Science and Enterprise

Category: New products

  • Texas Health Center Studying Newborns Strep Test

    The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is studying a faster lab test for Group B Strep (GBS), a common cause of life-threatening infections in newborns. The lab test is made by NanoLogix Inc., a biotech company in Hubbard, Ohio. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), GBS is…

  • New Process Developed for Bio-Plastic Feedstocks

    Chemical engineers at University of Massachusetts in Amherst have developed a way to produce high-volume chemical feedstocks from biomass, such as waste wood, agricultural waste and non-food energy crops. This method, that the authors say is economically competitive to current processes using fossil fuels, can produce industrial materials such as benzene, toluene, xylenes, and olefins,…

  • Institute Developing Autonomous Underwater Robots

    Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB) in Ilmenau, Germany, with colleagues at other Fraunhofer facilities, are working on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that are smaller, more robust, and less expensive than underwater robots now in use. With current technology, underwater robots need to be directed by humans, which…

  • Study Shows Drug Combo Effective as HIV Prevention

    A new study called iPrEx shows that individuals at high risk for HIV infection who took a once-a-day commercially-available tablet containing two widely used HIV medications experienced fewer HIV infections than those who received a placebo pill. The researchers say that the clinical trial, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the first…

  • Researchers Find High Temperatures Can Kill Superbug Genes

    New findings by civil engineering researchers at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis show that treating municipal wastewater solids at higher temperatures can help fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, but the growing presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — called superbugs — has raised concerns about the future effectiveness of antibiotics.…

  • Lab Adds Nanoscale Layers on Silicon for Semiconductors

    Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California (UC) Berkeley, have integrated ultra-thin layers of the semiconductor material indium arsenide onto a silicon substrate to create a nanoscale transistor with working electronic properties. Indium arsenide offers several advantages as an alternative to silicon including superior electron mobility…

  • Research Advances Paper As Electronic Display Media

    A University of Cincinnati (UC) engineering researcher in Ohio has discovered a process for displaying electronic content on paper, which expands the possibility of lower-cost, or even disposable, electronic reading devices. Current e-readers, such as the iPad or Kindle, display content with electronic circuitry over glass as their display substrates. UC electrical Engineering Professor Andrew…

  • Macular Degeneration Drug Achieves Goal in Clinical Trial

    Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Tarrytown, New York and the German pharmaceutical company Bayer HealthCare said today that all regimens of their drug VEGF Trap-Eye (aflibercept ophthalmic solution) met their primary objectives in two separate Phase 3 clinical studies of patients with the neovascular form of age-related macular degeneration, often called wet AMD. VEGF Trap-Eye is…

  • Ethanol Company to Open Demonstration Biofuels Refinery

    Algenol Biofuels Inc. in Bonita Springs, Florida says it plans to build a pilot-scale biofuels refinery adjacent to its recently opened laboratories in Fort Myers, Florida. The 36-acre facility will demonstrate Algenol’s technology, which produces ethanol directly from carbon dioxide using blue-green algae. Algenol says the Lee Road facility in Fort Myers brings together the…

  • Engineered Bacteria Process Converts Bio-Wastes to Plastics

    A Ph.D. candidate at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands has discovered a process for engineering bacteria to more efficiently convert agricultural wastes into industrial-quality plastics. Jean-Paul Meijnen presented the findings in his dissertation, which he defends at TU Delft on Monday 22 November. Lignocellulose, the complex combination of lignin and cellulose…