TransPharm has given me some wonderful opportunities over the last 4 years. At the state level, we were recognized as one of the Top 50 Companies to Watch in Michigan in 2011. I was invited to a business roundtable discussion and met with Jennifer Granholm, Michigan’s outgoing Governor. I was also invited to Governor Rick Snyder’s residence in Lansing for the Moores River Drive Breakfast. Both events brought together many of the state’s business leaders and gave us a chance to meet with some of our state representatives to hear some of the new initiatives that are in the works for small business owners. At the national level, TransPharm has traveled to both the East and West Coasts and many cities in between to attend the annual ICAAC conference. This year’s event is being held in San Francisco, California. Please stop by booth 1014 and say hello.

The year 2012 promises many exciting projects for the Research and Development team here at TransPharm! One of these projects involves expanding our current models of infection to include viral models, namely Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) types 1 and 2. With the various clinical manifestations of this pathogen and its prevalence worldwide, we believe HSV is a logical entry point into the viral infection modeling realm. TransPharm is currently in the process of developing and validating both an in vitro model to detect early viral mRNA transcripts as well as an in vivo sepsis model of HSV infection. We have also laid the groundwork to explore the murine model of latency and reactivation of all herpes viruses.