• Sequence, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll: How Ozzy Osbourne Took a Bite Out Of His Genome

    Oct 27, 2010, 14:30 PM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | Following the revelation in The Sunday Times that rock music legend Ozzy Osbourne has had his genome sequenced, Bio-IT World talks to the people at Cofactor Genomics, LIfe Technologies, and Knome who deciphered the Prince of Darkness' DNA.

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  • 1000 Genomes Project Completes its First Map of Human Genetic Variation

    Oct 27, 2010, 13:35 PM by Michael Croft

    The Guardian | Researchers have unveiled results from the pilot phase of the 1000 Genome Project, which aims to sequence the genetic code of 2,500 people. It is the most complete inventory yet of the millions of variations between people's DNA.

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  • Former ImClone CEO Makes $100 Million Acquisition

    Oct 26, 2010, 03:35 AM by Michael Croft

    Reuters | Sam Waksal, former ImClone CEO, has announced that his drug company Kadmon Pharmaceuticals has bought Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals and its treatments for hepatitis C.

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  • Free Amazon Micro Instance

    Oct 25, 2010, 04:35 AM by Michael Croft

    PC World | Amazon is offering free access to EC2 starting on Nov 1. The offer includes one year of access to a "micro instance", 750 hours' use per month.

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  • Placing the Target User First in Clinical Trial Technology

    Oct 25, 2010, 04:30 AM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | Expert Commentary | In the past decade, clinical trial technology has undergone a series of evolutions in its design, capability and deployment. From the early days of remote data capture to full-suite clinical trial management solutions, this evolution is redefining clinical research. Yet despite its dominance, clinical research technology has suffered from significant resistance at the study site level, which can be traced to a deficit in one basic element: user-centered design. 

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  • Chinese Chips

    Oct 22, 2010, 00:00 AM by Michael Croft

    Technology Review | Three new chips out of China might lead to a Chinese supercomputer that can compete on the international scale. The three newest members of the Godson processor family are a one-gigahertz, eight-core Godson 3B; the most powerful 16-core Godson 3C; and the one-gigahertz Godson 2H.

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  • 2011 Bio-IT World Best Practices Open

    Oct 18, 2010, 04:45 AM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | The 2011 Bio-IT World Best Practices competition has released its call for entries. 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. The deadline for entry is January 14, 2011, and the early bird deadline is December 19, 2010.

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  • Watching Proteins Fold with Anton

    Oct 18, 2010, 01:20 AM by Michael Croft

    Nature News | Anton, a specially-designed supercomputer, has simulated changes in a protein's structure over a millisecond, a time-scale more than a hundred-fold greater than previous records.

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  • Lilly to Close Singapore Discovery Center

    Oct 15, 2010, 05:05 AM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | Eli Lilly will be closing the Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery by the end of the year, according to an email sent out this morning by Jonathon Sedgwick, Managing Director & Chief Scientific Officer, Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery (LSCDD).

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  • Biotech Goes Black

    Oct 14, 2010, 00:10 AM by Michael Croft

    San Diego Union-Tribune | Biotech companies as a group were profitable in 2009 for the first time ever, and the industry is continuing to move into the black.

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  • What Genomics Can Do

    Oct 13, 2010, 03:50 AM by Michael Croft

    Wall Street Journal | "DNA is everywhere but your physician's clinic," asserts Matt Ridley for the Wall Street Journal.

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  • A Thousand Genomes for the Personal Genome Project

    Oct 12, 2010, 10:40 AM by Michael Croft

    Personalgenomes.org | The Personal Genome Project (PGP) will enroll the next 1,000 participants this week (PGP-1K), and from there, begin enrollment of a 10,000 participant cohort (PGP-10K). 

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  • Synthetic Genomics Makes Complete Genome from Scratch

    Oct 12, 2010, 08:25 AM by Michael Croft

    Technology Review | Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute have used a rapid DNA-synthesis technique to synthesize a complete mitochondrial genome from scratch. Venter's Synthetic Genomics is partnering with Novartis to use the method to make vaccines rapidly.

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  • The 'DNA Dozen' Unzips Their Genomes in Public

    Oct 11, 2010, 14:00 PM by Michael Croft

    The Australian | The founders of Genomes Unzipped -- the so-called "DNA Dozen' -- are releasing comprehensive personal genotyping data to the public as a challenge the common view that such information is so private and sensitive that it should not be widely shared.

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  • GSK Announces Singapore Academic Collaborations

    Oct 8, 2010, 03:15 AM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | SINGAPORE--GlaxoSmithKline announced the first four academic partnerships yesterday under the GlaxoSmithKline-Singapore Academic Centre of Excellence (ACE) announced in January. Awards went to researchers at the A*STAR-Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences; Duke-NUS Graduate Medication School; National University of Singapore, School of Medicine; and the Singapore Eye Research Institute, and the National University Hospital.

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  • IBM's Royyuru on Nanopore Sequencing

    Oct 8, 2010, 01:30 AM by Michael Croft

    Wired | IBM Research is partnering with 454 Life Sciences on a DNA Transistor, a solid-state device to sequence DNA while reducing cost and improving throughput. One promising method threads DNA through a nanopore.

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  • CEO's Transparency at PacBio

    Oct 7, 2010, 11:50 AM by Michael Croft

    Fortune | Pacific Bioscience CEO Hugh Martin believes in full disclosure. When diagnosed with cancer, he told the entire staff of his company the full details.

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  • Re-Defining Storage for the Next Generation

    Oct 7, 2010, 06:30 AM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | ‘There are no vendors that have their finger on the pulse of the problem. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that that is the case.” David Dooling, assistant director of informatics at The Genome Center at Washington University is not mincing words. But he’s not totally throwing storage vendors under the bus either. “The issue is that it’s not a single problem."

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  • Next Generation Genetics and Biopharma

    Oct 6, 2010, 10:05 AM by Michael Croft

    Bio-IT World | Even for a jaundiced veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry, it’s hard not to gush over the astounding output of today’s DNA sequencing machines. Twenty-five years ago, I was lucky to read 1,000 nucleotides off an X-ray film during my thesis work. A next-generation sequencing (NGS) instrument can deliver nearly a billion times that number of bases. The computer sector, Moore’s Law notwithstanding, can’t match that gargantuan gain. But what is the potential value of this new technology to biopharma?

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  • South Florida Ponders Benefits of Personalized Medicine Institute

    Oct 4, 2010, 02:00 AM by Michael Croft

    The Tampa Tribune | To the medical school dean at the University of South Florida, the future of health care lies in a big field about 165 miles south of Tampa, along the road from Naples to Immokalee. But not everyone is convinced.

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