FILE - In this undated file photo released by his supporters, blind activist Chen Guangcheng, right sits in a village in China. Rights activists have criticized a Hollywood studio for filming a buddy comedy in an eastern Chinese city where the blind, self-taught activist lawyer is being held under house arrest and reportedly beaten. Relativity Media is shooting part of the comedy "21 and Over" in Linyi, a city in Shandong province where the activist Chen's village is located. Authorities have turned Chen's village of Dongshigu into a hostile, no-go zone and activists, foreign diplomats and reporters have been turned back, threatened and had stones thrown at them by men patrolling the village. (AP Photo/Supporters of Chen Guangcheng, File)
FILE - In this undated file photo released by his supporters, blind activist Chen Guangcheng, right sits in a village in China. Rights activists have criticized a Hollywood studio for filming a buddy comedy in an eastern Chinese city where the blind, self-taught activist lawyer is being held under house arrest and reportedly beaten. Relativity Media is shooting part of the comedy "21 and Over" in Linyi, a city in Shandong province where the activist Chen's village is located. Authorities have turned Chen's village of Dongshigu into a hostile, no-go zone and activists, foreign diplomats and reporters have been turned back, threatened and had stones thrown at them by men patrolling the village. (AP Photo/Supporters of Chen Guangcheng, File)
BEIJING (AP) ? Rights activists have criticized a Hollywood studio for filming a buddy comedy in an eastern Chinese city where a blind, self-taught activist lawyer is being held under house arrest and reportedly beaten.
Relativity Media is shooting part of the comedy "21 and Over" in Linyi, a city in Shandong province where the activist Chen Guangcheng's village is located. Authorities have turned Chen's village of Dongshigu into a hostile, no-go zone and activists, foreign diplomats and reporters have been turned back, threatened and had stones thrown at them by men patrolling the village.
The news that Relativity Media had chosen Linyi, a city of 10 million, as a location for its film and was touting its close government connections comes at a time when activists have renewed their attention on Chen. A campaign to visit the lawyer to draw attention to his plight has caught on and intensified over recent weeks, though none have succeeded and many visitors have been met with violence.
On China's popular Twitter-like microblog, Sina Weibo, some bloggers circulated email addresses for Relativity staff, urging users to write to the company in protest. A few called for a boycott of the film.
Relativity declined comment but said in a press release that filming in Linyi began last Wednesday. In the release, Linyi's top Communist Party official Zhang Shajun is quoted as calling Relativity's chief executive Ryan Kavanaugh a "good friend" while Relativity's Co-President Tucker Tooley describes Linyi as an "amazing" place.
"I hope Relativity Media will learn more about the real Linyi, about Chen Guangcheng, and see that what is currently happening in Dongshigu village is what is really 'amazing'," said Nanjing-based activist He Peirong in an interview.
"Especially at this time, when every day there are people trying to visit Chen Guangcheng, people who have been robbed and beaten, I express deep regret to see such remarks whitewashing the city of Linyi," she said.
In the past several weeks, dozens of activists and Chen's supporters have risked being violently assaulted to attempt visits to his home in a bid to draw attention to his plight. The latest group was made up of 37 petitioners who traveled there by bus from Beijing on Sunday and fled after being attacked by about 50 unidentified thugs as they approached Chen's village, said one petitioner, Peng Zhonglin, from Jiangxi province. Linyi police refused to comment when reached by phone.
Human Rights Watch senior Asia researcher Nicholas Bequelin said it was puzzling that Relativity appeared comfortable cozying up with the city's political leadership.
"They seem to be eager to assume this role of being a prop in Linyi's propaganda campaign to cast itself as a civilized municipality that promotes culture when the reality is that it is not only holding one of China's most prominent human rights defenders, but going to extraordinary lengths to persecute him," Bequelin said.
Relativity describes "21 and Over" as a comedy about two childhood friends who drag their friend out to celebrate his 21st birthday the night before a medical school interview in an evening that turns into "a wild epic misadventure of debauchery and mayhem." It stars "Footloose" star Miles Teller and Justin Chon who was in "The Twilight Saga."
Shooting in Linyi began on Wednesday and it was unclear how long they were scheduled to film there. Previous footage had been shot in Seattle, the company said. Relativity has produced or co-financed more than 200 movies including "Cowboys & Aliens," ''Bridesmaids," and "Limitless."
Blinded by a fever in infancy and self-taught as a lawyer, Chen became an inspiring figure among rights activists for his dogged pursuit of justice. He documented forced late-term abortions and sterilizations in his rural community, angering authorities. He was eventually imprisoned for four years.
After Netflix signed a deal with The CW Television Network, Hulu is the next online movie platform to announce an agreement with the network. Hulu has just announced a five-year licensing agreement with the CW Network, which is owned by CBS and Warner Brothers, for the rights to stream in-season episodes of The CW?s programming on Hulu Plus' subscription service and the platform's free, ad-supported service. Here's Hulu's blog post announcing the deal. The content will be available later this year. Programming includes nine series on The CW?s Fall 2011 schedule, including new series ?Ringer,? ?Hart of Dixie? and ?The Secret Circle,? as well as ?The Vampire Diaries,? ?Gossip Girl,? ?Supernatural,? ?Nikita,? ?90210? and ?America?s Next Top Model.? Hulu says this deal makes it the only online subscription service to carry in-season episodes of The CW?s drama and reality series.
BEIJING (Reuters) ? The head of Europe's rescue fund sought to entice China on Saturday to invest in the facility by saying investors may be protected against a fifth of initial losses and that bonds could eventually be sold in yuan if Beijing desires.
Klaus Regling was in China to persuade Beijing to stump up money and help the euro zone beat its two-year-old debt crisis. He said the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) may invest in a special purpose vehicle and absorb the first 20 percent of losses.
Regling did not say whether China had asked for that degree of protection and declined to comment on his meetings in Beijing. But he said he expected to submit a proposal on how to scale up the 440-billion-euro ($623.7 billion) EFSF rescue fund by November.
Expanding the EFSF to 1 trillion euros is key to the euro zone's latest anti-crisis plan, put together at a Eurozone summit this week. Details on how this would be done have yet to be finalized and European leaders are under pressure to show the plan would work.
"The EFSF will take a certain tranche that will be a junior tranche, which means if something goes wrong, the first loss will be carried by the EFSF. It could be around 20 percent," Regling told students at the Tsinghua University.
Regling, chief executive of the EFSF, said the fund could sell bonds in yuan in future if Beijing so desired. But he said that would be difficult to pull off right now.
"We have so far only issued euro bonds but we are authorized to use any currency we want if it seems efficient," he said.
"It also depends on the Chinese authorities, whether they would approve that. I think it is probably more difficult. But I could imagine that over the years it might happen."
