http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog A blog on Biotech, the Pharmaceutical industry, and Personal Health Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:58:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Well, the first article of this blog was posted in May of 2007.  As we approach our second year in existence, I decided to post a second annual review of stories over the past year, and pick out some of my favorites.  I've continued to use the blog as a ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2009/01/06/top-8-biopharm-stories-of-2008/ I want a Wii for Christmas.  Hopefully, by the time this is published, my wish will have been granted, either by Santa or by some other divine entity (*cough* my wife, *cough cough*).  I want to use it mainly as an addition to my regular exercise regimen, but also for ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/12/30/water-water-everywhere/ As most may know, I've done a lot of research into people who are leveraging virtual reality as both a tool to teach medical diagnostics in a safe and controlled setting, and as a medium through which we can better understand psychological disorders and even develop treatment methods that are ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/12/23/virtual-diagnosis-in-the-classroom/ First, my apologies for missing last week's post.  It was a particularly hectic week, getting ready for the holidays and doing client work, so I hope you'll forgive me. If you look at the most recent issue of "Entrepreneur Magazine" (December 2008) the cover story indicates that one of the hot ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/12/16/its-not-easy-being-green/ McDonald's has never been a staple of my diet.  Sure, when I was a kid we would go there for parties and for special treats, and as a teenager we would go after a day at the beach, but never with any kind of regularity.  Growing up in an Italian ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/12/02/dont-forget-the-fries/ Let's face it: current conditions don't favor a startup company of any kind, and especially not a biotech. Though the current economic crisis seems to be centered around mostly finance and real estate, the stock market crunch borne from the climate is obviously not kind to angel investors and venture capital ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/11/25/starting-a-biotech-move-to-maryland/ One of the most powerful scenes for me in the movie Philadelphia was the moment in which Tom Hanks' character, Andrew Beckett, introduces himself to Denzel Washington's Joe Miller.  They exchange a handshake at one point in the scene, and Beckett reveals to Miller that he has AIDS.  When Miller ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/11/18/aids-cure-on-the-horizon/ One of the persistent arguments in today's world is whether obesity is in our genes or something that can be controlled by diet and exercise (and a good night's sleep and low stress and ...).  On my way drive home from work last week, I heard a very interesting story ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/11/13/obesity-and-our-bacterial-friends/ I was sitting down for a drink the other day with a longtime friend when the topic of politics came up for discussion.  Growing up in Massachusetts, I rarely encountered somebody of a conservative mindset, let alone someone who would admit to being so in such a heavily democratic state, ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/11/04/are-your-political-views-biologically-programmed/ A few years ago, I was the project manager for a system that tracked the status of drug products worldwide for a large pharmaceutical company (e.g. whether a product was submitted for approval, approved, actively marketed, withdrawn, etc.).  Back then, health authorities, such as the FDA in the US and ... http://avelient.com/BioPharmBlog/2008/10/28/checking-in-on-the-status-of-electronic-application-submissions/