BioNews09 November 2009
	In this issue
	ISMB - Growing skills through valuable contacts TIA Update Turning ideas into reality Women's Day - Music, mystery and laughter Dates to Diarise
	ISMB - Growing skills through valuable contacts
	When the Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference was held in Stockholm, Sweden, earlier this year, Dr Judit Kumuthini Bioinformatics (BIx) Manager at the Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research (CPGR) was among the delegates – thanks to funding from Cape Biotech. "I was really happy to attend," she said. "I certainly learned a lot and made some good contacts." "One of the highlights for me was when I attended the Bioinformatics Core Facility Workshop at the conference. It was organised by Fran Lewitter (Head of Biocomputing, Whitehead Institute, MIT), Michael Rebhan (Symantec Corporation), Brent Richter (Director of Enterprise Research IS at Partners Healthcare Systems) and David sexton (Director - Research Informatics Core at Vanderbilt University)," Kumuthini said. "I found this extremely useful. Among many useful tips I learned from them how to move forward fast to win national as well as international clients interested in outsourcing their BIx work to the CPGR. This is relevant to the CPGR for 2 reasons: (1) we can enhance our brand by way of attracting large-scale BIx-based projects to the organisation; (2) the relationships that we build can be used as a channel to attract projects run on our core analytical platforms, such as Affymetrix or MALDI-ToF/ToF." The conference also provided CPGR with some potential new post doc support and collaborative activities with international organisations, including in the US and Finland. "My strong interest is to position the CPGR as a leading BIx service provider (a core dry-lab facility within a wet-lab organization, if you like) covering a complete range of data analysis, web services and visualisation tools for various platforms and applications, including analysis of microarray, next-generation sequencing and mass spectrometry data," Kumuthini said. "From a core service provider point of view (with a mandate to boost the biotech sector in South Africa) I'd like to make sure that collaboratively we position South Africa as a leading global player for outstanding BIx services to enhance the country's R&D output. "I was pleased to have the opportunity to bring back valuable insights relevant to closing the bioinformatics skill gap in South Africa. Overall, the exposure to and interaction with internationally renowned players in the Bioinformatics space can only help us to grow from strength to strength," she said.
	TIA Update
	The TIA is established in terms of the TIA Act No. 26 of 2008, with the objective of - stimulating and intensifying technological innovation in order to improve economic growth and the quality of life of all South Africans by developing and exploiting technological innovations. . the ultimate goal of TIA is to use South Africa's science and technology base to develop new industries, create sustainable jobs, and help diversify the economy away from commodity exports towards knowledge-based industries equipped to address modern global challenges. And in order to carry out its mandate the TIA will provide and mobilise financial and non-financial support across broad technology areas in various sectors of the economy through Appropriately structured financial and non-financial interventions for the commercialisation of R&D results; The development and maintenance of advanced human capacity for innovation as opposed to just R&D human capital; Building a culture of innovation in the South African economy; Leveraging local and international partnerships in order to transfer, build local technological competencies, and encourage foreign direct investment for the commercialisation of technologies in South Africa.
	Turning ideas into reality
	When Greg Khoury from the Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research (CPGR) spoke to biotechnology students at the University of Cape Town recently, he showed them a view of reality that they may not have been expecting. “In biotechnology, having a good idea is simply not enough to succeed,” he said, in a presentation aptly titled Why Pinky and The Brain failed to take over the world. “You have to take the next step,” he said. “Having a good idea is a great start, but unless you make it real, you’re not going anywhere. And sometimes, along the way, your original idea can become unrecognisable in the company that it births.” Using the CPGR as an example, Khoury took students through some of the problems and challenges that a typical biotech startup can face. “There is a real need for platforms such as the CPGR,” he said. “The CPGR is one of the few institutions in the world where you can look at a genome, transcriptome and proteome all in one place, and have a bioinformatics department to tie it all together.” Knowing that you have a good product, and that there is a need in the market for your services is not enough, according to Khoury. “The first problem is that potential funders may not know what you are offering. In our case, not everyone knows what a platform is. So there is a drive towards self-sustainability, but that creates new problems: we can’t charge exorbitant prices to the research community we serve.” There are a number of solutions, but each creates challenges of its own. “We can seek business in the industrial sector, but we are perceived as an academic institution. We can seek investment, but who will invest in a Section 21 company? We can argue over small experiments with high scientific merit vs large experiments with little scientific merit but high cost volume.” It is certainly not all doom and gloom. There are a number of ways that the CPGR has risen to meet the challenges to become an internationally recognised company. “How do we overcome these problems?” Khoury asked. “We remember that our primary goal is science; we stick to our mandate, we provide education for users and staff of the CPGR, we employ exceptional staff with a wide range of skills, we build partnerships and collaborations; we practice good governance; we innovate; we look for opportunities; we create opportunities and we have fun doing it. “And just like Pinky and the Brain,” he concluded, “we never, never, never give up!”
	Women's Day - Music, mystery and laughter
	Cape Biotech continued its tradition of honouring the women who contribute to its success with a special Women’s Day celebration on August 7 for all Cape Biotech ladies as well as stakeholders, investments and service providers. The Hôtel Le Vendôme in Sea Point was the place to be for lots of laughter and some serious pampering. The event started on a high note with Tracy Klaas - also known as “The Kugel in the Avis ad” - accompanied by stand-up comic, Melanie Jones - who had all the guests in stitches of laughter all morning. Providing a more serious tone to the day’s events was Dr Maria Christodoulou who provided an excellent presentation on “A new paradigm in health and wellness”. Apart from being the founder of Genesys Health Dr Christodoulou is also a Health Coach. As a Health Coach, she sees herself as a partner in health to a diverse group of interesting people sharing what she knows. As a Health Professional Dr Christodoulou sees one of her greatest gifts as her ability to integrate and synthesise seemingly diverse and conflicting bodies of knowledge to create an Integral system for approaching health that is creative, innovative and inspired. In keeping with the mood of total wellness, Tenille Lineque, a belly dancer draped in chiffon dazzled the crowds with her expert moves. Unfortunately the ladies in the audience had a hard time trying to perfect the moves, but four ladies at least will be able to show off the shimmy at the next networking event as they won vouchers for a month’s belly dancing classes. Cape Biotech’s Women’s Day guests really enjoyed their goodie bags which was made possible by our sponsors: Natural Medicine Magazine, Go-girl energy drinks, Elle Magazine and Elle Decór.
	Prizes and Winners Belly Dancing Vouchers – 4 Beginners lessons with Tenille Lineque: Sive Stofile (CBT) Adele Daniels (CBT) Busiswa Kekana Rene Stronach Family Portrait Vouchers with Gavin Withers Photography: Salma Seedat (Virtual Admin) Shane Murray (CPGR) 12 Month subscription to the Natural Medicine magazine: Toni-Rae Crawley (CBT ) Fatima Barmania (CPGR)
	DatesToDiarise
	South Africa Immunological Society Conference
	Wednesday 9 - Friday 11 December 2009 Vineyard Hotel, Colinton Road, Newlands, Cape Town To register or for more information, please contact: Jolandi Ackermann Jolandi.ackermann@uct.ac.za 021 406 6381
	Bio2Biz 2010 to come to Cape Town
	Monday 27 – Wednesday 29 September 2010 Please visit the website for more information: www.bio2biz.org
	Our offices will be closed from Friday 25 December 2009 to 4 January 2010 For more information visit our website on www.capebiotech.co.za Cape Biotech 4th Floor, Central Park, Black River Park, Fir Road, Observatory, 7925 Copyright © 2009 Cape Biotech