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Bear Bones, A Blueprint For Preventing Osteoporosis
Also Included In: Endocrinology; Preventive Medicine
Article Date: 14 Aug 2010 - 1:00 PDT
Bears hibernate all winter, yet when they awaken in the spring, their bones are as strong as ever.
Human beings don't hibernate, but their bones do degenerate as they grow older and when they aren't being used. Those who are bedridden for any length of time, even astronauts in the low- or no-gravity conditions of outer space, face the perils of osteoporosis.
What protection do bears have that we lack?
That's what Seth Donahue, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan Technological University, is studying, and here's what he has found: Hibernating black bears produce parathyroid hormone that may maintain bone formation while they snooze away the winter. So serum hormones and bone remodeling markers in hibernating bears could help create a model for preventing disuse osteoporosis in people.
Source: Michigan Technological University
November 18, 2008 - MiBiz
By Joe Boomgaard | MiBiz/LabWork
jboomgaard@mibiz.com
NOVI – The concept for the osteoporosis drug Aursos Inc. is hoping to commercialize came when Michigan Tech University Professor Seth Donohue noted that bears could get up from hibernation without the affects that humans would have if they were immobile for that long.
So he went in bear hibernation caves and drew blood from the groggy bears to find out why their bones remained strong despite their inactivity. The secret – parathyroid hormone (PTH).
Ronald Shebuski, chief scientific officer of Aursos (pronounced R-sos), one of Kalamazoo-based Apjohn Ventures’ investments, is attending the MichBio Expo at the Rock Financial Center in Novi to look for partners to take the drug to the next level of clinical trials.
“If humans are inactive for a couple of weeks, osteoporosis sets in very quickly,” Shebuski told LabWork. “We’re developing a drug from black bear parathyroid hormone…because they hibernate and don’t get osteoporosis. Bears have evolved a mechanism to prevent that.”
Currently, Eli Lilly markets the drug Forteo for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis. The drug uses a truncated sequence of the first 34 amino acids in PTH.
What Aursos promises is a possible drug that could be used to treat osteoporosis caused from disuse. In addition, one of its targets has the full 84 amino acids present in bear PTH that mimics the naturally circulating PTH in humans. The full sequence could have more treatment implications than the existing truncated version found in Forteo, Shebuski said.
Aursos started in January and has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative, Michigan Angels, and the Biosciences Research and Commercialization Center in Kalamazoo, as well as the UP-based Northern Initiatives.
Shebuski said he’s looking to connect with big pharma companies attending the MichBio expo to be able to take the drug to the next level.
“It’s a very challenging environment to get drugs approved in and it’s very expensive to do clinical trials,” he said.
The company is looking to raise up to $20 million in Round A financing. Thus far, he said he’s been pleased with the response in Michigan, but said as the trials get bigger, the company may have to venture outward to find sufficient venture capital.
He’s optimistic for the drug’s potential as the US population ages. Forteo is a $712 million drug and is growing every year, Shebuski noted. The market is expected to climb to $1 billion before too long.
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One of my favorite things about Tech Tour is getting to venture north of the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula.
Especially since its population of roughly 320,000 is so enterprising and tech-savvy.
Once again a visit to the Keweenaw country and Michigan Technological University proved both fun and fascinating, starting with a dinner Friday night with MTU officials and my traveling partners -- Diane Durance, executive director of the Great Lakes Entrepreneurs Quest, and Danielle DeLonge, network manager of ConnecTech, Automation Alley's association for technology professionals.
At the dinner, I learned that Michigan Tech's Keweenaw Research Center is finally moving out of its "temporary" quarters -- 1950s Quonset huts at the regional airport -- and is building a proper 20,000 square foot headquarters. The KRC conducts a wide variety of scientific resaerch for the military, industry and research institutions.
I also got a close look -- since the restaurant at Houghton's downtown Best Western overlooks it -- at the 51,000-square-foot former Upper Peninsula Power Co. building that will become the MTU SmartZone's fourth business incubator. SmartZone CEO Carlton Crothers told me he's already getting nibbles from three Fortune 100 companies who want to start research centers in Houghton and who would be a natural for the new incubator. They'd join the likes of Ford Motor Co. and General Electric Corp. which have software development and research centers in the Houghton area, putting MTU grads to work and giving them the chance to stay up in God's Country after graduation.
My Saturday morning started at the crack of dawn at MTU's new Alternative Energy Research Building in Hancock, with mechanical engineering researcher Jeremy Worm.
