Launch of XTractor™ -a powerful scientific literature alert & abstraction system, now with unlimited free access.

Bangalore, India — Indian Life Sciences Informatics Company, Molecular Connections announced today, the release of XTractor™, a first of its kind manually curated literature alert service. XTractor™ can be accessed free of charge by the scientific community world wide.

XTractor™ acts as a literature alert service, which provides scientists with manually annotated scientific facts from literature. It enables researchers to be up-to-date with the latest scientific publications in the STM arena, as and when they are published. Once registered the scientists have the freedom to choose their keywords of choice and also set the frequency at which they wish to receive these alerts.

Mining scientific literature to retrieve accurate hits or extract entity relationship has always been a long-standing problem in research. It is a daunting task to identify the right gene name or the right drug name and extract relations/association with diseases, processes; pathways etc accurately form unstructured text. Text mining engines are fast enough but not accurate. XTractor™ with its efficient workflows combines the speed of a text-mining engine, with the accuracy of manual, expert curation.

XTractor™ is highly accurate and more efficient than many of NLP engines, since it is a hybrid model using technology and manual validation. Since the annotation is highly accurate researchers would also be able to perform complex queries and retrieve the most complex relations available in literature, which is currently not possible with the conventional NLP systems. Other than this XTractor™ acts as a platform for data sharing and categorization. Scientists can share their data with others and even tag data into customized datasets. Above all the data stored in one’s profile is accessible anytime, anywhere.

J Kamesh, Business Development Manager at Molecular Connections mentioned, “XTractor™ is a technology, which can and should be used by all life science researchers who want to stay current and updated in their field of interest. XTractor™ provides scientists with the ability to customize his own data needs. The researchers have the flexibility to change their keywords in tune with their changing research needs. The alerts get updated automatically for the new set of Keywords.”

To know more about the advantages of the XTractor™ and to register for a free trial account please logon to the Molecular Connections’ XTractor portal www.XTractor.in.

About Molecular Connections

Molecular Connections is a pioneering In silico discovery services company. It provides high quality, cost effective curation, literature informatics solutions and annotation services as well as products. Dr.Limsoon Wong is the Chairman of Molecular Connections. Customers of Molecular Connections include leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology, drug discovery, genomics, proteomics, medical technology, equipment companies and academic institutions spanning across the globe.

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

Harnessing the power of multicore using PERL

How many of us really use our multi-core processors to the fullest extent? here is a blog article which gives some cool tips using PERL to exploit the power of your multi-core. I found this very interesting, Check it out


Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

Genes for schizophrenia uncovered

Three separate research projects have pinpointed genetic flaws linked to schizophrenia.

One of these, reported in the journal Nature, could mean a fifteen-fold increase in risk.However, one of the researchers warned that schizophrenia is so complex genes alone will only ever partially explain the illness at best. Scientists have suggested that an individual's risk of schizophrenia is roughly half dictated by their genetic make-up, and half by other factors during their lives. However, on both sides of this equation, much has still to be revealed about the precise causes. The three large-scale projects have taken a step towards unravelling the genetic picture of schizophrenia.

Do you want to know more?

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

Biological Informatics

A Subject Tracer™ Information Blog developed and created by Internet expert, author, keynote speaker and consultant Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. for monitoring biological informatics (health informatics, neuroinformatics, biodiversity informatics and biomolecular informatics resources and sites on the Internet.

This blog page has a good, comprehensive listing of very handy useful bio web resource sites, the blog is divided into the following categories:

BIOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
HEALTH INFORMATICS (Medical Informatics)
NEUROINFORMATICS (NI)
BIODIVERSITY INFORMATICS (BDI)
BIOMOLECULAR INFORMATICS (BioInformatics)
Online Tools and Web Applications
Current Subject Tracer™ Information Blogs


Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

UK scientists have developed a drug which may halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Trials of the drug, known as Rember, in 321 patients showed an 81% difference in rate of mental decline compared with those not taking the treatment.

