Monthly Archives: June 2012

Depth of the Field

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Linda McCormick, a pollution-prevention expert with a biochemistry degree from UC Berkeley, said recycling was not a priority at the University when she first became a resource conservation manager for the UNM Recycling Program in 2003.

McCormick said she is proud to watch the program grow, and that UNM recycled 125,000 tons of material last year. McCormick said the recycling program includes eight staff members who pick up recyclable materials from all over campus every day. She said staff members separate the recyclable materials into different categories to put into bales, which are then sold to a range of recycling companies. She said the program helps the University save a lot of money on trash disposal.

McCormick said the program utilizes a lot of unused items from other departments. She said the program reuses trash bins from Athletics, which adds a great component to the recycling program.

The UNM Recycling Program welcomes students, staff and faculty members to drop off recyclable trash at their location next to Tucker Avenue and Camino del Servicio on North Campus.

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Depth of the Field

Scientists discover how key enzyme involved in aging, cancer assembles

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A model representing the interaction of the p65 protein with telomerase RNA. The RNA backbone of telomerase (multicolored) is shown interacting with three different parts of the p65 protein (shown in gold, blue, and light green). Credit: Mahavir Singh, Juli Feigon/UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry

(Phys.org) -- UCLA biochemists have mapped the structure of a key proteinRNA complex that is required for the assembly of telomerase, an enzyme important in both cancer and aging.

The researchers found that a region at the end of the p65 protein that includes a flexible tail is responsible for bending telomerase's RNA backbone in order to create a scaffold for the assembly of other protein building blocks. Understanding this protein, which is found in a type of single-celled organism that lives in fresh water ponds, may help researchers predict the function of similar proteins in humans and other organisms.

The study was published June 14 in the online edition of the journal Molecular Cell and is scheduled for publication in the print edition on July 13.

The genetic code of both the single-celled protozoan Tetrahymena and humans is stored within long strands of DNA packaged neatly within chromosomes. The telomerase enzyme helps create telomeres protective caps at the ends of the chromosomes that prevent the degradation of our DNA, said Juli Feigon, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and senior author of the study.

Each time the cell divides, the telomeres shorten, acting like the slow-burning fuse of a time bomb. After many divisions, the telomeres become eroded to a point that can trigger cell death.

Cells with abnormally high levels of telomerase activity constantly rebuild their protective chromosomal caps, allowing them to replicate indefinitely and become, essentially, immortal. Yet undying cells generally prove to be more of a curse than a blessing, Feigon said.

"Telomerase is not very active in most of our cells because we don't want them to live forever," said Feigon, who is also a researcher at UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. "After many generations, DNA damage builds up and we wouldn't want to pass those errors on to subsequent cells."

Overactive telomerase has potentially lethal consequences far beyond the propagation of erroneous DNA. The enzyme is particularly lively within cancer cells, which prevents them from dying out naturally. Finding a way to turn off telomerase in cancer cells might help prevent the diseased cells from multiplying.

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Scientists discover how key enzyme involved in aging, cancer assembles

B’ville schools and scholars recognized

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Baldwinsville Bville resident awarded Fleissner German prize

Danielle Crabtree, of Baldwinsville, a class of 2012 biochemistry, molecular biology and mathematics major at Wells College, earned the Fleissner German Prize, awarded to the student who has acquired the greatest knowledge of the German language and literature in at least two years of college work in German. Her recognition was part of the colleges Academic and Student Life awards.

Bville man honored

Matthew Manning, of Baldwinsville, was recently honored at Union College's annual Prize Day celebration. Manning was given the Shankar Gokhale Prize, given to the senior judged to have the greatest potential for community service in the area of mathematical approaches to economic problems. He was also awarded the Ralph W. Stearns (1907) Prize, given to an outstanding student in electrical or computer engineering.

Two named professional engineers

Steven Graff recently passed the New York State mechanical engineering exam and is now a licensed professional engineer. Graff is the son of Alan and Darlene Graff of Baldwinsville.

Al Yager, the Town of Lysanders engineer, recently passed the New York State Professional Engineers Exam.

Deans lists announced

Katherine Andersen, of Baldwinsville, was named to the spring semester deans list at Sacred Heart University.

