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Asterand test predicts severe reactions in drug trials: Detroit-based Asterand Monday announced a new test that may be important in predicting problems before a drug is tested in live human volunteers. The company's scientists believe that the test may have been helpful in screening the drug candidate that recently caused severe reactions in a group of six young men in a clinical trial carried out at Northwick Park in London, England. The test was developed by a team of five Asterand scientists. A summary of their work has been published recently in "Clinical Cancer Research," the journal of American Association for Cancer Research. The test uses an existing technology known as immunohistochemistry. Asterand scientists have developed a highly sensitive IHC technique for testing human or humanized antibodies being considered as drug candidates for possible side effects. The unmodified antibody under consideration is used to stain a range of human tissues -- some containing the target protein or tumor as well as normal tissue representing different parts of the body. Some of these tissues may contain the target protein and whether the target is being expressed in diseased or normal tissue can easily be determined. That way, scientists can determine whether the drug candidate will also target proteins in healthy tissue, which can lead to a severe allergic reaction. Asterand officials say the test has already been used on more than 20 antibodies being considered as drugs -- and several of them were found to also bind to normal tissues. The test can also be used to determine whether antibodies now being used as drugs will be effective in subsets of patients. More about the technology at www.aacrjournals.org. More about Asterand at www.asterand.com. | |||||||||||
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| High-tech crusher developed
in UP used in Katrina cleanup: A rock crusher that uses advanced technology
instead of brute force to crush building debris into usable aggregate fill is
being used to clean up the mess that still remains nearly eight months after
Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast. Houghton-based New Dimension Crusher's
equipment puts the material in tension and snaps big rocks into little ones,
unlike traditional crushers, which use brute force and are massive pieces of
machinery that are not portable. The New Dimension Unit, in contrast, is small
enough to fit in the scoop of a small Bobcat front-end loader and requires only
a 20-hp engine. "It is a great example of applying technology and design to
reinvent an old product," said Carlton K. Crothers, CEO of the Michigan Tech
Enterprise SmartZone, the business incubator where the company was founded.
Lafayette, La.-based Bottom Line Equipment LLC is demonstrating the crusher for
construction and demolition companies at its plant near New Orleans
International Airport. New Dimension's founder, Bob Niemela, said his company is
"proud to be a part of the cleanup and rebuilding process in New Orleans." Kurt
A. Degueyter, Bottom Line's president, noted that "companies involved in the
clean up efforts are faced with the problem of finding landfill areas for the
massive amounts of large aggregate debris. The crusher provides an economical
solution by recycling cement, bricks and blocks for use on site where crushed
material can be used again. It’s a perfect solution, reducing labor time and
cost while also providing a good use of waste materials.” Also assisting New
Dimension in the product launch is David Weaver, a Bloomfield Hills business
consultant and founder of Great Lakes Angels, an angel investing group. Weaver
is a member of the Michigan Tech Enterprise SmartZone board. More about New
Dimension at
www.newdimensioncrushers.com. More about the SmartZone at
www.mtecsmart.com. | |||||||||||
Kalamazoo company's software helps auto suppliers evaluate RFQs: Kalamazoo-based Configuration Solutions Inc. said Monday it had added the ability to evaluate new business opportunities to its product configuration and selling software. The addition is called CS-NBO, for New Business Opportunity management. It is designed to assist auto suppliers in determining which of the many RFQ opportunities offer strategic value and profit potential, and which are not worth the investment of response. The software accomplishes the task by performing fast and easy evaluation of strategic goals, various risk factors and financial uncertainties. Configuration Solutions CEO Dale Colosky said recent studies show suppliers spend between $50,000 and $200,000 to respond to a single RFQ. Knowing which to let slide without spending any additional dollars can spell the difference between profitability and loss. Configuration Solutions' overall system, called CS-PPLM, is a Web-enabled suite of interactive application software modules connecting technology and business strategy to address the entire lifecycle of the quote-to-award business process, real-time program management and ongoing product lifecycle management. It streamlines and automates workflows and procedures from cost estimating, engineering, manufacturing process generation, quoting, financial review, documentation and submission of bids and more. More at www.configsc.com. | |||||||||||
