GDT::Biotech::Trekker::Archive::Year 2007

Navigenics says they "bring genetics out of the lab to help you live a longer, healthier life."

As opinionated in a previous Bioteck Trekker posting, 2007 is probably going to go down as the dawning of the Age of Genomics.

Navigenics.com:: Your genes offer a road map to optimal health

[22 December 2007, top]

   "2008 will be a year of change and growth for the 
    ArizonaBioIndustry Association - AZBio. Formerly 
    known as ABA, this is your state bioscience trade 
    association, and we want to meet you and hear from 
    you.  We've got some new ideas we think you'll like, 
    but AZBio will be most successful if our programs, 
    events and activities truly reflect the needs and 
    desires of our members."

Note: With respect to the following hyperlink, the webpage title (as of 2007.12.22) is used as the clickable text.

AzBioindustry.org:: Arizona Bioindustry Organization

[Extra] The bottom of the AzBio homepage read as follows.

   © 1998-2006 Arizona Bioindustry Association, All Rights Reserved"  

No copyright for 2007?

[22 December 2007, top]

The Biotech Trekker enjoys white noise.

Dr. Paul Keim is a Senior Investigator and Director for Pathogen Genomics Division at TGen. He is also Regents Professor of Biology at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and the Cowden Endowed Chair in Microbiology at NAU.

TGen.org::Research:: Paul Keim, Ph.D.

[17 December 2007, top]

Abraxis CEO, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, was quoted saying: "You have an opportunity to change the country." The "you" is the Valley of the Sun and the state of Arizona.

Abraxis told the Phoenix Business Journal that the company is moving into the "next generation of nanoparticle capabilities." Abraxis has a drug that "feeds the tumor with nanoparticles and uses the tumor's cell biology against itself."

Let's hope Soon-Shiong is correct and that Arizona's nanobio-industries do "change the country."

• Flinn.org:: Nanotech drug firm Abraxis strengthens Phoenix presence
• AbraxisBio.com:: Brining the first nanoparticle chemotherapy for cancer

[10 December 2007, top]

   Excellent story and Thank You for posting it. This should be 
   front-page news because Arizona needs more students to follow 
   Nancy's lead.

Nancy is going to be a double-major in biomedical research and international relations. As a senior at Chandler's Hamilton High School, Nancy Leo is "already working on renowned scientific studies. Her science research project last school year on the effects of stress was one of 18 projects selected to present at the Sixth World Congress on Stress in Austria. She will present her research in October to other scientists who study stress."

[03 December 2007, top]

   [ITEM]
   "Scientists say they've created embryonic stem cells by stimulating 
    unfertilized eggs, a significant step toward producing transplant 
    tissue that's genetically matched to women.  The advance suggests 
    that someday, a woman who wants a transplant to treat a condition 
    like diabetes or a spinal cord injury could provide eggs to a lab, 
    which in turn could create tissue that her body wouldn't reject."

   [ITEM]
   "Scientists at Washington University have transplanted embryonic 
    pig pancreatic cells into diabetic monkeys, which could have major 
    implications for the treatment of diabetes in humans.  Dr. Marc 
    Hammerman says the approach has reduced the animals' need for 
    insulin injections and does not call for immunosuppression, 
    which is a major problem in treating diabetes with transplantation.
    Before DNA technology enabled pharmaceutical companies to 
    manufacture human insulin in the 1980's, pig and cow insulin 
    were routinely given to diabetic patients."

   [ITEM]
   "People are less alike than scientists had thought when it comes 
    to the billions of building blocks that make up each individual's 
    DNA.  'Instead of 99.9 percent identical, maybe we're only 99 percent 
    (alike),' said J. Craig Venter."

[03 December 2007, top]

   "VeriChip Corporation, provider of RFID systems for healthcare 
    and patient-related needs, announced today the American Medical 
    Association's (AMA) Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs has 
    adopted a policy stating that implantable radio frequency 
    identification (RFID) devices may help to identify patients, 
    thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care, 
    and may be used to enable secure access to patient clinical 
    information."

The power of 96-bits...

