Month: May 2012
-
Engineered Nanoparticles Target Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have developed nanoscale particles that can deliver antibiotics in larger quantities, but directly to the targeted bacteria to overcome drug resistance. The findings of the engineering, computer science, and health sciences team appear online in the journal ACS Nano (paid…
-
Navigation Module for Inside Buildings in Development
Engineers at four Fraunhofer institutes and five companies in Germany are building a module for smartphones to help people navigate inside interior spaces, much like a GPS works when outside. The researchers plan to give a demonstration of the MST-Smartsense Sensor (pictured at right) at the Sensor+Test trade fair in Nuremberg held 22-24 May 2012.…
-
Three Drug Makers Partner with NIH to Expand Therapies
National Institutes of Health and three pharmaceutical manufacturers will collaborate on research to find new treatments for diseases from currently approved drugs. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly and Company will make at least 20 of their existing compounds available for this research to NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The program, called Discovering…
-
NIST Develops New Biometric Communications Protocol
Computer scientists at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and published a new protocol for communicating with biometric sensors over wired and wireless networks. Biometric sensors are being used increasingly for security access to and controls on electronic systems and physical facilities. The new protocol, called WS-Biometric Devices (WS-BD), allows desktops, laptops,…
-
Cancer Institute Spin-Off Lands New €3 Million Financing
iTeos Therapeutics SA, a drug discovery company in Gosselies, Belgium, has secured €3 million ($3.94 million) in series A financing, the first investment round after starting up. The company received its initial seed funding, totaling €6 million, in December 2011. iTeos Therapeutics is a joint spin-off company of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in…
-
SBIR Grant Awarded for Infant Respiratory Vaccine
GenVec Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland received a Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at National Institutes of Health to help fund development of the company’s vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus. The phase 1 SBIR grant is valued at some $590,000. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infects…
-
Nanotech Solution Helps Enable Cancer Drug Delivery
Researchers at University of North Carolina medical school in Chapel Hill have found a process for delivering the cancer drug wortmannin using nanoscale particles, a drug that had not been deliverable using traditional methods. Their findings appear online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid subscription required). Wortmannin had been considered…
-
NIH Funding Portfolio Evaluated With Investment Metrics
An interdisciplinary team of business, computer science, and medical researchers tested funding decisions at National Institutes of Health over a 42-year period using measures of investment efficiency from the world of finance. The findings of the team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the investment management firm AlphaSimplex LLC in Cambridge,…
-
Psychologist Developing Robotic Perception Technology
A Purdue University psychologist in West Lafayette, Indiana is developing a form of machine vision that provides a field of view with more ability to perceive objects in the context of their environment. This more human-like form of robotic vision has patents filed and is available for licensing from Purdue’s technology transfer office. According to…
-
4D Lung Imaging Technology Developed
Engineers and medical researchers at Monash University in Australia have devised methods for creating images of human lungs that combine visual imaging with monitoring of lung functions. Their research is described online in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The article’s lead author, engineering postdoctoral fellow Stephen Dubsky, developed the technology that provides measurements…