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Protein Gels Being Devised to Simulate Human Functions
12 August 2015. New York University’s engineering school is developing a new type of protein-based gel materials that respond to and replicate natural biochemical processes. The three-year project, led by chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Jin Kim Montclare, is funded by a $368,000 grant from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. Montclare and colleagues, at NYU’s…
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University Faculty Design Mood-Tracking Mobile App
11 August 2015. Faculty at University of Missouri in psychiatry and computer science built a smartphone app that allows people with depression to track their moods and share the data with their psychiatrists. The app, known as MoodTrek, is available free of charge on Android phones. An iPhone version is planned for the future. The…
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Trial Shows Fertility Treatment Boosts IVF Pregnancy Rate
11 August 2015. A clinical study of cellular treatments for women using in-vitro fertilization shows the treatments increased pregnancy rates compared to women receiving standard IVF alone. Findings from the study that tested treatments developed by IVF technology company OvaScience Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts are scheduled to be published on 25 August in the Journal…
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Astronauts to Eat Space-Grown Vegetables
10 August 2015. Astronauts in Expedition 44 on the International Space Station plan to eat fresh leafy vegetables today grown in their own lab. The red romaine lettuce on their menus is grown in a plant system, nicknamed Veggie — officially known as Veg-01 — and marks the first crops both grown and consumed in…
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Intrexon Acquires Oxitec, Partners on Genetic Disorder
10 August 2015. Intrexon Corp., a biotechnology company specializing in synthetic biology, is acquiring Oxitec Ltd., a designer of genetically modified insects to control the spread of disease-bearing and agricultural pests for $160 million. Intrexon is also partnering with Synthetic Biologics Inc. to develop therapies for phenylketonuria, a genetic metabolic disorder. Intrexon, in Gaithersburg, Maryland…
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Nicotine Destroying Drug Candidate Discovered
7 August 2015. Biochemists at Scripps Research Institute reported on an enzyme derived from naturally-occurring bacteria that shows in lab tests can remove nicotine in the blood, with potential as a drug to help smokers quit. The team from the lab of chemistry professor Kim Janda at Scripps’s La Jolla, California campus described their findings…
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Peanut Allergy Therapy Company Raises $160 Million in IPO
6 August 2015. Aimmune Therapeutics Inc., a developer of treatments for peanut and other food allergies, raised $160 million from its initial public stock offering, pricing its 10 million shares at $16.00. Shares in the Brisbane, California company trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol AIMT. Shares closed today (6 August), priced at $24.10…
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Computer Model Provides Early Sepsis Alert
6 August 2015. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University wrote a computer model that gives clinicians an early and accurate warning that a patient is developing sepsis, a life-threatening complication of infections. The team of medical researchers, computer scientists, and mathematicians published its findings yesterday in the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid subscription required). Sepsis results…
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Pharma Licenses University Antibiotic Enhancements
5 August 2015. Technologies that remove side-effect causing toxicity from gentamicin, a powerful antibiotic drug, are being licensed from two universities by La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company. Financial terms of the agreements between the San Diego biopharmaceutical developer and University of Alabama in Birmingham and University of Indiana were not disclosed. Gentamicin is one of a…
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Gates Expands Collaboration with RNA Vaccine Maker
4 August 2015. CureVac, a designer of vaccines and therapies based on messenger RNA — genetic signals sent from DNA to a person’s cells — is expanding its partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to include a third viral disease affecting low-resource regions. Financial details of the new collaboration between the Gates Foundation…