The Aberdeen University researchers said the drug targeted the build-up of a specific protein in the brain.

Alzheimer's experts were optimistic about the results, but said larger trials were now needed.

Presenting the results at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, Professor Claude Wischik said the drug may be on the market by 2012.

Do you want to know more?

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

Blood Biomarkers for the Presence of Ruptured Atherosclerotic Plaques Identified

A research team from the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands, found biomarkers to detect the presence of ruptured atherosclerotic plaques. They observed that the blood of individuals with ruptured atherosclerotic plaques contained antibodies reactive against two peptides, E1 and E12.

The presence of these antibodies was detected extremely early after the onset of symptoms of a heart attack, according to the investigators. They caution, though, that further studies on additional patients are needed before this work can be translated into the clinic.

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

Molecular Connections perceives inorganic growth path

Molecular Connections, a life sciences informatics major, is now looking at acquiring small and medium-sized companies as part of its inorganic growth strategy.

"The acquisition will depend on good technology fit and domain expertise that could plug into our products and services,'' Jignesh Bhate, CEO, Molecular Connections Pvt Ltd told Pharmabiz.

"We are aggressively scouting for companies both in India and abroad. If we lay our hands on an international company, we will have access to their customers. In the case of an Indian company, we are essentially looking at a synergy in content and database,'' Bhate said.

To facilitate these acquisitions, Molecular Connections has identified three options to raise funds: internal accruals, foreign loans and venture funds. The mode of raising capital will depend on the size of the deal and the company is in talks with foreign banks. Around $2 million was raised from Barings Private Equity in 2006 for expansion.

Early this month, Molecular Connections was adjudged as the most promising company of the year by CNBC-ICICI for the Emerging India Awards out of more than 3.5 lakh entries.

The company, with sound financials, was also recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the Technology Fast 50 India 2007 survey conducted by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Asia Pacific. Molecular Connections was ranked 8th in India in the overall category.

The six-year-old company's product portfolio of informatics solutions focuses on protein interaction mechanisms of biological processes and also Biomarkers. Its maiden offering NetPro, the largest database globally on protein-protein has been upgraded with pharmacokinetics model. This is a market leader with repeat subscriptions from GSK, Aventis, Merck, Becton & Dickenson's bio-pharma unit and Galapagos NV, a drug discovery company.

The second product, CliPro's new version has been supplemented with biomarker data for clinical data. A recent product, Receptome is a comprehensive database of Functional Ligand-Receptor Complexes. Another new product, 'Xtractor' is a literature alert service, giving manually curated sentences of keywords as given by scientists.

All products are targeted at international customers because investments in informatics are increasing globally and the sector is getting its due importance. India pharma-biotech space will take a few years to utilize informatics' solutions offered from Molecular Connections, stated Bhate.

With collaborations helping to open a new dimension in research, Molecular Connections has partnered with the Bangalore-based Connexious Life Sciences for pathway work. Recently, it has teamed up with the Indian Institute of Science for a department of Biotechnology grant. The company's CYP database will be utilized by Prof P Kondaiah from the Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development & Genetics to customize drugs for the Indian population.

The global informatics market is valued at $6-8 billion. Of these four areas comprising validation & target identification, clinical development including toxicity studies, lead optimization studies, part of combinatorial chemistry is estimated at $6-8billion. Right now, Molecular Connections has the expertise in validation & target identification and is honing its skills in the area of ADME/TOX side and combinatorial chemistry.

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

Enter Little b, a computational language that can penetrate the "mind" of a cell.

DNA is pretty straight forward. With its simple composition and linear structure, it easily lends itself to mathematical models. Not so with proteins. In fact, proteins are an order of magnitude more complex than DNA. It is proteins, not DNA, that carry out the cell's heavy lifting. However, with their intricately folded three-dimensional shapes determining a seemingly endless range of possible functions and their manifold interactions with other proteins and with DNA, the leg-work required to mathematically capture the protein universe seems absurd.

