Posted by Dylan Fitzwater on Thu, May 17, 2012
Washington State Legislature recently approved $37 million for the completion of the new Biomedical and Health Sciences Building in Spokane. This new funding came from a combination of WSU capital financing and state bonds which will allow construction to finish in the fall of 2013.
The new WSU bioscience research building will house the WSU College of Pharmacy and part of the medical education partnership between the University of Washington and WSU. This building project will be particularly significant for the College of Pharmacy because it is spread out over the WSU Spokane and Pullman campuses. The Biomedical and Health Sciences Building will consolidate the College in one central location.
(Image of Biomedical and Health Sciences Building courtesy of WSU)
When thanking the State Legislature for the new funding approval Gary Pollack, dean of the WSU College of Pharmacy and vice provost for WSU Health Sciences, summed up the importance of the new bioscience building. He said, "This facility...will allow us to recruit world-class pharmaceutical and biomedical scientists to WSU and will support rapid and significant expansion of research and graduate education in Spokane.”
Researchers and educators at WSU are already moving in to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new Biomedical and Health Sciences Building. For example, the The Health Sciences and Services Authority of Spokane County has recently publicized a number of grants for the purchase of new laboratory equipment and the recruitment of top scientists. The new bioscience building represents the next step in the advancement of biomedical and health science research and education at WSU.
If you are a life science researcher, laboratory manager, or lab supply vendor in the Pullman area interested in tapping into the expanding research culture at WSU, plan on attending Biotechnology Calendar Inc.'s Pullman BioResearch Product Faire™ trade show at Washington State University on October 23, 2012. Our trade show events provide an excellent opportunity to network with life science professionals and learn about the latest in laboratory technologies in your field.
Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Wed, May 16, 2012
Oracle Corporation is a Northern California computer technology giant with its world headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area's Silicon Valley. From its wildly popular OpenWorld tech conference event held annually in San Francisco to its America's Cup sailboat that can be seen tacking across the Bay to and from the Golden Gate Yacht Club on a nice day, Oracle maintains a strong presence in the Bay Area, even beyond its extensive Redwood City campus. But that doesn't mean the company's Chairman of the Board (and former CFO) Jeff Henley lacks the vision to see that one of California's great strengths as far as technology goes is in the University of California System, and that strength comes from leveraging its power and resources across the state. That's why Henley and his wife have just committed $50M to fund a new science building, labs and faculty salaries on the UC Santa Barbara campus, where Henley got his undergraduate education.
Giving to your alma mater is, of course, what many successful men and women do. Henley's $50M gift was unusual in its size (UCSB's largest ever) and included a call to action, reminding other potential donors that the UC System as a whole needs its philanthropic base more than ever in the wake of funding cuts by the State:
“The UC system is one of the crown jewels left in California -- it’s a huge economic powerhouse for the state,” Henley said in a Bloomberg article. “Donors need to keep stepping up like they do in private schools.”
The Henley gift will go towards building Henley Hall for the engineering school, which will house the Institute for Energy Efficiency and itself be a model of efficient design with state-of-the-art labs. $5M will go to recruit and pay faculty, and to purchase laboratory equipment. The Oracle Chairman's gift comes at a time when UCSB's academic reputation is on the rise, especially in the area of materials science (first in the nation among graduate programs) and engineering sciences. No longer limited to being perceived as a party campus, administrators and Henley himself hope to see other prominent alums and tech moguls support the university's capital campaign drive, which is now $718M along toward a $1B goal. Leading his peers by example, the UC System's 10 campuses may see the Bay Area's deep-pocketed philanthropic community rise to the occasion and follow Henley with further support for California's "crown jewels."
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is also based in Northern California and holds 13 popular life science sales tradeshows in California every year (plus our nationwide shows), all but one on University of California campuses. We invite laboratory scientists to come out and discover what our top vendor companies have on display in the way of new technologies. Shows are always conveniently-located on-campus, well-advertised, and offer a complimentary buffet. Here is a sampling of our California schedule, past and future:
- Santa Barbara BioResearch Product Faire Front Line event, April 3, 2012, UCSB campus (success!)
