Ann Arbor

Rain barrels all the rage with Huron River Watershed Council

By Newsroom

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September 16, 2009

Every little bit counts. That's the new mantra for the Huron River Watershed Council when it comes to rain barrels. The non-profit is selling 500 discounted rain barrels this fall as a way to help keep water runoff in local gardens and out of local sewers, lakes and rivers. When distributed, the 60-gallon rain barrels are expected to catch up to 30,000 gallons of rain water during each rain fall. Rain barrels store this water and slowly release it into local gardens and plant life. Otherwise this excess water would normally run through yards into sewers and then end up in waterways unfiltered, taking pollutants like fertilizer, oil and dog poop with it. Even though this 30,000 gallons is just a literal drop in the bucket, it and other similar acts can add up in the big picture."To address the threats against the Huron River we need a lot of these little actions," says Laura Rubin, executive director of the Huron River Watershed Council.Local residents will be able to pre-pay for up to 10 rain barrels and pick them up on Oct.25 between 1-5 p.m. at Huron High School. The rain barrels will cost $95 each, a significant discount from the retail price. More information is available here.Source: Laura Rubin, executive director of the Huron River Watershed CouncilWriter: Jon Zemke

WCC answers parking problem with alt transportation

By Newsroom

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Development News

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September 16, 2009

Washtenaw Community College is dealing with its highest enrollment ever, which means the commuter campus is experiencing its greatest demand for parking (and lack of supply) ever.Most other Midwest institutions would conclude they need to build more parking. Well Washtenaw Community College is dealing with the acute parking shortage by asking its students to take the vehicle less traveled to – alternative transportation."We still have a parking problem but we're redoubling efforts to alleviate the problem," says Janet Hawkins, director of public relations and marketing for Washtenaw Community College.Those efforts include encouraging more bicycling to class, car pooling and bus service. The college has sold 1,100 $10 bus passes to students and faculty. The passes allow them to park at a parking lot near Eastern Michigan University's Rynerson Stadium and bus to the college's campus between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.College officials are also trying to reschedule some classes to alleviate the student traffic at peak times of the day between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. They are also reminding students that the college is hooked into the Border to Border Trail and the campus features numerous bike racks."Bicycling is a wonderful alternative because we have great paths," Hawkins says.Source: Janet Hawkins, director of public relations and marketing for Washtenaw Community CollegeWriter: Jon Zemke

Cerenis Therapeutics staff jumps 25%, plans to hire more

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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September 16, 2009

Cerenis Therapuetics is splitting time between Ann Arbor and France in more ways than one. The drug development company is based in France, but has a twin office in Ann Arbor. The 4-year-old firm's 26 employees are evenly split between the two locations, and its staff is up 25 percent. Ten of those employees are ex-Pfizer talent, including eight in Ann Arbor. The company's founders got their start at Esperion before starting Cerenis Therapuetics."The drugs we are working on now are all aimed at improving HDL production, even developing a synthetic HDL that could help prevent recurring heart attacks," says Bill Brinkerhoff, COO of Cerenis Therapeutics.If successful, that would be the first synthetic HDL available. The so-called good choloresterol would even be able to rapidly remove dangerous plaque from heart tissue. Cerenis Therapeutics is looking at continuing clinical trails for the near term and potentially commercializing the product by 2015.Source: Bill Brinkerhof, COO with Cerenis TherapeuticsWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor’s Freestride nails down start-up funding

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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September 16, 2009

Most drugs being developed in the Ann Arbor area have human implications. Freestride Therapeutics is turning that idea on its head by repurposing a human drug stalled in development for animals.The downtown Ann Arbor-based company began developing the drug for veterinary therapies in August. The drug relieves and even prevents shin pain for racing horses. It even has implications for companion animals like dogs and cats suffering from arthritis."It's painful for the horses," says David Olson, CEO of Freestride Therapeutics. "There is no FDA approved treatment for preventing this."Olson and his two partners, Michael Long and Noura Bashshar, plan to continue clinical trails for the next couple of years before receiving for FDA approval. The start-up also received a few thousand dollars from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund to continue its research.Source: David Olson, CEO of Freestride TherapeuticsWriter: Jon Zemke

Spending on U-M research hits $1 billion for 1st time

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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September 16, 2009

The University of Michigan has hit the $1 billion mark for research funding this year for the first time.Research spending is up 9.4 percent over last year for a total of $1.02 billion. About two thirds of that money comes from federal funding, which is also up 7.1 percent from the previous year. These numbers cement U-M as one of the premier economic engines in Metro Detroit, Michigan and even the Midwest region."That number ($1 billion) represents hundreds of faculty and students who are very entrepreneurial," says Marvin Parnes, associated vice president of research for the University of Michigan. The U-M has been focusing more of its resources toward creating entrepreneurial opportunities. For instance, it has helped launch 49 start-ups spun off from the university's research over the last five years. About 70 percent of them are still in Michigan. "The University of Michigan is one of the largest and most productive research institutions in the world," Parnes says. "There are only a handful of institutions who spend that much on research within a year."Source: Marvin Parnes, associated vice president of research for the University of Michigan.Writer: Jon Zemke

