Issue 1  Volume 3 September 14, 2004

 

Algae Agonist

 

Algae blooms are suffocating the Chesapeake Bay. Richmond’s Infilco Degremont is perfecting biological filters that remove the nutrients the noxious organisms feed upon.

 

 

by James A. Bacon

 

In the summer of 2003, one of the largest “dead zones” on record covered 40 percent of the Chesapeake Bay. Massive blooms of algae – some mahogany red, some as green as Gatorade -- blotted the surface, then died and sank to the bay floor. The decaying mass fed a host of microorganisms that sucked most of the oxygen from the water. Throughout the zone, oxygen fell below the level required to keep striped bass alive. In places, the oxygen depletion was so severe that shad, yellow perch, crabs and oysters died off. In the worst spots, only worms and other low-metabolism creatures could survive.

 

The algae feed off nitrogen and phosphorous from farms, urban run-off, air pollution and, most visibly, waste water treatment plants. To combat the decline  of what once was one of the most bountiful estuaries in the world, Virginia and other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed committed four years ago to reduce the volume of nitrogen entering the bay and its tributaries by 110 million pounds per year, or nearly 40 percent, by 2010. A set of tighter rules, wending its way through the regulatory system, should go into effect in late 2005 or early 2006.

 

Fairly or not, much of the clean-up burden will fall upon wastewater treatment plants that are a major source of the nutrients. The potential cost of retrofitting or building some 300 treatment plants could run into the billions of dollars, and the race is on to develop a technology that allows municipalities to meet the standards without crippling them financially. A Richmond, Virginia, company, Infilco Degremont, may have the most cost-effective answer: a process that uses naturally occurring bacteria to ingest the nutrients as the water flows past.

Robert Kelly, director of Infilco Degremont’s R&D lab in downtown Richmond, says he knows of only one competing technology that can reliably meet the proposed standard of three milligrams of nitrogen per liter of water. But he believes his product, BIOFOR, has an edge. Because BIORFOR installations operate more efficiently at higher filtration rates, they don't take up as much space – a crucial consideration for existing water treatment facilities that typically have little free room for expansion.

Water treatment doesn’t capture the public’s imagination like gene splicing or nano-tech, but it is a multibillion-dollar business with global reach. There are only a handful of players pushing the envelope of new technology, one them being the $43 billion-a-year Suez group, the French conglomerate that owns Infilco Degremont. Degremont maintains two water research centers: one in Paris and one in Richmond. “Our mission,” says Kelly, “is to innovate new technologies for drinking water and wastewater treatment.”

The 13-person Richmond lab, supplemented periodically by college interns, takes the corporate lead on R&D related to the biological filtration for removal of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphates, ultraviolet disinfection of microbes, and micro-bubble flotation to separate minute solids from liquids. Through Degremont’s globe-spanning operations, innovations originating in Richmond migrate around the world. More. 

Marketing Greater Richmond

Greater Richmond Partnership, Biotech Park Join Forces in San Francisco                       

One of the biggest challenges in launching and growing a science and technology park is creating a supportive regional business environment, Robert T. Skunda, president and CEO of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park, told attendees of BIO Parks 2004, the annual convention of the Association of University Research Parks held prior to BIO2004.

“It’s important to collaborate with other organizations in the local community, the region and the state,” said Skunda, who made his comments during a panel discussion of top research park executives. More.

Building a World-Class Institution

The Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors has approved a master site plan, dubbed VCU 2020, which lays out the vision for VCU’s campuses for the next 15 years.

“VCU’s 2020 master site plan incorporates all of the growth that has taken place at VCU and the movement from a commuter campus to a residential campus of a major research university,” said VCU President Eugene P. Trani, Ph.D. “It also builds on the unique relationship that VCU has with the city of Richmond and the neighborhoods that surround our campuses." (University News Services, August 12, 2004) More.

Life Science Highlights in VCU 15-Year Plan

Critical Care Bed Tower: a $110 million, state-of-the-art replacement facility that will provide 300 critical care and isolation beds.

School of Nursing building: a $14.6 million Center for Nursing that will allow VCU to double the number of nursing students and expand research and clinical service.

School of Medicine building: will replace the obsolete West Hospital and AD Williams Clinic, providing modern classroom and laboratory facilities commensurate with status as one of the nation’s top medical schools. 

VCU professors prototype sensors that could improve the treatment of battlefield wounds.

A prototype device that could save lives of injured soldiers on the battlefield has been presented to scientists and United States military officials by Virginia Commonwealth University

chemical engineering professor Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, Sc.D. and, Kevin Ward, M.D., associate professor of Emergency Medicine and Physiology at VCU.

Guiseppi-Elie, who also directs the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B) in VCU's School of Engineering, attended the Department of Defense (DOD) Military Health Research Forum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"The concept of providing battlefield trauma care to improve patient outcomes was very well received," said Guiseppi-Elie. His research is funded and sponsored through a $2.8 million award from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materials Command Office's DOD Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program to support development of implantable biochips with remote powering and readout capabilities. (Mike Frontiero, University News Services, May 24, 2004) More. 

