FULL PODCAST: The Journal of Life Sciences (.MP3,16.57 Mb)

On this edition, The Journal’s editor-in-chief William Patrick is joined by journalist Ellen Durckel, Author Bruce Goldman and Christopher Meyer, chief executive of Monitor Networks. They discuss Houston's efforts to emerge as a center for biotechnology, a promising new cancer vaccine, and the biotechnology company Maxygen, which shows how biological systems are providing new organizational models for businesses.

The Biomolecular Economy (.MP3,2.12 Mb)
The Journal's Editor-in-Chief offers some thoughts on the biomolecular economy and how biological principles are informing organizational structures.

Houston, We Have a Problem (.MP3,16.57 Mb)
For all the size and scope of its medical infrastructure, Houston lags behind in translating biomedical research into biotech commerce. A 2005 Ernst & Young study showed that California was leading the nation with more than 400 biotechnology companies, but Texas was toward the end of the list with fewer than 50. In the current issue of the Journal of Life Sciences, Ellen Durckel takes a look how the biggest city in Texas is hoping institutional partnerships will change that.

An Injection of Hope (.MP3,2.9 Mb)
A Glioblastoma is a relatively rare illness, but a nasty one. About 10,000 patients get diagnosed with it in the United States annually and only half of them will live a full year after their diagnosis. Even when the tumors have been surgically removed from the brain, half the time they will return within six months. But a vaccine in tests for this aggressive cancer has patients living more than twice as long as those treated with radiation and chemotherapy and, as author Bruce Goldman reports in the October issue of the Journal of Life Sciences, has some wondering if it could serve as a model for other types of cancer.

A Turning Point (.MP3,6.62 Mb)
Maxygen CEO Russell Howard has said that “Life is characterized not only by death, but by reproduction, passing on the DNA, the thread that produce progeny and is the real essence of life. Most businesses are the genesis of another business. They may spin off another company, and the parent may die, but the spin-offs survive and succeed. I use the analogy not only of inevitable death, but of life’s continuous process of recreation.” In 2002, Monitor’s Chris Meyer took a close look at Maxygen, itself has been an extraordinarily adaptive enterprise, following an evolutionary biological model when it comes to its organization, leadership, and product development. In this month’s Journal, Meyer revisits the company five year’s later.

The Last Word (.MP3,2 Mb)
The Journal's Web Editor Daniel S. Levine tells how two oncologists from the University of Chicago are trying to tackle the high cost of cancer drugs with a little grapefruit juice.