Tag: physical sciences
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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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Propeller, Boehringer Partner on Inhaler Adherence Study
23 March 2016. The pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim is collaborating with a mobile health technology developer to track use of its medications for asthma and COPD administered with its inhaler. Financial aspects of the agreement between Propeller Health in Madison, Wisconsin, and Boehringer Ingelheim were not disclosed. Boehringer Ingelheim, headquartered in Germany, markets a number…
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23andMe Creates Research Software for iPhone Apps
21 March 2016. The personal genetics company 23andMe wrote a software module for Apple’s ResearchKit platform that makes it possible to add genetics data to iPhone apps used in medical research. The module, says 23andMe, in Mountain View, California, also supports genetics data from other sources, with three research apps now using the software to…
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Implant Developed to Deliver Alzheimer’s Immunotherapy
18 March 2016. A neuroscience team from Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, or EPFL, in Switzerland designed and implanted a capsule that in lab mice generates antibodies to reduce amyloid beta plaque accumulations in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the lab of Patrick Aebischer, also EPFL’s president, published its findings in the…
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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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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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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…
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Hydrogel Injection Tested to Treat Advanced Artery Disease
9 March 2016. A biomedical engineering team developed an injected hydrogel for advanced cases of peripheral artery disease that in lab animals improved blood flow and muscles in affected limbs. Researchers from University of California in San Diego, led by bioengineering professor Karen Christman, published their findings earlier this year in the Journal of the…
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Platform Devised for 3-D Engineered Heart, Liver Tissue
8 March 2016. An engineering team at University of Toronto designed and tested in lab animals a technology for growing synthetic heart and liver tissue for drug testing and eventual clinical use. Researchers led by chemical engineering professor Milica Radisic published their findings yesterday (7 March) in the journal Nature Materials; paid subscription required. Radisic…