Fun_People Archive
11 Sep
Global Warming Becomes Global Munching?

Content-Type: text/plain
Mime-Version: 1.0 (NeXT Mail 3.3 v118.2)
From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 100 13:16:53 -0700
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: Global Warming Becomes Global Munching?  

X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649  -=[ Fun_People ]=-
X-http://www.langston.com/psl-bin/Fun_People.cgi

[As Ms. Chalup says "This goes way beyond the range of my bogometer to do
 useful state-checking, but if true would certainly be Very Interesting."
 I'll say!  I have an image of cows farting into a big machine... -psl]

Forwarded-by: Strata Rose Chalup
=============================================================

Aptagen Converts Methane Into Protein Food Source

P.R.Newswire, 9/11/2000 10:57

HERNDON, Va., Sept. 11 /PRNewswire/ --

Aptagen, Inc. announced today that it has successfully converted methane
gas, a waste product of natural gas, to protein in a continuous process.
The produced protein has high concentration of the amino acids required by
both humans and livestock for proper nourishment and nutrition; almost 5
times the levels found in common corn. Aptagen estimates that through its
procedure, the daily nutritional requirements of an average adult human
could be fulfilled for as little as 10 to 20 cents per day.

Materials for the process are very inexpensive, as the required methane
can be obtained from natural gas, flare gas from oil production or the
anaerobic digestion of many waste materials. In the next stage of the
process's development, Aptagen plans to test the viability of the process
for the production of commercial feedstocks.  Funding for the initial
development of the project was provided in part by Abdullah Al-Romaizen of
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Al-Romaizen is a significant shareholder in
Aptagen, as well as several other technology companies world-wide. He also
retains partial distribution rights for this project in his home country,
where extremely large quantities of methane are produced as a waste-product
of the huge Saudi oil industry.

Dr. Ray Tully, Aptagen's Chief Scientist and the project's lead researcher,
spoke favorably of the process and its potential impact. "This process is
a revolutionary one. We are now able to take a waste product, heretofore
unusable, and create from it a source of nourishment for fish, livestock,
and eventually humans. We hope that this is a significant step towards
increasing the world's food supply."

"The rapid success of this project underscores how Aptagen's DNA-
engineering methods turn promising science into commercially viable
products," said Colin Higbie, President of Aptagen.

Aptagen is a growth-stage biotechnology company that uses its novel
engineering tools to build entirely new classes of proteins and enzymes
for medical, research, agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial
applications.  Aptagen's Gene Forge(TM) gene synthesis process is a broadly
enabling DNA re- engineering technology designed to maximize protein
expression yield, design novel genes and accelerate the completion and
commercialization of the Human Genome Project. SOURCE Aptagen, Inc.

© 2000 Peter Langston