In a paper published online in the journal Nature, a team of DeCODE scientists detail a major mechanism through which genetic factors contribute to major public health problems. In its work on the inherited components of dozens of common diseases, DeCODE has discovered gene variants that significantly affect individual susceptibility or protection against disease. In the common forms of these conditions – such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases – DeCODE has previously shown that genetic variants confer increased or decreased risk by upregulating or downregulating the activity of major biological pathways. As a result, these variants place individuals on a spectrum of risk, with most of the population clustered at roughly average risk and a smaller number of people at either significantly higher or lower risk. Read the press release.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the establishment of the NIH Intramural Center for Genomics and Health Disparities (NICGHD), a new venue for research about the way populations are impacted by diseases, including obesity, diabetes and hypertension. NICGHD will employ a genomics approach, collecting and analyzing genetic, clinical, lifestyle and socio-economic data to study a range of clinical conditions that have puzzled and troubled public health experts for decades. The trans-NIH center will be directed by internationally renowned genetic epidemiologist Charles N. Rotimi, Ph.D., former director of the National Human Genome Center at Howard University. Read the press release.
Flybridge Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in consumer, healthcare and information technology companies, launched today under a new name and announced the close of Flybridge Capital Partners III, L.P., a $280 million fund. The closing of Fund III brings the firm’s total capital under management to $560 million, including the IDG Ventures Atlantic I and IDG Ventures Atlantic II funds, which it will continue to manage. Founded in 2001 as IDG Ventures Atlantic, the firm changed its name to Flybridge Capital Partners to better reflect its position as a broadly-focused, early-stage national fund with a diverse investor base. Read the press release.
Ingenuity Systems has extended and expanded its existing license agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for access to Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) software. The new agreement enables GSK to provide enterprise-wide IPA access to researchers for rapid assessment of the signaling and metabolic pathways, molecular networks, and biological processes that are most significant to disease targets. In addition, GSK will also use Ingenuity's content and proprietary algorithms. Read the press release.
BioFocus DPI and Cresset BioMolecular Discovery announced that BioFocus DPI has up-graded its software license with Cresset to provide global access to the entire range of Cresset’s molecular field software for use in drug discovery. BioFocus DPI and Cresset have been working together for two years on the design and synthesis of BioFocus DPI’s FieldFocus libraries, focused libraries for ion channel drug discovery. The success of these libraries in generating hit series validates Cresset’s approach and its use in the design of novel biologically focused libraries. The new license also extends BioFocus DPI’s coverage to include its parent company, Galapagos. BioFocus DPI and Galapagos will now have the facility to apply molecular field technology to their projects, whether internal research, library design or drug discovery projects for clients. Read the press release.