[03 December 2007, top]

LabTechnologist.com:: Biomarker market predicted to 'explode'

[03 December 2007, top]

   "Aastrom Biosciences announced that Ann Arbor Charter Township has 
    designated the Domino's Farms Office Park suite occupied by the 
    Company as an Industrial Development District, and also granted 
    Aastrom a six-year personal property tax abatement."

I'd like to see my hometown of Tempe, Arizona, do this type of stuff. Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, while Tempe is home to Arizona State University.

   "Our new facility and state-of-the-art clean room are exceptional, 
    and we appreciate the consideration the Township has given us. 
    This opportunity allows us to grow at a quicker pace, and access 
    to the pool of high-quality people currently available in our area.
    With the closing of Pfizer, Aastrom is now the largest bioscience 
    firm in the area. The Township understood that this company represents 
    the best hope for maintaining Ann Arbor's status as a key center of 
    cutting-edge biomedical research. That's especially crucial in 
    Michigan's current economic climate."

Arizona State University has the Biodesign Institute and it is doing "cutting-edge biomedical research."

[03 December 2007, top]

   posted by Gerald9588  on Nov 29, 2007 at 05:21 AM 

   Yes, sustainability is a buzzword; however, it is also a keyword 
   (i.e. a buzzword that is worthy of its buzz).  Biotechnology advances 
   (which are being magnified thanks to supercomputing and nanotechnology) 
   are going to enable us to experience expanded lifetimes.  Now what do 
   we do? Sustainability is an issue because we have a skewed definition 
   of "long-term."

   http://longnow.org

   We need more leaders like Wade Adams who  is out there pleading 
   with young people to "become a scientist--save the world!"

   http://aznano.org/uploads/Wade_Adams_Keynote.pdf

[01 December 2007, top]

   200,000 years ago:  Homo sapiens walks the Earth.
   175,000 years ago:  Mother of all present-day humans is born in Africa.
   1866:  Gregor Mendel discovers the laws of inheritance.
   1953:  Watson and Crick uncover the double-helix structure of DNA.
   2003:  The Human Genome Project maps a single person's genome.
   2007:  23andMe introduces the 1st personal genome service.

Welcome to the Age of Genomics!

• Wired.com:: 23AndMe Will Decode Your DNA for $1,000. Welcome to the Age of Genomics
• 23andMe.com:: 23andMe Launches Web-Based Service Empowering Individuals to Access and Understand Their Own Genetic Information

[24 November 2007, top]

   "For a one-time fee of $985, you can get your genome 
    analyzed on the Web. DeCODE Genetics, based in Reykjavik, 
    Iceland, today is launching a new service that it says 
    will provide a detailed personal genetic profile."

It is only a matter of time before 23andMe.com will be providing DeCODE Genetics some competition.

Forbes.com:: Personal Genome Race Goes Into Overdrive

[17 November 2007, top]

[14 November 2007, top]

There are 11 members of the inaugural class of ASU's new biomedical-informatics degree program.

ASU states.

   "Biomedical informatics is seen as critical to advancing 'customized' 
    medicine, in which care is tailored to specific health profiles of 
    individual patients."

   "The program moves ASU into the vanguard of a discipline that is 
    melding computer science and engineering, biology, information 
    technology, cognition and decision-making research, mathematics 
    and health and social sciences - all aimed at improving the 
    quality of health care."

ASU President Michael Crow has been quoted saying.

   "The application of informatics and computing to bioscience will 
    enable physicians and other health-care practitioners to replace 
    'off-the-shelf' medical treatments with courses of treatment 
    custom-tailored for the individual patient."

SCI.ASU.edu:: Department of Biomedical Informatics

[08 November 2007, top]

   posted by Gerald9588  on Oct 20, 2007 at 06:12 AM 

   Thank goodness there are scientists around the world 
   working on "smart drugs" and personalized medicine. 

Blogs.WSJ.com:: Baby Cold Medicines To Be Pulled From Market

[30 October 2007, top]

Kornberg won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for his discovery of "the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)." He also was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1979.

