Pennsylvania Environmental Center for Pharmaceutical Industry

Temple University, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Department of Community and Economic Development Establish Pennsylvania Environmental Center for Pharmaceutical Industry with $1.6 Million

Center for Pennsylvania Environmental Technologies for the Pharmaceutical Industry will provide cutting-edge solutions in the Delaware Valley and beyond

Contact: Paul Statt, Paul Statt Communications, paulstatt@paulstatt.com, 413-244-7456

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 2--The new Center for Pennsylvania Environmental Technologies for the Pharmaceutical Industry will offer technological support to the the pharmaceutical and other industries in the Delaware Valley--and make Temple University a worldwide hub for research and development dealing with the green manufacture of medicines.. 

Rominder Suri, the founder of the Center for Pennsylvania Environmental Technologies for the Pharmaceutical Industry is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Temple College of Engineering.

“Temple has really invested in getting outstanding people who can translate basic research into useful applications,” Larry Lemanski, the senior vice president for research and strategic initiatives at Temple said. "The Commonwealth is matching that commitment with this grant." The Center for Pennsylvania Environmental Technologies for the Pharmaceutical Industry will establish a source for the technology and expertise that will help pharmaceutical companies and businesses that work with them minimize their effect on the environment.

The center, Suri says, "will be developing cost and energy efficient technologies with a goal of having an economic impact--both on new and existing companies. The vision is to create a technology hub, of global prominence, in the region to make Pennsylvania more attractive to the Pharma, engineering design and equipment manufacturing industries. Research will be conducted in state-of-the-art labs to develop new technologies and processes for pharmaceutical waste management, create business opportunities for engineering design firms and equipment vendors, create employment opportunities, develop a high tech work force, and advance environmental stewardship.

"We will bring all the latest research here, provide the expert knowledge needed for research and development, and then export the technology--not just in the Delaware Valley, but all over the world," Suri says. "Due to the high energy costs there is a lot of industry interest in energy efficient waste treatment technologies. Equipment manufacturers have a need to optimize their equipment for lower energy consumption, in order to to compete in the global market. By implementing high energy efficiency technologies, the pharmaceutical industry can minimize the impact of waste management on the cost of goods sold”.

A researcher whose interests include emerging contaminants, sustainable technologies, and reactor engineering and process design, Suri received his Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering from Michigan Technical University in 1995. He was previously a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at Villanova University where he directed the Center for the Environment.

“Ben Franklin partnered with Temple University to support this important initiative because it has the potential to impact so many aspects of our lives. create PETPI as a pharmaceutical technology hub of global prominence in the region. It affirmatively partners with the pharmaceutical industry, which is so important to our region, to insure that drug development and environmental protection are compatible objectives,”: It’s efforts will interact with, attract and create pharmaceutical companies and high technology jobs for the region” said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President and CEO of Ben Franklin.

Ben Franklin assisted Temple in the development of PETPI’s proposal to DCED. Representatives of each industry sector and Ben Franklin will serve on PETPI’s Advisory Board, which will direct general policies and procedures.

Temple University of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education is a comprehensive public research university with more than 34,000 students. It has a distinguished faculty in 17 schools and colleges, including schools of Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Podiatry, and Dentistry, and a renowned Health Sciences Center. Temple is one of Pennsylvania 's three public research universities, along with the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University . The Carnegie Foundation has designated Temple as Research University/High Research Activity, including it among the top universities in the nation with comprehensive curricula and nationally recognized research programs. More information about research at Temple is available at the web site www.research.temple.edu. 

The Department of Community and Economic Development was created to foster opportunities for businesses and communities to succeed and thrive in a global economy, enabling Pennsylvanians to achieve a superior quality of life. Led by Acting Secretary John Blake, the Department ensures growth and development in businesses and communities across Pennsylvania. More information about the department is available at its web site, www.newpa.com .

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA is the region’s catalyst for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential. We invest in innovative enterprises and create commercialization pathways that generate wealth through science and technology. Part of a statewide network in Pennsylvania, Ben Franklin provides entrepreneurs and established businesses with the Capital, Knowledge and Networks to compete in the global marketplace. We have provided more than $130 million to grow more than 1,600 regional enterprises, and are founding partners of The Nanotechnology Institute™ (NTI), Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Alliance (MANA®), Emerald Stage2 Venture Fund, Minority Angel Investor Network, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Technologies for the Pharmaceutical Industry (PETPI). Ben Franklin is part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Technology Partnership

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Pioneer who fused news with research

Clive Cookson writes in the FT that "His [Sir John Maddox] appointment at the Guardian came when science correspondents were still a novelty. The late 1950s were an optimistic period for science and technology, with newspapers showing gung-ho enthusiasm for aerospace, astronomy, nuclear power and medical research. " 

Would that we were living in such times again. We would be optimistic about science and technology; but skepticism, quite properly, prevails.

FT.com / Comment / Obituaries - Pioneer who fused news with research

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“The Race Between Technology and Education”

Another important book imprisoned in academic chains…

“The Race Between Technology and Education” makes a simple but profound argument for American public policy. We are not educating enough people to keep pace with the evolution of technology in the 21st Century. The historical record, according to authors Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz, reveals that from around 1910 until around 1980, the numbers of educated Americans grew fast–even faster than the well-documented proliferation of new technology in the same period. The US thus grew its “human capital.”

The technology continues to improve. The education, not so much.

Why Research Matters

Responding recently to the news of increased funding for the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, A. J. Stewart Smith, the dean for research at Princeton, said “This is a miracle, I think.” That's an unexpected claim coming from a particle physicist, but the real miracle of research funding is what happens after the government spends its money.

