Science and Enterprise

Month: July 2012

  • Purdue Awards $200K for Research Commercialization

    The Trask Innovation Fund at Purdue University in Indiana has awarded some $200,000 to help Purdue researchers take their discoveries to market. The awards cover research on alternative fuels, pharmaceutical drug dosage forms, assisted reproductive technology, and a mobile app for note-taking. The Trask Innovation Fund is a program of the Purdue Research Foundation to…

  • NIH to Fund Development of Organ-On-Chip Devices

    National Institutes of Health will support 17 research initiatives leading to development of microfluidic chips that simulate the structure and function of human organs. NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences is funding the projects for five years at a total cost of $70 million. The project involves collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects…

  • Biopharma Secures $38.5 Million in Series D Funds

    Chiasma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company in Jerusalem, Israel, has closed its $38.5 million series D funding round, the fourth cycle of financing after initial start-up. The round was led by by new investor Abingworth and current investor MPM Capital, with participation from current share holders 7 Med Health Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, F3 Ventures, and…

  • Network Model IDs Airports Most Likely to Spread Disease

    Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have built a mathematical model that identifies the U.S. airports most likely to influence the spread of disease early in an epidemic. The findings of the team from MIT’s civil and environmental engineering department are found in the online journal PLoS One. The use of network models to track…

  • Microneedle System Developed to Deliver Drugs to Eyes

    Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in Atlanta have developed a system of microneedles to deliver drugs to the back of the eye. The research team’s findings appear in the July issue of the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (paid subscription required). The microneedles were devised to meet a need for…

  • University, Company to Collaborate on Cancer Imaging

    Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K., is partnering with start-up company Cirdan Imaging Ltd., also in Northern Ireleand, to develop new imaging tools for the detection and treatment of cancer. As part of the deal, QUBIS Ltd., the university’s technology transfer subsidiary, will take an equity stake in Cirdan Imaging. The agreement involves research…

  • Techniques Developed for Deeper Single-Cell Gene Sequencing

    Researchers in Sweden and the U.S. have devised a process for in-depth genomic sequencing of single cells, which can lead to a better understanding of malignant tumors. The team from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, the University of California in San Diego, and Illumina Inc. in Hayward, California published…

  • VC Funding Cut for U.S. Firms, Science Companies Take Hit

    Venture capital investments in U.S.-based companies are down for the second quarter of 2012, with software and Internet companies favored over enterprises based on scientific discoveries. According to Dow Jones VentureSource, a financial industry research service, companies in the U.S. raised $8.1 billion in 863 deals during the second quarter of 2012, a nine percent…

  • Highly Transparent Solar Cells Developed for Window Glass

    Researchers at University of California in Los Angeles have developed solar cells with greater transparency that can be made to fit over windows and generate electric power. The findings from a team of UCLA engineers, materials scientists, and chemists appeared earlier this month in the journal ACS Nano (paid subscription required). The team developed a…

  • Study: Better Medical Device Security Alerts Needed

    Researchers at University of Massachusetts in Amherst and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston (affiliated with Harvard Medical School) uncovered indications that security and privacy problems with medical devices may not be adequately reported or tracked by regulators. The team reported its findings yesterday in the online journal PLoS One. The computer scientists and…