Month: October 2011
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Roche to License University DNA Sequencing Technology
The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has agreed to license DNA sequencing technology developed at Arizona State and Columbia universities to help build a new type of DNA sequencing system. One goal of the system will be to quickly decode a person’s complete genome for less than $1,000. The licensed technologies are based on research conducted…
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Angel Early Stage Investments Gain in First Half of 2011
Angel investments in very early stage U.S. entrepreneurial companies rose in the first half of 2011 according to a new report from the Center for Venture Research (CVR) at University of New Hampshire. Science-based enterprises, says CVR, accounted for over half of the total dollars invested by angels in that period. Angel investors are individuals…
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Graphene Electronic Properties Configured for Computer Chips
A team of physicists from the U.K., Russia, and Japan has proposed a method for using the light weight and conductivity of graphene in computer chips. The researchers, including Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov at University of Manchester in the U.K. who won the Nobel Prize in 2010 for their discovery of graphene, published their…
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Travel day
We’re traveling today, so we will not be posting any items. We’ll be back with our regular post schedule tomorrow. * * *
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Smartphone Isolates Apps into Business and Personal Sections
Computer scientists and engineers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT) and Center for Advanced Security Research (CASED) in Darmstadt, Germany have developed smartphone software with separate business and personal areas. The team plans to discuss their research next week at it-sa (IT security) trade fair in Nuremberg. The work of the Fraunhofer…
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Genetic Technique Reduces Time to Bioengineer Pine Trees
Agricultural scientists at University of Florida in Gainesville have discovered a genetic process that can create new pine tree varieties in half the time it takes current methods. The development that involves a major industry in the southeast U.S. is described in the online edition of the journal New Phytologist (paid subscription required). The research…
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Study to Assess Regulations’ Impact on Tobacco Users
The Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health today announced a joint national study of tobacco users to gauge the behavioral and health impacts of new government tobacco regulations. The Tobacco Control Act National Longitudinal Study of Tobacco Users is the first large-scale collaboration on tobacco regulatory research since Congress granted FDA the…
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SBIR Grant Awarded to Rutgers Spin-Off for Biopsy Imaging
National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a spin-off company from Rutgers University in New Jersey a small-business grant to develop a quick and economical analysis of tissue from breast cancer biopsies. The grant of $207,000 to Ibris Inc. of Piscataway, New Jersey, was made through through NIH’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Ibris…
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Survey: VCs Pulling Back from Biopharma, Devices Companies
A survey of venture capital (VC) companies investing in health care enterprises says they have shifted funding away from businesses that develop drugs and medical devices toward less regulated services and information technology firms. The survey, conducted by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) from July to September 2011, covers 156 of its members with…
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University of Michigan to Invest in Campus Start-Ups
University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman said Wednesday that the university would begin investing directly in new businesses created from research conducted on its campus. The program, called Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups (MINTS), would provide up to $25 million in early-stage capital over the next 10 years. The university says eligible start-ups…