January 2010
BIOTECH PARK NEWS
VBRP Banner Installed at Richmond International Airport
A 50-foot banner has recently been installed in the Richmond International Airport’s upper level connector area, between ticketing and the atrium. The colorful banner shows off images of the Park’s architectural beauty as well as the incredible innovation and research that is being done here. Thank you to the Capital Region Airport Commission and Barber Martin Advertising.
2010 Donate Life Rose Bowl Parade Float Inspired by National Donor Memorial
The United Network for Organ Sharing and Donate Life America was honored to have played an integral part in the creation of the Donate Life float entry in the 2010 Rose Bowl Parade and Tournament of Roses. For the seventh year, UNOS and Donate Life America joined their affiliate/partner OPO “One Legacy” in Los Angeles, CA in helping to sponsor the Donate Life Float in the Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses. This year, the theme for the float entries were “A Cut Above The Rest”.
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Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. (HDL) Announces New Model to Chronic Disease Management
Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. (HDL), www.hdlabinc.com, announced today the launch of its new preventative model to chronic disease management based off a monumental shift in the way physicians test for life threatening conditions. “Few moments in medical history have held such promise and opportunity for the prevention of cardiovascular and related chronic diseases while enhancing the continuum of care,” said Tonya Mallory, President and CEO, HDL, Inc. “The medical community is no longer confined to limited lab results, and is in a position to now more accurately detect the unexpected.”
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Altria Plays Major Role in Richmond Area’s Economic Life
The nation’s No. 1 tobacco company makes all its cigarettes — 150 billion a year — in Richmond. Its headquarters are here, and so are the labs where it designs new products, such as the tipless Black & Mild cigarillo and the new Marlboro Blend 54 in its dark-green box — and where scores of Richmonders, intrigued by the fliers, have taken up its invitations to earn money by participating in tobacco-consumer studies. Standing at 160 on the Fortune 500 list of large companies, among Richmond-area firms only Dominion Resources Inc., at 157, is larger.
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United Water and Infilco Degremont Establish Water Research Center
United Water jointly launched a unique collaborative effort with its sister company, Infilco Degremont, Inc., establishing a Water Environmental Research Center (United WERC) to spearhead innovative efforts in providing safe drinking water and state-of-the-art wastewater treatment.
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Brothers of Invention
As lifelong allergy sufferers, twin brothers Eric S. Edwards and Evan T. Edwards,co-founders of the Richmond-based specialty pharmaceutical firm Intelliject Inc., keep their epinephrine auto-injectors close by. Accidental ingestion of peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish can cause them to go into anaphylactic shock, a potentially fatal allergic reaction. Tongue and throat tissues swell, making breathing difficult. A person may break out in hives and blood pressure may drop, causing fainting.
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AWARDS, HONORS and GRANTS
VCU School of Engineering Research Selected by NSF to be Presented to Congress
The rapid pace of activity inside an ER is indeed challenging. A medical team treating traumatic injuries caused by a car wreck or major fall must work extremely fast to save lives. However, making an accurate diagnosis and beginning an appropriate course of treatment requires them to review a vast amount of patient data, including biomedical signals, images, trauma scores and lab results.
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VCU Vice President for University Relations and Chief of Staff to Retire
One of Virginia Commonwealth University’s longest-serving executives is retiring after 38 years of service. Sue Ann “SAM” Messmer will retire Feb. 1 from her positions as vice president for University Relations and Chief of Staff, Office of the President. Messmer has held both positions since 2002, when the responsibilities of chief of staff were added to her role as one of the university’s seven vice presidents.
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NEWS and RESEARCH
Up Close and Personal With the Phag
A class of 18 energetic, aspiring biologists at Virginia Commonwealth University kicked off the new semester getting reacquainted with several old friends — Shi-Lan, Turbido, Cornelius, SmurfKing, Theia, Trixie, Zeus, Wile and Charlie. Those creative names belong to a unique set of organisms — bacterial viruses called bacteriophage, or phage — collected and identified by the freshman class from soil samples found in Richmond, Northern Virginia and Chesapeake during the fall semester.
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VCURES Develops New Technique in Detecting Low Blood Volume
Researchers from the VCU Reanimation Engineering Shock Center, VCURES, have developed a new technique for rapidly determining the severity of hypovolemia – the abnormal decrease in blood volume caused by trauma — based on a new approach of analyzing electrocardiogram signals. Soo-Yeon Ji, Ph.D., and Kayvan Najarian, Ph.D., of VCU’s Department of Computer Science, and Kevin Ward, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, studied 22 healthy volunteers who underwent lower body negative pressure to simulate moderate-to-severe hemorrhage by moving blood from the upper body into the dependent areas of the pelvis and leg.
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