• The Search for Schizophrenia Genes

    Slate | Larger and larger genetic studies are finding smaller and smaller effect sizes. What does this mean for drug development, clinical practice, and our view of mental illness?

    Feb 8, 2016

  • New Type of CRISPR Screen Probes the Regulatory Genome

    Bio-IT World | Scientists at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have invented a "multiplexed editing regulatory assay" (MERA) to test large swathes of the genome in parallel for regulatory elements that can turn gene activity on and off over the course of a cell's development.

    Feb 8, 2016

  • Debugging Science Experiments at Elemental Machines

    Xconomy | A Cambridge startup is trying to remove extraneous variables from experiments with a "smart lab" that can better control for simple factors like temperature and humidity.

    Feb 3, 2016

  • Mobile DNA Sequencing in the Ebola Epidemic

    Bio-IT World | The results of a months-long effort to sequence virus samples in the middle of the largest Ebola outbreak in history, using the handheld MinION DNA sequencer and a miniature mobile lab, have been published in Nature.

    Feb 3, 2016

  • Venter Expands Attempt to Fight Disease, Increase Lifespan

    San Diego Union-Tribune | J. Craig Venter's company Human Longevity, Inc. has purchased LifebankUSA, a biobank that preserves stem cells from cord blood and placental tissue, growing an enterprise that will soon begin sequencing infants' genomes as a service.

    Feb 1, 2016

  • UK Scientists Gain Licence to Edit Genes in Human Embryos

    Nature News | A team at Francis Crick Institute has been permitted to use CRISPR-Cas9 technology in embryos for early-development research, but the work is still many steps away from genome-edited human beings.

    Feb 1, 2016

  • January News and Product Briefs

    Bio-IT World | The latest products and announcements from around the industry, including a high-throughput protein conformation analyzer, and updates to the cloud-based genome analysis services of both DNAnexus and Seven Bridges.

    Jan 29, 2016

  • 'Remarkable Turning Point' as Medical Journals Require Clinical Trial Data Sharing

    STAT | Harlan Krumholz, of the Yale Open Data Access project, speaks about a new proposal by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

    Jan 28, 2016

  • Scientists Move Closer to Understanding Schizophrenia’s Cause

    New York Times | A massive genomic study provides researchers with a strong case for a biological mechanism involved in the disorder, and helps explain why it often begins at a relatively young age.

    Jan 27, 2016

  • Ferring Pharmaceuticals to Fund Research Center for Microbiome-Based Therapies

    Bio-IT World News Brief | Swiss drugs company Ferring Pharmaceuticals will fully fund the creation of a joint research center with the Karolinska Institutet of Sweden, to conduct human microbiome studies with an eye on new therapies.

    Jan 27, 2016

  • Illumina Buys Conexio for HLA Typing Business

    Bio-IT World News Brief | Illumina has purchased Conexio Genomics, an Australian company that was one of the first to develop products for using next-generation sequencing in matching tissue donors and recipients through HLA genotyping.

    Jan 26, 2016

  • The Forest in Your Mouth

    Phenomena | A study using many parallel probes has revealed the spatial organization of different bacterial species in dental plaque. The strategy could be used to explore microbial ecology in all sorts of environments.

    Jan 25, 2016

  • How the World's Governments Have Regulated Human Genome Editing

    Bio-IT World | Members of McGill University’s Centre of Genomics and Policy have published a global survey of restrictions on modifying the human genome, concluding that many regulations are vague and that bans or limitations often relax over time.

    Jan 25, 2016

  • Data Scientists = Research Parasites?

    Forbes | David Shaywitz weighs in on yesterday's editorial from NEJM calling data scientists "research parasites." He was glad, he says, for a major objection to finally be laid out. Now we can move past it.

    Jan 22, 2016

  • Why Data Scientist Is This Year's Hottest Job

    Computerworld | It's notable enough that close to half of the 25 "best jobs in America" named by recruiting site Glassdoor this week are tech-related, but even more striking is the fact that "data scientist" tops the list.

    Jan 21, 2016

  • Pharma Industry Calls on Governments to Fund New Antibiotics

    Phenomena | At the World Economic Forum in Davos, a group of almost 100 pharma companies and trade associations have released a bare bones outline of a plan to spur research into new antibiotics and encourage their responsible use.

    Jan 21, 2016

  • Can Big Genomic Data Reveal the Fundamental Units of the Brain?

    Bio-IT World | An ambitious new study from the Allen Institute for Brain Science illustrates how new methods for isolating and studying single cells, combined with massive RNA sequencing data, are changing the way neuroscientists think about the variety and organization of cells in the brain.

    Jan 20, 2016

  • The Muscular Dystrophy Patient and Olympic Medalist with the Same Genetic Disorder

    ProPublica | David Epstein tells the story of how a woman whose muscles disappeared discovered, through years of dogged research, that she shared a disease with a muscle-bound Olympic athlete.

    Jan 18, 2016

  • NIH Launches Centers for Common Disease Genomics

    Bio-IT World News Brief | With funding from the National Human Genome Research Institute, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, four new Centers for Common Disease Genomics could receive up to $260 million over four years.

    Jan 14, 2016

  • Intellia Therapeutics Forms New Division eXtellia for Joint Programs with Novartis

    Bio-IT World News Brief | Intellia Therapeutics, one of three major companies developing drugs based on CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, has announced that its ex vivo programs will now be pursued in a new division of the company called eXtellia Therapeutics.

    Jan 14, 2016