Berkeley teams up with Novartis in $50m plant genomics deal

Lumiracoxib (Novartis).

Lumiracoxib, an inhibitor of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), is under development by Novartis for the potential treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and pain. By late December 2000, phase III trials had been initiated and were ongoing in December 2001.

Target selection and deselection at the Berkeley Structural Genomics Center.

At the Berkeley Structural Genomics Center (BSGC), our goal is to obtain a near-complete structural complement of proteins in the minimal organisms Mycoplasma genitalium and M. pneumoniae, two closely related pathogens. Current targets for structure determination have been selected in six major stages, starting with those predicted to be most tractable to high throughput study and likely to yie...

Fingolimod. Mitsubishi Pharma/Novartis.

Mitsubishi Pharma Corp and Novartis AG are developing fingolimod, an orally active immunosuppressant affecting lymphocyte re-circulation, for the potential prevention of transplant rejection and the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Fingolimodis a synthetic sphingosine analog that becomes phosphorylated in vivo and acts as a sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor agonist.

Genomics update Genomics of plant-associated microbes

Plant functional genomics.

Nucleotide sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome is nearing completion, sequencing of the rice genome has begun, and large amounts of expressed sequence tag information are being obtained for many other plants. There are many opportunities to use this wealth of sequence information to accelerate progress toward a comprehensive understanding of the genetic mechanisms that control plant growth and...