Nov 30, 2012 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Nobel laureates’ work could lead to more effective medicines with fewer side effects
For the second time in a decade, a professor of pathology has been awarded a Nobel Prize. This time the recipient is Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D., of Duke University Medical Center, who shares the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The prize committee based their decision on the potential of this laureate’s seminal discoveries, which could be used to develop more effective medicines. This work may also contribute to the development of companion diagnostic tests that could be offered by clinical laboratories. (more…)
Apr 22, 2011 | Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
At issue is ability of biotech companies to hold patents on genes that might be used in clinical laboratory testing
Patents involving human genes have always been controversial among pathologists and clinical laboratory managers. This is one reason why many in the medical laboratory testing industry are following the progress of the well-publicized lawsuit that challenged certain patents involving human genes that are held by Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Myriad), of Salt Lake City, Utah.
In the trial, which was conducted last year, a federal judge ruled against Myriad Genetics. The company filed an appeal and, on April 4th, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Court of Appeals) heard oral arguments in the case of Association of Molecular Pathology (AMP) (plaintiffs) versus United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (defendants). This lawsuit was originally filed on March 29th, 2010, in the United States District Court Southern District of New York (District Court).
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Mar 19, 2010 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Human Microbiome Project is expected to trigger many new molecular diagnostic assays
Meet the human microbiome, considered by some medical researchers to be the newest biomedical frontier. A major effort to map the human microbiome is expected to identify a significant number of new biomarkers that will be useful in both clinical pathology diagnostic tests and therapeutic drug development.
Known as the Human Microbiome Project, the five-year program is funded with $115 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Researchers are well on their way to produce a comprehensive inventory of microbes—bacteria, viruses, yeast and fungi—that live in or on the human body, along with information about their role in disease development or prevention. The overall goal of this international effort is to identify which microbes are harmful and figure out ways to prevent or treat diseases they cause.
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Jul 14, 2008 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
This morning it was announced that Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and other investors will pump $100 million into a start-up company that says, by 2010, it will launch sales of a system capable of sequencing the human genome in 15 minutes.
Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. of Menlo Park, California, will receive $100 million in funding by a consortium of investors led by Intel Capital (the investment division of Intel Corp.) and Deerfield Capital Management, LLC, of Rosemont, Illinois. Other funders in the group included Mohr Davidow Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Alloy Ventures, and DAG Ventures.
Pathologists and laboratory directors will recognize several significant developments in today’s announcement. First, Intel’s willingness to take a lead role in funding this DNA sequencing system affirms that genetics will be a major customer for information technology. Second, should Pacific Biosystems deliver, as early as 2010, a competitively-priced gene sequencing system that can sequence a human genome in 15 minutes, this will greatly accelerate progress in molecular diagnostics.
In scientific meetings over the past year, Pacific Biosciences has caused quite a stir with descriptions of its gene sequencing technology. In February, at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology meeting in Marco Island, Florida, writer Julia Karow of In Sequence wrote how Pacific Biosciences “projects that, with improvements to its enzyme biochemistry and in camera technology, it will eventually be able to generate more than 100 gigabases of sequence data per hour, or a diploid human genome at about 15-fold coverage; provide reads at least as long as Sanger sequencing; and offer run times measuring in minutes at a cost of hundreds of dollars. Using a prototype system, PacBio researchers have already shown they can get read lengths of more than 1,500 bases and multiplex hundreds of sequencing reactions. The company predicts it will be selling its instruments to early adopters sometime in 2010 at a similar price to currently available next-generation sequencers.”
Competitors in this race to produce a cheap, fast human genome sequencing system include Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN), Helicos BioSciencs Corporation (NASD:HLCS), and Complete Genomics, Inc.
Dark Daily considers Intel’s participation in this latest round of funding to be another important validation of how genetics and molecular diagnostics will transform healthcare. Pathologists and laboratory administrators will want to track how the race to the “15-minute human genome” unfolds. With applications in research, in pharmaceutical development, and in clinical diagnostics, technologies such as that under development by Pacific Biosystems promises to be transformational to laboratory medicine as we know it today.
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