[25 June 2009, top]

   "UofA's Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson ha received $20.8 million 
    from the National Cancer Institute http://is.gd/1dcm5"

According to the Phoenix Business Journal, the "center teams with Scottsdale Healthcare on clinical care and research, with Translational Genomics Research Institute also contributing to research efforts."

Bottom-line: Great news for Arizona's bioscience efforts.

Phoenix.BizJournals.com::UA cancer center receives $20.8 million

[25 June 2009, top]

   "Director General of Mexico's National Institute of Genomic 
    Medicine says genetic studies crucial for health of Mexican 
    and U.S. Hispanics."

I'm convinced that personalized medicine is going to happen.

   "We are believers in personalized medicine. We need to develop 
    our own (scientific) tools and our own products through genomic 
    medicine," said Dr. Jimenez-Sanchez

TGen's Dr. Jeffrey Trent is the former Scientific Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

   "If we are not developing drugs specifically for individuals 
    based on their genetic make-up, we might not be giving them 
    the right drugs at the right time in the right dosages," 
    said Dr. Trent.

TGen.org::Mexico's chief genomics official addresses 2009 TGen retreat

[08 June 2009, top]

Xiangzhong "Jerry" Yang died at the age of 49 due to cancer.

Yang was the director of the Center for Regenerative Biology at the University of Connecticut.

In 1999, Yang led a team of UConn scientists who cloned the first farm animal in the United States.

From 1999.06.11...

BusinessWeek.com::From the Ear of a Holstein Arises Amy, a Cloned Cow

[30 May 2009, top]

Kudos the Arizona Republic's Ken Alltucker for reporting this news. Too bad The Republic buried it in the business section. Oh well, at least they printed it.

The following was copied from a TGen press release issued on 27 May 02009.

   "We are excited about Dr. Petritis joining our TGen family. 
    His addition helps complete the building blocks of personnel 
    and facilities needed to create the Partnership for Personalized 
    Medicine," Dr. Trent said. "With Dr. Petritis on board, TGen's 
    Center for Proteomics is poised to make a substantial and positive 
    difference in the lives of patients with cancer and other 
    devastating diseases."

Prior to joining TGen, Dr. Petritis was a Senior Research Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). In a nutshell, you have to be guru scientist in order to hold a position at the PNNL. The collective IQ for the state of Arizona has gone up a few points thanks to the arrival of Kostas Petritis.

Woohoo!

LinkedIn.com::Kostas Petritis

[30 May 2009, top]

   "We want to do something dramatic. It is going to take a 
    tremendous amount of real thinking power to make that 
    difference, so it is a dream come true to be able to 
    put this team together to work towards this goal," said 
    Dr. Von Hoff in TGen's press release dated 02009.05.27.

A successful collaboration between TGen and the University of Pennsylvania could strengthen Arizona's connections with the state of Pennyslvania.

Again, kudos to TGen!

TGen.org::$18 million awarded to TGen and University of Pennsylvania for pancreatic cancer research from Stand Up to Cancer

[30 May 2009, top]

   "Illumina, Inc. announced that the Broad Institute of MIT and 
    Harvard has acquired 22 additional Genome Analyzers to increase 
    its installed base of the Illumina sequencing platform to 47 units."

   [...]

   "Over the course of the year Illumina plans to increase the throughput 
    of the Genome Analyzer to as much as 95 gigabases of highly accurate 
    DNA sequence data per single run, or the equivalent of one whole 
    human genome at 30 times coverage."

   [...]

   "We are excited to build on our strong relationship with Illumina," 
    said Eric S. Lander, Director of the Broad Institute of MIT and 
    Harvard. "We also believe that this partnership will help accelerate 
    the application of genomics to medical practice."

Note: Eric S. Lander is on PCAST (the President's Council of Advisor for Science and Technology.

Illumina (NasdaqGS: ILMN) was founded in 1998 and it is headquartered in San Diego, California. On 3 May 2009, ILMN closed at $38.14.

[03 May 2009, top]

   "This analytical solution allows the screening of hundreds 
    of compounds from a single sample HPLC- or CE-TOF run with 
    a confidence level and reproducibility unsurpassed by any 
    comparable system. This workflow saves significant time when 
    running multi-target applications such as drugs/metabolites 
    in urine, food safety analysis, forensic toxicology or 
    environmental testing."

Bruker Corp. (NasdaqGS: BRKR) was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts. On 3 May 2009, BRKR was priced at $6.85.

[Extra] On 27 April 2009, Bruker issued a press release stating that "Bruker Daltonics launched its next-generation ultrafleXtreme™ MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometer." Mass spectrometers are used in applied proteomics applications. Proteomics is the "study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions."

[03 May 2009, top]

   "The genome of a female Hereford cow has been sequenced, 
    which could be a starting point for major improvements 
    in the agricultural industry."

BBC reported that the sequencing of the cow genome was a "six-year effort by more than 300 scientists in 25 countries."

News.BBC.co.uk::Cow genome 'to transform farming'

[24 April 2009, top]

AzBiotech.net::Learning About Biotechnology for Biotech Newbies

[04 April 2009, top]

   "The Department of Health and Human Services today announced 
    the selection of David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P. as the Obama 
    Administration's choice for National Coordinator for Health 
    Information Technology.  As the National Coordinator, Dr. Blumenthal 
    will lead the implementation of a nationwide interoperable, 
    privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure 
    as called for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

The HSS.gov press release also stated the following.

