Latest SciTech Headlines

The Next-Generation, Lightning Fast Internet Technology Unveiled by Cisco

Maxiwill.com -- Cisco today announced the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System (CRS), a major advancement in Internet networking designed to serve as the foundation of the next-generation Internet and set the pace for the astonishing growth of video transmission, mobile devices and new online servicesfor the coming decades.

With over 12 times the traffic capacity of the nearest competing system, the company says that Cisco CRS-3 is designed to transform the broadband communication and entertainment industry by accelerating the delivery of compelling new experiences for consumers, new revenue opportunities for service providers, and new ways to collaborate in the workplace.

Researchers Create Atlas of Transcription Factor Combinations

San Diego, CA (Scicasts) - In a significant leap forward in the understanding of how specific types of tissue are determined to develop in mammals, an international team of scientists has succeeded in mapping the entire network of DNA-binding transcription factors and their interactions. This global network, indicating which factors can combine to determine cell fate, was published in the March 5 issue of the journal Cell.

Symyx Transitions to Pure-Play Scientific Software Company

Sunnyvale, CA (Scicasts) - Symyx Technologies has announced it's successful transition to a pure-play scientific software company with the completion of the planned divestiture of its High Productivity Research (HPR) business unit assets, previously announced on February 11, 2010. The divested assets will be owned and operated by FreeSlate (formerly HPR Global) in HPR's current location in Sunnyvale, California.

EMBL Scientists Present Genetic Catalog of our Gut Flora

Heidelberg, Germany (Scicasts) - The thousands of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live in our gut are essential contributors to our good health. They break down toxins, manufacture some vitamins and essential amino acids, and form a barrier against invaders. A study published this week in Nature shows that, at 3.3 million, microbial genes in our gut outnumber previous estimates for the whole of the human body.

Naegleria Genome Sequenced

Berkeley, CA (Scicasts) - In the long evolutionary road from bacteria to humans, a major milestone occurred some 1.5 billion years ago when microbes started building closets for all their stuff, storing DNA inside a nucleus, for example, or cramming all the energy machinery inside mitochondria.

New Compounds Discovered Open Doors for New Class of AIDS Drug

La Jolla, CA (Scicasts) - A team of researchers at the Scripps Research Institute has discovered two new compounds that prove the existence of new binding sites on HIV protease. Associate Professor C. David Stout, senior author of the study, explained “These results open the door to a whole new approach to drug design against HIV protease,” which is an enzyme used by HIV to create new, infectious viral particles.

IBM Donates Supercomputer to Rice University

Houston, TX (Scicasts) - Rice University and IBM have unveiled a new high-performance computing (HPC) initiative for biomedical and life sciences research that features one of the most powerful supercomputers in the Texas Medical Center. According to the announcement, Rice scientists will use the supercomputer in collaboration with researchers from across the medical centre to study cancer, AIDS and other complex diseases.

Researchers Sequence Ancient Polar Bear Fossil

Buffalo, NY (Scicasts) - According to a report from the University of Buffalo, a rare, ancient polar bear fossil discovered in Norway in 2004 is yielding a treasure trove of essential information about the age and evolutionary origins of the species whose future is now seen as synonymous with the devastation wrought by climate change.

Smoking Significantly Increases Risk of Aneurysm in People with Certain Genes

Dallas, TX (Scicasts) - According to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2010, for people who carry common gene variants, cigarette smoking greatly increases the risk that a blood vessel in the brain will weaken and balloon out – called an aneurysm – which could be life-threatening if it ruptures.

NHGRI Launches Online Genomics Center

Bethesda, MD (Scicasts) - An online tool to help educators teach the next generation of nurses and physician assistants about genetics and genomics was launched by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The tool is part of NHGRI’s effort to address the growing need among health care professionals for knowledge in this area, which is paving the way for more individualized approaches to detect, treat and prevent many diseases.

Internet Explorer's Domination May End in Europe

Maxiwill.com - As of today, Microsoft will begin offering a “Web browser choice screen” to Internet Explorer users in Europe, following demands from the European Commission.

