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Infectious Disease Diagnostics Company Lands Series B Funds
Molecular Detection Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania, a company developing tests for diagnosing infectious diseases, says it has completed a new $1.9 million round of series B financing, the second funding installment after initial start-up. All existing investors, says the company, took part in the round, including MentorTech Ventures, Robin Hood Ventures, Elm Spring Holdings, and…
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Challenge Seeks Atmospheric Benzene, Butadiene Monitors
A new challenge on InnoCentive seeks a process or technology that can quickly detect benzene and 1,3 butadiene gases in low concentrations in the air. The challenge has an award of $30,000 and a deadline of 4 June 2012. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts is a company the conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate and organization…
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Not-For-Profit Hospital Starts $10M Health Care Venture Fund
Rex Healthcare, a not-for-profit health care system in Raleigh, North Carolina, has unveiled Rex Strategic Innovations that offers funding for start-up companies and organizations, including venture capital financing. The program is also devising ways to help individuals and organizations develop ideas for improving health care into real-life goods and services. The initiative includes Rex Health…
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Engineers to Conduct Seismic Tests on Fire, Medical Systems
Structural engineers at University of California in San Diego will begin two weeks of tests on a full-size building to gauge the impact of severe earthquakes on non-structural components, such as fire and elevator systems, as well as on medical facilities. The tests will involve a five-story building (pictured left) constructed on what the university…
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AstraZeneca, NGO to Partner on Neglected Tropical Diseases
The group Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a non-government organization in Geneva, and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca have agreed to collaborate on drug-compound screening for three neglected tropical diseases. The three diseases — leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness — together affect nearly 10 million people worldwide. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will provide to…
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European Approval Granted for Temporary Heart Pump
Abiomed Inc. in Danvers, Massachusetts, a developer of medical devices for circulatory support, says its Impella cVAD heart pump has received a CE mark indicating approval to market the device in EU member countries. The marking, an acronym for the French Conformité Européenne, certifies that a product has met EU health, safety, and environmental requirements.…
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PhRMA Company R&D Investment Flat in 2011
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) released its annual industry profile today showing its 28 member companies spent $49.5 billion on research and development in 2011, down slightly from the $50.7 billion expended in 2010. The $49.5 billion spent on R&D is about 17 percent of total sales. The organization cites the latest…
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Skin, Umbilical Cord Cells Converted to Nerve Cells
Researchers at University of Bonn, with colleagues from medical centers in Germany, have developed a process for converting human cells from skin and umbilical cords directly into usable quantities of nerve cells, bypassing previous intermediate steps. Their findings appear this week in the journal Nature Methods (paid subscription required). Converting one type of human cell…
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Energy Department Seeking New Power Storage Technologies
The U.S. Department of Energy is looking for new methods for storing electric power, for use in plug-in passenger cars and to improve the performance of the nation’s power grids. The $30 million research program is being offered by the department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). The agency’s Advanced Management and Protection of…
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Non-Invasive Technique Developed to Measure Brain Pressure
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with colleagues in the U.S. and the U.K., have devised a non-invasive technique to measure intercranial pressure that builds up in cases of head trauma and brain tumors. Their findings are described in this week’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid subscription required). When head trauma or…