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MONTANA BIOSCIENCE ALLIANCE
 

By CINDY UKEN Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 12:00 am  

While awaiting the birth of their first child, Richard and Dawn Grayson were preoccupied with selecting a name, decorating the nursery and buying diapers, oblivious to the national drug shortage crisis.  

That changed in April when their baby, Tanner, was born 11 weeks premature at St. Vincent Healthcare and developed necrotizing enterocolitis, a serious and sometimes fatal bowel infection, which required emergency surgery at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City.   

 In the wake of the surgery, Tanner relied on getting his nutrients, including calcium, through an IV blend known as Total Parenteral Nutrition. Calcium is required for muscle function and building bones, especially in young children, and was a vital ingredient in the nutrient blend

Richard and Dawn Grayson hold son Tanner, who suffered chemical burns when he had to receive alternative supplements because of a national drug shortage.

 But there was a national shortage of the type of calcium essential to Tanner's nutrient blend, so physicians mixed in a substitute that had devastating consequences. The alternative substance caused chemical burns and permanent scarring on his arm and foot.  

 "I was furious, flat livid about it," said Richard Grayson, 33, Tanner's father. "These drug manufacturers know how vital calcium is. Why they don't have enough on hand is beyond me. It's insane and uncalled for." 

The child relies on another drug that is used to prevent serious lung disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus in premature infants. His parents now fret that it too could be in short supply.   

"What happens if they stop making it?" asked Dawn Grayson, 41. "What if some kids get it and some kids don't? Our concern is if he gets sick again."

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The DoD has issued the prerelease of their FY2012.1 SBIR solicitation with offerings from the Army, Navy, Air Force, DARPA, DTRA, OSD and SOCOM. The solicitation opens and proposals will be accepted starting December 12, 2011 with a closing date of January 11, 2012 at 6:00am EST. The DoD topics will be included in Zyn's SBIR Gateway Search Engine soon.

Each of the DoD's agency components (Army, Navy etc..) have slightly different rules and procedures. Sometimes there can be specific instructions for a particular topic, so it is strongly advised that you study the solicitation instructions thoroughly.

Click Here for details.

By maureen

Created Dec 14 2011 - 10:33am

WASHINGTON, Dec 13, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) - The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today praises the House and Senate for reaching a deal on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Reauthorization as an Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (HR 1540).

Yesterday, lawmakers announced that an agreement had been reached to reauthorize and amend the SBIR/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, which was set to expire on December 16th. House and Senate lawmakers agreed to amend and extend the program for another six years.

BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood made the following statement today:

"BIO is pleased that an agreement has been reached to amend and extend the SBIR program. SBIR provides much needed funding for the development of innovative medical therapies for debilitating diseases including cancer, diabetes and HIV.

"In particular, BIO applauds House and Senate leadership, including Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) for their efforts in moving this measure forward.

"This measure allows companies that are majority-owned by multiple venture capital firms to compete for SBIR awards once again, which is critical for emerging biotechnology companies working on tomorrow's breakthrough cures and treatments. Updating the SBIR program to address the current economic realities and capital formation challenges facing small, innovative American companies is necessary to ensure that these companies can once again compete for SBIR grants - based on the promise of their science rather than the structure of their capital.

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Dec. 12, 2011

MISSOULA -

Two geoscience faculty members at The University of Montana have started a partnership with a private company to sustainably produce commercial products from algal biomass.

Potential products include organic fertilizers, natural pigments, food flavorings, fatty acids for biofuels, cholesterol-reducing compounds for food additives, and natural anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer drugs. Natural inputs and nontoxic production methods will give potential products a competitive advantage over similar products produced from petroleum and other nonrenewable sources.

Carrine Blank, a research assistant professor in UM's geosciences department, and Nancy Hinman, a geosciences professor, are working on the project with Blue Marble Biomaterials, a company specializing in fully sustainable, zero-carbon, specialty chemicals.

The company was founded by Kelly Ogilvie and James Stephens, a UM alum. Stephens, also the company's chief science officer, leads Blue Marble's role in the collaborative effort, which largely takes place in the company's biorefinery near the Missoula airport.

"Our goal will be to tap into Blue Marble's carbon dioxide waste stream and then turn that CO2 into algal biomass," Blank said. "We will then work together to harvest commercial products from that biomass."

She said the diverse collection of patent-pending cyanobacterial and microalgal strains they work with derive from a number of regional waters, including Puget Sound, Washington's Soap Lake, and local rivers and lakes in Montana. Additional strains come from soil.

Blank said she and Hinman are working to publish a paper about the research being used with the UM/Blue Marble partnership.

Stephens says UM's favorable attitude toward industry partnerships was one factor in the decision to move the company from Seattle to Missoula in 2010.

Click Here for full article.

December 19, 2011 -- MSU News Service

BOZEMAN - Two professors in Montana State University's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The election of Timothy Minton and Robert Walker will be announced Friday, Dec. 23, in the journal, Science. Minton and Walker will each be presented a certificate and gold and blue rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 18, during the 2012 AAAS annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. Gold represents science, and blue represents engineering.

Walker was chosen as a fellow because of his distinguished contributions to understanding the molecular structure and interfacial behavior at complex liquid and solid surfaces using surface spectroscopy, according to AAAS officials. Minton was elected for his pioneering work in hyperthermal gas-surface and gas-phase reaction dynamics, and for his service as a senior editor for the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

The AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society, and publishes the journal, Science, as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million.

Evelyn Boswell, (406) 994-5135 or evelynb@montana.edu