GDT::Biotech::Trekker::Archive::Year 2006

GDT::BAB:: Coming Soon? Genetically Engineered Peanuts

[28 December 2006, top]

In 2004, Wisconsin enacted Act 255 which prompted the state to begin offering a 25% tax credit to certain investors. The law "authorized $65 million of tax credits over 10 years: $3 million a year for angel investors and $3.5 million for early- and second-stage venture investors."

The Journal Sentinel reported that Madison, WI-based NeoClone Biotechnology Intl. had "used all but $37,000 of the $1 million allocated to each qualified company." NeoClone was started in 1999 based on technology developed at the University of Wisconsin. The company has raised about $1.4 million since 2001.

NeoClone.com:: Excelling in the Manufacture of Monoclonal Antibodies

[26 December 2006, top]

   "From a starting point of zero just four years ago, 
    the Translational Genomics Research Institute will
    contribute an estimated $21.7 million to Arizona's
    economy this year."

   "Most of TGen's $60 million annual budget comes from
    philanthropists, federal grants, and contracts."

   "Arizona has been putting $5 million a year into TGen
    from tobacco tax money.  That funding was authorized
    for five years and it runs out in June."

With respect to the question of whether Arizona's investment in TGen is "paying off," the Republic wrote: "The answer is a loud and vigorous yes. To keep the momentum going, Arizona needs to continue supporting TGen."

The Biotech Trekker hopes Arizona's TGen funding will be well above the $5 million petty cash that the state has been investing.

[13 December 2006, top]

SHM.com.au:: Stem-cell bill passes parliament

[07 December 2006, top]

Here are couple of thought provoking quotes.

   "Husbands and wives... have a 'right' to the marital act 
    and to care for life conceived through this act, but they 
    do not have a 'right' to a child. A child is not a thing 
    to which husbands and wives have a right. It is not a product 
    that, by its nature, is necessarily inferior to its producers, 
    rather a child [is] like its parents. And this is the moral 
    problem with the laboratory generation of human life..."

   "Membership in the human species is of critical moral significance 
    simply because human animals are different kinds of animals. They 
    are different, not because of culture or brains, but because of who 
    they are, that is, beings ultimately minded because within them is 
    a principle of immateriality, of transcendence. Members of this 
    species are beings of moral worth not by reason of anything that 
    they do or achieve, but by reason of what they are."

The Ramsey Award is given to those who have "demonstrated exemplary achievement in the field of bioethics. Ramsey (1913-1988) was the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University and is regarded by many as one of the most important ethicists of the twentieth century."

[07 December 2006, top]

LJIMM.org:: La Jolla Institute for Molecular Medicine

[06 December 2006, top]

[05 December 2006, top]

[Extra] The front-page of the Valley and State section of the 4 December 2006 Arizona Republic had an article about how TB infected monkies were found at the Madison, WI-based Covance location. I suspect more Chandler residents will now be taking a stand against Covance moving into their town.

[04 December 2006, top]

   [source: Phoenix.BizJournals.com]
   "N.Y. stem cell firm may build Phoenix lab"

The company's name is National Stem Cell Holding, Inc. and it is a publically traded company (NHGI.PK).

The NSCH homepage says the company's mission is to "advance the science of regenerative medicine using our innovative approach to stem cell therapeutics."

NationalStemCell.com:: Cord Blood Banking Free National Stem Cell

[02 December 2006, top]

   "Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In the EU 
    and the US, one in eight will develop it at some point in their 
    lives, and it will kill one in 28. But harnessing the power of 
    the grid could help increase the accuracy of diagnoses."

Europa.eu:: Harnessing grid computing to save women's lives

[01 December 2006, top]

   "Iowa State University researchers are working to take 
    wastes from Iowa farms -- manure and corn stalks -- and 
    turn them into a bio-oil that could be used for boiler 
    fuel and perhaps transportation fuel."

Preliminary tests indicate every kilogram of dried mixture produces .2 to .5 kilograms of bio-oil depending on the operating conditions.

