Bombardier Aerospace puts 'pause' on discretionary spending to preserve cash

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By Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL - Bombardier's aerospace division is putting a "pause" on discretionary spending at least until January to preserve cash for two key aircraft development programs.

In a memo to employees, the Montreal-based transportation giant said it is suspending most new hirings, cancelling off-site meetings, cutting all funding for Christmas parties and even suspending most travel.

Other measures include reducing or delaying spending on consultants, suspending most training, and stopping any office renovations. All capital spending will have to receive senior management approval.

Spokeswoman Haley Dunne says the missive sent last week from finance vice-president Mairead Lavery was meant to remind employees to be more prudent about what they're spending on during the company's peak period of investment.

"We're halfway through the year so it's just time to make sure that people are aware that they need to be focusing on our priorities," she said in an interview.

Lavery told employees that "performance in cash generation was not in line with budget for the first six months of the year" and that the move was needed because Bombardier has limited control over when it receives cash from customers.

The company will fill positions required for the development programs, but non-essential positions will remain vacant until after January.

Bombardier Aerospace (TSX:BBD-B.TO - News) last put a freeze on discretionary spending in 2009.

The world's third-largest aircraft manufacturer is in the midst of several development projects, notably the new CSeries commercial aircraft set to begin deliveries the end of 2013 and the Learjet 85 business jet, also set to be delivered next year.

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Bombardier Aerospace puts 'pause' on discretionary spending to preserve cash

ST Aerospace Liquidates Singapore British Engineering

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Singapore, 10 September 2012 ST Aerospace today announced its 51%-owned subsidiary, Singapore British Engineering Pte Ltd (SBE), has commenced Members Voluntary Winding Up. SBE, a joint venture between ST Aerospace and BAE Systems plc (BAE Systems), was set up for the marketing of BAE Systems avionics and defence products in Singapore.

Shareholders of SBE had approved the appointment of Andrew Grimmett and Lim Loo Khoon of Messrs Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services Pte Ltd as Joint and Several Liquidators for the purpose of the liquidation of SBE.

The decision to liquidate SBE was mutually agreed upon between ST Aerospace and BAE Systems, and a result of ongoing engagement and reviews between the partners to better support the latters business growth in the region through ST Aerospaces global network. Existing SBE contracts are novated to ST Aerospaces wholly owned subsidiary ST Aerospace Supplies Pte Ltd (STA Supplies) to ensure continual support to customers, and STA Supplies will work closely with BAE Systems to explore further collaboration opportunities.

The voluntary liquidation of SBE is not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of ST Engineering for the current financial year.

ST Aerospace (Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd) is the aerospace arm of ST Engineering. Operating a global MRO network with facilities and affiliates in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe, it is the worlds largest commercial airframe MRO provider with a global customer base that includes leading airlines, airfreight and military operators. ST Aerospace is an integrated service provider that offers a spectrum of maintenance and engineering services that include airframe, engine and component maintenance, repair and overhaul; engineering design and technical services; and aviation materials and management services, including Total Aviation Support. ST Aerospace has a global staff strength of more than 8,000 engineers and technical specialists. Please visit http://www.staero.aero.

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ST Aerospace Liquidates Singapore British Engineering

Bombardier aerospace staff told to cut discretionary spending

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TORONTO (Reuters) - Bombardier Inc has told staff in its aerospace unit to suspend discretionary spending for the rest of the year so that the Canadian company can keep cash for its costly C-Series and Learjet 85 aircraft development programs. The world's third-biggest plane maker said in an internal memo sent to more than 35,000 aerospace division staff on September 5 that cash must be ...

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Purina Animal Nutrition and Science Supplements Announce Strategic Partnership

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ST. LOUIS, MO--(Marketwire - Sep 10, 2012) - Purina Animal Nutrition announced it has formed a strategic partnership with U.K.-based Science Supplements that will allow it to expand into the U.S. horse supplement market and continue to provide premium animal nutrition solutions. The partnership will fuel future product launches that include industry-leading research and the highest quality ingredients, coupled with technology, to create unique, value-added products for horse owners.

Science Supplements produces a range of products, from hydration to joint supplements, which undergo extensive research and development before being released on the market. By combining the company's deep insights with the extensive research program at the Purina Animal Nutrition equine research facility in Gray Summit, Mo., the partnership will provide U.S. horse owners with access to products proven to be effective.