Torre Holtman, of Baldwinsville, was named to the spring semester deans list at St. John Fisher College. Holtman, a sophomore majoring in biology, is the son of Tim and DeAnna Holtman.

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B'ville schools and scholars recognized

Why (Almost) All of Us Cheat and Steal

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Behavioral economist Dan Ariely talks about why everyone's willing to cheat a little, why you'll steal a staple from work but not petty cash and whether punishments for cheating actually work

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, who teaches at Duke University, is known as one of the most original designers of experiments in social science. Not surprisingly, the best-selling authors creativity is evident throughout his latest book, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty. A lively tour through the impulses that cause many of us to cheat, the book offers especially keen insights into the ways in which we cut corners while still thinking of ourselves as moral people. Here, in Arielys own words, are seven lessons you didnt learn in school about dishonesty. (Interview edited and condensed by Gary Belsky.)

1. Most of us are 98-percenters.

A student told me a story about a locksmith he met when he locked himself out of the house. This student was amazed at how easily the locksmith picked his lock, but the locksmith explained that locks were really there to keep honest people from stealing. His view was that 1% of people would never steal, another 1% would always try to steal, and the rest of us are honest as long as were not easily tempted. Locks remove temptation for most people. And thats good, because in our research over many years, weve found that everybody has the capacity to be dishonest and almost everybody is at some point or another.

2. Well happily cheat until it hurts.

The Simple Model of Rational Crime suggests that the greater the reward, the greater the likelihood that people will cheat. But weve found that for most of us, the biggest driver of dishonesty is the ability to rationalize our actions so that we dont lose the sense of ourselves as good people. In one of our matrix experiments [a puzzle-solving exercise Ariely uses in his work to measure dishonesty], the level of cheating didnt change as the reward for cheating rose. In fact, the highest payout resulted in a little less cheating, probably because the amount of money got to be big enough that people couldnt rationalize their cheating as harmless. Most people are able to cheat a little because they can maintain the sense of themselves as basically honest people. They wont commit major fraud on their tax returns or insurance claims or expense reports, but theyll cut corners or exaggerate here or there because they dont feel that bad about it.

(MORE: What Matters More to Voters, Gas Prices or Jobs?)

3. Its no wonder people steal from work.

In one matrix experiment, we added a condition where some participants were paid in tokens, which they knew they could quickly exchange for real money. But just having that one step of separation resulted in a significant increase in cheating. Another time, we surveyed golfers and asked which act of moving a ball illegally would make other golfers most uncomfortable: using a club, their foot or their hand. More than twice as many said it would be less of a problem for other golfers, of course to use their club than to pick the ball up. Our willingness to cheat increases as we gain psychological distance from the action. So as we gain distance from money, it becomes easier to see ourselves as doing something other than stealing. Thats why many of us have no problem taking pencils or a stapler home from work when wed never take the equivalent amount of money from petty cash. And thats why Im a little concerned about the direction were taking toward becoming a cashless society. Virtual payments are a great convenience, but our research suggests we should worry that the farther people get from using actual money, the easier it becomes to steal.

4. Beware the altruistic crook.

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Why (Almost) All of Us Cheat and Steal

Clemson biz dean preps for Presbyterian's top post

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Claude Lilly

CLEMSON Claude Lilly says his next four weeks at Clemson University will be just about the toughest time he's spent there.

The dean of the College of Business and Behavioral Science was elected unanimously last week to become Presbyterian College's 17th president.

He leaves Clemson next month.

"It's a bittersweet thing," said Lilly. "I have thoroughly enjoyed my job. It's been fantastic. But this was an opportunity I felt I should take. I can truly say I will miss Clemson."

Lilly has presided over a period of steady growth at the college, Clemson's largest, that has included moving its master's degree programs to downtown Greenville and launching an innovative program in entrepreneurial leadership.

He has served since 2007 as one of five deans who oversee the five colleges at Clemson. With new deans and an interim dean heading up three other colleges at the school, he was also second highest in seniority next to Larry Allen, dean of the College of Health, Education and Human Development for 11 years.

Lilly, an Atlanta native, was trained in finance and insurance at Georgia State University. He said college president is a role he had never envisioned early in his career. That career included 25 years spent as a finance and risk management professor at Florida State, Southern Cal and Texas Tech before becoming dean of the UNC Charlotte business school in 1998.

