Tag: Canada
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High Speed Internet in Cars Found Distracting to Drivers
Psychologists and engineers at University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada found adding high speed Internet connections to cars creates potential distraction risks to drivers, even when used with hands-free voice-controlled devices. The team led by Toronto psychologist Ian Spence published its findings in the September-October 2013 issue of the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology (paid subscription…
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Pfizer Licenses University Institute’s Obesity Research
The global pharmaceutical company Pfizer is funding research at Université de Montréal in Quebec, Canada to identify cellular pathways in genetic defects leading to therapies for early-onset morbid obesity. Financial aspects of the collaboration, which gives Pfizer a license to commercially develop results of the research, were not disclosed. Pfizer is funding and licensing research…
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Genetic Solution Identified for Canola Crop Losses
Biologists at University of Calgary in Canada identified a genetic process in plants similar to the oilseed canola that offers a solution to a problem causing large annual losses of this key cash crop. The team lead by Calgary’s Marcus Samuel, with associates from University of Toronto and University of Bordeaux in France, published its…
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Lab-On-Chip Diagnostics Company Lands $2.1M Angel Financing
ChipCare Corp., a spin-off company from University of Toronto in Canada developing hand-held diagnostics devices to replace fixed expensive lab equipment, secured $2.05 million in early stage angel financing. The deal combines investments from university, private-sector, and Canadian government sources, according to an announcement by Grand Challenges Canada, a government-financed organization supporting medical innovations in…
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Safer, Cheaper Ultraviolet PCB Disposal Process Developed
A team of engineers and chemists at University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada devised a new process for cleaning soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, cancer-causing chemicals banned in the U.S. since 1979, but with residues still in the environment. The new methods, say Calgary engineering professor Gopal Achari and chemistry professor Cooper Langford,…
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3-D Cellular-Level Brain Atlas and Database Developed
Neuroscientists at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Jülich, Germany, with colleagues from other institutes in Germany, developed a three-dimensional atlas of the brain, providing ultra-high resolution and the ability to zoom into different parts of the brain down to the cellular level. The team led by Alan Evans…
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Energy-Efficient Process Devised to Convert CO2 to Methanol
Chemistry researchers at Université Laval in Québec City, Canada and Université de Toulouse in France developed a new process that converts carbon dioxide into the alternative fuel methanol in a single, more efficient step. The team led by Laval professor Frédéric-Georges Fontaine published its findings online earlier this month in the Journal of the American…
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FDA Designates Orphan Drug for Rare Pain Condition
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated as an orphan drug the compound XEN402 to treat erythromelalgia, a rare disease that causes a burning pain in the feet and hands. XEN402 is being developed Xenon Pharmaceuticals in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Erythromelalgia is a disorder that affects the skin of the feet or hands or…
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Video Game Adapted, Tested as Lazy Eye Treatment in Adults
Vision researchers at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, with colleagues from China and New Zealand, adapted the video game Tetris in a treatment for adults with amblyopia, a condition commonly known as lazy eye. Ophthalmology professor Robert Hess and colleagues reported their findings in today’s issue of the journal Current Biology (paid subscription required). Amblyopia…
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Researcher Studies, Commercializes Nanoscale Drug Delivery
A researcher at University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada developed a process of delivering drugs to targeted locations in the body with nanoscale polymer capsules, and has received a patent for that process. Afsaneh Lavasanifar, a professor in Alberta’s pharmacy school, also started a company in 2010 to take her process to market. Lavasanifar devised…