Science and Enterprise

Tag: biotechnology

  • Candidate Drug Starves Cancer Cells of Energy Source

    Researchers from the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand have identified a compound that deprives some cancer cells of their energy source, the sugar glucose. The compound is packaged in a drug candidate licensed for pre-clinical testing to a company founded by one of the study’s senior authors. The findings appear in the 3 August issue…

  • Hopkins to Study Creating Blood Platelets from Stem Cells

    Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland have begun a study of inherited blood clotting abnormalities focusing on the potential creation of human platelet cells from stem cells. The study is funded by a $9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant is part of an overall NIH initiative on genetic…

  • Oxford, Illumina to Sequence 500 Human Genomes

    Oxford University in the U.K. and Illumina Inc. in San Diego will collaborate on a project to sequence the whole genomes of 500 people with a range of life-threatening diseases. The research will explore how whole-genome sequencing can improve diagnosis and treatment decisions for individual patients. Illumina is a developer and manufacturer of genomic analysis…

  • Baxter Sets Up Venture Fund for New Therapies

    Baxter International in Deerfield, Illinois has established Baxter Ventures to invest in promising early-stage companies developing therapies that complement Baxter’s product lines. Baxter Ventures will make up to $200 million in equity investments and report to Norbert Riedel, the company’s chief scientific officer. Baxter is a developer of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology solutions. The…

  • Faster Lab-On-a-Chip Devised for Genetic Analysis

    A team at University of British Columbia in Vancouver has developed a small silicon chip that the researchers say can make genetic analysis faster and more sensitive. The findings have been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The UBC scientists worked with colleagues at the British Columbia Cancer Agency…

  • Agilent, Singapore Institute Launch Drug Screening Center

    Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara, California and Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) unveiled a comprehensive drug screening platform for biomedical researchers. The service, called the Singapore Screening Centre, will reside in A*STAR’s Experimental Therapeutics Centre. Agilent and A*STAR say the platform can conduct high-throughput screenings to identify potential drug candidates against diseases,…

  • Researchers Develop Low-Energy Cardiac Defibrillation

    Scientists from Germany, France, and the U.S. have developed a new process to regulate dangerous fluctuations in heart rhythms with far less energy and pain than current methods. The team’s findings appear in the current issue of the journal Nature (paid subscription required). The regular human heartbeat is controlled by the heart’s electrical system. An…

  • Company-Institute Teams to Tackle Residual HIV Infection

    The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of National Institutes of Health awarded three research teams more than $14 million a year, for up to five years, to develop strategies to help rid the body of HIV infections. The grants to project teams composed of private companies and universities or research institutes are…

  • Sanofi, Rib-X to Collaborate on New Types of Antibiotics

    The global pharmaceutical firm Sanofi has agreed to jointly develop new antibiotic technology with the biotechnology company Rib-X Pharmaceuticals in New Haven, Connecticut. The agreement includes an option for Sanofi to license the technology from Rib-X that treats resistant pathogens. Rib-X’s RX-04 program is developing new types of antibiotics aimed at drug-resistant pathogens, which the…

  • Biotech, NGO Partnership Advances Sleeping Sickness Drug

    A consortium of two biotechnology companies and non-government organization have completed preclinical studies of a potential treatment for sleeping sickness. The partners — Anacor Pharmaceuticals in Palo Alto, California, SCYNEXIS Inc. in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in Geneva, Switzerland — published their findings in the journal PLoS…