e-ore
13年前
10q for 9/30/11 filed today. In it, the 4 note holders (management and a beneficial investor) have loaned the company more money:
"On November 11, 2011, the Company entered into a subscription agreement with the Note Holders pursuant to which the Company raised an aggregate of $200,000. Each Note Holder invested $50,000 and received in exchange a promissory note in favor of such investor in the amount of $50,000 (collectively, the “November 2011 Notes”) and a warrant to purchase 333,333 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.15 per share (the “Warrants”).
The November 2011 Notes accrue interest at a rate of six percent per annum, which interest shall be paid quarterly until April 19, 2014, at which time the outstanding principal amount, with interest accrued thereon, shall be due and payable. The November 2011 Notes shall become due and payable upon customary events of default or if the Company consummates an equity financing resulting in net proceeds of $4,000,000 or more to the Company. The Warrants are exercisable, in whole or in part, during the period from November 11, 2011 to November 11, 2016."
Two names I haven't seen before have been given options under the company's stock incentive plan. One may be this gentleman
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/arnold-pollard/11/446/b95
The other is a man named Robert Reinhart.
The company has changed their address to the NYC office they opened in Manhattan last February.
No news on any results from the research and product development agreement with Bayer Crop Science yet. Good to see that the insiders (who hold 75.5% of the outstanding shares) are still willing to provide funding.
e-ore
13年前
Dr. Axel spoke at the "embomeeting" last month. Details of it:
"Leading scientists line up for The EMBO Meeting 2011
¦Susan Lindquist, 2010 winner of the US National Medal of Science – Lamarck redux: Prions, Hsp90 and the inheritance of environmentally acquired trait
¦Giacomo Rizzolatti, discoverer of mirror neurons – Understanding actions, intentions and emotions of others
¦Richard Axel, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology – Representations of olfactory information in higher cortical centres
¦Mark Pagel, evolutionary theorist – Human language as a culturally transmitted replicator
¦Austria Center Vienna, 10 – 13 September 2011
HEIDELBERG, Germany, 5 September 2011 – Helga Nowotny, President of the European Research Council, will open The EMBO Meeting 2011 this coming Saturday 10 September at the Austria Center Vienna. The annual conference is set to highlight the latest life science advances made in the laboratories of more than 120 of the world's leading researchers."
http://2011.the-embo-meeting.org/mediacentre/advisories.html
Dr. Axel's bio at the embo meeting:
"Richard Axel is University Professor and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, US. He obtained an A.B. from Columbia College and an M.D. from Johns Hopkins Medical School. In earlier studies, Richard Axel and his colleagues, Michael Wigler & Saul Silverstein developed gene transfer techniques that permit the introduction of virtually any gene into any cell. These studies not only allowed for a novel approach to isolate genes but also provided a detailed analysis of how they worked. At the same time, these experiments allowed for the production of an increasingly large number of clinically important proteins. These studies also led to the isolation and functional analysis of a gene for the lymphocyte surface protein, CD4, the cellular receptor for the AIDS virus, HIV.
He then began to apply molecular biology to problems in neuroscience with the expectation that genetics could interface with neuroscience to approach the tenuous relationship between genes, behaviour and perception. His studies on the logic of the sense of smell revealed over a thousand genes involved in the recognition of odours and provided insight into how genes shape our perception of the sensory environment.
His current work centres on how the recognition of odours is translated into an internal representation of sensory quality in the brain and how this representation leads to meaningful thoughts and behaviour. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among his many honours are the Eli Lilly Award in biological chemistry, the Richard Lounsbery Award from the National Academy of Sciences, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for distinguished achievement in neuroscience research, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, and the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine."
e-ore
13年前
This, from the SSRC website, is a great summary of the possibilities. There is a lot of research being done in this field. Bayer Crop Science chose Sentisearch as a partner over all the others, and Bayer AG chose to feature the agreement with SSRC as one of 16 "Highlights of 2010" in their annual report. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation renewed the $5 million grant for Dr Axel's research after SSRC and Bayer Crop Science entered into the 2 year research and product development agreement. Please refer to the ibox here for further information. So many startup companies offer promises and hope. The connections here are impressive, real, and verifiable. Will the research bear fruit? We'll have to wait and see :)
http://www.sentisearch.com/
SentiSearch has obtained an exclusive worldwide license in certain intellectual property from the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. In addition, we possess our own patents and patent applications.
