June 15, 2017 DNA double helix. Credit: public domain

Researchers have identified properties in DNA's protective structure that could transform the way scientists think about the human genome.

Molecules involved in DNA's supportive scaffoldingonce thought to be fixedgo through dynamic and responsive changes to shield against mutations, the research shows.

Experts say this finding is crucial to understanding DNA damage and genome organisation and could impact current thinking on DNA-linked diseases, including cancers.

In human cells, DNA is wrapped around proteins to form chromatin. Chromatin shields DNA from damage and regulates what genetic information can be reada process known as transcription.

Researchersled by the University of Edinburghshowed that a chemical called scaffold attachment factor A (SAF-A) binds to specific molecules known as caRNAs to form a protective chromatin mesh.

For the first time, this mesh was shown to be dynamic, assembling and disassembling and allowing the structure to be flexible and responsive to cell signals.

In addition, loss of SAF-A was found to lead to abnormal folding of DNA and to promote damage to the genome.

SAF-A has previously been shown in mouse studies to be essential to embryo development and mutations of the SAF-A gene have repeatedly been found in cancer gene screening studies.

Scientists say the findings shed light on how chromatin protects DNA from high numbers of harmful mutations, a condition known as genetic instability.

The studypublished in Cellwas carried out in collaboration with Heriot Watt University. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Nick Gilbert, Professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh's MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, said: "These findings are very exciting and have fundamental implications for how we understand our own DNA, showing that chromatin is the true guardian of the genome. The results open new possibilities for investigating how we might protect against DNA mutations that we see in diseases like cancer."

Cutting-edge techniques used in the study were developed by the Edinburgh Super-Resolution Imaging Consortium, which is supported by the MRC, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Professor Rory Duncan, Head of the Institute for Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering at Heriot-Watt University said: "The molecules involved in this study are as small to humans as Jupiter is large. The bespoke microscope techniques that we developed to understand these very tiny structures are important not only for this project but for all of biology."

Explore further: In fruit fly and human genetics, timing is everything

Journal reference: Cell

Provided by: University of Edinburgh

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Population health and precision medicine seem like such polar opposites standing 180 degrees apart. But the path to fully realizing the benefits of precision medicine stands to reap rewards for population health along the way. That was the takeaway from an interview with India Hook-Barnard, the director of research strategy and associate director of Precision Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. She talked about the balance between the two areas of healthcare in an interview in Boston after she spoke at HIMSS Precision Medicine Summit this week.

Hook-Barnard called attention to a list of projects related to precision medicine. They included the Cell Cancer Map Initiative to discover molecular networks of cancer, the University of California Data Warehouse to connect 15 million electronic health records across the University of California health system, a Biobank that seeks to simplify the informed consent process and the Scalable Precision Open Knowledge Engine.

All of these projects are helping to advance precision medicine in different ways. They will enable us to more quickly make discoveries, provide better care, but also make better decisions in public health.

She called attention to some of the work of her colleagues. Atul Butte is the first director for the Institute of Computational Health Sciences. Among his many roles, he is one of the leaders of the University of California Data Warehouse. Among their tasks are to address privacy and security issues for making data from those records accessible across health systems plugged into the University of California network.

Theyre looking at being able to repurpose drugs, what will really provide better outcomes. It will be really huge being able to connect that kind of data and use it in a healthcare space and research space.

The San Francisco Cancer Initiative, is about sharing information for what works and what doesnt work for five types of cancer with the highest cost burden: prostate, breast, liver, colorectal and tobacco-related cancers. Each will be assigned a taskforce, Hook-Barnard said. The public-private partnership launched last year with a $3 million investment from a donor to the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. The initiative is led by Dr. Robert Hiatt, the chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF. He authored a report on health disparities for cancer treatment outcomes.

Hook-Barnard described what the program seeks to accomplish using tobacco-related cancer as an example, and highlighted some of the questions the initiative seeks to address in this area. Social determinants of health will also come into play.

We know the dangers of smoking and the impact of it, yet there are certain communitiesthat are still developing lung cancer at much higher rate than others. Why is that? Is the messaging on prevention not resonating? Are cessation efforts not tailored enough to be effective? Is access to early screening for detection in certain neighborhoods [the problem]? Being able to tailor those kinds of preventive messaging, early screenings, diagnostics and access, could improve earlier access to treatment.

The Molecular Oncology initiative led by Michael Korn of UCSF is yet another initiative. The website offers this description of the UCSF500 gene panel assay the laboratory conducts.

a cutting-edge sequencing test that, in contrast with commercial cancer gene panel tests, sequences tumor DNA and the patients germline (inherited) DNA. This unique component of the UCSF500 molecular diagnostic test enables identification of genetic changes (mutations) in the DNA of a patients cancer, which helps oncologists improve treatment by identifying targeted therapies, or appropriate clinical trials, or in some cases clarify the exact type of cancer a patient has.

Although it is about using genomics in the clinic to get a more precise diagnosis, the goal of the initiative is to solve some of the wider questions that often go unanswered and to make sure that data isnt locked in a silo somewhere. What treatment(s) worked and why?

How do we capture that information to make sure that is shared and duplicated? We want to make sure those lessons, those findingsonce you have that piece of knowledge, how do you make sure it is shared with other medical centers? For precision medicine to work, it is about these different kinds of data and acquiring knowledge we need to enable data sharing.

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MSU Gran Fondo funds promising skin cancer studies MSUToday To make a long story short, I wouldn't be working on this if it wasn't for the MSU Gran Fondo, said researcher Fredric Manfredsson, an assistant professor in the Department of Translational Science & Molecular Medicine. In its first four years, the ...

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Treatment with molecular decoy may lessen recurrent infections, mouse study shows

An E. coli bacterium (above, in gold) attaches to and invades cells lining the inner surface of the bladder. UTIs are among the most common infections, and they tend to recur. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a molecular decoy that reduces the number of UTI-causing gut bacteria. This compound potentially could lower the chance of repeat UTIs.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections, and they tend to come back again and again, even when treated. Most UTIs are caused by E. coli that live in the gut and spread to the urinary tract.

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that a molecular decoy can target and reduce these UTI-causing bacteria in the gut. With a smaller pool of disease-causing bacteria in the gut, according to the researchers, the risk of having a UTI goes down.

The ultimate goal of our research is to help patients manage and prevent the common problem of recurrent urinary tract infections while at the same time helping to address the worldwide crisis of antimicrobial resistance, said Scott J. Hultgren, PhD, the Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology and the studys senior author. This compound may provide a way to treat UTIs without the use of antibiotics.

The study is published June 14 in Nature.

Close to 100 million people worldwide acquire UTIs each year, and despite antibiotic treatment, about a quarter develop another such infection within six months. UTIs cause painful, burning urination and the frequent urge to urinate. In serious cases, the infection can spread to the kidneys and then the bloodstream, where it can become life-threatening.

Most UTIs are caused by E. coli that live harmlessly in the gut. However, when shed in the feces, the bacteria can spread to the opening of the urinary tract and up to the bladder, where they can cause problems. Conventional wisdom holds that UTIs recur frequently because bacterial populations from the gut are continually re-seeding the urinary tract with disease-causing bacteria.

Hultgren, graduate student Caitlin Spaulding, and colleagues reasoned that if they could reduce the number of dangerous E. coli in the gut, they could reduce the likelihood of developing a UTI and possibly prevent some recurrent infections.

First, the researchers identified genes that E. coli need to survive in the gut. One set of genes coded for a kind of pilus, a hairlike appendage on the surface of E. coli that allows the bacteria to stick to tissues, like molecular velcro. Without this pilus, the bacteria fail to thrive in the gut.

Earlier studies found that the identified pilus attaches to a sugar called mannose that is found on the surface of the bladder. Grabbing hold of mannose receptors on the bladder with the pilus allows the bacteria to avoid being swept away when a person urinates. Bacteria that lack this pilus are unable to cause UTIs in mice.

Previously, Hultgren and co-author, James W. Janetka, PhD, an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Washington University, chemically modified mannose to create a group of molecules, called mannosides, that are similar to mannose but changed in a way that the bacteria latch onto them more tightly with their pili. Unlike mannose receptors, though, these mannosides are not attached to the bladder wall, so bacteria that take hold of mannosides instead of mannose receptors are flushed out with urine.

Since the researchers found that this same pilus also allows the bacteria to bind in the gut, they reasoned that mannoside treatment could reduce the number of E. coli in the gut and perhaps prevent the spread of the bacteria to the bladder.

To test this idea, they introduced a disease-causing strain of E. coli into the bladders and guts of mice to mirror the pattern seen in people. In women with UTIs, the same bacteria that cause problems in the bladder usually also are found living in the gut.

The researchers gave the mice three oral doses of mannoside, and then measured the numbers of bacteria in the bladders and guts of the mice after the last dose of mannoside. They found that the disease-causing bacteria had been almost entirely eliminated from the bladder and reduced a hundredfold in the gut, from 100 million per sample to 1 million.

While we did not entirely eliminate this strain of bacteria from the gut, the results are still promising, said Spaulding, the papers first author. Reducing the number of disease-causing bacteria in the gut means there are fewer available to enter the urinary tract and cause a UTI.

The type of pilus the researchers studied is found in most strains of E. coli and some related bacterial species as well. In theory, mannoside treatment could cause other bacteria living in the gut with the same kind of pilus to be swept away, much as antibiotic treatment kills bystander bacteria along with the intended target. Eliminating harmless bacteria potentially opens up space in the gut for more dangerous microbes to grow. This can result in intestinal disorders, one of the known risks of broad antibiotic treatment.

In collaboration with co-author Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor at the School of Medicine, researchers measured the composition of the gut microbiome after mannoside treatment. They found that mannoside treatment had minimal effect on intestinal bacteria other than the ones that cause most UTIs. This is in stark contrast to the massive changes in the abundance of many microbial species seen after treatment with antibiotics.

This finding is exciting because weve developed a therapeutic that acts like a molecular scalpel, Spaulding said. It goes in and specifically cuts out the bacteria you want to get rid of, while leaving the remainder of the microbial community intact.

Furthermore, since mannoside is not an antibiotic, it potentially could be used to treat UTIs caused by antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, a growing problem. UTIs account for 9 percent of all antibiotics prescribed every year in the United States, so a therapy for UTI that avoids antibiotics could help curb the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms.

Differences in anatomy and behavior between mice and women make mice a challenging model for testing whether reducing the bacterial load in the gut actually reduces the number of repeat UTIs. To answer that question, human studies are needed.

