Source: MHT

Leland Cheung has been an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and a D.C. technocrat, striving to grow the tech community from the inside.

Now, at age 31, he's taking those efforts to City Hall.

After spending the summer sifting through young cleantech ventures applying for U.S. Department of Energy grants, Cheung was elected to Cambridge City Council this month on a platform to keep young startups from leaving the city for the suburbs or the West Coast. His planned method of constituent service: hanging out at the techie hangouts, including "squatting" at Betahouse - a co-working space for tech entrepreneurs in Central Square - until his inauguration.

"Community does matter to a lot of people when they're making their decision about where to grow their companies," he said. "I think I'm the only person on the council that knows about a lot of these events."

Cheung is one of a growing number of young entrepreneurs taking on the mission of growing the next crop of tech ventures in Massachusetts by advocating for and to their own generation.

To know more, click here.

Source: R&D Magazine

The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). These protein motors play pivotal roles in gene expression and replication, and are vital to the survival of all biological cells, as well as infectious agents, such as the human papillomavirus, which has been linked to cervical cancer.

James Berger, a biochemist and structural biologist who holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division and University of California Berkeley's Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, and Nathan Thomsen, a graduate student in his research group, have captured a critical action shapshot of an enzyme known as the Rho transcription termination factor. In bacteria, the Rho motor protein binds to a specific region of messenger RNA and translocates along the chain to selectively terminate transcription at discrete points along the genome. To read more, click here.

Source: Optics.org

High-energy protons could yield compact source for cancer therapy.

Laser proton anvil in action

An international group of physicists working at the Los Alamos laboratory in the US has used a laser to generate 67.5 MeV protons - the highest-energy protons yet produced in this way. Their work points the way to new laser-based devices for proton therapy, which would be far smaller and cheaper than existing particle-accelerator sources.

When a high-energy proton beam travels through the human body it deposits most of its energy within a small volume, the size and location of which can be calculated to great precision. As a result, protons offer a distinct advantage over other forms of radiation used to destroy tumour cells because they cause less damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Unfortunately, the accelerators needed to generate the protons can cover thousands of square metres and cost some $100m. This has limited the number of proton-therapy facilities available and patients often have to travel considerable distances to be treated in this way. To read more, click here.

Source: Information Week

The Medical Group Management Association, a professional organization representing thousands of U.S. physician practices, has sent a letter to the National Coordinator for Health IT recommending steps that should be taken in the implementation of the federal government's $20 billion health IT stimulus program.

The MGMA said that while it supports physician practices' adoption of health IT, the group is "very concerned about the implementation process for the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs currently under development," in a letter to national health IT czar Dr. David Blumenthal dated Nov. 12. To read more, click here.

Source: Information week Healthcare

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a new blog where consumers, healthcare providers, policy makers, and others to share ideas and concerns regarding health IT.

The new Health IT Buzz blog "will allow readers to learn more about health IT," as well as let them to share comments on various topics, said Dr. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health IT, in an HHS release.

The new blog includes:

Discussions of ways to advance interoperability standards, which will ensure accurate and widespread exchange of health information;

Evaluations of new options for the certification of electronic health records;

Exploration of health IT-related regulatory and guidance initiatives to protect the privacy and security of health information;

An assessment of critical privacy and security issues. To read more, click here.

Source: MHT

Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law Wednesday legislation transferring the Renewable Energy Trust from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to the newly formed Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.
The center will now be charged with growing the clean energy sector through workforce development programs, direct investment in startup companies and expanding the number of renewable energy projects installed across the state. Specifically, the trust is charged with managing clean energy incentive programs like Commonwealth Solar, Commonwealth Wind and Commonwealth Hydro.
"This legislation merges the work of two quasi-public state entities with complementary missions, consolidating staff and resources while establishing the Clean Energy Center as the primary agency responsible for growing the Massachusetts clean energy industry," said Patrick, who filed the legislation in April. To know more, click here.

