NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., today announced the approval of the first 13 human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines for use in NIH-funded research under the NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research adopted in July 2009.

Entire NIH press release here.

Hundreds of business leaders gathered in Miami to discuss how to nurture the emerging biotech sector of Florida’s economy.

Biotechnology research is on the rise in Florida, but the state needs to lure venture capital away from other well-known tech corridors, like Boston, Austin, Texas and the Silicon Valley in order to become an industry powerhouse.

A huge crowd greeted the Max Planck Florida Institute presentation at the Miami Chamber last year. According to this Miami Herald report, 500 attended the event his year.

It’s a given that Scripps is now a magnet for biotech expansion in Florida. Less realized is that the Scripps move alerted all venture capitalists — not just biotech investors but high tech, software and clean energy players — that there’s more to Florida’s entrepreneurial potential than meets the eye.

Digital Domain is bringing a $50 million, 150,000 square-foot animation studio to Port St. Lucie. You can expect solid job prospects for students of Full Sail in Orlando, for starters. Chances are, few of PSL’s current population will be immediately getting jobs as high-end 3D animators, but the city’s future is likely to be better because of this investment. Read the entire story here.

An FDA-approved clinical trial is the first to show that treating patients with adult stem cells after a heart attack is safe and that it appears to repair damaged heart tissue. Results of the study are published in the December 8 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Read the entire UM release here.

Palm Beach County fared well in a study that calculated the cost of running a bioscience business in 35 metro areas in the U.S. and Canada. Costs are for operating a 60,000-square-foot facility with 150 workers.

$4.5 million per year separates the most expensive market, New York/Nassau County from #23, Palm Beach County. That’s a 20% difference. Now more than ever, that’s enough to make or break a deal. Read the entire article at the Palm Beach Post

The bottom line? Don’t label tourism as a second-class economic citizen just because Florida’s trying to build more momentum for higher-end industries. There’s room (if not subsidies) for both. Encouraging all industries to prosper just makes good common sense.

Economic Development is not an either/or proposition and the different industrial sectors should not be publicly feuding. Instead, they must band together to lobby Tallahassee and make sure Peter isn’t robbed to pay Paul. Read the entire story at the St. Pete Times.

… research was among nearly 100 posters on display November 18 and 19 at the second annual Technology Showcase at the Four Seasons Miami. The brainchild of Bart Chernow, M.D., MACP, vice provost of technology advancement and professor of medicine, the showcase is designed to match researchers with investors, accelerating the process of moving groundbreaking discoveries from University labs to the marketplace. University-wide, the technologies range from aerodynamics and power generation to allergies and immunology and have more than doubled since Chernow’s arrival in 2007.

Read the entire UM press release here.

To the untrained eye, Pollard Farms looks much like any other cattle ranch. Similar looking cows are huddled in similar looking pens. But some of the cattle here don’t just resemble each other. They are literally identical — clear down to their genes.

Read this popular press story here.