Hultgren has co-founded a company, Fimbrion Therapeutics, with Janetka and Thomas Mac Hooton, MD, of the University of Miami School of Medicine, to develop mannosides and other drugs as potential therapies for UTI. Fimbrion is working on identifying a promising candidate drug for clinical trials in humans.

Spaulding CN, Klein RD, Ruer S, Kau AL, Schreiber HL, Cusumano ZT, Dodson KW, Pinkner JS, Fremont DH, Janetka JW, Remaut H, Gordon JI, Hultgren SJ. Selective depletion of uropathogenic E. coli from the gut by a FimH antagonist. Nature. June 14, 2017.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant numbers K08AI113184, R01AI048689, RO1DK051406, P50DK064540, RC1DK086378, DK30292, RO1DK051406, and 1F31DK107057; the Research Foundation Flanders, grant number G030411N; the Hercules Foundation, grant number UABR/09/005; and the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, grant number PRJ9.

Hultgren and Janetka are inventors on patent application US8937167, which covers the use of mannoside-based FimH ligand antagonists for the treatment of disease. The two have ownership interest in Fimbrion Therapeutics and may benefit if the company is successful in marketing mannosides.

Washington University School of Medicines 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient-care institutions in the nation, currently ranked seventh in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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UTI treatment reduces E. coli, may offer alternative to antibiotics - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

By: Express News Service | Pune | Published:June 15, 2017 1:42 am

On Thursday, the first global symposium on Precision Medicine in Cancer evolving paradigms will get underway in the city. Experts from across the world will participate in the emerging field of precision medicine which is making a difference in treatment of some of the cancers.

Personome-Germany, an international molecular information company that helps oncologists to personalise cancer treatment options based on a patients genomic and biomarker signature, has set up a molecular genomics lab in Pune.

Dr Aniket Ausekar, molecular biologists, told The Indian Express that precision medicine is an approach to patient care that allows doctors to select treatments most likely to help patients based on a genetic understanding of their disease. At the conference the case of a 20-year-old youth from Saswad who had lung cancer that had spread to the liver and benefited from the precision medicine approach will be highlighted.

The youngster was economically disadvantaged and two years ago we tried to understand why he had this cancer. The biopsy was sent by the treating cancer surgeon Dr Minish Jain and after a series of tests we were able to identify a drug for the specific mutation of the cancer. One of the premier biopharmaceutical firms provided the drug free of cost and the youngster has recovered, Ausekar said.

The idea of precision medicine is not new, but recent advances in science and technology have helped speed up the pace of this area of research. When you are diagnosed with cancer, one usually receive the same treatment as others who have same type and stage of cancer. Scientists now understand that patients tumors have genetic changes that cause cancer to grow and spread, Dr Swapnil Karnik, oncohistopathologist and one of the founder director of Megavision Life Sciences Private limited.

Personome has tied up with Megavision Lifesciences and founder directors Dr Karnik and Dr Bhushan Khedkar to look at the genetic changes in cancer via DNA sequencing, genomic testing and molecular profiling. The main aim is to personalise cancer treatment options based on the patients genomic and biomarker signature. John Beeler-Christian Garbe and Josef Scheiber, among others, will deliver talks on the occasion.

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Global symposium on 'precision medicine in cancer' to be held today - The Indian Express

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine have demonstrated that a drug originally targeted unsuccessfully to treat cancer may have new life as a potential treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The candidate drug, SU9516, represents a different kind of approach for treating DMD, a degenerative muscle disease that usually begins in childhood and has no known cure. It is caused by a faulty gene that leads to progressive muscle weakness, with death often occurring around age 25. Rather than trying to fix or replace the broken gene, SU9516 ramps up the muscle repair process, helping reinforce muscle structure.

NCATS Chemical Genomics Center Acting Branch Chief Juan Marugan, Ph.D., and UNR Med Professor of Pharmacology Dean Burkin, Ph.D., led a team that screened more than 350,000 compounds to find SU9516, which had been previously developed as a treatment for leukemia. The research demonstrated that this compound improved muscle function in both laboratory and animal DMD models. The results, published recently in Molecular Therapy, may provide a promising approach against the disorder and other muscle-wasting conditions.

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Those with DMD lack dystrophin, a protein akin to a molecular shock-absorber that helps keep muscle cells intact. Without dystrophin, muscles are fragile and easily injured. Individuals lose muscle strength and the ability to repair damaged muscle tissue. Most die from heart or respiratory problems.

"Our findings open the door to develop new drug treatments for DMD," Marugan said.

In earlier research, Burkin, who is senior author of the current study, and his co-workers showed that boosting the levels of a cell structural protein, 71 integrin, in affected muscle cells could alleviate DMD symptoms in a mouse model. In addition, increased amounts of the protein slowed the disease's progress.

Burkin and his UNR Med colleagues collaborated with NCATS researchers, including co-team leaders Marc Ferrer, Ph.D., and Noel Southall, Ph.D., to screen a large collection of compounds for molecules that could increase 71 integrin production in mouse muscle cells grown in the laboratory. The screen revealed that SU9516 raised integrin production and promoted the formation of muscle cells and fibers from DMD muscle stem cells, another important indication of its potential as a drug.

In a series of pre-clinical experiments, the researchers showed that SU9516 increased the production of 71 integrin in human and mouse DMD muscle cells. Subsequent tests found SU9516 improved muscle function and slowed indicators of disease progression. Apurva Sarathy, a Mick Hitchcock Scholar, was the lead author on these earlier, published findings, completed as part of her PhD thesis at UNR Med.

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Burkin suggests that such a drug could be used alone, or in combination, with other therapies yet to be developed. There might be wide ranging applications to other muscle-damaging conditions, like cachexia, a wasting syndrome characterized by weight loss and muscle atrophy that is often seen in the late stages of cancers, and the effects of aging and injury, he noted.

"Integrin stabilizes muscle structure, and helps stimulate muscle repair and regeneration," Burkin said. "If we can artificially increase its production with drugs, we think it can help protect muscle cells from damage."

The NCATS-UNR Med team plans to work with medicinal chemists to make the molecule more specific for DMD, while also removing the toxic anticancer components, creating a safer version with a goal of future testing in patients.

The work was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases grants, Cure CMD and Struggle Against Muscular Dystrophy. Other co-authors on the Molecular Therapy article include: Apurva Sarathy, Ryan Wuebbles, Tatiana Fontelonga, Ashley Tarchione, Andreia Nunes, Suzann Duan, Paul Brewer, Tyler Van Ry, Dante Heredia, Grant Hennig and Thomas Gould with UNR Med; and Leslie Mathews Griner, Andres Dulcey, Amy Wang, Xin Xu, Catherine Chen, Xin Hu and Wei Zheng with NCATS.

This story was written by Steven Benowitz, science writer with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health.

Shown in the photo are (l-r) Dean Burkin; Pamela Barraza, graduate student; Marisela Dagda, lab manager; Brennan Jordan, undergraduate assistant; Vivian Cruz, lab assistant; Tyler Allen, chief intern; Tatiana Fontelonga, graduate student; and Ryan Wuebbles, research assistant professor.

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Researchers aim to repurpose former experimental cancer therapy to treat muscular dystrophy - Nevada Today

Boston Business Journal

GE Healthcare's new CEO has been leading Mass.-based division Boston Business Journal He has overseen significant revenue growth of the molecular medicine business which now accounts for more than $4 billion in sales. Now, Murphy will be tapped to lead the $20 billion GE Healthcare, which is responsible for manufacturing medical ... Kieran Murphy appointed as president and CEO of GE HealthcareETHealthworld.com 5 things to know about GE Healthcare's new CEO, Kieran MurphyBecker's Hospital Review all 266 news articles »

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GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt announced today the appointment of Kieran Murphy as president and CEO of GE Healthcare, effective immediately. Murphy is currently president and CEO of GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Murphy succeeds John Flannery who has been appointed CEO and chairman elect of GE.

Murphy, 54, was appointed CEO of GE Healthcare Life Sciences in September 2011. Since then, he has overseen significant revenue growth and geographic expansion of the molecular medicine business, which now accounts for more than $4 billion in annual sales with 11,000 employees in more than 100 countries. GE Healthcare Life Sciences provides a broad range of industry-leading technologies and services for drug discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, as well as molecular tools for diagnostics, therapy selection and treatment monitoring in patient care. The business is a leader in organic growth, margins and cash generation.

Immelt said: In his career at GE, Kieran has demonstrated the right combination of talent and drive to step into this key leadership role at the company. Having led the strategic combination of GEs Life Sciences and Medical Diagnostics units, Kieran is universally respected across GE and has distinguished himself as a strong customer advocate with great commercial instincts. Alongside the outstanding team at GE Healthcare, we anticipate that the business will experience continued global growth under Kierans leadership.

Kieran has proven to be a natural leader and has been instrumental in the tremendous growth weve seen across GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said Flannery. I am confident that under his leadership the GE Healthcare team will continue to innovate and execute, introducing new products and driving cost productivity.

GE Healthcare, a $20 billion business, is the worlds leading manufacturer of medical imaging devices; life sciences tools to enable the next generation of biotherapeutics; medical diagnostic agents that enable personalized medicine; and healthcare IT and software tools to digitize and industrialize the healthcare industry. Healthcare is a key GE business now and in the future.

Murphy joined GE Healthcare in 2008 from Whatman plc, a global supplier of filters and membranes for laboratory research, life sciences and medical diagnostic applications. He has over 20 years experience in the global life sciences and biotechnology industry, beginning his career with Janssen Pharmaceutical, a division of Johnson and Johnson, followed by leadership roles with Mallinckrodt, veterinary medicines provider Vericore, Novartis, Adprotech, ML Laboratories and Innovata plc. Having earned his bachelors degree in 1984 from University College, Dublin, he subsequently graduated from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology with a masters degree in Marketing.

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The technology helping to save young lives by enabling quick testing of patient samples

Scientists are using new technology to enable efficient sample processing for white blood cell analysis. Image: Sebastian Kaulitzki 123RF.com

Kassa Beimnet, MLT, MSc, is a Senior GeneticsTechnologist in the Clinical Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory of the Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada.

Every day, clinicians at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada, rely on the molecular analysis of patient samples to diagnose and monitor childhood leukemia and other diseases. The efficiency of this step is important to ensure patients requiring treatment receive the appropriate therapy as soon as possible.

Scientists in the Clinical Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory of the Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine at SickKids analyze RNA and DNA from patient samples to identify genetic abnormalities that have implications on the clinical course of childhood leukemia. SelectScience spoke to Senior Genetics Technologist, Kassa Beimnet, to learn how the technology he uses is helping to streamline sample processing, to provide clinicians with these critical results, faster.

