University City : In The News

The Drexel Smart House has gone national and is building support, with presentations to student and professional groups, according to Forbes.

A student-run group that operates much like a business, the Drexel Smart House was founded four years ago with the intention of exploring cutting-edge technologies that are environmentally friendly, using an actual house as a testing ground.

As their success grows, the passionate and dedicated students who run this project continue to offer pearls of wisdom for the sustainable business community. An ambitious and complex initiative like this one requires a hefty amount of funding, which the students have been successful at receiving both from Drexel University and outside sources. Most recently, when I checked in with one of the student group's organizers, Amanda Moser, I found that its funding strategy appealed to companies looking to get customers to take a chance on sustainable technologies or initiatives.

The group learned to frame its funding conversation in terms that its audience would care the most about. For instance, according to Drexel Smart House President Cody Ray, "We recognized that (Drexel University) President John Fry was interested in community engagement and development. So, we offered Drexel Smart House as a platform for him to build upon to achieve his objectives."

Source: Forbes
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Philadelphia's Osage University Partners has set up a fund to provide profit to schools where initial research is done, according to The New York Times.

THERE are a lot of smart people in universities. Some may even be geniuses. Many of them are certainly good at inventing technologies that will change our lives.

But for the most part, universities aren't particularly adept at extracting the full measure of profit from all those innovations. While university technology transfer offices routinely license the intellectual property developed on campus, the schools themselves often aren't very nimble at retaining large stakes in the start-ups that exploit that property.

Source: The New York Times
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Surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania fix a patient's sleep apnea with a procedure involving robots, according to NPR.

At 32, it just didn't make sense that Daniel Sheiner was exhausted literally from the moment he woke up. "It didn't get any better over the course of the day, and I knew that was not normal," Sheiner says.

A sleep study confirmed Sheiner had one of the worst cases of apnea his doctors had ever seen. After trying a number of different treatments, his doctors finally tried a surgery using robots to treat his stubborn apnea � with positive results.



Source: NPR
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The Scientist takes a quick look at the historic discovery of the genetic underpinnings of cancer, courtesy of Philly's finest some 50 years ago.

In 1956, Peter Nowell joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty and began what he calls "poorly defined studies of leukemia." By rinsing blood cells with tap water before staining and mounting them on a microscope slide, Nowell inadvertently caused the cells to swell and flatten, and most importantly, disrupted their mitotic spindle�allowing him to visualize their chromosomes more easily.

Nowell teamed up with David Hungerford, a PhD student at the nearby Fox Chase Cancer Center, and together they detected that a chunk seemed to be missing from chromosome 22 in the leukocytes of CML patients. They published their findings in 1960, and the shortened chromosome was named after the city where it was discovered. But their suggestion that the aberration itself was causing the cells to proliferate abnormally met with a less-than-enthusiastic reception, recalls Nowell. One reviewer even said that the observation probably had no relevance to the clinical disease.

Original source: The Scientist
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The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is introducing a new curriculum that includes a focus on ethics and communications and will periodically offer tuition-free executive education, reports Bloomberg.

Wharton, ranked third among U.S. business schools by Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, follows the Yale School of Management, in New Haven, Connecticut, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, near Palo Alto, California, in overhauling its curriculum. The new plan offers students more choice in what they study and a greater emphasis on global business education as well as statistics and microeconomics, according to the statement.

"Wharton's new curriculum design offers our students a framework for success in a rapidly changing world," Thomas Robertson, Wharton's dean, said in the statement. "Business schools must equip the next generation of leaders with the knowledge, skills and perspective they need to meet the global economic, environmental, humanitarian and policy challenges of the future."

Original source: Bloomberg
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Voice of America gives us a multi-media look inside the Cleopatra exhibit, which features more than 150 artifacts of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures, at The Franklin Institute.

University of Pennsylvania Egyptologist and the head of the Penn Museum's Egyptology section - David Silverman - is curator of the exhibit. He said he hopes it dispels some of the misconceptions about Cleopatra and gives visitors a glimpse of her time.

"People know the name Cleopatra, but what about the history? And they're learning that we don't know all the answers, but they are also learning how we can find out some of the answers," said Silverman.