The Company’s intellectual property assets are primarily based on the work of Dr. Richard Axel, who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine, and who is a Scientific Consultant to the Company.
With an extension of funding to Columbia from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, SentiSearch has continued to maximize the potential of Dr. Axel’s work. In 2010, SentiSearch and Bayer CropSciences entered into a research and development agreement to screen Bayer’s extensive library of compounds in a search for the identification of new molecules targeting odorant receptors in insects.
This collaboration includes work performed in Professor Axel’s laboratory at Columbia University funded through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative. One of the main goals of this initiative is to improve the control of insects that affect human health, with the ultimate eradication of malaria, dengue fever, and other insect-borne diseases in the developing world.
In addition to possible benefits in the field of public health, our activities with Bayer could also result in innovative products with a new mode of action capable of preventing damage to agricultural crops caused by insects.
In addition, we continue to explore other commercial applications of our intellectual property assets, including in mosquito repellents to be sold by household product companies, as well as applications in the areas of food production and pharmaceuticals.
e-ore
13年前
From the last SSRC 10k:
"The potential uses of the olfaction intellectual property assets derived from the Columbia License consist of know-how related to three families of patent applications relating to (i) odorant receptors and their uses, (ii) cloning of vertebrate pheromone receptors and their uses and (iii) genes encoding insect odorant receptors and their uses. We believe that the know-how most likely to be useful in the near future is in the area of insect control, because insects operate entirely through sense of smell and taste for feeding, mating, locating egg-laying sites and general navigation. Blocking the insect sense of smell and taste may afford a potential strategy to inhibit insect reproduction, feeding behavior, and damage to humans, animals, crops and stored products. Such a technology would not require genetic modification of the plant or insect and may rely solely on compounds that are natural, non-toxic and compatible with organic farming methods. This technology has the potential to offer a high level of specificity providing for the targeting of an individual species, reduction of environmental disruption and less chance of insect resistance."
Consistent with the last pr from Bayer Crop Science (in my previous post), and don't forget SSRC was featured in the Bayer annual report as one of 16 "Highlights of 2010." A very quiet company here. They will not hint at any developments, good or bad, from the research and product development agreement with Bayer Crop Science. News will come when the agreement produces results, positive or negative.
e-ore
13年前
An interesting pr on the Bayer Crop Science website today. We're 1 year into our research and product development agreement with them. From the pr
"Refocusing innovation
The third pillar of the strategy is refocusing innovation, with an increasing emphasis on the BioScience business unit and new growth areas in agrochemical research. To better fuel future growth from innovation, the company intends to double the annual investment for research and development at its BioScience unit by 2015 (2010: about EUR 200 million). Total R&D budgets at Bayer CropScience are planned to rise some 20 percent to more than EUR 850 million by 2015, Peterson announced.
“With our in-depth knowledge of biology, genetics, biochemistry and life science chemistry, Bayer CropScience is well placed to innovate at the interface where chemistry converges with biology”, she said. “We are pursuing holistic agronomy innovations”, Peterson stressed."
The whole pr
http://www.bayercropscience.com/bcsweb/cropprotection.nsf/id/EN_20110916?open&l=EN&ccm=500020
http://www.sentisearch.com/
e-ore
13年前
Here's an opinion on the Gates Foundation grants. A few excerpts:
Nearly $460 million later, the foundation isn't exactly pulling the plug on the original Grand Challenges in Global Health program. But recession and a sense of urgency have drained much of the foundation's enthusiasm for large, speculative research endeavors.
Now the five years are up, and the foundation recently brought all the scientists to Seattle to assess the results and decide who will get further funding.
Most of the projects have used up their money and aren't receiving any more. Many with continued funding are receiving far less than before. Some disappointed scientists say the loss of funding will slow progress on research that has lifesaving potential - but needs more time to mature.
Despite discoveries on many fronts, up to two-thirds of the grants either did not get renewed or may not in the near future, Mr. Gates estimated. In some cases, it was because they were not succeeding, either scientifically or because of political obstacles, or someone else had found a better path. In others, the foundation changed the goal.
