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Commerce Dept. Makes Science-Tech Commercialization Awards
Six U.S. technology R&D organizations are the winners of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s i6 Challenge, a competition of ideas for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced the winners today at an event on regional innovation clusters co-hosted by The Brookings Institution. The i6 Challenge identifies the nation’s best ideas for technology…
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Clinical Trial Shows Results for Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug
A six-month clinical trial of the drug fostamatinib, developed by Rigel Pharmaceuticals of South San Francisco, California, shows improved outcomes for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who responded inadequately to ongoing treatment with another RA drug, methotrexate. Fostamatinib is an inhibitor of spleen tyrosine kinase, a modulator of immune signaling. The double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2…
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Partnership to Develop Sensors for Wound Infections
ECI Biotech, a developer of diagnostic sensors in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Systagenix, a medical device company specializing in wound care solutions based in the U.K., have agreed to produce sensors to improve the diagnosis and treatment of chronic wound infections. The agreement covers licensing and manufacturing of diagnostic wound sensors, which ECI Biotech says will…
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Microfinance Expands for Research Funding
SciFlies is the latest Web site for collecting public donations for research, taking the grassroots funding model found in the arts and media and applying it to science. With Sciflies and similar sites, researchers pitch their ideas to the public at large, who then can contribute to their favorite projects. The SciFlies idea is similar…
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Grant Awarded for Research on Geothermal Power from CO2
GreenFire Energy in Salt Lake City, Utah received a $2 million grant award from the Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Program to investigate and evaluate the potential for low-temperature carbon dioxide-based (CO2-based) geothermal power production. The Department of Energy says GreenFire Energy will provide field evaluations of a low temperature CO2-based geothermal electric power generation…
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Rawlings, Cleveland Clinic to Research Sports Concussions
Rawlings, a sporting goods manufacturer in St. Louis, Missouri says it has joined with the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute in Cleveland, Ohio in an interdisciplinary research collaboration to study the causes of concussions along with other sports-related head and neck injuries. Cleveland Clinic’s Spine Research Laboratory will conduct independent testing using research equipment manufactured and…
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Researchers Getting Genetic Help for Biofuel Production
Researchers from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Cargill are examining genetic materials from a cow’s digestive system to help break down plant fibers for conversion into biofuel. To convert corn stover and switchgrass into biofuel, the plant fibers must first be broken down into sugars. But cell wall polymers are cross-linked in various ways that…
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FDA Approves Novartis Multiple Sclerosis Drug
Novartis, an international pharmaceutical company, said today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its drug Gilenya, an oral multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment. Gilenya (fingolimod) is the first drug available in the U.S. that treats relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, the most common forms of the disease. Novartis says the Gilenya approval was…
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Intel, Irish Research Institute to Collaborate on Electronics
Intel Corporation and Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland have signed a research collaboration covering several fields related to electronics. The agreement also provides Intel with a license to commercially develop technology created through the collaboration with Tyndall. Under the agreement researchers from Tyndall and Intel will investigate new materials, devices, and photonics technologies that…
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Contracts Awarded for Countermeasure Upgrades
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced the first contract awards to upgrade the infrastructure for producing medical countermeasures that protect against natural and man-made biological threats. The eight contracts are expected to reduce the time and cost of development, testing, and production of medical countermeasures…