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Sep. 1, Vol. 29, No. 15

BioBusiness
- Point of View
  - Activism, Mendacity, and Pathological Science
  - Henry I. Miller, M.D.
  - Consumers are increasingly being exposed to what chemistry Nobel laureate Irving Langmuir dubbed “pathological science,” the “science of things that aren’t so.” It is the specialty of self-styled public interest groups, whose agenda too often is not ... more »
- Legal Affairs
  - Timing Rules for Biological Deposits in Flux
  - Joseph Hsiao,
  - On February 20, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice of proposed rule changes, revising the time for filing a biological deposit and the date of availability of the biological deposit. The period of comment ended Apr ... more »
- Wall Street BioBeat
  - Antidotes for an Ailing Biotechnology Sector
  - Sumantha Sedor,
  - For decades the biotech industry has provided lifesaving cures to the world, but now many biotech companies are in need of a lifesaving cure themselves—in the form of cash. Analysts estimate that nearly half of public and private biotech companies ... more »
- Feature Articles
  - Innovation Marks Steady Growth of Asian Biotech
  - Gail Dutton
  - The conversation about outsourcing to Asia has changed from cost reduction to opportunity. The recent BIOCOM “CalAsia Conference” in San Diego focused on strategies biotech companies can use to leverage the strengths of Asian biotech opportunities. ... more »
- - Q&A on Sartorius Stedim Biotech/SAFC Deal
  - SAFC Biosciences and Sartorius Stedim Biotech recently signed a global partnership agreement that combines Sartorius Stedim Biotech’s expertise in filtration and liquid-handling systems with SAFC Biosciences’ proficiency in development and manu ... more »
- Corporate Profiles
  - EcoBiotics Scours Rainforest for Compounds
  - Carol Potera
  - Since 2000, EcoBiotics has been quietly combing the rainforests of Queensland, Australia, for new pharmaceutical compounds. Now with two anticancer candidates in the late stages of preclinical testing, the company is expanding to the U.S. and Europe ... more »
- BioMarket Trends
  - Access to Global Populations Speeds Trials
  - Douglas Peddicord,
  - Globalization is not new to the world of biomedical and clinical research. For years in the quest for efficiency, biomarker and clinical lab work as well as data management have been moving into developing countries like India. These days the ... more »
Drug Discovery
- Feature Articles
  - Live-Cell Imaging Increases Impact on R&D
  - Gail Dutton
  - Live-cell imaging technologies are providing what is often the first detailed look at intracellular interactions within living cells, yielding fresh insights into molecular functions and dynamic structures that may change within fractions of a secon ... more »
- - Peptide Therapies Coming Into Their Own
  - James Netterwald, Ph.D.
  - Peptide drug discovery is a huge endeavor—and a huge field. Researchers and tool/technology developers alike traveled to Seoul recently for BIT Life Sciences’ “PepCon” meeting, where advances and trends in peptide and protein research were shared. ... more »
- Tutorials
  - Demystifying Medicinal Chemistry Efforts
  - Steve Gardner, Ph.D.
  - Modern biotech drug discovery often starts with the observation that the activity of a specific gene or protein is critical to the progression of a particular disease. Once confirmed in knock-down studies, hits can be identified by testing a small l ... more »
- Assay Tutorials
  - Sample Enrichment Technology Advances
  - Clotilde Teiling,
  - Thomas Jarvie,
  - Thousands of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for hundreds of diseases have identified candidate regions of interest, but have yet to identify the underlying causative genetic variants. What has hindered these projects is the lack of a rapid, ... more »
- Tech Notes
  - Simplifying Antibody Conjugation Processes
  - Nick Gee,
  - Antibodies are widely employed in the quantification of antigens in complex biological samples. Using techniques such as Western blotting, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry researchers are able to measure a single antigen, or perhaps a limited number ... more »
- Roundtable Discussions
  - Cellular Imaging and Analysis Roundtable
  - GEN recently sat down with thought leaders in the cellular imaging and analysis space to talk about current and emerging trends in the field. The three experts, all intimately familiar with imaging applications, talked about the use of high-content ... more »
- Sidebars
  - Choosing the Right Model
  - In all areas of clinical testing, peptide-based therapeutics have dramatically increased, nearly doubling from 2000 to 2007,” says Ralf Brandt, Ph.D., CEO and managing director of vivoPharm. “However, many have failed due to lack of sufficient effic ... more »
- - Emory University Named to NCI Chemical Biology Consortium
  - SAIC-Frederick, the prime contractor to the National Cancer Institute, selected Emory University’s Chemical Biology Discovery Center to be part of an 11-member national consortium aimed at accelerating the discovery and development of new and target ... more »
OMICS
- Feature Articles
  - Next-Gen Presents Array of Opportunities
  - Elizabeth Lipp
  - Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has arrived. “The expansion of users and applications shows no signs of abating,” notes Michael Rhodes, Ph.D., senior manager, SOLiD Sequencing at Applied Biosystems, a division of Life Technologies. “The uptick of t ... more »
- - Next-Gen Sequencing Becoming Ubiquitous
  - Catherine Shaffer
  - In 2005, two landmark papers describing novel cycle-array sequencing methods ushered in a new era in genetics. Known at the time as next-generation sequencing (NGS), these methods are now more commonly described as second-generation sequencing. Al ... more »
- - Personalized Medicine Realizing Its Promise
  - Edward Abrahams,
  - Personalized medicine may be considered an extension of traditional approaches to understanding and treating disease. Physicians have always used observable evidence to make a diagnosis or prescribe a treatment tailored to each individual. In the mo ... more »
- - Streamlining Protein Sample Preparation
  - K. John Morrow Jr., Ph.D.
