LIVERMORE, Calif., March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation today announced its 2012 Hertz Fellows. From over 600 applicants, 15 were selected to receive the Hertz Fellowship, considered to be the nation's most generous support for graduate education in the applied physical, biological and engineering sciences. The Hertz Fellowship is valued at more than $250,000 per student, with support lasting up to five years. Fellows have the freedom to innovate in their doctoral studies without university or research restrictions.

"We are pleased to announce this year's selection," stated Dr. Jay Davis, Hertz Foundation President, "and we make this announcement with equal amounts of excitement and resolve. We are committed to increasing the number of Fellows we can support each year. This, our 50th cadre of Fellows, was picked from such an outstanding field of applicants that we could easily have chosen thirty, had resources been available to us. We are approaching philanthropists in education in a recapitalization initiative that will eventually allow us to support a larger fraction of our country's top one percent in these disciplines."

For nearly a half century, the Hertz Foundation has fostered the scientific and engineering strength of the nation by finding the best and brightest from those disciplines. During the past decade, there has been a major shift of the candidates towards those who apply physical and computational tools to the problems of biomedicine and health. Significantly, another shift of the Hertz Foundation has been to support the Hertz Fellows to build the Hertz Fellows Community for all ages to gather together, inspire one another and collaborate for innovation that further augments the powerful contribution they bring to society.

"We invest in young people who will solve our most daunting problems," stated Dr. Davis. "These men and women show extraordinary promise. They join the community of leaders who produce advances in science, medicine, technology, business, academia and government. Scientists and engineers are only 4% of the U.S. workforce but they account for up to 85% of the GDP. The top 1% is responsible for 90% of important discoveries. We believe their creativity and risk-taking bring forth innovation for the technical and economic security of our nation."

Hertz Fellows pursue their own ideas with complete financial independence and under the guidance of some of the country's finest professors and mentors. Fellows are chosen for their intellect, their ingenuity and their potential to bring meaningful improvement to society. The highly competitive selection process includes a comprehensive written application, four references, and two rounds of technical interviews by recognized leaders in applied science and engineering.

"The Hertz Foundation nurtures these remarkable scientists and engineers as they develop and explore their genius," continued Dr. Davis. "We help genius find itself."

Visit: http://www.hertzfoundation.org

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation 2012 Hertz Fellows

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The Hertz Foundation Nears Half-Century Milestone; Selects 50th Cadre of Hertz Fellows; Quarter Million Dollar Support ...

Researchers led by Jinfeng Liu from the State Key Lab of Seedling Bioengineering in Yinchuan, China, describe in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics their method to determine gene copy number. First, the researchers amplified a target and a control gene using PCR, which were quantified before being mixed at different molar ratios. Then, using real-time PCR, the researchers measured the quantification cycle value of the mixture. "A standard curve was constructed to correlate the differences between the Cq values and the logarithmic ratios of the target gene to the internal control gene," the researchers say, adding that "this method was validated by a set of internal control genes and a foreign gene in transgenic alfalfa, demonstrating the utility of this method in the determination of gene copy number for various applications."

Also in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, Manchester Cancer Research Centre's John Radford and his colleagues report that archival FFPE samples are useful for a number of microarray experiments, including molecular classification projects. Radford and his team compared fresh-frozen archival diffuse large B-cell lymphoma biopsy samples for use in such experiments. "Enrichment for NF-B genes was appropriately seen in ABC-DLBCL FFPE tissues," the researchers report. "The top discriminatory genes expressed in FFPE separated cases with high statistical significance and contained novel biology with potential therapeutic insights, warranting further investigation."

Originally posted here:
This Week in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics

Road to Peace (means abolishing war)

The Forum of Questioning Minds presents a lecture from Andy Schoenberg, professor of bioengineering and rehab medicine at the University of Utah. In 2002 he received the Gandhi Peace Award for his work in promoting peace and human rights. His presentation, "Road to Peace Abolish War?", will look at the causes of war and the steps individuals and nations can take to establish a more just and peaceful world.

When Sunday, March 25, at 2 p.m.

Where Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City

Info Free

Drawing up a story

The Orem Public Library will host a graphic-novel panel as part of the Librarys Orem Writes event series. Panelists include Nate Hale, acclaimed illustrator of Rapunzels Revenge; Jake Parker, illustrator of Missile Mouse and Michael Chabons Awesome Man; Jess Smiley, writer and illustrator of Upside Down: A Vampire Tale; and Brandon Dayton, writer/illustrator of Green Monk, one of YALSAs top 10 Great Teen Graphic Novels of 2011. They will discuss the art and writing behind some of todays hottest graphic novels.

When Wednesday, March 28, at 7 p.m.

Where Orem Library, 58 N. State St.

