Monday, December 04, 2000

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News.Com IBM doubles biotech investment
"IBM says it will commit up to $100 million more to its new Life Sciences unit to add a sales team, forge partnerships and invest in companies using genetic data.

The world's largest computer company formed the Life Sciences unit in August with an initial $100 million, three-year commitment. That could double under the latest decision by senior management, IBM spokeswoman Theo Chisholm said.

The recent completion of a preliminary human genetic map has opened a computer-intensive phase of research that seeks to study the behavior of proteins to develop new drugs. IBM wants to invest in these genetic data companies and form partnerships with others that could include joint marketing agreements, Chisholm said. "

"We really want to be able to seed the marketplace to make selected investments for IBM," said Caroline Kovac, vice president for IBM Life Sciences. "We're pouring our technology into these companies."

GenomeWeb IBM Takes Minority Stake in Structural Bioinformatics
"IBM has taken an undisclosed minority equity stake in protein database provider Structural Bioinformatics of San Diego, marking Big Blue’s first investment in a life sciences company.

As part of the deal, IBM has become the strategic information technology partner of Structural Bioinformatics.

The two companies will collaborate to make the content of Structural Bioinformatics’ databases more accessible to researchers worldwide through the Internet on a subscription basis. Joint marketing initiatives are being planned as well."

GenomeWeb IBM Deploys Focus Groups in Battle for Bioinformatics Customers
"Several months after announcing the establishment of a $100 million war chest to fight for a foothold in the genomics sector, IBM has embarked on its latest effort to win new business.

Big Blue is now conducting extensive market surveys and customer focus groups to try to figure out how to muscle their way into the already crowded bioinformatics and genomics market."

"“They were asking what it takes to move people off their current platforms and off their current software apps,” said TimeLogic president Jim Lindelien, one of several genomics executives Big Blue invited to a focus group conducted by Smith Research at Scientific American ’s recent BioSilico conference in New York. “And everybody said it takes a hell of a lot.”

redux [10.24.00]
Taipei Times Computing power used in mapping of human genome pushing new frontiers
"While commercials featuring sweaty young dancers and hip music have been the mainstay for many industries, computer server makers discovered long ago that a metal box stuffed with microchips and wires simply lacked sex appeal. So they turned to tests of raw computing power to prove their superiority, like when IBM's Deep Blue put chess champion Garry Kasparov in checkmate four years ago.

While IBM's muscle machine stood as a monument in its time, Compaq computer may have found the ultimate ad in this battle for computing power, the Human Genome project."

redux [09.14.00]
Christian Science Monitor Controlling the flood of genetic information
"With the completion of a "rough draft" of the entire human genome in June, government and corporate scientists have assembled enough genetic code to fill 2,000 computer diskettes.

Now, the scientific footrace shifts from spelling out the seemingly endless string of "A's," "C's," "T's," and "G's" that make up our DNA, to actually understanding what it means.

That's where a new field of "bioinformatics" comes in."

"Researchers at the University of Idaho are building their own "super" computer using parts from 40 to 100 desktop PCs. The hardware will cost only about $44,000, but with the proper connections, the system will be sophisticated enough to run experiments on "jumping genes," bits of genetic material that migrate along the DNA double helix like microscopic hitchhikers.

James Foster, the computer scientist at the University of Idaho directing the project, said that building better programs called algorithms is more important to understanding biological data than just building bigger computers.

"Nature can always defeat brute-force approaches," says James Limpan, director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information in Rockville, Md.

"We need the most clever ways of measuring things and not more CPU power," he says."