• Good Days and Bad in 2011

    Bio-IT World | Physicists seem to be having all the fun right now -- monster black holes, inhabitable planets, glimpses of God particles and hearty challenges to Einstein. But a list of last year's top ten science stories in the Guardian found room for only a couple of items in contemporary biology. 

    Jan 24, 2012

  • Children’s Hospital Launches CLARITY Challenge for Clinical Genome Interpretation

    Bio-IT World | Researchers at Children’s Hospital in Boston have launched the $25,000 CLARITY Challenge, to develop standards and best practices for clinical genomic analysis and interpretation. Project co-founder Isaac Kohane says an open contest is the best way to catalyze "a public and transparent improvement of that pipeline." 

    Jan 23, 2012

  • Remedies for Safer Drugs

    Bio-IT World | Pharmacovigilance experts have an abundance of signal detection tools to sift through large quantities of data seeking causal relationships between adverse events (AEs) and experimental drugs. They also have an assortment of data mining tools capable of finding statistical associations suggestive of problems regarding approved drugs. All this technology is intended to safeguard clinical trial participants, patients, and the reputation of recall-weary drug developers. But drug safety specialists can’t be sure which technology or signal detection method is best.

    Jan 18, 2012

  • Flu Researchers Voluntarily Pause

    Bio-IT World | A group of researchers working on the H5N1 avian flu virus have agreed to a 60-day moratorium on research "to allow time for international discussion." The agreement was published in Science and Nature on Friday via a letter from 39 researchers.

    Jan 20, 2012

  • Fostering Innovation at Sanofi

    Xconomy | Chris Viehbacher, CEO of Sanofi, is focusing on building innovation thanks to last year's acquisition of Genzyme and academic and biotech collaborators.

    Jan 20, 2012

  • Blind Computing with Quantum Physics

    BBC | Computing with quantum physics could carry out fast, complex computations and even increase security in the cloud. "Blind quantum computing" can even be carried out without a cloud computer ever knowing what the data is.

     

    Jan 20, 2012

  • Medidata: Integrating Infrastructure for Clinical Trials

    Bio-IT World | Glen de Vries thought he would be teaching biology or chemistry in college, but somewhere en route to a satisfying career in academic research, he got distracted. Bio•IT World chief editor Kevin Davies spoke to de Vries about the progress of Medidata and the state of e-clinical technology in general. 

      

    Jan 18, 2012

  • Academic Publishers Have Become the Enemies of Science

    The Guardian | British academic Mike Taylor assails the Research Works Act (RWA), introduced in the US Congress last month, which amounts to a declaration of war by for-profit scientific publishers. the result would be "an ethical disaster: preventable deaths in developing countries, and an incalculable loss for science in the USA and worldwide."

    Jan 17, 2012

  • Cracking Open the Scientific Process

    New York Times | Social networking sites such as Berlin-based ResearchGate and meetings liks this weeks ScienceOnline conference in North Carolina are helping to crack open the scientific process.

    Jan 17, 2012

  • A Business Reporter's Personal Genome Journey

    Bloomberg | John Lauerman, a healthy 50-something reporter for Bloomberg, offers a first-person account of his recent decision to enroll in George Church's Personal Genome Project.

    Jan 17, 2012

  • A QuantuMDx Leap for Handheld DNA Sequencing

    Bio-IT World | Speaking for the first time in his life as a commercial consultant rather than a public servant, Sir John Burn, a highly respected clinical geneticist in the United Kingdom, provided the first glimpse at a nanowire technology for rapid DNA genotyping that could eventually mature into the world’s first handheld DNA sequencer.

    Jan 16, 2012

  • Scientists Offer The Edge Their Most Beautiful Explanations

    The Edge | A stunning assembly of almost 200 scientists and artists -- including the likes of Richard Dawkins, George Church, Nathan Myhrvold, Brian Eno and Alan Alda -- answer The Edge.org's Question of the Year: 'What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?'

    Jan 15, 2012

  • Health Care's X-Prize

    The Guardian | The X-Prize has launched a new competition with a $10m prize to be the first to [re?] invent Dr. Spock's tricorder. The Tricorder Qualcomm X-Prize, co-funded by Qualcomm and the X-Prize Foundation, is named for the instant-diagnosis gadget from Star Trek. The competition's goal is a consumer-friendly product that will diagnose 15 common conditions.

    Jan 13, 2012

  • Mary Jane's First iPad App

    Bio-IT World | Kevin McKernan's new venture, Medicinal Genomics, is focusing on the cannabis genome, and the company has just released a new iPad app called "Jane-Ome" that allows  users to explore the scientific basis for medical marijuana use.

    Jan 13, 2012

  • Researchers Find Familial Prostate Cancer Gene Mutation

    MedPage Today | Scientists writing in the New England Journal of Medicine have identified the first hereditary mutation for prostate cancer risk in a gene called HOXB13, a discovery that could provide new mechanistic insights into this common cancer.

     

    Jan 12, 2012

  • Picture This: Molecular Maya Puts Life in Life Science Animations

    Bio-IT World | In 2010, a reporter sat in a Life Technologies hotel suite admiring a promotional video illustrating one of the company’s latest research projects—a single-molecule sequencing system featuring enzymes tethered to fluorescing quantum dots. The video was impressive not merely for pushing the boundaries of sequencing technology, but equally for showcasing some powerful production qualities in 3D animation and rendering that, until recently, would have seemed the provenance of a Pixar movie.  

     

    Jan 12, 2012

  • National Human Genome Research Institute Proposes Reorganizing

    genome.gov | The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), under director Eric Green, is proposing to expand from two divisions to seven divisions, adding new divisions dedicated to genome sciences, genomic medicine, and genomics and society. The reorganization will be discussed at two upcoming public meetings. 

    Jan 11, 2012

  • Do We Need Doctors Or Algorithms?

    Tech Crunch | Vinod Khosla, the legendary Silicon Valley investor and founder of Khosla Ventures, discusses the wide-ranging impact of technology -- from mobile technology to increasingly sophisticated algorithms -- on medicine and healthcare, helping to empower patients.

    Jan 11, 2012

  • Sanofi Inks Two New Genomics Partnerships in Boston

    Mass High Tech | It's been a busy month for French pharma company Sanofi, as they ink deals with two Boston-based genomics firms, cancer diagnostic company Foundation Medicine and natural products start-up Warp Drive Bio, in which Sanofi will invest up to $125 million.

    Jan 11, 2012

  • The Unstable Equilibrium of the Bioinformatics Org Chart

    Bio-IT World  | In most organizations, the human resources of bioinformatics are a regular source of tension. Unless you’re particularly lucky, you can be plagued by politics, illogical decision making, disappointment, and low productivity. While you can have these problems in a properly-balanced organization, there are certain org charts in which they are endemic. 

    Jan 11, 2012