SS: Tell us a little about your role

KB: The primary focus of my lab is performing molecular tests in hematology-oncology. We test bone marrow aspirates, peripheral blood, body fluids and tissues to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood leukemias and other blood disorders.

SS: Can you describe an average day

KB: Every day we receive samples collected from our hospital clinics, as well external casesreferred to us from the greater Toronto area. We may receive between 50-100 samples in a day. Most of the tests are urgent, so we are on the go straight away. The clinicians depend on our tests and results to diagnose, treat and manage the patients promptly. In some cases, our results are critical for newly diagnosed patients who may need to be given chemotherapy straight away. We also perform monitoring and follow-up testing of patients samples to detect and assist in confirmations of remissions, or to confirm and monitor the extent of any relapses. These follow-up tests are useful to verify whether the patients have responded to therapy or not.

SS: How do you process patient samples?

KB: All our tests are DNA or RNA based. For every sample that we receive, we have to isolate and purify DNA or RNA, depending on the type of tests that need to be performed. Therefore, to preserve the integrity of the specimen, we have to centrifuge our blood and bone marrow aspirate samples right away and collect the buffy coat the white blood cell layer from which the DNA or RNA are extracted. We have several centrifuges that are constantly being used to spin the samples to collect the white blood cell layer. The DNA or RNA extraction process also involves multiple centrifugation of these samples.

SS: How does the technology you use help you process samples?

KB: At times, some of our tests are very urgent and we may need to centrifuge samples that may not necessarily be of precisely equal amount. We have both refrigerated and non-refrigerated models of the NuWind centrifuge and, so long as the sample volume is within a certain ballpark, we find them to be very stable. They rarely reject unbalanced samples, and for that reason there is no interruption to our workflow. Technical support from NuAire was spot on when we needed assistance, they were more than forthcoming to resolve our issues.

SS: What would your top tip be for other scientists working in a similar laboratory?

KB: We always say that its always advisable to work with fresh samples. At times, there may be situations where samples need to be processed in batches to help with workflow. I have noticed that by handling and processing fresh samples at the earliest convenience, despite obvious logistical issues, we can obtain RNA and DNA extracts of superior yield and purity, which is very important especially when dealing with precious small samples from pediatric patients.

SS: What do you like most about working for SickKids?

KB: You see the positive outcome and effectiveness of medical intervention right in front of your eyes. Theres nothing more gratifying than the realization that you have contributed to the treatment, management and, in some cases, cure of children facing these conditions.

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SelectScience Interview: Streamlining the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory for Faster Detection of Childhood Cancers - SelectScience

"Molecular imaging today allows physicians to make decisions with greater insight, precision and confidence, bringing healthcare one step closer to personalized care," said Kirill Shalyaev, Ph.D., Business Leader, Advanced Molecular Imaging, Philips. "Philips has made a lasting impact in nuclear medicine by providing clinicians with innovations such as Time-of-Flight PET and digital PET/CT, and we remain dedicated to developing solutions that simplify the path to clinical decision making for more confident diagnosis and a faster path to treatment."

Even with its significant growth in past years, the opportunity for further innovation and growth in nuclear medicine remains, continuing to maximize its value and impact. Philips' SNMMI exhibit (booth 657) will feature the company's latest solutions and technologies driving the future of nuclear medicine:

Innovation Talks This year, Philips will host a number of talks and presentations at its booth (#657) at SNMMI. In addition, Philips' academic partners will present 19 scientific presentations and posters demonstrating the value Philips' digital PET/CT system is bringing to molecular imaging advancing knowledge and application using features such as lesion detection and quantitative imaging.

For more information on Philips' molecular imaging solutions, and to learn more about the company's presence at SNMMI 2017, visit booth 657, http://www.philips.com/snmmi and follow the conversation on@PhilipsLiveFrom.

For further information, please contact: Alicia CafardiPhilips Group CommunicationsTel: + 1 412-523-9616E-mail: alicia.cafardi@philips.com

About Royal PhilipsRoyal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2016 sales of EUR 17.4 billion and employs approximately 70,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at http://www.philips.comnewscenter.

[1] Nguyen NC,Image Quality and Diagnostic Performance of a Digital PET Prototype in Patients with Oncologic Diseases: Initial Experience and Comparison with Analog PET, J Nucl Med 2015; 56:13781385.[2] Liu X et al, Impact of FDG Dose Reduction on Lesion Quantification in Dynamic PET: A Simulation Study Based on Clinical Trial Data, SNMMI 2016.[3] Zhang J., Evaluation of speed of PET acquisition: How fast can we go? - A validation of list mode PET simulation approach with true acquisitions, SNMMI 2017.

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Philips highlights the value of advanced molecular imaging at SNMMI 2017 - PR Newswire (press release)

The meeting provides an ideal location to meet with collaborators, vendors and partners working on the recently announced commercialization of Strontium-89 Chloride (Sr89). Sr89 Injection USP is a non-opioid analgesic indicated for the relief of bone pain in patients with painful skeletal cancer metastases.

Approximately 70% of patients with advanced breast and prostate cancer metastases will develop bone metastases, an extremely painful condition. Bone metastases occur in most tumor types but are most prevalent in cancers of the breast, prostate, and lung. These bone lesions can cause serious skeletal complications, including spinal cord or nerve root compression, hypercalcemia of malignancy, pathologic fractures, and severe bone pain which can significantly compromise quality of life and may negatively affect survival. Palliation of pain, prevention of skeletal complications, and maintenance of quality of life are the primary objectives in managing patients with metastatic bone disease.

AB-Rated Strontium Chloride Sr89 Injection USP (Sr89) can be used in combination with or to reduce the need for opiate based drugs, as well as in combination with cancer therapeutic drugs. After administration, pain relief can occur in as little as one to two weeks and can last several months, when another dose can be administered with minimal side effects. Clinical studies have demonstrated that for many, the combination of alternating weekly chemohormonal therapies with Sr89 demonstrated a prolonged and progression-free survival.

Please visit our website http://www.qbiomed.com to sign up and stay up-to-date with our progress.

About Strontium-89 Chloride

Following intravenous injection, soluble strontium compounds behave like their calcium analogs, clearing rapidly from the blood and selectively localizing in bone mineral. Uptake of strontium by bone occurs preferentially in sites of active osteogenesis; thus primary bone tumors and areas of metastatic involvement (blastic lesions) can accumulate significantly greater concentrations of strontium than surrounding normal bone. Strontium-89 Chloride is retained in metastatic bone lesions much longer than in normal bone, where turnover is about 14 days. In patients with extensive skeletal metastases, well over half of the injected dose is retained in the bones. Excretion pathways are two-thirds urinary and one-third fecal in patients with bone metastases. Urinary excretion is higher in people without bone lesions. Urinary excretion is greatest in the first two days following injection. Strontium-89 is a pure beta emitter and Strontium-89 Chloride selectively irradiates sites of primary and metastatic bone involvement with minimal irradiation of soft tissues distant from the bone lesions. (The maximum range in tissue is 8 mm; maximum energy is 1.463 MeV.) Clinical trials have examined relief of pain in cancer patients who have received therapy for bone metastases (external radiation to indexed sites) but in whom persistent pain recurred.

INDICATIONS AND USAGE: Strontium-89 Chloride Injection is indicated for the relief of bone pain in patients with painful skeletal metastases. The presence of bone metastases should be confirmed prior to therapy.

CONTRAINDICATIONS:None known.

WARNINGS: Use of Strontium-89 Chloride (Sr89) in patients with evidence of seriously compromised bone marrow from previous therapy or disease infiltration is not recommended unless the potential benefit of the treatment outweighs its risks. Bone marrow toxicity is to be expected following the administration of Strontium-89 Chloride, particularly white blood cells and platelets. The extent of toxicity is variable. It is recommended that the patient's peripheral blood cell counts be monitored at least once every other week. Typically, platelets will be depressed by about 30% compared to preadministration levels. The nadir of platelet depression in most patients is found between 12 and 16 weeks following administration of Sr89. White blood cells are usually depressed to a varying extent compared to pre-administration levels. Thereafter, recovery occurs slowly, typically reaching pre-administration levels six months after treatment unless the patient's disease or additional therapy intervenes. In considering repeat administration of Sr89, the patient's hematologic response to the initial dose, current platelet level and other evidence of marrow depletion should be carefully evaluated. Verification of dose and patient identification is necessary prior to administration because Strontium-89 Chloride delivers a relatively high dose of radioactivity. Strontium-89 Chloride may cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. If this drug is used during pregnancy, or if the patient becomes pregnant while receiving this drug, the patient should be apprised of the potential hazard to the fetus. Women of childbearing potential should be advised to avoid becoming pregnant.

About Q BioMed Inc.

Q BioMed Inc."Q" is a biomedical acceleration and development company. We are focused on licensing and acquiring biomedical assets across the healthcare spectrum. Q is dedicated to providing these target assets the strategic resources, developmental support, and expansion capital the need to ensure they meet their developmental potential, enabling them to provide products to patients in need.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to our growth strategy and product development programs and any other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated are: risks related to our growth strategy; risks relating to the results of research and development activities; our ability to obtain, perform under and maintain financing and strategic agreements and relationships; uncertainties relating to preclinical and clinical testing; our dependence on third-party suppliers; our ability to attract, integrate, and retain key personnel; the early stage of products under development; our need for substantial additional funds; government regulation; patent and intellectual property matters; competition; as well as other risks described in our SEC filings. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.

Contact: Dennis Corin CEO Q BioMed Inc. +1-888-357-2435

SOURCE Q BioMed Inc.

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Q BioMed Announces Attendance at Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Annual Meeting - PR Newswire (press release)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ: FMI) today announced a collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) for their precision medicine cancer trial, NCI-Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (NCI-MATCH or EAY131). This ongoing study is evaluating the benefit of genomically-guided treatments targeting specific alterations within a persons tumor, regardless of cancer type. Foundation Medicine will notify physicians at the more than 1,100 clinical sites participating in NCI-MATCH when the comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assays they ordered to guide clinical care, FoundationOne or FoundationOne Heme, reveal findings that may make a patient eligible for one of several NCI-MATCH treatments.