Still, reached by phone Monday, Lilly said the move to one of South Carolina's top private liberal arts schools makes sense.

An active member of Fort Hill Presbyterian in Clemson, Lilly also recently completed a four-year appointment to the church's national board of pensions.

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Clemson biz dean preps for Presbyterian's top post

Stacey Nemour: The Tao of Love, Sex and Anti-Aging: Part 9

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Many of us tell ourselves that we will allow ourselves to be happy when:

A. I have X amount of dollars in the bank. B. I meet my true love/soulmate or when my partner finally wakes up and loves me the way he/she ought to. C. When I get a better job. D. When I lose weight.

The list can go on and on.

By focusing only on what we feel is lacking or what we need for our future, we put our present lives on hold or cause more delays because we are not connected to the present. The present is the future; as you read this sentence it is already one second later.

This powerful insight came to me during meditation, and it has created a huge shift in my reality. Each moment is an experience of success, so placing ourselves in the intentional knowing and understanding that we are living in the moment of success creates a continual chain of a successful life.

Doing this places us in a vibrational cycle that causes continuous experience to be a constant reflection of a life of perfection. Instead of meditating we can live the perfection by realizing the journey is the moment of perfection.

Nothing needs to happen in order for me to feel successful; I am successful right now. Nothing needs to happen in order for me to feel loved; I am loved right now. Nothing needs to happen in order to feel valid; I am valid right now.

To support a positive shift within and create harmonious relationships in personal and professional affairs:

1. Find the peaceful place inside now by not placing happiness outside yourself, which is reacting to external things. Freedom comes from creating your own reality independent of what others think or are doing.

2. Drop out of all high-drama situations. Just don't participate anymore.

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Stacey Nemour: The Tao of Love, Sex and Anti-Aging: Part 9

Anatomy of a Drug Manufacturing Plant (Last in a Three-Part Series Examining the Financial Impact of New Plant …

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SUGAR LAND, TX--(Marketwire -06/18/12)- Reported by Annette Kreuger for Industrial Information Resources Sugar Land, Texas) -- Once construction has wrapped up and the validation process for a new pharmaceutical or biotech (pharma-bio) plant is complete, it is time to begin production. Not only does an operational plant manufacture drug products that improve the public's physical health, but it also sets off a ripple effect that is beneficial to the financial well being of the host community, county and state.

In the past 12-month period (6/2011-6/2012), 83 new Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry plants began operations in North America. Industrial Info is tracking 185 additional new-build (or lease and equip) projects in various stages of planning, engineering or construction.

For details, view the entire article by subscribing to Industrial Info's Premium Industry News at http://www.industrialinfo.com/showAbstract.jsp?newsitemID=224180&refer=mw, or browse other breaking industrial news stories at http://www.industrialinfo.com.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the http://www.industrialinfo.com "Contact Us" page.

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Anatomy of a Drug Manufacturing Plant (Last in a Three-Part Series Examining the Financial Impact of New Plant ...

Korean Ginseng, Learn all about it’s health benefits – Video

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17-06-2012 11:00 - RTW travel video adventure Interesting story about how this interview came about. On Wednesday last week I decided I would like to do a story on Korean Ginseng after reading about it's benefits on the internet. So I put out a message on South Korean Facebook and couch surfing groups. Within 10 minutes someone replied to me on Facebook with a contact from the USA, the son of Shi Keum, the chairman of the Korea Ginseng Association. Only problem was Mr Keum did not speak English, so I needed a translator. I put out a call for anyone wanting to help with translation on couch surfing and that day Minji took up my offer. This is the english version of the interview with Mr Keum, with Minji providing translation ( I will upload the Korean version also) We discuss the health benefits of Ginseng, why Korean Ginseng is considered the best in the world, what varieties of Ginseng are available, such as Red and Mountain Ginseng, how Ginseng can be taking and who should take it. This coming Wednesday I will be visiting the Geumsan province, which is the main area where Ginseng is grown to film how Ginseng is farmed and manufactured. AROUND THE WORLD TRAVEL VIDEO ADVENTURE web fb: twt: g+:

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Korean Ginseng, Learn all about it's health benefits - Video

