Tag: genomics
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FDA Approves Viral Load Test for Organ Transplant Patients
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first DNA test to gauge anti-viral treatments with solid organ transplant patients in cytomegalovirus (CMV) antiviral therapy. The COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan CMV Test was is marketed by Roche Molecular Systems in Pleasanton, California. CMV is a common virus that can cause severe diseases such as pneumonia…
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Alzheimer’s Biomarker Project to Gain Whole Genome Data
The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a project for validating the use of biomarkers to diagnose the advance of Alzheimer’s disease, will obtain the complete genomic sequencing data of people with the disease. The Laboratory of Neuro Imaging at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) receives and stores the data for the project. ADNI…
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U.S.-India Partnership to Develop Long Shelf-Life Tomato
Arcadia Biosciences Inc. in Davis, California, and Bioseed Research India Pvt. Ltd. in Hyderabad unveiled plans to develop a tomato with more durability and longer shelf life. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Because of their perishable nature, many fresh fruits and vegetables — including tomatoes — are bred for durability and yield…
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Michigan Adds Six Embryonic Stem Cell Lines for Research
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has added six new human embryonic stem cell lines to the national registry maintained by National Institutes of Health (NIH). The action makes a total of eight lines from the university available for federally-funded research. The university says the stem cells came from couples receiving treatments at Michigan’s Center…
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Novartis, Foundation Medicine to Partner on Genome Analysis
The pharmaceutical company Novartis has agreed to use the genomic analysis services of Foundation Medicine in Cambridge, Massachusetts in Novartis’s clinical trials of cancer drugs. The agreement expands an 18-month pilot program between the two companies. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Foundation Medicine conducts a detailed genomic analysis of tumors to help…
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Biotech, Genome Companies Partner on Microbe Outbreaks
Life Technologies Corp. in Carlsbad, California and OpGen Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland have agreed to develop systems, technologies, and applications for the management and surveillance of microbial outbreaks in the public health and infectious disease markets. Life Technologies is a biotechnology company developing diagnostic systems, and OpGen provides genomic and DNA analysis systems and services.…
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Latent Tuberculosis Test Devised for Single Chip
Bioengineers at University California-Davis have developed a microfluidics chip, also known as lab-on-a-chip, to test for latent tuberculosis. The researchers, Davis biomedical engineering professor Alexander Revzin and research specialist Ying Liu, expect the test device, for which a patent has been filed, to be less expensive, reusable, and provide results in real time. Tuberculosis, or…
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Lundbeck, Foundation to Partner on Huntington’s Research
The U.S. subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Lundbeck A/S and the CHDI Foundation in Los Angeles will collaborate on research for a targeted therapy for Huntington’s Disease. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Huntington’s disease is an inherited disease that causes the progressive degeneration of nerve cells in the brain, affecting a person’s…
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Genetic Tests Not Triggering More Health Care Use
Researchers at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, National Institutes of Health, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and Abt Associates in Bethesda, Maryland found patients who receive genetic tests for susceptibility to disease were no more likely to use medical services after receiving the results than before the tests. The study results appear online today…
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Microbe Found to Survive Ionic Liquid for Biofuel Processing
Researchers from the U.S. Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) of the Department of Energy have isolated a tropical microbe that can endure high concentrations of ionic liquids, the solvents used to process cellulosic biomass into economical commercial biofuels. The team led by the institute’s Michael Thelen reported its findings this week online in the journal Proceedings…