"Our goal for entering the supplement category was to offer products made using the same stringent standards that we've used on the feed side of our business for more than 100 years," said David Hoogmoed, executive vice president and chief operating officer, feed, Purina Animal Nutrition. "We believe Science Supplements is to supplements as Purina Animal Nutrition is to feed."

Both companies believe in the slow process of research and development in order to supply only the finest quality ingredients, backed by product trials.

"This relationship is forging new inroads to the U.S. supplement market and is not only supply of product but about joint development and education," says Dr. David Marlin, CEO of Science Supplements. "The end goal is to provide products backed by extensive research and development for the animals we work with so closely."

Horse owners can expect to see new horse supplement offerings from Purina Animal Nutrition later this year.

About Purina Animal Nutrition Purina Animal Nutrition LLC is a national organization serving producers, animal owners and their families through more than 4,700 local cooperatives, independent dealers and other large retailers across the United States. Driven by an uncompromising commitment to animal excellence, Purina Animal Nutrition is an industry innovator, offering America's leading brands of complete feeds, supplements, premixes, ingredients and specialty technologies for the livestock and lifestyle animal markets.

Headquartered in Shoreview, Minn., Purina Animal Nutrition LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Land O'Lakes, Inc.

About Science Supplements Science Supplements Ltd. produces a range of unique and efficacious products for the equine market using cutting-edge science, the latest developments in research and the finest quality active ingredients. Science Supplements Ltd. products are formulated by Dr. David Marlin, working in conjunction with the best international experts in different nutrition related fields. Science Supplements undertakes both laboratory, clinical and field trials to ensure that these products are both highly effective and safe.

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Purina Animal Nutrition and Science Supplements Announce Strategic Partnership

The Outdoors Hates You: More New Tick-Borne Diseases (ICAAC 1)

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This week Im at ICAAC (the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy), a massive infectious-disease and drugs meeting that is sponsored every year by the American Society for Microbiology. ICAAC is an unabashed scary-disease geekgasm, the kind of meeting at which the editor of a major journal tweets from one room, Modern medicine will come to a halt in India because of catastrophic multi-drug resistance while a microbiologist alerts from another: Rat lungworm traced to salads on a Caribbean cruise. Snails had apparently gotten to the greens.

Good times.

Meanwhile, I was learning more about ticks.

The news last week was of a new tick-borne illness recently identified in Missouri, and of how it demonstrates the way that tick-borne infections are under-appreciated by medicine and public health, and even more by the general public. In addition to the new Heartland virus, I mentioned two other tick-borne diseases that had been identified in the past two years.

It turns out, though, that was an under-count. The news Sunday from ICAAC is that tick-related illnesses are even more common than they appear.

Dr. Bobbi Pritt, the laboratory director of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., unfolded a disease detective story that started in the summer of 2009 with two men who liked the outdoors, and two astute lab technicians. The men, a 54-year-old and a 23-year-old who had both been out in the woods in Wisconsin, had fevers, fatigue and headaches, and a history of tick bites; the 23-year-old, who had received a lung transplant for cystic fibrosis, was more seriously ill and had to be hospitalized. The technicians noted that the mens disease was most like erlichiosis but the tick that carries that tick-borne illness is not present in the upper Midwest. Months later after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had sent a pair of investigators, after involving epidemiologists from the US military who had been studying illness in the residents of bases nationwide, after trapping mice and grinding up hundreds of ticks the group realized they had found a new tick-borne illness. It was an Erlichia though it is so new that it does not yet have a name but it was carried by a tick species that had never been associated with that organism before. Forty-two people have been sickened by it so far. This is not a benign disease, Pritt warned.

Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Krause, a senior research scientist at the Yale schools of medicine and public health, described yet another formerly unknown tick-borne disease, one that is more like Lyme disease but is caused by a newly identified relative of the Lyme organism called Borrelia miyamotoi. The illness that results is a severe and sometimes fatal relapsing fever. But unlike other relapsing fevers already known to occur in the western United States, this one is carried by a different range of tick species: the hard-bodied ticks that are primarily in the eastern US and are responsible for transmitting Lyme, erlichiosis and anaplasmosis. So far, Krause said, this new disease has been most studied in humans in Russia but ticks carrying B. miyamotoi have already been identified in the United States, in ticks and mice in the Northeast and upper Midwest.