An accompanying audio tour attempts to provide some answers through an actress portrayal of Cleopatra. Visitors hear the queen describe the artifacts, as well as something of their history and purpose, including those dating from her torrid romance with Mark Antony - a relationship that ended with both of them committing suicide.

Original source: Voice of America
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Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have identified genetic changes that may heighten the risk of developing the eating disorder anorexia, reports MSNBC.

Studies done on twins have led researchers to believe that anorexia is highly heritable, and that genes could account for more than half of a person's susceptibility to the condition. However, few genes have been implicated as risk factors, the genetic underpinnings of anorexia have remained, for the most part, unknown.

To solve the mystery, (CHOP Center for Applied Genomics Director Dr. Hakon) Hakonarson and his colleagues scanned the genomes of 1,003 people with anorexia (whose average age was 27), and compared them with the genomes of 3,733 children (whose average age was 13) who did not have anorexia. While it's possible that some of the children might later develop anorexia, the number would be so small that it would be unlikely to impact the analysis, Hakonarson said.

The researchers found a few spots along the genome where the two groups differed. These so-called single-nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs could play a role in the genetic underpinnings of the disease.

Original source: MSNBC
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The do-it-all mainstay of one of NPR's most successful and trend-setting radio stations, WXPN, Bruce Warren, talks to the Washington Times about new media, blogging and why public radio isn't just for old people.

Starting at the 35,000 foot view, at WXPN our mission is to connect musicians with audiences. That's the basic philosophical operating principle. At the heart of the XPN community is this idea of musical discovery, and that is a powerful driver of all the activity we engage in with our community. To that end, I think is where the educator, curator and benefactor ideas come in. What artists and records we decide to play, who we decide to book for World Cafe, what audio and video we chose to put on our web site, who we book for our weekly live music concert series with NPR Music, the bands we pick for our Artists To Watch, the musicians David Dye features on World Cafe: Next; all of this activity is seen by our community as them learning about something new (education) and our role in filtering what to feature (curation).

In the social world where there are endless amounts of choices to be made, curation is a powerful activity. But it has to be credible curation, trusted by our community. I think this is a value that you'll find many stations in public radio, of our format (however broadly defined), have in common. We take it seriously. How do I view us in the music industry? I think we're viewed as a very positive anomaly by my colleagues. XPN and my public radio colleagues are highly respected for what we do. And for good reason; we help artists quit their day jobs.

Original source: Washington Times
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Drexel University's Plasma Institute, the nation's larges such research center, is moving its laboratories to Camden's Waterfront Technology Center, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

"We don't think of the [Pennsylvania-New Jersey] border as significant," said Mark Greenberg, Drexel's provost. "We're a region here."

By all accounts, New Jersey has welcomed Drexel's interest. For example, the Plasma Institute's labs on the entire fifth floor of the Waterfront Technology Center were built at no cost to Drexel, with $3.5 million coming from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and $1.5 million from the federal Economic Development Administration. The institute also received $158,355 toward its 10-year lease from the $175 million fund that came with the 2002 state takeover of Camden.

The institute was crowded out of its space at 34th Street and Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia, according to its director, Alexander Fridman. But it also was attracted to working in the same building as the Applied Communications and Information Networking (ACIN) program, a business incubator Drexel started in Camden several years ago to develop technologies and products for military use.

Original source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Wharton School marketing professor David Reibstein lends his expertise in helping recognize all-star students and how they become wildly successful in this report by Forbes.

"There are always students that are very intriguing that you get engaged with and you want to follow them," said Reibstein. "I'm always willing to meet with people and give advice, but I try to resist getting too involved aside from giving advice. A lot of the ideas are OK and not beyond that, but every now and then you hear a really good idea coming from students who need some help."

Professors often get unique insight into how budding entrepreneurs work and strategize and sometimes they'll also get a preliminary glimpse of an idea with great potential. Many business schools have entrepreneurial programs geared to those students, but sometimes a student who makes a mark might get personal attention from the professor outside of school.

