Bio Saga Blog - A Chronicle of Life Sciences & Informatics

2012 1st Journal Conference on Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics (JCBBB 2012 1st) aims to provide a forum for researchers, practitioners, and professionals from the industry, academia and government to discourse on research and development, professional practice in bio science, biochemistry and bioinformatics. Date of the conference-10-12 March,2012 Venue-Chennai,TN For further details,please refer to the link http://www.ijbbb.org/jcbbb/ 1st/index.htm

Nick Loman at Pathogens: Genes and Genomes says that the key players emerging third-generation sequencing market are comparable to the Intel x86 family and its famed competitor, reduced instruction set computing — or RISC — chips in the early 1990s. "Despite the seeming obvious killer advantages … RISC chips resoundingly failed in the desktop PC market, never challenging Intel’s dominance," Loman recalls. He writes that labs considering which third-gen sequencing instruments to invest in is "very similar to the common nerd dilemma: buy a new laptop now, or wait for the next model?" Loman wonders whether the theory behind Moore's law will hold true for the transition from second- to third-generation sequencing technologies. "I propose that Illumina are Intel, and the Genetic Analyzer family — GA1, GA II, GAIIx, HiSeq 2000 — are x86. Life Tech is AMD, producing similar technology with much reduced market share," Loman writes, adding that "the thir...

Becton Dickinson has signed a definitive agreement to acquire molecular diagnostics firm HandyLab for an undisclosed sum. HandyLab sells the Jaguar molecular diagnostics system, which incorporates clinical sample preparation, nucleic acid extraction, microfluidic real-time PCR amplification and detection. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based firm launched the system in November 2008. BD said that it plans to place its BD GeneOhm assays for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , Clostridium difficile , and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus on the HandyLab platform and market them as the new BD Max system. The acquisition follows an alliance between the firms begun earlier this year aimed at placing the GeneOhm tests on the Jaguar system. "We believe this new platform enables both our healthcare-associated infections offering and future expansion into other molecular opportunities," BD President Vincent Forlenza said in a statement. BD said that it will provide more informati...

Chennai is fast catching up lots of activity in the last 6 months in the field of Life Sciences and Informatics. HCL lifescience is now started operation form chennai in addition to their unit in Delhi A very ambitious venture spearheaded by none other than Dr. K.B. Chandrasekhar is Svapas TICEL biopark also has a few (Huclin Research, Histogenetics) but just CROs and others yet to have core informatics companies The early bird and one company which has been fighting and surviving all the odds Brain Waves has recently been creating vibes in the literature informatics and literature mining Neozene Bio Sciences has an office in chennai Vasta Biotech guess is a biotechnology firm Here a big wig GVK though is just testing the chennai waters with its biocampus GVK Bio- has launched its new branch of bioCampus in Chennai Informatics division offering "Protein modeling and Drug Design"-training with recruitment program and projects for final year M.Sc, B.Tech...

The Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms database (dbSNP) serves as a central repository for both single base nucleotide substitutions and short deletion and insertion polymorphisms. Computercraft seeks a biologist with significant knowledge in life sciences to help curate dbSNP records, process submission, and perform data analyst tasks. Candidates should also have the ability to rapidly develop applications to process data into database and to generate reports. The individual will work onsite at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. Our scientists work with genomic experts at NIH's National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to create and enhance a suite of databases and tools available to researchers worldwide . Requirements: • PhD or M.S. in molecular biology, bioinformatics, or highly related field • Linux/UNIX experience • Relational database and SQL experience • Programming experience (Perl, Python, or C++) •...

There was a time when bio-science was the Cinderella science: meticulous, certainly, and worthwhile, but far from glamorous. All that changed in 2003, when the sequencing of the human genome was completed. Now masses of data and the potential for radical technologies are attracting the best graduates in chemistry, physics, engineering and maths. And bio-science offers more than intellectual curiosity, explains Professor Sir David Read, Biological Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society. "It's the human factor," he says. "Cross-disciplinary approaches are addressing many of the major threats to humanity: disease prevalence, antibiotic-resistant micro-organisms, avian flu, the threats to the environment associated with climate change." The biological sciences are as varied, and sometimes as confusing, as life itself, taking in such disparate disciplines as neuroscience and taxonomy, environmental science and microbiology, physiology and bioche...

“We are changing the Merlin brand to reflect the move from early-stage biotechnology and our interest in the later stages of research,” Sir Christopher said . The biotechnology sector was dealt another blow on Wednesday after Sir Christopher Evans, the biotechnology entrepreneur caught up in the cash-for-honours investigation, said he was starting a new investment firm that would not fund early-stage biotech companies. Merlin Biosciences, the name of Sir Christopher’s venture capital firm known for providing much-needed seed funding to the industry, is being scrapped and its three funds are being transferred to a new company called Excalibur, which will provide services from venture capital to corporate finance and private equity. for more details

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