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Kinda Nerdy: More from AbSciCon 2017 Here In Mesa

Daily news  04 May 2017   

Resurrected gene allows time travel to an Earth before oxygen

By Bob Holmes in Mesa, Arizona

Source: New Scientist

A resurrected gene, brought back from the dead in the lab, is allowing molecular biologists to travel billions of years into the past to study one of the most significant transitions in Earth’s history.
About 2.5 billion years ago, oxygen began to build up in Earth’s previously anoxic atmosphere as a result of photosynthesis by cyanobacteria and other microbes. This Great Oxygenation Event must have caused an ecological upheaval, because oxygen is such a reactive molecule.

To understand more about this key point in evolution, evolutionary biologist Betül Kacar at Harvard University decided to reconstruct the ancient form of rubisco, the key enzyme in photosynthesis that converts carbon dioxide into the precursors of sugars. Rubisco has been called the most abundant protein on Earth, and its history dates back to the dawn of photosynthesis more than 3 billion years ago.

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Kacar and her team compared rubisco gene sequences from modern organisms to infer what the sequence must have been in their common ancestor. By doing that repeatedly, she says, “we can walk back down the branches of the evolutionary tree”.

Rubisco changed much more quickly around the time of the Great Oxygenation than it did either before or after it, Kacar said last week at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Mesa, Arizona.

This rapid change must have been driven by the need to adapt to the presence of oxygen, she suggests. The modern rubisco molecule has to be selective because it encounters both oxygen and carbon dioxide, but even so it sometimes goes after the wrong gas. Rubisco from before the Great Oxygenation might have been more lax because it encountered oxygen so infrequently.
Kacar’s team has now synthesised the gene sequences to make the ancient rubisco and is using CRISPR gene-editing technology to insert them into cyanobacteria. The modified bacteria, they hope, will then produce a form of rubisco molecule not seen on Earth for billions of years. “Earth’s past is alive, in a way,” says Kacar.
The team can then compare the functions of the ancient proteins and their modern relatives, to see whether the enzyme did indeed become more selective during the Great Oxygenation Event. The technique adds a new dimension to studies of the past that cannot be gleaned from the geological record, says Kacar.
“What makes Betül’s work really exciting is that she’s actually using these sequences to reconstruct the protein in the laboratory,” says Roger Summons, a geobiologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The biggest insights, Summons adds, may come from features of the ancient protein that come as a surprise. “It’s about what you might learn that you can’t even anticipate at this point,” he says.

More articles by the same author:

Synthetic genes can make weird new proteins that actually work

New Scientist-May 3, 2017

By Bob Holmes in Mesa, Arizona. Novel proteins, created from scratch with no particular design in mind, can sometimes do the work of a natural protein

Who Pays The Most? Career Tracks For Interns: Big Tech Companies

These big tech companies pay their interns the most

Posted yesterday by John Mannes (@JohnMannes)

. . . perhaps the biggest perk of some of America’s best internships is the pay.

According to Glassdoor’s Local Pay Reports, the median annual salary for a full-time U.S. worker is currently $51,350. However, if interns at these companies worked a full 12 months, their salaries would range from about $96,000 at Facebook (#1) to about $55,000 at Bank of America (#25), much higher than what the average full-time American worker earns. Whoa!

Read more >> including information and data from https://laborstats.az.gov/

Valley Metro and City of Mesa - Community Celebration

Valley Metro and City of Mesa - Community Celebration

Date: May 6, 2017

Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM MST

Event Description:

Free Food, Family-Friendly Activities, and Raffle Prizes.

Valley Metro and the City of Mesa is hosting a community celebration to help promote the businesses along the Gilbert Road Extension (the current light rail extension construction project on Main Street between Mesa Drive and Gilbert.   

