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Faster, More Sensitive Flu Diagnostics Developed
Researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center in Yokohama, Japan have developed a new technique to identify influenza virus infection in only 40 minutes and with 100 times the sensitivity of conventional methods. The findings from the team led by RIKEN Omics’ Toshihisa Ishikawa appear in the online journal PLoS ONE. Ishikawa and his colleagues…
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Celgene to Acquire Avila Therapeutics
The pharmaceutical company Celgene Corp. in Summit, New Jersey says it will acquire Avila Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in Bedford, Massachusetts. Celgene discovers and commercializes therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases through gene and protein regulation. Avila develops covalent drugs, those that bind to and inhibit disease-causing proteins. Under the agreement, Celgene…
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NSF Supporting Research to Reduce Fertilizer Use in Maize
Researchers at three universities, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service have received a $1.3 million grant from National Science Foundation for research on reducing the amount of fertilizer to grow maize. The three-year project is led by the ARS’s Ivan Baxter, who also serves on the Danforth Center’s faculty in…
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Grant to Fund New Program Logic for Flight Data Integration
A grant from the U.S. Air Force to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York will fund development of computer logic to help create safer and more efficient flight technology. The $100,00 grant was awarded to computer scientist Carlos Varela of Rensselaer’s Data Science Research Center, who is also a licensed pilot (pictured right). Varela’s…
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Dutch Biotech Raises $30M for Rare Disease Therapies
Prosensa, a biopharmaceutical company in Leiden, the Netherlands, says it has raised €23 million ($30 million) in new equity financing. The company develops therapeutics using ribonucleic acid (RNA) modulation to address rare diseases, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy, and Huntington’s disease. The funding round is led by New Enterprise Associates in Menlo Park, California,…
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Lab Discovers Material to Help Process Spent Nuclear Fuel
Research chemists at Sandia National Lab in Albuquerque have developed a new material that can capture and remove volatile radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel. The team led by Tina Nenoff (pictured right) published their findings recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society; paid subscription required. The Sandia researchers, with colleagues from Argonne…
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Grant to Develop Virtual Reality Job Service for Disabled
The University of Hawaii in Manoa was awarded a $425,000 grant by the Kessler Foundation to develop a virtual reality (VR) employment orientation and support center using Second Life as a platform for people with disabilities and employers. The university’s College of Education Center on Disability Studies (CDS) will receive a Kessler Signature Employment Grant…
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Soap Developed with Magnetic Properties
Researchers at University of Bristol in the U.K. and Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France have developed a soap with iron salts that can be controlled by magnets. The discovery is expected to lead to products useful in cleaning up oil spills at sea, which can be better captured and removed after use than currently available…
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Novo Nordisk to Add New Diabetes R&D Center in Seattle
The Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk says it will add a new research facility to study type 1 diabetes in Seattle, Washington. The lab is expected to open this summer and employ 20 researchers on the site of its current inflammation research center. Novo Nordisk says the new lab will conduct translational studies that combine…
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First Results Show Safety of Stem Cell Eye Transplants
Early results from two clinical trials show the safety of retinal cells derived from human embryonic stems cells (hESCs) to treat chronic eye diseases. The results from two patients, one in each trial conducted by the biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) in Marlborough, Massachusetts, were published online in the journal The Lancet. The clinical…