A new research study, led by scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, has identified a rare genetic variation associated with a dramatically increased risk of severe acute pancreatitis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients treated with the chemotherapy agent asparaginase. Asparaginase is an essential agent used to treat ALL…

The overwhelming majority of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease cases that occur are sporadic—caused by a complex mix of environmental and shared genetic factors. These types of interactions are notoriously difficult for scientists to study, which is why most research has focused on familial cases that have much clearer…

Illumina is committing $100 million over 10 years to a new venture capital firm whose investment priorities will be in line with the company’s vision. Illumina said the new firm—to be called Illumina Ventures—will be managed independently of the sequencing giant. However, Illumina will be the majority limited partner in…

In a new study from the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), a global, non-profit organization serving molecular diagnostic professionals, researchers described the results from a 2015 analysis of the costs and health economic impact of several Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) genomic sequencing procedures (GSPs). The findings from this study were…

Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine discovered a biomarker that puts patients at a higher risk for metastasis of uveal melanoma, a type of eye cancer. Among uveal melanomas categorized as class 1, those with high levels of the biomarker PRAME mRNA were more likely to…

Lipidomics, the large-scale analysis of cellular lipids, is not only enriching the discipline of systems biology, it is also contributing to the development of new biomarkers. Yet for all the structural and mechanistic insights it is capable of providing, lipidomics continues to struggle with a blind spot. It has trouble…

Ambry Genetics today opened a “Super Lab” in Aliso Viejo, CA that the company says will eventually enable it to increase the number of patient samples it processes daily by nine-fold. Initial plans call for Ambry to triple its capacity for processing patient samples at the Super Lab. At 65,000…

Cofactor Genomics has acquired Narus Biotechnologies, for an undisclosed price, in a deal designed to advance the buyer’s expansion into RNA-based diagnostics Cofactor said the acquisition will also further solidify its plans to develop and deliver RNA-based tests for cancer and neurodegenerative disease. The company said its initial products will…

Novacyt said today it will acquire molecular diagnostics developer Primer Design for up to £12.35 million ($17.6 million) in a deal the buyer said would complement and expand its molecular diagnostics portfolios in cancer and infectious disease. The deal will give Novacyt a second technology platform, genesig®. The rapid real-time…

Thermo Fisher Scientific said today it will partner with Novartis and Pfizer to develop and commercialize a companion diagnostic for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) across multiple drug development programs. The value of the collaboration was not disclosed. The companion diagnostic will be a multimarker, universal next-generation sequencing (NGS) oncology…

In many ways type 2 diabetes can be compared to cancer, in that it is a multifactorial disease that rarely affects each person similarly. For decades, the medical community has struggled to diagnose and treat type 2 diabetes since it presents with such a vast array of symptoms and associated…

When Lorraine Potocki, M.D., attended medical school in the 1980s she didn’t have exposure to a genetics class. Dr. Potocki, a professor at Houston, TX-based Baylor College of Medicine’s department of Molecular and Human Genetics, wasn’t even aware that there were training programs in genetics until her residency was well…

The BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic test for breast cancer may be a very expensive way of looking for needles concealed in massive haystacks. That’s the conclusion reached by UCLA researchers who compared universal BRCA1/BRCA2 screening with alternative diagnostic techniques such as annual mammograms, biennial mammograms, and mammograms augmented by magnetic resonance imaging.…

Does being able to test for allergies, STDs, or even cancer in minutes from the comfort and privacy of your home sound like science fiction? Well, a newly designed test from researchers at the University of Montreal could make it a reality before the next Star Trek movie comes to…

MDx Health plans to acquire NovioGendix for up to $8.8 million, the companies said today, in a deal that expands the buyer’s uro-oncology offerings with a non-invasive urine-based molecular biomarker test for prostate cancer that is set to be launched to market next year in the U.S. and Europe. Privately-held…