Science and Enterprise

Tag: Australia

  • Electro-Gene Therapy with Cochlear Implant Boosts Hearing

    24 April 2014. Researchers at University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia delivered genetic material with electric impulses into cochlear implants that improves the quality of hearing to nearly normal in deaf lab animals. The team led by UNSW’s Gary Housley published its findings in today’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid…

  • Asthma/Hay Fever Genetic Risk Factors Identified

    28 January 2014. An analysis of genomes of people having both asthma and hay fever, compared to those with neither disease, highlighted 11 genetic variations associated with the dual-disease condition, including two previously unconnected regions. The findings from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia, with colleagues from Australia, the U.K., and U.S., including the…

  • One-Step Process Developed for Genetic Designed Bacteria

    Resarchers at University of Adelaide in Australia and Stanford University in California  developed a more efficient process for producing genetically designed bacteria. The team led by Adelaide biotechnology professor Keith Shearwin published its findings online earlier this month in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology (paid subscription required). Shearwin and colleagues call their process “clonetegration,” which…

  • Trial Tests Implanted Device Warning of Epilepsy Seizures

    Medical researchers at University of Melbourne in Australia and medical device developer NeuroVista in Seattle showed the feasibility of a device to alert epilepsy patients of impending seizures. The results of an early-stage clinical trial were reported online today in the journal Lancet Neurology (paid subscription required). Epilepsy is the name given to a collection…

  • Dementia Screening Test Adapted for Smartphone App

    Neuroscientists and clinicians from the U.K. and Australia translated a paper-based screening test for dementia into a smartphone app that the developers believe will make the tool more accurate and widely used. The researchers from Plymouth University in the U.K., Derriford Plymouth Hospitals, and Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney unveiled an advance version of the…

  • Implant Drug Delivery Company Lands $9.5M Venture Funds

    PolyActiva in Melbourne, Australia, a developer of a nanoscale drug delivery technology for medical implants, raised $AU 9.2 million ($US 9.5 million) in series B venture funds, the second financing round after initial start-up. Investors include the Australian venture funds Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, Brandon Biosciences Fund 1, and Yuuwa Capital, as well as a…

  • Pfizer Develops Equine Vaccine from University Research

    The Australian division of Pfizer Animal Health in Brisbane released today a new vaccine to prevent disease from the Hendra virus that can be fatal to horses and humans. Pfizer’s Equivac HeV is the product of research conducted at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and licensed from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation…

  • University Consortium to Research Nanotech Health Monitors

    North Carolina State University in Raleigh will lead a group of universities in the U.S., Australia, and Asia to develop self-powered health monitoring sensors and devices. Some 30 industry partners are expected to join the five-year, $18.5 million consortium, known as the Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST), and funded…

  • Nanotech Materials Solution Devised for Hydrogen Storage

    Chemical engineers at University of New South Wales in Australia synthesized and demonstrated a material that absorbs, releases, and reabsorbs hydrogen, a key step in advancing hydrogen as an alternative fuel source. The team from the university’s Materials Energy Research Laboratory in nanoscale (MERLin) published its findings last week in the journal ACS Nano; paid…

  • Bayer CropScience, Australian Agencies Partner on Wheat R&D

    Bayer CropScience in Monheim, Germany, is collaborating with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO, Australia’s science agency) and the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation to develop new wheat varieties that produce higher yields. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. CSIRO has already designed a new higher-yielding wheat strain using genetic…