Tag: chemistry

  • Stretchable Sensory Material Created with Carbon Nanotubes

    Stanford University chemical engineers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor that can be stretched to more than twice its original length and return to its original shape. The material — that can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds — is described online in the 23 October issue of the journal…

  • Online Resource Helps Responders Identify Chemical Hazards

    An online tool, developed by a University of Virginia faculty member, will help emergency medical staff and other first responders identify more quickly the group of chemicals causing patients to become ill. Mark Kirk, a professor of emergency medicine with the University of Virginia Health System, led development of the Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management…

  • Genetics Identified for Bed Bug Insecticide Resistance

    Researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg have discovered the genetic mechanisms that bolster bed bugs’ recent resistance to current insecticides. The entomologists and other life scientists published their findings in the 19 October issue of the online journal PLoS One. Bed bugs in the past few years have developed a resistance to pyrethroids, a class…

  • Johns Hopkins, Eisai to Collaborate on New Brain Drugs

    Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore and Eisai, a pharmaceutical company in Tokyo, will collaborate on research for discovery of drugs for brain conditions such as schizophrenia, pain, brain tumors and Alzheimer’s disease. The partnership will be part of the NeuroTranslational Program in JHU’s Brain Science Institute. The Brain Science Institute researches questions about brain…

  • Harvard Program to Apply Systems Approach to Drug Discovery

    Harvard Medical School is launching an Initiative in Systems Pharmacology, to develop what it calls a comprehensive strategy to transform drug discovery. The program aims to reverse the slowdown in the development of new therapies and involve a range of disciplines and methods outside the usual collection of life scientists and clinicians. Marc Kirschner, who…

  • $50K Challenge Seeks Higher Nutritional Value in Crop Tissue

    A challenge on InnoCentive seeks new strategies through chemical, mechanical, or other means to improve the nutritional value of crop plant tissues. The competition has a prize of $50,000 and a deadline of 13 December 2011 for submissions. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts is a company the conducts open-innovation crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate and organization sponsors.…

  • Contract Awarded for Magnets Made Without Rare Earth Metals

    Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has received a $2.9 million contract from Department of Energy to develop a new class of permanent magnets for energy-efficient electric car motors and generators. The project is funded through the department’s Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies program (REACT) under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. The REACT program aims…

  • Roche to License University DNA Sequencing Technology

    The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has agreed to license DNA sequencing technology developed at Arizona State and Columbia universities to help build a new type of DNA sequencing system. One goal of the system will be to quickly decode a person’s complete genome for less than $1,000. The licensed technologies are based on research conducted…

  • Dow Chemical to Invest $25 Million in Universities

    Dow Chemical Company in New York said today it plans to invest $25 million in U.S. university research and education programs over the next 10 years. Dow also announced a collaboration with Argonne National Lab on advanced battery materials. The company says its university funding will support faculty, students and infrastructure at 11 campuses in…

  • Nanoparticle Size Affects Hydrogen Release in Fuel Cells

    Researchers at Delft University of Technology and VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands have shown that the size of a metal alloy nanoparticle influences the speed with which hydrogen gas is released when stored in a metal compound containing hydrogen. The team led by Delft materials scientist Bernard Dam published its findings in the October…