Dr. David Wisehart

Dr. Wishart is a bio-informatics specialist and he was the lead scientist on the Human Metabolome Project. He describes prions as “small proteins that we all have. They’re in every living organism as far as we can tell, from yeast all the way to humans.”
The exact purpose of prions is not known, although they are thought to play a protective role. The normal or cellular prion protein is harmless. But sometimes things go wrong.
“Occasionally, if the protein has been mutated or if some external agent modifies the prion protein, it changes shape. Once it changes shape, it starts doing something bad. It actually starts self-assembling into what are called fibrils. And these fibrils start filling up brain cells, leading to brain cell death,” explains Dr. Wishart.
His most recent work uses a variety of techniques, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectronomy and circular dichroism, to observe the prion protein at an atomic scale. The point is to observe the folding process in real time and hopefully find a way to stop it.
“Prions are naturally helical, meaning they look like a bunch of springs stuck together. But, when they misfold,” Dr. Wishart says, “they turn from a helical protein to something that’s called a beta strand or a sheet. And the beta sheet is in a sense a bunch of ribbons. And, in fact, silk is an example of a fibre that is made up almost exclusively of beta sheets. So when prions go from the helical to a beta sheet, they say that they convert or they misfold. This is something that proteins will often do. Normally, the body gets rid of them but, in the case of prions, when they misfold, they aggregate and they actually become toxic.”
It’s this aggregation the gives rise to the term “infectious”. A chain reaction starts and cannot be stopped.

Dr. David Westaway

According to Dr. Westaway, a normal prion or protein is a solo operator. As such, the outside of the molecule is covered with chemical charges that like water.
“The positive and negative charges interact with the water molecule and the protein molecule stays under control. It’s basically dissolved in water and everything is fine and dandy. But, in the context of disease, the proteins start to assemble into aggregates and very often this aggregation property is somehow linked to the fact that the non-water loving part of the molecule gets turned inside out. So, in chemical jargon, the hydrophobic parts of the molecule, instead of being hidden inside, come to the outside. The hydrophobic parts of a molecule like to interact with the hydrophobic parts of other molecules. So you start to get an assembly where the contact between the molecules is a bit more like an oily interface that pushes water out of the way.”
This initiates a domino effect where the proteins build up on one another.
In his lab, Dr. Wishart has been exploring how the prion converts or misfolds and has identified that the tail end of the molecule seems to be the part that gets disrupted or unfolded first.
“It aggregates first in what we call dimers or pairs, then in tetramers or sets of four and then, ultimately, in octamers, or groups of eight molecules. These aggregates are all hung together near the back end from last to about 70 residues. So they produce this insoluable, tightly massed core that can’t be cut… that can’t be broken down. Then these octamers eventually start forming fibrils or threads.”
Dr. Wishart goes on to say that it appears the tetramer and octamer, the groups of four and eight proteins, become highly toxic and form the principle seed that leads to infection.
It’s an exciting discovery that opens up the door to developing a means of stopping the misfolding process.
Dr. Westaway suggests that once you define the misfolding process in molecular terms, “then you can create an anti-molecule to stop it from happening. It’s what is called smart therapy.”
Over in his lab at the Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, Dr. Westaway has uncovered at least two important pieces to the prion puzzle. These are chaperone and shadoo proteins.
Chaperones are helper molecules. Sometimes when proteins start folding into the right shape, they get stuck, so along comes a chaperone to smooth it out so it goes into the right shape. This is well known in the science of cell biology for proteins inside the cell.
Says Westaway, “The field of chaperones is well known in the science of cell biology for proteins inside the cell. But prion disease is a bit more cutting edge because it seems there may well be chaperone-type activity involved in the wrong way, in helping a good protein go bad. Some of the crucial events of refolding or misfolding may not be going on inside the cell. In fact, they may be going on outside the cell. This is an important frontier that will bear close scrutiny in the coming years.”
A student in Westaway’s lab, Joe Watts, confirmed that this protein exists. It is quite abundant in the brain and has a lot of features similar to normal prion proteins.
“We think that shadoo may be part of a family of a molecules on the surface of brain cells that help brain cells deal with damage,” Dr. Westaway explains. “We have looked at what happens to the shadoo protein in an animal that has a prion disease and we were very surprised to get a very simple answer: that the shadoo protein starts to disappear when animals are replicating prions. It is what we call a tracer. We didn’t expect to make this discovery but, somehow when the protein is disappearing, it’s telling you that prions are replicating.”
He goes on to speculate that in a disease state, the shadoo proteins are being cannibalized by what he calls chopping proteins known as proteases. These get rid of proteins that are no longer needed by the body. What triggers the sudden attack warrants further investigation.
So what is it that brings home all this talk about how prions fold?
Catching Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease from a mad cow is still a very rare event. The odds in Canada are one in a million. However, there are other protein folding diseases that are all too common: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
The research of Westaway and Wishart goes a long way toward informing discovery on this front.
A provocative article, published in the journal Nature in early 2009, suggests that normal prion proteins, thought to be the protectors of nerve cells, are involved in the killing of brain cells. It appears the misfolded protein aggregates that cause Alzheimer’s bind to the normal prion proteins to initiate the killing.
Dr. Westaway is adamant. “We’ll check that out, and other labs will check that and very likely some important new knowledge will come out of looking at those ideas with a fine tooth comb.” √

