Category: New products
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Grants Awarded for Biomass Research and Development
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy have awarded a new series of grants for research on the production of biofuels and related bio-based products from a variety of biomass sources. The eight project awards — four recipients in the private sector and four university or federal lab projects — total $47 million. Funding is…
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Neural Network Simulates Human Schizophrenia Symptoms
A research team from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and University of Texas in Austin developed a simulation of schizophrenia using a computer network model. Their findings appear in the April issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry (paid subscription required). The researchers used a virtual computer model called a neural network to simulate the…
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New Technology Promises Faster Drug Candidate Testing
Scientists at the Universities of Toronto, Stanford, and Columbia have developed a technology called mass cytometry that measures the action and function of candidate prescription drugs faster and on a larger scale. The team’s findings appear this week in the journal Science (paid subscription required). Mass cytometry enables the measurement of up to 100 biomarkers…
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Antibody-Based Biosensor Aids Environmental Cleanups
Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in Gloucester Point have built and tested an aquatic sensor device that uses antibodies to detect marine pollutants. The developers of the device published their test results that appear today in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (paid subscription required). The research team that built the…
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Grant Awarded for New Technology to Develop Polio Vaccine
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded University of Central Florida in Orlando a grant to develop a tablet-based vaccine for polio using a new technology that promises to make vaccines faster, safer, and less expensive. The $761,302 two-year grant will fund research by UCF biotechnology professor Henry Daniell (pictured left). Most vaccines are…
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Researchers, Designer Develop Lighter Sound-Absorbing Fabric
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (French acronym EMPA), along with a silk weaving company and textile designer, have developed lightweight, translucent curtain materials that absorb room noise. The Swiss textile maker Weisbrod-Zürrer AG and designer Annette Douglas were part of the team. Sound absorbing surfaces that decrease sound wave…
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Clinical Trial: Glass Nanofibers Aid Wound Healing
A trial of super-thin glass fibers show the fibers helped heal venous stasis wounds in eight of 12 patients who had not responded to other treatments. Results of the small-scale early trial appear in the May issue of the American Ceramic Society’s Bulletin magazine. The fibrous glass material (pictured left) is produced by Mo-Sci Corporation…
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UV Device Kills Computer Keyboard Bacteria
Environmental tests at University of Hertfordshire in the U.K. support claims that a device for killing bacteria on computer keyboards works as advertised. The university’s Biodet lab tested the Germ Genie made by Falcon Innovations in High Wycombe, U.K., and reported the results at recent industry and academic meetings. The results of the university’s tests…
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Electronic Field Guide Created in iPhone App
Columbia University in New York, the University of Maryland in College Park, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. have created a tree identification guide called Leafsnap that operates as a smartphone app. The guide is available free of charge for the Apple iPhone; Android and iPad versions are planned for later this year. This…
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Genes Associated with Glaucoma Identified
Researchers in Australia and the U.K. have identified two genes associated with open-angle glaucoma (OAG), the most common form of the disease that can lead to blindness. The team’s findings are published online this week in the journal, Nature Genetics. The researchers tested some 4,500 patients in Australia and New Zealand, including 590 individuals with…