Since 1982, Chronicle, Channel 5's newsmagazine, has been producing award-winning programs about the quirks, events and phenomena that make New England special. Last Tuesday's show took a look at CIC's home turf, Kendall Square. The show featured an interview with CIC's Tim Rowe, and CIC client Nabeel Hyatt from Conduit Labs. The description from the Chronicle website explains more:

Tuesday, November 24: Kendall Square

Long known as a technology and innovation center, the latest advance out of Cambridge's Kendall Square is a stunner: the area is now conducive to human life forms not wearing pocket protectors. There are new apartment complexes, new restaurants, even traces of a bohemian underground. Tonight Anthony Everett circles the square, with an inside look at Microsoft's NERD (New England Research & Development) Center, a visit to the kitschy kitchen the Friendly Toast, and a shopping trip to the Garment District and its dollar a pound clothing special. He'll also get out on the Charles River for a kayak expedition, and discover a unique place for a quick escape: a little known rooftop garden.

To see more, click here.

Source: MassHighTech

Natick-based medical device company Boston Scientific Corp. has for years given back to the community through the Boston Scientific Foundation, which supports local and national programs that improve lives in the areas of health and education for the underserved. Its health-related grants seek to improve the health of individuals with the greatest unmet needs, while its education-related grants seek to improve educational opportunities and skill development for those at risk of not fulfilling their potential.

The foundation has seen the ups and downs of the economy and how vital it is that companies stay committed to giving, particularly in the tough times, said Paul Donovan, president of the Boston Scientific Foundation, and senior vice president of corporate communications for Boston Scientific.

“In a year that has strained the resources of many families and the charitable organizations that serve them, we are proud of the progress we have made in strengthening the Boston Scientific Foundation and expanding its reach.” Read more here.

Source: BBC

Scientists have pinpointed a mutated gene as key to the development of some types of glioma brain tumour.

The mutation leads to hugely increased levels of a chemical in the brain, which seems to feed the cancer.

The Nature study suggests that detecting higher levels of the chemical could provide doctors with a useful diagnostic tool.

It also raises hopes that blocking production of the chemical might prevent the cancer getting worse. Read more here

Source: The New York Times

Norwest Venture Partners has raised $1.2 billion for a new venture capital fund, an optimistic sign for technology start-ups.

Norwest, which announced its new fund Wednesday, said it would use the fund in part to finance large investments in mature companies, which are typically not a focus of venture capitalists. This strategy, shared by some other firms, has provoked debate over the nature of venture finance. Read more

Source: Wall Street Journal

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) became the latest in the banking community to form a clean technology investment group.

The San Francisco-based company said in a statement Wednesday that its new clean technology group will be located in Palo Alto, Calif. and will "offer customized commercial banking products and services to businesses that manufacture, market or develop clean technology products and services, such as solar and wind power, energy and water efficiency, electric and low-emission vehicles, and smart grid applications." Read more

Source: Laser Focus World

November 10, 2009--IPG Photonics Corporation (Oxford, MA), manufacturer of high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers, proudly announced that its founder, chairman, and CEO Valentin Gapontsev was the recipient of the Laser Institute of America's (LIA; Orlando, FL) 2009 Arthur L. Schawlow award. The Schawlow award, which was first presented by the LIA in 1982, honors individuals who have made distinguished contributions to applications of lasers in science, industry, education or medicine (see also "2008 Arthur L. Schawlow Award in Laser Science and Engineering bestowed on Eckhard Beyer").

The award is named for Professor Arthur L. Schawlow, who received The Nobel Prize in Physics in 1981 for his contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy, and is LIA's highest achievement award.
To read more, click here.

Source: Physics World

APS News: Restrictions imposed by the US Air Force on the use of lasers are significantly diminishing the utility of adaptive optics for studying the cosmos, according to a number of astronomers.

An example of adaptive optics at work on starburst galaxy NGC7469. The left image is with adaptive optics, the right image is without. Image Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope

"At one time, four or five years ago, we were getting very few restrictions, but more recently that has increased," said Julian Christou, the adaptive optics technician for the Gemini North Observatory in Hawaii. "The impact is we are losing time to do long integrations... It's an accumulated time loss."

To read more, click here.

