• The Rise of the ARM Server

    Bio-IT World | GUEST COMMENTARY | Two years ago, venture capitalist Hermann Hauser boldly predicted the fall of Intel. The tech giant would be crushed, he said, by the mighty ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) Holdings. Such posturing is not uncommon in the world of technology, but the difference in this case was that Hauser was pointing to the business models of the two companies, not the technology per se.

    Jan 14, 2013

  • Worries for 2013: 150+ Scientific Leaders Chime In

    Edge | Edge has posted its annual question and there are some great responses: essays from Steve Pinker, Craig Venter, Brian Eno, Tim O’Reilly, Simon Baron-Cohen, Terry Sejnowski, Eric Topol, Nicholas Carr, Esther Dyson, Juan Enriquez, and a cast of 130 other scientific leaders.

    Jan 14, 2013

  • NIST Workshop Looks at Variant Calling Standards

    NGS Leaders | Justin Zook and Marc Salit from the National Institute of Standards and Technology report on the NIST workshop Genome in a Bottle, to develop reference materials, reference methods, and reference data to assess confidence in human whole genome variant calls.

    Jan 11, 2013

  • What’s Fueling Our Growing Loss of Faith in Big Science?

    Bio-IT World | The Skeptical Outsider Guest Column| The scientific method is arguably one of the key pillars of Western Civilization. Ironically, the power of science has become so well established that it is now taken as an article of faith by politicians and voters who wouldn’t know the difference between good science and bad if it bit them in the keister. As a result, no society in history has provided as much public, private, and corporate science funding as the United States. 

    Jan 11, 2013

  • Making Mechanical Marvels

    Nature | Researchers at the University of Manchester have built a robotic ribosome, or at least a nanomachine  that can mimic some of a ribosome's activity.

    Jan 10, 2013

  • Big Data Costs Could Lead to Monitized Data

    eWeek | A Gartner study suggests that the rising costs of big data storage is going to lead some businesses trade, barter, or sell their data for funds by 2016.

    Jan 10, 2013

  • Top Tech Picks of 2012

    InfoWorld | InfoWorld's Technology of the Year awards recognizes the best tech solutions from 2012. Among them, hardware, software, cloud solutions, and more.

    Jan 10, 2013

  • Bayer HealthCare Launches Singapore-Based Translational Oncology Network

    Bio-IT World | SINGAPORE—Bayer HealthCare has launched an Integrated Translational Oncology Network in Singapore to facilitate drug discovery and development specifically for cancers prevalent in Asian populations.  

    Jan 9, 2013

  • Illumina, Life Technologies Forge Rival Partnerships to Implement Clinical Genomics Networks

    Bio-IT World | The two giants of next-generation sequencing technology, Illumina and Life Technologies, have announced rival initiatives with leading medical institutions in Boston to further the integration of their technology into the clinical genomics arena. Life is investing in Claritas Genomics with Boston Children's Hospital, while Illumina announced the founding members of the GeneInsight-Illumina Network.

    Jan 8, 2013

  • Transitioning from Big Data to Data Science

    Wall Street Journal Blogs | Data scientists need to have a hybrid set of IT skills, says one big data professional. In a shift from big data (focus on the data) to data science (focus on the science), data-science-oriented disciplines like information-based medicine aim to leverage all sources of data to develop new scientific methods of inquiry.

    Jan 7, 2013

  • University of Pittsburgh Launches Institute of Personalized Medicine

    Pittsburgh Business Times | The University of Pittsburgh Schools of Health Services is launching a new Institute of Personalized Medicine to use genetics, genomics and related information from other disciplines to advance evidence-based medicine, practices and procedures that have been proven effective.

    Jan 7, 2013

  • The Wonderful Wizard of AZT: Predicting the Clinical Success of New Drugs

    Bio-IT World | The pharmaceutical industry could use a fortuneteller. According to a March 2010 issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, drug companies spend on average $1.8 billion dollars to bring a new therapy to market, and that number is estimated to increase in the coming years. This staggering figure is due in part to the lack of predictive algorithms.

    Jan 7, 2013

  • Illumina to Acquire Prenatal Genetic Testing Company Verinata

    Bio-IT World | Illumina announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Verinata Health for consideration of $350 million plus up to $100 million in milestone payments through 2015. Upon completion of the acquisition, Illumina will have access to Verinata’s verifi prenatal test, the broadest non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) available today for high-risk pregnancies, and to what Illumina says is the most comprehensive intellectual property portfolio in the non-invasive prenatal test industry. 

    Jan 7, 2013

  • Biosimilars: Not So Similar to FDA Generic Drug Approvals

    Bio-IT World | Guest Commentary | If you’re a generic drug manufacturer looking to commercialize a generic biologic product, or biosimilar, in the U.S. market, you’re in a tough spot.  As the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries prepare for a range of key biologics U.S. patents to expire (including Amgen’s Neupogen in 2013, Biogen Idec’s Avonex in 2013 and Genentech’s Herceptin in 2014), the jury is still out on how the FDA will regulate the commercialization of biosimilars. 

    Jan 4, 2013

  • Tech Market Predictions for 2013 and Beyond

    eWeek | 2013 will look better, but the tech market will fully rebound in 2014, a report from Forrester predicts. Cloud computing will continue to grow, along with mobility and smart computing.

    Jan 4, 2013

  • Wellcome Trust Launches Investment Group

    Bloomberg | The Wellcome Trust has started an investment arm with 200 million pounds ($326 million) of initial capital for biotech. Syncona Partners will support new businesses in the medical-device, therapeutics, diagnostics and information-technology industries.

    Jan 4, 2013

  • Biogen Applies for FDA Approval of Hemophilia Med

    News Brief | Biogen Idec has submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the marketing approval of a treatment for hemophilia B.

    Jan 4, 2013

  • Genepeeks’ Sperm Bank Acquisition Heralds Genome Screening of ‘Virtual Progeny’

    Bio-IT World | It all began five years ago when Anne Morriss, an economic development consultant, and her partner decided to use a sperm bank to conceive a child. They studiously reviewed the profiles of hundreds of potential donors, but genetics was an afterthought. “We chose a wonderful donor,” says Morriss, “but he was a carrier for a rare Mendelian disorder called MCADD.” Unbeknownst to Morris, she was a carrier too.   

    Jan 4, 2013

  • Diet and DNA: More on Epigenetics and the Genome

    Discover Magazine | Researchers were able to turn off the agouti gene in mice--responsible for making most carrier mice overweight and prone to diabetes and cancer--with maternal diet.

    Jan 3, 2013

  • Pricing Orphan Drugs

    Forbes | NPS Pharmaceuticals is pricing Gattex, its drug for short bowel syndrome, at $295,000 per patient per year. How did they arrive at that number?

    Jan 3, 2013