Biomarker News and Research

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A biomarker is a biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease. A biomarker may be used to see how well the body responds to a treatment for a disease or condition. Also called molecular marker and signature molecule.

Verastem second quarter net loss increases to $6.8 million

Verastem, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat breast and other cancers by targeting cancer stem cells, today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, and also commented on certain corporate accomplishments and plans.

13 Aug 2012

Resistant starch can help improve insulin sensitivity

Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global provider of ingredient solutions, today announced the results of a new independent clinical trial published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

10 Aug 2012

Allergies appear to lower brain tumor risk

Testing positive for immunoglobulin E, a biomarker of allergy, reduces a person’s risk for developing glioma, show study findings.

10 Aug 2012

The ALS Association announces new grants to support research on Lou Gehrig's Disease

The ALS Association announced today its latest research awards that include funding commitments of $4 million to researchers in 31 laboratories in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Canada. These awards are part of its Translational Research Advancing Therapies for ALS (TREAT ALS™) program, through which The Association funds a diverse portfolio of research to find treatments and a cure for Lou Gehrig's Disease.

9 Aug 2012

Study signals biomarker hope for monitoring COPD

The biomarkers desmosines and C-reactive protein could be used to assess disease severity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, show the results of a Swedish study.

7 Aug 2012

Applied BioCode receives U.S. patent for ‘Light Transmitted Assay Beads’

Applied BioCode, Inc. today announced that the United Stated Patent and Trademark Office has granted US Patent #8,232,092 "Light Transmitted Assay Beads," describing the method of decoding barcodes and analyzing bioassays using Barcoded Magnetic Beads (BMB) multiplex products.

7 Aug 2012

Changes in monocytes are biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) are the first to discover that changes in monocytes (a type of white blood cell) are a biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. This finding also brings the medical community a step closer toward a new treatment for the debilitating neurological disease that affects approximately 30,000 Americans.

7 Aug 2012

Topline results from Janssen bapineuzumab Phase 3 trial on mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the co-primary clinical endpoints, change in cognitive and functional performance compared to placebo, were not met in the Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy R&D LLC (Janssen AI)-led Phase 3 trial of intravenous (IV) bapineuzumab in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease who do not carry the ApoE4 (apolipoprotein E epsilon 4) genotype (Study 301).

7 Aug 2012

AD hits hardest among people in their 60s and 70s

The greatest risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is advancing age. By age 85, the likelihood of developing the dreaded neurological disorder is roughly 50 percent. But researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say AD hits hardest among the "younger elderly" - people in their 60s and 70s - who show faster rates of brain tissue loss and cognitive decline than AD patients 80 years and older.

3 Aug 2012

Mechanism provides beneficial characteristics of energy-burning brown fat to white fat

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have identified a mechanism that can give energy-storing white fat some of the beneficial characteristics of energy-burning brown fat. The findings, based on studies of mice and of human fat tissue, could lead to new strategies for treating obesity and type 2 diabetes.

3 Aug 2012

Potential PD biomarkers identified for sleep behavior disorder

Concomitant olfaction abnormality and increased substantia nigra echogenicity may be preclinical manifestations of parkinsonism in patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, research suggests.

3 Aug 2012

Affymetrix announces availability of SensationPlus FFPE Amplification and 3' IVT Labeling Kit

Affymetrix, Inc. announced today the availability of SensationPlus FFPE Amplification and 3' IVT Labeling Kit (SensationPlus FFPE Reagent Kit), consisting of RNA amplification and labeling modules, to enable gene expression profiling of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples on GeneChip 3' IVT arrays and Almac XcelTM Array for disease clinical research and retrospective studies.

3 Aug 2012

Breast cancer drug bevacizumab (Avastin): an interview with Dr Anna Dorothea Wagner

Breast cancer is the most important cancer for women in the developed world. About 20% of all patients diagnosed with breast cancer die of metastatic disease.

1 Aug 2012

Researchers discover new approach to treat two lethal metastatic cancers

A potentially powerful new approach to treating two lethal metastatic cancers - triple negative breast cancer and clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer - has been discovered by researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida.

1 Aug 2012

Affymetrix second quarter total revenue increases to $66.4 million

Affymetrix, Inc., today reported its operating results for the second quarter of 2012. Total revenue for the quarter was $66.4 million, including approximately $1.4 million in revenue from eBioscience following the close of Affymetrix's acquisition of the company on June 25. This compares to total revenue of $64.7 million for the same period of 2011.

31 Jul 2012

Population Genetics validates GenomePooling™ for cancer

Population Genetics Technologies Ltd., creator of innovative methods for genetic analyses and biomarker discovery, has successfully completed a pilot study to prove that its GenomePooling™ method is sensitive and accurate enough to detect even small percentages of gene variants within cancer tissue. This validates the method’s suitability for use in IntReALL 2010, the world’s largest genetic analysis of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) relapse cases. ALL is the most common childhood malignant disease.

31 Jul 2012