Source: Bio Optics World

Engineers and biologists in the Ultrafast Optics and Nanophotonics Laboratory at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) have demonstrated the advantages of using femtosecond lasers to manipulate molecules and cellular material inside living cells. In experiments published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vikram Kohli, Abdulhakem Elezzabi, and colleagues used femtosecond laser pulses to perform nanosurgery on living zebrafish embryos to introduce exogenous material into the embryonic cells (see figure).1 Their findings should enhance researchers' ability to noninvasively manipulate molecules in intracellular environments, a critical component in advancing understanding of cellular structure and function. To read more, click here.

Source: BioOptics World

Speed. Power. Precision. These are the key characteristics of ultrafast lasers. In the past, the physical sciences had most to gain form the attributes. Now, however, stimulated by new and improved light sources, ultrafast lasing is advancing rapidly into the biomedical arena. From imaging cells and viruses in extraordinary detail to carrying out flow cytometry on the blood vessels of living creatures to the removal of melanomas from human patients, the technology is proving its value in the entire arena of life science and biomedicine.

Laser specialists emphasize that current projects in the biological arena remain largely in the preliminary stages, as research projects intended to explore the technology's potential. "It's early days," says Theodore Norris, director of the University of Michigan's Center for Ultrafast Optical Science (CUOS). But Norris and others predict that, as a result of the understanding garnered by current research and efforts to reduce costs, ultrafast lasers will find their ways into life science laboratories, hospitals and clinics, and even doctors' and dentists' offices.

To read more, click here.

Source: AP Associated Press

MARIETTA, Pa. — Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer's disease. AIDS. Pandemic flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler's diarrhea. You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working on a vaccine to prevent it.

Many could be on the market in five years or less.

Contrast that with five years ago, when so many companies had abandoned the vaccine business that half the U.S. supply of flu shots was lost because of factory contamination at one of the two manufacturers left.

Vaccines are no longer a sleepy, low-profit niche in a booming drug industry. Today, they're starting to give ailing pharmaceutical makers a shot in the arm.

The lure of big profits, advances in technology and growing government support has been drawing in new companies, from nascent biotechs to Johnson & Johnson. That means recent remarkable strides in overcoming dreaded diseases and annoying afflictions likely will continue.

"Even if a small portion of everything that's going on now is successful in the next 10 years, you put that together with the last 10 years (and) it's going to be characterized as a golden era," says Emilio Emini, Pfizer Inc.'s head of vaccine research.

Vaccines now are viewed as a crucial path to growth, as drugmakers look for ways to bolster slowing prescription medicine sales amid intensifying generic competition and government pressure to cut down prices under the federal health overhaul. Read more here.

Source: The Washington Post

Human Genome Sciences said Monday that approval of its experimental anthrax drug hit a delay as regulators asked the firm for more information about the treatment.

The Food and Drug Administration wrote in a letter to the Rockville company that it had further questions about the Convert Overview Convert traffic into customers through a marketing funnel. drug, called raxibacumab, and would withhold approval until HGS provided additional information. HGS said that it expects to answer the questions in the next few months.

"We have responded to all of FDA's previous questions," said Sally D. Bolmer, the company's senior vice president of development and regulatory affairs, in a statement. "We plan to address the current questions as well." Read more here

Source: Xconomy

It turns out that Don Dodge—famous among entrepreneurs for putting a personal face on Microsoft’s operations in New England, until his unceremonious termination earlier this month—was only in job limbo for about about an hour and a half. Dodge sends Xconomy word this morning that he has been hired by Microsoft archrival Google.

Vic Gundotra, Google’s vice president of engineering, was the first person to contact him with a job offer, “90 minutes after the news of the layoff hit” on November 4, Dodge says in a blog post about his move.

At Microsoft, Dodge was director of business development for the Emerging Business Team. In an e-mail, Dodge says he’ll have a similar role at Google: “My main job will be working with developers helping them build apps on Google technologies and platforms. Startups will always be my first love, so I will spend as much time as possible with developers at startups.”

Dodge says he will spend his “20 percent time”—the one day per week that Google employees are encouraged to spend on personal projects—working with Google Ventures, the venture funding wing led by Rich Miner from Google’s Cambridge office and Bill Maris from the company’s Mountain View, CA, headquarters. “There are some obvious synergies there,” Dodge writes. Read more here

Source: Entrepreneur

It's an easy fantasy to nurture; you land The Big One. That one giant, fat account that will launch your business into the big leagues, put the kids through college and secure an early retirement on that Hans Christian 48-foot sailboat.