Kornberg's son, Roger, won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Wikipedia.org:: Arthur Kornberg

[30 October 2007, top]

The AP story started as follows: "James Watson, the 79-year-old scientific icon made famous by his work in DNA, has set off an international furor with comments to a London newspaper about intelligence levels among blacks." Watson was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1962 for co-discovering the structure of DNA,

   "In the United States, the Federation of American Scientists said 
    it was outraged that Watson 'chose to use his unique stature to 
    promote personal prejudices that are racist, vicious and unsupported 
    by science.'"

Mike Botchan, co-chair of the molecular and cell biology department at the University of California, Berkeley, had the following opinion.

   "Is he someone who's going to prejudge a person in front of 
    him on the basis of his skin color? I would have to say, no. 
    Is he someone, though, that has these beliefs? I don't know 
    any more. And the important thing is I don't really care."

   "I think Jim Watson is now essentially a disgrace to his own 
    legacy. And it's very sad for me to say this, because he's 
    one of the great figures of 20th century biology."

Botchan's comment implies he thinks Watson is a dinosaured biologist. The Biotech Trekker disagrees.

The Biotech Trekker (i.e. Gerald Thurman) feels for Dr. Watson and in the eyes of many that probably makes it (him) a racist.

[19 October 2007, top]

The Partnership for Personalized Medicine is a $45 million health care research initiative. The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust has committed $35 million and the Flinn Foundation has granted $10 million.

The following was copied from Flinn.org.

   "World-renowned scientist Dr. Lee Hartwell, 2001 Nobel laureate 
    and director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been 
    recruited to lead this effort.  The executive committee includes 
    Dr. George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona 
    State University, and Dr. Jeffrey Trent, president and scientific 
    director of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

Wow... Poste, Trent, Hartwell... what a team!

Flinn.org:: Scientific luminaries launch personalized diagnostics initiative

[18 October 2007, top]

   posted by Gerald9588  on Oct 8, 2007 at 05:59 PM 

   I don't do politics, but I was going to blog about an 
   article in the Arizona Republic titled "Clinton promises 
   stem-cell studies, billions for science."  
   [Friday, Oct. 5, 2007; page A-19]

   Political stance on embryonic stem-cell is a critical issue 
   for the Valley of the Sun, the state of Arizona, the United 
   States of America and the world/planet earth. 

   It's too bad we're not further into the future with respect to 
   high performance/productivity computing, 21st century informatics, 
   biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, augmented intelligence 
   and space exploration/travel.

[18 October 2007, top]

On 10/10/2007 the Scottsdale issue of the Arizona Republic contained an article featuring Dr. John Nagy, chairman of Life Sciences at SCC, and two of his students. Collaboratively, Nagy and his students "studied the behavior of cancerous tumors in various types of animals using computer simulations."

It was great article and hopefully the following hyperlink doesn't rot.

AzCentral.com:: SCC students, professor gain international recognition for cancer research

ScottsdaleCC.edu:: Student/Faculty Research Team from Scottsdale Community College Publishes Paper on Cancer Research in Prominent Science Journal

[11 October 2007, top]

   "ViaCell is working on ways to preserve stem cells from babies' 
    umbilical cords, which can be used later in the child's life 
    or to help a close relative in cases of ailments like heart 
    problems, cancer or diabetes. It also develops techniques for 
    freezing human eggs to be used in subsequent in vitro fertilization."

Waltham, MA-based PerkinElmer engages in the "design, manufacture, and marketing of scientific instruments, consumables, and services. It operates in two segments, Life and Analytical Sciences, and Optoelectronics." The company's yearly revenues approximate $1.65 billion.

[03 October 2007, top]

   "New Zealand scientists are breeding a herd of cows that 
    produce lower-fat milk after the chance discovery of a 
    natural gene mutation in one animal."

   "Milk from the cows is also high in health-boosting omega-3 
    fatty acids and makes butter that spreads as easily as 
    margarine even when chilled."

Vialactia, a subsidiary of the Fonterra Cooperative Group, bought a cow named Marge for about "$218 and moved her to a research site. Marge's milk contained about 1 percent fat, compared with about 3.5 percent for whole milk."

