Russo Partners With Obama design firm Blue State Digital
Russo Partners has formed an alliance with design Blue State Digital to help healthcare companies worldwide build and mobilize Internet communities. Through a combined service offering, Russo and Blue State plan to develop and implement integrated online, offline and viral communications campaigns to drive businesses' product marketing, business development and fundraising initiatives. The offering is geared for biotech, medtech, diagnostics, pharma, specialty pharma, healthcare services and healthcare IT companies.
BSD has helped millions of people to take action online as the agency managed Obama for America's extensive online fundraising, constituency building and peer-to-peer networking initiatives, all of which helped to create momentum for the President-Elect's successful campaign in 2008's election. The company's proprietary software as well as its online engagement strategies helped to create an unprecedented online campaign at www.BarackObama.com. Visit www.bluestatedigital.com for more information about the agency.
In other Russo Partners news, the company has landed device firm CorNova as a client. For more information about Russo Partners, visit www.russopartnersllc.com.
Mentus Launches New Web Site
Mentus Life Science, the full-service marketing agency catering to the Biotech and Medical Device industries has launched its new website, www.mentuslifescience.com
Grubb & Ellis|BRE Commercial Releases Real Estate Reports
Grubb & Ellis|BRE Commercial has released the following reports on the San Diego real estate market.
According to the firm, it remains to be seen how deeply San Diego will be affected by a deteriorating economy and uncertainty in the financial markets, yet key players can take advantage of near-term softness in San Diego's industrial market, which is destined to rebound over time by securing the prime location in this coastal gateway market. Countywide, asking rents are expected to remain flat and absorption rates are forecasted to continue at their current pace, outperforming markets of similar size nationally. The overall 2009 forecast for San Diego's industrial leasing market is favorable with many market indicators providing possible opportunities for landlords either currently in the market or looking to enter the San Diego market, the company says.
Please click here for information on San Diego Industrial Market Trends.
Industrial Market Trends San Diego
Fourth Quarter 2008
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Office Market Trends San Diego
Fourth Quarter 2008
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Please click here for information on San Diego Office Market Trends.
Please click here to see the firm's forecast for 2009.
DBC Construction Merges with TSA Contracting
DBC Construction, specializing in technically complex projects for the biotech/pharmaceutical, microelectronics and telecommunications industries, has merged with TSA Contracting Inc., a San Diego-based firm which has completed more than several million square feet in high profile local and national projects.
The newly-expanded company will operate as TSA Contracting, Inc., with DBC serving as its biotech division. Day-to-day operations will be overseen by Terry S. Arnett, president of the firm.
According to the company, this merger creates a multi-faceted San Diego-based general contracting firm servicing the gamut of market segments -- among them retail, hospitality, industrial, historic retrofits, Indian gaming facilities, biotech, telecommunications, education and health services.
TSA's experience encompasses Class A steel-framed, wood-framed and concrete tilt-up ground-up projects, as well as significant tenant improvements. Its expertise encompasses preconstruction services, design-build services, subcontractor analysis, construction management and cost controls as well. Included in its highly trained staff, TSA has incorporated LEED-accredited professionals-further establishing itself as a leader in the promotion of responsible green building technology.
TSA has completed work for some of the city's more high profile projects omc;idomg The Ivy Hotel, the historical renovation of the Showley Brothers Candy Factory adjacent to Petco Park, the upscale new Crescent Heights restaurant, and several national law firms. DBC's portfolio includes construction at noted facilities such as The San Diego Science Center, The Scripps Research Institute, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and USD, and is currently under contract to both SAFC Pharma which is a FDA validated cGMP project and Histogen, Inc.
Fish & Richardson Elevates 27 Attorneys To Principal
Fish & Richardson P.C. has named 27 attorneys as principals of the firm, including two from the firm's San Diego office.
Justin Barnes and Seth Sproul were named principals in Fish's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group in the firm's San Diego office.
Fish & Richardson is a leading global law firm practicing in the areas of intellectual property, litigation, and corporate law. With more than 500 attorneys and technology specialists in 11 offices in the United States, and an office in Germany. The San Diego office has 50 attorneys.