Dataspace branches out into cloud software, plans to hire

By Newsroom

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General

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September 16, 2009

Most businesses have more information about their products than they know, let alone know what to do with it. Leveraging that valuable information is where Dataspace comes in.The Ann Arbor-based company specializes in not just tabulating the number of sales, but also the best way to take advantage of them. That could mean determining what products sold best, who the firm's best customers are or why they are so profitable."The vice president doesn't care about the hamburger sold today," says Ben Taub, CEO of Dataspace. "He cares about how many hamburgers he sold and what the trend is."That information allows businesses to tweak their plans and maximize profits. The idea is derived from the data warehousing (i.e. business intelligence) concept from the early 1990s.The 15-year-old company wants to take it a step further from its software applications and break it into cloud computing. The idea is to make the delivery and execution of these systems more efficient and tailored to the customer. Right now Dataspace is working with PhDs at Central Michigan University to develop such applications for the likes of hospitals so they can project patient numbers and plan accordingly.Dataspace employs 10 people and expects to add anywhere between 2-6 people within the next year as it continues to grow.Source: Ben Taub, CEO of DataspaceWriter: Jon Zemke

Zingerman’s starts 8th biz, Candy Manufactory

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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September 16, 2009

Zingerman's latest venture, Candy Manufactory, is reminiscent of Willy Wonka in more than just name.The latest member of the Zingerman's family of businesses specializes in making old-fashioned candy through traditional methods, methods that have gotten lost in today's industrial agriculture culture. "We're playing with sugar," says Charlie Frank, managing partner of Zingerman's Candy Manufactory. "We're doing things the way they should be done. The way they were done a long time ago."That includes making fudge on a slab and cooking nugette. Right now it's Frank and one employee sharing space with the Zingerman's Bakehouse on Ann Arbor's south side. Frank expects to hire another 5-6 people within the next year. He wants to expand to 100 repeating wholesale customers from the current 80 plus he has today to accomplish this."We'd like to be known across the country," Frank says.This is Zingerman's 8th spin-off. The Ann Arbor institution started as a deli in the Kerrytown neighborhood in 1982 by Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig. It has since grown to a whole community of businesses, including a creamery, bake house and customer service. Source: Charlie Frank, managing partner of Zingerman's Candy ManufactoryWriter: Jon Zemke

College friends work to turn Art Binaire into FT jobs

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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September 16, 2009

Art Binaire isn't a full-time gig for Goran Bankovic and Nenad Milosavljevic... yet.The two friends met while taking classes at Washtenaw County Community College earlier this decade. They wanted to start their own business together, and got that chance a year ago with Art Binaire.The web development firm based out of Ann Arbor focuses on creating and tweaking websites for local firms. They have been able to develop a reputation and some customer base, but they hope to really gain traction this year."We want to establish steady revenue," Bankovic says.Once they are able to do that, they want to begin bringing on interns next year. Right now they can also bring in independent contractors to help them handle their work.Source: Goran Bankovic, co-owner of Art BinaireWriter: Jon Zemke

Aastrom Biosciences hires 5 people in Ann Arbor

By Newsroom

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Education

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September 16, 2009

Aastrom Biosciences was spinning off from the University of Michigan before it was the en vogue thing to do in Michigan.The Ann Arbor-based company spun off of U-M research 20 years ago and is now a publicly traded company with 45 employees and a couple of interns. It also hired five people within the last year and expects to add more as it seeks funding for its research projects."A lot of our hiring has been on the clinical operations side," says George Dunbar, CEO for Aastrom Biosciences.Right now the company, based near Dominoes Farms, is working on a unique for of stem cell research. The new technology would take stem cells from the patient, grow them and then give them back to the patient to help fight disease."The hope is we can resist or retard some diseases like congested heart failure," Dunbar says.Aastrom Biosciences also has a couple of promising research programs on hold it hopes to restart this year with new funding. They include treatment for spinal cord injuries and repairing broken bones that are not easily healed.Source: George Dunbar, CEO for Aastrom BiosciencesWriter: Jon Zemke

How To Be An Ann Arborvore

By Nicole Rupersberg

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Arts & Culture

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September 16, 2009

Want to go native but don't know how? Concentrate offers you an inside guide to eating and drinking local. It shrinks your carbon footprint, supports the local economy and tastes a heckuva lot better than produce from half way around the world. Come on, all the cool kids are going locavore.