Sadaka said the energy content of dry manure is 12 to 18 gigajoules per ton.

Canada's Office of Energy Efficiency says one gigajoule of electricity will keep a 60-watt bulb continuously burning for six months. Sadaka figures if half the animal manure in the country were processed into bio-oil, that would produce the equivalent of 45 million tons of oil."

ScienceDaily.com:: Researchers Convert Farm Waste To Bio-oil

[23 November 2006, top]

Flinn.org:: Two biotech companies relocate to Arizona for state's resources, potential

• NutraCea:: Stabilized Rice Bran and Rice Bran Products
• GeonomicsUSA.com:: Low Cost Micro-Array Products

[23 November 2006, top]

Tempe-based Orthologic ended 2006 3rd-quarter with $74.1 million in cash (with no debt). There are about 41 million shares outstanding; thus, the company has roughly $1.80 in cash per share. OLGC closed at $1.30 per share on 11/21/2006.

[23 November 2006, top]

With respect to Batten Disease, fatal is a keyword. The following is from a StemCells Inc. press relese.

   "The company's human neural stem cell is transplanted 
    into the brain of the patient, with the goal of producing 
    the missing enzyme. The intention is for the enzyme to 
    increase and continuing increasing over time, providing 
    long-term delivery."

StemCells Inc. plans to transplant their human neural stem cell into five more patients over the next 12 months.

Neural stem cells from adults have the "innate ability to differentiate into many diverse cell types; they are easily accessible in the skin of adults; and the patient's own neural crest stem cells could be used for cell therapy. The latter avoids both rejection of the implant and graft-versus-host disease."

[15 November 2006, top]

   "This exchange ratio will be determined by dividing 
    $14 by the volume weighted average trading price of 
    Illumina common stock as reported by Nasdaq during 
    10 randomly selected days during the 20-day trading 
    period ending five trading days prior to closing. 
    However, if the Illumina average price is equal to 
    or greater than $47.30, then the exchange ratio will 
    be fixed at 0.296, and if the Illumina average price 
    is equal to or less than $40.70, then the exchange 
    ratio will be fixed at 0.344."

According to the press release, the combined companies will create the "only company with genome-scale technology for genotyping, gene expression and sequencing, the three cornerstones of modern genetic analysis."

[13 November 2006, top]

   Kudos to The Arizona Republic for making
   bioterrorism front-page news.

   The following is a quote from Bill Joy: "September 11 was 
   essentially a collision of early 20th-century technology: 
   the aeroplane and the skyscraper. We don't want to see a 
   collision of 21st-century technology."

   I liked learning about what was going on at NAU with respect 
   to 21st century biology.  It's good to know NAU has an anthrax 
   guru.  Biotech is happening at all three of Arizona's universities 
   and I'm happy it is.

Biotech::Trekker likes the following website... Biozona.org

[10 November 2006, top]

   Your posting made me think about the following quote: 
   "The nanoscale just happens to also be the scale at which 
    cell biology operates. We're entering an era when we are 
    able to use the tools of nanotechnology to answer fundamental 
    puzzles of biology." by Philip Nelson, University of Pennsylvania
    physics professor.

   Keyphrase: "entering an era."

   Computational biology (in whatever form it takes) is enabled by the 
   fact that we are entering into the next era of computing--the era of 
   high-performance computing and 21st century informatics.

The Trekker's posting included the phrase "whatever form it takes." This phrase was used to indicate that "computational biology" spans many domain specific forms of biology. It also meant that "biology" can be replaced by many other domains. For example, computational engineering, computational chemistry, computational whatever.

[10 November 2006, top]

MarketWatch.com:: Market betting on stem-cell stocks

[Extra] GDT::BAB:: StemCells Inc. 2006 3rd-Quarter Financial Results

[01 November 2006, top]

   "Scientists say they have created a stem cell line from a 
    human embryo that had stopped developing naturally, and 
    so was considered dead."

