Science and Enterprise

Month: August 2012

  • University to Research 3-D Self-Assembly Processes

    Engineers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh received a grant to develop materials that fold themselves into three-dimensional objects when exposed to light. National Science Foundation awarded the four-year, $1.76 million grant to Jan Genzer (pictured right), a chemical engineering professor at NC State. Genzer says he is assembling a team of “designers, engineers,…

  • Energy Dept to Fund Minnesota Chemistry Computation Centers

    University of Minnesota’s chemistry department received two grants from the U.S. Department of Energy for research on software and computational methods on materials from nanotechnology and systems for transporting solar energy. The two five-year grants total $13.1 million, and will be shared by other universities and national labs. The Nanoporous Materials Genome Center, headed by…

  • Carbon Nanotubes Found Toxic to Aquatic Animals

    Engineers at University of Missouri and U.S. Geological Survey in Columbia found carbon nanotubes — sub-microscopic structures increasingly used for their strength and conductivity to create innovative new materials — to be toxic to several species of aquatic animals. The research led by Baolin Deng, professor and chair of chemical engineering at Missouri, appears in…

  • Trial to Test Cardiac Potential of Anti-Inflammatory Drug

    A clinical trial led by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston will test the ability of a common anti-inflammatory drug to reduce rates of heart disease in high-risk patients. The trial is funded by grants from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of National Institutes of Health. Over 2 million people in the United…

  • Power Cell Converts and Stores Energy in Single Unit

    Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta developed a single device that converts mechanical energy directly into chemical energy, and stores the power until released as an electrical current. The Georgia Tech team led by materials scientist and engineer Zhong Lin Wang (pictured right) published its findings earlier this month in the journal Nano…

  • Video Camera Captures Athletic Images and Performance Data

    A new type of video camera developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in Erlangen, Germany captures images of athletes as well as real-time data on their performance. Fraunhofer plans to demonstrate the INCA intelligent camera at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, 7-11 September. The small INCA camera (pictured left), measuring 2x2x8 centimeters,…

  • Oregon State Opens Wave Energy Test Facility

    Oregon State University began operations this week of one of the first public wave energy testing systems in the U.S. The Ocean Sentinel, as the system is called, is a $1.5 million mooring platform located two miles off Yaquina Head on the central Oregon coast, and available to academic and industry researchers working in wave…

  • University Develops Surgical Blood Capture Device

    Biomedical engineers at University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, U.K. built a device that salvages blood from surgery patients and prepares the blood for retransfusion back to the patient. The HemoSep device, designed for open-heart and major trauma surgery, can reduce the volume and problems connected with donated blood. Current techniques for autotransfusion, as the process…

  • Medical Device Company Gets $20M in Venture Financing

    Ornim Inc., a developer of blood oxygen and blood flow monitors in Lod, Israel, secured $20 million in series B venture funding, the second financing cycle after initial start-up. The round was led by life sciences investment firm OrbiMed, with participants including the GE healthymagination Fund and Agate Medical Investments LP. Ornim develops monitors focusing…

  • Microbe Genetically Engineered to Produce Biofuel

    A research team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineered the genes of a soil bacterium so the organism can produce isobutanol, a “drop-in” biofuel. The team led by biologist Anthony Sinskey, including chemists and engineers from MIT, published its findings online in the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (paid subscription required). Sinskey and colleagues investigated…