GenOmics

Media Release Loyola University Health System via Newswise — Maywood, Ill. – Patients see potential benefits from direct-to-consumer genetic testing, but are also concerned about how test results will be used, and generally are unwilling to pay more than $10 or $20 for them, according to focus groups conducted by researchers at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Findings by first author Katherine Wasson, PhD, MPH, and colleagues are published in the American Journal of Bioethics Primary Research. Wasson, an assistant professor in Loyola’s Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, is an expert on the ethics of direct-to-consumer genetics tests.

Media Release, April 11, 2012

The brave new world of stem cell research dangles the exciting potential for a host of leading-edge treatments that may one day help cure debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, maladies that today cannot be treated with modern medicine.

However, not much thought has been given to how those products might be regulated and how issues of legal liability may be addressed in a way that encourages scientific innovation but also protects the patients for whom these treatments might provide great relief.

Media Release, March 23, 2012, Washington -

Genomics, proteomics, and other branches of molecular bioscience offer the prospect of greater precision in medical care, but some clinical tests based on "omics" research have proved invalid and highlighted the challenges of dealing with complex data. To enhance the translation of omics-based discoveries to clinical use, a new report by the Institute of Medicine recommends a detailed process to evaluate whether the data and computational steps underlying such tests are sound and the tests a...

University of Alberta Professor and Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy Tim Caulfield, along with Shawn HE Harmon and Yann Joly have just had a paper published in Genome Medicine at http://genomemedicine.com/content/4/2/17/abstract .

The article is worth sharing with Chief Science Officers, legal counsel or Program Directors in many funding organizations, government funding bodies or universities. In particular the final section on policy conflict is worth a look.

Thanks to Karin Morin at Genome Canada for passing along the information.

Media Release, Monday, March 12, 2012 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Beliefs about nature and nurture can affect how patients and their families respond to news about their diagnosis, according to Penn State health communication researchers.

Understanding how people might respond to a health problem, especially when the recommendations for adapting to the condition may seem contradictory to their beliefs, is crucial to planning communication strategies, said Roxanne Parrott, Distinguished Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and Health Policy and Administration.

Media Release, February 24th - Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine have launched the Penn State Hershey Institute for Personalized Medicine, which will bring together faculty, resources and programs devoted to advancing the relatively new field of personalized medicine, one of the most promising frontiers in medicine.

The new institute will work in close collaboration with departments and institutes across the Hershey campus, including the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, to advance research in this field and to translate that research into clinical applications.

The rapid development of fast, affordable whole genome sequencing (WGS) technologies is set to bring major changes to clinical and public health practice. The potential benefits within the next few years are significant: improved diagnosis and management of inherited diseases and cancer, and more personalised use of treatments and therapies.

The potential benefits of the new technologies are significant: improved diagnosis and management of inherited diseases and cancer, and more personalised use of treatments and therapies. However,successful delivery of a more efficient and effective system of healthcare using genomics requires:

Media Release, Montreal

The Centre of Excellence in Personalized Medicine (Cepmed), announced today that they have launched a web-based Personalized Medicine Portal for Canadians and joined DNA Direct by Medco's Genomic Medicine Network (GMN).

Cepmed's Personalized Medicine Portal (Portal) provides information and decision making tools that will help patients understand how genetic testing can be used to inform treatment decisions and enable better communication between patients and providers. The Portal, available at www.cepmed.com, provides information about access to specific genetic tests in each Province. "Many of the stakeholders have told us that there is a dearth of reliable, evidence based information concerning personaliz...

Request for Applications (RFA) Genomics and Personalized Health A Genome Canada – CIHR PartnershipGenome Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), is seeking proposals for large-scale research projects which focus on the application of genomics1 in the area of Personalized Health. Through this partnership Genome Canada will implement an important element of its Strategic Plan (2012-2017) and CIHR will launch its Personalized Medici...

Media Release, January 25, 2012 , Issued on behalf of The Human Genomics Strategy Group

Thousands of patients will benefit from tests to match treatment to their DNA

Two UNC experts write that whole genome and whole exome sequencing technology “will routinely uncover both trivial and important medical results, both welcome and unwelcome … and presents the medical community with new challenges.” Media Release, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The era of widely available next generation personal genomic testing has arrived and with it the ability to quickly and relatively affordably learn the sequence of your entire genome. This would include what...