Michigan Tech has owned this 14,000-square-foot building for decades, using it as a groundwater geology lab and most recently as storage. Now, since several faculty members have received grants in renewable energy, the building is being remodeled to contain a variety of high-tech labs and experimental gear for research into alternatives to petroleum.
Included will be a wind tunnel, fuel cell research equipment, an environment chamber where the temperature and humidity can be controlled from 40 below to 120 above, and a completely cool combustion chamber -- essenially a one-cylinder engine machined out of a single 1,600-pound block of stainless steel. The chamber has holes that can be filled by huge solid sapphire windows, so researchers can see what's happening inside the chamber as fuel and air ignite. Lasers and high-speed photography will provide insight into the combustion process.
From Hancock it was a short jaunt to the south side of Houghton to GS Engineering, which president Glen Simula started in 2001, when he was a researcher at KRC. He left MTU to devote full-time to the business in 2002. Since then, he's found huge success in design, analysis and testing of lightweight components for vehicles, mostly for the military. The company's first contract was the study of lightweight wheels for a new Marine Corps amphibious troop transport that will speed through the water at 35 knots -- then come ashore on tracks ready to fight.
The company has also researched replacing heavy iron and steel components with lighter aluminum and ceramic composite materials for the Army in a wide variety of vehicles.
GS moved from temporary quarters into its own brand-new 14,000-square-foot building in March. The company has grown to 52 employees, including six hired in the past month alone. (Eleven of those employees are working at the U.S. Army's TACOM military vehicle research center in Warren.)
"It's worked out better than we expected," Simula said. "Our business plan was five people after two years."
Simula said the company gets most of its employees from Michigan Tech -- for recent college grades, he said, "we bring 'em in junior year and keep the best ones," while for more senior staff, he contacts Michigan Tech alumns 10-15 years into their careers who want to move back north and raise families. He's also hired Jim Bottomley, a retired Air Force colonel and Highes Aircraft executive, to become the company's first COO. He said a good deal of the company's growth hascome from the contacts of the people he's hired.
The self-effacing Simula wrapped up by saying: "We have a saying here -- everybody we hire has to be smarter than the last one we hired so we can keep growing. Well, guess what, I was employee No. 1."
My next stop was the Minerals and Materials Building for a look at the research of professor Seth Donahue into the role bear hormones may play in curing osteoporosis. No, seriously.
Ph.D. student Meghan McGee-Lawrence took me through Donahue's labs. She said researchers got interested in the hormones because bears hibernate for months without losing bone mass. People who stop moving in anything approaching that fashion immediately start losing bone, often with disastrous results. The research focused on parathyroid hormone because the thyroid regulates the level of calcium in the body.
Michigan Tech filed for a patent on the concept, and began developing it with the Kalamazoo venture firm Apjohn Group, which has taken an option to license the technology and worked with Michigan Tech to secure funding from the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative for cell-based and early animal studies.
Those studies have produced promising results, and Apjohn has formed a company, Aursos Inc., to raise funding to develop the technology further. Seed funders included the UP Business Capital arm of Northern Initiatives, an economic development agency.
After that, I sat in on an informational meeting of ConnecTech. There's considerable interest in starting a UP chapter -- it may combine the tech strengths of the UP's universities and community colleges, along with its considerable technology entrepreneurial culture.
The formal part of my Hougton visit ended with Dave Reed, Michigan Tech vice president for research, about the university's $20 million Energy Center of Excellence project.
Michigan Tech will partner with Michigan State University and Mascoma Corp., as well as the MEDC and J.M. Longyear -- a Marquette company that owns more than 65,000 acres of forest land in the Upper Peninsula -- to develop the state’s first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant. The plant will be located in Chippewa County, south of Sault Ste. Marie.
Essentially, Reed said, the project will begin with a giant supply chain study to determine the best ways to get wood waste to the gate of a cellulosic ethanol plant, so that what now is regarded as unwanted waste can be sent most efficiently for processing. "It's a transportation optimization problem," he said. It will study the best ways to use trucks and rail to get the waste to the plant gate.
Reed said work on the actual processing center will begin in 2009, with full production of 20 million gallons of ethanol a year scheduled for 2012.
Saturday afternoon, heaven forbid, I actually had a little bit of fun. I went to Michigan Tech's football game (cute little stadium, great crowd I'd estimate at 5,000, and they beat Ferris State). After that, I took ConnecTech's DeLonge on her first trip out to the end of the Keweenaw, all the way to Copper Harbor and up Brockway Mountain Drive for some spectacular fall scenery. (Believe it or not the colors haven't peaked yet, though -- you can still go up this weekend or even next and catch 'em.)