WHY CHINA SHOULD BITE
Regling was visiting cash-rich China two days after euro zone leaders struck the deal to boost the firepower of the EFSF, recapitalize banks and reduce Greece's crippling debt burden.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy immediately got on the phone to China after the summit to seek financial help, saying Beijing had "a major role to play."
Europe has said the EFSF may be expanded either by offering insurance to buyers of euro zone debt in the primary market, or via a new special purpose investment vehicle that it hopes would draw funds from China and Brazil, among other countries.
The deal has left major economies Italy and Spain under pressure. Italy's borrowing costs jumped at a bond auction on Friday. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was forced to promise reforms to quash speculation that his government was about to collapse.
Regling made clear he wanted to determine what it would take for Beijing to put more money in the EFSF. But he hinted it was also in China's interests to have a healthy euro and an alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency.
"Many particularly large economies in the world want to have ... the euro as part of the international monetary system. That is a good reason to support our program," Regling said.
When asked why Beijing should buy more euros and risk currency losses if the bloc launches another round of quantitative easing, Regling said the European Central Bank had been prudent in growing its balance sheet, compared to the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.
"I can assure you should invest in the euro, this is not the problem," he said. "The ECB has only one objective -- price stability and they will deliver."
Stuck with elevated inflation, China worries that ultra-loose monetary policies abroad will further stoke price pressures at home. It has repeatedly scolded the United States for its quantitative easing, deeming it "irresponsible."
BEIJING CAUTIOUS
Some analysts agree that China has far more upside than downside in providing support for Europe, not least in protecting its global trade. But it may drive a hard bargain to part with some of its $3.2 trillion foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest.
Beijing is, nonetheless, cautious. Although China has expressed confidence that Europe can survive its crisis, it has made no public offer to buy more European government debt.
The careful stance was underscored on Friday by Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao, who said Beijing was awaiting details on new investment options for the EFSF before deciding its next move.
Regling also acknowledged that China would take no hasty decisions and said he expected no concrete outcome from his visit.
He shrugged off any notion, in his discussions with students, that the euro zone project could unravel, saying that the currency bloc remained united.
"There is no political intention to kick out any country," he said. "It would not be in the interest of any countries, not economically, not politically."
CANCUN, Mexico ? Authorities evacuated fishing communities on Mexico's resort-studded Caribbean coast and some tourists began to leave, as Hurricane Rina took aim at Cancun and the island of Cozumel on Wednesday.
Hundreds of residents from the fishing town of Punta Allen, south of Tulum, were taken to emergency shelters, a smaller group was evacuated from the atoll of Banco Chinchorro Tuesday, and cruise ships shifted their routes in the face of expected storm surges, waves and heavy rains from Rina.
Rina's maximum sustained winds remained steady at about 110 mph (175 kph) early Wednesday, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, making it a Category 2 storm. Forecasters predict it will strengthen as it nears the Mexican coast Wednesday night before rolling over the island of Cozumel, a popular dive spot and cruise-ship port, then along the coast to Cancun.
Soldiers, marines and state police arrived with vehicles in Punta Allen on Tuesday to evacuate about 275 residents and take them to a storm shelter at a middle school; about 500 people are expected to be evacuated there in total, according to Quintana Roo state Civil Defense Director Luis Carlos Rodriguez.
The coastal area around Tulum is dotted with Mayan ruins, and further north is Playa del Carmen, another popular spot for international tourists and the departure point for ferries serving Cozumel.
State Tourism Director Juan Carlos Gonzalez Hernandez said there were about 83,000 tourists in the state, with about 45,000 of those on a stretch of coast south of Cancun that includes Tulum and Playa de Carmen, and almost 28,000 in Cancun.
There were only about 1,719 tourists in Cozumel, and many of them were leaving, Gonzalez Hernandez said.
"In the case of Cozumel, which could be hit hardest, people are leaving of their own accord and are cutting their reservations short," said Gonzalez Hernandez.
But some were planning to ride out Rina.
Douglas Baird, 40, of Glasgow, Scotland, said he had been in Playa del Carmen for 11 days on a tour with 10 other people. He plans to stay for the five remaining days of his vacation.
"I'll go to the bar," he said about his plans for waiting out his first hurricane. "It won't be a problem."
But Wendy Powers, a 49-year-old from Louisiana who was taking a stroll at a shopping mall with two other friends, said she hadn't heard anything about the storm until a reporter told her about it. Still, she said she wasn't worried.
"We had Katrina and we survived it," Powers said. "If the one coming here is a category 1 or 2, we could have a beach party."
In Cancun's hotel zone, a string of pickup trucks hauled small boats and jet skis away from marinas, while workers at shopping malls began boarding up windows.
At least eight cruise ships were changing itineraries away from the storm's path, said Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman Vance Gulliksen.
Three cruise ships from the company Norwegian Cruise Line and one from Royal Caribbean have canceled their Friday port of call in the area, said Hiram Toledo, Quintana Roo port administrator.
The area was badly damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, when Cancun's famous white-sand beaches were largely washed away. Insurance officials estimated total damage at $3 billion.
State officials said they were readying more than 1,100 shelters that could handle nearly 200,000 people, though so far there was no word of any planned evacuations.
The hurricane was centered about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south-southeast of Cozumel early Wednesday and was moving west at near 4 mph (6 kph), the Hurricane Center said. A hurricane warning is in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from north of Punta Gruesa to Cancun.
Forecasters said Rina was likely to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of about 115 mph (185 kph) later Wednesday.
The projected track shows it curving east toward Cuba and the Straits of Florida by early next week, though the Hurricane Center cautioned "there is great uncertainty as to where Rina will be located by the weekend."
___
Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Mexico City contributed to this story.
FAIRFAX, Va. ? A day after he refused to endorse an Ohio ballot measure that limits public employee union rights, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he is "110 percent" behind the effort.
While he was in Ohio on Tuesday, Romney seemed to distance himself from anti-union measures that have lost popularity in recent months. Campaigning a day later, the former Massachusetts governor told reporters that he supports a ballot measure known as Issue Two aimed at restricting collective bargaining rights for 350,000 public workers such as teachers, firefighters and police officers.
"I'm sorry if I created any confusion in that regard. I fully support Gov. (John) Kasich's ? I think it's called Question Two in Ohio. Fully support that," Romney said, referring to the Issue Two ballot initiative, after visiting a local GOP office in the Washington suburbs. "Actually, on my website, I think back as early as April, I laid out that I support Question Two and Gov. Kasich's effort to restrict collective bargaining in Ohio."
In June, Romney praised Kasich's efforts to "limit the power of union bosses and keep taxes low."