- Sacramento BioResearch Product Faire event, June 5, 2012, UC Davis Medical campus
- Berkeley BioResearch Product Faire event, June 6, 2012, UC Berkeley campus
- San Francisco Biotechnology Vendor Showcase event, June 7, 2012, UCSF Parnassus Campus
- Riverside BioResearch Product Faire event, August 22, 2012, UC Riverside campus
- San Diego Biotechnology Vendor Showcase event, August 23, 2012, UCSD campus
See our entire 2012 National Schedule, then call one of our friendly, knowledgeable sales associates to find out how to get on board.
Posted by Dylan Fitzwater on Tue, May 15, 2012
Plans are underway at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor for a new science research building which will serve as a nursing education facility. The building was recently proposed to the Board of Reagents and will likely cost over $50 million.
The School of Nursing has grown significantly in recent years. The total student body has increased from 720 students in 2001 to 980 students in 2011, an increase of over 36%. The department also plans to hire around 40 additional faculty and staff members over the next ten years. The school's current location is at an old hospital building constructed in 1913. It is in desperate need of updates to accommodate the schools expansion and provide current educational resources.
(image courtesy of the University of Michigan)
Timothy Slottow, U Michigan Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, wrote in a memo to the Board of Reagents that "The existing building structure is suitable for individual offices, classrooms and research space, but has significant limitations to support contemporary education needs."
The proposed new science building will meet the expanding needs of the nursing school by providing over 75,000 square-feet of new available space. The building will house a clinical learning center with simulated labs and patient suites, as well as some new administrative and faculty offices.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. will be hosting the 12th annual Ann Arbor BioResearch Product Faire event on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan on July 11, 2012. Our life science trade shows are designed to bring together life scientists and equipment suppliers in an informal professional forum for networking and information-sharing. For more information on exhibiting, click the button below:
To attend, register by clicking here.
Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Mon, May 14, 2012
The Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research may be the biggest prize you've never heard of, and it is big: half a million dollars, to be shared this year by two "towering figures" in cell biology from New York's Rockefeller University. The honors were bestowed May 11 at a ceremony for these eminent Rock research scientists heading laboratories in Molecular Cell Biology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology:
- James E. Darnell Jr., M.D., who is considered the “father” of RNA processing and cytokine signaling
- Robert G. Roeder, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of gene transcription in animal cells
According to James Barba, president of Albany Medical Center and chairman of the Prize Selection Committee:
“Understanding how our cells express their genetic information provides insight into all of human health. By helping to define how cells grow, replicate, and become specialized, these two scientists have allowed countless other scientists and physicians to explore new ways to fight disease including viruses, heart disease, anemia and autoimmune disorders. I commend Drs. Darnell and Roeder for their extraordinary lifetime contributions.”
[Photo courtesy of the Albany Times-Union]
The $500,000 prize is in fact the largest award in medicine and science in the United States. At the recent ceremony, each of the men, with careers spanning 57 and 43 years (and counting), talked about his early love of laboratory experimentation. For Dr. Darnell, now 81, it was in medical school that he found his calling:
"I found out at the bench, transferring bacteria, that I had found my home. It's wonderful to be able to carry out an experiment with your own hands. You put something in and you stand waiting with bated breath to see what comes out the other end. It's that waiting... that identifies you as a potential scientist."
Dr. Roeder, 69, traces his lab roots to high school chemistry:
"I simply had a constant curiosity about unsolved problems."
"I had no idea 20, 30, 40 years ago, of the complexity of the problem I was studying or I may have chosen something else...But probably not. I like challenges. I like solving problems and I like solving them first."