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Literary: Focusing on graphic novels, fantasy and horror stories

NEWARK,N.J., March 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc. (NYSE: AOB - News) (the "Company"), today announced that its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, which was due on March 15, 2012, will not be timely filed. During the performance of Ernst & Young Hua Ming's audit for the 2011 fiscal year they noted certain inconsistencies. As a result, management and the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors have agreed that the Audit Committee would immediately commence an independent investigation into the matters identified. Although the length of the investigation is uncertain at this time, the Company will endeavor to file the Form 10-K as soon as possible upon the completion of the investigation.

About American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc.

American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving health through the development, manufacture and commercialization of a broad range of prescription and over the counter products.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements made in this press release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. The economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements in this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contact:

Hong Zhu 646-367-1765

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American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. Announces Delay in Filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2011

City News Service

UC San Diegos biomedical/bioengineering program ranked fourth nationally behind Johns Hopkins, Georgia Tech and Duke. The engineering school overall was 14th.

Other high rankings for the La Jolla university included behavioral neuroscience and cognitive psychology, third; plasma physics, fifth; neuroscience/neurobiology, seventh; political science, seventh; AIDS research, eighth; and drug and alcohol abuse, eighth.

Its an honor to have the stellar academic quality of our graduate programs recognized each year by U.S. News, said Kim Barrett, dean of graduate studies at UC San Diego. Our world-class faculty continue to generate cutting-edge research and innovative programs that help create todays scholars and tomorrows leaders.

The magazine annually ranks professional school programs based on expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a schools faculty, research and students.

The data come from surveys of administrators at more than 1,200 programs and nearly 15,000 academics and professionals, conducted last fall and early this year.

Other scores for UCSD programs included fine arts, 13th; computer sciences, 14th; economics, 14th; and earth sciences, 17th.

San Diego State University ranked ninth in rehabilitation counseling, 25th in speech-language pathology, 26th in clinical psychology, 27th in audiology, and 30th in public health.

The University of San Diegos part-time law school ranked 13th nationally. Its nursing program was 50th.

Related posts:

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Graduate school programs at UC San Diego, two other major San Diego universities, fared well in U.S. News & World ...

SAN DIEGO A 200-patient Phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by University of California, San Diego, bioengineering professor Geert Schmid-Schnbein. Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding.

This new use of a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug is based on decades of research by Schmid-Schnbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to multi-organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States.

Schmid-Schnbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named autodigestion. The treatment involves blockading the enzymes with an enzyme inhibitor.

In 2005, the teams protocol was licensed to San Diego-startup InflammaGen Therapeutics under an agreement developed by UC San Diegos Technology Transfer Office. InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company, developed the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, a drug/delivery platform that delivers the enzyme inhibitor through a nasogastric tube directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, preventing shock and multi-organ failure. Schmid-Schnbein serves as a scientific advisor to InflammaGen but is not an employee of the company. Instead, he has chosen to focus on continuing to conduct fundamental research on autodigestion at UC San Diego.

"We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself, Schmid-Schnbein said. We have pre-clinical results that this treatment can save lives.

To date, InflammaGen Shok-Pak has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, pre-clinical studies of the technology in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

Currently, patients in shock who survive their initial insult dont necessarily survive long-term. In addition, morbidity is very high in those patients that do survive. Our animal studies suggest that the treatment could improve functional outcomes and reduce the time patients remain in intensive care, as well as increase long-term survival rates, said principal investigator Dr. Erik Kistler, who currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego. While ICU costs can approach one-third of the entire hospital costs, decreasing ICU time by even a small percentage a day will have significant financial savings for patients and payors as well as result in significantly improved patient wellness, said Kistler, who earned a doctorate (1998) and masters (1994) in bioengineering from the Jacobs School of Engineering as a student of Schmid-Schnbeins.

The Phase 2 pilot is designed as a double-blind, standard-therapy controlled study of 200 critically ill ICU patients. The goal is to determine the safety and efficacy of the gastrointestinal administration of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in the reduction of morbidity, which is defined as the incidence of disease. The team wants to know whether the treatment will reduce the time patients spend in intensive care and the hospital, and improve long-term survival rates. To determine this, researchers will follow up with patients 28 days and six months after discharge. The Phase 2 pilot study will be conducted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, with additional sites being added as appropriate.

John Rodenrys, CEO of InflammaGen Therapeutics, remarked, Initiation of the Phase 2 pilot study is a key milestone in the development of InflammaGen Shok-Pak as a potential treatment for sepsis and septic shock, which may result in multi-organ failure, a highly-invasive condition for which there is currently no effective therapy option.

Hank Loy, president of InflammaGen Therapeutics, added, We look forward to working with the investigative team at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and expect their experiences to demonstrate the benefits of InflammaGen Shok-Pak, which have been evident in the pre-clinical studies and ex-U.S. patient experiences.

Read more here:
Homing in a life-saving treatment for shock

A 200-patient phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by UC San Diego bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schnbein.

The study involves a San Diego startup.

This new use of the FDA-approved drug is based on decades of research by Schmid-Schnbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to multi-organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States.

