Malcolm. J. Fraser, Jr. Ph.D. earned his Ph.D from Ohio State University and performed postdoctoral research at Penn State University and Texas A&M University. At the Texan University, he played a key role in developing the genetic expression system which is now a widely used methodology for producing organic molecules, including pharmaceuticals, on an industrial scale.

Randy Lewis, Ph.D received his B.S. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and his M.S. in chemistry and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Lewis, internationally renowned for his work on spider silk, is the named inventor of a number of patents relating to spider silk polymers. He currently heads the Lewis Laboratory within the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Wyoming. The study of spider silk polymers and their underlying genetics is a major focus of Dr. Lewis’s research.

Donald

The typical Econbrowser reader might not be surprised at the NBER decision -- but some others will. From a May 2008 WSJ article:

"The data are pretty clear that we are not in a recession," Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Edward Lazear told a meeting of editors and reporters from the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

...

"I would be very surprised if the NBER, looking back at this period, would date this as a recession," Mr. Lazear said. There are even indications that revised first-quarter estimates would be slightly stronger than 0.6%. "The optimists seem to have been closer to right on that than the pessimists," he said.

Just to reiterate, that quote is from May 2008.

Here's a picture of GDP and gross domestic income (as suggested by Jim in this post, and noted in the BCDC announcement).

The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research announced today that the eleventh U.S. postwar recession began in December of 2007.

As has often been the case historically, the announcement itself is a bit anticlimactic, in that pretty much everybody had already reached the same conclusion. I was interested to see that the Business Cycle Dating Committee explained the apparent non-recessionary behavior of real GDP in 2008:Q1-Q2 just as we did last September in terms of the statistical discrepancy between GDP and GDI. From the NBER:

The committee believes that the two most reliable comprehensive estimates of aggregate domestic production are normally the quarterly estimate of real Gross Domestic Product and the quarterly estimate of real Gross Domestic Income, both produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In concept, the two should be the same, because sales of products generate income for

StemCells Inc. (Nasdaq: STEM) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of cell-based therapeutics to treat diseases of the central nervous system and liver. Though controversial to many people, cell-based discoveries are important in medical and scientific advances.

The company’s HuCNS-SC product candidate (purified human neutral stem cells) is undergoing clinical trials to treat retinal and spinal cord damage and will soon be showcased to neuroscientists around the globe. StemCells today announced it will present the results of its retinal degeneration and spinal cord injury research program at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting later this month in Washington, D.C.

As the world’s largest organization centered on advances in understanding the brain and nervous system, The Society for Neuroscience has established this annual meeting to allow neuroscientists all around the world to present, observe and discuss scientific breakthroughs, technology and advances. StemCells has established an ongoing

If the new president looked a little, well, burdened on election night, chances are he’s aging a couple of years in the six-hour span between the release of unemployment figures this morning and his first news conference as president-elect this afternoon.

6.5% unemployment in October — worst since early Clintontime.  Worse still were the revisions of the August and September numbers.  And as Karl Denninger noticed, the number of unemployed plus the number of people working part-time who’d like to work full-time now tops 11%.  (And who knows what the real figure would turn out to be once John Williams applies Carter-era standards to the numbers.)

As I write, the president-elect is meeting with his “Transition Economic Advisory Board,” his temporary brain trust as it were.  The names on the panel are, well, interesting.  Some of the faces from I.O.U.S.A. are there.  But one has to wonder if

Ceregene Inc. concentrates on the delivery of nervous system growth factors to treat neurodegenerative disorders using gene delivery. Specifically, the company created CERE-110 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects millions of people in the United States.

The company today announced the University of California, San Diego, has received a $5.4 million grant from the National Institute of Aging at the National Institutes of Health to support Ceregene’s phase II clinical study of CERE-100.

“We are pleased to be involved in evaluating CERE-110 which we believe may be a promising therapy for Alzheimer’s disease,” Paul Aisen, M.D., principal investigator of the planned phase 2 trial and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at University of California, San Diego, stated in a press release. “Over five million people in the U.S. are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease — a disease which is devastating to patients and their families —

Valence Technology, Inc., international leader in the development of lithium phosphate energy storage technologies, announced the appointment of K.C. Lim, Ph.D. as the company’s Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Lim brings with him over 20 years of industrial research, development, and integration experience with lithium-ion related technologies. He will work out of the company’s Suzhou, China office, helping to shape R&D operations, including the design of advanced battery production systems.

Valence Technology is the commercial leader in the supply of safe high-volume energy storage solutions, and has commercialized the industry’s first phosphate based lithium-ion battery. The company develops and manufactures advanced lithium phosphate cathode materials, along with actual cells and programmable lithium phosphate packs, and provides associated technology integration services, targeting the large and small automotive market, as well as industrial, military, and aviation applications.

Valence’s lithium phosphate technology offers across-the-board advantages over standard battery technologies in performance, safety, cost, reliability,

We often take our eyesight for granted until it’s too late. More than 1.7 million people over the age of 65 are afflicted with age-related macular degeneration, taking away the precious gift of sight. The loss of function in retinal cells can lead to impairment or total loss of vision. While scientific advances to treat diseases of the eye are constantly being made, approximately 65,000 people in the United States are affected by the most common types of retinitis pigmentosa.

As its name implies, StemCells Inc. (Nasdaq: STEM) concentrates on the discovery, development and commercialization of cell-based therapeutics to treat diseases affecting the central nervous system and liver. The company today announced that its HuCNS-SC product candidate, when transplanted into a well-established animal model, can protect the retina from progressive degeneration, which can lead to the loss of vision in age-related eye diseases.

The study was conducted by Dr.

Cleantech Biofuels is taking the lead in the waste-to-energy industry. With many companies trying to find direction in this field, Cleantech has focused on developing ground-breaking technologies to convert cellulosic material found in municipal solid waste (MSW) into ethanol, which will help generate biofuels and other usable energy products at competitive prices.

Cleantech employs a sophisticated technology known as HFTA technology. HFTA was developed at the renowned University of California, Berkeley and has substantial advantages over any other available means to hydrolyze cellulosic material for ethanol production.

Cleantech has a game plan in place that is not only friendly to the marketplace but will put a smile across the faces of environmentalists across the world. Cleantech anticipates quickly achieving profitability by dramatically reducing pollution released into the environment by the disposal of municipal waste and reducing the costs of transporting waste long distances for disposal.

Leading

CleanTech BioFuels (CLTH.OB) is “One to Watch”

CleanTech BioFuels, Inc. (CLTH.OB) is a small company with a big idea. The idea is to turn solid municipal waste, of which the U.S. generates over 600,000 tons each day, into ethanol, and CleanTech now has the licensed technology to do it.

Ethanol, you may recall, has been at the heart of a rising controversy. Ethanol is a versatile renewable fuel, based upon plant material, providing a clean way to tap the sun’s energy. Its biggest advantage is that it can be used to power cars. Since 1975, Brazil has been producing and distributing ethanol, made from sugarcane, and has now effectively replaced 50% of its gasoline use with ethanol. Although there are a number of issues that would make such a transition less likely for the United States, ethanol remains a popular candidate as a major alternative fuel for the future.

However, ethanol today