Rock says of its Molecular, Cell and Developmental Research Biology program:
Modern cell biology was founded at Rockefeller more than a half century ago with the introduction of the electron microscope. The field has since evolved into a molecular phase, which focuses on how cellular and extracellular macromolecules interact and communicate with each other to give rise to specific functions and responses. Along with microscopic and biochemical approaches, Rockefeller scientists use a full range of techniques from structural biology, biophysics, physiology and genetics.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full service event marketing and planning company producing on-campus, life science research tradeshows nationwide for the past 20 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to the best research campuses across the country. Twice annually we hold our popular Rockefeller BioResearch Product Faire™ events on the Rockefeller University Campus in New York City. This year's fall date for this popular event is October 17, 2012. To register to attend, click here.
For information on exhibiting, click the button below:
Posted by Dylan Fitzwater on Fri, May 11, 2012
The University of Minnesota is planning to construct a new $52 million new life science research building in the new Biomedical Discovery District Research Campus. The new facility will consolidate infectious disease and microbiology research conducted at the university into one complex.
The building is currently in the design phase, with initial construction work set to begin as early as July 2013. The total costs are still being determined, but it is estimated that the building will cost about $35 million with an additional 9% to 11% for design fees. The remaining $52 million budget will be set aside for laboratory equipment supplies and general furnishings. The building will likely be complete within 3 years.
The new biomedical building will bring together researchers and labs in microbiology and infectious disease which are currently scattered throughout the U Minnesota Research Campus and main campus. The total size of the building will be between 53,000 square feet and 72,000 square feet, depending how efficiently the available funding is used in the design process.
(rendition of the Biomedical Discovery District research campus courtesy of UMinn)
The new building comes on the heels of several new major construction projects in the Biomedical Discovery District Research Campus including the new Cancer/Cardio building and the major renovation of the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research Building.
The Biomedical Discovery District promises to become a vibrant research hub at the University of Minnesota.
If you are a laboratory or scientific supply company interested in taking advantage of these expanding opportunities at the University of Minnesota, or a researcher looking for quality laboratory products, consider attending Biotechnology Calendar, Inc.'s Minneapolis BioResearch Product Faire™ on the Twin Cities campus of UMinn on July 26, 2012.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full service event marketing and planning company producing on-campus, life science research trade shows nationwide for the past 19 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to the finest research campuses across the country.
Click below for show information, and see our complete 2012 Show Schedule.
Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Thu, May 10, 2012
Last summer we blogged about the lab-on-a-chip flow cytometer invented by University of California Los Angeles bioengineer Aydogan Ozcan and his Biophotonics Lab. Now the Ozcan Group has taken another giant step forward in a larger telepathology project aimed at bringing internet, cell phone, and crowd-sourced resources to the problem of accurately diagnosing disease in developing countries. In a paper by the Ozcan Group with postdoc Sam Mavandadi as lead author, the UCLA engineers report their findings on using a gaming platform called BioGames to challenge ordinary people to diagnose malaria-infected blood cells. While no single non-expert's gaming scores are reliable to make a solid diagnosis, it turns out that the scores of many gamers, when run through a probability algorithm produce a diagnosis comparable to that of an expert.
In combination, the Ozcan Group's cell-phone based microscope could take and transfer blood cell images to a central computer which would translate those images onto the BioGames platform for gamers to read and diagnose. The computer would then process the scores of a large enough sample of gamers and send the results back to the clinic where the patient is being seen by a doctor or nurse. With trained pathologists in short supply in the field and malaria false-positive diagnoses a real problem (and waste of precious resources in treating a titanic global health risk), the combined input from nonspecialists half a world away could save lives--many lives.
