Tag: chemistry
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Merck, Ambrx to Partner on Biologics Candidate Development
Ambrx Inc., a biopharmaceutical company in La Jolla, California, will collaborate with the global pharmaceutical maker Merck, to design and develop biologic drug conjugates, antibodies connected to drug payloads that bind with disease cell targets. The deal has a value of up to $303 million for Ambrx. The agreement gives Merck worldwide rights to develop…
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Nanotech Method Devised for Capturing Firefly Light
Researchers at Syracuse University in New York and Connecticut College in New London have found a new process using nanotechnology for efficiently harnessing bioluminescence, the natural light emitted by fireflies. The findings of the team led by Syracuse chemistry professor Matthew Maye, which offer the potential for a natural non-fossil fuel light source, appear online…
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Patent Awarded for Non-Medicinal Emphysema Treatment
Aeris Therapeutics in Woburn, Massachusetts has received a patent for its lung volume reduction technology to treat emphysema with a polymer-based hydrogel. Patent number 8,198,365 was awarded earlier this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to four inventors and assigned to Aeris Therapeutics. Emphysema is a form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, often triggered…
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DARPA Awards $8 Million Synthetic Biology Contract
The Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded an $8 million contract to Amyris Inc. of California for tools to expand the scope of Amyris’s industrial synthetic biology technology across various biological platforms and cell types. DARPA awarded the contract under its Living Foundries research program. With the Living Foundries program, DARPA…
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Companies, University Team-Up on Drug Side Effects Model
Researchers at University of California in San Francisco, with colleagues from San Francisco start-up SeaChange Pharmaceuticals and the drug company Novartis, have devised a computer model that predicts adverse reactions to drug compounds, based on the chemistry of the drugs and known molecular causes of side effects. The team’s findings appear online in the journal…
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Cellulosic Biofuel Process Close to Cost-Competitive
Chemical engineers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana have devised a process for producing biofuels from non-food feedstocks they say is nearly cost-competitive with fossil fuels. An economic analysis of the process developed in the lab of Purdue’s Rakesh Agrawal is described in the journal Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (paid subscription required). This method,…
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National Lab Develops Demonstration Community Fuel Cell
Engineers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington have created a more efficient fuel cell system that can provide electric power for neighborhoods. The PNNL researchers published their findings last month in the Journal of Power Sources (paid subscription required). The solid oxide fuel cell system developed at PNNL, a division of the…
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Light-Triggered Anti-Bacterial Technology Developed
Researchers at University of California-Santa Cruz have developed a method for eradicating drug-resistant bacteria from wounds and skin infections, using light to trigger the release of the chemical nitric oxide. The team led by biochemistry professor Pradip Mascharak published its findings online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (paid subscription required). The UC…
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Synthetic Platelets Developed for Therapies, Diagnostics
Chemical engineers at University of California-Santa Barbara, with colleagues at Scripps Research Institute and Sanford-Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California, have developed synthetic blood platelets for therapeutic and diagnostic uses. Their findings appear online in the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). The team led by research scientist Nishit Doshi (pictured right), now with a…
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Process Developed to Determine Tomato Flavor Chemistry
Researchers from University of Florida and Ohio State University have developed a method to reveal the chemical composition of tasty tomatoes that the researchers say can lead to better-tasting tomatoes in the supermarket. Their findings appear online in the journal Current Biology (paid subscription required). The interdisciplinary team led by Florida horticultural sciences professor Harry…