________________________________________________________________________________ Wired News Genome Map Gets E-Biz Boost by Kristen Philipkoski 3:00 a.m. 24.Sep.99.PDT A new Web site is aiming to become a discount broker for genetic research data, and federal researchers actually like the idea. Hyseq launched a site on Thursday called GeneSolutions.com, as a way for researchers to make small payments for data they need for specific projects. "The attitude of the public program is that it's very healthy to see this kind of activity in the private sector," said Richard Gibbs, director of the Baylor Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. The Baylor program is funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute for its contributions to the Human Genome Project. "The one misconception is that the public program is only interested in supporting non-biotech research but nothing could be further from the truth. The public program aims to support biotechnology," Gibbs said. The public program's only concern is that a private company "would be able to have any type of a stranglehold on the blueprint of life," Gibbs said. "Apart from that, all of this activity is welcome." A company called Celera in Rockville, Maryland, has been widely criticized for allegedly wanting to do just that. Celera, which denies the accusation, has participated in an ongoing race to complete sequencing the entire human genome before the Human Genome Project does. Researchers currently have to pay tens of millions of dollars for genetic database subscriptions from biotechnology companies trying to recover their costs of developing the data. CuraGen, for example, has a US$48 million collaboration with Glaxo Wellcome, a pharmaceutical research company in North Carolina, which gives Glaxo access to all of the information in CuraGen's genomic databases, said Mark Vincent, a CuraGen spokesman. Lewis Gruber, president and CEO of Hyseq and its wholly owned subsidiary, GeneSolutions.com, said, "We think our biggest customers will be pharmaceutical and biotech companies ... it's a big market in terms of biology and medical research of all kinds." The GeneSolutions.com site will offer information on the chemical structure of genes, which helps scientists plan their experiments. Researchers can also retrieve data on single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, which are small variations in genes that can predict predisposition to a disease, or predict how an individual will react to a medication. Or they can purchase bases. Commonly referred to as the rungs of the DNA ladder, bases often are used to measure the length of a piece of DNA. They cost 10 cents each if the information is already publicly available. If the information is proprietary, the charge is 50 cents a base. The site also offers a way for genes to be licensed. With a mouse click, a researcher can pay US$10,000 for permission to do what they will with a gene. To prevent the gene information from languishing, such licenses must be renewed annually for an additional $10,000. If a product, such as a drug, results from the licensed gene, GeneSolutions.com will receive up to 1.5 percent in royalties. Hyseq is pumping proprietary gene data from more than 12 million DNA samples the company has analyzed into GeneSolutions.com's database. Hyseq said that's more than twice the number reported by any competitor. Several rare genes are available at GeneSolutions.com, the company said -- a result of Hyseq's mining tissues to find genes with expression levels as low as one copy per cell -- the type that many researchers believe have the most potential to lead to drugs. http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/21896.html ================================================================================ Wired News Commercial Ikonos in the Sky by Joanna Glasner 2:15 p.m. 23.Sep.99.PDT A satellite startup is about to make its second -- and likely final -- attempt to launch what will be the first of a new generation of commercial imaging satellites. On Friday, Denver-based Space Imaging is planning to launch Ikonos II, a high-resolution imaging satellite capable of picking out objects as small as one meter in diameter from an orbit 400 miles high. If all goes well -- which didn't happen with Ikonos I -- the satellite will be the first to offer high-precision images to farmers, urban planners, and just about anyone willing to pay to see something from high in the heavens. But getting the satellite aloft is proving to be a risky venture. The company has invested about US$750 million in the project so far, and isn't sure it will try another launch if Ikonos II fails to reach orbit. Meanwhile, competitors are waiting in the wings. "This is our last chance to be first," Space Imaging CEO John Copple said. The launch Friday will be Space Imaging's second attempt to put Ikonos in orbit. The company tried to launch its first satellite, Ikonos I, in April, but failed. The first Ikonos satellite is believed to have crashed into the ocean. A covering designed