Jim Herbers

The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute has laid out a grid of 1656 points across the entire province, with each point 20 kilometres apart. The data collected from these sites gives scientists a measure of the changing state of biodiversity in Alberta.
When ABMI researchers collect samples from these sites, they check for various kinds of flora and fauna in the water, in the trees, on the ground, and in the soil. And it’s not uncommon to discover new species.
Of particular interest are mites, tiny invertebrates that play a big role in maintaining the health of our soils.
Jim Herbers, director for information for the ABMI, says,“We’re very proud to report that there are well over 100 new species to Canada that we’ve identified and well over 30 new species to the world.”
These mites are microscopic, but don’t let their diminutive size fool you. Herbers explains, “Some of them are like the grizzly bears of the soil world. They go around and they’re predators. Many of them are frugivores. Many of them eat fungus and mushrooms. And then there are a number of other species that live in the soil that break down the soil organic matter, making sure that it’s turned over and that the nutrients are available for plants to use.”
These new species of mites were identified for the ABMI when scientists at the Royal Alberta Museum analyzed soil samples collected from the grid points

Boewer Besseling

New homes in China’s earthquake zone will now be made from wheat straw instead of bricks and cement.
A Dutch company has licenced technology developed by the Alberta Research Council to make wheat straw panel board—OSSB or oriented straw strandboard—for the Chinese market.
According to architect Boewer Besseling of Panel Board Holdings, the wheat straw panels are superior for this earthquake zone since they are framed with light gauge steel.
Says Besseling, “First of all, the buildings are all made out of concrete and bricks. And the quality of these bricks and concrete is a little bit less than what we are used to in Europe and also in Canada. So if there is an earthquake, there is a big possibility that it just cracks because it is not flexible, and it comes down. Unfortunately, that happened a lot last year during the earthquake. And this light gauge steel is more flexible, so it can withstand an earthquake much better than concrete and bricks. And together with our OSSB, which we can use like a bracing element, it stands better in earthquakes than what they have right now.”
The wheat straw panel boards also offer an environmental break for China. ARC’s forest products technologist Wayne Wasylciw says the OSSB panel boards make use of straw that in China would otherwise be burned. They also save agricultural land from being dug up for clay to make bricks. √