   "One expert said the technique makes harvesting stem cells 
    no more ethically troublesome than organ donation. But others 
    said it still carries scientific and ethical problems."

I don't understand the use of the word ethical because stem cell usage is an issue of religion.

Stemcells.AlphaMedPress.org:: International Journal of Cell Differentiation and Proliferation

[31 October 2006, top]

[Extra] Another biotech I follow, San Diego-based Nanogen, reported today (30 October 2006) that it "received four patents covering the use of biological markers to diagnose diabetes and Alzheimer's disease." Kudos to Nanogen. Note: Nanogen is not a stem cell company.

[30 October 2006, top]

[25 October 2006, top]

AzCentral.com:: Arizona Business Blogs: Biotech

[16 October 2006, top]

GDT::Biotech:: Biotech Related Hyperlinks

[07 October 2006, top]

[04 October 2006, top]

Biozona.org:: Advancing Science. Enhancing Life.

[Extra] If you are new to learning about Arizona's role in bioscience, Biozona.org provides a hyperlink to ArizonaBioBasics.com.

[25 September 2006, top]

EurekaAlert.org:: International Genomics Consortium, TGen to lead Biospecimen Core for Cancer Atlas pilot project

[16 September 2006, top]

RIC is the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and they are obviously doing great work. The bionic woman is Ms. Mitchell, of Ellicott City, Maryland. Ms. Mitchell is a "former U.S. Marine Corps officer whose left arm was severed at the scene of a motorcycle accident in 2004."

ScienceDaily.com:: World's First 'Bionic Woman' Unveiled By Rehabilitation Institute Of Chicago

[Side-bar] Flexible electronic skin (e-skin) offers a way for a robot to feel like a human-being. I suspect bionic woman would be interested in e-skin.

[16 September 2006, top]

Note: Orthologic had reported earlier this year that Chrysalin was a disappointment; however, they were going to investigate to see if it could be fixed. It appears as though it can't be fixed.

The day after Orthologic's Chrysalin announcement was not a good day for long-term holders of OLGC. The stock closed down almost 16% at $1.37. Volume was almost 1.5 million versus a three-month daily average of 0.18 million.

[01 September 2006, top]

   "Sun Microsystems Inc. announced that "The Institute for 
    Genomic Research (TIGR) selected Sun Microsystems to replace 
    15 HP Alpha servers and consolidate IT operations onto three 
    Sun Fire(TM) x64 (x86, 64-bit) servers to power its complex 
    genomic assembler for molecular research. Through a combination 
    of Sun services and innovative technologies, TIGR has created a 
    powerful yet cost-effective high performance computing (HPC) 
    environment. The new system provides critical reliability, 
    reduces energy consumption by more than 70 percent and 
    dramatically reduces purchasing and operating costs, 
    allowing the Institute to complete intricate research 
    projects and to publish results on genomic findings in 
    the fields of energy, agriculture, etc. to an eagerly-awaiting 
    public on time and on budget."

Here is a bit about TIGR according to the press release...

   "The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) is a not-for-profit 
    research institute based in Rockville, Maryland. TIGR, which 
    sequenced the first complete genome of a free-living organism 
    in 1995, has been at the forefront of the genomic revolution 
    since the Institute was founded in 1992. TIGR conducts research 
    involving the structural, functional, and comparative analysis 
    of genomes and gene products in viruses, bacteria, archaea, 
    and eukaryotes."

[23 August 2006, top]

   "The University of Arizona and Arizona State University 
    will spend $1.5 million this fall planning the next 
    phase of a biomedical campus in downtown Phoenix."

   "The phase includes the completion of the UA's College of 
    Medicine and complementary programs in pharmacy and nursing."

   "ASU's component of the initial phase is a new department of 
    biomedical informatics."

Biomedical informatics at ASU was announced a long time ago and this grant money, which isn't a lot, will help get the biomedical informatics up and running. We attempted to do a bioinformatics course and SCC, but nobody there was only one student who expressed an interest in taking the class. The bioinformatics course was going to be co-taught by me and a TGen bioinformatician, but I couldn't get it to happen.

