Posts

March 25, 2013

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9:19 PM | News of the Week – March 25th, 2013

SCIENCE Twitter communities develop unique lingos Researchers from the University of London found that, depending on which Twitter users you interact most frequently with, you become more likely to use certain terms in your “tweets” unique to your Twitter community, reports ScienceNOW. In this study, published in EPJ Data Science in February, the research team [...]The post News of the Week – March 25th, 2013 appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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11:23 AM | OneStart Semi-Finalists Participate in Biotech Business Bootcamp: Morning Session

On Saturday, March 16th, the 35 semi-finalists in OBR’s and SR-one’s OneStart idea competition met for a Biotech Business Bootcamp at University College London. With £100 000, free lab space at Stevenage BioScience Catalyst, one year membership to networking society One Nucleus, and business and IP support on the line these finalists were given the opportunity [...]The post OneStart Semi-Finalists Participate in Biotech Business Bootcamp: Morning Session appeared first on Oxbridge […]

March 24, 2013

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10:12 PM | OneStart Biotech Bootcamp: Medical devices discussion panel

OBR and SR One invited the OneStart competitors to question a panel of experts on the financial and practical aspects of medical device development. The session was chaired by Matthew Foy, Partner at SR One (who are corporate partners of OBR) and the panel consisted of Dr Nick Edwards, Chairman at MedInnovate, Kinapse & Oxtex, [...]The post OneStart Biotech Bootcamp: Medical devices discussion panel appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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10:11 PM | OneStart Biotech Bootcamp: Drug discovery advice from the experts

OBR and SR One gave the OneStart competitors a chance to question a panel of industry experts in the drug discovery workshop. The dynamic session was chaired by none other than Deborah Harland, Partner at SR One. The panel included Allan Baxter, Chairman at Stevenage BioScience Catalyst, Alan Moodie, VP in UK External Management at [...]The post OneStart Biotech Bootcamp: Drug discovery advice from the experts appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 23, 2013

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8:49 AM | Chaperones: Protein folding molecular transformers.

In our cells, proteins are the main functional entities driving biological systems. They adapt a specific structural architecture that confers them with specific functional properties in biology. Many of these proteins function through their inherent property of structural flexibility and their dynamic nature. This dynamic property involves movement of protein structural components from one point [...]The post Chaperones: Protein folding molecular transformers. appeared first on Oxbridge […]

March 22, 2013

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9:57 PM | Science Exchange is Hiring

Science Exchange is a young vibrant company, just like Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable, and has some fantastic job opportunities to offer OBR’s talented members. Science Exchange is a community marketplace which links scientific providers with researchers looking to outsource or validate experiments. Their platform allows scientists to access expertise knowledge and skills to conduct research more [...]The post Science Exchange is Hiring appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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7:32 PM | Unlocking nature’s potential: with Dr Andrew Lightfoot

Peptinnovate is a privately owned biotechnology company founded in 2011 and is exploiting the ability of proteins derived from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) to modify the immunological and inflammatory response in humans. These proteins are secreted by the bacteria and enable it to remain essentially undisturbed by the host’s immune system once infection in the lung [...]The post Unlocking nature’s potential: with Dr Andrew Lightfoot appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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5:26 PM | Bad bugs: the growing threat of antibiotic resistance

Every day brings another lauded breakthrough in the scientific world. From the recently hailed curing of a US child born with HIV, to the ever-growing hype surrounding regenerative medicine, it is undeniable that medically and scientifically, the pace is not slowing. However, it’s easy to forget that our relentless advancement can come at a price. [...]The post Bad bugs: the growing threat of antibiotic resistance appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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8:00 AM | Identifying a Business Opportunity

So, you think you have a business idea. What’s next? Before ideas become reality they must undergo validation as business opportunities. One can start by identifying the gap in the market typically fulfilled by innovation. There are two general types of innovation – process and product. Process innovation focuses on how things are done: creating a better [...]The post Identifying a Business Opportunity appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 21, 2013