   "The company expects the first commercial herd of cows 
    supplying natural low-fat milk and spreadable butter 
    for the market by 2011."

Biotechnology in the 21st century is going to change everything as we know it today.

[23 September 2007, top]

What's "it?"

Arizona governor Janet Napolitano is receiving the "Biotech Governor of the Year" award from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (Bio.org, a Washington, DC-based trade group).

According to Bio.org's Patrick Kelly (VP of state government relations), "With regard to biotech, Arizona is one of the fastest growing states we've seen."

Kudos to Gov. Janet Napolitano.

[16 September 2007, top]

BBC.co.uk:: 'We will be able to live to 1,000' [3 Dec 2004]

In a rebuttal opinion, S Jay Olshansky was quoted saying: "What do the ancient purveyors of physical immortality all have in common? They are all dead."

BBC.co.uk:: 'Don't fall for the cult of immortality' [3 Dec 2004]

To S Jay Olshansky I'd respond with: Yes, all the acient purveyors of physical immortality are dead, but they didn't have HPC (High Performance/Productivity Computing) along with high performance visualization systems to help them extend lives.

[01 September 2007, top]

An ASU press release indicated that Greenes came to ASU because of the "substantial planning efforts and resources being devoted to building ASU's biomedical informatics program."

Dr. Jeffrey Trent, president and scientific director of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, says he considers Greenes "without question among the world leaders in the use of collaborative medical informatics research to benefit patients, physicians and students."

Dr. Greenes, who has a M.D. degree and a Ph. D. in applied mathematics and computer science, was quoted saying:

   "I'm impressed by the eagerness at all levels of the university, 
    especially its leadership, and among its partners, the University 
    of Arizona, and other Arizona health and biomedical science 
    institutions, to create a top-notch biomedical informatics
    program."

The Biotech Trekker posted the following comment to EastValleyTribune.com.

   Kudos to ASU for convincing Dr. Greenes to come to Arizona.  
   This is great news for not only for the Valley of the Sun, 
   but for the entire state of Arizona.

SCI.ASU.edu:: New department head will boost ASU's leadership in biomedical informatics

[28 August 2007, top]

   "Geron Corp. has demonstrated in animal studies that it could 
    successfully regenerate damaged heart muscle through human 
    embryonic stem-cells."

   "The company said it injected the cells, cardiomyocytes, directly 
    into the damaged area of the heart. Those injected cells then 
    stimulated blood vessel formation."

Geron Corp. has been collaborating with researchers at the at the University of Washington.

Kudos to Geron and the University of Washington.

[extra] Paul L. Foster, founder of an El Paso-based refinery and marketing company, has pledged $50-million to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso's School of Medicine. Go Texas Tech!

[27 August 2007, top]

   "MIT scientists and colleagues have found a way in the lab to 
    create large amounts of cancer stem cells, the cells that can 
    initiate tumors. The work, reported in the August 13 issue of 
    Cancer Cell, could be a boon to researchers who study these 
    elusive cells. Labs could easily grow them for use in experiments."

We.MIT.edu:: Team finds way to create cancer stem cells

[16 August 2007, top]

   "Our research attempts to imitate nature's design.  So in 
    constructing our facilities, we strove for minimal impact 
    on the natural environment that inspires us."

Biodesign.ASU.edu:: Press Release

[06 August 2007, top]

   "The 2006 Morris F. Collen Award was originally presented to 
    Shortliffe by the American College of Medical Informatics in 
    November. The award was later reported in a special feature 
    in the May-June 2007 issue of the Journal of the American 
    Medical Informatics Association."

Shortliffe left Columbia University to serve in a dual capacity for both UA and ASU. This is excellent news for the state of Arizona.

ASU.edu:: Researcher earns bioinformatics award

[01 August 2007, top]

[22 July 2007, top]

   I don't know what the issue is, but Maricopa County believes
   it should get a seat on the IGC board if they decide to invest
   $5 million over five years to support further growth of the
   International Genomics Consortium (IGC).
   
