Tag: chemistry
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European Grant Awarded for Research on Enhanced MRI
A chemistry professor at University of Southampton in the U.K. has received a grant for research on enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a principle underlying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), widely used in medical diagnostics. Malcolm Levitt and colleagues at Southampton were awarded a four-year, €2.8 million ($US 3.8 million) grant from the European Research Council…
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Enzyme Developer In-Licenses Synthetic Biology Technology
Novozymes A/S in Bagsvaerd, Denmark has agreed to license genetic engineering technology from MorphoSys AG in Martinsried, Germany for the development of industrial biotechnology products. The multi-year agreement provides Novozymes, a manufacturer of industrial enzymes, with a non-exclusive license to use MorphoSys’s Slonomics technology. Financial and more precise timetable details of the deal were not…
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Natural Lightweight Material Exhibits Strength, Toughness
Researchers at Harvard University have developed a new biodegradable material with the strength and toughness of an aluminum alloy, but only half the weight. Postdoctoral bioengineering fellow, Javier Fernandez and professor Donald Ingber in Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering describe their discovery in the advance online issue of the journal Advanced Materials (paid…
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New Wireless Sensor Detects Bacterial Beach Contamination
Engineers from an environmental technology company and Johns Hopkins University have developed a wireless, autonomous sensor that can detect E. coli outbreaks at beaches and drinking water sources. The team headed by Jeffrey Talley, president of Environmental Technology Solutions in Gilbert, Arizona and adjunct professor of engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, published its…
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Robotic System to Test 10,000 Compounds for Toxicity
Three U.S. agencies have begun a testing program of some 10,000 chemical compounds for potential toxicity. The Tox21 program is a collaboration of National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, and Food and Drug Administration. The program aims to find out if these chemicals have the potential to disrupt human processes that can lead to…
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Mobile Lab to Test Environmental Impact of Farms
The Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development, (Neiker-Tecnalia) in Spain has built a mobile environmental monitoring unit to assess on site greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from farms. The measurements from the mobile lab will be used to assess techniques based on scientific protocols to ease the environmental impact of livestock farming developed by…
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Biotech, Energy Company Partner on Renewable Fuel, Chemicals
The synthetic biology company Amyris Inc. in Emeryville, California and the French oil and gas company Total have agreed to collaborate on research and production of renewable fuels and chemicals. The agreement expands on an existing R&D relationship between the two companies. Amyris and Total agreed to accelerate the pace of their current partnership to…
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Contaminants in City Soil Found Similar to Industrial Sites
Engineers at University of Iowa in Iowa City tested residential soil in nearby Cedar Rapids after the city flooded in 2008 and found industrial pollutants similar to those found at industrial sites. The findings appear in the online issue of the journal Environmental Pollution (paid subscription required), and scheduled to appear in print in the…
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Graphene-Based Nanotech Gas Detector Developed
Engineers from the U.S. and China devised a foam substance made from graphene that is more sensitive in detecting potentially dangerous and explosive chemicals than current technologies. The researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shenyang published their research in the journal Scientific Reports. The graphene-based…
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Copper Compound Nanoparticles Advance Battery Electrodes
Materials scientists at Stanford University in California have developed a new, longer-lasting battery electrode with crystalline nanoparticles of a copper compound. Their discovery, with implications for solar and wind energy storage on the power grid, is described this week in the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). According to the authors — materials science professor…