"DARPA seeks to develop a dynamic putty which, when packed 
    in/around a compound bone fracture, provides full load-bearing 
    capabilities within hours, creates an osteoconductive bone-like 
    internal structure, and degrades over time to harmless resorbable 
    by-products as normal bone regenerates."

DARPA states: "More effective methods for treatment of skeletal trauma are urgently needed."

   "Fracture Putty represents the ultimate convergence of 
    materials science, mechanics, and orthopedics.  We want 
    to hear from potential performers with expertise in 
    chemistry, biomaterials, adhesives, mechanics, theoretical 
    modeling of dynamic systems under complex mechanical stress, 
    biology of bone, animal models of bone trauma, clinical 
    orthopedics and orthopedic surgery, and engineering." 

FBO.gov::Fracture Putty
[FBO is a Federal Business Opportunity]

[27 June 2008, top]

   "An international research consortium has been formed to 
    create the most detailed and medically useful picture to 
    date of human genetic variation. The 1000 Genomes Project 
    will involve sequencing the genomes of at least a thousand 
    people from around the world. The project will receive major 
    support from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, 
    England, the Beijing Genomics Institute Shenzhen in China 
    and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), 
    part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)."

On 11 June 2008, Illuminia Inc. issues a press release announcing "it is among three firms to have pioneered the development of new sequencing technologies and joined the 1000 Genomes Project. The new participants are: Illumina Inc., San Diego, Calif.; 454 Life Sciences, a Roche company, Branford, Conn.; and Applied Biosystems, an Applera Corp. business, Foster City, Calif."

1000Genomes.org::A Deep Catalog of Human Genetic Variation

[11 June 2008, top]

   "For toddler Nate Liao, the slightest touch and every bite of 
    food was painful. Nate was born with recessive dystrophic 
    epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), a genetic disease that causes 
    skin and the lining of the digestive tract to slough off. 
    In young adulthood, it leads to an aggressive, inevitably 
    fatal skin cancer."

The United States of America is going to elect a new President later this year (November 2008). The President plays a critical role in how the federal government supports stem cell research and science. The following provides evidence of the power of stem cells.

   "This is the first time physicians have approached the treatment 
    of RDEB from a systemic perspective, using marrow-derived stem 
    cells from a healthy donor to correct the underlying genetic defect. 
    With the infusion of stem cells, new cells that produce the missing 
    collagen type VII are generated throughout the body."

UMN.edu::Novel stem cell therapy gives hope to boy with rare disease

[08 June 2008, top]

   Kudos to the Republic for today's front-page

   Definitely front-page news:  "TGen and local biotech partner 
   land $200 million from tiny Luxembourg" by Ken Alltucker.

   There is zero doubt that we are in the age of genomics 
   and personalized medicine.

   Kudos to Alltucker for including the following quote by 
   Jan Lesher (director of the Arizona Department of Commerce): 
   "It shows we are a location to be reckoned with worldwide."

   The following quote was posted to Philanthromedia.org by 
   Dr. Jeffrey Solomon: "I believe that an investment in 
   personalized medicine will have exponentially greater 
   social benefit in the coming decades."  I guess so does 
   tiny Luxembourg.

TGen.org::Leading U.S. Bioscience Pioneers Enter International Collaboration with Government of Luxembourg to Accelerate Biomedical Research

[06 June 2008, top]

   I get upset every time the Arizona Republic puts sports 
   on the front-page.  Sports has its own section and it 
   should never (and I never say "never") be front-page 
   news; therefore, I was happy to see front-page space 
   allocated for TGen. 

   The 21st century is the "Age of Genomics" and TGen is 
   going to make significant contributions/discoveries.

   The Valley of the Sun got lucky when TGen (and the International 
   Genomics Consortium) decided to make Arizona home.

   Kudos to the Arizona Republic for making TGen front-page news.

AzCentral.com::Unlike Sports, TGen Belongs on Page A-1

[Extra] My posting referenced a front-page story titled "'Dramatic results' for cancer drug Tumors shrinking, TGen researchers report." The experiement drug is GDC-0449.

As of 2 June 2008, the Arizona Republic article had zero comments attached to it.

[02 June 2008, top]

   "University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University 
    brain-machine researchers have successfully implanted 
    tiny sensors in two monkeys that enable them to control 
    a mechanical arm using only their thoughts."

It is only a matter of time...

   "The research suggests that brain-controlled prosthetics, 
    while still impractical, are within reach. 

