Bio Research Services news from FierceBioResearcher

The Israeli Life Sciences Industry group is helping set up a $300 million to $500 million initiative to spur the development of biotechnology and help finance drug research in the country. Chief Scientist Dr. Eli Opper says that the country is already in negotiations with multinational biotech companies to create development centers in Israel while the government is adding to the biotech/nanotech activities of Israel's universities. Care Capital partner Dr. Argeris N. Karabelas told the …

A worldwide analysis of biotech patents shows that universities and public research institutions play the leading role in drug discovery, with the U.S. and Japan well ahead of Europe in innovation. The intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk examined patents filed between 2002 and 2006 and found that the Japan Science and Technology Agency played the lead role in filing 1,022 patent "families;" clusters of patents all linked to a single discovery. The University of California ranked …

About a dozen different states are competing to host a new, $450 million government BioDefense research lab that will employ about 300 researchers working on avian flu, anthrax, bird flu and more. Officials are expected to whittle down the prospective sites under review this summer as various groups show off their local scientific expertise. States most interested include Texas, California, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, …

Research institutions are lining up to protest stalled federal funding for biomedical research. Dr. Edward D. Miller, the head of Johns Hopkins Medical, issued a stern warning to lawmakers that a failure to bump federal research funding at the National Institutes of Health could force a frustrating halt to important research. "The world's premier biomedical research engine is at risk," he said in a statement. A stagnant source of funds has left eight out of 10 research grant applications …

A group of three universities has banded together to create a research grid that will allow cardiovascular researchers to share data, analytical tools and models on healthy and diseased patients. The Institute for Computational Medicine at Johns Hopkins University will host the grid--which is being funded with an $8.5 million federal grant--and work with Ohio State University and the University of information that can be shared by everyone who is connected. And that's a big advance from …

MIT researchers have pushed the envelope on lab-on-a-chip technology that could significantly increase the vast array of chemical interactions that drug developers rely on to find new drug candidates. They have found that using intersecting channels to direct tiny bubbles on a microfluidic chip can replace the pumps and valves that have been in use. That switch would reduce the money spent in the discovery process and speed research. Experts say that dispensing with the pumps and valves …

A variety of groups are criticizing efforts by the Bush administration to slice spending at the National Cancer Institute by 1 percent. The move would represent the second year in a row for cuts at the NCI. Top researchers say that the strategy could ultimately undercut the quality of research in oncology at the same time progress in the field is cutting the number of deaths from cancer in the U.S. for the first time. The head of the NCI, John Niederhuber ( …

Taking a page from the California playbook on biomedical research, Texas has announced plans to invest $3 billion in cancer research over the next 10 years. Not surprisingly, the project draws on some of the state's highest-profile research organizations. The state is already home to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, named after testicular cancer survivor and high-profile athlete …

Researchers at MIT have developed a tiny sensor that can be used to detect changes in tumors. Shaped like a cube measuring 2 millimeters on each side, the device contains nanoparticles that can check for substances linked to tumor growth or for therapies. The nanoparticles can work like a sensor during magnetic resonance imaging. Lead researcher Michael Cima says it's a new and improved way to see if a therapy is actually working, an important part of developing personalized drugs for …

Biotech drugs take longer and cost more than the traditional medicines fielded by the FDA, according to a new survey from Tufts University's Center for the Study of Drug Development. On average, a complex biologic costs $1.2 billion to approval over a period of 97.7 months. That's 7.4 months longer and much higher than the $899 million average cost the center figured for traditional meds in 2005. The numbers are likely to be heavily featured in the debate over the retail cost of …