Tag: genomics
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Genetic Technique Reduces Time to Bioengineer Pine Trees
Agricultural scientists at University of Florida in Gainesville have discovered a genetic process that can create new pine tree varieties in half the time it takes current methods. The development that involves a major industry in the southeast U.S. is described in the online edition of the journal New Phytologist (paid subscription required). The research…
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Illumina, University of North Texas to Partner on Forensics
Illumina Inc. in San Diego and University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth will collaborate on several forensics projects using Illumina’s genetic sequencing technologies. The partnership will involve the university’s Center for Human Identification and its Department of Forensic and Investigative Genetics. The collaboration is expected to cover research, development, and implementation…
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Spanish Institute Spin-Off to Develop Cancer Diagnostics
A new company spun off from the Institute of Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain (IRB Barcelona), will develop a diagnostic kit and treatments for breast cancer metastasis. Supragen is founded and commercializes research by Roger Gomis (pictured right), group leader of IRB Barcelona’s Growth Control and Cancer Metastasis lab. The lab investigates growth factors,…
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Genomics Consortium Adds Two Members, Gains $49 Million
The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) says it added two new pharmaceutical companies as members and $48.9 million in new funding. The partnership of drug companies and science funding agencies conducts basic drug discovery research, with its findings released to the public domain. SGC added Eli Lilly Canada and Pfizer Inc. to its membership that also…
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Sanofi Division, Max Planck to Partner on Retinal Research
Max Planck Society in Germany and Fovea Pharmaceuticals in Paris have agreed to a research and licensing agreement on therapies for restoring vision to patients with diseases affecting the retina. Fovea is the ophthalmology division of the French drug company Sanofi-Aventis. Fovea’s team plans to work with the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt…
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Trial to Test Value of Genetic Tests for Heart Disease
The Stanford University Medical Center in California has begun a clinical trial to determine if giving patients genetic information about their risk of coronary artery disease will help motivate them to reduce that risk by changing their behavior. The study, just underway, is expected to be completed in December 2012. The trial will test the…
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New Method Can Increase Commercial Antibiotic Yields
Researchers from the U.K. and Japan have devised a new method for increasing the yields of antibiotic compounds from bacteria. The process, which has practical applications in commercial pharmaceutical production, is scheduled to be described this week in an online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Most known antibiotics are…
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Improved Diagnostic for Potato Pest Developed
Xiaohong Wang, a molecular biologist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), a division of the Department of Agriculture, in Ithaca, New York developed a new process for determining the type of potato cyst nematode infecting potato crops. Wang’s process is described in a paper that appeared earlier this year in the European Journal of Plant…
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Consortium Awarded Grant for Bioweapon Defense
A collaboration of universities, private company, and national lab have received a $2.4 million grant from National Institutes of Health to develop tools that detect and protect against biological weapon attacks. The grant, from NIH’s Partnerships for Biodefense Program, will fund work by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, University of Texas Medical Branch, University…
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NIH Approves Four More Embryonic Stem Cell Lines
BioTime Inc. in Alameda, California says it has received approval from National Institutes of Health (NIH) for adding four human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines to the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry. Two of the company’s hES cell lines are already listed in that registry. All of the lines were developed by Biotime’s subsidiary ES…