Students who are visionaries, are passionate about their business idea and have a good pulse in the marketplace have a good chance to succeed, says Reibstein.

Original source: Forbes
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South Philly bred Noah Beresin and Chidera Anamege, who met as Drexel University freshmen last year, get solid grades on their latest EP The Preview from HipHopDX.

Like many cross-genre duos, pinpointing your sound can be a daunting task, one that DXnext alumni Chiddy Bang seemed quite capable of pinning. When producer Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin and rapper Chidera "Chiddy" Anemage joined forces at Drexel University and recorded their first mixtape The Swelly Express at school, it was a mishmash of sounds that somehow collectively fit. Rarely can anyone take MGMT and Tom Waits samples and still call it "Hip Hop" and mean it, but they did. After the mixtape sparked 100,000 in downloads and the group inked a world record deal with EMI, their recording budget clearly went up, but sadly their uniqueness went down. The Preview, an eight-track EP reflects the transition from using pots and pans to drum samples, pulling the raw talent that these two offered just a year ago.

That isn't to say this short EP is bad. It's actually quite good, with the introductory "The Good Life" serving as an excellent entrance into the project. Pharrell co-produced it with signature Neptunes swooshes and synths that fit the band so well that they could join the ranks of Star Trak (then again if they did that their album would never drop).

Original source: HipHopDX
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Richard Woodward, currently working on University City Science Center startup Vascular Magnetics, Inc., and a veteran of 16 other startups, has been named Rowan University's VenturePreneur in Residence, reports the Courier-Post.

Bringing in mentors with hands-on experience makes education more meaningful, says Niranjan Pati, dean of the Rohrer College of Business at Rowan.

"His (Woodward's) interaction will immensely benefit our students in terms of gaining practical insights to make great business plans even better."

Woodward holds a Ph.D. in molecular cell biology. His father worked for the phone company and his mother studied nursing while yearning to be a flight attendant.

Original source: The Courier-Post
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Our sister publication Keystone Edge writes about Malvern biopharmacetucial startup Recro Pharma, among the new breed of companies presenting at the annual Biotech 2010 conference in Philadelphia.

There's no denying that the down economy has been rough for the life sciences sector. When industry news website FiercePharma listed the 10 companies that laid off the most workers in 2009, seven firms on the list had a presence in the Keystone State. But Chris Molineaux, president of the statewide advocacy group Pennsylvania Bio that is hosting its annual Biotech 2010 event next week, says the upheaval of Big Pharma represents a new model for the industry.

No longer will huge companies try to do every task under one corporate banner, Molineaux says. Already, it's increasingly common to outsource tasks like information technology, financing and the administrative aspects of clinical drug trials. Researchers remain in-house or come to a company through an acquisition.

"It's going to be more of a patchwork. We're not going to have 15 large pharmaceutical companies," Molineaux says. "We'll probably have 50 medium-sized pharmaceutical companies and dozens of these smaller contractors."

Original source: Keystone Edge
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The travel section at Ireland's Herald.ie is high on Philadelphia for a variety of reasons, imploring the Irish to visit for our safe downtown, good eats and arts and culture.

It's puzzling why Philly isn't on most Irish people's radar. It's more historic than Boston, as Irish as Chicago, 30pc cheaper to live in than New York and has a food culture to match San Francisco.

The city centre proper, (known as Center City) is thriving, unlike many US urban areas. Sections of 15th Street are hubs of restaurants and nightlife, while the area's aptly titled Avenue of the Arts is the local equivalent of London's West End or New York's Broadway theatre districts. The best bit? It feels perfectly safe to walk around, by day or night (don't try this at home, kids).

Original source: Herald.ie
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A new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts indicates an encouraging trend of more people moving into Philadelphia since 1993, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

According to the Pew report, the number of people moving into the city has increased steadily, up from 31,837 in 1993 to 42,250 in 2008.

Overall, the number of people moving out of the city is growing less rapidly, increasing slightly from 47,291 in 1993 to 52,096 in 2008.

"I would say the trend is looking as if we may be seeing a reversal of long-term decline in city population," said David Elesh, sociologist and demography expert with the Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project at Temple University.

Original source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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