Science and Enterprise

Month: December 2010

  • Univ. Develops, Licenses Nanotech Bone Injection Technology

    A bone-healing fluid that can potentially be injected into breaks with a syringe has been licensed from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island by a biotech startup for further development. The technology, still in an early stage, was developed by Brown engineering professor Thomas Webster, and licensed to Audax Medical Inc., based in Littleton, Massachusetts.…

  • Carbon Capture and Storage Offer New Green Industry for U.K.

    The United Kingdom has the capacity to develop new green industries for capturing harmful carbon dioxide emissions from industry and storing them deep underground, but more investment is needed to further develop the relevant technologies and infrastructure. These conclusions are outlined in two recent briefing papers published by the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at…

  • Trial Shows Results for Multiple Myeloma Therapy

    Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Emeryville, California says that a clinical trial of its drug carfilzomib showed a sizable percentage of patients with multiple myeloma responded to treatment and for a relatively long period of time. Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. Carfilzomib is a proteasome inhibitor that blocks the…

  • Medical Implant Coating Made from Univ. Licensed Technology

    The long-term performance of medical implant devices, like heart valves and cardiac stents, could be enhanced substantially by new bio-coating technology recently licensed to University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) spin-off company Endomimetics LLC. The patent-pending technology is a coating for implants, called bio-nanomatrix, made with a bio-engineered nanomaterial that mimics natural endothelium, the substance…

  • Engineers Reduce Radiation to Kill Pathogens on Produce

    A team of engineers with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in College Station has developed a way to cut by as much as half the amount of irradiation needed to kill 99.999 percent of salmonella, E. coli, and other pathogens on fresh produce. By packing produce in a Mylar (polyester plastic) bag filled with pure…

  • Fraunhofer USA Gets FDA Go-Ahead for H5N1 Vaccine Trial

    Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB) in Newark, Delaware says it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to proceed with the first human clinical trial of its plant-produced H5N1 influenza — avian flu — vaccine. The research institute filed an Investigational New Drug Application for its plant-derived H5N1 vaccine with…

  • Univ. Spinoff Tests Non-Chemical Device for Head Lice

    Larada Sciences, a company started by faculty at University of Utah in Salt Lake City, released results of its LouseBuster device that removes head lice and their eggs from children’s hair without pesticides or other chemicals. The company says results of the test will be published in the January 2011 issue of the Journal of…

  • Texting Service To Fight Counterfeit Malaria Drugs

    HP and African social enterprise mPedigree Network have begun a service to stop counterfeit pharmaceuticals by letting people in Nigeria and Ghana easily check the authenticity of their malaria medication. Counterfeit medicines often contain the wrong quantity of active pharmaceutical ingredients, which can result in illness or death. With the new service, patients taking a…

  • GE Demonstrates Prototype Hybrid-Battery Bus

    GE Global Research, the technology development arm of General Electric Company, says it demonstrated a prototype transit bus with a hybrid battery — “hybrid” in this case means two different battery technologies to optimize power and storage. The company says the new type of battery can help electrify other larger, heavy-duty vehicles such as delivery…

  • Academics, Company Develop High-Performance Nanotech Fiber

    Researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and MER Corporation in Tucson, Arizona have engineered a new kind of fiber that can absorb more energy than Kevlar, a fabric now woven into bulletproof vests and other industrial applications. MER — short for Materials and Electrochemical Research — Corporation develops high-tech materials, including those based on…