Top 6 trends in translational science in 2012

It is that time of year when we reflect on the past year and embark on goals for the new one. In keeping with this tradition, the aim of this first post of the New Year is to reflect on the major discoveries in translational science achieved in 2012 that I believe will shape 2013 [...]

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Translating Genetic Biomarkers to the Clinic: The Promise and Pitfalls of Developing Robust, Reliable Signatures

The recent Affymetrix sponsored Science/AAAS webinar entitled “Translating Genetic Biomarkers to the Clinic: The Promise and Pitfalls of Developing Robust, Reliable Signatures” [view webinar], highlighted some very interesting aspects of translating biomarker research into products that are ready for clinical use. The Q&A session that ensued included many [...]

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Is the medical community ready to interpret these new molecular vital signs in their medical bag?

A patient visits his/her physician for an annual check-up. The physician takes the patient’s pulse and other vital signs as well as traditional blood chemistries and then refers to the patient’s complete genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic profile of the past year, which was built by collecting regular blood samples. On [...]

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Digging into the archives – unlocking the full potential of tumor samples

Important reference collections of solid tumor samples lie fragmented in the histopathology labs of hospitals and medical research centers. The reference collections in question consist of FFPE (Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded) samples. This standard histopathology technique is used worldwide to preserve and catalog solid tumor samples after tissue biopsies and allows samples to [...]

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Genome-wide association studies: which method to choose?

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that identify and correlate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to complex diseases are predominantly carried out with SNP microarrays specifically designed to interrogate millions of different polymorphisms in the human genome (and in the genomes of other organisms). The results are then typically cross-referenced with data from the [...]

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What does a united Affymetrix and eBioscience mean for the scientific community?

I am really excited about the new possibilities that the Affymetrix and eBioscience union enable for translational sciences and beyond. We are working to help researchers integrate genomics, proteomics, and cell biology for the development of personalized medicine. The acquisition of eBioscience will allow us to expand beyond genomics and transcriptomics [...]

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Translational sciences: Shouldn’t we go beyond genomics?

Cancer is one of the most characteristic examples of a disease for which the scientific community has come together to systematically produce vast amounts of genomic data. The aim is to gain a better understanding of this disease in order to create targeted therapeutic compounds and companion diagnostics, and improve cancer [...]

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Validomics: How do we ensure biologically relevant data?

In my previous post, I talked about the wealth of information being produced by high-throughput (HT) genomics methods and how post-genomic research is helping to paint a new picture of living processes. It was only very briefly that I touched upon and stressed the importance [...]

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Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics – is it time for validomics?

Today we celebrate DNA day, which commemorates the publication of the structure of DNA in 1953¹. On this very day in 2003, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was completed, providing us with a reference sequence of the human genome². The draft sequence had been provided two years earlier, in 2001³,⁴. Since the [...]

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The Genome Generation

Traditionally, a visit to the physician started with a discussion–ranging from the description of symptoms, to your medical history and family profile–and continued with a review of classical blood chemistry results, a physical examination and sometimes more advanced diagnostic tests such as biopsies and/or imaging. But, lately, two new tools have been added to [...]

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