Tag: genomics
-
Asthma Drug Reveals Potential as Diabetes, Obesity Treatment
A drug long prescribed for asthma and canker sores has been shown in tests on mice to reverse obesity and diabetes. Researchers from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and labs in California and Australia, published their findings yesterday online in the journal Nature Medicine (paid subscription required). Alan Saltiel, director of Michigan’s Life Sciences…
-
Statistical Database Analysis Links Genes, High Cholesterol
Researchers at University of Massachusetts in Amherst and University of Pennsylvania developed a technique for analyzing public databases with open-source software to discover populations at genetic risk for disease at lower cost. The team led by UMass biostatistician Andrea Foulkes (pictured right) reported its findings yesterday in the online journal PLoS One. The technique called…
-
Plant Genes Altered to Add More Kernels On Ears of Corn
Plant scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York engineered a key gene in maize — called corn in North America — that encourages their version of stem cells to develop more kernels per ear. The findings of David Jackson and colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor appeared online yesterday in the journal Nature Genetics…
-
Modeling, Biotechnology Boost Antibiotic Impact on Pathogens
Biomedical engineers at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering combined computer modeling with biotechnology techniques to weaken resistance of E. coli cells to antibiotics. The team led by Jim Collins, with colleagues from Boston University, published its findings today online in the journal Nature Biotechnology, and filed a U.S. patent for the technology.…
-
Weill Cornell, N.Y. Hospital Open Precision Medicine Center
Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital are opening a medical research and clinical center in New York to deliver targeted, individualized treatments based on each patient’s genetic profile. The Institute for Precision Medicine, as the new center is called, will conduct genetic research to develop new therapies for testing in clinical trials, while…
-
Personal Genetic Information Vulnerabilty Exposed
Researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts were able to identify some 50 people who submitted samples as part of genetic studies with publicly accessible online resources. The team led by Yaniv Erlich of the Whitehead Institute, with colleagues from MIT, Harvard, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, International…
-
FDA Approves Flu Vaccine Based on Engineered Viruses
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new seasonal flu vaccine using a technology that engineers flu virus proteins, rather than the traditional methods of growing inactive viruses in eggs. Flublok, developed by Protein Sciences Corp. of Meriden, Connecticut was approved by the FDA for adults age 18 through 49. Flublok is based on…
-
Bioengineered Microbe to Convert, Recycle Biofuel Waste
Plant biologists at Texas A&M AgriLife Research in College Station are creating a bioengineered microbe to convert the waste from biofuel production into more biofuel. The project led by plant pathologist Joshua Yuan is funded by a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Yuan and colleagues at AgriLife are developing a genetically…
-
Synthetic Stool Found to Stop C. Difficile Infections
Bioscientists at University of Guelph and University of Western Ontario in Canada created synthetic fecal matter for transplants that in early human trials stopped C. difficile infections. The findings of the team led by Guelph’s Emma Allen-Vercoe (pictured right) appear online in the inaugural issue of the journal Microbiome. Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a…
-
Foundation Medicine Adds $13.5 Million to Series B Funds
Foundation Medicine, a genomic diagnostics company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, added $13.5 million to its current venture funding, bringing its series B round — the second financing cycle after start-up — to $56 million. The new investors include entrepreneurs and venture financiers Bill Gates, Evan Jones, and Yuri Milner. Foundation Medicine, founded by scientists at the…