"I stand with John R. Kasich and Ohio's leaders as they take on this important fight to get control of government spending," Romney wrote on his Facebook account then.
Romney waffled this week though; his rivals criticized him for not supporting the measure, which has seen its popularity falter.
"As a true conservative, I stand with Gov. Kasich in promoting S.B.5 for fiscal responsibility and job creation in Ohio," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement. "Gov. Kasich and the Republican leadership of Ohio are to be commended for their efforts." Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman told ABC News that Romney failed to show leadership.
"This is a time when if you are going to be president of the United States, you show a little presidential leadership. That's by taking a position and leading out ? sometimes there is a risk associated with taking a position, but that's all part of leadership," he said.
On Wednesday, Romney tried to answer the criticism.
"I know there are other ballot questions in Ohio. I wasn't taking a position on those," Romney said after meeting with volunteers. "I am 110 percent behind Gov. Kasich and in support of that question."
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern called it "an epic re-reversal."
"Such lack of character is a slap in the face to Ohioans and says everything you need to know about the serial flip-flopper Mitt Romney," Redfern said.
A Quinnipiac University poll this week showed the anti-union law is unpopular with voters; 57 percent oppose it in that poll.
Romney's arm's-length stance seemed to reflect that on Tuesday.
"I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues," Romney said during an appearance near Cincinnati. "Those are up to the people of Ohio. But I certainly support the efforts of the governor to rein in the scale of government. I am not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives. But I am certainly supportive of the Republican Party's efforts here."
And on Wednesday, he still sidestepped questions about a separate ballot measure that would exempt Ohioans from President Barack Obama requirement that individuals have health insurance.
"I've said that should be up to individual states. I, of course, took my state in one direction. They may want to go in a different direction," Romney said. "I don't want to tell them what I think they ought to do in that regard."
NEW YORK?? What does the time kids spend outside school have to do with their academic success? Everything, according to some experts.
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For kids whose families struggle to meet basic needs like health care and nutrition, keeping up in school can be a daily challenge. Now a new federal program is taking an out-of-the-box approach to improving the classroom performance of such kids by focusing on their needs outside of school.
Patterned after the Harlem program featured in the documentary film ?Waiting for Superman,? the U.S. Department of Education?s Promise Neighborhood Program last year doled out $500,000 planning grants to 21 programs around the country. After gathering preliminary data on whether the outside-in approach can help students, it will give up to $30 million more annually to a handful of programs to see their plans through.
One fledgling program has been established in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, where almost a quarter of families live below the poverty line. For them, accessing essential services isn?t always easy. There are long waiting lists for day care and too few English language classes to accommodate the large immigrant population, contributing to relatively low educational attainment in a neighborhood where nearly half of adults lack high school diplomas. A third of families in Sunset Park reported not having enough food to eat last year.
The same percentage of families has no health insurance, meaning even a minor illness can have major consequences. When kids get sick, parents have to miss work to take care of them, stretching financial resources to the breaking point. Many parents of dropouts in the area say illness was the main reason their child left school.
Stretched to distraction
Experts say that when families spend so much time trying to make ends meet, they rarely focus on improving their situations.
?If I?ve got all these other things going on, how am I supposed to focus on my schoolwork?? said Stacie Evans, director of the Sunset Park Promise Neighborhood. ?How am I supposed to be able to get to the point where I can be successful??
The Promise Neighborhood Program aims to fill the voids by making sure kids have access to all of the services they need ? from ?cradle-through-college-to-career? ? in their community.
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Here?s how it works: Local organizations that receive grants connect existing programs, identify gaps in services and fund new operations where they are needed, creating a network where families can readily address all of their needs. Experts call these ?wraparound services,? and say they are critical to the success of students.
Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink, an institute devoted to social and economic equality that endorses the Promise Neighborhood Program, said that the idea is to take programs with proven results and bring them to all those who need them.?
?The hope is that from the Promise Neighborhood Program we begin to learn how to coordinate what we already have,? she said. ?It?s not enough to have a wonderful boutique program. We have to take it to scale.?
In Sunset Park, 10-year-old Christian Trujillo knows what is at stake.?
?I am lucky to go to school,? he said.? ?Without an education you can?t really have a life.? You need to work hard and not just fool around.? Because when you fool around, you get nothing.?
But even with such focus at an early age, Christian is not optimistic that he?ll be able to attend college.
?If I keep up the good work, probably, but if I go down (in my grades) next year, probably not,? he said.
Many students at his school get bored and stop showing up to class, he said, adding that he worries that he, too, could get in trouble if his grades started to slip.
?The only way you can work without education is (selling) drugs, which you shouldn?t do, because after you do that the police find out, and you have the price to pay,? he said.?
Health checks, extracurricular activities
Christian?s chances of beating the odds may be improved now that the Promise Neighborhood Program is being established in his community.
Now he gets regular health checkups and attends extracurricular computer and dance classes. His mom, Carla Trujillo, goes to parenting classes, where she is learning ways in which she can be more involved in his education.?
The 50-square block Sunset Park program, which was established by a coalition of local organizations led by the Lutheran Family Health Center, even includes a community garden with a chicken coop, so families can learn where healthy foods come from.
?Promise Neighborhoods ties together all theses different supports that are looking at all parts of a person?s life, from when their parents first conceive that child up until the time that the child is ready to go beyond college and into a career,? said Evans, the program director.
The Promise Neighborhood Program was modeled after the Harlem Children?s Zone, a 97-block area where community leaders improved test scores, reduced the dropout rate and increased college enrollment by improving ?wraparound services? over a decade.
Some experts are skeptical about the return to investment of wraparound services. A July 2010 Brookings Institute report raised questions about the efficacy of the Harlem Children?s Zone, which operates its own charter school in addition to providing wraparound services.? The report compared test scores from the Harlem school ?with other New York City schools where students do not receive wraparound services. It found that students in the Harlem Children?s Zone did better than students in traditional public schools, but not better than other charter schools in the city.
Marty Lipp, a spokesperson for the Harlem Children?s Zone, called the report narrowly focused and short-sighted. ?Our perspective is larger than just test scores and academics,? he said. ?Those kids need more than just math and English.?
Read the Harlem Children Zone's reponse to the Brookings reports (.pdf).
Blackwell, the PolicyLink CEO, said that the Promise Neighborhood program really is based on a promise.? ?If you participate with us, and we can get you early ? and you?ll take the early childhood program, and attend the school and do your part ? we?ll help you succeed in life. We?ll help you get to college.? We?ll make sure you?re successful there.?
The Sunset Park Promise Neighborhood has applied for one of up to six implementation grants that will be awarded by the Department of Education in December, when it also plans to award additional planning grants.