Sunday, I made the seven-and-a-half-hour drive from Houghton to Mount Pleasant. As you read this, I'll be visiting the cool technology under development at Central Michigan University.
The tech tour continues at Ferris State University Tuesday, Western Michigan University Wednesday, MSU Thursday and the University of Michigan Friday
by John Gagnon, promotional writer
The steady stream of funds supporting the commercialization of Michigan Tech bone-research technology as a cure for osteoporosis continues with persistence and promise.
The UP Business Capital (UPBC) group, an arm of Northern Initiatives in Marquette, recently invested $50,000 to help move the venture forward.
"This is equity capital, not a loan," says James Baker, director of Technology and Economic Development. "They see the promise. They are willing to risk their investment because there is the potential upside, but there are no guarantees."
Northern Initiatives is a nonprofit community development corporation that strives to enhance the regional economy with a simple but ambitious goal—supporting start-up companies and getting established companies to relocate to the UP.
Baker describes the infusion of money for the bone research as "significant and essential."
"High-risk financing for technology start-up companies is difficult to get in this region,” he says. "People are justifiably cautious about speculative bets. But a willingness to take a calculated risk has grown high-tech economies elsewhere in the country, and we hope to emulate that."
It's an investment in the future, says UPBC's Kathy Leone, vice president for commercial loans. "Our goal is to strengthen communities with increased jobs," she says.
The work behind the financial support centers around technology being developed by Seth Donahue, associate professor of biomedical engineering. He has isolated a bone-building biomarker in the blood of black bears, which don’t lose bone strength during hibernation. If humans were off their feet like that, Baker says, "bones would deteriorate very rapidly and very noticeably." Donahue has evaluated the compound and is encouraged; more laboratory tests are under way.
Donahue's work has caught the eye and the pocketbook of other backers. Over the last four years, support has come from the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative and the National Institutes of Health.
"Osteoporosis is a widespread disease," Baker says. "From a business standpoint, the upside potential is significant. A lot of companies are pursuing this market, and the competition is stiff. The prize is big, but the fight is also hard."
The Apjohn Group in Kalamazoo supports start-up biotech companies, particularly in pharmaceuticals. The firm has procured the commercial rights to Donahue's technology. Apjohn founded Aursos Inc., a biotechnology company headquartered in Houghton with operations in Kalamazoo. Aursos is raising money for the initiative and sought the capital from UPBC. Overall, the endeavor has attracted $500,000.
"It's seed funding to raise bigger funding," says Ronald Shebuski, chief scientific officer of Aursos and a partner with Apjohn.
Shebuski says that principals in the initiative are "very pleased" about the financial support from UPBC.
"It’s helping us grow the UP economy," he says. "It’s quite encouraging. We’re very enthusiastic."
Shebuski says that all of this collaboration is galvanized around the vision of reaching a national market—a treatment option for millions of people, especially women, affected by osteoporosis.
Shebuski believes there's "a high likelihood" that a mid- to large-sized pharmaceutical company will acquire this emerging technology.
He compares the initiative to the cholesterol market, which has spawned many products totaling several billion dollars.
Similarly, he says, "A small part of the osteoporosis market would be significant."
With that kind of potential, those involved expect to continue to garner support from grants, angel capital (wealthy investors), matching funds from the state and venture capital.
For more information on this story contact:
Email Jennifer Donovan
Phone: 906-487-4521
July 11, 2008—The steady stream of funds supporting the commercialization of Michigan
Tech bone-research technology as a treatment for osteoporosis continues.
The UP Business Capital (UPBC) group, an arm of Northern Initiatives in Marquette,
recently invested $50,000 to help move the venture forward.
“This is equity capital, not a loan,” says James Baker, director of Michigan Tech’s
Technology and Economic
Development office. “They see the promise. They are willing to risk their investment
because there is the potential upside, but there are no guarantees.”
Northern Initiatives is a nonprofit community development corporation that strives to
enhance the regional economy with a simple but ambitious goal—supporting start-up
companies and getting established companies to relocate to the UP.
Baker describes the infusion of money for the bone research as “significant and essential.”
“High-risk financing for technology start-up companies is difficult to get in this region,” he
says. “People are justifiably cautious about speculative bets. But a willingness to take a
calculated risk has grown high-tech economies elsewhere in the country, and we hope to
emulate that.”
It’s an investment in the future, says UPBC’s Kathy Leone, vice president for commercial
loans. “Our goal is to strengthen communities with increased jobs,” she says.
