cloning

CLONING: CONNECTICUT JOBS PROGRAM FOR MICE?

"Baaah" news (Dolly): "The Holy Grail" of science, cloning has religious and political significance not to be minimized; no comment for next photo; same movie, "checking the cell structure" and the research scientist's best friend.

Specially Bred Mice May Hold Keys to Personalized Medicine
WIRED
Brandon Keim http://www.wired.com/medtech/genetics
06.05.07

Scientists at the Jackson Laboratory have developed a genetically diverse panel of mice that can help predict how people with specific genotypes will respond to experimental drugs. A panel of 36 mice could finally deliver the long-unfulfilled promise of personalized medicine.

The mice were specially bred to contain just about any genetic predisposition in humans. They should help scientists determine which drugs are dangerous -- or more effective -- for individuals before they reach the market.

"Imagine someone discovers a compound that prevents cancer," said Jackson Laboratory geneticist Ken Paigen. "But suppose that in addition to preventing cancer, it has serious adverse effects in some percentage of the population. You'd sure like to know who could and who couldn't use it."

Drugs often seem to pass FDA clinical trials with flying colors, only to cause serious health problems in patients later. Vioxx and Avandia (which is still on the market but allegedly increases the risk of heart problems) are two recent examples. Some drugs remain in use but have risks only narrowly outweighed by their benefits. Every year, 2 million people are hospitalized and 100,000 die from adverse drug reactions.

Personalized medicine promises to prevent some of those complications. Some custom treatments have slowly emerged in recent years. But Paigen and his colleagues say their 36 mice could open the floodgates. Taken together, the mouse panel roughly covers all the genetic variation in the human race.

Researchers already test drugs on mice before giving them to people, because the rodents share many of our genetic and immunological characteristics. Also like humans, mice are genetically varied and react to drugs differently. But researchers typically test drugs on just a few strains.

"They're testing a drug in the mouse equivalent of one person and trying to extrapolate that to how it'll work across the whole human population," says National Cancer Institute geneticist Kent Hunter. "That's clearly going to be inaccurate."

When scientists give drugs to the Jackson Lab mice, they can identify strains that react unusually, and then study them to pinpoint genes underlying the reactions. Human and mouse genes are very similar and likely to mirror those in humans, geneticists say.

The drug could be further refined or recommended for use only in people with appropriate genetic profiles. For example, patients at risk for heart problems when taking Vioxx or Avandia could have been identified ahead of time. For drugs already on the market, the mouse panel could also help doctors match patients with drugs that will work best for them.

The testing won't be a silver-bullet solution to drug toxicity: Mice are not exactly like people. Plus, interactions between genes and environment are hard to duplicate in a lab. But the mice should help scientists understand these ambiguities, and using them should be a major improvement over testing drugs on just a few types of mice.

"It could be a phenomenal resource to get at some of those problems of toxicity," said David Threadgill, a University of North Carolina geneticist who helped develop the panel. "We need to get away from the idea that we can develop a drug and give it to everybody."

Jackson Lab debate pits costs against jobs
Keith M. Phaneuf, CT MIRROR
October 25, 2011

Though the potential for dramatic job growth in cutting-edge bioscience is supposedly the chief selling point for the proposed Jackson Laboratory research center, it's the finances behind the deal--and two very different ways of presenting them--that is controlling much of the Capitol debate.

For nearly a month, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration has been touting two numbers: $291 million from the state and $809 million from Jackson Laboratory. Together, officials say, they represent the total money that will be spent on capital and operating costs at the proposed facility for the next two decades.

"For every $1 the state is spending on the project, Jackson Laboratory will spend $3," read a press release Malloy's office issued on Sept. 30, when a tentative deal first was announced.

But another way to describe the same arrangement is that Connecticut will pay the entire construction cost of the Farmington laboratory and subsidize its research operations for the first decade. Jackson Laboratory's contributions won't exceed the state's $291 million direct contribution until the 11th year -- one year after Connecticut stops putting money into the facility. And neither of these comparison's includes the $120 million in interest charges Connecticut will face to borrow $291 million.

