In Advance of Sequencer Launch, Pac Bio Primes the Informatics Pump via Partner Program

February 19, 2010

Bioinformatics and IT firms that are initial members of the partner program include Amazon Web Services, BioTeam, CLC Bio, GenoLogics, GenomeQuest, and Geospiza.

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In this issue of BioInform

Young Investigator Profile

Alla Grishok

Columbia University Medical Center
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics

Investigating RNA Interference

The Grishok lab is interested in the mechanisms of RNAi-induced transcriptional silencing and its role in regulation of gene expression during development. So far, the lab has produced results suggest that Zinc Finger Protein 1 (ZFP-1) and endogenous siRNAs antisense to protein coding genes cooperate in repressing their targets. They have also used whole genome expression array analysis to discover that endogenous RNAi processes contribute to the regulation of downstream target genes of the insulin signaling pathway and also repress genes encoding translation initiation factors and ribosomal proteins.
Blog

New Walk-In Clinical Lab Opens in Florida

Lipid Labz is "striving to … promot[e] preventative health screening awareness and are proud to provide a valuable service for all people to do blood test without Insurance coverage."

September 07, 2010

New Clinical Lab Alliance in Denver Takes Aim at Quest

Washington state-based Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories and Denver-based Centura Health, Colorado’s largest integrated health system, have created a new for-profit clinical pathology lab based in Denver.

September 07, 2010

Vermillion's OVA1 Fumble May be a Lesson for Intrepid CLIA Labs

Shares of Vermillion have sunk 77 percent since the beginning of the year despite the launch of its OVA1 ovarian cancer assay and an OVA2 test in development. Does the stock presage a buy-out by part-owner Quest?

September 07, 2010

Promoting Research Integrity in the UK

Nature's The Great Beyond blog examines a recent Research Integrity Futures Working Group report.

September 07, 2010
Papers of Note

Genetic Basis for Cyanobacteria Sunscreen Biosynthesis
Balskus and Walsh, Science
Emily Balskus and Christopher Walsh at Harvard Medical School describe the "genetic and molecular basis for sunscreen biosynthesis in cyanobacteria." They show that a mycosporine-like amino acid biosynthetic gene cluster generates four enzymes in vitro. "In addition to clarifying the origin of the MAAs, these efforts have revealed two unprecedented enzymatic strategies for imine formation," Balskus and Walsh write.

Database of Predicted Protein Phosphorylation Sites
Schwartz and Church, Science Signaling
The University of Connecticut's Daniel Schwartz and George Church of Harvard describe "the viral post-translational modification database, which contains a comprehensive list of 329 accurately localized phosphorylation sites in proteins from 52 human viruses published between 1986 and the present." The team also used the scan-x tool to make thousands of phosphorylation predictions in more than 200 human viruses. Using scan-x, Schwartz and Church found "at least 4,000 as yet unidentified phosphorylation sites on hundreds of viral proteins," they write.
People on the Move

Emergent Biosolutions has appointed former National Cancer Institute Director John Niederhuber to serve on its board of directors.

Niederhuber was director at NCI from 2005 to 2010, and he recently joined Inova Health System as executive VP and CEO of the Inova Institute for Translational Research and Personalized Medicine. He also still works as an adjunct investigator at NCI’s Center for Cancer Research.

Judd Jessup has been named CEO of CombiMatrix, the firm said this week. Judd will take over the company's top position from interim CEO Mark McGowan, effective Aug. 23. Upon stepping down, McGowan will continue his duties as chairman of the firm's board of directors.

Jessup most recently was CEO of US Labs, a cancer diagnostic and genetic testing services lab. He also previously served as president of the Health Plans Division for FHP International, as well as the president of publicly traded HMO TakeCare.

The National Institutes of Health this week said that it has appointed James Anderson to be director of the NIH Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives.
Upcoming Events

Conferences, Meetings & Deadlines

4th CPTC Annual Meeting: Establishing the Standards in Clinical Proteomics
Sep. 8-9 / Bethesda, MD
NCI

Quantitative and Systems Pharmacology Workshop II
Sep. 9-10 / Bethesda, MD
NIGMS

Global Biomarker Conference
Sep. 10 / Vancouver, Canada
GBC

Personal Genomes
Sep. 10-12 / Cold Spring Harbor, NY
CSHL

50th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Meeting
Sep. 12-15 / Boston, MA
American Society for Microbiology

Abstract & Registration Deadlines

more

Science
An international research team used a combination of Sanger and Roche 454 GS FLX Titanium sequencing to sequence a draft of the domesticated apple genome — a feat that's expected to lead to a better understanding of the biology of apples and related plants as well as improved apple varieties.
Business
GenomeWeb Daily News talked with industry analysts about the recent IPO filings for Complete genomics and Pacific Biosciences. While the recent activity suggests that the IPO market may be opening up to the sequencing space, whether or not it will extend to the broader 'omics market is debatable.
Funding
The University of Michigan has reeled in a $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the genetic factors involved in Clostridium difficile infections in humans. The university is one of four Cooperative Research Centers nationwide that will form the NIH-sponsored Enterics Research Investigational Network.
Genome Technology Magazine
Many researchers are switching over to RNA-seq from microarrays for their transcriptomic studies. But RNA-seq is still a young technique and researchers are struggling to handle all the data it generates.

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In Advance of Sequencer Launch, Pac Bio Primes the Informatics Pump via Partner Program

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In this issue of BioInform

Young Investigator Profile

Blog

Papers of Note

People on the Move

Upcoming Events

Science

Business

Funding

Genome Technology Magazine

TechGuides Listings

Poll