Tag: physical sciences
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Renewable Biochemical Spin-Offs Land Small Business Grants
Two start-up companies, founded to commercialize research on renewable biochemicals at Iowa State University at Ames, received small business research grants from National Science Foundation to develop their technologies for the marketplace. The companies — OmegaChea Biorenewables in Ames and Glucan Biorenewables in St. Louis — are spin-off enterprises from Iowa State’s Center for Biorenewable Chemicals. OmegaChea Biorenewables,…
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Thin Illuminating Touch-Sensitive Electronic Film Developed
Engineers and materials scientists at University of California in Berkeley created an interactive electronic film with a network of pressure sensors built into flexible plastic. The findings from the lab of Berkeley engineering professor Ali Javey, with colleagues from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, appear online in yesterday’s advance issue of the journal Nature Materials (paid…
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Scripps Institute, Sigma-Aldrich to Partner on Reagents
Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California is collaborating with Sigma-Aldrich Corp. in St. Louis to speed the availability of new chemical reagents for drug discovery to the scientific community. The deal calls for payments to Scripps from Sigma-Aldrich, a chemical and laboratory services company, although the size of the payments is not disclosed. Under…
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Gold Nanoparticles Configured into Stretchable Conductors
Engineers and physicists at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor devised a method for transforming gold nanoparticles into conductive chains that stretch to nearly six times their original length and still conduct a current. The team led by Michigan chemical engineering professor Nicholas Kotov, with participants from the Korea Basic Science Institute in Daejeon, published…
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Research to Develop Peer-to-Peer VoIP Security Protocol
A computer science research group at University of Alabama in Birmingham is studying a new security scheme to better protect voice- and video-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications. The team led by Birmingham computer science professor Nitesh Saxena is funded by a two-year $150,000 grant from Cisco Systems. Saxena, with Birmingham computer science colleague Purushotham Bangalore, will…
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Smart Scalpel Tests Tissue for Cancer During Surgery
Medical technology researchers from Hungary and the U.K. developed a device that analyzes the smoke-like aerosol released during cancer electrosurgery to determine if the dissected tissue is cancerous. The team from Imperial College London led by medical faculty member Zoltán Takáts published its findings in today’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid subscription…
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University Research Leads to Non-Toxic Insect Repellant
Research by an entomology professor at University of California in Riverside led to a company licensing his discoveries that announced its first product, a non-toxic patch that repels mosquitoes for 48 hours. Olfactor Laboratories, a company co-founded by and licensing the research of Anandasankar Ray, makes the Kite mosquito patch, which yesterday started a crowd-funding…
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Eye-Tracking Shown Feasible as Alternative to Passwords
Engineers at University of Washington in Seattle and Texas State University in San Marcos found eye-tracking can be an acceptable alternative to passwords for computer authentication if it can be made easy for users. The research team led by Washington’s Cecilia Aragon presented its findings last month at a meeting of the International Association for Pattern…
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Cancer Genetic Variations Database Generated for Therapies
Researchers at National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of National Institutes of Health, cataloged the genetic variations of nine leading types of cancers, and are making the data available to the cancer research community. The team led by pharmacologist Yves Pommier and geneticist Paul Meltzer posted its findings today online in the journal Cancer Research (paid…
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Foundation Funds Study of Glass Formation Processes
A research team at University of Akron in Ohio is studying the formation of glass materials, processes that cover much more than materials found in windows. The team led by Akron polymer engineering professor David Simmons is funded by a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation. Simmons is joined in the project by…