Tag: chemistry
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Drugs Found with Potential to Replace Traumatic Memories
Neuroscientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology found a class of drug compounds, some of which are now in use, can erase fear-causing memories in lab mice, and thus could treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The team from the lab of Li-Huei Tsai in MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory published its findings today in the…
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Biotech, National Lab Partner on Gas-to-Liquid Conversion
Calysta Energy, a biotechnology company in Menlo Park, California and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California are developing a biological process for converting methane to liquid fuel. Financial aspects of the agreement were not disclosed. Livermore National Lab is a facility of the U.S. Department of Energy. The project aims to devise a technique…
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Imaging Technique Captures RNA Viral Infections in Progress
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in Atlanta, and Vanderbilt University in Nashville devised a method with advanced microscopy to follow the process of viral infections without affecting the virus or its host. The team led by Georgia Tech biomedical engineering professor Philip Santangelo appeared online yesterday in the journal ACS Nano…
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Discovery Process Devised to Better Test Drug Effects
Biomedical researchers at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California developed a drug discovery method that combines the rapid screening of potential compounds with preclinical tests of the best prospects, and in the process identified a potential new compound to treat type 2 diabetes. The Scripps team led by chemical physiologists Enrique Saez and Benjamin…
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Bayer Acquires Cancer Drug Developer Algeta for $2.9B
The global pharmaceutical company Bayer Group based in Germany is buying the specialty drug company Algeta ASA in Oslo, Norway for NOK 17.6 billion (USD 2.9 billion). Algeta, developer of a radium-based drug to treat prostate cancer, says its board of directors approved the sale, subject to confirmation by shareholders. Bayer and Algeta collaborated on…
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Pressure-Cooked Nanoparticles Improve Lithium-Ion Batteries
Engineers at University of California in Riverside discovered a process for improving cathodes in lithium-ion batteries found in today’s electric cars and most electronic devices, and thus their performance. The team from the lab of Riverside’s David Kisailus published their findings in this month’s issue of the journal Crystal Growth and Design (paid subscription required).…
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Challenge Seeks Better Insecticide Performance Test Methods
A new challenge on InnoCentive is looking for new methods or processes for tracking the interactions between insecticides and the pests they aim to kill. The competition has a total purse of $10,000 and a deadline of 18 November 2013 for proposals (free registration required). InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate…
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Heat, Iron-Oxide Nanoparticles Improve Cancer Drug Delivery
Pharmaceutical and engineering researchers at Oregon State University in Corvallis developed a technique with heated iron-oxide nanoparticles that in lab tests was shown to kill ovarian cancer cells with chemotherapy drugs. The team led by Oregon State pharmacy professor Oleh Taratula published its findings this month in an advance online paper in the International Journal of…
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Super-Antioxidant Developed from Catalyst Nanoparticles
Chemists and bioengineers at Rice University in Houston developed an antioxidant from an element used in catalytic converters that they found to be many times more powerful than antioxidants now on the market. The team from the labs of Vicki Colvin and Laura Segatori published their findings earlier this month in the journal ACS Nano…
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Programming Language Created for Synthetic DNA Chemistry
Computer scientists and systems biologists at University of Washington, California Institute of Technology, and University of California in San Francisco are developing a coding language to enable the programming of synthetic DNA chemical interactions. A report from the team led by Washington computer scientist Georg Seelig appeared yesterday online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology (paid…