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2012 Predictions for Biotech and Medicine
Dec 30, 2011, 05:35 AM by Michael CroftForbes | It's the season for soothsaying, and Forbes' Matthew Herper has a few predictions for biotech and medicine. Among them: super-expensive drugs, a tough environment for medical devices, and the stalling of health information technology. CheeryFull story -
The Perfect Pair: Drugs and Companion Diagnostics
Dec 29, 2011, 02:00 AM by Michael CroftNew York Times | More and more often, the FDA is requiring personalized drugs to have companion diagnostic tests associated with them before approval. The trend has prompted some awkward partnerships in drug discovery.Full story -
Mayo Clinic Plans to Sequence Patients' Genomes for Personalized Medicine
Dec 28, 2011, 09:50 AM by Michael CroftThe Guardian | The Mayo Clinic will launch a pilot study early next year to sequence the genomes of thousands of volunteers in a landmark project to personalize their medical care by allowing doctors to prescribe more effective drugs and other therapies.Full story -
Korean Researchers Identify Gene Fusion Linked to Lung Cancer
Dec 23, 2011, 00:00 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | Researchers in South Korea have identified a previously unknown gene fusion event that could explain a significant proportion of lung cancer cases in never-smokers, and might serve as a target for new therapies. The results were published online today in Genome Research.Full story -
BGI Uses GPU-Accelerated Genomics
Dec 22, 2011, 00:35 AM by Michael CroftHPC Wire | BGI is using GPU-accelerated computing to process its genomics data. Thanks to NVIDIA GPUs , BGI is able to sequence 6 trillion base pairs per day and have a stored database totaling 20 PB.Full story -
Should Journals Describe How Scientists Made a Killer Flu?
Dec 21, 2011, 13:05 PM by Michael CroftTIME | This week, the U.S. government did an unprecedented thing by asking two premier research journals, Nature and Science, not to publish the details of Dutch experiments on a genetically engineered, highly tranmissible H5N1 virus, for fear that the information could fall into the wrong hands and be used to create a bioweapon.Full story -
Genomics Gift Guide: Neanderthal Test
Dec 21, 2011, 03:45 AM by Michael CroftDiscovery Magazine | 23andMe is offering a Neanderthal genomic test this holiday season to help identify what percentage of your genome comes frm Neanderthal ancestors.Full story -
CDISC and IMI Sign Standards Agreement
Dec 20, 2011, 01:00 AM by Michael CroftFull storyBio-IT World | The Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking (IMI) and the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) have signed an agreement and initiated activities to enhance the use of information gathered for the purpose of developing safer, more effective innovative medicines for patients.
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Microsoft's Evolution
Dec 15, 2011, 02:45 AM by Michael CroftWired | Of course Microsft is a cloud company, says Kurt DelBene, but the question keeps coming up. The software giant acknowledges the move to the cloud--and has cloud products to prove it--but still believes its customers need and value desktop and server software.Full story -
Speeding Up Cancer Trials
Dec 14, 2011, 04:00 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | The Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC) has been able to accelerate the clinical trials process by making improvements to trial start-up and enrollment as well as patient accrual for oncology clinical trials run through the Consortium. MMRC presented the data yesterday in an oral presentation at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.Full story -
Assemblathon I Offers Lessons in Complex Genome Assembly
Dec 13, 2011, 11:30 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | The recently published results of the first round of the Assemblathon, while demonstrating the relative quality of the usual suspects in de novo genome assembly (Broad Institute, Sanger Institute, BGI), offer several important lessons in tackling such projects, according to co-organizer Ian Korf.Full story -
Leading Japanese Genomics Researcher Heading to Chicago
Dec 13, 2011, 08:55 AM by Michael CroftThe Daily Yomiuri | Tokyo University's Yusuke Nakamura, arguably the leading genomics researcher in Japan, is stepping down as head of the office promoting medical innovation to take up a new position at the University of Chicago next April, where he will focus on cancer drug discovery.Full story -
Best Practices 2012: Early Deadline Approaching
Dec 12, 2011, 02:15 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | The early bird deadline for the 2012 Best Practices competition is this Friday. Since 2003, Bio-IT World's Best Practices competition has been recognizing outstanding examples of technology and strategic innovation initiatives across the drug discovery enterprise.Full story -
Cancer Researchers Migrate En Masse from Dana Farber to MD Anderson
Dec 12, 2011, 00:25 AM by Michael CroftBoston Globe | MD Anderson Cancer Center has lured 55 scientists away from the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute after Ron DePinho, the founding director of the Belfer Institute, was chosen as president of MD Anderson.Full story -
Virus-Like Nanoparticles for Gene Therapy
Dec 9, 2011, 03:50 AM by Michael CroftR&D Magazine | Yale researchers have developed a nanopartical that can mimic a virus and insert a gene into a diseased cell to either kill or repair it. The technique, published Dec. 4 online in Nature Materials, is based on a novel family of polymers.Full story -
Elsevier Acquires Ariadne Genomics
Dec 8, 2011, 11:55 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | Elsevier, the Dutch publishing giant, has acquired Ariadne Genomics, a software provider of pathway analysis tools and semantic technologies for life science researchers, based in Rockville, MD.Full story -
IBM Provides NIH Free Chemical Compound Database
Dec 8, 2011, 01:45 AM by Michael CroftFull storyBio-IT World | IBM, Bristol-Myers Squibb, DuPont, and Pfizer are providing the National Institutes of Health with a database of more than 2.4 million chemical compounds extracted from about 4.7 million patents and 11 million biomedical journal abstracts from 1976 to 2000. The chemical data should help researchers more easily visualize important relationships among chemical compounds to aid in drug discovery and support advanced cancer research.
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Helpful, Harmful, Confusing: Direct-to-Consumer Genomics
Dec 8, 2011, 01:20 AM by Michael CroftJAMA | James Evans, professor of genetics at the University of North Carolina, is concerned about exome sequencing services like those offered by 23andMe. In a commentary published yesterday in JAMA, Evans and UNC co-author Jonathan Berg argue that whole genome and whole exome sequencing technology “will routinely uncover both trivial and important medical results, both welcome and unwelcome."Full story -
Genomic Health Test Spares Women Unncessary Radiation
Dec 7, 2011, 11:25 AM by Michael CroftUSA TODAY | According to results presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, a new 12-gene test from Genomic Health could spare thousands of women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) annually by predicting which cases are most likely to be aggressive — requiring both surgery and radiation — versus surgery alone.Full story -
NHGRI Funding Plan Includes Clinical Sequencing, Software and Disease Research
Dec 6, 2011, 11:40 AM by Michael CroftBio-IT World | The NHGRI has announced the latest iteration of its flagship genome sequencing program -- worth $416 million over four years -- that features initiatives in the study of rare inherited diseases, software development and accelerates the use of genome sequence information in the clinical arena.Full story