Ed Rusnak CEO of ENC

Imagine you’re a medical technician and your laptop just got stolen… Imagine the stress over the fact that it contained samples of about a quarter of a million lab tests for reportable and communicable diseases, plus identifiable names and personal health numbers. Even worse, imagine your name is on the list.
In June 2009, Alberta Health Services (AHS) reported two physically locked down laptops stolen from a lab at the University Hospital. Within a month, in a separate incident, private medical files of 11,000 Albertans within AHS were put at risk as a virus intermittently took snapshots of screens of computers that access that data. The information could have been transmitted to locations unknown.
These are just two recent locals cases, but the phenomenon is worldwide. The Open Security Foundation’s DataLossDB.org gathers reported information about events involving the loss, theft or exposure of personally identifiable information—the statistics are mind-boggling.
“The loss of data is certainly a major concern for personal privacy, especially in health care, insurance and financial industries. For individuals, identity theft is becoming a more common threat,” states Ed Rusnak, CEO of ENC Security Systems. Based in Pitt Meadows, BC, the company provides solutions to secure and transfer personal and professional data.
“Not only can companies be adversely affected, the loss of information can spell ruin for families when banking and personal identity information falls into the hands of criminals.” Typically, most concerns are over the effect of the theft of the actual hardware… but the potential gain on the black market of the selling and actual use of stolen data would far exceed the nominal value of the equipment.
The problem isn’t limited to laptops and hacked databases. The proliferation of high capacity, pint-sized data storage devices—USB flash drives, memory sticks or keys, pen drives or thumb drives—increases exposure to data risk and creates potential goldmine for data thieves. According to the USB Flash Drive Alliance, from 2004 to 2008, the number of units sold rose from 59.5 million to 220 million, and the average capacity increased from 213MB to 1727MB. They can be seen hanging from key chains, belt loops, and lanyards around people’s necks. Too often, they are left unattended, plugged into the USB ports on computers.
“Things will get lost… things will get stolen. It happens every day.”
And, while Rusnak can’t help people safeguard devices from physical theft or loss, he can help them protect their data.
ENC has developed EncryptStick, an application that turns these low-cost, off-the-shelf flash drives into affordable, easy-to-use, highly secure data vaults. It prevents virtually any type of file—documents, videos, photos—or passwords from being stolen.
“Password protection is not enough. EncryptStick uses powerful 512 bit polymorphic encryption technology, which has never been broken or successfully hacked,” Rusnak proclaims proudly.
Encryption converts data into code by use of an algorithm that cannot be converted back or decrypted without a “key”. EncryptStick uses the unique ID or serial number of the flash drive as a part of those 512 bits of information to create that key. This, combined with the user’s password, makes it virtually impossible to be decoded.

SIMPLE STEPS TO DATA SECURITY
To get EncryptStick, simply plug a flash drive into a USB port, purchase a license and download the software directly to it (not the host computer). Using the unique registration code, follow the instructions to create a master password.
“The password is not stored on ENC’s servers or on the computer. It’s directed to the flash drive and is known to only the user,” stresses Rusnak.
To use EncryptStick, plug the flash drive into the USB port. The software runs automatically. When the password is entered, the vaults become visible. Open existing vaults, create new vaults and easily encrypt or decrypt any file by right-clicking and selecting from a drop down menu, or simply dragging and dropping the files into the folders. EncryptStick also enables “encryption on the fly”—the ability to edit documents within vaults while the files are encrypted.
“And it’s fast. EncryptStick encrypts files at a rate 10 times faster that AES 256 (the federal government encryption standard) and takes up only 4MB of space.”
EncryptStick also allows users to maintain anonymity. “You can plug your encrypted flash drive into a public computer; when you remove it, it removes the temporary operating file so there is absolutely no footprint—no evidence of you being on that computer,” says Tim Sperling, President ENC.
And, even if someone were to gain physical access to the encrypted computer or see the vaults, without both the Encrypt-Stick flash drive inserted and the correct password, that information is coded and thus unreadable.
ENC anticipated that a flash drive could get lost or become inoperable (perhaps you ran it through the wash). As long as the original drive was registered, replace the flash drive, purchase a new ENC license, and the system will piggyback a new registration key on the old key, allowing access to existing vaults.