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6:09 PM | Big Pharma’s Innovation Crisis

This article is the third in a series by venture capitalist Stan Fleming discussing whether mergers and acquisitions can solve Big Pharma’s problems. The first article provides an overview of this issue, the second discusses the source of pharma’s problem. This article looks at why pharma hasn’t been able to fix this situation. Pharma’s Inability [...]The post Big Pharma’s Innovation Crisis appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 20, 2013

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2:39 PM | Immune profiling gains traction

With the ease-of-access of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and the reduction in costs associated with their use, many biotech companies have cropped up attempting to employ this powerful resource in the clinic for the exact identification of immune profiles in patients suffering from infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancer. Such an approach would allow [...]The post Immune profiling gains traction appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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2:23 AM | RSC Emerging Technologies Competition: Finding the brightest business minds in chemical sciences

This is a guest post written by Melanie Lord and Aurora Antemir from the Royal Society of Chemistry You have a technological idea and it’s brilliant! This is the beginning of a journey, an eventful journey. You have the technical knowledge and creativity and your idea is close to becoming real however, you struggle with [...]The post RSC Emerging Technologies Competition: Finding the brightest business minds in chemical sciences appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 19, 2013

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8:00 AM | The Road To Open Science: An Interview with Joseph Jackson – Part II

We have been talking to Joseph Jackson, open science proponent and co-founder of the DIY lab, Bio, Tech & Beyond. We continue our discussion where we left off last week. What were your motivations behind starting Bio, Tech & Beyond, specifically in San Diego and what are its goals? San Diego is one of the [...]The post The Road To Open Science: An Interview with Joseph Jackson – Part II appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 18, 2013

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10:47 PM | Who Should You Work For?

By Doug Kalish, PhD [...]

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10:20 AM | News of the Week – March 18th, 2013

SCIENCE New classes of antibiotics sorely needed Antibiotic resistance was described as a “ticking time bomb”, posing an “apocalyptic” threat to human health according to Professor Dame Sally Davies, author of a study commissioned by the UK Department of Health. The chief medical officer for England, antibiotic resistance should be ranked along with terrorism on [...]The post News of the Week – March 18th, 2013 appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 15, 2013

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6:34 AM | Should you get an MBA?

Kent Pryor recently explained the Virtues of a Virtual Company to OBR. He is better placed than most to comment on this as he is currently Chief Operating Officer (COO) at ZZ Biotech LLC, a virtual company; and has previously worked at the non-virtual companies SynthRx Inc, Kemia Inc, and Corvas International. Kent has experienced both [...]The post Should you get an MBA? appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 13, 2013

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5:37 PM | Women in science celebrated for Women’s Day

NEWSFLASH On March 8th, 2013, International Women’s Day was celebrated worldwide. Many events were organized in countries the globe over celebrating the intellectual, political, and artistic achievements of women who had the courage to take a stand and have their voices heard in a gender-unequal society. A recent assessment, known as PISA 2009, carried out [...]The post Women in science celebrated for Women’s Day appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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5:36 PM | “Mississippi miracle” child cured of HIV

NEWFLASH Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, University of Mississippi Medical Center and University of Massachusetts Medical School were described by several news sources as “making medical history” last week, with the first functional cure of an HIV-infected infant – a maternally infected 2-year-old girl. In 2010, doctors started the newborn on a potent 3-drug [...]The post “Mississippi miracle” child cured of HIV appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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1:58 PM | Scotland joins the OBR family

The latest OBR chapter, and the first one in Scotland, hosted its launch event on January 31st in the whimsical surroundings of the Glasgow Hunterian Art Gallery. We welcomed over one hundred people from industry and academia, who gathered together to participate in what was arguably a raving success. The evening began with an introduction [...]The post Scotland joins the OBR family appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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7:00 AM | The Road To Open Science: An Interview with Joseph Jackson – Part I

