Science and Enterprise

Tag: biotechnology

  • Novo Nordisk, Foundation to Partner on Type 1 Diabetes

    JDRF, a foundation supporting research on type 1 diabetes, and the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk will partner on studies of the autoimmune process that plays a key role in type 1 diabetes. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed. Type 1 diabetes is sometimes called insulin-dependent, immune-mediated, or juvenile-onset diabetes, although it can…

  • Patent Awarded for Curry Compound as Drug Ingredient

    A patent has been awarded for compounds based on a substance in the spices curry and turmeric, to use in treatments for a number of diseases, including some cancers. Patent number 8,198,323 was awarded yesterday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to nine inventors, and assigned to University of Rochester in New York, University…

  • DARPA Awards $8 Million Synthetic Biology Contract

    The Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded an $8 million contract to Amyris Inc. of California for tools to expand the scope of Amyris’s industrial synthetic biology technology across various biological platforms and cell types. DARPA awarded the contract under its Living Foundries research program. With the Living Foundries program, DARPA…

  • Novartis, Foundation Medicine to Partner on Genome Analysis

    The pharmaceutical company Novartis has agreed to use the genomic analysis services of Foundation Medicine in Cambridge, Massachusetts in Novartis’s clinical trials of cancer drugs. The agreement expands an 18-month pilot program between the two companies. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Foundation Medicine conducts a detailed genomic analysis of tumors to help…

  • Biotech, Genome Companies Partner on Microbe Outbreaks

    Life Technologies Corp. in Carlsbad, California and OpGen Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland have agreed to develop systems, technologies, and applications for the management and surveillance of microbial outbreaks in the public health and infectious disease markets. Life Technologies is a biotechnology company developing diagnostic systems, and OpGen provides genomic and DNA analysis systems and services.…

  • Synthetic Platelets Developed for Therapies, Diagnostics

    Chemical engineers at University of California-Santa Barbara, with colleagues at Scripps Research Institute and Sanford-Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California, have developed synthetic blood platelets for therapeutic and diagnostic uses. Their findings appear online in the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). The team led by research scientist Nishit Doshi (pictured right), now with a…

  • Ensemble Therapeutics, Genentech Partner on Drug Discovery

    Ensemble Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Genentech, a subsidiary of the global pharmaceutical company Roche in South San Francisco, California have agreed to collaborate on the development of new drug candidates based on Ensemble’s technology. The financial value of the deal was not disclosed. Ensemble says it has developed a drug discovery…

  • $525M Venture Fund to Back Tech, Science Companies

    The venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Menlo Park, California has closed a $525 million venture capital fund for equity investments in early-stage green technology and life sciences, as well as digital enterprise companies. The fund, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers XV LLC (KPCB 15) will be led by 10 of the…

  • U.S. Patent Awarded for Synthetic Hepatitis C Biocatalysts

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded yesterday a patent covering biocatalysts and biocatalytic processes used to make intermediate products in the synthesis of hepatitis C drugs. Patent number 8,178,333 was awarded to 13 inventors and assigned to Codexis Inc. in Redwood City, California. Codexis is a biotechnology company that develops and markets engineered enzymes…

  • Microbe Found to Survive Ionic Liquid for Biofuel Processing

    Researchers from the U.S. Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) of the Department of Energy have isolated a tropical microbe that can endure high concentrations of ionic liquids, the solvents used to process cellulosic biomass into economical commercial biofuels. The team led by the institute’s Michael Thelen reported its findings this week online in the journal Proceedings…