But not our grant :)
Mosquito 'olfacticides'
As the inventors of "a cell line that behaves like a mosquito antenna, recreating mosquito smellers in a dish," Leslie B Vosshall of Rockefeller University and Richard Axel, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Columbia University, got $5 million to hunt for molecules that could block mosquitoes' ability to detect people. Axel shared a 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine for cloning insects' olfactory receptors.
Their Gates grant is renewed for two years, but they now have a contract with Bayer CropSciences to screen its two million compounds - the same smell mechanism is used by corn borers, apple maggot flies and other farm pests.
(my emphasis)
The whole commentary
http://feelsynapsis.com/pg/blog/read/32235/bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation
e-ore
13年前
Two filings today. A DEF 14A proxy statement, no changes that I saw from the PRE 14A filed before. My thoughts on that here:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=64122348
And a "CT Order." There were details left out of the agreement with Bayer Crop Science in the 11/2010 10Q. Here's the CT order
"UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
June 28, 2011
ORDER GRANTING CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT
UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
SentiSearch, Inc.
File No. 000-52320 - CF#26015
_____________________
SentiSearch, Inc. submitted an application under Rule 24b-2 requesting confidential treatment for information it excluded from the Exhibits to a Form 10-Q filed on November 15, 2010.
Based on representations by SentiSearch, Inc. that this information qualifies as confidential commercial or financial information under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), the Division of Corporation Finance has determined not to publicly disclose it. Accordingly, excluded information from the following exhibit will not be released to the public for the time period specified:
Exhibit 10.8 through November 15, 2014
For the Commission, by the Division of Corporation Finance, pursuant to delegated authority:
Maryse Mills-Apenteng
Special Counsel
e-ore
13年前
PRE 14A filed yesterday, 6/19/11. They're looking to increase the A/S to 40 million from 20 million. I'm sure it will be approved; SSRC is 75.5% beneficially owned. I still love this stock on the potential that Bayer Crop Science will buy them, assuming the technology works. Current SSRC market cap is about $5 million, way, way less than Bayer would buy them for, imo.
There are a couple of reasons for the A/S increase. One is that they have awarded more options and warrants than there are authorized but unissued shares. The other is they may do some equity financing, which they have discussed in their filings since they spun off from Sentigen in 2006. Up to this point the insiders and beneficial owners have provided all necessary funding, sometimes with promissory notes and sometimes with notes convertible into common stock. That may happen again, or they may attract additional beneficial investors. This company is extremely well connected, and does not, in my opinion, need any type of "toxic" financing to continue.
If they develop their own products from the collaboration with Bayer (which they are entitled to do, for certain products) then equity financing would allow them to collaborate with household product companies on a novel mosquito repellant, which would likely be produced by the household product company, then SSRC would collect royalties on sales. This, according to their filings, is their "intermediate term" goal. Would that make them worth more than $5 million as a market cap? I think so, and much more than $5 million. All this assumes that they are on the right track for the development of revolutionary insecticides/repellants. Are they? Some big names think so :)
Their lead scientist (Dr. Richard Axel) is a Nobel prize winner for this line of work (SSRC has an exclusive worldwide license for any use of the developments).
He and his team have received $10 million in grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation specifically for this research.
Bayer Crop Science has signed a 2 year research and product development agreement with them, and agreed to provide $500,000 in front money.
e-ore
14年前
From Bayer Crop Science homepage. Click on "April 25: World Malaria Day" story, then click on "Research for new molecules for efficient insect control:"
Search for new molecules for efficient insect control
Another approach for efficient insect and malaria control is the search for new molecules. An important project in this conjunction is a two-year research agreement with SentiSearch Inc. to cooperate in the identification of new molecules targeting odorant receptors in insects.
This project will build on the groundbreaking research carried out by Drs. Richard Axel and Leslie Vosshall, who discovered chemosensory receptors that are responsible for odor perception. Professor Axel was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his groundbreaking studies on olfactory perception.
The aim of this collaboration, which also involves arrangements with Columbia University and Rockefeller University, is to develop innovative solutions to improve control of malaria and dengue fever in countries where these diseases are endemic.
