Award-Winning Fashion Photograher Rick Guidotti To Keynote 2011 Colorado BioScience Awards Celebration

The Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) Annual Awards Dinner is slated for Thursday, December 8, at the Embassy Suites in Downtown Denver. The event, celebrating the success of the bioscience industry in Colorado and its 2011 standout companies and individuals, will feature a keynote presentation by Rick Guidotti of Positive Exposure in New York. The announcement is made by Holli Riebel, CBSA President and CEO, who says: “CBSA is honored to partner with Positive Exposure in sharing Rick’s important message about genetic difference and dynamic images with our industry community.”

“CBSA is honored to partner with Positive Exposure in sharing Rick’s important message about genetic difference and dynamic images with our industry community.”

While in Denver on December 7th, Guidotti will photograph a select group of children in partnership with the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, Mile High Down Syndrome Association, Global Down Syndrome Foundation, and Colorado Children’s Hospital. An exhibit reception will also be held at VSA Colorado/Access Gallery, an inclusive nonprofit organization that engages people with disabilities to access and experience the arts, located at 909 Santa Fe Drive, in the Santa Fe Arts District. The Exhibition will be on display from November 18 – December 16, 2011.

Link to the Business Wire Release

Link to the Pitch Engine Social Media Release

Things to do in Denver - 'Cajuns Closet Halloween book sale: a Cat Care Society fundraiser'

Quoting from today's Denver Bucket List posting by Chrissy Morin:

"Cajun’s Closet Thrift Shop - 5707 W. 6th Avenue (on the Frontage Road west of Sheridan).

There will be 'creepy' but safe refreshments and special discounts for those who come in costume. Cajun’s was named Denver Westword’s Best Thrift Store for 2011."

Link to the Denver Bucket List

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News: 'Can the FDA Be a Catalyst for Innovation?'

Quoting Colorado's Dr. Tim Rodell (GlobeImmune) and Holli Riebel (CBSA) from the October 15 GEN:

"The products the FDA regulates represent 20% to 25% of every consumer dollar spent in the U.S., Dr. Hamburg pointed out. 'That’s a gigantic percent of the country’s gross domestic product,' Tim Rodell, M.D., CEO of GlobeImmune (www.globeimmune.com) and a member of the BIO board of directors, said. 'Given the FDA’s importance, it warrants being a cabinet-level agency.'

...Although FDA reviewers typically are trained in scientific research, applying that experience to the regulatory environment is learned on the job. 'That’s a significant deficit for the agency,' Dr. Rodell said. 'There’s no process to train the kinds of people the FDA needs.' Consequently, 'it takes one to two years for new reviewers to get up and running.'

Meanwhile, the FDA, in its determination to do no harm, risks being so cautious that it withholds live-saving therapies. Admittedly, it’s a delicate balance. 'Innovation occurs so quickly that FDA staff can’t keep up with new technology,' observed Holli Riebel, president and CEO of Colorado BioScience.

'Patients are waiting and—sometimes—dying, while amazing drugs aren’t released because of fears about potentially adverse reactions. Science isn’t perfect. We can’t push forward without some risks.'

...BIO also supports a progressive approval pathway so that even before final trials are completed, promising therapeutics could be released and monitored. Dr. Rodell suggested that could be accomplished safely and effectively by designing electronic medical records systems to accommodate retrospective, anonymous analysis of drug safety in real time. Therefore, drug developers could track adverse events associated with the commercial release of particular therapies more accurately than under the current system, which depends upon harried physicians taking the time to voluntarily report adverse events. Dr. Rodell added that the FDA is exploring this already with its pilot Sentinel initiative.

Link to the article at the GEN website

CBSA Pres/CEO Holli Riebel: Denver Business Journal 2011 Power Book Finalist, Technology Division

CBSA Pres/CEO Holli Riebel is a Finalist in the Denver Business Journal's 2011 Power Book/Newsmakers Awards Program.

Riebel was nominated in the Technology & Telecommunications Division. Quoting from the DBJ website: "The Colorado BioScience Association has managed to keep the state’s biotech drug and medical-device industries in the minds of public policy makers and national investors at a time of tight funding. CEO and President Holli Riebel (formerly Holli Baumunk) has maintained support for the industry during her first year leading the organization. CBSA organizes a regional conference that each year attracts investors from biotech hubs on the East and West Coasts, and it’s worked to keep state tax incentives and other support largely intact at a time when state funding has been cut for many other programs."

Learn more at the DBJ website.

Shop at King Soopers with your reloadable 'purchasing card' to benefit Cat Care Society

You can now buy a reloadable King Soopers card from Cat Care society for $25. Then simply start shopping at Kings and 5% of your purchases will go directly to Cat Care Society, as long as you use your card.

After you've spent the first $25, just reload your card at the King Soopers service desk for the amount of your choice and resume shopping.

This is an easy and absolutely great way to benefit the Cat Care Society!

Link to the King Soopers Website

Remember, you buy your CCS King Soopers card at the Cat Care Society adoption desk.

Lakewood Pet Examiner: 'Miracle Marvell gets a second chance from the Cat Care Society'

Quoting from today's posting by Carrie Dow, Lakewood Pet Examiner:

"The Cat Care Society (CCS) is celebrating the success they have had saving little Marvell, a 10-week-old abandoned kitten.

'Marvell was brought to our shelter in July by a woman who had rescued him from several young boys severely torturing this helpless kitten. The boys were swinging the kitten by its tail and lighting the tips of his ears and whiskers on fire,' said Clyde Dawson, CCS Interim Executive Director...

This is just one of the many ways the Cat Care Society helps our community. Celebrating 30 years of serving Lakewood and the Denver West Metro area, the Cat Care Society, a cage-less shelter, needs support to continue another 30 years. You can help with cash donations by clicking on the Donate Now link. They also accept in-kind donations of the following items: Cat litter, bleach, paper towels, 5-inch paper plates, baby food (turkey and chicken), can cat food (no fish flavors please), dry cat food (Science Diet, Iams Original, Purina Kitten Chow) hooded cat beds and trash bags. To learn about upcoming events, visit the CCS blog at DenverCatCare or "like" their Facebook Page."

Link to the Posting

Cat Care Society Alum Bombay Featured as a Friday Feline on the ModCatLove Blog

Check out Cat Care Society Alum Kitty Bombay on the ModCatLove blog, posted earlier this month as a "Friday's Featured Feline" profile...

Quoting Bombay's person, Jeannie:

"I adopted Bombay from the Cat Care Society shelter in Lakewood, Colorado 4 years ago, about 6 months after we lost a cat that was 19 and had diabetes for 3 1/2 years...

When I saw him, it was love at first sight! His big blue eyes got me right away! He got his name Bombay because his eyes are so blue, they look like the Bombay Sapphire, so it is fitting...

Bombay is 4 now, a lynx point Siamese and the most special cat in more ways than one. He has a rare condition where he has suffered bone loss and all cartilage in his legs. Besides being on several meds and supplements everyday, he gets acupuncture and laser treatments once per week. These have helped him keep his mobility and get around; he can’t run and jump like other cats, but he can get in his favorite spots and gets around much better than before he started. It has worked wonders for him!"

Link to the posting and more great photos of Bombay