• Fetal Sequencing Based on Mother's Blood, Father's Saliva

    New York Times | Researchers are now able to determine a fetus's entire genome from the mother's blood and the father's saliva. 

    Jun 7, 2012

  • David Ho Highlights Launch of Bio-IT Asia Conference

    Bio-IT World | SINGAPORE—Ten years after the launch of the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo series in Boston, the conference made its debut in Asia in the sparkling Marina Bay Sands convention center. The trio of speakers who opened the three-day meeting was veteran HIV researcher David Ho, bio-IT consultant Chris Dagdigian, and AstraZeneca bioinformatician Yaron Turpaz. 

    Jun 6, 2012

  • Does Thimerosal Prevent Autism? Epidemiology Gone Wild

    Bio-IT World | The Skeptical Outsider | Human beings are born pattern recognizers, part of the repertoire of survival skills that separates us from the beasts. We are programmed to spot relationships that we are looking for, sometimes when they're not even there. This occasionally causes us to leap to questionable conclusions that can wreak all sorts of havoc. 

    Jun 6, 2012

  • Quake Wins $500K Lemelson-MIT Prize

    Mass High Tech | Stephen Quake, Helicos co-founder and Stanford University professor, has been recognized as this year's Lemelson-MIT Prize winner. He is being recognized for his invention of an improved method for measuring the immune system along with other work. 

    Jun 6, 2012

  • Complete Genomics Cuts Jobs, Starts Review

    Bloomberg Businessweek | Complete Genomics is laying off about 20 percent of its workforce and has hired a financial adviser, Jeffries & Co., to help it explore various strategic options including a possible merger or sale of the company.

    Jun 6, 2012

  • What's In a Name?

    Xconomy | Biotech companies change their names for many reasons, some good, some questionable. Xconomy looks at the old and new names of several biotechs. 

    Jun 4, 2012

  • Best Practices: Safety Rules for ELNs

    Bio-IT World Best Practices | Keeping track of all of the safety rules for reactions and reagents was an overwhelming proposal, so the chemistry safety officers at Bristol-Myers Squibb recruited informatics help to see if there was another option. The resulting electronic laboratory notebook customization earned a best practices nod by the judges in the 2012 Bio-IT World Best Practices Awards competition. 

    Jun 4, 2012

  • Genomics-Enabled Prevention

    Forbes | Ronald Davis, director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center, believes the time to invest in genomics and personalized medicine is now. 

    Jun 3, 2012

  • Investing in the Abandoned

    Forbes | When it comes to investing, pharma might point the way to areas of high return--if you take a look at what the sector is abandoning. 

    Jun 3, 2012

  • Genentech's New and Improved Herceptin

    Xconomy | Genentech and ImmunoGen have released early results of an experimental drug, trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), that targets HER2-expressing breast cancers. The drug combines the targeting capabilities of Genetech's Herceptin with an additional tumor toxin thanks to a chemical linker from ImmunoGen. 

    Jun 3, 2012

  • Bio-IT World News Briefs: May

    Bio-IT World | News briefs and bits from the biotech industry in May.

    Jun 1, 2012

  • Cancer Survivor on N-of-One Direct-to-Patient Ombudsman Model

    Bio-IT World | The long-term success of cancer informatics company N-of-One will be shaped by its newly appointed CEO, strategic partnerships with companies like Foundation Medicine, and ultimately the experiences of cancer patients such as Elaine Waples. 

    May 31, 2012

  • The Human Protein Atlas at the GoldLab Symposium

    Bio-IT World | BOULDER, CO—Larry Gold, the founder and CEO of protein biomarker company SomaLogic, hosted a diverse and engaging group of speakers for the third annual GoldLab Symposium* on the future of health care and personalized medicine earlier this month. “Technology is only the penultimate step in successful innovation,” he said. 

    May 30, 2012

  • Ensemble, Genentech Development Collaboration

    Mass High Tech | Ensemble Therapeutics and Genentech are collaborating on macrocyclic drug candidates against targets identified by Genentech. The companies will use the Ensemblin collection of macrocycles and Ensemble's proprietary drug discovery platform. 

    May 30, 2012

  • GSK Steps Up Bid for Human Genome Sciences

    CNBC | GlaxoSmithKline is hoping to replace the board of Human Genome Sciences with its own representatives, reaching out to executives who could be nominated as "independent" directors. 

    May 30, 2012

  • Foundation Medicine Announces First Genomic Profile for Patient Treatment

    Bio-IT World | Foundation Medicine has announced the commercial launch of FoundationOne, the first pan-cancer, fully informative genomic profile designed to help oncologists expand their patients’ treatment options. 

    May 30, 2012

  • Computer-Aided Drug Design

    Texas Advanced Computing Center | Drug discovery with 3D help may be a lot more efficient than traditional methods. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin's Computational Visualization Center have attacked each step of the drug discovery process. 

    May 29, 2012

  • Immunogenomics Conference

    Nature | The HudsonAlpha Institute in Huntsville, Ala. is hosting a conference covering immunology, genomics, bioinformatics, and clinical interactions. 

    May 29, 2012

  • PCORI’s Research Agenda is Broad, Cost-Neutral

    eCliniqua | The role of cost and patients in comparative effectiveness research (CER) were among the themes of a Post-Approval Summit held earlier this month at Harvard Medical School*. So, too, was the agenda and funding priorities of the latest actor in the CER arena: the independent, multi-stakeholder Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). 

    May 29, 2012

  • 23andMe Announces First Patent

    The Spittoon | 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki has announced the company's first patent, expected today: “Polymorphisms Related to Parkinson’s Disease.” The patent relates to the company's discovery of a variant in the SGK1 gene that may be protective against individuals at high risk of Parkinson's thanks to the rare LRRK2 G2019S mutation. 

    May 29, 2012