Month: March 2016
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Foundation Supporting ALS Progression Model Study
31 March 2016. A study to validate computer models that predict progression and survival of patients with ALS is underway by a bioinformatics company and biopharmaceutical developer. The 3-year project is funded by a grant of nearly $500,000 from ALS Association in Washington, D.C. ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease,…
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Drug Shown Effective With Stubborn Rheumatoid Arthritis
31 March 2016. A late-stage clinical trial shows a small-molecule drug reduces pain and inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, who stopped responding to earlier protein treatments. A report of the study testing the drug baricitinib, made by Eli Lilly & Company that sponsored the trial, appears in today’s issue of New England Journal of…
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Crowdsourcing Yields Heart Disease Algorithm
30 March 2016. Two financial analysts are the winners of a data science competition to write an algorithm that quickly analyzes MRI images of a person’s heart suspected of cardiac disease. The winning algorithm, by Qi Liu and Tencia Lee, was submitted in the second Data Science Bowl, put on by consulting company Booz-Allen Hamilton…
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Exome Profiles Tapped for Precise Cancer Therapies
30 March 2016. Informatics and genomics researchers at University of Colorado in Denver designed an automated system that matches genetic variations with FDA-approved cancer drugs. The team led by oncology and informatics professor Aik Choon Tan published its findings yesterday (29 March) in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association; paid subscription required. Tan and…
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Electronic Patch Offers Pain Relief, Cuts Medication Use
29 March 2016. A study of customers using an electronic patch to relieve chronic pain, shows the patch relieves muscular and skeleton pain over 6 months, enabling its users to reduce their need for pain drugs. The study was done by BioElectronics Corp. in Frederick, Maryland, developer of the device, which expects to present the…
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Wide Variation Found in Consumer Blood Tests
29 March 2016; updated. Researchers at a New York medical center found some wide differences in results from commercial blood tests marketed to consumers, with samples from 60 healthy adults. The team led by Mount Sinai Medical Center bioinformatics professor Joel Dudley and genomics professor Eric Schadt published their findings yesterday (28 March) in Journal…
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Organ Chip Spin-Off Gains $28M in Venture Funds
28 March 2016. A two year-old company developing chip devices that simulate human organs is adding $28 million in venture capital to its treasury. This is the second venture funding round for Emulate Inc., in Boston, a spin-off enterprise from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Emulate Inc. creates plastic chip…
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Sensor Material Developed to Detect Fuel Vapors
28 March 2016. A University of Utah engineering team designed a new ultra-sensitive material that can detect traces of hydrocarbon fuel or explosive vapors in the air. Researchers from the lab of Ling Zang published their findings earlier this month of the journal ACS Sensors; paid subscription required. Zang, a professor of engineering and materials…
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Smartphone App to Support Alzheimer’s Caregivers
25 March 2016. Researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis are designing a smartphone app that taps social media to assist caregivers providing help for people with Alzheimer’s disease. The team of IUPUI social work professor David Wilkerson, gerontology psychiatrist Daniel Bateman, and informatics professor Erin Brady are supported by an innovation grant from the…
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Microneedle Patch Delivers Melanoma Immunotherapy
25 March 2016. An engineering group created and tested in mice a patch with tiny needles that applies drugs stimulating the immune system to fight melanoma, an advanced form of skin cancer. The team from the lab of Zhen Gu, in a joint biomedical engineering program at North Carolina State University and University of North…