November 2007

CET-based Singulex announced on Tuesday that it had entered into collaboration with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to investigate protein biomarkers in human plasma. As part of the arrangement, Singulex will supply the drug maker with one of its Erenna™ analytical systems, and begin optimizing assays to detect specific molecular targets of interest.

It has been thought that plasma may contain many different types of protein biomarkers, biomolecules present in very low amounts that might serve as an early indicator of disease or indicate how well a medical treatment is working. Oftentimes these biomarkers might result from cellular damage, as injured cells spill their "guts" into the bloodstream. Since plasma is already a complex soup, these cellular proteins can be very difficult to detect.

The Errenna system uses a fluorescent sandwich ELISA, coupled to a sensitive digital detector, to measure the concentration of blood proteins over 6 orders of magnitude. The Wyeth collaboration is part of the Singulex Erenna Technology Access Program (ETAP), which provides interested customers with a test system and custom support.

(...more from singulex.com)

Posted by at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Missouri's Life Sciences Research Board (LSRB), subject of an enormous funding controversy in April, announced its inaugural round of research grants on Tuesday. After originally slated to give out over $35 million in life science funding, the LSRB had its budget and scope slashed to $13.1 million in animal and plant science projects by conservative opponents of embryonic stem cell research.

In the final budget set this spring, most of the funding was earmarked for Missouri's proposal for a new DOE renewable energy center. However, since our state found itself passed over for that project in June, there's been some question as to where the money would go.

The answer came out today: Ten research projects and four commercial ventures distributed throughout the state. Although I've yet to see the complete list, we know that St. Louis grabbed about a third of the funding, including two high-profile projects:

1. The consortium of academic and industrial partners spearheading the MO bioenergy proposal received nearly $3 million to continue pursuing additional federal grants.
2. The Danforth Plant Science Center received $1.14 million to develop new types of plastics from agricultural materials. The Center is partnering with an unnamed industrial partner for this project, though the Post-Dispatch identified it as big name MIT spin-off Metabolix, Inc.

(...more from stltoday.com)

Posted by at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This hit the AP wire earlier today and it's getting a lot of press. The same team that, five months ago, announced they had identified 5 genes in mice that could "switch on" stem cell-like characteristics in somatic cells, has reported that they've reproduced the results using human skin tissue. Some qualifications, especially related to the cancer risk, but still pretty cool.

(...more from stltoday.com)

Posted by at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the interesting tidbits that came up yesterday while I was looking into the "Grow Me State" Initiative was this: Despite significant research spending, since 2002 Washington University has spun out technology into only 4 startup companies.

Can you name them?

Posted by at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A number of local business leaders are buzzing about a report released this month by the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the news isn't good. According to the study by Professor Mark Parry at the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, Missouri lags far behind our neighbors in its support of early stage technology startups.

Due mostly to research at Washington University, our state has for the past few years ranked in the top 15 for federal research grants. However, we rank in the 20's for spinning off new technologies (from growmestate.org):

What's more, even though the amount of new in-state VC funds has tripled in the past 8 years, venture investment into MO technology companies has been on a downward trend relative to the rest of the country (from growmestate.org):

Some of this affects the entire Midwest, but other states seem to be doing a better job of responding to it. Here's the fact that's catching all of the headlines (and getting people worried): While the six states neighboring MO spent an average of $2.79 per capita on capital formation for technology development, our state committed only a measly $0.10. Ten cents!

In response to the report, members of the St. Louis and Kansas City regional growth commissions and various in-state VC firms are working to organize an initiative to increase state support of technology transfer. The full text of the "Grow Me State Initiative" is available on their website, but here are the highlights (via the Post-Dispatch):

• Establish a panel of top technology employers and financiers to advise the state on the five-year program.


• Provide a 25 percent tax credit on certain investments in startups. The tax credits would be capped at a total of $5 million a year.


• Establish a program that would award 25 grants a year, each $50,000, to help high-tech companies test the marketability of their ideas. The cost: $1.25 million a year.


• Create a "seed capital" program that would be run by a private company. It would make up to 20 investments per year, ranging from $250,000 to $750,000, directed to startups bringing high-tech products to market. The cost: $10 million per year.


• Encourage Missouri's 116 state and local pension funds to invest in high-tech companies within the state.