NYTimes.com::Monkeys Think, Moving Artificial Arm as Own

[02 June 2008, top]

Covance is a Princeton, New Jersey-based "drug development services company" whose stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol CVD. On 2 May 2008, CVD closed at $83.88.

Local news sources reported the following.

   "Covance officials marked the final phase of construction on 
    their controversial $100 million drug-testing laboratory with 
    an invitation-only ceremony and tour guarded under tight security 
    Thursday morning."

   "The facility, representing the largest capital expenditure in the 
    company's history, could eventually employ up to 2,000 people, 
    including many highly paid, white-collar professionals such as 
    scientists, researchers and managers."

   "The facility has an area of 288,000 square-feet." 

On 28 April 2008, Covance reported "1Q08 Earnings Growth of 22.3% to $0.73 Per Share; 15.1% Revenue Growth; Record Operating Margin of 15.2%; 20.1% Backlog Growth."

The Biotech::Trekker says "Welcome Covance!"

[03 May 2008, top]

I posted the following to my AzCentral.com blog on 21 April 2008.

   Google Invests in Navigenics

   On 18 April 2008, BusinessWeek.com has posted an article about 
   Google, Inc. investing in Navigenics. 

   Redwood Shores, CA-based, Navigenics was co-founded by Dietrich 
   Stephan of the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research 
   Institute (TGen).

   I think Google established operations in the Valley of the Sun 
   in large part thanks to TGen and the Biodesign Institute at ASU 
   (and the Crowation of ASU). 

   Go Biogoogle!

BusinessWeek.com::Google Wants to Index Your DNA, Too

[21 April 2008, top]

From the press release.

   [patient one:  74-year-old male]
   "Prior to the CRC treatment his left ventricular ejection 
    fraction was 10% (the percentage of blood pumped out of 
    the heart with each contraction), below the normal range 
    of 60-75% for a typical healthy person. After the CRC treatment 
    and upon discharge from the hospital in January 2008, this 
    patient's ejection fraction had improved to 25-30% and clinical 
    improvement of his heart failure stage had been noted."

   [patient two:  69-year-old female]
   "Prior to the CRC treatment her ejection fraction was 25-30%, 
    and upon discharge from the hospital in February 2008 her 
    ejection fraction had improved to 45%."

The quality of a drug is a function of many things--age and gender are two of those things.

What if...?

[18 April 2008, top]

   "[...], with TGen competing for a dwindling supply of federal, 
    state and private dollars to pursue its medical advancements. 

Monies are getting tougher to obtain; therefore the state of Arizona is going to have to stay in the batter box and continue supporting TGen's bioscience efforts.

   "Over the past five years, TGen has pursued cutting-edge research 
    for such diseases as pancreatic cancer and Alzheimer's, spun off 
    several private companies and secured millions in federal and state 
    grants. The research group's $46 million lab anchors downtown 
    Phoenix's biomedical campus, and it has attracted some of the 
    nation's top scientists."

Beyond any doubts, TGen has a collection of outstanding scientists.

   "With 258 employees spread across locations in Phoenix, Scottsdale 
    and Flagstaff, [...]"

258 is not a large workforce, but is a lot more than zero.

   "(TGen's) scientists made a leap of faith in us, and we made a 
    leap of faith in you."--Councilman Greg Stanton

Investing in the future is always a "leap of faith." TGen's leap of faith in Arizona is vastly greater than Arizona's "leap of faith" in TGen.

   "TGen has put us on the map in ways we certainly were not on the 
    map until TGen came here." said Rob Melnick, associate vice president 
    for economic affairs and public policy at ASU. "Big science is going 
    on in Phoenix."

Keyphrase: "Big Science." TGen will do big things if Arizona doesn't bail on them.

[Extra] A poster on AzCentral.com made a comment about TGen being a joke. The posting annoyed me so I posted the following comment.

   To Tedtod: TGen is not a joke, but Arizona's political system is.

   TGen has done good stuff since moving to Arizona despite the fact 
   that our state is nearly void of 21st century leaders.

   Go TGen, go Biodesign Inst. at ASU, go BIO5 at UA, go TGen North.

   The future is supercomputing, biotech, nanotech, robotics 
   -- with or without Arizona.

[16 April 2008, top]

Portfolio.com wrote.