Then, Dr. Gary Wormser of New York Medical College warned that a third tick-borne illness, deer tick virus formerly known to affect only deer is now emerging as a human pathogen. Two cases of encephalitis caused by it have been recorded. Wormser described a third, tragic case that he has not yet published: a 77-year-old man from upstate New York who already had several chronic illnesses was bitten by a tick in October 2010, developed a fever and lethargy a month later, slid into a coma and died 8 months later, having never regained consciousness.

Finally, Dr. Barbara Herwaldt of the CDC reminded us that, even if these stories frighten you enough to never leave your house, you are still at risk of a tick-borne disease. To date, 159 people the tip of the iceberg, she said have been diagnosed with the tick-borne illness babesiosis after receiving a blood transfusion. Because of the lag between bite and symptoms, and because the symptoms of babesiosis like all tick-borne diseases could be caused by so many other things, infected donors are not successfully screened out by blood banks. And because there is no FDA-approved test for babesiosis not just a test for blood, but not even a diagnostic test to prove infection in a patient blood banks and even physicians are unable to say with certainly when someone is a risk and should abstain from donating.

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The Outdoors Hates You: More New Tick-Borne Diseases (ICAAC 1)

Dr. Tom Maniatis honored with 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science

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Public release date: 10-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Karin Eskenazi ket2116@columbia.edu 212-342-0508 Columbia University Medical Center

NEW YORK (September 10, 2012) Tom Maniatis, PhD, the Isidore S. Edelman Professor of Biochemistry and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center, is to receive the 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science. Dr. Maniatis is known for both his research on the mechanisms of gene regulation and his Molecular Cloning Manual. Dr. Maniatis will receive the award on Sept. 21 in New York City.

"I am deeply honored to receive the Lasker Special Achievement Award in Medical Science," said Dr. Maniatis. "I became a scientist because of the excitement of making discoveries, but to see the impact of these discoveries on the treatment of human disease has been particularly gratifying."

"Tom Maniatis' work is the quintessential example of the path from basic science to clinical applications," said Lee Goldman, MD, executive vice president of Columbia University and dean of the faculties of health sciences and medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. "His cloning manual is used by researchers worldwide, while his research contributions are at the foundation of current thinking about genetics."

In 1980 James Watson, PhD, director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), asked Maniatiswho was on the Harvard faculty at the timeto teach new genetic engineering techniques during a summer course at CSHL and then to produce a manual. The resultant Molecular Cloning Manualpublished in 1982 and often referred to as "the Bible" by students and researcherscontained practically every technique biologists needed to manipulate DNA.

Scientists could now identify genes that cause disease and then produce new drugs such as human insulin; and the techniques were indispensable for the success of the Human Genome Project. Dr. Maniatis' laboratory developed many of the techniques in the manual, which he coauthored with his postdoctoral fellow Ed Fritsch, PhD, and Joe Sambrook, PhD, the scientific director at CSHL.

Using the new techniques, Dr. Maniatis was the first to isolate a human gene and to use the cloned gene to identify deletion and substitution mutations that cause disease. The gene beta globin, for example, is part of the hemoglobin complex, and the mutations Dr. Maniatis identified cause a blood disease called beta thalassemia.

Maniatis also created the first complete human "genomic" DNA librarya collection of DNA containing every human genewhich made it possible to isolate and study any human gene. As with his genetic engineering techniques, Maniatis freely shared this library with other researchers.

In other research, Dr. Maniatis and his students uncovered important details of how information in genes is turned into proteins, including the mechanisms of transcription and RNA splicing.

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Dr. Tom Maniatis honored with 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science

Two Columbia Professors Win Lasker Foundation Awards for Their Work in Biological Sciences

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Two Columbia professors have won prestigious Lasker Foundation Awards for their work in biological sciences.

Tom Maniatis, the Isidore S. Edelman Professor of Biochemistry and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center, will receive the 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science. Maniatis is known for both his research on the mechanisms of gene regulation and his Molecular Cloning Manual. The award, which he will share with the Carnegie Institutions Donald Brown, is given to scientists for exceptional leadership and citizenship in biomedical science.

