A team of geneticists working at the University of Pennsylvania has developed a technology that could speed the mapping of the human genome and boost the fortunes of Cytogen Corp., a Princeton, N.J., pharmaceutical firm that suffered record losses last year. Cecilia W. Lo and Jean Richa, two Penn molecular biologists, announced in the July 14 issue of Science that they had successfully transplanted human chromosome fragments into fertilized mouse embryos. Lo says her work, which was funded in part by Cytogen, has broad implications for research, giving scientists the ability to transfer 200 times the genetic information transmitted by transgenic technology.
Meanwhile, Cytogen, a nine-year-old firm that lost $17.8 million in revenue last year, moved quickly to associate itself with Lo's work, claiming in a press release that they had "worldwide rights to its commercial applications." Penn officials later corrected this contention, saying that Cytogen's contract gave the firm...
Interested in reading more?
Become a Member of
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
