By Nick Hodge

Chalk another one up to clean technology.

Legendary Texas oilman, billionaire and America's 117^th richest person, T. Boon Pickens, has unveiled a $58 million public relations blitz focused on persuading Americans to reduce their dependence on foreign oil by turning increasingly to natural gas and wind.

Source: www.genengnews.com
Contact: Jim Bono, (516) 367-8455, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

A method that could be applied widely to explore genetic basis of cancer drug resistance

Why do cancer patients develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs, sometimes abruptly, after a period in which the drugs seem to be working well to reduce tumors or hold them in check? Although largely a mystery to scientists, the result when this occurs is all too familiar: patients relapse and in many cases die when their cancers become resistant.

CANCER DIAGNOSTICS: NEXT GENERATION MOLECULAR TECHNOLOGIES: Official Site

Advances in molecular diagnostics has enabled the detection of early stage tumors that will lead to greater success rates with intervention and treatment. Tests are being commercialized that employ a variety of approaches utilizing gene expression, serum biomarkers, and circulating tumors cells to capture information early for non-invasive screening of selected populations. Technologies to resolve and isolate the earliest stages of disease can be used in some cases in combination with imaging techniques to differentiate between benign vs. malignant tumors. The potential for these assays to greatly improve patient survival and care is historic and opportune and will further allow the tracking of disease progression.
www.healthtech.com

Hotel & Travel Info

HOTEL INFORMATION

The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC
1150 22nd Street, NW

THE IMMUNOTHERAPEUTICS & VACCINE SUMMIT: Official site

Provides a snapshot of where vaccine research and development stands today.

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Crucial topics
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Important speakers
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Excellent talks
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Abundant networking

This event brings together a unique mix of vaccine professionals from companies—large & small, government agencies, academics, and nonprofit institutes to discuss issues surrounding the development of today’s vaccines around the world.

The warm, collegial atmosphere provides the perfect setting for sharing information and forging relationships.

Hotel & Travel Information

Conference Venue and Hotel:
Royal Sonesta Hotel
5 Cambridge Parkway
Cambridge, MA 02142
Tel: 617-806-4200
Fax: 617-806-4232

Discounted Room Rate: $199 s/d
Discounted Room Rate Cut-off Date: July 14, 2008

Come join us at the Drug Discovery & Development of Innovative Therapeutics Conference on August 6th, 2008 in Boston, MA !!

Pharma Connections Worldwide will be hosting a Business Networking event on Wednesday, August 6th, 5:30-7:30PM at Anthony's Pier4 Restaurant, within walking distance of the IBC USA Event at the World Trade Center in Boston (being held August 4-7). It will be co-hosted by several business partners attending the show as well.

By: Ida Persson

A connection between Parkinson's disease and type 2 diabetes has been found by an international team of researchers, led by Paul W. Franks.

A gene mutation that causes Parkinson’s disease can also increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This was found by an international research group including individuals from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, Danish National Research Center of Inflammation and Metabolism, Cambridge University and Heriot Watt University in Britain, and the Scripps Institute in Florida, USA. They were led by Paul W. Franks at Umeå University’s Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine.

Source: ScienceDebate2008.com

Democrats, Republicans agree on need, disagree on issues; health care tops list

See Charts of this Data Online

A new poll (charts, pdf, 3.1mb) shows that 85% of U.S. adults agree that the presidential candidates should participate in a debate on how science can be used to tackle America’s major challenges. The poll found no difference between Democrats and Republicans on this question. A majority (84%) also agree that scientific innovations are improving our standard of living.

While the excitement continues to swirl around the recent breakthrough of converting skin cells to stem cells, other researchers are quietly pursuing a new type of stem cell discovered in menstrual blood.

These menstrual stem cells could offer several advantages. They come from a source that's easy to obtain from women, they could be used to treat patients without the fear of tissue rejection, and they avoid the ethical questions associated with embryonic stem cells.

Source: ScienceDaily.com

Scientists at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and MIT have developed nanometer-sized “nanoworms” that can cruise through the bloodstream without significant interference from the body’s immune defense system and—like tiny anti-cancer missiles—home in on tumors.

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Direct link to video available here.

Welcome to Nanotech Today at InTimeTV.com. Nanotech Today is hosted by Ogan Gurel, MD/MPhil and combines two 21st century technologies – internet TV and nanotech – to communicate globally advances and trends in Nanotechnology worldwide.

This week's episode of Nanotech Today features Hooman Mohseni PhD, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences - Northwestern University

Mercury poisoning (also known as mercurialism, hydrargyria, Hunter-Russell syndrome, or acrodynia when affecting children) is a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its toxic compounds. Mercury is a cumulative heavy metal poison which occurs in its elemental form, inorganically as salts, or organically as organomercury compounds; the three groups vary in effects due to differences in their absorption and metabolism, among other factors. However, with sufficient exposure all mercury-based toxic compounds damage the central nervous system and other organs or organ systems such as the liver or gastrointestinal tract.

