Bio Saga Blog - A Chronicle of Life Sciences & Informatics

Direct-to-consumer genetics testing firm 23andMe has moved to a subscription-based pricing plan that now includes a one year contract and an additional charge of $5 per month. Along with the change in pricing, the company has done away with its separate Ancestry Edition and Health Edition products, which are now part of one service, called Complete Edition, that the firm offers. The base price for the testing service remains at $499 . The Ancestry and Health Edition products were launched a year ago by 23andMe. The changes took effect on Nov. 22. After the initial year expires, the contract will go to a month-to-month model, and customers will be able to cancel their contract at any time, a spokeswoman for Mountain View, Calif.-based 23andMe said. In an e-mail, she said the new monthly charge is based on the company's need to update its test and customers' test results as new genetic discoveries are made. The company's scientific team continually evaluates the latest scien...

Thomson Reuters today announced that it has acquired GeneGo, a leading provider of biology and disease information, analytics, and decision support solutions for pharmaceutical research and development. Effective immediately, GeneGo will become part of the Healthcare & Science business of Thomson Reuters. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition enables Thomson Reuters to provide the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic research communities with solutions that provide better understanding of the underlying mechanism of disease and potential therapies. GeneGo’s scientific expertise and assets in biology-driven drug discovery complement the Thomson Reuters life sciences portfolio that covers drug pipeline competitive intelligence, patents, and chemistry. do you wish to know more?

Courtesy: B ioclues Job Reference: G586-10LL Genome Discovery Unit, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment We are seeking a Genome Computational Specialist to support the work of researchers engaged in cutting-edge projects involving analysis of high throughput sequencing data. Location Canberra/ACT Term of Contract Permanent Grade ANU Senior Manager 1 (Information Technology) Salary Package $88,417 - $92,781 pa plus 17% superannuation Closing Date 3 January 2011 Position Overview The ANU's genomic strategies and expertise has positioned it as a key partner in a number of national and international genomics / phenomics research consortia. The ANU is underpinning this excellence in genomic biology by establishing a Genome Discovery Unit (GDU) for the analysis of high throughput sequencing data. The facility will be staffed by highly skilled personnel who will provide the core expertise for constructing and operating a h...

Applications are invited for the post of Information Officer in Distributed Information Sub-Centre (DISC) established by Dept. of Biotechnology at Indian Institute of Advanced Research, Koba, Gandhinagar, Gujarat Applications are invited for the post of information officer at Distributed Information Sub-Centre (DISC) Position (scale), qualifications and experience: 1. Information Officer - one post Qualifications and Experience: M. Tech in IT sciences, MSc Bioinformatics with 2-3 years experience in the bioinformatics domain with expertise in database management, software development, system administration, and work experience on linux environment. Pay scale; Gross emoluments will be about Rs. 20.000/- pm in this post Application process: Please submit your application with biodata to Dr. DD Singh Bioinformatics Deptt. at  ddsingh@iiar.res.in  You can call at 079-30514150 for any queries. The application process is open till suitable candidate is found. Link...

GeneGo today said that Agilent's GeneSpring bioinformatics solution has been integrated with GeneGo's MetaCore. The collaboration was announced in connection with the newest version of Agilent's GeneSpring. Agilent said today introduced GeneSpring GX 11.5, which can interpret microarray, proteomics, and metabolomics experiments together for the first time. The newest version includes a direct connection to the MetaCore pathway analysis engine, enabling users to seamlessly upload expression data analyzed in GeneSpring, said GeneGo. "MetaCore can concurrently visualize multiple types of data and will be able to take advantage of this new functionality in GeneSpring which will be very helpful to our joint customers," Julie Bryant, VP of business development for St. Joseph, Mich.-based GeneGo, said in a statement.

Roche today announced a global restructuring plan, which includes reducing its global workforce by 4,800 jobs, most of which are in the firm's Pharmaceuticals Division. The firm has dubbed the restructuring an "Operational Excellence Program" that is intended to result in annual cost savings of CHF2.4 billion ($2.4 billion). It expects to implement the changes, which also include the transfer of certain positions, consolidation at certain sites, and the closure of some facilities, during 2011 and 2012. The 4,800 job cuts equates to 6 percent of Roche's global workforce. In addition to the reductions, it also expects to transfer around 800 jobs internally and approximately 700 positions to third parties. The cost-cutting measure is not a surprise, as Roche had said in September that it would undertake such an initiative. However, the details of the effort were not announced until today. Roche's Pharmaceuticals Division will bear the brunt of the cuts, with 5,400 jo...

Under the auspices of the University of Tübingen, approximately 120 students from all over the world are working on their PhDs at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology and the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory. Here, they profit from an interdisciplinary environment and first-rate scientific resources. Dedicated support and educational programs foster the scientific growth of doctoral students. The program offers cutting edge training in Bioinformatics Structural Biology Plant & Animal Development  Molecular & Cellular Biology/ Biochemistry Developmental & Quantitative Genetics Evolutionary Biology & Ecological Genetics The  application deadline is November 24, 2010. Do you wish to know more?