Is there a genetic component of this disease? APFED's Webinar Series Presents... Answers from Experts Is there a genetic component of this disease? John E. Pandolfino, MD Chief, Division of Gastroenterol... By: APFED … Continue reading →

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 02, 2014 CollabRx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLRX), a data analytics company focused on informing clinical decision-making in molecular medicine, and The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution with a staff of over 1,500 employees, today announced a multi-year agreement to access CollabRx technology and content resources in support of the clinical interpretation of genetic sequencing-based tests provided by JAX. The partnership with JAX represents CollabRxs first such relationship with a large and influential non-profit biomedical research institute and demonstrates the companys accelerating pace of business and channel development in 2014. This new milestone attests to the growing adoption of CollabRx technology and interpretive analytics in top-tier laboratories worldwide as a standard aspect of test reporting for clinical genetic sequencing in cancer and other diseases. The Jackson Laboratory, now in its 85th year, has pioneered the use of genomics and bioinformatics to advance cancer research by bridging basic biology and translational studies to accelerate the development of new therapies, said Thomas Mika, Chairman, President & CEO of CollabRx. We are excited and proud to work with the Laboratory, an NCI-designated Cancer Center, to provide physicians with a clinically relevant interpretation of genetic sequencing test … Continue reading →

Enabled Reduced Analysis Time Per Case, Improved Ability to Track & Query Identified Variants BOSTON and LEUVEN, Belgium - Cartagenia, the world leader in software-based workflow support for genetic variant assessment, lab reporting, and integration of diagnostic knowledge-bases, today announced that the Human Genetics Laboratory, part of the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation (MMI) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), has selected the Cartagenia Bench platform genetics diagnostics solution for use at its healthcare laboratory. Cartagenia Bench is a cloud-based platform that allows genetics labs and clinicians to analyze, interpret, report, and share genomic variants in routine clinical diagnostics. Jennifer N. Sanmann, PhD, MB(ASCP)(CM)CG(CM), a representative of the Human Genetics Laboratory at UNMC, noted that its laboratory's adoption of Bench has helped them track their lab findings in a single, well-annotated database and has led to significantly reduced report turnaround times. "Our laboratory's experience with Cartagenia has been a very positive one," Dr. Sanmann said. "The transition from our internally developed system to Bench CNV and Bench NGS went smoothly and was well supported by the Cartagenia team. It has been our experience that the Bench modules have reduced significantly the amount of analysis time per case … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 1-Apr-2014 Contact: Kathy Beal kbeal@acmg.net 301-238-4582 American College of Medical Genetics Jun Shen, PhD was honored as the 2014 recipient of the ACMG Foundation/Signature Genomics from PerkinElmer, Inc. Travel Award at the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) 2014 Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting in Nashville, TN. Dr. Shen was selected to receive the award for her platform presentation, "Clinical Validation of a Novel Combinatorial Algorithm that Predicts Pathogenicity of Human Missense Variants with High Accuracy." Dr. Shen completed her PhD in Neurobiology at Harvard University, and completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neurobiology with a focus on the inner ear at Howard Hughes Medical Institution/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shen received her Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Computer Science at Dartmouth College. She is currently an Instructor in Pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School and an Assistant Laboratory Director, Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Partners HealthCare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine. The ACMG Foundation/Signature Genomics Travel Award is given to an ACMG Trainee member whose abstract submission was chosen as a platform presentation during the ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting. The ACMG Program Committee selects the Travel Award recipient based on … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 1-Apr-2014 Contact: KC Gonzalez kc.gonzalez@utsa.edu 210-458-7555 University of Texas at San Antonio Two University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) biomedical engineering doctoral students, Ramon Coronado and Tony Yuan, have launched Mobile Stem Care LLC, a company that will help veterinarians treat their patients with the latest advancements in stem cell therapies. The first of its kind in Texas, Mobile Stem Care is a mobile service that offers adipose stem cell and platelet rich plasma (PRP) isolation to veterinarians for treatments in dogs, cats and other animals suffering from degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis or hip dysplasia, ligament and tendon injuries or non-healing wounds. Mobile Stem Care takes adipose tissue (fat) collected from the affected animal by the veterinary doctor and isolates the adult stem cells on-site in less than 90 minutes. A concentration of the animal's stem cells and other immune-regulatory cells are returned to the doctor and injected into the damaged area of the animal to stimulate growth of healthy cells and aid healing. Steven A. Davis, M.D., founder and director of the Dermatology & Laser Center of San Antonio, clinical professor at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and co-founder of privately … Continue reading →

April 1, 2014 University of Nottingham Scientists at The University of Nottingham have developed a new substance which could simplify the manufacture of cell therapy in the pioneering world of regenerative medicine. Cell therapy is an exciting and rapidly developing area of medicine in which stem cells have the potential to repair human tissue and maintain organ function in chronic disease and age-related illnesses. But a major problem with translating current successful research into actual products and treatments is how to mass-produce such a complex living material. There are two distinct phases in the production of stem cell products; proliferation (making enough cells to form large tissue) and differentiation (turning the basic stem cells into functional cells). The material environment required for these two phases are different and up to now a single substance that does both jobs has not been available. Now a multi-disciplinary team of researchers at Nottingham has created a new stem cell micro-environment which they have found has allowed both the self-renewal of cells and then their evolution into cardiomyocyte (heart) cells. The material is a hydrogel containing two polymers an alginate-rich environment which allows proliferation of cells with a simple chemical switch to render the … Continue reading →