Source the-scientist.com Image of New York City (Image from Wikipedia Commons)

Biotech is floundering in New York City because local institutions aren't doing enough to promote commercialization of small projects, says a new report.

"The criticism," said Jonathan Bowles of the Center for an Urban Future, a New York City think tank that published the report last month, is that "for a long time [technology transfer offices] put too much emphasis on the blockbuster deal," ignoring smaller technologies that could have been developed by start-up companies with the help of venture backing.

Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Contact name: Annette England

The ESACT-UK meetings promote the communication of knowledge and experience between UK scientists and engineers whose work has a direct or indirect bearing on cell culture biotechnology and the products derived from it.

For more information click here.

Location: Rome, Italy

AdvaMed is leading a contingent of global medical device associations worldwide in organizing a 2009 International Medical Device Compliance, Regulatory and Intellectual Property Conference in Rome from May 25 to 27. The event will include top issues including compliance/ethics, regulatory and IP. Early-bird registration will be available through Jan. 14. Register now for the event and book your accommodations.

Host: Phacilitate
Location: The Grand Hyatt Hotel, Washington, DC, United States
Contact: Becci Brolly
Phone: +44 (0)20 7839 6137
Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 6533
Email: team@phacilitate.co.uk
Website: http://www.phacilitate.co.uk/cgtherapy

Host: Cambridge Healthtech Institute
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact: CHI Representative
Phone: 781 972 5400
Fax: 781 972 5425
Email: chi@healthtech.com
Website: http://www.healthtech.com

Time: May 22-24, 2009
Place: Beijing Continental Grand Hotel, China

This Congress is organized by BITlifesciences and will present topics
concerning the very current advancements in antibody research and product
development. Discussion areas will focus on the Emerging Antibody
Technologies, Antibody Therapeutics, Diagnostic Markers, Antibody
Engineering, Market Development, Regulatory Issues and Outsourcing in
China and beyond.

The global economic crisis has cut funding for biotechnology companies to the lowest level in a decade, triggering bankruptcies and threatening development of drugs based on biomedical breakthroughs.

In the past month, at least five biotechnology businesses have sought bankruptcy protection, according to company news releases, and others may be heading toward a similar fate. Those at highest risk have experimental compounds moving into costly human research. Peptimmune Inc., a 6-year-old closely held firm, says it’s struggling to pay for clinical trials of its promising multiple sclerosis drug.

By Tim Hornyak, Sciam.com

(Photo: right) SHINYA YAMANAKA, discovered how to revert adult cells to an embryonic state. These induced pluripotent stem cells might soon supplant their embryonic cousins in therapeutic promise.

When historians chronicle the stem cell research wars, Shinya Yamanaka will likely go down as a peacemaker. The Japanese scientist has helped send the field on a surprising end run around the moral debate surrounding embryonic stem cells, the creation of which requires the destruction of embryos. Last year Yamanaka led one of two teams that showed that normal human skin cells can be genetically reprogrammed into the equivalent of stem cells. These so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) seem to be essentially identical to embryonic stem cells and possess the ability to become any cell.

(Official Site)

Welcome to the 3rd annual Stem Cells World Congress. This year's event will be held in beautiful Palm Springs, California - definitely the place to be in January!

Biocon is India's leading biotechnology enterprise. Established in 1978, the company today is an integrated biotechnology enterprise focused on the development of biopharmaceuticals. The company serves partners and customers in over 50 countries. Within the biotechnology space, the company ranks first in Asia in terms of revenues and market capitalisation and sixteenth globally.

The company is headed by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Biocon went for an IPO in 2004. In this video, she gives advice to young people all over the world on success, perseverance and not being afraid of failure.

Biocon became only the second Indian company to cross a market capitalisation of one billion U.S. $ on the first day of listing. Mazumdar-Shaw and her husband John Shaw own over 60% of the company's stock.

Rome, October 28 - A leading oncologist and former minister has provoked anger in Italy after praising the cancer-fighting potential of some genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Addressing an oncology conference in London, Umberto Veronesi cited a genetically engineered purple tomato unveiled last week by British researchers that has been shown to extend the lives of mice susceptible to cancer. ''There is a great deal of resistance to this fantastic projection into the future and I've never understood why,'' said Veronesi.

Rome, October 28 - A group of Italian scientists based in Siena have made a breakthrough in AIDS research.

The researchers, led by Giovanni Maga of the National Research Council, have developed a computer model of a molecule that could be used to block the development of the HIV virus inside a cell for the first time.

A cell protein called DDX3 directs the flow of genetic information from a cell nucleus to another part of the cell, the cytoplasm, where the information is translated into new proteins.

By Ruth Schaffer, biotech-weblog.com

Algerian researchers explored the use of orange peel in the removal of acidic dyes from industrial effluent from manufacturers of dyes, paper printers, textile dyers, color photography and petroleum products.
The research demonstrates that absorption time depends on the initial concentration of the dyes as well as the chemical structures of the particular dyes being tested, but absorption can occur at just 25 Celsius rather than elevated temperatures. However, strong dyes including Nylosane Blue, Erionyl Yellow, Nylomine Red, and Erionyl Red were absorbed at between 40 and 70 milligrams per gram of orange peel from the samples.

