Tag: genomics

  • Spin-Off to Provide Lower-Cost Molecular Imaging Technology

    13 October 2015. A new enterprise based on research at Harvard University is offering a technology that allows ordinary microscopes to display high resolution images of single molecules. The company, Ultivue Inc., is founded by and licensing technologies from the lab of Peng Yin at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Yin and colleagues…

  • Patent Awarded for Slower Digested Wheat

    12 October 2015. A type of wheat digested more slowly than regular wheat, and thus releases glucose more slowly into the blood stream, received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patent number 9,150,839, titled “Wheat with increased resistant starch levels ,” was awarded on 2 October to four inventors and assigned to…

  • Partnership to Study Biomarkers in Liquid Biopsies

    6 October 2015. DeNovo Sciences, a developer of liquid biopsies and analytics, is teaming with bioTheranostics, a cancer diagnostics company using molecular biomarkers, to test the feasibility of combining their technologies. Financial and intellectual property details of the collaboration were not disclosed. In testing for solid tumor cancers, such as lung or breast cancer, doctors…

  • NASA to Test Hand-Held DNA Sequencer in Space Station

    30 September 2015. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will take part in experiments testing the feasibility of a portable DNA sequencing device in space. The proof-of-concept test of the hand-held MinIon DNA sequencing device is a project of National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The MinIon, made by Oxford Nanopore Technologies in the U.K., is…

  • Full Genome Sequencing Offered for Under $1,000

    29 September 2015. A genetics analysis company in Boston is offering full genomic sequencing, priced at under $1,000, for people willing to share the results with biomedical researchers. Veritas Genetics, a spin-off enterprise from Harvard Medical School, is making the offer to participants in the Personal Genome Project. Genomic sequencing reveals the order of nucleic acids, the…

  • Special: The Next Health Care Disruption

    – Sponsored Content – This blog post is part of the ‘Think Further’ series sponsored by Fred Alger Management. For more “Think Further” content, please visit www.thinkfurtheralger.com.” The frustration of the physicians comes through, piercing the structured format of a scientific journal. In July 2015, 118 oncologists at leading medical centers and cancer research institutes…

  • Simpler Genome Editing Process Discovered

    25 September 2015. Researchers at the Broad Institute, a biomedical research center affiliated with Harvard University and MIT, revealed a simpler and potentially more accurate technique for editing mammalian genomes than used today. The team led by biomedical engineering professor Feng Zhang, a pioneer in genomic editing technologies at Broad Institute and MIT, published its…

  • Engineered Viruses Harnessed to Fight Bacteria

    24 September 2015. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed a new technique for fighting bacteria, by genetically engineering their natural predators, a type of virus. The team from the synthetic biology lab led by engineering professor Timothy Lu published its findings yesterday in the journal Cell Systems. Lu and colleagues are seeking a better…

  • Virus Particles Rebuilt to Boost Immunotherapies

    22 September 2015. Engineers at Stanford University redesigned a hepatitis virus from the inside out to make it a better vehicle to stimulate the immune system for treating disease. The team led by chemical and bioengineering professor James Swartz published its results yesterday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid subscription required). Swartz…

  • Regeneron to Develop Antibody Therapy for Ebola

    21 September 2015. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. received a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop an engineered antibody designed to treat Ebola infections. The initial $17 million contract from HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA covers initial development and testing work on the therapy, but the program…