NASA's Kepler probe in peril

Posted on by

NASA

An artist's conception shows NASA's Kepler space telescope observing a planet making a transit across an alien star. (Star and planet not to scale.)

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope suffered a second failure in its reaction-wheel control system, forcing a suspension of its search for alien planets while the space agency determines whether the four-year mission is truly finished.

"It's certainly not good news," Charles Sobeck, deputy project manager for the $600 million mission at NASA's Ames Research Center, told reporters Wednesday.

But Sobeck and other mission managers emphasized that there was still a chance that the probe could be revived. "I wouldn't call Kepler down and out just yet," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters.

The problem has to do with the reaction wheels that are part of Kepler's fine-pointing system. The space telescope identifies worlds in far-off solar systems by watching for the telltale dips in starlight when the planet's disk passes over its parent sun. But in order to make those observations, Kepler has to hold itself in a precise position with the aid of four gyroscopic reaction wheels. One of the wheels failed last July, but Kepler could still do the job with the other three.

On Sunday, however, the spacecraft put itself into safe mode when it couldn't stay in its proper orbit around the sun, 40 million miles (64 million kilometers) from Earth.When the mission team did its regular check-up with Kepler on Tuesday, they found that a second reaction wheel wasn't working. In a mission update, NASA said the problem was probably caused by "a structural failure of the wheel bearing."

That forced an end to Kepler's planet quest. "We need three wheels in service to give us the pointing precision to make this work," the mission's principal investigator, William Borucki of NASA Ames, told NBC News.

Sobeck said the spacecraft itself could remain stable as long as it had fuel for its thrusters, but the thrusters aren't capable of providing the precise pointing that Borucki and his colleagues need. Over the next several months, members of the Kepler team will assess their technical options, and gauge what kind of science could be accomplished using those options, said Paul Hertz, astrophysics director at NASA Headquarters.

Read more:

NASA's Kepler probe in peril

NASA's planet-hunting telescope is spinning out of control

Posted on by

NASA's Kepler space telescope is in trouble.

The telescope, launched in 2009 in search of Earth-like planets, has lost the use of one of the four wheels that control its orientation in space. Kepler, for the second time this month, has gone into safe mode, NASA reported Wednesday afternoon.

With NASA no longer able to manipulate the telescope's positioning, ground engineers also are having a hard time communicating with it since the communications link comes and goes as the spacecraft spins uncontrollably.

This is the second wheel failure Kepler has suffered.

"This is a clear indication that there has been an internal failure within the reaction wheel, likely a structural failure of the wheel bearing," NASA reported. "With the failure of a second reaction wheel, it's unlikely that the spacecraft will be able to return to the high pointing accuracy that enables its high-precision photometry. However, no decision has been made to end data collection."

The telescope is stable and safe at this point. Engineers, though, are working to minimise the amount of fuel that the spacecraft is using while they try to control its orientation with its thrusters.

Kepler has been considered a success, wrapping up its primary three-and-a-half-year mission and entering a second phase of research last November. NASA scientists had been hoping that Kepler would continue working for another four years.

Since it began its work on May 12, 2009, the telescope has searched more than 100,000 stars for signs of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone, an area that may have water. The telescope has so far confirmed more than 100 such planets.

The telescope is onboard a spacecraft that is carrying several computers. Kepler is designed to measure the brightness of stars every half hour, allowing scientists to detect any dimming that would be caused by orbiting planets passing in front of them.

Scientists receive enough data from Kepler to determine not only the size of a planet but whether it has a solid surface and its potential to hold water, something considered crucial to the formation of life.

See the article here:

NASA's planet-hunting telescope is spinning out of control

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler probe in peril

Posted on by

NASA

An artist's conception shows NASA's Kepler space telescope observing a planet making a transit across an alien star. (Star and planet not to scale.)

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope suffered a second failure in its reaction-wheel control system, forcing a suspension of its search for alien planets while the space agency determines whether the four-year mission is truly finished.

"It's certainly not good news," Charles Sobeck, deputy project manager for the $600 million mission at NASA's Ames Research Center, told reporters Wednesday.

But Sobeck and other mission managers emphasized that there was still a chance that the probe could be revived. "I wouldn't call Kepler down and out just yet," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters.

