In Cell this week: chromatin accessibility maps of adult human tissues, modeling to track SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, and more.

BGI's CoolMPS sequencing chemistry was found to infringe four of Illumina's patents but one Illumina patent was nullified.

A US Food and Drug Administration panel has voted to support the emergency use authorization of an antiviral pill for COVID-19 from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, CNN says.

New Scientist reports that UK bioethicists say that though gene editing may improve food production, it should not harm livestock welfare.

Caris said it has already provided materials to Illumina and should not have to indulge a "fishing expedition for irrelevant, highly sensitive details."

Moderna's Stéphane Bancel predicts that that current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines may be less effective against the Omicron variant, the Financial Times reports.

Startup Spesana's digital platform will integrate EMR, lab information, and MDx data to automate clinical workflows, tumor boards, and clinical trial management.

The firm has launched the two molecular diagnostic kits to detect and differentiate between the three respiratory infections in the same PCR run.

The companies aim to use multiomic and other types of data to identify blood-based biomarkers that can help in the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

The assay, which runs on the company's Idylla platform, distinguishes sepsis from noninfectious systemic inflammation.