Biological Entrepreneurship

Someone I have researched on the biotechnological company of Genentech is Robert A. Swanson. He co-founded the company of Genentech in 1976 with Dr. Herbert Boyer, a biochemist at the University of California at San Francisco. He asked Byer about the possibility of developing biotechnology using recombinant DNA to make useful products. He served diligently as director and as CEO (chief executive officer) until February of 1990, when he became chairmen of the board, a position he rightfully claimed as his prior to his retirement in December of 1996. Because of Swanson's leadership, Genentech provided extensive dispensations that are biologically-based such as human insulin, interferons, HGH (Human Growth Hormone), and thrombolytic agents. Before forming Genentech, he was a partner with Kleiner & Perkins venture capital in San Francisco and he was also an investment officer with Citicorp. He formed the K&E Management, a private investment management firm. Swanson earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Master of Science in Management from MIT's Sloan School of Management. He was on the Committee of the Overseers' Visiting Committee of the Harvard Medical School and ministered to the /board of Fellows of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University. Also appointed to the Royal Swedish academy of Engineering Sciences. Robert Swanson conduced to numerous civic and cultural activities like being a trustee of the San Francisco Ballet, the Museum of Contemporasry Art, the San Jose Tech Center, and as chairman of the board of Nueva School.

Picture and Link
http://www.gene.com/gene/about/corporate/history/founders.html

Human Eye Lecture: Dr. Pamela Fong

Last Friday, Dr. Pamela Fong, an optometrist, came to my Biology class and talked about how to be an optometrist. She said she took in high school Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Also, she told us she took these three courses again plus microbiology and anatomy in college.



She told us about the eye in general and told us about the parts of the eye. She started with the cornea, which is the main focusing lens of the eye. Next, she told us about the iris, which is the colored part of the eye that has fibers on it that have many colors, but from afar, it looks like someone has only one color because the color that you could see from afar is just light reflecting off. Then she told us about the pupil, which lets light in and could dilate or tighten depending on the level of light. Everyone's retina is unique, which makes the eye a complex instrument in the human body. There are people who have eye defections, like myopia, a condition in the eye that makes a person only see near them, thus given the nickname "near-sighted." Another condition is hyperopia, which is the exact opposite of myopia, people with hyperopia can only see far away, thus given the nickname "far-sighted." A person who is myopic and a person who is hyperopic would have different grades of glasses because a person who is myopic has a cornea that is too strong, so an optometrist must fix a myopic person with a negative grade. For example, I am myopic, and my grade is -0.75. A person who is hyperopic would have a positive grade on their glasses. Another one is astigmatism, which is cornea aspheric.



I learned that when you cut the sheep eyes, you could see the caratoid layer, which looks black due to the preservatives put inside. I also learned the vitreous found in the eye is really hard because it is an artificial one due to the sheep having cataract.