News

Viewing posts from the News category

13 Jun 2017

Predictive Gene Expressions

By Jay Goth

Qiagen has reported that the company and Bristol-Myers Squibb will explore the use of NGS to develop gene expression profiles as predictive or prognostic tools for use with several BMS immuno-oncology therapies. The companies also plan to enter into a further agreement to develop diagnostic products using the jointly developed profiles to expand the use of NGS technology with other BMS immuno-oncology therapies.

“Greater precision in the treatment of cancer may enable faster decision making to identify which patient populations are most likely to derive benefit from our immuno-oncology agents.”

–Fouad Namouni, Bristol-Myers Squibb

This development is an example of the trend towards companion diagnostics, in which the use of predictive biomarkers identify individually-based therapies.
Read the announcement here.

genomeweb logo

Get more genomic news at GenomeWeb

12 Jun 2017

Precision Medicine’s All of Us Kicks Off

By Jay Goth

All of Us, the Precision Medicine Initiative that aims to revolutionize the path to improving health, has launched its beta phase.
The All of Us Research Program is a historic effort to gather data from one million or more people living in the United States to accelerate research and improve health. By taking into account individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and biology, researchers will uncover paths toward delivering precision medicine.
The program intends to get at least 1 million volunteers to sign up to contribute information on their genetic makeup, environmental factors, lifestyle choices, medical histories, and personal device and sensor data.

“By providing information about their health, lifestyles, and environments over the course of many decades, these volunteers will be important partners in helping create an unprecedented research resource to drive future discoveries.”

–Program Director Eric Dishman
The full announcement of the beta is available here.

09 Jun 2017

Finding Brain Cancer 5 Years Early

By Jay Goth
the ohio state university logo

New research from academia


Interactions among proteins that relay information from one immune cell to another are weakened in the blood of brain cancer patients within five years before the cancer is diagnosed, said lead researcher Judith Schwartzbaum of The Ohio State University.

“this research could pave the way for techniques to identify brain cancer earlier and allow for more-effective treatment”

Read the entire article from The Ohio State University here.

09 Jun 2017

From Point of Care to Point of Clinic

By Jay Goth

Within developed world healthcare systems, there is a growing awareness that the turnaround time of the central laboratory cannot always provide the speed to enable effective and economic decision making.

See full article


Point-of-clinic diagnostic services bring analytical testing from the laboratory to the clinic with the aim of providing prompt, high-quality results.
This is an exciting area of technology that has the potential to impact the lives of many patients and play a significant role in supporting sustainable healthcare systems. Stratified medicine and more individualized approaches to care will become a focus moving forward, and diagnostics will aid the selection of the most effective medicines.

“This facilitates early diagnosis and treatment of health conditions…”

Check the full article at Qmed here.

30 May 2017

New Sensor for Early Cancer Detection

By Jay Goth

A new plasmonic sensor developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will serve as a reliable early detection of biomarkers for many forms of cancer and eventually other diseases.

Research from University of Illinois

“…instead of needing a vile of blood for a test, a simple finger prick will do.”

For now, detection methods for cancer biomarkers are being implemented in high-risk patients, especially cancer patients in remission. They take time, specialized equipment, and are labor-intensive.
In the future, however, because of the portability and inexpensive nature of this method, it can be more easily administered to any patient at routine check-ups. This would allow those with an elevated concentration of CEA to be treated even before cancer cells spread in the body.
Read the full article at the University of Illinois Engineering site.

17 May 2017

Spit Here for Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

By Jay Goth

Your spit may hold a clue to future brain health. Investigators at the Beaumont Research Institute, part of Beaumont Health in Michigan, are hopeful that their study involving small molecules in saliva will help identify those at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease – a neurologic condition predicted to reach epidemic proportions worldwide by 2050.

New Test for Alzheimer’s?


Researcher Stewart Graham, Ph.D. said, “We used metabolomics, a newer technique to study molecules involved in metabolism. Our goal was to find unique patterns of molecules in the saliva of our study participants that could be used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in the earliest stages, when treatment is considered most effective. Presently, therapies for Alzheimer’s are initiated only after a patient is diagnosed and treatments offer modest benefits.”

“Worldwide, the development of valid and reliable biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease is considered the No. 1 priority for most national dementia strategies. It’s a necessary first step to design prevention and early-intervention research studies.”

–Dr. Stewart Graham
Read the entire article from Beaumont Health here.

27 Mar 2017

Researchers Link Noncoding Genetic Variants to Neurodevelopmental Disorders

By Jay Goth

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics studying the DNA of children with severe language problems say they have identified genetic variants in the 3′ untranslated region genome (3’UTRome), which is part of the noncoding part of the genome.

“Our study shows that the identification and testing of noncoding variants will foster our understanding of the genetic causes of neurodevelopmental disorders, which is crucial in the long-term for the design of new and effective therapeutics.”

— Sonja Vernes, Ph.D.
Get the full story at Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News

New Article in GEN

23 Mar 2017

Atomic Force Microscopy – Say What??

By Jay Goth

Knowledge of protein folding is important because proteins must assume the correct three-dimensional structure to function properly. Misfolding may inactivate a protein or make it toxic. A new approach has allowed JILA scientists to capture the protein’s folding steps at microsecond resolution.

By showing how the folding of membrane proteins can be studied in more detail, JILA scientists have shown how researchers may better understand previously obscure biophysical processes related to diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer.

Get the full story at Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

New Article in GEN

“The increased complexity was stunning. Better instruments revealed all sorts of hidden dynamics that were obscured over the last 17 years when using conventional technology.”

— Tom Perkins, Ph.D., the leader of the team at JILA

17 Mar 2017

New Report on Personalized Medicine Released

By Jay Goth

For more than two millennia, medicine has maintained its aspiration of being personalized. In ancient times, Hippocrates combined an assessment of the four humors — blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile — to determine the best course of treatment for each patient. Today, the sequence of the four chemical building blocks that comprise DNA, coupled with telltale proteins in the blood, enable more accurate medical predictions.

A new report from the Personalized Medicine Coalition describes the current state of personalized medicine and the opportunities in the future.

Get the full report here.

“The power in tailored therapeutics is for us to say more clearly to payers, providers, and patients: ‘this drug is not for everyone, but it is for you.’ That is exceedingly powerful.”

–John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D. former Chairman, President, and CEO, Eli Lilly and Company

08 Mar 2017

Genes in Fat Cells May Contribute to Dangerous Diseases

By Jay Goth

A sweeping international effort is connecting the dots between genes in our fat cells and our risk for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The researchers have identified approximately 90 genes found in fat that could play important roles in such diseases – and could be targeted to develop new treatments or cures.

“Genetic factors do not work in isolation – they work in a holistic way, so I think that these kind of studies that we are publishing are key to understanding what’s happening in human populations.”

— Mete Civelek of the University of Virginia School of Medicine
Read the entire article at Science Blog

Recent Comments
    More Posts