"It was presented to create the appearance that Jackson Laboratory is making an investment in the building, and they're not," said Deputy House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora of North Branford, whose fellow Republicans have been increasingly critical of the Democratic governor's push to bring Jackson Laboratory here.

Why were interest charges not highlighted in many of the comparisons with Jackson Laboratory's contributions?

Malloy's commissioner of economic and community development, Catherine Smith, noted during an interview Friday that the extra $120 million cost to Connecticut will go to its bond investors, not into the research facility. "We've never included the debt service" in describing state's contribution to the project, she said.

Why juxtapose that $291 million--which Connecticut will spend in the first 10 years on construction costs for a 173,000-square-foot center and to supplement research operations--with 20 years of projected operating costs for Jackson Laboratory, specifically $809 million?

Based on a 20-year financial projection for the project, Jackson Laboratory's total operating expenditures for the first decade--when the state is contributing--will fall between $279 million and $290 million.

While supporters said the goal was to contrast finances over the same period used to calculate job growth forecasts, critics again countered that political spin was at work. The interest costs are outlined in a project summary report distributed by the administration last week, but Candelora said the initial presentation did its work: Many legislators and news media already are referring to the proposal as a $1.1 billion initiative.

"You can't have it one way and not the other," Candelora said. "You can't look at Jackson's costs through a 20-year window and not talk about the interest at the same time. It's disingenuous."

But key Democratic legislators responded Monday that Candelora and his fellow Republicans are trying to shift the debate away from numbers that are particularly enticing for state government.

The administration estimates that partnering with an international leader in genetic research on will create over 7,400 jobs.

The Maine-based, not-for-profit research institute is required to have 300 direct jobs at the center by the 10th year, and is expected to create over 660 direct positions within 20 years.

But administration officials also estimate more than 4,600 bioscience jobs would be generated largely through spin-off companies, and another 2,000 would be added to local service and retail operations from increased economic activity. Lastly, the project would create more than 840 temporary construction jobs in the next few years.

Smith said the forecasts might be somewhat conservative. She noted that a 2009 analysis of the bioscience industry by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a global accounting and professional services firm, is projecting 11 percent annual growth for the foreseeable future. But the administration, in preparing job estimates, pulled back dramatically in the second decade, assuming a modest 4.5 percent annual jump.

"I am very confident about those numbers," Smith said.

"I think what really motivates most people, including myself, is that Jackson Labs brings with it an international credibility," added House Majority Leader J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden. "We have an opportunity to really launch meaningful economic growth in this particular field."

"If this debate was not focused on the much bigger picture, this could not happen," said Sen. Gary D. LeBeau, D-East Hartford, co-chairman of the Commerce Committee, who said Republicans' focus on contrasting public and private investments is short-sighted.

"It's like we're planting a tree in the woods and they're asking 'How much can I sell the lumber for if I chop it down in 20 years?'" he said. "What they should be asking is 'How many seeds will that first tree produce and will we be looking at a grove in 20 years?'"

LeBeau quickly modified his analogy to note that with annual investments in stem cell research since 2006, top-flight research institutions like the University of Connecticut Health Center and Yale University, and one of the largest per capita scientific workforces of any state, Connecticut already has several seeds planted.

"I believe this is the only direction for us to go," LeBeau added. "I really believe we have no choice but to do this."

Lawmakers return to vote on jobs bills
Greenwich TIME
Published 12:00 a.m., Monday, October 24, 2011

HARTFORD (AP) -- State lawmakers are returning to the Capitol to vote on two bills intended to help create new jobs in Connecticut.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has called a special session for Wednesday.

There appears to be more bipartisan support for the wide-ranging jobs package, which includes ideas from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration as well as Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

The plan calls for spending $516 million over two years on numerous initiatives, including assistance to small businesses.

Republican House Leader Lawrence Cafero said he's not ready yet to support a second bill. It calls for eventually spending $291 million toward a new genetic research lab at the University of Connecticut in Farmington.

The Jackson Lab of Maine has said the $1.1 billion facility will attract world-class researchers.