   Census.gov states that the 2006 population estimate for Maricopa
   County is 3,768,123 people.  $1 million divided by 3.7 million 
   people works out to be $0.27 per person per year.  
   
   If Maricopa County can't afford to give IGC $1 million a year
   without demanding a seat on the board, then the county is in 
   sad financial condition.  And if Maricopa County can't invest 
   $1 million a year in biotech, then Arizona's chances to become 
   a sustainable biotech hub could be nil. 

[12 July 2007, top]

   "Did You Know...

    One of this country's largest brain banks is in Sun City, AZ.

    More than 1,500 human brains have been donated to the Sun Health
    Research Institute's Brain Bank, one of the largest repositories 
    for human brain tissue in the country. Hundreds more have volunteered 
    for the 15 clinical trials at the Institute's Cleo Roberts Center 
    for Clinical Research."

Upon visiting the homepage of the Arizona Bioindustry Association, the Biotech Trekker found it interesting that Covance was listed as a "bronze" sponser. Kudos to Covance.

AzBioIndustry.org:: Home Page

[09 July 2007, top]

The Biotech Trekker would support ANA's (Arizona Nurses Association) if it was convinced the money would be allocated to train 21st century nurses instead of producing nurses to quell present day shortages.

AzNurse.org:: Funding for Nursing Workforce Development Programs

[More...] The Biotech Trekker was happy to see the image on AzNurse.org homepage contains three nurses one of whom is a male.

[08 July 2007, top]

$1 million annually is petty cash, or at least it should be for a county the size of Maricopa.

The AP reported that "Board chairman Fulton Brock said he believes the county's donation should earn it a voting position on the consortium's five-member board of directors." The Biotech Trekker says: NO way.

[08 July 2007, top]

The Biotech Trekker wonders if these same people raise a stink about Chandler's Ostrich festival?

[02 July 2007, top]

   "Soon all of us will be able to find out what ticking 
    time bombs lie hidden inside our DNA ... if we really 
    want to know. This was one of the central promises when 
    scientists decoded the human genome seven years ago--and 
    then a lot of nothing happened. The big obstacle was the 
    high cost of gene decoding; scientists had run through 
    $3 billion mapping the first human genome."

   "Seven years later Moore's Law has come to gene hunting. Powering 
    the revolution are new devices that speed-read DNA cheaper than 
    ever before. New gene chips from toolmakers Affymetrix and Illumina 
    can scan up to a million key locations sprinkled throughout our 
    DNA in a few days for $500; seven years ago the cost would have 
    been $500,000."

Supercomputing coupled with nanotechnology is enabling 21st century biology.

Forbes.com:: Will You Get Cancer?

[26 June 2007, top]

   "Shinya Yamanaka, professor at Kyoto University's Department 
    of Stem Cell Biology in Japan, discovered a way to insert 
    genes into the adult cells of genetically engineered mice, 
    causing the cells to revert to an embryonic state." 

Findings similiar to Yamanaka's findings are happening all over the world.

From 10 August 2006... EurekaAlert.org::
With few factors, adult cells take on character of embryonic stem cells

[21 June 2007, top]

   "If this legislation became law, it would compel American 
    taxpayers for the first time in our history to support the 
    deliberate destruction of human embryos. I made it clear to 
    Congress and to the American people that I would not allow 
    our nation to cross this moral line." 

    [...]

   "Destroying human life in the hopes of saving life is 
    not ethical. And it is not the only option before us."

It appears the Senate doesn't have the guts, oops votes, to override the Bush veto.

[20 June 2007, top]

The Biotech::Trekker, via Gerald8100, posted the following comment that ended with a question, but his question has been ignored.

    Comment from: Gerald8100 on 05/31/07 at 18:31 
    
    Good news for Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun (or at least 
    it should be good news). A few years ago there were plans for 
    a biotech campus going in at Chaparral Road and Loop 101 in 
    Scottsdale on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, 
    but I haven't heard anything recently about what's happening. 
    The Scottsdale location is great given its proximity to Sky 
    Song. Does anybody have any current information about this?