Give it up. Instead, build your dreams around a wide and varied customer base of other small businesses, experts urge. Success with this model is more likely, less risky and a smarter way to grow a solid enterprise. Plus, in most cases small businesses simply aren't equipped to respond to a whopper of a sale.

"Smaller companies often pursue the big guys and leave low-hanging fruit, which is other small companies," says Don Mazzella, a small-business consultant and co-author of The Janus Principle: Focusing Your Company on Selling to Small Business. "However, it's easier and more effective to sell to your counterparts than to larger clients." Read more here

Source: Photonics Spectra

p.40-42: For Lidar, Many Happy Returns

p.44 Optics In Space, Free Space Optical Communication and the last frontier

p46 Picosecond lasers for high quality industrial micromachining

Source: MHT

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are warily eyeing a U.S. House health reform bill that would double the financial burden on the industry.

While the bill lacks some of the fees proposed by the Senate, the House's tighter price controls on drugs covered by government programs would likely bring the total industry cost to $150 billion to $160 billion, compared with the $80 billion cost associated with the Senate version, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal.

Both chambers plan to increase the discount on Medicaid drugs to 22.1 percent of the average manufacturer's price, from 15.1 percent. The House bill also calls for a larger number of the uninsured to be placed on Medicaid, instead of receiving government subsidies for private insurance. This means that while drug companies are expected to reap additional revenue from the newly insured, more of those new consumers will be buying the drugs at the Medicaid discount.
To read more, click here.

Source: MHT

Compuware Corp. reports it has completed its acquisition of Gomez Inc.

The Gomez acquisition for $295 million in cash was announced Oct. 9 by the two companies.  Lexington-based Gomez makes web application testing software, which Compuware (Nasdaq: CPWR) plans to add to its current offering of enterprise software analytics.

With today's announcement, Detroit-based Compuware reiterated that it intends to bring all 272 of Gomez' employees into its fold.

Gomez had been in an IPO holding pattern since filing papers for a public stock offering last May. Financial reports filed since then indicate the company reached profitability for the first time in the first half of 2009, bringing in $26.6 million in revenue in that period an increase of 25.6 percent over the same period in 2008. The growth resulted in net income of $1.9 million for the first six months of 2009. Gomez lost $868,000 in the same time period of 2008. To read more, click here.

Source: Mass High Tech

As the cleantech industry breathes a sigh of relief after the financial meltdown of a year ago and awaits passage of clean energy legislation, industry leaders gathered to count their achievements and rally support around political leaders Wednesday at the New England Clean Energy Council's Green Tie Gala.

The gala honored the 25-year effort of Steve Cowell, founder and president of Conservation Services Group., as well as the growth of cleantech companies like Boston's EnerNOC Inc.. Devens' American Superconductor Corp. and Watertown's QD Vision Inc.

Rep. Edward Markey addressed the roughly 400 attendees at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, exhorting the efforts of his colleagues in Congress to pass legislation that will open up the energy market to new ventures and opportunities to export technology abroad.
To read more, click here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

 There is a hint of that old boomtown feeling again in the Bay Area -- this time in living rooms and garages and cubicles where a cottage industry is unfolding around the iPhone app.

Despite the recession, hundreds of start-ups have sprung up in the area since Apple Inc. launched the iPhone two years ago and opened up the device so third-party developers could create games and other software applications for it. "This is our dot-com boom," said Samir Shah, 26 years old, a co-founder of Mountain View-based Snapture Labs LLC, which makes a $1.99 camera app that has been one of the top-ranked photography apps since September. Read more

Source: The Wall Street Journal

After nearly a decade of doing everything it can destroy the creation of new high tech companies, Congress finally does something right … and the whining has already begun.  Read more

Source: The New York Times

This week brought acquisitions of three high-profile technology startups, a welcome break in the gloom that has enveloped Silicon Valley for the past year.