Knobbe Martens Expands With New Attorneys, Offices
While the current state of the economy is putting pressure on many firms to downsize, Knobbe Martens has steadily grown over the past three years to keep pace with an increase in business, the firm says. The firm opened the Washington, D.C., office in November of 2007 and the Seattle, Wash. office in February of this year.
This fall will mark the addition of 45 new associates in the firm's Orange County, San Diego, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Riverside, and Seattle offices, bringing the total attorney and scientist count to 265. Knobbe Martens has maintained steady growth with an acceptance rate at or above 90 percent each year by their summer associates who are offered positions.
Cooley Elects Seven New Partners
Cooley Godward Kronish LLP announced that it has elected seven attorneys to join the Firm's partnership,. The newly elected partners are: Mazda K. Antia, Wendy Davis, Erik S. Edwards, Jeffrey M. Gutkin, Chrystal N. Jensen, Bonnie Weiss McLeod and Ian O'Donnell. Mazda K Anitia will join the firm's San Diego office. Antia is a litigation attorney centered on healthcare litigation, complex business litigation and commercial class action litigation.
Cooley Godward Kronish's 725 attorneys represent clients across a broad array of dynamic industry sectors, including clean tech, technology, life sciences, real estate, financial services, retail and energy. The firm has full-service offices in major business and technology centers nationwide: Palo Alto, CA, New York, NY, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA, Reston, VA, Broomfield, CO, Washington, DC, Boston, MA and Seattle, WA.
MicroConstants Inc Announces Promotions
MicroConstants Inc., a Pharmacokinetically-Based CRO, announced the promotions of David Beyerlein, to Vice President of Global Operation and Jose Buenviaje, Vice President of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Compliance.
The promotion of David Beyerlein to VP of Global Operation reflects MicroConstants' expansion into Beijing, China. In June 2007, MicroConstants established its subsidiary MicroConstants China Co. Ltd. in Beijing to bring U.S. FDA GLP compliant bioanalytical capability to China. This was done in an effort to meet growing global outsourcing needs.
David Beyerlein will oversee daily laboratory operations of the San Diego facility as well as provide supervisory guidance to the Beijing facility operation. The Beijing facility is on schedule to be U.S. FDA GLP compliant by the end of 2008.
MicroConstants, Inc. is a contract research organization (CRO) providing high quality DMPK and GLP bioanalytical service to the pharmaceutical industry. Established in 1998 in San Diego, MicroConstants has provided pharmacokinetics and GLP bioanalysis services to over 100 customers worldwide.
UCSD AIDS Research Center Requests Equipment
The UCSD AIDS Research Institute (ARI), under the direction of Dr. Douglas Richman, includes more than 230 UCSD faculty members, representing 30 departments. The lab needs your help in the form of used equipment.
The ARI serves as the umbrella organization for all HIV/AIDS research and clinical care at UCSD. The ARI is unfunded and receives no support other than donations. The UCSD Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), also directed by Dr. Richman and funded by the National Institutes of Health, is a key component of the UCSD ARI.
Please read the following information from Kimberly A. Schafer, administrative director:
Our laboratories are badly in need of equipment upgrades. We are unable to purchase needed laboratory equipment with our NIH funding. As an example, our flow cytometer was made in 1989. We would benefit greatly from the donation of used laboratory equipment that is in good working order and is relatively recently manufactured. As a 501(c)3 organization, equipment donations will be tax-deductible for the giving organization.
The CFAR actively collaborates with investigators at our neighboring institutions and counts the Salk Institute, The Scripps Research Institute and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology as full member institutions. The CFAR includes five basic science core laboratories, each engaged in cutting-edge translational research. The CFAR laboratories include genomics, flow cytometry, viral pathogenesis, molecular biology, as well as protein expression and proteomics. Our HIV/AIDS researchers are among the best in the world. In a recent edition, Science named Dr. Richman as the most widely cited author in the entire field of HIV/AIDS research, based on how often his pioneering work is referred to in papers published by his peers.
