Month: June 2013
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Challenge Seeks Point-of-Care Staph Bacteria Detector
A new challenge on InnoCentive asks for ways to quickly diagnose Staphylococcus aureus bacteria colonies in the nose and throat of patients with point-of-care devices. The competition, sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic, has a prize of $20,000 and a deadline for submissions of 27 August 2013. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for…
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Wi-Fi Signals Configured as Multi-Room Motion Detector
Computer scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a technique for harnessing Wi-Fi signals to track people’s movements in different rooms. Dina Katabi, a computer science professor at MIT, and graduate student Fadel Adib will discuss their research in August at the ACM Sigcomm conference in Hong Kong. Katabi and Adib use low-power Wi-Fi signals…
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Hydrogen Fuel Cells Found Feasible for Ships Docked in Port
An analysis by Sandia National Lab in Livermore, California indicates hydrogen fuel cells offer an economical and environmentally feasible alternative for powering commercial ships docked in seaports. Sandia Lab, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, published the study, conducted for the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, earlier this year. Ships docked…
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FDA Approves Protein to Prevent Hemophilia B Bleeding
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an engineered form of a human protein to prevent and control bleeding episodes in people with hemophilia B, age 16 or older. The protein known as Coagulation Factor IX (Recombinant) is marketed under the brand name Rixubis by Baxter Healthcare in Deerfield, Illinois. Hemophilia B, also known as factor…
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Celgene, MorphoSys Partner on Multiple Myeloma Antibody
Celgene Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company in Summit, New Jersey, agreed to license technology and invest in the biotechnology company MorphoSys AG in Munich, Germany for commercializing a monoclonal antibody developed by MorphoSys to treat multiple myeloma and some forms of leukemia. The total potential value of the deal, if all contingencies are met, is €628…
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More Feasible CO2 Emission Control Technology Devised
Chemical engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology devised a lab-scale process that can more efficiently remove carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel emissions and work more readily with today’s power plants than current technologies. The team led by MIT’s Alan Hatton published its findings online earlier this month in the journal Energy and Environmental Science. Current emission-control…
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VC Fund Gains $100M for University, Defense Lab Spinoffs
Allied Minds, a venture capital (VC) company in Boston starting companies that commercialize research from university and U.S. federal labs, raised $100 million for its next series of investments. The company says closing this funding round brings its total assets to about $500 million. Allied Minds makes early-stage investments, sometimes soon after the point of…
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AstraZeneca, Roche to Share Preclinical Research Data
The global pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Roche agreed to share early-stage drug research data to speed product development and identify candidates with a greater chance of success. Financial aspects of the collaboration were not disclosed. The two companies will furnish their research data on investigational compounds to a third party, MedChemica, a computational chemistry service…
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Device Detects Residual Cancer in Lumpectomy Tissue
Biomedical engineering graduate students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore developed a device that allows pathologists to quickly test excised tissue from breast cancer patients undergoing lumpectomies to determine if all of the tumor is removed. The device, still a prototype, has received awards in student engineering and business competitions, and its continued development is…
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Inexpensive Eye Test Measures Pleasure Response to Food
Nutrionists at Drexel University in Philadelphia and St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York showed the ability of a routine ophthalmology test to indicate a high pleasure response to food, a potential tool for analyzing food addictions and obesity therapies. The team led by Drexel’s Jennifer Nasser published their findings online last week in the…