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| Mid-Michigan gets $15 million grant for
biofuels, economic development: An event in Lansing
Monday kicked off the Mid-Michigan Innovation Alliance, which will implement a
three-year, $15 million Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development
(yep, WIRED) grant from the federal Department of Labor. Michigan State
University president Lou Anna K. Simon also announced that David C. Hollister,
CEO of the Prima Civitas Foundation, will coordinate the alliance and implement
the grant. The WIRED grant was one of only 13 made nationally. A key element of
the mid-Michigan proposal is to refocus auto supplier firms to emerging and
growing manufacturing markets as well as the development of an alternative
energy sector, including preparing workers for jobs in a biotech-based,
post-petroleum economy. Hollister is a former Lansing mayor and former director
of the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth. Among the initiatives
under the grant include media-based training materials to assist worker
retraining on everything from desktop computers to IPods, and the deployment by
MSU of biorefinery equipment for hands-on experiences. Other participants in the
effort include Kettering University, which will provide teachers with fuel cell
training and provide graduate education in hybrid technology; The Greater Flint
Health Coalition and Lansing Community College, which will prepare workers to
meet the growing demands of the health care sector; Mott Community College,
which will offer training in the building and construction trades and in
advanced manufacturing; Saginaw Valley State University, which with LCC will
offer entrepreneurship training; and the Center for Automotive Research, which
will help prepare Michigan business for diversified, global automotive
marketing. The Mid-Michigan Innovation Alliance includes 13 counties around
Flint, Lansing and Saginaw. The WIRED grant proposal was developed under the
leadership of MSU, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Genesee County
Economic Development Agency. More at www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154--137670--,00.html. | |||||||||||
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Also winning was the West Michigan Workforce Innovations Lab, a seven county region anchored by Grand Rapids and led by the West Michigan Strategic Alliance at Grand Valley State University. The West Michigan proposal centers on an “innovations lab” designed to advance and spawn a wide range of innovations in its regional workforce development system focusing on four areas of innovation. Michigan was the only state in the nation to get two of the grants. | |||||||||||
| Growth capital event
announces presenting companies: The Michigan Growth
Capital Symposium Monday announced the 45 companies who will make presentation
at the event, being held May 16-17 at the Eagle Crest Conference Center in
Ypsilanti. The companies are in the IT, alternative energy and life sciences
companies, and are in three stages of corporate growth -- early
commercialization, A-B round, and expansion-growth round. Included among the
presenting companies in the commercialization track:: 10x Technology, which
produces micro- and nano-scale polymers used for a variety of applications;
CheckTheCrib Corp., which provides an Internet-based procurement system for
manufacturers requiring mission-critical spare parts; and Rapid BioSense, which
designs and markets a sensitive, affordable and rapid biosensor that can detect
viruses and bacteria. In the A-B track, companies include GPSi LLC, a supplier
of vehicle telematics hardware, software and services; STM Power Inc., which
designs, develops and sells low-emission external combustion engines and
integrates them into 55-kilowatt generator sets that can burn a variety of
fuels; and ZyStor Therapeutics Inc., a drug therapy developer. On the
expansion-growth track, presenting companies include Avidimer, a
biopharmaceutical company working on cancer drugs; HealthMedia Inc., which
builds systems that deliver individualized online and offline health promotion
programs to the insurance and medical markets; Molecular Therapeutics Inc., a
developmental stage biotechnology company; Plextronics, which provides polymers
and inks for printed electronics; and Velocys Inc., which is developing
processing systems and nano-scale catalysts to boost product yields for energy
and chemical companies. More at
www.michigangcs.com. | |||||||||||
| Media Genesis redesigns ArvinMeritor site: The
Madison Heights Web design and development firm MediaGenesis announced Monday
that it had been selected by Troy-based auto supplier ArvinMeritor Inc. (NYSE:
ARM) to redesign the commercial vehicles systems portion of its corporate Web
site. The redesigned site can be found at www.meritorhvs.com.