With the “flattening” of the world in the era of information and technology, open science and do-it-yourself (DIY) science is gaining ground. In this age of citizen science, a critical unmet need is the availability of low-cost freely accessible resources. This need is being met to some extent by emerging DIY laboratories all over the [...]The post The Road To Open Science: An Interview with Joseph Jackson – Part I appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 12, 2013

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7:04 PM | The Scientist Who Happens To Be a Woman

This month is Women's History Month, and last Friday was International Women's Day. Such celebrations are set to recognize and pay tribute to the contributions made by women throughout history. Many of those contributions were by women in science.A growing number of women, however, are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with efforts to highlight women in science because such emphasis may lead to the conclusion that there is something unusual about female scientists or that we need […]

March 11, 2013

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1:30 PM | Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of a Scottish legend: Dr David Livingstone

Written by Nathaniel Jones and Daniel Tagoe This March sees the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of Dr David Livingstone, a momentous occasion that will be celebrated in a series of events throughout Scotland. The University of Glasgow’s Institute for Infection, Immunity and Inflammation and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology (WTCMP) held a symposium [...]The post Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of a Scottish legend: Dr David Livingstone appeared first on […]

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1:00 PM | News of the Week – March 11th, 2013

SCIENCE HIV cure could lie in early treatment Mississippi doctors made medical history this week with the first functional cure of an HIV-infected infant. The 2-year-old girl, who was born with the virus, now requires no medication, has a normal life expectancy and is highly unlikely to be infectious to others, doctors believe. In 2010, [...]The post News of the Week – March 11th, 2013 appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 10, 2013

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11:13 PM | A troubling shift in tradition

Many past profiles here at JAEP have been written about individuals in careers labeled as nontraditional or alternative. The positions are implicitly juxtaposed to ones that are deemed traditional. Tradition, naturally, is a subjective term. It is a function of many variables such as culture, local environment, etc., and any consensus of its definition (if [...]

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7:22 PM | New Gear for the Solo Science Videographer

I’ve just gotten some new gear to assist with making solo science videos with your iPhone….for those times when you don’t have anyone to help operate the camera. In the following video, I introduce some accessories (microphone, cable, monopod) that … Continue reading →

March 09, 2013

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2:56 PM | Epigenetics: What we know and how we can apply it

The science of our genetics predominantly focuses on the influence of our DNA sequence on gene expression. However, we now know that on top of our genome sits our epigenome, the study of which is known as epigenetics. Epigenetic mechanisms are able to elicit changes in gene expression that are heritable, yet confer no alteration [...]The post Epigenetics: What we know and how we can apply it appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

March 07, 2013

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1:22 PM | Who Has the Scallop Balls?

Here’s an amusing video about a scientist who studies reproductive success in sea scallops. I’m not suggesting this as a model for all science videos, but it does offer an example of how to use humor to tell a story … Continue reading →

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4:45 AM | RNA: messenger, mediator, muter, and more

While RNA is the less chemically stable and often less appreciated nucleic acid counterpart to the more famous DNA, RNA species are extraordinarily diverse in size, structure, and function. Though the roles of the most familiar RNA—messenger RNA—are well understood, several recent findings have opened up worlds of essential tasks carried out by RNA species [...]The post RNA: messenger, mediator, muter, and more appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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1:16 AM | Roche grants access to clinical trial data

NEWSFLASH Pharmaceutical company Roche announced last week that it would allow members of the public to access anonymised clinical trial data, after independent review of each request for access. The review process will be presided by a committee appointed by Roche, which is expected to include both external experts and company representatives, and will result [...]The post Roche grants access to clinical trial data appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.

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1:15 AM | Cancer citizen science app developed by CRUK

NEWSFLASH Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has teamed up with technology gurus from Amazon Web Services, Facebook, and Google in a bid to enlist citizen scientists for cancer research. The public has been invited to help identify cells carrying carcinogenic mutations in their DNA sequences via the Cell Slider website, but the charity hopes to release [...]The post Cancer citizen science app developed by CRUK appeared first on Oxbridge Biotech.