The work centers around technology being developed by Michigan Tech’s Seth Donahue,
associate professor of biomedical engineering. He has isolated a bone-building biomarker
in the blood of black bears, which don’t lose bone strength during hibernation. If humans
were off their feet like that, Baker says, “bones would deteriorate very rapidly and very
noticeably.” Donahue has evaluated the compound and is encouraged; more laboratory tests
are under way.
Donahue’s work has caught the eye and the pocketbook of other backers. Over the last four
years, support has come from the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative and
the National Institutes of Health.
“Osteoporosis is a widespread disease,” Baker says. “From a business standpoint, the
upside potential is significant. A lot of companies are pursuing this market, and the
competition is stiff. The prize is big, but the fight is also hard.”
The Apjohn Group in Kalamazoo, Michigan, supports start-up biotech companies,
particularly in pharmaceuticals. The firm has procured the commercial rights to Donahue’s
technology.
Apjohn founded Aursos Inc., a biotechnology company headquartered in Houghton with
operations in Kalamazoo. Donahue is chairman of the advisory board of Aursos, which is
raising money for the initiative and sought the capital from UPBC. Overall, the endeavor
has attracted $500,000.
“It’s seed funding to raise bigger funding,” says Ronald Shebuski, chief scientific officer of
Aursos and a partner with Apjohn.
Shebuski says that principals in the initiative are “very pleased” about the financial support
from UPBC.
“It’s helping us grow the UP economy,” he says. “It’s quite encouraging. We’re very
enthusiastic.”
Shebuski says that all of this collaboration is galvanized around the vision of reaching a
national market —a treatment option for millions of people, especially women, affected by
osteoporosis.
Shebuski believes there’s “a high likelihood” that a mid- to large-sized pharmaceutical
company will acquire this emerging technology.
He compares the initiative to the cholesterol market, which has spawned many products
totaling several billion dollars.
Similarly, he says, “A small part of the osteoporosis market would be significant.”
With that kind of potential, those involved expect to continue to garner support from grants,
angel capital (wealthy investors), matching funds from the state and venture capital.
Michigan Technological University is a leading public research university, conducting
research, developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a
prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 120 undergraduate and
graduate degree programs in engineering, forestry and environmental sciences, computing,
technology, business and economics, natural and physical sciences, arts, humanities and
social sciences.
See, http://www.pharmaprojects.com/conference_reports/10thAnniversary_C21BioVenturesNapa_California-may2008.htm for additional conference information.
They are among about 50 entrepreneurs scheduled to present business plans Monday and Tuesday at the Midwest Venture Summit. The biennial event, sponsored by the Illinois Venture Capital Association, showcases companies from the region to venture backers from around the nation.
It is an interesting time to try to raise money for a fledgling business. Some homeowners and established businesses can't get loans. Yet venture backers who invest equity in start-ups continue to raise money and look for places to put it, hoping the markets will be in better shape when their ventures are ready to go public.
Despite the sinking economy and a higher ticket price for the event, the summit is expected to draw more participants than in 2006, when 330 turned out, said association director Maura O'Hara. Sponsors have nearly doubled admission this year to $499 ($599 at the door) and expanded the event to two days from one.
Venture capitalist Bob Geras will award the $70,000 Geras Grant to one early-stage company. In addition, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will award a $50,000 grant for the best student plan to help the winner to start a company in the state.
The summit's growth spells progress in a region that has struggled to compete for venture money and to keep its entrepreneurs from leaving.
"There's a decent crop of companies that are stable, and even profitable, run by seasoned entrepreneurs," said venture capitalist Mark Glennon of Leo Capital Holdings LLC in Northbrook. "It's not uncommon now to find [local] companies with entrepreneurs that are on at least their second start-ups, some with real successes under their belts."
Presenters at the summit collectively have raised more than $220 million, according to the association. One of the successes is Franklin Park-based Rubicon Technology Inc., which produces sapphire crystals used in energy-efficient light-emitting-diode lighting.
Byron Denenberg, a managing partner at KB Partners LLC in Northbrook, co-led Rubicon's initial round of funding in May 2002.
"The tech market was really in bad shape, but we did envision this was going to be something very big and interesting," Denenberg said. "Maybe the best time to start a business is when things get bad. You don't get so frustrated you're losing a lot of business while you're going through this [start-up] cycle."
In all, his firm has invested about $6.5 million of the approximately $44 million in private money raised by Rubicon, which went public at $14 per share in November. The stock closed Thursday at $27.87. Private backers can't sell their shares until the lockup period expires in May.
