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Model Computes Genetic Test, Family History Predictive Value
Researchers at the genetic testing company 23andMe in Mountain View, California devised a mathematical model that shows the relative value of personal family history and genetic tests in assessing risk of contracting various conditions and disorders. The results of their research appear in the journal PLOS Genetics. The study aimed to compare family health histories…
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Cloud Services Create Rare Disease Solutions Challenge
Assay Depot, a cloud-based network of scientific services, and Rare Genomics Institute, a network and crowdfunding platform for genetic diseases, started a challenge competition for research proposals leading to diagnostics and treatments for rare diseases. The challenge will award prizes of $10,000 in cash and donated research services valued at up to $400,000 from participating…
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Graphene Layers Used to Build Nanoscale Power Transformer
Researchers from the U.K., Netherlands, U.S., Russia, and Japan created a nanoscale electric power transformer from one-atom layers of graphene and other materials. The work led by Leonid Ponomarenko and Andre Geim at University of Manchester is described online in the journal Nature Physics (paid subscription required). The process developed by Ponomarenko, Geim, and colleagues…
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Challenge Seeks Kids’ Central Nervous System Measurements
A new challenge competition is looking for methods for measuring an infant’s central nervous system development that can be administered in a pediatrician’s office. The competition, handled through the open innovation company InnoCentive, has a prize of $25,000 and a submission deadline of 15 December 2012. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for…
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Key Molecular Factors Uncovered Behind Tick-Borne Bacteria
Medical researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, with colleagues from Yale University and University of California in Davis, identified pathways and processes used by bacteria responsible for some tick-transmitted diseases to infect humans and animals. The team led by VCU’s Jason Carlyon published its findings in the November issue of the journal Infection and…
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University Spin-Off Developing Super-Porous Nanomaterials
A spin-off company from Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland is commercializing research on highly porous nanoscale materials, using a simple, safe process for synthesizing these materials developed at the university. The research by Queens chemistry professor Stuart James on these materials, known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), has led to the founding of the company…
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NSF Grant Funds Research on CO2 as Fossil Fuel Substitute
Brown University in Providence received a $1.75 million grant for research on substituting carbon dioxide for fossil fuels in industrial chemicals. The funding from National Science Foundation’s Centers for Chemical Innovation program will support a joint chemical innovation program at Brown and Yale universities, headed by principal investigator Tayhas Palmore (pictured left), a materials scientist…
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Solar Cells Built to Power Portable Devices in Low Light
Chemistry researchers at University of Warwick in the U.K. and Molecular Solar Ltd., a Warwick spin-off company in nearby Coventry, created an organic solar cell that generates enough power to recharge a lithium-ion battery directly and can work in various levels of light, including partial shade. The team led by Warwick professor Tim Jones (pictured…
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Clinical Trial Under Way Testing Stem Cell Heart Treatment
Cytori Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in San Diego, reports the first patient received treatment in its clinical trial using stem cells derived from body fat to treat severe heart failure. The patient was treated in September at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation in Minneapolis, one of six sites for the trial, and completed a seven-day…
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GlaxoSmithKline to Open its Clinical Trial Data
The global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline based in London will make available detailed data from its clinical trials for testing new drugs. The company will also make available 200 compounds from its library with potential for inhibiting tuberculosis and double the funding for its Open Lab project in Spain. GlaxoSmithKline will create a system that makes…