Schmid-Schnbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named autodigestion. The treatment involves blockading the enzymes with an enzyme inhibitor.

In 2005, the teams protocol was licensed to San Diego startup InflammaGen Therapeutics under an agreement developed by UC San Diegos technology transfer office. InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company, developed the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, a drug/delivery platform that delivers the enzyme inhibitor through a nasogastric tube directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, preventing shock and multi-organ failure. Schmid-Schnbein serves as a scientific advisor to InflammaGen but is not an employee of the company. Instead, he has chosen to focus on continuing to conduct fundamental research on autodigestion at UC San Diego.

We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself, Schmid-Schnbein said. We have pre-clinical results that this treatment can save lives.

To date, InflammaGen Shok-Pak has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, preclinical studies of the technology in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

Originally posted here:
Bioengineering Professor’s Treatment for Shock Under Study

Public release date: 12-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Hockmuth chockmuth@ucsd.edu 858-822-1359 University of California - San Diego

A 200-patient Phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by University of California, San Diego Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schnbein. Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications, and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding.

This new use of a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug is based on decades of research by Schmid-Schnbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to multi-organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States.

Schmid-Schnbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named Autodigestion. The treatment involves blockading the enzymes with an enzyme inhibitor.

In 2005, the team's protocol was licensed to San Diego-startup InflammaGen Therapeutics under an agreement developed by UC San Diego's Technology Transfer Office. InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company, developed the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, a drug/delivery platform that delivers the enzyme inhibitor through a nasogastric tube directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, preventing shock and multi-organ failure. Schmid-Schnbein serves as a scientific advisor to InflammaGen but is not an employee of the company. Instead, he has chosen to focus on continuing to conduct fundamental research on autodigestion at UC San Diego.

"We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself," Schmid-Schnbein said. "We have pre-clinical results that this treatment can save lives."

To date, InflammaGen Shok-Pak has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, pre-clinical studies of the technology in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

"Currently, patients in shock who survive their initial insult don't necessarily survive long-term. In addition, morbidity is very high in those patients that do survive. Our animal studies suggest that the treatment could improve functional outcomes and reduce the time patients remain in intensive care, as well as increase long-term survival rates," said principal investigator Dr. Erik Kistler, who currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego. "While ICU costs can approach one-third of the entire hospital costs, decreasing ICU time by even a small percentage a day will have significant financial savings for patients and payors as well as result in significantly improved patient wellness," said Kistler, who earned a doctorate (1998) and master's (1994) in bioengineering from the Jacobs School of Engineering as a student of Schmid-Schnbein's.

The Phase 2 pilot is designed as a double-blind, standard-therapy controlled study of 200 critically ill ICU patients. The goal is to determine the safety and efficacy of the gastrointestinal administration of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in the reduction of morbidity, which is defined as the incidence of disease. The team wants to know whether the treatment will reduce the time patients spend in intensive care and the hospital, and improve long-term survival rates. To determine this, researchers will follow up with patients 28 days and six months after discharge. The Phase 2 pilot study will be conducted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, with additional sites being added as appropriate.

Read more:
A lifetime of research may be leading to a life-saving treatment for shock

Join Log In Submit Story Jobs Newsletter Library 30334639 story Posted by Soulskill on Monday March 12, @05:13PM from the just-lazy-enough-to-work dept. derekmead writes "Forget CFLs, hybrid cars, and organic jeans. Buying our way out of climate change even if it's green consumption won't get us far. A new paper (PDF), published in Ethics, Policy, and the Environment by NYU bioethics professor S. Matthew Liao, poses an answer: engineer humans to use less. The general plan laid out by Liao is straightforward, ranging from using pharmacological behavior modification to create an aversion to meat in people, to using gene therapy to create smaller, less resource-intensive children. The philosophical and ethical questions, on the other hand, are absurdly complicated. The Atlantic also has a great interview with Liao, in which he talks about gene therapy and making humans hate the taste of meat." You may like to read: Post

love, n.: When it's growing, you don't mind watering it with a few tears.

Working...

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Solving Climate Change By Bioengineering Humans?

SAN DIEGO, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company initially focused on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of multi-organ failure (MOF), announced today that the Company has initiated a 200-patient Phase 2 pilot study to examine the efficacy and safety of InflammaGen Shok-Pak as a potential treatment for critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding.

The InflammaGen Shok-Pak is the result of decades of research by University of California, San Diego Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schonbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States. Schmid-Schonbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable thereby causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named Autodigestion. With the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, an enzyme inhibitor is administered directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, blockading the enzymes.

To date, the technology has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, pre-clinical studies of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

"Currently, patients in shock who survive their initial insult don't necessarily survive long-term. In addition, morbidity is very high in those patients that do survive. Our animal studies suggest that InflammaGen Shok-Pak could improve functional outcomes and reduce the time patients remain in intensive care, as well as increase long-term survival rates," said principal investigator Dr. Erik Kistler, who currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego. "While ICU costs can approach one-third of the entire hospital costs, decreasing ICU time by even a small percentage a day will have significant financial savings for patients and payors as well as result in significantly improved patient wellness," said Kistler.

