• Berry Genomics, Illumina Seek Chinese Regulatory Approval for NIPT

    Bio-IT World News Brief | Berry Genomics has chosen Illumina next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology as the platform on which Berry hopes to secure Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) regulatory approval for clinical applications. The combined "system" is in late stage CFDA testing, the Chinese company says.

    Jul 21, 2014

  • Universal Language: The Pistoia Alliance Takes on Indescribable Biology

    Bio-IT World | The Pistoia Alliance received a Best Practices Award at this year's Bio-IT World Conference & Expo for its work on HELM, a project that establishes a standard notation for complex macromolecules that are too large to sketch out atomically, but too heterogeneous to express as chains of RNA or amino acids. The project will aid interoperability across the industry, as pharma companies increasingly rely on strange, hybrid biochemistry in creating new therapeutics.

    Jul 18, 2014

  • Could CRISPR Transform Wild Ecosystems?

    Bio-IT World | In a paper published yesterday in the open access journal eLife, George Church and colleagues discuss the potential for "gene drives" that alter the genomes of whole wild populations using CRISPR gene editing technology, and weigh the risks and public interests surrounding such initiatives.

    Jul 18, 2014

  • Illumina Acquires Regulatory Strategy Consulting Firm

    Bio-IT World News Brief | Illumina today announced its acquisition of Myraqa, a consulting firm specializing in the regulatory strategy surrounding in vitro diagnostics, particularly companion diagnostics.

    Jul 16, 2014

  • Novartis Signs On to License Google's Glucose-Monitoring Contact Lenses

    New York Times | Google and Novartis have announced a partnership for Novartis to license Google's smart contact lens that could measure a wearer's blood sugar levels.

    Jul 16, 2014

  • IBM Gains Ground with SoftLayer Cloud

    Computerworld | IBM is gaining cloud ground with its SoftLayer product, Big Blue says, reporting 6,000 new customers in the last year and $1.2 billion invested in data centers.

    Jul 15, 2014

  • Transcriptic Launches Molecular, Cell Biology On-Demand Lab

    Bio-IT World News Brief | Transcriptic today launched the Transcriptic Platform, their own cloud-based programmable system for defining and executing experimental protocols. The company says the platform can create a 10-fold productivity advantage for researchers working on molecular and cell biology.

    Jul 15, 2014

  • BGI Scientists Expand Reference Genes for Human Microbiome

    Bio-IT World | The Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), China's gene sequencing powerhouse, has released a set of reference genes for the human gut microbiome, in a catalogue that is substantially larger and covers a greater diversity of human populations than any previous resources.

    Jul 14, 2014

  • Illumina Chosen as Service Provider for Genomics England Project

    Technology Review | Illumina has been chosen as the "preferred partner" for the UK's 100,000 genomes project. Genomics England chose Illumina to do the sequencing, and said that fewer than five other companies bid for the job.

    Jul 13, 2014

  • Peer Inside the American Gut

    Bio-IT World News Brief | This Wednesday, American Gut, the crowdsourced project that has now sequenced gut microbiota samples from over 3,000 volunteers, released both a round of results and its own analytical pipeline.

    Jul 11, 2014

  • Human Brain Project Responds to Complaints

    Bio-IT World | Today, the leadership of the Human Brain Project circulated a document responding to this Monday's open letter to the European Commission, in which neuroscientists aired concerns about the aims and decision-making processes behind the HBP.

    Jul 10, 2014

  • AWS Summit Kicks Off in New York, Features Best of Show Winner

    Bio-IT World News Brief | The Amazon Web Services Cloud Summit kicked off with a keynote from Werner Vogels, Chief Technology Officer. Vogels announced CloudWatch Logs to monitor the system and application logs for trends and events over time, and highlighted the work of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research using a 2014 Bio-IT World Best of Show winner.

    Jul 10, 2014

  • Scripps Calls off USC Merger or Acquisition Discussions

    U-T San Diego | The rumored merger of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and the University of Southern California is off, the Scripps board of trustees said yesterday

    Jul 10, 2014

  • Appistry Launches NGS Pipeline Creation Challenge

    Bio-IT World News Brief | If you’ve got an idea for a next-gen sequencing analysis pipeline—and you’re creative on camera—Appistry invites you to participate in its inaugural Appistry Pipeline Challenge. The winning group will receive $70,000 worth of hardware and software to build its pipeline.

    Jul 9, 2014

  • Francis Collins on Horizons in Biomedicine

    Wall Street Journal | In an oped in the Wall Street Journal, Francis Collins gives his view of the "broad horizon" before biomedical research today.

    Jul 9, 2014

  • AbbVie Raises Bid for Shire

    New York Times | AbbVie raised its bid for Shire this morning to a cash and stock offering worth about $87.66 per share, or $51.6 billion total.

    Jul 8, 2014

  • Human Brain Project Faces Growing Skepticism from Neuroscientists

    Bio-IT World | This morning, the European Commission received an open letter signed by 154 European neuroscientists, expressing concern over the direction of the Human Brain Project that was launched last year.

    Jul 7, 2014

  • China FDA Approves Two Chinese Sequencers, NIPT Kit

    South China Morning Post | The China Food & Drug Administration approved two sequencers from BGI--the BGISEQ-1000 and BGISEQ-100--and a diagnostic kit for prenatal testing of "high risk" pregnancies.

    Jul 3, 2014

  • Maximizing Success from Vendor Consolidation

    Bio-IT World | Guest Commentary | The global pharmaceutical industry faces challenges that require it to look beyond the status quo and develop a fresh transformative vision for the future. Many pharmas are now looking to consolidate vendors as they embark on restructuring and cost reduction efforts.

    Jul 3, 2014

  • NIH Funds Six Centers in Undiagnosed Diseases Network

    NBC News | Yesterday the National Institutes of Health launched the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, a four-year, $43 million program focused on the rarest of diseases, many afflicting fewer than 50 people worldwide.

    Jul 3, 2014