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Merck Serono, Compugen to Form Toxicity Biomarkers Start-Up
Merck Serono, a division of the global pharmaceutical company Merck in Geneva, Switzerland and the drug discovery company Compugen in Tel Aviv, Israel have agreed to form Neviah Genomics, a new enterprise to develop biomarkers for the prediction of drug-induced toxicity. While some financial arrangements were revealed, the total value of the deal was not…
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National Lab Opens Battery Manufacturing R&D Center
Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, part of U.S. Department of Energy, has opened a research and development center for battery manufacturing. The lab says the facility is designed for open collaboration among participating companies, although the lab did not disclose which companies are taking part. The facility, which the lab says costs $3 million,…
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Oracle Unveils Internet-Based Clinical Trial Services
The global software company Oracle has revealed two new Internet cloud-based services aimed at improving clinical trial design and recruitment. The services are expected to be announced today at DIA 2012, a medical products industry meeting in Philadelphia. Oracle says the two applications — Health Sciences Protocol Validator and Health Sciences Patient Recruiter — will…
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Nanotech Window Glass Developer Lands $55M in Venture Funds
Soladigm, a developer of energy-efficient office building window glass in Milpitas, California, secured $55 million in series D venture funding, the fourth financing cycle after initial start-up. The funding round, led by Reinet Investments and NanoDimension, join current investors DBL Investors, GE, Khosla Ventures, Navitas Capital, Sigma Partners, and The Westly Group. Soladigm’s lead product,…
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Challenge Seeks Method to Connect Tissues Without Sutures
A new challenge on InnoCentive seeks a method for surgically connecting fluid-bearing tissues without using sutures. The competition, sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic, has a maximum prize of $30,000 and a final submission deadline of 12 August 2012. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate and organization sponsors. The Cleveland Clinic notes…
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Software Developed that Amplifies Video Frame Variations
Computer scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have written software that amplifies variations in successive frames of video that are imperceptible to the naked eye. The team of graduate students, alumni, and faculty from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory will discuss their software in August at the next Siggraph conference in Los Angeles.…
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Selenium Found to Control Staph Bacteria on Implant Material
Engineers at Brown University in Rhode Island discovered the ability of selenium nanoparticles to control the growth of staph bacteria on a type of plastic often used in medical implants. Doctoral student Qi Wang and biomedical engineering professor Thomas Webster describe their research online this week in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research A (paid…
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FDA Approves Drug to Manage Spinal Cord Injury Pain
Pfizer Inc. in New York says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its drug pregabalin, marketed as Lyrica, to manage neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injury. The drug was given a priority review by FDA. Spinal cord injuries can happen to young, healthy people as a result of trauma from car…
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Nanotube Paint Developed to Reveal Structural Strains
Engineers, chemists, and physicists at Rice University and University of Houston in Texas have developed a paint with carbon nanotubes and fluorescent properties that can reveal structural strains in bridges and airplanes. The Rice/Houston team describes its work online in the journal Nano Letters (paid subscription required). The new material developed by the team led…
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Bioengineered Kidney Scaffold Developed and Implanted
Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina have devised a framework for building new kidneys for eventual transplant, and tested the scaffold in pigs. The results are described online in the journal Annals of Surgery (paid subscription required). The goal of the proof-of-concept study was to develop a framework for a replacement…