ALBERTA ROOTS
Born in Vegreville, Alberta, Rusnak attended Strathcona Composite High School in Edmonton. His entrepreneurial roots sprouted in St. Albert when he started his first venture in the 1970s. For the most part, he worked in the oil and gas sector and related industries.
In 1997, the recently divorced Rusnak reconnected with Doris, a former classmate from Vegreville who had been widowed two years earlier. After a few months together in Edmonton, the couple relocated to her home in Pitt Meadows—where the possibility of year-round golf appealed to Rusnak.
The reality of a life of leisure soon waned. And, while flash drives are a recent phenomenon, application of encryption technologies is old hat to Rusnak. He soon founded AFI Inc., focusing his efforts on the oil and gas industry where he was the first to design a CSA approved electronic device for remotely monitoring well-heads on remote Northern Alberta sites via satellite.
“Our system replaced windup devices on a seven-day clock which was susceptible to things like wet paper and dried up ink and where we waited 60 days for results from a Calgary lab,” Rusnak recalls.
At that time, encryption technology was used to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the data transmitted rather than to address an issue of security. After 9/11, that all changed.
“We knew that we could encrypt analog and digital data through the unique ID or serial number of the processor.” Rusnak admitted this direction was inevitable but sold the company in 2003 before being able to implement it. He realized that he could use the same methodology on flash drives as he could with the processors on the remote well head monitors.
“Most people were using flash drives for storage. It can be more—and it is.” In 2005, he started ENC and, by late 2006, EncryptStick was ready to roll. The timing couldn’t have been better, but things went sideways. According to Rusnak, a company he did some work for claimed that ENC was using its technology. The time to defeat the public claim “…put us behind two-and-a-half years after we announced the product. NAIT, among others (possible licensees) who were prepared to move forward, had walked away. They had no choice.”
Crisis created opportunity: It gave Rusnak time to enhance EncryptStick—adding a password manager to store sensitive log-ins securely… an automatic session time-out for drives left unattended… and protection from common hacking techniques like keystroke-logging.
Finally, in May 2009, Rusnak and ENC received a letter of apology and a retraction of the statement and allegations that were made, allowing the official release of EncryptStick to take place.
At 69, Rusnak is certainly not ready to retire. “I’m having too much fun.” In fact, he’s as energetic as ever. He’s looking at even more ways to add functionality. His team is working on version 4.2 that adds enhancements for Windows 7. Versions for Mac and Linux operating systems are just about done.
And while he seems to have come upon a pot of gold, for Ed, it’s not just about the money. “I want to change the entire thinking of the world and to help keep in the forefront of your mind how valuable your data is to you.”
That’s why Rusnak has created this revolutionary, yet easy-to-use product at an affordable price of $39.99US, while offering free updates for the life of the product.
And, it comes at no surprise that he has more ideas, more products at various stages of development. Rusnak chuckles.
“If you’re can’t live on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.” √

The age of participation proves too scary for some.
Life is unscripted, uncontrolled and unpredictable—yet government in general proceeds under the premise it can control all things. This unfortunate reality resulted in a lost opportunity for many elected officials and civil servants who didn’t attend ChangeCamp Edmonton, an unconference in mid-October at the UofA’s Lister Hall. More than 150 people participated.
