Science and Enterprise

Month: August 2012

  • Consortium Launched for Industrial Robotic Operating System

    Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio unveiled a research consortium to speed development of an operating system for robots meeting the needs of industrial users. The ROS-Industrial Consortium aims to build an extension of the Robot Operating System (ROS), an open-source common framework of software libraries and tools, currently for service and research robotics applications.…

  • Nanotech Materials Solution Devised for Hydrogen Storage

    Chemical engineers at University of New South Wales in Australia synthesized and demonstrated a material that absorbs, releases, and reabsorbs hydrogen, a key step in advancing hydrogen as an alternative fuel source. The team from the university’s Materials Energy Research Laboratory in nanoscale (MERLin) published its findings last week in the journal ACS Nano; paid…

  • Biopharm Raises $80 Million in Series C Venture Funds

    Relypsa Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company in Santa Clara, California raised $80 million in series C venture funds, the third round of financing after initial start-up. New investor Sibling Capital LLC joins current backers OrbiMed Advisors, 5AM Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners, Sprout Group, Delphi Ventures, and Mediphase Venture Partners in this funding round.…

  • Trial to Test Osteopathic Techniques to Treat COPD

    Researchers at Michigan State University in East Lansing are testing hands-on osteopathic treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, a common lung disease. The two-year, $100,000 study is funded by the American Osteopathic Association and Osteopathic Heritage Foundation. Osteopathic medicine treats the patient as a whole rather than individual systems or parts. Treatment methods…

  • NIH Grant to Fund Translational Research on Blood Clotting

    National Institutes of Health will fund a translational research center at University of Utah in Salt Lake City to study the cellular and molecular causes of blood clots. Andew Weyrich, a professor medicine at Utah, will lead the five-year, $16 million effort. The new Translational Research Center in Thrombosis aims to find new diagnostic, preventative,…

  • Texas AgriLife, BP to Partner on Biofuel Feedstocks

    Texas AgriLife Research, part of Texas A&M University in College Station, and BP Biofuels agreed to develop and commercialize cellulosic feedstocks for the production of biofuels. Financial details of the three-year agreement were not disclosed. The R&D project, says Texas AgriLife, combines plant breeding and production agronomics.  The plant breeding segment will develop new varieties…

  • Chemical in Hand Soap Found to Impair Muscle Functions

    Research at University of California at Davis and University of Colorado in Aurora indicates triclosan, an antibacterial chemical used in soap and other personal-care products, hinders muscle contractions in animals, causing weakness in mice and slower swimming ability in fish. The team led by UC Davis veterinary medical professor Isaac Pessah published its findings online…

  • Sapphire Fiber Optics Deliver Higher Transmission Capacity

    Materials scientists and engineers from Clemson University in South Carolina and University of Illinois developed sapphire fibers with greater capacity for high-energy optical transmissions than current silica-based fibers. The team led by John Ballato, director of Clemson’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (pictured left), appears online in this week’s issue of Nature…

  • New Fuel Cell Generates More Power from Wastewater

    Ecological engineers at Oregon State University in Corvallis developed techniques that advance the use of wastewater from cities or factories to generate electricity. The findings of the team led by Hong Liu (pictured right), professor of biologicial and ecological engineering, appear in the journal Energy and Environmental Science; paid subscription required. Earlier microbial fuel cells…

  • Polymer Materials Discovered That Resist Bacteria Attachment

    Researchers at University of Nottingham in the U.K. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology identified a new class of polymer materials that resist the attachment of bacterial pathogens. The team headed by Nottingham’s Morgan Alexander appears online in the journal Nature Biotechnology (paid subscription required). According to the university, infections related to medical devices, caused by…