"We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself," Schmid-Schonbein said. "We have pre-clinical results that this blockade can save lives."

The Phase 2 pilot is designed as a double-blind, standard-therapy controlled study of 200 critically ill ICU patients. The primary endpoint is to provide preliminary efficacy and safety data on the gastrointestinal administration of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in the reduction of morbidity at discharge or at day 28. The secondary endpoint is the efficacy of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in reducing ICU and hospital length-of-stay, as well as morbidity and mortality at six months. The Phase 2 pilot study will be conducted at the ICU at the Veterans Administration San Diego Healthcare System, with additional sites being added as appropriate.

John Rodenrys, CEO of InflammaGen Therapeutics, remarked, "Initiation of the Phase 2 pilot study is a key milestone in the development of InflammaGen Shok-Pak as a potential treatment for sepsis and septic shock, which may result in multi-organ failure, a highly-invasive condition for which there is currently no effective therapy option."

Hank Loy, president of InflammaGen Therapeutics, added, "We look forward to working with the investigative team at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and expect their experiences to demonstrate the benefits of InflammaGen Shok-Pak, which have been evident in the pre-clinical studies and ex-U.S. patient experiences."

InflammaGen Shok-Pak was developed based on Schmid-Schonbein's research at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and was supported by the NIH and the von Liebig Center at UC San Diego. Schmid-Schonbein was awarded the 2008 Landis Award for his discovery.

About Multi-Organ Failure Multi-organ failure is a potentially life-threatening disturbance in normal organ function caused by acute shock (trauma, sepsis, burn and SIRS). Without swift medical intervention, the patient's organs will progressively continue to fail, decreasing one's chances of survival. In the United States, shock is the second leading cause of in-hospital deaths, with approximately 750,000 cases occurring annually.(1) It is estimated that between 28 and 50 percent of these patients die, exceeding the number of U.S. deaths from prostate cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined.(2) In 2007, sepsis accounted for an estimated $38 billion in hospital billings.

See the original post here:
InflammaGen™ Therapeutics to Commence Phase 2 Pilot Study of InflammaGen Shok-Pak

Researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ) and Korea have combined their expertise in polymer patterning and materials science in a bid to develop new-generation solar cells.

UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) Director, Professor Peter Gray, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.

It will allow AIBN Professor Ajayan Vinu's research group to work closely with Yonsei Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Professor Eunkyoung Kim, and School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Cheolmin Park.

Professor Vinu said the collaboration would encourage the creation of new science and new products, including efforts to improve the efficiency of solar cells.

He said AIBN would bring expertise in materials science, particularly Prof Vinu's work on and porous semiconducting and bio-nanomaterials.

Yonsei researchers would match this expertise with their knowledge of polymer patterning and fabrication.

We can't all be experts in every field. That is why we are collaborating with these experts in this field, Professor Vinu said.

We have expertise in the fabrication of porous functionalised semiconducting nanostructures that will maximise quantum efficiency of dye sensitized or organic solar cells, while the Yonsei researchers have know-how in designing the various types of solar cell device.

The fusion of materials development and device fabrication can help us to achieve a new solar cell technology or product with a low cost, which is going to make a huge revolution in the solar industry.

Beyond collaborating on research, the bond between AIBN and Yonsei includes joint conferences, student exchanges and plans for a joint lab in Korea.

Visit link:
Development of new-generation solar cells

Kansas University leaders are looking for financial support for its initiatives in bioengineering, which could lead to new chemotherapy drug delivery mechanisms that would fight cancer, among other new research opportunities.

In the future, KU told the Kansas Bioscience Authoritys Board of Directors, KU would like to request funding from the authority for six new faculty members working in the area.

The presentation didnt include an immediate request for the faculty members, or a specific dollar amount, but university officials indicated they would likely be back to request the money.

David Vranicar, interim president and CEO of the KBA, told KU officials that it would be helpful for the KBA if KU would prioritize its requests.

The university has presented several projects to the KBA and has received money in several different areas, including in its biorefining efforts, expansion requests for its Bioscience and Technology Business Center incubator facility, biomedical initiatives and requests in support of the KU Cancer Center.

"In the end, I suspect the KBA will have to make judgments on that," Vranicar said, adding that he would look to KU to help make those judgments. "We probably aren't nearly as smart about KU as you guys are."

Two KU professors helped describe the bioengineering initiative for the KBA.

Paulette Spencer, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering, told board members that the job market in the biomedical engineering field is expected to grow by 72 percent by 2018.

Parvesh Kumar, associate director of clinical research at the KU Cancer Center, described how a "smart nanoparticle" could carry a chemotherapy drug directly to cancerous cells and inject the drug directly into the cell itself. Today, chemotherapy is administered intravenously, he said, and kills a million normal cells for every cancer cell it kills, leading to significant side effects.