That is why a team of Harvard Medical School researchers have decided to attack this issue from an entirely new angle. Rather than build a mountain range of proteomic data one grain of dirt at a time, they have developed a computer program that can take on the responsibility of assembling such a gargantuan model.

"Through incorporating principles of engineering, we've developed a language that can describe biology in the same way a biologist would," says Jeremy Gunawardena, director of the Virtual Cell Program in Harvard Medical School's department of systems biology. "The potential here is enormous. This opens the door to actually performing discovery science, to look at things like drug interactions, right on the computer."

These findings will be published in the July 23 issue of Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

"Programming with models: modularity and abstraction provide powerful capabilities for systems biology"

Aneil Mallavarapu, Matthew Thomson, Benjamin Ullian, and Jeremy Gunawardena

Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA

Mallavarapu used the programming language LISP, a language widely used in artificial intelligence research. LISP is famous among computer scientists due to its ability to write code that, in turn, can write code, enabling a programmer to derive new mini-languages.

"LISP isn't like typical programs, it's more like a conversation," says Gunawardena. "When we input data into Little b, Little b responds to it and reasons over the data."

For example, Gunawardena's lab works on kinases, a kind of protein that transfers phosphate chemicals to other proteins in order to regulate their activity. While this property is common to all kinases, there is a great deal of variety in how particular kinases carry this out. Little b, however, understands this basic property of kinases, this abstraction.

Here, the researchers demonstrated how they were able to interact with Little b to build complex models of kinase activity, using Little b as a kind of scientific collaborator, and not simply a passive tool.

"This language is stepping into an unknown universe, when your computer starts building things for you," says Gunawardena. "Your whole relationship with the computer becomes a different one. You've ceded some control to the machine. The machine is drawing inferences on your behalf and constructing things for you."

"The next step is to create an interface that's easy to use," says Gunarwardena. "Think of web page development. Lots of people are creating web pages with little or no knowledge of HTML. They use simple interfaces like Dreamweaver. Once we've developed the equivalent, scientists will be able to use our system without having to learn Little b."

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

A List of 5 Resources- Bioinformatics Courses and Degrees Worldwide

1. Bioinformatics Courses in India
2. A List of Bioinformatics Courses and Degrees Worldwide
3. Wiley - Bioinformatics - Courses
4. Bioinformatics Programs and Bioinformatics Courses
5. Bioinformatics Degrees

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

Smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research II

Previously blogging about Smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research discussed about the latest trends in literature abstraction, alert services and analysis tools. This time as a sequel check out one of the finest alert service using the web 2.0 technology. It is absolutely FREE! It is very simple, just visit the site www.xtractor.in and register. Almost immediately you are provided with a user-name and pw to access the alert service.

Smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research II

Talking about the development in the field of literature and scientific publication search. Looking beyond NLP some of the advancements and service models based on NLP and other advanced methods. Today to the user's delight there are quite a few companies and organization that provide services that absolutely make a scientist life easy!

These services revolve around customized alert services for selected search terms, specific research area of interest even more so pertaining to a list of custom key-word and search terms that the service providers allow the scientist to choose form. The scientist can simply subscribe to such service, sit back and wait for daily updates. The updates are provided on a day to day basis at his desktop.

A scientist gets abstract summarization, full text summarization so that he need not actually go through the ordeal of reading through pages of scientific literature. Some once else does the job for him and just pick up the right things that he would look for in such papers. It is a very interactive service where on a daily basis the user can keep track of the quality of the service and set it right so that he can make sure that he just gets the right things he ever wants and nothing else other than that.

Over and above the service is provided using cutting edge technology, attractive web interface. Such interface come in all colour with floating dockable modules which is easy to use and some smart tools too. These smart tools enable the user to track, analyze, visualize and develop relationships among blocks of data that is being provided as "lego blocks".