Korean Language interview with Chairman of the Korea Ginseng Association – Video

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18-06-2012 09:13 - Round the World Travel Video Adventure Korean language interview with Chairmen of Korea Ginseng Association, Shi Keum. Mr Keum discusses the health benefits of Korean Ginseng. Thank to Minji who acted as translator. The English version of this interview, discussing the health benefits of Korean Ginseng can be found here AROUND THE WORLD TRAVEL VIDEO ADVENTURE web: fb: twt: g+:

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Korean Language interview with Chairman of the Korea Ginseng Association - Video

Jetset cuts 110 as profits fall

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World of travel: More work for less money. Photo: Glenn Hunt

JETSET Travelworld, the travel company partly owned by Qantas, will axe about 110 jobs partly due to increased federal government bookings of travel online rather than over the phone.

The travel retailer, whose brands include Harvey World Travel and Qantas Business Travel, warned yesterday that its pretax profit this financial year will be less than the $30.7 million it reported in 2010-11 due to one-off restructuring and impairment charges.

Although Australians are still travelling overseas in record numbers, Jetset's chief executive, Peter Lacaze, said leisure travellers remained cautious, forcing companies to discount tickets.

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''We are doing more work for less money. Plenty of people are travelling, but they are paying less for each airfare,'' he said. ''But the price discounting in international air fares has probably gone as far as it can. We have seen some firming in prices in May and June.''

Jetset warned several months ago that March and April trading conditions were weaker than expected. Mr Lacaze said yesterday that conditions in May and early June were better, but ''our circumstances are like a lot of businesses with exposure to retail''.

Most of the pain from the latest restructure will be felt by those working at its travel management division, which will lose about 66 of the 110 jobs to be cut. Jetset has had to automate its travel management division to satisfy a contract with the federal government, meaning it does not need as many staff to handle bookings over the phone.

About half of the government's bookings are now done online following attempts to reduce its large travel budget.

Other jobs to be axed are mainly in the wholesale travel businesses, which are the final parts to be integrated following Jetset's merger with Stella Travel Services in 2010.

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Jetset cuts 110 as profits fall

Cuba Tours and Travel To Lead Special December 2012 Trip To Havana International Jazz Festival

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LONG BEACH, Calif., June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cuba Tours and Travel, a fully licensed Cuba Travel agency, announced today that the company will lead a special trip to the 28th edition of the extraordinary Havana International Jazz Festival, to be held December 12-19, 2012.

For nearly three decades, the big names of world Jazz have performed on Havana stages during this grand music celebration. Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Carmen McCrae, Michel Lengrand, Charlie Haden and Chucho Valdes all have wowed adoring crowds under the balmy Havana night sky.

"That's the majesty of the Cuban super-virtuosos: They play with a technical brilliance that has no real equivalent, but they undergird their work with African percussion rituals that stand at the very root of their jazz (and ours)." Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

This year will bring more of the same, as major concerts take place amid the city's wonderful architectural gems and hot Latin Jazz flows from clubs, restaurants, bars, and public spaces while warm Caribbean tradewinds sweep this historic UNESCO site for world Heritage.

This fully legal trip is aimed at making the experience affordable for American musicians, music teachers, musicologists, music producers, music publishers and other music professionals working in non-commercial sectors.

"Your participation with authentic Latin jazz and Cuban music is enhanced by being in one of the world's most vibrant and exciting cities," said Adolfo V. Nodal, a partner at CTT. "Havana is your oyster as you enjoy concerts, master classes, late night music sessions, architectural tours and a trip to the countryside."

Recent changes in the U.S. Treasury law governing travel to Cuba has made it possible for professionals in these fields to travel to Cuba without many of the previous licensing impediments that were faced before.

For more information and to book your reservation today, please visit http://www.cubatoursandtravel.com or contact Adolfo V. Nodal at (888) 225-6439 x802 or adolfo@cubatoursandtravel.com.

Cuba Tours and Travel is a full-service agency licensed by the U.S. Government and the State of California to provide travel services to Cuba nationally. In continuous existence for over a decade, CTT is a pioneer in the field of high level, expert driven cultural travel to the island. US Treasury Department OFAC # CU-077926

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Cuba Tours and Travel To Lead Special December 2012 Trip To Havana International Jazz Festival

Momondo Official Partner of Sensation Travel

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LONDON, June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Travel SiteMomondoand Sensation Travel join forces to unite dance-lovers around the world

Momondo (http://www.momondo.co.uk), one of the fastest growing travel websites in Europe, is proud to announce its unique collaboration with Sensation Travel, offering travel arrangements to Sensation events around the globe. The collaboration marks Momondo's biggest partnership agreement with an international organisation since the travel site launched in 2006.