[11 August 2006, top]

   "Back and forth it goes, the politics driving 
    the science, the science pushing back."

With the "politics" strongly biased by religion as evidenced by George W. Bush veto of providing federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

CNN.com:: Stem cells: Hope and hype

[31 July 2006, top]

   "Stephen Hawking, the world's best-known living 
    scientist, has attacked 'reactionary' forces in 
    Europe and America which are trying to ban research 
    into stem cells from human embryos."

The Independent quotes Hawking saying...

   "Stem cell research is the key to developing cures for 
    degenerative conditions like Parkinson's and motor 
    neurone disease from which I and many others suffer."

I know there is least one human who thinks there is a greater than zero chance that Hawkins is right.

Indepedent.co.uk:: Hawking criticises EU states trying to ban stem cell research

[24 July 2006, top]

[19 July 2006, top]

The following is a quote from Biosingularity's "About Me" webpage.

   "The convergence of biology with nanotechnology and 
    information technologies will soon create an unprecendent 
    ability to understand and manipulate biological systems. 
    Inspired by the idea of singularity, I have coined the 
    term Biosingularity to define a time when we will be able 
    to engineer new biological systems and have complete 
    molecular control in manipulating existing life forms."

Biosingularity.Wordpress.com:: Advances in Biological Systems

[15 July 2006, top]

Forbes.com:: Stem Cells Help Repair Rats' Paralysis

[04 July 2006, top]

   "Chandler officials don't want to place all of their 
    economic development eggs in one basket - instead, 
    they want to hatch some in a $15 million bioscience 
    technology 'incubator.'"

In terms of biotech monies, $15 million is petty cash.

   "The City Council recently approved an $81,000 contract 
    to begin planning a community technology incubator and 
    accelerator that economic development officials say would 
    help diversify Chandler's already strong foothold in the 
    high-tech arena. The facility would help fledgling bioscience 
    companies, especially those in the nanotechnology field, 
    get off the ground."

I don't know what Chandler is going to get for its $81,000, but I bet it's not much.

The bioindustry in the Valley of the Sun "officially" started during 2002. I don't know why its taken Chandler four years before taking these steps.

[04 July 2006, top]

   "Female egg donors, doctors and researchers 
    involved in the destruction of embryos for 
    stem-cell studies can face excommunication, 
    said the head of the Vatican's family council."

In other words, the Catholic church might consider "excommunication" for any scientist who does research with embryonic stem-cells.

CatholicNews.com:: Cardinal: Those involved in stem-cell research face excommunication

[04 July 2006, top]

    [source::2006.06.21; EastValleyTribune.com]

    "A national animal rights group, Physicians Committee for 
     Responsible Medicine, on Tuesday released results of an 
     opinion poll stating 56 percent of Chandler residents 
     oppose a contract laboratory planned by drugtesting 
     giant Covance."

    "The committee has been an ardent opponent of Covance, which 
     released its own poll Monday claiming 62 percent of residents 
     support the company's plans to build a 400,000-square-foot 
     laboratory along Price Road between Queen Creek and 
     Germann roads."

I agree with the following assessment.

    "A local political pollster, who was not involved in either 
     survey, said the two surveys are not worth much because 
     they are mainly aimed at furthering each sponsor's position."

In other words, both of these survey results are bullfoo.

If Chandler rejects Covance, I'm confident there is some other Valley of the Sun city that will welcome them.

[21 June 2006, top]

Bioinformatics was used by researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI), to "predict immune response to one of the most complex viruses known to man - the vaccinia virus, which is used in the smallpox vaccine."

   "The beauty of the virus used for this study is that 
    it's one of the most complex, large viruses that exist.
    If we can predict almost all (targeted) epitopes from 
    such a large virus, then we should be able to do that 
    very easily for less complex viruses like influenza, 
    herpes or even HIV, and eventually apply this methodology 
    to larger microbes such as tuberculosis."

The power of bioinformatics will grow and grow as we continue to transition in the next era of high-performance computing.

