Category: New products
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Carnegie Institution Adds Four New Crop Databases
The Carnegie Institution of Science says its Plant Metabolic Network, based in Stanford, California, has added online databases on the biochemical pathways controlling the metabolism of corn, soybeans, wine grapes, and cassava. The new additions offer a detailed view of the chemical reactions taking place in the cells of these four commercially important crops. The…
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Trial of ALS Stem Cell Treatment Reports First Results
Researchers from the biotechnology company Neuralstem in Rockville, Maryland and three universities report that an early clinical trial of transplanted spinal cord stem cells to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) shows the 12 patients were able to tolerate the treatment without long-term complications. The team reports its findings online in the…
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Micro Lab Device Developed That Simulates Human Intestine
Biomedical engineers at Harvard University have created a miniature electronic device with living human cells that mimics the structure, physiology, and mechanics of the human intestine. The team from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering published its findings online in the journal Lab on a Chip (paid subscription required). The team led by Wyss…
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Process Developed to Convert Polyethylene into Carbon Fiber
Materials scientists at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee have developed a technology for converting polyethylene, the material used in plastic bags, into carbon fibers engineered for specific applications. The findings of Amit Naskar and colleagues from Oak Ridge and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill appear today online in the journal Advanced Materials…
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Lab-On-A-Chip Device Developed to Test for Flu Viruses
Researchers from Boston University and Harvard medical schools have devised an inexpensive, point-of-care prototype device that tests for flu strains. The team led by BU biomedical engineering professor Catherine Klapperich published its findings last week in the journal PLoS ONE. The lab test currently considered the most accurate for influenza uses a process called reverse…
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Process Developed for More Nutritional Supplement Stability
A Purdue University food scientist in West Lafayette, Indiana has develop a method for enveloping nutritional supplements to protect them from degradation. The process devised by Purdue professor Srinivas Janaswamy and former student Susanne Youngren, now at University of Hawaii in Hilo, appeared online earlier this month in the journal Food & Function (paid subscription…
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Nanoscale DNA Sequencing Process Developed
Physicists at University of Washington in Seattle and microbiologists from University of Alabama at Birmingham have developed a sensor with the ability to read the sequence of DNA one strand at a time. A description of their research, with implications for inexpensive DNA sequencing and personalized medicine, appears in this week’s issue of the journal…
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Robot Jellyfish Runs on Hydrogen, Oxygen in Water
Researchers at University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg have developed an autonomous undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on hydrogen and oxygen in the water. The team, led by Dallas engineering professor and first author Yonas Tadesse (pictured left), published its findings this week in the journal Smart Materials…
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Study Shows Increased Heat Boosts Biochar as Soil Additive
A research team at Rice University in Houston, Texas has found that heating biochar — charcoal added to topsoil to enhance plant growth — to 450 degrees Celsius increases its ability to deliver water and nutrients to the targeted crops. Their findings appear online this week in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy (paid subscription required).…
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Grants to Fund Brain-Hand Neural Connections Research
Grants from the National Science Foundation will fund research into sensory and cognitive connections between the brain and the hands that can lead to new prosthetic devices and treatments. The NSF funds totaling $640,000 will support research by Arizona State University biomedical engineering professor Marco Santello and Columbia University kinesiology professor Andrew Gordon. Santello’s research…