[The math behind BioGames, from the Ozcan Research Group at UCLA Engineering]
Like the gaming platform Foldit that University of Washington researchers used last year to crowdsource eyes for complex protein folding problems (read our blog: Crowdsourcing Research Challenge by UW Scientists a Game Changer?), the gaming approach relies on two primary factors:
- Human beings will concentrate for long periods of time (and even endure a training phase) if they are having fun and being challenged
- Human beings have strong visual acuity and the ability to process complicated images with a high degree of accuracy, even as nonspecialists in a field
We also like the idea of helping others and being actively involved in finding the solution to a real problem, which means we might play this game instead of another one in our spare time. A shortage of gamers probably won't be a problem in mobilizing this telepathology resource; overcoming a bias against nonspecialists and gamers in particular may be. Says Karin Nielsen, a professor of infectious diseases in the department of pediatrics at the Geffen School of Medicine and a co-author of the study soon to be published in PLoS ONE:
"I believe that, similar to other very innovative ideas, one of the major challenges will be the skepticism of traditional microscopists, pathologists and clinical laboratory personnel, not to mention malaria experts, who will initially view with suspicion a gaming approach in malaria diagnostics. It is a very revolutionary proposal and it might take a few clinical studies in the field to document the efficacy of this platform in order to convince traditional microbiologists and other infectious disease colleagues."
It's a brave new world, but what possibilities.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. will be on the UCLA campus again this year on October 4, 2012 for our popular semiannual Los Angeles Biotechnology Vendor Showcase™ expo. For information on exhibiting, click below:
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full service event marketing and planning company producing on-campus, life science research tradeshows nationwide for the past 20 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to the best research campuses across the country. Visit our website for information about upcoming shows in your area and to register to exhibit or attend. Or call to talk to one of our friendly, knowledgeable sales associates.
Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Wed, May 09, 2012
At the University of Pennsylvania, Steve Fluharty is the senior vice provost for research, as well as a professor and researcher himself in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Now he's got one more hat to wear, as a member of the selection committee for the newly-announced Golden Goose Awards, sponsored by a congressional committee and supported by the AAAS and a broad base of other organizations and industry. At a time when basic research in particular is hard-tasked to justify its continued funding, the point of the awards is to look positively at the sometimes-serendipitous nature of scientific progress so as not to "kill the golden goose" (that lays the golden eggs), which all variations on the ancient fable agree is a really bad idea. Wikipedia says of the phrase: It is generally used of a short-sighted action that destroys the profitability of an asset. Exactly.
If the Golden Goose Awards sound like a PR campaign for basic research funding, they are. They're also acknowledging the fact that, to non-scientists, some basic science projects sound a bit out there, but nevertheless great and profitable discoveries have come from taking a risk and doing an experiment just to learn something new about how a tiny part of the world works. And with that knowledge, whole new fields have opened up, costly problems have been solved, and scientific solutions have had their start. It's traditionally been the role of government to fund basic research because it's just that: a building block for further invention and translation into practical (or applied) research.
[The Golden Goose, in a print by artist Kenojuak Ashevak, courtesy of Gallery Phillip]
The current Golden Goose Award campaign is an oddly harmonious, bipartisan effort, which alone makes it noteworthy. Basic research funding has historically taken hits from both sides of the aisle, as in the 1970's, when Wisconsin Senator (and Democrat) William Proxmire began giving out what he called The Golden Fleece awards to projects he thought were a boondoggle and undeserving of federal funding. Usually those projects had titles like "The Sex Life of the Screwworm," which sounds esoteric at best, but in fact led to an enormously valuable veterinary advance for the livestock industry (causing Sen Proxmire to retract his award). More recently, Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has taken up Proxmire's rallying call to put an end to research that, well, just sounds frivolous to a lot of taxpayers. Countering that attack are the Golden Goose Awards, proposed initially by Rep. Jim Cooper, this time a Tennessee Democrat, and aimed at celebrating the great good that can come from taking a risk, whether in your experiment or just in the naming of it. It's an ancient debate, which is probably why we keep harkening to ancient stories to champion either side.
