Month: April 2014
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Intelligent Liner Aims to Improve Prosthetic Limb Comfort
15 April 2014. Engineers in the U.K. at University of Southampton and Chas A Blatchford & Son Ltd. in Basingstoke are designing a liner with sensors for lower-limb prosthetic devices that improve the fit and comfort of those devices for their wearers. The team is developing a prototype device that they aim to have available…
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Microparticle Solution Devised to Identify Genuine Goods
14 April 2014. Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the affiliated Lincoln Laboratory developed a process for adding minute particles into materials that can be encoded and sensed by inexpensive readers to detect counterfeit goods from the originals. The team from the lab of chemical engineering professor Patrick Doyle published its findings yesterday online…
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On the Road Again
9 April 2014. Science & Enterprise is taking a brief hiatus, while I travel for the remainder of this week, 10-12 April. The blog will return on Monday, 14 April. * * *
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MRSA Toxicity Predicted Through Genomic Sequencing
9 April 2014. Researchers in the U.K., U.S., Sweden, and Turkey developed a technique based on genomic sequencing to predict the pathogenic severity of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA bacteria, an antibiotic-resistant microbe often found in health care facilities. The team led by University of Bath biologist Ruth Massey published its findings today online…
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UC-San Francisco Launches Brain Disease Trial Registry
9 April 2014. University of California in San Francisco opened an online registry that aims to reduce the time and cost of recruiting participants in clinical trials for disorders of the brain, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and traumatic brain injuries. The Brain Health Registry is led by UC-San Francisco radiology professor Michael Weiner,…
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University, Board Maker Partner on Point-of-Care Diagnostics
8 April 2014. Computer scientists in the U.K. at Southampton University and circuit board manufacturer Newbury Electronics Ltd. are designing a device to detect protein indicators for diagnosing diseases at a doctor’s office or clinic rather than sending out samples to a lab for analysis. The three-year project led by Southampton’s Themis Prodromakis, is funded…
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U.S. Patent Granted for Simple Dry-Powder Drug Inhaler
7 April 2014. Medical device manufacturer Hovione International in Lisbon, Portugal, received a patent for its inhaler for administering respiratory drugs in dry powder form. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded patent 8,677,992 on 25 March to three inventors and assigned to Hovione International. Among the inventors is Peter Villax, the company’s vice-president for innovation.…
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Clinical Trial to Test Advanced Lung Cancer Immunotherapy
7 April 2014. EMD Serono, a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Merck in Rockland, Massachusetts, is beginning a clinical trial to test a vaccine-type therapy for advanced cases of non-small cell lung cancer. The late-stage trial is assessing the ability of tecemotide, an experimental drug designed to trigger an immune response against cancer cells, to…
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Cancer Radiotherapy Company Lands $11.6M First Round Funds
4 April 2014. RefleXion Medical, a company in Burlingame, California designing a more accurate form of radiation therapy to treat solid tumors, gained $11.6 million in its first round of venture financing. The financing was lead by venture capital company Sofinnova Partners, with participation by Pfizer Venture Investments and Venrock. RefleXion Medical is developing a…
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Daiichi Sankyo, UCSF Partner on Neurodegenerative Disorders
4 April 2014. The pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo in Tokyo and University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) are collaborating on discovering new drugs to treat neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. While funding amounts were not disclosed, the deal gives Daiichi Sankyo the option to license compounds discovered through the partnership,…