Virginia BioTechnology Research Park

September 2010

Biotech Park News and Events

Dr. Joseph McConnell Presents Lipoprotein (a), an Inflammatory Lipoprotein at National Lipid Association Summer Clinical Update
Dr. Joseph McConnell, Chief Medical Officer at Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. (HDL, Inc.), www.myhdl.com, presented Lipoprotein (a), an Inflammatory Lipoprotein: Recent Findings Including a Better Approach to Measurement, at the National Lipid Association (NLA) Summer Clinical Update on August 28, 2010. Dr. McConnell, who was formerly the Director of Cardiovascular Laboratory Medicine in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Mayo Clinic, is a co-founder of Health Diagnostic Laboratory, a new clinical laboratory in the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park focused on fighting the alarming increase in chronic disease.
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Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. Sponsors Festival of India
Richmond is ripe with festivals. From cultural events to beer tastings, the city has never met a celebration it didn’t like. Many of Greater Richmond’s favorite events have grown in popularity over the years, but few with such gusto as the annual Festival of India.  New to the festival this year is event sponsor Health Diagnostic Laboratory (HDL, Inc.), a new advanced testing facility located in the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park. The addition of the local laboratory this year will add a special health focus this year, with doctors and health coaches on hand to discuss the alarming trend of South Asians developing heart disease.
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UNOS Exhibits Retrospective of Perkinson’s Work
The United Network for Organ Sharing is showing “30 Years of Giving Back,” a retrospective of paintings by Dr. W. Baxter Perkinson Jr.  In three decades, Perkinson has painted more than 15,000 watercolors, averaging one a day. He’s never sold a work but instead has donated his art to organizations, from schools and churches to the VCU Massey Cancer Center. The Gallery at UNOS exhibition marks the first time that works spanning his career have been collected for public display.
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Richmond Firm Keeps Miners’ Feet Fresh
Trapped half a mile below the earth, 33 Chilean miners will have to wait for several weeks before they can be rescued. But at least their feet don’t stink. That is because among their provisions are special socks made by Richmond-based Cupron Inc. Cupron produces fiber products that are blended with copper. The antimicrobial properties of the metal inhibit the growth of fungus and bacteria, which ordinarily thrive in the damp environment the miners are stuck in.
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Cupron Receives CE Mark For Anti-Virus Mask
Cupron, Inc., whose patented technology uses non-irritating, non-sensitizing copper oxide as the basis for a wide variety of anti-microbial and cosmetic applications, announced that it has received the CE Mark for commercial sale of the Cupron Viral Deactivator, a Type IIR disposable patient/surgical mask. The Cupron Viral Deactivator is designed to significantly reduce the risk of viral infection by safely and naturally eliminating infectious virus on the surface of the mask, lessening the risk of accidental contamination and disposal as compared to similar non-Cupron masks. The mask uses the natural biocidal properties of copper oxide to effectively “kill” viruses.
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United for UNOS Event at the Biotech Park on October 8th
Learn about life’s finer things: food, wine, art and working together to save lives through organ donation/transplantation. 8 local chefs will prepare a signature dish which will be paired with a Virginia wine. Artist Dr. W. Baxter Perkinson, Jr. will create an original watercolor before your eyes! Take a chance at unearthing a ½ carat diamond valued at $2,500 in the William Jeffrey’s Diamond Dig. Engage in intimate conversations with organ recipients and donor families.  Proceeds benefit educational efforts of the UNOS Foundation.
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VCU News and Research

Researchers Discover a Drug Combination That Shrinks Tumors in Vivo
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, VCU Pauley Heart Center and VCU Massey Cancer Center researchers have shown that the impotence drug Viagra, in combination with doxorubicin, a powerful anti-cancer drug, enhances its anti-tumor efficacy in prostate cancer while alleviating the damage to the heart at the same time. In the study published online the week of Sept. 27 in the Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers using a variety of powerful in vitro and in vivo approaches, have shown that a combination of Viagra, generically known as sildenafil, and doxorubcin significantly enhances the generation of reactive oxygen species that trigger cell death, or apoptosis, in prostate cancer cells. They also observed that the combination did not harm the normal, healthy prostate epithelial cells.
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VCU Medical Center Leads Study of First U.S. Portable Driver for Powering the Total Artificial Heart
The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center is the lead institution in a national clinical trial of technology that will allow artificial heart patients to recuperate, rehabilitate and wait in the comfort of their own homes until a donor heart becomes available for transplant. The VCU Pauley Heart Center is one of up to 30 centers that will investigate a portable, mechanical driver that can power patients’ artificial hearts and enable them to recover outside the hospital environment, including at home and at step-down facilities.
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Team Uncovers Possible Risk Gene for Schizophrenia
An international team of researchers has identified a risk gene for schizophrenia, including a potentially causative mutation, using genome-wide association data-mining techniques and independent replications. The results of the research, led by Xiangning Chen, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and human and molecular genetics in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine and the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, and Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., professor of psychiatry and human and molecular genetics in VCU’s School of Medicine and the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, are reported in the September issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
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VCU Receives NIH Funding to Expand Study of the Vaginal Microbiome and its Relevance to Health and Disease
The National Institutes of Health has awarded Virginia Commonwealth University $8 million to expand the scope of an ongoing four-year study of how microorganisms found in the vagina influence health and disease in women. The VCU project, which began in 2009, is one of eight across the country that competed for and won an additional three years of increased funding to expand work previously funded for the past 12 months. The projects are part of the Human Microbiome Project, a $157 million, five-year effort launched in 2008 as part of the NIH Common Fund’s Roadmap for Medical Research. The project will produce a resource for researchers seeking to understand the function of the human microbiome in health and disease and to provide strategies to develop new therapies that manipulate the human microbiome to improve health.
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VCU Health System Named a 2010 Working Mother 100 Best Company
The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System today was selected for inclusion in the Working Mother 100 Best Companies initiative as one of the nation’s top companies for family-friendly benefits. This is the sixth time the VCU Health System has been recognized by Working Mother for its dedication to family-friendly benefits, support and wellness opportunities and financial assistance programs like tuition reimbursement and retirement planning.
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