• 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

  • Whole Genome Sequencing Sheds Light on Hepatitis Virus Integration in Cancer Genome

    Bio-IT World | Researchers focusing on Asian cancers have used whole-genome sequencing to study the level of hepatitis B virus integration in the genomes of cancer patients and to discover three novel genes associated with recurrent hepatitis B virus integration in hepatocellular carcinoma. The study was published today in Nature Genetics. 

    May 29, 2012

  • May 2012 New Products

    Bio-IT World | A summary of the new products in bio-IT released in the past month including NGS sample prep, cloud storage-as-a-service, clinical trial document management, and more. 

    May 28, 2012

  • Antipsychotic Shows Anticancer Activity

    Winnipeg Free Press | Canadian researchers screened about 3,000 compounds looking for those that would selectively inhibit cancer stem cells. Of the 20 promising results, one was the antipsychotic drug thioridazine. 

    May 25, 2012

  • Singapore Fellowship Offers Up To $2.4m to Individual Researcher

    Bio-IT World | The Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) Fellowship has released the call for applicants for the sixth annual Singapore NRF Fellowship. The fellowship consists of a five-year research grant of up to $2.4 million to an individual, for research undertaken in Singapore. Fellowship proposals are due by August 15, 2012. 

    May 24, 2012

  • Amgen Revives Drug Thanks to Biomarker Data

    Bloomberg | In light of a small set of data, Amgen is reviving its gastric cancer drug rilotumumab that seems to show efficacy for patients with high levels of c-Met, a protein linked to cancer growth. The revival is a win for personalized medicine. 

    May 23, 2012

  • Personalized Genetic Testing Only for 'Clinical Trial Setting'

    CNN | The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released its recommendation this week that personalized genetic tests be only used in a clinical trial setting, saying the tests are not "ready for prime time." 

    May 23, 2012

  • Ra Pharmaceuticals Launches Protein-Like Drugs

    Xconomy | Ra Pharmaceuticals is announcing its technology platform to develop protein-like molecules that it calls Cyclomimetrics. The technology was licensed from Uppsala University in Sweden, and makes large molecules that can be made into pills. 

    May 23, 2012

  • Ring My BEL: Selventa Releases Biological Expression Language

    Bio-IT World | With a recent rebranding and evolving business model, Selventa—the company formerly known as Genstruct—has decided to release a key knowledge engineering asset to the scientific community. 

    May 23, 2012

  • Big Trial Starting for Genentech's Alzheimer's Drug

    New York Times | Genentech's new Alzheimer's drug trial will test the drug on 200 patients with a genetic mutation for early-onset disease (with half receiving placebo) and another 100 family members without the mutation. 

    May 23, 2012

  • Spectra Logic Tape Storage Beefs Up NCSA Blue Waters Supercomputer

    Bio-IT World | The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) has selected T-Finity tape libraries from Boulder, CO-based Spectra Logic to provide hundreds of petabytes of data storage for its upcoming Blue Waters supercomputing system, one of the most powerful supercomputing systems in the world. 

    May 21, 2012

  • Building Electronic Clinical Trials is Grueling and Slow—Recent Survey

    eCliniqua | The tedious process of building an electronic clinical trial is a stubborn bottleneck requiring too much time and too many resources. Those are the topline results of a 2011 survey conducted at two annual meetings—the Drug Information Association (DIA) and the Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM). Cmed Technology, a UK-based provider of eClinical solutions developed and administered the survey, which resulted in 87 respondents from 55 companies.

    May 21, 2012

  • Human Genome Exhibition Set to Mark Project’s 10th Anniversary

    Bio-IT World | The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is planning a “high-tech, high-intensity” museum exhibition next year to mark the 10th anniversary of the official completion of the Human Genome Project, with millions of dollars pledged already by the Life Technologies Foundation, the Brin Wojcicki Foundation, and other donors.   

    May 21, 2012

  • California Considers New Genetic Privacy Law

    Scientific American | First there was GINA, now GIPA? The Genetic Information Privacy Act, currently under consideration by California lawmakers, would require an individual's written consent for the collection, analysis, or sharing of any genetic information. 

    May 21, 2012

  • Rare Mutations Mean Less Disease Correlation

    Bloomberg | In a paper released last week in Science, researchers at the University of Washington show that most genetic variations in people are rare and evolutionarily recent. The findings further reinforce the changes being made to how we think about correlating genetic changes with diseases. 

    May 20, 2012

  • Accelrys Buys Cloud Discovery Platform

    Zacks | Accelrys has bought a Cloud-based drug discovery and development platform from SCYNEXIS, completing the contract both companies entered into last year. 

    May 20, 2012

  • Human Genome Sciences Seeks to Fend Off GSK

    New York Times | Human Genome Sciences is still rejecting a bid from GlaxoSmithKline to buy the biotech. Human Genome Sciences' board voted unanimously to reject the GSK offer and adopt a shareholders' rights plan, or poison pill. 

    May 17, 2012

  • Driving Innovation from Within

    2012 Bio-IT World Best Practices Winner | “It’s survival of the fittest,” explains Ulrich Betz, department head of Merck Serono’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Incubator, of Merck’s innospire program, winner of the 2012 Bio-IT World Best Practices award for Knowledge Management. Only the best ideas win. 

    May 17, 2012

  • Pfizer's Lung Cancer Drug Targets ALK Gene

    Wall Street Journal | Pfizer's new lung cancer drug is showing effectiveness against childhood cancers with defects in the ALK gene. 

    May 16, 2012

  • BGI Installs Roche System for Long Reads

    Bio-IT World | BGI has garnered a lot of attention for its sheer sequencing capacity. Now the sequencing center has installed a new Roche GS FLX+ System at its Shenzhen facility to enhance BGI's long read sequencing capabilities and supplement the short read technologies.

    May 16, 2012