New UCLA center dedicated

The UCLA Biomedical Sciences Research Building and Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center (Los Angeles), a research hub located on the UCLA campus, was officially dedicated late September. UCLA and Orthopaedic Hospital researchers who have been engaged in expanding the frontiers of orthopedic medicine, microbiology, immunology, transplantation, AIDS research, embryonic stem cell research, molecular, cell and developmental biology, and biological chemistry now have a new home at this center.

The creation of this structure, along with a new neurosciences research building, has offered UCLA and Orthopaedic Hospital a chance to rethink the basis of laboratory design, which has not changed much since the days of Thomas Jefferson.

The new environments will maximize the potential of modern biomedical tools, establish a sense of community among research leaders from a variety of interrelated disciplines and provide resources as advanced as the challenges researchers face.

GA Life Sciences Summit coming to Atlanta

An exploration of cancer research advances by three renowned scientists will be among the special features of the 7th Annual Georgia Life Sciences Summit October 3 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

Georgia Cancer Coalition president/CEO William Todd also will highlight his group’s activities. The cancer research program will be moderated by Margaret Offermann, MD, PhD, deputy national VP for research at the American Cancer Society, and will include selection of winners in a scientific poster competition that covers the full range of life sciences research.

For more information on the program, please visit the organizations website at: www.informedhorizons.com/summit2007/.

Sagemark forms subsidiary for radiation therapy

The Sagemark Companies (New York)said that it has formed Premier Oncology, a wholly owned subsidiary, to pursue its radiation therapy cancer treatment center initiative.

Premier Oncology’s first radiation therapy venture is Premier Oncology Management of Nassau, which is developing a 5,000 square foot out-patient cancer treatment facility in Great Neck, New York that will feature a TomoTherapy Hi-Art system, one of the most advanced radiation therapy cancer treatment systems available, with an anticipated opening in Q108.

The location of the Great Neck center will build on the company’s existing presence in that market, where for the past five years, it has built a substantial referring physician base for its PET/CT imaging centers — two of which are located within the referring physician radius of the new radiation therapy center.

The Sagemark Companies owns, operates and administers out-patient medical diagnostic imaging centers that utilize positron emission tomography (PET), and PET and computed tomography (PET/CT) equipment, an advanced diagnostic imaging procedure used by physicians in the detection and staging of certain cancers, coronary disease and neurological disorders.

SmoothShapes now called Elemé Medical

SmoothShapes (Merrimack, New Hamshire), said that it has changed its company name to Elemé Medical. The company also said that it has added two veteran aesthetic laser industry executives to expand its management team: William McGrail, formerly senior VP of operations at Candela, is Elemé Medical’s new VP of research & development; and Peter D’Errico, formerly VP of commercial operations at Aesthera, is Elemé Medical’s new VP of sales & marketing.

“Our new name underscores a momentous transformation in the evolution of our Company—from development stage to commercialization phase,” said Nancy Briefs, president/CEO of Elemé Medical. “We are entering the body shaping market at a time when there is a significant opportunity for a cellulite treatment that improves upon existing systems, because women are determined to find a solution for their cellulite. We take great pride in the fact that our claims about SmoothShapes 100 are based exclusively on the results obtained in rigorous, independent clinical studies of the system. Indeed, the system’s underlying technology, Photomology, has a strong scientific underpinning. The growth capital being made available to Elemé through a credit facility with Pinnacle Ventures will assist us in executing key operational imperatives, such as a global product launch.”

Elemé Medical is an aesthetics company.

PerkinElmer to expand x-ray fabrication facility

PerkinElmer (Santa Clara, California), reported the expansion of its Santa Clara, California, digital x-ray detector fabrication facility. The 80,000-square foot facility produces amorphous silicon digital x-ray detector panels for use in radiography, angiography, cardiovascular imaging, and radiation oncology. The occasion marks a milestone in the company’s $50 million capital initiative to expand fabrication capacity to meet rapidly growing customer demands. Capacity from the fabrication expansion will begin to come on-line in Q407.

“The expansion of our Santa Clara facility demonstrates PerkinElmer’s commitment to ensuring that we have sufficient capacity to satisfy our customers’ growing needs in medical, diagnostics and oncology treatment, as well as the non-destructive testing market,” said Gregory Summe, CEO and chairman.

New study: OEMs to experience much growth

The next few years are expected to be lucrative ones for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and contract manufacturer companies processing raw materials for medical device companies- especially in niche areas and among OEMs that offer flexibility to move with market changes. The materials processing area of contract manufacturing for device manufacturing will grow from $13.9 billion globally to $25.41 billion by 2011, according to OEM Contract Manufacturing in Medical Devices, Volume I: Materials Processing, a new report by Kalorama Information (New York).

The trend towards the incorporation of outsourced technologies will be particularly prevalent in product areas where biocompatibility is required for the fusion between biotechnology, chemistry, and medical device technologies. OEMs whose core competencies lie in only one of these areas will require expert input in the other areas that are complementary.

MediaTech opens new facility

Mediatech (Manassas, Virginia) reported the opening of a new 100,000 square foot facility constructed on 10 acres of land in Prince William County. Right down the road from George Mason University’s National Center for Biodefense, Mediatech joins other biotechnology and technology companies, including ATCC in Innovation Park.

Mediatech is a manufacturer and supplier of cell culture and molecular biology reagents.

US Med-Equip expands corporate office

US Med-Equip (Houston), a provider of hospital equipment rentals, sales, and service to acute care and homecare providers, has expanded its corporate support center in Houston. Expansion into a state-of-the-art facility will enable US Med-Equip to successfully continue the growth it has experienced over the past four years and to better position it for future plans, it said. The 15,000 square feet of additional floor and office space is triple its former location.

“This move will allow us to further streamline our systems and to set the stage for our next level of growth,” said Gurmit Bhatia, president of US Med-Equip.