I don't think anybody has ever posted a comment to the Biotech & Health blog at AzCentral.com, yet I think Alltucker is doing a good job documenting what is happening with biotechnology in the Valley of the Sun.

AzCentral.com::Blogs:: Phoenix becomes Biotech Inc. [31 May 2007]

[07 June 2007, top]

23andMe is a "privately held company developing new ways to help you make sense of your own genetic information." The company was co-founded by Anne Wojcicki. During early May, Wojcicki married Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and president.

The 23andMe website contains the following text.

   "Even though your body contains trillions of copies of your 
    genome, you've likely never read any of it. Our goal is to 
    connect you to the 23 paired volumes of your own genetic 
    blueprint (plus your mitochondrial DNA), bringing you personal 
    insight into ancestry, genealogy, and inherited traits. By 
    connecting you to others, we can also help put your genome 
    into the larger context of human commonality and diversity."

23andMe.com:: Genetics is About To Get Personal

[Extra] I liked 23andMe.com's "engineer" job description...

   "Bringing the genome to life means taking usability, scalability 
    and security to the next level. Inspired by the ideals of agile 
    development and open source software, our engineering team 
    combines the power of C++, the flexibility of Python, the 
    strength of Linux, the scalability of Apache and MySQL, 
    the dynamic force of AJAX, and the elegance of Flash to 
    build products that are exciting, novel, and robust."

[Extra] The Biotech & Health blogger at AzCentral.com posted about Google's investment in 23andMe.com. I posted the following comment.

   Comment from: Gerald8100

   05/24/07 @ 13:20
   21st century biology is very much about Informatics and 
   Google is a 21st century Informatics company. A $3.9 million 
   investment is petty cash for Google.

[22 May 2007, top]

   "On 25 April, the House of Representatives voted 420 to 3 
    to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). 
    The Senate is expected to endorse the act within a few weeks, 
    which is also supported by President Bush.

GINA, when passed, will make it "illegal to deny US citizens jobs or insurance simply because they have an inherited illness, or a genetic predisposition to a particular disease."

Genetic Alliance strongly supports GINA.

[07 May 2007, top]

According to Bioinformatics.org, "genome browsers enable researchers to access annotated data on a large number of genomes. These are excellent resources for data discovery and analysis."

At the end of 2006, there were over 1,000 biological databases full of genomics and proteomics data. Genome browsers enable biotechnologists to use this data in a variety of useful ways.

Edu.Bioinformatics.org:: CS111A Introduction to Genome Browsers

[28 April 2007, top]

   "The Carnegie Mellon team created a step-by-step set of 
    instructions for a computer to search the letters of code 
    that make up the human genome to find just those genes 
    activated by CREB and zif268."

Making discoveries open for other scientists and researchers to use can only help generate more discoveries.

   "The Carnegie Mellon team has made its findings available 
    and searchable via an open source/online journal."

ScienceDaily.com:: Scientists Identify Genes Activated During Learning And Memory

[19 April 2007, top]

GDT::BAB:: Speculating on Stem Cells--ASTM and STEM

[13 April 2007, top]

   "Over the past decade, DNA sequencing throughput has increased 
    over 50-fold. Advances in DNA sequencing have enabled logarithmic 
    growth of data points and breadth in coverage of an individual 
    genome. High-throughput sequencing holds great promise for 
    population-wide analysis that may influence treatment of human 
    diseases, development of prognostic genetic biomarkers, elucidation 
    of somatic cancer-generating mutations, or viral drug-resistance."

GenEngineNews.com:: The Next Generation of DNA Sequencing

[30 March 2007, top]

   "Biomedical informatics is an emerging scietific discipline 
    at the intersection of clinical medicine, biology, mathematics, 
    cognitive science and the computing and information sciences."

Biomedical Informatics includes the following: Clinical Informatics, Bioinformatics, Imaging Informatics, and Public Health Informatics.