The problem has to do with the reaction wheels that are part of Kepler's fine-pointing system. The space telescope identifies worlds in far-off solar systems by watching for the telltale dips in starlight when the planet's disk passes over its parent sun. But in order to make those observations, Kepler has to hold itself in a precise position with the aid of four gyroscopic reaction wheels. One of the wheels failed last July, but Kepler could still do the job with the other three.

On Sunday, however, the spacecraft put itself into safe mode when it couldn't stay in its proper orbit around the sun, 40 million miles (64 million kilometers) from Earth.When the mission team did its regular check-up with Kepler on Tuesday, they found that a second reaction wheel wasn't working. In a mission update, NASA said the problem was probably caused by "a structural failure of the wheel bearing."

That forced an end to Kepler's planet quest. "We need three wheels in service to give us the pointing precision to make this work," the mission's principal investigator, William Borucki of NASA Ames, told NBC News.

Sobeck said the spacecraft itself could remain stable as long as it had fuel for its thrusters, but the thrusters aren't capable of providing the precise pointing that Borucki and his colleagues need. Over the next several months, members of the Kepler team will assess their technical options, and gauge what kind of science could be accomplished using those options, said Paul Hertz, astrophysics director at NASA Headquarters.

Read more:

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler probe in peril

NASA Spacecraft in Trouble

Posted on by

The newly discovered planets named Kepler-62e and -f. Scientists using NASA's Kepler telescope have found two distant planets that are in the right place and are the right size for potential life.AP Photo/Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

A faulty steering apparatus may bring an early end to NASAs Kepler space telescope, a $600 million tool in the space agencys quest for life elsewhere in the universe.

Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone, the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. Launched in 2009, it has discovered thousands of such planets, including a pair just 1,200 light years away.

Called Kepler-62-e and Kepler-62-f, the news of their discovery came about one month ago. But yesterday, Keplers mission ran into trouble.

- John Grunsfeld, associate administrator, NASA's science mission directorate

Kepler is powered by four solar panels, and the spacecraft must execute a 90-degree roll every 3 months to reposition them toward the sun while keeping its eye precisely aimed. Kepler launched with four wheels to control that motion -- and one of them failed last year.

Yesterday, a second wheel appears to have failed as well, and the space telescope was placed in thruster-controlled safe mode yesterday, said NASA spokesman J.D. Harrington.

Unfortunately, Kepler isnt in a place where I can go up and rescue it, John Grunsfeld, associate administrator, science mission directorate at NASA said during a hastily arranged press conference Wednesday afternoon.

NASA talks to Kepler twice a week. Earlier this week, during one of those communications, NASA noticed that it was in safe mode, something that has happened several times during its mission already.

Our normal response to that is to command it back to wheels. We did that and we initially saw some movement of the wheel, explained Charles Sobeck, deputy project manager with Ames Research Center. That movement quickly ground to a halt, he said.

See the rest here:

NASA Spacecraft in Trouble

NASA's asteroid sample return mission moves into development

Posted on by

May 16, 2013 NASA's first mission to sample an asteroid is moving ahead into development and testing in preparation for its launch in 2016.

The Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) passed a confirmation review Wednesday called Key Decision Point (KDP)-C. NASA officials reviewed a series of detailed project assessments and authorized the spacecraft's continuation into the development phase.

OSIRIS-REx will rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2018 and return a sample of it to Earth in 2023.

"Successfully passing KDP-C is a major milestone for the project," said Mike Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This means NASA believes we have an executable plan to return a sample from Bennu. It now falls on the project and its development team members to execute that plan."

Bennu could hold clues to the origin of the solar system. OSIRIS-REx will map the asteroid's global properties, measure non-gravitational forces and provide observations that can be compared with data obtained by telescope observations from Earth. OSIRIS-REx will collect a minimum of 2 ounces (60 grams) of surface material.

"The entire OSIRIS-REx team has worked very hard to get to this point," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "We have a long way to go before we arrive at Bennu, but I have every confidence when we do, we will have built a supremely capable system to return a sample of this primitive asteroid."

