SRI International Digest #11, Spring 2004

Greetings from SRI International! We have spun off two exciting new companies that are bringing some of our advances to the marketplace. We also have news for you in health, education, and homeland security technologies, too. Keep reading to learn more about our initiatives with major impact.

IN THIS ISSUE:

MEET SRI'S NEW SPIN-OFF COMPANY
-- Artificial Muscle, Inc.

HEALTH AND MEDICINE
-- MetaCyc Aids Basic Research and Genome Analysis through Visualization of Metabolic Pathways
-- What's the Cost-Effectiveness of Smoking Cessation Treatments?
-- SRI Acquires Assets of Drug Discovery Company Ceretek

EDUCATION
-- Science Teachers' Reasoning and Problem-Solving Skills Studied

HOMELAND SECURITY AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
-- From the Cold War to Today, a Legacy of Important Contributions

SRI NEWS, PEOPLE AND EVENTS
-- Artificial Muscle, Inc. in the News
-- Meet Osamu Karatsu, SRI Japan's Director of Business Development
-- Meet SRI at Upcoming Events

MEET SRI'S NEW SPIN-OFF COMPANY

Artificial Muscle, Inc.
SRI has launched Artificial Muscle Incorporated (AMI), which will develop and market components made of electroactive polymer “artificial muscle,” a smart material developed and patented by SRI researchers over the past 12 years. AMI has secured $2.5 million in Series A financing from Vanguard Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners and NGEN Partners. An additional $5 million in Series A funding will follow later this year upon completion of certain milestones.

SRI has granted AMI a broad license for application of the artificial muscle technology, which can be used as a lightweight, highly efficient alternative to small motors, actuators, pumps, solenoids, speakers, sensors, and generators used in virtually any product from audio speakers to air conditioners to
automobiles. For more information, read the SRI press release and visit www.artificialmuscle.com.

HEALTH AND MEDICINE

MetaCyc Aids Basic Research and Genome Analysis through Visualization of Metabolic Pathways
SRI has received a three-year NIH grant to expand development of MetaCyc metabolic pathway database. MetaCyc is a collaboration between SRI and the Carnegie Institution, Department of Plant Biology. It serves as a readily accessible source of up-to-date, literature-curated information on metabolic pathways and enzymes. The information is used by researchers for basic research and genome analysis, and by students and teachers for educational purposes. MetaCyc can be used by scientists to visualize metabolic pathways from more than 230 organisms. For more information, read the SRI press release or visit www.metacyc.org.

What's the Cost-Effectiveness of Smoking Cessation Treatments?
In its March 2004 issue, The American Journal of Managed Care published recent findings by SRI’s Center for Health Sciences and the Group Health Cooperative (in Washington) on the cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation treatments. Their findings show that treatments involving 150-mg doses of the smoking cessation drug Zyban (bupropion SR) combined with phone or mail counseling were about 30% more cost-effective than treatments based on a 300-mg dose in combination with similar counseling. Read the article.

SRI Acquires Drug Discovery Assets of Ceretek
SRI recently acquired the intellectual property assets of drug discovery company Ceretek, LLC, of Alameda, California. The assets include rights to know-how and pending patent applications for endothelial differentiation gene (Edg) receptors 1 through 7 and their uses in cancer, inflammation and other diseases.

Ceretek has also transferred to SRI its proprietary cell lines incorporating chimeric Edg receptors for screening purposes, its lead compounds, and screening equipment. SRI's Biosciences Division will pursue further optimization and preclinical development of several Ceretek leads, and will develop a grant-based discovery research program around the Edg receptors' roles in cancer and immunosuppression.

EDUCATION

Science Teachers' Reasoning and Problem-Solving Skills Studied
SRI's Center for Technology in Learning has received a $1.35 million, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study high school life sciences teachers' instructional decision-making and problem-solving processes. The project is funded by the NSF's Teacher Professional Continuum program, which strives to improve, through informed research, the quality and coherence of teachers' learning experiences. For more information, read the SRI press release and visit the Center for Technology in Learning.

HOMELAND SECURITY AND NATIONAL DEFENSE

From the Cold War to Today, a Legacy of Important Contributions
As part of our mission, SRI is helping the U.S. government meet imperative homeland security and national defense needs. Technologies and programs developed at SRI play important roles in U.S. military and civilian efforts to combat terrorism, both at home and abroad -- from mapping systems for air combat training used during the Cold War to speech-enabled translation software deployed during the recent crisis in Iraq. For more information, visit www.sri.com/focus_areas/defense.html.

SRI NEWS, PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Artificial Muscle, Inc. in the News
The San Jose Mercury News ran an article on May 19 about this new SRI spin-off company. In its June edition, IEEE Spectrum features SRI's work in electroactive polymers, the technology underlying the AMI spin-off:

Meet Osamu Karatsu, SRI Japan's Director of Business Development
Osamu Karatsu introduces SRI's capabilities to Japanese industries and government agencies. Read more about Osamu.

Meet SRI at Upcoming Events

SRI will exhibit at the following government/industry events:

* Innovative Technologies in Homeland Security Conference and Expo, July 12-15, San Diego (Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate).

* Naval-Industry R&D Partnership Conference, August 3-6, Washington, D.C.. More information

* Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Network Centric Operations: Ground, Air Sea and Space, September 21-23, Atlantic City. More information

SRI's Biosciences team will exhibit at the following events:

* Society For Neuroscience - Annual Meeting, October 23-27, San Diego.

* American College of Toxicology - Annual Meeting, November 7-9, Palm Springs. More information

* American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists - Annual Meeting, November 7-11, Baltimore.

More SRI news can be found at http://www.sri.com/

ABOUT SRI INTERNATIONAL
Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946 and independent since 1970, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for more than 55 years. The nonprofit research institute performs contract research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses and nonprofit foundations. Visit our website at http://www.sri.com.

CONTACT US
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