July 14, 2004 — You never know what you'll find en route to looking for something else.

July 7, 2004 — Ann Arbor-based biotech company Velcura Therapeutics Inc. said Tuesday that it had hired two more staffers. Holly Britt Anderson was named laboratory-office administrator, and will handle procurement, safety, environmental compliance, grant and contract compliance and administrative duties. She has a bachelor's degree from Eastern Michigan Universityin biological and analytical sciences and is currently completing her MBA at EMU. Her background includes stops at Biotechnology Business Consultants L.L.C. in Ann Arbor and the Central Laboratory for Reproductive Services Program at the University of Michigan. Jessica Eason-Butler joins Velcura as a staff scientist, exploring how bone cells develop. Most recently, she was a research contractor at Pfizer Inc. in Ann Arbor. She is a 2002 Michigan State University graduate with a Masters degree in animal science, with an emphasis on animal breeding and genetics.

April 1, 2004 — In 1988, Michael Long, PhD, a professor in the pediatrics department of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., began research into a process for growing human bone outside the body. Four years later, in 1992, he filed his first patent, titled "a method and composition of matter patent on the isolation of bone precursor cells." It took five years before the patent was approved.

Jan. 5, 2004 — Ann Arbor-based Velcura Therapeutics Inc. today was to announce the appointment of three new experts to the company's scientific advisory board. They are Julie Glowacki, Ph.D., professor in the department of orthopedic surgery and professor in the department of oral-maxillofacial surgery at the Harvard University school of medicine; John Lowe, M.D., professor in the department of pathology and Warner Lambert/Parke-Davis professor in the department of medicine at the University of Michigan; and W. Stratford May, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Shands Cancer Center and Harry F. Innes professor of cancer research at the University of Florida. The company is developing new and better ways to treat osteoporosis and other bone disorders. Glowacki's research examines the function of engineered joints, the molecular mechanism by which damaged bone initiates cartilage formation, and mechanisms by which steroid therapies increase bone mass. Lowe's work centers on the molecular control of protein modification events in inflammation and disease. May's research centers on protein signaling in cancer and other diseases.

Nov. 19, 2003 — Ann Arbor-based Velcura Therapeutics Inc. Tuesday named Daniel Chagnovich as senior scientist in bioinformatics. Chagnovich most recently worked at Pfizer's global research and development center in Ann Arbor as a scientist in the molecular technologies group, where he spent two years in bioinformatics support for cardiovascular and proteomic research. He has extensive experience evaluating the human genome using bioinformatics tools, and has identified novel genes — one of which is in the patent application portfolio at Pfizer. Additionally, he developed bioinformatics tools to accelerate drug discovery that were used globally at Pfizer. Chagnovich earned his bachelor's degree in Biochemistry at the University of California, Riverside. He completed his Ph.D. in 1996 at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago.