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Technology Funded to Assess Superfund Site Contamination
Researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe and University of Florida in Gainesville received funding to develop a device to measure toxic sediments with greater precision, accuracy and sensitivity. ASU’s Rolf Halden (pictured right) and Florida’s Nancy Denslow will test the device, and also evaluate health effects on two marine organisms and assess remediation efforts…
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Universities, Companies Partner on Data Center Power Use
Three U.S. universities have joined with 15 companies in a collaborative research center to increase energy efficiency and help create a greener electronics industry. Researchers at Binghamton University in New York, Villanova University in Pennsylvania, and University of Texas at Arlington are the institutions taking part in the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center in Energy-Efficient Electronic…
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University Spin-Off Lands Radiation Countermeasure Contract
RxBio Inc., an early stage biotech company spun off from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis, has received a contract from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for the company’s radiation countermeasure drug. The contract has a potential value of $24 million over the next two years. The contract, with a…
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Honda Advances Autonomous Humanoid Robot and Robot Arm
Robotics engineers at Honda Motor Company in Japan have developed more advanced capabilities for ASIMO, its humanoid robot, and released an early version of a task-performing robot arm. The experimental robot arm is designed to be remotely controlled for tasks in unstable places which are difficult for people to access. The new version of the…
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Algorithms Track Individual Athletes During Sports Events
Computer algorithms developed by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland make it possible to visually track individual players in action on sports teams. The technology developers, from EPFL’s Computer Vision Laboratory, present their findings today at the International Conference on Computer Vision in Barcelona. The system can track multiple players in fast-moving sports…
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Depression Drug Fails in First Phase 3 Trial
A drug candidate designed to treat major depressive disorder has not met its success targets in the first round of phase 3 clinical trials. The drug, TC-5214 (S-mecamylamine), is made by global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Targacept Inc., biotechnology company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The clinical trial tested TC-5214 as a therapy for major depressive…
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Researchers Give Robotics a Human Face
Research engineers at Technical University of Munich (Technische Universitaet Muenchen, TUM) in Germany and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan have developed a way to give robots a human-like plastic head. Called Mask-bot, the technology may have a more immediate application as a tool to create avatars for participants in…
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ACADIA, Meiji Seika Advance Schizophrenia Drug to Trials
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company in San Diego, says its drug AM-831 developed with Meiji Seika Pharma Co. Ltd. in Japan to treat schizophrenia has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to begin phase 1 clinical trials. The clinical study will test the drug’s safety, tolerability, and interaction with the body. AM-831 was…
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Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada Fund TB Diagnostic
A device called an Electronic Nose that can detect tuberculosis in the breath of a patient, has received a $950,000 grant from Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding will support further development and testing of the technology, developed by the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in…
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Diagnostics Company Lands $20 Million Investment Round
NanoString Technologies Inc., a Seattle-based privately held developer of medical science diagnostic tools, says it has closed a $20 million equity deal to finance the company’s continued growth. The series D round — the company’s fourth funding cycle after start-up — includes the first investment by GE’s healthymagination Fund. NanoString Technologies makes molecular diagnostic equipment…