On Monday, Google agreed to buy AdMob, a mobile advertising startup backed by Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners, for $750 million. Electronic Arts agreed to buy Playfish, an online games startup backed by Index Ventures and Accel Partners, for $300 million. On Tuesday, Logitech agreed to buy LifeSize, a videoconferencing startup backed by Redpoint Ventures, Austin Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners, for $405 million. Read more

Source: R&D Magazine

The first experiments are now underway using the world's most powerful X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source, located at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Illuminating objects and processes at unprecedented speed and scale, the LCLS has embarked on groundbreaking research in physics, structural biology, energy science, chemistry and a host of other fields.

In early October, researchers from around the globe began traveling to SLAC to get an initial glimpse into how the X-ray laser interacts with atoms and molecules. The LCLS is unique, shining light that can resolve detail the size of atoms at ten billion times the brightness of any other manmade X-ray source.

"No one has ever had access to this kind of light before," said LCLS Director Jo Stöhr. "The realization of the LCLS isn't only a huge achievement for SLAC, but an achievement for the global science community. It will allow us to study the atomic world in ways never before possible." To read more, click here.

?wnnvz=cIpb87iV1KLy7oscSource: R&D Magazine

This week the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), along with officials from the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), announced an important milestone in the National Ignition Campaign (NIC) at the 51st annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics in Atlanta.

Highlighting results from recent NIF tests, NNSA and LLNL and its NIC partners-Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), General Atomics, and Sandia National Laboratories-showed that NIF's laser beams can be effectively delivered and are capable of creating sufficient x-ray energy to drive fuel implosion, an important step toward the ultimate goal of fusion ignition. LLE also presented results showing the most compressed fusion capsules to date. To read more, click here.

Source: optics.org

Although the laser micromaterials processing market has taken a clobbering this year, growth is set to return in the medium term, opening up opportunities for laser vendors who are prepared to invest in R&D and new products. Tom Hausken of Strategies Unlimited predicts far-reaching changes across the laser supply chain.

Our recent market forecast concluded that sales of lasers for micromaterials processing will take a 40% hit this year. This is drastic, but the Great Recession is not news anymore and the semiconductor tool business is already turning around after falling since 2007. Other markets, like solar cells, have further to go to recover, and the automotive sector may be even slower yet. But there is enough growth to bring the market for lasers in micro materials processing to $460_m (€314.4 m) by 2013. That isn't all. The downturn will bring changes in market share as technology marches forward. To read more, click here.

Source: CIC Blog

The Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council has announced their nominees for their 2009 awards, and there are quite a few CIC names among the chosen.

Congratulations to

• Bill Warner, Founder of Avid Technology and Wildfire Communications, who is receiving a well-deserved Innovation Catalyst award,
• Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot, nominated as a Finalist in the CEO category,
• Alexei Erchak, CTO of Luminus Devices, a company founded at CIC, who was nominated as a Finalist in the CTO category,
• Jeff Flowers, CTO of Carbonite, another CIC alumni company, who was nominated as a Finalist in the CTO category,
• Rich Miner, Managing Director of Google Ventures, who brought Google's Boston office to CIC, and was nominated as a Finalist in the "Innovator Award" category,
• Dharmesh Shah, Founder and CTO of HubSpot, who was nominated as a Finalist in the "Innovator Award" category,
• Ksplice, a CIC client company nominated as a Finalist in the "Emerging Innovative Company" category, and the 2008 Grand Prize winner of the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition,
• and finally, CIC's own Tim Rowe, our Founder and CEO, who was nominated as a Finalist in the "Innovator Award" category. This is one of those situations where CIC wins, so long as any of these three contenders for this prize wins. But we have our own feelings about who deserves it most!

Source: Newsweek

It's become all fashionable in Washington, Moscow, and Beijing these days to dismiss Europe as an aging continent in terminal decline. A June report from a Moscow think tank close to the Kremlin described Europe as weak in the face of Russian might, and last year's U.S. National Intelligence Council assessment of global power shifts called the EU "a hobbled giant" plagued by "internal bickering."

Such broadsides are easy to understand. The EU today is divided on all kinds of issues, from how to deal with Russia to the future of NATO. Europe's banks still have more toxic assets on their books than America's. With Britain, France, and Germany often pursuing separate foreign--policy goals, the idea of an EU able to translate its size and wealth into hard power and common purpose seems as remote as ever. Read more here

Source: MHT

Call it a continuum of excellence. In this issue, you will read of the accomplishments and talents of 15 exceptional New Englanders, leaders in their corners of the tech community - the 2009 Mass High Tech All-Stars. This brings to more than 200 the total number of MHT All-Stars honored in the 14 years of our program.