Scientists find way to change one kind of cell into another
Move could eventually be major breakthrough
DAY
By Rob Stein
Published on 8/28/2008

Washington - Scientists have transformed one type of fully developed adult cell directly into another inside a living animal, a startling advance that could lead to cures for a plethora of illnesses and sidestep the political and ethical quagmires that have plagued embryonic stem cell research.

Through a series of painstaking experiments involving mice, the Harvard biologists pinpointed three crucial molecular switches that, when flipped, completely convert a common cell in the pancreas into the more precious insulin-producing ones that diabetics need to survive.

The feat, published online Wednesday by the journal Nature, raises the tantalizing prospect that patients suffering from not only diabetes but also heart disease, strokes and many other ailments could eventually have some of their cells reprogrammed to cure their afflictions without the need for drugs, transplants or other therapies.

”It's kind of an extreme makeover of a cell,” said Douglas Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, who led the research. “The goal is to create cells that are missing or defective in people. It's very exciting.”

The findings left other researchers in a field that has become accustomed to rapid advances reaching for new superlatives to describe the potential implications.

”I'm stunned,” said Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass., a developer of stem cell therapies. “It introduces a whole new paradigm for treating disease.”

”I think it's hugely significant,” said George Daley, a stem cell researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston. “This is a very spectacular first.”

Even the harshest critics of embryonic stem cell research hailed the development as a major, welcome development.

”I see no moral problem in this basic technique,” said Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a leading opponent of embryonic stems cells because they involve destroying human embryos. “This is a “win-win' situation for medicine and ethics.”

Melton and other researchers cautioned that many years of research lay ahead to prove whether the development would translate into cures.

”It's an important proof of concept,” said Lawrence Goldstein, a stem cell researcher at the University of California, San Diego. “But these things always look easier on the blackboard than when you have do them in actual patients.”

Although the experiment involved mice, Melton and other researchers were optimistic the approach would work in people.

”You never know for sure - mice aren't humans,” Daley said. “But the biology of pancreatic development is very closely related in mice and humans.”

Melton has already started experimenting with human cells in the laboratory and hopes to start planning the first studies involving people with diabetes within a year. “I would say within five years we could be ready to start human trials,” Melton said.

Other scientists have already started trying the approach on other cells, including those that could be used to treat spinal cord injuries and neurogenerative disorders such as Lou Gehrig's disease.

”The idea to be able to reprogram one adult neuron type into another for repair in the nervous system is very exciting,” said Paola Arlotta, who is working in the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School, in Boston.

The research is the latest development in the explosive field of “regenerative medicine,” which is trying to create replacement tissues and body parts tailored to patients. That dream appeared within reach after scientists discovered human embryonic stem cells, which can develop into any type of cell in the body. But stem cell research has been plagued by political and ethical debates because the cells can only be obtained by destroying embryos, which has been opposed by President Bush and others who believe that even the earliest stages of human life have moral standing.

Scientists last year shocked the field when they announced they had discovered how to manipulate the genes of adult cells to turn them back into the equivalent of embryonic cells - entities dubbed “induced pluripotent stem” or “iPS” cells - which could then be coaxed into any type of cell in the body.

The new work takes further advantage of the increasing prowess scientists have developed in harnessing the once mysterious inner workings of cells - this time to skip the intermediary step of iPS cells and directly transform adult cells.

”This experiment proves you don't have to go all the way back to an embryonic state,” Daley said. “You can use a related cell. That may be easier to do and more practical to do.”

Doerflinger argued that the discovery was the latest evidence that research involving human embryos was no longer necessary.

”This adds to the large and growing list of studies helping to make embryonic stem cells irrelevant to medical progress,” Doerflinger wrote in an e-mail.

But other researchers disputed that, saying it remains unclear which approach will ultimately prove most useful.

”Embryonic stem cells offer a unique window in human disease and remain a key to the long-term progress of regenerative medicine,” Melton said.

For their work, Melton and his colleagues systematically studied cells from the pancreas of adult mice, slowing winnowing the list of genes necessary to make a “beta” cell that produces insulin. After narrowing the candidate genes to nine, the researchers genetically engineered viruses known as adenoviruses to ferry the genes into other pancreatic cells, known as exocrine cells, which normally secrete enzymes to help digest food. That finally enabled the researchers to identify the three crucial genes needed take control of the rest of the cell's genes to convert an exocrine cell into a beta cell.