The mission will be a vital part of NASA's plans to find, study, capture and relocate an asteroid for exploration by astronauts. NASA recently announced an asteroid initiative proposing a strategy to leverage human and robotic activities for the first human mission to an asteroid while also accelerating efforts to improve detection and characterization of asteroids.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will provide overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance. The University of Arizona in Tucson is the principal investigator institution. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver will build the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages New Frontiers for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Related Links

Originally posted here:

NASA's asteroid sample return mission moves into development

NASA's Mission To Find Earth-Like Planets Might Be Over

Posted on by

There's something wrong with Kepler, the sun-orbiting spacecraft at the center of NASA's mission to identify Earth-like, habitable planets orbiting other stars. And if the space agency's engineers can't fix it, one of the coolest NASA missions, ever, could end before its time.

RELATED: NASA Just Found Some Very Earth-Like Planets

Last month, Kepler found some extremely promising planets orbiting "habitable zones" of other, sun-like stars the best candidates yet to host some sort of life. Since 2009, the $600 million mission has identified nearly 3,000 potential Earth-like planets, and confirmed the existence of 132 "habitable zone" planets in the Milky Way. But now, two of the wheels that control the direction in which Kepler points are broken. Asdeputy project manager Charles Sobeck told the Associated Press, that means NASA "can't point where we need to point. We can't gather data."

RELATED: The Puniest Planet; The New Truth About Wormholes

Kepler finds new planets by monitoring distant stars for momentary drops in brightness, caused by a planet passing in between the star and Kepler's sophisticated telescope. The amount of light blocked by the planet indicates its size. It's precise work, and without regaining adequate control of the vessel, NASA's mission won't be able to continue.

RELATED: Congress Knows the First Giant Leap to Move Us All to Another Planet

But NASA isn't abandoning the project, yet. In a statement released Wednesday, the agency gave a rundown of the seemingly dismal, but not hopeless, state of affairs:

We will take the next several days and weeks to assess our options and develop new command products. These options are likely to include steps to attempt to recover wheel functionality and to investigate the utility of a hybrid mode, using both wheels and thrusters.

With the failure of a second reaction wheel, it's unlikely that the spacecraft will be able to return to the high pointing accuracy that enables its high-precision photometry. However, no decision has been made to end data collection.

Because Kepler orbits the sun, and not the Earth, NASA can't just send astronauts out to it for a repair job it's about 40 million miles away from us right now. So they're trying to figure out if there's a remote way to get the part back into service, or if they can control Kepler using other methods. If they can't, there's a possibility that Kepler's telescope could come in handy for less precise work, according to the AP.

Read the rest here:

NASA's Mission To Find Earth-Like Planets Might Be Over

NASA telescope's planet-hunting days may be over

Posted on by

LOS ANGELES (AP) NASA's planet-hunting Kepler telescope is broken, potentially jeopardizing the search for other worlds where life could exist outside our solar system.

If engineers can't find a fix, the failure could mean an end to the $600 million mission's search, although the space agency wasn't ready to call it quits Wednesday. The telescope has discovered scores of planets but only two so far are the best candidates for habitable planets.

"I wouldn't call Kepler down-and-out just yet," said NASA sciences chief John Grunsfeld.

NASA said the spacecraft lost the second of four wheels that control its orientation in space. With only two working wheels left, it can't point at stars with the same precision.

In orbit around the sun, 40 million miles from Earth, Kepler is too far away to send astronauts on a repair mission like the way Grunsfeld and others fixed a mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope. Over the next several weeks, engineers on the ground will try to restart Kepler's broken wheel or find a workaround. The telescope could be used for other purposes even if it can no longer track down planets.

Kepler was launched in 2009 in search of Earth-like planets. So far, it has confirmed 132 planets and spotted more than 2,700 potential ones. Its mission was supposed to be over by now, but last year, NASA agreed to keep Kepler running through 2016 at a cost of about $20 million a year.

Just last month, Kepler scientists announced the discovery of a distant duo that seems like ideal places for some sort of life to flourish. The other planets found by Kepler haven't fit all the criteria that would make them right for life of any kind from microbes to man.

While ground telescopes can hunt for planets outside our solar system, Kepler is much more advanced and is the first space mission dedicated to that goal.

For the past four years, Kepler has focused its telescope on a faraway patch of the Milky Way hosting more than 150,000 stars, recording slight dips in brightness a sign of a planet passing in front of the star.

Now "we can't point where we need to point. We can't gather data," deputy project manager Charles Sobeck told The Associated Press.