Ironically, I was unable to attend due to health, so I relied on real-time information on Twitter for some of the unscripted play-by-play. Chris LaBossiere, a colleague on the organizing committee, was able to provide me with his on-site perspective. “There would have been no better way in Alberta to engage in discussions with citizens yesterday than at ChangeCamp. People contributed easily, and volunteered to lead discussions. The success of the day was based on the individual participants. I was surprised and happy to see such age diversity in the room.” That statement by Chris is supported by pictures posted online. “Many stepped up and pitched new session ideas, we planned 25 and ran 27.”
I asked Chris why he thought more politicians or government employees didn’t attend ChangeCamp. He speculated that “Politicians didn’t see this as an opportunity. They didn’t realize that this wasn’t about talking about the past but talking about change.”
In response to the same question, Laurie Blakeman, Liberal MLA for Edmonton Centre, said plainly, “You didn’t ask.” This, despite the fact that she and other politicians, including City Councillors Don Iveson and Ben Henderson and Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell, were in the room or on the list to attend.
Doug Elniski, PC MLA for Edmonton-Calder, said he was there because “the more I know about social media the better I feel about using it. People in government have created a reluctance to use social media and I think it’s a symptom of a lack of understanding of what it’s all about. There’s still a belief that social media is this interesting novelty, the government infrastructure has not caught up. The speed of it is remarkable. You can’t manage this like an ad in the newspaper, it’s not static.” I couldn’t agree more.
“There’s an old saying in politics,” Doug chuckled. “The loudest thing you hear in politics is the grinding of the axes.” This was his light-hearted response to my query about whether the tone of the discussion changed when he entered the room at ChangeCamp. “Sure the tone changed to some degree, but I focused on listening to what other people had to say. The overall flow of the conversations was really good and, for the most part, people followed the rules of engagement. People were building off of the ideas of others.”
Laura also felt the tone changed with her in the room. “Well, in the first session I attended, I got outed. I made no attempt to engage in the discussion, but was asked direct questions. By the second session, everything was fine.” When asked why she attended ChangeCamp, she replied, “I’m interested in new ways in engaging my constituents. I was there to learn.”
Laurie’s opinion of the unconference structure seemed positive. “It was the self- generated structure, people seemed to be less stressed and approached things with an open mind.”
Arguably, the most interesting perspective was provided by Andrew Knack (who, as I write this, is at City Hall announcing his intent to run for councillor in Ward 1). Andrew came on my radar after he announced on Twitter that ChangeCamp Edmonton had helped to solidify in his mind that he should run for election in 2010.
“When politicians walk in, there’s an aura and perception that they are a little different than the rest. The best thing that I heard were the opinions and ideas that were not my own. I think it’s important to see how ideas can fit within your values. If you’re willing to listen to other people, then the value of an event like ChangeCamp is large. I took a lot away from the event,” explained Andrew. “A lot of the group discussion went back to citizen involvement and getting community leagues involved in the process.”
Personally, I understand why people in government may be afraid of getting into a dialogue about meaningful topics with everyday citizens in an unscripted format. That still doesn’t remove the point that it’s a shame to miss such a terrific opportunity. ChangeCamp Edmonton is just one positive manifestation of citizen engagement… an interesting format that many believe we need to build on.
Folks at all levels of government should realize that despite their fears, citizen influence through the use of social media is growing. Online influence is the new currency and wallets within government will remain empty until politicians and policy-makers engage with the rest of us. √