In December last year, the European Commission and Microsoft arrived at a resolution of a number of long-standing competition law issues. Microsoft agreed to use Windows Update to provide a browser choice screen to Windows users in Europe who are running Internet Explorer as their default browser. This browser choice screen presents a list of browsers, with links to learn more about them and to install them. According to Microsoft, the design and operation of this choice screen was worked out in the course of extensive discussions with the Commission. Users who get the choice screen will be free to choose any browser or stick with the browser they already installed.

Life Technologies Debuts the SOLiD PI System

Carlsbad, CA (Scicasts) - Life Technologies has unveiled plans for the Applied Biosystems SOLiD PI System, a flexible and easy-to-use genomic analysis platform that, the company believes, will bring next-generation sequencing within the grasp of all life science research laboratories worldwide. Early customer adoption of the SOLiD PI System is expected to begin in the second half of 2010.

Genetic Link between Misery and Death Discovered

San Diego, CA (Scicasts) - In ongoing work to identify how genes interact with social environments to impact human health, UCLA researchers have discovered what they describe as a biochemical link between misery and death. In addition, they found a specific genetic variation in some individuals that seems to disconnect that link, rendering them more biologically resilient in the face of adversity.

imaGenes GmbH Adds Certification of Roche NimbleGen DNA Methylation Analysis to Service Portfolio

Madison, WI, (Scicasts) - Roche NimbleGen has announce that imaGenes GmbH, located in Berlin, Germany, has passed the certification process to qualify as a Roche NimbleGen Certified Service Provider (CSP) for DNA Methylation Analysis. imaGenes is a solution provider for functional genomics and proteomics with a comprehensive portfolio of high-quality services for molecular life sciences. This is the second certification for imaGenes to provide service for NimbleGen arrays, following the successful certification as ChIP-chip CSP in December 2009, and makes them the first service provider in Europe with multiple certifications.

Intel and Nokia Merge Software Platforms for a New Era of Mobile Computing

Maxiwill.com -- Earlier this month, Intel and Nokia merged their popular Moblin and Maemo software platforms, creating a unified Linux-based platform called MeeGo. According to their announcement, MeeGo will run on multiple hardware platforms across a wide range of computing devices, including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Intel says that this open software platform will accelerate industry innovation and time-to-market for a wealth of new Internet-based applications and services and exciting user experiences. MeeGo-based devices from Nokia and other manufacturers are expected to be launched later this year.

CLC bio and Isilon Form Partnership

Aarhus, Denmark (Scicasts) - CLC bio, a bioinformatics solution provider, has announced a partnership with Isilon Systems, which the company believes will help the life science community eliminate some of the toughest workflow bottlenecks when working with high-throughput sequencing data: Analysis and storage.

Research Program to Understand Malaria Receives $12.7 Million

Victoria, Australia (Scicasts) - A research program that aims to better understand malaria infection and develop treatments and vaccines for the disease has been awarded $12.7 million (US$11.5 million) by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Life Technologies Launches Capillary Electrophoresis Sequencing System for Forensic Laboratories

Carlsbad, CA (Scicasts) - Life Technologies has unveiled the launch of a new genetic analysis system designed to optimize data quality and deliver increased reliability, performance, quality assurance and ease-of-use specifically for forensic DNA testing laboratories. The Applied Biosystems 3500 Series Genetic Analyzer is the latest addition to the company's line of capillary electrophoresis (CE) DNA sequencing systems, and has been validated to support a specific feature set and workflow for human identification (HID) applications. The company made the announcement at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences 62nd Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

Melanoma Transcriptome Reveals Genomic Alterations Not Seen Before

Cold Spring Harbor, NY (Scicasts) - Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, afflicts more than 50,000 people in the United States annually and the incidence rate continues to rise. In a study published online in Genome Research, scientists have delved further into the RNA world of the melanoma tumour and have identified genomic alterations that could play a role in the disease.

New Tool Shows Connections Between Stem Cells and Cancer

Chevy Chase, MD (Scicasts) - According to a report from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, researchers at the Institute have a new tool to understand how cancers grow -- and with it a new opportunity to identify novel cancer drugs. They've been able to break apart human prostate tissue, extract the stem cells in that tissue, and alter those cells genetically so that they spur cancer.