KU officials said they would like to request funds for four new professors on the Lawrence campus and two new professors at KU Medical Center, in addition to funds for construction or renovation of existing spaces to help with the initiative.

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KU expects to ask Kansas Bioscience Authority to fund new chemotherapy drug delivery research

by: Tyler North on March 9, 2012

Students have diverse opinions when it comes to eating on campus. However, most students agree on one aspect of on-campus dining its expensive.

Food on campus is the worst value anywhere in the entire valley, said James Kennedy, a graduate student in bioengineering. They give us low-quality food for very expensive prices.

Many students find that the price often outweighs any other positive aspects of on-campus dining.

Off campus you can get more food for a cheaper price, said Asad Rauf a senior in biomedical engineering. Even for a small sandwich you are paying like $3, so I just dont think its fair. I started bringing more food from home and I rarely eat on campus anymore.

Chartwells, a major provider of on-campus food including the contracted provider of food for the Heritage Center and the Union has a different stance.

We do a market basket analysis of all the businesses within a mile radius of the school and we make sure our prices are within reason of those other establishments, said Reggie Conerly, resident district manager for dining services.

Most items are made daily in the Union Food Court, some in front of you as you order, Conerly said. Quality is something Chartwells strives for.

That quality comes with a price. Purchasing basic meal plans on campus will cost a student anywhere from $7.50 to $8 per meal, depending on the plan.

If they opened up more dining options, I think it would be to our benefit and would lower the price, Rauf said.

Continued here:
Students vie for cheaper on-campus dining

Public release date: 5-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Hockmuth chockmuth@ucsd.edu 858-822-1359 University of California - San Diego

University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching. The material has numerous potential applications, including medical sutures, targeted drug delivery, industrial sealants and self-healing plastics, a team of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering researchers reported March 5 in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hydrogels are made of linked chains of polymer molecules that form a flexible, jello-like material similar to soft-tissues. Until now, researchers have been unable to develop hydrogels that can rapidly repair themselves when a cut was introduced, limiting their potential applications. The team, led by Shyni Varghese, overcame this challenge with the use of "dangling side chain" molecules that extend like fingers on a hand from the primary structure of the hydrogel network and enable them to grasp one another.

"Self-healing is one of the most fundamental properties of living tissues that allows them to sustain repeated damage," says Varghese. "Being bioengineers, one question that repeatedly appeared before us was if one could mimic self-healing in synthetic, tissue-like materials such as hydrogels. The benefits of creating such an aqueous self-healing material would be far-reaching in medicine and engineering."

To design the side chain molecules of the hydrogel that would enable rapid self-healing, Varghese and her collaborators performed computer simulations of the hydrogel network. The simulations revealed that the ability of the hydrogel to self-heal depended critically on the length of the side chain molecules, or fingers, and that hydrogels having an optimal length of side chain molecules exhibited the strongest self-healing. When two cylindrical pieces of gels featuring these optimized fingers were placed together in an acidic solution, they stuck together instantly. Varghese's lab further found that by simply adjusting the solution's pH levels up or down, the pieces weld (low pH) and separate (high pH) very easily. The process was successfully repeated numerous times without any reduction in the weld strength.

Ameya Phadke, a fourth year PhD student in Varghese's lab said the hydrogel's strength and flexibility in an acidic environment similar to that of the stomach makes it ideal as an adhesive to heal stomach perforations or for controlled drug delivery to ulcers.

Such healing material could also be useful in the field of energy conservation and recycling where self-healing materials could help reduce industrial and consumer waste, according to Varghese. Additionally, the rapidity of self-healing in response to acids makes the material a promising candidate to seal leakages from containers containing corrosive acids. To test this theory, her lab cut a hole in the bottom of a plastic container, "healed" it by sealing the hole with the hydrogel and demonstrated that it prevented any leakage of acid through the hole.

Moving forward, Varghese and her lab hope to test the material in its envisioned applications on a larger scale. The team also hopes to engineer other varieties of hydrogels that self-heal at different pH values, thereby extending the applications of such hydrogels beyond acidic conditions.

###

Link:
Smart, self-healing hydrogels open far-reaching possibilities in medicine, engineering

Christopher Rivet Is One of Three Finalists for the $30,000 2012 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize

Newswise Troy, N.Y. Christopher Rivet has successfully married two powerful bioengineering technologies to develop a new method for delivering drugs directly to an injury site and jumpstarting the process of tissue regeneration. His innovation could be an important new tool in preventing paralysis resulting from spinal cord trauma, cancer, diabetes, or a host of other diseases.

Rivet, a doctoral student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is one of three finalists for the 2012 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize. A public ceremony announcing this years winner will be held at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7, in the auditorium of the Rensselaer Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. For more information on the ceremony visit: http://www.eng.rpi.edu/lemelson

Rivets project is titled A Hydrogel and Electrospun Fiber Composite Material, and his faculty adviser is Ryan Gilbert, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer.