We would like to request that private companies consider donating their used laboratory equipment to us as they upgrade their existing equipment. In terms of purchasing equipment with NIH funds, we are faced with a true dilemma. In recent years, NIH funding has been flat at best, even not accounting for inflation. Our Center for AIDS Research (as well as the 18 other CFARs located in the US) have faced annual budget cuts of 1-3%. Given the increases in staff salaries and the inflationary costs of lab supplies and basic needs, our Center has been faced with scrambling to simply maintain our world class productivity in the face of an expanding epidemic. We have not had funds available to purchase any new critically needed equipment. We are extremely fortunate at UCSD to not be wanting for great minds or innovative ideas, but we are badly in need of the equipment to support our investigators. Alternative mechanisms to obtain critically needed equipment include our current request for donations of excessed equipment from industry for our non-profit institution.
Please contact me for more information.
Kimberly A. Schafer, MS
Administrative Director
AIDS Research Institute
Center for AIDS Research
University of California, San Diego
(858) 534-5545
Salk Institute Launches Center for Aging Research with $5 Million Donation
The Salk Institute received a $5 million gift from the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, becoming the third institution (with Harvard University and MIT) to receive major Glenn funding for studying the molecular basis of aging.
The Glenn Foundation Center for Aging Research will draw from nine of Salk's leading laboratories specializing in genetic analysis, stem cell biology and metabolism research to address the overarching goal of defining a healthy lifespan, or healthspan, and answer one of the most elusive questions in biology: Is there a defined biological process of aging that is universal to all organisms?
While scientists have learned that stem cells' capacity to self-renew and differentiate into functioning cells dramatically decrease during the aging process, they still do not know how or why. The Glenn Center's Stem Cell Group, led by Fred H. Gage, professor in the Laboratory of Genetics, studies the specific molecular components associated with aging in stem cells. These studies can help elucidate the procedure stem cells establish to stay healthy - which could explain why and how humans age.
Likewise, the Metabolism Group, led by Ron Evans, professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory, seeks to understand the molecular underpinnings associated with decreased metabolism and the aging process. Specifically, the group looks at how aging affects metabolism across key organ systems and attempts to explain how restrictive diets can alter the expression of different genetic programs.
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to fundamental discoveries in the life sciences, the improvement of human health and the training of future generations of researchers. Jonas Salk, M.D., whose polio vaccine all but eradicated the crippling disease poliomyelitis in 1955, founded the Institute in 1960 with a gift of land from the City of San Diego and the financial support of the March of Dimes.
NIH Awards $16.6m UCSD Researcher for New Epigenome Center
Bing Ren, Ph.D., associate professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and head of the Laboratory of Gene Regulation at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, was recently selected as one of four grant recipients in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap’s Epigenomics Program, an initiative developed to study stable genetic modifications that affect and alter the behavior of genes across the human genome.
The five-year, $16.6 million grant will support The San Diego Epigenome Center at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego, one of four centers in the country called Reference Epigenome Mapping Centers (REMC) as part of an overall five-year, $190 million NIH program. Ren’s grant will support interdisciplinary work to comprehensively map elements of the human epigenome, which Ren describes as “like an added dimension to the DNA string.”
The epigenome plays a pivotal role in cellular differentiation, tissue formation and aging by regulating the transcriptional potential of the genome, specifying when and where genes are activated or expressed. Epigenetic processes, such as modifications to DNA-associated proteins called histones, control genetic activity by changing the three-dimensional structure of chromosomes. Diet and exposure to environmental chemicals throughout all stages of human development, among other factors, can cause such epigenetic changes that may turn on or turn off certain genes.
Scripps Research Team Develops New Antibody Technique
Antibodies are the attack dogs of the immune system, fighting off bacterial and other invaders. Massive libraries of synthetic antibodies that mimic this natural response, for instance to attack proteins critical to a particular cancer, are also available, but current techniques have allowed scientists to screen these antibodies for effectiveness against only a very limited number of disease-causing agents.
In hopes of more fully tapping the libraries' potential, a group of Scripps Research Institute scientists, led by Scripps Research President Richard A. Lerner, M.D., has for the first time developed a new screening technique that enables antibody screening against equally massive libraries of targets. This technique makes it possible to accelerate searches for new treatments against cancer and other diseases.
The work is being reported in an Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS).
