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Synthetic Biology is a new approach to engineering biology, with an emphasis on technologies to write DNA. Mike Spear shares his views after attending the event on Engineering the Future: Synthetic Biology. Oct 27, 2009

New Biology Ventures is a life-sciences focused venture capital incubator. They invest in early stage opportunities through the creation and maturation of start-up companies that focus on the development and commercialization of therapeutic biopharmaceuticals. They change the economics of drug development through their unique combination of expertise in finance and structuring companies along with the capability to efficiently and effectively commercialize drugs.

Genome Alberta's Mike Spear was at the MaRS Centre symposium on synthetic biology. Oct 28, 2009

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a maker of scientific instruments and related technologies, has paid $260 million in cash to acquire Fermentas International Inc., an Ontario, Canada-based maker and distributor of enzymes, kits and reagents for molecular and cellular biology research.

The Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI) teamed up with Invitrogen Corporation, a California-based global leader in providing life sciences technology, recently to host Genome 2.0: New Frontiers in Epigenomics, a one-day symposium addressing epigenetic regulation of gene expression with a special focus on chromatin biology, DNA methylation, non-coding RNAs and technology development.

The "singularity"--in which technological change becomes so rapid and so profound that our bodies and brains will merge with our machines.\n The Singularity Is Near portrays what life will be like after this event--a human-machine civilization where our experiences shift from real reality to virtual reality and where our intelligence becomes nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than unaided human intelligence. In practical terms, this means that human aging and pollution will be reversed, world hunger will be solved and our bodies and environment transformed by nanotechnology to overcome the limitations of biology, including death. We will be able to create virtually any physical product just from information, resulting in radical wealth creation. In addition to outlining these fantastic changes, Kurzweil also considers their social and philosophical ramifications.

Mention of the Let's Talk Science All Science Challenge is taking place at the MaRS Centre, May 19. All Science Challenge - a science quiz competition for Grade 6, 7 and 8 students from over 15 schools in the greater Toronto area. Designed by students for students, it's a fun-filled day of competition and camaraderie that's part of a nationwide program to excite and inspire the next generation of scientists.

McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine - 2009 Golf Town Invitational benefit will raise funds for its groundbreaking research toward the treatment and cure of diabetes.

By identifying the structure of DNA, the molecule of life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionized biochemistry and won themselves a Nobel Prize. At the time, Watson was only twenty-four, a young scientist hungry to make his mark. His uncompromisingly honest account of the heady days of their thrilling sprint against other world-class researchers to solve one of science's greatest mysteries gives a dazzlingly clear picture of a world of brilliant scientists with great gifts, very human ambitions, and bitter rivalries. With humility unspoiled by false modesty, Watson relates his and Crick's desperate efforts to beat Linus Pauling to the Holy Grail of life sciences, the identification of the basic building block of life. Never has a scientist been so truthful in capturing in words the flavor of his work.

Nanomedicine is a field that is growing and there will be an exponential growth in products. U of T scientists David Jaffray and Christine Allen are amongst those that are going through clinical trials. Allen and Jaffray's invention is being shephered to market by MaRS Innovation.