I am deeply honored to receive the Lasker Special Achievement Award in Medical Science, said Maniatis. I became a scientist because of the excitement of making discoveries, but to see the impact of these discoveries on the treatment of human disease has been particularly gratifying.

On the Morningside campus, Michael Sheetz, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences, won the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for his part in discoveries concerning cytoskeletal motor proteins, machines that move cargos within cells, contract muscles, and enable cell movements. The basic research award is given to those scientists whose techniques or concepts to the elimination of major causes of disability and death, according to the Lasker Foundation.

He won it with two other scientists, Stanford Universitys James Spudich and Ronald Vale of the University of California, San Francisco, with whom hes been working for many years. I am deeply honored to receive the Lasker with friends and wish to thank the many people in my lab and our collaborators who contributed so much to the overall effort, said Sheetz.

The Lasker Awards, which carry an honorarium of $250,000 for each category, will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, September 21, in New York City. Since the inception of the Lasker Awards in 1945, 81 Lasker laureates have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, 29 in the last two decades.

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Two Columbia Professors Win Lasker Foundation Awards for Their Work in Biological Sciences

UCLA Chemist Steven G. Clarke Named to Endowed Chair in Gerontology

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Removing molecular 'garbage' may be key to successful aging, Clarke says

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Newswise Steven G. Clarke, a distinguished professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry in UCLA's College of Letters and Science, has been named to UCLA's Elizabeth and Thomas Plott Chair in Gerontology.

The endowed chair, held for a five-year term, is intended for a scholar who conducts research and education activities related to aging and longevity in the areas of molecular biology, neuroscience and immunology.

An authority in his field, Clarke focuses on the biochemistry of the aging process and conducts research aimed at understanding, on a molecular level, how human functions are maintained during aging.

His research team has proposed that a major factor in the successful aging of all organisms is how well age-generated molecular "garbage" damaged proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and small molecules can either be repaired or eliminated from the body. His lab has analyzed protein-repair systems and novel types of enzymes that may contribute to reducing this buildup of damage in aging organisms.

Specifically, Clarke's team discovered and characterized the repair system involving the enzyme L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase, or PCMT. Early research on this enzyme's ability to repair defective proteins demonstrated that mice lacking sufficient PCMT had a significant increase in the number of damaged proteins in their tissues, particularly in the brain. Deficiencies in this enzyme have been linked to epilepsy and may also play a role in several degenerative diseases.

According to Clarke, understanding such pathways may help spur the future development of interventions to enhance these repair systems in the elderly, helping address declines in muscle strength, lung capacity, mental status, eye-lens clarity, heart output and other losses of function.

Clarke added that we may now be at the tip of the iceberg in our understanding of how many repair activities exist and how these activities may be manipulated for healthy living, particularly with diet and pharmaceuticals.

"I'm excited to accept the appointment to the Plott Chair and to continue our research in this critical field," said Clarke, who also directs UCLA's Cellular and Molecular Biology Training Program.

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UCLA Chemist Steven G. Clarke Named to Endowed Chair in Gerontology

Stem Cells Could Be The Next Anti-Aging Fad

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Injections of stem cells taken from patients blood may finally banish wrinkles if clinical trials of a new treatment are successful.

For some, wrinkles are seen as a sign of character. For most, they are an unwelcome reminder of ageing.

However, scientists are developing a method that may finally end the need for the routine of treatments and moisturisers used to try to keep facial lines at bay.

The first clinical trials are to begin shortly on a treatment that uses stem cells purified from a patients blood to combat their own wrinkles.

The cells will be injected beneath the skin where they will grow into new skin cells to help restore the elasticity, claims Pharmacells, the Glasgow-based company behind the technology.

Athol Haas, the companys chief executive, said: The skin has a natural elastic property which comes from cells known as fibroblasts.

The ability of the body to produce this elastic material slows down with age because the number of these fibroblasts decrease.

By introducing large numbers of stem cells into the right place, we are increasing the ability of the body to produce this material. It is still in its early stages but we hope to begin phase one trials within the next 12 months.

Until recently, anyone hoping to get rid of their wrinkles had to rely on cosmetic treatments that injected synthetic collagen under the skin as a filler to remove the lines.

Botox has now become popular for cosmetic treatments, where a neurotoxin from the bacteria Clostridium botulinum is injected to immobilise the muscles that can cause wrinkles.