A couple thoughts:

1. I've heard this criticism of the research grant/ tech transfer figures before, and I think they're a little misleading. Again, most of Missouri's non-defense related federal research grants have gone to Wash U. Most of these, in turn, have gone towards genome sequencing, especially the Human Genome Project. Have these efforts resulted in technological advances that could be commercialized? Possibly. But much of it was service-oriented (sequence as much for as little, quickly), rather than focused on technology development, and many researchers get queezy over the idea of patenting and commercializing genomic information.
2. Along the same lines, money is great. Don't get me wrong, we need more early-stage funding, and the sorts of mechanisms this initiative includes would go a long way towards achieving parity with other states. However, there really does need to be a culture shift in the way we handle our academic research to really take full advantage of state venture funds. What about advising? What about community-building and networking? What about applied research grants? Some of this might arguably be better administered at the school or local level, rather than by the state. But if researchers don't have an interest in transfer, or don't know how, all of the money in the state treasury isn't going to help new tech ventures off of the ground
3. Every time I hear reports about our state competing with others for business development, I think of the clinical testing labs in Ireland, the manufacturing plants in India and China, and the R&D facilities in Singapore, and I wonder how much longer this is going to remain a regional race. Take this most recent study: Should we really be comparing ourselves to the VC output of Arkansas? Have the main technology centers left us that far behind? Who are they competing against? Not to say we should stop developing intellectually intensive industries, but maybe we're using the wrong metrics to measure our progress. Instead of aiming to be the next Research Triangle Park, maybe our region should be looking for something new?

(...more from stltoday.com)

Posted by at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Artist's rendering of the new facility

Thus, the big news: In a joint announcement, WashU and BJC Healthcare announced plans to construct an 11-story research tower in the center of the Barnes-Jewish campus to house the existing and future work of the Biomed21 initiative. The new building will be the largest yet constructed at the university and will house the relocated Department of Pathology and Immunology, headed by Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin, M.D., Ph.D., and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, headed by George A. Macones, M.D.

In addition, two floors of the building will be devoted to five new "Interdisciplinary Research Centers" focused on applying cross-disciplinary techniques to one of several human health disorders:

• The Center for Cancer Genomics, focusing on new genetic biomarkers for increased cancer risk
• The Center for the Investigation of Membrane Excitability Disorders (CIMED), investigating possible treatments for conditions like epilepsy, congenital cardiac dysfunction, and cystic fibrosis
• The Center for Women's Infectious Disease Research (cWIDR), aimed at uncovering the role of bacteria and viruses in UTI's, bladder dysfunction, and premature birth
• The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Diabetic Cardiovascular Disease, working towards a better understanding of diabetes and heart disease
• The Hope Center for Protein Folding and Neurodegeneration, studying new ways of diagnosing and treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease

The new complex will also house researchers from the Center for Genome Science, currently at 4444 Forest Park, and an administrative center for BJC.

But wait, there's more! WashU is also spending $10 million to construct a new computing complex for its world-leading genome sequencing center, designed to hold 120 computing racks for bioinformatics. In all, the new construction comes to over $125 million in new facilities

All of this is a big deal for a couple of reasons:

1. WashU has been criticized in the past (occasionally rightly so) over the seemingly slow pace of technology transfer out of the lab and into the clinic. The new center represents a huge investment in the type of research most likely to make that jump


2. The human cancer projects and new bioinformatics center signals a renewed commitment by the medical school to its Genome Sequencing Center, probably its most valuable research asset


3. The new 11-story structure will markedly alter that landscape of Barnes-Jewish. Where previously there was only a parking garage, now will sit a gleaming glass tower


4. This announcement, plus news of the $55M i-CARES renewable energy initiative in June, represents a $180M investment in the university's biotechnology facilities, a huge amount that should serve both the school and the region well in the years to come

Some questions still remain, such as: Can the university tech transfer office keep up with the new research output? How will this project impact patient care at Barnes? What will the university do with all of the newly-empty space? But overall, a pretty exciting set of circumstances.

(...more from stltoday.com)

Posted by at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

The Post-Dispatch reported today that Akermin, Inc., a Nidus Center client focusing on new biofuel cell technology, has raised an additional $1.5M in venture capital funding. The new money adds to the $3.5M obtained by the company earlier this year and closes its series A funding round. The company's investors this time around include Clayton-based Prolog Ventures, the St. Louis Arch Angels, Canadian firm Chrysalix Energy, and OnPoint Technologies, a VC group associated with the US Army.

(...more from akermin.com)

Posted by at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...and I'm back. It's been a busy month, and there have been plenty of excuses for my laziness-commitment equilibrium to tilt ever further to the bad side.

Anyhow, here's the cliff-note version of what's been in the news the past few weeks:

• Sigma-Aldrich Releases New Line of Proteomics Standards
• SLU Researchers Investigate Possible Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease
• Wash U BME Prof Delivers NIH Workshop
• Danforth Center Recieves $935k NSF Grant
• WashU Engineers Investigate Source Brain Folding
• Apath Receives $2.2M+ in NIH grants
• Covidien, BioSynthema struck deal to develop cancer drug
• Sangamo Biosciences and Sigma-Aldrich Demonstrate Stem Cell Technology

As long as the levees hold, real updates should start again this week. Good to see you agan, everyone.

Posted by at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)