Category: Finance

  • Grant Funds Research on Developing Corn for Warmer Climate

    A $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will fund Iowa State University researchers in Ames developing a corn variety that maintains the region’s high yields as temperatures rise. Professor Alan Myers and Tracie Hennen-Bierwagen, associate scientist, will join with colleagues from University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Florida, Gainesville on…

  • BARDA Gets SIGA Smallpox Antiviral Drug, Protest Withdrawn

    SIGA Technologies Inc. in New York says the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will acquire 1.7 million courses of SIGA’s smallpox antiviral drug ST-246. SIGA competitor Chimerix Inc. of Durham, North Carolina dropped its protest of Barda’s sole-source contract award in May to SIGA.…

  • Genentech Gets Rights, Can Buy Out Biotech Research Program

    The biotechnology company Forma Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts says it has an agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, granting Genentech exclusive rights to acquire one of Forma’s pre-clinical small molecule cancer research programs. The specific cancer target of the therapy under development is not disclosed. The agreement begins as a research collaboration…

  • White House Unveils Manufacturing Partnership, Investments

      At Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh today, President Obama launched an initiative that aims to invest in emerging technologies leading to high quality manufacturing jobs. The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) is expected to combine resources from industry, universities, and the federal government to encourage progress in information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, and other advancements…

  • Genomic Software Offers Faster Interpretations for Diagnosis

    Software developed by scientists from University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Omicia Inc. in Emeryville, California, improves the speed and ability to identify and interpret genetic variations for the diagnosis of disease. The researchers that developed the software describe their findings in the current issue of the journal Genome Research. The team led…

  • North Africa, Middle East Entrepreneurial Programs Unveiled

    Two new programs aimed at spurring innovation based on science and technology in North Africa, Middle East, and South Asia were  unveiled at a kick-off meeting in Rabat, Morocco last week. The Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) in Arlington, Virginia manages the programs, with funding from the U.S. Department of State. One of new…

  • University, Foundation Establish Translational Awards

    University of Missouri in Columbia and the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation have established a a $5 million grant agreement for projects between biomedical engineers and clinicians to take research discoveries to the marketplace. The foundation has set up similar programs with some 15 universities nationwide. The agreement calls for the Coulter Foundation to fund two-thirds…

  • Challenge Seeks Increase in Hepatitis C Treatment

    A new challenge at InnoCentive, a company that conducts challenge contests for sponsoring organizations, seeks ways to increase the treatment rate of hepatitis C in Europe. The sponsor of this challenge, with a prize of $15,000, is not disclosed. The deadline for submissions is 22 August 2011. InnoCentive says the goal of the challenge is…

  • Researchers Find New Properties in an Old Material

    Researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg have devised a way to measure and manipulate the internal structure of Nafion, a common polymer, to expand the material’s applications. The research chemists’ results are published in the 19 June issue of the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription required). Nafion was developed in the 1960s by DuPont, and…

  • Grant Funds Research on Dairy Production Efficiency

    Michigan State University in East Lansing has received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the genetics of cattle breeding to develop cows that can produce more milk on less feed. The grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture is funded under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.…