Porter Novelli Integrates FischerHealth Division
Portner Novelli Life Sciences has integrated FisherHealth, a Los Angeles-based sister company, with both Porter Novelli groups now operating as one unit.
Under the Porter Novelli Life Sciences banner, the group provides communications services to companies specializing in science and enabling technologies, emerging pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics and health care information technology. This move reflects the increasing integration of health care, science and technology, and the need for new approaches that effectively reach important stakeholders.
The combined Porter Novelli Life Sciences team blends deep scientific and technical knowledge with creativity, passion and a broad understanding of the health care landscape. The Life Sciences division complements Porter Novelli's broad health care platform, which includes pharmaceuticals, consumer health and social marketing.
To preserve and protect the nimble, entrepreneurial business model of the organizations and continue to provide superior client service, the management team and staff of the two organizations remain intact. Carin Canale, president, Porter Novelli Life Sciences, will lead the combined group. Canale has provided senior level strategy and support to numerous life sciences companies ranging from pre-Series A financing to billion dollar public companies. She is a member of the board of directors for BIOCOM, Southern California's life science trade association, and the San Diego Venture Group. She frequently leads presentations and training on communications topics for these organizations and others such as the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and Healthcare Communicators.
Porter Novelli Life Sciences provides a broad range of services including communication planning and counseling, integrated marketing and public relations for companies focused on science and enabling technologies, medical devices, diagnostics, emerging pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals, and health care information technologies. Porter Novelli Life Sciences offices are located in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City and San Diego. Porter Novelli, the parent company, was founded in Washington, DC, in 1972 and is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC - News; www.omnicomgroup.com).
Real Estate Reports Released
Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial has released its quarterly report on both the industrial and office space markets.
Here is information on the second quarter of 2008 San Diego Industrial Market Trends
- The San Diego County's industrial market posted 817,547 SF of positive net absorption in the second quarter bringing the year-to-date net absorption total to just over 1.3 million SF.
- The slowdown in construction and new deliveries as well as steady demand resulted in a decrease in countywide vacancy rate to 7.0 percent from 7.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008 and 7.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.
- Asking rents for R&D/Flex and warehouse/distribution space softened during the second quarter of 2008 compared to a year ago while asking rents for manufacturing space remained the same at $0.82.
To view the full report, please click here (PDF).
Here is information on office market trends for the second quarter of 2008
- Weakening national economy and disarray of credit markets continued to take its toll on the San Diego's office market during the second quarter despite historically strong office market fundamentals within the San Diego.
- New construction completions and weaker than expected pre-leasing also contributed to continued negative absorption and to increase in countywide office vacancy rate to 14.1 percent, the highest level in more than a decade.
To view the full report, please click here (PDF).
Please click here for a list of recent transactions from Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial.
Profil Shows Posters at Diabetes Conference
Profil's investigators and researchers will have a total of seven poster presentations at this year's European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual conference in Rome. Profil welcomes the opportunity to meet with you while at the EASD annual conference as it would be an ideal time to get caught up on your clinical development plans for the balance of the year. Representatives from both our Neuss, Germany and San Diego, California clinical research units will be there and available to meet. If you wish to schedule a specific meeting time, please respond now so that we can assure that the appropriate people are available when it fits your schedule.
| Dr. Marcus Hompesch Profil Institute for Clinical Research (US) 619-254-6702 marcus.hompesch@profil-research.com | Professor Dr. Lutz Heinemann Profil Institute for Metabolic Research GmbH 49-2131-4018402 lutz.heinemann@profil-research.com |
Asterand Launches Research Catalog
Asterand plc is a leading global provider of standard and custom human tissue-based research services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in drug discovery and development. Our mission is to provide human tissues and services to accelerate the identification and validation of drug targets and enhance the selection of drug candidates with an increased likelihood of clinical success. Researchers have always known that animal models provide only a partial guide to drug response in humans. Thus, scientists are becoming increasingly reliant upon human tissue-based models to bridge this knowledge gap and improve decision making during the development of medicines for man.