Bayer CropScience will contribute to this project its extensive library of compounds, screening capabilities and its experience in chemical synthesis and the development of insecticides. In turn, SentiSearch and the Universities will together provide proprietary assay technologies and knowledge in the field of chemoreception in insects. This will enable Bayer CropScience to use these assays to identify compounds which could modify the activity of insect odor receptors.
Various insect behaviors are guided by the sense of smell, including the ability to locate food, humans, animals, and mating partners. Mosquitoes, which transmit dangerous tropical diseases to humans, use the CO2 content of exhaled air and other host odors to locate their hosts. The aim is for the new molecules to block the relevant receptors, which would prevent the insect from perceiving human odors.
http://www.bayercropscience.com/
e-ore
14年前
SSRC Beneficial ownership 75.5% as listed in the 10k for 2010. Total shares 12,699,466 which is 75.5% of the 16,821,787 outstanding as of 3/31/11. Beneficial owners also hold options and warrants for an additional 3 million shares. 20,000,000 shares authorized.
From the 2010 10k
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner/ Amount and Nature of Beneficial Ownership/ Percentage of Common Stock
Joseph K. Pagano 2,141,477 (1) 12.4 %
1217 South Flagler Drive, 3 rd Floor
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401
Frederick R. Adler 2,354,913 (2) 13.8 %
1520 S. Ocean Boulevard
Palm Beach, Florida 33480
Erik R. Lundh 200,000 (3) 1.2%
c/o Heidrick & Struggles
One California Street, Ste. 2400
San Francisco, CA 94111
Dean R. Gresk 100,000 (4) *
c/o Aspen Signature Properties
215 S. Monarch
Suite 201
Aspen, CO 81611
Samuel A. Rozzi 2,646,749 (5) 15.7 %
c/o Corporate National Realty Inc.
135 Crossways Park Drive, Suite 104
Woodbury, New York 11797
The Joseph A. Pagano, Jr. 2007 Trust 1,651,972 9.8 %
1217 South Flagler Drive, 3 rd Floor
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401
Susan Chapman 1,287,525 (6) 7.7 %
c/o Adler & Co.
400 Madison Ave., Suite 7C
New York, NY 10017
Longview Partners, L.P. 1,260,458 (7) 7.5 %
c/o Adler & Co.
400 Madison Ave. Suite 7C
New York, NY 10017
Rosalind Davidowitz 1,056,372 6.3 %
7 Sutton Place South
Lawrence, New York 11559
Executive officer and all directors as a group (four persons) 4,796,390 (1)(2) (3)(4) 26.9 %
1) Includes 25,000 shares of Common Stock held of record by the Joseph A. Pagano, Jr. Trust. Also includes 500,000 shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options to purchase shares of our Common Stock that are exercisable within 60 days of March 23, 2011. Mr. Pagano disclaims beneficial ownership of all shares other than those held in his name. Does not include the shares of Common Stock held of record by The Joseph A. Pagano Jr. 2007 Trust, an irrevocable trust over which Mr. Pagano has no investment control or voting rights.
(2) Includes 200,000 shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options to purchase shares of our Common Stock that are exercisable within 60 days of March 23, 2011.
(3) Represents shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options to purchase shares of our Common Stock that are exercisable within 60 days of March 23, 2011. Does not include 2,500 shares held of record by each of Mr. Lundh’s son and daughter.
(4) Represents shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options to purchase shares of our Common Stock that are exercisable within 60 days of March 23, 2011.
(5) Includes 150,000 shares held by Scarsdale Limited Partnership, of which Mr. Rozzi is general partner. Mr. Rozzi’s daughter and The Samuel A. Rozzi Grantor Retained Annuity Trust, of which Mr. Rozzi’s daughter is trustee, are the sole limited partners of Scarsdale Limited Partnership. Mr. Rozzi disclaims beneficial ownership of all shares other than those held in his name.
(6) Includes the shares held of record by Longview Partners, L.P. (of which Mrs. Chapman is the general partner), 300 shares held in trusts for the benefit of Mrs. Chapman’s children and 26,767 shares held of record by Mrs. Chapman’s spouse.
(7) Susan Chapman is the general partner of Longview Partners, L.P., which is the registered holder of these shares. Mrs. Chapman is an adult daughter of Frederick R. Adler.
e-ore
14年前
From www.sentisearch.com
Collaborators
Nobel Prize Winner Richard Axel M.D., The Gates Foundation, Bayer CropScience AG and SentiSearch.
