Science and Enterprise

Month: June 2011

  • Challenges Focus on Quantification, Measurements of Metals

    Two challenges posted today (30 June) on InnoCentive seek solutions to problems involving quantification or measurements of properties of metals. InnoCentive, in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a company that conducts challenge competitions for sponsors, who for these challenges have decided to remain anonymous. One of today’s challenges seeks a method for in-line quantification and real-time reporting…

  • Grant Funds Research on Developing Corn for Warmer Climate

    A $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will fund Iowa State University researchers in Ames developing a corn variety that maintains the region’s high yields as temperatures rise. Professor Alan Myers and Tracie Hennen-Bierwagen, associate scientist, will join with colleagues from University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Florida, Gainesville on…

  • Pharmas, BioPontis Alliance Partner on Translational Science

    BioPontis Alliance, a hybrid investment fund and product development company in Raleigh, North Carolina, and global pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. agreed to collaborate on translational technology development supported by BioPontis. The companies announced the deal at the 2011 BIO International Convention in Washington, D.C. BioPontis establishes research alliances with academic-research institutes, where BioPontis searches for…

  • Computerized Outpatient Prescriptions Still Have Errors

    Researchers from three Boston, Massachusetts medical centers, Harvard Medical School, and CVS Pharmacies analyzed records from automated prescription systems and found error rates similar to prescriptions written manually. The team’s findings appear online in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (paid subscription required). The panel of clinicians reviewed 3,850 prescription records from a…

  • Survey: Public Wants Informed Consent for Biobanks

    A survey and focus groups on public attitudes toward informed consent for participation in collections of tissue samples, show a preference for giving consent in advance, balanced with convenience for the contributors. The findings from researchers at the University of Iowa College of Medicine appear in the online issue of the journal Genetics in Medicine…

  • Integrated Robotic Tactile Skin Sensitivity Developed

    Researchers at Technical University Munich (Technische Universität München, TUM) have built small hexagonal plates, which when joined together, provide a tactile-sensitive skin for autonomous robots. A paper describing these developments appears in the June issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics (paid subscription required). The TUM scientists have developed an artificial skin for robots…

  • Biotech, NGO Partnership Advances Sleeping Sickness Drug

    A consortium of two biotechnology companies and non-government organization have completed preclinical studies of a potential treatment for sleeping sickness. The partners — Anacor Pharmaceuticals in Palo Alto, California, SCYNEXIS Inc. in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in Geneva, Switzerland — published their findings in the journal PLoS…

  • Ink-Jet Printing Method Tested to Make Solar Cells

    Engineers at Oregon State University in Corvallis have devised a method of producing a type of solar cell using ink-jet technology. The process, for which a patent has been applied, is described in an upcoming issue of the journal Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells (paid subscription required). The OSU team led by engineering professor…

  • Rollerball Pen Enables Hand-Drawn Electrical Circuits

    Materials scientists and engineers at University of Illinois in Champaign have developed a rollerball pen (pictured left) capable of writing electrical circuits and interconnects on paper, wood, and other surfaces. The team of faculty, postdoc, and students published their findings in the online issue of the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). While it looks…

  • BARDA Gets SIGA Smallpox Antiviral Drug, Protest Withdrawn

    SIGA Technologies Inc. in New York says the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will acquire 1.7 million courses of SIGA’s smallpox antiviral drug ST-246. SIGA competitor Chimerix Inc. of Durham, North Carolina dropped its protest of Barda’s sole-source contract award in May to SIGA.…