• Global Governments' Growing Embrace of Big Pharma

    Jun 25, 2012, 09:40 AM by Michael Croft
    Real Clear Markets | Bill Frezza, a.k.a. author of Bio-IT World's "The Skeptical Outsider" column, pens a scathing dispatch from last week's BIO convention in Boston. "Music, food, and drink abounded, served out of booths with carpets so plush you had to watch your footing. Each was copiously staffed with representatives flown in from around the world busy selling ... well, what? To whom? Using whose money? Toward what end?"
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  • Veteran Biotech Investor Kevin Kinsella Talks Genes, Drugs, and Musicals

    Jun 25, 2012, 09:20 AM by Michael Croft
    U-T San Diego | Kevin Kinsella, the veteran San Diego-based biotech investor, is as much about musicals and social networking these days as personalized medicine. "Getting your complete genome sequenced, to find genotypic traits that are going to tell you more about your health? It won’t do us much good, and, frankly, I don’t think people really care.”
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  • DNA of Wellderly May Hold Clues to Complex Disease

    Jun 25, 2012, 08:45 AM by Michael Croft
    SF Gate | Scientists are taking a deep look at the genetics of unusually healthy elderly individuals to see if there's something protecting them from common illnesses such as Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes and heart disease -- or what Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, calls "Teflon-coated" genes
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  • The (Genomics) View From the 57th Floor

    Jun 25, 2012, 02:40 AM by Michael Croft
    Gigablog | The editors of the journal GigaScience offer their appraisal of the inaugural Bio-IT World Asia conference, held earlier this month in Singapore. "The meeting's proximity to the Singapore Biopolis ... and its location at the 57-story Marina Bay Sands resort (with its rooftop world's highest infinity pool) were a winning combination in getting an impressive mix of scientists from around the Asia-Pacific and beyond... to attend and present."
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  • Experts Discuss Future of Medicine at Israeli Presidential Symposium

    Jun 22, 2012, 09:35 AM by Michael Croft
    Jerusalem Post | Experts including USC professor and Navigenics co-founder David Agus discussed topics such as the stagnation in drug development and the future of medicine at the Israeli presidential symposium this week.
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  • Cancer, Data and the Fallacy of the $1000 Genome

    Jun 22, 2012, 09:15 AM by Michael Croft
    Forbes.com | In his first "Hacking Healthcare" blog, Jim Golden discusses the central theme of a recent talk by pathologist Mark Boguski. "The time of the $1,000 genome meme is over," he writes. "It served us well for years... but now it is reducing clinical credibility.  It’s time for it to leave the lexicon of healthcare; it has to go." 
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  • Massachusetts Researchers Win $100K Paul Janssen Award

    Jun 20, 2012, 11:25 AM by Michael Croft
    Mass High Tech | Victor Ambros (University of Massachusetts Medical School) and Gary Ruvkun (Massachusetts General Hospital) will share the 2012 $100,000 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research from Johnson & Johnson for the discovery of microRNAs
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  • Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children Selects Ion Proton in Whole Genome Sequencing Push

    Jun 20, 2012, 06:40 AM by Michael Croft
    Bio-IT World | Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children will feature the Ion Proton sequencer as part of a major push into whole-genome sequencing at a new center for genetic medicine, aiming to sequence up to 10,000 patients annually in the coming years. 
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  • Open Access is Future of Academic Publishing, says UK Report

    Jun 20, 2012, 06:00 AM by Michael Croft
    The Guardian | "The future lies with open access publishing," says the chair of a new UK report on expanding access to publicly funded research, published this week. "The UK should recognise this change, should embrace it and should find ways of managing it in a measured way."
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  • IBM Blue Gene Reclaims Pole Position in TOP500 HPC Rankings

    Jun 19, 2012, 15:20 PM by Michael Croft
    HPC Wire | A 16-PetaFlop IBM Blue Gene/Q computer, Sequoia, has knocked off Japan's K Computer in the latest TOP500 rankings of high-performance computers, released at the International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany.
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  • Pacific Biosciences Releases Epigenetics Software

    Jun 19, 2012, 09:30 AM by Michael Croft
    Bio-IT World | Pacific Biosciences has released new software for identifying epigenetic modifcations in DNA, which could provide an important advance in studying the chemical modulation of gene activity in health and disease.
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  • Tending the Body's Microbial Garden

    Jun 19, 2012, 00:10 AM by Michael Croft
    New York Times | Scientists are making big strides in documenting the medical ecology of the microbiome -- the 100 trillion microbes that make human beings their home.
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  • NYGC Eyes Permanent Home in Manhattan

    Jun 18, 2012, 18:55 PM by Michael Croft
    Wall Street Journal | The New York Genome Center is in the final stages of negotiating a deal for about 150,000 square feet at 101 Sixth Ave., in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, signaling the home stretch for the center's six-month search for a permanent home.
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  • Ambry Genetics Catches the Clinical Sequencing Wave

    Jun 13, 2012, 09:00 AM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | After launching its CLIA Exome sequencing service six months ago, Ambry Genetics has quietly dropped the price to $7,900 for a trio. But potentially cannabilizing a thriving molecular diagnostics business is far from the only thing that makes Ambry stand out.  

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  • Finish What We Started: Dietrich Stephan’s Silicon Valley Biosystems Opens Genome Interpretation Floodgates

    Jun 12, 2012, 14:00 PM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | In an exclusive briefing with Bio-IT World, the co-founder of Navigenics, Dietrich Stephan, says he aims to “finish what we started” with the commercial launch of a new genome interpretation company, Silicon Valley Biosystems (SVBio). 

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  • June Free Trials and Downloads

    Jun 11, 2012, 01:30 AM by Michael Croft
    Bio-IT World | Free trials and downloads for June.
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  • Foundation Medicine, Novartis Partner for Clinical Trial Enrollment

    Jun 11, 2012, 01:00 AM by Michael Croft
    Foundation Medicine | Foundation Medicine and Novartis are partnering on cancer drug testing. Novartis plans to use Foundation's technology as part of its cancer trial enrollment process over the next three years, focusing on Phase 1 and 2 oncology clinical programs. 
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  • FDA Delays Decision on HIV Pill

    Jun 11, 2012, 00:05 AM by Michael Croft
    San Francisco Chronicle | FDA has announced a delay in its decision on Gilead Sciences' HIV-prevention pill, choosing to take another three months to review the application and supporting materials.
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  • Genentech Gets FDA Approval for Combo Treatment

    Jun 11, 2012, 00:00 AM by Michael Croft
    Xconomy | Genentech announced early results of a new drug targeting HER2-expressing cancers early last week, and later received FDA approval to market Perjeta in combination with Herceptin and Taxotere. 
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  • Fetal Sequencing Based on Mother's Blood, Father's Saliva

    Jun 7, 2012, 07:00 AM by Michael Croft
    New York Times | Researchers are now able to determine a fetus's entire genome from the mother's blood and the father's saliva. 
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