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PG&E USES TIBCO SPOTFIRE for data visualization. Check it out if you are interested in better presentations of complex data. View in LinkedIn

CATALAN GENTLEMEN SCIENTISTS are a throwback to a long (and lost) tradition in Renaissance and Victorian England where Inventors tinkered in non-academic and non-commercial labs on clever solutions to real problems. Catalunya has a population of Gentlemen Scientists, driven by unbounded curiosity skipping across disciplines wantonly and coming up with remarkable inventions. View in LinkedIn

WIRELESS BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE allows thought to turn into remote mechanical action. View in LinkedIn

SMART-SKIN RFID SENSORS FOR STRUCTURAL DEFECTS, that is wireless, needs no power, is cheap, and weather resistant. Brilliant! View in LinkedIn

LEARNING STYLES MATTER ENORMOUSLY. But our education system tends to be one-size-fits-all. My wife and I are learning Spanish. I am a visual learner. I have to see the word in writing or a diagram of the grammatical rule and take copious notes. My wife is an auditory learner and is driven by the sound, never takes notes, and prefers dialogue to reading. The classroom generally does a poor job to accommodate these big learning differences for our children. http://lnkd.in/cE2VBG? View in LinkedIn

BIOSIMILARS ARE INEVITABLE but several big questions remain. Firstly, the post-translation modifications which may be functionally important are likely to influence the regulatory pathway, with the possible outcome that non-identical biosimilars (oxymoron) would be NCEs. Second, due to the costs involved, they are not likely to offer the kind of price reductions seen in the small molecule generics market, where post-exclusivity periods with multiple offerings, prices may be 80% lower than the original innovator price. Experts are predicting perhaps a 30% drop for genuine biosimilars. http://lnkd.in/y3jbpQ View in LinkedIn

HARNESSING PREDATOR-PREY PAIRS OF BUGS TO DO YOUR WORK FOR YOU is super smart. As the prey mutates to avoid the predator, the prey follows a similar mutational survival curve. The challenge with antibiotics are that they are stationary strategies and the bugs can quickly learn to mutate into resistant forms, if the target is not highly conserved and obligatory for life. Permitting a truly evolving kill strategy is perhaps the only way to stay abreast of antibiotic resistance. http://lnkd.in/PcVWfB View in LinkedIn

PHARMA PRODUCTIVITY TABLE. A bit misleading because it does not say how many were in-licensed, and not the costs of developing them. Regardless, a useful data point. http://lnkd.in/sFbVes View in LinkedIn

SANOFI'S THIRD OPEN INNOVATION CHALLENGE is curious. While appearing to value innovative ideas, the ten 5,000 USD prizes do not match the apparent intent. If Sanofi was serious about this, and really wanted to attract top talent to work (at risk) on their projects, a more meaningful incentive would be 200,000 cash upfront, and Milestone payments based on success of 10.0 M USD, and a 10% royalty. Now that could get the attention of some serious talent, not this candy bar raffle prize. This is still under the cost of a commercial license. The criteria should include patentability. http://www.pharmalive.com/sanofi-calls-insulin-delivery-ideas/?cid=nl_pharma_daily View in LinkedIn

GREAT INTERVIEW ON THE STATE OF STEM CELL COMPANIES. This relatively young industry has had false starts and skepticism from Pharma for some years, but may be getting ready for prime time, as some of the early pioneers start to have clinical successes. Actually, Pharma skepticism may be thawing, based on the number of recent stem cell investment. http://www.investorideas.com/news/2013/biotech/04161.asp View in LinkedIn