Each student individually writes and submits a 500 word paper describing the technology and the reasons for the choice. The teams are listed below.

Details:

1) Find a biotech company whose biotechnology impresses you with its scientific strategy or techniques. Do not choose a company based on its ability to develop a particular individual drug, no matter how important the disease it may be targeting. We are focusing here on biotechnology and not drugs and disease. For instance, companies that focus on manufacturing problems rather than drug discovery would be highly appropriate; as would companies that develop general drug discovery methods; or companies that service the research community, if they have developed a novel and useful process. Choose a company that you would like to work for, invest in, or follow. Use the Internet: Google, PubMed, Nature Biotechnology, or other biotechnology journals etc. to search. A sample company description from the past can be found here.

2) Submit a written version of your description (all text), ~500 words. The homework grade will be based on your rationale for choosing your company and on the written description, but not on any oral presentation, if given. You should NOT include any information about any factors other than biotechnology that may make your company attractive (i.e., there should be NO mention of location, capitalization, management, market, mission); that is, we are focusing here on the biotechnology per se, and your 500 words should be used to focus on that aspect of the company only. Here are list of some companies NOT allowed:

NOT allowed (without permission via a good argument):
Amgen
Biogen/Idec
Genentech
Glaxo
Illumina
Lilly
Merck
Pfizer
Sanofi
Wyeth
Any other huge established pharma/biotech company.

Do NOT use a company technology that has already been discussed in the lectures. Your job is to "discover" a different company.

If your company has already been chosen by another team you will have to make another choice.
You can search for "lists of biotechnology companies" and variations on such words on Google, Wikipedia, etc. Warning: Your description should be a reasoned critical description, not just a rephrasing of a Public Relations blurb from the company Web site. The methodology should make sense.

Each student individually writes and submits a 500 word paper descr...