Month: December 2011
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Stratolaunch Systems to Build Aircraft-Based Space Launcher
Stratolaunch Systems in Huntsville, Alabama announced plans to build a space launch aircraft and booster rocket with the capacity to replace the recently retired NASA space shuttle. The company, started by Microsoft founder Paul Allen, will partner with aircraft manufacturer Scaled Composites, space vehicle developer Space Exploration Technologies, and aerospace engineering company Dynetics. The entire…
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Natural Lightweight Material Exhibits Strength, Toughness
Researchers at Harvard University have developed a new biodegradable material with the strength and toughness of an aluminum alloy, but only half the weight. Postdoctoral bioengineering fellow, Javier Fernandez and professor Donald Ingber in Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering describe their discovery in the advance online issue of the journal Advanced Materials (paid…
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Biotech Secures $20 Million in Early Stage Financing
ImmusanT Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts has received $20 million in early stage financing to develop its therapy and diagnostic tools for celiac disease. The funds from venture capital firm Vatera Healthcare Partners LLC are expected to support further research and development of the company’s Nexvax2 therapeutics and diagnostics to a proof-of-concept demonstration. ImmusanT’s Nexvax2 therapeutic…
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New Method Tests Natural Toxins to Help Wheat Battle Pest
A research team from Purdue University in Indiana and U.S. Department of Agriculture have devised a method of finding natural toxins to build wheat’s resistance to an insect pest. The researchers’ results appear online in advance of publication in the Journal of Insect Physiology (paid subscription required). Larvae from the Hessian fly attack and feed…
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Scientists Finding Problems Accessing Stem Cell Lines
A survey conducted by Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta of U.S. researchers working with stem cells suggests many scientists face road blocks, including rejected access, trying to acquire human embryonic stem cell lines. Results of the survey were published in the December issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology (paid subscription required). The survey of…
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NSF Grant to Fund Smartphone App for Diabetes Control
A business and engineering team from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts has received a $1.2 million grant to develop a smartphone application for people with advanced cases of diabetes. The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a collaboration between Worcester’s Healthcare Delivery Institute and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, also in Worcester.…
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Mobile Tech Developer Raises $15M in Expansion Round
The Cambridge, U.K. mobile technology developer ip.access says it has closed a new $15 million round of funding from its current investors in the U.S. and Europe. The company makes small and low-power cellular base stations that boost signal coverage for mobile Internet devices. The collection of ip.access’s current investors all participated, including Amadeus Capital…
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Treatment Developed for Immune Systems of Chemo Patients
Researchers from University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia have devised a treatment to repair the immune systems of leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy using the patients’ own infection-fighting cells. The findings from the team that included participants from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston were presented yesterday at the annual meeting of…
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GE, Acorn Research to Partner on Molecular Cancer Testing
Clarient Inc., a division of GE Healthcare in Aliso Viejo, California, and ACORN Research in Memphis have agreed to collaborate on molecular testing of tumor samples to result in standardized molecular profiles that improve the link between testing and treatment. These processes, say the companies, can eventually improve cancer treatment and research by delivering targeted…
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Commercial TB Tests Turn Up High False-Positive Rates
Tests of three commercially available tests to diagnose the presence of latent tuberculosis turned up false positive results in a majority of positive cases on at least one of the tests. James Mancuso of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, with colleagues from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals,…