February 2011
Biotech Park News
New Leaders Named for Richmond-Area Business Development Centers
New leaders have been named for two business centers in the Richmond area that are focused on developing next-generation industries in clean energy and high-tech manufacturing. David R. Lohr has been named president and executive director of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a research center being developed on the site of Rolls-Royce Plc.’s new manufacturing campus in Prince George County. William H. Daughtrey has been named interim executive director of the Dominion Resources GreenTech Incubator in Ashland.
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Dominion Resources GreenTech Incubator Announces New Interim Executive Director
The Dominion Resources GreenTech Incubator announced the appointment of William H. Daughtrey as interim Executive Director. David Lohr will step down from his post effective March 3, 2011, to take a new opportunity as President and Executive Director of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing.
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Center for Transplant System Excellence Names Research Team to Study Future Deceased Donation Potential Nationwide
Eleven experts, representing diverse fields including system dynamics, epidemiology, biostatistics, quantitative geography and behavioral health, have been named as investigators in a national study to determine the future number and trends of potential deceased organ donors in the United States. The study, expected to be completed in 2012, is the first major initiative of the Center for Transplant System Excellence. The Center was recently formed by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to leverage the expertise and capabilities of UNOS staff in collaboration with academic and clinical researchers, nationally and internationally, who share an interest in advancing the field of transplantation.
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Xenia and U.S. Based VLSI Invest NIS 3.7 Million in Xenolith
Xenia Venture Capital (TASE:XENA) announced the signing of an investment agreement between Xenia and Xenolith Medical Ltd. Xenolith Medical is developing a endo-ureteroscopic device designed to prevent stone migration to the kidneys during laser lithotripsy procedures. Virginia Life Science Investments (VLSI), which has collaborated extensively with Xenia on select medical device portfolio companies, will invest $500,000 in Xenolith.
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VCU News and Research
Researchers Discover a New Class of Magic Atomic Clusters Called Superhalogens
An international team of researchers has discovered a new class of magnetic superhalogens – a class of atomic clusters able to exhibit unusual stability at a specific size and composition, which may be used to advance materials science by allowing scientists to create a new class of salts with magnetic and super-oxidizing properties not previously found. The discovery, which was published Feb. 10 in the Early View issue of the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, was based on theoretical work by researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University, McNeese State University, and Peking University in China, and experimental work at Johns Hopkins University.
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VCU Massey First to Combine Targeted Agents to Kill Multiple Myeloma Cells
Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have developed a novel treatment strategy for multiple myeloma that pairs two targeted agents to kill cancer cells. The study’s findings, published in the February 10th edition of the journal “Blood,” are the first to demonstrate the synergistic, anti-myeloma effects of this combination regimen both in vitro and in vivo.
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VCU Participating in NIH National Cardiovascular Research Network
Virginia Commonwealth University is one of four institutions selected to participate in a research network, supported by a nearly $9.6 million grant over five years from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, to examine cardioprotective therapies at the preclinical level. The consortium, led by Roberto Bolli, M.D., from the University of Louisville, involves laboratories at VCU, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Emory University in Atlanta.
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Artificial Heart Patients Push Medical Technology and Hospital Boundaries
At first glance, these backpack-toting pedestrians look and move pretty much like anyone else. Get closer, and the rhythmic sound tells you they are unique, and an inspection of the backpack would reveal contents that are anything but ordinary. They are patients with total artificial hearts and they are becoming familiar sights walking the hallways of the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center’s Pauley Heart Center. The metronome-like thumping emanating from the backpack is from a portable pump – or driver – that powers the mechanical heart inside the patient. February is American Heart Month, and the portable driver is one of a number of innovative approaches to heart health being employed at the Pauley Heart Center.
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