Last year in a blog of ours on the future of genome sequencing we referenced a July appeals court ruling that protected Utah's Myriad Genetics' patent on two genes known to be indicators of breast cancer risk. Now, in a recent Supreme Court ruling on that same case, the previous ruling has been overturned and the case returned to the lower court for rehearing. This decision follows another important high court ruling on the patentability of genes: Mayo vs. Prometheus Labs (San Diego), which also just ruled against a company's right to hold patents on human genes, and which was quoted as a precedent in the latest Myriad judgement.
Tags: Utah, gene patenting, DNA Sequencing, genome research, genomic medicine, Southwest, Life science branding, Genomics, Life Science Research Market, Univ of Utah
Recently, Georgetown University researchers received a $3 million NIH bioresearch grant to open a new collaborative HIV/AIDS research center called the Developmental Center for AIDS Research (D-CFAR).
Tags: Georgetown University, Washington DC, Northeast, AIDS Research, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, NIH, Georgetown
Traditionally, the only kind of conference with the steam to get a lot of people really worked up and to make headlines has been the sports variety, as in "Buffalo embarrasses Washington for critical conference win" or "Big East releases 2012 conference schedule." But a scientific conference with 1000 participants and hundreds of simulcasts by teaching hospitals, medical schools, research institutions, university life science departments, state and federal government agencies, health-oriented corporations and nonprofits across the nation? Welcome to TEDMED 2012, coming to Washington DC (and a big screen near you) this April 10-13, and generating a lot of buzz in its advance wake.
Tags: Washington DC, Northeast, Medical Research, Event, current science event, scientific conference, scientific conferences
One of the ways to encourage companies to invest in research is to offer them a tax credit incentive, and that's exactly what many states do, including, soon, Alabama. If the company does their own research, they get one tax break, but if they have it done by a public research institution like the University of Alabama, they get a much larger break: 15% under Alabama's proposed new law. That's good news for UAB, UAT, and other major research campuses in the state. And the rate may be even higher if Alabama tries to match North Carolina's incentive, which just went up to 20%.
Tags: New research facilities, Alabama, University of Alabama Birmingham, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Birmingham, Southern Region
Four years into the current recession, you might expect new building projects to be dwindling on the campus of the University of California San Diego, but you'd be wrong. Yes, there are buildings that were planned back in the day and already have pre-2008 bond funding in place, but then there are newly-proposed (and approved) projects like the Center for Innovative Therapeutics, which will be an "innovator space" and "entrepreneurial life science hub" for translational research. The 100,000sf facility is slated for a 6.3-acre lot between the Moores Cancer Center and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology that is part of the UCSD Science Research Park. Funding for the new building has reportedly already been secured and the design process is underway.
Tags: University of California San Diego, New research facilities, Southwest, California, San Diego, UCSD, UC San Diego, California Research Conference, La Jolla, Biotechnology Vendor Showcase, new construction, BVS
The UC Davis Cancer Center was recently recognized as a "comprehensive" center by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This is the most prestigious honor that a cancer center can receive and designates the renamed, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center as one of the top cancer research institutions in the country.
Tags: biomedical sciences, University of California Davis, cancer research, Southwest, California, UC Davis Cancer Center, BioResearch Product Faire Event, BRPF, Biomedical Research Funding, Cancer Center, Sacramento Campus
New research labs and buildings are appearing on-campus at the University of Nevada, Reno. Recently construction was completed on a building that will be a hub for science research. The Pennington Health and Science Building is standout among other research buildings on campus, with over 59,000 square feet of laboratory, classroom and office space. Here are some quick highlight points on one of Nevada's most cutting edge research facilities.
Tags: New research facilities, new science wet labs, University of Nevada Reno, UNR, Nevada, Southwest, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Front Line event
Bioresearch students at the University of Colorado, Boulder will be able to do new in depth research into the conversion of biomass to various chemicals and fuels, thanks to a new bioresearch grant from the NSF. The NSF grant was awarded to the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, or C2B2, a joint research renewable energy facility used by CU-Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Tags: Bioresearch, biofuels, green chemistry, Southwest, University of Colorado Boulder, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Energy, Colorado, NSF, UCO, BRPF
We live in an age obsessed with cleanliness. Hand washing is at an all-time high, as are sanitizers of every sort. It's not enough that our municiple water is filtered at a plant somewhere before coming into our homes, no, we need to filter it once more before it's safe to drink. Yet even that level of screening for contaminants may not be enough. For people living near air force bases there's an additional threat, and it's caused by a specific chemical used in rocket fuel: ammonium perchlorate. Perchlorate has a tendency to end up in the water supply near these bases, and traditional water filters don't do the trick when it comes to screening out the toxin. Fortunately, two entrepreneurial materials science researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, have come up with a novel filtering material that does screen perchlorate, and they are well on their way to commercializing their invention, thanks to two federal small business awards and the support of the pro-business University of Illinois Research Park.
Tags: Midwest, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, university research park, Funding, chemistry researchers, innovative solution, chemical supply, laboratory chemicals, NSF, lab chemical

The 225th Anniversary of the University of Pittsburgh will be celebrated this year. One of their most notable accomplishments was contributing to the launch of the "Biotech Industry". Herbert Boyer, a Pitt PhD graduate helped discover how to cut and transfer individual genes within the DNA molecule and transfer them from one organism to another. Boyer eventually founded Genetech, widely considered one of the first successful biotech companies.
With many accomplishments, in 2000, Herbert Boyer and his wife established the Herbert W. and Grace Boyer Chair in molecular biology in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Biological Sciences. Today the Herbert W. and Grace Boyer Chair in Molecular Biology is used to support an outstanding faculty member in the field of post-genomic molecular biology.
Tags: University of Pittsburgh, Northeast, Life Science Funding, UPITT, 2012, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research Funding, Life Science Marketing, Biotechnology, laboratory product show, current science events, PA, bioscience event, Pittsburgh, Laboratory Equipment Supplier, BRPF, scientific sales, Science sales, scientific supplies, scientific equipment

