Latest Oncogenomics Stories

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a group of proteins that are mutated in about one-fifth of all human cancers. The finding suggests that the proteins, which are members of a protein complex that affects how DNA is packaged in cells, work to suppress the development of tumors in many types of tissues. The broad reach of the effect of mutations in the complex, called BAF, rivals that of another well-known tumor suppressor called p53. It also furthers...

Sequencing of 57 prostate cancer genomes shows cancer gains powerful advantage with abrupt intervals of complex, large scale DNA reshuffling Cancer is typically thought to develop after genes gradually mutate over time, finally overwhelming the ability of a cell to control growth. But a new closer look at genomes in prostate cancer by an international team of researchers reveals that, in fact, genetic mutations occur in abrupt, periodic bursts, causing complex, large scale reshuffling of...

-- PGDx Founders Are Pioneers in State-of-the-Art Exome Analysis for Cancer Research and Clinical Applications -- BALTIMORE, March 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx), a pioneer in conducting patient-specific analyses aimed at identifying genomic alterations in tumors, today announced a number of developments that will support its expanding business. The company licensed exclusive rights to Digital Karyotyping (DK), an important genome-mapping...

Scientists at A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) headed a study that discovered four processes by which gastric cancer is formed. This is extremely important since gastric cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide, claiming almost 750,000 lives annually, 60% of which are Asians. Using what is known as next-generation sequencing technologies, GIS scientists were able to provide a comprehensive view of the gastric cancer genome, characterizing micro- and...

Jedidiah Becker for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Just one day after a comprehensive national report was released essentially stating that the U.S. is dragging its feet in the fight against cancer, one of the twentieth century’s most renowned scientists has launched a scathing critique against the status quo in current cancer research. In a paper published Tuesday in the prestigious journal Open Biology, Professor James Watson – the American scientist who in 1953...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- New research appearing online today in Clinical Chemistry, the journal of AACC, shows that the analysis of DNA mutations in patients with cancer can be done without surgery. This paper by Chan et al. shows that the plasma of cancer patients also carries tumor-derived DNA. Because the DNA sequencing of plasma is non-invasive, this could lead to cheap and highly informative clinical tools for early cancer diagnosis and personalized therapy...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Metamark Genetics, Inc., a privately held, oncology-focused molecular diagnostics company, announced today that its scientific co-founder Lynda Chin, MD, has resigned from the Metamark board of directors. Dr. Chin is a leader in cancer genomics, member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science, Scientific Director of the Institute for Applied Cancer Science, and founding Chair of the department of Genomic Medicine...

HELSINKI, November 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MediSapiens Ltd, a Finnish company developing web-based data applications for the pharmaceutical industry, today announced that Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals has purchased a new software solution developed by MediSapiens. The software, called OncoGenomics Explorer [http://www.medisapiens.com ] will provide Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals with a centralized access to unified global genomics data for utilization across the entire...

HELSINKI, Finland and SAN FRANCISCO, September 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MediSapiens launches first-in-kind fully integrated and unified cloud computing application that harnesses the power of Big Data and enables knowledge-based drug discovery and repositioning for personalized genomics. This application, called OncoGenomics Explorer, is the next stage of bioinformatics applications for drug discovery. Unlike other cloud computing genomics applications, the Oncogenomics...

By studying fruit flies, scientists at A*STAR’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) have successfully devised a fast and cost-saving way to uncover genetic changes that have a higher potential to cause cancer. With this new approach, researchers will now be able to rapidly distinguish the range of genetic changes that are causally linked to cancer (i.e. “driver” mutations) versus those with limited impact on cancer progression. This research paves the way for doctors to...