When I think of Johnson and Johnson, I think of bandaids and baby powder, but the company made headlines today for having a better than expected quarter and providing a ray of hope for those investing in biotech during these tough times. So I did a little investigating to see what other products this huge corporation makes. JnJ has over 250 operations in 57 countries. The company makes, not only the consumer products I am familiar with, but pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical devices. There are just too many products to mention here today, but listed among their recent products is one very interesting example of nanotechnology for treatment of ovarian cancer. The product is called Doxil and it consists of the already established drug doxorubicin encapsulated in a bubble of fats called a liposome, which is then coated by a layer of rubber (methoxypolyethylene glycol). The drug is given intravenously and is at least 90% protected in the blood by its capsule. This allows time for the nanoparticle to reach the ovaries before too much drug has leaked out, optimizing the dose that reaches the target tissue.

The NIH released a final copy of Guidelines on Human Stem Cell Research on Tuesday of this week, in response to President Obama's March 9, 2009 Executive Order 13505: Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells. The Guidelines attempt to address many of the ethical issues associated with the hotly-debated stem cell issue.

One of the issues addressed is whether or not embryos should be created specifically for research purposes, rather than the current practice of using only those intended for in-vitro fertilization procedures. The Guidelines seem to be heavily concerned with issues surrounding informed consent of donors, the requirement and wording for documents of consent and the issue of financial gain. They include responses to the thousands of comments received from public interest groups, scientific associations, religious organizations, patient advocacy groups and more. Basic issues such as the title and scope of the Guidelines and definition of embryonic stem cells (what stage of blastocyst development and what portion of the cell mass) were covered, along with more complex topics such as the handling and distribution of embryonic stem cells and potential for corruption due to misuse and trade for profit. The Guidelines specify that current NIH policies apply to the sharing of information (IP) and materials (in this case, stem cell lines) to further the research of other parties. The Guidelines contain links to eligibility requirements for NIH funding, and specifically refer to the upholding of the Dickey Ammendment.

New guidelines for federal funding of stem cell research in the USA, including research using embryonic stem cells, went into effect Tuesday July 7th, following release of a final draft of the guidelines by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) released very favourable comments commending the NIH for taking steps that would aid the development of cures and treatments for a number of debilitating diseases and injuries. In a press release distributed Tuesday, BIO takes the position that both adult and embryonic stem cells are invaluable tools for biotech research and that this move will allow American companies to aggressively pursue the kind of research that may change the lives of people affected by diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

A cascade, in biological terms, refers to a series of chain reactions used by cells to amplify and send a signal, generally for regulatory processes such as control of transcription. In many cases, cascades are also used in cell-to-cell signaling. Amplification of a signal results when one enzyme associated with a signal receptor is activated by a hormone or ligand, and, in turn, catalyzes a reaction which activates many more enzymes which each catalyze a new reaction causing activation of many more enzymes. The process is somewhat like a phone tree for emergency purposes, where the most people are reached in the least number of steps, starting with a single individual.

Of the many types of enzymes, the protein kinases are frequently found in cascade systems. Kinases add a phosphate molecule to other proteins. Cascades often consist of chain reactions of kinases phosphorylating one another, amplifying a signal by several orders of magnitude in a fraction of a second. Phosphatases, which remove phosphate groups, are also involved in signal transduction and nucleotides adenosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate and its guanosine counterpart (cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP) are also often found to play key roles in regulatory processes. The basic prinicples of smart polymer design is to mimic the processes, thus the efficiency, of cell signalling pathways and cascades.