See more here:

NASA telescope's planet-hunting days may be over

NASA craft's planet-hunting days may be numbered

Posted on by

LOS ANGELES (AP) NASA's planet-hunting Kepler telescope is broken, potentially jeopardizing the search for other worlds where life could exist outside our solar system.

If engineers can't find a fix, the failure could mean an end to the $600 million mission's search, although the space agency wasn't ready to call it quits Wednesday. The telescope has discovered scores of planets but only two so far are the best candidates for habitable planets.

"I wouldn't call Kepler down-and-out just yet," said NASA sciences chief John Grunsfeld.

NASA said the spacecraft lost the second of four wheels that control its orientation in space. With only two working wheels left, it can't point at stars with the same precision.

In orbit around the sun, 40 million miles from Earth, Kepler is too far away to send astronauts on a repair mission like the way Grunsfeld and others fixed a mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope. Over the next several weeks, engineers on the ground will try to restart Kepler's faulty wheel or find a workaround. The telescope could be used for other purposes even if it can no longer track down planets.

Kepler was launched in 2009 in search of Earth-like planets. So far, it has confirmed 132 planets and spotted more than 2,700 potential ones. Its mission was supposed to be over by now, but last year, NASA agreed to keep Kepler running through 2016 at a cost of about $20 million a year.

Just last month, Kepler scientists announced the discovery of a distant duo that seems like ideal places for some sort of life to flourish. The other planets found by Kepler haven't fit all the criteria that would make them right for life of any kind from microbes to man.

While ground telescopes can hunt for planets outside our solar system, Kepler is much more advanced and is the first space mission dedicated to that goal.

For the past four years, Kepler has focused its telescope on a faraway patch of the Milky Way hosting more than 150,000 stars, recording slight dips in brightness a sign of a planet passing in front of the star.

Now "we can't point where we need to point. We can't gather data," deputy project manager Charles Sobeck told The Associated Press.

Go here to read the rest:

NASA craft's planet-hunting days may be numbered

Can NASA's Planet-Hunting Kepler Mission Be Saved?

Posted on by

There's a chance that NASA's Kepler space telescope can recover from the malfunction that has halted its wildly successful search for alien planets, mission team members say.

The second of Kepler's four reaction wheels devices that allow the observatory to maintain its position in space has failed, depriving Kepler of the ability to lock precisely onto its 150,000-plus target stars, NASA oficials announced Wednesday (May 15).

But mission engineers are not conceding that Kepler's planet-hunting days have come to an end, vowing to try their best to recover the failed reaction wheels over the coming weeks. [Gallery: A World of Kepler Planets]

"I wouldn't call Kepler down and out just yet," NASA science chief John Grunsfeld told reporters Wednesday.

Balky reaction wheels

The Kepler spacecraft spots exoplanets by detecting the tiny brightness dips caused when they pass in front of their parent stars from the instrument's perspective.

The observatory needs three working reaction wheels to do such precision work. When Kepler launched in March 2009, it had four three for immediate use and one spare.

One of the wheels, known as number two, failed in July 2012, giving Kepler no margin for error. And the loss this week of another one (called number four) puts an end to the spacecraft's exoplanet hunt, unless a fix can be found.

Engineers have begun considering strategies for bringing the wheels back into service. They'll likely try a light touch at times and a brute-force approach at others, officials said.

"Like with any stuck wheel that you might be familiar with on the ground, we can try jiggling it," said Kepler deputy project manager Charlie Sobeck, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "We can try commanding it back and forth in both directions. We can try forcing it through whatever the resistance is that's holding it up."

Original post:

Can NASA's Planet-Hunting Kepler Mission Be Saved?

Did 'Star Trek' Give Rise to NASA's 'Space Shuttle'?

Posted on by

NASA's first space shuttle, the test orbiter Enterprise, was named after the fictional starship on "Star Trek" in response to fans staging a write-in campaign. But did the agency's use of the term "space shuttle" also stem from the television series?

"The Galileo [shuttlecraft] is such an important part of Star Trek and not only to Star Trek, it was important to literally the consciousness of the space program," Alec Peters, a "Star Trek" superfan, recently told SPACE.com. "It really is the precursor to the space shuttle Enterprise."