to separate and fall away from the rocket after passing through the atmosphere didn't break away, a Lockheed Martin investigation team found. As a result, the rocket didn't pick up enough speed to carry the satellite into orbit. Copple said he has a "high degree of confidence" that Ikonos II will take off smoothly, noting that the company has been working with Lockheed Martin, which made the rocket used in the first launch, to analyze and prevent a repeat failure. Nevertheless, the launch comes in the middle of a rough spell for the commercial satellite industry. A string of recent failures of high-profile launches -- coupled with escalating insurance costs and dampened enthusiasm among investors -- has made the commercial satellite industry riskier and more costly, said Alden Richards of Space Machine Advisors, which brokers insurance deals between insurers and satellite firms. In Space Imaging's case, it doesn't help that the company is using an Athena rocket, which has been used in a number of failed launches, Richards added. Ikonos' launch pad, located at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, also has a sorry past. The pad has been used by Lockheed Martin for only three launches, none of which have been successful, Vandenberg officials said. Risks aside, other players in the industry are also eyeing the market for high-resolution satellite imagery. OrbImage is planning to launch a remote sensing satellite next year that will capture images as small as a meter in diameter. A number of other satellites are also providing images at lower resolutions for commercial use. Still, the commercial satellite industry sees a lot to gain if Ikonos succeeds. If all goes well, the satellite will be the first commercial craft capable of providing imagery approaching the precision detail of military satellites. But since Ikonos will sell its images on the open market, it will open up detailed imaging capability to applications ranging from agriculture to urban planning to disaster relief. Copple sees potential for applications that will bring satellite imagery to anyone with an Internet connection, like a photographic atlas of Earth's land mass that could zoom in to show close-up photographs of neighborhoods or land formations. Emergency crews and media outlets surveying disaster scenes could also see their jobs become easier when they have access to detailed images covering a wide swath of damaged territory. "As the bandwidth on the Web increases, we will be able then to present digital representations of the world's land mass so you'll actually be able to see real imagery," said Copple. "Then the applications on top of the imagery become virtually limitless." Ikonos won't be offering picture-perfect quality. The satellite captures images to a range of one meter -- meaning that one could probably pick out a car on the highway, but not a face in a crowd. Still, the level of detail is high enough to have raised at least a few security concerns. There is the potential for detailed imaging data to get into the hands of terrorists or enemy states. Although Space Imaging says it won't sell imagery to defined terrorist nations or violate UN or bilateral trade restrictions, industry observers envision other dangers that could crop up. "At this level, one to three meters, that's pretty much spy quality. I think the military's doing better, but they're not going to say how much better," said Marco Caceres, senior space analyst with the Teal Group. "There's a lot of concern with the US military that the technology is developing extremely fast and it really is outpacing the ability of the US government to regulate it," Caceres said. Officials at the US Department of Commerce's Office of Air and Space Commercialization say the government has been primarily trying to encourage the development of the satellite imaging business. Although there are risks posed, there could also be benefits from greater "transparency" of information, said Robert Lerner, a policy analyst at the agency. Unlike the 10-meter images available from France's SPOT satellites and the 5-meter images available from India, the pictures from Ikonos could let analysts discern missile launchers and tanks and distinguish between fighter planes and bombers. Copple says satellite images will be available to buyers about two months after the launch. Analysts see a good chance of a profitable venture. "I think the US military is looking at a lot of these commercial systems like Ikonos and OrbImage and they're rethinking their own strategy of building their own systems for billions of dollars," Caceres said. http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/21900.html ________________________________________________________________________________ no copyright 1999 rolux.org - no commercial use without permission. is a moderated mailing list for the advancement of minor criticism. more information: mail to: majordomo@rolux.org, subject line: , message body: info. further questions: mail to: rolux-owner@rolux.org. archive: http://www.rolux.org