The FoundationOne and FoundationOne Heme assays comprehensively interrogate hundreds of cancer-related genes in solid tumors, or hematologic cancers and advanced sarcomas, respectively, to identify genomic alterations that can help match a patient with a therapy that targets those alterations. Foundation Medicine and its CGP assays were selected for participation in NCI-MATCH based on the validation, reliability and accuracy of the assays, the ability to review a high volume of patient cases due to the mainstream use of FoundationOne and FoundationOne Heme in clinical care today, and the ability to provide assay results in a format that can be uploaded into MATCHbox, the trials informatics system that generates patient treatment assignment information for the trials panel of experts to review.

The NCI-MATCH trial is vital to learning more about the genomic basis of cancer biology and the best ways to improve cancer treatment for each individual patient, said Vincent Miller, M.D., chief medical officer at Foundation Medicine. We believe this innovative trial design leveraging genomics to inform potential treatment modalities will become the standard for oncology clinical studies, particularly to identify signals of effectiveness that can be studied in larger, more definitive trials. We believe our collaboration will help the clinical sites participating in the trial to identify a larger number of patients who may be eligible to enroll for treatment.

Through this collaboration, Foundation Medicine will assist ECOG-ACRIN and the NCI in casting a wider net for patients that may be eligible for NCI-MATCH. Foundation Medicine will identify individuals whose tumors are profiled through standard clinical care with FoundationOne or FoundationOne Heme and are found to harbor genomic alterations being studied in NCI-MATCH, as determined by Foundation Medicines proprietary SmartTrials engine that allows for alteration-level specificity in matching patients to the trial. If the individual is identified at a site that is participating in the trial, Foundation Medicines SmartTrials outreach services will notify their treating physician that the patient may be eligible for enrollment into NCI-MATCH. The oncologist can take the information into consideration when discussing treatment options with his or her patients. Foundation Medicine initiated inclusion of NCI-MATCH in this outreach in May 2017.

About the NCI-MATCH Study NCI-MATCH is a phase II precision medicine trial that seeks to determine the effectiveness of treatment that is directed by genomic profiling in patients with solid tumors, lymphomas, or myelomas that have progressed following all standard treatments expected to prolong overall survival or rare cancer types for which there is no standard treatment. The study attempts to demonstrate that matching certain drugs or drug combinations in adults whose tumors have specific gene abnormalities will effectively treat cancer, regardless of its type. Such discoveries could be eligible to move on to larger, more definitive trials.

AboutFoundation Medicine Foundation Medicine(NASDAQ:FMI) is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patient's cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials.Foundation Medicine'smolecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. For more information, please visithttp://www.FoundationMedicine.comor followFoundation Medicineon Twitter (@FoundationATCG).

Foundation Medicineand FoundationOneare registered trademarks and SmartTrialsTMis a trademark ofFoundation Medicine, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements for Foundation Medicine This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the value and performance capabilities of comprehensive genomic profiling, including FoundationOne and FoundationOne Heme; the ability of CGP and the SmartTrials services to identify a larger number of patients who may be eligible to enroll for treatment in a clinical study; and the ability of a clinical trial, including the clinical trial design, to improve cancer care. All such forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risk that Foundation Medicine's CGP andservices will not be able to identify genomic alterations in the same manner as prior clinical data;clinical trial enrollment does not increase in the expected manner; and the risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" inFoundation Medicine'sAnnual Report on Form 10-K for the year endedDecember 31, 2016, which is on file with theSecurities and Exchange Commission, as well as other risks detailed inFoundation Medicine'ssubsequent filings with theSecurities and Exchange Commission.All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, andFoundation Medicineundertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

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Foundation Medicine to Identify Patients Eligible for National Cancer ... - Business Wire (press release)

Newswise Bread occupies a unique place in our diet: it accounts for about one-tenth of the calories many people in the West consume and up to 40 percent of the caloric consumption in some non-Western countries more than any other food product. In the past few decades, since white bread has acquired a bad name, bakeries have been going out of their way to produce high-quality whole grain breads. But a new study conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science and published recently inCell Metabolism reveals that these wholesome choices are not necessarily the healthiest for everyone.

The Weizmann scientists compared two kinds of bread viewed as being on opposite ends of the health spectrum. One was industrial white bread made from refined wheat and considered less healthy. The other was sourdough-leavened bread made in an artisanal bakery from freshly stone-milled whole-grain wheat flour and baked in a stone hearth oven; it was prepared specially for the study and was assumed to possess superior properties.

Twenty study participants were divided into two groups and asked to consume large quantities of bread (supplying about a quarter of their caloric intake) for a week. One group ate the white bread, and the other, the healthy sourdough bread. After a two-week break, they switched, and for a week the group that had previously eaten white bread ate the sourdough bread, and vice versa.

Tests revealed that eating bread of any kind affected the blood levels of sugar, minerals, liver enzymes, and other substances. But when the scientists compared the effects of the two types of bread, they were surprised. We were sure that the sourdough bread would come out a healthier choice, but much to our surprise, we found no difference between the health effects of the two types of bread, says Prof. Eran Segalof the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.

Thats probably because the bodys response to bread is a highly personal matter, so the differences between people in the study averaged themselves out, says Dr. Eran Elinavof the Department of Immunology, who headed the study with Prof. Segal and Prof. Avraham Levy of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. Prof. Levy adds: We planned the experiment so that everyone would consume the same amount of available carbohydrates from both bread types. Because whole wheat bread contains relatively fewer carbohydrates, this meant that people ate more of it compared to the white bread. This difference in carbohydrate levels should also be taken into consideration when planning a diet.

The study showed that, for example, about half of the participants had higher blood-sugar levels after eating white bread, whereas the other half had higher blood sugar after eating sourdough bread. It is possible that these different responses were due, in part, to the differences in the individuals intestinal microbes the microbiome. The composition of the microbiome in the people whose response to white bread produced high blood-sugar levels differed from that of the people who responded to sourdough bread with high blood sugar.

The scientists developed an algorithm connecting the microbiomes composition with the persons response to the type of bread. Using this algorithm, we managed to predict who will have high blood sugar after eating white bread, and who will have high blood sugar after eating the sourdough, says research student Tal Korem, who conducted the study with research student Dr. David Zeevi and other team members: Dr. Omer Weissbrod, Noam Bar, Maya Lotan-Pompan, Dr. Tali Avnit-Sagi, Noa Kosower, Gal Malka, Michal Rein and Dr. Adina Weinberger of the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, and Dr. Niv Zmora and Jotham Suez of the Department of Immunology.

Prof. Eran Segals research is supported by the Crown Human Genome Center, which he heads; the Else Kroener Fresenius Foundation; the Adelis Foundation; Donald and Susan Schwarz, Sherman Oaks, CA; Jack N. Halpern, New York, NY; Leesa Steinberg, Canada; and the European Research Council.

Dr. Eran Elinavs research is supported by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; the Adelis Foundation; the Else Kroener Fresenius Foundation; John L. and Vera Schwartz, Pacific Palisades, CA; the Rising Tide Foundation; Andrew and Cynthia Adelson, Canada; Yael and Rami Ungar, Israel; Leesa Steinberg, Canada; Jack N. Halpern, New York, NY; the Lawrence and Sandra Post Family; the Bernard M. and Audrey Jaffe Foundation; the European Research Council; and the Estate of Bernard Bishin. Dr. Elinav is the Incumbent of the Rina Gudinski Career Development Chair.

Prof. Avraham Levys research is supported by the Dr. Erhard, Emmi, and Fred Loewinsohn Center for Pediatric Health, which he heads; the Y. Leon Benoziyo Institute for Molecular Medicine, which he heads; the Tom and Sondra Rykoff Family Foundation Fund; the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; Dana and Yossie Hollander, Israel; and the European Research Council. Prof. Levy is the incumbent of the Gilbert de Botton Professorial Chair of Plant Sciences.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the worlds top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. The Institutes 3,800-strong scientific community engages in research addressing crucial problems in medicine and health, energy, technology, agriculture, and the environment. Outstanding young scientists from around the world pursue advanced degrees at the Weizmann Institutes Feinberg Graduate School. The discoveries and theories of Weizmann Institute scientists have had a major impact on the wider scientific community, as well as on the quality of life of millions of people worldwide.

SEE ORIGINAL STUDY

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Bread and Health: A Personal Matter - Newswise (press release)

Sessions/Tracks

Track 1:Molecular Biology

Molecular biologyis the study of molecular underpinnings of the processes ofreplication,transcription,translation, and cell function. Molecular biology concerns themolecularbasis ofbiologicalactivity between thebiomoleculesin various systems of acell,gene sequencingand this includes the interactions between theDNA,RNAand proteinsand theirbiosynthesis. Inmolecular biologythe researchers use specific techniques native to molecular biology, increasingly combine these techniques and ideas from thegeneticsandbiochemistry.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

2nd World Congress onHuman Genetics&Genetic Disorders, November 02-03, 2017 Toronto, Canada; 9th International Conference onGenomicsandPharmacogenomics, June 15-16, 2017 London, Uk; 6th International Conference and Exhibition onCellandGene Therapy, Mar 27-28, 2017 Madrid, Spain; Gordon Research Conference,Viruses&Cells, 14 - 19 May 2017, Lucca, Italy;Human Genome Meeting(HGM 2017), February 5-7 2017, Barcelona, Spain; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics:From Molecular Mechanisms To Translational Applications, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017;GeneticandPhysiological Impacts of Transposable Elements, October 10, 2017, Heidelberg, Germany.

American Society for Cell Biology;The Society for Molecular Biology & Evolution;American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology;The Nigerian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology;Molecular Biology Association Search Form - CGAP.

Track 2:Gene Therapy and Genetic Engineering

Thegenetic engineeringis also called asgenetic modification. It is the direct manipulation of an organism'sofgenomeby usingbiotechnology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of the cell and including the transfer of genes across species boundaries to produce improved novelorganisms. Genesmay be removed, or "knocked out", using anuclease.Gene is targetinga different technique that useshomologousrecombinationto change anendogenous gene, and this can be used to delete a gene, removeexons, add a gene, or to introducegenetic mutations. There is an dna replacement therapy, Genetic engineering does not normally include traditional animal and plant breeding, gene sequencing, in vitro fertilization, induction of polyploidy,mutagenesisand cell fusion techniques that do not use recombinant nucleic acids or a genetically modified organism in the process,diseases treated with gene therapywas initially meant to introduce genes straight into human cells, focusing on diseases caused by single-gene defects, such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

8thWorld Congress onMolecular Pathology, June 26-27, 2017 San Diego, USA; 11thInternational Conference onSurgical Pathology& Practice, March 27-28, 2017, MADRID, SPAIN; 13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Aug 02-03, 2017, MILAN, ITALY; 28th Annual Meeting, Austrian Society ForHuman GeneticsAnd The Swiss Society OfMedical GeneticsCombined Meeting 2017 march 29, 2017 - March 31, 2017, bochum , Germany.