Ayman Hassan President of 4WEB.CA

Tucked away in a non-descript commercial strip on 118th Avenue in Edmonton’s northwest is a 1900-square foot datacentre. It provides web hosting, co-location (server-hosting), web design and data back-up services. You won’t see Telus, Bell or Shaw on the sign—just a rather humble white and red adornment displaying 4Web.ca.
But don’t let that fool you. ”Inside you’ll find a fibre-optic pipe—enough Internet capacity for the entire Whyte Avenue corridor. And it’s a long street,” says Ayman Hassan, president of 4Web.ca.
His company is like David in the land of Goliaths: In just two years, it has experienced steady growth. Hassan proudly declares that he has a close ratio of 80 percent among the people who walk through his door.
“Datacentre” sounds so 1970s. What with today’s computers being so powerful and hard drive so cheap, it seems counterintuitive for people to use them.
“Keeping everything at your own location is great for CAD (computer-aided design) or web development but for an average user, it’s dangerous for storing files. Desktops fail, laptops fail. Outages can happen any time; the fire at Rice Howard Way… storms, tornadoes, not uncommon in Alberta…”
Loss of data can also mean lost business—but even photos, many of which are never printed, cannot be replaced—so having back-ups are critical for everyone.
“We’ve really come full circle,” says Hassan. “Think of it as the datacentre of the future, rather than the old ’70s mainframes,” except there is Internet galore—Multi-homed (Internet redundancy)—with multiple connections so, if one drops, the other kicks in within seconds.
“We have enough for a neighbourhood like Callingwood. It’s clean inverted power. Dirty power, spikes and surges are causes of equipment failure.” 4Web.ca has an 80 kilowatt UPS (uninterrupted power supply) and-a battery backup that can supply ample power for a full hour. System up-time is 99.9 percent.
Maintaining data safety security is critical. All clients regardless of their service needs get a personal tour of the 4Web.ca facility.
Hassan sees a paradigm shift from desktop computing toward “cloud” computing—the use of any Internet-based application. Examples include gmail, Google’s e-mail, Google docs, and business applications like Collin Snowball’s Easy-Bill OnLine, featured in Edmontonians in October 2008.
“We’re going back to days of dumb terminal where information is stored in datacenters—anything on the desktop can be pushed to the cloud.”
Even Microsoft Exchange Servers, traditionally kept in-house, are now moving off-site, further fueling the demand for datacenters.
“For some businesses, e-mail is more important than the phone.”
Economics also affect decision-making. During the last spurt, a major manufacturing customer of Hassan’s would have gone with everything in-house had the rally continued. “They would have brought in fibre from TELUS at a cost of about $80,000 plus $2-to-4K/monthly plus power.”
The company decided to co-locate its equipment; its on-site tech still maintains it, but 4Web.ca manages the fibre, power, cooling and security. In-house centres are costly to set up, they need managing, and qualified IT personnel are difficult to find.
So how does Hassan manage to compete and snag business away from the giants?
“It’s not always easy, but can be done. Companies like Telus have money for promotion and have funds to acquire any customer.” Even he purchases bandwidth from the giants.
“Ayman is an alternative to the big guys who weren’t responsive,” says Dan Charrios, president of Syzygy Research & Technology Ltd., which co-locates its servers at 4web.ca for its ExamBank.
Hassan’s four-phase business plan positions his company right in the middle—in size and price—and uses a consultative, collaborative approach. Meaning, he educates his customers and gives them value, while developing long-term relationships. Collaboration includes his competitors—smaller providers who can better compete against the Golaiths by working together. “This is the key to success in any business,” he believes.
Hassan was born in Egypt and moved to Canada in 1972, when he was four. He understands sales and marketing. He admits becoming a tenacious salesperson early—selling ladies shoes and encyclopedias. It taught him determination.
To avoid leaving Edmonton in the rocky mid-90s, he took a position at CompuSmart. Lacking computer knowledge, he got off to a shaky start, and wanted to quit after a week. But Hassan persevered, acquiring the necessary technical understanding.
Combined with his customer relationship building skills, he consistently became one of CompuSmart’s top performers. And when its sister company Interbaun Communications decided to create an independent sales team, Hassan became the vendor rep to develop and expand partner channels. Soon, he was promoted to vendor manager and sales manager.
Hassan recalls the relationship he developed with London Drugs which, for years had shown no interest in what he was selling. “An exercise in perseverance and persistence. I wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Friends joke about that, saying that’s how I caught my wife.” He eventually made the connection by offering Interbaun’s product, a Retail-Box Internet DSL Kit—the first in Western Canada. It meant retailers no longer had to sign up customers, they simply had to sell the box.
Ironically, the retail kit also caught the eye of Vancouver’s Uniserve Communications which later acquired Interbaun. At first, the synergy of expansion appeared to foster the possibilities of positive growth. Eventually, Uniserve became a disappointment to Hassan. “They lost the Mom and Pop feel…trading customer value for shareholder value.”
This was totally against his principle, so he took of the role of Mr. Mom for six months. While pondering job prospects, phone calls and e-mails came in. Friends and past customers were asking his advice and recommendations for hosting, designers and developers. He realized that he wanted to be his own boss.
Hassan envisioned setting up his own data centre—the cloud would be here in Edmonton. It was a huge risk. “We were in debt… it was never a good time. But, if I didn’t try then, I may have never tried.” But he and his wife, Kim, decided to get a second mortgage and put their savings at risk so he could follow his passion. In 2007, he started planning his datacenter.
“Ayman puts everything on the line, sets goals and get stuff done.,” says Shaun Betchuk. “(One day) I went over after work in sweats and a T-shirt. Ayman shared his vision asking me to co-locate my equipment. Jokingly, he said, ‘I’m going to need a network guy…maybe apply for a job.’”
Betchuk went home, created a four-page proposal, got dressed-up, drove back to Hassan’s office, and declared, “I’m here to apply for the job.” He became  4Web.ca operations manager. “We’ve grown together.”
Since then, Hassan has hired Mark Philips, a designer and two contractors; Kim helps part-time. He’s extremely busy with design work for the next year, but never stops looking for new opportunities, including additional Canadian datacenters. With large network of relationships, his goal each week is to reconnect with at least five.
“We don’t have large resources like the big players, but we do have the yellow pages and get many referrals by word of mouth.”
Hassan has carved out a small niche. Perhaps it’s more about living in harmony among the giants rather than battling them. √

