Category: National

Genzyme Thinks Small, and Big, With Cholesterol-Lowering Drug Mipomersen

Genzyme has built an empire by thinking small—treating diseases that affect tiny groups of patients. Now it’s seeking to capitalize on a cholesterol-lowering drug that requires it to think small and big at the same time. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) is starting to show how it intends to make mipomersen into a … Continue reading “Genzyme Thinks Small, and Big, With Cholesterol-Lowering Drug Mipomersen”

Voyager Capital Founders Discuss Investment Strategy, Connected Computing, and the Future of Venture Firms

Bill McAleer and Enrique Godreau remind me of an old couple. They’ve been through the ups and downs together. They’ve raised three children (OK, venture funds) in the past 10 years. They even sometimes finish each other’s sentences. And together they’ve built Voyager Capital into one of the most forward-looking venture firms in town. First, … Continue reading “Voyager Capital Founders Discuss Investment Strategy, Connected Computing, and the Future of Venture Firms”

From White Center to Stanford: Technology Access Foundation Helps Kids of Color Prepare for High-Tech Jobs

Something like 2.7 percent of the workforce at Microsoft is composed of African Americans. This under-representation is true of plenty of other technology companies, too. Lots of people complain about the disparities in education that lead to numbers like that, but Trish Millines Dziko and her colleagues at the Technology Access Foundation are doing something … Continue reading “From White Center to Stanford: Technology Access Foundation Helps Kids of Color Prepare for High-Tech Jobs”

Highland Digs Digg, Oak Investment Partners Charges Up Greenvolts, U.S. Genomics Befriends Becton Dickinson, & More Boston-Area Deals News

This last week was a good one for smaller-scale deal making among New England’s tech and life sciences firms. —Oak Investment Partners of Westport, CT, put $30 million into San Francisco cleantech startup Greenvolts, which is developing solar energy farms that use vast arrays of reflectors to concentrate the sun’s rays on high-efficiency photovoltaic cells. … Continue reading “Highland Digs Digg, Oak Investment Partners Charges Up Greenvolts, U.S. Genomics Befriends Becton Dickinson, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Test Driving the Tesla Roadster, and Glimpsing the Future of Electric Cars

The idea of electric vehicles is in the crisp Northwest air these days—and the vehicles are on the road. Earlier this week, we reported that Seattle-based V2Green, which makes software to manage the charging of plug-in electric vehicles, was acquired by Virginia-based GridPoint. V2Green is part of a pilot study being run by Seattle City … Continue reading “Test Driving the Tesla Roadster, and Glimpsing the Future of Electric Cars”

Daily TIPs: Obama’s Science Plan, Boeing’s Fuel Search, World’s Malaria Effort, & More

Boeing Begins Jet Biofuel Initiative Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has teamed up with 10 airlines, including Air France, Continental, and Virgin Atlantic, to form a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group. Flightglobal reports that the group will look for ways to make renewable jet fuel, with the goal of at least partially replacing fossil fuel used in … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Obama’s Science Plan, Boeing’s Fuel Search, World’s Malaria Effort, & More”

Monetizing Web Services with WidgetBucks (and Others) at the Westin

I’ve always thought “Web services” is a boring name for one of the most lucrative areas of tech-business innovation. The term encompasses many interactions on the Internet—everything from Web-based software to shopping to social networks. A big question these days is how to monetize these Web services, and how to get revenue from all the … Continue reading “Monetizing Web Services with WidgetBucks (and Others) at the Westin”

Boston Unblurred: Debunking the Google Maps Censorship Myth

Having written an appreciative column a few weeks ago about the endangered Pacific Northwest tree octopus, a tongue-in-cheek hoax site, I am not about to denounce the Internet as a cesspool of misinformation. But I’m still puzzled by the way certain salacious memes persist on the Internet, even though they’re easily disproved—for example, the myth … Continue reading “Boston Unblurred: Debunking the Google Maps Censorship Myth”

Hal Abelson’s Android Class at MIT Expands to Nokia and Windows Mobile Phones—But No iPhone

What do you do when the experimental class you offered in designing applications for Google’s Android mobile phone operating system brings your students $300,000 and unprecedented experience in creating real-world-ready applications? If you’re MIT professor Hal Abelson, you expand it to phones and other mobile devices made by Microsoft and Nokia. But not Apple’s iPhone … Continue reading “Hal Abelson’s Android Class at MIT Expands to Nokia and Windows Mobile Phones—But No iPhone”