The new site offers improved online customer support, information retrieval, and
brand positioning. Specifically, the new site offers an administration function
that allows designated ArvinMeritor staff to add, delete and edit content, the
ability to highlight and change featured products and news on a realtime basis,
images of all product parts, along with features and benefits information for
each, payback calculators and other sales and service tools, and an extensive
"literature on demand" application that allows users to search, order
and download brochures, manuals and other product publications online. More
about the vendor at www.mediag.com. |
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| Student auto techs compete next week: Teams of two students each from 10 Michigan high schools will compete to
be first to diagnose and fix electrical and mechanical "bugs"
deliberately placed on new Ford automobiles by Ford engineers in the Ford-AAA
Student Auto Skills Michigan Competition, April 26 a the Macomb Community
College Expo Center in Warren. The event runs from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The
winning team will receive more than $20,000 in scholarships and automotive
merchandise. It will also represent Michigan in the 2006 Ford-AAA Auto Skills
National Finals June 27 in Dearborn. | |||||||||||
| Okemos health IT consultant working with
electronic health records group: Rick Brady, president and CTO of
Okemos-based consultants BSTI, has been selected to serve on the national
Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology. CCHIT, under
contract from the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has been
charged to develop a process to certify electronic health record application.
Certification will make it easier for healthcare providers and payers to adopt
EHR technology. Brady will be attending the HIMSS
PACT conference on EHRs to be held Saturday in Dearborn. BSTI is an IT
consulting firm with more than 13 years of experience working with health care
providers and payers. More at www.bsti.com.
More about CCHIT at www.cchit.org. | |||||||||||
| First regional .Net developer conference to be
held in May: Ann Arbor-based SRT Solutions said Monday it had signed on as a
platinum partner of Day of .Net, to be held May 13 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the
Washtenaw Community College Business Education Building in Ann Arbor. Day of
.Net is a software developer conference focused on an array of topics related to
.Net technology.
Limited to 200 attendees its first year, the groups plan to
expand and hold the event on an annual basis. It's a collaborative effort of
the Great Lakes Area .Net Users Group, www.migang.org,
the Ann Arbor .Net Developers Group, www.aadnd.org,
and the Northwest Ohio .Net User Group, www.nwnug.com.
The
event features special guest speaker, Mark
Miller of Developer Express and Mondays,
as well as 20 individual sessions organized into four tracks -- introduction to
.Net, ASP .Net, smart client and miscellaneous topics. Lunch will be provided
free, and items donated by event partners will be raffled off. More at www.dayofdotnet.org.
More about SRT at www.srtsolutions.com. |
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| Inside Muskegon offers another podcast: The
Inside Muskegon series of podcasts with technology, business and cultural
leaders in the Muskegon area continues with edition 21, which features an
interview with Bob Scolnik with Mona Lake Productions, a commentary on the
interview, listener feedback and information on contacting Inside Muskegon. Listen
to Inside Muskegon No. 21. More at www.insidemuskegon.com. | |||||||||||
| Portal event reminder in GR: GlimaWest,
NuSoft Solutions and KForce are offering an event on "Intranet Portal
Strategy" April 27 at the Steelcase University Learning Center, 1111 44th
St. S.E. in Grand Rapids. The event is free to GlimaWest members and $20 for non-members.
To sign up for
this event, click here.
To become a member online, click here. | |||||||||||
| Japan
grants key silicon patent to Dow Corning: Midland-based Dow Corning Corp.
said Monday it had been granted a key patent in Japan covering the use of silicon carbide
barrier films between dielectric and metal layers found in the world's most
advanced semiconductor devices. Dow Corning pioneered the use of silicon carbide
barrier technology over 10 years ago, filing the original invention with the
United States Patent and Trademark Office in February 1995. The barrier layer
allows chip manufacturers to continue building devices that are smaller and
faster than preceding generations. Dow Corning now holds Japanese patent No.
3,731,932 B covering the technology. Dow Corning is a joint venture of Midland's
Dow Chemical Co. and Corning Inc. and provides thousands of types of silicon
technology, including much of the basic building materials for modern
electronics.
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| Intelligent Connections,
Cisco host security showcase: The Royal
Oak-based network security provider Intelligent Connections LLC said Monday that
it would be a host at the Cisco Security Showcase event May 9 from 9 a.m. to
noon. The event will be held at the Cisco office in Southfield. On the agenda:
the Cisco Self Defending Network architecture, security products and services,
and design considerations for securing data, voice and wireless networks. To
register for the free event, e-mail eregister@intelligentconnections.net
or call (248) 837-1411. More about the company at www.intelligentconnections.net.
