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Chalk up one for the good guys (good is a relative term). Carl Icahn has given up on his quest to gain control of the Cambridge-based biotechnology giant, Biogen/IDEC. Actually, he was forced to give up because the slate of board members that he hoped would be elected to the Biogen/IDEC board failed to gain shareholder support and lost its bid for the board at a recent shareholder meeting.

Icahn, who owns about 4% of outstanding shares of the company, wanted to gain control of the Biogen/IDEC board so that he could force the company to try once again to sell itself to a large pharmaceutical company (rather than remain independent). As you may recall, the company tried to sell itself late last year but failed to find any buyers. Icahn accused the company of not trying hard enough! Give it a break Carl…its not always about you!

Despite the fact that Carl has his name on a molecular biology building at Princeton University (he is an alumnus), he knows very little about the biotechnology business. My advice to him is to raid companies that make commodities that he knows something about—widgets, plastics, automobiles — maybe even oil.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try Biogen/IDEC)!!!!!!!!

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This may be one of the more notable years for Salmonella food poisoning. First, there was a modest outbreak in the eating clubs at Princeton University and now a larger outbreak in Texas and New Mexico. This is the first time that I can recall in my almost 30 years as a card-carrying food microbiologist that there has been this many highly-publicized cases of Salmonella food poisoning in one year. Although I don’t wish Salmonella gastroenteritis on anybody, it is kind of rewarding that an organism that led to my PhD is making headlines once again. Typically, Salmonella outbreaks are not noteworthy and rarely receive much notice— usually taking a backseat to potentially life-threatening outbreaks of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli.

Like the Princeton outbreak, the exact source of the Salmonella infection is unclear. That said, public health and CDC officials are leaning towards large, raw tomatoes. In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration discovered that consumption of tomatoes in restaurants had caused a salmonella outbreak that affected 21 states. , “until the source of the outbreak is identified federal and local health officials in both states have recommended that infants, the elderly and anyone with an impaired immune system avoid eating Roma and red round tomatoes that are not grown at home or sold attached to the vine.” So far, 40 confirmed cases, with patients ranging in age from 3 to 82, have been reported in New Mexico and Texas since April. To date, 17 people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported.

Molecular analyses indicated that all of the cases in New Mexico and Texas were caused by the same strain, a relatively rare serovar called Saint Paul (6^th most common serovar infecting humans). Federal health officials at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA fear that this may be the beginning of a large national outbreak of Salmonella gastroenteritis. This is because about 30 cases caused by the Saint Paul strain, have also been reported this year in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Utah. Like the New Jersey, Texas and New Mexico outbreaks, the cause of those other outbreaks is under investigation.

Salmonella gastroenteritis generally last between four and seven days, and most people are able to recover without medical (antibiotic) treatment. But, it can sometimes lead to death in immunocompromised adults or young children. Symptoms include headache, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea and sometimes vomiting.  Although textbook descriptions of the pathogenesis of Salmonella gastroenteritis generally portray it as a mild illness, I can tell you that people I know (lab mates of mine) who came down with the disease (gee, how did that happen?) suggest otherwise!

I suspect that fecally-contaminated water may be source of the infection. But, then again, it has been almost 30 years since I thought about Salmonella gastroenteritis. That said, I don’t think that you ever forget the essence or minutiae of your thesis work!

For those of you who are interested, the electron micrograph of Salmonella typhimurium shown with this post is from my PhD dissertation. As I recall, the electron micrograph was taken in 1980 and the bacterium shown in the micrograph was grown for 48 hours on nutrient agar . Althought I would like to take credit for the shot (nice pose eh?),  it was taken by Phil Hegge in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my alma mater. if you look closely you may be able to see fimbriae along with the flagella.

Until next time

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (and remember to wash your tomatoes)!!!!!

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I apparently made a few errors in the post about the recent Salmonella food poisoning outbreak at PU (pun intended). I want to thank the anonymous member of the Princeton Graduating Class of ’09 for pointing out the inconsistencies and errors in the post.  First, the so-called “dining clubs” are actually called eating clubs. Second, fraternities and sororities are allowed at PU and I hear that they are alive and well. Finally, I inadvertently noted that the University has severed contracts with several of its produce suppliers which may have been the putative source(s) of the outbreak. In fact, the University didn’t cancel contracts but only temporarily closed a few of the eating stations at the Frist Campus Center. My local newspaper reported that contracts where severed–I guess you truly can’t believe everything that you read!

I was duly chastised for not adequately verifying my information before I hastily crafted the post. I stand corrected and will attempt to be more vigilant in the future. That said, I think that my lack of understanding of the practices and customs at Princeton University is directly related to the fact that I attended Cornell as an undergraduate. Mea Culpa!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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Yes, even the Ivy League isn’t immune to food poisoning outbreaks from time-to-time. There are currently 10 confirmed cases of Salmonella food poisoning at Princeton U. Another 50 people or so have also fallen ill with gastrointestinal symptoms consistent with Salmonella food poisoning.  As a precaution, university officials have temporarily discontinued doing business with their produce suppliers. For those of you who don’t know, Princeton is famous (infamous?) for its so-called dining clubs. These clubs take the place of sororities and fraternities which are not allowed at this august institution of higher education. Obviously, there is more than eating that goes on at these “dining clubs.”

The reason I am blogging about the outbreak is two-fold. First, I live about seven miles from Princeton and it has been all over the local news. Second, I did my PhD work on the pathogenesis of Salmonella gastroenteritis. So, Salmonella food poisoning is dear to my heart (thankfully, not my gastrointestinal tract). Many infectious disease experts tend to dismiss the seriousness of Salmonella gastroenteritis. This is likely because it is usually not as devastating as shigellosis or infections caused by enteroinvasive strains of Escherichia coli (which is actually Shigella masquerading as E. coli). As my major professor once put it “You know when you have Salmonella gastroenteritis—if you can’t decide than it is not salmonellosis.”

I am happy to report that I never came down with gastroenteritis while working for over three years with enteroinvasive Salmonella strains (even though I was routinely mouth pipetting and eating lunch in the lab; practices which aren’t acceptable by today’s standards). I like to think that “the bugs” were afraid of me. Alternatively I had either a great immune system or extremely good aseptic techniques. Whatever the reason, it is always embarrassing when card-carrying microbiologists come down with the disease(s) that they are studying. Luckily, I never came down with the disease caused by the bacterium that I was studying during my first postdoctoral fellowship—Neisseria gonorrhoeae. That would have been extremely difficult to explain!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (remember to wash your hands)!!!!!!!!

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