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Stem Cells Could Be The Next Anti-Aging Fad

Grey's star in trouble for posting spoiler

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Patrick Dempsey has confirmed reports suggesting he was reprimanded by Grey's Anatomy bosses after giving away plot secrets by posting a photo of a castmate online.

The actor admits he wasn't thinking about the impact of what he was doing when he tweeted shots of Eric Dane on the set of the medical drama.

Dane's character, Mark Sloane, was left for dead at the end of the last season of the medical drama.

In a pre-taped interview with chat show host Ellen DeGeneres, Dempsey explains, "I tweeted some pictures of this season and they were like a spoiler alert. All of the sudden I got all these phone calls from (the network) ABC, like, 'You have to take this picture down!'"

"I was just enthusiastic: 'This is a great image, I should shoot this.'"

But the damage was already done before Dempsey removed the shot of Dane: "Now we know he survives and comes back and he was just napping in between takes."

But Dane is planning an exit from the show - earlier this summer, the actor announced the upcoming ninth season of the show will be his last.

The new season of Grey's Anatomy is set to debut in the US later this month.

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Grey's star in trouble for posting spoiler

Rockwell Nutrition Approves Improved Paleo Protein Powder

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Wilmington, NC (PRWEB) September 10, 2012

Rockwell Nutrition, a leading health supplement website, promotes the improved formula of paleo protein powder, now with inulin and higher fiber content.

According to the website, the changes in the product will give it an edge over its competitors. Inulin, the website explains, does not affect blood sugar levels despite its sweet taste. This soluble fiber is shown to have health-promoting advantages, from helping to protect against metabolic syndrome by controlling blood lipids and blood glucose, to supporting GI health through its ability to modulate gut microbial action, says the website.

Rockwell Nutrition also explained that the new formula is ideal for weight control, detoxification, enhanced immunity, and gaining more muscle mass. Drinking a PaleoMeal shake each day will give you natural energy, help you burn body fat, and give you better endurance and a healthier body, the site continues.

Rockwell Nutrition further mentioned that the presence of soluble fiber makes the formula easier to dissolve in water.

The website also reported the use of charcone, a natural sweetener, to improve the flavor. Stevia, erythritol, and strawberry banana flavor were also listed by the website to contribute to the taste. In conclusion, the website mentioned that whether you are trying to burn fat or increase muscle and endurance, PaleoMeal is a perfect meal replacement smoothie.

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Rockwell Nutrition is dedicated to providing access to and information about the highest-quality supplements in the industry. We review thousands of products every year and offer only the cream of the crop. Unfortunately, there are many companies out there who manufacture products that contain nutrients that are biochemically unavailable or are filled with toxins and allergens. Rockwell helps you separate bogus supplements from those that are scientifically and clinically proven to work, and provides recommendation on only the best of the best.

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Rockwell Nutrition Approves Improved Paleo Protein Powder

Mandatory GM Labeling Would Require Major Change

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CPG manufacturers may be on the cusp of monumental change as voters in California contemplate a hotly contested ballot initiative to require labeling of genetically modified foods.

Food marketers will face tough choices should the measure pass, as about 70% of processed foods sold in supermarkets contain GM ingredients like corn and soy. Some estimate that 100,000 or more foods sold in California contain some level of GE ingredients and would therefore be affected.

The mandate would be limited to the Golden State, but the implications for companies that choose not to move away from GM ingredients in advance of the July 1, 2014, deadline could be as far-reaching as consumer awareness spreads.

While the government deems genetically modified organisms safe, Californians want to judge for themselves. A Pepperdine University poll found that if the election were held last month, Californians would pass the proposition by a 3-1 margin.

To avoid the partially produced with genetic engineering label and possible consumer backlash, suppliers will likely reformulate product with more costly non-GE foods or organic ingredients, just as theyve done in countries where genetic modification disclosure is required.

Read more: Prop 37 Battle Rages in California

A recent study commissioned by the No on 37, Stop the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme campaign, of which the Grocery Manufacturers Association is a chief sponsor, bears this out.

It projects that reformulations to non-GE and organic ingredients, which by law cannot be genetically modified, will be the most likely course taken by food producers.