Sadly, there is no shortage of situations that lead to a loss of functioning tissue and, in turn, paralysis. These circumstances can range from the surgical removal of a tumor, to untreated bedsores, to a spinal cord injury stemming from a gunshot wound or traffic accident. All of these situations require action first to stop the progression of the injury, and secondly to restore function to the damaged tissue. However, there is currently no treatment, short of receiving a transplant from a donor, to simultaneously pursue both goals and more effectively mitigate the onset of paralysis.

Rivets patent-pending invention pairs electrospun fibers with hydrogels to help solve this important societal need. He has developed a new way to disperse nanoscopic electrospun fibers, which can prompt and guide tissue regeneration, within injectable, drug-infused hydrogels. The result is an advanced biomaterial that can mimic and serve as a temporary replacement for living tissue.

For example, potential target could be a patient who had a large bone tumor removed, leaving behind a hole that is too large for the body to recover from on its own. The surgeon may elect to use a hydrogel. Injected as a liquid, the hydrogel would firm up and fill in the unique shape of the void. Hydrogels can be treated with different drugs to help stop progression of the injury, and the gels can be tuned to match the mechanical properties of the tissue their replacing. However, hydrogels cannot carry the appropriate chemical cues to guide regenerative nerve cells into and out of the injury site. This means hydrogels alone are not a winning strategy for combating the onset of paralysis.

Rivet has incorporated electrospun fibers, which are spun from polymer and can carry guidance cues and promote functional recovery, into hydrogels. The end result is a complex system that can deliver multiple drugs as well as the necessary guidance cues to coax nerve cells through the injury site and kick start the process of regeneration. As the patients body tissue regenerates, the hydrogels and electrospun fibers simply dissolve harmlessly. Rivets system is also highly adaptable, as different electrospun fibers can be matched with various hydrogels to achieve specific goals.

When not in the lab or classroom, Rivet enjoys spending time outdoors. If hes not skiing, cycling, or hiking, you can probably find him on the lake fishing. At home in Grand Blanc, Mich., Rivets family and friends are rooting for him to win the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize. His mother is a high school math and science teacher and his father works for the United Auto Workers labor union. Rivets older sister is a laboratory manager at Kettering University.

Rivet was curious and creative as a young student, and he strives to foster those virtues in others. He is an active mentor in local elementary schools and high schools, sparking the interest of students and encouraging them to seek out opportunities to study and work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. He also mentors several undergraduate students at Rensselaer.

See original here:
Student Innovation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Seeks to Mend Previously Untreatable Tissue Injuries

Adam Hand at UQ's AIBN

Mr Hand crossed the country and spent Christmas away from his family to learn about bioengineering at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at The University of Queensland.

During his break from undergraduate engineering studies at Edith Cowan University, the 23-year-old from Tuart Hill spent 12 weeks at the AIBN as part of a Summer Research Scholarship Program.

Mr Hand spent the time in the lab of AIBN Professor Mark Kendall to learn about the Nanopatch, a needle-free vaccination device with thousands of small projections designed to deliver vaccine to immune cells in the skin.

In only 12 weeks I believe I have experienced more and learnt more than I could have ever hoped to learn in a classroom, he said.

The program has opened my eyes to a completely different and fascinating field that I would have never imagined entering when originally enrolling in engineering.

Mr Hand spent his time in the lab improving and automating the dry coating procedure of vaccines for use on the Nanopatch.

He admitted to being completely overwhelmed when he arrived in Brisbane, moved into a share-house and started his research project at AIBN.

When I first arrived in Brisbane I was thrust into a new city, a new house and more dauntingly this new experience of bioengineering.

You may ask: why did you throw away a summer holiday to work at AIBN?'. However, that wasn't the case. Travelling from Perth and experiencing a new life was an adventure in itself and working at the AIBN was an opportunity that I would not have missed.

Read more from the original source:
UQ Summer Research Program provides wealth of new experiences

I know the last post was also about India. With all the action in India, it is quite tempting to write a lot more India-specific posts. I have saved a few US-specific and generic posts that I hope to roll out in the near future, time permitting.
Outsourcing does not equal innovation

Yes, no blog post on India looks good without a cute image of India's flag. Well, moving on, a research group analyzed patents in the US that originated from India and of over 4,000 patents, found only 20 originated from Indian CROs, and that too were limited to chemistry and shared between two non-US companies that owned the bulk of the IP.

The study and the article based on it (on which this post is based) concludes that India's traditional strength is in chemistry and the whole thing doesn't bode well for the biopharmaceutical industry in India.

Innovation from India - A deeper problem!


India's lack of prowess in drug discovery, or for that matter any field arises from deeper issues.

1. License Raj: Though large portions of this has been eliminated, the damage that the British did and the fact that Indians loved and embraced bureaucracy almost like extremely bored lovers embrace bondage; that too for decades has not helped. Red tape has smothered and choked India quite a bit, and there is no quick way out of this. However, this needs to happen, forming companies, doing research and innovating need to speed up before all of this becomes too expensive to do in India's inflated economy.

