where ABIC began in 1996.
Hosted once again by Ag-West Bio, Saskatchewan's bioscience industry association, ABIC 2014 will have the speakers, the networking, the tours...the quality you expect from ABIC.
The program (http://www.abic.ca/abic2014/index.php/abic-2014/program) is currently under development.
Please visit their web site often for updates, and contact their events team if you have any questions.
See: http://www.abic.ca/abic2014/
NABC 26: New DNA-Editing Approaches: Methods, Applications and Policy for Agriculture
October 7 to 9, 2014
Co-hosted by Cornell University and Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, NY
The ability to delete specific genes and to replace specific gene sequences by homologous recombination have proven to be powerful tools in fundamental research using bacteria and yeast and in biomedical research with mice. Low rates of targeted gene deletion and editing in crop plants and livestock have limited advances in research and the application of these techniques to agriculture. Within the last few years, new technologies such as zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and meganucleases have been developed that have made targeted gene modifications feasible for several plant and animal species. The recent advent of two breakthrough gene-editing technologies, TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9, offer highly efficient and accurate means of gene editing that have been rapidly adopted by researchers. These technologies promise to greatly speed progress toward introduction of crop and livestock genotypes with valuable new traits not achievable in reasonable time frames using conventional breeding techniques. Importantly, the ZFN, meganuclease, TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9 genes responsible for creation of both of targeted gene deletions and improved "replacement" genes can, themselves, be eliminated by conventional breeding to yield plants or livestock that potentially will not be classified as genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
The 2014 NABC meeting on " New DNA-Editing Approaches: Methods, Applications and Policy for Agriculture" will offer a primer to the science behind the new methods for gene modification, provide specific examples of improved crops and livestock that may soon enter the marketplace and address key policy issues underpinning oversight of these potential non-GMOs in the United States, Canada and beyond.
See: http://nabc.cals.cornell.edu/NABC26/Index.html
The ICABBBE 2014: International Conference on Agriculture, Biotechnology, Biological and Biosystem Engineering
12 - 13 December, 2014
Jakarta, Indonesia
ICABBBE 2014 aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of Agriculture, Biotechnology, Biological and Biosystem Engineering. It also provides the premier interdisciplinary forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns, practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted in the field of Agriculture, Biotechnology, Biological and Biosystem Engineering.
This conference provides opportunities for the delegates to exchange new ideas and application experiences face to face, to establish business or research relations and to find global partners for future collaboration.
See: http://icabbbe.weebly.com/
Topics
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