San Diego Institute for Policy Research Now Housed at National University System
The San Diego Institute for Policy Research is now affiliated with the National University System, under the official title: the National University System & San Diego Institute for Policy Research
This organization says new partnership will mean access to experts throughout the system, opportunities to explore more policy and economic topics, and the ability to continue to grow and develop the Institute.
Their new Web site is at www.nusystem.org.
Combined Health Agency To Honor Heroes March 19
On Thursday, March 19, 2009, Combined Health Agencies will honor 24 local businesses, doctors, researchers and influential individuals on behalf of the agencies to which they have devoted their time and talents. The 15th annual Health Hero Awards will be held at the Prado in Balboa Park at 7:30 a.m. The honorees are recognized for the contributions they have made to the local health industry through their community activism. Bill Menish will emcee the event sponsored by Aflac, Sanofi-Aventis, BIOCOM and Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center. For more information, please visit www.combinedhealth.org or contact Courtney Walsh at (858) 636-4158.
Scripps Scientists Find Drug Lessens Response to Flu
A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has shown that a drug that acts on a specific aspect of the immune system – rather than by killing the virus itself – may mitigate the virulence of influenza infection. The drug impacts the cytokine response, the body’s signature immune reaction to influenza infection that can itself be lethal.
The study, led by Scripps Research Professors Michael Oldstone, M.D., and Hugh Rosen, M.D., Ph.D., is being published in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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 in Jupiter, Florida, whose researchers focus on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and technology development. Scripps Florida has now completed its move into its permanent campus, and dedication ceremonies for the new campus will be held February 26-28, 2009.
Scripps and GNF Scientists Publish Autoimmune Data
Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have found a specific mutation that leads to the development of severe autoimmune kidney disease in mice. The research sheds light on the basic biology of the immune system, as well as on the effectiveness of drugs such as the anti-leukemia medication Gleevec/Imatinib.
The study was published in the January 16, 2009 edition (Volume 33, No. 1) of the journal Molecular Cell.
In the study, the scientists identify a disease-causing mutation in a binding structure common to dozens of kinases—specific enzymes, especially important in cell signaling, that can modify other proteins by transferring a phosphate group onto them. The mutation reduced the activity of an important kinase, Lyn (a member of the Src family, which modulates important cellular processes including cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation).
The study was supported by the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation and by the National Institutes of Health.
Scripps Scientists Find Cartilage Degeneration Origins
A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has found an important link between a protein that declines with age and the development of osteoarthritis, the most common disease of aging affecting nearly 27 million Americans. The finding opens the door to developing effective new treatments for osteoarthritis. Currently, no treatment for this degenerative disease exists apart from palliative drugs for pain and inflammation.
The scientists describe their work in an Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the study, the team shows how the loss of the protein HMGB2, found in the surface layer of joint cartilage, leads to the progressive deterioration of the cartilage that is the hallmark of osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis typically begins with a disruption of the surface layer of cartilage. The cartilage surface layer, called the superficial zone, is the most important functionally of the four layers of cartilage present in joints. In normal joints the cartilage surface is perfectly smooth, enabling joints to slide across one another without friction. Once the cartilage of the superficial zone starts to deteriorate, though, osteoarthritis sets in, triggering an irreversible process that eventually leads to the loss of underlying layers of cartilage until bone begins to grind painfully against bone. Osteoarthritis most commonly affects the spine, temporomandibular joints, shoulders, hands, hips and knees.
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, and by grants from the Arthritis National Research Foundation and the Japan Orthopaedics and Traumatology Foundation, Inc.
Genome Study Reveals New Clues Regarding Mystery Childhood Illness:
A study looking at the entire human genome has identified new genes that appear to be involved in making some children more susceptible to Kawasaki disease (KD), a serious illness that often leads to coronary artery disease, according to a new international study published in PLoS Genetics. This is the first genetic study of an infectious disease to look at the whole of the genome, rather than just selected genes.
Researchers from UC San Diego School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics joined an international research team, including colleagues from The University of Western Australia, the Genome Institute of Singapore, Emma Children’s Hospital, The Netherlands, and Imperial College London, UK. The group studied naturally occurring genetic variation in almost 900 cases of Kawasaki disease from these countries. UC San Diego coordinated the U.S. genetics effort, collecting DNA samples from around the country.