   "Robert Klein, director of the California Institute for Regenerative 
    Medicine, is saying that fresh heart and liver cells derived from 
    stem cells may be ready for testing in humans within 18 months."

Here is some more timeline data.

   "Safety tests for using stem cells to treat paralysis could start 
    within a year; tests for stem cells that replace damaged retinas 
    could start in two years.  Later will come stem-cell trials to 
    replace bone and cartilage and to better target bone-marrow 
    transplants to treat leukemia."

Stem cells can provide benefits today--2 April 2008.

   "Scientists are poised right now to use stem cells to test for 
    toxicity in drugs being developed. Researchers hope to replace 
    animal testing, which is notoriously unreliable, with human 
    stem cells to determine whether or not a candidate medication 
    is safe."

James Thompson is a stem cell guru; therefore, the Biotech Trekker thinks we should listen to what he has to say.

   "Thompson wasn't optimistic about the near-term outlook for 
    stem-cell-based treatments--until recently. 'The field is 
    moving very fast now. I'm now thinking it is time to start 
    thinking seriously about commercialization.'"

ISSCR.org::International Society for Stem Cell Research

[02 April 2008, top]

The Biotech Trekker is happy to see that GWCC might be building a multi-million dollar wet lab. The lab will be at least 5,000 square feet in area. Go Gateway CC!

[29 March 2008, top]

Illumina Inc. announced that "scientists at the Company have sequenced the genome of an anonymous African male (Yoruba from Ibadan, Nigeria), using the Genome Analyzer. Sequencing of this HapMap sample was conducted internally and marks the first human genome sequence generated exclusively with paired reads of 35 to 50 bases in length. Leveraging recent system improvements that increase the throughput and improve the accuracy of the Genome Analyzer, Illumina scientists were able to complete this project in a matter of weeks. More than 95 percent of production runs generated high-quality data with an average of over three billion bases (three Gb) per run. This achievement establishes the direct utility of Illumina's sequencing technology for accurately sequencing large and complex genomes."

We have entered into the age of genomics.

An Illumina scientist is quoted saying.

   "Making whole human genome sequencing routine will enable the 
    study of natural human variation all over the world, and enable 
    the use of medical sequencing at the whole genome level to unravel 
    the full spectrum of mutations, which give rise to cancer.

FBO.gov:: 66 -- BeadXpress System

[29 March 2008, top]

For almost eight years I was an employee at Discount Tire Company, which was founded by Bruce Halle in 1960. Discount Tire Company is a great American company and it has helped many of its employees realize their American dreams.

Diane and Bruce Halle are cooler than cool and they are great Americans.

[21 March 2008, top]

   "The Company announced that its Board of Directors has approved 
    a stock repurchase program for up to five percent of its currently 
    outstanding common shares. The shares may be repurchased from time 
    to time in open market transactions or privately negotiated 
    transactions at the Company's discretion, subject to market 
    conditions and other factors. At February 29, 2008, there were 
    approximately 41.8 million shares of common stock outstanding."

A five percent buyback would approximate two million OLGC shares.

Orthologic continues to "burn cash," but the company does have cash to burn.

   "Orthologic "began 2007 with $70.2 million in cash and 
    investments and ended the year with $60.6 million in 
    cash and investments, a net change of $9.6 million.
    For 2008, the Company forecasts a cash burn of 
    $16.0 million to $18.0 million."

OLGC closed at $0.97 on 3/4/2008.

[05 March 2008, top]

The AzBiotech.net domain name has been renewed for another year and it now expires on 3 April 2009 at 11:46:02.

The AzBiotech.net homepage was created on 12 December 2002.

[25 February 2008, top]

On 29 January 2008, TGen announced they received a $6.5 million grant to support an internship program. What an excellent opportunity for Arizona's young people (and for those wishing to re-career).

On 1 February 2008, Ken Alltucker did a great job reporting on TGen receiving a $21.5 million investment by LA-based Abraxis Bioscience. The CEO of Abraxis has made it clear that he believes TGen is a winner--he's a smart CEO.

Go TGen!

   TGen + Biodesign Institute at ASU + BIO5 at UA + 
   TGen North at NAU = 21st century survival

Plus, we cannot ignore what ASU is doing with respect its High Performance Computing Initiative and the fact that we have a leading 21st century Informatics company named Google hanging out in Arizona.

[04 February 2008, top]

   Human cloning is going to happen with or without Arizona 
   (and with or without the United States of America).