ScienceDaily.com:: Bioinformatics Successfully Predicts Immune Response To One Of The Most Complex Viruses Known

[19 June 2006, top]

   "At present, bio-ethanol is only made from sugars derived 
    from corncobs, sugar beets, grain and sugarcane, with the 
    help of baker's yeast. A great number of by-products result 
    from the cultivation of these crops, such as straw and 
    corn husks. It would be a major step forward if this 
    leftover material, which also largely consists of sugar, 
    could be used for the production of bio-ethanol. This 
    would allow agricultural land to be used more efficiently 
    and at the same time prevent competition with food supplies."

ScienceDaily.com:: Producing Bio-ethanol From Agricultural Waste A Step Closer

[18 June 2006, top]

Harvard.edu:: Approval granted for Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers to attempt creation of disease-specific embryonic stem cell lines

[07 June 2006, top]

   "Nature triumphed over nurture as two cloned mule 
    brothers came up short in a professional race against 
    traditionally bred runners."

One of the cloned mules, Idaho Gem, finished a 350 yard sprint in 21.246 seconds. The winner finished in 20.866 seconds. The other cloned mule, Idaho Star, finished in 22.181 seconds.

   "A University of Idaho-Utah State University research 
    team is the first worldwide to clone a member of the 
    horse family, a mule, according to an article to be 
    published in the Journal of Science."

FOE.org:: Organic, not Genetically Engineered

[17 May 2006, top]

Dolby's money is going to the Institute for Regeneration Medicine and he is quoted saying the following.

   "The discovery of stem cells was a wonderful thing but, 
    unfortunately, this name by itself does not seem to very 
    well suggest what is happening or how. Moreover, the term 
    'stem cell' seems to have acquired a negative meaning with 
    some people."

There is no doubt that some people consider 'stem cells' to be evil.

[17 May 2006, top]

Herald-Sun.com:: $100M UNC, State deal collapses

[17 May 2006, top]

During April 2006, I was on a Loop 101 off-ramp in Chandler and I saw a protect Chandler sign. [Note: the sign was probably in violation of Chandler's signage laws. What if everybody put up a sign along our off-ramps? This sign was litter.]

[15 April 2006, top]

Quote.Yahoo.com:: Orthologic (OLGC)

[Extra] The day after this posting, 6 April 2006, Orthologic's CEO quit and, according to initial news reports, it was because he wanted to "pursue other opportunities." I wonder if it was truely to "pursue other opportunities" or was it because he thinks Orthologic is a sinking ship or was it because he was fired? Let's hope he was fired.

A long-time director of the company has assumed the role of CEO and Dr. Randolph C. Steer has been named President. Steer comes to Orthologic with an impressive resume.

I lamented about the lack of insider ownership and the now former CEO has the largest insider position. It will not be surprising if he liquidates this position. Regardless, insider ownership of OLGC is virtually nil.

[05 April 2006, top]

   "Powerful patents on human embryonic stem cells held by the 
    Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation may be more of an 
    impediment to research on the prized cells than restrictions 
    imposed by President Bush, an article in today's journal 
    Science charges."

Madison.com:: Attack On Stem-cell Patents

[05 April 2006, top]

AzBioTech.Blogspot.com:: Arizona's BioTech News Update

Back to Harris... he is a biotech guru and his coming to Arizona is great news for our state.

[24 March 2006, top]

On Wednesday, 15 March 2006, Orthologic announced that its primary drug didn't fare well in testing and as a result the stock fell 50% when the market opened. After the news, First Albany downgraded OLGC from 'Buy' to 'Neutral'. Just a short month ago, First Albany had initiated OLGC coverage with a 'Buy' rating.

For the day (15 March 2006), OLGC hit a new 52-week low of $2.57 before closing at $2.64. Volume was 9.2 million shares versus a three month volume average of 230,000 shares. OLGC ended the day down 49%.

