In addition to owning stock in ILMN I also have a position in QGEN. Both must be doing something right as share values are rapidly increasing.
More details at
www.qiagen.com &
www.illumina.com
Can anyone help be understand if the following is a "big deal" (seems to me to be) or just company hype?
14May08: "QIAGEN and GENEART to develop, produce and commercialize a new product line for the enhanced production of all 35,000 human proteins. QIAgenes is the world's first comprehensive set of plasmids (small extra-chromosomal DNA molecules in bacteria) which
serve as carriers ("vectors") for modified ("optimized") synthetic genes mapping the entire human genome. By using the QIAgenes set of plasmids and optimized genes for synthetic protein production in bacteria, academic and biomedical researchers, as well as biotech and pharmaceutical companies can more easily produce large amounts of proteins which play key roles in diseases such as cancer and their treatment.
This new product line helps researchers develop new therapeutics, vaccines and accelerates drug screening processes.
QIAgenes will be available starting May 19, 2008, through QIAGEN's web portal GeneGlobe, which already hosts the world's largest database of gene regulation and gene expression assays. The addition of synthetic genes is a synergistic extension of this offering, as the use of synthetic genes often follows the use of such assays. Additional variants of the synthetic genes, which are currently designed for E. coli bacteria only, are subject to future development.
Scientists from both companies compared optimized and normal gene sequences of 100 different proteins from the five most common protein classes, thereby generating the most comprehensive validation study of its kind. The trial showed that QIAgenes solutions achieved very high success rates of more than 90% and yielded up to 50 times more protein than conventional methods using "normal" genes by providing optimized synthetic genes and purification methods. The first hurdle was to obtain an accurate high quality plasmid construct of any gene of choice, and second to produce the protein in sufficient amounts in bacteria. The market for synthetic DNA is currently estimated to be approximately US$ 80-100 million in revenues and to be growing by at least 30% per year. ..."
Billy T compressed and edited the above from:
http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/MWR/0396945_univ.xml
If part is now nonsense, see above link and correct.
Specifically, the part I made bold above. Can this "carrier" mean some coding for protiens is in a virus that could infect a cell and make it make or (as sRNAi block) some protien associated with genetic disease? I have interest in several other companies that are in the early stages of approaching disease therapy via this converion of viruses to "our side" in the war betweeen man and "bugs."