• Savoring an NGS Software Smorgasbord

    Bio-IT World | ‘Scaling to bigger and better hardware doesn’t help if your data is [sic] growing in size faster than your hardware,” says Titus Brown at Michigan State University. He and others in the NGS community are calling for software solutions to their NGS data woes instead of massive storage options. In an August post on his blog, “Daily Life in an Ivory Basement,” Brown wrote: “The bottom line is this: when your data cost is decreasing faster than your hardware cost, the long-term solution cannot be to buy, rent, borrow, beg, or steal more hardware. The solution must lie in software and algorithms.”  

     

    Sep 27, 2011

  • VC Investments in Biotech Collapse, Threaten Health Care

    The Atlantic | Medical device, biotech and diagnostic companies account for about a third of all angel and venture capital investments. But today, this system is in collapse, jeopardizing the very foundation of what has made the U.S. health care system the envy of the modern world.

    Sep 25, 2011

  • Big Data, BGI and GigaScience

    Bio-IT World | Does the world really need yet another journal? The Chinese founders of BGI (formerly the Beijing Genomics Institute) clearly think so. This fall they will publish GigaScience, an open-access peer-reviewed journal dedicated to large-scale data. Laurie Goodman, an American science editor and writer, will spearhead the launch. Goodman’s former colleague, Kevin Davies, asked her about the journal’s goals and features. 

    Sep 23, 2011

  • Amazon Announces New AWS Resources

    AWS Blog | Amazon Web Services announced yesterday that they have made new resources available to the scientific research community. 

    Sep 22, 2011

  • PacBio Cuts 28% of Workforce

    Xconomy | PacBio cut 28% of its workforce--130 employees--according to a report released yesterday to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    Sep 20, 2011

  • CAGI Challenge Gauges Computational Predictions of Phenotype

    Bio-IT World | A host of deadlines are approaching for the CAGI challenges, starting September 30 and running through the end of the year. The Critical Assessment of Genome Interpretation project is a community experiment to objectively assess computational methods for predicting the phenotypic impacts of genomic variation. 

    Sep 19, 2011

  • Patent Reform's 'Brave New World'

    Bio-IT World | Expert Commentary | On Friday—after several years of seemingly dead-end discussions about reforming the patent system in the U.S.—President Obama signed the America Invents Law. The law generally is considered the most significant reform in U.S. patent law in the last 60 years, although many parties do not think it goes far enough.   

     

    Sep 18, 2011

  • Genzyme Veteran Gives $10m to Open Personalized Medicine Center at Mass General

    Boston Globe | Retired biotech executive Henri Termeer, who built Genzyme Corp, is donating $10 million to Massachusetts General Hospital to establish it as a leader in personalized medicne.

    Sep 15, 2011

  • BGI, Merck Announce Biomarker Collaboration

    Bio-IT World | Merck and BGI today announced a collaboration to focus on the discovery and development of biomarkers and genomic technologies, an extension of last year’s statement of intent to build a working relationship.

    Sep 13, 2011

  • Korean Genome Project Finds Korea-Only SNPs

    Bio-IT World | Yesterday, the Korean Personal Genome Project announced the release of 20 full Korean genomes, the KPGP-20. The genomes revealed 60,000 SNPs that seem unique to Koreans. 

    Sep 13, 2011

  • Cliff Reid on Advice and Honesty

    San Francisco Business Times | Cliff Reid, president and CEO of Complete Genomics, talks about his mentor's best advice and his comittment to honesty.

    Sep 12, 2011

  • Niederhuber on Inova/Complete Genomics Partnership and ‘Next-Gen Medicine’

    Bio-IT World | John Niederhuber, CEO of the Inova Translational Medicine Institute, discusses the multi-million-dollar deal with Complete Genomics to sequence the 1,500 genomes including 250 pre-term babies, the challenges of interpreting the data, and the future of what he calls 'next-gen medicine.'

    Sep 9, 2011

  • Eagle to Build Genetics Cloud

    Bio-IT World | Eagle Genomics has announced that it has found a way to slash the amount of time it takes to store genomic information using cloud computing technology. The hope is that storing sequencing data and analyses in the cloud will allow researchers quicker access, which in turn would enable faster diagnoses. 

    Sep 9, 2011

  • PerkinElmer to Acquire Caliper Life Sciences for $600 Million

    Bio-IT World | PerkinElmer has signed an agreement to acquire its Massachusetts neighbor, Caliper Life Sciences, for about $600 million. The acquisition is PerkinElmer's seventh this year, including CambridgeSoft and Geospiza.  

     

    Sep 8, 2011

  • How Amira Beat the Odds

    Xconomy | Amira Pharmaceuticals sold an early stage drug to Bristol-Myers for $325 million upfront cash plus milestone payments. So how did they do it?

    Sep 8, 2011

  • Quebec’s Genizon Biosciences Closes its Doors

    Bio-IT World | EXCLUSIVE -- Genizon Biosciences, the Montreal-based genomics company seeking the genes responsible for inherited disorders in the Quebec founder population, has ceased operations. The firm was put into receivership by the Superior Court of Quebec in July.

    Sep 7, 2011

  • GWAS Reveals Genetic Variance in Metabolism

    Bio-IT World | A study published last week in Nature establishes a strong association between biochemical levels and the genetics of an individual. Researchers looked at genetic variation in human metabolism and discovered 37 new variants associated with concentrations of metabolites in the blood. The Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) was carried out by researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen Institute in Munich, Germany, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, King’s College and Metabolon.

    Sep 5, 2011

  • Taking the Cloud from Amazon

    CNET | Taking market share from Amazon Web Services would be tough, but not impossible, and there are a few ways to do it. Competitors could compete head-to-head, change the rules of the game, or join an open cloud ecosystem. 

    Sep 5, 2011

  • Building Biohacker Tools for Garage Labs

    Wired | CoFactor is a new company that aims to enable "biohackers"--individuals with pop-up garage labs who want to do biology outside of traditional environments.

    Sep 1, 2011

  • How to Build Successful Biotech Startups

    Xconomy | MIT's Bob Langer has founded about 24 companies and has 800 patents issued or pending. Langer talks about turning foundation and government money into startup successes.

    Sep 1, 2011