Use of RIT-Seq to Decode Antitrypanosomal Drug Efficacy and Resistance
Alsford, Eckert et al., Nature
A team led by investigators at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine this week reports its use of all five current human African trypanosomiasis drugs in a genome-scale RNA interference target sequencing screen in Trypanosoma brucei, which it says revealed the "transporters, organelles, enzymes and metabolic pathways that function to facilitate antitrypanosomal drug action." Taking this RIT-seq profiling approach, the team identified "both known drug importers and the only known pro-drug activator, and [linked] more than fifty additional genes to drug action," it writes.
- GenomeWeb Daily News
UPDATE: Illumina Postpones Q4, FY 2011 Earnings Release; Roche Commences Offer - GenomeWeb Daily News
Illumina Creates Poison Pill in Response to Roche Bid - GenomeWeb Daily News
Cepheid's Q4 Revenues Jump 36 Percent on Strong Clinical Sales - GenomeWeb Daily News
Sequenom Sues Aria, Natera for Patent Infringement - GenomeWeb Daily News
Gift of $32.5M Launches Cell Observatory at Broad
- GenomeWeb Daily News
ZyGem, Saudi Diagnostics Reach OEM Deal - Genome Technology
The Proteomics of Cancer - In Sequence
Illumina Postpones Earnings Report as it Considers Roche's $5.7B Hostile Takeover Bid - GenomeWeb Daily News
UPDATE: Illumina Postpones Q4, FY 2011 Earnings Release; Roche Commences Offer - GenomeWeb Daily News
Cepheid's Q4 Revenues Jump 36 Percent on Strong Clinical Sales
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Video Spotlight
In this video, we speak with Todd Smith, CSO of PerkinElmer, and researchers from Stockholm University on accelerating the GROMACS molecular dynamics software suite with GPUs and CPUs.
January 13, 2012
We visited the NYU Protein Analysis Facility at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine in New York City and discussed the facility's gear and its development with director, Thomas Neubert.
January 01, 2012
This clip features Virginia Tech's Wu Feng on "green HPC" and GPU computing for life sciences on the HokieSpeed supercomputer. Also included, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center's Philip Blood on the Blacklight supercomputer and collaborations with the Broad Institute.
December 23, 2011
This video features Kevin Shinpaugh, director of IT and HPC at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, discussing uses for HPC at VBI, Ray Bair, chief computational scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, on the Mira supercomputer, and Cycle Computing's Jason Stowe discussing the finalists for Cycle Computing's CycleCloud BigScience Challenge contest. The winners for the contest will be announced next year.
December 14, 2011 -
Young Investigator Profile
Uttiya BasuAssistant Professor
Columbia UniversityAlterations & AdaptationsThe Basu research group is looking at how activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID) predominately targets V genes and switch sequences, the mechanisms by which physiological targets of AID are repaired in a mutagenic fashion in B cells, how AID is prevented from acting as a pleiotropic cellular mutagen, and the physiological role of AID in non-B cells.
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Blog
What it Takes to get to Exascale
Science magazine looks at what will it take to get to exascale computing
January 27, 2012This Week in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics
In the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics this week: an assay that eliminates pseudogenes, screening with denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography, and more.
January 27, 2012Ethicists say research ethics consultation services may supplement institutional review boards.
January 27, 2012 -
Papers of Note
Mutations in KLHL3 and CUL3 Cause Hypertension and Electrolyte Abnormalities
Boyden, Choi et al., Nature
Researchers at the Yale University School of Medicine and their international collaborators show that "mutations in kelch-like 3 and cullin 3 cause hypertension and electrolyte abnormalities." Using exome sequencing, the team identified KLHL3 and CUL3 mutations in pseudohypoaldosteronism type II patients from 41 unrelated families. -
People on the Move
Life Technologies VP of Research and Development Manohar Furtado has been appointed to serve as an advisor on the National Biodefense Science Board, a federal advisory committee for the Department of Health and Human Services. The board provides advice on bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. Furtado was appointed to serve a four-year term on the board. Kevin Jarrell, CEO of Modular Genetics, also will continue to serve on the board.
Knome announced that Martin Tolar will become the firm's CEO, replacing Jorge Conde, who will become chief strategy officer and continue to serve on the board of directors. Previously, Tolar served as CEO of Normoxys, where he helped advance the company's cancer therapeutics to clinical development. He has also served as chief scientific officer and chief business officer at CoMentis, and has held a variety of positions at Pfizer in its clinical development, strategic partnerships, and business development divisions.
BG Medicine has appointed Eric Bouvier to be its new CEO and a member of its board of directors. He will take over the post for Pieter Muntendam, who after six years as CEO will continue with the company as executive VP and chief medical officer.
Bouvier formerly was head of the immunoassay business and global human resources at BioMerieux and served as president and CEO of BioMerieux Inc. in the US.
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Science
Using genetic data on up to 70,000 women with breast cancer and roughly the same number of controls, an international team of researchers has identified three previously undetected variants influencing risk of the disease. Two of the loci were on chromosome 12: one near the TBX3 gene and another near a gene called PTHLH that has been implicated in breast cancer metastasis to bone. A third locus fell on chromosome 21 in the vicinity of the NRIP1 gene.Business
Life Technologies has signed an agreement with Chinese molecular diagnostics firm DaAn Gene to create Life Technoloiges DaAn Diagnostics, a joint venture to develop and commercialize molecular diagnostic assays. The JV will develop assays based on Life Tech's 3500Dx Capillary Electrophoresis instrument and the Big Dye Cycle Sequencing technologies targeting cancer, infectious diseases, and genetic diseases.Funding
Funding remains a concern for life science and genomics researchers, according to a recent survey conducted by Mizuho Securities in cooperation with GenomeWeb, but worries have eased somewhat for 2012 following a modest bump in federal support for the NIH. Survey respondents said they expect funding to be essentially flat for 2012, but the outlook for 2013 turned negative as funding is anticipated to slide .6 percent.Genome Technology Magazine
The National Center for Biotechnology Information's Teresa Przytycka and her team have developed a pathway-centric computational approach, which is based on eQTL analysis, graph theoretical techniques, and combinatorial algorithms, to identify causative genes for complex diseases. In a paper, her team applied the approach to glioblastoma multiforme, and they identified not only putative causal genes, but also potential nodes and pathways linking those genes.