Science and Enterprise

Month: December 2011

  • Energy Dept to Test Expedited National Lab Tech Transfer

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) will test a new process that it says will reduce some of the hurdles faced by businesses in commercializing the department’s research findings. The Agreements for Commercializing Technology (ACT) pilot test is expected to begin in January 2012 and involve the department’s national laboratories. In making the announcement, Deputy…

  • New Wireless Sensor Detects Bacterial Beach Contamination

    Engineers from an environmental technology company and Johns Hopkins University have developed a wireless, autonomous sensor that can detect E. coli outbreaks at beaches and drinking water sources. The team headed by Jeffrey Talley, president of Environmental Technology Solutions in Gilbert, Arizona and adjunct professor of engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, published its…

  • Fuel Economy Standards Create Incentives for Larger Vehicles

    A University of Michigan engineering/economics study discovers incentives in the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for auto makers to build larger vehicles allowed to meet lower targets. The work of former Michigan design doctoral student Kate Whitefoot, now with the National Academy of Engineering, appears online in the journal Energy Policy (paid subscription…

  • Venture Fund Raises $50M for Life Science Investments

    Forbion Capital Partners in the Netherlands says it is closing a new $50 million fund for investing in life science start-up companies nearing liquidity. The company’s second FCF 1 Co-Investment Fund plans to invest additional capital into its current portfolio of life science and biomedical technology companies. Forbion specializes in backing new businesses with late…

  • OriginOil, National Lab to Collaborate on Biomass Standards

    OriginOil Inc. an algae fuel developer in Los Angeles, signed a research agreement with the Idaho National Lab, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, to establish industry standards for algal biomass. Standards for fuels from biomass are considered a an important step in making algal biofuels a competitive alternative to petroleum. The company says…

  • Combating Flu Epidemics Likely to Take More Than Vaccines

    Researchers at MIT urge public health policy makers to rely on more than just vaccines to control future flu epidemics. Richard Larson and Stan Finkelstein of MIT’s Engineering Systems Division make their recommendations in this month’s issue of the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness (paid subscription required). Larson and Finkelstein (who is also…

  • Robotic System to Test 10,000 Compounds for Toxicity

    Three U.S. agencies have begun a testing program of some 10,000 chemical compounds for potential toxicity. The Tox21 program is a collaboration of National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, and Food and Drug Administration. The program aims to find out if these chemicals have the potential to disrupt human processes that can lead to…

  • University Builds Virtual-Reality Factory Simulation

    Iowa State University in Ames has built a simulated factory lab based on virtual reality technology. The lab, called Multimodal Experience Testbed and Laboratory or METaL, seeks to create natural interactions in virtual reality for industrial purposes, such as to design new parts, explore design functionality, or develop better assembly methods. METaL consists of two…

  • New Radiation Therapy Directly Attacks Cancer Cells

    Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel have developed a new method of tumor removal that improves the likelihood of permanently destroying the tumor, and reduce the odds of it returning. The ablation process devised by Tel Aviv medical researcher Yona Keisari and physicist Itzhak Kelson is described in the journal Translational Research (paid subscription…

  • Video Game Players Add to Genetic Disease Understanding

    Users of a Web-based video game developed by McGill University computer scientists in Montreal, have helped advance an understanding of the genetic basis of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer over the past year. Jérôme Waldispuhl of the McGill School of Computer Science and collaborator Mathieu Blanchette released results today of the solutions collected…