  - Mass spec has emerged as a powerful and versatile technology for the exquisite characterization of molecules. Fast, sensitive, and economical, it provides a wealth of information that previously could only be obtained through lengthy and complex pro ... more »
- Tutorials
  - Demystifying Medicinal Chemistry Efforts
  - Steve Gardner, Ph.D.
  - Modern biotech drug discovery often starts with the observation that the activity of a specific gene or protein is critical to the progression of a particular disease. Once confirmed in knock-down studies, hits can be identified by testing a small l ... more »
- - Using Metabolomics to Optimize Bioprocessing
  - Don Rose,
  - Cells can be grown in cultured media for a variety of scientific applications. One common use is the production of recombinant proteins in cell-based bioreactors. Determining the optimal growth conditions in order for these cells to achieve the high ... more »
- Assay Tutorials
  - Sample Enrichment Technology Advances
  - Clotilde Teiling,
  - Thomas Jarvie,
  - Thousands of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for hundreds of diseases have identified candidate regions of interest, but have yet to identify the underlying causative genetic variants. What has hindered these projects is the lack of a rapid, ... more »
Bioprocessing
- Feature Articles
  - Bioprocess Monitoring Relies on Connectivity
  - Angelo DePalma, Ph.D.
  - Bioprocess monitoring and control, although not as widespread as it should be, is nevertheless increasingly viewed as a routine part of doing business. Significant trends include interconnectivity between sensors, instruments, bioreactors, sampling ... more »
- - Q&A on Sartorius Stedim Biotech/SAFC Deal
  - SAFC Biosciences and Sartorius Stedim Biotech recently signed a global partnership agreement that combines Sartorius Stedim Biotech’s expertise in filtration and liquid-handling systems with SAFC Biosciences’ proficiency in development and manu ... more »
- Tutorials
  - Using Metabolomics to Optimize Bioprocessing
  - Don Rose,
  - Cells can be grown in cultured media for a variety of scientific applications. One common use is the production of recombinant proteins in cell-based bioreactors. Determining the optimal growth conditions in order for these cells to achieve the high ... more »
Translational Medicine
- Feature Articles
  - Changing the Face of Clinical Medicine
  - K. John Morrow Jr., Ph.D.
  - The annual “American Association of Clinical Chemistry” meeting is the largest conference focusing on the needs of the clinical laboratory. This year the meeting expositions and presentations prominently featured multiplexing technologies and new st ... more »
- - Innovation Marks Steady Growth of Asian Biotech
  - Gail Dutton
  - The conversation about outsourcing to Asia has changed from cost reduction to opportunity. The recent BIOCOM “CalAsia Conference” in San Diego focused on strategies biotech companies can use to leverage the strengths of Asian biotech opportunities. ... more »
- - MDx Hones In On Near-Patient Setting
  - Nina Flanagan
  - Molecular diagnostic advances are being driven by the need for automation and easy-to-handle techniques, said Mark Bunger, research director, biosciences at Lux Research. Longer-term trends also driving this market include the influx of smaller comp ... more »
- - Peptide Therapies Coming Into Their Own
  - James Netterwald, Ph.D.
  - Peptide drug discovery is a huge endeavor—and a huge field. Researchers and tool/technology developers alike traveled to Seoul recently for BIT Life Sciences’ “PepCon” meeting, where advances and trends in peptide and protein research were shared. ... more »
- - Personalized Medicine Realizing Its Promise
  - Edward Abrahams,
  - Personalized medicine may be considered an extension of traditional approaches to understanding and treating disease. Physicians have always used observable evidence to make a diagnosis or prescribe a treatment tailored to each individual. In the mo ... more »
- - Searching for Appropriate Cancer Biomarkers
  - Amnon Gonenne,
  - The medical literature abounds with examples of the benefits of early cancer detection. Cure rates are always dramatically higher before the tumor has spread and while surgery is still an option. For example in cervical cancer, detection at the earl ... more »
- Corporate Profiles
  - EcoBiotics Scours Rainforest for Compounds
  - Carol Potera
  - Since 2000, EcoBiotics has been quietly combing the rainforests of Queensland, Australia, for new pharmaceutical compounds. Now with two anticancer candidates in the late stages of preclinical testing, the company is expanding to the U.S. and Europe ... more »