GI Dynamics Device Helps Obese Patients Shed 30 Pounds

Promising results are continuing to trickle in from GI Dynamics. The Lexington, MA-based maker of a gut-lining sleeve that mimics the effect of gastric-bypass surgery without all the slicing and dicing, is reporting that its device helped obese patients drop an average of 30 pounds after three months in a clinical trial, compared with about … Continue reading “GI Dynamics Device Helps Obese Patients Shed 30 Pounds”

RockPort Flexes New Cleantech Fund to Back Sustainable Spaces in $6M Round

RockPort Capital Partners of Boston and Menlo Park, CA, has made an early bet with money from its new $450 million cleantech fund, co-leading a $6 million investment in San Francisco-based “home performance services” firm Sustainable Spaces. Sustainable Spaces provides energy audits and environmental tests such as carbon monoxide checks for the home market. The … Continue reading “RockPort Flexes New Cleantech Fund to Back Sustainable Spaces in $6M Round”

Leroy Hood’s Latest Big Idea: Integrated Diagnostics, a Startup that Will Spot Tiny Cancers in Blood

Leroy Hood has a big idea for a new company. The legendary scientific entrepreneur, who invented the high-speed DNA sequencer that made the Human Genome Project possible, wants to develop a new generation of screening tests that are so precise at examining a drop of blood that they will usher in the era of what … Continue reading “Leroy Hood’s Latest Big Idea: Integrated Diagnostics, a Startup that Will Spot Tiny Cancers in Blood”

With Backing From MPM and Kleiner Perkins, EpiZyme Aims to Turn Genes On and Off

MPM Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers see a big idea for medicine emerging from the science of epigenetics. The two venture firms are building a startup, called EpiZyme, to take advantage of research that looks at how genes can be turned on or off without any alteration to the underlying sequence. I got … Continue reading “With Backing From MPM and Kleiner Perkins, EpiZyme Aims to Turn Genes On and Off”

MOD Systems Scores $35M Equity Investment from Toshiba, NCR, Others

Why is it still such a hassle to download movies, TV shows, and other digital content to your computer or mobile device? A local company has been trying to solve one aspect of this problem—how to do it in retail stores—and now it has scored some big partners who could make a difference. Seattle-based MOD … Continue reading “MOD Systems Scores $35M Equity Investment from Toshiba, NCR, Others”

Daily TIPs: Cash for Ideas, Hydrogen for Cars, Internet for Everything, & More

Obama Addresses Questions About Science The British science journal Nature posed 18 questions related to science and policy to the two presidential candidates, but received written answers only from Democrat Barack Obama. Nature prints his answers, along with statements on the topics from Republican John McCain when they could be found from other sources. Among … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Cash for Ideas, Hydrogen for Cars, Internet for Everything, & More”

Concert Pharmaceuticals Enters Clinical Trials with Drug for Hot Flashes

Concert Pharmaceuticals is moving ahead with a drug that it hopes will be the first of its kind to treat the hot flashes women get during menopause, without exposing them to the well-documented risks of hormone-replacement therapy. The Lexington, MA-based company said today it has begun its first clinical trial with a drug candidate called … Continue reading “Concert Pharmaceuticals Enters Clinical Trials with Drug for Hot Flashes”

Omeros, Developer of Knee-Surgery Enhancer, Raises $20 Million in Debt Financing

Maybe the credit markets aren’t as tight as so many people think. Omeros, the Seattle company that’s developing a treatment to boost the effectiveness of arthroscopic knee surgery, said it has borrowed as much as $20 million to finance its clinical trials and earlier-stage animal tests. Omeros, which has no marketed products, filed to go … Continue reading “Omeros, Developer of Knee-Surgery Enhancer, Raises $20 Million in Debt Financing”

New Biotech Biz Models (and the Tested Bob Langer-Terry McGuire Approach) Emerge at Xconomy Forum

We could have called it the “New Biotech Business Model Expo.” Xconomy’s forum—How to Build a Life Sciences Company—attracted venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from around the Boston area (and a few from across the country) to the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge on Tuesday morning to showcase the strategies they’ve used to form … Continue reading “New Biotech Biz Models (and the Tested Bob Langer-Terry McGuire Approach) Emerge at Xconomy Forum”

IRobot To Deliver 165 More PackBots, Spare Parts to U.S. Army

The orders keep rolling in for iRobot. The Bedford, MA-based robot maker announced today that it has received two more orders from the U.S. Army involving its PackBot 510. The first is a $5.8 million order for spare parts and accessories for the robot, which soldiers use to detect roadside bombs and other hazards. The … Continue reading “IRobot To Deliver 165 More PackBots, Spare Parts to U.S. Army”

Archus Orthopedics Angles For a Deal, Alder Takes on Roche, Cocrystal Raises $10 Million, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