Provost Fluharty, meanwhile, had firsthand experience with the Proxmire threat when he was a PhD student in veterinary medicine at Penn (apparently animal experiments in particular have a tendency to fall under attack). He was working with a lab group studying the hormonal controls of salt consumption in a rat model. Don't see the immediate need? Neither did some politicians at the time. Fluharty says:
“It’s easy to say, ‘Why do we care about salt preferences in rats?’ But the reality is that the hormonal mechanisms that were identified are now some of the key components of many of the hypertension drugs that...are used for controlling blood pressure today."
The first round of awards will be given out in September, after a lot of deliberation (and perhaps some healthy laughter) by Dr. Fluharty and other scientist-members of the selection committee.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is looking forward to bringing basic science researchers and professional lab equipment vendors together in Philadelphia to talk shop and eat good food next week at our two Philly tradeshow events, which we hold each year in May:
For information on exhibiting at either of these events, click the buttons below:
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full-service event marketing and planning company producing on-campus life science research tradeshows nationwide for going on 19 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to the best research campuses across the country. Life science researchers, purchasing agents, and lab managers are actively invited to attend to see the latest products and equipment and discuss their laboratory tool and service needs. See our nationwide show schedule for 2012.
Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Tue, May 08, 2012
The University of California at Riverside is part of the Inland Empire, the geographic area just south and east of the Greater Los Angeles metro area and Orange County. As a member of the UC System, Riverside enjoys the advantage of being a part of the strongest public university system in the United States. Now UCR is making other collaborative ties, this time not statewise but more locally: by teaming up with Loma Linda University and Cal State San Bernardino to pool stem cell laboratory resources. The new regional entity will be known as the Inland Empire Stem Cell Consortium, and it will allow all three schools to qualify for increased federal funding in addition to the other benefits of joining forces.
According to Prue Talbot, the director of the UC Riverside Stem Cell Center:
“During the past five years, the consortium universities have developed stem cell research and teaching programs, and this is a wonderful time for the campuses to collaborate and take advantage of our complementary expertise in stem cell biology and to share our technical expertise in this research area.”
As we reported in an earlier blog, UC Riverside is building the first new medical school in California in over 40 years. They completed the research building last year and are now on track to enroll the first class of medical students in August, 2013, thanks to a recent commitment of funding by the county and the UC Office of the President. The School will have to re-seek accreditation after funding delays, but with the commitments in place, it is expected to pass.
With an estimated shortage of 3,000 primary care physicians in the Inland Empire region, vociferous advocates of the UCR med school have been backed by statistical data shedding light on the need for a local medical teaching and research institution. “The medical school will be an economic stimulus to the region, as well as improving access to healthcare,” said UCR Chancellor Timothy White in a March 30 letter. “There is a well-documented need for more physicians and better health care access in Inland Southern California.” Big dreams are harder to realize in tough economic times, but UCR, the county, and other local heathcare groups have remained determined to train young doctors and researchers here where they are most needed.
[Photo by Bryan Tuttle]
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. looks forward to holding its 7th annual Riverside BioResearch Product Faire™ Event on the UC Inland Empire campus on August 22, 2012. We are a full service event marketing and planning company producing on-campus, life science research tradeshows nationwide for the past 20 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to the best research campuses across the country. If you are interested in attending UCR or for more information, click the buttons below:
Check our 2012 Nationwide Show Schedule to see all of the life science research communities we serve.
Posted by Jaimee Saliba on Mon, May 07, 2012
The University of Wisconsin at Madison is doing very well launching bioscience startups and attracting young entrepreneurs to set up shop near the sprawling campus on Lake Mendota. The University Research Park is so popular there's a huge Phase II addition several years in the planning and due to break ground any day. Funding for university spinoffs, like the NIH's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, are helping to fuel Madison's bioscience economy too, as a team from the Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering just proved in securing $362,489 towards developing its novel advanced biomaterials for wound healing and surgical applications.
