Science and Enterprise

Month: May 2013

  • FDA Approves Robotic Device for Stroke Rehabilitation

    Oregon Health and Science University in Portland reports that the Food and Drug Administration approved for marketing in the U.S. a robotics device that helps stroke patients move limbs and improve muscle function during their rehabilitation. The device was developed by Paul Cordo, a biomedical engineering professor at Oregon Health and AMES Technology, a spin-off…

  • Stem Cell Process Makes Red Blood, Platelets in Quantities

    Medical and public health researchers at Boston University developed a lab process for generating from adult stem cells, unlimited quantities of red blood and platelet cells, the type of cells in donated blood. The team led by George Murphy, co-director of the university’s Center for Regenerative Medicine, published its findings online yesterday in the journal Blood…

  • Indiana Companies, Universities Form Biosciences Institute

    A consortium of life sciences companies and universities in Indiana launched today the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, a public-private partnership that expects to be financed largely through corporate funds. The institute aims to attract top research talent and dollars to develop pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, biologic therapies, and agricultural biotechnology, including animal health. Indiana Biosciences…

  • FuturaGene, Danforth Center Partner on Crop Yield Technology

    FuturaGene, a Sao Paulo, Brazil biotechnology company in the forestry industry will collaborate with Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis to apply FuturaGen’s yield enhancement discoveries to food crops in developing countries. Financial and intellectual property aspects of the deal were not disclosed. FuturaGene, a subsidiary of the Brazilian forestry products company Suzano…

  • Nanoparticles Designed to Form Into Tiny Drug-Catching Nets

    Chemistry and medical researchers at University of California in San Diego designed round nanoscale particles to float through the bloodstream and change into net-like threads that accumulate at the site of tumors and help concentrate therapies. The team led by San Diego biochemistry professor Nathan Gianneschi appears online in this week’s issue of the journal…

  • Analysis Shows Life-Cycle Impacts of Lithium-Ion Batteries

    A cradle-to-grave analysis of lithium-ion batteries, like those used in electric vehicles, shows the batteries have potential adverse impacts on the environment and public health beyond the benefits from their day-to-day use. The study, by consulting firm Abt Associates in Bethesda, Maryland, was conducted for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with researchers from battery manufacturers,…

  • AstraZeneca Acquires Omega-3 Fatty Acid Drug Developer

    The global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is buying the specialty pharmaceutical maker Omthera Pharmaceuticals in Princeton, New Jersey for $323 million, or $12.70 per share, an 88 percent premium over Omthera’s closing price of $6.75 per share on Friday. Omthera shareholders may also receive up to $4.70 per share in further milestone-achievement payments. Omega’s only product…

  • One-Step Process Developed for Genetic Designed Bacteria

    Resarchers at University of Adelaide in Australia and Stanford University in California  developed a more efficient process for producing genetically designed bacteria. The team led by Adelaide biotechnology professor Keith Shearwin published its findings online earlier this month in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology (paid subscription required). Shearwin and colleagues call their process “clonetegration,” which…

  • Memorial Day Observed; Light Posting Today

    In honor of Memorial Day today, a holiday for honoring fallen veterans in the USA, we will have fewer stories than usual. Our regular posting volume will resume tomorrow. *     *     *  

  • Purdue Licenses Reagent for Safer Fluorine Compounds

    Purdue University in Indiana licensed a reagent developed and patented by one of its organic chemists that makes it safer and more environmentally friendly to add fluorine to organic compounds. The university licensed the reagent, developed in Purdue’s chemistry and pharmacology labs under the direction of professor David Colby, to Aldrich Chemical Co., a subsidiary of…