Check out this product, XTRACTOR™ the first of its kind - SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE alert service which also provides manually annotated sentences for the keywords of YOUR preference

• Highly accurate, manually annotated sentences for given keywords.
• Daily scientific literature updates at your desktop along with the extracted facts – manually curated.
• Provision to change keywords with your changing research preferences
• Annotated sentences and abstracts get stored in your profile, as and when they get updated in LITERATURE.
• Classify and create your own datasets of annotated facts
• Enhanced experiences of reading & analyzing literature
• Access your profile/ datasets from anytime, anywhere
• Discover and Create newer relations from scientific facts classified by the XTractor™ Community.
• Tag your favorite abstracts/sentences and share them across other users
• Much more faster and an Absolutely Free Service

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

18 Ways to Improve your PubMed searches

Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

IBM to provide a server platform for analyzing protein structure and function.

Bioinformatics firm Biosof said today that it is working with IBM to provide a server platform for its PredictProtein product for analyzing protein structure and function. The collaboration will enable Biosof’s customers to use ProteinPredict through a virtual private network or on-site installation while running IBM’s high-performance computing hardware, New York-based Biosof said in a statement.

“Working with IBM provides our customers the unique opportunity to combine a secure infrastructure and cutting-edge hardware needed to run our highly resource-intensive algorithms,” said Burkhardt Rost, a manager of Biosof.


Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

Sign up it's free, and takes less than a minute. Just click here:www.xtractor.in.

Launch of XTractor™ -a powerful scientific literature alert & abstraction system, now with unlimited free access.

Bangalore, India — Indian Life Sciences Informatics Company, Molecular Connections announced today, the release of XTractor™, a first of its kind manually curated literature alert service. XTractor™ can be accessed free of charge by the scientific community world wide.

XTractor™ acts as a literature alert service, which provides scientists with manually annotated scientific facts from literature. It enables researchers to be up-to-date with the latest scientific publications in the STM arena, as and when they are published. Once registered the scientists have the freedom to choose their keywords of choice and also set the frequency at which they wish to receive these alerts.

Mining scientific literature to retrieve accurate hits or extract entity relationship has always been a long-standing problem in research. It is a daunting task to identify the right gene name or the right drug name and extract relations/association with diseases, processes; pathways etc accurately form unstructured text. Text mining engines are fast enough but not accurate. XTractor™ with its efficient workflows combines the speed of a text-mining engine, with the accuracy of manual, expert curation.

XTractor™ is highly accurate and more efficient than many of NLP engines, since it is a hybrid model using technology and manual validation. Since the annotation is highly accurate researchers would also be able to perform complex queries and retrieve the most complex relations available in literature, which is currently not possible with the conventional NLP systems. Other than this XTractor™ acts as a platform for data sharing and categorization. Scientists can share their data with others and even tag data into customized datasets. Above all the data stored in one’s profile is accessible anytime, anywhere.

J Kamesh, Business Development Manager at Molecular Connections mentioned, “XTractor™ is a technology, which can and should be used by all life science researchers who want to stay current and updated in their field of interest. XTractor™ provides scientists with the ability to customize his own data needs. The researchers have the flexibility to change their keywords in tune with their changing research needs. The alerts get updated automatically for the new set of Keywords.”

To know more about the advantages of the XTractor™ and to register for a free trial account please logon to the Molecular Connections’ XTractor portal www.XTractor.in.

About Molecular Connections

Molecular Connections is a pioneering In silico discovery services company. It provides high quality, cost effective curation, literature informatics solutions and annotation services as well as products. Dr.Limsoon Wong is the Chairman of Molecular Connections. Customers of Molecular Connections include leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology, drug discovery, genomics, proteomics, medical technology, equipment companies and academic institutions spanning across the globe.

In addition, Molecular Connections has powerful tool development, database integration and effective data visualization capabilities. Molecular Connections has specific expertise in building knowledge bases for rapidly growing needs in genomics, proteomics, ADME Tox, clinical, drugs, chemistry and patent industries.