Corporate-IR.net:: Orthologic Press Release

[15 March 2006, top]

This is not the first time there have been objections to Covance coming to the Valley of the Sun, nor will it be the last.

Covance wants to build a 400,000-square-foot facility on 38 acres along Price Road between Queen Creek and Germann roads. Covance bought the land during the summer of 2005 for $8 million. The facility will use animals to aid drug development.

The East Valley Tribune reported that the governor will not act on Sir Paul's request.

[09 March 2006, top]

Sakae Shibusawa, agriculture engineering professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said they extracted .042 ounces of gasoline from every 3.5 ounces of cow dung by "applying high pressure and heat." About 551,155 tons of cattle dung are produced each year in Japan, he said.

The gasoline was produced by "adding several unspecified metal catalysts to the dung inside a container and applying a 30-atmosphere pressure and heat of up to 300 degrees Celsius." Commercial availability is at least five years away.

In a separate experiment revealing another unusual business potential for cow dung, another group of researchers has successfully extracted an aromatic ingredient of vanilla from cattle dung. The extracted ingredient, vanillin, can be used as fragrance in shampoo and candles.

[Extra] ISCOWP is the International Society for Cow Protection and they have an article titled Dung is a Gold Mine [1/23/2006]

[05 March 2006, top]

Biodesign.ASU.edu:: Biodesign Institute At ASU Named Lab of the Year in International Competition

[03 March 2006, top]

A day after this news, the University of California reported it has received a $25 million donation for stem cell research. In 2004, California voters approved the granting of $300 million per year for the next ten years.

Bioscience and biotechnology requires money, money and more money. Arizona's investment looks nano-sized given what is happening in other geographical locations around the United States. I turned this posting into a Basic Arithmetic Bit (BAB) to help expose community college students to what is happening with respect to biotechnology in Arizona.

GDT::BAB:: Arizona Considering Allocating Funds For Bioscience

[24 February 2006, top]

AzERx was founded at Arizona State University. Orthologic's press release indicatate that "Valley Ventures III, L.P., an investment fund affiliated with the Chairman of the OrthoLogic Board of Directors, John M. Holliman, III, is a minority stockholder of AzERx. Mr. Holliman did not participate in the evaluation or approval of this transaction on behalf of OrthoLogic."

Kudos to Orthologic and ASU for this collaborative effort.

[24 February 2006, top]

Prior to attending the 22 February 2006 Post Arizona Town Hall meeting, I wrote GDT::Computing::Bit:: A Post Arizona Town Hall On Bioscience that was about a Wall Street Journal article on "Politically Incorrect Science Fairs."

AzTownHall.org:: Arizona Town Hall

[23 February 2006, top]

Phx.Corporate-IR.net:: OrthoLogic Appoints William M. Wardell, MD, PhD, to Board of Directors

[13 February 2006, top]

NPR.org:: Babies' Cells Linger, May Protect Mothers

[13 February 2006, top]

   "Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the 
    most egregious abuses of medical research, human cloning 
    in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for 
    experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, 
    selling or patenting human embryos."

Needless to say, such words from the U.S. President has prompted lots of discussion.

Science.Slashdot.org:: The President, The State of the Union, and Genetics

[01 February 2006, top]

Bioinformatics.org says the following about Ben Franklin.

   "Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was one of the most remarkable 
    men of his time.  Scientist, inventor, statesman, Franklin 
    freely and openly shared his ideas and refused to patent his 
    inventions. It is the opinion of the founders of Bioinformatics.Org 
    that he embodied the best traits of a scientist, and we seek to 
    honor those who share these virtues."

The Benjamin Franklin Award in Bioinformatics is a "humanitarian award presented annually by Bioinformatics.org to an individual who has, in his or her practice, promoted open access to the materials and methods used in the scientific field of bioinformatics."

Past laureates include Lincoln Stein (2004) [GDT::DreamTeam member], James Kent (2003) and Michael Eisen (2002).

Bioinformatics.org:: Benjamin Franklin Award

[12 January 2006, top]

[01 January 2006, top]

Thanks for Visiting