Please Note: ActiveX Windows Media Player plug-in required for video playback.

Direct link to video available here.

Welcome to Nanotech Today at InTimeTV.com. Nanotech Today is hosted by Ogan Gurel, MD/MPhil and combines two 21st century technologies – internet TV and nanotech – to communicate globally advances and trends in Nanotechnology worldwide.

This week's episode of Nanotech Today features Franz Geiger PhD, Dow Chemical Company Professor at Northwestern University.

What it's like to be hounded by activists who will stop at nothing to stop your research.

By P. Michael Conn, The-Scientist.com
Photographs by Bill Cramer

This is an edited excerpt from The Animal Research War by P. Michael Conn and James V. Parker, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in May 2008.

For more information please visit www.palgrave-usa.com.

"Excuse me," I said, cutting to the front of the line of passengers at the airport departure gate counter. "I have an emergency and need you to call the police right now!" Two airline agents stopped checking seating charts and looked at me. "I am a medical researcher and some people are protesting my visit to Tampa. They're not passengers," I explained. (This was in 2001, shortly before 9/11, when security measures allowed nonpassengers into boarding areas.)

One desk agent examined my boarding pass, and then looked at my pursuers. I knew what she saw: five people with T-shirts that read: "KEEP PRIMATE TESTER Dr. P.M. CONN OUT OF U.S.F." She let me through. Ten minutes later, when the pilot boarded and asked if I was okay, and I heard the outer doors close, my blood pressure and heart rate slowly began to sink into normal ranges.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) enacted in 1992 provided authority for FDA to collect additional resources (fees from industry) and enable FDA to accelerate its drug evaluation process without compromising review quality. Since 1992 PDUFA has seen a progression of performance commitments designed to speed drug development and approval while preserving and even raising FDA’s high standards for safety, effectiveness, and product quality. Congress reauthorized PDUFA in 1997 under the FDA Modernization Act (FDAMA) and again in 2002 under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. Most recently Congress reauthorized PDUFA for another five years under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA).

By: Jennifer Chu, Technologyreview.com

Researchers have grown stem cells in tiny, protective sacs.

[VIDEO of protective sacs being produced]

Stem-cell therapies are often touted as the future of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. But one of the challenges to developing such therapies is creating an environment in which stem cells can grow. An additional hurdle involves designing a vehicle to deliver stem cells to their target, without being detected by the body's immune system. Now scientists at Northwestern University have engineered a "miniature laboratory" in the form of a tiny, gel-like sac. They successfully grew stem cells within the sac, delivering proteins and nutrients to the cells through the sac's membrane. Researchers say that the sac may act as a delivery system for stem cells and other drugs, shielding them until they reach their target.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are using virtual reality games to find out more about schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental illness characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality, most commonly manifesting as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions or disorganized speech and thinking in the context of significant social or occupational dysfunction. Onset of symptoms typically occurs in young adulthood, with approximately 0.4–0.6% of the population affected. Diagnosis is based on the patient's self-reported experiences and observed behavior. No laboratory test for schizophrenia exists.

Researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., have manipulated mouse fibroblasts and turned them into cells with such developmental elasticity that they appear identical to embryonic stem cells.

Stem cells are cells found in all multi-cellular organisms. They retain the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and can differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell types.

Maverick scientist Craig Venter claims he can create artificial life in the lab. Is this the dawn of a new era for mankind?

By: Jonathan Leake, Science Editor, TimesOnline.co.uk

From Frankenstein’s monster through I, Robot to the lost young cyborg of Steven Spielberg’s AI, the idea of creating artificial life from inert matter has long inspired human imagination.

Last week that thrilling but unsettling goal appeared to have come a step closer with the announcement by Craig Venter, the maverick scientist, that his laboratory had constructed the world’s first completely synthetic genome.

An algae photobioreactor on the roof of MIT university.

The clear polycarbonate tubes are approx 3 meters high, and 10-20 centimeters in diameter.

It removes upto 86% of the NOx and 40% of the CO2 of the smokestack emissions that are bubbled through it. The algae are feeding on exhaust with 13% CO2 content. This size algae photobioreactor can't handle the entire exhaust emissions, it would need to be much larger for that.

This photobioreactor you see here on the roof of MIT, has since been dismantled and reassembled in Naboomspruit (now called Mookgopong) South Africa at a biodiesel plant.

http://www.infinitibiodiesel.com/

This electron micrograph image of the single-photon sources developed at UCSB shows the etched trenches that leave behind large, 20-micron cavities. The different geometries influence the shape of the confined light field inside the cavity and thus dictate the polarization of the emitted photons. Image credit: Stefan Strauf, et al.

Scientists have achieved a major advance in developing a single-photon light source, bringing quantum applications such as quantum computing and quantum cryptography closer to reality.