Tag: genomics
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Trial Testing Precision Medicine as Skin Cancer Therapy
18 June 2015. A clinical trial is recruiting participants to test targeted molecular therapies as treatments for advanced cases of skin cancer. The study plans to enroll 96 individuals with melanoma, an advanced and dangerous form of skin cancer, found spreading to other organs in the body and cannot be treated with surgery. Melanoma results…
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Grant Funds Exosome Cancer Research, Optioned to Spin-Off
9 June 2015. A new $1.7 million grant from National Cancer Institute is funding research at University of New Mexico on harnessing exosomes as potential cancer therapies, with a spin-off company already optioning the technology for commercial development. The alliance between the university and spin-off company, Exovita Biosciences, includes an agreement between the university and…
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Companies Form Fertility Treatment Technologies Alliance
8 June 2015. An alliance of drug, genomic, and assisted fertility technology companies are collaborating on processes and standards that encourage more consistency in results from assisted reproductive treatment labs. Financial details of the Global Fertility Alliance joining Illumina, Merck, and Genea were not disclosed. The three companies aim to improve outcomes in fertility clinics…
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Gene Editing Modifies Tree Genomes to Reduce Lignin
5 June 2015. Plant scientists at University of Georgia used an emerging technique for gene editing to modify the genomes of poplars and related trees to make those varieties better suited for biofuels. The team from the lab of plant biologist Chung-Jui Tsai in Athens published its findings in a recent letter to the journal…
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Trial to Test Cancer Drugs Matched to Gene Mutations
2 June 2015. A new clinical trial will test 20 cancer drugs and drug combinations targeted to specific genetic mutations, regardless of cancer type. The study, known as NCI-Match is a joint project of National Cancer Institute, an agency of National Institutes of Health, and the Ecog-Acrin Cancer Research Group, and announced yesterday at the…
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Health Data, Analytics Firms to Boost Cancer Trial Access
29 May 2015. A health data company and genetic analytics firm are beginning a service that they say will make it easier for cancer patients to take part in clinical trials of new drugs. Financial details of the collaboration between Guardian Research Network in Spartanburg, South Carolina and Molecular Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts were not…
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Synthetic Spider Silk Developed with Customized Properties
28 May 2015. Materials scientists and engineers developed and produced samples of synthetic spider silk, with a process that can adjust the silk’s properties to meet special demands of users. The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, led by MIT engineering professor Markus Buehler, published its findings earlier this month in the…
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Genome Interpretation Database, Quality Effort Underway
28 May 2015. A program to improve diagnostics and research based on genomic variations is underway that collects genetic data and implements standards for their interpretation. A description of the Clinical Genome Resource or ClinGen program appears in yesterday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. ClinGen is a collaborative effort of public, academic,…
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Patent Awarded for Plant Gene Sequence Engineering
27 May 2015. A patent for a genetic sequence derived from soybeans, but applicable through engineering to a range of plants, was granted to Ceres Inc., an agricultural biotechnology company in Thousand Oaks, California. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted patent number 9,024,004, Sequence-determined DNA fragments encoding acetohydroxyacid synthase proteins, on 5 May 2015 to…
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Study IDs Advanced Prostate Cancer Genome Mutations
22 May 2015. An analysis of biopsy samples from men with prostate cancer that spread to other parts of their bodies identifies genomic anomalies found in nearly 90 percent in men with the condition, for which treatments may be available. Findings from the team at eight institutions in the U.S. and U.K. appear today in…