”It was a mixture of work, luck and guessing,” Melton said. “We achieved a complete transformation, or re-purposing, of cells from one type to another. We were delighted.”

When the scientists tried the approach on diabetic mice, the animals became able to control their blood sugar levels.

”It didn't cure the mouse, but ... they were able to reduce their blood sugar levels to near normal,” Melton said.

Melton and others said it remains to be seen whether it will be necessary to use genetically engineered viruses, which could face obstacles getting regulatory approval because of concerns about unforeseen risks, or whether chemicals might be found to do the same thing.

If preliminary studies in the laboratory are promising, Melton said he might first try converting liver cells to insulin-producing pancreatic cells because that would be safer than the pancreas. An alternative strategy would be to use the approach to grow beta cells in the laboratory and transplant them into patients.

Lanza said he was optimistic.

”One day, this may allow the doctor to replace the scalpel with a sort of genetic surgery,” Lanza said. “If this can be perfected, it would represent one of the Holy Grails of medicine.”

South Korean firm delivers commercial dog clones
NYTIMES
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 5, 2008
Filed at 2:42 p.m. ET

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Booger is back. An American woman received five puppies Tuesday that were cloned from her beloved late pitbull, becoming the inaugural customer of a South Korean company that says it is the world's first successful commercial canine cloning service.

Seoul-based RNL Bio said the clones of Bernann McKinney's dog Booger were born last week after being cloned in cooperation with a team of Seoul National University scientists who created the world's first cloned dog in 2005.

''It's a miracle!'' McKinney repeatedly shouted Tuesday when she saw the cloned Boogers for which she paid $50,000.

''Yes, I know you! You know me, too!'' McKinney said joyfully, hugging the puppies, which were sleeping with one of their two surrogate mothers, both Korean mixed breed dogs.

The team of scientists working for RNL Bio is headed by Lee Byeong-chun, a former colleague of disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who scandalized the international scientific community when his purported breakthroughs in cloned stem cells were revealed as fake in 2005.

Independent tests confirmed the 2005 dog cloning was genuine, and Lee's team has since cloned more than 20 canines.

But RNL Bio said that its cloning was the first successful commercial cloning of a canine.

''RNL Bio is commencing its worldwide services with Booger as its first successful clone,'' the company said in a statement.

McKinney contacted Lee after Booger died of cancer in April 2006. She had earlier asked U.S.-based Genetics Savings and Clone to clone her dog but the company shut down due to lack of demand in late 2006 after only producing a handful of cloned cats and failing to produce any dog clones.

The Korean scientists brought the dog's frozen cells to Seoul in March and nurtured them before launching formal cloning work in late May, according to RNL Bio.

Lee's team have identified the puppies as Booger's genuine clones, and his university's forensic medicine team is currently conducting reconfirmation tests.

McKinney said she was especially attached to Booger because he saved her life when she was attacked by another dog three times his size. The incident resulted in her left hand being severely injured, and also damaged her leg nerves and stomach. Doctors later reconstructed her hand and she spent part of her recovery in a wheelchair.

McKinney said Booger acted as more than just a canine companion as she recuperated from the attack.

Her dog pulled her wheelchair when its battery ran out. He opened her house door with his teeth and helped her take off her shoes and socks, even though she never trained him to do so.

''The most unusual thing about Booger was that he has a unique ability to reason,'' she said. ''He seems to understand I couldn't use my hands.''

McKinney, a screenwriter who taught drama at U.S. universities, said she will take three of the cloned dogs to her home in California and donate the others to work as service dogs for the handicapped or elderly. She said she lives with five other dogs and three horses.

RNL Bio charges up to $150,000 for dog cloning but will receive just a third of that sum from McKinney because she is the first customer and helped with publicity, said company head Ra Jeong-chan.

Ra said his firm eventually aims to clone about 300 dogs per year and is also interested in duplicating camels for customers in the Middle East.

