Some of Francis Crick's correspondence has resurfaced, adding a new dimension to the story of the discovery of DNA.

Are biologic drugs worth what's being spent to make them?

Researchers in Russia are adopting American-style tactics to commercialize their work.

Bloggers describe situations in which it might be best to heed a colleague's advice.

The new partners include the University of Liverpool, Newcastle University, the HMO Research Network, and Cerner.

Are we "running out of 'interesting' animal genomes to sequence?" It depends whom you ask.

The International Genomics Consortium and the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital will serve as Biospecimen Core Resources for The Cancer Genome Atlas.

In Nature this week: the genomic complexity of human height, integrated cancer research and targeted therapeutics, 'the lost correspondence of Francis Crick,' and more.

The illumigene C. difficile assay detects the presence of the toxin-producing region from the bacterium and provides highly accurate results in under an hour, according to Meridian.

Proteome Sciences had sued Sanofi-Aventis for breach of contract and statutory obligations in connection to a sales and transfer agreement which concerned a share and a limited partnership interest in Xzillion Proteomics.

Atlas will use the bioinformatics product with its DNA chip analysis offerings.

The emergence of new RNAi chemistries and technologies in recent years, and big pharma's growing interest in building up its own capabilities, suggest that Alnylam's status as the go-to partner in the field may be waning.

The grant issued to Asuragen will help the company identify miRNA biomarkers for colon cancer recurrence, while Mirna Therapeutics' grant will fund its efforts to develop prostate cancer drugs based on the small, non-coding RNAs.

Mirina also provided an example in which a big pharma executive initially dismissed a potential partnership with the company after mistaking it for Marina.

The patent fell under USPTO scrutiny as part of patent-infringement litigation the company initiated against now-defunct expressed RNAi shop Nucleonics, and certain claims within the intellectual property were rejected by the patent office

"If data from the [ongoing] clinical trial continue to be positive, the value of such a deal could increase as the trial progresses," Arrowhead President and CEO Christopher Anzalone said in a letter to company shareholders.

USPTO Publishes Four Patents, Eight Patent Applications Related to RNAi and microRNAs

Nicholas Bacopoulos

Keeping an eye on growing its global presence and test menu, Genomic Health does not plan to significantly grow its profits in future years, but will instead reinvest that money into research and development efforts.

According to a notice from SACGHS this week, the committee's charter, slated to expire Sept. 23, will not be renewed by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The board of the newly formed Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute will include Personalized Medicine Coalition's nominee Freda Lewis-Hall of Pfizer, and other supporters of individualized therapies.

Although OncoMethylome could not disclose the specific drug development program for which its DNA methylation-specific PCR biomarker will be used, GSK's pipeline offers some hints as to the specific immunotherapeutic involved.

Under the partnership, Eurofins will support Boehringer's DNA storage and analysis efforts to conduct PGx studies for drugs in its pipeline.

The SBIR grant will support A&G's “Novel Targeted Therapy for Breast Cancer" program, under which A&G plans to develop a therapeutic antibody against the cancer-associated protein GP88, which in clinical studies has been shown to identify more than 80 percent of breast cancer patients.

Diamond Healthcare will initially provide AssureRx Health's GeneSightRx psychiatric pharmacogenetic test in 10 of its behavioral health units, but plans to expand adoption of PGx testing within its 30-state network.