It may be a federal holiday, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing worth talking about in biotech! Here are a few stories to brighten your Friday morning…

TWITTERING FROM THE TRACTOR – CNN had a great piece yesterday on the use of smartphones and social networks by America’s farmers.

The growth of smartphones on farms is important because many people don’t think about where their food comes from, much less associate a specific farmer with that process, said Andy Kleinschmidt, a farmer and agricultural extension educator at Ohio State University.

“When you can put a name or personality with someone who’s actually raising corn and soybeans or actually milking cows, that’s the most important thing that’s come about in my opinion,” he said.

Thanks to @JPlovesCOTTON for bringing it to our attention!

MARYLAND BIOTECH – BOOM OR BUST? – You may have seen us tweet about this piece by Mary Spiro the other day, but we wanted to highlight it here as well, in case you missed it. Mary gives a thoughtful look at Maryland’s biotech sector and dissects the recent decision to break up the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) and the impact it will have.

BIOETHICISTS GONE WILD – Ok, well, not really. But they ARE, um, concerned. In fact, a group of more than 40 bioethicists, scientist, lawyers and science journal editors published a paper calling for an open discussion on guidelines for the future uses of stem cells – specifically the research and reproductive use of stem cell-derived eggs and sperm.

“Science has always moved faster than social debate or society’s ability to grapple with these issues,” says Debra Mathews, Ph.D., lead author of a paper published in the July issue of Cell Stem Cell and assistant director of science programs at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics…Mathews said stem cell researchers need to be better prepared to address public questions about uses of so-called pluripotent stem cell-derived gametes — regardless of how realistic or soon those uses may be. Such uses would potentially include reproductive uses such as the creation of sperm and eggs for in vitro fertilization, embryo selection based on genetic profile, and the creation of embryos from the tissues of fetuses, children and the deceased.

ARE ANTI-BIOTECH FORCES KILLING OUR FORESTS? – That’s pretty much the conclusion of a piece in Science Daily citing a story in Nature Biotechnology. It was a story that happily got extensive coverage online. (We encourage you to help that along by citing and reposting. The story talks about how extreme anti-biotech views are preventing us from planting trees that can help reforest areas and improve our environment. Our favorite quote:

“This is a noose that’s been slowly tightening for many years,” said Steven Strauss, a distinguished professor of forest biotechnology at OSU, and one of the world’s leaders in the application of genetic science to forestry.

“Everyone wants safe and responsible regulations that protect the environment,” Strauss said. “But some extreme opponents who see anything that is genetically modified as a mortal sin are successfully putting in place details that will make it virtually impossible to move ahead with genetic modification in forestry or woody energy crops.

“They don’t even want to see field research,” Strauss said, “which is required for analysis of ecological effects as well as benefits, and they have been making strides toward shutting the industry down.”

MOVE OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA … ARIZONA IS COMING – Awhile back there were several stories out of San Diego about the city and its medical biotechnology community moving into the area of “clean technology.” Look out California. Arizona is coming armed with sunshine, Arizona State University, and some interesting funding. Read about it in Ryan Rondazzo’s piece in the Arizona Republic.

LE FUTUR EST MAGNIFIQUE – Reuters reported yesterday that some cash-strapped biotech companies in Europe are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Young drug discovery groups have struggled to raise funds during the financial crisis, but investors, analysts and industry insiders now see some signs of confidence creeping back into the sector.

“In the last two months we saw that a window kind of opened up and a lot of good companies with good assets were successfully able to raise money,” said Carmen Tang, a biotech fund manager at Pictet who oversees assets of $1.7 billion.

Biotechs around the world raised $5.9 billion in the year until June 4, up from $5.4 billion in the same period in 2008, data from specialist biotech publication BioWorld Insight showed…[MORE]

AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN – We came across this very thorough and interesting piece about the process of developing biotech wheat. The author, Jennifer Latzke, gives a great overview of the history and showcases the strong arguments in favor of continued development.

Wheat is behind the seed industry in developing a transgenic trait that will help growers or end users. Since those early days of biotech research, more competitive biotech crops have been encroaching on what was once traditional wheat acreage, Oades said, simply because they are more profitable or reliable for farmers to grow.

“As the biotech events have been introduced into more and more crops that compete with wheat, the planted acres devoted to them will continue to accelerate,” Oades said. “With our own biotech events available in wheat, we can turn the situation around and make wheat more competitive.”

Besides helping a farmer’s bottom line, biotech traits may also improve or sustain wheat production in areas affected by drought and disease…[MORE]

That’s it for us this week. But before you head off for your BBQ, don’t forget to submit your ideas for the Best American Biotech Innovations. We’ll be showcasing them on the site next week.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!