Month: March 2015
-
Mobile App in Development to Manage COPD
31 March 2015. A system combining an iPhone app and big data analytics is under development to help people with COPD manage their symptoms and health care providers monitor their condition. The COPD Navigator system is designed by LifeMap Solutions in San Jose, California and National Jewish Health Respiratory Institute, a joint service of National…
-
Nanoneedles Deliver Therapeutic DNA, Grow Blood Vessels
31 March 2015. A device made of tiny nanoscale needles successfully delivered genetic material that encourages growth of blood vessels in lab animals, in tests of its therapeutic potential. Researchers from Imperial College London in the U.K. and Houston Methodist Research Institute in Texas reported their findings yesterday in the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription…
-
Novartis, Aduro Biotech Partner on Cancer Immunotherapy
30 March 2015. The pharmaceutical company Novartis is licensing cancer immunotherapy technology from Aduro Biotech in Berkeley, California. The collaboration could earn Aduro as much as $750 million, including an equity stake, for access to its work on cyclic dinucleotides, still in preclinical study, but considered promising as a cancer treatment. Cyclic dinucleotides are naturally…
-
New Processes to Manufacture Food Sought in Challenge
27 March 2015. Sponsors of a new challenge on InnoCentive are seeking new manufacturing processes for making food and snacks. The competition has a total prize purse of $10,000 and a deadline of 23 April 2015 for submissions. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowdsourcing competitions for corporate and organization sponsors. The sponsor, in this…
-
Intermediate Trial Shows Ebola Vaccines Safe
27 March 2015. An intermediate-stage clinical trial in Liberia testing two new vaccines to prevent Ebola infections, shows the vaccines appear to be safe, allowing for larger-scale assessments. Initial results of the trial were reported yesterday by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of National Institutes of Health. The 2014-15 Ebola virus…
-
Sharp Rise in Livestock Antimicrobial Use Expected
26 March 2015. An international research consortium estimates that global use of antibiotics in livestock is expected to jump by two-thirds by the year 2030, imperiling attempts to overcome antibiotic resistance and posing a threat to public health. The team led by Princeton University environmental researcher Ramanan Laxminarayan published its findings last week in Proceedings…
-
Hand-Held DNA Sequencer IDs Bacteria, Viruses
26 March 2015. A palm-sized DNA sequencing device was able to identify a number of bacteria and viruses, and discriminate between closely related species in about 6 hours. Tests of the MinIon device, made by Oxford Nanopore Technologies in Oxford, U.K., were reported today in the journal GigaScience. Oxford Nanopore is developing the MinIon as a…
-
FDA Approves Inhalational Anthrax Treatment
25 March 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a treatment for inhalational anthrax, a rare but dangerous respiratory condition that can result from a bioterrorist attack. The drug is marketed as Anthrasil by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Anthrax is caused by Bacillus anthracis, bacteria found naturally in soil and commonly…
-
University Breeds Genome-Edited Pigs
25 March 2015. Veterinary researchers at University of Maryland successfully bred 18 pigs with their genomes edited by a technique that prominent geneticists recently called for strict guidelines. The university today announced birth of the baby pigs bred by animal sciences professor Bhanu Telugu and faculty research assistant Ki-Eun Park. Telugu and Park applied the…
-
Stem Cell Biotech Gains $44M in First Venture Round
24 March 2015. A biotechnology start-up developing a stem-cell technology to replace missing beta cells that produce insulin for patients with type 1 diabetes, secured $44 million in its first venture funding round. Funding for Semma Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts was led by MPM Capital, with participation by Fidelity Biosciences, ARCH Venture Partners, and Medtronic.…