Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge-based biotech company founded by Harvard aging researcher David Sinclair, had a paper published in Nature this week describing their discovery of a molecule that boost insulin sensitivity in obese mice, making it a drug candidate for type II diabetes. It did this by activating a protein called SIRT1, acting in a similar way to resveratrol (found in red wine). Sinclair has gotten a lot of publicity for touting resveratrol which mimics the anti-aging effects of calorie restriction in lab animals. The company says this new drug candidate is more potent then resveratrol. According to Nature News, the company plans on testing the molecule in humans early next year.

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Lots of stem cell news lately. Monkey embryos have been “cloned”:https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v450/n7169/abs/nature06357.html and stem cells produced. Both “mouse”:https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7151/abs/nature05934.html and now “human”:https://www.cell.com/content/article/abstract?uid=PIIS0092867407014717&feed=CELL skin cells have been reprogrammed to revert to an embryonic stem cell-like state after having four new genes inserted. It was only a matter of time before some of Boston’s stem cell heavyweights started their own company.

David Scadden of MGH and Len Zon of Children’s Hospital are two of the scientific founders of “Fate Therapeutics”:https://www.fatetherapeutics.com, which is focused on adult stem cell reprogramming. Their goal, according to their website, is to use small molecule drugs (not genetic manipulation) to coax adult stem cells into regenerating and repairing tissue in vivo. According to the “Globe”:https://www.boston.com/news/health/blog/2007/11/a_cast_of_heavy.html, the company, which is based in Seattle, plans on opening up offices in the Boston area and in California.

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Governor Patrick’s much talked about $1 billion life sciences bill has stalled on Beacon Hill, but top legislators are “promising action by the middle of February, 2008”:https://www.xconomy.com/2007/11/29/ma-legislators-promise-action-on-billion-dollar-biotech-bill/. Stay tuned on that one.

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And some sad and disturbing news. The body of a Harvard undergraduate student was found late last night in the New Research Building on the Harvard Medical School campus. The “Harvard Crimson”:https://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521042 is reporting that John B. Edwards was a sophomore doing stem cell research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Cause of death hasn’t been determined yet.