Bio Saga Blog - A Chronicle of Life Sciences & Informatics

A manager or a senior bioinformatician is required. Qualifications:- A Master degree in biology, bioinformatics (or a related discipline), or equivalent experience in bioinformatics in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry.  An MS or Ph.D. is strongly preferred. Required Skills:-Strong technical, analytical, and problem  solving skills, Strong communication abilities, A dedication to software development best practices and methodologies Experience: - 2+ years experience developing software solutions in the pharmaceutical R&D or biotech sector, Demonstrated ability with  several of the following: Java, Java/J2EE,  .NET (VB, C#, ASP),  Sharepoint, Oracle, JDBC, SQL,  Unix/Linux, Windows,  Mastery of at least one programming language/platform. Company:- MNC Bioinformatics. Location:- Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. Salary:- 15-20 lacks. Further relevant information can be accessed from t...

The Computational Systems Biology group led by Harri Lähdesmäki in the Department of Information and Computer Science at Aalto University School of Science and Technology (formerly Helsinki University of Technology) uses computational and statistical modeling techniques to study molecular regulatory mechanisms and biomolecular networks, and their role in health and disease. We have interest in statistics, computational science and molecular biology, and how modern computational methods can be applied to experimental data to understand biological systems. 1.   Post-doc/Ph.D. studentship in computational systems biology 2.   Ph.D. studentship in computational systems biology 3.   Ph.D. studentship in statistical modeling and machine learning for next-generation sequencing data in systems biology 4.   Part-time research assistant (MSc student level) in bioinformatics/computational systems biology Do you wish to know more?

OMICS Publishing Group invites you to attend the   International Conference & Exhibition on Proteomics & Bioinformatics  which is going to be held on January 27-29, 2011 in Hyderabad, India.   We welcome all the participants from across the globe to take part in this event. International Conference & Exhibition on Proteomics & Bioinformatics   will schedule and coordinate all meetings with our U.S and Indian organizers and representatives.  International Conference & Exhibition on Proteomics & Bioinformatics   will serve as a catalyst for the advancement of   Proteomics & Bioinformatics   by connecting scientists within and across disciplines at conferences and exhibitions held at venues that create an environment conducive to information exchange, generation of new ideas and acceleration of applications that benefit society. The previous conference has played a leading role in facilitating interaction between resea...

Creating an alliance to deliver insulin treatments worldwide, Biocon and  Pfizer  have entered into a global commercialisation agreement. Pfizer will make an upfront payment of USD 200 million in a licensing deal for Biocon’s biosimilar insulin portfolio for diabetes treatment. As per the agreement,  Biocon  will also be eligible to get additional payments of up to USD 150 million. These payments will be linked to sales of Biocon’s insulin biosimilars. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Vikas Dandekar of pharmasianews.com gave his perspective on the deal. Excerpts from  Reporter's Diary on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » Q: What do you make of this arrangement? First of all tell is what is the potential the market size as far as this insulin is concerned and what does this mean both for Biocon and Pfizer? A: A number of biosimilars are scheduled to be launched in the European market. A number of trials are going on, on insulin and this is a big potenti...

Workshop: Developing Bioinformatics applications with Bioperl   Duration: 5 days, Registration Fee:   Rs. 2000 /-   Starting date: November 05 - 09, 2010   Workshop: Biological sequence analysis Duration: 3 days, Registration Fee: Rs. 1000 /- Starting date: November 26 - 28, 2010  Venue:The Bioinformatica Solutions,lucknow Fee should be deposited through bank draft in  the name of "The Bioinformatica Solutions"  payable at Lucknow.  Follow this link to apply http://www.thebioinformatica.com/Registration.htm  

Global drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis AG and U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson have submitted concrete bids to acquire majority stake in the Indian unlisted firm Paras Pharmaceuticals, the Business Standard reported on Tuesday. The initial bids were much lower at around $600-$700 million, from the earlier expected valuation of close to $1 billion, the newspaper reported citing unidentified sources. "While more serious players such as Japan's Taisho Pharmaceutical are expected to join the race, domestic FMCG majors like Emami and Dabur are unlikely to place a bid for the company," the paper quoted a source as saying. Do you want to know more?

Pfizer Inc. and King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will acquire King, a diversified specialty pharmaceutical discovery and clinical development company, for   $3.6 billion   in cash, or   $14.25   per share, which represents a premium of approximately 40% to King's closing price as of   October 11, 2010 , and 46% percent to the one-month average closing price as of the same date. The transaction was approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to be accretive to Pfizer's adjusted diluted earnings per share(1) by approximately   $0.02   annually in 2011 and 2012, and approximately $0.03 - $0.04   annually from 2013 through 2015. The transaction will further expand Pfizer's business profile, providing immediate, incremental diversified revenues generated by King's portfolio, including a prescription pharmaceutical business focu...

