Month: November 2015

  • Smartphone Add-On Found Comparable to Pro Stethoscopes

    12 November 2015. A device added to ordinary smartphones was found in a clinical trial to transmit cardiovascular sounds as well as professional stethoscopes used by clinicians, and better than FDA-approved disposable stethoscopes. Developers of the Heartbuds device and app, from Orlando Health, a health care provider in Florida, presented their test results earlier this…

  • Gene Therapy Company Raises $70 Million in IPO

    11 November 2015. Voyager Therapeutics, a company less that two years old developing gene therapies for central nervous system disorders is raising $70 million in its initial public stock offering. The Cambridge, Massachusetts enterprise, trading on the Nasdaq exchange (symbol: VYGR), offered 5 million shares yesterday at $14.00. Shares closed today at $17.75, a gain…

  • Survey Ending on 20 November 2015

    Updated 21 November 2015. The survey is now closed. Thank you for taking part. If you plan on taking part in the survey, please do so today. By participating, you’ll be helping me improve Science and Enterprise and contributing to the science of blog readership. For completing the survey, each participant will receive a free…

  • Electronic Patch Shown to Kill Drug-Resistant Bacteria

    11 November 2015. Washington State University engineers and medical researchers developed an electronic stimulation patch that in lab tests kills nearly all drug-resistant bacteria it contacts. The team from the lab of bioengineering professor Haluk Beyenal published its proof-of-concept findings in a recent issue of the journal Scientific Reports. Beyenal’s lab in Pullman, Washington studies…

  • Start-Up’s Air Quality Technology to Clean City Areas

    10 November 2015. A start-up company is licensing research from University of Copenhagen in Denmark to develop a technology for removing air pollution from city neighborhoods. The air cleaning technology, known as gas phase advanced oxidation, is a product of the atmospheric chemistry lab led by Matthew Johnson, who also serves as chief scientist for…

  • USC, Biotech Edit Genes in Stem Cells for HIV Therapy

    10 November 2015. A lab at University of Southern California and biotechnology company developed a technique for editing genomes in blood-forming stem cells as a potential treatment for HIV infection. The team from the lab of USC medical school professor Paula Cannon and Sangamo BioSciences in Richmond, California published its findings yesterday in the journal…

  • Biotech Targets “Undruggable” Cancer Gene

    9 November 2015. A biotechnology company says it plans to focus its technology platform on a cancer-causing gene previously considered beyond the direct reach of today’s cancer drugs. Warp Drive Bio, in Cambridge, Massachusetts told an American Association of Cancer Research meeting in Boston on Saturday the company plans to target the Ras oncogene, a…

  • Compound Found to Reverse Lens Clouding in Cataracts

    6 November 2015. A biochemical and medical research team discovered a steroid that when given as eye drops to mice, reverses the accumulation of protein formations in cataracts. Researchers from the labs of protein chemistry professor Jason Gestwicki at University of Michigan and ophthalmology professor Usha Andley at Washington University in St. Louis published their…

  • Winners of ALS Variation Models Challenge Announced

    5 November 2015. Participants from universities in the U.S. and Taiwan are winners of a challenge to develop mathematical models that predict variations in progression of ALS in patients with the disease. The Dream ALS Stratification Prize4Life Challenge is a joint undertaking of Sage Bionetworks, a not-for-profit biomedical research organization, Dialogue on Reverse Engineering Assessment…

  • Platelets Engineered to Deliver, Transcribe RNA

    5 November 2015. A biochemistry lab at University of British Columbia developed a technique for supercharging blood platelets with genetic material, enabling these cells to deliver therapies through the blood stream. The team led by biochemist and molecular biologist Christian Kastrup published its findings this week in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition (paid subscription required).…