Asterand's PhaseZERO® drug discovery services platform utilizes a human tissue approach to provide early indications of compound potency, efficacy, disposition and safety. In addition our immunohistochemistry and gene expression services groups are adept at providing studies to meet your target and biomarker validation needs. Our 2008/2009 catalog features standard assay formats to deliver quality research results quickly. In addition, we also have more than 10 years of experience in providing the top multinational pharmaceutical companies with custom human tissue-based solutions. A key advantage of working with Asterand is our extensive repository of biospecimens and our worldwide procurement network. These resources make it possible for us to readily provide a broad range of fresh, fixed or frozen human biomaterials for our research projects. In addition we offer cancer cell lines and human primary cells to meet your research needs. To learn more about human tissue and cell-based assays in various therapeutic areas, please visit www.asterand.com or e-mail at customerservice@asterand.com
IT Tips: How to Plan your IT Expenses
- Create a master plan for technology, just as you would draw up a business plan, a budget or a marketing plan.
- Design the plan so that it supports your business strategy and goals. Use it to guide technology buying decisions.
- Think of technology purchases as investments, not costs. And, remember, when you have an overall plan, your company avoids wasting money on unnecessary purchases or quick fixes.
- Start by determining your company's needs. Look at what problems need to be solved and how technology can help.
- Get expert help to guide you. Check your Yellow Pages under "Computers-System Designers and Consultants," or ask your local chamber of commerce. As always, get references.
For more Tech Tip visit our blog at http://perfectintegration-keith.blogspot.com/ or visit our website for more information: www.perfectintegration.com Contact Keith The Director of Business Development @ (760)500-6043 for more info.
Non-Profit: CIRM Gives $59M in Grants to Promising Stem Cell Researchers
The next generation of stem cell researchers in California got a $59 million boost with New Faculty II Awards flowing to 23 promising California researchers who are early in their careers. The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC), the 29 member governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state stem cell agency, approved the grants at a recent meeting.
Investigators funded by these grants receive salary and research support for five years, creating a stable environment for building innovative research programs at a point in their careers when funding can be difficult to obtain. The average age of a first-time recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health is 42 to 44 years.
The statewide ballot measure, which provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, was overwhelmingly approved by voters, and called for the establishment of an entity to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other vital research opportunities. To date, the CIRM governing board has approved 229 research and facility grants totaling more than $614 million, making CIRM the largest source of funding for embryonic and pluripotent stem cell research in the world. For more information, please visit www.cirm.ca.gov
Non-Profit: CIRM New Faculty Grants Awarded to UCSD Researchers
Adding $11.5 million to the more than $20 million in funding that researchers at the University of California, San Diego have received to date from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), four New Faculty grants were awarded today to UC San Diego researchers and physicians.
CIRM's governing board, the 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC), this morning announced that 12 scientists and 11 physician scientists in California will receive New Faculty awards, which fund promising M.D. and Ph.D. scientists in the critical early stages of their careers as independent investigators. A total of $59 million in funding for 23 researchers was approved at today's ICOC meeting, chosen from 55 applications received by CIRM from 32 institutions.
The UC San Diego researchers represent diversity in background and research focus, which ranges from maternal and infant health to cancer and skin disease. The scientists, the amount of their New Faculty awards and their research areas are:
Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and Director for Stem Cell Research at Moores UCSD Cancer Center ($3,065,572).
The aim of Jamieson's research is to develop highly active stem cell therapy that may halt progression to acute leukemia in a form of blood cancer called myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs.)
Mana Parast, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in UC San Diego School of Medicine's Department of Pathology ($3,078,580). Parast's research targets the placenta for stem cell therapy, looking at generating trophoblast stem (TS) cells, the primary cell type that carries out major functions of the placenta such as establishing blood supply from mother to fetus.
Benjamin Yu, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Dermatology in the UC San Diego School of Medicine ($3,056,649). Yu's research focuses on adult stem cells that are already present in our bodies but for unknown reasons lie dormant.
Shyni Varghese, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering in the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering ($2,300,569). Varghese will explore embryonic stem cell (ESC)-based transplantation therapy for treating muscle wasting, focusing on the most common form of the disorder, called Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), characterized by progressive skeletal muscle degeneration in young children.
In addition, Bing Ren, Ph.D., associate member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and associate professor in the UC San Diego Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, received a New Faculty grant, awarded to the Ludwig Institute, for $1,726,564.
Ren will study transcription factors that are essential for embryonic stem cells to maintain their identity or differentiate along specific lineages.
This round of grants brings the total awarded by CIRM to UC San Diego to $32,853,328. In addition, the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine (SDCRM) - comprised of UC San Diego, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, The Scripps Research Institute and The Burnham Institute - received a $43 million facilities grant from CIRM earlier this year to help build a joint stem cell research facility.