A Powerful Team
SentiSearch has obtained an exclusive worldwide license in certain intellectual property from the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. In addition, we possess our own patents and patent applications.
The Company’s intellectual property assets are primarily based on the work of Dr. Richard Axel, who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine, and who is a Scientific Consultant to the Company.
With an extension of funding to Columbia from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, SentiSearch has continued to maximize the potential of Dr. Axel’s work. In 2010, SentiSearch and Bayer CropSciences entered into a research and development agreement to screen Bayer’s extensive library of compounds in a search for the identification of new molecules targeting odorant receptors in insects.
This collaboration includes work performed in Professor Axel’s laboratory at Columbia University funded through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative. One of the main goals of this initiative is to improve the control of insects that affect human health, with the ultimate eradication of malaria, dengue fever, and other insect-borne diseases in the developing world.
In addition to possible benefits in the field of public health, our activities with Bayer could also result in innovative products with a new mode of action capable of preventing damage to agricultural crops caused by insects.
In addition, we continue to explore other commercial applications of our intellectual property assets, including in mosquito repellents to be sold by household product companies, as well as applications in the areas of food production and pharmaceuticals.
e-ore
14年前
Very happy that Bayer Crop Science, one of the leaders in this field, has chosen to partner with SSRC. From the Sentisearch Biosciences website:
Unique and Patented Scientific Technology and Intellectual Property
Sentisearch holds the rights to the olfaction intellectual property assets and certain applications titled Nucleic Acids and Proteins of Insect OR83b odorant receptor genes and uses thereof. These applications were developed under a team of scientists at Columbia University and have been licensed to Sentisearch by the University.
The potential uses of the olfaction intellectual property assets derived from the Columbia License consist of know-how related to three families of patent applications relating to:
1.Odorant receptors and their uses;
2.Cloning of vertebrate pheromone receptors and their uses; and
3.Genes encoding insect odorant receptors and their uses
Non-Harmful Insecticides
Insects operate entirely through sense of smell and taste for feeding, mating, locating egg-laying sites and general navigation. Blocking the insect sense of smell and taste may afford a potential strategy to inhibit insect reproduction, feeding behavior, and damage to humans, animals, crops and stored products.
Such a technology would not require genetic modification of the plant or insect and may rely solely on compounds that are natural, non-toxic and compatible with organic farming methods. This technology has the potential to offer a high level of specificity providing for the targeting of an individual species, reduction of environmental disruption and less chance of insect resistance.
Sentisearch’s technology also has the capability to precisely target the receptors of insects only, thereby increasing the likelihood of developing compounds that are non-toxic to both humans and animals.
e-ore
14年前
The 2010 10K
http://www.otcmarkets.com/edgar/GetFilingHtml?FilingID=7832457
I don't see anything extraordinary in it, except for what I quoted in my previous post, and it's nice to see some revenue from the Bayer agreement. It's full of the same extremely cautionary statements that have always been in their filings, and it appears to be a copy of last year's 10K, except for the financials and the details of the Bayer agreement. For example, they state that they are in competition with Yale and Vanderbilt Universities, who are doing the same type of research. So why did Bayer decide to enter into a 2 year research and product development agreement with SSRC, give them an upfront fee, and then feature them in the "2010 Highlights" section of the Bayer 2010 annual report? And why did the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation renew the $5 million grant to the scientists whos' work will fall under the SSRC license agreement? :)
Seems to me there's tremendous potential here. If products like this (below) went into common usage, SSRC will recieve a royalty on sales.
Blocking the insect sense of smell and taste may afford a potential strategy to inhibit insect reproduction, feeding behavior, and damage to humans, animals, crops and stored products. Such a technology would not require genetic modification of the plant or insect and may rely solely on compounds that are natural, non-toxic and compatible with organic farming methods. This technology has the potential to offer a high level of specificity providing for the targeting of an individual species, reduction of environmental disruption and less chance of insect resistance."
