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FDA OKs Trial of Biopolymer to Treat Spinal Cord Injury
InVivo Therapeutics, a medical device developer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin a clinical trial to test the company’s bio-based polymer scaffolding as a treatment for acute traumatic spinal cord injury. The agency’s approval came in the form of an Investigational Device Exemption that allows…
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Synthetic Tissue Created with Water, Lipids, 3-D Printing
Biochemical researchers at University of Oxford in the U.K. developed materials from networks of water droplets inside lipid films to perform functions similar to human tissue. The team led by Oxford chemistry professor Hagan Bayley published its findings as the cover story in this week’s issue of the journal Science (paid subscription required). The researchers…
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Enzyme Cocktail Generates High Volume Hydrogen from Biomass
Bioengineers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, with colleagues from elsewhere in the U.S. and Mexico, developed a process to inexpensively extract large volumes of hydrogen fuel from any type of plant matter. The team led by biological systems engineering professor Y.H. Percival Zhang, published its findings online in a recent issue of the journal Angewandte…
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Trial to Test Immunotherapy with Children’s Solid Tumors
Researchers at hospitals and universities in Philadelphia and Salt Lake City will test T-cell immunotherapy strategies in children with neuroblastoma, a solid tumor cancer that occurs in children. The $550,000 grant from the ACT FAST (Adoptive Cell Therapy For Adolescent/pediatric Solid Tumors) initiative funding the trial is provided by three foundations: Solving Kids’ Cancer, the…
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Lab-On-Chip Maker Lands $9.2M in Early Round Venture Funds
Hurel Corporation, a developer of preclinical testing devices in New Brunswick, New Jersey, raised $9.2 million in its first round of venture fund raising after initial start-up. The round was organized by Spring Mountain Capital, a private equity investment management company in New York. No other participants in the round were disclosed. Hurel Corp. designs…
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Anatomical Models 3-D Printed from Tomography Scans
Researchers at University of Notre Dame in Indiana developed a process for three-dimensional printing of anatomical models from computed tomography (CT) scans. The team from the lab of Matthew Leevy, a research professor at Notre Dame’s Integrated Imaging Facility, published its findings online last week in text and video form in the Journal of Visualized…
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Phila Children’s Hospital Joins Pfizer Research Network
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is joining an academic research network of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. in New York, with selection of specific joint projects expected in July 2013. Financial and intellectual property aspects of the collaboration were not disclosed. Researchers from Children’s Hospital will take part in Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation network, focusing…
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Biotech, University to Partner on Bone Regeneration Trial
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and biotechnology company NeoStem Inc. in New York are collaborating on a clinical trial to test the ability of adult stem cells to grow into bone tissue. The trial, which involves the university’s dental school, will try to regenerate bone tissue among patients who need a tooth extraction. NeoStem…
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Study: Solar Panel Industry Now a Net Energy Producer
The global photovoltaic industry has reached a point where solar panels are now likely generating more energy than needed to produce the panels, concludes a new study by Stanford University’s Global Climate and Energy Project. The findings of postdoctoral fellow Michael Dale and project director Sally Benson appear in the 2 April issue of the…
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Common Virus Fortifies Stem Cells, Improves Their Survival
Medical researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and others devised a method for improving the survival of stem cells in the body, making them more effective therapeutic agents. The team led by Graca Almeida-Porada of Wake Forest’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine published their findings last week in the online journal PLoS One.…