The news wasn't a complete surprise given the general difficulties in measuring and interpreting blood-borne miRNA signatures, as well as the firm's own admission in September that "technical obstacles" had been stymieing its efforts to develop the screen.

"I've been absolutely blown away by the microRNA field and the way it's blossomed," University of Massachusetts Medical School researcher and Nobel laureate Craig Mello said. "There is just one story after another [showing that] microRNAs … are very critical to many aspects of either disease or development."

According to Arrowhead President and CEO Christopher Anzalone, the data are expected to bolster the company's efforts to either divest or find a partner for Calando — a longstanding corporate goal — but he said that specific details about the clinical results were not yet being disclosed.

Under the terms of the loan, the company sold $1 million in promissory notes and issued warrants to certain accredited investors to purchase an aggregate of about 1.1 million of its shares at $1.02 per share.

USPTO Publishes Five Patents, Twenty Patent Applications Related to RNAi

David Sidransky, Kenneth Berlin

Nature's publications this week feature malaria parasites, BreakSeq, metabolism-associated variants, and more.

Two studies are critical of the quality of data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration by medical device makers.

Algal biofuel is back, according to an article at Wired Science.

A Los Angles science center is being sued for canceling a screening of an anti-evolution documentary.

The Guardian's Ian Sample writes about the rise of biology through genetics.

GenomeWeb Daily News will publish one bulletin on Thursday, Dec. 31, and will not publish on Friday, Jan. 1, due to the New Year's holiday. We will resume publishing twice daily bulletins on Monday, Jan. 4.

An ever-increasing number of studies are looking at the role that genetics and epigenetics play in the predisposition for — and treatment of — alcohol abuse, nicotine dependence, and drug addiction.

It was the second letter in as many months from Nasdaq to Decode, which has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.

Decode's COO resigned this week, while Julie Gerberding has found a new job at Merck Vaccines, plus more.

A study of gene variants in non-cancerous tissues and blood drew the most readers this year, while Sequenom figured prominently in the top 10 list.

The findings help validate Therasis' bioinformatics and systems biology approach to reconstructing maps of regulatory networks in specific cancer cell types.

The collaboration focuses on protein biomarkers for Lou Gehrig's disease.

The Canadian firm, which already floats on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is gearing up for the launch of its LungExpress Dx product in the US.

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based computational drug-discovery firm said that it would use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.

The sole purpose of the exchange offering is to fulfill Bio-Rad's obligations with regard to the registration of private notes earlier this year.

This week's issue includes African ancestry admixture, plant protein families, and a eukaryotic microorganism meeting.

This week's issue includes African ancestry, genetic variants linked to long life, hepatitis C treatment response, and more.

Using DNA barcodes, two New York City students may have found a new cockroach species.

Japan's 2010 budget, including the science and technology funding, is announced.