November 2009 Newsletter

Greetings!

We have very exciting news this month. AsisChem now has a blog! This newsletter is now posted for access at anytime (and you can look back at old issues with fond memories). Also, we will have articles, commentary and other extremely important and interesting information. So enjoy this newsletter and sign-up to receive notifications of blog updates.
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Organic Reactions Song (click for video)


This Is Your Brain On Fatty Acids
Saturated fats have a deservedly bad reputation, but Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a sticky lipid occurring naturally at high levels in the brain may help us memorize grandma's recipe for cinnamon buns, as well as recall how, decades ago, she served them up steaming from the oven. Read More

Slimming Gene Regulates Body Fat
Scientists at the University of Bonn have discovered a previously unknown fruit fly gene that controls the metabolism of fat. Larvae in which this gene is defective lose their entire fat reserves. Therefore the researchers called the gene 'schlank' (German for 'slim'). Mammals carry a group of genes that are structurally very similar to 'schlank'. They possibly take on a similar function in the energy metabolism. The scientists therefore have hopes in new medicines with which obesity could be fought. Read More

Nano-Scale Drug Delivery For Chemotherapy
Going smaller could bring better results, especially when it comes to cancer-fighting drugs. Duke University bioengineers have developed a simple and inexpensive method for loading cancer drug payloads into nano-scale delivery vehicles and demonstrated in animal models that this new nanoformulation can eliminate tumors after a single treatment. After delivering the drug to the tumor, the delivery vehicle breaks down into harmless byproducts, markedly decreasing the toxicity for the recipient. Read More

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I know there are projects that need custom synthesis, medicinal chemistry or chemical consulting. Why wait any longer submit an inquiry!

Sincerely,
Bryan Roland, Director - Project Management
Bryan.Roland@asischem.com

Welcome Dr. Emile Bellott, Director of Medicinal Chemistry Services

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Emile (Mel) Bellott has joined our growing team as the Director of Medicinal Chemistry Services. In more than 25 years of industry experience, his pharmaceutical activities have focused on drug discovery and development, synthesis and design of small molecule therapeutics, and informatics and structural biology. He will be working closely with our customers, with our US-based medicinal chemistry team and with our Russia-based synthetic chemistry team, to develop and execute successful small molecule therapeutics discovery programs.

Prior to AsisChem, Mel co-founded and served as VP of Operations of two development-stage biotech companies and directed medicinal chemistry activities at several emerging pharmaceutical and medical technology companies. His operational experience spans medical devices, pharmaceutical development, chemistry outsourcing, and life science software. He is co-inventor on over 10 issued US patents and multiple patent applications. He earned a PhD in Physical Organic Chemistry from Harvard and a MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Mel is a prolific author and some of his recent articles on industry trends are quoted below:

Global Environments: Navigating the Perfect Storm

Today’s pharmaceutical and biotech industry sectors are largely a product of the late 20th century. In the post-industrial era, manufacture and provision of pharmaceutical drugs have been organised and have prospered as fully integrated business units. One of the trends of today is the formation of new enterprises on a geographically dispersed virtual business model...

Adaptation to the New Industry Landscape

The pharmaceutical and biotech sectors are in the midst of unprecedented and disruptive change. The industry is straining to adjust to the economic and competitive forces at work in the global environment. The success formula for value creation and sustainable economic and competitive advantage is being redefined by an evolving understanding of the global marketplace and industry landscape...

RNAi – A Glass Half-Full

Gene silencing by RNA interference (RNAi) has captured the imagination of Wall Street and a new generation of biotech entrepreneurs. Rarely has there been so great a buzz surrounding a new therapeutic paradigm, including multi-billion dollar deals, venture capital funding of numerous start-ups and a Nobel Prize – all before the first marketing approval...

A Season of Turbulence

By late 2008, it was abundantly clear that the deepening economic recession would not leave the biotech sector untouched. In fact, the capital structure of the smaller pharmaceutical and biotech enterprises and their symbiotic relationship with the sources of private equity investment has left them vulnerable to the same forces that decimated the home mortgage industry...