Media Release WASHINGTON, D.C. (Thursday, November 17, 2011) - Russell M. Medford, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Salutria Pharmaceuticals, LLC provided testimony on Wednesday, November 16 to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues on BIO’sPrinciples Regarding Ethical Performance of International Clinical Trials. Dr. Medford is co-chair of BIO’s Board Standing Committee on Bioethics.

“BIO members support appropriate oversight of clinical trials and medical research, whether conducted in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Dr. Medford. “Performing important research and protecting research subjects are mutually attainable goals, and decisions regarding whether and how to use medical products and technologies must always be made with profound respect for the rights of patients.”

Media Release, Nov.9, 2011 - Dr. Joseph Jacobson, an associate professor of media arts and sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), came to Yeshiva University on October 31 to discuss “Synthetic Biology: Towards the Creation of Novel Living Organisms from Chemical Parts and Halachic Implications.”

“Synthetic biology—the creation of new organisms—is a vast new field in which YU has the ability to take a huge leadership role regarding the ethics of it,” said Jacobson, addressing some 50 YU students, administrators and faculty members.

Media Release, (Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Two psychologists at UC Santa Barbara have provided a new twist on the old adage that people are products of both nature and nurture, in introducing a framework for understanding how these influences interact. The researchers are studying how genotypes (nature) can express themselves differently as a function of culture (nurture). Their findings appear in the current issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Using the oxytocin receptor polymorphism (OXTR), which is linked to socioemotional sensitivity, Heejung Kim and David Sherman, associate professors in UCSB's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, have demonstrated in research funded by the National Science Foundation that individuals can have the same gene, but manifest it differently, depending on their respective cultural experiences. The study involved Korean and American participants, which allowed the researchers to compare the...

Media Release Nov.7, 2011

Call for submissions for issue to be edited by EGN team The call for article manuscripts is now open for a special issue of Sociology, the journal of the British Sociological Association, to be edited by the team organising the EGN Genomics and Identity Politics Workstream: Dr. Christine Hauskeller (Egenis, lead editor), Dr. Richard Tutton (Cesagen), Dr Steve Sturdy (Genomics Forum) and Dr. Gill Haddow (Innogen).

Earlier this week we posted a story from the Biotechnology Industry Organization based in the U.S. about the regulatory framework surrounding animal biotechnology. Since then I've come across a couple of video about animal biotech in the U.S. which I thought I would share.

One of the video on how much animal research is done in the U.K. is embeded here. The other video about animal research and diabetes is an example of how and why animals are used in biotechnology and you can see it on YouTube

Study details outcomes of patients who received the ‘mini transplant’ developed at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research CenterSEATTLE — Nov. 1, 2011 — Age alone no longer should be considered a defining factor when determining whether an older patient with blood cancer is a candidate for stem cell transplantation. That’s the conclusion of the first study summarizing long-term outcomes from a series of prospective clinical trials of patients age 60 and over who were treated with the mini-transplant...

EventAccording to a study done by the Pew Research Centre in 2010 six in ten (59%) Americans get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day.1

Online sources are the third major source behind local and national televised news, and the trend toward online news continues. Why does this trend matter in the context of agriculture innovation and to the people working in agri-food research and development? Anti-GM lobbyists have changed their ‘modus operandi’ and a whole new generation of activism has evolved using online channels that blur the distinction between news and activism. Where once interest groups would demonstrate or, in some...

Top-line results of the AKROBATS trial reveal greater adherence to statins for patients undergoing genetic testingAdditional study data presented at American Society of Human Genetics provide more insight into patient acceptance of pharmacogenetic testing and research participation Media Release, Oct 13, 2011

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. and MONTREAL, Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Medco Research Institute, the research subsidiary of Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MHS), and Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) announced their study showed a statistically significant increase in adherence to statin therapy over six months in patients receiving kinesin-like protein 6 (KIF6) gene testing, compared with those who did not. The AKROBATS (Additional KIF6 Risk Offers Better Adherence to Statins) trial is the f...

Media Release,Toronto, ON – October 3, 2011

A new report released today by the Canadian International Council (CIC), Rights and Rents: Why Canada Must Harness its Intellectual Property Resources, argues that Canada is paying a steep price for its short-sighted approach to intellectual property (IP).

Research conducted on behalf of the CIC shows that international buyers are targeting Canada’s IP-rich start-ups. 58% of new Canadian firms were taken over by foreign investors from 2006-10, yet these acquisitions siphoned off more than 66% of the IP developed by such firms (much of that IP subsidized by taxpayers).