Science and Enterprise

Month: October 2011

  • Utah Engineering Program Develops Paraglider for Disabled

    The University of Utah’s Ergonomics and Safety Program is partnering with an organization for paragliding and hang-gliding by the disabled to develop a paraglider that paraplegics can fly on their own. The program, part of the university’s engineering department, produced the Phoenix — that had its maiden flight this summer — with the organization Able…

  • FDA Grant Funds Georgetown University Regulatory Center [Updated]

    Update, 26 October 2011:  A similar center of excellence will be established at University of Maryland in College Park, also funded by a $1 million  FDA grant. Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. will establish a Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI), with initial funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The…

  • Fund to Back Independent, Early Stage Science Companies

    Entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel has started Breakout Labs, a funding source to help independent scientists and early-stage companies develop their most radical ideas. Thiel announced Breakout Labs last night at a meeting of Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students in California. Thiel aims to provide financing for visionaries whose ideas are too ahead of…

  • Private-Public Consortium to Share IP on Tropical Diseases

    The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has formed a partnership with pharmaceutical companies and BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) to share intellectual property and expertise to develop treatments for neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis. The partnership includes international and national research and public health agencies, as well as research universities and non-government organizations.…

  • Genomic Sequencing Precisely Targets Food Pathogens

    A collaboration of academic, industry, and government researchers have harnessed genomic sequencing to more precisely identify food pathogens. Their findings appeared online earlier this month in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology (paid subscription required). To identify the source of outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, such as salmonella, public health authorities have up to now analyzed…

  • Students Engineer Bread Yeast to Yield More Nutrients

    Undergraduate students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have genetically engineered yeast cells used in making bread to produce more beta carotene. The project that the students call VitaYeast is the university’s entry in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) contest held 5-7 November at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yeast helps make bread rise, but…

  • Blood Pressure Meds at Bed Time Reduce Heart Disease Risk

    Researchers at University of Vigo in Spain have found that taking blood pressure medicines at bed time appears to reduce risk of heart disease as well as keep blood pressure under control. They describe their research online this week in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (paid subscription required). Hypertension affects about one-third…

  • Novartis to Cut Jobs in U.S., Switzerland; Add Jobs in Asia

    In its third-quarter financial report released today, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG said it would cut some 2,000 jobs in Switzerland and the U.S., but add 700 jobs in China and India. The cuts were announced at the same time the company said it recorded gains in third quarter sales of 12 percent and…

  • Stretchable Sensory Material Created with Carbon Nanotubes

    Stanford University chemical engineers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor that can be stretched to more than twice its original length and return to its original shape. The material — that can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds — is described online in the 23 October issue of the journal…

  • Dana-Farber, Brigham and Women’s Establish Genomic Database

    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital — both in Boston — have launched a new research project to scan tumor tissue from adult cancer patients for hundreds of gene mutations linked to cancer. The program, called Profile, aims to speed the development of cancer treatments that target the genetic weaknesses in each patient’s…