   Arizona has been building a strong bioscience foundation and 
   this is not the appropriate time to take away any tools that 
   might benefit Arizona scientists and technologists.

   Go ahead and start making easier and easier for scientists to 
   be criminals, then let's see how Arizona fares in our future 
   worlds of supercompuing/21st century informatics, biotech, 
   nanotech and robotics.

There is "An Act Amending title 36, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding chapter 14; relating to human cloning" that Arizona politicians might act on.

AzLeg.gov:: SB 1208

[04 February 2008, top]

   "Helios Education Foundation, the largest education-focused 
    foundation serving Arizona and Florida, is providing a grant 
    of $6.5 million to the Translational Genomics Research Institute 
    (TGen) to support the Helios Scholars Program, an internship 
    program at TGen, for the next 25 years. Each summer, 45 high-school, 
    undergraduate, and graduate students come to TGen for an introduction 
    to high-tech bioscience research."--TGen press release

Go TGen!

TGen.org:: Helios Education Foundation Invests $6.5 Million in New Partnership With TGen

[01 February 2008, top]

In a nutshell, the UA-led iPlant Collaborative will "develop a centralized database of research information on plant biology and offer researchers the tools needed to solve the major science problems they face."

The NSF grant is for 5-years with UA getting 79% of the $50 million and ASU getting 4%. One item that shouldn't be ignored is that 16% of the grant goes to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. This is a great "connection" for the state of Arizona.

Arizona's governor was quoted saying.

   "Arizona's future lies in innovation in areas like the biosciences, 
    and we are tremendously proud that the National Science Foundation 
    has chosen Arizona to chart a new course in plant science research." 

Again, "Kudos" to BIO5 at the University of the Arizona.

[Extra] Here are a couple quotes from Dan Stanzione, Director of ASU's High Performance Computing Initiative.

   "Our role is to support the plant scientists in implementing 
    their vision for the iPlant cyberinfrastructure. We are 
    providing the large-scale storage, high-end computing power 
    and expertise in applying supercomputing as part of the 
    cyberinfrastructure."

   "Deepening our knowledge in plant science is critically important 
    in confronting many of our global challenges. Food production, 
    energy production, environmental sustainability, the development 
    of biofuels and more effective medicines, dealing with climate 
    change -- all of these hinge on making new discoveries in
    plant biology."

Fulton.ASU.edu:: Creating cyber tools for one of nation's major scientific endeavors

[31 January 2008, top]

Orthologic's clinical study will basically evaluate the "safety and tolerability of escalating doses of AZX100."

The following was copied from Orthologic's press release.

   "Market research indicates there may be as many as 21 million 
    procedures performed annually in the U.S. that could produce 
    some form of scarring. There are currently no prescription 
    drugs indicated for reduction of dermal scarring marketed 
    in the U.S. or Europe."

OLGC closed at $1.05 on 25 January 2008.

[28 January 2008, top]

   "Insys Therapeutics, a Chicago-based biotechnology firm 
    that specializes in rapid development and commercialization 
    of drugs, said Tuesday [7 March 2006] it plans to move its 
    corporate headquarters and research facilities to the Valley, 
    creating 30 jobs within three to four years."

Insys Therapeutics, Inc. Valley of the Sun location is 10220 S. 51st St. in Phoenix, Arizona, 85044. At the start of 2008, their website consisted of nothing more than a homepage.

During late-2007, Insys Therapeutics (INRX) filed for an IPO to raise $86.25 million, but I don't think they've gone public yet.

InsysTherapeutics.com:: Better Patient Care Through Innovation

[14 January 2008, top]

Iran is into cloning and this makes sense given it wants to become a "regional high-tech powerhouse in western Asia by 2025."

   [source: AP]
   "Iranian scientists have reported that the country's first 
    cloned sheep is thriving 15 months after birth.  The cloned 
    male sheep named Royana was born 30 September 2006." 

   "Mohammad Isfahani, an embryologist whose team oversaw Royana's 
    birth and that of its cloned predecessor, said his institute 
    conducted 30 successful stem cell transfers but that only two 
    led to birth."

Iran's other cloned sheep died shortly after being born.

Isfahani was quoted saying.

   [source: AP]
   "We are now in the early stages of cloning a cow.  It is not 
    important for us how many animals we clone, what is important 
    is that we have achieved proficiency in cloning."

As of 1 January 2008, human cloning is banned in Iran.

[02 January 2008, top]

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[01 January 2008, top]