Top 5 News Stories 10/6 – 10/12

1) Watch Out SF, Boston Is Turning Into Biotech’s No. 1 Cluster Xconomy – 10/08/2012

Biotech has never concentrated in just one place. This industry tends to grow up in geographic clusters, but it will always be spread around the map, partly because great science comes from hundreds of academic hotspots around the world. But there have always been two places—San Francisco and Boston—that have stood out way above all the other hubs of biotech. Link

2) Why Joshua Boger Supports MassBioEd MassBio– 10/10/2012

Without the talented, trained workforce here in Massachusetts, Vertex Pharmaceuticals would not be the company it is today. That’s why I am asking you to join me to support STEM education and workforce development through the MassBioEd Foundation. Link

3) Sanofi in oncology partnership with MGH Mass High Tech – 10/09/2012

French drug maker Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) will launch a two-year oncology research collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital. The terms of the deal were not disclosed and no additional jobs are expected to be created. Link

4) Three Entrepreneurs Chosen to Fast-Forward Potentially Groundbreaking Work BioSpace  – 10/10/2012

Entrepreneurs working on diagnostics to measure prostate tumors’ aggressiveness, the half-life of potentially therapeutic peptides, and developing a new class of gene therapy products for cancer, HIV, and microorganism-mediated diseases have been chosen to learn from biotech pros in the latest round of MassCONNECT. Link

5) $80M research facility to open at UMass Lowell Mass High Tech – 10/05/2012

Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center told Mass High Tech that the $80 million education and research-based facility specializing in nanotechnology, molecular biology and plastics engineering, will not only support the university, it will position UMass Lowell as an integral member of the regions life sciences cluster and ultimately become a powerful resource for the entire state. Link