Read more: California GMO Bill Is Top Priority for GMA

Retailers might also adjust their sourcing policies to gain consumer favor by incorporating more organic foods and those that have been verified under the Non-GMO Project and labeled with its seal.

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Mandatory GM Labeling Would Require Major Change

Planet of the Apes: What is that big hunk of 'junk' DNA up to ?

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Last week, in response to a media blitz promoting a $288 million DNA project called ENCODE, headlines announced that most of our DNA formerly known as "junk" was actually useful.

A number of scientists both inside the study and out took issue with this claim - which centered on the 98 percent of our DNA that isn't officially part of any gene.

Sorting the workers from the freeloaders in our DNA is crucial to understanding how our genetic code works, how it drives human evolution and influences our traits and health.

Some biologists dislike the term "junk DNA" because they already knew at least part of it is doing something essential - like regulating how the instructions in the genes are carried out.

The genes hold recipes for making proteins - the working parts and scaffolding of the body. Some of the rest of the DNA tells the genes how much of a given protein to make at any given time.

The goal of the ENCODE (Encylopedia of DNA Elements) project was to figure out which parts have those important regulatory jobs.

According to some scientists involved, they succeeded in pinning down where many of those regulators lurked and identified variants in that DNA that other studies have connected to a variety of diseases. Those findings could lead to new targets for drug research and new avenues for predictive genetic testing.

But long before this project was conceived, scientists had begun to explore our jungle of mystery DNA. The question of non-gene DNA came up in 1975, when researchers discovered that humans and chimpanzees were 98 percent genetically identical. That meant we and chimps were more closely related than mice were to rats, or chimps were to gorillas.

The researchers who did the comparison pointed out that some of our differences might stem not from the genes, but from our other DNA that is regulating the genes.

That regulatory role is crucial when animals are developing in the womb. Some stretch of non-gene DNA could, for example, signal the human brain to keep growing long after chimp brain development would have shut off.

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Planet of the Apes: What is that big hunk of 'junk' DNA up to ?

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CMC Biologics Announces Mark W. Sawicki as Vice President, Global Business Development

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SEATTLE and COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --CMC Biologics, a leading contract manufacturing organization known for its technical excellence in process development and cGMP manufacture, announced today it has hired Mark W. Sawicki, Ph.D., to serve as the Company's new Vice President of Global Business Development. Dr. Sawicki will be focused on business development, sales management, and the integration and alignment of the Company's global sales and marketing team.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110502/SF93356LOGO)

"Mark brings broad experience and documented success in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry," said Gustavo Mahler, Chief Operations Officer of CMC Biologics. "His results-oriented approach and business acumen will play a pivotal role in extending our track record of innovation, while helping us grow profitability and take full advantage of the global contract manufacturing market opportunities ahead. In his role as Vice President, Global Business Development, he will be responsible for realizing the full potential of the sales and marketing team and provide leadership to this exciting phase of CMC Biologics' growth".

"CMC Biologics is very well respected, has a growing global customer base, offers world-class analytical, process development and manufacturing services, and has recently introduced new innovative services and technologies to its offering, giving the company a very attractive growth potential." said Dr. Sawicki. "I see a bright future for CMC Biologics and am eager to be part of the experienced and dedicated team and the challenges ahead."

Dr. Sawicki brings 10 years of business development and sales management experience, consistently delivering on corporate revenue and market share goals in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry. Prior, Sawicki was Vice President, Business Development-Europe for Albany Molecular Research, Inc. responsible for business development and sales activity in the European theater, as well as global key account management strategy. He consistently increased sales revenue at rates far outpacing industry standards from the EU Theater and prior, the US, and developed market analysis models for AMRI to determine market factors to proactively envisage future geographic/business shifts and trends. He holds Ph.D. and B.S. degrees in biochemistry from State University of New York at Buffalo; is a member of the Editorial Advisory of Pharmaceutical Outsourcing; and has more than a dozen publications in drug discovery and biochemistry.