Mental health professionals and educators who use a traditional clipboard and paper to record observations of children with autism can soon upgrade to a portable computer that can tap the information superhighway for faster, more accurate diagnoses and treatments. The new system is believed to be the first of its kind.

From left, Matthew Morton (project manager), Matt Nuckols, and Chris Stewart.

News

Business

CBI Expands Lab. Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., has completed construction and fit-out of a new virology biosafety level 3 laboratory. Thomas R. Reynolds, executive vp-science and technology, said the company is already planning an expansion of its research suite to include a production bacteriology lab. (July 1, 2004). More.

CBI Lands Contracts. Commonwealth Biotechnologies Inc., has won two new contracts totaling $2.0 million. In one, the company will develop novel reaganets used to detect selected pathogens. In the other, CBI will conduct molecular assays on DNA extracts. (August 12, 2004) More.

Obetech Joins Research Park. Obetech, LLC, a bioscience company focused on obesity research, has become the newest tenant of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park. Obetech is researching adenovirus-36, a common human virus that has been found to cause obesity in several types of animals. Studies have shown that exposure to Ad-36 also may contribute to obesity in humans. (August 19, 2004) More. 

Phipps & Byrd Expands. Phipps & Byrd, a manufacturer of medical equipment and instruments, has purchased two buildings in Richmond’s “Scott’s Addition” industrial park. (August 20, 2004) More.

DNA Hits Reach 2,000 Milestone. The Virginia Division of Forensic Science has recently recorded its 2,000th DNA “cold hit” in a pioneering program that has helped solve murders, rapes and other crimes for more than a decade. A cold hit occurs when DNA in crime-scene evidence such as blood or hair matches DNA registered in the state’s databank, or when DNA found at two crime scenes match, linking the crimes. Virginia’s DNA databank, established in 1989, is now the largest in the nation. (June 11, 2004) More.

Recognitions

U.N. Honors Infilco's Killer Aquarays. Infilco Degremont has received a World Business Award in recognition for its contribution to the United National Millennium Development Goals for reducing the number of people in extreme poverty through, among other goals, access to water and sanitation. Specifically cited was Infilco’s Aquaray Ultraviolet Disinfection System, an energy-efficient technology for disinfecting waste water. (July 7, 2004) More.

Research

Would it Be Gauche to Ask Aderis to Shake a Leg? Phase IIb tests for Rotigotine, a drug developed by Aderis Pharmaceuticals, for the treatment of Restless Legs Syndrome, has shown a statistically significant and clinically relevant reduction of RLS symptoms. Aderis maintains its R&D facilities in Richmond. (July 12, 2004) More.

Parkinson's Patch Drug Shows Promise. Phase III trials for Rotigotine, developed by Aderis Pharmaceuticals, have indicated that, applied transdermally by a patch, the drug resulted in a significant reduction in the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.  (June 23, 2004) More.

Insmed Initiates Study of Cancer drug. Insmed, Inc. has initiated Phase 1 clinical study for its anti-tumor agent, recombinant human Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 (rhIGFBP-3). The study will evaluate for the first time in humans, the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of a single intravenous dose of the drug for the treatment of various cancers. ( September 8, 2004 ). More.

Drug Treats Growth Hormone Insensitivity. Insmed, Inc., has presented six-month, Phase III clinical data indicating that children suffering from growth hormone insensitivity syndrome responded to a SomatoKine drug therapy with a statistically significant increase in height velocity. (July 20, 2004). More.

Massey Studies Breast Cancer Drug. The Massey Cancer Center has launched a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of osteoporosis drug raloxifene in preventing breast cancer. The study will determine whether raloxifene will be as effective as tamoxifene, the object of a recently concluded study, and whether it has fewer side effects. (date?) More.

Massey Researches Radiation Treatment.

Researchers at Virginia the Massey Cancer Center have begun a clinical trial testing the effectiveness of an established balloon catheter radiation delivery device on the earliest form of breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ. DCIS occurs when the cells lining the milk ducts become cancerous but have not yet invaded the surrounding breast tissue. (May 26, 2004) More.

Hands Off, Bloodsuckers.

Patients who received blood platelet transfusions during coronary bypass surgery were more likely to have prolonged hospital stays, longer surgeries, more bleeding and higher risk of infection, stroke and death, according to an international study led by the VCU Medical Center. The findings contribute to increasingly scientific evidence that blood transfusions do not always improve outcomes from surgery. (July 29, 2004) More.

New Treatment Inhibits Tumor Cell Growth. Massey Cancer Center researchers have found that combining ionizing radiation with a secreted protein that selectively inhibits tumor cell growth and survival can target cancer cells and leave healthy cells alone. (August 9, 2004) More.