2009 November 05 « TECHburgher :: Putting some sizzle in the Pittsburgh technology sector.

Archive for November 5th, 2009

Blue Archer Expands Non-profit Web Design Services with New Constituent Management Solution

Published November 5, 2009 PTC Member , Something Cool 1 Comment
Tags: Blue Archer, inTouch

Blue Archer, a Web design and marketing firm located in Shadyside, recently debuted inTouch, a Web-based constituent management program for non-profit organizations. The program integrates the back-office platform of Salesforce.com’s Nonprofit Edition with Blue Archer’s full range of non-profit Web design capabilities.

“Through years of non-profit Web design, we understand the unique requirements and challenges that nonprofits face,” said Robert Faletti, Blue Archer Co-Principal. “Equipped with inTouch, nonprofits can leverage the web to grow their mission while utilizing a proven back-office platform.”

The inTouch program streamlines the interaction between an organization’s front end and back end platforms, in this case a Blue Archer custom-designed AccuCMS Web site and Salesforce.com’s Nonprofit Edition, respectively. The website supports online submissions such as donations, event registrations, and contact information, which are then deposited into Salesforce.com’s back-end platform for constituent tracking and management.

“Resource hours are incredibly valuable to non-profits of all sizes – they can’t afford to have employees spending hours on data entry,” said Al Polanec, Blue Archer Co-Principal and creator of inTouch. “Non-profits that integrate their online marketing efforts and web transactions with their back-office databases are not only going to be better equipped to track constituent behavior, but will spend less time on administrative processes and more time expanding their constituency.”

“Blue Archer appreciates that non-profit clients posses a unique set of needs,” said Faletti. “Their resources, processes, and fiscal situations are vastly different than their for-profit counterparts. We’ve created inTouch to meet these needs simply and affordably.”

For more information about Blue Archer and the services it provides, visit www.bluearcher.com.

CELLUMEN Finds Increased Predictivity for Human D.I.L.I. Through Rat Hepatocyte Panel

Published November 5, 2009 News , PTC Member Leave a Comment
Tags: Cellumen, life sciences, Pittsburgh

Cellumen, a discovery and early safety assessment company, today announced that its in vitro Rat Hepatocyte Early Safety Assessment Panel provides increased predictivity for human drug induced liver injury (DILI) equivalent to that of a recently published panel comprised of human hepatocytes.

The implications of this study have a significant impact on cost and throughput for in vitro human DILI predictive solutions.

As a result of these findings, less expensive, more reliable cells from a rat coupled with a 384-well assay format can result in reliable classification and risk-ranking of compounds for purposes of hit-to-lead prioritization and chemical class selection. In addition, the Cellumen in vitro rodent safety assessment panel provides robust dose- and time-dependent mechanistic profiles for each compound, allowing for de-risking compounds for specific mechanisms of toxicity.

The internal study, completed by Cellumen, focused on a set of 178 compounds spanning diverse chemical classes with published human DILI scores. Cellumen applied its proprietary Rat Hepatocyte Early Safety Assessment Panel consisting of freshly harvested hepatocytes, eight cellular features, three time points, and a 10 point dose response. The panel was analyzed on a high-content imaging platform and a classifier constructed to predict human DILI scores. Using this optimized Rodent Hepatocyte Panel, Cellumen achieved 100 percent specificity with nearly 50 percent sensitivity.

“We were excited by these findings, since we did not expect the concordance of human-to-human and rat-to-human DILI predictivity to be so strong,” says Don Taylor, Vice President of Corporate Development for Cellumen. “However, since Cellumen measured molecular mechanisms common to both species, these results may not be as surprising as initially thought.”

The results indicate that its in vitro Rat Hepatocyte Early Safety Assessment Panel can offer Cellumen customers higher throughput and lower cost solutions for human DILI predictivity than other options currently available.

Concurrent Technologies Corporation Selected to Present Metalworking Innovations at Defense Manufacturing Conference

Published November 5, 2009 PTC Member Leave a Comment
Tags: Concurrent technologies Corporation, Defense Manufacturing Conference

Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) has announced that several CTC engineers have been selected to present at the annual Defense Manufacturing Conference (DMC) scheduled for November 30–December 3, 2009, in Orlando, Florida.

“DMC is one of the most significant gatherings of the year for defense manufacturing industry innovators,” said Edward J. Sheehan, Jr., CTC’s President & Chief Executive Officer. “We are enormously proud that the Navy Metalworking Center’s (NMC’s) technical achievements have been recognized by the Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel and will be so well represented at the event.”

DMC 2009 will address the role of government and industry leadership in creating affordable defense systems. Last year the conference attracted more than 1,000 attendees.

CTC’s presentations focus on work done through NMC to advance metalworking and manufacturing technologies and to implement those technologies on Navy weapons systems. The presentations feature expansion of a Web-based welding procedures system, advancements in friction stir welding, improvements in steel processing, and the use of laser peening to improve fatigue on critical shipboard components.

“We’re pleased to have the opportunity to share some of our recent successes in advancing metalworking technology for the Navy,” said Daniel L. Winterscheidt, Ph.D., Program Director, NMC. “NMC effectively partners with government and industry to develop metalworking solutions that increase affordability and are ultimately implemented in the shipbuilding industry.”

Operated by Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC), the Navy Metalworking Center develops and implements advanced technologies for metalworking and manufacturing processes and applies these technologies to improve the cost and performance of Navy and Department of Defense weapon systems. For more information about NMC, visit www.nmc.ctc.com.