Science and Enterprise

Month: January 2013

  • Personal Genetic Information Vulnerabilty Exposed

    Researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts were able to identify some 50 people who submitted samples as part of genetic studies with publicly accessible online resources. The team led by Yaniv Erlich of the Whitehead Institute, with colleagues from MIT, Harvard, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, International…

  • Semiconductor Research Corp, DARPA, Launch University Nets

    Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Virginia unveiled their support for six U.S. university research centers. STARnet, as the program is called, will devote $194 million microelectronics research over five years. SRC is university-company research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies…

  • FDA Approves Flu Vaccine Based on Engineered Viruses

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new seasonal flu vaccine using a technology that engineers flu virus proteins, rather than the traditional methods of growing inactive viruses in eggs. Flublok, developed by Protein Sciences Corp. of Meriden, Connecticut was approved by the FDA for adults age 18 through 49. Flublok is based on…

  • Imaging Technique Identifies Brain Adaptive Functions

    Psychologists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and University of Washington in Seattle developed neural imaging methods to understand the way human brains adapt to injury. The team led by Carnegie Mellon’s Marcel Just, director of the university’s Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging, published its findings online this week in the journal Cerebral Cortex. The…

  • Nanotech Coating Provides Liquid-Repellent Surface

    Materials scientists at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Air Force Research Lab at Edwards Air Force Base in California developed a new coating material that can repel virtually any liquid from a surface. The team led by Michigan engineering professor Anish Tuteja reported its findings in the current issue of the Journal of…

  • Universities, Companies Study Oilseed Camelina as Biofuel

    Bioscientists at Kansas State University in Manhattan, with colleagues at two other universities and four companies, are studying the economic potential of the oilseed plant camelina as a commercial biofuel feedstock. The project, led by K-State agricultural engineering professor Xiuzhi Susan Sun (pictured right), is funded by a $5.08 million grant from National Institute of…

  • Chemical Treatments Can Reduce Carbon Nanotube Toxicity

    Researchers at University College London, with colleagues in the U.K., France, Italy, and Spain found ways to reduce the toxicity of carbon nanotubes, which are structurally similar to asbestos. The findings of the team led by UCL chemical engineer and pharmacy professor Kostas Kostarelos appear online in the journal Angewandte Chemie (paid subscription required). Carbon…

  • Cancer Data Start-Up Lands $8 Million in Venture Funds

    Flatiron Health in New York, developing data analytics for cancer research and therapeutics, secured $8 million in series A funding, the first round of financing after initial start-up. The investment round was led by Google Ventures, with First Round Capital, Laboratory Corporation of America, Great Oaks Capital, The Social+Capital Partnership, SV Angel, IA Ventures and…

  • Generic HIV Drugs Save Money, But Could Impair Effectiveness

    Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Yale University in New Haven calculate that switching generic for branded HIV drugs would provide substantial financial savings, but could impede the treatments’ effectiveness. The team’s findings appear in today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine (paid subscription required).…

  • Clinical Trial of Early Stroke Stent Device Underway

    Covidien, a medical device company in Mansfield, Massachusetts, began enrolling paitents in a clinical trial to test its stent-based technology used with standard clot-dissolving techniques for patients in early stages of a ischemic stroke. The first of 800 patients in the trial was recruited at University at Buffalo in New York. Ischemic stroke occurs when…