BIOBUSINESS

Feature Article

• BioMarket Trends: Application of RFID Can Save Time and Money
• Bruce Carlson
• RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies are expected to have a big impact on health care in the very near future. Companies with RFID products are expected to earn over $18 billion in revenue by 2012, and it is estimated that $3 billion of that will originate from sales to the healthcare industry. ... more

• Eurofins MWG Consolidates Companies' Offerings
• Sophia Fox
• This coming January, Eurofins (www.eurofins.com) will combine the genomic products and services portfolio of its bioanalytical services company, Eurofins Medigenomix (www. medigenomix.com), with that of its majority-owned oligo synthesis/sequencing company, MWG (www.mwg-biotech.com), under a single Eurofins MWG brand. ... more

• Letter to the Editor: What About Tysabri as an MS Treatment?
• Dear Editor, ... more

Point of View

• Subsidizing Biofuels Is Not the Answer
• William K. Jaeger, Ph.D.
• Currently, the rush to promote biofuels with subsidies and regulations aims at reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and also decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. I’m all for that goal, but how far can biofuels really take us? Also, how cost-effective are they when compared to other approaches to achieving this same public mission? ... more

Financial Focus

• Sizing Up Genzyme's Takeover Potential
• In an ironic twist, Genzyme (www.genzyme.com) first battled through its acquisition of Bioenvision and is now basking in the glory of speculations over big pharma’s interest in gobbling up biologic firms such as itself. Its October stock spike, however, is not solely based on takeover rumors. The company has steadily grown, posted positive third quarter results, and even provided 2008 guidance ahead of schedule. ... more

Corporate Profile

• Invitrogen Taps Into Cell Biology Expertise
• Carol Potera
• Invitrogen (www.invitrogen.com), supplier of reagents and tools for gene and protein research for 20 years, is expanding its product lines and moving toward cell biology. ... more

DRUG DISCOVERY

Feature Article

• Getting a Handle on Signal Transduction
• Kathy Liszewski
• Signaling networks within cells play a role in virtually every process from differentiation and proliferation to cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. Intricate cellular communication is transduced via a complex series of protein-protein interactions, post-translational modifications, and other events. Deciphering the players and pathways is paving the way for new therapeutics, with researchers identifying novel networks from gene expression studies, developing technologies to peer inside living cells, and mining pathogens themselves for innovative strategies. ... more

• Improved Screening for Better Lead Generation
• Lloyd Dunlap
• Recently, the third IQPC “Compound Management & Integrity Conference” presented results of industry efforts to utilize innovations for the optimization of lead generation. ... more

Tutorial

• Characterizing Stable Protein Formulations
• Sigrid Kuebler
• Formulation development is one of the critical steps in advancing a protein or a peptide as a therapeutic product. The challenge is to maintain the integrity of the complex and the often highly sensitive 3-D structure of biopharmaceutical drug substances by designing an ideal environment of stabilizers, buffers, and detergents. ... more

OMICS

Feature Article

• Seeking the Big Picture with Microarrays
• Gail Dutton
• Now that gene expression microarray experiments are routine, the challenge is to extract accurate intelligence from the data they produce. The problem isn’t inaccuracies in the analysis software or methodologies, or even in the microarrays. Rather, because complex biological processes are driven by interactions of multiple genes, different analytical approaches could yield different results. Researchers, instead of focusing on individual genes, are stepping back to see the broader picture. ... more

Tutorial

• TF Profiling in Drug Discovery
• Fiona Coats, Ph.D.
  James Lazar, Ph.D.
  Sherry Challberg, Ph.D.
• Marligen Biosciences’ (www.marligen.com) multiplex transcription factor profiling tools have been successfully used to address a variety of problems inherent in drug discovery and development. Applications have ranged from defining mechanisms of disease to identifying drug repositioning opportunities. ... more

BIOPROCESSING

Feature Article

• Innovations in Membrane Filtration Tools
• Angelo DePalma, Ph.D.
• A n increasing number of pipeline drugs plus higher protein titers and cell densities are among the factors driving growth in protein purification. The U.S. market for protein separation systems was valued at approximately $3 billion in 2006, according to a report by Business Communications Company (BCC). ... more

Tutorial

• ApplicationNote: Dendritic Cell-Based Immunotherapeutics
• Fred Miesowicz, Ph.D.
• Personalized medicine represents a revolutionary concept for bringing safer, more targeted therapeutic agents to market. Whether tailored for individual patients or patient subpopulations, personalized drugs, cell-based therapeutics, and gene therapies will be able to target specific disease characteristics and pinpoint disease mechanisms in a particular patient, offering the potential for greater efficacy, earlier interventions, reduced risk of off-target drug effects, and new possibilities for satisfying unmet medical needs. ... more

• Enhancing Performance in Cell Culture
• James Babcock, Ph.D.
  Shawn Smith
  Hans Huttinga
  Debra Merrill
• Back in the 1950s, H. Eagle established that a mixture of amino acids, vitamins, cofactors, carbohydrates, and salts are necessary to support in vitro cell growth. Now, however, it’s well known that additional growth factors, hormones, and other biochemical compounds are required to optimally control and regulate cell growth. Traditionally, such supplementation has been achieved by adding animal serum (e.g., fetal bovine serum or FBS) at a concentration of 5–20%. ... more

CLINICAL RESEARCH & DIAGNOSTICS

Feature Article

• Advancing Cancer Vaccines
• Sue Pearson, Ph.D.
• The cadre of speakers extolling the virtues of therapeutic cancer vaccines at the recent “World Vaccine Congress” in Lyon, France, included Vincent Brichard, M.D., Ph.D., vp, cancer immunotherapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (www.gsk-bio.com). “Many would say that therapeutic cancer vaccines have experienced 20 years of failure, but I would say it has been 20 years of valuable learning that we are now ready to build on,” said Dr. Brichard. ... more

• Army Hospital Reborn as Bioscience Park
• Carol Potera
• The Colorado Science+Technology Park at Fitzsimons is a poster child for how communities can transform decommissioned military installations into profit-making enterprises. Originally an army hospital where soldiers had been treated since World War I, Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Denver was shut down 12 years ago. The Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority was subsequently formed to oversee the conversion of the site into a one-square-mile campus that focuses on human health, drug R&D, and patient care. ... more

visit the Career Center

• GEN Webinars: Transformative Technologies for Peptide Bioanalysis
• Date: Thursday, December 10, 2009
• LC/MS has established itself as the method of choice for analysis of therapeutic peptides because it ...learn more.

• Dec 15 2009
• GEN Webinars: Shifting Cell-Line Development into High Gear
• sponsored by Cyntellect

view all webinars

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INTERVIEW: (BIO) BANKING IN LUXEMBOURG - Interview with Robert Hewitt, Ph.D., CEO, Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg, and European Editor, Biopreservation and Biobanking (published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.) ...MORE

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