Monty Python is involved, too?
Stem Cell Discovery Called 'Holy Grail' - Use Of Regular Cells Could Eliminate Need For Embryos
By Los Angeles Times
By Sam Ogden
Published on 6/7/2007

Scientists have succeeded in reprogramming ordinary cells from the tips of mouse tails and rewinding their developmental clocks so they are virtually indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells, according to studies released Wednesday.

If the discovery applies to human cells — and researchers are optimistic that it will — it would offer a straightforward method for creating a limitless supply of cell lines tailor-made for patients without any ethical strings attached.

Three research groups said they accomplished their feat by activating four genes that are turned on in days-old embryos. Some of the rejuvenated cells grew into new mice, demonstrating the cells' ability to create every type of tissue in the body.

“This is truly the Holy Grail — to be able to take a few cells from a patient, say a cheek swab or some skin cells, and turn them into stem cells in the laboratory,” said Dr. Robert Lanza, an embryonic stem cell researcher and head of scientific development at Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Worcester, Mass., who was not involved in the research. “It would be like turning lead into gold.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology biologist Rudolf Jaenisch, who worked on two of the studies, said there are still “lots and lots of technical hurdles to overcome.” Some of the thorniest problems might take years to resolve despite the fact that mice and humans share many fundamental aspects of cell biology.

But if those hurdles are cleared, reprogrammed cells could become the long-sought substitute for embryonic stem cells, which are at the heart of the nascent field of regenerative medicine.

President Bush and other social conservatives have long opposed human embryonic stem cell research because the cells can be obtained only by destroying embryos.

Government funding of such research is a top political issue in Washington, where the House is scheduled to vote on the issue today.

Reprogrammed cells could allow scientists to sidestep the ethical dilemmas surrounding a contentious area of research known as therapeutic cloning, in which scientists seek to create a human embryo that is genetically identical to a sick patient by inserting the patient's DNA in an unfertilized egg.

The resulting stem cells harvested from the embryo could theoretically be used to generate neurons for patients with Parkinson's disease or insulin-producing cells for diabetics without running the risk of tissue rejection.

Stem cells derived from reprogrammed cells would allow scientists to create genetically matched tissues without having to create and destroy a cloned embryo. They would also eliminate the need to harvest human eggs, a procedure fraught with risk for women donors.

“This would be an exciting discovery,” said Nicanor Austriaco, a Dominican friar and molecular biologist at Providence College in Providence, R.I., who was not involved in the research. “In a sense, they make the arguments for therapeutic cloning moot.”

“This would be a win for science, ethics and society,” added Richard M. Doerflinger, secretariat for pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. “It may offer a way for people of all faiths and all ethical backgrounds to study, use, subsidize, and enjoy any therapeutic benefits of stem cell research.”

Custom Stem Cells Created; Korean Researchers Use Cloning Method With Surprising Ease
May 20, 2005
By WILLIAM HATHAWAY, Courant Staff Writer

Cloning human embryos with surprising efficiency, South Korean scientists have created 11 new human embryonic stem cell lines, each customized with DNA of people with an injury or a disease, the researchers announced Thursday.

Their report published today in the journal Science means the controversial practice of therapeutic cloning, which promises to treat a variety of diseases with genetically identical cells, is much closer to testing in humans, scientists say. The news also comes at a politically sensitive time, as Congress and states such as Connecticut debate the future of stem cell research, now subject to federal funding restrictions on the use of embryonic cells.

It is no accident that the groundbreaking work was done in laboratories in the Republic of Korea: It is one of several governments worldwide that, unlike the U.S., vigorously support work with embryonic cells, said Xiangzhong "Jerry" Yang, director of the Center for Regenerative Biology at the University of Connecticut and one of the nation's top cloning scientists.

"This is outstanding, pioneering work," said Yang, who noted that the Chinese government successfully recruited one of the top researchers in his own laboratory. "In the U.S., we should have done this years ago."

The embryonic stem cells created at the Seoul National University in South Korea were cloned from the DNA of the sick and injured. These cells in theory won't be rejected by the patients' immune systems and can regenerate many different tissue types, such as nerves in damaged spinal cords, insulin-producing cells destroyed by diabetes, or neurons ravaged by diseases such as Parkinson's.

