Month: March 2016
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Clinical Trial Advances Dengue Vaccine Candidate
17 March 2016. A small-scale clinical trial testing an experimental vaccine with people given live dengue viruses shows the vaccine is effective in preventing dengue infections. The team from Johns Hopkins University and University of Vermont published its findings in yesterday’s (16 March) issue of Science Translational Medicine; paid subscription required. The vaccine, developed by…
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EKG Technology Integrated into Apple Watch Band
16 March 2016. Owners of an Apple Watch will soon be able to track their heart rhythms, using electrocardiogram or EKG sensors built into the wrist band for the device. The Kardia Band and supporting Apple Watch app are made by AliveCor Inc. in San Francisco, a developer of medical devices adapting smartphone technology for…
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Technique Speeds, Eases Bone Marrow Stem Cell Collection
16 March 2016. A lab in Australia developed a process that makes it easier and faster to harvest blood-forming stem cells for treating diseases such as leukemia. The team led by Susan Nilsson at Monash University in Clayton, Victoria published its findings in yesterday’s (15 March) issue of the journal Nature Communications. Transplants of hematopoietic…
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Roche Licensing Biotech Immunotherapies in $1B Deal
15 March 2016. The biotechnology company Blueprint Medicines, a developer of cancer treatments based on a patient’s precise genomic make-up, is partnering with the pharmaceutical company Roche on cancer immunotherapies. The agreement gives Roche options to license up to 5 small-molecule, or low molecular-weight therapies, in a deal that could bring Blueprint more than $1…
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Injected Drug Forms Anti-Cancer Nanoparticles in Tumors
15 March 2016. Medical researchers developed a drug delivery technique that in lab mice forms anti-cancer nanoparticles inside metastatic tumors, promising much more potent cancer treatments. The team led by Mauro Ferrari and Haifa Shen at Houston Methodist Research Institute in Texas published its findings in yesterday’s (14 March) issue of Nature Biotechnology; paid subscription…
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Beta Cell Patch Designed to Control Blood Glucose Levels
14 March 2016. A patch device made of beta cells — the cells that produce insulin — was shown to produce insulin on demand in lab mice induced with diabetes. A team from the biomedical engineering department jointly hosted by University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh published…
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Biomarker Profiles Shown to Improve Ovarian Cancer Survival
14 March 2016. A clinical trial of people with ovarian cancer shows patients receiving treatments matching their particular molecular profiles survived an average of 9 months longer than those receiving one or more drugs not matching their biomarkers. Results of the study, conducted by Caris Life Sciences at 6 cancer care hospitals in the U.S.…
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Vibration Technology Developed to Diagnose Back Pain
11 March 2016. Researchers at University of Alberta adapted engineering technologies using vibrations to develop a new way to diagnose spinal problems causing back pain. The team led by Alberta physical therapy professor Greg Kawchuk reported results of tests comparing its technology to MRI in today’s (11 March) issue of the journal Scientific Reports. Kawchuk…
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FDA Gives Initial Clearance for Engineered Mosquitoes
11 March 2016. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a preliminary report that self-limiting engineered mosquitoes will have no significant environmental impacts on the Florida Keys, where they plan to be tested. The report agrees with an environmental assessment by Oxitec Ltd., developer of the engineered mosquitoes, that the agency is releasing for public…
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Process Devised for Plastics from Carbon Dioxide, Plants
10 March 2016. Producing common plastics like polyester today often needs large inputs of fossil fuel derivatives. A chemistry lab at Stanford University in California developed a low-carbon alternative to polyester that combines recycled carbon dioxide with inedible plant matter, such as agricultural waste, as reported in today’s issue of the journal Nature. Matthew Kanan…