Things we learned this week

 Researchers used five billion copies of a single immune cell from a man to wipe out signs of his advanced melanoma for more than two years, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Copies of an infection-fighting CD4 T cell were grown in a laboratory, and then used to attack the 52-year-old patient's tumour, the report said. Previously, scientists had difficulty isolating and copying immune system cells, the researchers wrote in the report.

The man had recurrent melanoma that failed to respond to therapy or surgery when he enrolled in a clinical trial at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The disease had spread to his lungs and a lymph node before he received the two-hour infusion of the lab-grown immune system cells. Sixty days later, all signs of the disease were gone. He remained in remission for the following two years, researchers said.

Biotechnology in agriculture will be key to feeding a growing world population and overcoming climate challenges like crop-killing droughts, according to a group of leading industry players.

"It is critical we keep moving forward," said Thomas West, a director of biotechnology affairs at DuPont DD.N, interviewed on the sidelines of a biotechnology conference in San Diego this week. "We have to yield and produce our way out of this."

DuPont believes it can increase corn and soybean yields by 40 per cent over the next decade. Corn seeds that now average about 150 bushels per acre could be at well over 200 bushels an acre, for example, DuPont officials said.

Crop shortages this year have sparked riots in some countries and steep price hikes in markets around the globe, and questions about how to address those issues were the subject of several meetings at the BIO International Convention.

Despite persistent reluctance, genetically modified crops have been on the rise. Growing food and biofuel demands have been helping push growth.

By using genetic modification, crops can be made to yield more, can be made healthier, and can be developed in ways that create more energy for use in ethanol production, according to the biotech proponents.