Sigma-Aldrich continues to make the Acta more useful and accessible to scientists around the world

Sigma-Aldrich announced that its highly acclaimed chemistry review journal, Aldrichimica Acta, has again been ranked #1 by Impact Factor, out of 56 similar journals in the field of Organic Chemistry. In 2007, the latest year for which such rankings are available, the Acta achieved an Impact Factor of 11.929. The Acta was also ranked #1 in 2006 and 2005. These rankings appear annually in the Science Edition of Journal Citation Reports(R) (JCR), which is published by Thomson ISI(R). JCR, Science Edition, tracks close to 5,900 international science journals annually and offers quantifiable statistical data, which allows the systematic and objective ranking of journals by relative importance within their subject categories.

The Aldrichimica Acta publishes in-depth reviews on topics of current interest to chemists. It is published four times a year and distributed at no charge to about 130,000 subscribers worldwide who are members of the scientific community.

Molecular Connections bags the most coveted ‘The Small Enterprise of the Year’ award at the “Emerging India” Awards organized by ICICI-CNBC.

14 July 2008

Molecular Connections bags the most coveted ‘The Small Enterprise of the Year’ award at the “Emerging India” Awards organized by ICICI-CNBC.

Molecular Connections Private Ltd. (MC) – a pioneering life-sciences informatics company from India was adjudged the most promising company of the year by CNBC-ICICI for the Emerging India Awards out of more than 3,00,000 entries.

The award was presented to Molecular Connections in a grand ceremony in London by the India’s Honorable Commerce Minister, Mr. Kamalnath, Steel Baron, Mr. L N Mittal and Mr. K. V Kamath the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank.

The Emerging India awards is the biggest business award in India and in this year was judged across 13 categories with more than 325,000 entries. Conveying his views while receiving the award, Mr. Jignesh Bhate, Founder and CEO, Molecular Connections said “I am proud to accept this award on behalf of the entire Molecular Connections Team. This award is a reflection of the hard work, dedication and commitment of each and every employee of MC. It also goes to our clientele’ whose feedback and support has helped us become what we are today.

ICICI Bank and CNBC-TV18 have been organizing the Emerging India Awards since 2005, to recognize and showcase the value creating SMEs in the Indian economy. The Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, gave away the awards in 2007. India's large and growing entrepreneurial base is evident from the fact that there were 125,000 entries for just 10 awards in 2007, and this number has increased to more than 300,000 in 2008.

Molecular Connections was also a winner in the “Trading (Non-retail) & Others” category.

About Molecular Connections

Molecular Connections is a pioneering In-silico discovery services company. It provides high quality, cost effective text mining, literature curation and annotation services as well as database products. Dr. Limsoon Wong, Professor and Vice Dean (Research), School of Computing, National University of Singapore is the Chairman of Molecular Connections. Customers of Molecular Connections include leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology discovery companies, genomics and proteomics companies, medical technology and equipment companies and academic institutions spanning across the globe. For further information contact at pr@molecularconnections.com

Merck & Co., Pfizer, and Eli Lilly partnered with PureTech Ventures & form new firm called Enlight Biosciences

Now this looks very interesting, three pharma big wigs getting together for something they have in common. The firm would cater to the niche requirement these pharmas have in the area of drug discovery. Enlight Biosciences will them the power to speed development of drug-discovery tools.

The three pharmas and PureTech have ponied up a total of $39 million that Enlight will direct toward “breakthrough technologies that can fundamentally alter drug discovery and development.” Enlight is focused on “pre-competitive” technology that will “connect preclinical research, clinical development, and medical practice,” according to a company statement. The company noted that despite the recent emergence of “vital enabling technologies” such as PCR, PET, RNAi, and gene microarrays, “over the last few years most traditional life science investors have focused their funding on late-stage therapeutic programs.”

As a result, Enlight said, “important technologies that could be of great strategic impact to the pharmaceutical industry are not being commercialized.” Enlight said it has already begun technology-development programs in the areas of molecular imaging, biologics, and drug delivery, and is planning to launch programs in other areas. Rod MacKenzie, senior vice president of Pfizer Global R&D, said in a statement that the effort should help develop “breakthrough technologies” that will enable innovation in biopharmaceutical science, which he described as “an urgent priority” for drug-makers.

