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In the expanding realm ruled by Randal J. Kirk, sliced apples don’t brown. Salmon grow twice as fast without swimming upriver to spawn. Beloved cats are reborn. And male mosquitoes are unleashed with the sole mission to mate, pass on a gene that kills their offspring, and die. A few decades ago, the foods and creatures nurtured by Mr. Kirk would have been found only in dystopian fantasies like those written by Margaret Atwood. But Mr. Kirk’s company, Intrexon, is fast becoming one of the world’s most diverse biotechnology companies, with ventures ranging from unloved genetically engineered creatures to potential cancer cures and gene therapies, gasoline substitutes, cloned kittens and even glow-in-the-dark Dino Pet toys made from microbes. (Pollack, 3/5)

International health officials vowed after West Africa’s Ebola crisis to be better armed for the next epidemic with vaccines, drugs and diagnostic tests. Now the next one—Zika—is here and in an echo of Ebola, researchers are scrambling to develop medical tools to fight the virus. About 15 companies are working on Zika vaccines, most in the initial stages, according to the World Health Organization. (McKay and Loftus, 3/6)

Researchers are debating whether vaccines and drugs developed for Zika would be offered to pregnant women. They are the group most at risk from infection, because the virus is linked to serious birth defects. But medical products to be offered to pregnant women would have to go through extra, potentially lengthy regulatory hurdles to evaluate the potential risk to the unborn baby. “That’s going to slow you down quite a bit,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute. (Loftus and McKay, 3/6)

Researchers report that the Zika virus may be linked to a wider variety of "grave outcomes" for developing babies than previously reported — threats that can come at any stage of pregnancy. The findings released Friday are preliminary results from the first study tracking pregnant women in Brazil from the time they were infected, and do not prove that Zika is to blame. But they come as separate laboratory research released Friday strengthens the case that Zika causes a serious birth defect called microcephaly — babies born with abnormally small heads — by targeting embryonic brain cells. (3/5)