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| EDS wins Medicare, Medicaid deal: Electronic
Data Systems Corp. (EDS:
News,
chart,
profile)
Monday said it has been awarded a contract from the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services worth up to $29 million if all extension options are
exercised. EDS is one of three companies competing for task orders under the
10-year, $1.9 billion contract that CMS is using to consolidate data center
operations supporting mainframe and client server applications. The contract
includes a 1-year task order with four additional 1-year options. | |||||||||||
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Software aims to cut sun exposure: Here's another nifty tech news video from the Associated Press, covering something very timely as summer nears. (And for me, yet another medical procedure to remove a piece of a fairly benign type of skin cancer from my neck.) New software is out that will help people decide what type of sun block they should wear, or how long they can remain in the sun before getting burned. Here's the video. | |||||||||||
| EarthLink wraps up
New Edge acquisition: Atlanta-based Internet service
provider EarthLink Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK) last week wrapped up its purchase of
Vancouver, Wash.-based New Edge Networks, a privately held broadband provider.
The purchase price was $114.3 million in cash and 2.6 million shares of
EarthLink common stock. About 250 New Edge Networks employees will also get
stock options in EarthLink. More at
www.newedgenetworks.com or
www.earthlink.net. | |||||||||||
| Oracle
studying Novell acquisition: Business software provider Oracle Corp.
is considering plans to offer its own version of the Linux operating
system and has studied an acquisition of Novell Inc., the open-source
operating system's No. 2 distributor, according to a newspaper report
Monday. Novell shares rose 2.3 percent in Monday trading, while rival Red
Hat Inc. fell 6.7 percent. Oracle sells databases and other business
applications, and by offering a version of the Linux operating system, it
would be able to provide customers with a more complete suite of software.
Rivals such as Microsoft Corp. and IBM Corp. commonly tout the benefits of
these packages, called "stacks." Oracle's chief executive, Larry
Ellison, told the Financial Times that the company might launch its own
version of Linux and has considered buying Linux distributor Novell. That
could help counter leading Linux vendor Red Hat, which just announced a
$350 million acquisition of JBoss Inc., a maker of open-source
"middleware," which connects varying applications. More. | |||||||||||
| AOL to show
programs from Shanghai unit: AOL this week will begin broadcasting
news programs supplied by Shanghai Media Group's broadband unit, the
companies said Monday. Shows will be broadcast on AOL's Chinese language
Web site and will focus on Chinese social, business, sports and
entertainment topics, said Wang Xiaotang, a spokeswoman for SMG Broadband
Co. "AOL aims to broadcast that content to Chinese all over the
world," she said. AOL is the Internet unit of Time Warner Inc. The
programs will be available to users of http://aol.com/chinese,
which carries news and programming, Webcasts of sports events and other
Internet services related to China. More. | |||||||||||
| Professional
video gaming set for TV debut: Professional video gaming is set to
debut on cable television later this year, potentially paving the way for
the kings and queens of game controllers to become as familiar to American
households as the faces of Johnny Chan or Annie Duke in televised poker.
Major League Gaming, the world's largest organized video gaming league, on
Monday will announce a programming deal in which USA Network will air
seven one-hour episodes in the fall, featuring the pro circuit and its
players. Though video gaming fans have been able to follow competitions on
game Web sites for years already, MLG's television deal marks the first
time regular TV viewers would be able track the ups and downs of a pro
tournament, watching video gaming as a new kind of extreme sport. More. | |||||||||||
| Web site
rates health journalism: Newspaper and magazine health coverage will
be reviewed online at a new Web site beginning Monday. Access to the site
and its findings, http://www.HealthNewsReview.org,
is free and open to consumers. It was created by University of Minnesota
journalism professor Gary Schwitzer, who fashioned the site after similar
efforts in Australia and Canada. The reviewers will monitor top
newspapers, magazines and other media outlets, including The Associated
Press, and rate their coverage of health issues. Articles will be rated on
a scale of one to five stars, and the reviewers also will post comments. More. | |||||||||||
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| CNet
launches video network: CNet Networks Monday said it will launch
"CNet TV", a new video on demand network over cable, on digital
video recorders made by Tivo and on the Internet as it broadens its reach
to viewers. The company, known for its gadget reviews and technology
industry news, said it has signed a deal with cable operator Cox
Communications, Tivo Inc. and TVN Entertainment to distribute its videos.