If it is successful in obtaining the long-term funding, the Sunset Park Promise plan calls for expansion of the zone in five years to bring the services to more families.
Christian Trujillo said that for him, success would mean college, then a career as a lawyer so he can help more families like his own.?
?Justice means fighting for good, like you want good things to happen and get rid of the bad,? he said. ?Like no more drugs or smoke, and for kids to have an education.?
SEOUL, South Korea ? U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is assuring troops in South Korea that coming budget cuts will not mean a loss of benefits promised when they joined the military.
Panetta said Wednesday that tighter Pentagon budgets will result in force reductions, but not a cut in benefits like retirement pay for those now in uniform.
Panetta flew to Seoul from Tokyo, where he consulted with Japanese leaders and met Wednesday morning with U.S. sailors on board the USS Blue Ridge, the flagship of the Navy's 7th Fleet.
On Thursday, Panetta plans to meet with top South Korean officials, including President Lee Myung-bak.
All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 takes off for the new airplane's inaugural commercial flight to Hong Kong at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 takes off for the new airplane's inaugural commercial flight to Hong Kong at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
All Nippon Airways staff and others wave at an ANA Boeing 787 taxing on the runway, being sprayed water to celebrate the new airplane's inaugural commercial flight to Hong Kong at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 takes off for the airplane's inaugural commercial flight to Hong Kong at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 takes off for the new airplane's inaugural commercial flight to Hong Kong at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
A couple pose for a souvenir photo before boarding an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 to fly to Hong Kong, marking the airplane's inaugural commercial flight at Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
ABOARD ANA FLIGHT 7871 (AP) ? Boeing's much-anticipated 787 carried its first passengers Wednesday on a four-hour, 8-minute flight filled with cheers, picture-taking and swapping of aviation stories.
The new long-haul jet aims to change the way passengers think about flying with larger windows, improved lighting and air pressure and humidity that more closely resembles that on the ground.
It's not the fastest jet or the largest jet but the plane, nicknamed The Dreamliner by Boeing Co., is built of lightweight materials that promise to dramatically improve fuel efficiency. The first flight, from Tokyo to Hong Kong, was filled with 240 aviation reporters and enthusiasts ? some of whom paid thousands of dollars for the privilege.
"It's silly, but it's a little piece of history. New cars come out all the time but how often do new planes come out?" said Stephanie Wood. She and her husband Dean, of Davie, Fla., won a charity auction, paying nearly $18,700 for two business-class seats. Another passenger paid $32,000.
The most noticeable feature of the plane is its windows, which are 30 percent larger than those on older jets. Passengers no longer need to hunch forward to see the ground. Those in the middle of the plane can even glance out part of the windows. The shades are replaced with a glare-reducing, electrical dimming system that adds tint to the window within 30 seconds.
"The windows are absolutely amazing. You're not confined. You've got the outside inside," Wood said.
The $193.5 million plane's debut was delayed more than three years because of manufacturing problems. But that didn't bother the fans who broke out in applause at every opportunity.
The highlight for many was a rainbow-colored light show that transformed the sedate white interior into something closer to the Las Vegas strip.
Many of the 106 enthusiasts on board the flight by Japan's All Nippon Airways were carrying memorabilia from past inaugural flights and snapping photos of everything from the overhead bins to the bathroom with a window and bidet.
Thomas Lee, of Los Angeles, handed out his own press release and biography. There was his first inaugural flight ? the Boeing 747 as a 17-year-old boy in 1970 ? and then the Airbus A380 four years ago.
"I'm not crazy," he said. "For an aviation enthusiast, this is as high as it gets. It's like going to a movie on opening day."
He and the rest of the coach passengers paid the apt sum of 78,700 yen, about $1,035, to be part of the inaugural flight.
The 787 has been sold by Boeing as a "game changer," promising to revolutionize air travel just as its 707 did by allowing nonstop trans-Atlantic service and the 747 did by ushering in an age of mass travel.
The 787 is designed to connect cities that might otherwise not have nonstop flights. Planes like the Boeing 747 and 777 and the Airbus A380 can fly most long-haul routes but finding enough daily passengers to fill the massive jets is a challenge. The A380 typically has 525 passengers but can hold up to 853.
The 787 only carries 210 to 250 passengers. That means it can fly nonstop routes that larger planes can't profitably support like San Francisco to Manchester, England or Boston to Athens, Greece.
"It's going to be a hub-avoiding machine," said Ernie Arvai, partner with aviation consulting firm AirInsight. "You'd pay extra not to go to (London's) Heathrow."
Connecting such smaller cities is the "holy grail" of air travel, said Richard Aboulafia, analyst with the Teal Group. That's why the plane is the fastest-selling new jet in aviation history. There were 821 orders for the 787 before its first flight, although 24 were recently canceled by China Eastern Airlines because of delays. Now, the industry is waiting to see if the plane meets Boeing's 20 percent fuel-savings claims.
"If it performs as promised, it's the iPod of the aircraft world. If it doesn't, it's just another CD player," Aboulafia said.
ANA is the first airline to fly the plane and expects to have seven of them by the end of the year. United Continental Holdings Inc. will be the first U.S. carrier to fly the 787, sometime in the second half of 2012. It's planning to use the plane between Houston and Auckland, New Zealand.
There will probably be a short period when United ? which ordered 50 of the jets ? uses its first 787 on domestic or short trans-Atlantic flights. To make the Auckland route work, it will need a second 787 flying in the other direction.
For passengers, the changes start with boarding. They enter into a wide-open area with sweeping arches. Eyes instinctively move up. There's an impression of more space. Claustrophobia is reduced just a bit, even if seats are as cramped as ever.
Another physiological trick: lights gradually change color during long flights to reduce jet lag.
But the biggest changes come thanks to the stronger composite shell, which is less susceptible to corrosion than aluminum. Air won't be as dry, with humidity doubled to 16 percent. The cabin will be pressurized at the equivalent of 6,000 feet ? 2,000 less than most planes. That should lead to fewer headaches and leave passengers with more energy during long trips. A number of passengers said Wednesday's flight was too short to notice any improvement.
Other changes for passengers include:
? The largest overhead bins ever. They are designed at an angle to make the cabin feel significantly larger. Boeing says there's enough room overhead for every passenger to have one carry-on bag; however, the only way that seemed feasible was with identically rectangle bags, stacked in the optimal order.
? Less noise. New engines with a wave pattern around the exhaust reduce interior and exterior noise, although Boeing won't say by how much. Since the plane is lighter, additional sound and vibration padding can be added. Wednesday's flight appeared quieter, but a handheld sound meter registered noise levels similar to Boeing's 777.
