Good morning.  The video scene was light last week.  There is, however, a curious gem among them – the first video that we’ve seen by the Iranian government touting their biotech program.  We’re actively soliciting comments.  In addition to our video roundup we’ve got the latest from Luke Zimmerman and his conversation with the chairman of Biogen as well as the latest moves by Carl Icahn.

IRANIAN BIOTECH – Biotech is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Iran.  But watch this video and think again.  Actually, we’d be interested in what the scientists and biotech experts think of this “official” update on Iranian biotechnology.  Apparently there are some uses of YouTube that the government allows.

AND THE BAYER AWARD GOES TO …  The plant research scientist Professor Detlef Weigel from Tübingen received the Otto Bayer Award for his outstanding work in the field of plant genetics.

CANADA IS MORE THAN THE OLYMPICS – It is also biotech.  Here’s a video of the announcement of  the Government of Canada  investing $38 million for a new research complex at Brock University. “The Niagara Health and Bioscience Research Complex (NHBRC) will bring together research and industry, and play a key role in advancing Canadas science and technology infrastructure”.

Now for a few breaking stories of the morning …

A SCIENTIST AT THE HELM OF BIOGEN? – That was the conclusion of Luke Zimmerman’s interview with Biogen’s chairman Bill Young.  Young also hinted that the company’s new leader will likely come from the outside.

NC BIO 2010 THIS WEEK – This week is North Carolina’s Biotech 2010 conference.  According to reports, organizers are expecting a big turnout despite the tough economy.  Last year’s conference was the first that passed the 1,000 attendance mark.  This year Raleigh is expecting up to 1,300.  We’ll be following activity there all week.

CARL ICAHN GIVES NOTICE TO GENZYME – In a release issued this morning, folks at Genzyme said they’ve received notice from Carl Icahn that his group plans to “nominate four individuals to Genzyme’s board of directors at the company’s 2010 annual meeting of shareholders. They are Mr. Carl C. Icahn, Dr. Steven Burakoff, Dr. Alexander J. Denner and Dr. Richard Mulligan.”  The Genzyme release goes on to outline many “important” internal changes that Genzyme has taken over the last seven months on behalf of shareholders.

AAS, SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY AND FEEDING THE WORLD – Last week’s AAS conference included an interesting panel on synthetic biology and biotech and its important role in feeding a hungry world.  Of particular note was the role of public opinion.

The public’s acceptance or rejection of new technologies that could determine future food supplies will be the domain of Susanna Priest, a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. A communications researcher, she has argued that public debate is essential to public attitudes toward such technologies.

“I think that’s essential,” he said. “We’ve seen lots of technologies where we didn’t get adoption because we didn’t get consumer acceptance and understanding. Irradiation of food has been possible for over 50 years but we still haven’t gotten to general use because there is still a fear and lack of understanding of it.” Branen added, “To me everything we’re doing today requires an extensive discussion and an interdisciplinary approach. We can’t just focus on the technology but must look at the social and political aspects of the technology as well.”