NCICB Launches Open Development Initiative
The National Cancer Institute Center for Bioinformatics has opened up its software development process to allow outside developers to contribute code to its projects.
A website detailing the NCICB Open Development Initiative, which opens select NCICB projects to outside developers, went live last week at http://ncicb.nci.nih.gov.
Initial projects in the program include the Cancer Bioinformatics Infrastructure Objects (caBIO), Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR), caCORE Software Development Kit (SDK), Common Security Module (CSM), NCI Cancer Models Database (caMOD), and Enterprise Vocabulary Services (EVS).
ABI, Xennex Agree to Make TaqMan Assays Available via GeneCards Database
Applied Biosystems said last week that it will make its TaqMan genomic assays available through the GeneCards database of human genes, which is commercially available through Xennex.
Under the terms of agreement, ABI will provide customers of GeneCards, which was developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science, access to its collection of nearly three million TaqMan genomic assays.
The information in GeneCards is expected to be useful for researchers studying genes of interest in the context of functional genomics and genetic variation, including gene expression studies, SNP screening, association, candidate region, candidate gene, and fine-mapping studies.
QuantumBio Receives SBIR Grant for In Silico Screening Against Bioterrorism
QuantumBio has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant for $63,353 from the US Army Research Office to apply its in silico drug-discovery tools to the study of "next-generation tools to counter bioterrorism," the company said last week.
QuantumBio said that the project, entitled "In Silico Screening for Biothreat Countermeasures," will be conducted in collaboration with a number of undisclosed industry partners.
The partners will work together to further validate the use of QMScore, QuantumBio's proprietary scoring algorithm, for developing counter-bioterrorism tools.
BD Diagnostics, Sanofi-Aventis License Genomatix Pathways Package
BD Diagnostic Systems and Sanofi-Aventis have licensed Genomatix' GenomatixSuitePE informatics platform, the company said last week.
GenomatixSuitePE includes the BibliospherePE pathway database and analysis system, a database of mammalian promoter sequences, gene regulatory sequence analysis software, and the MatInspector transcription factor database and analysis package.
Financial terms of the agreement were not provided.
J&J Expands Hematology Biosimulation Project with Entelos
Entelos said last week that it has expanded a hematology research collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development that began a year and a half ago.
In the expanded program, Entelos will use its PhysioLab biosimulation technology to study the effect of anti-anemia therapy on patients with different types of anemia. Entelos said it will also use its platform to "explore the impact of patient variability, and provide guidance on optimization of anemia clinical trials."
Entelos and J&JPRD began co-developing developing the Hematopoiesis PhysioLab in January 2004 [BioInform 01-19-04].
Financial terms for the agreement were not provided.
Geisinger to Use Ardais Biospecimen Management System
Pennsylvania-based health care provider Geisinger Health System will use the Ardais System biospecimen-management system in its cancer research programs, Ardais said last week.
Geisinger will use the Ardais platform to collect, manage, and distribute clinically annotated biospecimens as part of a new research collaboration with the Windber Research Institute in which Geisinger will integrate its tissue-banking initiatives with Windber's molecular analytical capabilities.
The Ardais System will serve as the "backbone" of a clinically annotated biospecimen collection network for the collaboration, the company said.
Sienabiotech Licenses GeneGo's MetaCore
GeneGo said last week that Sienabiotech has licensed its MetaCore informatics platform for analyzing biological networks, pathways, and diseases.
Financial terms of the agreement were not provided.