New Drug Reverses Alzheimer's Disease Within Days In Mouse Models

Scientists report a remarkable improvement in Alzheimer's transgenic mice following treatment with a new drug. The study provides the first demonstration that an ionophore, a compound that transports metal ions across cell membranes, can elicit rapid and pronounced improvement in neuropathology and cognitive function in mouse models of Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

Recent research has implicated dysregulation of metal ions in the brain, particularly copper and zinc, in the pathogenesis of AD and the damaging accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) protein that is characteristic of this devastating disease. The ionophore clioquinol (CQ), an 8-hydroxyquinoline, has been shown to increase intracellular copper and zinc levels and decrease Aβ levels in cultured cells and in the brains of transgenic (Tg) AD mice. However, further studies in mice and humans demonstrated that brain entry of CQ was quite limited.

This research is published by Cell Press in the July 10th issue of the journal Neuron.

CNBC-TV18's Emerging India Award salutes best SME players

Molecular Connections bagged the ‘Small Enterprise of the Year’ title. It was also the winner of the non-retail trade category.

CNBC-TV18's Emerging India Award recognised the achievements of those SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), which dared to think global in a glittering function in London, on Tuesday.

Microqual Techno - a company that provides microwave components to telecom operators walked away with ‘Best SME of the Year’ title.

In the auto ancillary and engineering category, Shivalik Bimetal Controls walked away with the title.

And in the FMCG, Food & Agri-business category, plant nutrient and insecticides manufacturer Aries Agro was the winner.

The CNBC-TV18’s Emerging India Awards felicitated winners in 17 categories including the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year - which was bagged by Avanti Shah of Next Brick Solutions Ltd.

Top 25 Indian Bioinformatics Companies

Here is another, quite interesting blog page with a list of Top 25 Indian Bioinformatics Companies by a fellow blogger Nabeel Basheer, while there is no actual criteria behind listing these 25 companies. It is a good handy list just in alphabetic order for all those job seekers. More so a good chronicle of the local informatics industry as well.

1. Accelrys Software Solution Pvt Ltd.
12th Floor, Discover, ITPL, White Field, Bangalore-65.
www.accelrys.com

2. Apticraft Systems (P) Ltd.
142, Electronics Complex, Pardeshipura, Indore – 452010 (M.P.), India
www.apticraft.com

3. Aptuit Informatics
Plot No. 100-103, Export Promotion Industrial Park, White Field, Bangalore-560066
www.aptiuit.com

4. Bigtec
J. K. Towers, 8th Block, Sangam Circle,46th Cross, Bangalore-560082.
www.bigtec.org

5. Bijam Biosciences Private Limited
Nagarjuna Hills, Hyderabad 500 082, India
www.nagarjunagroup.com

6. Bio Base Databases India Pvt Ltd.
Crescent Towers, 4th Floor, No : 32/1, Crescent Road, Bnagalore - 560 001
www.biobase-international.com

7. BioImagene India Pvt. Ltd.
4th floor, C-Wing, Godrej Eternia, Shivajinagar, Pune-411005
www.bioimagene.com

8. BioInformatics Institute Of India - Noida
C-56 A/28, Sector -62, Noida - 201 301
www.bii.in

9. CLC bio India Pvt Ltd
#Plot No. 51, H.No. 8-3-214/51, Srinivasa Nagar (West) Ameerpet Hyderabad - 500 038
www.clcbio.com/india

10. CytoGenomics India (P) Ltd.
#3004, 12A Main HAL 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560008
www.silicocyte.com

11. Genotypic Technology
211, 6th Cross, 80ft Road, RMV II Stage, Bangalore 560094
www.genotypic.co.in

12. Genvea Biosciences
Dr. D. T. Singh, CSO, 53, Craig Rd. #04-01, Singapore-089691
www.genvea.com

13. Helix Info Systems
132 A, II Floor, Sterling Towers, IV Cross Street, Sterling Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai.
www.helixinfosystems.com

