Editorials in 2009

The ability to plug and play synthetic genes into minimized genomes promises to transform biological engineering.

Similar to outsourcing in the corporate world, technology incubators are beginning to look beyond their own borders to find technology.

Announcing an initiative to connect commercially oriented academics with their local business community.

As the cost of human genome sequencing plunges and large-scale genome-phenotype studies become possible, society should do more to reward those individuals who choose to disclose their data, despite the risks.

The strategy outlined in the UK's Life Sciences Blueprint is unlikely to address the British biotech sector's woes or help it regain prominence and success.

A universal tagging system that links data sets with the author(s) that generated them is essential to promote data sharing within the proteomics and other research communities.

In contrast to the slow translation of human genome information into medicine, animal genomics is likely to have a rapid and tangible impact on agriculture.

Industry has been warned: US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval is no shield against failure-to-warn or product-liability suits.

If there is one thing that the new team at the US Food and Drug Administration should immediately implement, it is a comprehensive, open database of drug-related adverse events.

Contrary to Genentech's claims, turning over all in vitro diagnostics to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the wrong approach to achieve better clinical validation of tests.

Big pharma should be more proactively investing in cash-hungry public biotech companies.

The biotech sector needs government support, not blank checks.