In Science this week: modENCODE Drosophila and C. elegans data, ectopic expression of germline genes and tumorigenesis, a loss-of-function mutation controls unilateral interspecific incompatibility in Solanaceae, and more.

GenomeWeb Daily News will publish only one bulletin today. We will resume our twice-daily bulletins on Monday, Jan. 3.

The deal strengthens Sigma-Aldrich's analytical chemistry product portfolio and brings to it more than 2,800 products that support the clinical diagnostics, environmental, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, forensic, and clinical toxicology markets.

An article about an acquisition topped the list of the most-read stories for the year on GenomeWeb Daily News, while restructurings, lawsuits, and one firm's IPO plans made it into the top 10.

In Brief This Week is a Friday column containing news items that our readers may have missed during the week.

Siloam Biosciences named a new VP of commercial operations, some members of Fluorotechnics' board stepped down, and Insilicos appointed Jeff Howbert to the position of senior scientist.

A blogger discusses whether it's best to join two labs jointly or form a collaboration between them in the case of an overlapping project.

GenomeWeb Daily News will publish only one bulletin on Friday, Dec. 31. We will resume our twice-daily bulletins on Monday, Jan. 3.

Through a meta-analysis of gene-centric genotype data on more than 100,000 individuals, an international research team has identified common and relatively rare genetic variants associated with human height.

JGI said its action follows the exponential increase of its sequence output in recent years. Just over the past year, the institute's sequencing output has leapt to 6 terabytes.

The five-year grant will go to expand NIOSH's National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank for Translational Research.

From "Jonathan Rothberg's desktop decoder" to "genome hackers," Forbes surveys the sequencing landscape at the advent of personal genomics.

Whether "patient-centered" or "genomic," the OSU Center for Personalized Healthcare director says personalized medicine must "consist of systems care" to be successful.

While the America Competes Act has passed Congress, it still needs to be funded.

In Nature this week: the Drosophila chromatin landscape, MYD88 and activated B-cell-like subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma survival, dual role for Prdm14 in murine ESCs, and more.

In addition to a challenging IPO market, experts said that private equity funding remains a challenge.

Transgenomic, which also raised $6 million in private funding to help pay for the acquisition, gains Clinical Data's Familion line of genetic tests for inherited heart diseases and biomarkers underlying the PGxPredict tests that predict drug response.

Due to budget cuts and fewer sources of private financing, science fairs get cast aside.

While some say that pursuing a PhD is foolhardy, others say that passion motivates researchers more than employment prospects.

A Harvard researcher seeks to map the mouse brain using connectomics.

Electronic medical records show mixed results in improving hospital quality.

The Institute for Genome Sciences expects to start using the new Pacific Biosciences platform by the spring, as well as carry out projects related to the Human Microbiome Project, explore how to build up its computational capabilities through existing clouds, and hire two new faculty members.

The Biomics Group now plans to correlate disease with genetic changes in Basque DNA resulting from migration and intermingling with non-Basque populations.

In Cell this week: the E. coli phenome, Mito-Seq for mtDNA mutation detection, TIM-3 as AML target, and more.

The suit centers on methods of testing for canine breed identification.