Vancouver, BC – LifeSciences British Columbia has announced the recipients of the 2008 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards (previously known as the British Columbia Biotechnology Awards).

The recipients include:

Dr Don Riddle Genome BC Award for Scientific Excellence. Dr Riddle, professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC, is a pre-eminent life sciences scholar focused on C.elegans, a microscopic free-living worm (nematode) that possesses only 959 somatic cells, but shares many of the essential biological characteristics central to human biology.

Pyng Medical Corporation, David Christie, President & CEO. Medical Device Company of the Year Award. Pyng Medical Corporation is the developer and manufacturer of the proprietary, award-winning FAST1™ Intraosseous Infusion System. With expanding markets in North America, Europe and Asia, the product has worldwide application for use with hospitals, emergency medical services and military forces.

Bob Rieder, Chairman and CEO, Cardiome Pharma, Executive of the Year Award. Mr Rieder has led Cardiome Pharma since 1998 and has driven the development of multiple drug programs, including vernakalant, Cardiome's lead product candidate for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.

The company is a product-focused cardiovascular drug development company with two late-stage clinical drug programs focused on atrial arrhythmia (intravenous and oral dosing), a Phase 1 program for GED-aPC, an engineered analog of recombinant human activated Protein C, and a pre-clinical program directed at improving cardiovascular function.

Dr Bernie Bressler & Dr Roger Foxall, Lifetime Achievement Awards. Dr Bressler has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to life sciences research and has a passionate belief in the value of commercializing intellectual property from universities and research hospitals. During his tenure as vice president of research at the University of British Columbia (1996-1999), he was actively involved in the growth of the University Industry Liaison Office, which has become a world leader in development and management of technology transfer and biotechnology spin-offs. It is because of his foresight and leadership in this area that UBC scientists are amongst the nation's leaders in translational medical research. Since 1996, he has served as a board member of Discovery Parks , and in 2007 was appointed chair of the Board of Discovery Parks and Discovery Parks Foundation.

Dr Foxall was instrumental in mobilizing the nascent genomics community leading to the establishment of Genome British Columbia, one of six centres across the country funded partly by Genome Canada through Industry Canada. In serving as its founding president and CEO through 2002 and subsequently as its executive vice president research and executive vice president corporate development until 2005, he demonstrated leadership in initiating global and Canadian partnerships between universities, research centres, governments and the private sector. Dr Foxall then established Life Science Strategies and has worked with numerous organizations across Canada specializing in strategic analysis and consultation in genome sciences, marine biosciences and other areas of life sciences.

Dr Martin Taylor, Leadership Award. Dr Taylor began his career as an assistant professor in geography at McMaster University in 1974 after completion of his PhD at the University of British Columbia. His key career legacy is the demonstrated value of interdisciplinary inquiry which led to the creation of several institutes and departments demonstrating that philosophy. In 1994 and 1995, Dr Taylor served as McMaster's acting vice-president research and in that role established the Institute for Water, Environment, and Health. He was then recruited to the University of Victoria in 1998 as its first vice-president research. During his tenure, until 2007, research programs experienced growth from $20 million to $100 million. This expansion also saw the creation of major national research platforms including NEPTUNE Canada, the world's first regional cabled deep ocean observatory and VENUS, its sister coastal observatory.

Lignol Energy Corporation, Ross MacLachlan, president and CEO, Emerging Life Sciences Company of the Year Award. Over the past three years Lignol Energy, of Burnaby, BC, has emerged from being a predominantly R&D organization into one that is approaching commercialization of its unique biorefinery technology. Lignol's technology is now at the forefront of the highly visible and rapidly developing biofuels-from-cellulosic-biomass industry, which has the strong support and encouragement of governments and major corporations around the world. Lignol has established a new Biorefining Technology Development Centre at the BCIT campus in Burnaby.

Many of today's young Canadian risk-takers are mobile, Internet-savvy and bubbling with ideas to start their own ventures, but lack the business skills to launch a successful company. To serve this emerging niche market, Canadian business schools are rethinking the delivery of their MBA-level programs. Some now offer special streams for entrepreneurship or embed it as a core subject, while others tailor their programs to sectors known for their concentration of small business and start-up enterprises, such as retail, technology and tourism.

The programs share a common goal to teach students how to transform ideas into profit. "Entrepreneurial education has become legitimized as a very serious academic pursuit, whereas 10 years ago universities could not spell the word," says Steve Farlow, executive director of Wilfrid Laurier University's Schlegel Centre for Entrepreneurship in Waterloo, Ont. WHY The changing economy and a new generation's outlook on work are fueling a growth of interest in entrepreneur-focused MBAs. Last year, the number of corporate establishments in Canada grew to 2.4 million, with 58.4 per cent of them firms of fewer than five employees. Significant engines of growth and employment, these small enterprises accounted for 34.5 per cent of Canada's GDP in the third quarter of 2007, according to Industry Canada. Meanwhile, independent-minded young people are redefining notions of work and career, with less inclination than their parents to define success as joining a big company for life. "Students are saying 'I don't know that I want to be in a big, hierarchical organization,' " says Larry Wynant, associate dean of programs at the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ont.

WHO IS THIS FOR?
The student profile ranges from mid-career professionals retooling their careers to undergraduates with only a couple of years of work experience and little background in finance, marketing or product development. Enrolments range between 20 and 60 students a year, depending on the institution. The University of Waterloo does not have a graduate business school but offers a Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) as an alternative to the traditional MBA. Over the past five years, the class profile has changed dramatically, says Paul Doherty, director of the Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology. From an initial focus on engineers, his centre's intake has broadened to include students, mostly in their mid-20s, from computer science, life sciences and commerce. "We can't keep up with the growth," he says, with a class of 60 students expected this fall, triple the number five years ago.