Association for Clinical Genetic Science;Genetics Society of America | GSA;Association of Genetic Technologists;Molecular Genetics - Human Genetics Society of Australasia;Genetic Engineering - Ecological Farming Association.

Track 3:Cell & Gene Therapy

Cell therapy is also calledcellular therapyorCyto therapy, in which cellular material is injected into patient this generally means intact, living cells. The first category iscell therapyin mainstream medicine. This is the subject of intense research and the basis of potential therapeutic benefit. Such research can be controversial when it involves human embryonic material. The second category is in alternative medicine, and perpetuates the practice of injecting animal materials in an attempt to cure disease.Gene therapyis the therapeutic delivery of nucleic acid polymers into a patient's cells as a drug to treat disease. Gene therapy is a way to fix agenetic problemat its source. The polymers are either translated into proteins, interfere with targetgene expression, or possibly correct genetic mutations. The most common form uses DNA that encodes a functional,therapeutic gene to replace a mutated gene. The polymer molecule is packaged within a "vector", which carries the molecule inside cells. Vectors used in gene therapy, the vector incorporates genes intochromosomes. The expressed nucleases then knock out and replace genes in the chromosome. The Center forCell and Gene Therapyconducts research into numerous diseases, including but not limited to PediatricCancer, HIV gliomaandCardiovascular disease.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

2nd World Congress onHuman Genetics&Genetic Disorders, November 02-03, 2017 Toronto, 27 Canada ; 7th International Conference onPlant Genomics, July 03-05, 2017, Bangkok, Thailand ; American Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ASGCT) 20th Annual Meeting, 10 - 13 May 2017, Washington, DC;Genomic Medicine for Clinicians(course), January 25-27, 2017, Hinxton , Cambridge, UK; Embo Conference:ChromatinandEpigenetics, Heidelberg, Germany, May 3, 2017; 14th International Symposium on Variants in theGenomeSantiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain, June 5 - 8, 2017;

Genetics and Molecular Medicine - American Medical Association;Genetics Society of America / Gsa;British Society for Genetic Medicine;British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy; Australasian Gene Therapy Society.

Track 4:Cell Cancer Immunotherapy

Immunologydeals with the biological and biochemical basis for the body's defense against germs such as bacteria, virus and mycosis (fungal infections) as well as foreign agents such asbiological toxinsand environmental pollutants, and failures and malfunctions of these defense mechanisms. Cancer immunotherapy is the use of the immune system to treat cancer. Immunotherapies can be categorized as active, passive or hybrid (active and passive). Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system that bind to a target antigen on the cell surface. The immune system normally uses them to fight pathogens. A type of biological therapy that uses substances to stimulate or suppress the immune system to help the body fight cancer, infection, and other diseases. Some types of immunotherapy only target certain cells of the immune system. Others affect the immune system in a general way. Types of immunotherapy include cytokines, vaccines, bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), and some monoclonal antibodies.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

9thAnnual Meeting onImmunologyandImmunologist, July 03-05, 2017 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 8th MolecularImmunology&ImmunogeneticsCongress, March 20-21, 2017 Rome, Italy; 8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; July 03-05, 2017; B Cells and T Follicular Helper Cells Controlling Long-Lived Immunity (D2), April 2017, 2327, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada; Mononuclear Phagocytes in Health,Immune Defense and Disease, 304 May, Austin, Texas, USA;Modeling Viral Infections and ImmunityMAY 2017, 14, Estes Park, Colorado, USA; IntegratingMetabolism and Immunity(E4)292 June, Dublin, Ireland.

The American Association of Immunologists;Clinical Immunology Society ; Indian Immunology Society;IUIS - International Union of Immunological Societies;American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics.

Track 5:Clinical Genetics

Clinical geneticsis the practice of clinical medicine with particular attention tothe hereditary disorders. Referrals are made togenetics clinicsfor the variety of reasons, includingbirth defects,developmental delay,autism,epilepsy, and many others. In the United States, physicians who practice clinical genetics are accredited by theAmerican Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics(ABMGG).In order to become a board-certified practitioner of a Clinical Genetics, a physician must complete minimum of 24 months of his training in a program accredited by the ABMGG. Individual seeking acceptance intoclinical geneticstraining programs and should hold an M.D. or D.O. degree (or their equivalent)and he/she have completed a minimum of 24 months of their training in ACGME-accredited residency program internal medicine, pediatrics and gynecology or other medical specialty.

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Belgian Society OfHuman GeneticsMeeting 2017 february 17, 2017, Belgium; American College Of Medical Genetics 2017 AnnualClinical GeneticsMeeting march 21-25 2017, phoenix , United States; German Society Of Human Genetics 28th Annual Meeting, Austrian Society ForHuman GeneticsAnd The Swiss Society OfMedical GeneticsCombined Meeting 2017 march 29, 2017 - March 31, 2017, bochum , Germany; Spanish Society OfHuman GeneticsCongress 2017april 25, 2017 - April 28, 2017 madrid , Spain;

Clinical Genetics Associates;Clinical Genetics Society(CGS);The genetic associate;International Conference on Clinical and Medical Genetics;Association for Clinical Genetic Science;The American Society of Human Genetics.

Track 6:Pharmacogenetics

Pharmacogeneticsis the study of inherited genetic differences in drug metabolic pathways which can affect individual responses towards the drugs, both in their terms of therapeutic effect as well as adverse effects. In oncology, Pharmacogenetics historically is the study ofgerm line mutations(e.g., single-nucleotide polymorphisms affecting genes coding forliver enzymesresponsible for drug deposition and pharmacokinetics), whereaspharmacogenomicsrefers tosomatic mutationsin tumoral DNA leading to alteration in drug response.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

Spanish Society OfHuman GeneticsCongress 2017april 25, 2017 - April 28, 2017, madrid , Spain; 8th World Congress onPharmacology, August 07-09, 2017 Paris, France; World Congress onBio therapeutics, May 22-23, 2017, Mexico City, Mexico; 8th World Congress OnPharmacologyAndToxicology, July 24-26, 2017, Melbourne, Australia; German Society Of Human Genetics 28th Annual Meeting, Austrian Society ForHuman GeneticsAnd The Swiss Society OfMedical GeneticsCombined Meeting 2017march 29, 2017 - March 31, 2017 bochum , Germany.

Pharmacogenomics - American Medical Association;Associate Principal Scientist Clinical Pharmacogenetics;European Society of Pharmacogenomics and Personalised Therapy;Genome-wide association studies in pharmacogenomics.

Track 7:Molecular Genetic Pathology

Molecular genetic pathologyis an emerging discipline withinthe pathologywhich is focused in the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of molecules within the organs, tissues or body fluids. A key consideration is more accurate diagnosis is possible when the diagnosis is based on both morphologic changes in tissuestraditional anatomic pathologyand onmolecular testing. Molecular Genetic Pathology is commonly used in diagnosis of cancer and infectious diseases. Integration of "molecular pathology" and "epidemiology" led tointerdisciplinaryfield, termed "molecular pathological epidemiology" (MPE),which representsintegrative molecular biologicand population health science.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

8th World Congress OnMolecular Pathology, June 26-27, 2017 San Diego, USA; 11th International Conference OnSurgical Pathology& Practice, March 27-28, 2017, Madrid, Spain; 13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Aug 02-03, 2017, Milan, Italy; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; Embo|Embl Symposium: TheMobile Genome: Genetic And Physiological Impacts Of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017.

Clinical Pathology Associates Molecular Pathology; Association mapping Wikipedia;Association for Molecular Pathology(AMP);Molecular Pathology - Association of Clinical Pathologists;SELECTBIO - Molecular Pathology Association of India.

Track 8:Gene Mapping

Genomemappingis to place a collection of molecular markers onto their respective positions ongenome.Molecular markerscome in all forms. Genes can be viewed as one special type of genetic markers in construction ofgenome maps, and the map is mapped the same way as any other markers. The quality ofgenetic mapsis largely dependent upon the two factors, the number of genetic markers on the map and the size of themapping population. The two factors are interlinked, and as larger mapping population could increase the "resolution" of the maps and prevent the map being "saturated". Researchers begin a genetic map by collecting samples of blood or tissue from family members that carry a prominent disease or trait and family members that don't. Scientists then isolate DNA from the samples and closely examine it, looking for unique patterns in the DNA of the family members who do carry the disease that the DNA of those who don't carry the disease don't have. These unique molecular patterns in the DNA are referred to as polymorphisms, or markers.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

3rd WorldBio Summit&Expo, Abu Dhabi, UAE, June 19-21, 2017; 9th International Conference onGenomicsandPharmacogenomicsJune 15-16, 2017 London, Uk; Keystone Symposium: Mononuclear Phagocytes in Health,Immune DefenseandDisease, 304 May 2017, Austin, Texas, USA;Molecular Neurodegeneration(course) Hinxton, Cambridge, UK, January 9-14, 2017;

Association for Clinical Genetic Science;Genome-wide association study Wikipedia;Gene mapping by linkage and association analysis NCBI;Gene mapping by linkage and association analysis | Springer Link.

Track 9:ComputationalGenomics

Computational genomics refers to the use of computational and statistical analysis to decipherbiologyfromgenome sequencesand related data, including DNA and RNA sequence as well as other "post-genomic" data. This computational genomics is also known asComputational Genetics. These, in combination with computational and statistical approaches to understanding the function of the genes and statistical association analysis, this field is also often referred to as Computational and Statistical Genetics/genomics. As such, computational genomics may be regarded as a subset of bioinformatics and computational biology, but with a focus on using whole genomes rather than individual genes to understand the principles of how the DNA of a species controls its biology at the molecular level and beyond. With the current abundance of massive biological datasets, computational studies have become one of the most important means to biological discovery.The field is defined and includes foundations in thecomputer sciences,applied mathematics, animation, biochemistry, chemistry, biophysics,molecular genetics,neuroscienceandvisualization. Computational biology is different from biological computation, which is a subfield of computer engineering using bioengineering and biology to build computers, but is similar tobioinformatics.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

Modeling Viral Infections and Immunity,10. MAY 2017, 14, Estes Park, Colorado, USA;Integrating Metabolism and Immunity(E4)292 June, Dublin, Ireland; EMBL Conference:Mammalian GeneticsandGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; EMBO|EMBL Symposium: The Mobile Genome:GeneticandPhysiological Impacts of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017;

American Association of Bio analysts - Molecular/Genetic Testing;ISCB - International Society for Computational Biology;International Society for Computational Biology Wikipedia;Bioinformatics societies OMICtools;Towards an Australian Bioinformatics Society.