Ryan Radke President, BioAlberta

BioAlberta chose National Biotechnology Week in late September to release its State of the Industry 2009 Report. And, to no one’s surprise, the long tentacles of the global recession touched even Alberta’s biotechnology sector
“It’s been a tough year,” says BioAlberta President Ryan Radke.
“The life science industry in Alberta is not immune to what’s going on with the general economy, so generally I’d say a lot of the categories were down anywhere between 10 to 30 percent. Revenues were down in the past year. Definitely investment was down. This is one area that is key to the life science industry in Alberta. For all elements of biotechnology, whether it is health biotech, ag biotech, industrial, environment, the key element is for companies to be able to access capital. And, unfortunately over the last year it just wasn’t there.”
This is the third time BioAlberta has surveyed its members; the previous two reports were issued in 2005 and 2007.
The 2009 report was developed in collaboration with Deloitte & Touche LLP, the results based on a questionnaire sent to the executives of 124 life science companies in Alberta. In all, 105 companies responded, giving at least partial if not complete answers, providing a response rate of 84.7 percent.
“Essentially we were looking to get in touch with our constituents, our members and get a sense from them how things are out there,” explains Radke. “How is the economy impacting the company? What could we be doing better here in Alberta? What’s working? What isn’t working? Just to get a state of the industry and see how things are going.”
Edmonton has the largest biosciences cluster in Canada and the city is certainly the life sciences kingpin for Alberta. The report shows that 58 percent of bio-industry companies are located in the Edmonton region, 33.6 percent in Calgary, and 8.4 percent in other areas.
Health biotechnology and medical devices account for 60 percent of the bio-industry. Agriculture biotechnology accounts for 12.3 percent. The rest of the industry is devoted to such things as specialty packing for infectious substances, biological specimens, natural products, industrial chemicals, and engineering services. What’s interesting is that most companies are active in more than one sector.
About one-third of companies are involved in manufacturing and another third in research and development.
As well, almost half have lead products that are already in the market; 16.7 percent are in pre-clinical testing, and 20.8 percent of companies are testing their lead products in clinical trials.
The State of the Industry report indicates some disturbing trends. For example, two-thirds of Alberta’s life science companies were created before 1999. Only one-third of Alberta’s life science companies have been formed since 2000. The report shows a downward trend in the creation of new life science companies, with only 10.5 percent being established between 2005 and 2009. It’s not exactly the sort of thing you want to hear when the province says it is trying to build a strong life sciences industry here.
Also on a downward trend is the ability of companies to raise capital for ongoing operations and research and development.
Radke points out, “Here in Alberta the investment situation has always been a tough one. Even during good times two years ago, we weren’t securing necessarily as much investment as the rest of Canada was. I think here in Alberta in all of the technology sectors, we don’t see as much venture capital action as we would like. Our public companies tend to struggle a little bit on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the venture exchanges. And so we saw a fairly large dip in this area for the 2009 report. We saw investment capital raised was almost at an all time low. It was just over $100 million, which is okay. But for the technology industry that we have here, we should be securing a lot more investment than that.”
This drop in investment is having a significant impact on cash flow for companies, most of which are small with fewer than 30 employees. The amount of cash on-hand for companies has decreased from an average of 15 months to less than 10 months. Companies are tightening their belts by letting employees go, some shutting their doors, and most cutting their R&D spending.
And revenues? The report indicates these will drop by 22 percent for 2009, although most companies also express a certain degree of optimism that they will see a recovery through 2010.
Radke suggests, “It’s not all terrible news, really. Some of the areas didn’t decrease as much as we thought they would. Employment numbers weren’t down all that dramatically, about 10 percent. So, compared to some industrial sectors, that’s not bad. This industry has managed to weather the storm really well, actually.”
He says the report indicates that companies are looking to a brighter future for the life sciences industry.
“When we started asking companies about what they saw one and two years out, I think they see the end in sight to the recession or the economic downturn. They can see that perhaps lenders will be coming back into the market, looking for good opportunities. So there’s something on the horizon that looks like a bright spot and it’s just a matter of weathering the storm right now.”
What’s significant is that the most common source of capital is what the report calls “government-facilitated programs”. Fully half the respondent companies have used these in the past and almost two-thirds intend to pursue these programs to raise capital in the future. These include the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax program, NRC’s Industrial Research Assistance Program, along with funding from Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Alberta Ingenuity Fund, AVAC, and the Alberta Innovation Voucher Program.
The report concludes that the number one issue for Alberta’s biotechnology companies is securing financing. And, as for government initiatives, they believe the most important thing the Alberta government can do to stimulate growth for the companies is improve the provincial tax environment through the SR&ED and other tax incentives.
“This kind of information gives us some solid data that we can talk about with members of the community, members of government, members of the industry, and say, ‘What do we want to build here in Alberta?’ And then what we need to do is figure out the roadmap of how we’re going to get there.”

