Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Weekly Links April 28 ,2015



“MUST READ”
  • Private Eyes in the Grocery Aisles - NYTimes.com
    • The annual cost of food-borne illnesses in the United States is $14.1 billion to $16.3 billion, according to a 2013 analysis by the Agriculture Department. The federal government has called for a shift from reaction, which usually means a large recall after people have fallen ill or died, to prevention, to reduce the number of such episodes. Wary customers want their food to be safe and genuine, and food retailers, who rely on a global array of suppliers, are looking for ways to protect their brands.
Food testing sits at the intersection of those desires. Mr. Samadpour, who opened IEH’s first lab in 2001 with six employees, now employs over 1,500 people at 116 labs in the United States and Europe. He refers to his company, one of the largest of its kind in the country, as “a privately financed public health organization.”

TOOLS/TECHNIQUES
    • there is a lot of choice when it comes to buying something as simple as an NGS library prep kit. With Illumain in mind (as always) I found at least 17 providers. includding: Affymetrix, Agilent, Beckman, Bioo, Enzymatics, Epigentek, Illumina, Kapa, Lucigen, Mclab, Milipore, NEB, NuGen, Qiagen, Rubicon, Swift and Thermo. All these providers offer at least one, if not a whole range, of NGS kits for DNA; and some offer RNA, ChIP, Methlation, etc, etc, etc.
  • Live Cell Imaging Techniques Bitesize Bio
    • There is a growing number of live-cell imaging techniques meaning you can get greater amounts of information without stressing out your cells (or yourself). In order to make the choice of which technique is right for you, we have put together a brief guide to the three most common methods for live-cell imaging and have discussed their issues and advantages to help you choose the right one for your needs.
  • CoreGenomics: Should you buy a NeoPrep (or any other NGS automation)
    • The main selling point of NeoPrep is that it provides a one-stop solution for NGS library prep. The price point is pretty good (around £30-35k), and speed and quality  looked great in the data presented by Illumina at AGBT (by Gary Schroth and Kevin Meldrum, Illumina have run over 5000 libraries so far); so is NeoPrep a good option for every NGS lab?
  • Methods for analysis whole genomes, transcriptomes and epigenomes Bitesize Bio
    • there are now techniques to study genomics at the level of a single cell. In this series we are going to look at the different methods available for analysing single cells and highlight some important considerations for those of you interested in single-cell genomics.
  • DNA Sequencing Costs

HEALTH/MEDECINE

COMPANIES
    • By increasing the speed and accuracy of next-generation data analysis, Edico says its computing technology makes it easier to identify DNA sequence variations, and how such variations are linked to human disease

SOMETHING DIFFERENT
    • The individuals who have founded some of the most success tech companies are decidedly weird. Examine the founder of a truly innovative company and you’ll find a rebel without the usual regard for social customs.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Weekly Links April 24 ,2015



“MUST READ”
    • Machines are getting better than humans at figuring out who to hire, who’s in a mood to pay a little more for that sweater, and who needs a coupon to nudge them toward a sale. In applications around the world, software is being used to predict whether people are lying, how they feel and whom they’ll vote for.

TOOLS/TECHNIQUES
    • Why would you do it? There are genes and then there are genes. Some are easy to clone, some are almost impossible to PCR, because they have bad AT or GC rich content or are detrimental to E. coli growth. If you compare half a year spent unsuccessfully trying to clone your gene with $1000 spent on a synthetic gene, the second option doesn’t seem too outrageous.
  • 10 Handy Tips to Help Keep Your PCRs Contamination Free | Bitesize Bio
    • PCR contamination can be your worst nightmare if you are not able to figure out the source of the bands in your negative control.
    • After a lot of trial and error, I finally managed to solve the problem. So here are the steps I followed to prevent PCR contamination.

HEALTH/MEDECINE
    • In the usual cancer biopsy, a surgeon cuts out a piece of the patient’s tumor, but researchers in labs across the country are now testing a potentially transformative innovation. They call it the liquid biopsy, and it is a blood test that has only recently become feasible with the latest exquisitely sensitive techniques. It is showing promise in finding tiny snippets of cancer DNA in a patient’s blood.

COMPANIES
DuPont Diagnostics today announced an exclusive distribution agreement granting VWR rights in theUSto sell the DuPont BAX System Q7 instrument, assays, and related products. The BAX platform is a PCR-based pathogen detection technology for the food industry.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
    • Global sourcing has become an economic imperative for many organisations. Increased competition, globalisation, and the desire to enter developing markets overseas to drive growth  have driven a greatly increased level of international sourcing. However, simply buying internationally is not going to provide the best solution to achieving the goals that will lead to continuing corporate success. A comprehensive global sourcing strategy is required.
    • A guide for CEO’s, CFO’s and CPO’s on how global sourcing can contribute to  business objectives for sustainable competitive advantage

Monday, April 13, 2015

Weekly Links April 13 ,2015



“MUST READ”
    • The individuals who have founded some of the most success tech companies are decidedly weird. Examine the founder of a truly innovative company and you’ll find a rebel without the usual regard for social customs.
  • Our 8 books for young bioscientists Bitesize Bio
    • It is incredibly important for aspiring young scientists to keep up to date with the scientific literature. We all know that some journal articles are a slog, and critiquing other’s research is often an onerous task. Sometimes it’s good to have a break. What follows is a list of popular science books I have found to be quite helpful and I thought I might share them with you.
TOOLS/TECHNIQUES
    • These days, the original FISH protocol has been diversified and developed into a variety of applications, including diagnostic assays. The variation of these FISH experiments is primarily in the sequence and labeling of the probes. Today I am only going to touch on three of the more popular FISH variations: Fiber-FISH, Q-FISH, and Flow-FISH.
HEALTH/MEDECINE
    • Clinical trial is encouraging first step to developing new approach to HIV prevention, treatment and cure.
COMPANIES

    • Combative and charismatic, Mr. Silber was a true believer in Seragen and its drugs, and for a decade he was the company's most ardent salesman. He persuaded scores of associates, friends, and family members to buy in: his brother, sister-in-law and niece, and friends on the faculty. His secretary plowed in more than $10,000.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
    • Every time California has a problem — we ran out of electricity in the early 2000s, then we ran out of money, and now we are running out of water — people say California is over,” Dr. Starr said. “It’s not over. It’s too important a part of American culture to be over. But it will change itself.”
  • The Mind of Those Who Kill, and Kill Themselves - NYTimes.com
    • But in the days since, it has seemed increasingly clear that Andreas Lubitz, 27, the plane’s co-pilot, was something far more sinister: the perpetrator of one of the worst mass murder-suicides in history.
    •