• Databases Down Under

    Bio-IT World | BRISBANE—At TRX10, Translational Research Excellence, held last month in Brisbane, amid a wide-ranging program covering everything from stem cell models to commercializing academic innovations, translational approaches to cancer and central nervous system disease to trial design, discussion turned to repositories for genetic and clinical data. Researchers encouraged one another to share raw data, analyses, and clinical findings to further research and enable advances in medicine.

    Nov 2, 2010

  • IPOs for the Next Generation

    Xconomy & Wall Street Journal Blog | Last week Pacific Biosciences raised $200 million through its IPO, a number in the middle of its expected range. The IPO was also good news for Complete Genomics, which released an amended IPO prospectus raising its self valuation to $12 to $14/share.

    Oct 31, 2010

  • Novartis Investing, Expanding in Cambridge

    Boston Herald | Novartis is planning to add 300 new jobs and invest $600 million over the next five years to expand its research campus adjacent to the former Necco candy factory in Cambridge, Mass.

    Oct 28, 2010

  • The IP Picture for iPS Cells

    Bio-IT World Expert Commentary | An exciting recent advance in medicine has been the generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells which are derived from somatic cells, rather than embryos, through a process of “de-differentiation.” But the advance raises important intellectual property and patent questions.

    Oct 27, 2010

  • Sequence, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll: How Ozzy Osbourne Took a Bite Out Of His Genome

    Bio-IT World | Following the revelation in The Sunday Times that rock music legend Ozzy Osbourne has had his genome sequenced, Bio-IT World talks to the people at Cofactor Genomics, LIfe Technologies, and Knome who deciphered the Prince of Darkness' DNA.

    Oct 27, 2010

  • 1000 Genomes Project Completes its First Map of Human Genetic Variation

    The Guardian | Researchers have unveiled results from the pilot phase of the 1000 Genome Project, which aims to sequence the genetic code of 2,500 people. It is the most complete inventory yet of the millions of variations between people's DNA.

    Oct 27, 2010

  • Former ImClone CEO Makes $100 Million Acquisition

    Reuters | Sam Waksal, former ImClone CEO, has announced that his drug company Kadmon Pharmaceuticals has bought Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals and its treatments for hepatitis C.

    Oct 25, 2010

  • Free Amazon Micro Instance

    PC World | Amazon is offering free access to EC2 starting on Nov 1. The offer includes one year of access to a "micro instance", 750 hours' use per month.

    Oct 25, 2010

  • Placing the Target User First in Clinical Trial Technology

    Bio-IT World | Expert Commentary | In the past decade, clinical trial technology has undergone a series of evolutions in its design, capability and deployment. From the early days of remote data capture to full-suite clinical trial management solutions, this evolution is redefining clinical research. Yet despite its dominance, clinical research technology has suffered from significant resistance at the study site level, which can be traced to a deficit in one basic element: user-centered design. 

    Oct 25, 2010

  • Chinese Chips

    Technology Review | Three new chips out of China might lead to a Chinese supercomputer that can compete on the international scale. The three newest members of the Godson processor family are a one-gigahertz, eight-core Godson 3B; the most powerful 16-core Godson 3C; and the one-gigahertz Godson 2H.

    Oct 21, 2010

  • 2011 Bio-IT World Best Practices Open

    Bio-IT World | The 2011 Bio-IT World Best Practices competition has released its call for entries. Since 2003, Bio-IT World's Best Practices competition has been recognizing outstanding examples of technology and strategic innovation initiatives across the drug discovery enterprise. The deadline for entry is January 14, 2011, and the early bird deadline is December 19, 2010.

    Oct 18, 2010

  • Watching Proteins Fold with Anton

    Nature News | Anton, a specially-designed supercomputer, has simulated changes in a protein's structure over a millisecond, a time-scale more than a hundred-fold greater than previous records.

    Oct 18, 2010

  • Lilly to Close Singapore Discovery Center

    Bio-IT World | Eli Lilly will be closing the Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery by the end of the year, according to an email sent out this morning by Jonathon Sedgwick, Managing Director & Chief Scientific Officer, Lilly Singapore Centre for Drug Discovery (LSCDD).

    Oct 15, 2010

  • Biotech Goes Black

    San Diego Union-Tribune | Biotech companies as a group were profitable in 2009 for the first time ever, and the industry is continuing to move into the black.

    Oct 13, 2010

  • What Genomics Can Do

    Wall Street Journal | "DNA is everywhere but your physician's clinic," asserts Matt Ridley for the Wall Street Journal.

    Oct 12, 2010

  • A Thousand Genomes for the Personal Genome Project

    Personalgenomes.org | The Personal Genome Project (PGP) will enroll the next 1,000 participants this week (PGP-1K), and from there, begin enrollment of a 10,000 participant cohort (PGP-10K). 

    Oct 12, 2010

  • Synthetic Genomics Makes Complete Genome from Scratch

    Technology Review | Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute have used a rapid DNA-synthesis technique to synthesize a complete mitochondrial genome from scratch. Venter's Synthetic Genomics is partnering with Novartis to use the method to make vaccines rapidly.

    Oct 12, 2010

  • The 'DNA Dozen' Unzips Their Genomes in Public

    The Australian | The founders of Genomes Unzipped -- the so-called "DNA Dozen' -- are releasing comprehensive personal genotyping data to the public as a challenge the common view that such information is so private and sensitive that it should not be widely shared.

    Oct 11, 2010

  • GSK Announces Singapore Academic Collaborations

    Bio-IT World | SINGAPORE--GlaxoSmithKline announced the first four academic partnerships yesterday under the GlaxoSmithKline-Singapore Academic Centre of Excellence (ACE) announced in January. Awards went to researchers at the A*STAR-Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences; Duke-NUS Graduate Medication School; National University of Singapore, School of Medicine; and the Singapore Eye Research Institute, and the National University Hospital.

    Oct 7, 2010

  • IBM's Royyuru on Nanopore Sequencing

    Wired | IBM Research is partnering with 454 Life Sciences on a DNA Transistor, a solid-state device to sequence DNA while reducing cost and improving throughput. One promising method threads DNA through a nanopore.

    Oct 7, 2010