Jan 15th BioBeers 2010

Next BioBeers: Friday January 15th 2010

I was at the Flying Dog Brewery doing some Xmas shopping last week and figured I would set the date for the first installment of BioBeers 2010. So get out your pencil and mark Friday Jan 15th starting at 4:30 PM.

This event is sponsored by the Battelle National Biodefense Institute (BNBI), who uses our taxes to  Operate the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) on Ft Detrick. They are sponsoring because THEY WANT YOU to work at NBACC! They’re hiring 30-40 people. Rumor has it there will be HR and Hiring managers from BNBI at the event. I certainly don’t expect you to be on your best behavior, but bring your resume just in case. BNBI’s job board has a sample of the open positions, mostly micro based (for the Lab positions): see http://bnbi.org/careers.html for most up-to-date listing

Here’s what was available today:

Associate Lab Director, Threat Characterization (#269) (12/22/09)

Applications Developer (#229) (8/13/09)

Biosafety-Biosurety Specialist (#267 (12/10/09)

Executive Assistant, Legal & Operations (#255) (11/12/09)

Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO) (#228) (8/13/09)

Institutional Committee Administrator (#268) (12/17/09)

Laboratory Info Management System (LIMS) Analyst(#232) (8/27/09)

Laboratory Purchasing & Receiving Coordinator (#256) (11/20/09)

Maintenance Operations Engineer (#259-266) (12/07/09)

Principal Investigator, Aerosol Science (#206) (2/12/09)

Principal Investigator, Bacteriology (#194) (2/12/09)

Principal Investigator, Bioinformatics (#253) (11/12/09)

Principal Investigator, Molecular Biology � Sequencing (#257) (11/20/09)

Program Management Specialist (#219) (5/6/09)

Project Manager (#258) (12/07/09)

Process Engineer, Formulation Science (#240) (10/20/09)

Research Assistant, Aerosol (#204) (2/12/09)

Research Assistant, Bacterial Pathogenesis (#235) (9/15/09)

Research Assistant, Electron Microscopy (#192-193) (2/12/09)

Research Assistant, Infectious Disease Genetics (#236) (9/15/09)

Research Assistant, Immunology & Toxinology (#254) (11/12/09)

Research Assistant, Microbiology (#195) (2/12/09)

Research Assistant, Molecular Biology (#216) (3/24/09)

Research Assistant, Sequencing & Molecular (#238) (2/20/09)

Research Assistant, Virology (#241-247) (10/23/09)

Senior Biostatistician (#234) (9/9/09)

Veterinary Technician (#249-252) (10/27/09)

So please RSVP via the LinkedIn Event , Tweetvite or just email me

Better Fetch the Holy Hand Grenade: Rabbit Fever on the loose

In the film [Monty Python & the Holy Grail], King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table are led to the Cave of Caerbannog by Tim the Enchanter, and find that they must face down both the Rabbit and the Black Beast. The Cave of Caerbannog (“caer bannog” being Welsh for “turreted castle”) is the home of the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh. This is guarded by a monster which is initially unknown.^[4] King Arthur and his knights are led to the cave by Tim the Enchanter, and find that they must face down its guardian beast. Tim verbally paints a picture of a terrible monster with “nasty, big, pointy teeth!“, so terrifying that Sir Robin soils his armour. When the guardian appears to be an innocuous white rabbit^[5], surrounded by the bones of the fallen, Arthur and his knights no longer take it seriously. Ignoring Tim’s warnings (“a vicious streak a mile wide!“), King Arthur orders Bors to chop its head off. Bors confidently approaches it, sword drawn, and is immediately decapitated by the rabbit to the sound of a can opener. Despite their initial shock, Sir Robin soiling his armor (again), and Tim’s loud scoffing, the knights attack in force, but are driven to “run away!” as the rabbit leaps and attacks, killing Gawain and Ector. The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch is then used to defeat the beast and allow the quest to proceed.^{[6] from Wikipedia}

All kidding aside, there is a story floating around the net.  And it’s very interesting. Via MicrobeWorld

Researcher at Army Lab Infected With Rabbit Fever

A researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Frederick, Maryland, has contracted rabbit fever—also known as tularemia, USAMRIID officials announced today. The illness is caused by the bacteria Francisella tularensis, one of several biosafety level 3 pathogens that scientists work with at USAMRIID. The researcher, a woman who was working on a project to develop a vaccine against the disease, is “recuperating at home and is responding well to antibiotics,” according to a press release issued by the institute.

Rabbits, rodents, and other animals harbor the microbe. Nearly 200 cases of tularemia in the United States are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention every year; most of them are caused by bites from ticks and flies and from handling animals infected from the disease. The illness can also be contracted by inhaling airborne bacteria in the lab.

story originally from blogs.sciencemag.org

Also, a great write up in the Frederick-News Post I did not notice.  Right under my nose.  I’ve just soiled my armor, again.

Akonni Wins $3.2M Grant to Develop Test for Detecting Different Flu Strains

From Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (GEN):

Molecular diagnostics company Akonni Biosystems won a $3.2 million phase 2 SBIR grant from the NIH to fund the development of a fast, low-cost flu diagnostic system that can detect influenzas A and B and their antigenic subtypes including antiviral-resistant strains. The aim is to develop and field-test a diagnostic that combines PCR with Akonni’s TruArray gel-drop microarray technology in a single-chamber, closed-amplicon system.

The grant was awarded following successful completion of an earlier phase 1 SBIR project and is focused on the development of commercial products for clinical laboratories as well as research use. The new product is expected to be able to deliver subtyping results in less than two hours from PCR-ready material extracted from swabs or nasopharyngeal aspirates using Akonni’s TruTip extraction kits. It should also have detection limits equivalent to those of real-time PCR systems, the company says.

“Combining PCR and microarray detection in a self-contained microfluidic chamber represents a significant advancement to conventional multiplexed molecular diagnostic,” claims Charles Daitch, Ph.D., Akonni’s CEO. “The capability will further enhance our ability to rapidly develop and deploy even more comprehensive panels for detecting multiple pathogens and their variant forms in a single sample.”

The flu test project will see Akonni partner with Wadsworth Center, Columbia University,Little Company of Mary Hospital, and the U.S. CDC. Wadsworth is developing a focused panel of drug-resistance markers for the PCR array platform and will provide clinical feedback for product development and participate in preclinical verification of the technology on clinical specimens. The first test is expected to be used to detect and subtype influenzas A and B.

Akonni’s TruArray platform is a microscopic gel-drop array molecular system that the company claims differs from competing microarray products in that capture probes are covalently attached to an ultrahigh surface area polymer backbone of discrete 3-D gel-drops rather than a 2-D substrate. The individual gel drops effectively behave as nanoliter, solution-phase test tubes, which Akonni says avoids unpredictable and/or uncharacterized artifacts arising from probe deposition directly on a 2-D surface.  Akonni’s range of products are currently only available for research use.

Akonni launched its TruTip product line in November. Designed for extracting DNA and RNA from samples with volumes ranging from 100 µl to 1000 µl or more, the patented TruTip approach uses a nucleic acid binding matrix that is easily inserted into most standard pipette tips including those used by electronic pipettes and liquid-handling robotic devices. By passing sample back and forth across the binding matrix, TruTip delivers inhibitor-free, PCR-ready nucleic acid from a variety of sample types including blood, plasma, sputum, urine, and challenging matrices such as soil or water. Akonni claims the platform works equally well with both DNA and RNA isolated from viruses, bacteria, or animals.

Thanks Guido.  Breaking news from Venezuela to FredCoBio.