Updated: 3/27/08; 6:14:28 PM.
A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Blog
Thoughts on biotech, knowledge creation and Web 2.0
        

Tuesday, November 19, 2002


Eli Lilly's Xigris: struggling to overcome its problems in the sepsis market. BioPortfolio Nov 19 2002 9:30AM ET [Moreover - moreover...]

Sepsis is a very complicated disease and one that has been a stumbling block for many drugs. Enbrel failed in sepsis then went on to be a wonder drug for arthritis. I would never bet on a drug for sepsis until after a phase 3 trial was successful. We probably need better diagnostics detailing the cause of sepsis before we get a better therapy.  11:51:13 PM    



The covert biotech war. Guardian Unlimited Nov 18 2002 10:01PM ET [Moreover - moreover...]

I am not a fan of the Guardian but companies like Monsanto are, in my opinion, hurting rather than helping GM food use. Most of these foods do not help the customer. They are designed to help the farmer and to enrich the companies. If they are using tactics detailed in this article, tactics that are not that outlandish, then they are being short sighted. The first biotech therapies approved for humans were not ones that made more money for doctors while doing little for the patient. They were ones that, at the least, replaced expensive or animal drugs with much cheaper or more human ones. They were ones that provided and immediate benefit to the patient. Monsanto would be a lot better off if its GM foods actually provided something useful DIRECTLY to the customer. Price is too elastic in these cases to be directly useful. If these foods provided nutrients that were not available (check out Golden Rice), then you are in a better position. Now Golden Rice has its detractors (do a Google-search) but it is a better approach, in my opinion, than simply putting anti-herbicide genes in the plant. Tobacco plants that produce useful proteins are a better way to make a living than using them for cigarettes. Companies will go further in the coming years if they actually make things that the customer finds useful, rather than make more money for the company and give it increasing monopoly power.  11:48:15 PM    



Structure of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor binding core in complex with its ligand
IVAN BOSANAC, JEAN-RENÉ ALATTIA, TAPAS K. MAL, JENNY CHAN, SUSANNA TALARICO, FRANCES K. TONG, KIT I. TONG, FUMIO YOSHIKAWA, TEIICHI FURUICHI, MIWAKO IWAI, TAKAYUKI MICHIKAWA, KATSUHIKO MIKOSHIBA & MITSUHIKO IKURA
doi:10.1038/nature01268

|First paragraph|Full text|PDF(2019K)|Supplementary Information| [Nature AOP]

I love structure papers. Disappointingly, this one does not have any sterograms. I am one of the few people that can co-oridinate my eyes so I can look at them wall-eyed or cross-eyed. A talent that so far has not provided me with any money.  11:29:22 PM    



Apple Store coming to Bellevue, WA [The Macintosh News Network]

FINALLY. I want to be there when it opens. Maybe I can get a job!!  10:54:20 PM    



IDC WHITE PAPER: "THERE SHOULD BE MORE TO COLLABORATION THAN EMAIL. Is email spurring or slowing collaboration in the enterprise? Can Groove Workspace help? To find out, analysts from IDC conducted focus groups with 27 enterprise managers, and examined Groove usage at Hewlett-Packard, EDS, Pfizer and Neutrogena. The resulting white paper is available from groove.net.

To download the FREE white paper, go to

[http://www.groove.net/extras/beyondemail/idc/?tip=1102] [Gurteen Knowledge-Log]

I have to download this later since it asks for some personal info first. I hate places like that.  10:51:11 PM    



GLAXOSMITHKLINE AND GROOVE: SURMOUNTING CORPORATE BOUNDARIES. Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline had a problem: the company works extensively with outside organizations--such as labs, universities, etc.--but didn't have a way to share information securely with these groups. Now GSK is deploying Groove and seeing "immediate benefits," including reduced IT and administration costs.

Find out how in this recent case study from Enterprise Systems. [Gurteen Knowledge-Log]

Groove is great technology but what kills it for me is that it is PC-only. In my experience, biotech companies that are PC- only are usually not ones doing the innovative work. The ones that have PCs, Macs, Suns, running OS X, Linux, Solaris, etc. are using every tool avaliable to do they work. Being able to support multiple OSes is usually indicative of an adaptive company ready to use the best tools for the proper purposes. It represents a bottom-up approach to IT. PC-only companies usually represent a top-down approach. SOmeone in IT said "Let all computers be PC." Groove has been saying for well over a year that, while it recognizes the need for cross-platform tools, it does not support Mac OS. That makes me sad. It may be a great tool but, for the moment, it mostly supports those companies that will make it the most money, not necessarily those where it wll make the most difference. More and more of the creative, innovative knowledge we will see in the world will come from small, adaptive communities. That is how they will make a difference.The large megacorporations will survive by buying out these communities. That is how they will make a difference. I am afraid that Groove is making a difference for the wrong types of companies. But, I would expect that the smaller companies will adapt. That is what makes them innovative.  10:50:14 PM    



Honey kills antibiotic-resistant bugs [Nature Science Update]

So, honey has something in it that is anti-bacterial and kills strains that are resistant to antibiotics. The group demonstrated that it is not the thickness or high sugar content of honey, or even the production of superoxide radicals. But something works on chronic wouds that do not heal. It looks like it needs to be raw honey; that the prcessed honey in stores may not work. This bears further examination. It looks, though, that honey-soaked bandages from Johnson & Johnson will not be far behiond.  10:29:19 PM    



I love my new bed. It is a king-size Beautyrest that we paid a lot for BUT I am sleeping so much better. I sleep through the night instead of waking several times. AND I don't wake my wife when I do belly-flops turning in bed (imagine something from The Exorcist). I look forward to sleeping now.  4:28:47 PM    


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. "That was a great movie!" said the Nine-Year-Old. "I don't understand the critics at all. They said it was too long. They said it was boring. They said it was badly-paced. But I thought it was fascinating." It was definitely, definitely not too long," said the Twelve-Year-Old. "If anything, it was too short. They should have shown more of the classes at Hogwarts. They should have shown more of the Quidditch matches." And, fundamentally, I think the kids are right.... [Semi-Daily Journal]

We all enjoyed this movie. It is not a little kids movie with some dark moments and images that would do the Grimm Brothers proud. But everything ends well. Be sure to stay through the credits.  4:24:49 PM    



 
November 2002
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Oct   Dec






Click here to visit the Radio UserLand website.
Subscribe to "A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Blog" in Radio UserLand.

Click to see the XML version of this web page.

Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.


© Copyright 2008 Richard Gayle.
Last update: 3/27/08; 6:14:28 PM.