Flexible Workspace Pioneer, Spaces, Signs Lease at Gebhardt Building

Lease at Gebhardt Building
Madison, WI (September 10, 2018) – Gebhardt Development announced today that Spaces, the pioneer in creative co-working offerings, has signed a lease for 34,000 square feet in the newly constructed Gebhardt Building located at 811 E. Washington Avenue in Madison. This lease brings the project to 100% occupancy.

The Gebhardt Building is an 8-story mixed-use development reflecting a modern, contemporary industrial aesthetic and totaling nearly 170,000 square feet. The office component of the project is co-anchored by Spaces and Google. The building also boasts a 2,500-person, 45,000 square foot music venue called the Sylvee by Frank Productions and a 7,300 square foot brew pub by Vintage Brewing. The project has multiple outdoor gathering options including rooftop patios and an adjacent street level pocket park and plaza. Ample use of floor to ceiling glass showcases views of the Capitol and lakes afforded by this central Isthmus location.

Spaces, which is set to open in the Gebhardt Building in early 2019, has been specifically designed to meet the needs of a variety of business models and growth stages by offering a wide range of creative, flexible workspace options. The company leased floors 3, 4 and 5 of the building and plans to open their doors in 2019. Spaces was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) and Gebhardt Development was represented by Key Commercial Real Estate.

“Madison is emerging as a major Midwest technology hub and is consistently ranked as a top small city for fostering talent across the board. It was a natural location choice as we continue our U.S. expansion and the Gebhardt Building proved to be an ideal spot for our debut into the city,” said Michael Berretta, Vice President of Network Development for IWG, which owns Spaces. “It is one of Madison’s most unique collaborative buildings, situated in a vibrant and diverse district.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about rental space can contact Spaces at 1-844-6-SPACES or visit

Nancy Maloy joins NGL as Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary

Madison, Wis. (September 10, 2018) – National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL), a mutual insurance company located in Madison, Wis., announced the appointment of Nancy Maloy as Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary. Maloy will oversee all actuarial activities for NGL, including business development, pricing, valuation, forecasting and liability management.

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Frank Gumina named Chief Legal Officer at WPS

Contact:

Tom Enwright

(608) 977-7165

thomas.enwright@wpsic.com

Frank Gumina named Chief Legal Officer at WPS

MADISON, Wis.—Sept. 6, 2018—Frank Gumina is the new Chief Legal Officer at WPS Health Solutions. He succeeds Dan Schwandt, who was named Chief of Staff while continuing his role as Chief Governance Officer.

Prior to joining WPS, Gumina worked in the private practice of law for over 27 years serving corporate clients in a vast array of legal matters with particular focus in the health care market. For a number of years, Gumina held an executive management position in one of Wisconsin’s largest law firms and, prior to joining WPS, was a partner at Husch Blackwell in Milwaukee.

Gumina is a graduate of the Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee. He has been a guest presenter at the State Bar of Wisconsin and Marquette University Law School and School of Business.

He serves on the Board of Directors for Tomorrow’s Children, a Wisconsin-based residential care center for children. He is also a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, Defense Research Institute, Society for Human Resources Management, and State Bar of Wisconsin (Health Law and Labor/Employment Sections).

About WPS Health Solutions

WPS Health Solutions is a nationally regarded government contractor and a leading Wisconsin not-for-profit health insurer. The WPS Health Insurance division offers affordable health plans and benefits administration. The WPS Government Health Administrators division administers Part A and B Medicare benefits for millions of seniors in multiple states, and the WPS Military and Veterans Health division serves millions more members who are active in the U.S. military, veterans and their families. In 2018, the international Ethisphere® Institute named WPS one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® for the ninth straight year. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.

31st Annual Heat’s On Project Seeks Dane County Veteran Homeowners to Receive Free Furnace Maintenance

For Immediate Release:

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Contact: Julie Walsh, Julie.Walsh@mechanicalindustries.org

Phone: 608-288-1414

31st Annual Heat’s On Project Seeks Dane County Veteran Homeowners to Receive Free Furnace Maintenance

MADISON, WI – Madison Area Mechanical & Sheet Metal Contractors Association (MSC) and Steamfitters Local 601 will host the 31st Annual Heat’s On event on Saturday, October 13, 2018. Over 60 area steamfitters will volunteer a day of labor to inspect and service heating systems in qualified veterans’ homes. Trucks and equipment used for the day are donated by local union heating contractors, and replacement parts are donated by area suppliers. Heat’s On is seeking requests for veteran homeowners in Dane County area to receive free furnace maintenance during this year’s event.

