Tag: heart disease
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RNA Therapies Company Gains $450M in Venture Funds
5 January 2015. Moderna Therapeutics, a developer of medications that use genetic material to produce therapeutic proteins in the body, raised $450 million in its third announced venture financing round. The Cambridge, Massachusetts biotechnology company says existing investors AstraZeneca and Alexion Pharmaceuticals joined with new participants Viking Global Investors LP, Invus, RA Capital Management, and…
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Flexible Pulse Oximeter Designed for Wearable Devices
11 December 2014. Engineers at University of California in Berkeley developed techniques for building inexpensive sensors to measure pulse rate and blood oxygen levels into flexible materials suitable for wearable monitors or fitness devices. The team led by UC-Berkeley electrical engineering professor Ana Arias published its results online yesterday in the journal Nature Communications (paid…
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Cardiologists, Incubator Partner on Health Challenge
13 November 2014. American College of Cardiology is taking part in an international challenge to find start-ups developing breakthrough technologies, sponsored by 1776, an incubator and investment fund in Washington, D.C. The Challenge Cup, as the competition is called, takes place in 16 cities in 11 countries, with a total prize package of $650,000. Challenge…
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High-Speed Artery Imaging Technology in Development
5 November 2014. A process to capture high-speed three-dimensional images of plaque deposits in arteries and analyze their chemical makeup for diagnosing heart conditions is being developed by Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The team from the lab of Purdue biomedical engineer and chemist Ji-Xin Cheng, with colleagues from Indiana University School of Medicine,…
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IBM, Health Tech, Univ Designing Critical Care Mobile System
23 October 2014. IBM, University of Michigan, and mobile health technology company AirStrip are developing a system to provide real time monitoring and analytics for patients with chronic or critical disorders. The system is being designed to collect data directly from patients and provide early warning initially for hemodynamic decompensation, a type of heart failure…
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Gold Nanoparticles Boost Heart Tissue Patch Performance
1 October 2014. Medical and materials scientists at Tel Aviv University in Israel designed a heart tissue repair patch that adds in gold nanoparticles to improve electrical signaling and muscle performance. The team from the lab of life sciences professor Tal Dvir published its findings last month in the journal Nano Letters (paid subscription required).…
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Chip Emulates Human Airway Muscles to Test Asthma Treatments
24 September 2014. Biomedical engineers at Harvard University developed a model of human airway muscles on a miniaturized chip that emulates their actions during an asthma attack. The senior author of the paper describing the airway muscles chip, Kevin Kit Parker, is also a recipient of a new National Institutes of Health grant to develop…
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Sanofi, MyoKardia Partner on Genetic Heart Disorders
17 September 2014. The pharmaceutical company Sanofi and biopharmaceutical developer MyoKardia are collaborating on development and commercialization of three MyoKardia therapies for inherited heart diseases. The deal could earn MyoKardia as much as $200 million in milestone payments and equity investments from Sanofi. MyoKardia, in South San Francisco, California, designs small-molecule therapies for two types…
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Multi-Purpose Drug Boosts Adherence After Heart Attack
3 September 2014. Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and National Centre for Cardiovascular Research in Madrid, Spain found a pill combining three cardiovascular drugs usually prescribed separately helps heart attack patients stick to their medications better than the three drugs taken separately. The team led by Valentin Fuster, accredited to both institutions,…
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U.S. Diet Quality Improves, But Still Not Healthy
2 September 2014. A study by researchers at Harvard University shows some improvement in the health benefits of food eaten by Americans over the last decade, but the overall quality of the American diet remains poor. The study led by nutrition and epidemiology professor Walter Willett appears online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine (paid…