But Various Regulatory Obstacles Persist Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.1 & 8, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) SIDEBAR : Functional Foods: An AG Biotech Boom? Life scientists are finding new opportunities to test wise words uttered by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates: "Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food." OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: Louis Lasagna notes the field's potential. In academic and industry labs across the United

In the excitement over functional foods in the supermarket, researchers shouldn't overlook other opportunities -- namely, animals and agriculture, according to George Kidd, president of the management consulting firm Kidd and Co. Inc. of Shorewood, Wis. Kidd believes that the animal feed market offers pharmaceutical companies the perfect chance to seize functional food technology. "There are 1,200 human health companies that specialize in biotech," he says. "On the other hand, only a few speci

In what some industry observers liken to biotechnology's early days of scientific hope mixed with public pessimism, gene therapy has come under the scope of scrutiny at the National Institutes of Health. A much-publicized December panel report commissioned by NIH director Harold Varmus lambastes companies' use of clinical trials to lure investors; urges stringent peer review of gene therapy protocols; calls for more basic research; and warns that "overselling of the industry" could cause a back

While scientists debate how the National Institutes of Health should allocate gene therapy dollars, the agency is quietly moving out of routine clinical-protocol review. In December, an ad hoc committee of biomedical experts appointed by NIH director Harold Varmus gave a formal stamp of approval to the changes. NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) is a panel of 14 independent scientists and nine public representatives. For years, RAC has reviewed gene therapy protocols by any research

Regulatory Reform Author: Kathryn S. Brown Listening to the radio on his way to work each morning in Washington D.C., Stephen Bent, chairman of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical group at the law firm of Foley and Lardner, hears the same thing: advertisements calling for drastic reform of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). "Some of the commercials are by a Republican think tank," notes Bent, formerly a research scientist in neurophysiology at Yale University. "Some are by various inter

One July day in 1984, Barry Marshall, a medical resident at the Fremantle Hospital in Perth, Western Australia, walked over to his lab bench, pulled down a beaker, and mixed a cocktail. The key ingredient: about a billion Helicobacter pylori bacteria. Marshall hoped to show that the microorganism causes ulcers. He gulped the concoction, describing it as "swamp water." PHYSICIAN, STUDY THYSELF: Barry Marshall's daring experiment eventually garnered him awards. One hundred years earlier, Max vo

Sidebar: Major Pharmaceutical Companies Are Diving Into the Gene Therapy Pool As gene therapy enters its sixth year of high-visibility research, major drug companies are buying in, helping lay the technology's foundation and launching clinical trials. More than 100 gene therapy trials-most privately funded-are under way. And while the field's ultimate success is still quite uncertain, one thing is clear: There is a lot of science to be done and research opportunities to be pursued. ACADEMIA, I

Purpose Author: KATHRYN S. BROWN SIDEBAR: Plant Science Resource Plant biologists are more than just highly educated green thumbs. Armed with new technology, researchers are engineering plants to tackle some of society's nettlesome problems. And plant biologists point out that transgenic studies today could yield vegetation able to deliver vaccines, clean the environment, or manufacture chemicals tomorrow. MAKING HAY: Wisconsin plan physiologist Robert Goodman notes that industry funds the