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News from around Western Wisconsin

Curt Manufacturing to add 20 more jobs in 2010

Leader Telegram

ALTOONA - Curt Tambornino's business has come a long way since he and his wife, Tammy, imported hitch balls from Taiwan and sold them from the trunk of a car on a sixweek swing through Wisconsin.

The Tamborninos founded Altoona-based CURT Manufacturing in 1994. What began as a trailer hitch company that imported all of its products has developed into one of the Chippewa Valley's top manufacturers.

CURT Manufacturing today has 175 employees locally and 250 company wide. As the second largest full-line trailer hitch maker in the U.S., its annual sales exceed $50 million.

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Merger with Sajan spells end of the line for MathStar

Star Tribune - Minneapolis, MN

MathStar Inc., a former Minnesota tech start-up at the center of a securities fraud lawsuit, is buying Sajan Inc. in River Falls, Wis., for an estimated $16.2 million.

The deal is expected to close by March. MathStar will buy Sajan with $6.1 million cash, about $9.1 million in stock and a $1 million loan, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will operate as Sajan going forward.

The merger appears to be the end of the road for MathStar. The defunct chipmaker, which moved to Hillsboro, Ore., several years ago, is a shell company down to one employee, Chief Executive Alex Danzberger Jr. of Minnesota, and an attractive stash of nearly $14 million in cash.

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Companies to Watch Award Winners Announced

Wisconsin Department of Commerce

MADISON - Department of Commerce (Commerce) Secretary Richard J. Leinenkugel and Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Network (WEN) State Director Gayle Kugler today announced the winners of the inaugural year of Wisconsin Companies to Watch (CTW). Companies to Watch (CTW) is a distinctive awards program developed by the Edward Lowe Foundation to honor second-stage companies that demonstrate high performance in the marketplace, exhibit innovative products, services or processes, or otherwise make their company "worth watching."

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Riding the Rail: Wisconsin Gets funding for rail system

Eau Claire (WQOW) - The Chippewa Valley is in a competition of sorts with the Coulee Region.  Only one will be included in the next phase of a high speed passenger rail project.

Both areas want to be next in line for a project that aims to connect Chicago to the Twin Cities that would take a mere five and a half hours by rail.  At times, speed would top 100mph.

Federal funding was just approved for Wisconsin break ground on the passenger rail project from Milwaukee to Madison, but a route from Madison to the Saint Paul has not been finalized.

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Featured Technology

The SMARTT Network Technologies section fosters early-stage business and technology activity in Western Wisconsin.

Sterol Metabolism Enzymes

Delaware Economic Development Center

Description of Technology: This invention is in the field of plant molecular biology. More specifically, this invention pertains to nucleic acid fragments encoding sterol metabolism enzymes in plants and seeds.

Market Potential: Conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to cholesterol is the last reaction in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway catalyzed by the microsomal enzyme 7-dehydrocholesterol-delta 7 reductase (EC 1.3.1.21). Inhibiting the last step in cholesterol biosynthesis profoundly reduces tissue and plasma cholesterol concentrations and accumulates precursors that substantially slow hepatoma growth. Inhibiting late cholesterol synthesis also hinders the growth of rapidly enlarging malignant tumors (Xu, G. et al. (1996) Hepatology 24:440-445). Analyses of the cDNA encoding the human delta 7 sterol reductase shows that this enzyme is a membrane-bound protein containing 6 to 9 putative transmembrane segments and is structurally related to plant and yeast sterol reductases. The delta 7 sterol reductase is absent from yeast. Microsomes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains heterologously expressing the human delta 7 reductase cDNA remove the C7-8 double bond in 7-dehydrocholesterol in a NADPH-dependent manner (Moebius, F. F. et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:1899-1902).

Benefits: Slows the growth pace of hepatoma and some tumors

See full description of this technology and other Bio-Agriculture technologies

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Conley, New Administrator of SMARTT Network

Caitlin Conley, the new Marketing Director at the EDC will be managing the day to day operations of the SMARTT Network.

"She (Conley) actually worked with employers on the university's online solution, so she will help the SMARTT Network become better integrated with existing services provided by our educational partners, so that our employer subscribers will receive a better overall experience."

Conley graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in Marketing Communications from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (UWRF) and was previously a Career Counselor at UWRF.

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