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Personalized Medicine and Safety
Mar 22, 2012, 02:30 AM by Michael CroftInformationWeek | Some of personalized medicine's most famous examples are of drug efficacy, but could genomics help with drug safety as well?Full story -
GSK, Johnson & Johnson Invest in $200m Venture Fund
Mar 22, 2012, 01:20 AM by Michael CroftNJ.com | GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson are forming a $200 million fund to invest in early-stage biotech companies.Full story -
Court Rejects Personalized Medicine Patents
Mar 21, 2012, 03:05 AM by Michael CroftChicago Tribune | The US Supreme Court rejected two Prometheus patents on a method for monitoring a patient's blood to determine drug dosing. Mayo Clinic brought the patent challenge. The Supreme Court ruled that adjusting dosage based on patient monitoring was a natural process and could not be patented.Full story -
Roche Courts Illumina Shareholders Directly
Mar 21, 2012, 02:00 AM by Michael CroftReuters | Roche sent Illumina investors a direct letter yesterday urging them to accept the Roche bid, currently at $5.7 billion. Again Roche claimed the offer was "full and fair".Full story -
Future Under Review for caBIG and NCI's Informatics Strategy
Mar 20, 2012, 03:00 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | One year after the board of scientific advisors for the working group on caBIG called for a one-year moratorium on new projects, contracts, and subcontracts by caBIG, and a thorough audit of all aspects of the caBIG budget and expenditures, the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT) at the National Cancer Institute has a new interim director and is building a new game plan. George A. Komatsoulis stressed to Bio-IT World that “caBIG is continuing to operate” and, “the NCI intends to remain engaged in a substantial way in the biomedical informatics space.”Full story -
Europe and/or Bust
Mar 20, 2012, 01:45 AM by Michael CroftXconomy | Even though Europe's financial system has been on charging downhill recently, several venture firms have invested heavily in European biotech in recent months.Full story -
GNS Healthcare Aids Search for Fresh Leads on CHF Readmissions
Mar 20, 2012, 00:10 AM by Michael CroftFull storyBio-IT World | Hypotheses culled from real-world outcomes data will be getting large-scale testing by Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The advanced analytics of GNS Healthcare are being applied to de-identified data from electronic health records (EHRs), pharmacy data, and administrative claims information to determine what factors contribute to adverse drug reactions and hospital readmissions in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), says David Bates, MD, director of the hospital’s Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice.
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The Big Picture: Combining Genomics with Medicine
Mar 19, 2012, 00:55 AM by Michael CroftLA Times | Michael Snyder, head of the genetics department at Stanford University, had taken personal genome sequencing one step further. With the help of a team of researchers, Snyder had his full genome sequenced and then compared those findings to frequent blood draws measuring proteins, RNA, and other chemicals in his body.Full story -
After the Gravy Days: Opportunities for Biotech Growth
Mar 19, 2012, 00:05 AM by Michael CroftForbes, Wall Street Journal | In an article on biotech funding on Friday, the Wall Street Journal did not mince words: "The gravy days are over," the authors said, comparing fundraising to the housing market for sellers: tough. Forbes contributor David Shaywitz looks at where the opportunities are for disruptive growth in this environment.Full story -
Plans for the California Institute of Biomedical Research
Mar 19, 2012, 00:05 AM by Michael CroftXconomy | Last week Merck announced a $90m investment in the California Institute of Biomedical Research--Calibr--to be headed by Peter Schultz. Xconomy spoke with Schultz about the hiring process, plans for collaborations, and the Institute's relationship with Merck.Full story -
Computer Scientists' Solution to a Biologist’s Problem
Mar 16, 2012, 03:00 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND—In 2004, a New Zealand biotech approached a group of computer scientists with a biology problem. Genesis Research was sequencing the poplar tree genome, and they had a problem they estimated it would take their in house cluster about three months to solve, recalls Graham Gaylard, Real Time Genomics’ founder. A team of computer scientists solved the problem in a few weeks.Full story -
A Personal Proteome Project
Mar 16, 2012, 02:30 AM by Michael CroftPersonal Proteomics | A proteomics bioinformatician launches his own Personal Proteome Project with proteome sequencing by Bioproximity. He is releasing three proteomics datasets on the Proteome Cluster on the Amazon Cloud.Full story -
P4 Medicine Institute Adds Partner
Mar 16, 2012, 02:10 AM by Michael CroftXconomy | Leroy Hood's P4 Medicine Institute has announced an alliance with PeaceHealth, a nonprofit Catholic health system with locations in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.Full story -
GSK, Infosys Engage Consumers Digitally
Mar 16, 2012, 01:35 AM by Michael CroftInPharm | GlaxoSmithKline has chosen Infosys and Fabric Worldwide to improve how GSK engages with consumers and health care professionals in digital media.Full story -
Merck Pledges $90m to California Institute for Biomedical Research
Mar 16, 2012, 01:05 AM by Michael CroftU-T San Diego | Merck has pledged $90 million to the California Institute for Biomedical Research, a private, nonprofit center to be led by Peter Schultz and located in La Jolla.Full story -
HHMI Announces New Competition For 30 Investigators
Mar 15, 2012, 14:15 PM by Michael CroftHHMI News | The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) will appoint up to 30 new biomedical researchers through a national open competition, the institute has announced, an investment worth some $200 million over the next five years.Full story -
Aspera Speeds Data in Amazon Cloud
Mar 15, 2012, 04:55 AM by Michael CroftMarch 15, 2012 | SAN DIEGO—The directory of Aspera’s approximately 1,400 clients reads like the Fortune 500 list. These organizations use Aspera’s proprietary software to speed up the transfer of large volumes of data, which is significantly impacted by latency and packet loss. “We’ve solved the fundamental problem of moving big data over public and private networks,” Aspera’s Daniel Kumi, director of sales and business development, told an audience at CHI’s XGen Congress last week.Full story -
Dr. Watson: IBM's Clinical Genomics Platform
Mar 15, 2012, 03:45 AM by Michael CroftSmart Planet | IBM has launched an analytics platform using some of the natural language processing of Watson for use in a health care setting.Full story -
Clinical Genomics for Leukemia Patients
Mar 15, 2012, 02:35 AM by Michael CroftReuters | Two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine explore genetic profiling's role in the treatment of AML, acute mylogenous leukemia.Full story -
VCF and the Genome Analysis Toolbox
Mar 14, 2012, 05:15 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | Inside the Box | We tend to take the extraordinary for granted. Roughly ten years ago we saw the first human genome sequence at a cost of roughly $3 billion. Now a person could have their genome sequenced in a few days for a few thousand dollars, turn around, and in a few more days compute how their sequence differs from any public sequence. This analysis might cost you just a few more dollars to rent the server. Let’s consider how one version of the bioinformatic part of this exercise might work.Full story