Investments in scientific research return financial dividends that would make a hedge fund envious. The "multiplier" for Federal dollars spent on NIH funding is better than it for most spending. Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers, measured the benefits of NIH research awards to all 50 states in 2007. “In Your Own Backyard," their study, calculated that the NIH awarded almost $23 billion in research grants and contracts. That funding created more than 350,000 new jobs nationwide, generated more than $18 billion in wages from those new jobs, and spurred more than $50 billion in business activity.

The year 2009-2010 will be the most exciting in decades for university research. It's no leap of faith to believe that energy, health care and education are the keys to raising the United States from its economic mess, and President Obama has promised that spending in those fields will increase. Universities such as Temple will benefit from the improved funding for education; less well understood perhaps is how important research is in American higher education.

Research at schools such as Temple University has many goals, and tries to reach those goals in many different ways. Some researchers are trying to cure diseases, some are trying to create more efficient technology. Many researchers are just trying to understand the mysteries of modern life. The immense transformative power of research and innovation can improve the lives of Americans. Infrastructure to improve America's competitiveness and technology to solve our nation's most pressing problems -- providing clean energy, lowering healthcare costs, and improving public safety.

Scientific research has yielded innovations that have improved the landscape of American life — technologies like the Internet, digital photography, bar codes, Global Positioning System technology, laser surgery, and chemotherapy. At one time, educational competition with the Soviets fostered the creativity that put a man on the moon. Today, we face a new set of challenges, including energy security, HIV/AIDS, and climate change.

Research at Temple has resulted in products that benefit all of us in small ways--a cheaper healthier roach trap, for instance--as well as large. The world's first institute dedicated to providing the pharmaceutical industry with environmentally sound processes just opened here--withe the help of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Science Foundation.

Yet, the United States is losing its scientific dominance. Among industrialized nations, our country's scores on international science and math tests rank in the bottom third and bottom fifth, respectively. Over the last three decades, federal funding for the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences has declined at a time when other countries are substantially increasing their own research budgets. Scientific research must play an important role in advancing science and technology in the classroom and in the lab.

Investing in scientific research serves a dual purpose: it is an immediate stimulus to the economy and an investment in US leadership in science, engineering, technology and education. Investments in medical research in particular can address urgent health-care needs.

Spending on science, engineering and technology is only a part of the stimulus package. But it is important to recall that basic science research in the US is largely funded by grants to individual investigators or national laboratories from federal agencies such as the NIH and NSF. Federal money invested in research grants, scientific infrastructure or national laboratories can be spent immediately to support research programmes already approved, salaries for laboratory scientists, purchases of supplies and equipment (most from small US businesses) and institutional expenses of the colleges, universities and medical schools where researchers work. Much scientific research is "shovel-ready;" that universities facilities are in place and only need cash to run.

President Obama has often said that in the future, international prosperity will depend on the United States becoming an “innovation economy.” The administration’s economic recovery package includes added spending for areas favored by innovation policy advocates, including higher research and development spending and funds for high-technology fields like electronic health records. But it also represents a welcome return of science in the political discourse. The attitude towards science is changing in government.

When he announced his choice of Nobel-prize-winning physicist Steven Chu to head the energy department, Obama said that promoting science is not just about providing resources (though he has promised to double the budget for basic science research over the next decade), but also about promoting free inquiry and listening to what scientists have to say, “especially when it is inconvenient." That's a clear reference to Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" about global warming. A government that puts its faith in science also reminds what we expect from research: the miracles that result when we practice science with faith in the future. 

NIH Announces American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funding Opportunities, March 11, 2009

NIH Announces American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funding Opportunities, March 11, 2009
News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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NIH: What FDR Lacked--And BHO Has

The National Institutes of Health like to claim that they were founded in 1789--and who can blame them? An institution thats as old as the Republic.

But the NIH only really got organized in 1938. When FDR wanted to stimulate the depressed economy with federal spending, research dollars really were no option.

But today we know that a dollar spent to fund basic health research typically adds two dollars to the national economy. This is the great multiplier.

Out-of-this-world glow-in-the-dark creatures invade Philly

Martin Chalfie to Speak at Research Week at Temple University March 27

2008 Nobel Chemistry Laureate discovered green fluorescent proteins

EDITOR'S NOTE: Photos of Chalfie and other bizarre creatures are available.

MEDIA CONTACT: Paul Statt, Paul Statt Communications, 413-244-7456, paulstatt@paulstatt.com

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 9--Green fluorescent proteins can make goldfish glow in the dark. But that's not why they gave chemist Martin Chalfie the Nobel Prize last year. Chalfie and two colleagues isolated and developed the naturally-occurring green fluorescent protein (GFP) from a jellyfish. The GFP glows green when exposed to blue light, and the gene that makes it has been added to organisms as diverse as bacteria, yeast, insects and even humans, to prove that "alien" genes can be inserted, expressed and passed on. In short, fluorescence is possible in every living thing.

Chalfie, the William R Kenan Jr. Professor of biological sciences at Columbia University, will about "Green Florescent Protein:Lighting Up Life" at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 27, in the Walk Auditorium in Ritter Hall at Temple University. The keynote address of Temple's annual Research Week, sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research and Strategic Initiatives, Chalfie's talk is free and open to the public. Research Week, from Monday, March 23 through Friday, March 27, offers lecturers, colloquia, presentations and performances at the university.

Chalfie reports that he hears from hundreds of researchers who describe the out-of-this world potential of GFP:

• GFP was used in ANDi, the first genetically-modeified primate, being used to develop treatments for Huntington's disease ;
  
• GFP is being used in the creation of synthetic life; 
  
• GFP flickers at different temperatures, allowing it to be used as a tiny thermometer
  
• GFP-labelled bacteria can locate mines in minefields.
  

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