Month: March 2012
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Algorithms Plot Optimal Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Routes
Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised mathematical methods to plot the optimal routes for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), increasingly used for industrial, research, and security applications. The team led by mechanical engineering professor Pierre Lermusiaux will discuss its work in May 2012 at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Setting an…
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Bellicum Pharma Lands $20M in Series B Finance Round
Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Houston, Texas says today it has raised $20 million in series B financing, the second round of investment after initial start-up. The company develops vaccines designed to attack specific disease-producing cells, including those causing life-threatening disorders such as cancer. The privately-held Bellicum says current and new investors contributed to this investment…
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Bridgestone Tire to Study Natural Raw Rubber Alternative
Bridgestone Corporation, a global tire manufacturer in Tokyo, Japan unveiled plans today for a research project in the U.S. to develop a new commercially viable, renewable source of tire-quality natural rubber. The project aims to harness the cultivation of guayule — pronounced why-YOU-lee — as an alternative to hevea trees, the current source of almost…
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Simple Microfluidics Immune System Sensor Developed
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a simple, inexpensive sensor to diagnose a range of diseases including immune system disorders. The work of the team led by Stanford pediatrician and immunologist Manish Butte (pictured right) appears today online in the journal Biomicrofluidics; paid subscription required. The university says it has filed a…
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Naval Lab, Universities Design Firefighting Robot
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., with researchers from Virginia Tech and University of Pennsylvania, are building a humanoid-type robot to fight shipboard fires on new combat vessels. The device is based on the Cognitive Humanoid Autonomous Robot with Learning Intelligence (CHARLI, pictured left) prototype developed at Virginia Tech. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting…
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Clinical Trial to Test Brown Fat Hormone Obesity Treatment
A clinical trial at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in Orlando, Florida will test the weight-control capabilities of orexin, a hormone that activates the body’s brown fat, which converts calories into energy. The trial will take place at the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes, a joint venture of Sanford-Burnham and Florida Hospital in Orlando.…
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Biotech, Pharma Companies to Collaborate on New Vaccines
Medicago Inc. in Quebec City, Canada and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. in Osaka, Japan have agreed to develop and commercialize at least three new vaccines based on Medicago’s technology. The first part of the deal is expected to provide Medicago with up to $C33 million ($US 33 milion) in revenues. The partnership will give Mitsubishi…
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Limited posting the next few days
I will away from the blogosphere for the next few days, including travel and extended meetings. As a result, we will have few posts for the rest of today through Tuesday 6 March. Regular posting will resume on Wednesday 7 March. * * *
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Grant to Fund R&D on Oil-Producing Plants for Biofuels
A research team at University of Illinois, with other academic and national lab colleagues, has received a $3.2 million grant to study bioengineering sugar cane and sorghum to produce oil for biofuels. The Department of Energy funding for this project also supports researchers at University of Florida, University of Nebraska, and the Brookhaven National Laboratory,…
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Coating Developed to Enable Faster, Stronger Dental Implants
A clinical study led by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden shows that a new process speeds and strengthens the implants of artificial teeth in the jaw bones of patients. The findings of the study appear online in the journal Bone (paid subscription required), and the study leader has founded a company for commercializing the…