• The People’s Parrot: the First Community-Sponsored Genome

    Bio-IT World  | Researchers in Puerto Rico have taken the concept of public funding for genome research to a new level. Paid for with money raised from art and fashion shows and private donations, scientists and students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez have sequenced the genome of the critically endangered Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata)—and maybe introduced a new model for genome research.  

    Sep 27, 2012

  • ChemAxon Opens East Coast Offices

    Sacramento Bee | ChemAxon has opened new East coast headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Sep 27, 2012

  • Knome Launches knoSYS 100 Genome Supercomputer to Enhance Interpretation

    Bio-IT World | Knome, the informatics company co-founded by George Church that bills itself as the “human genome interpretation” company, is launching a dedicated “genome supercomputer” designed to sit next to a next-gen sequencer and enhance the interpretation of genome sequences using Knome's proprietary software.  

    Sep 27, 2012

  • Biofuels: Technology vs. the Market

    Fast Company | Making their biofuel is a lot like making beer, says Eduardo Loosli, the plant manager at Amyris's Brazilian headquarters. But instead of yeast producing alcohol from sugar, the Amyris genetically modified yeast produce farnesene.

    Sep 26, 2012

  • Too Sexy for Your Data?

    Harvard Business Review | What's the sexiest job in the 21st century? Harvard Business Review says it's data scientist. With all the messy datasets available to us now, sorting through and processing that information is an opportunity for creativity, ingenuity,and some very sexy computing.

    Sep 26, 2012

  • What the Complete-BGI Merger Really Means

    Xconomy | As the dust settles on the BGI-Complete Genomics announcements, we can start to consider what the merger means for the industry and genomics-driven medicine.

    Sep 26, 2012

  • HHMI Names 13 Biomed Research Scholars

    HHMI | The Howard Hughes Medical Center has chosen 13 basic researchers as recipients of its Senior International Research Scholar (SIRS) awards. Each research scholar will receive a grant of $100,000 per year over five years.

    Sep 26, 2012

  • BGI and Gates Foundation Collaborate

    Bio-IT World | BGI and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to begin immediate collaboration on global health and agricultural development.

    Sep 25, 2012

  • Data Centers and the Real Infrastructure Behind the Cloud

    Bio-IT World Roundup | There's been much discussion this week of data centers and the virtual cloud's actual impact on the environment.

    Sep 25, 2012

  • Phase II Flub for Peregrine

    Cancer Grace | A week after releasing favorable Phase II results for the novel vascular-targeting immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer, bavituximab, study sponsor Peregrine Pharmaceuticals has announced "major discrepancies" in the trial.

    Sep 24, 2012

  • Vienna Gets Set to Host Bio-IT World Europe 2012

    Bio-IT World | Vienna may be known as the City of Music, but in three weeks it will also be a hub for life sciences, informatics, and IT. Bio-IT World’s fourth  European Conference & Expo finds a new home in Vienna, Austria, bringing tracks on drug discovery informatics; data infrastructure and high performance computing; cloud-based bioinformatics and clinical genomics to the heart of Europe.  

    Sep 24, 2012

  • Allen Brain Atlas Reveals Data from First Two Scanned Brains

    Forbes | The Allen Brain Atlas published its first results yesterday in Nature, and some were surprising. Gene expression on the right and left sides of the brain looks very similar, but the variety that is there seems to be pretty important.

    Sep 21, 2012

  • MyoKardia Gains Venture Funds to Investigate Drugs for Genetic Heart Defects

    Xconomy | Third Rock Ventures is investing $38 million in a startup that is targeting the genetic causes of heart problems. MyoKardia will set up shop in San Francisco.

    Sep 21, 2012

  • Google Ventures has $1 Billion to Spend, Eyes Biotech

    CNBC | Google Ventures is planning $1 billion of start-up investment in the next five years and it has its eye on biotech.

    Sep 21, 2012

  • Novartis Takes $665m Bid for Selexys

    Tulsa World | In addition to $23 million of Series A financing, Selexys Pharmaceuticals Corp. of Oklahoma City has struck an agreement with Novartis that could lead to the company's acquisition for up to $665 million for its sickle cell treatment.

    Sep 21, 2012

  • Microfluidics, NGS, and Personalized Cosmetics

    Bio-IT World Video | Bio-IT World Editor Kevin Davies speaks with Dave Weitz, professor of physics at Harvard and speaker at the upcoming Consumer Genomics Conference, about his research on microfluidics, which has applications in everything from next-gen sequencing technology to personalized cosmetics.

    Sep 21, 2012

  • Foundation Medicine Announces $42.5m in Series B Financing

    Boston Globe |  Foundation Medicine announced a $42.5 million Series B financing round this morning thanks to Deerfield Management Company, L.P., Casdin Capital, Redmile Group and strategic investors Roche Venture Fund and WuXi Corporate Venture Fund.

    Sep 20, 2012

  • New Pharma Collaboration Focuses on Clinical Standards

    Bio-IT World | A new big pharma collaboration has been launched to identify and solve common drug development challenges, starting with clinical study execution. TransCelerate BioPharma was created by ten companies—Abbott, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Genentech (a member of the Roche Group), and Sanofi—all of which have pooled financial, personnel, and other resources to solve industry-wide challenges in a collaborative environment. 

    Sep 19, 2012

  • Illumina Acquires Cytogenetics Company BlueGnome

    BlueGnome | Illumina today announced that it will acquire UK company BlueGnome, a cytogenetics company that looks at the structure and function of cells for genetic abnormalities. 

    Sep 19, 2012

  • The Genomics Guinea Pigs

    NPR | The researchers who are serving as genomics guinea pigs are also working through how we should process the information the genome reveals.

    Sep 19, 2012