Dr. David Cox

Radient Technologies Inc has pulled up stakes and is moving from Vancouver to Edmonton.
This is good news for the Edmonton’s biotechnology sector which has experienced some tough times over the past few months.
Radient has commercialized technology first developed by Environment Canada for use in environmental remediation. Called a microwave assisted solvent extraction process, it also has applications in other areas including flavourings, herbs, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and biochemicals.
An investment of $5.5 million from AVAC, Foragen and Agriculture, and Agrifood Canada will boost Radient’s marketing efforts.
And the man leading that charge is Dr. David Cox. He was lured from his position as the head of TEC Edmonton to become the new CEO of Radient.
According to Dr. Cox, “It’s a business exercise in understanding the market. We have a nice problem. The problem is there are so many things that you can do with this technology. so many problems that you can solve, we’re spoiled for choice. And if we’re not careful, we can get distracted on too many interesting things rather than the necessary few. So job one is to understand the global market for this kind of application and then target those companies where the Radient solution will be transformative for them. And they don’t know that they need us yet. It’s my job to show them how they need us.”
Cox expects Radient will achieve this growth through licensing its technology to other companies and by manufacturing its own products.

Dr. Catherine Field

What impact nutrition has on the mental health of pregnant women and the development of their babies is the focus of a new study called APrON—Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition.
This study funded by the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medication Research, is currently seeking participants from Edmonton and Calgary, and is designed to follow 10,000 pregnant women and their infants.
According to Dr. Catherine Field, a professor of nutrition at the University of Alberta and one of three principle investigators with APrON, depression during pregnancy is on the rise. Recent statistics indicate about 12 percent of pregnant women will either be diagnosed with or seek medical help for depression.
Says Dr. Field, “There’s a growing body of literature suggesting that nutrition, even things like body weight gain during pregnancy, can influence mental health which, of course, can also influence what the mother is eating if she is suffering from some level of depression. We really don’t know that association. And actually, there’s no group in North America looking at mental health and nutrition.”
The nutrition aspect of the study will focus on three micro-nutrients that are often deficient in western diets: Omega-3 fatty acids, iron, and folic acid.
She explains, “If we look at the Omega-3 fatty acids, they’re in very high concentrations in the brain. And we know from animal work, if they are insufficient in the diet, we have effects on learning and effects on normal brain development. Iron is very important for some of the signals in the brain. And we know in children, if there’s insufficient iron there are effects on learning behaviour. And the B vitamins are also very important in both the development of brain cells but also in the optimal function of brain cells.”
Dr. Field’s team hopes that, by uncovering links between nutrition and depression during pregnancy, they can develop intervention programs to prevent conditions such as post-partum depression and attention deficit disorder.
Women interested in participating in the APrON study can find more information at www.apronstudy.ca or by calling 780-492-4667. √

The two leading nanotechnology research centres in North America are located at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Now, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Premier Ed Stelmach and David Leebron, president of Rice University, these two research agencies are combining their expertise to advance work on clean energy development.
Partners in the MOU are nanoAlberta (through Alberta Advanced Education and Technology), The Richard E Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and Rice University.
The agreement encourages collaboration on projects that can enhance sustainable energy development and the development of clean technologies, and improve efficiency in renewable energy technologies and applications of nanoscience.
“In both Alberta and Texas energy is our foundation… and technology and innovation are our future,” says Premier Stelmach. “Combining the energy and nanotechnology expertise of teams in Alberta and Texas could help bring about energy technology solutions that haven’t even been considered yet.”
Leebron says the Houston area and cities in Alberta have much in common, and he looks forward to an effective partnership. “The extraordinary scholars and researchers of the Smalley Institute of Rice University are developing advanced nanoscale technologies to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. Collaborating with nanoAlberta…has great potential to benefit North America and the rest of the world with new solutions to energy and related environmental challenges.”