• 'Kill Switches' for Genetically Modified Microbes

    Wired | Biologists at MIT have engineered new genetic elements to insert in bacteria, making these microbes dependent on lab-supplied synthetic molecules to survive.

    Dec 7, 2015

  • Should DNA donors see their genomic data?

    Nature News & Comment | Geneticist Charles Danko turned to Twitter this week for help in convincing his IRB at Cornell that he should be allowed to let his study participants download their genetic information

    Dec 4, 2015

  • Data Storage on DNA Can Keep It Safe for Centuries

    The New York Times | Scientists have shown that DNA molecules can be the basis for a long-term storage system potentially capable of holding all of the world's digital information in a tiny space.

    Dec 4, 2015

  • November News and Product Briefs

    Bio-IT World | News and product launches from around the industry, including CRISPR experiments in the cloud lab, and a machine learning venture for searching the scientific literature.

    Dec 3, 2015

  • What’s the Answer? (Dare we edit the human race?) #GeneEditSummit

    The OpenHelix Blog | This week's question is a biggie. And there's no answer yet. But that is the topic of the National Academies big event this week, International Summit on Human Gene Editing.

    Dec 3, 2015

  • Zhang Lab Produces Engineered CRISPR Complex with Greater Precision

    Bio-IT World | Scientists working at Feng Zhang's lab at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have used insights about Cas9's structure and domains of DNA interaction to produce a mutant molecule, just as capable of cutting chosen DNA sequences, but with lower risk of making off-target cuts in distant areas of the genome.

    Dec 3, 2015

  • Microsoft and HP offer more info about their cloud partnership

    Computerworld | Hewlett Packard Enterprise outlined new details about its hybrid cloud partnership with Microsoft in an announcement Tuesday, saying it will provide a new hardware product that integrates with the Azure cloud platform and build its software to take advantage of Microsoft's offerings.

    Dec 1, 2015

  • Human Longevity Acquires Cypher Genomics, Genomics Interpretation Software

    Bio-IT World | Human Longevity this morning announced that it has acquired Cypher Genomics for an undisclosed amount. Cypher has 14 employees who will join HLI including Cypher CEO and Co-founder, Ashley Van Zeeland, Ph.D., who is now the head of HLI's Pediatric Business.

    Nov 30, 2015

  • Microbiome Startup uBiome Will Sequence Poop for the CDC

    Wired | uBiome has announced a partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a standardized way of measuring disruptions and changes to the human microbiome.

    Nov 30, 2015

  • Systematic CRISPR Knockouts in Cancer Cell Lines

    The Atlantic | CRISPR-Cas9 experiments are revealing which human genes are essential, and which matter specifically to cancer cells.

    Nov 30, 2015

  • Quanterix Upgrades Simoa Instruments, Preparing for 2016 IPO

    Diagnostics World | Quanterix, the Lexington, Mass.-based creator of a high-throughput protein analysis instrument, is overhauling its hardware and software as it prepares for a more commercial stage in its development.

    Nov 25, 2015

  • Complete Genomics Loses Staff, Delays Revolocity as BGI Seeks Support for BGISEQ-500

    Bio-IT World News Brief | Complete Genomics of Mountain View, Calif., is undergoing a big shakeup under the direction of its Shenzhen-based owner BGI, reorganizing as a research site developing assays for the BGISEQ-500 and cutting short the launch of its Revolocity clinical sequencing system.

    Nov 24, 2015

  • Mosquito Gene Drive Appears Successful in the Lab

    STAT | Scientists have used the CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing tool to create mosquitoes that block the malaria parasite instead of transmitting it - and rapidly spread their modified DNA to nearly all their descendants.

    Nov 23, 2015

  • Thermo Fisher Prepares for NGS Cancer Testing with Pharma Partners

    Bio-IT World | Thermo Fisher Scientific announced this week that it will be creating a next-generation sequencing test as a companion diagnostic in cases of non-small cell lung cancer, partnering with Novartis and Pfizer.

    Nov 20, 2015

  • Oxford Nanopore's Software Side

    Bio-IT World | Oxford Nanopore, creator of the handheld MinION DNA sequencer, recently revealed its first user-facing tool for genetic interpretation, a species identification workflow called What's in my Pot? The tool, designed by Oxford's software spinout Metrichor, hints at the company's ambitions to bring DNA analysis to a much wider audience, as the MinION broadens notions of who can perform sequencing and where.

    Nov 19, 2015

  • How Genetics Defines, and Redefines, Biological Sex

    Nature News | The idea of two sexes, divided neatly by X and Y chromosomes, is simplistic. Biologists are now finding a fascinating number and variety of ways genetics can defy the binary.

    Nov 19, 2015

  • Deep Genomics Closes Seed Round of $3.7m

    Bio-IT World | Deep Genomics this morning announced the closing of $3.7 million in seed financing. Funding was led by True Ventures of the Bay Area with participation from Bloomberg Beta and other global angel investors.

    Nov 18, 2015

  • Former Biogen R&D Chief Emerges at $80M Startup Pursuing Cancer Alzheimers

    Forbes | Doug Williams left one of biotechnology's biggest jobs, at Biogen, in July. Now we know why. Williams is now the founding CEO of Codiak Biosciences, a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup. The little company is announcing today it has raised $80 million in committed venture capital spread over two installments.

    Nov 17, 2015

  • NCBI Plans Genomics Hackathon

    NCBI News | In early January, NCBI will host a genomics hackathon with teams taking on network analysis of variants, structural variation, RNA-seq, streaming data and metadata, and more.

    Nov 16, 2015

  • Patients Reluctant to Share Health Data with Tech Companies

    MIT Technology Review | A survey finds that consumers are wary of giving their personal health information to insurers, pharma companies, government, and especially tech companies like Google, Apple and Facebook.

    Nov 16, 2015