The company is Imbed Biosciences, and its President and CEO is Ankit Agarwal, PhD, who came to UW-M on a postdoc in 2007. Continuing his doctoral work in biomaterials with UW faculty, Agarwal applied for and won another postdoc fellowship in 2010 from the Kaufmann Foundation specifically to learn how to commercialize his research. That led to co-founding Imbed Bio with several of his colleagues with complementary backgrounds and research interests (below). In early 2011, the nascent company won the IBio PROPEL Business Plan Competition and was the runner-up in another business plan competition in London.
In addition to Dr. Agarwal (photo right) these researchers make up Imbed's founding team and core investigators:
- Nicholas L Abbott, PhD, professor and chairman, Chemical Engineering department, UW-M
- Michael J Schurr, MD, PhD, Section Chief, Trauma and Burn Surgery, School of Medicine and Public Health, UW-M
- Christopher J Murphy, DVM, PhD, professor in the Surgical and Radiological Sciences department in the School of Veterinary Medicine, UC-Davis (formerlyof UW-M)
- Jonathan F McAnulty, DVM, PhD, professor and chairman of the Surgical Sciences department in the School of Veterinary Medicine, UW-M
- Charles J Czuprynski, DVM, PhD, professor in the department of Pathobiology in the School of Veterinary Medicine, UW-M
[Photo courtesy of UW-M College of Engineering News]
What Imbed is bringing to market are wound dressings with imbedded bioactive molecules (specifically antibacterial silver nanofilms) to prevent wound infections and expedite wound closure. The revolutionary advance in the company's product platform is its ability to surface engineer biologic dressings and surgical implants with antibacterial silver without exposing the dressings to chemical processing, which has been the hindrance to using silver nanofilm in biomaterials up until now. The veterinary members of the Imbed team will be testing the new materials on small animal wounds, which should heal faster and with fewer infections and dressing changes than anything currently available.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. will be on the U-W Campus on September 5, 2012 to hold our 13th Annual Madison BioResearch Product Faire event for UW life science researchers. We are a full-service event marketing and planning company producing on-campus, life science research trade shows nationwide for the past 20 years. We plan and promote each event to bring the best products and services to campuses across the country, ensuring that scientists have access to the latest tools and technologies available for their research labs. For information on exhibiting at the Madison show, click the button below:
We also hold a more streamlined show at the University Research Park in Madison, which will be taking place September 6 in 2012. For info on that event:
Posted by Dylan Fitzwater on Thu, May 03, 2012
The rapid growth of the UC Davis Health System has spurred plans for a new eye center to accommodate the expanding needs of patients and the university.
The new building project, called the UC Davis Health System Eye Center, would help accommodate the growth of the university. The center would provide much needed clinical facilities, and more importantly, would constitute a significant increase in UCD's research and laboratory space.
(Artist's rendering of the UC Davis Health System Eye Center courtesy of UC Davis)
From 1998 to 2012 the number of patients visiting UC Davis' Sacramento clinics increased from 22,000 to over 50,000. Additionally, from 2001 to 2004 the total research grant funding for the university rose from $8.45 million to $17 million. Drug and clinical trials also increased from 37 to 66.
In order to accommodate this significant expansion in research, the current eye center has been conducting research in less than ideal facilities. They have run out of new research laboratory space and often are forced to send staff and faculty to distant parts of campus.
In a summary of the proposed Eye Center building project, UCD stated that the new facilities mission is the "creation of new synergies, new cures, and new technologies for the preservation and restoration of sight."
The planned state-of-the art complex will likely be able to advance toward this goal. It will provide over 65,000 square-feet of new space, a 60% increase from the department's current size. According to UCD, the new facility will meet "the eye center’s growth projections and technological requirements for many years to come."
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. will be hosting its Sacramento BioResearch Product Faire event this year on June 5th. This trade show event will allow lab equipment suppliers to network with top university researchers at UC Davis in a professional trade show environment. For information on this event and UC Davis Medical Center funding, click the button below:
See our complete 2012 Show Schedule as well, and feel free to call one of our helpful sales associates for more information.