THE MONROE BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN PHOENIX SOLD TO VIAWEST VENTURE FOR $29.82 MILLION

Phoenix – Continuing with its strategy to purchase and reposition value-added properties in the Valley, a joint venture formed by ViaWest Properties LLC in Phoenix (Gary Linhart, Steven Schwarz, principals) paid $29.82 million ($116.72 per foot) to buy The Monroe Building located in downtown Phoenix. The 255,477-square-foot office project, located at 111 W. Monroe Street, was acquired by ViaWest and GEM Realty Capital Inc. in Chicago Ill. (Barry Malkin, Norman Geller, Michael Elrad, co-founders). 
Read more Go here > BREW AZ 

The 18-story structure was sold by RREF II-PE Tower LLC, a venture formed by Rialto Capital Advisors LLC in Miami, Fla. (Jeffrey Krasnoff, CEO), and Ironline Partners LLC in Phoenix (Bob Karber, Tim O’Neil, Olen Petznick, Earl Petznick, principals) and Valley investor John Graham.
The deal was brokered by Chris Toci and Chad Littell of Cushman & Wakefield in Phoenix, and Michael Crystal of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank in Phoenix.
The office space is roughly 50 percent occupied. Crystal, who has been leasing the project for the previous owner, says there are leases are out for signature that will increase the occupancy level to about 65 percent.
The property, which covers almost a full city block, was developed in 1964.
Maricopa County records show GVW 111 Monroe Owner LLC (GEM/ViaWest entity) acquired the property with a $33.81 million loan issued by TH Commercial Mortgage LLC, a division of Two Harbors Investment Corp. in New York City, N.Y. (NYSE:TWO).
The new owners have hired Bryan Taute, Kevin Calihan, Tim Watters and Charlie von Arentschildt of CBRE in Phoenix to take over the leasing assignment.
In April 2014, BREW reported the Rialto/Ironline joint venture paying $22 million ($86.11 per foot) to purchase The Monroe Building.
After acquiring the property three years ago, the project was renovated to attract a more diverse group of tenants to complement traditional government and legal office users in downtown Phoenix. Adding move-in ready creative office suites, first floor service retail restaurants and shops and upgrades to the building’s infrastructure have drawn high-growth, innovative and technology-oriented businesses.
The Monroe Building has been described as a “tech hub” and is positioned to keep luring tenants like Integrate Inc., a software developer that relocated from Scottsdale last year and now leases the top floor of the property.
While the Rialto/Ironline venture decided to sell the 111 W. Monroe Street office, Ironline Partners is already reinvesting in the area.

• The group of Valley investors is under contract to buy the historic Ellis Building, which is located at 125 N. 2^nd Avenue and completes the city block that includes the Monroe Building.
• O’Neil of Ironline Partners credits Christine Mackay, Economic Development Director with the City of Phoenix, with helping to bring a new wave of tenants to downtown Phoenix. Over the past few years, ViaWest has been involved in more than $300 million of real estate acquisitions and developments in the Phoenix area. Many of the deals have involved ViaWest buying, repositioning and selling office and industrial projects in the Valley.
• Last week, BREW reported ViaWest completing a $27.65 million ($223.28 per foot) sale of a 123,864-square-foot office project occupied by Amazon that is located on a ground-lease within the Arizona State University Research Park in Tempe.
• In 2011, BREW reported GEM Realty Capital part of a venture that paid $60 million ($109.71 per foot) to buy 546,872 sq. ft. of office buildings within the Pima Center business park on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. GEM Realty Capital, which invests in private-market real estate assets and publicly-traded real estate securities, sold about half of the Pima Center project in 2014.

Learn more from Linhart and Schwarz at (602) 957-8300. Barrie Bloom is the contact at GEM Realty Capital . . . call her at (312) 915-5518.

Talk to O’Neil at (602) 315-8275.

Reach the Cushman & Wakefield agents at (602) 253-7900. Crystal is at (602) 952-3878.The CBRE agents are at (602) 735-5555.

Noted In Passing: Pete Garcia

Valley leaders mourn passing of community leader Pete Garcia

Steven TottenReporterPhoenix Business Journal

Phoenix Business Journal

May 4, 2017, 3:04pm MST

Valley community leader Pete Garcia died May 4.

Garcia was best known for his work with Chicanos Por La Causa, the largest nonprofit community organization in Arizona. He first joined the organization as economic development specialist, then returned to lead the organization as president and CEO from 1984 to 2008.

