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Patent Awarded for Cancer-Detecting Blood Test
10 September 2015. VolitionRx, a developer of blood tests to screen for cancer, received a U.S. patent for its underlying technology that detects changes in basic cell proteins found in blood. Patent number 9,128,086 was issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on 8 September to four inventors and assigned to the company, incorporated…
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Alliance Mounts Comprehensive ALS Research Program
9 September 2015. A coalition of three medical centers in the U.S. is leading a comprehensive research initiative to find treatments and eventually cures for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The collaboration, known as Answer ALS brings together researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Massachusetts General Hospital…
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Youth E-Cigarette Use Seen as Smoking Gateway
9 September 2015. A survey of teens and young adults in the U.S. shows those who smoke electronic cigarettes are much more likely to start smoking tobacco within one year. Results of the study, conducted by a team from University of Pittsburgh and Dartmouth University medical centers, appear online in yesterday’s issue of the journal…
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Genomic Technique Devised to ID Drug Candidates
8 September 2015. Researchers at University of Illinois in Champaign developed a technique using genomic tools to identify natural substances in bacterial strains with potential therapeutic properties. The team led by microbiologist William Metcalf and chemistry professor Wilfed van der Donk published its findings last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid…
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Spinal Cord Injury Device Trial Completes Enrollment
8 September 2015. An early-stage clinical trial testing an implanted biocompatible plastic framework to encourage healing of spinal cord injuries completed its initial enrollment. The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold device is made by InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Spinal cord injuries are usually caused by a sudden, traumatic blow to the spine that bruises or tears…
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Labor Day 2015
7 September 2015. It’s Labor Day in the USA, so Science and Enterprise will take the day off, along with most everyone else. We’ll return to regular posting tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to get working people and their friends in the Labor Day spirit. * * *
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Challenge Seeks Simple Medical Waste Incinerator
4 September 2015. A new challenge on InnoCentive is asking the public for a design of an efficient yet simple incinerator of medical waste generated during humanitarian emergencies. The competition has a total potential payout of $30,000 and a deadline for submissions of 4 November 2015. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowdsourcing competitions for…
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Hemophilia Therapy Candidate Given Breakthrough Status
4 September 2015. A synthetic antibody designed to prevent bleeding episodes among people with the most common type of hemophilia received a breakthrough therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The pharmaceutical company Roche says FDA assigned the designation its biologic therapy code-named ACE910, now being tested in clinical trials. Hemophilia is an inherited…
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Cancer Labs Crowdsource Drug Discovery
3 September 2015. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Structural Genomics Consortium are making an early-stage drug prototype freely available to the biomedical research community to further define its therapeutic capabilities. Financial and intellectual property aspects of the offer were not immediately disclosed. The two research labs — both in Toronto, Ontario, Canada — jointly…
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Technique Devised to Deliver Small Drug Amounts to Lungs
3 September 2015. Engineers and medical researchers at Columbia University developed a technique that delivers small amounts of medications in liquid form to specific areas of lungs. The team led by biomedical engineering professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic published its proof-of-concept findings earlier this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid subscription required). The…