Bioinformatics News and Research

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Bioinformatics is the application of information techniques for the storage, retrieval, and analysis of large quantities of biological data.

Cancer genomes in a common database and computation of disease drivers

The emerging field of "personalized" or "precision" medicine holds great promise in the fight against cancer. If scientists can identify the genetic changes that drive each patient's cancer cells, they can use that information to develop targeted treatments. But achieving this goal will require massive amounts of genomic and clinical data and a sophisticated infrastructure to manage and analyze the data.

2 May 2012

Preliminary data hint at how neem extracts may stop replication of HIV virus

Tall, with dark-green pointy leaves, the neem tree of India is known as the "village pharmacy." As a child growing up in metropolitan New Delhi, Sonia Arora recalls on visits to rural areas seeing villagers using neem bark to clean their teeth. Arora's childhood memories have developed into a scientific fascination with natural products and their power to cure illnesses.

23 Apr 2012

AADR acknowledges review that examines link between ASVD and periodontal disease

Today, the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) acknowledged the very comprehensive review of the literature undertaken by the American Heart Association (AHA) on the relationship between periodontal disease and heart disease.

21 Apr 2012

LifeMap Sciences, BioTime to acquire XenneX

BioTime, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary LifeMap Sciences today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire XenneX, Inc. through a merger of XenneX into LifeMap Sciences. The acquisition is expected to close within thirty days.

21 Apr 2012

SBU to advance research and clinical care at National Pediatric MS Center

Stony Brook University has received a $2.5 million gift from Robert and Lisa Lourie to advance research and clinical care at the National Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Center at Stony Brook Long Island Children's Hospital and to establish a new state-of-the-art imaging center at Stony Brook Medicine.

19 Apr 2012

New microfluidics-based microarray can accurately detect breast cancer

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime. The earlier cancer is detected, the better the chance of successful treatment and long-term survival. However, early cancer diagnosis is still challenging as testing by mammography remains cumbersome, costly, and in many cases, cancer can only be detected at an advanced stage.

6 Apr 2012

New technique could restore fertility of boys undergoing cancer treatment

Treatments for childhood cancers are increasingly successful with cure rates approaching 80%, but success often comes with a downside for the surviving men: the cancer treatments they received as boys can leave them sterile as adults. Now, a research team led by Ralph Brinster of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine has completed a 14-year experiment that gives hope for a technique that could restore their fertility.

29 Mar 2012

Strand Diagnostics to receive $30 million in funding from NantWorks

Strand Diagnostics, LLC, maker of the know error system, and NantWorks, LLC announced that they have entered into an agreement whereby Strand will receive up to $30 million in funding from NantWorks, LLC over the next 3 years.

29 Mar 2012

Simple genetic test could help predict aggressiveness of rhabdomyosarcoma tumours

A study led by Dr Janet Shipley from The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London in collaboration with Dr Mauro Delorenzi from the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics in Lausanne has shown that a simple genetic test could help predict the aggressiveness of rhabdomyosarcoma tumours in children

28 Mar 2012

Transforming biomedical research to develop TB vaccines

In the past decade, scientists have made significant progress building the critical knowledge and infrastructure needed to identify and develop novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidates and move the most promising ones into human clinical trials. The results of those trials, coupled with advances from other TB studies, have paved the way for the next 10 years of research on TB vaccines, a critical component of TB control efforts, note scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

21 Mar 2012

Circadian rhythms control production of metabolites

By analyzing the hundreds of metabolic products present in the liver, researchers with the UC Irvine Center for Epigenetics & Metabolism have discovered that circadian rhythms - our own body clock - greatly control the production of such key building blocks as amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids.

20 Mar 2012

New information on efficacy of CLA in treating Crohn's disease

The Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) research team at Virginia Tech has discovered important new information on the efficacy of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in treating Crohn's disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). CLA is a naturally occurring acid found in meat and dairy products known for its anti-cancer and immune modulatory properties.

20 Mar 2012

NCGR to host eighth annual NMBIST symposium on March 22-23, 2012

The National Center for Genome Resources (NCGR) announced today that it will host the eighth annual New Mexico Bioinformatics, Science and Technology (NMBIST) symposium on March 22-23, 2012.

7 Mar 2012

New, freely available Web-based program helps predict effect of mutations on mRNA splicing

In a brief paper in the journal Bioinformatics, Brown University researchers describe a new, freely available Web-based program called Spliceman for predicting whether genetic mutations are likely to disrupt the splicing of messenger RNA, potentially leading to disease.

6 Mar 2012

Arrowhead, Axolabs enter into RNAi therapeutics strategic agreement

Arrowhead Research Corporation, a nanomedicine company with development programs in RNAi therapeutics and obesity, and Axolabs GmbH, a custom research organization offering preclinical solutions and consultancy in the field of oligonucleotide therapeutics, today announced that they have entered into a Strategic Alliance and Master Services Agreement.

5 Mar 2012

Special computer algorithms can help doctors to make rapid diagnoses of known diseases

Just like urine and blood, breath contains traces of the products of metabolism. Such products can also be signs of infection, inflammation or cancer. For their analysis, computational bioinformatics researchers at the Cluster of Excellence "Multimodal Computing and Interaction" at Saarland University developed special computer algorithms that can help doctors to make diagnoses quickly and reliably.

5 Mar 2012

EMBL-EBI launches Enzyme Portal

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute has launched the Enzyme Portal, a freely available resource for people who are interested in the biology of enzymes and proteins with enzymatic activity.

28 Feb 2012

VTT participates in two new EU projects that focus on type 2 diabetes

VTT is participating in two new European projects focusing on type 2 diabetes. The projects aim at identifying new therapeutic choices and strategies for preventing the disease. Focus is on obtaining information on cellular dysfunction in diabetes and the effects of changes in lifestyle. The goal includes planning individual lifestyle instructions for people at high risk of diabetes and exploiting the results in a major European health insurance system.

22 Feb 2012

Researchers study specially bred mice to understand annual flu epidemics

As part of a national collaboration, Oregon Health & Science University researchers are studying specially bred mice that are more like humans than ever before when it comes to genetic variation. Through these mice, the researchers hope to better understand and treat an infectious disease that plagues us year in and year out: the flu.

22 Feb 2012

First accurate predictive model to differentiate between dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have developed the first accurate predictive model to differentiate between dengue fever (DF) and its more severe form, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).

17 Feb 2012