For now, they’ve released the estimated 400 million base pairs that make up the Cannabis sativa genome on Amazon’s EC2 public cloud.
The company hopes to grow marijuana plants tailored to have specific medicinal properties.
Kevin McKernan, Medicinal Genomics’ CEO has been in biotech since 2000 when he cofounded Agencourt Bioscience. Cannabis caught his fancy after reading a 2003 study that outlined anticancer properties in cannabinoids. He told UPI that the medical marijuana market is growing by 50 per cent every year, and having a detailed genome sequence will help with regulation.
“It’s going to have to be a fairly regulated market,” he said, “and regulation is going to come through genetics and fingerprinting of which strains are approved.”
[Nature News via Geekosystem, Image: Shutterstock]
adam
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 11:59 AMWish they would legalise medical marijuana in Australia *sigh* we are such a crappy country when it comes to stuff like this.
SmileySmoke
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 12:24 PMim with you on that Adam.
we need intellectual lobbyists pushing towards a common ground without the ‘potheads’ saying legalise it. there needs to be a good basis and proven truths to back it up..
teach the masses and we all will benefit. beats taking synthetic chemicals for chronic pain thats for sure!
Josh
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 12:38 PMOnce legalised it might not be quite so affordable.
Goose
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 1:08 PMWould be interesting to see the price difference between medical and illegal in those US state in which medical is legal. I had never thought of it being more expensive when it became legalised. But I suppose with gavernment tarrifs/taxes being applied it could well be. One would assume that the taxes would take the place of the markup which would usually be charged for production and distribution of an illegal product.
We were involved with the tobbaco industry and, for growers the amount of regulation was huge. I can only imagine what it would be like for marijuana.
cam
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 1:33 PMlegalising weed has several benefits as I see it. There is the obvious one of taxes for the govt (and given their spending over the last year or so I would imagine a cash injection wouldn’t hurt), plus if done correctly (see Colorado or Texas) it wipes out the black market. Finally without the coppers running around chasing down pot heads they can concentrate on the criminals that deserve their attention (rapists, murderers, most politicians etc)
But wish as we may it will never happen, I mean this is a country that now wants to keep the revenue for cigarettes but want to restrict the packaging. You know when they succeed that booze will be next. With this nanny state mentality to these social issues we will only move in one direction, and contrary to Ju-Liar’s election spiel, it ain’t forward….
Come On
Monday, October 24, 2011 at 6:27 PMNot a good idea legalize it everywhere in the world then talk about using it or its just a waste of time. eg why have a drug based on something that is illegal on a pharmacy shelf. especially something that can be grown by someone.