Kawasaki disease is an unusual and serious illness of young children that causes high fever, rash, red eyes and lips, swollen glands, and swollen hands and feet with peeling skin. The disease also causes damage of the coronary arteries in a quarter of untreated children and may increase the risk of atherosclerosis in early adulthood. The cause of Kawasaki disease is unknown, but it seems to be due to an infection in susceptible children. There is no diagnostic test for Kawasaki disease, and current treatment fails to prevent coronary damage in at least one in 10-20 children and death in one in 1,000 children.
This study found that genes involved in cardiovascular function and inflammation may be particularly important and some seem to function together. The authors consider that these findings will lead to new diagnostics and better treatment and may be informative about adult cardiovascular disease as well.
For more information visit: www.pediatrics.ucsd.edu/kawasaki
Clinical Trial at UCSD Tests Treatment for Heart Failure with Adult Stem Cells
The UCSD Medical Center is the first hospital in California to enroll patients in a multi-center clinical trial, sponsored by Angioblast Systems Inc., to examine the safety and feasibility of administering adult stems cells to treat congestive heart failure. The cells, derived from bone marrow, are injected by a catheter directly into the heart muscle. Sixty patients will be recruited for this clinical trial through UC San Diego Medical Center and hospitals nationwide.
“This Phase 2 clinical trial will evaluate whether or not adult stems cells can be targeted to the heart muscle to repair and help improve cardiac function in patients with severe heart disease,” said Anthony DeMaria, M.D., director of the Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center at UC San Diego Medical Center. “The hope is to identify an effective, minimally-invasive treatment for the growing numbers of patients in the U.S. who suffer from advanced heart failure and have no other treatment alternatives.”
The stem cells used in this clinical trial are derived from the bone marrow of an adult donor. Angioblast Systems Inc. of New York has identified a population of stem cells which may stimulate the regrowth of a patient’s own heart muscle cells and blood vessels. This cell type is selected and prepared from a universal donor, expanded into large numbers, and injected into a recipient. The cells can be used in unrelated recipients because they do not activate the immune system.
The Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center at UC San Diego unites leaders in the fields of cardiovascular research, cardiology, and cardiothoracic surgery in a comprehensive approach to battle heart disease and stroke, the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Such interdisciplinary cooperation enables more patients to participate in clinical trials and to benefit sooner from new methods of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
CIRM Renews UCSD Stem Cell Training Program
The stem cell research training program at the University of California, San Diego has been awarded conditional funding of $3.89 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to continue its training of graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows across myriad medical and scientific disciplines.
In light of California’s current financial situation, CIRM’s governing board – the 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC) – voted to support this and 14 other Research Training Program II awards, pending future financial availability. The award will bring the total CIRM funding to UC San Diego to nearly $40 million since grants were first awarded in late 2005.
Under the direction of Larry Goldstein, PhD, professor of cellular and molecular medicine, the program will continue to provide interdisciplinary training in stem cell biology and medicine for scientists enrolled at UC San Diego’s School of Medicine, Division of Biological Sciences, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Jacob’s School of Engineering.
In addition to training in basic stem cell research methodology in the Core Stem Cell Facility, located on the UC San Diego campus, the program also offers classes in the ethics of stem cell research. This unique research ethics component includes trainees from the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine – comprised of UC San Diego, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, The Scripps Research Institute and The Burnham Institute.
The ICOC also announced that 11 universities received funding for CIRM’s “Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program” that will provide opportunities for motivated undergraduate and masters-level graduate students in molecular life sciences to obtain vital hands-on experience in laboratory techniques used in state-of-the-art stem cell research. UC San Diego will partner with three of them – San Diego State University, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and California State University, San Marcos – by providing hands-on training in research labs at UC San Diego.
The ICOC gave tentative approval for total of $58 million in funding for 26 grants to support California’s future work force in stem cell research, pending a future decision by the governing board to move forward with funding.