Since 2000, when the first Sensation event was organised, the event has grown into a constantly sold out event with 40,000 visitors in the Amsterdam Arena, including approximately 25% international visitors. Momondo is thrilled to join forces with Sensation Travel and offer dance lovers unique experiences not only in Amsterdam but all over the world. Sensation has expanded beyond Amsterdam, with shows in countries across Europe including Germany, Belgium, Russia and Spain and also abroad in Brazil, Chill, Australia. Sensation will visit this year 18 countries in 4 continents.

"Sensation has become one of the leading dance events with visitors from all over the world, which fits well with our ambition to be a global travel brand. Momondo has a unique platform for travelers and we are very excited to roll out this unique collaboration with Sensation Travel", says Martin Lumbye, Partner at Momondo.

"Momondo fits perfectly with the look and feel of the 'Sensation experience'. Both brands focus on an audience that has high expectations for a total experience. Momondo is free to use and offers the best travel search tool online, which enables us to reach a large international audience for our events", says Marjorie Verlaan, Sensation Travel.

The start of Sensation Travel is a logical consequence of this expansion.

The secret of Sensation's success is the 'full experience' that it is offering to its fans. This 'full experience' has been noticed abroad, why Sensation continues to expand. This year, Sensation is excited to announce the premiere in New York on 26th & 27th of October. Sensation Travel offers all-inclusive packages for Sensation events globally and is a logical consequence of this expansion.

For more information on Sensation and Momondo Travel go to travel.sensation.com or Momondo.co.uk.

High res images on request

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Momondo Official Partner of Sensation Travel

SuperMUC: First Commercial Hot-Water Cooled Supercomputer to Consume 40% Less Energy – Video

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18-06-2012 02:08 The Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ), in collaboration with IBM, today announced the world's first commercially available hot-water cooled supercomputer, a powerful, high-performance system designed to help researchers and industrial institutions across Europe investigate and solve some of the world's most daunting scientific challenges. The new LRZ "SuperMUC" system was built with IBM System x iDataPlex Direct Water Cooled dx360 M4 servers with more than 150000 cores to provide a peak performance of up to three petaflops, which is equivalent to the work of more than 110000 personal computers. Put another way, three billion people using a pocket calculator would have to perform one million operations per second each to reach equivalent SuperMUC performance. Also, a revolutionary new form of hot-water cooling technology invented by IBM allows the system to be built 10 times more compact and substantially improve its peak performance while consuming 40 percent less energy than a comparable air-cooled machine.

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SuperMUC: First Commercial Hot-Water Cooled Supercomputer to Consume 40% Less Energy - Video

IBM Sequoia: US reclaims top spot for world's fastest supercomputer from China's Fujitsu K

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IBM's 'Sequoia' beats Japan's 'K machine', running 1.55 times faster while being 15 per cent more energy efficient Computer - which is nearly 300,00 times faster than machines from 20 years ago - will be used for nuclear studies

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 12:06 EST, 18 June 2012 | UPDATED: 13:11 EST, 18 June 2012

In the super-computing league table, the U.S. has reclaimed 'top spot' from China.

IBM's Sequoia computer, which is 1.55 times faster than China's previous record-breaker, the Fujitsu K Computer, was installed and switched on at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

Throwing evidence behind Moore's Law - which dictates that computers get twice as powerful and twice as small every 18 months - the new super-computer is a powerful machine.

It can perform - in less than a second - calculations which would take the super computers of 1993 three days to solve.

In fact, the IBM team say it is 273,930 times more powerful than the 1993 machine - called the CM-5/1024 and created by American firm Thinking Machines.

The Sequoia: This grey slab is just part the most powerful computer on the planet, and will be used in nuclear power research, with perhaps a game or two of chess on the side

The BBC reports that Sequoia is capable of calculating, in one hour, 'what otherwise would take 6.7 billion people using hand calculators 320 years.'

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IBM Sequoia: US reclaims top spot for world's fastest supercomputer from China's Fujitsu K

U.S. wins: Fastest supercomputer in world is right here

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In the race to build the fastest computer in the world, America is back on top.