   "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes a 
    $19.5 billion investment in health information technology, 
    which will save money, improve quality of care for patients, 
    and make our health care system more efficient. Dr. Blumenthal 
    will lead the effort at HHS to modernize the health care system 
    by catalyzing the adoption of interoperable health information 
    technology by 2014 thereby reducing health costs for the federal 
    government by an estimated $12 billion over 10 years."

Healthcare informatics is a growth industry.

HHS.gov::HHS Names David Blumenthal As National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

[23 March 2009, top]

Sergey Brin (Google co-founder) is funding gene scans for 10,000 Parkinson's patients.

The scans will be performed by 23andMe, which was co-founded by Anne Wojcicki (Brin's wife). Just a few days earlier, President Obama gave a speech on education and he explicitly highlighted Sergey Brin's American Dream story.

These days 23andMe is charging $399 per scan, but the 10,000 Parkinson patients will pay only $25 with Sergey Brin picking up the remainder. If my arithmetic doesn't fail me, Brin's portion of the tab will be $3,740,000. Kudos to Brin!

More information can be found at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research...

MichaelJFox.org::A Google Founder's Gift: Money and His DNA

[13 March 2009, top]

   "WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama lifted 
    restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell 
    research on Monday."

Obama was quoted saying: "We will also vigorously support scientists who pursue this research. And we will aim for America to lead the world in the discoveries it one day may yield."

[Extra] Xiangzhong "Jerry" Yang died at the age of 49 due to cancer.

Yang was the director of the Center for Regenerative Biology at the University of Connecticut.

In 1999, Yang led a team of UConn scientists who cloned the first farm animal in the United States.

From 1999.06.11...

BusinessWeek.com::From the Ear of a Holstein Arises Amy, a Cloned Cow

[09 March 2009, top]

Being able to more accurately diagnosis of diseases is a going to be a near term outcome of today's bioscience research efforts. I agree 100% with ASU's assessment that "personalized medicine is an emerging field with potential to improve patient treatments and outcomes by factoring in an individual's unique genetic and metabolic profile."

The ASU press release quoted Dr. LeBaer saying: "We are especially excited to be doing this in Arizona where there is a strong collaborative atmosphere and a palpable excitement about this new direction for medicine."

I agree with LaBaer that there is a "palpable excitement" among Arizona CSTEMmers about biosciences/healthcare, but I think Arizonans like John and Jane Doe believe it is a waste of money.

Biodesign.asu.edu::Dr. Joshua LaBaer press release

[22 February 2009, top]

Kudos to Ken Alltucker for his The brains behind Barrow posting on 2/19/02009.

William and Joan Rankin Shapiro are heros and I am happy they are Arizonans.

[22 February 2009, top]

The drug is called Atryn and it belongs to Farmingham, MA-based GTC Biotherapeutics. Atryn uses goat milk that is engineered to "produce extra antithrombin, a protein that acts as a natural blood thinner." According to GTCB, 1 in 5,000 people don't produce enough of the antithrombin protein.

GTC-Bio.com::ATryn® - Recombinant Human Antithrombin

[08 February 2009, top]

   "Stem cell injections can reverse the crippling effects of 
    multiple sclerosis, a study published today says."

   "Four out of five adults in the early stages of MS who were 
    injected with stem cells taken from their bone marrow saw 
    an improvement in symptoms after three years. The rest of 
    the patients saw their condition stabilise."

The BBC quoted Dr. Doug Brown of the MS Society saying, "Stem cells are showing more and more potential in the treatment of MS and the challenge we now face is proving their effectiveness in trials involving large numbers of people."

ChinaDaily.com::Stem cell injection offers fresh hope for MS sufferers

[02 February 2009, top]

Geron.com::Geron Receives FDA Clearance to Begin World's First Human Clinical Trial of Embryonic Stem Cell-Based Therapy

Geron Corp. is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Geron's CEO is not Obama, but it is Okarma.

[23 January 2009, top]

Title: Obama and embryonic stem cell research

"It's that rarest of days, when we set aside our differences and as one celebrate the hope and the promise of this young country," blogged Laurie Roberts on 20 January 02009.

Americans sure didn't "celebrate" America's future by buying stock in our country. The DJIA, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 were down 4.01%, 5.78%, 5.28%, respectively.

At least some stem cell stocks enjoyed inauguration day. Obama has the power to "undo" the Bush order that restricts embryonic stem cell research. Obama should exercise this power during the first week of his presidency.

[21 January 2009, top]

Dr. Vicki Chandler is no longer directing the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona.

   "A unique opportunity to direct philanthropic funding toward 
    transformative scientific research has BIO5 Director Vicki 
    L. Chandler on her way to the San Francisco Bay area next 
    year. She has been tapped for the position of Chief Program 
    Officer, Science for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. 
    Her work there begins Feb. 17, 2009." -- Bio5.Arizona.edu

UA's press release about Chandler's leaving doesn't give the impression of Arizona's biotech efforts are going belly-up, but Chandler's leaving along with George Poste leaving ASU's Biodesign Institute makes one wonder. [Note: On 14 July 2008, Poste was "charged with boosting ASU's research competitiveness in emerging areas such as synthetic biology, sensor technologies and health-care informatics" when he made chief scientist for ASU's "complex adaptive systems initiative."]

On the good news front, Chandler she will "continue to devote about 20 percent of her time on her research program at The University of Arizona, including her involvement in the iPlant Collaborative, a project administered by BIO5 and funded through a $50 million grant from the National Science Foundation."

Arizona.edu::BIO5 Director Vicki Chandler Tapped for Major Opportunity to Direct Philanthropic Funds for Transformative Science

[14 January 2009, top]

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[01 January 2009, top]