Virginia BioTechnology Research Park

May 2011

Biotech Park News

Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. Receives the Virginia Bioscience Company of the Year Award
Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. (HDL, Inc.), www.myhdl.com, a CAP accredited leader in health management, has received the Virginia Bioscience Company of the Year Award by the Virginia Biotechnology Association (VABIO). The award was designed to recognize the biotech or device company that best exemplifies the spirit of the Virginia life sciences community as well as its success and leadership in Virginia.
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Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Harris Scientific, Inc.
An internationally recognized expert on how omega-3 fatty acids can benefit patients with heart disease, Dr. Harris will join HDL, Inc. to further expand upon his life’s work in fatty acid analysis, and to enhance HDL, Inc.’s Fatty Acid panel of tests. This panel includes measurement of the level of omega-3, omega-6, cis-monounsaturated, saturated and trans fatty acids in erythrocyte membranes, and it supplies healthcare providers with critical information essential for guiding treatment options and improving health outcomes.
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At VCU, Business Leaders Discuss Issues With Cantor
From economic uncertainty to regulations they consider burdensome, a group of business executives gave House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, a rundown of issues facing small businesses.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling moderated the panel discussion, which also included Robert Skunda, president and CEO of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park, Elizabeth M. Bentley with Union First Market Bank and John F. Biagas, president and CEO of Bay Electric Co. Inc.
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Researcher Honored by the World Psychiatric Association with Prestigious Jean Delay Prize
The World Psychiatric Association has named Kenneth Kendler, M.D., professor of psychiatry, and human and molecular genetics in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, a recipient of the Jean Delay Prize. The Jean Delay Prize, sometimes regarded as the “Nobel Prize” of psychiatry, honors a scientist who has made a major contribution in building bridges between the biological, psychological and social aspects of psychiatry. The awardee is selected by an international jury. Kendler, who is internationally recognized for his pioneering research in psychiatric genetics, is the second American psychiatrist to be honored with this award.
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BioTech Park Growth Plans Debated
Robert T. Skunda thought he could look out of his office window in the Virginia BioTechnology Center and see the future along North Ninth Street. The parking lot on the other side of East Leigh Street is part of an 18-year-old master plan for the 34-acre park in downtown Richmond, as is the decrepit city Public Safety Building on the opposite side of Ninth Street from the lot. Those properties represent a future gateway from the BioTech Park to its biggest patron: the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. But Skunda, president and CEO of the BioTech Park, may have been looking in the wrong direction.
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VCU News and Research

Governor McDonnell Ceremonially Presents $5 Million in State Funds to VCU Massey Cancer Center to Support Cancer Research Expansion
At a celebration event, Gov. Bob McDonnell ceremonially presented a check representing $5 million in state appropriations for fiscal year 2012 to Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. The funding was approved by the General Assembly this winter when the body accepted the governor’s budget amendment to provide the additional resources for the center. The $5 million allocation will help Massey to expand and strengthen its research as it works toward achieving National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive status, the highest level of distinction for a cancer center. Comprehensive status would make Massey the only facility in Virginia with such a designation, and one of only 40 nationally.
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Dietary Inorganic Nitrate May Reduce Heart Dysfunction Caused by Powerful Anti-Cancer Drug
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that nutrient supplementation, like the kind that is found in leafy greens, spinach and lettuce, may reduce the damage to the heart caused by a powerful anti-cancer drug. Since the 1960s, the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin has remained a top choice for chemotherapy because of its superior efficacy to fight cancer. However, the drug is known to lead to permanent heart damage. Currently, dexrazoxane is the only Food and Drug Administration-approved therapy for prevention or treatment of heart damage caused by doxorubicin. Unfortunately, this drug may worsen myelosuppression and interfere with the anticancer efficacy of doxorubicin. Myelosuppression is the decrease in the ability of the bone marrow to produce blood cells – a common side effect of chemotherapy.
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VCU Massey Cancer Center Finds New Biomarker that Predicts Breast Cancer Relapse
Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have discovered a new biomarker related to the body’s immune system that can predict a breast cancer patients’ risk of cancer recurrence. This breakthrough may lead to new genetic testing that further personalizes breast cancer care. The study, published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, is the first to use tumor infiltrating immune cells located at the site of the tumor to predict cancer recurrence. Using tissue samples from breast cancer patients, researchers found that a specific, five-gene signature related to tumor infiltrating immune cells can accurately predict relapse-free survival. Currently, there are two main tests used to predict the risk of relapse in breast cancer patients, the Oncotype DX panel and the MammaPrint panel. Both of these tests focus on genes that are mainly expressed by tumor cells.
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For Hearing Parts of the Brain, Deafness Reorganizes Sensory Inputs, but not Behavioral Function
The part of the brain that uses hearing to determine sound location is reorganized in deaf animals to locate visual targets, according to a new study by a team of researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Western Ontario in Canada. These findings propose a new theory for cross-modal plasticity: loss of one sensory modality is substituted by another while maintaining the original function of the brain region. It is known that persons who have suffered major sensory loss, such as deafness, show compensatory, or even superior performance in the remaining senses. This occurs through a process of cross-modal plasticity, where loss of one sensory modality is replaced by the remaining senses. But researchers have not known how the brain region vacated by one sensory modality selects its sensory replacement – until now.
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VCU Medical Center Physicians Listed among Richmond Magazine’s Top Docs
More than a hundred physicians from the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center have been recognized in Richmond Magazine’s 2011 Top Docs survey, which asked local physicians whom they would recommend in a range of specialties from 53 categories.  In Richmond Magazine’s April issue, which featured a “heroes” theme, 110 full-time VCU Medical Center physicians appeared on the list, seven of them appearing in more than one category.
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