On Monday, a super-computer designed by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), took the first spot on the Top 500 list, a list that comes out twice a year ranking the 500 fastest computers on the planet.

It is the first time the U.S. has topped the list since November 2009.

The winning super-computer is called Sequoia, and it is housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.

Sequoia will be used to build complex models that let scientists test the nation's stockpile of nuclear weapons without having to do nuclear testing in the real world.

So how fast is the fastest computer in the world? Well, accordingto the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, it would take 6.7 billion people working with hand-held calculators 320 years to do the same calculation that Sequoia could power through in justone hour.

And the BBC reports that today's fastest computer is 273,930 times faster than the fastest computer of 1993.

"A calculation that took three full days to compute on the Thinking Machines in 1993 today can be done in less than one second on the Sequoia," Jack Dongarra, a computer scientist who helps oversee the Top 500 list, told the publication.

Sequoia takes up aboutone-tenth of an acre, a standard size for these computers, Dongarra said.

"They are enormous machines," he said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

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U.S. wins: Fastest supercomputer in world is right here

U.S. reclaims top spot in super-computer wars with machine that 'can do more in an hour than the world's population …

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IBM's 'Sequoia' beats Japan's 'K machine', running 1.55 times faster while being 15 per cent more energy efficient Computer - which is nearly 300,00 times faster than machines from 20 years ago - will be used for nuclear studies

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 12:06 EST, 18 June 2012 | UPDATED: 13:11 EST, 18 June 2012

In the super-computing league table, the U.S. has reclaimed 'top spot' from China.

IBM's Sequoia computer, which is 1.55 times faster than China's previous record-breaker, the Fujitsu K Computer, was installed and switched on at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

Throwing evidence behind Moore's Law - which dictates that computers get twice as powerful and twice as small every 18 months - the new super-computer is a powerful machine.

It can perform - in less than a second - calculations which would take the super computers of 1993 three days to solve.

In fact, the IBM team say it is 273,930 times more powerful than the 1993 machine - called the CM-5/1024 and created by American firm Thinking Machines.

The Sequoia: This grey slab is just part the most powerful computer on the planet, and will be used in nuclear power research, with perhaps a game or two of chess on the side

The BBC reports that Sequoia is capable of calculating, in one hour, 'what otherwise would take 6.7 billion people using hand calculators 320 years.'

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U.S. reclaims top spot in super-computer wars with machine that 'can do more in an hour than the world's population ...

Another Nod for Osiris' Prochymal

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Just a few weeks after gaining approval in Canada, Osiris Therapeutics, Inc.s (OSIR) stem cell therapy, Prochymal, gained approval in New Zealand. Prochymal gained approval for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in children.

Osiris had submitted its marketing application to Medsafe, the medical regulatory agency in New Zealand, in May 2011. Prochymal was granted priority review status.

Prochymal is the first manufactured stem cell product to gain approval and the first treatment to gain approval for GvHD.

Besides being approved in Canada and New Zealand, we note that Prochymal is available under an Expanded Access Program (:EAP) in seven countries including the US.

Our Take

Prochymals approval in New Zealand is a boost for Osiris. Shares were up 13.75% on the news. Prochymal is the lead candidate at Osiris and represents significant commercial potential. Prochymal is currently being evaluated for other indications as well including refractory Crohns disease (phase III), type I diabetes, and myocardial infarction (heart attack phase II).

We currently have low visibility on the status of Osiris development and commercialization agreement with Genzyme, a Sanofi (SNY) company, for Prochymal. Earlier this year, Sanofi, in its fourth quarter press release, had said that it has discontinued the development of Prochymal for GvHD.

Osiris said that the announcement was made without its knowledge or advice and clarified that Prochymals development has not been discontinued. Although Osiris had not received any communication from Sanofi regarding the termination of their agreement, Osiris notified Sanofi that it is treating Sanofis statement as an intention to terminate the agreement.

According to Osiris, all rights to Prochymal will return to Osiris without the company being required to compensate Sanofi. Osiris believes it can now pursue commercialization agreements for Prochymal with other parties.

We currently have a Neutral recommendation on Osiris, which carries a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold rating).

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Another Nod for Osiris' Prochymal