CONTENTS
August 2008
 Financial Growing Pains of a Biotech By some accounts, biotech is in trouble. Public equity investors are generally attracted only to late-stage companies, and only one biotech company has completed an IPO on a US exchange during 2008, at only about one-third of the original targeted valuation. Still, the industry remains quite lucrative. SAM HALL and ALASTAIR J.J. WOOD explain why. |
RELATED: Charts and tables: Detailing the life cycle of biotech. Slideshow: The Inflection Points |
Twenty years ago, researchers embarked on possibly the biggest fishing expedition in the history of life science: The search for the ligands that trigger a signal in several hundred G protein-coupled receptors. Finally, drugs are now emerging that target once-orphaned GPCRs. ANDREA GAWRYLEWSKI asks: Was the hunt a hit? |
RELATED: Slideshow: Images behind the search for ligands Hypothesis-Free? No Such Thing |
 Bringing Good Things to Life (Science) A series of purchases is turning General Electric into a major supplier of life sciences equipment. But, as BRENDAN BORRELL finds, the road hasn't always been easy. Can GE's glossy new laboratories foster the same innovative atmosphere that was prized by the companies it has acquired? |
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EDITORIAL Biotech: Solid to Spectacular? What the industry can learn from the $2,500 'Nano' car. COLUMNS Big Biology is Here to Stay Why R01-funded biologists should throw their support behind largescale research projects. OPINION More Women at the Top One program's success in preparing and sustaining women for leadership in the sciences. OPINION A Head Start How an undergraduate internship helped a student from the projects explore his love of science. Notebook The Agenda; Beta eye-lets; Guts to glory; Thick bones, big drug; Presenting Her Majesty...; Baiting Ebola; Slideshow:Baiting Ebola FOUNDATIONS The Mendel-Nägeli letters, circa 1866-73 PROFILES Going to the Dogs Elaine Ostrander was a cell biologist at the top of her game. Then she discovered her true passion and really took off running. Scientist to Watch: Pieter Dorrestein Small molecules, big goals BIOBUSINESS: Success from Failure John Prakash was once denied a job because of the way he looked. Now he spends his career talking about why diversity is crucial to drug development. THE LITERATURE Hot paper: Restructuring Human Variation Deletions earn spot on the map of human genetic variation. Hot paper in Cell Biology: Apoptosis at bay Hot paper in Cell Biology: Dr. Autophagy to the ER Hot paper in Microbiology: Microbes to the max LAB TOOLS Modifications Abound How to conduct your next largescale epigenetic analysis. ChIP-on-chip; ChIP-Sequence; Enrichment HELP; Single-base detection; and Recognizing RNA. And tips for wide-scale epigenetic detection CAREERS Go Online to Get Your Job on Online job tools you've likely never heard of, and tips for making the most of them. |