   ASU Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering
   School of Computing and Informatics
   Department of Biomedical Informatics

BMI.ASU.edu:: Biomedical Informatics

[24 March 2007, top]

• CS101D MATLAB for Biologists, Level 1
• CS101C MySQL for Biologists, Level 1
• MA101A Biostatistics: Distributions, Tests & Graphics
• BI201B Microarray Data Analysis: SNP Genotyping
• CS101A Perl for Biologists, Level 1
• CS101B R for Biologists, Level 1
• CS102A Perl for Biologists, Level 2
• CS102B R for Biologists, Level 2

Note: The online courses offered by Bioinformatics.org are not free.

[16 March 2007, top]

   "The most interesting math objects are the ones that come 
    from nature. This used to mean physics exclusively; now 
    it means physics and biology." 

Thanks to supercomputing and high-performance visualization systems, "biology is shifting from a predominantly qualitative field - in which biologists describe what they see - to a quantitative field." And it is important to remember that "physics has fundamental laws that give rise to straightforward equations, but biology has no such underlying principles."

JSOnline.com:: A stretch toward science

[25 February 2007, top]

RFID is already being employed in hospitals to help keep track of supplies; therefore, it is only natural that RFID be used to track patients.

[22 February 2007, top]

Keyphrases: "statistically significant benefit" and "showed significant effect." I suspect it is better to read "statistically" instead of "showed."

Orthologic's president, Randolph Steer, was quoted saying: "Our analysis of the data suggests Chrysalin may have an important effect on bone healing in osteopenic females, a potentially compromised population."

[16 February 2007, top]

   "Researchers at Michigan State University and the U.S. Department 
    of Agriculture say that "fiber from processed and sterilized cow 
    manure could take the place of sawdust in making fiberboard, which 
    is used to make everything from furniture to flooring to store shelves. 
    And the resulting product smells just fine."

Based on the waste production of my dog, I believe the following.

   "The researchers hope it could be part of the solution to the 
    nation's 1.5-trillion- to 2-trillion pound annual farm waste 
    disposal problem."

It is not cheap for farmers to process poop.

   A University of Wisconsin-Platteville chemistry professor says a 
   "dairy farm can spend $200 per cow per year to handle its manure."

[15 February 2007, top]

What is orphan drug status?

Orphan drug status gives Aastrom "seven years of market exclusivity, among other incentives, if it wins approval from the Food and Drug Administration."

ASTM closed at $1.32 on 31 January 2007.

[01 February 2007, top]

   "After a decline of 369 deaths from 2002 to 2003, the decrease 
    from 2003 to 2004 was 3,014 - or more than eight times greater, 
    according to a review of U.S. death certificates by the American 
    Cancer Society."

The American Cancer Society also reported that "cancer deaths dropped to 553,888 in 2004, down from 556,902 in 2003 and 557,271 in 2002.

[Extra] The House of Representatives passed a embryonic stem cell related bill with a "253-174 vote -- short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn a presidential veto."

[22 January 2007, top]

[09 January 2007, top]

Palo Alto, CA-based StemCells Inc. (STEM) moved up 16.92% closing at $3.11. Trading volume was 7.6 million versus a three-month trailing average of 2.0 million.

Ann Arbor, MI-based Aastrom Biosciences Inc. (ASTM) moved up 12.1% closing at $1.39. Tradiing volume was 5.75 million versus a three-month trailing average of 2.32 million.

To date, President George W. Bush has vetoed only one bill put forth by Congress and it was related to stem cell research. Bush will probably veto a second stem cell bill, but this time the "100-member Senate is believed to have enough support to overturn his veto with a two-thirds majority vote, though the 435-member House would have a more difficult time getting the necessary votes."

[05 January 2007, top]

   "This research is a huge step forward for the use of animal 
    biotechnology that benefits consumers.  This a plus for 
    consumers worldwide." 

Beyond cows, researchers hope that what they are learning will help them learn about brain-wasting diseases in humans-beings.

Note: The last Biotech::Trekker posting for 2006 was about genetically engineered peanuts.

[02 January 2007, top]

Biotech Trekker Archives: 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003-2002

[01 January 2007, top]

Thanks for Visiting