There wasn’t a lot of headline news in Seattle biotech in the last week, but we found several interesting features that offer previews of what’s coming in the worlds of new drugs and devices. –I learned about a small nonprofit in the Tri-Cities that has come up with a simple, elegant way to fix broken … Continue reading “Archus Orthopedics Angles For a Deal, Alder Takes on Roche, Cocrystal Raises $10 Million, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

As Facebook Redefines the Social Web, Platform Manager Dave Morin Talks About the Coolest Facebook Apps From Boston and Seattle

It’s September in Boston, and that can only mean one thing—conferences, conferences, conferences. Xconomy’s own life sciences event was on Tuesday, and I spent most of the day yesterday at EmTech 08, the big annual tech-fest put on by MIT’s Technology Review magazine. One highlight was a lively panel led by Robert Scoble, renowned technology … Continue reading “As Facebook Redefines the Social Web, Platform Manager Dave Morin Talks About the Coolest Facebook Apps From Boston and Seattle”

Pressplane Raises $1.7 Million, Stays Stealthy

Kelly Smith is at it again. The co-founder of Seattle-based Curious Office Partners and Imagekind (which was sold to CafePress in July) announced today that his latest startup, Pressplane, has closed a Series A financing round worth $1.7 million. The round was led by Second Avenue Partners and includes a who’s who of investors with … Continue reading “Pressplane Raises $1.7 Million, Stays Stealthy”

Daily TIPs, Online Egotists, Cloud Collaboration, Gaming the Future, & More

Narcissists Easy to Spot on Facebook Psychologists at the University of Georgia wondered if they could use online profiles to identify the personality traits of the people who posted them and found that, for narcissism at least, it wasn’t hard to do. As Ars Technica explains, the researchers had students take a personality test to … Continue reading “Daily TIPs, Online Egotists, Cloud Collaboration, Gaming the Future, & More”

Sirtris Settles in at GSK, Alnylam Raises IP Questions on Bio Bill, Targanta Takes on Cubist’s Market, & More Life Sciences News

We were lucky enough to have both Luke and Ryan in town for a couple of days this week, so there was a bumper crop of up-close, in depth stories on local life sciences firms. Enjoy! —Luke caught a glance of Lexington, MA-based Pulmatrix as the startup emerged from stealth mode. Drawing on the expertise … Continue reading “Sirtris Settles in at GSK, Alnylam Raises IP Questions on Bio Bill, Targanta Takes on Cubist’s Market, & More Life Sciences News”

Xconomy Forum: A Big Thank You to Our Sponsors, Speakers, and Guests

Xconomy held its first half-day life sciences forum yesterday—How to Build A Life Sciences Company—and it was a rousing success. All told, nearly 200 people attended the event, which featured, among other things, case studies on five startups with different funding strategies that illustrate the innovative approaches needed to launch and sustain life sciences companies … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: A Big Thank You to Our Sponsors, Speakers, and Guests”

In Google’s Phone, a Major Clash Between Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft Heats Up

Updated Sep. 24 (see below): OK, this is getting good. Yesterday’s announcement that Amazon’s MP3 music store will be pre-loaded onto the G1—the first mobile phone to be powered by Google’s Android operating system—makes the future of music and other mobile services you can get on your phone delectably messy. The deal also drives home … Continue reading “In Google’s Phone, a Major Clash Between Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft Heats Up”

Don’t Put That DVD In the Mail: Wistia Helps Companies Share Video Over the Internet

We’re always on the lookout for companies to add to our periodic “industry cluster” overviews, which so far include the Boston Music and Technology Cluster, the Boston Internet Video Cluster, the Greater Boston Robotics Cluster, the Boston Health 2.0 Cluster, and the Greater Seattle Gaming Cluster. And recently I came across a new addition for … Continue reading “Don’t Put That DVD In the Mail: Wistia Helps Companies Share Video Over the Internet”

Fixing Broken Bones in the Developing World: Tri-Cities Nonprofit Develops Simple Technique To Help Healing

A tiny nonprofit organization in Richland, WA, has developed a simple, elegant fix for one of the big health problems in the developing world. A group that calls itself Sign has found a way to properly treat broken bones that people suffer in car accidents—like how it’s done in the U.S.—but without any of the … Continue reading “Fixing Broken Bones in the Developing World: Tri-Cities Nonprofit Develops Simple Technique To Help Healing”