Track 10:Molecular Biotechnology

Molecular Biotechnologyis the use of living systems and organisms to develop or to make products, or "any technological application that uses the biological systems, living organisms or derivatives, to make or modify products or processes for specific use. Molecular biotechnology results from the convergence of many areas of research, such as molecular biology, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, genetics and cell biology. It is an exciting field fueled by the ability to transfer genetic information between organisms with the goal of understanding important biological processes or creating a useful product. The completion of the human genome project has opened a myriad of opportunities to create new medicines and treatments, as well as approaches to improve existing medicines. Molecular biotechnology is a rapidly changing and dynamic field. As the pace of advances accelerates, its influence will increase. The importance and impact of molecular biotechnology is being felt across the nation. Depending on the tools and applications, it often overlaps with the related fields of bioengineering,biomedical engineering, bio manufacturing andmolecular engineering.Biotechnologyalso writes on the pure biological sciences animalcell culture, biochemistry,cell biology, embryology, genetics, microbiology, andmolecular biology.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; World Congress onBio therapeutics, May 22-23, 2017, Mexico City, Mexico;Human Genome Meeting(HGM 2017), February 5-7 2017, Barcelona, Spain;Integrating MetabolismandImmunity (E4), 292 June, Dublin, Ireland.

Biotech Associations - Stanford University;Indian Society of Genetics, Biotechnology Research & Development;Genetics and Molecular Medicine - American Medical Association;Genetics Society of America | GSA, British Society for Genetic Medicine;Heritability in the Era of Molecular Genetics - Association for Psychological science.

Track 11:Genetic Transformation

Genetic Transformationis the genetic alteration of cell resulting from the direct uptake and incorporation ofexogenous genetic materialfrom its surroundings through thecell membrane. Transformation is one of three processes for horizontal gene transfer, in which exogenous genetic material passes from bacterium to another, the other two being conjugation transfer of genetic material between two bacterial cells in direct contact andTransductioninjection offoreign DNAby a bacteriophage virus into thehost bacterium. And about 80 species of bacteria were known to be capable of transformation, in 2014, about evenly divided betweenGram-positiveandGram-negative Transformation" may also be used to describe the insertion of new genetic material into non-bacterial cells, including animal and plant cells.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Milan, Italy; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; Embo|Embl Symposium: TheMobile Genome: Genetic And Physiological Impacts Of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017; 2nd World Congress onHuman Genetics&Genetic Disorders, November 02-03, 2017 Toronto, Canada; 9th International Conference onGenomicsandPharmacogenomics, June 15-16, 2017 London, Uk;

American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy: ASGCT;Gene Therapy Societies and Patient Organizations - Gene Therapy Net;European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT);British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy;Gene Therapy - American Medical Association.

Track 12:Genetic Screening

Genetic screenis an experimental technique used to identify and select the individuals who possess a phenotype of interest inmutagenized population. A genetic screen is a type ofphenotypic screen. Genetic screen can provide important information on gene function as well as the molecular events that underlie a biological process or pathway. While thegenome projectshave identified an extensive inventory of genes in many different organisms, genetic screens can provide valuable insight as to how thosegenes function.

RelatedMolecular Biology Conferences| Genetics Conferences|Gene Therapy Conferences|Biotechnology Conferences| Immune Cell Therapy Conferences

13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Aug 02-03, 2017, Milan, Italy; 2nd World Congress onHuman Genetics&Genetic Disorders, November 02-03, 2017 Toronto, 27 Canada; 7th International Conference onPlant Genomics, July 03-05, 2017, Bangkok, Thailand; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; Embo|Embl Symposium: TheMobile Genome: Genetic And Physiological Impacts Of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017, 10 - 13 May 2017, American Society ofGeneandCell Therapy(ASGCT) 20th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC;

Association for Clinical Genetic Science; Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP);Mapping heritability and molecular genetic associations with cortical;Genetics and Molecular Medicine - American Medical Association.

Track 13:Regulation of Gene Expression

Regulation of Gene expressionincludes a wide range of mechanisms that are used by cells to increase or decrease the production of specific gene products (protein or RNA), and is informally termed gene regulation. Sophisticated programs of gene expression are widely observed in biology, Virtually any step of gene expression can be modulated, fromtranscriptional initiation,RNA processing, and post-translational modificationof a protein. Often, one gene regulator controls another in a gene regulatory network. Any step of gene expression may be modulated, from theDNA-RNA transcriptionstep to post-translational modification of a protein.

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7th International Conference onPlant Genomics, July 03-05, 2017, Bangkok, Thailand; EMBO|EMBL Symposium: The Mobile Genome:GeneticandPhysiological Impacts of Transposable Elements, Heidelberg, Germany, October 10, 2017; 10. MAY 2017, 14, Estes Park, Colorado, USA,Modeling Viral Infections and Immunity; 292 June, Dublin, Ireland,Integrating Metabolism and Immunity(E4); MAY 2017, 14, Estes Park, Colorado, USA,Modeling Viral InfectionsandImmunity; 8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; 9th International Conference onGenomicsandPharmacogenomics, June 15-16, 2017 London, Uk;

Gene Therapy Societies and Patient Organizations - Gene Therapy Net;European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT);British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy;Gene Therapy - American Medical Association

Track 14: Cancer Gene Therapy

Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells the proximate cause of which is an imbalance in cell proliferation and death breaking-through the normal physiological checks and balances system and the ultimate cause of which are one or more of a variety of gene alterations. These alterations can be structural, e.g., mutations, insertions, deletions, amplifications, fusions and translocations, or functional (heritable changes without changes in nucleotide sequence). No single genomic change is found in all cancers and multiple changes (heterogeneity) are commonly found in each cancer generally independent of histology. In healthy adults, the immune system may recognize and kill the cancer cells or allow non-detrimental host-cancer equilibrium; unfortunately, cancer cells can sometimes escape the immune system resulting in expansion and spread of these cancer cells leading to serious life threatening disease. Approaches to cancer gene therapy include three main strategies: the insertion of a normal gene into cancer cells to replace a mutated (or otherwise altered) gene, genetic modification to silence a mutated gene, and genetic approaches to directly kill the cancer cells. Pathway C represents immunotherapy using altered immune cells. Another unique immunotherapy strategy facilitated by gene therapy is to directly alter the patient's immune system in order to sensitize it to the cancer cells. One approach uses mononuclear circulating blood cells or bone marrow gathered from the patient.

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8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; World Congress onBio therapeutics, May 22-23, 2017, Mexico City, Mexico;Human Genome Meeting(HGM 2017), February 5-7 2017, Barcelona, Spain;Integrating MetabolismandImmunity (E4), 292 June, Dublin, Ireland.

Biotech Associations - Stanford University;Indian Society of Genetics, Biotechnology Research & Development;Genetics and Molecular Medicine - American Medical Association;Genetics Society of America | GSA, British Society for Genetic Medicine;Heritability in the Era of Molecular Genetics - Association for Psychological science.

Track 15:Genetic Transplantation

Transplantation genetics is the field of biology and medicine relating to the genes that govern the acceptance or rejection of a transplant. The most important genes deciding the fate of a transplanted cell, tissue, or organ belong to what is termed the MHC (the major histocompatibility complex). Genetic Transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site to another location on the person's own body, to replace the recipient's damaged or absent organ. Organs and/or tissues that aretransplantedwithin the same person's body are calledauto grafts. Transplants that are recently performed between two subjects of the same species are calledallografts. Allografts can either be from a living or cadaveric source Organs that can be transplanted are the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, intestine, and thymus. The kidneys are the most commonlytransplanted organs, followed by the liver and then the heart. The main function of the MHC antigens is peptide presentation to the immune system to help distinguish self from non-self. These antigens are called HLA (human leukocyte antigens). They consists of three regions: class I (HLA-A,B,Cw), class II (HLA-DR,DQ,DP) and class III (no HLA genes)

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8th World Congress onPharmacology, August 07-09, 2017 Paris, France; International Conference onClinicalandMolecular Genetics, Las Vegas, USA, April 24-26, 2017; Aug 02-03, 2017, 13th EuropeanPathologyCongress, Milan, Italy; Embl Conference:Mammalian GeneticsAndGenomics, Heidelberg, Germany, October 24, 2017; 7th International Conference onPlant Genomics, July 03-05, 2017, Bangkok, Thailand.

American society of Transplantation;American Society of Transplant Surgeons: ASTS; Patient associations. Donation and transplantation;American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy ASGCT;Gene Therapy Societies and Patient Organizations - Gene Therapy Net.

Track 16:Cytogenetics

Cytogeneticsis a branch ofgeneticsthat is concerned withstudy of the structure and function of the cell, especially thechromosomes. It includes routine analysis of G-banded chromosomes, othercytogenetic banding techniques, as well as molecular Cytogenetics such as fluorescent in suitable hybridization FISH and comparativegenomic hybridization.

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9thAnnual Meeting onImmunologyandImmunologist, July 03-05, 2017 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 8th MolecularImmunology&ImmunogeneticsCongress, March 20-21, 2017 Rome, Italy; 8th EuropeanImmunologyConference, June 29-July 01, 2017 Madrid, Spain; July 03-05, 2017; B Cells and T Follicular Helper Cells Controlling Long-Lived Immunity (D2), April 2017, 2327, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

European Cytogeneticists Association;Association of Genetic Technologists;Association for Clinical Genetic Science;Cytogenetics - Human Genetics Society of Australasia;European Cytogeneticists Association

Molecular Biology 2016

Molecular Biology 2016 Report

2ndWorld Bio Summit & Molecular Biology Expowas organized during October 10-12, 2016 at Dubai, UAE. The conference was marked with the attendance ofEditorial Board Members of supporting journals, Scientists, young and brilliant researchers, business delegates and talented student communities representing more than 25 countries, who made this conference fruitful and productive.

