Research

Janney Capital Markets is betting on a drug-industry revival. The Philadelphia investment bank last week hired a team of dealmakers and stock analysts from bankrupt San Francisco stock-trading and research firm ThinkEquity L.L.C. to hunt for deals and profit among emerging pharmaceutical firms, medical device-makers, and biotech developers. "Philadelphia and the surrounding area is a hub for health-care companies. It provides a lot of growth product for our sales and trading team, and it's an area of investment banking where we collectively think we can compete, with the right team," said Christopher White , head of investment banking at Janney.

A post-doctoral researcher suffered minor injuries when an oxygen tank ruptured during an experiment Wednesday night at Rowan University in Glassboro. The victim, whose name and age were not released, was treated for facial cuts at the scene by medics and taken as a precaution to Kennedy Hospital in Washington Township, where she was examined and released, said Joe Cardona, the university spokesman. The tank ruptured around 8:30 in the Science Hall. Cardona said he did not know the nature of the experiment.

Linda Creed, one of the best songwriters in Philadelphia history, wrote the lyrics to "The Greatest Love of All" two weeks after a mastectomy. "The lyrics take on a completely different meaning when you realize this," said Lisa Brownstein, who founded the Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation a year after her friend's death in 1986. For example: No matter what they take from me They can't take away my dignity. Whitney Houston sang the song to the top of the charts as Creed lay dying.

Elizabeth M. Haines, 98, a former Moorestown resident and research chemist before women generally landed such jobs, died of heart failure on Nov. 8 at Medford Leas, a retirement community where she had lived for 28 years. Mrs. Haines was one of the first women to work for the DuPont Co. as a research chemist. She was descended from William Matlack, who landed in Burlington in 1677. He became a farmer and landowner with a wife and nine children. Born in a home on Moorestown's Main Street in 1914, Mrs. Haines told family she could recall the predawn procession of horse-drawn farm wagons, laden with tomatoes, en route to the Campbell Soup Co. factory in Camden.

To hear his family tell it, Irvin Gerson was a force of nature. "Everyone he met, he had an influence on," said his wife, Rosalie. "He didn't shake hands and say hello - he took over their lives. " Dr. Gerson, a longtime family practitioner, neurological researcher, and faculty member at Jefferson Medical College, died at his Bala Cynwyd home early Thursday, Oct. 18, after a brief illness. He was 93 - and, his family said, checking in at the office until the end. They said they were proud of Dr. Gerson's achievements.

In a significant departure from industry practice, GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., said it would make available to outside researchers the raw but anonymous patient data from clinical trials for drugs it has developed or discontinued, and its tuberculosis compound library. Pharmaceutical companies generally don't divulge such information, claiming that it is a proprietary secret. "As a truly global health care company, I believe we have a responsibility to do all we can at GSK to use our resources, knowledge and expertise to help tackle serious global health challenges," Glaxo chief executive Andrew Witty said in a statement.

Prostate cancer is especially tough on African Americans. They are about 50 percent more likely than white men to get the disease and twice as likely to die of it. The Prostate Cancer Foundation wants to help research institutions in Philadelphia take the lead in figuring out why, the foundation's founder and co-chair, Michael Milken, said Tuesday evening during the group's 10th annual fund-raiser in Philadelphia. Milken said he wonders, "What can we learn from this that would not only help them but will help all men on the planet?"

The photograph shows Dr. Marie Valdés-Dapena performing an autopsy. She is nine months pregnant. She is watching a clock - timing her contractions, determined to complete the job before delivering her own baby. In that picture, vividly recalled by her daughter Cris, are hints of an extraordinary life to come: a pioneer in the study of sudden infant death syndrome; a leading pediatric pathologist who was among the first to recognize what is now known as child abuse; and a working mother of 11 children in an era when few women worked and far fewer were doctors.

WASHINGTON - Cellphones using Google's Android operating system are at risk of being disabled or wiped clean of their data, including contacts, music and photos, because of a security flaw discovered several months ago but unnoticed until now. Opening a link to a website or a mobile application embedded with malicious code can trigger an attack capable of destroying the memory card in Android-equipped handsets made by Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony...

Here's a look at smartphone applications to foliate a family tree, digitize and post old family snapshots, and probe for family connections among obituaries published around the world. Ancestry , by Ancestry.com, for Android and Apple, is free - at the start. When you load Ancestry, it asks you to sign up. You'll have to decide if the family tree you'll build is public or private. Going public makes it a bit easier for possible distant relatives to find you and get in touch. To start building your tree, tap on the icons marked with your name, "Add Father," and "Add Mother" to fill in details and add photos.