? Later models will have a turbulence dampening system. Accelerometers in the nose register a sudden drop. A signal is sent in nano seconds via fiber-optic cables to the wings. Adjustments are made and what would have been a 9-foot drop is cut to 3 feet.
Most passengers don't know the make or model of their plane, unless they read the safety instruction card. The 787's interior is likely to change that. Even those who don't fly it, are likely to notice.
Hundreds of employees at Hong Kong airport stopped working to watch ? and take photos ? of Wednesday's arrival.
"We're celebrities," said passenger Lee Simonetta of Atlanta. "We ought to just taxi around for an hour."
___
Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott
New York ? Apple shares video of the private ceremony held in honor of its visionary co-founder ? featuring a performance by Coldplay and a rousing speech by Al Gore
Apple drew back the curtains Monday on the private memorial service the company held last week for its late co-founder, Steve Jobs.?The service, which was attended by Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Bono, and Google's Larry Page, had been closed to the public and the media?until Apple posted an 81-minute video of the event, titled "Celebrating Steve,"?on its website.?Here, six highlights from the ceremony:
1. New CEO Tim Cook kicked things off Jobs' successor was the first to speak before the crowd of thousands gathered outside the company's Cupertino headquarters, says the Associated Press. Cook said the past two weeks had the been the saddest of his life. "But I know Steve," he said. "Steve would have wanted this cloud to lift for Apple and our focus to return to the work that he loved so much." Cook also revealed some of the final advice Jobs gave him: "To never ask what he would do, just do what's right."
2. The crowd heard from Jobs one last time Early in the service, Cook introduced an audio recording of Apple's 1997 "Think Different" commercial, which featured Richard Dreyfuss narrating ? "Here's to the crazy ones? Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do" ? over a montage of images of Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jim Henson. In the audio played at the service, however, the words "were spoken by the man who wrote them: Steve Jobs," says Lori Preuitt at NBC Bay Area. The moment "seemed to bring down the house."
3. Al Gore rallied Apple's employees "You have helped, in important ways, to create the joy and love that people associate with what Apple does," the former vice president, who sits on Apple's board of directors, told the gathered employees. He encouraged them to keep focusing "on the creativity and passion that lives inside the insanely great products that you design, engineer, manufacture, and market."
4. iPod designer Jonathan Ive stole the show Ive shared "deeply personal memories of Jobs" that had the audience both laughing and crying, says Darren Franich at Entertainment Weekly. The iPod designer revealed what Jobs was like in boardroom brainstorming meetings, saying that sometimes his ideas were "dopey" and even "truly dreadful." But "sometimes they took the air from the room? bold, crazy, magnificent ideas, or quiet simple ones which, in their subtlety, their detail, were utterly profound." Ive also divulged how finicky Jobs was as a travel companion. After checking into a hotel, like clockwork Jobs would phone Ive each time to say, "Hey Jony, this hotel sucks. Let's go."
5. Norah Jones moved the crowd The Grammy-winning blues singer singer took the stage with her piano to perform "The Nearness of You" and "Painter's Song," both from her album Come Away With Me. She also told the crowd that Jobs was a Bob Dylan fan, says Scott Shetler at Pop Crush, and launched into a rendition of Dylan's "Forever Young."
6. And Coldplay cracked a joke Frontman Chris Martin began by telling the crowd, "We played this song for Steve 10 years ago. He said it was shit. He said we'd never make it." The band then launched into a performance of its first hit single, "Yellow." Martin also shared a story about when Jobs personally fixed his broken laptop, and thanked Martin for putting the band's song in an iTunes commercial. The group then played that song, "Viva la Vida," followed by its hits "Fix You" and "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall."
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WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama hailed the declaration of freedom in Libya on Sunday, saying "a new era of promise" is under way in the African nation. He also urged its new leaders to turn their attention to the political transition ahead.
The leader of Libya's transitional government, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, declared the country liberated Sunday, three days after the capture and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
In a statement issued by the White House, Obama congratulated the Libyan people and said, "After four decades of brutal dictatorship and eight months of deadly conflict, the Libyan people can now celebrate their freedom and the beginning of a new era of promise."
Obama said the U.S. looks forward to working with officials as they prepare for free and fair elections.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she supported calls for an investigation into Gadhafi's death as part of Libya's transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Gadhafi was captured wounded but alive in his hometown of Sirte. Bloody images of Gadhafi being taunted and beaten by his captors have raised questions about whether he was killed in crossfire, as suggested by government officials, or was executed.
Clinton told NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview aired Sunday that she backs a proposal for the United Nations to investigate Gadhafi's death and for Libya's Transitional National Council to look into the circumstances.
Clinton said a democratic Libya should begin with the rule of law and accountability, as well as unity and reconciliation. She called investigating Gadhafi's death a part of that process.
Clinton issued a statement later Sunday congratulating Libyans on their liberation, saying the U.S. was proud to have supported "the work of ordinary, brave Libyans who demanded their freedoms and dignity."
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) ? Libya's new rulers declared the country freed from Muammar Gaddafi's 42 years of one-man rule, saying the "Pharaoh of the times" was in history's garbage bin and a future of democracy and reconciliation beckoned.
But as thousands in Benghazi on Sunday heard the authorities announce "liberation," Gaddafi's rotting body, unburied and on public display in Misrata, was casting a shadow over the nation he once dominated.
Some fear National Transitional Council (NTC) chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, a mild-mannered former justice minister, will find it hard to impose his will on his fractious revolutionary alliance. They point to Misrata's insistence on displaying Gaddafi's body and that of his son Mo'tassim and to the lack of a clear account about how they met their end.
No clear plan for Gaddafi's burial suggests to some analysts there is justification for fears of a descent into leaderless turmoil and armed infighting.
Many Libyans and those in the international community will be hoping the country does not become dislodged from its democratic path, looking for encouragement toward Tunisia which held its first elections on Sunday after ousting President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali in January.
Some Muslims will be vexed that Gaddafi has not been given a rapid burial as demanded by Islam, although few Libyans will have shared the outrage expressed by one of his exiled sons, Saadi, about the deaths of his father and brother Mo'tassim.
At the Benghazi celebrations there was no direct reference to what some outsiders see as Misrata's ghoulish display.
In a speech Jalil renewed an earlier promise to uphold Islamic law.
"All the martyrs, the civilians and the army had waited for this moment. But now they are in the best of places ... eternal heaven," he said, shaking hands with supporters.
There is international disquiet about increasingly graphic and disturbing images on the Internet of abuse of what appears to be Gaddafi following his capture and the fall of his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.
But the immediate reaction to Sunday's announcement in Libya was jubilation.
