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Study: Genomics R&D Generates $796 Billion Return to U.S.
An analysis by Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio estimates that the Human Genome Project and associated activities generated an economic return of $796 billion between 1988 and 2010, from an investment of $3.8 billion ($5.6 billion in constant dollars). In addition, Battelle calculates genomics research and development directly and indirectly resulted in personal income…
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Allos, Mundipharma to Collaborate on Cancer Drugs
Allos Therapeutics in Westminster, Colorado and Mundipharma International Corp. Ltd in Cambridge, U.K. have agreed to co-commercialize the drug Folotyn developed by Allos, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in cancer therapies. Mundipharma is a group of drug development companies in Europe. Folotyn is a folate analogue metabolic inhibitor approved in the U.S. for the treatment of…
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Challenge Seeks New Pseudoephedrine Production Process
InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts has released a challenge with a $100,000 award for new methods of producing the common medication pseudoephedrine that make it very difficult to extract ingredients for the illegal drug methamphetamine. InnoCentive acts as a marketplace that brings together companies or organizations seeking solutions with groups or individuals interested in providing those…
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Lower Cost Has Little Effect on Hearing Aid Purchase
A study conducted at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan finds that lower costs for hearing aids are not enough to motivate adults with mild hearing loss to purchase a device at a younger age or before their hearing worsens. The findings are published in the May issue of The Hearing Journal. Hearing loss…
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University Patents Chemical Measurement Device and Process
Baylor University in Waco, Texas has received a U.S. patent for a new type of polarimeter, an instrument to measure and interpret transverse waves, such as light waves. The new polarimeter was developed by Baylor chemistry professor Kenneth Busch and lab coordinator Dennis Rabbe. United States Patent 7911608 covers not only the device hardware, but…
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New Class of Insect Repellant Developed, Patent Filed
Researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee have developed a new type of insect repellant that they say is more effective than current products on the market. Their results appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid subscription required). The new type of repellant, from the lab of biology and pharmacology…
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Math Model Developed to Determine Vaccine Combinations
Engineers and computer scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and University of Illinois in Urbana have developed a mathematical model to determine the optimum combination of vaccines for children that keeps the injections affordable yet remains financially attractive to manufacturers. The team led by RIT’s Rubén Proaño published their findings last month…
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Start Up to Develop Nanotech Therapy for Artery Disease
Vascular Magnetics Inc. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has licensed technology from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to develop treatments for peripheral artery disease (PAD). The company is the hospital’s first commercial spin-off and co-founded by Robert Levy, who conducted the basic research behind the technology. Peripheral arterial disease occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries that…
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Stem Cells Used to Grow Blood Vessel for Surgery
Researchers at University of Gothenburg in Sweden created a blood vessel from stem cells and then used it in a successful operation on a 10-year-old girl. Michael Olausson (pictured right) , the surgeon and professor at the Sahlgrenska Academy — the university’s health sciences faculty — created a new connection between the liver and the…
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U.K. to Fund Sustainable Biofuel By-Product R&D
A consortium of research funding councils and industry in the U.K. will finance new ways of extracting valuable chemicals from the by-products of brewing grains for ethanol. This call for proposals aims to challenge researchers to find processes that yield chemicals which would otherwise be produced from fossil fuels. The project comes under the Integrated…