Month: December 2013
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Imaging Technique Captures RNA Viral Infections in Progress
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in Atlanta, and Vanderbilt University in Nashville devised a method with advanced microscopy to follow the process of viral infections without affecting the virus or its host. The team led by Georgia Tech biomedical engineering professor Philip Santangelo appeared online yesterday in the journal ACS Nano…
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Clinical, Drug Discovery Biotech Companies Announce Merger
Senesco Technologies, a clinical stage biotechnology company in Bridgewater, New Jersey says it has a non-binding merger agreement with Fabrus Inc. in La Jolla, California, a drug-discovery biotechnology firm. Financial details of the merger were not disclosed, although the companies plan to reveal the terms when they finalize the agreement in early 2014. Senesco develops…
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NIH Funding Further Marburg Virus Therapy Development
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc., a developer of drugs for infectious and rare diseases in Durham, North Carolina, says National Institutes of Health (NIH) is continuing its contract with the company to develop a treatment for Marburg virus, the cause of a rare but dangerous tropical disease. The contract extension, says BioCryst, is worth $2.5 million, increasing…
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ARPA-E Challenge Seeks Bio Energy Measurement Techniques
A new challenge on InnoCentive, sponsored by Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, is seeking new ideas for measuring the potential energy output of biofuel feedstocks, without harming the plant material. The competition, which has a maximum prize of $30,000, requires a written proposal and has…
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Genetic Mechanism to Increase Tomato Production Explained
Biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York discovered a genetic process underlying a breeding practice that helps improve yields of tomatoes. The Cold Spring Harbor team led by plant biology professor Zach Lippman, with a colleague from Monash University in Australia, published its findings yesterday in the journal PLoS Genetics. The team’s research…
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Bacterial Bioflims Found Surviving on Children’s Toys
Researchers at University at Buffalo in New York found bacteria associated with strep throat and ear infections to survive outside the body for long periods on toys at a day care center. The team of Buffalo microbiologist Anders Hakansson and doctoral candidates Laura Marks and Ryan Reddinger published their findings today online in the journal…
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Large Genomic Study Finds New Rheumatoid Arthritis Targets
An international consortium of 70 institutions and companies combined genome-wide analyses with current drug databases to uncover new genomic targets for rheumatoid arthritis, and identify drugs for other diseases with the potential to treat the disorder. The team led by Robert Plenge of Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute and Yukinori Okada from the…
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Merry Christmas from Science & Enterprise
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FDA Approves Rare Congenital Blood Disease Treatment
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved a treatment for congenital factor XIII A-subunit deficiency, a rare blood clotting disorder, made by the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, based in Denmark. Tretten, the medication’s brand name, is an engineered biologic designed to prevent bleeding in adults and children with the disorder. People with factor XIII…
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Discovery Process Devised to Better Test Drug Effects
Biomedical researchers at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California developed a drug discovery method that combines the rapid screening of potential compounds with preclinical tests of the best prospects, and in the process identified a potential new compound to treat type 2 diabetes. The Scripps team led by chemical physiologists Enrique Saez and Benjamin…