TVN provides on-demand videos to the cable industry. Best Buy Enterprises
Inc. will be the service's first advertising sponsor, CNet said in a
statement. | |||||||||||
| Vivendi CEO
says mobile phones to be Swiss knives of digital age: Mobile phones
are the Swiss Army knives of the digital age, but French regulators are
holding back functions such as television, the head of Vivendi Universal
was quoted as saying on Monday. Jean-Bernard Levy, chairman of the French
telecoms and media group, told Le Parisen newspaper in an interview that
its mobile phone arm SFR already had 30,000 subscribers to its television
service and could overtake Apple Computer Inc.'s ITunes as the leading
mobile music download site in France by year end. "The mobile phone
is the Swiss knife of the digital age. It is appreciated for its user
friendliness and interactivity," Levy was quoted as saying. New
functions have developed as download speeds increase and memory capacity
grows, but if regulators did not respond, France risked losing ground to
other countries in developing new services, he said. "At the
moment, one frequency is blocked by each (mobile television) communication
toward a subscriber. We need to move to having one frequency per
television channel, which would be more efficient and reduce prices,"
he said in the interview. More. | |||||||||||
| PBS
considers putting shows online: The U.S. Public Broadcasting System is
considering making its television shows available on the Internet or
portable devices like MP3 players, its new president and CEO said Monday.
PBS is also weighing whether to partner with technology companies, in the
same way that Walt Disney Co. has teamed up with Apple Computer Inc. to
sell episodes of some of its ABC television network series on ITunes for
downloading to IPods, CEO Paula Kerger said. She also pointed to PBS's
archive of educational shows like "Nature,"
"Frontline" and other documentaries as a possible resource that
could be accessed "anytime, anywhere." More. | |||||||||||
| Former
Greenpeace chief now backs nuclear power: One of the founders of
Greenpeace wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post saying he's changed his
mind about nuclear power. Patrick Moore now argues that nuclear power is
the only feasible, affordable power source that can solve today's growing
environmental and energy policy issues, and head off catastrophic climate
change. More. | |||||||||||
| Symantec
gets $1 billion tax bill: Shares of Symantec Corp. lost nearly 4
percent in after-hours trading Monday, following an IRS claim that the
company owes $1 billion in additional taxes. Symantec (SYMC:
News,
chart,
profile)
lost 3.7 percent to finish at $15.79 after the maker of the Norton
family of antivirus and security software said that it received a notice
from the Internal Revenue Service claiming the company owes $1 billion in
additional taxes, mostly related to Veritas Software Corp. Symantec
acquired Veritas last July. Symantec, which plans to contest the claims,
said it "strongly believes the IRS positions with regard to these
matters are inconsistent with applicable tax laws and existing Treasury
regulations." See
full story. | |||||||||||
| Stocks: U.S.
stocks ended lower Monday as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial
Average fell to their worst levels in more than a month after oil prices
topped $70 a barrel, raising concern high energy costs will fuel inflation
and hurt corporate profits. The Dow industrials ($INDU:
News,
chart,
profile)
fell 63.87 points to 11,073.78, its lowest closing level since
March 9. Of the Dow industrials 30 components, 25 contributed to losses. See
performance of Dow stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPQ:
News,
chart,
profile)
fell 14.95 points to 2,311.16. The S&P 500 Index ($SPX:
News,
chart,
profile)
dropped 3.79 points to 1,285.33, its worst close since March 13.
The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG:
News,
chart,
profile)
inched down 0.2 percent to close at 321.63 and the Amex
Biotechnology Index edged down 0.6 percent to 680.72, following a
relatively calm session for the sectors on Wall Street. Semiconductor ($SOX:
News,
chart,
profile)
and computer hardware ($GHA:
News,
chart,
profile)
stocks also sold off. | |||||||||||
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