• Novel T Cell Subset, Nitric Oxide Effective Treatment Option, SoCal cases linked to New York: COVID-19 Updates

    Bio-IT World | MIT’s preprint reviewers debunk synthetic SARS-CoV-2 paper, genetic analysis of virus samples show most COVID-19 cases in Southern California early in the pandemic are linked to New York state via Europe, not directly from China, vaccines should not be affected by the dominant ‘G-strain’, severe cases of COVID-19 develop a novel T cell subset that can potentially kill B cells, and MS drug inhibits virus growth. Plus, NIH funds COVID-10 vaccine using bovine adenovirus.

    Oct 8, 2020

  • Bio-IT World Virtual: Gamifying Discovery, Human-in-the-Loop AI, New Data Commons Model

    Bio-IT World  Day two of the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo Virtual was highlighted by a plenary keynote on artificial intelligence (AI) and citizen science, a new data commons maturity model, guidance for FAIRifying data, augmented intelligence systems for biological data, and much more. 

    Oct 7, 2020

  • Bio-IT World Virtual: First Plenary, AI Workshops, Globus For Data Transfer

    Bio-IT World  The Bio-IT World Conference & Expo Virtual launched today with an open plenary keynote from Drs. Susan Gregurick, Associate Director for Data Science at NIH and Rebecca Baker, Director of the HEAL Initiative at NIH. The rest of the day was full of workshops covering AI in clinical trials and drug discovery, tools for moving data quickly and safely, wearables to gather data, and much more.

    Oct 6, 2020

  • 10x Genomics Announces Two In Situ Sequencing Acquisitions

    Bio-IT World  10x Genomics today announced its second in situ sequencing acquisition: Boston-based ReadCoor, Inc. for cash and stock consideration of $350 million. In late August, 10x Genomics’ acquired Stockholm-based Cartana, developers of in situ RNA analysis technology.

    Oct 5, 2020

  • Culprit Mutations, Risky (Neandertal) Variants, Genomic Analysis App: COVID-19 Updates

    Bio-IT World | Genetic variations not driving outcomes, bio-sensing viral translation, pursuit of a passive vaccine, an Android app that analyzes the SARS-CoV-2 genome, potential antibody cocktails, targeting the hairpin, spike protein may be superantigen, implicating MAIT cells, three mutations common to COVID cases in the U.S., naturally occurring lipid and enzyme hold promise, research using breathing human lungs cells, widespread preexisting immunity, and a Neandertal gene variant that triples the risk of severe disease. Plus, an interactive exhibition about COVID-19 and an international team of experts will study how viral diseases "spill over" from animals to humans.

    Oct 2, 2020

  • A Computational Approach to Modeling COVID-19

    Bio-IT World | In months since March, the biotech community has rallied to identify how our unique perspectives and skills can help with the COVID-19 pandemic. The computational biologists at QuartzBio were no different. Although the research team wasn’t generating their own COVID-19 data, the collaborative culture was generating and sharing raw data to play with, so the QuartzBio team began building models.  

    Oct 2, 2020

  • GA4GH Announces Strategic Roadmap, Connection Demos

    Bio-IT World The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) has announced the release of its 2020-2021 Strategic Roadmap yesterday at the virtual GA4GH 8th Plenary Meeting, and released three 2020 Connection Demos to illustrate the deployments of GA4GH standards.

    Sep 30, 2020

  • Bio-IT World Expo New Product Showcase Voting Opens

    Bio-IT World | Voting is open now for the 2020 Bio-IT World Best of Show Awards. This annual new product award highlights entries that are innovative, progressive, and will demonstrably improve the bio-IT industry. This year's finalists include new products from BC Platforms, Benchling, ConvergeHEALTH, Flywheel, Genedata, Genestack, Globus, GNS Healthcare, Igneous, Illumina, Kanda Software, LabTwin, Lifebit, Linguamatics, NetApp, PercayAI, PetaGene, QIAGEN, Qumulo, Rescale, Riffyn, Synthace, Univa, and Zifo Technologies.

    Sep 30, 2020

  • 3 Game-changing Cybersecurity Practices Pharmaceuticals Should Take into Consideration

    Bio-IT World Pharmaceutical breakthroughs and medical research comprise an immeasurably important chunk of the global healthcare industry, warranting an equally robust cybersecurity infrastructure. The healthcare industry is no stranger to the devices of cybercriminals who target hospitals, clinics, research institutions, and pharmaceutical companies in search of highly expensive personal health information to be sold on the darknet.

