Science and Enterprise

Category: Joint ventures/collaborations

  • Technology in Development to Ease Diabetes Glucose Testing

    A team of engineers and clinicians in Arizona are developing a new device for diabetics that can make glucose testing easier and less painful. The technology involves taking samples of tear fluid rather than blood, and results from a joint project of engineering faculty from Arizona State University in Tempe and clinicians at the Mayo…

  • U.K., Indian Spin Offs to Partner on Drug Discovery

    InhibOx Ltd. in Oxford, U.K. and COSMIC Discoveries in Hyderabad, India, signed a partnership to offer drug discovery services combining their computational, medicinal, and synthetic chemistry capabilities. Both companies are spin-off enterprises of academic or research institutions — Oxford University and the Institute of Life Sciences, respectively. InhibOx provides computational drug discovery services, and has…

  • Companies to Develop Renewable Chemistry Demo Facility

    Genomatica, a developer of chemicals from renewable feedstocks, and Tate & Lyle, a provider of ingredients to the food and beverage industries signed an agreement for the demonstration-scale production of Genomatica’s Bio-BDO. The facility will be part of a Tate & Lyle plant in Decatur, Illinois expected to begin fermentations in the second quarter of…

  • Solar/Thermal Power Alternative Being Developed for Soldiers

    A new type of personal power pack in development by six universities in the U.K. could reduce the weight troops carry when engaged on the battlefield. The solar and thermoelectric-powered system aims to weigh up to fifty per cent less than conventional chemical battery packs used by British infantry. The two-year project is being developed…

  • Russian, U.S. Scientists Develop Online Agricultural Maps

    A team of researchers from Russia and the U.S. have developed AgroAtlas, an online resource of agricultural and geographic data for Russia and surrounding countries. The publicly available collection, with downloadable tools to analyze the data, is a joint project of Russian universities and institutes, and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, with funding from the…

  • Agencies Use Robotics to Test Chemicals for Toxicity

    National Institutes of Health (NIH) today unveiled a new robotic screening system that will test 10,000 different chemicals for potential toxicity. The system is a result of a collaboration among several federal agencies known as Tox21. The  system is located at NIH’s Chemical Genomics Center in Rockville, Maryland. Tox21 is a joint effort started in…

  • Evotec to Partner with HHMI, Harvard on Diabetes Drugs

    Evotec AG, a biotechnology company in Hamburg, Germany announced today a research collaboration with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), in Chevy Chase, Maryland to discover and develop new diabetes treatments. The partnership aims to identify and develop physiological mechanisms and targets that regulate beta cell replication. Beta cells are…

  • Cheap, Disposable Endoscope Microcamera Developed

    Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) in Berlin and sensor manufacturer Awaiba GmbH in Nuremberg, Germany have developed a microcamera for endoscopes that provides sharp images, but can be made cheaply enough to be disposable. Endoscopes are instruments to examine the interior of body cavities and organs, and have made possible…

  • Monsanto, Biofuels Company to Research Algae Agriculture

    Agricultural chemicals maker Monsanto Company in St. Louis, Missouri and Sapphire Energy Inc. in San Diego, California signed a multi-year agreement to use Sapphire’s algae-based research platform for the discovery of genes applicable to agriculture. Sapphire Energy’s current work involves synthetic biology to produce replacement fuels for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from algae. Under…

  • New Balloon Catheter Reduces Cardiac Surgery Invasiveness

    A team of materials scientists, engineers, and physicians has successfully integrated stretchable electronics technology with standard balloon catheters now used inside the heart. The researchers from several universities and a company commercializing the technology, published their findings in the current online issue of the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription required). Catheters are long, flexible tubes…