Tag: physical sciences
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Nanoparticles Designed for Asthma, Allergy Treatments
19 April 2016. A technique for masking allergy or asthma treatments in biodegradable nanoparticles is shown in lab mice to quickly build a tolerance in the immune system for offending allergens. A medical and engineering team at Northwestern University in Chicago published its findings yesterday, 18 April, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…
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Electric Current Shown to Reduce Wound Bacteria
18 April 2016. A bandage that sends a mild electric current through wounds was shown in tests with pigs to disrupt and reduce films of bacteria that form over wounds, to improve healing. Tests of the electric wound dressing, made by Vomaris Innovations in Tempe, Arizona, were reported at the Wound Healing Society conference that…
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Implanted Device Delivers Pancreatic Cancer Drugs
15 April 2016. An engineering and medical research team developed an implanted device that in lab mice delivers chemotherapy directly to cancerous tumors in the pancreas. The device, designed in a biomedical engineering lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, is described in an article appearing 31 March 2016 in the journal Biomaterials…
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Technique Extends Bioactive Device Coating Lifetime
14 April 2016. A new process is shown to regenerate therapeutic coatings on implanted medical devices in lab tests and with animals, possibly extending the devices’ lifetimes in patients. The techniques, developed in the lab of Harvard University biomedical engineering professor Elliot Chaikof, are described in the 13 April 2016 issue of the journal Nature…
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Cell-Free Synthetic Biochemical Process Devised
13 April 2016. A biochemistry lab at University of California in Los Angeles developed techniques for producing synthetic bio-based chemicals without processing sugars through cells. The discoveries from the lab of biochemistry professor James Bowie is described in the 11 April 2016 issue of the journal Nature Chemical Biology (paid subscription required). Bowie, with postdoctoral…
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NIH Funds Biosensors to Monitor Oxygen in Tissue
11 April 2016. Profusa Inc., a company designing sensors that measure tissue oxygen levels in individuals with peripheral artery disease, received an NIH grant to advance its technology. The $225,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant for 2016 is divided between two agencies of National Institutes of Health: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and National…
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Smartphone-Based Sensor Gives Early Epilepsy Warning
8 April 2016. An academic and business consortium in Germany is developing a small sensor worn in the ear that detects and warns of seizures in people with epilepsy. The 3-year Epitect project to develop the system, including smartphone software and cloud-based analytics, is led by University Hospital Bonn and supported with €2 million ($US…
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On-Demand Pharma Manufacturing System Developed
1 April 2016. Chemical engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a compact manufacturing system that produces small quantities of pharmaceuticals as needed. The system developed in the MIT labs of Alan Myerson, Klavs Jensen, and Timothy Jamison is described in the 31 March issue of the journal Science (paid subscription required). Making drugs at…
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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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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…