This conference was based on the theme Recent advances in Bio Science which included the following scientific tracks:

Molecular Biology

Microbiology

Analytical Molecular Biology

Bioinformatics

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Cancer Molecular Biology

Computational Biology

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Molecular biology of the cardiovascular system

Molecular Biology in Cellular Pathology

Molecular Biology of Diabetes

Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering

Enzymology and Molecular Biology

Molecular Biology of the Gene

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Molecular Genetics - Molecular Biology Conferences

ALEXANDRIA, Va. & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO) and Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ: FMI) today announced entry into an agreement to create efficiencies for research sites participating in ASCOs TAPUR Study in identifying potential participants for the study. ASCO is announcing that reports from Foundation Medicines comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assays, FoundationOne, FoundationOne Heme and FoundationACT will receive the new optimized for TAPUR reporting designation available to entities that demonstrate reporting of nearly 75% of TAPUR-specific genes in a format that meets criteria established for the TAPUR Study. The TAPUR Study is a first-of its-kind clinical trial designed to evaluate molecularly targeted cancer drugs and collect data on clinical outcomes to learn about additional uses of these drugs outside of indications already approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

As part of this pilot program, Foundation Medicine will use its SmartTrials technology to create reports for TAPUR sites that identify patients who may qualify to participate in the TAPUR Study. SmartTrials is a molecularly-matched, location-specific, clinical trials database that informs physicians about clinical trials to accelerate patient enrollment. Early use of the SmartTrials report by one TAPUR site was associated with a significant increase in patient accrual with the site reporting identification of more than 60 patients whose genomic profiles matched TAPUR drug targets within a few months of implementing the SmartTrials technology. As part of this arrangement, Foundation Medicine will be launching its SmartTrials reporting to an initial pilot set of the TAPUR Studys participating clinical sites.

We are excited to designate Foundation Medicines CGP assays as providing reports that are optimized for TAPUR participation and work with Foundation Medicine to allow TAPUR Sites to incorporate SmartTrials reporting to streamline identification of patients who may qualify for the TAPUR study, said ASCO Chief Medical Officer and TAPUR Study Principal Investigator, Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FASCO, FSCT. It is our hope that Foundation Medicines unique expertise in genomics will enable many more patients to access investigational therapies through the TAPUR Study clinical trial.

The TAPUR Studys innovative, biomarker-driven design will expand access for patients to innovative new targeted therapies, while enhancing the collective understanding of the genomic basis of cancer biology, said Vincent Miller, M.D., chief medical officer at Foundation Medicine. Applying the SmartTrials reporting to the TAPUR Study can facilitate rapid and accurate patient identification, accelerating patient enrollment.

About the TAPUR Study TheTAPUR Studyis a non-randomized clinical trial that aims to describe the performance (both safety and efficacy) of commercially available, targeted anticancer drugs prescribed for treatment of patients with advanced cancer that has a potentially actionable genomic variant. The TAPUR Study provides approved targeted therapies that are contributed to the program by collaborating pharmaceutical companies, catalogues the choice of genomic profiling test by clinical oncologists and aims to learn about the utility of registry data to develop hypotheses for additional clinical trials.

About ASCO: Founded in 1964, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO) is committed to making a world of difference in cancer care. As the worlds leading organization of its kind, ASCO represents more than 40,000 oncology professionals who care for people living with cancer. Through research, education, and promotion of the highest-quality patient care, ASCO works to conquer cancer and create a world where cancer is prevented or cured, and every survivor is healthy. ASCO is supported by its affiliate organization, the Conquer Cancer Foundation. Learn more at http://www.ASCO.org, explore patient education resources at http://www.Cancer.Net, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

AboutFoundation Medicine Foundation Medicine(NASDAQ:FMI) is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patient's cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials.Foundation Medicine'smolecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. Foundation Medicines SmartTrials program helps clinical research sponsors design, plan and implement clinical trials using Foundation Medicines oncology knowledge base and physician network. For more information, please visithttp://www.FoundationMedicine.comor followFoundation Medicineon Twitter (@FoundationATCG).

Foundation Medicineand FoundationOneare registered trademarks and SmartTrialsTMis a trademark ofFoundation Medicine, Inc.

ASCO, American Society of Clinical Oncology and TAPUR are trademarks of American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the value and performance capabilities of Foundation Medicines comprehensive genomic profiling assays; the ability of CGP and the SmartTrials services to help accelerate clinical trial enrollment; and the ability of a clinical trial, including the clinical trial design, to expand access to therapies or improve cancer care. All such forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risk thatFoundation Medicine'sCGP andservices will not be able to identify genomic alterations in the same manner as prior clinical data or prior experience;clinical trial enrollment does not increase in the expected manner; and the risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" inFoundation Medicine'sAnnual Report on Form 10-K for the year endedDecember 31, 2016, which is on file with theSecurities and Exchange Commission, as well as other risks detailed inFoundation Medicine'ssubsequent filings with theSecurities and Exchange Commission.All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, andFoundation Medicineundertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

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ASCO and Foundation Medicine Announce Collaboration to Help Research Sites Identify Potential Participants for the ... - Business Wire (press release)

This article is authored by the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine. The mission of the Center is to discover and integrate the latest in genomic, molecular and clinical sciences into personalized care for patients.

A picture is worth a thousand words. While that saying may be true, for the more than 50 percent of all women who have dense breast tissue, a picture from traditional, 2-D mammography may not tell the full story about whether they have breast cancer.

Breast density is like the wolf in sheeps clothing. Both tumors and dense breast tissue appear white on a mammogram. A traditional 2-D mammogram may not distinguish between the two. Thats why mammograms find as few as 40 percent of cancers in women with dense breasts, says Deborah Rhodes, M.D., a Mayo Clinic Breast Clinic physician.

If tumors are obscured by dense tissue on a mammogram, the tumor may go undetected for a year or longer during which time the tumor will grow which is a significant problem when you consider how closely survival from breast cancer is linked to tumor size at diagnosis. If we discover a tumor when it is less than 1 centimeter, that patient has over a 90 percent chance of surviving. If we could reliably find tumors in dense tissue when they are small, more lives could be saved," adds Dr. Rhodes.

In addition to dense breast tissue masking tumors on a mammogram, research has shown that women with dense breast tissue have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Many states have now passed legislation mandating that women found to have dense breasts on a mammogram be provided with information about the impact of breast density on breast cancer detection and risk.

Because both Minnesota and Arizona have this legislation, and because national guidelines on breast cancer screening differ, Mayo Clinic breast specialists developed consensus guidelines for breast cancer screening in women with dense breasts.

Bringing dense breast tissue into focus - 3-D mammograms and molecular breast imaging (MBI)

In order to provide the best screening to detect breast cancer, Mayo Clinic physicians recommend that women with dense breasts initially have a 3-D mammogram and be given the option to have further screening with molecular breast imaging (MBI).

Dense breast tissue what you should know

Women with dense breast tissue have a higher proportion of dense tissue compared to fatty tissue in their breasts. You can find out whether you have dense breast tissue by talking with your physician and reading your mammogram report.

Factors that lead to women having dense breasts include:

Adjusting the lens researchers work to refine screening tools

Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine has supported development of molecular breast imaging as an individualized approach to cancer screening and will continue to support research that refines this technology in order to provide patients with dense breast tissue the best care.

Our goal is to identify the best tool to screen for and diagnose cancer at its earliest stages, when it is more treatable. By finding the best individualized care for women with dense breasts, I think we can greatly reduce the number of breast cancers diagnosed when they are already advanced - cancers that were not visible on an x-ray. We have already demonstrated that MBI can detect many cancers including advanced cancers that were not seen on traditional 2-D mammography. Our future research will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of 3-D mammograms and MBI. While this research is ongoing and important, MBI is available now as a tool for women who seek additional screening because they have dense breasts, says Dr. Rhodes.

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3-D Mammograms And Molecular Breast Imaging Personalized Approaches To Breast Cancer Screening - HuffPost

"In the past, anti-neoplastic agents were developed based on the site of origin, such as breast, prostate or lung," said David Spetzler, M.S., Ph.D., M.B.A., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Caris Life Sciences and co-author on the paper. "With our increased knowledge, both of the genetic alterations that drive and sustain tumorigenesis, as well as the down-regulation of the immune system that enables tumors to escape an immune response, we are better positioned than ever to attack cancers based on their molecular profiles and to develop a treatment plan that is tailored to each patient, regardless of tumor origin. The results of this clinical trial demonstrate that this is truly the case. This now opens a new approach to therapy that is exemplified by the recent FDA approval of pembrolizumab for MSI-High or mismatch repair deficient solid tumors the first cancer therapy approved for use based on a biomarker, regardless of tumor type, and the same population evaluated in this study."

The clinical trial evaluated the efficacy of pembrolizumab in advanced MSI-High or MMR-deficient patients. Eighty-six patients, with 12 different tumor types were enrolled. The objective response rate was 53% and the complete response rate was 21%, demonstrating durable responses with pembrolizumab regardless of tumor origin. The investigators concluded that patients with a large number of neoantigens in MMR-deficient cancers made them sensitive to checkpoint inhibition. Researchers also included Caris Molecular Intelligence prevalence data for MSI-High or MMR-deficient tumors. Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) across 24 tumor types, Caris Molecular Intelligence identified patients with MSI-High solid tumors by evaluating more than 7,000 microsatellite regions across approximately 2,200 cases. Patients were considered MSI-High if they had at least 43 altered microsatellite regions, which was determined by comparing NGS results to traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. The Caris NGS platform performed at 95.8% sensitivity and 99.4% specificity.

"The results of this study, along with the FDA approval of pembrolizumab for MSI-High or mismatch repair deficient solid tumors, marks a turning point where precision medicine is now becoming standard of care for all solid tumor patients," said John Marshall, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Caris Life Sciences. Dr. Marshall is also the Associate Director for Clinical Care for the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. "The Caris CGP+ tumor profiling platform enables more patients to get MSI results because it does not require normal tissue like the PCR assay, therefore making it optimally positioned to assist clinicians in accurately identifying MSI-High patients so that they receive appropriate therapy. In addition, CGP+ assists innovative biopharmaceutical companies and other healthcare organizations develop the next personalized cancer treatments."

The study was a multi-institution clinical trial conducted by academic, medical, government and commercial organizations including Johns Hopkins, Stanford University, Providence Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, National Cancer Institute, Ohio State University, West Virginia University Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Merck & Company, with funding in part by The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.

About Caris Life Sciences Caris Life Sciences is a leading innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine through quality and innovation. Caris Molecular Intelligence, the company's Comprehensive Genomic Profiling Plus (CGP+) molecular testing service and the world's leading immunotherapy diagnostic expert, assesses DNA, RNA and proteins, including microsatellite instability (MSI), total mutational load (TML) and PD-L1, to reveal a molecular blueprint to guide more precise and personalized treatment decisions. The ADAPT Biotargeting System, the company's revolutionary and unbiased profiling platform, is currently being utilized for drug target identification, therapeutic discovery and development, fixed tissue-based companion diagnostics, blood-based cancer screening and biomarker identification. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris Life Sciences offers services throughout the U.S., Europe and other international markets. To learn more, please visit http://www.CarisLifeSciences.com.