About CMC Biologics

CMC Biologics is a global contract development and manufacturing organization that provides fully integrated biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing solutions to clients around the world from its facilities in Europe and the USA. The Company has proven expertise in delivering custom solutions for the scale-up and cGMP manufacture of protein-based therapeutics for pre-clinical, clinical trials and commercial production. The Company's wide range of integrated services includes cell line development, bioprocess development, formulation and comprehensive analytical testing. Clients can also benefit from CMC Biologics' proprietary CHEF1 expression system for mammalian production. CMC Biologics has fully segregated microbial fermentation and mammalian cell culture suites and offers both fed-batch and perfusion production processes. CMC Biologics is located in Copenhagen, Denmark; Seattle, Washington; and Berkeley, California. More detailed information can be found at http://www.cmcbiologics.com.

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CMC Biologics Announces Mark W. Sawicki as Vice President, Global Business Development

Releasing serial killer Russell Williams DNA testing dates unjustified invasion of privacy

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Could serial killer Russell Williams have been caught sooner, preventing the loss of a second womans life?

That was the question the Star had in mind when it asked the ministry that oversees police in Ontario to make public the dates when Williams DNA was submitted for testing.

But the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services refused, citing an unjustified invasion of personal privacy.

Apparently, Williams own.

The ministry is also refusing to release dates when the samples were uploaded to a national DNA data bank.

All the Star is asking for is dates.

DNA samples that matched Williams profile and could not rule him out were taken from a sexual assault scene and, months later, from the first of his two murder scenes.

With timely DNA testing, could the second victim have been saved? Or was everything possible done, and was the second murder largely unpreventable?

Releasing the dates when DNA samples were submitted, tests were completed, and the resulting DNA profiles were fed into a national database would help clear up those questions.

The Star sought access to the dates in a freedom of information request last October. The ministry, which oversees the Ontario Provincial Police and the Centre of Forensic Sciences, denied access in a letter last month.

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Releasing serial killer Russell Williams DNA testing dates unjustified invasion of privacy

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Valley Center students hope to raise enough money to compete in space education program

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The students in Jeff Tracys biology class last week were making paper helicopters and adjusting them to see how far and accurately they could fly.

In coming months, they could be developing experiments that could travel through space to the International Space Station.

This is just an amazing opportunity for our school and our students, said Tracy, a science teacher at Valley Center High School. This is real science, not just content in the classroom.

Valley Center is one of 24 communities to be accepted as a candidate for Mission 3 of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program. The program, part of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, is designed to give students hands-on experience designing, building, testing and conducting experiments for space flight.

The schools first hurdle is financial: It needs to secure $20,000 in donations or pledges by Wednesday to participate.

Its a lot of money, but we are optimistic, said Jamie Lewis, principal at Valley Center High School.

Weve had a good response so far. With all the aerospace companies and other businesses here locally, were hoping the community really embraces this opportunity for our students.

If the school meets the Wednesday deadline and is approved to participate, students enrolled in mid- to upper-level science classes including biology, chemistry, physics and statistics would work in teams to brainstorm experiments that could be tested in low gravity.

A review board would narrow the experiments to three finalists, and those would advance to the next round of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program. The program then would select one Valley Center project to fly in low Earth orbit and then on to the International Space Station.

The program provides each participating community a research mini-laboratory capable of supporting one microgravity experiment and launch services to fly the mini-lab to the space station in early April 2013.

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Bradley biology student takes his research on the road

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The work Richwoods High School grad Ryan Niemeier does would be impressive enough just on its face.

The biology student, now in his junior year at Bradley University, has spent the last three years working with nanofiber materials, trying to create "scaffold" systems to help concentrate the delivery of stem cells to help the body repair itself. It's research that could one day help facilitate repairs to damaged organs and lead to cures for conditions like Parkinson's disease.

And now he's taking the research on the road, with a prestigious nine-month fellowship to Galway, Ireland, to expand his work and come at it from a different perspective and with the advice of different scientists.

Niemeier stands out among students at Bradley, said mentor Craig Cady, a Bradley biology professor whose research is directed in similar areas.

"It's unusual for a student ... to see him advance that much at that age," he said. "Some students are intimidated at that age - a lot of research, a lot of stress. But Ryan was very much at ease. He can make decisions on his own," Cady said.

In fact, though still a student, he's frequently been the one in the driver's seat when it comes to determining where he wants to take his studies.

"Ryan basically was involved in implementing and creating a design to literally do the research" that led him to where he is today, Cady said.

"I've been able to set up and design all my experiments from the ground up," Niemeier said shortly before leaving last month for the Emerald Isle.

