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Midwest Health Care Venture Funding Flat in 2010
Venture capital (VC) funding for health care start-up businesses in the U.S. Midwest rose slightly in the first half of 2010, compared to the first half of 2009, according to a report by BioEnterprise, a Cleveland, Ohio organization supporting health care entrepreneurs. In the first half of 2010, VC companies invested $412 million in health…
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Biotech Company to Partner with Scripps on Parkinson’s Drugs
Envoy Therapeutics Inc., a drug discovery company in Jupiter, Florida says it has begun a research collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute to identify new drugs for Parkinson’s disease that have greater efficacy and safety compared to current therapies. Using funding provided by Envoy, scientists at the two organizations will apply Scripps-Florida’s screening facilities —…
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Venture Companies Partner With Texas Technology Start-Up Center
Ten venture capital companies are taking part in a program to increase access to funding for start-up companies in the North Texas Enterprise Center (NTEC) in Frisco, near Dallas, Texas. NTEC is a not-for-profit business accelerator, providing services and support to medical technology and clean technology start-up companies. One of the purposes of the program…
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Max Planck to License Peptide for Cytoskeleton Research
The Max Planck Society, through its technology transfer affiliate Max Planck Innovation GmbH in Munich, Germany, has awarded an exclusive license for the peptide LifeAct to ibidi GmbH, a provider of cell analysis products, located in Martinsried, Germany. The peptide allows for actin, an important protein in a cell’s cytoskeleton, to be made visible in…
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Patent Awarded for Technology to Extend Hybrid Battery Life
AFS Trinity Power Corporation in Bellevue, Washington says it received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that allows for the combination of ultracapacitors and other devices on a hybrid vehicle’s drive train. This innovation, says the company, will mean plug-in electric vehicles can run longer on smaller batteries. The patent, says the…
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Clinical Trial Shows Drug Impact on Fragile X Syndrome
A drug made by Seaside Therapeutics Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts has shown results controlling symptoms of fragile X syndrome, an inherited disorder known to cause autism. The findings were reported this past weekend at a meeting of the National Fragile X Foundation. The results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial showed subjects…
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Collaboration Improves Filters for Storm Water Runoff
A group of scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Filtrexx International of Grafton, Ohio, have improved on the methods for removing contaminants from storm water runoff. The runoff from storm water is particularly vulnerable to pollution in industrial areas or near construction sites. Current methods use “filter…
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Energy Department Helps Fund Six CO2 Capture Pilot Projects
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) will help fund six projects that aim to convert captured carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial sources into useful products such as fuel, plastics, cement, and fertilizers. DoE will contribute $106 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, combined with $156 million in private cost sharing. The projects…
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Canada Awards Grants to Solar Energy and Genomics Companies
National Research Council of Canada, through its Industrial Research Assistance Program, awarded grants to Boreal Genomics Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Day4 Energy Inc. of Burnaby, British Columbia. The grants, totaling $CAD769,000, were awarded to support research and development projects that build high-tech solutions for global markets. Day4 Energy received $496,000 to develop a…
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Clinical Trial Shows Promise of Immune Therapy HIV Vaccine
Two researchers gave findings from a Phase II clinical trial, sponsored by FIT Biotech, a biotechnology company in Tampere, Finland, showing the company’s immunomodulator FIT-06 vaccine offered long-term reductions in viral load and statistically significant CD4 (white blood or T) cell count increases in HIV-infected, previously untreated patients. The effects lasted longer than two years…