A team of researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute has created the first synthetic organellar genome, using a method called isothermal DNA assembly to construct a synthetic mouse mitochondrial genome from hundreds of overlapping oligonucleotides. The work, published online yesterday in   Nature Methods , is the latest in a series of synthetic biology achievements by the group. JCVI researchers reported in  Science  in 2008  that they had put together four Mycoplasma genitalium  quarter genomes in  Escherichia coli  and yeast to create the first synthetic genome, dubbed  M. genitalium  JCVI-1.0. They later tweaked this process, showing that they could assemble the  synthetic  M. genitalium  genome in a single step in yeast. And earlier this year the team took another step toward synthetic life when they made a synthetic  M. mycoides  genome, transplanted it into another bacterial species,  M. capricolum , ...

Two-day national-level workshop on Protein Structural Analysis & Homology Modelling DATES: October 23-24, 2010 LOCALE: Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics,  Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University Sector 15, CBD,  Belapur, Navi Mumbai-400614, India Janu Ganak and the Bioinformatics Community of the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Padmashree Dr. D Y Patil  University, are pleased to inform you that a two day workshop on "PROTEIN STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS AND HOMOLOGY  MODELLING" is being organized.  This workshop is the second of a series of workshops that are aimed at  giving complete  hands-on experience in various tools and techniques  used  in the fields of life science and bioinformatics. This workshop is aimed at giving practical experience on the basic methods of visualization, analysis and modeling of protein structures using bioinformatics tools.  Both under-graduate...

The 4th Asian Young Researchers Conference on Computational and Omics Biology is jointly organized by the Joint-International Society for Computational Biology Student Council ISCB-SC Regional Student Group RSG Japan, Korea and Singapore; young researchers in Taiwan and the GCOE program “Genome BigBang” of The University of Tokyo, Japan. The 4th AYRCOB aims to achieve a 2-fold objective: 1) To provide an avenue of exposure for students who are interested in the areas Computational and Omics Biology to participate in lectures of current topics from leading scientists of the field. 2) To establish international collaboration through interaction and discussion with fellow participants. ** Travel expenses of selected ORAL presenters will be FULLY COVERED by the conference sponsors! **   Key Dates Wednessday, 25th August 2010:  Call for Abstract Opens Monday, 13th September 2010:  Website Registration open Monday, 25th October 2010:  Abstract Submission Deadline Fri...

Here is the climax of the stories  Life Technologies to Acquire Ion Torrent for up to $725M  and  The Argument Continues - Blue Ray or HD, Intel or AMD and now Illumina or Life Tech?   Life Technologies has completed its acquisition of Ion Torrent for $375 million in cash and stock.  The total value of the deal could rise by another $350 million if certain technical and time-based milestones are met through 2012. The acquisition adds Ion Torrent's semiconductor chip-based sequencing platform, which measures the release of hydrogen ions as nucleotides get incorporated by DNA polymerase. Unlike other existing second-generation sequencers, it does not require lasers, cameras, or labels.  The first system based on the technology is the Personal Genome Machine sequencer, which will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year. Life Technologies said that the transaction is expected to be $.02 dilutive to its earnings per share in 2010, neutral in 2011, and ac...

Robert Geoffrey Edwards, who developed in vitro fertilization (IVF) in humans, will receive this year's  Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Human oocyte Image:wikimedia commons/Ekem The initially controversial technology has since produced more than 4 million babies worldwide to otherwise infertile parents. When Edwards, now professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, started his research on infertility in the 1950s, scientists had already successfully fertilized eggs from rabbits in test tubes and produced young. It didn't take much time for Edwards to realize that fertilization outside of the uterus could be a viable option for human couples who were having issues conceiving. While on the road to developing IVF, Edwards made myriad discoveries that have contributed to researchers' understanding of the maturation of the human egg cell. For example, he deciphered how different hormones control the development of the egg, as well as when the egg is most ...

Earlier this month, New Mexico State University (NMSU) library announced the cancellation of over 700 journal and database subscriptions, the result of a perfect storm of rising journal prices and a slashed materials budget. It is the latest, but not the largest, in a procession of research libraries to chop, slash and hack their subscription lists in response to significant budget cuts. Now, tensions are rising as scientists speak out against library cuts and how they will affect research. Library at York University Wikimedia "The lifeblood of a university is its library, and cutting library resources is like cutting off oxygen to the brain," said  Robert Buckingham,  a long-time epidemiologist at NMSU and now dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan. "Without this lifeblood, the university will falter and fail." The economic downturn is hitting libraries and hitting them hard. A  2009 global survey of 835 libraries in 61 countri...