Mentus Launches “GOGREEN” Communications for Annual Reports
Mentus, a San Diego based marketing communications and design agency, announced that its “GoGreenä” communications system has been implemented with the 2008 annual reports of LEAP Wireless, BioMed Realty and ExtraSpace Storage..
The GoGreen communications system for annual reports, utilizes either print, online or a combination of both to increase message impact, while supporting a company’s social and environmental goals by saving money and resources. Examples of GoGreen annual report systems can be seen at www.gogreen.mentus.com.
What Southern California Life Sciences and Elephants Have in Common
Elephants enjoying their new enclosure at the San Diego Zoo
Southern California’s life science workers might be surprised to know that Genentech, Genoptix, Idec and Merck have something in common with the elephants at the San Diego Zoo.
All the people who work at those facilities in Southern California, as well as the zoo elephants, are experiencing the architectural work of Ferguson, Pape, Baldwin Architects in San Diego.
Ken Baldwin, the principal architect on the project, said his firm began working on the conceptual design of the $50 million Elephant Odyssey in 2006. The exhibit, which spans three acres, opened earlier this year.
“While it wasn’t the firm’s first zoo project – they had done work previously with CRES at the San Diego Wild Animal Park – it was certainly was our first elephant enclosure,” Baldwin said. But it had many elements similar to work the firm has done for life science companies, he said.
“The USDS and FDA are involved with the zoo just as they are with the life science companies on some regulatory and environmental issues, such as quarantining animals, maintaining appropriate separation of the animals and ensuring air flows don’t mix. That sure sounds like bioscience to me,” Baldwin said.
But there were unique elements to the project, too, such as designing it so that there would be good viewing opportunities for the guests and giving them a sense of being close to the animals while still making it a safe environment, he said.
Throughout the lengthy planning and construction process, there were no meetings in which Baldwin said he and his colleagues weren’t learning something fascinating, much like when working with life science companies.
For more photographs of Elephant Odyssey, visit the company’s website.
Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects designed the San Diego Zoo's Elephant Odyssey
Team from Scripps helped identify potent new weapons
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla have helped identify two rare and potent human antibodies against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Their discovery, published in the journal Science, could finally reveal a chink in the armor of the deadly virus and lead to development of an effective, broad-based AIDS vaccine. The Union-Tribune ran a front page story on the team’s work.
UC San Diego’s Bannister Family House Launches Quarter-Million Dollar “Matching Gift Challenge”
The Bannister Family House at UC San Diego Medical Center is celebrating 15 years of service to families in need with a match challenge. For the first time ever, UC San Diego Medical Center has developed a match challenge for gifts directed to the Bannister Family House on a dollar-for-dollar basis up to $250,000. The house, in Hillcrest, is a place where families who have a loved one in the medical center, can stay in a home-like environment that is a retreat from the stress of a constant bedside vigil.
UCSD AIDS Research Institute Hosts Fundraising Dance Performance
On Thursday, Oct. 1, at 6:30 p.m., UCSD AIDS Research Institute will host an evening of dance called Investigating Motion. Tickets for the event at The Abbey, at
2825 Fifth Avenuein Hillcrest, are $25.
Online registration is available for the performance featuring Butterworth Dance, Malashock Dance, UCSD faculty member, Eric Geiger, and somebodies dance theater. Your donation of $25 or more includes all performances plus a reception with gourmet appetizers, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages. Well drinks will be available for purchase. For more information, please visit the UCSD AIDS Research Institute Web site or contact Kimberly Schafer, Administrative Director, AIDS Research Institute, University of California, San Diego, (858) 534-5545, ari@ucsd.edu.
Malignant Signature May Help Identify Patients Likely to Respond to Therapy
A molecular signature that helps account for the aggressive behavior of a variety of cancers such as pancreatic, breast and melanoma may also predict the likelihood of successful treatment with a particular anti-cancer drug. The finding, which could lead to a personalized approach to treatment for a variety of solid tumors that are currently resistant to therapies, will be published September 6 in the advance online edition of Nature Medicine.
Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that a receptor sitting on the surface of certain aggressive tumor cells can activate a key enzyme, src-kinase, which helps tumor cells become more aggressive in the body. This enzyme is the target of the anticancer drug dasatinib, which blocks its activity and is currently approved for treating chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). The scientists say that the presence of the receptor – a protein called integrin alpha-v beta-3 – on some of the more common solid tumors such as breast, colon, lung and pancreas could help identify individuals with many other types of cancer that are also likely to respond to the drug.
Scripps Scientists Illuminate Structure of Lung Cancer Cells
Most cancer-related deaths are caused by metastases – the spread of cancer to other parts of the body – and tumor cells that circulate in the bloodstream are generally understood to be the cause of these dangerous secondary tumors. Now, for the first time, a collaboration led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has been able to determine the structural features of circulating tumor cells, which were collected from the blood of a woman with advanced lung cancer.
The ability to detect and characterize these cells may provide new insight into their metastatic potential, and could also result in advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of the disease.
The study, which was conducted in collaboration with members of the Scripps Clinic, The Palo Alto Research Center, and the Billings Clinic (Montana), was published as the cover article in the September 2009 edition (Vol 133, Issue 9) of the journal Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, a major clinical journal published by the College of American Pathologists.
Scripps Research Scientists Identify Genetic Cause for Type of Deafness
A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a genetic cause of progressive hearing loss. The findings will help scientists better understand the nature of age-related decline in hearing and may lead to new therapies to prevent or treat the condition. The findings were published the September 3, 2009, in an advance, online issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, a publication of Cell Press.
San Diego Algae Pioneers Provide Glimpse of the Future
Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn arrived in San Diego recently to meet with some of the region’s leading algae biofuels scientists and tour a local biofuel research facility. McGinn, a former commander of the Navy’s Third Fleet in San Diego, is a member of a blue-ribbon panel warning that continued U.S. reliance on fossil fuels (as well as the nation’s strained electric grid) pose significant threats to U.S. security. As a result, the retired admiral represents an unanticipated ally in efforts by San Diego’s emerging cleantech community to rapidly advance algae-to-biofuels technologies.
The S Stands for Surprise
Protein S, a well-known anticoagulant protein, keeps the blood flowing in more than one way, discovered researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The protein contributes to the formation and function of healthy blood vessels.
The researchers found that mice lacking protein S suffered massive blood clots, but also had defective blood vessels that allow blood cells to leak into the surrounding tissue.
UCSD Again Tops San Diego ‘Top Doctor’ List
UC San Diego Medical Center has once again excelled in the “Physicians of Exceptional Excellence” survey, which will appear in the October issue of San Diego Magazine.
Eighty University of California, San Diego physicians in 30 specialties were rated the best doctors in the region by their peers, and more than any other health care system or medical group in San Diego County. UCSD has consistently had more physicians on the top doctors list than any other medical group and the number of UCSD physicians that are named the best in San Diego continues to grow every year.