Science and Enterprise

Month: February 2011

  • Genetic Modification Leads to Longer Tomato Shelf Life

    Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Beltsville, Maryland have introduced a new gene to tomatoes that help make the fruit last longer in stores and at home. The team published their findings in the February issue of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research magazine, and last fall in The Plant Journal (paid…

  • Whole Genome Sequencing Advances for Cancer Diagnosis

    Physicians and researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona and the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix successfully completed sequencing a single patient’s normal and cancer cells. The team says this is among the first whole genome sequencing performed for the medical care of a specific cancer patient. The genomic sequencing of tumor and…

  • Medical Device Maker Licenses Spinal Surgery Technology

    Integra LifeSciences in Plainsboro, New Jersey says it has agreed to license and further develop technology made by Stout Medical Group in Perkasie, Pennsylvania to improve spinal surgery. Integra estimates the market value for these kind of devices to exceed $750 million. Under the agreement, Integra will develop a device that surgeons can implant into…

  • Clinical Trial Record Security Deemed Inadequate

    A study of Canadian clinical trial practices shows serious vulnerabilities in the security of participants’ personal data when the data are shared among authorized stakeholders. The findings appear online in the 11 February issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research. The study, by Khaled El-Emam of Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in…

  • Grants Awarded for Robotics, Cyber-Vision and Child Health

    A research team at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis received two grants totaling more than $3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for technology to help diagnose children’s mental health disorders. The grants, totaling more than $3 million, were awarded by NSF’s Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Major Research Instrumentation programs. The Minnesota team led by…

  • Kauffman Grant Supports Seed Accelerator Network

    The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri was awarded a $200,000 grant to TechStars, a network of regional start-up business accelerator programs, based in Boulder, Colorado. The TechStars network began on 31 January as part of a White House initiative encouraging entrepreneurship. The Kauffman funding will be used by the TechStars network to…

  • Sanofi-aventis Acquires Genzyme in $20.1B Deal

    Sanofi-aventis, the Paris-based pharmaceutical company, has acquired biotechnology company Genzyme Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts for $74.00 per share, or about $20.1 billion. The deal includes other payments to Genzyme shareholders based on net sales and developments involving specific Genzyme drugs. Genzyme is expected to add its treatments for several rare diseases to Sanofi-aventis’s current collection…

  • Health System, Biotech Collaborate on Diagnostic Biomarkers

    Luminex Corporation in Austin, Texas said today that is teaming with Partners HealthCare in Boston, Massachusetts on the discovery of new biomarkers and development of clinical assays. The collaboration is expected to help the Partners HealthCare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (PCPGM) develop new molecular diagnostic assays. The new tests will be conducted on Luminex’s…

  • Students Develop Remote IED Detonation Technology

    Two graduate students at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed a way to remotely detonate improvised explosive devices or IEDs, by using the energy from their electromagnetic impulses. Félix Vega and Nicolas Mora, both from Colombia, developed the technology as part of their doctoral theses, in cooperation with universities in Colombia.…

  • Transgenic Switchgrass Improves Biofuel Yield

    Plant engineering by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma and fermentation research by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have led to new lines of native perennial prairie grass  that can make the production of cellulosic ethanol more economical. The researchers published their findings this week in in the Proceedings of the National…