Science and Enterprise

Month: August 2010

  • Small Business Grant Given for Recurrent Sarcoma Vaccine

    MabVax Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company in San Diego, California received a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The grant will support a Phase II clinical trial with 134 metastatic sarcoma — cancer of connective or supportive tissue — patients in a randomized, multicenter, double-blind study of a vaccine developed…

  • Battery Developer to Power NASA Lunar Robot

    Boston-Power Inc., in Westborough, Massachusetts, a developer lithium-ion batteries, says its battery systems have been selected to be part of NASA’s Project M, a project to land a working humanoid robot on the moon in 1,000 days. The company’s batteries will be part of the pack providing power for the robot, known as Robonaut 2…

  • Grant Awarded for Nicotine Vaccine

    Selecta Biosciences Inc. in Watertown, Massachusetts received a grant for $3 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of National Institutes of Health (NIH), to advance development of an enhanced vaccine to help treat nicotine addiction and aid in smoking cessation and relapse prevention. The grant will fund a candidate from Selecta’s…

  • Group to Develop Cell Therapy Industry Standards

    The International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) in Vancouver, Canada has rechartered an industry committee to develop standards for business processes that lead to late-stage clinical trials. ISCT expects larger health care and pharmaceutical companies to participate in this group. According to Ed Horwitz, M.D., President of ISCT, the group — called the ISCT Industry…

  • Venture Fund Unveiled for Michigan Life Science Startups

    A new venture capital fund in Grand Rapids, Michigan will support early-stage life science companies in the western part of that state. The Michigan Accelerator Fund 1 (MAF1) will also allocate some of its portfolio to technology startups in other fields including advanced manufacturing, alternative energy, and homeland security. MAF1 received a a $6 million…

  • Air Force Contract Awarded for Micro Vehicle Battery Research

    ADA Technologies Inc. in Littleton, Colorado received a $100,000 contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory for research on powering micro air vehicles (MAVs) — unmanned aerial vehicles that can be as small as six inches in size and allow remote observation in areas that are inaccessible to ground vehicles. ADA’s research is aimed at…

  • Georgia Tech to Offer Stem Cell Bio-manufacturing Program

    Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta has received a $3 million grant from National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop engineering methods for stem cell production, in order to meet the anticipated demand for stem cells. Stem cell research is destined to have a major impact on medical science in fields such as regenerative medicine, drug…

  • Ambient Car Lighting Aids Driver Perceptions, Functions

    Engineers at BMW in Munich, Germany and researchers from the Lighting Engineering Group at Ilmenau University of Technology in Ilmenau, Germany found ambient, rather than direct, lighting improved drivers’ perceptions of their cars’ interiors. The study, published online today in the journal, Lighting Research and Technology, found that ambient lighting has several significant positive influences…

  • FDA Fast-Tracks Treatment for Hepatitis C Infection

    Pharmasset Inc., in Princeton, New Jersey, received a fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its drug PSI-7977, developed for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. PSI-7977 is an oral nucleotide analog inhibitor of HCV. Pharmasset recently completed dosing in a Phase 2a trial to evaluate PSI-7977 in…

  • Robots to Help Children With Autism

    Interbots Inc., a spin-off company associated with the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has joined with the Autism Center of Pittsburgh to provide robot-based therapy for children with autism. The program will use a robot to test the ability of children with autism with limited or no verbal skills. Interbot’s Popchilla…