Research institutes brace for the impact of the sequester, which is set to go into effect tomorrow.

Nature ponders the meaning of an ome, and presents an omics crossword puzzle.

Nature Publishing Group buys a majority investment in an open-access publisher.

More companies are offering prenatal DNA tests, Spoonful of Medicine says.

In Nature this week: RNA-binding protein CPEB1, draft bamboo genome, and more.

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Louse populations from around the world fall into different genetic clusters based on geography, researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History reported in PLOS One

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – MDxHealth today said that revenues in the fourth quarter increased 89 percent year over year, though its net loss widened.

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service of Upper Austria said today it has been accredited by the European Federation for Immunogenetics for the use of human leukocyte antigen tests based on next-generation sequencing on Roche's GS Junior system.

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Autoimmune diagnostics firm Ignyta today said that Silicon Valley Bank has provided it an additional $1 million capital term loan facility.

Arrowhead Research this week published preclinical data demonstrating that its lead hepatitis B drug candidate, dubbed ARC-520, could silence the hepatitis B virus in rodents for up to one month after a single dose.

As it continues a phase Ib/IIa study of its multiple myeloma therapy SNS01-T, Senesco Technologies is beginning to explore possible partnerships with bigger companies that could help take the drug into a bigger phase II trial alongside an existing therapy.

Roughly one year after securing €5 million ($6.5 million) in venture capital funding, Spanish oligonucleotide drug developer nLife Therapeutics has set its sights on initiating non-human primate testing of its core intranasal delivery technology, which it hopes will spur licensin

Monsanto this week announced that it has awarded an Iowa State University researcher a grant to develop an RNAi-based approach to control corn rootworm as part of a broader grant program supporting research into ways of controlling the agricultural pest.

British diagnostics service firmLab21 said this week that it has signed a deal to collaborate with diagnostics developer IntegraGen to develop a microRNA-based assay for colorectal cancer.

A team of researchers from the Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine has published details about a new vector-based shRNA expression system for RNAi that promises to be more cost effective than other approaches

Title: Methods for Quantification of microRNAs and Small Interfering RNAs Patent Number: 8,383,344 Filed: June 1, 2009 Lead Inventor: Nana Jacobsen, Exiqon

The University of Washington and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance announced earlier this month that they are offering a new cancer sequencing service, called UW-OncoPlex, that targets hotspot regions and exons of 194 genes.

Identification of circulating microRNAs as potential biomarkers for detecting acute myeloid leukemia. Zhi F, Cao X, Xie X, Wang B, et al. PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e56718.

Laboratory Corporation of America has launched GeneSeq: Cardio, a next-gen sequencing-based test for genetic causes of familial cardiac disease.

Ariosa Diagnostics has appointed Michael Aicher to its board of directors. He is currently the CEO of Omicia.

Fox Chase Cancer Center has contracted genomics interpretation company N-of-One to interpret and curate results from its new targeted sequencing-based test, CancerCode45, creating reports for ordering physicians that link genomic findings with potential targeted therapies.

The US Food and Drug Administration last week approved Roche/Genentech's latest HER2-targeting breast cancer drug, trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1).

Abbott's FISH Test to be Developed into CDx for Janssen, Pharmacyclics' Lymphoma Drug Ibrutinib

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Bio-Reference Laboratories today announced a definitive agreement to offer Natera's non-invasive prenatal diagnostic test.

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Synthetic Genomics today announced today the launch of its wholly owned subsidiary SGI-DNA, and with Integrated DNA Technologies announced a deal between SGI-DNA and IDT to expand an existing collaboration.