Contents: March-April 2009

Cover Story
Integrating Clinical and Genomic Data
With assists from Oracle and InforSense, Dana-Farber’s John Quackenbush finds ways to mine vast patient data collections to better understand human cancer.

Up Front
"Breathtaking” Biology Shimmers on Marco Island 
At AGBT, new technology heralds exciting new biology.

Merck Execs See ‘Sage’ as Key Ingredient for Disease Biology
Merck execs tout new venture as key ingredient for disease biology. 

Are Patent Offices Ready for Personalized Medicine? 
New science presents unique challenges to the patent system.

Inside the Box | The State of Kits 
We may be ready for an open source, next generation toolkit.

Insights Outlook | Expanding Molecular Diagnostics 
Molecular diagnostics has exciting opportunities.

News Briefs

Computational Biology
Keeping Science Connected the Web 2.0 Way
The rise of scientific social networking is paying dividends for users and entrepreneurs alike.

Computational Development
Chasing Cellular Systems Biology
Cellumen uses high content screening to flag tox-causing compounds.

Agile IT Strategy in Pharmaceutical R&D
Clearly communicated aims should be the goal.

IT/Workflow
Ted Slater’s Semantic Technologies
The semantic web doesn’t exist, but Pfizer’s Slater believes semantic technologies are paving the way.

Platforms for Personalized Medicine
Integrating clinical information and R&D data will ensure success.

Clinical Research
A Web MD: Paul Bleicher Reflects on Phase Forward 
Bleicher talks about Phase Forward’s acquisitions, milestones, and what’s next.

MacGarvey Establishes Quanticate’s U.S. Operation
The Cambridge office expands reach of clinical trial services and products in North America.

In Every Issue
First Base | Real Time Research and the Long Tail of Disease
Jay Tenenbaum urges pharma to share resources. 
BY KEVIN DAVIES

The Russell Transcript | CoSBI Models 
Corrado Priami, president of CoSBI hopes to infer principles from living systems to improve computer science. 
BY JOHN RUSSELL

New Products



White Papers & Special Reports

sgi whp 2
Managing the Modern Genomics Data Flood
Sponsored by SGI

Managing and storing the perfect storm of multi-disciplined data pouring from next generation sequencers and other omics instruments is a central challenge in life sciences. Discover in this paper how the SGI ArcFiniti storage solution, optimized for unstructured genomics and life sciences data can: 

  • Reduce costs, proactively protect data integrity, and deliver the high performance I/O required for genomics data processing and analysis.  
  • Effectively manage capacities from 156TB to 1.4PB as a disk based, integrated hardware and software platform 


sgi - whp 1
Turning Genomics Data into Practical Insight
Sponsored by SGI

With worldwide sequencing capacity approaching 13 quadrillion DNA bases annually turning genomics data into knowledge is a true computational challenge. Read this paper and learn how the SGI UV coherent shared memory platform can:  

  • Speed results time while cost competitively tackling the most difficult computational problems across all omics disciplines. 
  • Push performance by scaling to extraordinary levels, up to 256 sockets (2,560 cores, 4,096 threads) per single system (one OS image). 

Provide support for up to 16TB of coherent shared memory in a single system image enabling extreme efficiency across a wide range of compute demands. 



accerlys-logo_2012_wh
New Complimentary Market Survey…
Collaborations and Communications Within Drug Discovery Research
Sponsored by Accelrys
This survey was conducted by the Cambridge Healthtech Media Group in January, 2012. It was sponsored by Accelrys related to their HEOS initiative to gather valid information around externalizing collaborative research while improving communications in the cloud. With 310 qualified industry respondents the survey findings reveal useful usage and trends patterns.  An insightful follow-on discussion and webinar related to this survey, and the HEOS by Scynexis SaaS portal is also available on the Bio-IT World website for complementary viewing.
 


Job Openings

tessella logo 
Scientific Software Engineer
Boston MA
$70,000 to $95,000
 
Apply at http://jobs.tessella.com   

oxford nanopore logo 


Early Access Collaborations ManagersClick here to find out more and apply   

Oxford Nanopore's GridION technology, VP, Sales and Marketing Click to  Apply  

For reprints and/or copyright permission, please contact  Tim McLucas, (781) 972-1342, tmclucas@healthtech.com .