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Genetics Identified for Bed Bug Insecticide Resistance
Researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg have discovered the genetic mechanisms that bolster bed bugs’ recent resistance to current insecticides. The entomologists and other life scientists published their findings in the 19 October issue of the online journal PLoS One. Bed bugs in the past few years have developed a resistance to pyrethroids, a class…
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Investment Fund to Back Health Cost-Cutting Technologies
The West Health Investment Fund, an angel capital enterprise in San Diego, unveiled its first set of investments and plans to support other entrepreneurs developing health care technologies and services designed to lower the cost of health care. Gary and Mary West, who established the fund, expect to invest $100 million in early-stage companies. The…
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Johns Hopkins, Eisai to Collaborate on New Brain Drugs
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore and Eisai, a pharmaceutical company in Tokyo, will collaborate on research for discovery of drugs for brain conditions such as schizophrenia, pain, brain tumors and Alzheimer’s disease. The partnership will be part of the NeuroTranslational Program in JHU’s Brain Science Institute. The Brain Science Institute researches questions about brain…
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ARPA-E Grant Funds Development of Univ. Oil Plant Research
Arcadia Biosciences Inc. in Davis, California has received a $950,000 grant to develop technology that helps plants produce high levels of oil in their leaves and stems. That technology is based on research conducted at nearby University of California – Davis. Vegetable oil is the most concentrated source of energy made by plants, but is…
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Diagnostics Start-Up Closes $33.5M Early-Stage Financing
Foundation Medicine Inc., a developer of cancer genome diagnostics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has expanded its early stage financing to $33.5 million, adding new venture investors. The additional financing is expected to help the company continue its research work on cancer diagnostic tests. The new funding from Google Ventures and venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield…
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Pharma, Technology Lead Worldwide Corporate R&D Rebound
Research and development spending by the largest 1,400 corporate R&D spenders worldwide increased by more than 4 percent to €465 billion ($US 630 billion) in 2010, reversing a nearly 2 percent decline in 2009. The data are compiled in the European Commission’s EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, released today. Pharmaceuticals/biotechnology, technology hardware, and automotive companies…
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Biomarker Test Can Reduce Heart Failure Complications
A clinical trial at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston indicates that testing for blood levels of a biomarker of cardiac distress, along with standard levels of care, can reduce the incidence of cardiac complications. The findings appear in the 25 October issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (paid subscription required). Roche…
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Institute to Open Innovation Process, Boost Funding Odds
The Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis plans to adopt practices from the business world to conduct more innovative medical research and improve the odds of getting their studies funded. The institute, on the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, is affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine and focuses on medical informatics, aging,…
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Carnegie Mellon, Microsoft Develop Touch-Screen Projection
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Microsoft’s research labs have developed OmniTouch, a device that projects touch screen capability on any flat surface. Chris Harrison, a computer science Ph.D. student and a developer of OmniTouch, will discuss the system on Wednesday at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Symposium on User Interface Software and…
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Harvard Program to Apply Systems Approach to Drug Discovery
Harvard Medical School is launching an Initiative in Systems Pharmacology, to develop what it calls a comprehensive strategy to transform drug discovery. The program aims to reverse the slowdown in the development of new therapies and involve a range of disciplines and methods outside the usual collection of life scientists and clinicians. Marc Kirschner, who…