Kansas leaders fear potential lawsuit against moving bio-defense facilty to Manhattan will delay project

Kansas leaders fear potential lawsuit against moving bio-defense facilty to Manhattan will delay project

TOPEKA — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that Texas' plans to sue the federal government over putting the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas could threaten national security.

"I am deeply concerned that legal action will only delay the NBAF mission, placing our national security and food supply at risk," Sebelius said.

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Her comments came after a Texas consortium of researchers gave notice of its intent to file a lawsuit, alleging that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security improperly picked Manhattan, Kan., over San Antonio for the location of the $450 million lab that will study deadly diseases that could pose a threat to the food supply and public health.

Sebelius said Kansas was selected out of six finalists in a fair process that was free of politics.

"Kansas presented a credible pathway to jump-start the NBAF's critical research mission and committed funding to do so," she said. "The Department of Homeland Security deserves commendation, not litigation, for their appropriately comprehensive, fair and unbiased selection process."

The Texas Biological and Agro-Defense Consortium has filed notice in federal court that it intends to sue.

In a news release, the group alleges that there were irregularities in Homeland Security's decision-making process, political influence and disregard for public safety.

Tom Thornton, president of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, said Kansas was selected for its leadership role in animal health research, a concentration of animal health companies, and state-of-the-art facilities already built on the Kansas State University campus.

In October, DHS rejected a bid by Texas to increase incentives to lure the lab. Texas officials had offered about $44 million in incentives, but Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he wanted to seek another $56 million from the Texas Legislature when it met in January.

But DHS said that proposal would have been past a deadline for sites to submit their incentive plans. Earlier in 2008, Kansas committed $105 million to lure NBAF. DHS picked Kansas in December as the preferred site.

Be the Buzz of BIO Winners Announced

Be the Buzz of BIO Winners Announced

Contest Allows Innovative Companies to Compete for Visibility at 2009 BIO International Convention

2009 BIO International Convention

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has announced the four winners of the Be the Buzz of BIO contest – a competition which companies entered in order to win free publicity for their company at the 2009 BIO International Convention by submitting an original video describing why their company and innovation should be the buzz of BIO. The global event for biotechnology will take place May 18-21, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

The six finalists in the competition included companies AMRI, Archimedes, BIOBIDE S.L., Impact Systems, Koronis Pharmaceuticals, and Zenda Technologies. All six finalists' videos were posted for voting by the general public, which ended on Friday, April 17. Voters could vote once for companies they viewed as most innovative technology, best quality of presentation, and strength of ideas.

From this list of finalists, the following winners were chosen from across the globe and the biotechnology industry:

BIOBIDE S.L., a company based out of Spain that focuses on automated High Throughput Screening (HTS) of potential new drugs. BIOBIDE has developed a fully automated platform to reproduce the manual process of screening in a 96-well plate format 'in vivo' with zebrafish embryos. View their submission.

"BIOBIDE is very happy to have been selected as one of the winners in the first annual Buzz of BIO contest. We really appreciate being selected as one of the companies considered to have the most impact in the world of biotechnology. And more even thinking on the meaning of this award: having the most Innovative Technology, the High Throughput Screening services offered based on the zebrafish animal model, for toxicity and efficacy assays," said Arantza Muriana, R+D Management Director, BIOBIDE S.L.

Impact Systems, a service provider based out of Delaware, utilizes a solution called Compliance in a Box (CiB). CiB dramatically simplifies the task of implementing a new enterprise content management system. View their submission.

"Impact Systems is thrilled to have been selected as a "Be the Buzz of BIO" winner and to have the opportunity to attend and present at the 2009 BIO International Convention. We commend BIO for creating such an innovative contest to generate excitement for the Community and the Convention," said Mangesh Honwad, CEO, Impact Systems.

Koronis Pharmaceuticals, also a BIO Member company, is a biotechnology company based out of Washington state, developing anti-viral therapeutics based on a novel mechanism, Viral Decay Acceleration (VDA). The Company's lead product candidate is KP-1461 for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). View their submission.

"We are delighted by BIO's recognition of Koronis' innovative approach for the treatment of HIV based on Viral Decay AccelerationTM, a novel mechanism of action that was recently revalidated in a third serial passage study," said Donald Elmer, interim Chief Executive Officer of Koronis Pharmaceuticals. "Koronis plans to resume clinical trials following the completion of on-going formulation work. We would like to thank BIO for this opportunity and look forward to providing an update at the BIO annual meeting."

Zenda Technologies, based out of Georgia, has developed a new technology that for the first time allows primary care physicians to quickly, easily, and objectively add a cognitive health assessment to your annual physical. View their submission.

Lawrence Catchpole, CEO of Zenda Technologies, said, "We are very appreciative of the recognition afforded in being a Buzz of BIO winner and feel that this is a great validation of our innovation in Cognitive Health Assessment technology. Zenda looks forward to bringing our product to market to fill this gap in overall preventative care, to the benefit of patients around the world."

As winners of the contest, the companies will receive complimentary registrations to attend Convention and the opportunity to present their company in the BIO Business Forum in front of industry leaders — showcasing the winners to potential partners. The contest winners join the list of more than 150 research and development companies presenting at BIO. To view a full list of presenting companies, please visit http://convention.bio.org/businessforum.