I'm happy that Bayer has chosen to partner with SSRC, and I'm very happy to be tagging along with them, and the insiders and beneficial owners, who still own (restricted) almost 75% of the outstanding stock.
e-ore
14年前
From the 2010 Bayer annual report, page 43. One of only 16 stories presented as "Highlights 2010."
http://www.annualreport2010.bayer.com/en/bayer-annual-report-2010.pdfx
Grabbing Malaria Mosquitoes “By the Nose”
New approaches to fighting malaria:
Bayer CropScience and SentiSearch Inc. plan to work together with leading U.S.-based scientists to “grab insects by the nose.” The two companies have entered into a two-year research collaboration aimed at identifying new molecules to target odorant receptors in insects. Such substances could prevent disease transmitting insects from being able to “smell” people. Millions of olfactory receptor neurons help the insects not only to locate food, but also to home in on a host where they can lay their eggs. These insects are more than just bothersome to people: they can also be very dangerous. One example is the malaria-transmitting Anopheles mosquito, which identifies its hosts partly by the co2 content of their breath. The aim is for the new molecules to block the relevant receptors so that the insects can no longer perceive human odors. “Bayer CropScience is the market leader in vector control in the public health and agricultural settings, including animal health. Our activities include playing a significant role in the prevention of malaria,” said Dr. Alexander Klausener, Head of Research at Bayer CropScience. According to Klausener, this new cooperation with leading scientists from Columbia and The Rockefeller University in New York will give the company access to a new and innovative approach to insect control.
From the SSRC 10k for 2009, released in March of 2010, before the 2 year research and product development agreement with Bayer Crop Science:
"We believe the applications offering the greatest potential for developing products in the intermediate term are for mosquito repellants to be sold by household product companies"
e-ore
14年前
New company description at businessweek.com
SentiSearch, Inc., a development stage company, holds a license to develop, manufacture, have made, import, use, sell, distribute, rent, or lease products and services in the areas of insect chemosensation and olfaction. The company intends to sell its olfaction intellectual property to food production, agricultural chemical companies, organic, and pharmaceutical companies. It also has patent applications relating to nucleic acids and proteins of insect or odorant receptor genes and their uses. Strategic Alliances In November 2010, Bayer CropScience AG and Sentisearch, Inc. have entered into a two-year research agreement to cooperate in the identification of new molecules targeting odorant receptors in insects. This collaboration also involves arrangements with Columbia University and Rockefeller University to develop solutions to improve control of malaria and dengue fever in countries where these diseases are endemic. Competition The company faces competition primarily from universities, including Yale University and Vanderbilt University. History SentiSearch, Inc. was founded in 2000.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot_article.asp?ticker=SSRC:US
e-ore
14年前
And confirmation that SSRC benefits from Dr. Axel's research. From the 8k:
"The Parties agree that know how and materials derived from Dr. Richard Axel’s laboratory at Columbia using Drosophila sequences and used in the discovery or development of any know how including but not limited to Anopholes species will be treated as Licensed Technical Information under this Agreement."
Dr. Axel's $5 million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (for this specific research) was recently renewed, and his Columbia lab has 27 researchers.
From the New York Times, published 12/21/10:
As the inventors of “a cell line that behaves like a mosquito antenna, recreating mosquito smellers in a dish,” Leslie B. Vosshall of Rockefeller University and Dr. Richard Axel, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Columbia University, got $5 million to hunt for molecules that could block mosquitoes’ ability to detect people. Dr. Axel shared a 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine for cloning insects’ olfactory receptors.
“When you puff human odors over the cells, they get excited just like mosquitoes would,” Dr. Vosshall explained. In this case, they turn fluorescent green.
They tested 91,000 compounds in Rockefeller University’s chemical library and found five that jammed the antennae. Their Gates grant is renewed for two years, but they now have a contract with Bayer CropSciences to screen its two million compounds — the same smell mechanism is used by corn borers, apple maggot flies and other farm pests.
The ideal, Dr. Axel said, is a repellent harmless to humans that works at a fraction of the concentration of DEET..."
From the last SSRC 10k:
"We believe the applications offering the greatest potential for developing products in the intermediate term are for mosquito repellants to be sold by household product companies"
The whole NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/health/21gates.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp
Dr Axel's website; 28 scientists work in his lab at Columbia University
http://www.axellab.columbia.edu/home.php.html
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