Blue Heron Biotechnology, Inc. Awarded Grant for Propagating Difficult Genes.BOTHELL, Wash. -- Blue Heron blue heron n. Any of several varieties of heron with blue or blue-gray plumage. Biotechnology, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research grant from the National Institute of General Medical Science and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Infectious disease A pathological condition spread among biological species. Infectious diseases, although varied in their effects, are always associated with viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites and aberrant proteins known as prions. . The grant funds development of molecular biological tools to enable research on genes that are difficult to grow in bacteria. If successful, these technologies will improve Blue Heron Biotechnology's GeneMaker(R) gene synthesis Gene synthesis is the process of synthesizing an artificially designed gene into a physical DNA sequence. Gene synthesis was first demonstrated by Har Gobind Khorana in 1970 for a short artificial gene. service and may be available as kits to modulate protein expression levels in E. coli E. coli: see Escherichia coli. E. coli in full Escherichia coli Species of bacterium that inhabits the stomach and intestines. E. coli can be transmitted by water, milk, food, or flies and other insects. . As the leading gene synthesis company, Blue Heron Bio has produced thousands of genes. Based on this extensive experience, Blue Heron Bio found that a small fraction of recombinant genes are unstable in E. coli and thus difficult to manipulate using the standard techniques of molecular biology molecular biology, scientific study of the molecular basis of life processes, including cellular respiration, excretion, and reproduction. The term molecular biology was coined in 1938 by Warren Weaver, then director of the natural sciences program at the Rockefeller . Many of these genes encode proteins that slow or prevent bacterial growth even when expressed at very low levels. For instance, only a few molecules of specific proteases, RNAses or ion channels can severely disrupt the growth or survival of a bacterial cell. Without bacterial growth, scientists cannot produce sufficient quantities of DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. for research. "The set of tools under development at Blue Heron Bio will block functional protein expression and allow the propagation of recombinant plasmids using standard, high-copy vectors, potentially replacing the need for special growth conditions, low-copy vectors, special bacterial strains and other non-standard techniques. This will expand research on genes that are difficult to propagate in bacteria," explained Dr. John Mulligan, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . About Blue Heron Biotechnology Blue Heron Biotechnology, Inc., the leading provider of gene synthesis services, was founded in 1999 to accelerate discovery research by industrializing the manufacture of custom reagents. Blue Heron Bio's proprietary GeneMaker(R) synthesizes any gene, regardless of sequence or size with 100% accuracy guaranteed. Today, Blue Heron Bio serves a thousand researchers from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as academic and government laboratories. |
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