Tag: genomics
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Study to Test Increasing Ethnic Genetic Disease Diversity
5 April 2016. The personal genetics company 23andMe is beginning a study to test techniques for increasing the diversity of disease-causing genetic variations, which now overwhelmingly favor Europeans. The study is funded by a $260,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from National Institutes of Health. The study aims to provide better tools for genetics researchers…
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Gene-Editing Therapy Advances for Rare Immune Disorder
1 April 2016. A key committee of the European Medicines Agency recommends approval of treatments for a rare children’s immune disease that uses edited genes as therapy. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, of the European Medicines Agency at its March 2016 meeting recommended approving Strimvelis by GlaxoSmithKline to treat adenosine-deaminase-deficient…
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Exome Profiles Tapped for Precise Cancer Therapies
30 March 2016. Informatics and genomics researchers at University of Colorado in Denver designed an automated system that matches genetic variations with FDA-approved cancer drugs. The team led by oncology and informatics professor Aik Choon Tan published its findings yesterday (29 March) in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association; paid subscription required. Tan and…
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23andMe Creates Research Software for iPhone Apps
21 March 2016. The personal genetics company 23andMe wrote a software module for Apple’s ResearchKit platform that makes it possible to add genetics data to iPhone apps used in medical research. The module, says 23andMe, in Mountain View, California, also supports genetics data from other sources, with three research apps now using the software to…
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Biomarker Profiles Shown to Improve Ovarian Cancer Survival
14 March 2016. A clinical trial of people with ovarian cancer shows patients receiving treatments matching their particular molecular profiles survived an average of 9 months longer than those receiving one or more drugs not matching their biomarkers. Results of the study, conducted by Caris Life Sciences at 6 cancer care hospitals in the U.S.…
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FDA Gives Initial Clearance for Engineered Mosquitoes
11 March 2016. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a preliminary report that self-limiting engineered mosquitoes will have no significant environmental impacts on the Florida Keys, where they plan to be tested. The report agrees with an environmental assessment by Oxitec Ltd., developer of the engineered mosquitoes, that the agency is releasing for public…
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Genetics Company Makes Available Cancer Sequencing Database
8 March 2016. A genetic testing company is making freely available a database of genomic sequencing data from patients with breast and ovarian cancer. The database, from 10,000 human genomes but with personal identity removed, is offered by Ambry Genetics in Aliso Viejo, California. Ambry Genetics is a 16 year-old company offering genetic tests for…
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Gene Editing Creates Pigs Resilient to African Virus
23 February 2016. University and industry researchers edited the genomes of domesticated pigs to create a variety better able to withstand a deadly tick-borne virus. The team from University of Edinburgh and the biotechnology companies Sangamo BioSciences and Genus plc published its findings in yesterday’s (22 February) issue of the journal Scientific Reports. The team…
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Antibody Treatment Designed for MERS Virus
18 February 2016. The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS virus, is spreading throughout the Middle East and Asia, largely through person-to-person contacts, and with a fatality rate of 36 percent. A research team at University of Maryland, with colleagues from industry and government labs, developed antibodies from genetically-engineered cattle that protect lab mice…
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Company Hosts Cancer Genome Cloud, Raises $45 Million
16 February 2016. Seven Bridges Genomics, a computational biology company, unveiled its cloud-based cancer genome data sets, in one of three pilot tests for National Cancer Institute. The Cambridge, Massachusetts enterprise also raised $45 million in its first venture funding round. National Cancer Institute, part of National Institutes of Health, aims to make the Cancer…