Novel Prostate Cancer Vaccine Taking Aim at Cancer Cell “Sweet Spot”
Molecules of sugar sitting on the surface of cancer cells are keys to the development of a new vaccine aimed at both treating and stopping the spread of certain types of cancers called carcinomas, which include prostate, breast, ovarian and lung, among others. Armed with a new two-year grant for $600,000 from the Gateway for Cancer Research, an Illinois-based philanthropic foundation, immunologist Alessandra Franco, M.D., Ph.D., and her co-workers at the Moores Cancer Center at UCSD are hoping to develop a low-cost immunotherapy for prostate carcinoma that may also have use against a variety of other carcinomas as well.
Franco, adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, and her co-workers have spent the last decade proving that the immune system's destructive, or "killer," T-cells can recognize sugars on tumor cell surfaces. Her laboratory pioneered and developed the notion that conventional T-cells recognize not only peptides, or pieces of proteins, but also sugars, specifically small carbohydrates called tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACA) expressed on carcinoma cell surfaces. Ideally, this recognition enables the T-cell to attach to and kill the cancer cell.
The researchers have designed "glycopeptides," compounds in which sugars are linked to peptides that are recognized by T-cells. When given as part of a vaccine therapy, these glycopeptides rouse immune system T-cells into recognizing TACA on tumor cell surfaces, attacking and killing the cancer cells. Her research team has already shown that both normal mice and mice with tumors that were vaccinated could successfully generate carbohydrate-specific T-cells that could kill tumors expressing the same carbohydrate molecule.
Cancer vaccines have had a mixed record of success at best. Most immunotherapies have focused on revving up immune system antibodies to recognize proteins on tumor cells.
The Moores UCSD Cancer Center is one of the nation's 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, combining research, clinical care and community outreach to advance the prevention, treatment and cure of cancer. For more information, visit www.cancer.ucsd.edu.
Genome Scan Enrollment Extended
The public’s opportunity to take part in a landmark personal genetic testing study has been extended, as Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) has announced a prolonged enrollment period, running from January through February 28, 2009.
This first-of-its-kind research study will assess the behavioral impact that personal genetic testing has on adults 18 and older who choose to receive such screenings to identify their potential risk for developing certain diseases. The study’s enrollment period initially ran from October through December 2008 and has been extended based on strong public reaction. The general public can find more information about the study at www.navigenics.com/scripps.
Sponsored by STSI, the study aims to find out if participating in personal genomic testing will improve health by motivating people to make positive lifestyle changes, such as exercising, eating healthy and quitting smoking, as well as decisions to seek further medical evaluation and preventive strategies. The study will offer personal genetic scans to up to 10,000 participants and will assess changes in their behaviors over a 20-year period.
Co-sponsors of the study include Navigenics Inc. of Redwood Shores, Calif.; Affymetrix of Santa Clara, Calif.; and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash. All study participants will receive a scan of their genome and a detailed analysis of their genetic risk for more than 20 health conditions that may be changed by lifestyle, including diabetes, obesity, heart attack and some forms of cancer.
Affymetrix will scan each participant’s genome and Navigenics will interpret the scan results and offer personalized guidance on steps to lessen the chances of negative health impact. This information will be available to participants on Navigenics’ secure Web site. Each participant will be able to enter and store clinical and lifestyle information in an individual Microsoft HealthVaultTM account, allowing the participant to manage his or her personal health information in one location and share it, as desired, with health care providers or others they trust to help make more informed health care decisions.
Lifestyle changes will be tracked via participants’ self-reported health assessment questionnaires, including a baseline assessment and subsequent self-reported assessments at three- and 12-month intervals after receiving gene scan results. Researchers will also ask participants to conduct periodic health surveys over the next 20 years to assess their behaviors longitudinally. A complete database of genomic and clinical information will be assembled at the Scripps Genomic Medicine program.
A number of safeguards will be in place to protect the privacy of participants’ genetic information. Traditional identifying information for participants’ saliva samples and self-reported health assessment questionnaires will be de-identified, encoded, encrypted and kept in a secure database.
Researchers will use the genetic variations found in the study as a tool to continue to study genes linked to many diseases. The study affords researchers the opportunity to better understand ways to prevent, diagnose and treat disease.