Month: December 2011
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UCLA, Korean Institute Collaborate on Smart Grid R&D
The engineering school at University of California at Los Angeles and the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) have begun a 10-year partnership to collaborate on smart-grid research and the development of new related technologies. The project, funded on the U.S. side by the Department of Energy and the Los Angeles Department of Water and…
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Clinical Study IDs Potential Antidepressant Predictor
Researchers at Loyola University Medical Center near Chicago have found a method that can help predict if an antidepressant will work on a patient with depression. Loyola psychiatry professor Angelos Halaris and colleagues reported their work earlier this year at the annual meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. The study involved 35 patients who…
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FDA, Ohio Consortium to Partner on Biomaterials Regulations
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) are collaborating on the development of regulations affecting biomaterials in medical devices. The consortium of Akron, Ohio area hospitals, universities, and foundations signed the partnership agreement with FDA yesterday. The FDA and ABIA established the partnership to develop the research protocols…
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European Grant Awarded for Research on Enhanced MRI
A chemistry professor at University of Southampton in the U.K. has received a grant for research on enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a principle underlying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), widely used in medical diagnostics. Malcolm Levitt and colleagues at Southampton were awarded a four-year, €2.8 million ($US 3.8 million) grant from the European Research Council…
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Google Granted Patent for Autonomous Vehicle Technology
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded a patent to Google Inc. in Mountain View, California for its technology that enables cars to switch from driver to driver-less mode. Patent number 8,078,349 — entitled “Transitioning a mixed-mode vehicle to autonomous mode” — was awarded on 13 December. The patent covers the processes and devices for…
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Enzyme Developer In-Licenses Synthetic Biology Technology
Novozymes A/S in Bagsvaerd, Denmark has agreed to license genetic engineering technology from MorphoSys AG in Martinsried, Germany for the development of industrial biotechnology products. The multi-year agreement provides Novozymes, a manufacturer of industrial enzymes, with a non-exclusive license to use MorphoSys’s Slonomics technology. Financial and more precise timetable details of the deal were not…
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Technique Devised for Lowest Greenhouse Emissions Routing
Engineers from University at Buffalo in New York have developed a technique to route drivers to their destinations while minimizing their cars’ greenhouse gas emissions. The study involved simulations of traffic in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls region, but could be applied to today’s GPS systems in the near future, according to the researchers. Buffalo engineering professor…
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Clinical Trial Tests New Cancer Radiation Treatment
A clinical study by Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ontario, Canada is testing a new form of radiation therapy to treat cancerous tumors. The phase 2 trial aims to gauge effectiveness of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy or SABR on cancer patients in Canada and Europe. SABR delivers large concentrated doses of radiotherapy to precise areas,…
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GSK, University of Dundee Partner on Huntington’s Disease
University of Dundee in Scotland and the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will collaborate in research to tackle Huntington’s disease, an inherited brain disorder. The joint project is valued at more than £1 million ($US 1.6 million). Dundee medical professor Susann Schweiger, who has discovered a mechanism that controls production of the disease-causing protein involved in…
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Patent Awarded for Cell Life, Protein Production Technology
Immunomedics Inc., a pharmaceutical company in Morris Plains, New Jersey has been granted a U.S. patent for its discoveries that extend the lifetime of cell lines and improve production of therapeutic proteins. Patent number 8,076,140 — “Mammalian cell lines for increasing longevity and protein yield from a cell culture” — was issued yesterday by the…