GENEVA, Switzerland, December 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Merck Serono Will Fund a US$2 Million Initiative to Drive Treatments for Parkinson's Disease-Related Cognitive Dysfunction and Mood Disorders

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, is supporting the US$2-million commitment of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) for research toward therapies to alleviate Parkinson's disease (PD)-related cognitive dysfunction and mood disorders. The funding is to be awarded under a new initiative, Cognitive Deficits and Mood Disorders in Parkinson's Disease.

LEEDS, England, December 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Teva UK Limited has announced plans to expand and strengthen its supply chain warehouse and logistic centre, and at the same time relocate its UK head office to new premises.

The company is planning to move its head office to Glasshoughton in West Yorkshire, at the junction of the M62 and A1 trunk roads, by the end of next year. The move will put the company's main logistics centre, as well as over 150 head office staff, in a brand-new expanded site that has a capacity no less than five times bigger than the firm's existing site near Leeds.

MALVERN, Pennsylvania, December 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Solstice Neurosciences, Inc. Launches a Self-Guided Lesson as Prep for In-Person Workshops

In recognition that physician comfort and knowledge with techniques around botulinum toxin injections lead to the best results for patients with cervical dystonia (CD), Solstice Neurosciences, Inc. (Solstice) has created MYOBLOC(TM) University, an online, self-study resource that incorporates new learning technology. The course integrates multi-dimensional, life-like animation throughout the content -- with anatomy based on real patients with CD and actual injection technique demonstrations with Myobloc(R) (Botulinum Toxin Type B) Injectable Solution. The course can be accessed at www.myoblocuniversity.com.

LONDON, December 13 /PRNewswire/ --

Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), a leading European technical university. According to the agreement, Qualcomm now owns certain intellectual property rights directed to signal processing and will provide a research grant to EPFL. The research grant will enable EPFL to continue its pioneering research and work with Qualcomm to generate research ideas that can ultimately lead to commercial products.

SAN FRANCISCO, December 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Synosia Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Antony Blanc, Ph.D., as the company's new chief business officer, effective immediately.

Dr Blanc, who will serve as head of Synosia's office in Basel, Switzerland, joins from Syngenta, where he created and led the biopharmaceuticals business unit. A molecular biologist by training and an experienced biotech entrepreneur, Dr. Blanc helped biotech and pharma clients with R&D, commercial and strategy issues as associate partner with the business consultants McKinsey & Company.

BASINGSTOKE, England and PHILADELPHIA, December 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY, TSX: SHQ), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announces its Board succession plans. Dr James H Cavanaugh (age 70) will retire as Non-Executive Chairman; Matthew Emmens (56) will succeed him as Non-Executive Chairman. Angus Russell (51) will be appointed Chief Executive.

These Board changes will become effective at Shire's AGM in June 2008. Also, at that time, David Kappler will be appointed as Deputy Chairman in addition to his existing role as Senior Independent Director. These appointments have the unanimous support of the Directors.

GENEVA, Switzerland, December 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Trial Will Evaluate Safety and Efficacy of Atacicept in Lupus Nephritis and is Intended to Support Marketing Authorizations

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, and its partner ZymoGenetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZGEN) announced today the initiation of a Phase II/III clinical trial of atacicept in lupus nephritis, a severe form of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The kidneys are affected in at least 30% of the estimated 1.5 million people suffering from SLE worldwide. This study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of atacicept for the treatment of patients with active lupus nephritis.

When the Nobel Committee awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to former US Vice President Al Gore, Jr. and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) part of their rationale was

Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth’s resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world’s most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.

Gene flow from genetically modified crop plants to their wild relatives will have little overall impact on human health or the environment, predicts a team of researchers in a report released today by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.

Gene flow -- the movement of genes from one plant population to another -- has always occurred naturally but has drawn particular attention during the past 10 years, as genetically modified crop plants have moved into commercial production.

"Regulatory requirements and market standards that are specific to crops developed using biotechnology have resulted in much closer monitoring of gene flow than has been done in the past," said plant scientist Kent Bradford, a co-author of the report and director of UC Davis' Seed Biotechnology Cen

Researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a shape-memory rubber that may enable applications as diverse as biomedical implants, conformal face-masks, self-sealing sutures, and “smart” labels.

The material, described in the journal Advanced Materials, forms a new class of shape-memory polymers, which are materials that can be stretched to a new shape and will stay in that form until heated, at which time they revert to their initial shape.

Unlike conventional shape-memory polymers, however, the new material is transparent, rubbery, and most importantly, engineers will be able to control the speed at which it returns to its original shape.