Science and Enterprise

Month: September 2010

  • Coronary Stent Gets FDA Approval

    Medical device developer Medtronic Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, said today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its Integrity coronary stent system for use in the United States. The stent system already received the CE (Conformité Européene) mark in February and is currently available in approximately 100 countries outside the United States. The company…

  • Spanish-French Team Tops Wine Bottles with New Composite

    The Spanish research institute Tecnalia, in Bizkaia (Vizcaya), has developed a new material to replace plastic and cork as stoppers for wine bottles. The project developing this new composite, called PLACOTOP, includes the companies Plásticos Urteta in Spain and Rescoll-Societé de Recherche in France, and is funded in part by the European Commission. Plastic stoppers…

  • Clinical Study Data Published on Cortical Bone Substitute

    Orthovita Inc., a developer of medical implants in Malvern, Pennsylvania, reports today that the journal Spine published data from studies of its product Cortoss, an injectable polymer composite that mimics cortical bone. The paper reports on two pilot studies of Cortoss to treat vertebral compression fractures or VCF (paid subscription required}. The paper says Cortoss…

  • NIH Awards Two Small Business Grants for Skin Disorders

    Signum Biosciences Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey received two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 grants by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, a division of the NIH, totaling over $684,000 for development of G-protein coupled receptor modulating therapeutics designed to treat common skin disorders. Phase 1 SBIR grants fund…

  • Random Number Generation for Computer Security Advances

    Computer researchers at Queen’s University Belfast in the U.K. developed a simpler and smaller way of generating random numbers, an essential property of cyber-security. Jiang Wu and Máire O’Neill of the university’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology have produced a series of circuits for generating random numbers that are up to 50 percent…

  • Contract Awarded for Radiation Countermeasure Drug

    Cleveland BioLabs Inc., a drug development company in Buffalo, New York, received a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to develop and stockpile its drug CBLB502 as a medical radiation countermeasure. The initial contract provides $14.8 million for advanced development of the drug, with later options worth $30 million for purchase of doses.…

  • GPS-Linked Training Shirt Gives Data for Runners

    A Spanish company has developed a training shirt fitted with sensors, Bluetooth transmitter, and GPS receiver to provide runners with real-time data on their performance and route, either in training or competition. The company, emxys, is a startup enterprise in Alicante, Spain, but also taking part in the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Business Incubation Centre…

  • Water Blade Technology Developed to Disable IEDs

    A device developed at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico shoots a blade of water capable of penetrating steel that helps American troops in Afghanistan disable deadly improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Sandia licensed the technology to TEAM Technologies Inc., also in Albuquerque. The company made its first shipment of some 3,000 new water…

  • Academic, Industrial Researchers Enhance Nanospring Capabilities

    Researchers at Oregon State University in Corvallis and University of Idaho in Moscow, with colleagues from GoNano Technologies also in Moscow, loaded biological molecules onto a type of nanostructure called “nanosprings” that are able to maximize surface area in chemical processes operating on a micrometer scale. The researchers found a way to attach enzymes to…

  • “Why are we copyrighting science?”

    Two researchers in psychiatry from University of Colombo in Sri Lanka criticized the practice of copyrighting measurement scales, tests, and related technologies used in their field and other disciplines, saying that the practice hinders the advance of medical science. Varuni de Silva and Raveen Hanwella published their commentary, “Why are we copyrighting science?”, in this…