Non-Profit: Scripps Researchers Study Cell Protein Transport
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have determined the structure of the protective protein coat surrounding intracellular vesicles or sacs that are needed to transport proteins out of the cell. Understanding this structure could shed critically needed light on many loss-of-function diseases such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity and cystic fibrosis and lead to potential new therapies.
The study was published in the August 8, 2008 edition (Volume 133, Issue X) of the journal Cell.
The study shows a unique COPII coat complex with the ability to expand to accommodate the transport of a variety of different sized protein cargo from the endoplasmic reticulum, the convoluted network of tubes within the cell responsible for folding and transport of proteins that are delivered to the cell surface and to plasma.
The study, conducted in collaboration with Scripps Research scientists Bridget Carragher and Clint Potter also of the National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy (NRAMM), shows for the first time the adaptive layer responsible for recognizing protein cargo. This interacts with an outer cage lattice that contains an unanticipated flexible hinge region that can direct the expansion of the cage that surrounds the vesicle to hold large molecules such as bone precursors and cholesterol rich fat particles that are particularly sensitive to this function. Inherited malfunctions of this mechanism result in a number of diseases.
The Scripps Research Institute is one of the world's largest independent, non-profit biomedical research organizations, at the forefront of basic biomedical science that seeks to comprehend the most fundamental processes of life. Scripps Research is internationally recognized for its discoveries in immunology, molecular and cellular biology, chemistry, neurosciences, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and synthetic vaccine development. Established in its current configuration in 1961, it employs approximately 3,000 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, scientific and other technicians, doctoral degree graduate students, and administrative and technical support personnel. Scripps Research is headquartered in La Jolla, California. It also includes Scripps Florida, whose researchers focus on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and technology development. Currently operating from temporary facilities in Jupiter, Scripps Florida will move to its permanent campus by 2009.
Scripps Researchers Find Pluripotent Stem Cell Gene Data
An international team of researchers led by Professor Jeanne Loring, Ph.D., of The Scripps Research Institute has developed a novel method to identify pluripotent stem cells - cells that can differentiate into multiple distinct cell types. These pluripotent cells hold great promise for drug development and treatment of many devastating disorders.
The team's research appears in this week's online issue of the journal Nature.
Using a collection of about 150 human cell samples, the researchers created a database of global gene expression profiles using technology developed by Illumina, Inc. (San Diego). The team discovered that all of the pluripotent stem cell lines showed remarkable similarity in the analysis, while other cell types were more diverse. Further analysis revealed a protein-protein network common to pluripotent cells, pointing to what may be one of the key building blocks of the machinery that enables these transformative cells to differentiate into multiple cell types.
"Our results offer a new strategy for classifying stem cells by their molecular machinery," says Loring, who is director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Scripps Research. "We show that pluripotence and self-renewal are under tight control by specific molecular networks."
With rapid advances in the field of stem cells - including methods to induce pluripotence in once fully differentiated cell types, such as skin cells - the question of how to define pluripotence has become increasingly critical, especially for human cell lines, which cannot be treated as those from other species. Pluripotence in mouse cell lines, for example, has been defined experimentally, as the ability to give rise to the tissues of a mouse when injected into a mouse embryo.
Non-Profit: Karin Eastham Steps Down from Burnham Institute for Medical Research
Burnham Institute for Medical Research has announced that Karin Eastham, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Trustees has resigned effective September 30.
"Karin has made significant contributions to the Institute leading our administrative support team over the past four years. She was instrumental in establishing the relationship with our Florida partners and creating our bicoastal operation," stated John Reed, President and CEO. "We wish Karin continued success as she pursues new challenges and opportunities."
The Burnham Institute for Medical Research is dedicated to revealing the fundamental molecular causes of disease and devising the innovative therapies of tomorrow. Burnham is one of the fastest growing research institutes in the country with operations in California and Florida. The Institute ranks among the top four institutions nationally for NIH grant funding and among the top 25 organizations worldwide for its research impact. Burnham utilizes a unique, collaborative approach to medical research and has established major research programs in cancer, neurodegeneration, diabetes, infectious and inflammatory and childhood diseases. The Institute is known for its world-class capabilities in stem cell research and drug discovery technologies. Burnham is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation. For more information, please visit www.burnham.org.