Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about healthcare.
Shhh…bird flu formula should be kept a secret, officials say. Two labs succeeded in figuring out how the deadly bird flu virus could be made contagious, at the government’s request. But now officials are telling scientists not to publicize the details, for the sake of national security. Apparently, it’s easier than scientists had thought to modify the H5N1 bird flu so that it would spread easily between mammals.
But not everyone agrees with that decision. “It is very important to get this information out to all of the people around the world who are living with this virus and working on it,” Science Editor-in-Chief Bruce Alberts told the Associated Press. Philip Campbell, editor-in-chief of Nature, agreed and is exploring how access to the findings could be enabled for researchers in countries with a bird flu problem. “Academic and Press freedom will be at stake as a result of the recommendation,” said one of the researchers.
Hey, Chicago, welcome aboard. Chicago is turning its entrepreneurial eye toward healthcare with two new accelerators founded specifically for the industry: Rock Health, announced earlier this month, and HealthBox, a three-month program slated to begin at the start of the new year. Here’s a look at the inaugural class of HealthBox startups.
Burrill’s big new biotech fund. West Coast biotech bigshot Steve Burrill announced the start of a new, $313 life science investment fund. He said he hopes the fund will reach $500 million by June.
Bring your iPad to work. These days everyone’s attached to his iPad or Blackberry, but it’s interesting to hear that two of the most regulated industries, healthcare and finance, are leading the charge to allow employees to bring smartphones and tablets to the office. Seventy percent of Good Technology’s 400 survey respondents said they let employees bring their devices to the office; only 9 percent said they had no plans to allow it.
Leasing Office Space for Dummies. Are you a first-time entrepreneur looking for some new digs for your venture? Jon Steinberg’s got some advice for picking the right office space.
