Information Systems for
Biotechnology
ISB News Report
December 2007The entire news
report is available at
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/dec07.pdf
PARTIAL TABLE OF
CONTENTS, relevant to seed professionals (links are to the ISB News Report website)
REGULATORY NEWS
Patent
battles on and off the court
Phill Jones
Pioneer agbiotech companies have sprouted, bloomed, and
merged with larger firms. During the industry's growth,
patent rights sometimes get tangled.
In October, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
pruned one patent dispute that has roots dating back over a
dozen years.
Complete article:
pdf:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/artspdf/dec0701.pdf
web:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/news07.dec.htm#dec0701
PLANT RESEARCH NEWS
Towards
plastid transformation in maize
Ralph Bock
Broad application of plastid genome engineering in
agricultural biotechnology has been hampered by the lack of
plastid transformation protocols for major crops.
Unfortunately, cereals, the world's major food crops, are a
particularly recalcitrant species; thus, in spite of
enormous efforts, progress has been very limited and there
are still no protocols available for the production of
stable transplastomic plants in any cereal species.
Complete article:
pdf:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/artspdf/dec0702.pdf
web:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/news07.dec.htm#dec0702
RISK ASSESSMENT
Flavonoids
for environmental equivalence profiling of GE plants
Christof Sautter & Bartosz Urbaniak
Although Substantial equivalence (SE) might be an essential
aspect of biosafety, it excludes any undesired side effect
on the health of a consumer, be it a human being or an
animal, and moreover, any unintended interaction with the
biotic or abiotic environment. Theoretically, SE should
fulfil the strong criteria of even the over interpreted
"precautionary principle."
Complete article:
pdf:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/artspdf/dec0703.pdf
web:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/news07.dec.htm#dec0703
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