SRI International Digest #8, Summer 2003

Major initiatives with major impact: In recent months, SRI has advanced its client programs in pharmaceutical development, space weather research, robotics, and mobile communications -- to name just a few areas. Keep reading to learn more about our latest innovations and the value we create for clients.

IN THIS ISSUE:

BIOSCIENCES

• California Research Universities Team with SRI to Bridge Drug Development Gap
• SRI and Shanghai Decrease Cost of Preclinical Drug Development
• Advanced Modeling Systems for Liver Toxicity Explored

HOMELAND SECURITY

• SRI Technology Improves Battlefield Communications

COMPUTING SCIENCES

• New Cognitive Computing Research for DARPA
• Team of Robots "Invades" LinuxWorld

SPACE STUDIES

• SRI Building First-of-a-Kind Movable Radar for Space Weather Research

SPIN-OFFS

• SpanLink Acquires Discern Communications

AWARDS, EVENTS, SRI IN THE NEWS

• Taiwan Group Learns SRI's Methods for Value Creation
• SRI CEO to Speak at "Silicon Valley 4.0" Conference
• Higher Learning Magazine Chronicles TRAILS
• Meet SRI Researchers

BIOSCIENCES

California Research Universities Team with SRI to Bridge Drug Development Gap: Five world-leading California research organizations have joined forces to accelerate the translation of breakthrough new drugs from discovery into clinical use. Led by SRI, the PharmaSTART consortium offers drug development and consultation services to help translate the vast unrealized research investments in new molecular targets made by California-based universities, research institutes, and small biotech companies into potentially life-saving drugs. Read the SRI press release and visit the PharmaSTART website.

SRI and Shanghai Decrease Cost of Preclinical Drug Development: SRI will outsource portions of its preclinical research to the National Shanghai Center for New Drug Safety Evaluation and Research. The agreement will provide SRI and its customers with qualified drug development services at reduced costs. Read the SRI press release.

Advanced Modeling Systems for Liver Toxicity Explored: SRI has been awarded an exploratory/developmental R33 grant by the National Cancer Institute to develop innovative in vitro assays using hepatobiliary (liver) cell systems. The assays will be developed to identify toxicological profiles and predict safety of potential therapeutics for cancer and other diseases. SRI researchers believe their approach can lead to better-informed predictions on the nature and severity of liver damage in humans. Read the SRI press release.

HOMELAND SECURITY

SRI Technology Improves Battlefield Communications: Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T), the Army's next-generation communications system, integrates a high-speed, high-capacity communications network to provide battlefield situational awareness, giving commanders new abilities to synchronize combat forces. SRI is responsible for modeling and simulation of the WIN-T architecture and system design as part of the Lockheed Martin-led team, one of two competing for a 2005 production contract award. For more information, visit Lockheed Martin's WIN-T website.

Read more about SRI's homeland defense and national security capabilities.

COMPUTING SCIENCES

New Cognitive Computing Research for DARPA: SRI is leading development of new software that could revolutionize how computers support decision-makers. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), under its Perceptive Assistant that Learns (PAL) program, has awarded SRI $22 million for the first phase of a five-year contract to develop an enduring personalized cognitive assistant. DARPA expects the PAL program to generate innovative ideas that result in new science, new and fundamental approaches to current problems, and new technology of significant value to the military. SRI is leading a team of 20 research organizations in the effort. Read the SRI press release.

Team of Robots "Invades" LinuxWorld: Centibots are SRI's mobile robots that communicate with each other to explore, map, and survey the interior of an unknown building structure. They were recently demonstrated at LinuxWorld 2003. Centibots are designed to augment the situational awareness of human teams in situations that could pose a threat, such as a hostage situation. Read the San Francisco Chronicle's article.

SPACE STUDIES

SRI Building First-of-a-Kind Movable Radar for Space Weather Research: The National Science Foundation has awarded SRI a four-year grant to lead the development of the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR), a modular, movable radar facility. The radar will be constructed in two stages over the next four years at a total cost of $44M. Students from around the world will use the radar to conduct studies of the rapidly changing upper atmosphere and to observe space weather events. Read the SRI press release.

SPIN-OFFS

Spanlink Acquires Discern: Spanlink Communications, Inc., a contact center solution provider headquartered in Minneapolis, has completed its acquisition of Discern Communications, an SRI spin-off company. Spanlink delivers solutions for contact centers, incorporating customer interaction products, unified resource management products and professional services. Discern provides natural language technology, allowing customer service and support centers to provide precise answers to customer inquiries over the web, email and phone without human intervention. Discern's technology is based on a 10-year, $25 million investment by SRI and the U.S. government. Spanlink will retain Discern's product development team in Menlo Park, CA. Visit the Spanlink website.

AWARDS, EVENTS, SRI IN THE NEWS

Taiwan Group Learns SRI's Methods for Value Creation: The Institute for Information Industry (III), founded by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs to increase that country's worldwide competitiveness, recently completed an "SRI University" workshop in Taipei. A team of SRI leaders and consultants led leadership-level participants through the course, which is based on SRI's best practices for turning good ideas into real, high-impact value.

SRI CEO to Speak at "Silicon Valley 4.0" Conference: Nano, wireless, biotech, software...where's the world headed? SRI's Dr. Curt Carlson will speak at Silicon Valley 4.0, the Churchill Club's first all-day conference. Dr. Carlson will join well-known VCs on the panel "What's Hot in 4.0?" on October 7 at 2:30 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.siliconvalley4.com.

Higher Learning Magazine Chronicles TRAILS: In the TRAILS project, SRI leads an effort to help undergrads develop high-quality educational software for K-12 education.

Meet SRI Researchers: In this issue, meet Juan Orduna, a biologist in SRI's Drug Efficacy Program and Diane Walter, a senior research engineer performing optical detection and developing optical materials.

ABOUT SRI INTERNATIONAL
Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946 and independent since 1970, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for more than 55 years. The nonprofit research institute performs contract research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses and nonprofit foundations. Visit our website.

CONTACT US
For information on working with SRI, contact bizdev@sri.com.

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