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.

July 6, 2004 — ANN ARBOR, MICH., July 6, 2004 – Michael W. Long, Ph.D., the President and CEO of Velcura Therapeutics™, Inc. announced today that two outstanding Michigan life science professionals have joined the Ann Arbor biotech company that is dedicated to fighting bone disease. "The two women who have joined our team at Velcura Therapeutics are excellent representatives of the talent available here in Michigan," said Dr. Long.

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.