We've been asked whether we might someday run out of candidates, but the pool of nominees for All-Stars is as deep as ever. This year, we reviewed almost 150 nominations, each representing special accomplishments in bringing new technologies to market, growing companies or building community. The nominees span several generations (some nominees were in elementary school when the first All-Stars were honored, back in 1996). Some are the proteges of other All-Stars. What's really exciting is that the honorees have set a foundation for future All-Stars. Which future All-Stars learned robotics from Rodney Brooks or will learn from his doctoral students? How many will be like Omid Farokhzad, who emerged from the circle of innovation drawn by 2004 All-Star Robert Langer and his research lab? Which future entrepreneurs are learning today under the guidance of an Eric Giler or a Gail Goodman? Which kids in elementary school today will grow into tomorrow's leaders, thanks to people like Maura Banta who are working hard to reform the way our schools teach math and science.

To read more, click here.

P.33-39: The National Ignition Facility is up and running at last

p.13: Interferometry: Beam combiner can help find exoplanets

p.23 Adaptive optics simulator studies binocular vision

p. 9 Modelocked femtosecond laser emits at 2420nm

To read more, click here or email us.

Source: BioOPtics World

Many projects in my group were considered to be impossible only a few years ago," says Xiaoliang "Sunney" Xie. So when considering a supposedly insurmountable challenge, "I ask my students to think not how it is impossible, but why it is impossible. We are so used to conventional wisdom that we don't even ask why something is not possible; we are just told that it is so and we accept it as a fact."

Xie, whose given name means "sunrise" in Chinese, is a professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, a post he has held for 10 years. This year marks the tenth anniversary of one of his best- known accomplishments, the development of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy, which allows highly sensitive label-free imaging of molecular species based on their intrinsic vibrational frequencies.

In December 2008, his research group announced a successor to CARS: stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy. Just one month later, at BiOS/Photonics West 2009, several groups were reporting their own SRS results. "We've already used the technique to map the distribution of saturated and unsaturated lipids in a live cell, and to measure diffusion of medications in living tissues," says Xie. These are just two early examples of how SRS microscopy can impact cell biology and medicine. As collaborator Jason Tsai of Pfizer puts it, "SRS's impact has yet to be fully elucidated." To read more, click here.

Source: Bio OPtics World

OCTOBER 23, 2009--Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH (Jena, Germany) has received a license from the University of California for the commercialization of a super-resolution microscopy technique called Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM).

SIM was developed by scientists Mats G.L. Gustafsson, John W. Sedat, and David A. Agard at the University of San Francisco (UCSF).

The technology overcomes the classical diffraction limit to microscopic resolution by combining a special illumination pattern with computational image analysis. Compared to a conventional microscope, the resulting superresolution images have up to double the resolution in all three spatial directions.

The agreement grants Carl Ziess the right to integrated the SIM technique into its microscope systems.

Source: MHT

Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt met with reporters in Google's Cambridge office today to talk about technology's role in the economy and Google's plans for new products like its turn-by-turn navigation service, Google Maps Navigation (they don't intend to put TomTom out of business), and Google Wave (the company plans to expand distribution in weeks).

Here are some of the highlights:
(...)

Massachusetts vs. Silicon Valley:
"I don't see much difference," Schmidt said. The quality of the people and the science are equivalent, he said. "I think it's a somewhat unfair question. If you think about it, the biotech revolution did occur here. It occurred physically within a mile of here. I see no reason why you couldn't have very large and very global companies in IT headquartered here, and I would do it in IT."

IT's role in innovating out of the downturn:
"I think you need to make an affirmative decision to build a set of industries in which America will lead," Schmidt said. The most interesting area will be advanced manufacturing - batteries, materials sciences, nanotech and other "new things produced in really small volumes that are tech-intensive," he said - and that industry will need computers and software. "That's, I think, where the narrative starts."  To read more, click here.

