Bio Entrepreneur: Genentech :)

Genentech Inc. was founded in 1976 by Robert A. Swanson and Doctor Herbert W. Boyer. Boyer with a fellow researcher, in 1973, invented recombinant genetic engineering, by realizing that restriction enzymes could be cut DNA fragments. As of 2006, Genentech employs more than 10,000. Products of Genentech are Activase/Cathflo, Nutropin, Pulmozyme, Rituxan, Herceptin, TNKase, Xolair, Raptiva, Avastin, Tarceva, and Lucentis. Taken from Wikipedia:

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• 1982 - Synthetic "human" insulin approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), thanks largely to its partnership with insulin manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company, who shepherded the product through the FDA approval process. The product (Humulin) was licensed to and manufactured by Lilly, and was the first-ever approved genetically engineered human therapeutic.
• 1985 - Protropin (somatrem) - Supplementary growth hormone for children with growth hormone deficiency (ceased manufacturing December 2002).
• 1987 - Activase (recombinant tissue plasminogen activator)- To dissolve blood clots in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Also used to treat non-hemorrhagic stroke.
• 1990 - Actimmune (interferon gamma 1b) - Treatment of chronic granulomatous disease (licensed to Intermune).
• 1993 - Nutropin (recombinant somatropin) - Growth hormone for children and adults for treatment before kidney transplant due to chronic renal insufficiency.
• 1994 - Pulmozyme (dornase alfa) - Inhalation treatment for children and young adults with cystic fibrosis - recombinant DNAse.
• 1997 - Rituxan (rituximab)- Treatment for specific kinds of non-Hodgkins lymphomas.
• 1998 - Herceptin (trastuzumab) - Treatment for metastatic breast cancer patients with tumors that overexpress the HER2 gene. Recently approved for adjuvant therapy for breast cancer.
• 2000 - TNKase (tenecteplase) - "Clot-busting" drug to treat acute myocardial infarction.
• 2003 - Xolair (omalizumab) - Subcutaneous injection for moderate to severe persistent asthma.
• 2003 - Raptiva (efalizumab) - Antibody designed to block the activation and reactivation of T cells that lead to the development of psoriasis. Developed in partnership with XOMA
• 2004 - Avastin (bevacizumab) - Anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody for the treatment of metastatic cancer of the colon or rectum.
• 2004 - Tarceva (erlotinib) - Treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
• 2006 - Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved LUCENTIS(TM) (ranibizumab injection) for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The FDA approved LUCENTIS after a Priority Review (six-month). Genentech started shipping product on June 30, 2006, the day the product was approved.

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"Genentech markets itself as a research-driven corporation that follows the science to make new innovations. They employ more than 700 scientists and cover a wide range of scientific activity - from molecular biology to protein chemistry to bioinformatics and physiology. Genentech scientists in these various areas of expertise currently focus their efforts on three disease categories: Oncology, Immunology, and Tissue Growth and Repair. Genentech recent hiring and acquisitions indicate an intent to expand into Microbiology and Neuroscience divisions. Genentech research facilities are located only on the South San Francisco campus" - Wikipedia.

I think Genentech's research and projects will continue to make very nice progress. Genentech is OBVIOUSLY recognized by many researchers and scientists. Genentech was named Top Employer by Science Magazine on October 15, 2007. Also in October 2007, Genentech was named Most Admired Biotech Company as well as most admired Pharmaceutical company in Fortune in 2008.

Genentech seems like a very interesting business, but personally, I wouldn't enter a profession that works in the area of sciences. Science is bearable for me, but it is very hard for me to understandand to pickup... therefore frustrating for myself.
http://www.gene.com/gene/index.jsp?p=genentech&fr=fptb-&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/genentech_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org

Sheep Eye Dissection

I learned from sheep eye dissection was the stump of the optic nerve to the left, and the cornea to the right . The sclera is the tough, outer coat of the eyeball, which helps keep the shape of the eye,and protect it from injury.The pinkish parts around the sclera are the remnants of extrinsic muscles, which have been cut off. These muscles move the eyeball in its socket from left to right, up and down , and a little bit of rotation. The back of the eyeball, seen from inside, shows the retina as a translucent greenish membrane, with wrinkles in it. Although some of the wrinkles formed from taking the eye apart, many of them are the remains of blood vessels, which supply the retina with nutrients and oxygen.
The point where all these blood vessels, and also all the nerves of the retina, gather together to leave the eye and become the optic nerve, is the blind spot. There is no room for any light receptors in the blind spot, because of all the nerves and blood vessels here.
A tiny bit of black choroid is exposed at the bottom of the eyeball. The rest of the choroid can only be seen through the veil of the retina.
The black part of the choroid blocks and absorbs light, preventing light from bouncing around in the eye, and washing out the image. It also prevents bright light from coming through the sclera from outside.
Because sheep have to watch out for predators, such as wolves, which might attack when it is getting dark, they have a band of very reflective choroid, called the tapetum lucidum, across the middle of the eyeball, from left to right. The tapetum makes the retina in front of it twice is sensitive to light, by bouncing back light rays which may have missed a light-sensitive cell, and giving them a second chance to be picked up. Behind the retina here, the tape tum lucidum may be silvery, pearly white, or a beautiful iridescent blue when exposed.
The blind spot is not visible, but its approximate position can be guessed at by following the direction of the optic nerve.
The blind spot is never located over the tape tum, as this is the zone where sensitive vision is needed for sheep to see danger coming. Humans do not have a tape tum. Instead, in the human eye, a small central area in each eye, called the fovea, is packed with colour-sensitive cells called cones. This gives us sharp, full-colour vision in the centre of our visual field. Sheep do not see colour, and do not have a fovea.
Sheep do not have a round pupil like humans. Instead of varying from a small circular opening in bright light, to a large circular opening in dim light, the sheep's pupil remains wide, and only varies in height. In bright light, the pupil may have a peanut-like shape. As the light becomes dimmer, the sheep's pupil will chance to an oval shape, then finally to a full circle. This gives the sheep wide-angle vision, to scan the horizon for predators without moving its head.
The iris is made of muscles, which change the size (and shape, in sheep) of the pupil. Pigment such as melanin in the iris prevents light from entering the eye, except through the pupil.The ciliary muscle (or ciliary body) surrounds the edge of the lens, and causes the lens to change in thickness, to focus on near or far-away objects.The lens is clear and transparent as crystal in a living eye, but the preservative changes it to a cloudy orange color, almost opaque to light. In life, it is flexible, and able to change shape to focus. In preserved eyes, it becomes hard and rigid.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye/
http://retina.anatomy.upenn.edu/~lance/eye/eye.html
http://www.macula.org/anatomy/eyeframe.html