 

During his tenure, Garcia brought the organization’s asset base from $15 million to more than $155 million and established CPLC Esperanza Latino Teacher Awards, the only Latino teachers award in the Southwest.

“Pete’s selfless commitment to the community, amplified by his love for all people, will profoundly impact the lives of countless individuals for generations to come,” said David Adame, current president and CEO of CPLC.

Garcia had also worked for Valle del Sol and started the The Victoria Foundation, the first community foundation that focused on the Latino/a community.

“Arizona lost a giant of our community this week. Pete Garcia, a past president of Chicanos por La Causa, had a profound influence on our state, and especially its Latino communities. His life was devoted to making Arizona a better place for all Arizonans," said Gonzalo de la Melena Jr., Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president and CEO.

 

"On behalf of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the countless people whose lives were touched and improved by his efforts, we extend our deepest condolences to Pete’s family and friends, and every Arizonan who is better off today because of community service.”In 2005, Garcia was one of 25 leaders throughout the nation recognized by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in Washington, D.C for his contribution to community development and commitment to disadvantaged populations.

In 2007, he received the National Hispanic Heritage Hall of Fame Award for Leadership from the National Hispanic American Educational Fund and the Raul Yzaguirre Community Leadership Award from Valle del Sol.

In 2008, Garcia was selected as one of 10 recipients of the AARP “Inspire Award.”

In 2009, he received the Arizona State University Medal of Excellence.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                             

Enterprise Investors 2017: Meet The 100 Best Venture Capitalists In The World

Midas 2017: Meet The 100 Best Venture Capitalists In The World:  Goetz Remains on Top . . . Meeker First Woman

Forbes, in partnership with TrueBridge Capital Partners, has released the 2017 edition of the The Midas List, which ranks the top 100 venture capitalists.

Apr 18, 2017 @ 09:45 AM 53,846 

Alex Konrad   Forbes Staff 

Enterprise investors are having a moment in 2017.
From AppDynamics' shock $3.7 billion acquisition by Cisco before it could go public in January to IPOs from Nutanix, MuleSoft, Okta and Twilio, it's never been a better time to bank on the predictability of software-as-a-service revenue. Just ask newcomer John Vrionis of Lightspeed Venture Partners, or his colleague Ravi Mhatre and Bessemer Venture Partners' Byron Deeter, both returnees after an absence from the list. Top 20

https://www.forbes.com/pictures/58f0ec8c31358e58f07a6f27/2017-midas-list-the-top-2/

And while firms such as Sequoia, Benchmark, Greylock and Accel continue to score multiple members on the list, new firms are starting to break out. Floodgate's Mike Maples Jr. is joined this year by his partner, Ann Miura-Ko. General Catalyst is fielding three list members, as is Lightspeed. Then there are investors like Theresia Gouw and Kirsten Green, who lead a Midas class of more women than ever before, and both of whom left mainstream investment careers to launch their own firms.

It's a Midas List with nine newcomers and six returnees, twelve billionaires, ten China-focused investors and standards that raise the bar higher than ever before. Look closely and you'll see a new guard of VCs emerging alongside the names already baked into Silicon Valley lore.

See the full 2017 Midas List here. 


Methodology:
With hundreds of funds considered across even more partners and thousands of deals, it's never been tougher to crack the Midas List. Forbes and TrueBridge Capital Partners collect data from publicly available sources as well as through many direct submissions from the firms themselves. Midas provides a five-year look-back at a partner's portfolio, with exits by IPO or acquisition of $200 million or more and private holdings that raised money at valuations of $400 million or more over that time period (with a discount for the unrealized return). Midas' formula favors earlier, bigger bets that return high multiples on an investor's initial money, though a string of later successes can still make a Midas portfolio. (More information can be found at our submission page for Midas here.)
For 2017, the average top 10 list members had 12 such companies to their name; the last 10 members had an average of 7. Across the entire list, the typical Midas Lister for 2017 scored 9 eligible portfolio companies.
Follow along on social: #ForbesMidas

Follow Alex on Forbes, Twitter and Facebook for more coverage of startups, enterprise software and venture capital.