An Internet Resource

An industrial supply site appropriately titled My Industrial Supply Site can be a helpful source of information for a variety of reasons. A wide number of topics are covered and a search function is available. The site links to other sites to help locate specified information.

A Biotech Resource

The Florida BioDatabase website is a resource available to those involved in biotech businesses. A paragraph from the site has this to say:

Florida BioDatabase™ is an exciting resource with the latest information on Florida’s bioscience industry plus unique profiles of biotechnology and biomedical device companies. Companies (see map) are identified by regions defined by Enterprise Florida. Florida BioDatabase is updated several times a year drawing from a database built on publicly available information. The University of Florida’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator publishes this free, web-based resource in support of the biotech industry statewide. For an overview of biotechnology in Florida, review the just released Florida Biotech 2008 ~ State of the Industry report.

The website is associated with the University of Florida.

A New Business Trend?

An article appearing on page B1 of the June 24, 2008 edition of a New Jersey newspaper known as the Asbury Park Press, is titled Jackson Building Department Could Cease to Exist. The building department in question belongs to the Township of Jackson, New Jersey. The article indicates that there is an existing proposal, supported by Mayor Mark Seda, which would do away with the department and outsource its building inspection and code enforcement tasks to a private company. Department employees would either be terminated or transferred to other departments.

The action could save the municipality money. Private firms tend to perform equivalent work at less cost to the taxpayer. In an age of increasingly squeezed budgets in this highly taxed state, this type of outsourcing could become a model for keeping down the cost of government. It could also auger well for entrepreneurs, willing to carve out a new business niche, should this type of policy proliferate throughout New Jersey.

New Dental Technology

Biomedical Engineers Improve Dental Imaging And Care is a Science Daily article about new dental care technology. Medical care has become very business-like in America. Medical advances frequently are tied to technological breakthroughs which in turn are manufactured by some very promising new companies as well as more established giants like General Electric.

A topic of the linked article is cone beam imaging technology which is a type of computerized tomography or CT for short. It enables dentists to take a series of two dimensional x-rays around a patient's jaw. Each degree around the jaw is occasion for a distinct x-ray yet amazingly a patient absorbs less radiation than accrues from conventional x-rays. Greater detail and accuracy are further advantages. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta are credited with ushering in changes in dental treatment.

In addition to diagnostic advantages the construction of devices like bridges could be advanced by technology. The idea is to add strength to devices like dental crowns while decreasing the weight of the material used. Zirconium is such a substance and could be utilzed to advance dentistry.

Is this an Opportunity?

A newsletter of Investor's Daily Edge carried this brief article- Ride or Slide: Enzo BioChem (ENZ), which is authored by Charles Delvalle. The company itself is of interest, given its potential to aid in medical breakthroughs and might be of interest to investors. Here is what the article had to say:

I recently got a letter from a reader wondering what I thought about Enzo BioChem (ENZ). ENZ is a life sciences and biotechnology company that provides diagnostic services to the medical community. Among other things, they are involved in coming up with genetic cures to illnesses like HIV.

When I look at their chart, I see that the stock has been falling since September 2007. Why? They've been losing about $4 million every quarter. This is not a good start.

But if you take a better look at the numbers, you see some glimmers of hope. First, they have $98 million in cash with no debt. At their current cash burn, this company could stick around for the next six years. That's a pretty good safety net.

Also, their revenue grew by 72% last quarter, mainly due to their life-sciences division. Did I mention they are trying to gain approval for a drug to treat HIV? They have several other drugs in testing as well.

With a company like this, you're taking a gamble. You're gambling on whether their drugs will get approved and whether their business will really pick up. If you put your money in a company like this one, you should be well aware that you may lose a lot of it.

If you're comfortable with that, then this might be a good investment for you. As far as what I'd do - I wouldn't touch it unless it breaks above its 200-day moving average on heavy volume, improves its financial results, or shows good results on their drugs in testing.

Final result? Let Enzo slide unless they meet these requirements.

News Items

* Pillowy Antibacterial Polymers is a Technology Review article noting a research discovery having implications for antibacterial coatings of medical devices. The gist of it is that bacteria adhere with greater difficulty to soft surfaces.

* A Tiny Sensor Simply Made is another Technology Review article discussing the development of a biosensor capable of detecting trace amounts of as many as 25 microorganisms.

* Cell Signaling Technology makes available "antibodies, kits and reagents for chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)."

* How Angel Investors Get Their Wings is about investors (angels) looking to invest money in promissing business investments that do not attract the attention of professional venture capitalists.