SRI International Digest #21 - Spring 2007
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This edition of the quarterly Digest offers a roundup of our latest news in biosciences, education research, and more.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Fighting the Chemical Agents of Terrorism
 The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a unit of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded SRI a $9.5 million contract to develop improved medical countermeasures to prevent, diagnose, and treat the conditions caused by potential and existing chemical agents of terrorism. SRI will focus on all aspects of preclinical development that may lead to therapeutic candidates, including synthetic and natural products and small molecule drugs.
More information
Telik Partners with SRI to Test Efficacy of Multiple Sclerosis Drug Candidate
SRI and Telik, Inc. (Nasdaq: TELK) have signed an exclusive agreement under which SRI will conduct preclinical and toxicology studies of a Telik drug candidate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. SRI will study Telik drug candidate C243, a compound that prevents leukocyte infiltration. Leukocytes are white blood cells that help defend the body against infection. Leukocyte infiltration is strongly linked to tissue injury in chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and atherosclerosis.
More information
Café Scientifique Silicon Valley @ SRI: Evolution of Infectious Diseases, from Early Plagues to Today's Challenges
 How has the pharmaceutical industry addressed the critical problem of infectious diseases such as HIV, Ebola, and avian flu? What efforts are being made by the federal government and nonprofit corporations to develop new anti-infective drugs? Come to the next Café Scientifique Silicon Valley meeting on Tuesday, March 13 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. to learn more from Jon Mirsalis, Ph.D. Dr. Mirsalis, who leads SRI's anti-infective development efforts for the National Institutes of Health, will discuss the challenges to developing drugs to combat malaria, viruses, bioterrorist pathogens, and other infectious diseases.
Café Scientifique Silicon Valley, hosted at SRI International in Menlo Park, California, provides a forum for the public to engage with scientists and technologists outside a traditional academic setting and in "plain English". Events are free.
More information and directions
Annual Report on First 5 California-Funded Programs Now Available
 Findings are now available from the fifth year of SRI's statewide evaluation of First 5 California-funded programs. First 5 aims to improve the lives of young children in California by using tobacco tax revenue to fund early education, health services, child care, parent education, and other programs for expectant parents and for children through age 5 and their families. First 5 services and programs touched the lives of millions of young children and their families.
Among other findings, SRI's evaluations show that more children using First 5 services and programs regularly attended preschool or other early education programs, more children with disabilities and other special needs were identified, and more children had a regular source of medical care.
View the full report.
First Comprehensive Study of K-12 Arts Education in California Schools Finds Vast Majority Fail to Meet State Standards
A landmark SRI study commissioned by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has revealed that the vast majority of California's schools fail to meet state standards for teaching visual arts, music, dance, and theater, and that access to arts instruction varies widely among the state's schools.
Key findings of the study, conducted by SRI's Center for Education Policy, include:
- 29% of California's schools do not offer a standards-based course of study in any of the four arts disciplines.
- 89% of California's schools fail to offer a standards-based course of study in all four disciplines, falling short of state goals.
- 61% of schools do not have even one full-time equivalent arts specialist.
- Standards alignment, assessment, and accountability practices are uneven in arts education, and often not present at all.
- California students lag behind the national average in hours of arts instruction -- up to 50% less in music and visual arts instruction at the elementary level.
View the full study results and methodology.
Read a San Francisco Chronicle article about the study.
SRI-St. Petersburg Begins Operation of New Marine Technology Program
SRI has officially started operations of its Marine Technology Program in St. Petersburg, Florida. SRI's expansion in the state was first announced in November 2006 at a press conference in St. Petersburg with Mayor Rick Baker. The program specializes in the study of surface and subsurface marine environments. The staff conducts research and engineering in optics, acoustics, MEMs, mass spectroscopy, and related marine sciences.
Learn more about SRI's Marine Technology Program.
Virginia Approves Additional $12 Million for SRI-Shenandoah Valley
The Commonwealth of Virginia recently approved $12 million for the establishment of an SRI research facility in the state. The funding is in addition to $3 million appropriated in 2006 to initiate the project, which was announced by SRI and Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine in December.
SRI-Shenandoah Valley, located in Harrisonburg, houses SRI's Center for Advanced Drug Research (CADRE), which will partner with James Madison University and other Virginia institutions in its research efforts. SRI also plans to add programs in areas such as homeland security, engineering, nanotechnology, energy, information technology, and education at the site.
Read Governor Kaine's budget statement.
New Operations Manager for SRI's Quality Clinical Labs
Caroline Satyadi has joined SRI as manager of operations for Quality Clinical Labs (QCL) in Mountain View, California. QCL was acquired by SRI in April 2006, and is the only commercial laboratory of its type in the state performing clinical pathology analyses in compliance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations. Prior to joining SRI, Ms. Satyadi served as director of laboratory services at Colusa Regional Medical Center in California.
More information
SRI Joins Web History Center
SRI is now a member of the Web History Center, a nonprofit educational organization in Mountain View, California whose purpose is to make public the history of the World Wide Web and preserve it for posterity. The Center helps researchers and collection holders preserve and promote the history of the Web era by identifying important and at-risk collections; facilitating the preservation of historical materials; linking the conservation efforts of various institutions and individuals; and making the web's heritage accessible to educators, students, corporations, and the general public.
SRI played a key role in the history of the Internet and World Wide Web. In 1969, for example, SRI received the first logon to the ARPANET, the small government computer network that preceded the Internet. In 1977, using the now-standard internet protocol TCP, SRI sent the first inter-network transmission between three dissimilar networks. From 1970 to 1992, SRI served as the first domain name registration clearinghouse and support center. Today, our work includes pioneering advances in cyber security. Visit SRI's timeline of innovations for more of our world-changing developments.
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In the Media
- The Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA) reported on January 24 that SRI and the American Institutes for Research have determined that Spokane's West Valley High School students who benefited from scholarships related to a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant raised attendance and lowered dropout rates, but did not dramatically gain in achievement.
- On February 7, The Daily News Record (Harrisonburg, VA) reported that SRI's plans to develop a drug research center in Harrisonburg, Virginia reflect the area's shift from a mostly agricultural economy to a technology-based economy.
- KTVU-TV (San Francisco Bay Area) recently reported on SRI's developments for the Trauma Pod, a remotely controlled medical/surgical treatment system.
Visit the SRI Newsroom for more SRI news.
CONTACT US
For more information on SRI's innovations and how we can help you, contact SRI Digest editor Marty Mallonee at marty.mallonee@sri.com. The SRI Digest welcomes your feedback. Please send suggestions or comments to newsletter@sri.com. Start or discontinue a subscription by sending an email to newsletter@sri.com.
Read the SRI Digest in Japanese (Winter 2006 edition).
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