    Sep 29, 2020

  • More ‘Omics for SARS-CoV-2, Insights into the Spike Protein, Crowdsourcing Questions: COVID-19 Updates

    Bio-IT World | A Canadian team shares a new mechanism of action for remdesivir, data science groups have computed consensomes (gene expression in the virus) and interactomes (potential molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis) and cryoEM images the spike protein. Plus, NIH funding for new vaccines and the Reliable Response Data Discovery consortium takes COVID-19 patient data questions.

    Sep 25, 2020

  • Ecological Modeling Of Gut Microbiome Points To Probiotic Cures

    Bio-IT World Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), the idea of using fecal material from a healthy person to treat others who are sick, has been proposed for challenging conditions ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to autism and obesity. But to date, robust evidence from randomized clinical trials exists only for the use of FMT to treat recurrent C. difficile infection.

    Sep 24, 2020

  • The Role of Data Management in Advancing Biology

    Bio-IT World Kjiersten Fagnan had a plan: she would be an engineer, work for a company, and write software all day. But biology is intriguing and now Fagnan is the Chief Informatics Officer at the Joint Genome Institute. She recently spoke with Stan Gloss, founding partner at the BioTeam, about the community challenges around creating and sharing more useful data, and how “human engineering” can help advance biology.

    Sep 21, 2020

  • Sticky Webs, A Tiny Molecular Weapon, Obesity Paradox N/A: COVID-19 Updates

    Bio-IT World New drug targets, reconstructing viral spread and lineage, monitoring mutations, reasons to focus on T-cell responses, DNA webs as culprits of tissue damage, a very tiny neutralizing agent, explaining paradoxical risk in people with obesity and diabetes, and the value of heparan. Plus, a new vaccine candidate heading to human trials, coronaviruses are being profiled, and a deep dive on how SARS-CoV-2 weakens the immune system.

    Sep 17, 2020

  • Targeted Protein Degradation: Why Just Inhibit What Can Be Destroyed?

    Bio-IT World Disease treatment through targeted protein degradation takes a range of approaches: from small molecules similar to thalidomide that act as “molecular glue” degraders to more advanced “beyond rule of 5” proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) with bifunctional moieties that encourage protein interaction with its E3 ubiquitin ligase.

    Sep 17, 2020

  • Continuous Software Validation Critical for Balancing Digital Transformation and Compliance

    Bio-IT World  The adoption of cloud technology in the life science industry has become increasingly pervasive as firms move forward with digital transformation initiatives aimed at creating operational efficiencies and delivering the next wave of biomedical innovations. As a result, cloud vendors are playing a more important role than ever before, especially for life sciences companies that produce FDA-regulated products.

    Sep 15, 2020

  • VAST Data Launches LightSpeed Storage Architecture

    Bio-IT World VAST Data has launched its next generation storage architecture, LightSpeed, which combines the light-touch of VAST’s simple NAS appliance experience with leadership-class performance for GPU-based and AI Processor-based computing, taking the guesswork and configuration out of scaling up AI infrastructure.

    Sep 15, 2020

  • Follow the Money: Alzheimer’s Meds, Single Cell Multi-Omics Technology

    Bio-IT World | NIH contracts to explore radiation countermeasures, Alzheimer’s medication, and convalescent plasma, Mission Bio gets $70M for single cell multi-omics technology, and more.

    Sep 11, 2020

  • No Cytokine Storm, ‘Bursty’ Disease Spread: Biomarkers For Elevated Risk: COVID-19 Updates

    Bio-IT World  | Japanese researchers argue there is no cytokine storm, computer-designed protective proteins, ELISA test for antibodies, COVID-19’s impact on Black and Hispanic communities, a “burstier” model of disease spread, and new biomarkers for elevated risk. Plus, the International Vaccine Institute preps with Gates money, 3M funds vaccine researcher, and more.

    Sep 10, 2020

  • Beyond the Rule of 5: Vastly Expanding Targetable Drugs

    Bio-IT World | At the Drug Discovery Chemistry Virtual conference, researchers from industry and academia provide a glimpse into the expanse of pharmaceuticals available beyond Lipinski’s Rule of 5, an endeavor that will hopefully enable the development of much more specific agents with vastly expanded targetable options.

    Sep 8, 2020

  • Computational Tool Could Improve Clinical Success Rate Of Drugs

    Bio-IT World  A newly developed translatable components regression (TransComp-R) model, developed by researchers from Purdue University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), recently identified an overlooked biological mechanism possibly responsible for resistance to the drug infliximab commonly prescribed to patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

    Sep 8, 2020