2. Geriatric Politicians: Indian politics has devolved into a weird two-party system at the national level and a million party system at the regional levels. It is also scintillated by politicians who are not just physically old, but are also intellectually too old in their world view for the 21st century. Many have no ability to lead India in any positive direction. They lack the ability to take charge and challenge other nations.

3. "Adaptive" Design a.k.a copy the lead: Excepting start ups, and that too the select few that are really good, many companies in India simply copy designs, strategies and everything else. Yes, this disease plagues a lot of companies in the US and China as well, but in India, as a young undergraduate student, I found out that rampant plagiarism was given a cute name - "Adaptive Design" and was being openly discussed and glorified in conferences and even in educational settings.

Of course, there are several other factors, but suffice it to say, the above are among the top handful reasons that prevent India from innovating and truly breaching leadership in drug research, and for that matter any business field.

Car-sharing for prison inmates

Yes, Zipcar may have been original. True differentiation, however does not come from repeatedly copying that one model. Unless companies look for original innovation, and not yet another car-sharing service for prison inmates, philandering priests or people with no driving skills, they will not be able to forge new paths for any vertical - be it a region or nation. Innovation does not equal also-rans. Rather it requires truly disruptive changes.

Easy Money Vs. Longevity 


Indian politicians, economists, policy makers and founders need to understand this. It is easy to work under duress to make money and carve out a space for oneself. There is a need for companies to plan for the long term. It is perfectly alright for companies to make that easy money initially. However, unless they come up with strategic plans, they will be nothing but glorified call centers, CROs or cheap urine-sample analyzers. I kid you not, there are companies in India that can analyze urine-samples flown all the way from Britain at a cost lower than you could get it done in Britain!

What does drug discovery innovation take?


Drug discovery, needless to say is quite challenging. It will take deep knowledge in biological sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, chemistry, biotechnology and not by any small means innovation in software for success. With increasing expenses, most of the big pharma companies face additional challenges that arise from the "patent cliff". Of course, besides being a glorious opportunity for third-grade MBAs doubling as C-level executives that can lay off hardworking scientists, engineers and others, it is truly something that these companies have to grapple with.

While the "what" of drug discovery innovation can fill a few books, it is essential that innovations in science and business need to be combined with good vision and long term focus for drug discovery success, and this is true of the entire world, and not just India. With literate, cheap English-speaking labor in all strata starting from management to science, engineering and manufacturing available in large volumes, India should not lose this opportunity to some other nation.

Conclusion: India, obviously needs someone to take bold steps and move the country forward deliberately into the 21st century. Who will do this? Will it be the politicians? Will it be the start-ups? Or like most things in and about India, will it be spontaneous?

I know, as I write this post, it is much easier to simply criticize, complain and point out the errors. However, a change in psyche is necessary. As stated above, the recipe for success should at least include:

1. A younger generation of nimble entrepreneurs with nimble companies that simply flout the status quo and hierarchy that is loved in India and forge forward with innovative, groundbreaking ideas

2. Academic institutions that break free from the familiar mold and equip students with the right knowledge and incite hunger for innovation among students

3. An awakened nation with policy makers, politicians and others who will not rest till India puts herself in the map, be it through innovation in business models, discovered drugs or tools that lead to any of these endpoints and beyond.

Reference:

1. http://www.outsourcing-pharma.com/Preclinical-Research/India-needs-innovation-boost-to-kick-start-drug-discovery-study

Images:

1. http://quickmeme.com/

2. http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/69700/69772/69772_q-victoria.htm

Source:
http://chaaraka.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Pfenex Inc. and DNA2.0 to develop an optimized design and synthesis process for genes expressed in Pfnex Expression Technology

San Diego, Calif. and Menlo Park, Calif. (PRWEB) March 01, 2012

Pfenex Inc. is dedicated to the rapid and reliable production of high quality recombinant proteins for our partners, said Dr Bertrand Liang, CEO of Pfenex Inc. Through this collaboration, two industry leaders will leverage their respective capabilities to advance the Pfnex Expression Technology platform. We are very excited about this project with our long-standing gene synthesis partner, DNA2.0, because it allows us to enhance the capabilities of our technology which will enable us to increase the overall value proposition to our partners.

DNA2.0 is the industry leader in gene design and expression optimization, said Jeremy Minshull, PhD., cofounder and CEO of DNA2.0. "Our patented GeneGPS technology is based on experiment data from over-expressed synthetic genes, resulting in up to a 100-fold increase in protein expression. We have successfully optimized expression for a variety of hosts, including bacteria, yeast, fungus, plant and mammalian, and we are excited to work with Pfenex to extend our expertise to the P. fluorescens system.

About Pfenex Inc.

