Category Archives: Transhuman News

Genome and Clinic in the Care of Renal Cell Carcinoma - by W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD
Uniting the Genome and Clinic to Advance the Science and Care of Renal Cell Carcinoma Lecture by W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD Associate Professor of Medicine and Genetics, UNC School of Medicine

By: TheOncologistJournal

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Genome and Clinic in the Care of Renal Cell Carcinoma - by W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD - Video

Public release date: 22-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sam Smith newsbureau@mayo.edu 507-284-5005 Mayo Clinic

ROCHESTER, Minn. and FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- Mayo Clinic and Silicon Valley Biosystems (SV Bio) today announced a strategic collaboration for whole genome diagnostics and interpretation at the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine and Mayo Medical Laboratories. This strategic collaboration unites SV Bio's proprietary genome interpretation solution with Mayo Clinic's growing genome reference library and its commitment to individualized medicine, and will increase accessibility and clinical utility of next-generation sequencing for patients. SV Bio will provide clinical genome interpretation services and clinical decision support interfaces to Mayo Clinic, and Mayo's Center for Individualized Medicine will contribute clinical and laboratory expertise and support. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

"At Mayo Clinic, we are committed to integrating genomic medicine into the continuum of care for all of our patients," says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine. "The Individualized Medicine Clinic represents one of Mayo's bold steps toward realizing the promise of these game-changing technologies and offering new hope to patients, including those with cancer and diagnostic dilemmas."

While the rapidly declining cost of sequencing has been widely heralded and has led to varying degrees of clinical implementation at a handful of health care organizations, managing the sheer volume of data remains a bottleneck to widespread application of personalized medicine.

"Every human disease has a genetic component but, to date, medical providers have not been able to fully utilize this information to improve clinical outcomes," says Dietrich Stephan, Ph.D., founder, president and CEO of SV Bio. "With the SV Bio platform, we've made the translation to a single assay a full human genome with the diagnostics rapidly and precisely happening in silico." The SV Bio process is fully computerized and automated and reduces the time needed for clinically actionable genome interpretation from several weeks to a few minutes and puts the results in the provider's hands at the point of care.

The goal of the collaboration is to unlock the full potential of next-generation sequencing and open these technologies to every patient. SV Bio's turnkey genomics interpretation solutions query a patient's genome at the point of care and distill the biological data into a concise, actionable report that physicians can use to make faster, more informed decisions. Mayo Clinic will provide medical and scientific expertise to help ensure patients receive the maximum benefit.

"We are now able to take data from any next-generation sequencer and determine with clinical grade sensitivity and specificity which variants within a patient's DNA sequence are influencing a disease or condition, and rapidly provide a report for the clinician that is clear and actionable," Dr. Stephan says. "This level of speed, accuracy and integration into the clinical work flow is not only a first for molecular testing, but also a sea change in the application of next-generation sequencing with no compromise of quality in clinical diagnostics."

As part of the collaboration, Mayo Medical Laboratories, the reference laboratory that provides services worldwide, and SV Bio will work together to refine approaches to clinical genome interpretation.

"In our laboratories, we are rapidly adopting and implementing next-generation sequencing as a platform upon which we will be providing cutting-edge genome-based testing," says Franklin Cockerill, M.D., president of Mayo Medical Laboratories. "This collaboration with SV Bio furthers our mission of bringing the latest diagnostic technologies to health care providers around the world."

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Mayo Clinic and SV Bio enter strategic relationship on genome diagnostics and interpretation

By mapping the genome of the diamondback moth, scientists have uncovered some of the genes that make it such a destructive agricultural pest. The discovery may lead to new ways to protect crops.

Two Australian scientists have helped reveal the "evolutionary trick" which makes the diamondback moth one of the world's worst agricultural pests.

University of Adelaide Ramsay research fellow Dr Simon Baxter and Charles Sturt University Professor Geoff Gurr, from the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, were part of an international consortium which today revealed the genetic blueprint of the moth in a paper in the international journal Nature Genetics.

Diamondback moth wreaks billions of dollars worth of damage to crops around the world each year, costing producers $4-5 billion in crop loss and control measures, and has caused major problems for the Australian canola industry.

The caterpillars feed on cabbage and related plants and are difficult to control because they can quickly develop resistance to all types of insecticide.

Dr Baxter said the moth had spread throughout the world and could be found in vegetable gardens and farms across Australia.

"They have an incredible ability to migrate long distances and to quickly adapt to the environments they encounter, making outbreaks of these insects difficult to predict and control," Dr Baxter said.

"This project has helped identify the genes that make diamondback moth such a successful pest and will enable new insecticide resistance monitoring techniques and pest management strategies to be developed."

Professor Gurr said the successful sequencing of the moth's genome revealed the moth's "evolutionary trick"; its ability to detoxify the defence compounds produced by plants in the cabbage family.

"These are the same compounds that make mustard so pungent and cabbage so smelly," Professor Gurr said.

Read more:
Genome reveals how moths detoxify pesticides

NOKOMIS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Since the new year began, Rainbow Coral Corp. (RBCC) has wasted no time in searching for new targets to add to its portfolio of projects for commercialization. Last week, the Companys executive leadership accepted an invitation to tour a genome-mapping facility in Houston with which RBCC could soon partner.

New healthcare innovations related to the human genome represent a target-rich area of interest for RBCC.The Texas company currently being reviewed performs tests to identify genetic markers in patients that can potentially boost or nullify the effects of certain medications.

Such testing could dramatically change the way medications are prescribed, potentially fostering a significant reduction in global health care costs.

Knowing specifics about an individuals genetic make-up can greatly assist a patients doctor in determining correct doses of medications as well as ruling out medications that could prove harmful, said RBCC CEO Patrick Brown. Genome mapping opens up a host of new possibilities for doctors and patients alike, and were very interested in the technologys economic potential.

As the company searches for its next partner, RBCCs biotech subsidiary Rainbow Biosciences remains close to a joint venture deal with Amarantus Bioscience, makers of exciting new diagnostic tools and therapies for neurological diseases such as Parkinsons.

Amarantus recently announced highly promising results in new animal trials of its forthcoming Parkinsons therapeutic, known as MANF.

For more information on RBCC and its biotechnology targets, please visitwww.rainbowbiosciences.com/investors.

Rainbow BioSciences is dedicated to developing new medical and research technology innovations to compete alongside companies such as Amgen Inc. (AMGN), Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTIC) and Abbott Laboratories (ABT).

Follow us on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/RBCCinfo.

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RBCC Visits Texas Genome-Mapping Target