Wednesday night, I got a look at some fascinating medical technology from an Ann Arbor biotech startup, Velcura Therapeutics Inc. (Have I mentioned lately how much fun my job is?) Mike Long, who may be the world's most down-to-earth genius-Ph.D.-medical-researcher kind of guy, is opening the doors of his company, which has the modest goal of curing osteoporosis and other dread bone diseases. Long's team at the University of Michigan was the first on the planet to grow human bone cells outside the body.

But rather than trying to grow whole new bones (freaky, though theoretically possible), Velcura will study bone cells in the process of making bones, look at what genes they use to make bone -- then search for chemicals that stimulate those genes, leading to bone growth drugs. (Besides osteoporosis, imagine broken bones that heal in weeks, not months.) Velcura won the first Great Lakes Venture Quest competition in 2001 and received $3.3 million in funding from the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor for its funding. The company has two patents granted and four pending. Its seven employees work in pleasant but not ostentatious 5,000-square-foot offices in the tech biz parks south of A2.