“Giving back to the community and helping to protect our veterans who have fought and protected us is an honor and a privilege,” says Paul Christensen, Owner of 1901, Inc., a heating, cooling, and plumbing contractor in Madison. “Heat’s On is one of our favorite days at the office. I’m proud of our team who volunteer their time to make sure our veterans are safe for the upcoming winter.”

Criteria to receive free maintenance:

Veteran home owner, or surviving spouse
Dane County Resident
Gas Furnace
If you are a veteran home owner, or a surviving spouse of a veteran, and are interested in having Heat’s On come check your furnace, contact one of these sponsoring organizations by September 28 to be considered for free furnace maintenance:

Dane County Veteran Service Office (CVSO), phone: 608-266-4158
Madison VA Hospital – Patient Education Resource Center, phone: 608-280-2031
Homeowners who do not meet the criteria, but would like to have their heating systems serviced, can contact the MSC office at 608-288-1414 for a union contractor referral.

Heat’s On has been serving Dane County residents since 1987, and have performed maintenance services on over 2,500 furnaces. The purpose of Heat’s On is to reduce the occurrence of residents going without heat or facing other life-threatening emergencies associated with home heating systems.

“Lack of maintenance and dirty filters can shorten the life of a furnace,” says Brad Werlein, President of General Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., a commercial and residential heating and cooling contractor in Madison. “Something this simple can save not only hundreds of dollars in fuel costs, but it can save a life as we experienced during last year’s event.”

Last year, Heat’s On replaced the furnace of a World War II veteran who had been taken to the hospital twice with carbon monoxide poisoning. The leak in the furnace that was causing the poisoning was discovered and fixed by Heat’s On.

About MSC:

MSC is a non-profit contractor association representing union contractors in the heating, piping, air conditioning, and sheet metal industry. Their members are dedicated professionals who provide high-quality, cost efficient products and services with a commitment to safety.

About Steamfitters Local 601:

Steamfitters Local 601 is comprised of approximately 2,400 members, and represents a 14-county area in southeastern Wisconsin. While the majority of membership is comprised of Steamfitters and Refrigeration/Service Fitters, they also represent other classifications such as gas distribution, helpers, and welders. Their members work on a variety of jobsites including residential and commercial heating and cooling systems, breweries, and power plants.

Participating MSC Contractors (Madison):

1901, Inc. (formerly H&H Industries), Owner Paul Christensen, phone: 608-273-3434
All Comfort Services, President Kendall Richards, phone: 608-838-7300
Commercial Air, Service Manager Tami Schultz, phone: 608-221-8886
General Heating & Air Conditioning, Labor Manager Mike Polster, phone: 608-271-3900
Participating Supply Houses:

Design Air, Branch Manager Barb Verbitsky, phone: 608-226-0344
First Supply, Sales Manager Scott Stritzke, phone: 608-222-7799
Gustave A. Larson, Store Manager Aaron Demuth, phone: 608-628-0209
Industrial Control, Owner Mike Stoffel, phone: 608-273-1717
Johnston Supply, Owner Dan Kunze, phone: 608-223-1499
Temperature Systems, Sales & Refrigeration, Roy Kempfer, phone: 608-327-2345
For more information, please contact Julie Walsh, Madison Area Mechanical & Sheet Metal Contractors Association at 608-2881414 or julie.walsh@mechanicalindustries.org

Earlier Autism Diagnosis Possible for Some Children Based on Metabolic Biomarkers in Blood, New Research Shows

Blood, New Research Shows
MADISON, Wis.–Metabolic signatures in the blood of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may lead to earlier diagnosis of the condition for some children, according to newly published research. These biochemical signatures provide insight into how the body metabolizes certain amino acids important to typical neurodevelopment. Children with these metabolic signatures are placed into metabolic subtypes, or metabotypes, that are highly associated with an ASD diagnosis.

The new findings appear online today in Biological Psychiatry in a publication entitled “Amino acid dysregulation metabotypes: potential biomarkers for diagnosis and individualized treatment for subtypes of autism spectrum disorder.” David G. Amaral, Ph.D., of the University of California – Davis MIND Institute, and scientists from NeuroPointDX, a division of Stemina Biomarker Discovery, Inc., of Madison, Wisconsin, authored the publication, which is the first resulting from the Children’s Autism Metabolome Project (CAMP), the largest study of the metabolism of children with ASD.

Autism spectrum disorder is made up of a diverse set of neurodevelopmental disorders that arise from differences in underlying genetic, metabolic, and environmental factors, resulting in a spectrum of cognitive, behavioral, and biological profiles. ASD is marked by communication, behavioral, and social difficulties. No reliable, objective biomarkers have existed to aid in the diagnosis of ASD, which is currently diagnosed based on the behavioral characteristics exhibited by an affected child.