14. Jalaja Technologies Pvt. Ltd.,
21/1,Victoria Layout, Victoria Road, Bangalore-47
www.jalaja.com

15. Jubilant Biosys Ltd
#96, Industrial Subrub, 2nd Stage, Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore- 560022
Jubilant Organosys Ltd.
1A, Sector 16A, Noida - 201 301 (India)
www.jubl.com

16. Kshema Technologies
#1, Global Village, Mylasandra, Mysore Road, Bangalore-560 059.
www.mphasis.com

17. LabNetworx
B-704, Gitanjali Apartments, Vikas Marg Extension, New Delhi - 110 092
www.labnetworx.com

18. LabVantage Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Bengal Intelligent Park, Building C, 2nd Floor, Sector V, Salt Lake Electronics Complex, Kolkata - 700 091
www.labvantage.com

19. Mascon Life Sciences
B - 8/ 10, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi 110057, India
www.masconlifesciences.com

20. Molecular Connections P Ltd
Kandala Mansion, 2/2 Kariappa Road, Near Krishna Rao Park, Basavangudi, Bangalore – 4
www.molecularconnections.com

21. Ocimum Biosolutions (India) Ltd
6th Floor, Reliance Classic, Road No.1 Banjara Hills, Hyderabad 500 034, India.
www.ocimumbio.com

22. Scube Scientific Software Solutions
613, Hemkunt Chambers, 89, Nehru Place, New Delhi -110 019
www.scribeindia.com

23. Siri Technologies Pvt Ltd.
38/C -23, South End Road, Basavanagudi, Bangalore-56004.
www.siritech.com

24. Strand Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd.
#237, Sir C. V. Raman Avenue, Raj Mahal Vilas, Bangalore 560 080 INDIA
www.strandls.com

25. Systat Software Asia Pacific
4th Floor, Block 1, Shankar Narayan Building, No.25, MG Road, Bangalore - 560001
www.systat.com

Related Links:
150 + Indian Bioinformatics / Biotechnology companies

Bioinformatics Softwares

Bioinformatics Online Tutorials

Indian bioinformatics companies list

THE ROLE OF PHYTOHORMONES TO ENHANCE THE EXPRESSION OF LIPID TRANSFER PROTEIN3 (LTP3) IN IMPROVING STAPLE LENGTH OF Gossypium hirsutum L.

Here is a abstract that i had submitted at the Plant & Animal Genomes XI Conference January 11-15, 2003 Town & Country Convention Center San Diego, CA. I do not know how relevant is the issue to this day. If any one is interested or if any one is working in these lines, do let me know also pour in your suggestions and comments if any.

Fiber quality in cotton is one very vital trait demanding international focus in both scientific and commercial arena. Phytohormones play a major role in all cellular processes in plant development. We have focused our study on the influence of phytohormones in improving the staple length of cotton fiber. There are several pathways, which influence staple length in cotton, among which we have concentrated on the expression pattern of Lipid Transfer Protein3. A cotton fiber protein gene Ltp3, Lipid transfer protein3 (coding for a LTP3 protein), is specifically expressed in fibers at high levels, during the elongation stage. Its levels reach a maximum during the late elongation stage of fiber development and dramatically decrease in the end of late elongation stage (secondary wall synthesis stage). GH3 (Growth Hormone) gene, which is a complementary-DNA plasmid of the Ltp3 gene, is Phytohormone responsive. We have developed the 3D model of LTP3 using MODELLER and trail version of Molecular Operating Environment (MOE). We propose to study In silico, the protein-protein interaction and expression profiles of LTP3 and other proteins involved in staple length improvement. Further study is underway to establish the mechanistic role of phytohormones in effecting LTP3 expression thereby influencing the staple length in cotton.

New antibiotic beats superbugs...

