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Scripps Institute, Sigma-Aldrich to Partner on Reagents
Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California is collaborating with Sigma-Aldrich Corp. in St. Louis to speed the availability of new chemical reagents for drug discovery to the scientific community. The deal calls for payments to Scripps from Sigma-Aldrich, a chemical and laboratory services company, although the size of the payments is not disclosed. Under…
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Gold Nanoparticles Configured into Stretchable Conductors
Engineers and physicists at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor devised a method for transforming gold nanoparticles into conductive chains that stretch to nearly six times their original length and still conduct a current. The team led by Michigan chemical engineering professor Nicholas Kotov, with participants from the Korea Basic Science Institute in Daejeon, published…
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Research to Develop Peer-to-Peer VoIP Security Protocol
A computer science research group at University of Alabama in Birmingham is studying a new security scheme to better protect voice- and video-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications. The team led by Birmingham computer science professor Nitesh Saxena is funded by a two-year $150,000 grant from Cisco Systems. Saxena, with Birmingham computer science colleague Purushotham Bangalore, will…
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Smart Scalpel Tests Tissue for Cancer During Surgery
Medical technology researchers from Hungary and the U.K. developed a device that analyzes the smoke-like aerosol released during cancer electrosurgery to determine if the dissected tissue is cancerous. The team from Imperial College London led by medical faculty member Zoltán Takáts published its findings in today’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid subscription…
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University Research Leads to Non-Toxic Insect Repellant
Research by an entomology professor at University of California in Riverside led to a company licensing his discoveries that announced its first product, a non-toxic patch that repels mosquitoes for 48 hours. Olfactor Laboratories, a company co-founded by and licensing the research of Anandasankar Ray, makes the Kite mosquito patch, which yesterday started a crowd-funding…
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Eye-Tracking Shown Feasible as Alternative to Passwords
Engineers at University of Washington in Seattle and Texas State University in San Marcos found eye-tracking can be an acceptable alternative to passwords for computer authentication if it can be made easy for users. The research team led by Washington’s Cecilia Aragon presented its findings last month at a meeting of the International Association for Pattern…
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Cell Therapy Technique Tested to Regenerate Back Discs
Biomedical engineers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina developed a new biomaterial to deliver cells that repair the cushions between spinal discs and relieve the pain when that material degenerates. The team led by biomedical engineering professor Lori Setton — with colleagues from Duke, Singapore, and Taiwan — published their proof-of-concept findings last week…
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Health IT Group Documenting Medical Automation Results
HIMSS, an organization in Chicago promoting information technology in health care, is collecting case studies of automation to show its impact on medical practice and health care outcomes. The group unveiled the program, named the Health IT Value Suite, today at a press conference in Washington, D.C., although the collection is not yet available to…
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Cancer Genetic Variations Database Generated for Therapies
Researchers at National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of National Institutes of Health, cataloged the genetic variations of nine leading types of cancers, and are making the data available to the cancer research community. The team led by pharmacologist Yves Pommier and geneticist Paul Meltzer posted its findings today online in the journal Cancer Research (paid…
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Food Industry Establishes Traceability Research Center
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in Chicago unveiled its Global Food Traceability Center to conduct research and develop best practices to identify sources of health problems related to food products. The organization says there currently is no single group that brings together all industry stakeholders to collaborate on finding solutions to these problems. The…