Source: MHT

When A123Systems Inc. was languishing in anticipation for the initial public offering market to open - yet was still in need of new cash to fund development efforts - an unexpected investor led the charge to fill the company's coffers. It wasn't a venture capital firm. It was General Electric Co.

In April, GE provided $15 million in what was a $69 million investment round for A123 (Nasdaq: AONE), and it has invested a total of $70 million in the company since its inception. GE (NYSE: GE) is now the second largest holder of the battery-maker's stock after Waltham's North Bridge Venture Partners, according to regulatory filings.

A123 is one of a growing number of local clean-technology startups taking investment dollars from large industrial, energy and technology firms. Those investments often have plugged funding gaps left unfilled by traditional venture capital firms.
To read more, click here.

Source: Industrial Laser solutions

Pelham, NH--At the MDM show in Minneapolis last week, the general impression was very positive. All of the vendors I talked to were quite happy with the turnout as the show was very well attended both days with aisles full and most vendors smiling. There were approximately 600 vendors this year, up from last year. Show attendance at about 8400 was up about 4% from last year. Representing the laser community were laser manufacturers, system integrators, and several laser job shops.

It should be noted that it is also very rewarding to be in an industry where everyone can be on friendly terms, even if there is a competitive nature in their business dealings. On Wednesday evening, more than 20 laser industry professionals representing Directed Light, PhotoMachining, ILT, TRUMPF, LASAG, Preco, and Unitek Miyachi among others met for dinner and late evening networking sessions. It appears that the laser industry is still very friendly and cordial for the most part. To read more, click here.

Source: green tech media

Matt Rogers, Senior Advisor to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, says 85 percent of the selections for grants have been made.

If you won, you probably know by now.

The Department of Energy has already selected recipients for $28 billion of the $32.7 billion in grant money allotted to the Department under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to Matt Rogers, the senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu. Rogers spoke at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley at the opening of the school's Energy Institute.

"Over 85 percent of the selections have been made," he said. At the end of September, $16.7 billion had already been awarded in total.

The DOE also received around $10 billion to facilitate credit for energy projects.

The ARRA has moved at a relatively quick speed, he noted. The program only passed this year. Until Memorial Day, most of the time was consumed in devising programs. $17.8 billion of the $28 billion has already been made available to recipients and the DOE has already got confirmation from recipients about how they employed their grants.

Although the DOE has had to work quick, it turned down around 80 percent of the applicants. To know more, click here.

Source: Innovation Economy blog

It feels like the end of the telecom era in Massachusetts this evening, as the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council takes over the Massachusetts Network Communications Council, which over the past few years had been idling.

They're calling it a merger, but...

...Tom Hopcroft, president of MassTLC, will remain president of the new group. (Here's his blog post on the news.) Mark Horan, formerly chief of MassNetComms, will be a senior vice president. Aside from Horan, the two staffers who'd been helping to run MassNetComms won't join MassTLC. (Horan said they've already found other jobs.)

...About two-thirds of the 500 corporate members of the combined entity will come from MassTLC, with MassNetComms bringing the minority.

...And the Mass Network Communications name will disappear, as will most of MassNetComms' annual events. To read more, click here.

Source:

Source: Innovation Economy blog

In the wake of Wednesday's lay-offs at Microsoft, which affected several big names at the company's New England Research & Development Center, my big question today was, who's left?

The biggest name to be sent packing Wednesday was Don Dodge, who has been one of Microsoft's main links to the start-up and developer community -- both in New England and nationally. (An item on TechCrunch yesterday was titled, "Microsoft Loses Don Dodge: This is a Huge Mistake," and it attracted 200-plus comments.)

Allison Parker was also laid off, only a few weeks after Reed Sturtevant, her boss at Microsoft's Startup Labs technology development group, was let go.

With those three, Microsoft shed some of its strongest connections to the New England community.

So who's still there in a senior position?

Jennifer Chayes is still in charge of Microsoft's research group in New England, and Angie Anderson leads a product unit that oversees some of Microsoft's virtualization offerings, including what used to be Softricity, a company Microsoft acquired. Ted McLean is still a general manager for New England, and Sara Spalding is the site director for Cambridge. Annmarie Levins is an associate general counsel for Microsoft who works out of the Cambridge office. To read more, click here.