The problem with antibiotics is that, eventually, bacteria outsmart them and become resistant. But by targeting the gene that confers such resistance, a new drug may be able to finally outwit them. Rockefeller University scientists tested the new drug, called Ceftobiprole, against some of the deadliest strains of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria, which are responsible for the great majority of staphylococcal infections worldwide, both in hospitals and in the community. The research, to be published in the August 2008 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, looked at how well Ceftobiprole worked against bacterial clones that had already developed resistance to other drugs. In every case, Ceftobiprole won. “It just knocked out the cells 100 percent,” says the study’s lead investigator, Alexander Tomasz, head of the Laboratory of Microbiology at Rockefeller.

Previous research had already shown that — in general — Ceftobiprole was highly effective against most clinical isolates of S. aureus. “Instead, we looked more carefully at the highly resistant cells that already occur in such clinical isolates at very low frequency — maybe in one bacterium in every 1,000,” says Tomasz. Ceftobiprole was able to kill these resistant cells. Never before has an antibiotic been tested this way. “In the history of antibiotic development, an antibiotic arrives on the scene, and sooner or later resistant bacteria emerge,” Tomasz says. “We sought to test in advance which would win this particular chess game: the new drug, or the bacteria that now cause human deaths.”

In an ominous new “move” in this chess game, S. aureus strains with resistance to vancomycin (VRSA), a different class of antibiotics, also began to appear in hospitals in the United States. Ceftobiprole was also able to kill these new resistant VRSA strains. The drug is effective because the chemists who developed Ceftobiprole managed to outwit the bacteria at their own game, Tomasz says. The broad-spectrum antibiotic was discovered by Basilea Pharmaceuticals, based in Basel, Switzerland, and is being developed in the U.S. and worldwide by Johnson & Johnson. The research was supported by Johnson & Johnson along with a grant from the U.S. Public Health Service.

Researchers Develop Tool To Study Genes

Two Texas A&M University researchers have developed a computational tool that will help scientists more accurately study complex units of clustered genes, called operons, in bacteria. The tool, which allows scientists to analyze many bacterial genomes at once, is more accurate than previous methods because it starts from experimentally validated data instead of from statistical predictions, they say. The researchers hope their tool will lead to a better understanding of the complex genetic mechanisms involved in a cell’s functioning. “Eventually, we want to try to improve our tool to make it better and more accurate,” Sze said. “Although our tool can analyze a lot of bacteria at the same time, it compares each bacterium to E. coli separately. So the ultimate goal would be to develop a tool that will analyze them all together.”

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Ranbaxy, others to scrap 60 drug combinations

The country's leading drug makers, including Ranbaxy Laboratories, Cipla, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Nicholas Piramal and Wockhardt, will soon withdraw about 60 drug combinations from the market.
The voluntary move comes a little more than a year after the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the central authority that approves new drugs for marketing, had asked the drug makers to withdraw the ‘combination drugs' as they are "unnecessary" and may pose health hazards. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had banned 294 combination drugs sold under nearly 1,053 brand names from the market in June 2007. Since then, the pharma industry and the the drug authority have been locked in a legal battle.

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Molecular Connections to acquire firm in Europe

The company provides database products to pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery and development. Betting big on the transition taking place in the global pharmaceutical industry, the company is now looking to grow through both inorganic and organic routes. Molecular Connections is a joint venture between Idea2solutions, a venture capital arm promoted by the founders of Dr Reddy's group and a bioinformatics research centre in Singapore. The mid-sized company has on its rolls about 200 employees with expertise in drug discovery, informatics and information technology.

With a view to gain newer customers and market access in Europe and Japan, Molecular Connections, headquartered in Bangalore, is planning to acquire a firm in Europe. The European firm, employing around 200, is a provider of bioinformatics for customers mainly in Europe and Japan. The deal, involving 100 per cent buyout of the European firm, would cost about $10 million to Molecular Connections. Molecular Connections has its corporate and development centre in Bangalore and a marketing office in London. It has its distribution network in Japan, the USA and Germany. The company is also planning to invest about $3-4 million to facilitate its growth through the organic route. It involves setting up offices in Europe and the US this year and opening a development centre in Singapore.

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