"We are thrilled with the over-all quality of the submissions we received for this campaign and would like to congratulate the winners," said Robbi Lycett, vice president of Conventions & Conferences at BIO. "This is a great opportunity for developing companies to meet up with potential investors at our Business Forum and start making the connections their businesses need to continue thriving."

"We are especially thrilled for Koronis Pharmaceuticals, a BIO member taking advantage of our emerging company member benefits such as networking opportunities, access to members' only committees, and significant discounts on BIO conferences," said Amy Finan, vice president, Corporate Development and Marketing at BIO.

The Be the Buzz of BIO contest is part of the new BIO Community website, designed to provide free resources to biotechnology leaders and professionals in order to help them overcome the challenges currently facing the biotech industry.

The BIO Community allows individuals to utilize a "create your own virtual BIO badge" application, access free podcasts, articles, connections to colleagues via myBIO, the BIO International Convention event planner, access to the BIO Convention Twitter channel and the ability to place their community badge on their own LinkedIn, Facebook or social media tools.

To take advantage of the free resources offered by BIO, please visit the new BIO Community at http://community.convention.bio.org/.

BIO tapped the resources of a digital marketing firm, www.r2integrated.com, for the community tools development.

The BIO International Convention helps to support BIO programs and initiatives. BIO works throughout the year to create a policy environment that enables the industry to continue to fulfill its vision of bettering the world through biotechnology innovation. For more information on the global event for biotechnology, including program and housing information, please visit http://convention.bio.org.

Agro-Bio Fibre Targets RM20 Mln In Sales

KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 (Bernama) -- Fibreboards manufacturer Agro-Bio Fibre Sdn Bhd has target RM20 million in sales this year, by optimising production to increase output, said its chairman Datuk Seri Tai Hean Leng.

The company will allocate over RM3 million to add as well as upgrade more equipment, to achieve the 30 percent increase in output, he said.

"Beside producing medium density fibreboards (MDF), we want to produce more high density fibreboards through this investment," he told reporters after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), here today.

To date, Agro-Bio Fibre has invested more than RM30 million over 10 years to produce the MDF.

According to Tai, the company plans to export its fibreboards made entirely from depleted oil palm fruit bunches, to the United States, Taiwan, the Middle East and Japan in future.

Witnessing the signing ceremony today was the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas.

-- BERNAMA

A New Hope For Bio-Fuels?

Scientists at the University of California in San Francisco have discovered a potentially revolutionary new way of creating gasoline without the use of food crops, and without the pesky necessity of spending millions of years buried beneath the earth.

Using a peculiar microbe discovered in a French garbage dump combined with the wonders of modern synthetic biology, a team of researchers has identified a chemical compound capable of converting carbon-based biomass into a gas that can be processed to produce gasoline.

The chemical conversion process is able to use a variety of inexpensive substrates, such as agricultural waste products like the leaves and stalks left over from corn and sugar cane harvesting. 

The end product is gasoline that the researchers claim is chemically identical to that derived from fossil-fuel sources in petroleum refineries around the world.

"You could fill your car up with it right now, so there's no difference in engine technology or anything like that," said Chris Voigt, chief researcher for the project.

Voigt believes that the U.S. could potentially turn to this new breed of bio-fuels as a security net in the event of unstable oil prices on the world market.

"Then, if the sugar price goes high and the oil price goes down, you could flip it and the consumer would not know any difference," he added – a possibility not available with ethanol. 

In recent years, opponents of the ethanol movement – the other bio-fuel – have levied the double-edged criticism that production of the corn-based fuel drives up global food prices and is not environmentally friendly, despite its green reputation. 

Both are criticisms that would be circumvented by the new fuel-production technology, since it utilizes essentially useless plant waste products that are typically discarded by farmers.

Voigt estimates that with advancements in the efficiency of the conversion process and use of genetically modified plants, gasoline could eventually be produced for as little as $1.65 a gallon from sugar cane bagasse.

He also believes that fuel derived from cellulosic materials such as poplar trees could be even cheaper to produce – at roughly $1.10 to $1.30 a gallon.  The problem however lies in creating a sustainable and profitable model for growing the necessary amount of trees, which require a substantially longer growth period before they can be harvested.

For years, scientists have tried and "failed miserably" to find an enzyme that could efficiently break down cellulose – the main component of plants' rigid cell walls – in hopes of creating cheap bio-fuels, said Voigt.

"So we started looking at organisms that can do that naturally," he explained.  "We then found this one that we realized was unique."

Voigt's team utilized a novel species of bacterium first discovered in a French garbage dump in the 1980's.  They then teamed the bacterium up with common yeast cells.  When the two are placed together on a plant-based substrate like switchgrass, the chemistry is amazing.

The bacterium first consumes the vegetation and produces the chemical acetate as a metabolic side-product.  The yeast then feeds on the acetate, which it in turn converts into methyl halides, a family of molecules traditionally used as agricultural fumigants.

The methyl halides are then released as a gas that scientists can easily collect and convert to gasoline.

According to Voigt, by simply substituting a different catalyst the methyl halides can also be converted into other useful chemicals, such as the ethylene used in plastic bags.

The group's results are sure to reinvigorate hopes for the future of truly green bio-fuels.

Voigt estimates that the first large-scale pilot production facility for methyl halide conversion could be ready for production in as little as three years.