• CRISPR Screens: A New Frontier in Drug Discovery, Research

    Bio-IT World | In 2012, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier at the University of California, Berkeley, and Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard independently discovered that the CRISPR system could be used in human cells to target and edit DNA in a precise and programmable manner. This discovery revolutionized the field of genetic engineering and paved the way for the development of CRISPR screens.

    Nov 17, 2023

  • Owkin’s Generative AI Vision for Understanding Biology

    Bio-IT World | Generative AI in drug discovery is primarily a patient stratification play. Identifying which group of patients might best respond to a particular drug can still be foggy at best.

    Nov 15, 2023

  • Pharma’s Tech Partner Wish List

    Bio-IT World | What is pharma looking for in technology partners? That was the question posed to a panel representing Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, and AstraZeneca last month at the HLTH Conference. The answers revealed some of the trends these pharma companies expect to see in drug development and clinical trials, and the pain points they are actively addressing now.

    Nov 14, 2023

  • PacBio News: HiFi Consortium, Tertiary Partners, New RNA Kits

    Bio-IT World | Pacific Bioscience made several announcements this week at the American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. The sequencing company announced a new consortium focused on quantifying the value of HiFi sequencing, launched a family of RNA sequencing kits, and named two new tertiary analysis partners.

    Nov 9, 2023

  • Big Pharma, Moderna on An AI-Empowered Era of Drug Discovery

    Bio-IT World | In January, Heidi Rehm will take over the leadership of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, GA4GH, replacing out-going Chair Ewan Birney. Rehm sat down with Stan Gloss to talk about the mission of GA4GH and share areas of future focus for the latest episode of the Trends from the Trenches podcast.

    Nov 8, 2023

  • ‘Subway Map’ Approach To Finding Targeted Therapeutics For Lyme Disease

    Bio-IT World | Scientists in Boston are flipping the script on the current antibiotic development paradigm by painstakingly choosing a good metabolic target for combatting Lyme disease. The typical approach has been to test vast numbers of chemicals against the culprit bacteria rather than design a compound to specifically go after one of its essential biological activities.

    Nov 7, 2023

  • The Promising Future of AI in Synthetic Biology

    Bio-IT World | The synthetic biology landscape has evolved considerably to include new ways of accessing DNA for research and therapeutic development. An important advance is that DNA production is no longer limited to third-party suppliers.

    Nov 3, 2023

  • Dementia-Associated Protein Provides Clues About Preeclampsia

    Bio-IT World | Researchers at the University of Western Ontario and Brown University were surprised to discover an “almost identical mechanism” appearing in the blood and placenta of women with preeclampsia as has been previously found in the brains of older individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and vascular dementia.

    Nov 1, 2023

  • New Chair, Heidi Rehm, on the Future Focus of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health

    Bio-IT World | In January, Heidi Rehm will take over the leadership of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, GA4GH, replacing out-going Chair Ewan Birney. Rehm sat down with Stan Gloss to talk about the mission of GA4GH and share areas of future focus for the latest episode of the Trends from the Trenches podcast.

    Oct 31, 2023

  • Enkelejda Miho on Curiosity, Courage, and Advancing Research With Adisciplinary Approaches

    Bio-IT World | In the latest episode of The Chain podcast, host Ben Hackel, Professor of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science at the University of Minnesota, speaks with Enkelejda “Ledi” Miho, Professor of Digital Life Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, about the data challenges currently facing drug discovery, and how an adisciplinary approach would allow a more fruitful flow of ideas between indication silos, fueling discovery.

    Oct 27, 2023

  • NTT Corporation Joins Japan Precision Medicine Platform Project, FDA Gives Grant To Aspen Neuroscience, Cancer Research Horizons And Genialis Team Up

    Bio-IT World | NTT Corporation joins an agreement with BC Platforms AG, PRIME-R, and Bioxcellerator to develop the Japan Precision Medicine Platform (JPP), a secure information sharing platform for medical data designed to improve medical data analysis and medical research domestically across Japan; FDA grants Fast Track Designation for Aspen Neurosciencce Parkinson's disease treatment; Genialis announces a new data-sharing collaboration with Cancer Research Horizons to better predict responses to KRAS inhibitors, immunotherapies, and other emerging classes of therapeutics; and more.

    Oct 26, 2023

  • Follow the Money: Generative AI, bioMérieux Expands Oxford Nanopore Investment, Radiopharmaceuticals Development, More

    Bio-IT World | bioMérieux further invests in Oxford Nanopore’s in vitro diagnostics; Automata Technologies raises funds for lab automation; NVIDIA and others invest in Iambic Therapeutics (formerly Entos) for generative AI; and more.

    Oct 25, 2023

  • A Shift Toward Multiomics: How Genome Sequencing is Improving Human Health

    Bio-IT World| There has perhaps never been a more exciting time to work in genetics. Thanks to technological advances and information sharing through various industry and academic collaborations, we know more today about the human genome and how it influences human health than could have ever been previously imagined.

    Oct 20, 2023

  • Multi-Lab Preclinical Model Aims To Solve The Reproducibility Crisis

    Bio-IT World| A new preclinical system put to the test by a network of labs to adaptively study a handful of stroke treatments has succeeded in demonstrating that high-quality science is “feasible, practical, and less expensive than doing things the wrong way.”

    Oct 18, 2023

  • Illumina Ordered To Unwind Acquisition Of GRAIL

    Bio-IT World| The European Commission (EC), under the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR), released a statement last week announcing it has taken restorative measures that require Illumina to unwind its acquisition of GRAIL. The acquisition was completed before the EC provided approval, breaching EU merger control rules.

    Oct 16, 2023

  • Navigating the Data-Rich Landscape of Healthcare: The Utility of Data Exploration and Visualization

    Bio-IT World| In the ever-expanding universe of real world data, exploration and visualization strategies have become indispensable. This article presents 5 takeaways relevant to these strategies.

    Oct 13, 2023

  • Low-Bass Music Controls Insulin Release From Designer Cells

    Bio-IT World| Scientists in Switzerland have figured out how to remotely control genes in a way that could one day enable diabetics to produce and administer insulin directly in their body rather than relying on injections, inhalers, and pumps. Low-bass heavy popular music and movie soundtracks are being used to trigger insulin release from designer cells in implantable capsules when intentionally directed at the implant site.

    Oct 11, 2023

  • Proteomics Enables Vastly Improved Cardiovascular Disease Prediction

    Bio-IT World| The rise and fall of blood protein levels over time is an astonishingly good way to assess the risk of major atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) events such as myocardial infarction (heart attack), as well as an ideal biomarker of the progression of disease and its regression in response to treatment.

    Oct 10, 2023

  • Children’s Mercy Brings Long Read Sequencing to Clinical Care

    Bio-IT World Beginning today, the research team at Children’s Mercy Kansas City is bringing long read sequencing to clinical care, following three years of research and testing of PacBio HiFi sequencing. The transition is expected to speed the diagnostics odyssey for critically ill patients and their families.

    Oct 6, 2023

  • Synthace’s ‘Design of Experiments’ Approach Enables Multi-Factorial Wet Lab Experiments

    Bio-IT World| INNOVATIVE PRACTICES AWARDS—Cultured meat may not be the standard use case for a Bio-IT World Innovative Practices Award, but the entry from Higher Steaks and Synthace caught the judges’ attention less for its application as for the innovation in experimental design.

    Oct 4, 2023