Science and Enterprise

Month: January 2011

  • 2010 Venture Fund Raising Drops to Seven-Year Low

    According to a report by Dow Jones LP Source, venture capital (VC) companies in 2010 raised $11.6 billion in 119 funds, a decline of 14 percent compared to the $13.5 billion raised by 133 funds in 2009, and the lowest amount raised in seven years. VCs have been among the traditional equity funders of start…

  • Hershey Grant Funds University Sensory Science Lab

    The Hershey Company in Hershey, Pennsylvania has awarded a grant to Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) University of Science and Technology for a new sensory science and consumer research laboratory. The grant of $90,000 will fund the start-up and operation of the lab for two years. The university says the sensory science and consumer research program is aligned…

  • Enviro. Engineer Recalibrates Solar Panel Placement

    An environmental engineer at University of California San Diego (UCSD) has researched the optimum placement of fixed solar panels in the U.S., and for some installations, it may mean making adjustments. UCSD environmental engineering professor Jan Kleissl computed the optimum tilt and azimuth angles for photovoltaic solar panels in the continental U.S., with his findings…

  • Danish Pharma Company Restructures, Cuts Workforce

    NeuroSearch, a biopharmaceutical company in Copenhagen, Denmark said today the company would restructure its operations to focus more on developing drugs for the central nervous system. This reorganization of the enterprise, says NeuroSearch, will lead to a 20 percent reduction in its workforce. The goal of the restructuring is to accelerate development of its lead…

  • Nanotech Helps Reduce Cancer Drug Side Effects

    Researchers at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have shown that they can use nanotechnology to deliver the cancer drug cisplatin much more effectively and safely. Cisplatin (illustrated right) has been approved by the FDA as a treatment alone for bladder and ovarian cancer, and with other therapies for a…

  • Eli Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim to Partner on Diabetes Drugs

    Pharmaceutical manufacturers Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis and Boehringer Ingelheim in Germany have agreed to jointly develop and commercialize several of their diabetes compounds in mid- and late-stage development. The total value of the deal could reach $2.37 billion. The agreement covers Boehringer Ingelheim’s two oral diabetes agents — linagliptin and BI10773 — and…

  • National Lab, University Develop Tougher, Stronger Glass

    A group of engineering and materials scientists have developed a new type of damage-tolerant metallic glass, demonstrating a strength and toughness that they say goes beyond that of any known material. The team had members from California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California.…

  • Engineering Prof. Computes Available Biofuel Crop Lands

    A detailed land analysis by researchers at University of Illinois in Champaign found that biofuel crops cultivated on available land could produce up to half of the world’s current fuel consumption, without affecting food crops or grazing land for livestock. Engineering professor Ximing Cai and two colleagues published their findings last month in the journal…

  • Consortium to Develop Sanfilippo B Gene Therapy

    Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT), a biopharmaceuticalcompany in the Netherlands, and a group of French research institutes, including the Institut Pasteur in Paris, has formed a consortium to develop a gene therapy to treat Sanfilippo B. AMT will manufacture compounds to be tested in a clinical trial of the therapy. Sanfilippo B is a rare genetic…

  • Bristol-Myers Squibb, Biotech Partner on Alzheimer’s Test

    Opko Health Inc., a biotechnology company in Miami, Florida, said today it has a collaboration agreement with the drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb Company for Opko’s diagnostic test technology. Opko’s blood tests are being developed from its technology that identifies biomarkers for a range of diseases including neurodegenerative disorders. Part of the project calls for Opko…