Illumina Acquires IDbyDNA
The firms have had an alliance for the past two years and market a respiratory pathogen panel.
Molecular Tumor Profiling Benefits Pediatric Cancer Patients, Study Finds
A prospective, multicenter study involving 345 children or young adults with cancer suggested tumor panel sequencing can help guide treatment, improve diagnoses, or inform prognoses.
People in the News at Congenica, Proof Diagnostics, Burning Rock Biotech, More
Congenica: Robert Denison
Robert Denison has been appointed as CEO of genome analysis firm Congenica. He will also join the company’s board of directors. Since 2019, Denison has served as Congenica’s chief information officer.
Proof Diagnostics: Adam Henry
Proof Diagnostics has appointed Adam Henry as senior VP of corporate development. He has more than 25 years of experience in the diagnostics space and was previously head of corporate strategy and business development at Roche subsidiary GenMark Diagnostics. Before that, he was at Siemens Healthineers focusing on internal management consulting for the firm's diagnostics division. Henry also worked at Hologic and Gen-Probe, now part of Hologic, in senior management roles.
Burning Rock Biotech: Jing Rong, Licen Xu
Jing Rong has resigned from the board of directors of Burning Rock Biotech, and Licen Xu has been appointed as a new independent director. Xu has over 15 years of experience in the commercialization of biomedical products. She is the chief commercial officer of FlashDx, a molecular diagnostics point-of-care company, and an independent board member of synthetic DNA firm Ribbon Biolab. Xu also served as VP of strategic product management and lifecycle management at Roche Diagnostics and as VP of strategic marketing and product management at Illumina. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Zurich and an M.S. in biophysics from Tsinghua University.
For additional recent items on executive appointments, promotions, and departures in omics and molecular diagnostics, please see the People in the News page on our website.
Tens of Millions Saved
The Associated Press writes that vaccines against COVID-19 saved an estimated 20 million lives in their first year.
Supersized Bacterium
NPR reports that researchers have found and characterized a bacterium that is visible to the naked eye.
Also Subvariants
Moderna says its bivalent SARS-CoV-2 vaccine leads to a strong immune response against Omicron subvariants, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Science Papers Present Gene-Edited Mouse Models of Liver Cancer, Hürthle Cell Carcinoma Analysis
In Science this week: a collection of mouse models of primary liver cancer, and more.
In Brief This Week: Strata Oncology, University of Maryland Medicine, Helio Health, More
News items for the week of June 20, 2022
McKesson to Acquire HCA's Personalized Medicine Software Unit
The unit, Genospace, uses genomic and other data to match and recruit patients for clinical trials and to guide clinical decision making.
Monkeypox Genome Analysis Points to Single Origin of Recent Outbreak
The MPXV genomes additionally exhibited signs of undergoing accelerated evolution, possibly fueled by the host antiviral APOBEC3 system.
Myriad Genetics Partners with Epic Systems to Make Test Results Available in EMR
The integration is slated to go live later this year and allow doctors to order Myriad's tests and receive the results in Epic's platform without additional, manual steps.
Founder Events Common in Human, Dog Populations, Study Finds
Using a computational method called ASCEND, researchers retraced founder events in hundreds of modern and ancient human populations and dozens of dog breeds.
Poliovirus Found in London Sewage
Poliovirus has been found in sewage from North and East London, suggesting local spread, the New York Times reports.
Credit Gap
Women are less likely to be given credit on papers and patents for their work than their male colleagues, according to Science.
Not Yet Clear Why
Researchers are still not sure why a gene-edited pig heart transplanted into a human patient failed, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Nature Papers on Neuroinflammation in Epilepsy, Sequencing Panels for Pediatric Cancers, More
In Nature this week: pro-inflammatory microenvironment of epilepsy, clinical impact of pediatric molecular tumor profiling, and more.
Nucleix Expands EU Label Indication for Bladder Cancer Urine Test
The test measures DNA methylation patterns in urine that are associated with urothelial cancer and was first launched for monitoring tumor recurrence.
Advanced Dilated, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Have Similar Transcriptional Profiles, Study Finds
The analysis also uncovered a set of activated fibroblasts within a subset of DCM and HCM samples that were not present among non-failing hearts.
Biosignatures Show Potential For Predicting Cancer Risk in Non-Alcoholic Liver Disease Patients
Tissue gene expression and blood serum protein signatures distinguished between NAFLD patients with higher or lower risk of hepatocellular carcinoma development or recurrence.