"We are the Libyans. We have shown you who we are Gaddafi, you Pharaoh of the times. You have fallen into the garbage bin of history," said lawyer Abdel Rahman el-Qeesy, who announced the creation of a new government portfolio to deal with victims of the conflict.
"We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hilltops, mountains, deserts and skies," said an official who opened the ceremony in Benghazi, the place where the uprising erupted in February and which has been the headquarters for the NTC.
Cheering crowds waved the tri-color flag. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations would help build a new Libya. U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the declaration of liberation.
The announcement of "liberation" sets a clock ticking on a plan for a new government and constitutional assembly leading to full democracy in 2013.
"We hope we will have an elected democratic government with broad participation," student Ali Abu Shufa said.
Gaddafi promoted tribalism to keep the country divided, he said. "But now Gaddafi is dead, all the tribes will be united."
VACUUM
Gaddafi, who had vowed to fight to the end, was found hiding in a drain after fleeing Sirte, the last bastion of his loyalists. He died in chaotic circumstances after video footage showed him bloodied and struggling at the hands of his captors.
With big oil and gas reserves, Libya has the potential to become very prosperous, but regional rivalries fostered by Gaddafi could erupt into yet more violence that would undermine the authority of Jalil's NTC.
In Misrata, people queuing for a chance to see Gaddafi's body saw no reason for a rapid burial, apparently heedless of concern in Tripoli about how the NTC is perceived overseas.
"We brought our children to see him today because this is a chance to see history," said a man who gave his name as Mohammed. "We want to see this arrogant person as a lifeless body. Let all the people see him."
The declaration of liberation is intended to set the clock ticking on a process to set up a multiparty democracy, a system Gaddafi railed against for most of his 42 years in power.
An autopsy has been performed, and a medical source told Reuters that Gaddafi's body had a bullet in the head and a bullet in the abdomen.
"There are multiple injuries. There is a bullet in the abdomen and in the brain," the medical source said.
The autopsy was carried out at a morgue in Misrata, about 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli.
REGIONAL INFIGHTING
The loosely disciplined militias that sprang up in each town to topple the dictator with the help of NATO air power are still armed. The places they represent will want a greater say in the future, particularly the second and third cities Benghazi and Misrata, which were starved of investment by Gaddafi.
It was fighters from Misrata who emerged from a lengthy and bloody siege to play a large part in taking Tripoli and later caught Gaddafi.
British Foreign Secretary (Minister) William Hague and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen issued separate calls for Libyans to avoid retribution and reprisals and seize a chance to build pluralism and the rule of law.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking on the NBC program "Meet the Press," said she would strongly support both a U.N. and an NTC investigation into Gaddafi's death.
"Stand for unity and reconciliation, make it absolutely clear that everyone who stood with the old regime, as long as they don't have blood on their hands should be safe and included in a new Libya," she said.
There is some unease abroad over what many believe was a summary execution of Gaddafi. U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has called for an investigation into the killing, but few Libyans share those concerns.
SECRET GRAVE
Gaddafi's surviving family, in exile, wants his body and that of Mo'tassim to be handed over to tribal kinsmen from Sirte. NTC officials said they were trying to arrange a secret resting place to avoid loyalist supporters making it a shrine. Misrata does not want his body under its soil.
Saadi Gaddafi's lawyer said he was "shocked and outraged by the vicious brutality which accompanied the murders of his father and brother.
"The contradictory statements issued by the NTC excusing these barbaric executions and the grotesque abuse of the corpses make it clear that no person affiliated with the former regime will receive a fair trial in Libya, nor will they receive justice for crimes committed against them," lawyer Nick Kaufman said in an email sent to Reuters.
Libyan leaders have approved a request to open an investigation into Saadi over the murder of a footballer in 2005.
(Additional reporting by Taha Zargoun in Sirte, Barry Malone and Jessica Donati in Tripoli, Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor in Misrata, Christian Lowe and Andrew Hammond in Tunis, Samia Nakhoul in Amman and Tom Pfeiffer at the Dead Sea, Jordan; Writing by Jon Hemming and William Maclean; Editing by Andrew Roche and Matthew Jones)
SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan ? U.S. Senator John McCain said Sunday that military action to protect civilians in Syria might be considered now that NATO's air campaign in Libya is ending.
However, President Barack Obama's administration has made clear it has no appetite for military intervention in Syria ? a close ally of Iran that sits on Israel's border ? and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted Sunday that the Syrian opposition has not called for such action as President Bashar Assad's regime.
"Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what practical military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria," McCain said at the World Economic Forum in Jordan. "The Assad regime should not consider that it can get away with mass murder. Gadhafi made that mistake and it cost him everything," he added, referring to ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi who was captured and killed last week by fighters loyal to the new government.
"Iran's rulers would be wise to heed similar counsel," McCain said.
It was not clear whether the Republican senator from Arizona was referring to American or NATO military action against the Syrian regime, which has waged a 7-month crackdown on opposition protesters and killed about 3,000 people, according to the U.N.
However, international intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple Gadhafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. Washington and its allies have shown little inclination for getting involved militarily in another Arab nation in turmoil. There also is real concern that Assad's ouster would spread chaos around the region.
Syria is a geographical and political keystone in the heart of the Middle East, bordering five countries with which it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel's case, a fragile truce. Its web of alliances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy. There are worries that a destabilized Syria could send unsettling ripples through the region.
Most Syrian opposition groups, inside and outside Syria, also have said they oppose military intervention.
Mohammad Habash, a member of Syria's outgoing parliament, said such military action "will only bring catastrophes, wars and blood and this is what we don't wish at all."
"We believe that the best way to protect civilians is diplomatic pressure and pushing the regime to sit and talk with the opposition and pushing the opposition to sit with the regime," said Habash, who has been linked to the regime but has recently tried to position himself between the government and the opposition.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on "Fox News Sunday" that Washington is "strongly supporting a change from Assad and also an opposition that only engages in peaceful demonstration." But she stressed that Syria's opposition has not called for the kind of outside intervention that Libya's opposition did.
McCain also warned Iran after it was accused in the United States of backing a plot never carried out to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S.
"Their plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington has only reminded Americans of the threat posed by this regime, how it is killing Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting violent groups across the region, destabilizing Arab countries, propping up the Assad regime, seeking nuclear weapons, trampling on the dignity of Iran's people."
Iran has maintained its backing for Assad's regime, but has increasingly urged him to halt attacks on protesters and open dialogue seeking to end the unrest. Tehran has dismissed the U.S. allegations of the plot as "baseless" and has said it was willing to examine hard evidence that the U.S. claims links Tehran and the foiled assassination conspiracy.
Iranian officials have rejected tough talk from Washington as "rhetoric," saying the U.S. is not in a position to attack the Islamic Republic. The country regularly holds war games to showcase its capabilities in defending its nuclear facilities from possible attack.
