Xconomy National

Bruce V. Bigelow

Bruce Bigelow joins Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.

Recent posts and comments

Applied Proteomics, Co-Founded by Danny Hillis, Gets New CEO, $22.5M

Applied Proteomics hasn’t exactly been operating in stealth mode since it was founded five years ago. Co-founders David Agus, a cancer specialist at USC, and Danny Hillis, the MIT-trained computer... Read more »
San Diego Tech Roundup: Web Startups Heat Up, New Incubator Opens

We’re starting to see fresh signs of life among the Internet software startups in San Diego. Check out this news.

—During a visit last week, TechStars CEO David Cohen talked with the leaders... Read more »
San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Amylin, Optimer, and the Economy

—San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals says Bydureon, its new once-a-week drug for treating Type 2 diabetes can hit the market as early as next month, after the FDA cleared Bydureon. The FDA... Read more »
7 Lessons from TechStars’ David Cohen on Building a Startup Culture

When it comes to tech startups—especially in Internet software and app development—San Diego has been adrift in the horse latitudes. That’s the term Spanish mariners had for the waters where the... Read more »
San Diego Life Sciences Strengthened in Recession, Outpacing Nation

Employment in San Diego’s life sciences sector grew by 15 percent over the past two years, as biopharmas, medical device companies, and other employers added roughly 5,550 jobs here—raising employment in... Read more »
San Diego’s New Downtown Incubator Opens Doors to Internet Startups

After previewing its expansion plans last summer, San Diego’s EvoNexus, the free startup incubator established by the non-profit technology group CommNexus, has opened a newly renovated downtown office space. A dozen early... Read more »
StockTwits Expands Services Through Alliance, Hints of More to Come

San Diego’s StockTwits is developing a bit of a Canadian accent, eh, through a partnership being announced today with Toronto-based Q4 Web Systems, which provides online investor relations services for publicly traded companies throughout... Read more »
Sigma Partners Leads $10M Venture Round in San Diego’s MOGL

San Diego’s MOGL, a Web-based customer loyalty and rewards program for restaurants and bars, says it has raised $10 million in venture funding to fuel its expansion into San Francisco, New... Read more »
San Diego Tech Roundup: Qualcomm, TechStars, Apps Challenge & More

—Peter Clarke of EE Times reported that San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) has acquired Andover, MA-based Pixtronix, a startup founded in 2005 to develop Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) display technology. Qualcomm, which... Read more »
2012 Venture Outlook: Some Bright Spots and Some Gloom

It’s that outlook time of year, and Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), was in San Diego earlier this week, talking about the 2012 outlook for venture... Read more »
J&J’s Janssen Launches $250,000 Challenge to Improve Transition Care

Janssen Healthcare Innovation, part of Johnson & Johnson’s reconstituted R&D operation in San Diego, is announcing an incentive prize challenge with awards totaling $250,000 for technology solutions that improve care for... Read more »
San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Illumina, Sequenom, Acutus, & More

The unsolicited $5.7 billion offer that Roche made for Illumina will no doubt dominate San Diego’s biotech news for weeks to come. We have it and more.

—Switzerland’s Roche offered $5.7 billion,... Read more »
EarthRisk Figures Odds in Long-Range Forecasts of “Extreme Weather”

If you were in the business of supplying heating oil in the Northeast, do you think it would be useful to know if a big winter snowstorm is likely to arrive with... Read more »
San Diego Tech Roundup: Venture Capital, Tealium, Qualcomm, & More

—Venture capitalists invested $269 million in 23 deals in the San Diego area during the last three months of 2011, according to the MoneyTree Report from the National Venture... Read more »
In Life Sciences Partnerships, You Must be Smart from the Beginning

As early stage biotech startups advance their drug candidates into pre-clinical development, many must decide at some point whether to start working with a big pharmaceutical or biotech partner to continue to... Read more »
San Diego VC Activity at Ebb Tide in 2011 and Top 10 Local Deals

Money pumped into San Diego’s regional economy by venture capital firms hit an eight-year low in 2011, with a total of $829 million invested in 104 startups throughout the year, according to... Read more »
SD Life Sciences News: Auspex, BrainCells, and J&J’s Startup Center

Here’s our weekly roundup of San Diego’s life sciences news.

—Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), briefed reporters in San Diego on his... Read more »
FDA’s Shuren Makes West Coast Swing, Talks About Regulatory Reform

Since he set out last year to revamp the way the FDA reviews medical devices, Jeff Shuren of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has often met with... Read more »
Commenting on: SOPA-PIPA Protests Blossom Across the Country

Bruce said: Here’s a related FYI: Network security researcher Aryeh Gorestky of San Diego-based ESET suggests that cyber criminals could manipulate search engine... Read more »
SG Biofuels Raises $17M in Move Toward Agricultural Production

San Diego’s SG Biofuels, an agricultural biotech developing the Jatropha plant to produce biofuels, says today it has raised $17 million in a Series B round of financing led by Thomas, McNerney... Read more »