Will you still feed me when I’m 84?
Corrections or additions?
These aricles were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on September 15,
1999. All rights reserved.
Career Changes for Gene Researchers
Research to map human genes has revved up to ramming
speed, which will almost surely affect careers in several areas of
the pharmaceutical industry. Wes Cosand, director of genomic
technology and bioinformatics of Bristol-Myers Squibb, believes the
stepped-up pursuit of the human genome will impact not only the
discovery
of drug targets, but also the development of new drugs and the use
of those drugs in the health care system.
“Reasonably conservative companies are betting that this new
discipline
will change the way that drugs are not only discovered but also the
way they are developed in the clinic and the way they are sold in
the marketplace,” says Cosand. He is an alumnus of Ohio Wesleyan,
Class of 1970, and Rockefeller University.
At a meeting of the Association for Women in Science Cosand will
discuss
the impact of recent discoveries on the industry and the career
opportunities
they present. Entitled “The Impact of Genomics on Drug
Discovery,”
the talk is set for Thursday, September 23, at 6 p.m. at Wyeth Ayerst
on Ridge Road. Call 732-274-4607 for reservations.
Two events in the past year precipitated a sea change in the industry,
says Cosand. The first was the announcement that the United States
government and the British-based Wellcome Trust, the world’s largest
medical research charity (https://www.ac.uk), would dramatically
increase funding for accelerated research on genomic sequencing, so
that by February, 2000, a working draft of the sequencing could be
ready. (The government-funded Human Genome Project (HGP) is battling
it out with entrepreneur Craig Venter of P.E. Celera to try to
sequence
the complete human DNA located in the 23 chromosomes. If the
government
can win the race, the data will belong to the public domain.)
The second announcement, in April, was that 10 major pharmaceuticals
and the Wellcome Trust were joining in a precompetitive initiative,
to find hundreds of thousands of places in the human genome where
the DNA sequence differs among differing members of the population.
“These companies saw that as so critical to the industry that
they wanted that job done as soon as possible,” says Cosand.
“Those two unusual announcements were overlaid on a landscape
where many of our firms are doing significant recruiting of scientists
to increase their efforts in genomics,” Cosand explains.
The obvious result: “Recruiting is a real challenge. The pool
of people with a background in biology as well as in math or computer
science or quantitative skills is small.” Excellent career
opportunities
are available in these three brand-new areas:
Bioinformatics, the ability to analyze DNA sequence data.”Most of the companies are finding that a rich source oftargets,”says Cosand. “The earliest impact will be, perhaps, novel (new)antibiotics.” Because bacterial genomes are smaller, they weresequenced before human genomes; that data will be available earlier.Transcriptional profiling, to document how many copiesof each gene each person has. “It turns out that in front of everygene there is a tiny volume control. If that is turned off, it isjust as if the organism lacked the gene,” says Cosand. “Ifit is turned up high, then many many copies of that gene aretranscribed.The settings of the hundreds of thousands of volume controlsdeterminesa great deal of the biology.”Pharmacogenomics, how to use genomic analysis to tailora drug for a particular person. People are different, and as Cosandpoints out, significant portions of the population differ inparticularDNA sequences. “This diversity is a problem for us in designingand selling drugs because they differ in how they react,” he says.”If we could easily determine the differences in genetic makeup,we might be able to easily determine how a person’s tumor would differand choose the most efficacious treatment regime. We might be ableto more easily set a more appropriate dose for a patient.” Whenscientists really understand the fundamental biology, they might usethis genomic knowledge to tailor medical care for those with apredispositionto a disease.Applying the power of computers to these biological researchareas has fueled the rapid changes, sometimes called the”industrialization”of drug discovery. The adrenalin-powered research started out withhigh throughput screening, screening at a very fast rate.”Companiesspent a lot of money developing technology to do the screening. Thenthey realized they needed to do synthetic chemistry and greatlyincreasedthe ability to do combinatorial chemistry in high throughputmode,”says Cosand. “They saw genomics as an extrapolation of theindustrializationtrend, to vastly increase the rate at which they characterized theprotein targets which would then go into high throughputscreening.””In the last year their view of genomics has certainly changedand become perhaps more sophisticated,” says Cosand.Sophisticationoften reveals an ability to admit ignorance. As Cosand says, “Wereally do not entirely understand the impact or the effect thatgenomicswill have.”– Barbara FoxTop Of PageWill you still feed me when I’m 84?Long Term Care Insurance — heard of it? Probablynot, because many businesses don’t offer it. Long Term Care Insurance,or LTCI, covers what Medicare does not: non-medical expenses relatedto old-age or a debilitating condition that requires some kind ofassisted living arrangement.With the nation’s largest demographic — the babyboomers –approaching the golden years, health care is becoming a seriousconcern,so much so that the federal government is willing to put its moneywhere its rhetoric is, says Lisa Snyder, president of WebNetworkof Benefits Professionals and an insurance broker with Kistler Tiffanyat 2470 Princeton Pike. “The government has put a lot of new rulesin place that are highlighting long term care insurance as somethingpeople should seriously consider,” she says. “Legislationwas passed in the last two to three years to provide tax benefitsto encourage employers and people to buy it.” Snyder covers thespecifics Tuesday, September 21, at 8 a.m. at Smith Stratton on 600College Road East. Call: 609-987-6672. Cost: $30.LTCI covers assisted living, nursing homes, adult day care, and homehealth care. Benefits come in dollars per day that can be appliedto a variety of levels of care usually for an extended period, likefive years. The younger you buy it, the less expensive it is.From an employer’s standpoint, one of the big selling points, saysSnyder, is discount rates. “Most employers think that once youstart talking benefits, it’s going to cost money, and most employerscan’t afford another benefit.” A voluntary plan is offered ata discounted rate. “This doesn’t require employers to add to thefund.”Along the same lines, employers don’t have to stretch human resourcesto administer the plan. “HR people are already inundated,”says Snyder. “We as enrollers can deal with the employees in theevening at their home. There are no payroll reduction slots or payrollbilling if the policy is voluntary. Everything can be billed directlyto the employee’s home.”The real benefit to the employer, in the end, is the peace of mindit gives to employees, says Snyder. “If somebody’s parent ishavingtrouble, at least they have something to fall back on so it won’tdrain someone’s retirement savings. A lot of people do it themselves,which may mean leaving the work force permanently or leading a doublelife. During the day, you have diminished productivity because you’reworried your parent is going to wander off.”Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
