Tag: Europe
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Gastric Model Lands Funding for Expanded Applications
An artificial digestive system developed at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, U.K. for lab tests of physical and biochemical processes in the human stomach and intestines, secured more than £900,000 ($US 1.4 million) for research on new models of nutritional quality and health benefits. The two-year grant is provided to the Institute of…
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Roche Increasing Access to Clinical Trial Results
The pharmaceutical company Roche, based in Switzerland, will increase access to its clinical trial data for third-party researchers. The company also promises access to clinical data for its flu medication Tamiflu, after review by independent scientists, for which the British medical journal BMJ and evidence-based medicine organization Cochrane Collaboration have long-standing requests for access. In…
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Roche, Biotech to Partner on Growth Hormone Disorders
The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche will license a compound developed by biotechnology company Chiasma Inc., based in New York and Jerusalem, to treat the hormonal disease acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors. The deal has a total potential value to Chiasma of $595 million. Chiasma develops drugs for oral administration previously available in injection form. The company’s…
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Smart Wall Panel Designed to Give Seniors Day-to-Day Help
University and company researchers in Germany are designing systems to be built into the walls of older peoples’ homes to help with simple day-to-day tasks as well as monitor their health. A team from Technical University Munich (Technische Universität München, TUM) will demonstrate the Living Independently in Südtirol/Alto Adige or LISA prototype on 20 February…
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Nano Patterns in Plastic Help Stem Cells Become Bone Cells
Medical researchers and engineers at universities of Southampton and Glasgow in the U.K. created a nanoscale process with a common plastic material to convert human embryonic stem cells into skeletal tissue cells. The findings of the team led by Southampton’s Richard Oreffo are described online in a recent issue of the journal Small (paid subscription…
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iPhone App Tests Selective Dominant-Ear Listening Behavior
Psychologists at University of Bergen in Norway wrote software that turns an iPhone into a device to test dichotic listening, behavior that combines language processing and attention. A team from Bergen’s research group examined the iPhone app’s validity and reliability in measuring dichotic listening, with the team’s results appearing online yesterday in the journal Frontiers…
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3D Printing Reproduces Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Biomedical engineers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. and the company Roslin Cellab also near Edinburgh developed a lab technique with ink-jet printing to build human embryonic stem cells. The team led by Heriot-Watt professor Will Wenmiao Shu published its findings yesterday in the journal Biofabrication (available free with regisration for 30 days). While…
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Weaknesses Found in Online Banking, Facebook Security
Computer scientists at University of London’s Royal Holloway College found what they call major weaknesses in the security protocol for protecting online e-mail, Facebook, and financial transactions. The team led by Royal Holloway information security professor Kenny Paterson say they found the vulnerabilities in the transport layer security protocol designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, and…
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Techniques Developed for Defect-Free Graphene Formation
Researchers in the U.K., Germany, and Greece developed a method of forming graphene layers with uniform orientation and alignment, using established and inexpensive techniques. The team led by University of Oxford materials scientist Nicole Grobert published its findings online last week in the journal ACS Nano (paid subscription required). Grobert (pictured right), with colleagues from…
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U.K. to Spend $20.4 Million on Catalytic Chemistry
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, or EPSRC, a research funding agency in the U.K., will devote £12.9 million ($US 20.4 million) to the U.K. Catalysis Hub, a catalytic science research program to support economic growth. The program is based at the Research Complex at Harwell in Oxfordshire, and is expected to involve scientists…