• Illumina Introduces Nextera DNA Flex

    Bio-IT World Brief | Illumina announced the availability of an innovative whole genome sequencing library prep product, Nextera DNA Flex, which eliminates the need for sample preparation for whole blood and saliva, and removes tedious steps in the library prep workflow, such as mechanical fragmentation of DNA, quantification, and normalization.

    Oct 6, 2017

  • Nature Adds Alert To Heavily Debated Paper About Gene Editing

    Retraction Watch | Nature has added an “editor’s note” to a high-profile paper detailing how a team of researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to correct a disease-causing mutation in viable human embryos, alerting readers to the fact that the article has been subject to criticism.

    Oct 5, 2017

  • Cloud-based Informatics Can Increase Agility, Reduce TCO, Improve Collaboration

    Bio-IT World Contributed Commentary | The move to collaborative research is one of the most fundamental changes occurring in life sciences discovery today. As biopharmaceutical companies engage more and more with each other, increased operational agility, reduced total cost of ownership, and improved global collaboration have become important keys to success.

    Oct 5, 2017

  • Synthego And Thermo Fisher To Manufacture, Distribute Synthetic Guide RNA Products For CRISPR

    Bio-IT World Brief | Synthego announces a new alignment with Thermo Fisher Scientific to manufacture and distribute world-class quality synthetic guide RNA products. Synthego’s synthetic guide RNA portfolio and synthetic guide RNA manufacturing capabilities will be utilized to produce synthetic guide RNAs under Thermo Fisher’s Invitrogen TrueGuide brand that will be marketed and sold across Thermo Fisher channels worldwide.

    Oct 5, 2017

  • Why Science Turned On Craig Venter For Championing Genetic Privacy

    Inverse | In early September, notorious geneticist and businessman J. Craig Venter published a controversial study claiming that faces and other personal details could be back-engineered from supposedly "private" genetic data. Before most people even got a chance to read his latest paper, the criticisms began rolling.

    Oct 4, 2017

  • HumanCode Gives Couples A DNA-based Glimpse Into Their Future Children

    Bio-IT World Brief | HumanCode announced the launch of BABYGlimpse, the first DNA-powered app for couples to discover and explore the genetic-related traits their children may inherit.

    Oct 4, 2017

  • Tools Of The 21st Century: HPC, Analytical Ultracentrifugation, And A New Detector

    Texas Advanced Computing Center | Researches made a discovery about how the West Nile virus uses cell proteins to facilitate its replication. The research was enabled by HPC, analytical ultracentrifugation, and a new detector.

    Oct 3, 2017

  • Bio-IT World Welcomes 2018 Best Practices Entries

    Bio-IT World | Bio-IT World is accepting entries to the 2018 Bio-IT World Best Practices competition. For the past fifteen years, the Bio-IT World Best Practices Awards have highlighted outstanding examples of innovations and partnerships serving as powerful forces for change in the life sciences.

    Oct 3, 2017

  • Chinese Scientists Fix Genetic Disorder In Cloned Human Embryos

    Nature News & Comment | A method for precisely editing genes in human embryos hints at a cure for a blood disease.

    Oct 2, 2017

  • Understand What I Mean, Not What I Say

    Bio-IT World Contributed Commentary | In the field of biobanking, where it is common for biobanks to evolve for different purposes, in disparate locations, and with isolated informatics systems, it’s no surprise that communication within and across biobanks, even within one institution, is challenging and fraught with miscommunications.

    Oct 2, 2017

  • Security Takes On Malicious DNA (Files)

    Security Now | Securing biomedical research can mean protecting systems from malicious code in the samples under investigation, University of Washington security researchers say.

    Sep 29, 2017

  • Standardized Interpretation Pipelines Will Be Essential For Genomic Medicine

    Bio-IT World Contributed Commentary | Next-generation sequencing continues to offer new hope for scientists and clinicians focused on everything from rare disease to cancer. Still, the clinical application of genomics could use some crucial improvements— perhaps none more urgent than standardized automated tools for genome interpretation.

    Sep 29, 2017

  • The Zika Virus Grew Deadlier With A Small Mutation Study Suggests

    The New York Times | A single variation in its DNA may have helped equip the virus to attack fetal cells, contributing to a surge of birth defects in Latin America.

    Sep 28, 2017

  • As Consumer DNA Testing Grows, Two States Resist

    MIT Technology Review | Maryland and New York still restrict who can order genetic tests and how companies can market them.

    Sep 28, 2017

  • Celgene’s Big Data IQ

    Bio-IT World | In recent years, Celgene has been doubling down on its information analytics capabilities, and in January it launched an internal big data platform to more cohesively manage data to drive decision-making from pre-clinical research through commercialization.

    Sep 28, 2017

  • The drug-makers guide to the galaxy

    Nature News & Comment | How machine learning and big data are helping chemists search the vast chemical universe for better medicines.

    Sep 26, 2017

  • Deep Genomics Raises $13 Million To Develop Genetic Medicines

    Bio-IT World Brief | Deep Genomics received a USD $13 million equity investment led by Khosla Ventures. They are accompanied by early stage investment firm True Ventures. In the next three years, Deep Genomics will use its platform to unlock new classes of anti-sense oligonucleotide therapies that were previously inaccessible, and advance them for clinical evaluation.

    Sep 25, 2017

  • Congenica, PerkinElmer, Illumina, And More: News From September 2017

    Bio-IT World | September featured exciting new, products, and partnerships from around the bio-IT community from innovating companies, organizations, and universities, including Congenica, PerkinElmer, Illumina, and more.

    Sep 25, 2017

  • Jackson Lab Files Federal Complaint, Accusing Chinese University Of Selling Its Mice

    Hartford Courant | The Jackson Laboratory is suing to stop Nanjing University, whom it accuses of selling offspring of the genomics center’s mice used for research.

    Sep 22, 2017

  • Even At $500K, Gene Therapy Could Be A Bargain For Some Diseases

    MIT Technology Review | A one-time gene therapy that costs half a million dollars sounds crazy until you add up what it costs to treat some diseases over a lifetime.

    Sep 21, 2017