Source:PEHub

This is a great presentation, check it out:

http://www.pehub.com/54640/what-makes-bostons-start-up-scene-special/

Source: Xconomy

It was an inspiring afternoon yesterday at Xconomy’s latest event, “Pharma’s Bet on Boston Innovation,” in Cambridge, MA. Local industry pioneers such as Millennium CEO Deborah Dunsire and Sirtris CEO Christoph Westphal talked about how game-changing technologies and sound business strategies have attracted big pharmaceutical outfits to invest in their respective companies.

Our speakers also offered insightful perspectives from within their organizations, including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Novartis, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Boston-based Enlight Biosciences used our venue to break the news about its recent partnership with healthcare powerhouse Abbott Laboratories. One corporate venture investor from a pharma company likened the returns of her fund to “pocket lint” relative to the revenue of the overall company, but said the corporate venture unit is important to the company’s ability to access innovative science. And Westphal even speculated that our own Luke Timmerman is a “SIRT1 over-expresser” because his genes help him stay thin despite his high-calorie diet. (Laugh if you want, but Sirtris’ deep understanding of genes, like SIRT1, that control aging and cellular metabolism helped the Cambridge, MA-based biotech get sold to Glaxo for $720 million in June 2008.) Read more here

I’ve started three companies, and now I’m an angel investor. So I’ve been on both sides of the table. There are lots of good articles out there about pitching, and surely everyone who pitches me has read some of them. Still, a few problems appear over and over again. If you’ve ever had to sort through resumes and cover letters, you’ve seen this effect: People tend to have the same misconceptions and therefore make the same mistakes. Read more here

Source: Google

WASHINGTON — US pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. finalized its acquisition of rival Schering-Plough on Tuesday, a 41-billion-dollar deal creating the number two firm in the sector.

The completion follows clearance from regulatory authorities in various countries, allowing the two companies to begin combined operations on Wednesday.

The combined firm will have annual revenues of 47 billion dollars, behind US rival Pfizer, which following its acquisition of Wyeth has annual sales of around 75 billion dollars.

The deal announced in March is the latest tie-up of big drugmakers facing increased cost pressures as key patents expire.

Merck expects to achieve cost savings of approximately 3.5 billion dollars annually beyond 2011 as a result of the transaction. Read more here

Source: The Hill

As healthcare providers, the primary mission of physicians and other medical professionals is the well-being and safety of patients. The American public puts its trust in us, and its government, to assure that the medicines we provide are safe, well tested, and effective.

Nowhere is this challenge more important than in the emerging area of follow-on biologics (otherwise known as FOBs), a class of drugs made from organic, living material. Follow-on biologics are responsible for some of the most advanced care available to patients suffering from cancer, diabetes and other debilitating diseases.

While the recent debate over how to guide FDA approval of FOBs has largely been settled in Congress, the overall healthcare reform legislation continues to be in a state of flux. To the extent that the FOB approval pathway has not yet been settled and there is speculation about reopening the debate, seemingly all of the attention is focused on the term of exclusivity. Read more here

Source: Xconomy

In May 2008, Google moved into colorful (hey, it’s Google) new offices in the heart of Kendall Square. Governor Deval Patrick played ping-pong at the grand opening with Google site director Steve Vinter. And since then, Google Cambridge has grown to some 200 people spread over four floors, and about evenly split between sales and engineering.

But while engineers at the local Googleplex are working on key infrastructure components such as Big Table and MapReduce and consumer-facing offerings like Google Books and Google Images, only one effort to date has been conceived, developed, and released entirely from here in Cambridge, MA: Google Friend Connect.

GFC is a social media tool that makes it extremely easy for website owners to add social features to their sites—without the need to learn programming. These features include gadgets or plug-ins that allow visitors to automatically import their personal profiles from Google, Yahoo, and other places without having to do it manually for each new site they want to join, as well as widgets for letting users rate and review things. Website owners simply select the features they want, fill out an extremely short (three-item) form, and the code is generated for them to cut and paste into their site. The idea is that such as easy tool will make sites more interactive and interesting, thereby helping site owners attract and retain their users. (We’ll get to Google’s motives later on). Read more here

Source: Burill & Co.