Inside Precision Medicine

Berry Genomics chose Illumina's next-generation sequencing technology as the platform on which Berry will aim to secure Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) regulatory approval for clinical applications. The goal is to expand access to NGS-based tests in China. The companies say have co-developed an NGS system to provide a cost-effective, easy-to-use assay for noninvasive prenatal testing. A working version...

Beckman Coulter said today it agreed to acquire the clinical microbiology business of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics for an undisclosed price. Siemens’ clinical microbiology business specializes in microbial identification and antibiotic sensitivity testing (ID/AST). The business operates with an installed base of over 6,000 instruments globally, and is part of Siemens’ diagnostics division, which finished last year with $5.332 billion (€3.942...

Bringing molecular testing to the clinic is now easier than in past years, thanks to deeper knowledge about the genome and gene variants, increased automation and efficiency, user-friendlier technology, and improved methods to monitor quality. Incorporating these and other basics into a successful molecular diagnostics (MDx) lab requires clinicians to address opportunities and challenges much as in creating any other...

A San Diego startup whose technology promises to enable the clinical use of genomics by radically reducing the cost and time of analyzing next-generation sequencing (NGS) data is attractive enough to have drawn Gregory Lucier among investors that have joined to raise $10 million in Series A financing. Lucier has made his first investment since his days as chairman and...

The Human Genome Project provided a path for determining the genetic basis of many inherited diseases and neoplasms. So far, various efforts from both research institutions and private companies have yielded myriad single gene and disease panel tests for both cancer and various Mendelian diseases, which have proven quite useful in diagnosing and treating specific conditions. The scope of...

Medical malpractice lawsuits are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, liability can compensate injured patients and push providers to implement the most up-to-date technologies and practices. On the other, the threat of liability can result in wasteful defensive medicine and drive up insurance premiums. New medical technologies such as personalized medicine trigger both edges of the liability sword. On...

Advances in molecular diagnostics, physicians say, have the potential to improve identification of cardiac diseases and further understanding of mechanisms responsible for their pathogenesis and phenotypic expression. These tests may also predict the need for specific treatment, or help avoid unnecessary therapies and invasive diagnostic procedures. And, scientists add, while genomic research in cardiovascular disease (CVD) has progressed rapidly over...

As you have probably noticed, there’s been a major shift in the focus of next-gen sequencing over the past couple of years. First it was all about new genomes, new techniques, and discovery. Now it’s all about translation. We are entering a new era in next-gen sequencing, one in which NGS technologies will not only be used for discovery,...

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Stanford University School of Medicine researchers say they have developed an inexpensive, portable, microchip-based test for diagnosing type 1 diabetes that they believe could improve patient care worldwide and help researchers better understand the disease. Described in a paper (“A plasmonic chip for biomarker discovery and diagnosis of type 1 diabetes”) published in Nature Medicine, the test employs nanotechnology to...