The new cell lines came from DNA of male and female patients as young as 2 and as old as 56. And they were easier to obtain than scientists had believed possible.

The South Korean team took skin cells from donors and then implanted them into donated human eggs that had been stripped of their own DNA. An electric shock fused the two cells, which began to develop into a blastocyst, or early stage embryo. About five days later, after the cells were fused, the embryo had formed the inner cell mass of embryonic cells that eventually give rise to every tissue type in the body. The cells were genetically identical to the patients who donated their DNA.

The other way to get embryonic stem cells is to use frozen embryos unused by fertility clinics, but the DNA in those cells would not be identical to that of a potential patient.

One key to improved cloning efficiency turns out to be the youth of women who donate eggs for the research. Scientists said when they used eggs from women under the age of 30, they could create on average one embryonic cell line for every 13 donations, compared with one for every 30 donations from women older than 30. In nine cases, only a single donation of about 10 eggs from a young woman was needed to produce an embryonic cell line.

The ailments of the DNA donors selected for research also provides insight into the possible nature of the first clinical applications of therapeutic cloning: Nine of the 11 embryonic cell lines came from DNA of people with spinal cord injuries. In theory, the genetically identical cells could regenerate damaged spinal cord tissue without being rejected by the host's immune system.

"If they can be safely used in transplant, the promise for effective treatment - perhaps even cure - of devastating diseases and injuries comes within reach," said Gerald Schatten, professor and vice chair of research development in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a co-author on the study.

Woo Suk Hwang, lead author of the Science paper, said that besides investigating therapies for spinal cord injuries, his laboratory has entered into international collaborations to use therapeutic cloning to treat Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Cloning scientists caution that it's not clear that therapeutic cloning will lead to medical therapies, and they said several questions need to be answered before trials using people can begin. For instance, embryonic stem cells may be prone to developing into cancer - the only other cell type that can divide indefinitely, Yang noted.

"Does more testing need to be done? Absolutely," he said.

South Koreans also said that two of the embryonic stem cell lines created from individuals with type 1 diabetes and a rare genetic disorder won't be used to treat those patients. Instead, they will be invaluable in studying how the diseases develop and progress, they said.

Ethicists also said that safeguards need to be in place to prevent use of young women as egg farms for potential new therapies.

Scientists involved in the research also took pains to stress that increasing efficiency in creating a blastocyst does not mean that they have made it easier for scientists to clone a full-term human baby.

"Cloning is unsafe and unethical and should not be done in any country," Woo Suk Hwang said.

Critics of therapeutic cloning say the technology will inevitably be used to reproduce a human and should be banned. They also say that the process is morally repugnant, akin to producing a human life as a sort of cellular drugstore for doctors. President Bush has specifically called for a ban on therapeutic cloning and in summer of 2001 limited federal funding to research that used existing embryonic cell lines.

That policy has put scientists in the United States at a competitive disadvantage compared with scientists working in Singapore, Taiwan, Israel and China, which enjoy government support, several experts said.

"There is no question that other countries are making substantial advances, while Americans are lagging behind in some areas," said Dr. Gil Siegal, an Israeli physician who serves on the National Helsinki Committee on Human Genetic Research.

"But you have to put things in perspective," Siegal said. "If you do [an Internet search] for stem cell research, you will see that most of the research is still being done in the United States."

The use of embryonic cells in research does not cause the same intensity of feeling in Israel as in the United States, he said. Under Judaic tradition, the embryo has no moral standing until 40 days after conception, said Siegal, a visiting professor of medical ethics at Harvard University who Thursday evening gave a talk at the Greater Hartford Jewish Community Center.

"We also have a moral duty to improve the world and ameliorate suffering," Siegal said. "This is something we are bound to do and supersedes the interests of someone not yet in existence."

Yang, whose own lab has helped clone cattle embryos, said Connecticut and Congress need to endorse the study of human embryonic stem cells to encourage a rapid growth of stem cell laboratories across the country.

"Us alone, we cannot do it," he said. "We need a good environment, with teams and labs studying different aspects of the problems."

A discussion of this story with Courant Staff Writer William Hathaway is scheduled to be shown on New England Cable News each hour today between 9 a.m. and noon.