Source: Drug Delivery Technology Magazine, October 2008
By:Jeffrey H. Worthington, MBA; David A. Tisi, MS; Frank E. Blondino, PhD; and Foyeke O. Opawale, PhD

Technology advances are leading to the development of novel oral dosage forms that may provide faster onset
of action, fewer side effects, and improved patient dosing (convenience). One such technology is oral sprays.
NovaDel Pharma Inc. utilizes oral spray systems to deliver a broad range of APIs to the systemic circulation through
the highly perfused lining of the oral cavity. NovaDel’s core technology offers substantial benefits compared to other
modalities of drug administration, including faster onset of action, increased drug bioavailability due to avoidance
of first-pass effect in the liver, avoiding the need to take medication with water, and avoiding the need to swallow.
Drug delivery via the oral cavity may also minimize inter- and intra-subject pharmacokinetic variability related to
stomach-emptying time, food effects, and enzymatic or chemical degradation in the gastrointestinal tract. The main
characteristic of the technology is the delivery of solution formulations of API to the oral cavity in the form of a
spray. However, many APIs are bitter or have other undesirable taste characteristics that need to be masked in order
to develop palatable, patient-acceptable drug products. The following discussion will review the approach for
developing a palatable oral spray for a model API.

The Hydrogen Road Tour makes a pit stop in Washington, D.C., and Jorge Ribas takes a hydrogen fuel cell-powered car for a spin around the block.

A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as its on-board fuel for motive power. The term may refer to a personal transportation vehicle, such as an automobile, or any other vehicle that uses hydrogen in a similar fashion, such as an aircraft. The power plants of such vehicles convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energy (torque) in one of two methods: combustion, or electrochemical conversion in a fuel-cell:

Three U.S.-based scientists won a Nobel Prize on Wednesday for turning a glowing green protein from jellyfish into a revolutionary way to watch the tiniest details of life within cells and living creatures.

Osamu Shimomura, a Japanese citizen who works in the United States, and Americans Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien shared the chemistry prize for discovering and developing green fluorescent protein, or GFP.

When exposed to ultraviolet light, the protein glows green. It can act as a marker on otherwise invisible proteins within cells to trace them as they go about their business. It can tag individual cells in tissue. And it can show when and where particular genes turn on and off.

Source: Drug Delivery Technology Magazine, October 2008
By: Nicholas A. Sceusa, PharmD, and Paul M. Ehrlich, MD

Proof of Electro-Osmotic Drug Delivery: A Prejudiced Clinical
Trial, Delivering From Mouth to Nose

We aligned all vectors and mucocilliary clearance contrary to drug delivery, with the exception of the single electrical vector induced by the dosage form. The electrical vector is considerably larger than the other vectors, which made it possible to perform a clinical trial prejudiced against delivery. It would be strong proof-of-concept if delivery were detected in spite of all the opposing vectors, gravity, and mucocilliary clearance. A buffered lozenge containing Zn++ was made to induce a lowering of the pH of the mouth with respect to the nose, and thereby a relative reversal of charge between mouth and nose. This reversal established a favorable gradient similar to a concentration cell, in which Zn++ could then move over the membrane of the palate into the nose. The experiment was further prejudiced by the fact that the probe did not lie in apposition to the delivering membrane, but was free in the milieu. This form of delivery is suitable for all dual-compartment and mucous membrane anatomical systems and disturbed membrane systems, such as wounds and burns.

Click Here: Official site

October 29-31, 2008
Palace Hotel
San Francisco, CA

Advisory Committee
Gaurav Aggarwal, MD Panorama Capital
Ashley Dombkowski, PhD MPM Capital
Rishi Gupta, JD OrbiMed Advisors, LLC
William Ho Banc of America Securities, LLC
Ron Laufer, MD Visium Asset Management
George Milstein Pacific Growth Equities, LLC
Matthew Perry Biotechnology Value Fund, LP
Michael Wasserman, PhD H.I.G. Ventures

Highlights:

Source: Drug Delivery Technology Magazine, October 2008
By: Paul Gavin, PhD; Annike Griffey, Robert Gianello, PhD; Nicholas Kennedy, PhD; Hooi-Hong Keah, PhD;
Jeremy Cottrell, PhD; and Esra Ogru, PhD

Transdermal drug delivery has the potential to reduce side effects, localize delivery, increase patient compliance, and help circumvent first-pass hepatic clearance of drugs. However, while the potential benefits of transdermal drug delivery are enormous, in reality, the rane of drugs that pass effectively through the skin is limited. Most drugs require the use of chemical agents to improve delivery, or administration systems hat involve direct perturbation, or bypassing of, the stratacorneum/epidermis. These methods are often associated with irritation, inconvenient equipment, or monetary expense The Holy Grail for transdermal drug delivery remains a non-invasive delivery platform, able to cheaply, discretely, and conveniently administer therapeutic levels of a range of drugs, with little to no irritation.