Media Inquiries: The Ruth Group Kirsten Thomas / Joanna Zimmerman kthomas@theruthgroup.com / jzimmerman@theruthgroup.com Tel: +1-508-280-6592 / +1-646-536-7006

Caris Life Sciences Media Relations & Corporate Affairs CorpComm@carisls.com 214-294-5606

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Caris Life Sciences' Molecular Intelligence Platform Identifies Patients with MSI-High (or Mismatch Repair Deficient ... - PR Newswire (press release)

The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (H.R. 43032) requires ordering professionals to consult AUC when ordering advanced imaging. Only AUC developed by entities meeting the qualified provider-led entity (PLE) standards can be used under the program. SNMMI became a qualified PLE under the Medicare Appropriate Use Criteria Program for advanced diagnostic imaging in June 2016.

The SNMMI AUC join NDSC's foundational criteria set delivered through CareSelect Imaging. CareSelect Imaging contains AUC sets from multiple qualified PLEs, including the American College of Radiology (ACR Select), the American College of Cardiology, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and now the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

"NDSC's CareSelect system is the leading clinical decision support mechanism, providing access to trusted guidelines that cover a wide array of tests and services, including imaging," said SNMMI Chief Executive Officer Virginia Pappas. "It is widely used by hospital systems, and SNMMI is delighted to partner with NDSC to provide referring physicians with access to the appropriate use criteria for nuclear medicine and molecular imaging studies."

CareSelect Imaging is the only AUC delivery mechanism on the market with complete coverage of all CMS qualified Medical Specialty Society content. The focus on content sourced from medical specialty societies, including SNMMI, assures providers that criteria are developed through proven processes that reflect the collective experience of providers on a national scale, without bias and independent of economic agendas.

The SNMMI AUC will be available in early fall 2017 to all NDSC CareSelect Imaging users.

About the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) is an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to raising public awareness about nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, a vital element of today's medical practice that adds an additional dimension to diagnosis, changing the way common and devastating diseases are understood and treated and helping provide patients with the best health care possible.

SNMMI's more than 17,000 members set the standard for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine practice by creating guidelines, sharing information through journals and meetings and leading advocacy on key issues that affect molecular imaging and therapy research and practice. For more information, visit http://www.snmmi.org.

About National Decision Support CompanyNational Decision Support Company delivers enterprise-wide Clinical Decision Support solutions that enable more appropriate care, improve population health, and reduce cost. NDSC's CareSelect Imaging converts published guidelines into actionable criteria that is delivered directly into the EMR workflow. Criteria covers adult and pediatric patient populations featuring guidelines sourced directly from the Society for Pediatric Radiology. For more information, visit http://www.nationaldecisionsupport.com.

About CareSelect ImagingCareSelect Imaging expands on NDSC's foundational ACR Select solution to deliver a comprehensive range of Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for diagnostic imaging in both adult and pediatric patient populations. AUC is sourced from a growing list of qualified Provider Led Entities (qPLE), including the American College of Radiology, the American College of Cardiology, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging to ensure compliance with the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA).

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-decision-support-company-and-the-society-of-nuclear-medicine-and-molecular-imaging-enter-agreement-for-delivery-of-appropriate-use-criteria-300469346.html

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National Decision Support Company and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging enter agreement for ... - PR Newswire (press release)

New imaging methods that allow researchers to track the individual protein molecules on the surface of cells have been developed by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The results offer unprecedented insight into how cells sense and respond to their environments.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are proteins that reside within the cellular membrane and relay signals into the cell to regulate fundamental aspects of human physiology. The signals received through GPCRs include everything from light, which activates the proteins in cells that enable vision, to chemicals such as neurotransmitters that regulate mood, to signals that trigger pain. Nearly half of all clinically used drugs work by targeting distinct GPCRs.

These proteins are critical to every aspect of human physiology, said co-senior study author Dr. Scott Blanchard, a professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine. We need to know how GPCRs recognize all of these signals, how they process the signals and how they transmit the information into the cell to invoke a specific action. Only in doing so will we be able to develop new generations of drugs that more accurately target these proteins and thus can help without causing collateral damage.

In a paper published June 7 in Nature, Dr. Blanchard and colleagues at Weill Cornell Medicine, Stanford and Columbia Universities describe an important advance in this direction, achieved with the use of an imaging technique called single-molecule Fluorescence Energy Transfer (smFRET) that allowed the researchers to watch individual GPCR molecules as they responded to molecules of adrenaline, a hormone that controls functions including heartbeat, breathing and dilation of blood vessels.

We knew already that the GPCR molecule physically changes upon binding adrenaline and that this process enables it to bind intracellular proteins, Dr. Blanchard said. What we didnt know much about is how this activation process actually happens. And thats the critical missing information that has limited our understanding of drug efficacy.

To enable them to view this process, Dr. Blanchards team developed new reporter molecules called fluorophores that emit fluorescent light and can be attached to the GPCR to inform on its motions when adrenaline binds. The Blanchard lab also developed a new microscope that can follow these light messages with greater accuracy. The researchers then watched and recorded the movements, using complex computation to learn how the protein responds to its interactions with adrenaline and with another protein in the cell, called heterotrimeric G protein, which senses the response and lets the cell know that the GPCR has been activated by adrenaline.

The result is a high-resolution, high-speed film that reveals the details of the molecular relationships that transmit the adrenaline signal through the GPCR into the cell. This revealed to the research team for the first time a series of reversible steps in the process by which an activated GPCR interacts with its intracellular G protein that have never been seen before. This allowed them to conclude their paper by describing why Quantitative single-molecule imaging investigations will be crucial in delineating distinct ligand-dependent GPCR signaling pathways.

These are important insights that wouldnt be possible without the imaging techniques that increase our understanding of how these molecular machines actually work and how signals are conveyed from the outside to the inside of the cell, said Dr. Blanchard, who is on related patents, including a patent licensed to Lumidyne for one of the fluorophores usedin the study. Dr. Blanchard is a co-founder with equity in Lumidyne, a company that focuses on fluorescence technologies. Being able to see the inner workings of the GPCRs has enormous implications for drug discovery for everything from pain management to heart disease and cancer. The clinical implications of this technology can reach very far.

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New Imaging Technique Allows Researchers to See Molecular Machinery at Work - Cornell Chronicle

Some bodily activities, sleeping, for instance, mostly occur once every 24 hours; they follow a circadian rhythm. Other bodily functions, such as body temperature, cognitive performance and blood pressure, present an additional 12-hour cycle, but little is known about the biological basis of their rhythm. A team of scientists from various institutions, including Baylor College of Medicine, has revealed that, in addition to 24-hour clocks, mammals and other organisms have 12-hour clocks that are autonomous, work independently from 24-hour clocks and can be modified by external factors. Studying 12-hour clocks is important because altered 12-hour cycles have been linked to human disease. The study appears in Cell Metabolism.

Our lab has been working on how the 24-hour cycles are regulated, and we and others have shown that disturbing these clocks may lead to diseases of metabolism, said senior author Dr. Bert OMalley, chair and professor of molecular and cellular biology and Thomas C. Thompson Chair in Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine. For instance, experimental evidence shows that night-shift workers who periodically change their night and day shifts or people who travel overseas often alter their sleep cycles, and this seems to make them prone to gain weight and develop diabetes and other alterations of metabolism that may lead to disease. Its not a good idea to disturb the circadian rhythm on a regular basis.

In addition to physiological activities that cycle every 24 hours, mammals and other organisms have activities that repeat every 12 hours. For example, it has been reported that blood pressure, body temperature, hormone levels and response to therapy fluctuate in 12-hour cycles. In addition, altered 12-hour cycles have been associated with human diseases. Other researchers had identified about 200 genes that are activated in 12-hour cycles. In this study, OMalley and his colleagues set out to determine whether there was a larger number of 12-hour genes and whether their cycles followed the definition of a biological clock, that is whether they worked autonomously and their oscillation could be adjusted by the environment.

Math meets biology to indentify the bodys internal clocks

Dr. Bokai Zhu, first author of this study and a postdoctoral fellow in the OMalley lab, carried out biological analyses to determine the activity of thousands of mice genes in time. Then, co-author Dr. Clifford Dacso, professor of molecular and cellular biology at Baylor College of Medicine, and co-author and mathematician Dr. Athanasios Antoulas, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University, applied mathematical analyses to these biological data.

We were surprised to identify more than 3,000 genes that were expressed following 12-hour rhythms. A large portion of these genes was superimposed on the already known 24-hour gene activities, Zhu said.

The 12-hour clock is autonomous and can be synchronized by external cues

Further work showed that the 12-hour rhythms of genetic activity work as biological clocks. They occur regularly and autonomously in the cells, and their oscillation can be synchronized by certain external stimuli. OMalley and colleagues discovered that 12-hour clocks are independent from 24-hour clocks. When they experimentally eliminated a 24-hour clock, 12-hour clocks continued ticking. Furthermore, the external cues that can synchronize 24-hour clocks, such as sunlight, do not affect 12-hour clocks.

Of all the genes we analyzed, two sets with 12-hour cycles stood out; those involved with protein quality control and processing, which mainly occur in a cellular structure called endoplasmic reticulum, and those related to the energy supply of the cell, which involves the mitochondria, Zhu said. The activities of the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria depend on each other, and we have shown here that the 12-hour genes in the endoplasmic reticulum are synchronized with the 12-hour genes in the mitochondria, which provide the energy needed for protein processing.

In addition, we found that certain liver conditions are associated with disturbed 12-hour gene expression in mice. We anticipate that further study of 12-hour cycles might lead to opportunities to improve prevention of or treatments for diseases of the liver and other organs in the future, OMalley said.

Other contributors to this work include Qiang Zhang, Yinghong Pan, Emily M. Mace and Brian York. The authors are affiliated with one or more of the following institutions: Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, the University of Houston and the Max Planck Institute.

This research was supported by grants from the NationaI Institutes of Health (U24 DK097748 and R01 HD07857), the Brockman Foundation, the Center for Advancement of Science in Space, Peter J. Fluor Family Fund, Philip J. Carroll, Jr. Professorship, Joyce Family Foundation, the National Science Foundation Grant CCF-1320866 and the German Science Foundation Grant AN-693/1-1.

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12-hour biological clock coordinates essential bodily functions - Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)