NEWS
Collaboration seeks to unlock secrets of neuromuscular disease
A €7.5m EU-funded research project is to concentrate on the search for non-invasive biomarkers in people with the Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies and Collagen VI myopathies.
BIO-NMD will be led by Professor Alessandra Ferlini at the University of Ferrara, Italy, and will involve leading European academic and industry partners, including Ariadne, working to identify non-invasive biomarkers for monitoring neuromuscular diseases (NMDs). Utilising a myriad of omic sciences (genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic) and bioinformatics, the consortium hopes to bring qualified biomarkers for ongoing
and further clinical trials. Ariadne’s focus will be on providing bioinformatics tools for identifying functional pathways, potential targets and data outflow integration. The team will use its software, Pathway Studio, as a core to integrate the data and information flow, in addition to using its expertise in information extraction to develop a literature-derived NMD biological knowledgebase of related processes and diseases. Specifically, Ariadne will build mechanistic models and pathways for NMD and interpret omic data generated by the consortium and partners in the context of NMD knowledgebase and networks.
Ferlini said: ‘The participation of Ariadne as partners together with INSERM is crucial for the project. Developing bioinformatic tools for omic studies analysis is essential and guarantees success to the project. In addition, it reinforces collaboration between academics and industries, again a key point for successful research to be translated into clinics.’ The first update workshops for the BIO-NMD consortium are to be held in July in London and will include sessions dedicated to its industrial partners. The consortium will present and describe the project impacts, possible outcomes and identify links for future collaborations with industry.
Computational model aids plant species research
Scientists in Georgia have teamed up with Microsoft Research Cambridge and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to create a sustainable harvesting model to help protect populations of the snowdrop plant. Concern had previously been
expressed by Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora that the 15 to 18 million snowdrop bulbs exported annually from Georgia was unsustainable. Using the new model, the group of scientists predict that the snowdrop populations in Georgia could easily support commercially valuable harvesting levels of around 15 million bulbs per year, securing the trading of this valuable commodity for the country.
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The project began when the CITES Secretariat, with funding provided by the Netherlands, commissioned a study to assess the abundance of snowdrops in cultivated and wild sites in Georgia, undertaken by a team of scientists from Georgia, Microsoft Research and RBG Kew during the spring of 2009.
The team surveyed the national status of plant populations and interviewed local officials and landowners about their cultivation and harvesting methods. Using this data, the team pioneered a computational approach to estimate the abundance and distribution of bulbs in Georgia, allowing an overall quota and regional quotas to be recommended. The findings were well received by the Georgian
SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010
authorities and most of the recommendations, including the prevention of harvesting from sites of high conservation value, have been implemented. ‘Microsoft Research
Cambridge’s computational model played a vital role in establishing sustainable harvesting practices for snowdrops in Georgia, and the same model could easily be transferred to other species and countries to help prevent over- harvesting,’ said Matthew Smith, scientist in the Computational Ecology and Environmental Science Group, Microsoft Research Cambridge. ‘Technology similar to that which we developed can help governments provide the tools and training required to maintain sustainable harvesting practices.’
IN BRIEF
l Genedata is participating in an ERA-Net-funded applied pathogenomics project, which is using systems biology to identify the role of small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) in infectious diseases. The sncRNAomics European Research Consortium is identifying novel targets for diagnostics and therapy of five major high-risk, gram-positive human microbial pathogens.
l DNAStar will join Ion Torrent in supporting the Ion PGM Sequencer Grant Program by providing perpetual licenses of its next-gen sequencing suite of software tools to the two European winners.
l Agilent’s OpenLAB ELN is now available in versions that support Chinese and Korean languages, including a fully translated user interface.
l Labtronics has released a connector between LimsLink and Agilent’s OpenLAB ECM, making it easy for laboratories to connect instruments to both a LIMS and OpenLAB ECM at the same time.
l Herlev University Hospital, near Copenhagen, is to benefit from LabLogic Systems’ new LIMS, that has been developed specifically for PET research and manufacturing.
l UK marine consultancy Emu, is using QSI’s WinLims Rental solution to enhance the accuracy, efficiency and traceability of its lab procedures to improve the organisation’s microbiology and water quality laboratories’ customer service.
l Stat Analysis, an
environmental, microbiology, air and product testing laboratory in Chicago, has selected LabCore to automate its CLP-like data package assembly and management.
l Thermo Fisher Scientific has won a Microsoft Life Sciences Innovation Award for the third consecutive year. The award recognises best- in-class companies for use of Microsoft-based solutions.
www.scientific-computing.com
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