A Mechanism for mRNA 5'-end Capping
Jiao, Xiang et al., Nature
Researchers outline "a quality-control mechanism for mRNA 5'-end capping." Rutgers University's Xinfu Jiao and colleagues show that "Rai1 possesses a novel de-capping endonuclease activity that can also remove the entire cap structure dinucleotide from an mRNA," both in vitro and in yeast cells. This Rai1 activity, the authors write, "is targeted preferentially towards mRNAs with unmethylated caps in contrast to the canonical de-capping enzyme, Dcp2, which targets mRNAs with a methylated cap." In this way, capped but unmethylated mRNAs from "yeast cell with a defect in the methyltransferase gene are more stable in a rai1-gene-disrupted background," Jiao et al. write.
CLC Bio Expands Operations in Response to Increased Data Analysis Demands in the Americas
The company has opened two offices in the US and plans to hire additional staff to deal with the increasing demand for its tools from customers in the Americas.
NIH bioinformatics grants awarded July 27 — Aug. 25, 2010 (part two of two)
CloudScientific to Distribute Golden Helix's Genetic-Analysis Software in China
Golden Helix's SNP and Variation software suite contains modules for copy-number analysis, whole-genome analysis, and regression, among others, which together enable researchers to manage and analyze genetic data.
Genomic Health Scales up Bioinformatics as it Adopts Next-Gen Sequencing for Biomarker Discovery
The company is considering several open source and commercial software tools for next-generation sequence analysis and will also develop bespoke tools for areas such as transcriptomics and splice discovery.
Stanford Team Finds Cloud Computing To Be an Affordable Option for Translational Bioinformatics
The study factored in the capital costs of in-house hardware, software, and personnel as part of the comparison with the cloud-based system, but the researchers determined that additional expenses associated with local clusters make them too costly over time for most clinical researchers.
UConn Team Developing Database to Track Lineage of Stem Cells via Gene Expression Markers
The database is designed to make use of minimal sets of gene expression profiles to trace the differentiation of stem cell lines into tissue-specific cells such as bone, skin, muscle, or nerve cells.
Strand to Develop Computational Tools for Head and Neck Cancer Translational Research
A company spokesperson said the tools will be used to study the molecular mechanisms of head and neck cancer with an eye toward understanding its progression, developing diagnostic and prognostic kits, and eventually providing affordable treatments for the disease.
IDBS Acquires Quantrix to Include Modeling and Analytics Tools in its Life Science Offerings
The company expects the transaction to accelerate its efforts to introduce modeling and analytics software and services for its pharmaceutical and healthcare informatics customers.
Catholic Health Initiative Selects BioFortis’ Labmatrix for Personalized Medicine Research
The software will be used to develop workflow-driven protocols to support specimen biobanking, biomarker discovery, and translational research.
CambridgeSoft to Market KNIME Open Source Workflow Platform
CambridgeSoft said that it will sell, support and service the KNIME open source data integration and analysis platform and that it plans to make other products in its cache more compatible with the tool.
NIH bioinformatics grants awarded July 27 — Aug. 25, 2010 (part one of two)
ENCODE Integrated Regulation super-track, GenomeQuest's Whole Genome Analysis Services, GastroPlus 7.0, Blast 2.2.24, Symyx Notebook 6.5, Gemini II, Data Analysis and Report Tool