While a diagnosis is possible in children as young as 24 months, the average age of ASD diagnosis in the United States is over four years. Early diagnosis is important because intensive behavioral therapy has been shown to improve the symptoms of autism; the benefit of such intervention is greater the earlier it is started.

“Using a metabolomics approach to detect ASD risk holds substantial promise for the identification of objective ASD biomarkers because metabolism is sensitive to interactions among the genome, gastrointestinal microbiome, diet, and environmental factors that all contribute to an individual’s unique metabolic signature,” said Elizabeth Donley, NeuroPointDX Chief Executive Officer, a co-author of the publication. “Metabolic testing can provide important biochemical signatures that help identify disruptions in biological processes that underlie an individual’s ASD.”

Past studies have been too small to reliably detect these metabolic dysregulations and characterize them into metabotypes. To test for metabolic imbalances that could reveal metabotypes and potential diagnostic biomarkers of ASD, the researchers conducted CAMP, a large-scale, eight-site study that recruited 1,100 children (ages 18 months to 48 months) with clinically confirmed ASD, developmental delay, or typical development. Prior research by this team and others, as well as preliminary analysis of the CAMP samples, suggested analysis of amino acid dysregulation might be a useful approach to identifying unique metabotypes with potential to serve as objective biomarkers of ASD.

When scientists at NeuroPointDX compared plasma metabolites from 516 children with ASD with those from 164 age-matched, typically developing children from the CAMP study, they were able to stratify the ASD children into subpopulations based on shared metabolic signatures. Imbalances in glutamine, glycine, and ornithine with lowered branched chain amino acids (BCAA: leucine, isoleucine, and valine) identified three ASD-associated Amino Acid Dysregulation Metabotypes (AADM). These three AADMs together were present in 16.7% of the CAMP ASD subjects and were detectable with a specificity of 96.3% and an accuracy (PPV) of 93.5%.

“It is unlikely that a single marker will detect all autism,” said lead author Dr. Amaral. “This paper demonstrates that alterations in metabolic profiles can detect sizable subsets of individuals with autism. The hope is that we will be able to generate a panel of biomarkers that will detect a large proportion of people at risk. Moreover, this approach highlights metabolic pathways that may be targets for therapeutic intervention.

“One of the major goals of the MIND Institute is the development of early biological markers for detecting the risk of autism spectrum disorder,” Dr. Amaral continued. “It would have been difficult for the MIND Institute to carry out the CAMP study on its own. CAMP is an excellent example of an academic/corporate partnership that has the promise of benefitting the autism community.”

“A reliable set of biological markers to detect increased risk for autism would improve accurate identification and reduce the impact on people with the condition,” said Thomas W. Frazier, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Autism Speaks, who was not involved in the study. “The metabolomics approach in this paper reflects a rational approach not only to detection but also to developing targeted treatments.”

“One of the critical and currently unmet clinical and research needs in the field of autism is a reliable early biological marker,” said Geraldine Dawson, PhD, FAPA, FAPS, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director, Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, who was not involved in the study. “The sooner families can receive information that their child is at high risk for autism, the sooner they can begin effective behavioral or other therapies. The research in this paper is an important milestone towards establishing metabolomics biomarkers of autism.”

NeuroPointDX continues to analyze the CAMP study samples to identify additional metabotypes that will be diagnostic for other subsets of children with ASD. By combining such ASD-associated metabotypes into a diagnostic panel, it should be possible to develop an objective blood test that enables a substantial percentage of children at risk for ASD to be identified at a very early age, when therapeutic intervention can provide the greatest benefit.

Funding for the CAMP study was provided by a grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, and the Robert E. and Donna Landreth Family Fund.

About NeuroPointDX and its parent company, Stemina Biomarker Discovery

NeuroPointDX is a division of Stemina Biomarker Discovery, which was founded in 2007 and is located in Madison, Wisconsin. Stemina operates its business in two divisions: NeuroPointDX, focused on diagnosis and more precise treatment of neurological disorders; and Stemina, focused on screening chemicals and compounds for their potential to cause birth defects if a woman is exposed during pregnancy.

Visit NeuroPointDX at http://neuropointdx.com

Visit Stemina at http://www.stemina.com

Contacts

NeuroPointDX & Stemina Biomarker Discovery

Elizabeth Donley, 608-577-9209

CEO

info@neuropointdx.com

Or

For Media:

Bioscribe, Inc.

Nicole Litchfield, 415-793-6468

nicole@bioscribe.com

Or

Joan Kureczka, 415-821-2413

Joan@bioscribe.com