And that's precisely what he said he was looking for in choosing a course of study, first at Bradley and then with the fellowship: "Am I going to be able to get into a lab and am I going to be able to do meaningful research?"

The two share a student-mentor relationship, but because of the direction of their research and the amount of time they have spent together since the summer after Niemeier's junior year of high school, Cady said, they can also work as collaborators.

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Bradley biology student takes his research on the road

NASA’s giant crawler transporter gets an overhaul

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NASA’s giant crawler transporter that carried the Apollo missions and the Space Shuttles to the launch pad is getting an upgrade. In service since the mid-1960s, the 2,495 tonne (2,750 ton) vehicle is receiving new engines and other improvements that will allow it to carry the future Space Launch System (SLS) rockets due to enter service in 2017... Continue Reading NASA’s giant crawler ...

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NASA’s giant crawler transporter gets an overhaul

Liberty 73, Sparks 71

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UpdatedSep 9, 2012 9:07 PM ET

Cappie Pondexter had 21 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, Plenette Pierson scored 17 points, and the New York Liberty rallied to beat the Sparks 73-71 Sunday.

Essence Carson scored 14 points, including 11 during a 21-3 run in the third quarter that gave the Liberty (12-17) the lead after they trailed by 14 points. New York also trailed by 15 points in the first half.

''We fought hard,'' said Pondexter, who also had eight assists. ''At one point we were down almost 16 points. I told the guys at halftime that if we fight back and be victorious, it's going to feel even better than (just) winning.''

Coupled with Chicago's 82-77 loss at Connecticut, New York moved a half-game ahead of Chicago for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Liberty have five games remaining - at home against Washington on Wednesday, followed by road games against the Mystics, San Antonio and Tulsa, and a home date against the Shock in the season finale on Sept. 22.

''We've got to play like we have to win every game,'' Liberty coach John Whisenant said. ''If we get into the playoffs with a three-game series and we play as hard as we did tonight, there won't be anybody more athletically gifted like we played tonight.''

Kristi Toliver scored 17 points, Candace Parker had 14 points and 15 rebounds, and rookie Nneka Ogwumike added 13 points for the Sparks (20-10). Los Angeles, which has lost four of its last five, remained two games ahead of San Antonio for second place in the West. The Silver Stars lost 81-62 to Minnesota earler Sunday.

''We have plenty of stuff to move forward with in terms of just trying to be the best playoff team we can be,'' Sparks coach Carol Ross said. ''We still have more business to take care of before we get to the fun stuff.''

Carson's 3-pointer tied the score at 70-all with 48 seconds remaining, and Pondexter made two free throws about 26 seconds later to put the Liberty ahead.

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Liberty 73, Sparks 71

Liberty Ross: "I Was Totally Terrified" Before Alexander Wang Runway Show

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Liberty Ross had everybody fooled during Alexander Wang's New York Fashion Week show Saturday.

Her calm, cool and collected -- not to mention, extraordinarily fierce -- exterior belied some serious nerves as she strutted her stuff during a surprise trip down the runway.

PHOTOS: Kristen and Rupert's July 17 fling

"I was totally terrified," Ross, 33, confessed to The Cut at the show's after party. "I hadn't actually been out of my house for seven weeks so I was really anxious. But it felt amazing." (Ross' pal, and the man of the hour, Alexander Wang, said asking the model to take part in his show was a no-brainer. He told the fashion site he invited her "Because I love her and I support her.")

PHOTOS: Kristen and Rupert's road to infidelity

While the British stunner's claims she's been a recluse recently were a bit exaggerated (Ross has been photographed out and about near her Los Angeles home over the last month or so), she's still reeling after learning in late July that her husband, director Rupert Sanders, cheated on her with his Snow White and the Huntsman star, Kristen Stewart.

Together for ten years, Ross and Sanders, 41, have two children together, Skyla, 7, and Tennyson, 5. Currently, their marital status is still very much up in the air.

As a source close to the couple recently told Us Weekly, "It's too early to tell what will happen with them."

PHOTOS: Women who've been cheated on

Meanwhile, Stewart is getting back to work as well; the Twilight star made her first public, post-scandal appearance Thursday night when she attended an On the Road screening at the Toronto Film Festival.

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Liberty Ross: "I Was Totally Terrified" Before Alexander Wang Runway Show