The elite Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force, has warned that there would be a strong Iranian response should the U.S. take military action against the country. Iran repeatedly has threatened to target Israel should the U.S. or Israel take military action against it.
McCain also accused Iran of trying to "hijack" the Arab Spring.
"No issue unifies the American people more than the need to protect our friends, our allies, our interests from the comprehensive threat posed by the Iranian regime. No one should test our resolve in this matter," McCain said.
"Not to say that American leadership is neither welcomed nor wanted in the Middle East today. To the contrary, as I travel across this region, I have met with heads of state, young democratic activists business leaders and nearly every single one wants more American leadership and not less."
ARLINGTON, Texas ? Strolling behind the batting cage, Matt Holliday watched his St. Louis teammates hit away Friday and offered a simple tip.
"Get a good swing!" he hollered.
Great advice for anyone with a Louisville Slugger in hand at this World Series.
Despite the presence of Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, Nelson Cruz and other top boppers, the Cardinals and Texas Rangers have hardly dented the scoreboard while splitting the first two games.
So far, a total of just eight runs. The last time there were fewer through the opening two games at a Series? Try 1950, when Joe DiMaggio and the New York Yankees combined with Philadelphia for four.
"A lot of people thought this was going to be an offensive World Series," Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus observed before an off-day workout.
Blame the drought on a few factors: raw weather at Busch Stadium, good pitching and, perhaps most significantly, hitters facing arms they've never seen before.
Both teams have flailed away at the plate, chasing sliders and curves that bounced, shattering bats and seeming to guess wrong on what pitches were coming next.
"We need to give good at-bats and get deeper and quit swinging at balls out of the strike zone," Mike Napoli said.
Napoli has hit the lone home run of the Series. He connected off Chris Carpenter, but maybe he had an edge ? Napoli had been 3 for 3 lifetime against the Cardinals ace going into Game 1.
Fresh off their two-run rally in the ninth inning and a 2-1 win in Game 2, the Rangers start Matt Harrison on Saturday night at Rangers Ballpark. Kyle Lohse will pitch for the Cardinals.
"It's a tough place to pitch, especially when you see those flags blowing in. It usually means that jet stream is going to right-center," Lohse said. "I think everyone in the league knows that."
Each team adds a designated hitter, with the AL rule in effect at Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will make Lance Berkman the DH and put Allen Craig ? already with a pair of key pinch-hit RBI singles ? in right field.
The Rangers will likely use Michael Young at DH, move Napoli to first base and put Yorvit Torrealba at catcher.
At this point, it might take more than a wind tunnel to help the hitters.
Texas is batting only .186, St. Louis is stuck at .203. Hamilton and Pujols are hitless, and Cruz has been held to a mere single after tearing through the AL championship series.
On Friday, Cruz gave the Hall of Fame the bat he used to hit a grand slam in the ALCS. It was cracked ? maybe Texas and St. Louis need new timber, too.
It seemed fitting, in fact, that when Texas scored those two runs Thursday night to even the Series, both crossed on sacrifice flies.
Each team has scored four runs overall. Back in 1983, Baltimore and Philadelphia also combined for eight through two games ? it's more than 60 years since the total was lower than this October.
"I think honestly we got out of our approach a little bit, maybe a little over aggressive trying to create things that necessarily weren't there," said Ian Kinsler, whose bloop single and daring steal keyed the Texas comeback. "If we can just relax and play our style of baseball, let the game come to us, we'll be all right."
Rangers outfielder David Murphy hopes it plays out that way, eventually.
"It's the World Series. We're going to face a guy tomorrow that most of us have never faced, if at all. Game 4 is a little different because Edwin Jackson has been in the American League enough to where most of us have probably faced him," he said.
"I feel like just watching the first two games, offensively, it's just a matter of who is going to make adjustments on the fly. We're facing their guys that we've never before and it's the same thing on their side. The pitching performances have been good, but we have confidence in our offense to put up runs, as well," he said.
So does Texas hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh. He was promoted from the Triple-A job when Thad Bosley was fired two months into his first year with the team.
Coolbaugh watched Young swing through strike three from Jaime Garcia in Game 2, then saw Adrian Beltre wave at a couple of low off-speed deliveries.
"I think it was evident that some of our guys were seeing someone for the first time," Coolbaugh said. "You can watch all the video you want and read all the scouting reports. But when you step into that batter's box, it all looks different."
Coolbaugh, however, was not surprised when the Rangers put together better at-bats in the ninth against Jason Motte and the St. Louis bullpen.
"That was two days in a row that we were seeing their relievers. The more we see them, the better off we'll be," he said.
Clearing house for DNA gets a boostPublic release date: 20-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joe Caspermeyer joseph.caspermeyer@asu.edu 480-727-0369 Arizona State University
Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute is home to a rich trove of biological material. Known as DNASU, this growing storehousea sort of genetic Library of Congressholds over 147,000 plasmids, (circular DNA samples that can be used to produce individual proteins), as well as full genome collections from numerous organisms and proteins associated with many leading human diseases.
A new $6.5 million grant from the National Institute of Health will help expand a critical component of this genetic archive known as the Protein Structure Initiative-Materials Repository (PSI:Biology-MR).
The PSI:Biology-MR effort began in 2006 in the laboratory of Joshua LaBaer, then at the Harvard Medical School Institute of Proteomics. LaBaer has directed Biodesign's Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics since 2009, where the PSI materials repository has continued its mission of collecting, annotating, storing, maintaining, and distributing plasmidsthe design templates for specific proteins created by researchers within the PSI's multi-institution structural genomics consortium.
Plasmids are small pieces of DNA, generally of a circular structure. They provide ancillary genetic information in bacteria and prokaryotic organisms, often containing specialized genes for essential functions. Plasmids are a particularly important tool for biotechnology. Researchers use them to study the effect of individual genes in cells or within an organism. Plasmids are also commonly used by researchers as biological flash drives that can be inserted into bacteria to make multiple copies of genes or express genes as proteins.
Proteins play an essential role in virtually all life processes. As LaBaer explains, expression-ready plasmids are vital to biomedical research, particularly for the study of human health and disease. "Proteins provide the verbs to biology. They energize, connect, signal, digest, activate, inactivate, move, transport, and dozens of other activities. Researchers use plasmids to make these proteins, in order to learn about what they do and how to regulate them. Nearly all drugs today act by altering the activity of a protein or are proteins themselves."
The field of structural genomics has undergone rapid advance in recent years, due to the increasing availability of sequence data. Such study holds enormous promise for a more complete understanding of the role of proteins both in normal biological processes and in disease. Four large-scale and numerous specialized PSI Centers have created tens of thousands of plasmids containing genes or their fragments to
be used for protein expression, purification, crystallization and structure determination.
