Transition Therapeutics Inc., a leading tenant at MaRS, announced Thursday that its common shares would begin trading today on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “TTHI”. The company’s common shares will continue to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TTH) in addition to NASDAQ.

This is another step in the tightly executed strategy of Transition’s management. In general, NASDAQ listing is a statement about the sustainable value of a company. Not only does NASDAQ have the world’s highest listing standards but it is also the largest technology market in the world: the most liquid, with largest amount of capital traded overall.

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MaRS introduces responsible cuisine

Local Food, Slow Food, regional seasonal cuisine, the 100-mile diet and sustainable agriculture are fairly synonymous terms that you likely have read about over the past few years. They all seek to procure from local suppliers, reduce carbon footprint and celebrate the excellence of seasonally produced food and the craftsmanship of local artisan suppliers. They represent a shift in the way we interact with our food system - towards one that supports local farmers, reduces the distance our food must travel and employs environmentally sound production practices.

As MaRS aligns itself to this growing culinary movement, we are challenging our caterers to do the same. MaRS is working with organizations dedicated to building and fostering local sustainable food systems. This new program will begin in September.

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Nuclear transfer-pipette inserted into egg

When life is more dramatic than a TV SOAP opera, it’s newsworthy; but when it happens in the scientific community, it’s sensational.

Last week, the life drama of South Korean stem cell researcher, Dr. Woo Suk Hwang, famous for cloning the world’s first human embryonic stem cell and the world’s first dog (Snuppy), finally came to a redemptive close.

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As MaRS’ own Facebook community continues to grow, with over 130 members at last count, this tidbit about one pharma’s company’s foray into social networking is worth noting.

The August 15, 2007 issue of Pharmaceutical Executive includes an article about Reckitt Benckiser’s entry into MySpace, a rival to Facebook. The pharma company manufactures Suboxone (buprenorphine/naloxone), an in-office drug-dependence treatment and has created “Addiction 411” within the MySpace site to target 16-25 year-olds who may be struggling with prescription (opioid) drug abuse. For more on how pharma meets Web 2.0, see:

Marketing Where the Kids Are: Pharma surfaces on MySpace, Pharmaceutical Executive, August 15, 2007

Stuck in traffic?

It’s nice to see that the media are continuing to ask some critical questions with respect to a highly debated topic: traffic congestion in our cities. Yesterday’s article by Toronto Star reporter Tyler Hamilton asks the question that city officials appear to be ducking: “Is it time we started charging drivers to take their cars into the city?”

While the inconvenience of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic is most obvious to us, the hidden economic and other quality of life issues related to wasted fuel and productivity, polluted air and poorer health, and reduced economic growth linger beneath the surface of this issue.

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For those developing new and innovative technologies in the cleantech space and looking for funding, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) will be accepting statements of interest for funding from September 5th to October 24th.

Process:

The Statement of Interest (SOI) is an initial application used for preliminary screening and is subject to a competitive review process by SDTC and a panel of independent experts.

Applications are evaluated on the basis of their fit with SDTC’s mandate, adherence to selection criteria, and the quality of technology, marketing and business capabilities.

Prior to submitting an application and to ensure a good fit:
First review the “Application Advice” section and subsections on SDTC’s web site, starting at “Eligibility and application.”

Then discuss your proposed project with one of our Applications Managers.

About SDTC:

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is a not-for-profit foundation that finances and supports the development and demonstration of clean technologies which provide solutions to issues of climate change, clean air, water quality and soil, and which deliver economic, environmental and health benefits to Canadians. To do so, the Foundation draws from an investment fund of $550 million.

In a paper published in the August 10 issue of Cell, an international group of researchers have found that the skeleton is an active regulator of energy metabolism and acts as an endocrine organ for for sugar regulation.

Mice that lacked the skeleton-derived hormone osteocalcin were shown to have decreased beta cell proliferation, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance.

The authors say that the skeleton would be an ideal endocrine organ due to its large surface area.

It would seem to make sense that the load-bearing structure (the skeleton) is linked in some way to the pathway that affects the load (metabolism).

This work was built on an earlier observation that bone reacts to the fat cell-derived hormone leptin. Therefore, if fat cells can talk to bone, why shouldn’t bone talk back?

The current discovery also provides an exciting new therapeutic target for type II diabetes - one of the largest healthcare markets.

Read more:
Lee et al, Cell: “Endocrine regulation of energy metabolism by the skeleton.”

The business of venture capital is usually a pretty serious one. So it was refreshing to see that Bessemer Venture Partners has a sense of humour. Their website contains an amusing list of investments they have passed on over the years – what they are calling their ‘anti-portfolio’. A bit tongue-in-cheek, but a terrific window into the thinking of long-time experienced investors make when making investment decisions that don’t quite pan out.

BVP’s Anti-Portfolio

Although the concept of personalized medicine is about a dozen years old by now, we are just beginning to see its role in the clinical practice. Doctors and patients worldwide spend $730 million a year on genetic tests today, says Piper Jaffray, and the market is growing 20% a year.

Soon all of us will be able to find out what ticking time bombs lie hidden inside our DNA… if we really want to know. And this is really the main question: how will the new knowledge about the genetic probabilities change clinical decisions?

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Here are a few links to fantastic resources that will help you through developing your business — terrific complements to what MaRS provides.

Alex Osterwalder - Business Design

eVenturing - the Kauffman Foundation has put together a tremendous collection of resources for entrepreneurial ventures, covering all of the key aspects of a business (people, finance, marketing, operations, etc.). Well-written overviews and how-to’s.

Manager Tools - a couple of tech-savvy guys who give applied advice on how to manage people in your organization - not just what to do, but also how to do it (it may seem relatively easy now, but you will need to learn these skills as your company grows). The best thing is it’s provided in podcast format (as well as a blog), making it easy to take in during your commute.

I highly recommend both of these resources to everyone who works in any sort of business or with other people.