Science and Enterprise

Month: May 2012

  • Biomaterials Developer Lands $10 Million Series C Funds

    Regentis Biomaterials Ltd., based in Or Akiva, Israel and Princeton, New Jersey, has secured $10 million in series C funds, the third round of financing after initial start-up. New investors Royal DSM and Crossroad Fund, and existing investors Medica Venture Partners, SCPVitalife and the Technion Investment Opportunities Fund contributed to the round. The company’s lead…

  • Agriculture Research Companies to Partner on Insect Control

    Syngenta, a developer of agricultural products in Basel, Switzerland and Devgen, an agro-biotech company in Ghent, Belgium have agreed on a licensing and development partnership for new insect-control products based on genetic technologies. The six-year agreement has an estimated value of at least €50.8 million ($US 65.5 million). The partnership will enable Syngenta to add…

  • Low-Cost Nanoscale Catalyst Splits Hydrogen from Water

    Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, have developed a new electrocatalyst that generates hydrogen gas from water cleanly and with much less expensive materials than current catalysts. Their findings are described online this week in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition (paid subscription required). Traditional methods…

  • Canadian Aircraft Industry Funding Materials Scientist

    A group of aircraft companies in Canada, with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), are supporting the research of Suong Van Hoa at Concordia University on a new composite materials manufacturing technique. The funding, valued at $3.4 million, will support Hoa’s work for five years at the Montreal institution. Hoa (pictured…

  • Report: Investment Increasing In Water Technologies

    A new report by the London Environmental Investment Forum says venture capital (VC) investors are showing more interest in technologies related to water used in extractive industries, such as oil, gas, and mining. The report, “Water Innovation in Extractive Industries,” can be downloaded from the organization’s Web site. London Environmental Investment Forum is owned and…

  • Imaging Technique Highlights Cardiac Arrest Candidates

    Medical researchers from University at Buffalo have adapted Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging to identify patients at the highest risk for sudden cardiac arrest. Results of the clinical trial testing the technique are scheduled for presentation today at a meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society. The university says the Prediction of Arrhythmic Events with Positron…

  • Air Force Funds Moving Target Network Study to Stop Hackers

    Computer scientists at Kansas State University in Manhattan are investigating ways of improving the security of computer networks, by constantly changing their configurations. The project is funded by a five-year grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research valued at more than $1 million. Computing and information schience professors Scott DeLoach, and Xinming “Simon”…

  • Stem Cells Found to Protect Against Chemo Side Effects

    Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and four other institutions have developed a method for transplanting brain cancer patients’ own gene-modified blood stem cells to protect their bone marrow against the toxic side effects of chemotherapy. Their findings appear in this week’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid subscription…

  • Group Plans Increased VC Funds for Women, Diverse Start-Ups

    A new program aims to increase venture capital funding for new start-up companies owned by women and diverse minority entrepreneurs. The Venture Capital Access Program (VCAP) is a partnership of the National Association of Investment Companies, Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater New York, and the Marathon Foundation. Applications close on Friday 18 May.…

  • Gates Award to Fund Tattoo-Like Pregnancy Monitor Device

    The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a Grand Challenges Explorations grant for development of an electronic device similar to a tattoo that can continuously monitor the progress of a pregnancy. The award goes to University of California-San Diego bioengineering professor Todd Coleman and materials science and engineering professor John Rogers at University of…