December Luncheon Meeting

1

• December Luncheon Meeting
• Steve Mandell, Chairman
• Pepper Hamilton LLP
• Annual Holiday Luncheon Science Quiz

2

• Life Science (Medical)
• Word Quiz

3

• Brainbow
• Manipulated neurons in mice that light up in a
  rainbow of fluorescent hues, creating a powerful
  tool for mapping out the brain's complicated
  wiring plan.

4

• Anthocyanins
• A key group of enzymes involved in the production
  of plant pigments that give them their bright
  colors.

5

• MEN 2B
• Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia, a rare hereditary
  cancer syndrome manifested by neuromas, lumps of
  nerve tissue on the tongue, lips and eyelids. It
  has recently been suggested that Abraham Lincoln
  suffered from it.

6

• Presbycusis
• A pattern of hearing loss that occurs in seniors
  and is characterized by the slow but progressive
  loss of ability to hear tones at high and then
  high and middle frequencies.  

7

• Urticaria
• Hives

8

• Science in the News
• Quiz Questions

9

• What new genetic technology is being developed to
  create new life forms?
• The in vitro synthesis and insertion of complete
  genomes into bacterial cells. These can be used
  to develop new medicines, fuels, and other useful
  chemicals -
  Washington Post - 12/18/07

10

• This model genetic organism has several genes
  linked to alcohol, which may help to identify a
  genetic basis of human drinking behavior. Like
  humans, this intoxicated insect shows movement
  problems, loss of postural control, sleepiness,
  and develops alcohol tolerance after repeated
  exposure to alcohol. What is the organism?
• Fruit Flies -Drosophila melanogaster - UPI/News
  Daily - 11/05/07

11

• Due to an increase of start up companies in the
  area, new investors are targeting smaller biotech
  companies. One of the new private funds was
  started by the former CEO and Chairman of Digene.
  What is his name or the name of his private
  fund?
• Evan Jones, jVen Capital -
  Washington Business Journal - 10/26 to 11/01/07

12

• Men who took this supplement for an average of 18
  years recorded significantly higher scores on
  several cognitive tests, particularly tests of
  verbal. What dietary supplement, if used for
  many years, may protect against declines in
  memory that often precede Alzheimers disease?
• Beta carotene -
  Medicine.Net - 11/12/07

13

• U.S. scientists at Purdue University and the Mayo
  Clinic have developed a technology that can
  detect cancer by using what procedure?
• A laser to scan veins, eliminating the need to
  draw blood. In addition to being less invasive,
  the new detection method evaluates a much larger
  volume of blood - NewsDaily/Proceedings of the
  National Academy of Sciences - 9/4/07

14

• What Rockville biotech is developing a
  staphylococcus infection detector?
• Innovative Biosensors, Inc. They were one of
  the presenting companies at the BIO IT Coalition
  June meeting this year - Washington Business
  Journal - 11/9-15/07

15

• What type of alcoholic beverage consumption
  (beer, wine, or liquor) has been found to
  increase the risk of developing breast Cancer?
• All types of alcohol add equally to the risk of
  developing breast cancer in women. Women must
  consume 2 drinks a day to increase their risk of
  developing cancer by 10 percent? Three drinks a
  day raises their risk by 30 percent -
  MSNBC -
  10/23/07

16

• Israeli acute paralysis virus has recently been
  shown to be a threat to (A) what organism and (B)
  what industry?
• A. Billions of honeybees have been killed in
  colony collapse disorder. B. Farming -
  
  Fox News - 9/07/07

17

• Israeli scientists have identified the genes
  responsible for the positive response to the drug
  Copaxone for some patients of what disease?
• Multiple sclerosis. The findings might lead to
  the development of personalized medicine for
  multiple sclerosis sufferers - NewsDaily/UPI -
  10/11/07