Pfenex Inc. is a protein production company leveraging the unique and powerful Pfnex Expression Technology platform based on the microorganism, Pseudomonas fluorescens, for the production of research proteins, reagent proteins, biosimilars and innovator biopharmaceuticals. For more information please visit http://www.pfenex.com

About DNA2.0

DNA2.0 is the leading bioengineering solutions provider. Founded in 2003, DNA2.0 offers an integrated pipeline of solutions for the research community, including gene design, optimization, synthesis and cloning, as well as platforms for protein and strain engineering. It is the fastest provider of synthetic genesbased in the US with a global customer base encompassing academia, government and the pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural and biotechnology industries. DNA2.0 is by far the most published synthetic gene vendor, providing expert support to and collaboration with scientists. DNA2.0 explores novel applications for synthetic genes and is exploiting the synergy between highly efficient gene design and synthesis processes and new protein optimization technologies. DNA2.0s tools and solutions are fueling the transformation of biology from a discovery science to an engineering discipline. The company is privately held and is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif. For more information, please visit http://www.DNA20.com.

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Eric Schubert DNA 2.0 415-939-4366 Email Information

Read the original here:
Pfenex Inc. and DNA2.0 Collaborate on Protein Expression Technology

PALO ALTO, Calif. — A NASA scientist has won a free flight to suborbital space, but he may not be able to claim the prize.

Thomas Goodwin, a physiology and bioengineering researcher at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, won a suborbital flight on XCOR Aerospace's Lynx vehicle, a $95,000 value. Goodwin's name was randomly selected here Monday (Feb. 27) at the 2012 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC-2012).

"I'm not sure I can accept this," Goodwin said, referencing his status as a government employee, which may prevent him from using the prize. "I'm very surprised."

If government regulations and red tape prohibit Goodwin from claiming the award, a backup is ready to step up; XCOR officials drew an alternate name just in case. Conference attendees who registered in advance were entered in the drawing.

XCOR's Lynx is a two-person space plane designed to take off and land on a conventional airport runway. In addition to flights with paying passengers, the rocket-powered vehicle is being designed to carry research experiments to suborbital space.

XCOR officials have said the Lynx could be in flight-test operations by the end of 2012. The company plans to charge $95,000 per seat when the space plane is up and running. XCOR also announced Monday that it recently secured $5 million in equity funding that will help fund its work on the Lynx.

Whoever eventually goes up in the space plane will be in for a real treat, XCOR officials said.

"Hang onto your hat, because it's going to be one amazing ride," said former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander Rick Searfoss, XCOR's chief test pilot.

XCOR isn't the only company developing craft to take scientists, experiments and tourists up to suborbital space. Virgin Galactic, for example, is charging $200,000 for rides on its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, which seats six passengers, along with two pilots.

NSRC-2012, which runs through Wednesday (Feb. 29), brings scientists and educators together to talk about how commercial suborbital spacecraft can help advance research in atmospheric science, physics, planetary science, biology and physiology, among other fields, according to conference organizers.

The meeting is jointly hosted by NASA, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, and the Colorado-based Southwest Research Institute.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Excerpt from:
NASA Scientist Wins Free Space Trip on Rocket Plane

IBM and IBN Treating MRSA with Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine in February?s Edition of Healthcare Global

Carlsbad, CA, February 23, 2012 --(PR.com)-- In April 2011, researchers from IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) announced that they had stumbled on “a nanomedicine breakthrough.” They discovered a new type of polymer which was able to detect and destroy bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics and infectious diseases such as MRSA. It is now hoped the discovery will have the potential to revolutionise treatments for MRSA and other superbugs which are becoming increasingly common in hospitals and healthcare environments across the world.

If commercially manufactured, these biodegradable nanostructures could be injected directly into the body or applied topically to the skin, treating skin infections through consumer products like deodorant, soap and hand sanitizer, as well as being used to help heal wounds, tuberculosis and lung infections.

To get a more up-to-date picture of how the discovery and development of this innovative new technique is progressing, Healthcare Global caught up with Dr James Hedrick, an IBM research scientist, in its March issue.

To read this article in full, visit: http://www.healthcareglobal.com/healthcare_technology/treating-mrsa-with-nanotechnology-and-nanomedicine

About Healthcare Global

Healthcare Global is a pioneering digital media site for Healthcare professionals and executives responsible for all aspects of managing this environment. Healthcare Global covers solutions that enable global healthcare executives to improve the way they manage their operations. Healthcare Global is the industry-dedicated arm of the WDM Group. Founded in 2007 by entrepreneur Glen White, WDM Group retains a diversified portfolio of websites, magazines, mobile apps, daily news feeds and weekly e-newsletters that leverage technology to innovatively deliver high-quality content, analytical data, and industry news.

Healthcare Global is headquartered in San Diego, California, with additional offices in Boston, Toronto, Mumbai and Norwich, England. For more information, contact 760-827-7800 or visit http://www.healthcareglobal.com.

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Read this article:
IBM and IBN Treating MRSA with Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine in February’s Edition of Healthcare Global