Dr. John Reed, president and CEO of The Burnham Institute, was appointed to the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee that will govern the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine created last month.

Just as SSTI and other post-election analysts predicted, California’s recent passage of a $3 billion commitment to stem cell research is triggering responses from across the country. Wisconsin is the first to outline a specific, strategic reaction to the California referendum in an effort to retain or regain momentum in the race to encourage bio-based economic growth.

Using data from its 2004 Best Performing Cities Index, Milken has generated a comprehensive table ranking cities by one- and five-year measurements of job growth, wages and salaries, and relative high tech gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and other measurements.

What policies, investments and programs would be most effective for communities trying to attract, retain or build a local pharmaceutical industry? Research parks? Tax incentives? Biotech seed capital funds?

Duane Roth is the new executive director of UCSD CONNECT. Roth was CEO of Alliance Pharmaceuticals in San Diego.

Kenneth Lynn has been appointed president of KCCatalyst. Lynn formerly was a consultant to biotechnology companies assisting in technology acquisition, strategic planning, and commercial development.

While the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have voiced caution and funded efforts to understand the potential societal and environmental implications of nanotechnology deployment, both agencies announced much larger funding commitments - totaling $213 million - to expedite commercial applications for the explosive field.

Nanotech Solutions for Cancer

More than half since recession "officially" ended

There is little comforting news in a new statistical report for workers in the U.S. information and communication technologies (ICT) sector. Researchers from the University of Illinois-Chicago found the sector lost 403,300 jobs between March 2001 and April 2004.

As part of a new initiative to address pressing ethical, legal and social questions raised by recent advances in genetic and genomic research, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has awarded approximately $20 million in grants to fund interdisciplinary centers within universities around the country over the next five years. NHGRI is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

New York City Launches Second Biotech Incubator Companies wanting to commercialize new technologies can now bring their companies to Brooklyn, with the June opening of a new technology incubator located near Downstate University's biochemistry department.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius named Howard Fricke to serve as secretary of the state's Commerce Department.

Jerry Lonergan is Kansas Inc.'s new president.

Does it matter whether a start-up takes money from a large venture firm or a small venture firm? According to the just-released VentureOne Deal Terms Report, the answer is a resounding yes.

A group of Kansas City bi-state community development organizations, led by KCCatalyst and the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute (KCALSI), released a report Friday that illustrates Kansas City’s bi-state life sciences initiative and lays out how the region can become a national and global center for life sciences research and commercialization.

The University of California, San Diego's CONNECT program will begin a search for a new director since Fred Cutler's resignation at the end of September.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius made public on Wednesday the details of a statewide economic revitalization plan designed to stimulate and strengthen the Kansas economy. Included in the plan are several items that could help boost tech-based economic development (TBED) in the state:

In signing his state's fiscal year 2003-04 budget on August 2, California Governor Gray Davis shaved General Fund expenditures by $7 billion in an effort to address a $38.2 billion budget shortfall. Among those cuts was funding for the California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency (TTCA), the state's principal catalyst for innovation, investment and economic opportunity.

The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), the state's lead corporation to promote advanced technology economic development, has developed a new investment program to help early-stage technology companies get the capital boost they need.

California

Richard Murphy was named interim president of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Arlene Chiu announced she will resign as interim chief scientific officer of CIRM, effective Oct. 31.