Blogging Interphex 2006

Well, what happened to my plan...

I didn't even make it to Interphex this year, let alone blog about it...too busy with my existing Client, too busy looking for a new Client...

I had planned on doing a yearly blog for the big events, Interphex, ISPE, etc. etc. It would be good for the blog, keep it active, keep it current...and then I had to choose...

What is more important? blogging...a good strategic move...
or servicing Clients and finding new work...that may be even more strategic

for better or worse, I choose work...I gues I'll Blog Interphex 2007 instead...

Mouse Testicle Cells Behave Like Stem Cells

Progress of sorts...

NEW YORK - German scientists say cells from the testes of mice can behave like embryonic stem cells. If the same holds true in humans, it could provide a controversy-free source of versatile cells for use in treating disease.

Embryonic stem cells can give rise to virtually any tissue in the body and scientists believe they may offer treatments for diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes and spinal cord injuries.

But to harvest the cells, human embryos must be destroyed. Some religious groups and others oppose that.

The new research into testicular cells, published online Friday by the journal Nature, comes from Dr. Gerd Hasenfuss of the Georg-August-University of Goettingen in Germany and colleagues.

Lab tests found that the mouse cells closely mimicked the behavior of embryonic stem cells, Hasenfuss said Friday. He said he is optimistic about finding human testicular cells that will do the same. Work has already begun on that, he said.

If such cells are found in men, "then we have resolved the ethical problem with human embryonic stem cells," he said in a telephone interview.

link to full article

Interphex

Well, it really snuck up on me this year...been much too busy...

Interphex

Facility of the Year won by Baxter with another modular project...

The Biotech Job Machine...

The job creation machine cranks onward...


on the West Coast...

Indiana...

in St Louis...

and here in Jersey...

Stem Cell Center could be boost for Camden

A less active brain serotonin system is associated with early hardening of the arteries

A less active brain serotonin system is associated with early hardening of the arteries, according to a study presented by University of Pittsburgh researchers at the 64th Annual Scientific Conference of the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver.
These findings, which are the first to establish a link between serotonin messages in the brain and atherosclerosis, could lead to an entirely new strategy for preventing heart disease and stroke, say the researchers.

"Many of the known risk factors for heart disease and stroke - high blood pressure and cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, smoking and lack of exercise - can, to some extent, be controlled by our lifestyle choices," said Matthew F. Muldoon, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "Until now, no one had studied the possibility that brain abnormalities could explain why some people make these poor lifestyle choices and have multiple risk factors for heart disease."

link to full article

Students create plant that glows when thirsty

more cool gene technology stuff...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Some people like to talk to their plants. Now, students at Singapore Polytechnic say they have created a plant that can communicate with people -- by glowing when it needs water.

The students said on Tuesday that they have genetically modified a plant using a green fluorescent marker gene from jellyfish, so that it "lights up" when it is stressed as a result of dehydration.

The light is hard to detect with the naked eye but can be seen using an optical sensor developed in collaboration with students at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

The development of such plants could help farmers to develop more efficient irrigation of crops.

link to reuters article

Few Jobs Await Graduating Biotech Students

The job making machine appears to be broken in Florida...

meanwhile most every other state in the union is killing themselves to get biotech jobs lined up...

Mar. 4--Florida Atlantic University and Indian River Community College will jointly graduate their first class of biotechnology technicians in May under a special federal grant program.

But so far, there aren't any jobs for them.

Using a $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, FAU and the Workforce Alliance of Palm Beach County created a curriculum -- also adopted by IRCC -- to turn out lab techs for the biotech businesses expected to sprout as The Scripps Research Institute churns out drug research for commercialization.

But as the first 23 people complete the yearlong training and receive a certificate that says they are ready to work, the Workforce Alliance is struggling to find biotech positions for them.

An additional 17 will finish this summer or fall, and could face the same situation.

With the Palm Beach County Commission approving a site last month for Scripps Florida's headquarters at Abacoa in Jupiter and the adjacent Briger tract in Palm Beach Gardens, the hope is that biotech companies that have been on the fence will decide to move to Palm Beach, Martin or St. Lucie counties.

"Historically, when you have an anchor like Scripps, you have a huge spike in employment in four or five years," said Doug Saenz, a job developer with the Workforce Alliance. "We're confident that's going to happen."

But as is, the biotech cluster anticipated to surround Scripps hasn't started.


link to full article

Scientists capture the speediest ever motion in a molecule

Cool stuff...

The fastest ever observations of protons moving within a molecule open a new window on fundamental processes in chemistry and biology, researchers report today in the journal Science.
Their capturing of the movements of the lightest and therefore speediest components of a molecule will allow scientists to study molecular behaviour previously too fast to be detected. It gives a new in-depth understanding of how molecules behave in chemical processes, providing opportunities for greater study and control of molecules, including the organic molecules that are the building blocks of life.

The high speed at which protons can travel during chemical reactions means their motion needs to be measured in units of time called 'attoseconds', with one attosecond equating to one billion-billionth of a second. The team's observation of proton motion with an accuracy of 100 attoseconds in hydrogen and methane molecules is the fastest ever recorded. Dr John Tisch of Imperial College London says:

"Slicing up a second into intervals as miniscule as 100 attoseconds, as our new technique enables us to do, is extremely hard to conceptualise. It's like chopping up the 630 million kilometres from here to Jupiter into pieces as wide as a human hair."


link to full article

Beer extracts reported to have anti-inflammatory effect

Finally, research results we've been waiting for...

02/03/2006 - Extracts from any type of beer reduced inflammatory markers, say Austrian scientists who performed the in vitro experiments.

“On the basis of our new findings, beer must be added to the list of beverages with potentially anti-inflammatory components, but our findings must not be understood as an encouragement to drink alcohol,” said lead researcher Professor Dietmar Fuchs from Innsbruck Medical University.
The study, published in the journal International Immunopharmacology (Vol. 6, pp. 390-395) studies the effects of different beer extracts, including light beer, wheat beer, and non-alcoholic beer, on the production of neopterin (a marker for inflammation) and levels of tryptophan (the hormone – low levels are associated with more inflammation).

The scientists used peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolated from whole blood cells. Inflammation was stimulated using phytohaemagglutinin (PHA).

“Beer was found to suppress degradation of trypophan and production of neopterin in PMBC stimulated with PHA,” wrote Fuchs and his team.

link to full article