Science and Enterprise

Month: March 2011

  • Potential Non-Insulin Type 1 Diabetes Treatment Discovered

    Researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and three other institutions have discovered a hormone pathway that could lead to new ways of treating type 1 diabetes. Results of this study appear in the March 25 issue of the journal Science (paid subscription required). Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children…

  • Patent Awarded for Protein Biomarker Cancer Screening

    Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), a biomedical research institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Gentel Biosciences, a biotechnology company in Madison, Wisconsin received a patent for their process to  profile changes in proteins binding to antibodies in test arrays. This process can screen for biomarkers indicating early stages of cancer, including liver and pancreatic cancers…

  • Study: Cruise Ship Diseases More Widespread Than Reported

    A study by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia suggests that outbreaks of communicable diseases on cruise ships may be more common than previously reported. The findings from an investigation of a norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship in January 2009 appear online in  the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases…

  • Pump Designed for Lab-on-a-Chip Medical Diagnostics

    Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have developed a new miniaturized pump that fits on diagnostic chips that can lead to better home medical testing. The findings from this faculty-student team appear in the March issue of the journal Electrophoresis (paid subscription required). Nathaniel Robinson, who leads the Transport and Separations Group at Linköping University…

  • Student Creates Self-Strengthening Nanocomposite Material

    A graduate student at Rice University in Houston, Texas has created a synthetic material combining nanotechnology and polymers that gets stronger from repeated stress. The results of the research by Brent Carey and colleagues appear this month in the journal ACS Nano (paid subscription required). Carey, a Ph.D. candidate in the lab of materials science…

  • Company Licenses Ultrasound Atherosclerosis Therapy

    International Cardio Corporation (ICC) in Excelsior, Minnesota has licensed technology developed at University of Minnesota to treat atherosclerosis with ultrasound. The ultrasound treatment is considered less invasive and potentially safer for the patient than current therapies, such as stents and balloon angioplasty. Atherosclerosis is the name of the process in which deposits of fatty substances,…

  • Google Grant Funds Tools for Internet Transparency

    The Internet services company Google has awarded a grant to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta to help Web users determine the cause of degraded Internet services. The $1 million Google Focused Research Award will fund a two-year project at Georgia Tech, with an option for a third year. The project aims to make Internet…

  • University Patents Peptide-Based Adhesive

    The technology transfer arm of Kansas State University in Manhattan has received an international patent for an adhesive that increases in strength as moisture is removed. The patent covers an adhesive made from peptides — a compound containing two or more amino acids that link together. The adhesive was created by biochemistry professor John Tomich…

  • New Blood Test Evaluation Identifies More Heart Attacks

    A more sensitive blood test protocol developed at University of Edinburgh and other research institutes in the U.K. could help identify heart attacks in thousands of patients who would otherwise have gone undiagnosed. The research team published its findings this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (paid subscription required). The standard blood…

  • Nanoscale Implant Surfaces Help Seal Skin Against Infections

    Researchers at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island have created nanoscale surfaces for materials on prosthetic devices that mimic the contours of natural skin. Their findings appear in the April issue of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research A (paid subscription required). The goal of biomedical engineers to develop more flexible, functional prosthetics for soldiers…