Peters, with fellow superfan Adam Schneider, is currently restoring "Galileo," the full-size prop shuttlecraft used for filming the original "Star Trek" series in 1966. The science fiction relic is to go on display at Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center, later this year. [Starship Enterprise Evolution in Photos: A 'Star Trek' Gallery]

"They invented the idea of a shuttlecraft," Schneider said, referring to "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and his television series' crew. Schneider further told SPACE.com that NASA, busy with planning trips to the moon, was at the time only referring to "tugs" to bring cargo to orbit.

"One year after Galileo aired, suddenly the word became 'shuttle.' The word 'shuttle' was used over and over again," said Schneider.

Peters and Schneider aren't alone in their belief that "Star Trek" gave rise to NASA using the term "space shuttle." The Wikipedia entry for "shuttlecraft" credits "Star Trek" in part for the term entering the vocabulary "as a vehicle for traveling between a planetary surface and space," though it acknowledges that a citation is needed.

"Aerospace engineer Maxwell Hunter and others had been using the term shuttlecraft for several years corresponding to the broadcast dates of Star Trek," the entry states.

According to the crowd-sourced encyclopedia, the head of the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight George Mueller gave a speech in August 1968 that mentioned the need for a "Space Shuttle."

"This was the earliest known official use of the term," the entry states.

Studying the space shuttle's origins

Read the original here:

Did 'Star Trek' Give Rise to NASA's 'Space Shuttle'?

Institute of Medicine, Heart Association disagree on sodium

Posted on by

An expert panel at the Institute of Medicine said recent studies examining links between sodium consumption and health outcomes support recommendations to lower sodium intake from the very high levels some Americans consume now -- 3,400 milligrams or more of sodium a day -- the equivalent to about 1.5 teaspoons of salt. UPI /Monika Graff

License photo

PHILADELPHIA, May 16 (UPI) -- The Institute of Medicine says studies found the value of cutting salt intake to very low levels is inconclusive, but the American Heart Association disagrees.

An expert panel at the Institute of Medicine said recent studies examining links between sodium consumption and health outcomes support recommendations to lower sodium intake from the very high levels some Americans consume now -- 3,400 milligrams or more of sodium a day or the equivalent of about 1.5 teaspoons of salt.

However, Brian Strom, George S. Pepper professor of public health and preventive medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, said the committee found evidence from these studies does not support reduction in sodium intake to below 2,300 mg per day.

The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans urge most people ages 14-50 to limit their sodium intake to 2,300 mg daily. Those ages 51 or older, African-Americans and people with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease -- groups that together make up more than 50 percent of the U.S. population -- are advised to follow an even stricter limit of 1,500 mg per day.

These recommendations are based largely on a body of research that links higher sodium intakes to certain "surrogate markers" such as high blood pressure, an established risk factor for heart disease, Strom said.

"These new studies support previous findings that reducing sodium from very high intake levels to moderate levels improves health," Strom said in a statement. "But they also suggest that lowering sodium intake too much may actually increase a person's risk of some health problems."

Nancy Brown, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association, said the report was missing a critical component -- a comprehensive review of well-established evidence which links too much sodium to high blood pressure and heart disease.

The American Heart Association has meticulously reviewed scientific research and recommends that all Americans eat no more than 1,500 mg a day of sodium. Current average sodium consumption in the United States for people age 2 and up is more than 3,400 mg a day, Brown said.

Read more:

Institute of Medicine, Heart Association disagree on sodium

Foundation Medicine to Present Clinical Data on its FoundationOne™ Cancer Genomic Profile at the 2013 ASCO Annual …

Posted on by

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Foundation Medicine, Inc., a molecular information company that brings comprehensive cancer genomic diagnostic testing and analysis to routine clinical care, today announced that 12 abstracts highlighting the companys progress in clinical cancer genome sequencing will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2013 taking place May 31-June 4, 2013 in Chicago.

As clinical adoption of our solid tumor assay, FoundationOne, continues to increase, we are generating a large body of evidence suggesting that a comprehensive genomic profile may provide clinically actionable information for many patients with cancer, said Michael J. Pellini, M.D., president and chief executive officer, Foundation Medicine. These data include novel findings across many tumor types and for many genomic targets. The 2013 ASCO meeting will be an exciting venue to share and discuss new discoveries in cancer genomics with the broader oncology community.