As of September 2011, over 50,000 PSI plasmids containing genes from over 890 organisms have been assembled, curated and shared with the research community.
Like a lending library for books, PSI-Biology-MR acts as a global distribution network, delivering plasmids to researchers worldwide, including critical information about the genes they contain, annotations concerning the full length sequence, vector information, and associated publications for cross referencingall of which are stored in a freely available, searchable database.
Once the detailed 3-D structure of a given protein has been worked out or 'solved' by PSI researchers, the task of unraveling the biological function of the protein can commence. The PSI resources can be used by researchers to study the biochemistry and biological functions of key proteins. Further, expression-ready plasmids for proteins coded by hypothetical genes or genes of unknown function assist biologists in determining the function of these proteins more quickly.
LaBaer says that besides providing these plasmids at a low cost from an easily accessible centralized location, his group has also dramatically simplified the legal process of acquiring plasmids for study; streamlining the Material Transfer Agreementa necessary contractual document. This was accomplished through multi-institute cooperation, reducing delays for plasmid transfers and accelerating the pace of discovery.
At the heart of DNASU and the PSI:Biology-MR is the Nexus Universal BioStore Freezer. LaBaer's team acquired this state-of-the-art storage and robotic retrieval system through funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The BioStore system is essential for maintaining the integrity of the plasmids, properly tracking the location of each sample in the repository and ensuring rapid and accurate access to these samples.
Plasmids are stored as glycerol stocks in 2D barcoded tubes at -80 degrees Celsius. The Nexus and repository are integrated for a seamless flow between ordering and plasmid selection; saving time, safeguarding samples from cross-contamination and human error, and accelerating distribution of materials to researchers. The BioStore is capable of storing and retrieving up to 855,000 sample tubes, all managed automatically from a computer.
LaBaer stresses that the integrated PSI:Biology-MR system, including a growing repository of expression-ready plasmids, an automated pipeline, and a rapid process for receiving and distributing plasmids more effectively will be a boon to the community of researchers hoping to dissect the biological functions of proteins:
"We have always had the philosophy that sharing tools and reagents is critical to accelerating scientific discovery. It doesn't make sense for one researcher to have to repeat the work that someone else has already done. This facility makes sharing easy."
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Clearing house for DNA gets a boostPublic release date: 20-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joe Caspermeyer joseph.caspermeyer@asu.edu 480-727-0369 Arizona State University
Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute is home to a rich trove of biological material. Known as DNASU, this growing storehousea sort of genetic Library of Congressholds over 147,000 plasmids, (circular DNA samples that can be used to produce individual proteins), as well as full genome collections from numerous organisms and proteins associated with many leading human diseases.
A new $6.5 million grant from the National Institute of Health will help expand a critical component of this genetic archive known as the Protein Structure Initiative-Materials Repository (PSI:Biology-MR).
The PSI:Biology-MR effort began in 2006 in the laboratory of Joshua LaBaer, then at the Harvard Medical School Institute of Proteomics. LaBaer has directed Biodesign's Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics since 2009, where the PSI materials repository has continued its mission of collecting, annotating, storing, maintaining, and distributing plasmidsthe design templates for specific proteins created by researchers within the PSI's multi-institution structural genomics consortium.
Plasmids are small pieces of DNA, generally of a circular structure. They provide ancillary genetic information in bacteria and prokaryotic organisms, often containing specialized genes for essential functions. Plasmids are a particularly important tool for biotechnology. Researchers use them to study the effect of individual genes in cells or within an organism. Plasmids are also commonly used by researchers as biological flash drives that can be inserted into bacteria to make multiple copies of genes or express genes as proteins.
Proteins play an essential role in virtually all life processes. As LaBaer explains, expression-ready plasmids are vital to biomedical research, particularly for the study of human health and disease. "Proteins provide the verbs to biology. They energize, connect, signal, digest, activate, inactivate, move, transport, and dozens of other activities. Researchers use plasmids to make these proteins, in order to learn about what they do and how to regulate them. Nearly all drugs today act by altering the activity of a protein or are proteins themselves."
The field of structural genomics has undergone rapid advance in recent years, due to the increasing availability of sequence data. Such study holds enormous promise for a more complete understanding of the role of proteins both in normal biological processes and in disease. Four large-scale and numerous specialized PSI Centers have created tens of thousands of plasmids containing genes or their fragments to
be used for protein expression, purification, crystallization and structure determination.
As of September 2011, over 50,000 PSI plasmids containing genes from over 890 organisms have been assembled, curated and shared with the research community.
Like a lending library for books, PSI-Biology-MR acts as a global distribution network, delivering plasmids to researchers worldwide, including critical information about the genes they contain, annotations concerning the full length sequence, vector information, and associated publications for cross referencingall of which are stored in a freely available, searchable database.
Once the detailed 3-D structure of a given protein has been worked out or 'solved' by PSI researchers, the task of unraveling the biological function of the protein can commence. The PSI resources can be used by researchers to study the biochemistry and biological functions of key proteins. Further, expression-ready plasmids for proteins coded by hypothetical genes or genes of unknown function assist biologists in determining the function of these proteins more quickly.
LaBaer says that besides providing these plasmids at a low cost from an easily accessible centralized location, his group has also dramatically simplified the legal process of acquiring plasmids for study; streamlining the Material Transfer Agreementa necessary contractual document. This was accomplished through multi-institute cooperation, reducing delays for plasmid transfers and accelerating the pace of discovery.
At the heart of DNASU and the PSI:Biology-MR is the Nexus Universal BioStore Freezer. LaBaer's team acquired this state-of-the-art storage and robotic retrieval system through funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The BioStore system is essential for maintaining the integrity of the plasmids, properly tracking the location of each sample in the repository and ensuring rapid and accurate access to these samples.
Plasmids are stored as glycerol stocks in 2D barcoded tubes at -80 degrees Celsius. The Nexus and repository are integrated for a seamless flow between ordering and plasmid selection; saving time, safeguarding samples from cross-contamination and human error, and accelerating distribution of materials to researchers. The BioStore is capable of storing and retrieving up to 855,000 sample tubes, all managed automatically from a computer.
LaBaer stresses that the integrated PSI:Biology-MR system, including a growing repository of expression-ready plasmids, an automated pipeline, and a rapid process for receiving and distributing plasmids more effectively will be a boon to the community of researchers hoping to dissect the biological functions of proteins:
"We have always had the philosophy that sharing tools and reagents is critical to accelerating scientific discovery. It doesn't make sense for one researcher to have to repeat the work that someone else has already done. This facility makes sharing easy."
###
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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