Science and Enterprise

Month: March 2013

  • Cellulosic Plants Engineered for Improved Biofuel Production

    Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Berkeley, California developed a process to re-engineer the cell walls of plants to make them better feedstocks for biofuels. The team led by bio-engineer Dominique Locque of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, one of the Joint BioEnergy Institute partners and a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, published…

  • Google: No Open-Source Patent Suits, Microsoft Lists Patents

    Information technology giants Google and Microsoft each spelled out new policies yesterday they claim will increase the transparency of their intellectual property practices. Google vowed it would not take legal action against developers of open-source software on some of its patents, and Microsoft published an online tool listing all of the company’s patents. Google’s vow…

  • Recommended Heart Failure Meds Save Lives, and Maybe Money

    Medical researchers at University of California in Los Angeles found medications recommended in national guidelines for heart failure are cost-effective in saving patient lives and could also provide financial savings for the national health care system. The findings of the team led by Gregg Fonarow, director of the cardiomyopathy center at UCLA, appear in the…

  • Cancer Analytics Prototype Based on Patient Records Unveiled

    American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Alexandria, Virginia demonstrated a prototype of its CancerLinq system based on information in patient records that aims to provide clinicians with better tools for decision-making. ASCO demonstrated the system yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The goal of CancerLinq is to provide cancer physicians and…

  • Material Developed to Reflect Sun’s Heat, Cool Buildings

    Engineers at Stanford University in California developed a new type of cooling material based on nanotechnology that radiates sunlight back into space. The team led by Stanford engineering professor Shanhui Fan published its findings earlier this month in the journal Nano Letters (paid subscription required). Fan, with doctoral candidates Eden Rephaeli and Aaswath Raman, engineered…

  • Accelerator Offers Mobile Medical App Regulatory Guide

    Rock Health, a health care start-up accelerator in San Francisco, prepared an online guide to help developers of medical apps for mobile devices better understand the Food and Drug Administration’s review processes. The guide is written as an online slide presentation, viewable below and available through SlideShare. The need for the guide is growing, says…

  • Portable White Blood Cell Measurement Device Developed

    Engineers at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and the medical device company LeukoDx in Jerusalem, Israel developed a portable device to count white blood cells requiring only a drop of blood and a few minutes to run. The team led by Cal Tech electrical engineering professor Yu-Chong Tai published its findings in the 7…

  • Graphene/Vanadium Oxide Ribbons Boost Battery Storage

    Ultra-thin ribbons made of vanadium oxide coated with graphene can provide a superior material for lithium-ion battery cathodes, according to new research at Rice University in Houston. The team led by Rice materials scientist P. M. Ajayan published its findings online in a recent issue of the journal Nano Letters (paid subscription required). Graphene is…

  • NSF Funding Organic Crystals Research for Electronics

    A physics professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina received a $400,000 National Science Foundation grant for research on the physical structure and electronic properties of organic semiconductor crystals. The five-year award to Wake Forest’s Oana Jurchescu was made under NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program. Organic semiconductors are hydrocarbon substances like…

  • Third Rock Closes $516M Health Care Venture Fund

    Third Rock Ventures in Boston and San Francisco raised $516 million for its Fund III to invest in new health care enterprises. Wth the fund, the company plans to support up to 16 health and medicine start-ups. Third Rock aims to finance new companies offering products or services in health care with high potential impact.…