The schedule for presentations by Foundation Medicine and/or its collaborators is as follows:

Date & Time: Saturday, June 1, 2013 from 8:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. CT Title: Frequent LOH of CYP2D6 in ER+ breast cancer determined by next-generation sequencing (NGS) Abstract: 534 Session: Poster Discussion Session: Breast Cancer HER2/ER Location: E450b Presenter: Mark J. Ratain, M.D. Research in collaboration with The University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center

Date & Time: Saturday, June 1, 2013 from 8:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. CT Title: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors harbor multiple potentially actionable kinase fusions Abstract: 10513 Session: Poster Discussion Session: Sarcoma Location: S102 Presenter: Christine M. Lovly, M.D., Ph.D. Research in collaboration with Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Date & Time: Saturday, June 1, 2013 from 1:15 5:00 p.m. CT Title: Next generation sequencing (NGS) in patients with advanced metastatic breast cancer: identification of molecular alterations and analysis of associations with treatment on Phase I studies at MD Anderson Cancer Center Abstract: 1051 Session: General Poster Session: Breast Cancer Triple-Negative/Cytotoxics/Local Therapy Location: S Hall A2 Presenter: Jennifer J. Wheler, M.D. Research in collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center

Date & Time: Saturday, June 1, 2013 from 1:15 5:00 p.m. CT Title: Targeted next-generation sequencing of sarcomas for identification of therapeutic targets Abstract: 10577 Session: General Poster Session: Sarcoma Location: S Hall A2 Presenter: Vinod Ravi, M.D. Research in collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center

Date & Time: Saturday, June 1, 2013 from 2:00 2:15 p.m. CT Title: Next generation sequencing of genomic and cDNA identifies a high frequency of kinase fusions involving ROS1, ALK, RET, NTRK1, and BRAF in Spitz tumors Abstract: 9002 Session: Oral Abstract Session: Melanoma/Skin Cancers Location: 5406 Presenter: Boris Bastian, M.D., Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco

Date & Time: Sunday, June 2, 2013 from 8:00 8:15 a.m. CT Title: An analysis of ERBB2 alterations (amplifications and mutations) found by next generation sequencing (NGS) in 2000+ consecutive solid tumor (ST) patients Abstract: 11000 Session: Oral Abstract Session: Tumor Biology Location: E354b Presenter: Massimo Cristofanilli, M.D., F.A.C.P., Thomas Jefferson University-Kimmel Cancer Center

See the original post here:

Foundation Medicine to Present Clinical Data on its FoundationOne™ Cancer Genomic Profile at the 2013 ASCO Annual ...

Research and Markets: Personalized Medicine Partnering Terms and Agreements 2013

Posted on by

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/d29n3t/personalized) has announced the addition of the "Personalized Medicine Partnering Terms and Agreements" report to their offering.

Comprehensive understanding and unprecedented access to the personalized medicine partnering deals and agreements entered into by the worlds leading healthcare companies.

The Personalized Medicine Partnering Terms and Agreements report provides comprehensive understanding and unprecedented access to the personalized medicine partnering deals and agreements entered into by the worlds leading healthcare companies.

The report provides a detailed understanding and analysis of how and why companies enter personalized medicine partnering deals. The majority of deals are discovery or development stage whereby the licensee obtains a right or an option right to license the licensors personalized medicine technology. These deals tend to be multicomponent, starting with collaborative R&D, and commercialization of outcomes.

Understanding the flexibility of a prospective partner's negotiated deals terms provides critical insight into the negotiation process in terms of what you can expect to achieve during the negotiation of terms. Whilst many smaller companies will be seeking details of the payments clauses, the devil is in the detail in terms of how payments are triggered - contract documents provide this insight where press releases do not.

This report contains over 1500 links to online copies of actual personalized medicine deals and contract documents as submitted to the Securities Exchange Commission by companies and their partners. Contract documents provide the answers to numerous questions about a prospective partner's flexibility on a wide range of important issues, many of which will have a significant impact on each party's ability to derive value from the deal.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/d29n3t/personalized

About Research and Markets

Research and Markets is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

The rest is here:

Research and Markets: Personalized Medicine Partnering Terms and Agreements 2013