18

• A small biotech company, Bioavailability Systems
  LLC has purified an active compound from
  grapefruit that makes statins (e.g. Lipitor)
  toxic in some people but increases the
  effectiveness of anti-tumor drugs. How does it
  do this?
• By preventing their metabolism in the gut,
  thereby increasing their bioavailability. This
  has the potential to significantly lower the
  amount of necessary anti-tumor drugs and thus,
  their cost -
  Wall
  Street Journal - 11/27/07

19

• MRSA is becoming a serious public health issue in
  the U.S and is responsible for many deaths. What
  is it and why has it become a problem?
• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
  Due to the evolution of antibiotic resistant
  bacteria as result overuse of antibiotics
  
  FoxNews - 11/19/07
• .

20

• The American Cancer Society has reported that for
  the last 5 years there has been a 2 percent drop
  per year in the death rate for breast cancer.
  Why?
• Early diagnoses due to more women getting
  regular mammograms, which can help doctors to
  diagnose breast cancer early, when it is the most
  treatable - MSNBC - 10/23/07

21

• What business man or company helped to literally
  lay the foundation for Montgomery Countys status
  as the regions biotech hot spot?
• Robert Scheer, Scheer Partners -
  Washington Business Journal - 11/9-15/07

22

• What is being used in Japan to train dentists?
• A cutting-edge robot named Simroid. This
  humanoid robot has realistic skin, eyes, and a
  mouth fitted with replica teeth, which dentistry
  students practice drilling on. Simrod yells,
  Ow, that hurt! and narrows her eyes when the
  student drills too close to the nerves" -
  
  Fox News - 11/29/07

23

• What happened to the Montgomery County plan to
  develop 115 acres for a science and technology
  park in White Oak?
• The plans went back to the drawing board -
  
  Washington Business
  Journal 11/2-8/07

24

• A new study of attention deficit hyperactivity
  disorder (ADHD) suggests that it has a biological
  basis. What did the study find?
• Key brain areas of ADHD kids which
  suppress inappropriate actions, thoughts, focus
  attention, and control movement develop more
  slowly -
  CNN.com/Health - 11/12/07

25

• The development of a new supercomputer will be
  completed sometime next year. It will be about
  twice as powerful as todays dominant model, a
  basketball-court size beast known as BlueGene/L.
  How many calculations per second will it be able
  to do?
• 1,000 trillion
  Computer World -
  11/25/07

26

• Britain's Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium
  and an international team of scientists have
  identified two genes, ARTS1 and IL23R, that
  causes which disease?
• Ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory and
  potentially disabling form of arthritis -
  
  NewsDaily/UPI/Nature Genetics - 10/22/07

27

• What new technology is being developed by CSA
  Medical to treat esophageal cancer and other hard
  tumors?
• Cryogenic ablation -
  Businesswire - 5/7/07

28

• U.S. scientists at Duke and Purdue Universities
  report developing a technology that can sort
  through particles hundreds of times smaller than
  a period. How will this technology be used to
  help physicians and/or public health officials?
• The detection of multiple pathogens in a small
  sample of blood or water. With that procedure,
  if a person had been exposed to five viruses,
  physicians could look for all five viruses
  simultaneously -
  NewsDaily/UPI - 10/30/07

29

• Japanese scientists say theyve used genetic
  engineering to create mice without certain nasal
  cells. What behavior did this change?
• The fear of cats. This development that may
  shed new light on mammal behavior and the nature
  of fear itself - MSNBC - 12/13/07

30

• "Doctors Without Borders" physicians have
  developed a new treatment program in Uganda for
  what common parasitic disease in that region?
• African sleeping sicknes caused by Human African
  trypanosomiasis (HAT). The findings were
  promising because no cases of treatment failure,
  no treatment terminations, and no HAT- or
  treatment-related deaths occurred -
  NewsDaily/UPI -
  11/8/07

31

• What is the exact title of the April 23rd 7th
  Annual BIO IT Coalition conference?
• The State of Healthcare Medical
  Technology in 2028