Dalal, co-founder and chief executive of 18-month-old ParkWhiz, is hoping this year's summit will help his online venture attract $1 million in equity funding to deepen its Chicago market and expand into New York, Boston and San Francisco.
"We're hoping to generate some enthusiasm and interest," said the 30-year-old, who was a pre-med major before getting bitten by the tech bug. "We've spoken to a lot of the venture capitalists one on one but never in this large a setting, so we're definitely excited about this opportunity."
The stumbling economy doesn't scare him. He thinks tough times will drive cost-conscious visitors to his site to find deals on parking.
Besides, he added, "If you're persistent and you have a good model and execute, you can succeed in any market."
Dan Fisher, CBO of Aursos, will present the company during the March 17, 18 event in Chicago. This is the premier venture conference in the Midwest. Additional information on the summit can be found at www.midwestventuresummit.com
Aursos to receive $100,000 from MEDC
Twenty-two companies along the Interstate-94 corridor will share $5.05 million from a state program targeting retention
of Pfizer Inc. assets and talent.
Low-interest loans of between $50,000 and $400,000 went to the companies following
approval by the Michigan Strategic Fund board.
A $500,000 also goes to economic development groups Ann Arbor SPARK
and Southwest Michigan First in Kalamazoo to bolster the Michigan Innovation Equipment Depot, created last year to distribute
equipment donated by Pfizer to state companies.
Some 101 new jobs are expected to be created with the loan proceeds
from the state's $8 million Company Formation and Growth Fund, state officials said.
"This new resource will
provide new opportunities for Pfizer employees and spark entrepreneurial activity and job creation," Gov. Jennifer Granholm
said in a written release.
The MSF board created the fund in June to help communities recover from closure of Pfizer
[NYSE:PFE] facilities in Ann Arbor, Holland, Kalamazoo, Plymouth Township and Portage.
Pfizer Jan. 22 said it would
cut 2,410 jobs in Michigan by the end of 2008, 2,100 jobs in Ann Arbor alone with shuttering a 2.3 million-square-foot facility.
Loan recommendations were made by a committee composed of representatives of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
and local economic development groups Ann Arbor SPARK, Southwest Michigan First in Kalamazoo and Zeeland-based Lakeshore Advantage.
Each job created qualifies for a potential loan of $50,000, for a maximum of $500,000 per recipient company.
"This is part of a concerted effort to ensure Pfizer scientists continue working and living in Michigan and re-apply
their knowledge and expertise to help grow great new Michigan life sciences companies," MEDC President and CEO James
C. Epolito said in the agency's announcement.
The MSF in June also awarded $3.4 million from the 21st Century Jobs
Fund to turn a former Pfizer research lab in Holland into a bioeconomy research and commercialization center.
Recipients,
loans and jobs created
� ADMETRx, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $250,000; 5
� Armune BioScience, Inc.; Kalamazoo;
$100,000; 2
� Apjohn Group, L.L.C.; Kalamazoo; $50,000; 1
� Aursos, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $100,000; 2
� AzoRx, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $100,000; 2
� BioSTAT Consultants, Inc.; Portage; $50,000; 1
�
Emiliem, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $250,000; 5
� Integrated Nonclinical Development Solutions, Inc.; Ann Arbor; $50,000;
1
� Jasper Clinical Research & Development, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $250,000; 5
� Kalexsyn, Inc.; Kalamazoo;
$350,000; 7
� Lycera Corp.; Ann Arbor; $400,000; 8
� MuciMed, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $200,000; 4
�
NanoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $250,000; 5
� NanoVir, LLC; Kalamazoo; $100,000; 2
� NephRx
Corp.; Kalamazoo; $200,000; 4
� PharmOptima, LLC; Portage; $400,000; 8
� Phrixus Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.; Ann Arbor; $350,000; 7
� ProNAi Therapeutics, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $400,000; 8
� Proteos, Inc.;
Kalamazoo; $250,000; 5
� SensiGen, LLC; Ann Arbor; $300,000; 6
� TransPharm Preclinical Solutions,
LLC; Jackson; $400,000; 8
� Venomix, Inc.; Kalamazoo; $250,000; 5
Source: Michigan Economic Development
Corp
January 9, 2008
The Wall Street Journal
What Do Black Bears Know
About Bone Health?
Posted by Jacob Goldstein
blogs.wsj.com/health
Bear Bones
What Hibernating Bears
Can Teach Us About Osteoporosis
By IVAN ORANSKY
online.wsj.com
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