Governor’s Life Sciences Agency Makes Key Hire with MIT and Pharma Connections

The agency charged with running Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s $1 billion life sciences initiative has tapped an executive with venture capital experience to help form relationships with key industry players. Luis Barros, an MIT Sloan School alum and veteran of the VC arm at drug giant Eli Lilly (NYSE:[[ticker:LLY]]), Lilly Ventures, has accepted the newly … Continue reading “Governor’s Life Sciences Agency Makes Key Hire with MIT and Pharma Connections”

Genzyme Expects FDA Review of Myozyme Factory by Thanksgiving Weekend

If Genzyme gets its way, it will be able to start selling larger amounts of Myozyme in the U.S. by the end of this year. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]) said it expects the FDA to make a decision on whether to approve supplies of the product (a treatment for Pompe disease) made … Continue reading “Genzyme Expects FDA Review of Myozyme Factory by Thanksgiving Weekend”

Daily TIPs: Blogging for Bucks, Power Waves, Core Strength, & More

Suniva Promises Cheap, Efficient Solar Cells An Atlanta, Ga-based startup, Suniva, says it can make solar cells that are more efficient than existing devices and do it much more inexpensively. Technology Review says the company’s solar cells convert about 20 percent of sunlight into electricity, almost as much as the best solar cells on the … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Blogging for Bucks, Power Waves, Core Strength, & More”

Microsoft Makes Moves, Cocrystal Collects Cash, Washington and Oregon Win Water-Power Grants, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

Even with the upheaval in the financial markets, there was no shortage of deals and other news from the Northwest in the past week. Biotech, software, media, and renewable-energy ventures were all represented. —Seattle-based Cocrystal Discovery raised a $10 million venture round, as Luke reported. The round was led by The Frost Group, based in … Continue reading “Microsoft Makes Moves, Cocrystal Collects Cash, Washington and Oregon Win Water-Power Grants, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”

SiCortex: High Performance Computing Without the High Electric Bills

The Assabet River these days rushes through Maynard, MA, without lending any of its liquid muscle to local industry. But for more than a century, the river supplied power to the Assabet Woolen Mill, a vast brick complex that, in its heyday, was the largest source of wool for U.S. military uniforms. I went to … Continue reading “SiCortex: High Performance Computing Without the High Electric Bills”

Chatterous Chats About Happy Hours, Investors, and Moving to San Francisco

It must be the weather—or rather, the climate. How else to explain another tech startup with Seattle roots moving to the San Francisco Bay Area? Last week I heard from DocVerse, a collaborative-document software company, which relocated from the Seattle area to San Francisco this summer after raising a round of funding from Bay Area … Continue reading “Chatterous Chats About Happy Hours, Investors, and Moving to San Francisco”

Third Rock Ventures Heads “Back to the Basics,” Nurtures Disruptive Life Sciences Companies

It has been almost exactly a year since Third Rock Ventures burst onto the local innovation scene with a $378 million life sciences fund, and now its strategy is becoming clear. Third Rock has backed Agios Pharmaceuticals, a company that starves cancer cells of essential nutrients. Zafgen, another in the Third Rock portfolio, is developing … Continue reading “Third Rock Ventures Heads “Back to the Basics,” Nurtures Disruptive Life Sciences Companies”

Archus Orthopedics Is Doing for the Spine What Doctors Do for the Knees, Hips

First came artificial hips and knees that were good enough to let people walk normally, or even run again. Now Redmond, WA-based Archus Orthopedics is doing the same thing with artificial spinal joints. If it can pull this off, patients will be able to have back surgery, and still be able to play golf with … Continue reading “Archus Orthopedics Is Doing for the Spine What Doctors Do for the Knees, Hips”

“The Best Place in the World” for Interdisciplinary Research: A Talk with Microsoft’s Jennifer Chayes

After publishing my story yesterday about the opening of Microsoft’s newest research lab in Cambridge, MA—where social scientists and computer scientists will work side by side to understand technology-mediated phenomena such as social networking—I attended a Microsoft-sponsored launch symposium at MIT and had the opportunity to meet with the lab’s director, Jennifer Chayes. Though Bob … Continue reading ““The Best Place in the World” for Interdisciplinary Research: A Talk with Microsoft’s Jennifer Chayes”

Daily TIPs: Hungry Microbes, War of AdWords, Scarless Surgery, & More

Simple Process Converts Biomass to Gasoline Several companies are trying to engineer microbes that will turn biomass into hydrocarbon-based fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Now scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say they’ve come up with a process that sidesteps the microbes. Technology Review reports that the researchers use catalysts at high temperatures to … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Hungry Microbes, War of AdWords, Scarless Surgery, & More”

