Bio-IT World Expert Commentary | New details of the health information technology (HIT) permanent certification program have been released, and it appears that the federal government will be leaning heavily on the private sector to oversee the electronic health records (EHR) certification process.

Reuters | Several announcements recently have illustrated that drugmakers are seeing money in generics. Merck just struck a deal with Parexel to create biosimilars.  

Bio-IT World | An important Scripps study on consumer attitudes to personal genomics testing, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that most individuals are perfectly capable of handling genome-wide data, and may help counter much of the mythology that has arisen surrounding the public's supposed inability to handle personal genetic information.  

Bio-IT World | The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) and Complete Genomics have signed an agreement that calls for Complete Genomics to sequence 615 complete human genome samples as part of an ISB study on neurodegenerative diseases.

Forbes.com | Illumina is launching a smaller, more affordable next-generation sequencing machine, the MiSeq, which will cost $125,000 and will provide some competition for the newly released Personal Genome Machine from Ion Torrent.

Comment | The contract research market grew 13% in 2009, reaching $23.5 billion, according to the Contract Research Annual Review 2010 report. But as these partnerships with contract research organizations become more common, it will become essential for firms to establish collaborative communications with their partners. A partner portal, connecting the sponsor with the CRO, is an effective platform to achieve these goals.

Boston Globe | Biogen Idec has filled its head of research and operations position, a job that has been empty since October 2009.

Bio-IT World | GenomeQuest and Ingenuity Systems have announced a partnership to support next-generation sequencing (NGS) workflows specifically targeted for personalized medicine research. The companies will integrate GenomeQuest’s Sequence Data Management (SDM) platform with Ingenuity’s IPA software enabling researchers to exchange gene information, perform interactive analysis, and create and test hypotheses across the domains of genome sequencing and biological pathways.

Bloomberg | Pfizer is expanding Wyeth's 2009 RNA-focused partnershp with Santaris Pharma in a deal that could be worth more than $600 million.

CNN | Johnson and Johnson and Massachusetts General Hospital are developing and marketing a blood test that could find a single cancer cell in a person's blood.

Forbes | Jonathan Rothberg's new Personal Genome Machine (PGM) has an 8-inch touchscreen and a dock to link to an iPhone. It's the smallest and cheapest DNA decoder on the market.

Forbes | There's no federal law against surreptitious DNA testing, and in 2009 New Scientist writer Michael Reilly sucessfully collected a colleague's DNA (from a water glass), had it amplified and sent it to a genetic testing company.

New York Times | Angela Christiano announced the genetics of alopecia areata, a hair loss disease, last summer. Previously thought to be linked to autoimmune diseases like psoriasis, it turned out to be more closely related to rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and celiac disease.

Wired | Studies published in Nature and Science have begun to shed light on the "activities of the cell," says Peter Park.