Category: Regulations
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Michigan Adds Six Embryonic Stem Cell Lines for Research
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has added six new human embryonic stem cell lines to the national registry maintained by National Institutes of Health (NIH). The action makes a total of eight lines from the university available for federally-funded research. The university says the stem cells came from couples receiving treatments at Michigan’s Center…
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New Process Speeds Multiple Sclerosis Treatment to Trial
The Myelin Repair Foundation in California says research it has sponsored has moved to clinical trial stage faster than expected due to a model that accelerates the research process. The phase 1 clinical trial, for which enrollment has begun, will test the efficacy of a treatment for multiple sclerosis that repairs myelin through a therapeutic…
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Patent Awarded for Non-Medicinal Emphysema Treatment
Aeris Therapeutics in Woburn, Massachusetts has received a patent for its lung volume reduction technology to treat emphysema with a polymer-based hydrogel. Patent number 8,198,365 was awarded earlier this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to four inventors and assigned to Aeris Therapeutics. Emphysema is a form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, often triggered…
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Glucose Regulation Shown to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Onset
Researchers at University of Colorado in Aurora and four other institutions in the U.S. have found people with pre-diabetes who regulate their blood glucose levels are less likely to develop diabetes. The findings of the team led by Leigh Perreault (pictured left) are published online in the journal The Lancet; paid subscription required. According to…
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Trial Shows Long-Term Benefit of Multiple Sclerosis Drug
The drug company Novartis today released results of a clinical trial that shows patients with multiple sclerosis taking its drug fingolimod — marketed under the name Gilenya — had fewer relapses and lower brain volume loss, including among patients who switched from a competing drug. The findings are expected to be delivered today at a…
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Grant to Fund Research on Earthquakes, Building Design
Engineers at University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and UC-Berkeley will study the impact of building construction practices, particularly the design and performance of structural walls, on resisting earthquake damage. The team led by UCLA civil and environmental engineering professor John Wallace is funded by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s…
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IVF Assessment Company Lands $18M in Venture Capital
Auxogyn Inc., in Menlo Park, California, a developer of viability tests of embryos during in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures, has raised $18 million in series B venture funds, the second round of financing after initial start-up. The financing was led by new investor SR One — the corporate venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline — and…
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EPA/NIH Challenge Seeks Air Pollution, Physiology Sensor
Two federal agencies will award a total of $160,000 for sensors that can map air pollution concentrations, but also provide the physiological responses to those pollutants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of National Institutes of Health, are sponsoring the My Air, My Health Challenge with InnoCentive,…
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Daily Bathing of Elderly Sharply Reduces MRSA Infections
A study at an Ontario geriatric facility shows the bathing each day of acute care patients with antiseptic cloths resulted in a sustained decrease in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) incidence among those patients. The team led by Heather Candon, an infection prevention and control practitioner at Baycrest, a Toronto geriatric care facility, presented its findings…
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Alcohol Consumption Indicated as Atrial Fibrillation Cause
Researchers at University of California in San Francisco have found evidence showing a causal link between alcohol consumption and atrial fibrillation, the most common form of arrhythmia or rapid heart beat. The results of the team led by medical professor Gregory Marcus were published online and will appear in the 1 August 2012 issue of…