By contrast, the University of Guelph's MBA program caters to an older crowd who already own and operate a business but want to step it up to the next level. "In our experience, there are a lot of successful small businesses who want to be better at what they do, so they are willing to give up some time and money to go back to school and enhance their skills," says Dave Sparling, associate dean of research and graduate studies at Guelph, which accepts between 20 and 30 students a year for its on-line MBA in agri-business, hospitality and tourism. At Ivey, which caters to the development of top corporate managers, a revamped MBA program now integrates entrepreneurship into the core curriculum. Since the redesigned format in 2006, student interest in starting new ventures has jumped sharply, says Ivey's Dr. Wynant. Last year, about a dozen students out of a class of 75 launched their own business after graduation, about one-third more than two years ago.

CAN IT BE TAUGHT?
A debate still simmers over whether an entrepreneur is born or made, but students and professors seem to agree that academic training and an appetite for risk go hand-in-hand. "You can learn all these things, but if you are not tolerant of risk you are not going to start a business," says Nathan Weathington, 34, a graduate of University of Victoria, with an MBA that includes a concentrated three-month stream in entrepreneurship and innovation. "The program gets you away from dreaming about doing it to the how-do-you-do-it," he adds. Based in Victoria, Mr. Weathington has helped launch two new ventures: a high-fashion baby-sling business (momodesignhouse.com) and a fast-growing free classified Internet site (usedeverywhere.com) since graduating. WHAT THEY TEACH Beyond the fundamentals of finance, marketing and managerial skills, entrepreneurship-focused MBAs (or their equivalent) offer a mix of theory and practice in how to start a business venture and bring it to commercial success. The programs vary widely – several offer students a chance to launch a business while still in school – but all cover the natural progression of a venture from the initial search for an idea to an assessment of its chance of success (risk management), the mechanics of start-up (product development, marketing, intellectual property, access to capital) and on-going operations (finance, management, human resources). At the University of Victoria, for example, students were given 48 hours to trade a paper clip for something of more value (one student bartered for a TV/DVD) to teach them how to make a deal. Increasingly, business schools are recruiting successful entrepreneurs as course advisers and student mentors.

WHAT STUDENTS GAIN
They learn the theory and practice of how to launch a new business. Martin Vaz-Jones, of Markham, Ont., started his own lawn-cutting service at age 12 but did not seriously consider a business career until after graduating from Queen's University in 2005 in life sciences. "I always enjoyed the entrepreneurial aspect but did not have any formal education in that direction," says Mr. Vaz-Jones, 25, who will graduate later this year from Wilfrid Laurier University's Schlegel School of Business. He chose WLU for its location in the "technology triangle" of Waterloo, Ont., and the course content. The school offers a specialty stream in entrepreneurship and innovation and, for a select few like Mr. Vaz-Jones, entry into an "accelerator" program for students to launch their own businesses before graduation. Over two semesters, students receive coaching from professors and successful innovators on how to take an idea – in his case a 24-hour professional editing service – to the stage of product launch.

This is to advise all VITP employees that STOP signs have been placed at the rear of VITP at the entrance to the Delivery/Loading Dock and the BC Ambulance parking lot. Due to heavy usage for deliveries and the BC Ambulance parking lot, the road must be controlled, therefore STOP signs have been strategically placed to provide safety for pedestrians as well as control cars using the road as a through route.

As with any new measure, it is important to communicate this important safety measure as widely as possible before taking stricter measures.  Your attention to this area while driving will be greatly appreciated.

Written by:  Roszan Holmen, Saanich News

Heart, lung and kidney failure cost the Canadian health care system $35 billion each year, but proteins may hold a piece of the puzzle in prevention.

The Proteomics Centre at the Vancouver Island Technology Park has teamed up with other scientists, health care organizations and private sector partners to study the Prevention of Epidemic Organ Failure (PROOF). The project was recently awarded $15 million dollars from the federal Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research.

Proteomics is the study of proteins on the “omics” level, meaning on a wide scope, rather than on an individual basis.

“If you’re going to hear the symphony, you don’t go to hear only one instrument,” said Christoph Borchers, director of UVic’s Proteomics Centre. To understand the music, you need to hear them all together. “This happens in the body as well.”

The goal of PROOF is to develop and commercialize a product that can analyze a blood sample to find biomarkers, or select proteins, genes and metabolites that signal problems in the organs.

“Blood is very complex,” said Borchers. It contains thousands of different proteins, all at different concentrations. Finding ones of interest can be like spotting a frog on a leaf from the moon, he said.

To study proteins in concert, a blood sample is analyzed in a mass spectrometer, which identifies each protein based on its molecular weight. Genes and metabolites will be analyzed in similar ways at other Canadian centres. Together with clinical, demographic and environmental data, the PROOF team will track organ disease as it progresses.

The project is riding on the coat tails of another involving the same team. Now three years in, the first project studies immune rejection of organ transplants, said Bruce McManus, PROOF director at UBC.

From transplant management to transplant prevention, “PROOF is moving way upstream,” McManus said.

The economic burden of heart, kidney and lung failure surpasses any other group of diseases by a wide margin, he said.

“The economic costs come from us not being able to intervene or know that people are at risk soon enough. Our whole program is aimed at identifying people earlier and with great precision.”