• Synthetic Biologists Put Artificial Life Forms to Work

    MIT Technology Review | Scripps Research Institute spinoff Synthorx, which engineers organisms with two extra artificial DNA letters, is just one of several ventures trying to find practical applications for an expanded genetic code.

    Aug 19, 2015

  • Illumina, Friends Launch Helix: Digital Hub for Genetic Information

    New York Times | Helix--a new genomics analytics venture--is to launch today with $100 million in funding from Illumina, Warburg Pincus, and Sutter Hill Ventures. Illumina's Jay Flatley will serve as chairman.

    Aug 18, 2015

  • Beacon Project Cracks the Door for Genomic Data Sharing

    Bio-IT World | Deep-seated concerns about privacy and security, combined with a tangled variety of data structures and perverse incentives to hoard genomic data, have hindered the ability and willingness of research groups to share DNA data with one another for more open and collaborative science. As a flagship effort of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, the Beacon Project is toying with a single, simple query that is forming the basis for more exchange of data across institutional borders.

    Aug 14, 2015

  • China’s Tianhe-1A Shut Down After Tianjin Blast

    WSJ |The fallout from the massive explosion in Tianjin has reached one of China's supercomputers. The National Supercomputing Center has shut down the Tianhe-1A after the building it was housed in was damaged.

    Aug 14, 2015

  • Is Google's Switch To Alphabet Good For Healthcare? Definitely Maybe

    Forbes | In the past, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have been pretty clear that they view the company's efforts in healthcare as a sideline. "Generally, health is just so heavily regulated," Brin said at a Khosla ventures fireside chat in 2014. "It's just a painful business to be in. It's [...]

    Aug 11, 2015

  • Editas' $120 Million Haul Brings New Sources of Funding to Gene Editing Therapies

    Bio-IT World | CRISPR therapy company Editas has more than doubled its financing with a $120 million funding round announced this morning, led by the newly-formed investment fund bng0.

    Aug 10, 2015

  • Illumina's Purchase of GenoLogics Cements Ties to LIMS Provider for Next Gen Sequencing

    FierceBiotech | Illumina has struck a deal to acquire laboratory information management system provider GenoLogics, already a partner creating dedicated LIMS for Illumina's high-throughput sequencers.

    Aug 10, 2015

  • Trailblazing Cancer-Physics Project Accused of Losing Ambition

    Nature News | As the National Cancer Institute prepares to distribute its second round of five-year grants to Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers, Nature News speaks to scientists who feel a program designed to reinvigorate cancer research with fundamental physical discoveries is missing the mark.

    Aug 7, 2015

  • The Tsetse Fly and the Test for Genomics in Africa

    Bio-IT World | In 2004, the International Glossina Genome Initiative set out to sequence the genome of the tsetse fly, Glossina morsitans, Africa's most unique public health threat. Though the project took over a decade to complete, its legacy is a model for building local capacity for cutting-edge science in African institutions.

    Aug 6, 2015

  • FDA Leans on DNAnexus for Platform to Evaluate Bioinformatics

    Bio-IT World News Brief | Diagnostics based on next-generation sequencing have forced the FDA to bend some of its standards for proving the analytical and clinical value of new medical tests before they come to market — and a new online platform built with DNAnexus, called precisionFDA, will now formalize and refine some of the new approaches the agency has taken to deal with computational pipelines in genomics.

    Aug 6, 2015

  • Illumina Announces Three New Companies for Genomics Accelerator

    Xconomy | Illumina has announced the second class of its accelerator program, with applications in infectious disease diagnostics, sequencing of urine samples, and even wine making.

    Aug 5, 2015

  • Room for a New Megacompany in Rare Disease?

    FierceBiotech | Shire, the Dublin-headquartered pharma company increasingly reliant on its rare disease portfolio, is making an aggressive move to acquire the newly spun-off biotech company Baxalta.

    Aug 4, 2015

  • Neanderthals Had Outsize Effect on Human Biology

    Nature News | Genome wide association studies, coupled with experiments in the lab, suggest that the small percentage of human DNA contributed by other hominid species like Neanderthals and Denisovans may have large phenotypic effects.

    Aug 3, 2015

  • Obama Announces National Strategic Computing Initiative

    Bio-IT World Brief | Yesterday President Obama has signed an executive order creating the National Strategic Computing Initiative. The Initiative aims to bring together several government agencies including the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation to pursue exascale computing.

    Aug 2, 2015

  • July News and Product Briefs

    Bio-IT World | News and product briefs from around the industry, including Deep Genomins' DNA binding analytics and White House announcements about the Precision Medicine Initiative.

    Jul 29, 2015

  • Exclusive Genomics pioneer Jun Wang on his new AI venture

    Nature News & Comment | Visionary leader of China's BGI tells Nature why he is stepping down to build a health-monitoring system based on a million genomes.

    Jul 29, 2015

  • Amazon takes on MySQL with Aurora

    Computerworld | Going forward, Amazon will position Aurora as its default database service, a high-performance alternative to MySQL.

    Jul 28, 2015

  • Biogen Looks Vulnerable After Stock Sell-Off

    BostonGlobe.com | Cambridge biotechnology giant Biogen Inc. may have to make a bold move to reassure investors -- buying back shares or snapping up a smaller company -- or it could become a takeover target itself, some analysts warned Monday.

    Jul 28, 2015

  • Yaron Turpaz on Human Longevity's Big Plans

    Bio-IT World | Human Longevity's vision is grand: sequence 100,000 human genomes a year and "change the way medicine is practiced by helping to shift to a more preventive, genomic-based medicine model.” Yaron Turpaz, HLI’s Chief Information Officer, talks about the first year’s progress and the kind of knowledgebase HLI is building.   

    Jul 27, 2015

  • Programming an Abundant Human Gut Microbe

    Bio-IT World | Members of MIT's Synthetic Biology Center have successfully reengineered the genome of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron to take on new functions inside the gut of a mouse in response to changes in the mouse's diet — the first example of implementing these "genetic circuits" in a bacterium that is highly abundant in the human microbiome.

    Jul 24, 2015