Science and Enterprise

Tag: biotechnology

  • Superbug Therapy Based on University Research in Development

    MGB Biopharma, a biotechnology company in Glascow, U.K., is developing a new antibiotic treatment for resistant infections including MRSA and Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff.) bugs. The company licensed the discoveries from labs at University of Strathclyde, also in Scotland, that they are developing into oral and IV -administered drugs. C. Diff. is a bacterium that…

  • University Licenses Cancer Drug Screening Technology

    A technology developed at University of Colorado in Boulder to screen drug compounds for potential cancer treatments has been licensed by the university to a Boulder start-up company. Suvica Inc. will develop the patented drug discovery technology into a marketable product. The drug discovery processes licensed to Suvica use a genetically modified Drosophila fruit fly…

  • Mayo Clinic, Korean Biotech to Collaborate on ALS Research

    Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville, Florida and SK Biopharmaceuticals in Seoul, South Korea have agreed to develop new treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The collaboration will center around the work of Mayo Clinic’s Leonard Petrucelli, who heads the neuroscience research department at the Jacksonville campus. ALS results in…

  • Biotech Developing Anti-Cancer Drugs Gets $15M Investment

    Tensha Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts says it has received $15 million in early stage financing to advance treatments for cancer by regulating the transcription of disease-associated genes. The series A investment — the first round of funding after a company’s initial seed capital — is provided by HealthCare Ventures, life science venture capital firm, also…

  • New Method Can Increase Commercial Antibiotic Yields

    Researchers from the U.K. and Japan have devised a new method for increasing the yields of antibiotic compounds from bacteria. The process, which has practical applications in commercial pharmaceutical production, is scheduled to be described this week in an online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Most known antibiotics are…

  • Improved Cellulose Processing Developed for Biofuels

    A team of university and industry researchers in Europe and the U.S.  have developed a process to hasten the breakdown of cellulose in waste plant matter for conversion to ethanol. Their findings appear online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists with the company Novozymes in Davis, California, and Bagsvaerd, Denmark,…

  • Computer Model Tests Effects of Heart Rhythm Drugs

    Researchers at University of California in Davis have led the development of a computer model to test the effects of medications for arrhythmia — abnormal heart rhythm — before they are given to patients. The work of the team led by biophysicist Colleen Clancy is described in the 31 August issue of the journal Science…

  • Bacterial Process Converts Recycled Newspapers to Biofuel

    Biologists at Tulane University in New Orleans have found a bacterial strain that produces bio-based butanol directly from cellulose in plants and plant byproducts, including old newspapers. The strain of bacteria, called TU-103, is being tested in the lab of Tulane molecular biologist David Mullin, and a patent is pending on the process. Mullin’s lab…

  • Small Business Grant Awarded for Blood Vessel Drug Database

    HemoShear LLC, a biotechnology company in Charlottesville, Virginia has been awarded a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant award from National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant of up to $4.3 million will fund profiles of the effects of 50 known drugs on the human blood vessel system. The database will help predict…

  • Cambridge U.K. Spin-Off Gains $9.5 Million in Early Funding

    Mission Therapeutics, a research spin-off company from Cambridge University in the U.K., has raised £6 million ($US 9.5 million) in Series A funding from a European venture capital syndicate. Series A investments represent the first round of significant funds raised after an enterprise’s initial launch. The company specializes in the discovery and development of drugs…