Tag: genomics
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NIH Stops HIV Vaccine Immunizations in Clinical Trial
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, will stop testing an HIV vaccine candidate, after interim results showed the vaccine stopped neither HIV infections nor the amount of HIV in the blood. The HVTN 505 study, a phase 2 clinical trial of safety and efficacy begun in…
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Lab-On-A-Chip Diagnoses Multiple Tropical Diseases
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore’s main science funding agency, and Singapore clinical chip manufacturer Veredus Laboratories unveiled a new automated lab-on-a-chip device that can diagnose 13 tropical diseases from a single blood sample. Veredus is a subsidiary of STMicroelectronics specializing in medical diagnostics. The partnership between A*Star and Veredus that developed…
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Faster, Automated Test Developed for Sepsis-Causing Fungus
A test for Candida, a fungal infection that can lead to sepsis, identified the pathogen in whole blood samples in a few hours, rather than the two to five days needed by current tests. Researchers from T2 Biosystems, a biotechnology company in Lexington, Massachusetts, with colleagues from Brown University and Harvard University medical schools published…
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FDA Designates Orphan Drug for Rare Pain Condition
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated as an orphan drug the compound XEN402 to treat erythromelalgia, a rare disease that causes a burning pain in the feet and hands. XEN402 is being developed Xenon Pharmaceuticals in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Erythromelalgia is a disorder that affects the skin of the feet or hands or…
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Oregon Health, Intel Partner on Genome Analysis Computing
Oregon Health and Science University in Portland and Intel Corporation are developing new computing technologies to increase the speed and precision of analyzing a patient’s genome, while reducing their time and cost. Financial aspects of the multi-year collaboration were not disclosed. The agreement calls for engineers and scientists from Oregon Health and Intel to develop…
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Researcher Studies, Commercializes Nanoscale Drug Delivery
A researcher at University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada developed a process of delivering drugs to targeted locations in the body with nanoscale polymer capsules, and has received a patent for that process. Afsaneh Lavasanifar, a professor in Alberta’s pharmacy school, also started a company in 2010 to take her process to market. Lavasanifar devised…
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Thermo Scientific Acquires Sequencing Technology Developer
Thermo Fisher Scientific, a maker of laboratory instruments and technologies in Waltham, Massachusetts acquired the genomic sequencing systems developer Life Technologies in Carlsbad, California for $13.6 billion in cash and debt assumption. In the deal, Thermo Fisher Scientific will pay $76.00 per share and assume Life Technologies’ net outstanding debt, valued at $2.2 billion. Life…
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Modern Methods Examined for Beer from Victorian Barley
Researchers at the John Innes Center, a plant science research institute in Norwich, U.K., are investigating the commercial potential of brewing beer from Chevallier, a classic variety of barley grown during Britain’s Victorian era in the second half of the 19th century. A grant of £250,000 ($US 384,000) from the U.K.’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences…
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Agriculture Biotech Secures $14.5M in Early-Stage Financing
AgBiome LLC, an agricultural biotechnology company in Durham, North Carolina, gained $14.5 million in series A venture funding, the first round of financing after initial start-up. Polaris Partners, a venture capital company in Boston specializing in health care and technology startups, led the round, joined by ARCH Venture Partners, Harris & Harris Group, Innotech Advisers,…
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Common Virus Fortifies Stem Cells, Improves Their Survival
Medical researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and others devised a method for improving the survival of stem cells in the body, making them more effective therapeutic agents. The team led by Graca Almeida-Porada of Wake Forest’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine published their findings last week in the online journal PLoS One.…