Conceivably, the owner of an asthma gene might try to charge others for the privilege of experimenting with it.
But one concern they brought up is that athletes, some of whom already inject HGH, might use this gene therapy instead.
Outside the lab, rescue workers in the less-developed world might use portable gene machines to trace bacteria or viruses causing waterborne epidemics.
Wong (now at Stanford University) figured the mutated gene might make an ideal target for a vaccine, as it creates an abnormal protein not seen in healthy cells.
Set a billion years into the future, the Numenera mythology is not your typical fantasy or science fiction setting, though Cook says the blend of magic and machinery should be familiar to readers of far-future fantasy such as one might encounter reading Gene Wolfe.
In contrast, a genomics firm like Iceland's DeCode Genetics (nasdaq: DCGN - news - people ) might apply for 350 gene patents--as DeCode did today--that might make money someday, but still post a loss.
Gene scanning might help nail the causes so that drugmakers can find a cure.
But longer exposure to the gene protein might lead to other cancer-causing abnormalities, which would not be reversible.
This suggests that those people with an aberrant form of the protein (the result of the defective gene) might be more resistant to herpes infection than their fellows.
For all Genzyme's stability, its gene therapy research might represent a kind of Achilles' heel.
In this week's issue of the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, " FitzGerald has published experiments showing that knocking out a gene in mice might decrease the risk of heart attacks while inhibiting pain.
On the other hand, some on Wall Street worry that availability of a gene test to predict response might limit the market for Iressa and Tarceva to only a small minority of lung cancer patients whose tumors have the gene mutations.
It might even be possible to use gene therapy to allow cells to produce proteins that are not so willing to aggregate.
Scientists are trying to develop other drugs that athletes might choose to abuse, including gene therapies, a spate of experimental medicines that turn normal rodents into mighty mice and new growth hormones.
Depending on which version of an enzyme gene you have, you might metabolize a drug quickly or slowly.
It might land in the middle of an important gene and inadvertently disrupt the plant's growth.
He also might have inherited a bit of the entrepreneurial gene from his father, who co-founded the Red Roof Inns motel chain.
Another concern, raised by lobby groups such as Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists, is that transgenic animals might escape into the wild and contaminate the gene pool, triggering all kinds of unintended consequences.
By using the right gene to label the cells, this might just be possible.
The gene findings showed that Parkinson's might also result from the buildup of brain debris, in this case globs of synuclein.
The opponents of the patent law might seem on safer ground when they claim that gene patents could hinder medical research.
And the U.S. ambassador, Gene A. Kretz, said American interests might face similar retribution.
An anonymous pharmaceutical company on Celera's subscriber list is now working to see if the gene will produce an alpha interferon protein that might be used as a drug.
That's because very soon 40% of patients who previously might have gotten Erbitux will not get it any more because the gene test reveals in advance the drug won't work.
"We might not have any magic bullet, " for obesity said Dr. Gene-Jack Wang, chair of medical research at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Such variability could be due to environmental factors, but Dr Gibson suspected it might actually be due to minor variations in the healthy copy of the Egfr gene.
Dr Chess speculates, for example, that bug fixes to existing programs might be delivered automatically in the future as tiny patches, in a manner reminiscent of gene therapy.
In other studies high levels of the same gene lengthened the lives of worms and fruit flies, a hint that sir2 might be part of an ancient survival program common to many species.
Those who have a single copy of the bad gene still suffer from very elevated cholesterol and a high risk of heart attack, and might also use 301012.
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