Doors Open at Microsoft Research New England

Microsoft is celebrating the official opening of its newest research lab in Cambridge, MA, today with a day-long symposium at MIT on the intersection of computer science and the social sciences. That’s also where the lab itself —the company’s fifth research outpost outside its Redmond, WA, home base—will focus its efforts, at least initially, says … Continue reading “Doors Open at Microsoft Research New England”

How to Build a Life Sciences Company: Xconomy Forum Tomorrow

We’re looking forward to a great morning tomorrow at our half-day conference, How to Build a Life Sciences Company. In addition to the keynote chat with legendary MIT inventor and entrepreneur Bob Langer and Polaris Venture Partners co-founder Terry McGuire (Xconomy chief correspondent Wade Roush will moderate), we have five case studies of recent startups … Continue reading “How to Build a Life Sciences Company: Xconomy Forum Tomorrow”

The Italian Job, Part One: Startup Designer H-Farm Comes to Seattle

Sometimes you just have to write the story even when you don’t know all the details yet. This is one of those times. This is the story of H-Farm, an Italian design and investment firm, coming to America. But it’s only Part One of the story—a preview, really. That’s because it won’t be until next … Continue reading “The Italian Job, Part One: Startup Designer H-Farm Comes to Seattle”

Targanta Aims to “Simplifi” Treatment of Deadly Bugs With Single-Shot Antibiotic

Plenty of investors have been skeptical about Targanta Therapeutics’ claim that it has an antibiotic that can kill drug-resistant pathogens like MRSA with a single shot. That’s what the Cambridge, MA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TARG]]) claimed in a press release on Sept. 2, when the stock closed at $7.46. Since then, it’s dropped to $6.83 at … Continue reading “Targanta Aims to “Simplifi” Treatment of Deadly Bugs With Single-Shot Antibiotic”

Live From New York, It’s Seattle Biotech’s Most Famous Daughter, Anna Faris

Seattle biotechies, set your calendar this Saturday for a date with the city’s most famous offspring from life sciences. Anna Faris, the daughter of Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association president Jack Faris, is getting some big-time exposure this weekend when she hosts Saturday Night Live. The younger Faris’s profile is on the rise. She starred … Continue reading “Live From New York, It’s Seattle Biotech’s Most Famous Daughter, Anna Faris”

Vertex Prices Stock Offering, $7M for Rapid7, Global Insight and NextPoint Acquired, & More Boston-Area Deals News

Last week saw the announcement of a number of venture financings for New England technology and life sciences firms. I’m guessing a similar number of startups are feeling awfully glad they closed their deals ahead of the week’s stock-market madness. —The consumer-oriented fund of Highland Capital Partners reportedly led a $6 million Series D financing … Continue reading “Vertex Prices Stock Offering, $7M for Rapid7, Global Insight and NextPoint Acquired, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Cocrystal Discovery Raises $10 Million To Make Pills Against Viral Infections

Cocrystal Discovery thinks it has found a way, built on Nobel Prize-winning science, that will lead to effective new pills that stop viruses from replicating. The Seattle-based company said today it has gotten some serious backing for the idea, raising a $10 million round led by The Frost Group, a Miami-based investment group led by … Continue reading “Cocrystal Discovery Raises $10 Million To Make Pills Against Viral Infections”

Daily TIPs: Intelligent Clouds, Ultracapacitors, Adopter Shortage, & More

Chicago Plans to Cut Greenhouse Gases The City of Chicago wants to cut its emission of greenhouse gases to three-quarters of 1990 levels by 2020, and one-fifth of 1990 levels by 2050. The Associated Press reports that the plan includes updating the city’s building code to improve insulation and heating and cooling systems in all … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Intelligent Clouds, Ultracapacitors, Adopter Shortage, & More”

GI Dynamics Looks to Tackle Two Global Epidemics with Single Device, Reveals Seedling Roots

GI Dynamics has ambitious plans to gain regulatory approvals to treat two global epidemics—obesity and type 2 diabetes—with its experimental intestinal liner. The reversible, minimally invasive procedure to place the device in patients could appeal to an even wider market than permanent surgeries such as gastric bypass that are currently popular options. The Lexington, MA, … Continue reading “GI Dynamics Looks to Tackle Two Global Epidemics with Single Device, Reveals Seedling Roots”

Wishpot Wants Your Wish List to Go Everywhere With You on the Web

Max Ciccotosto has entrepreneurship in his blood. A native of Italy, his parents ran a business in the old country. While in college at the University of Bologna, Ciccotosto ran a “junior enterprise” company (the system no longer exists in Italy) that handled networking and IT for small companies. He came to Seattle in 1999 … Continue reading “Wishpot Wants Your Wish List to Go Everywhere With You on the Web”