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New processing technology uses low-energy electron beams to decontaminate food

A collaborative agreement between CSIRO and two German organisations is providing Australian food companies with access to a new processing technology which uses low-energy electron beams rather than heat or chemicals to decontaminate food.

1 Oct 2010

Novel Compound's NVC-422 broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent kills P. mirabilis bacteria in catheters

Patients fitted with long-term bladder catheters often face a potentially serious complication caused by a Gram-negative bacteria Proteus mirabilis that can colonize the catheters.

16 Sep 2010

NHGRI announces fund to develop third generation DNA sequencing technologies

More than $18 million in grants to spur the development of a third generation of DNA sequencing technologies was announced today by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The new technologies will sequence a person's DNA quickly and cost-effectively so it routinely can be used by biomedical researchers and health care workers to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

14 Sep 2010

Researchers to discuss brain's secrets at neuroscience conference

Top brain researchers from around the world will be in Milwaukee, Sept, 16-19, 2010, for a neuroscience conference focused on gaining insights into the brain's inner workings to better understand how the brain thinks, how the brain develops, and how the brain is altered by neurological diseases and how it responds to treatment.

14 Sep 2010

Cachexia reduces function and changes muscle structure of heart in mice with colon cancer

The wasting disease associated with some cancers that is typically seen affecting skeletal muscles can also cause significant damage to the heart, new research in mice suggests.

9 Sep 2010

International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory orders for Vistec's EBPG5200 electron-beam lithography system

Vistec Lithography, a leading supplier of advanced electron-beam lithography systems has announced today that the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Braga, Portugal has placed an order for Vistec's electron-beam lithography system EBPG5200. The Portuguese Laboratory is the first fully international research organization in Europe in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

7 Sep 2010

Human endogenous retroviruses may provide insight evidence to HIV diagnosis

Why is it so hard to isolate and purify human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Why has no one been able to see, by electron microscopy, a single HIV particle in the blood of AIDS patients, even those who have a "high viral load" Why does HIV seem to mutate with startling rapidity. AIDS researchers have not been able to come up with answers to these questions.

4 Sep 2010

Researchers clear hurdle on path toward gene-therapy treatment for disease

One of the most difficult aspects of working at the nanoscale is actually seeing the object being worked on. Biological structures like viruses, which are smaller than the wavelength of light, are invisible to standard optical microscopes and difficult to capture in their native form with other imaging techniques.

2 Sep 2010

Researchers develop high-resolution technology to visualize individual virus particles

In the war against infectious disease, identifying the culprit is half the battle. Now, research professor Shaopeng Wang and his colleagues from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, describe a new method for visualizing individual virus particles. Their research opens the door to a more detailed understanding of these minute pathogens, and may further the study of a broad range of micro- and nanoscale phenomena.

25 Aug 2010

Martin Karplus receives 2010 Russell Varian Prize for NMR innovation

Agilent Technologies Inc. announced Martin Karplus, professor emeritus, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University; and Laboratoire de Chimie Biophysique, ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur, the winner of the 2010 Russell Varian Prize.

23 Aug 2010

Varian to showcase new Gated RapidArc technology at 2010 CHINA-HOSPEQ exhibition

Varian Medical Systems, Inc. will showcase the company's new Gated RapidArc technology on its Trilogy® machine with advanced motion management capabilities at the 2010 CHINA-HOSPEQ exhibition being held in Beijing August 19-21 by China's Ministry of Health. Varian, the world's leading manufacturer of medical technology for treating cancer and a premier supplier of X-ray imaging technology, will also exhibit its software for planning and for managing radiation therapy treatments.

18 Aug 2010

Study discovers multiple effects of SSRIs on cells

A new discovery about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) suggests that these drugs, which are used to treat mental health disorders like depression and anxiety, have multiple effects on our cells. In a research report published in the August 2010 issue of GENETICS, researchers used yeast cells to identify secondary drug targets or pathways affected by SSRIs. Such secondary pathways could help explain why different people taking the same drug may experience different effects, and could also lead to new types of drugs altogether.

17 Aug 2010

Bruker to acquire Veeco’s worldwide SPM and OIM instruments business for $229 million

Bruker Corporation today announces the signing of an agreement to acquire the Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) and Optical Industrial Metrology (OIM) instruments business from Veeco Instruments, Inc. for $229 million in cash. The transaction has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2010, pending regulatory review and subject to customary closing conditions.

16 Aug 2010

Arrowhead third-quarter 2010 net loss decreases to $0.4 million

Arrowhead Research Corporation today announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 third quarter ended June 30, 2010.

13 Aug 2010

Scientists develop new imaging technique to create three-dimensional images of melanoma

Melanoma is one of the less common types of skin cancer but it accounts for the majority of the skin cancer deaths (about 75 percent).The five-year survival rate for early stage melanoma is very high (98 percent), but the rate drops precipitously if the cancer is detected late or there is recurrence.So a great deal rides on the accuracy of the initial surgery, where the goal is to remove as little tissue as possible while obtaining "clean margins" all around the tumor.So far no imaging technique has been up to the task of defining the melanoma's boundaries accurately enough to guide surgery.Instead surgeons tend to cut well beyond the visible margins of the lesion in order to be certain they remove all the malignant tissue.Two scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed technologies that together promise to solve this difficult problem.

12 Aug 2010

Researchers to develop a prototype for laser based radiation therapy

Currently, new treatment facilities for radiation therapy with ions are built all over the world. These particles destroy cancer cells and have a better ability to spare the surrounding healthy tissue than other techniques. Today, accelerated hydrogen and carbon ions are mainly used to treat inoperable tumors in organs like the brain and bone marrow, which are sensitive to radiation therapy.

11 Aug 2010

Scientists identify role of PNPASE in regulating RNA import into mitochondria

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have uncovered a role for an essential cell protein in shuttling RNA into the mitochondria, the energy-producing "power plant" of the cell. The import of nucleus-encoded small RNAs into mitochondria is essential for the replication, transcription and translation of the mitochondrial genome, but the mechanisms that deliver RNA into mitochondria remain poorly understood.

7 Aug 2010

Foam in helmets, armor can cause injury

In a counter-intuitive finding, scientists at New York University (NYU) and Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) report that the foam used in helmets and other body armor indeed absorbs damage when compressed slowly but can cause as much injury as a hard object when hit at high speeds.

5 Aug 2010

New FEI software package increases electron microscope throughput, ease-of-use

FEI Company ,a leading scientific instrumentation company providing electron microscopy systems for nanoscale applications across many industries, released today a set of software applications that increase the throughput and ease-of-use of its electron microscopes for biological research. The four software packages make electron microscopes more useful for life science researchers involved in structural, cellular and tissue biology as they build the full solution from sample to biological answer.

3 Aug 2010

IntegenX selects Zeta's 3D to analyze dimensional properties of micro-channel biochips

Zeta Instruments, Inc. a leading provider of cost-effective, precision measurement solutions for micron-scale surface analysis, announced that its Zeta-20™ optical metrology system has been selected for the analysis and development of advanced microfluidics/biotechnology laboratory products. IntegenX, an innovative supplier of automation systems for DNA and RNA-based micro-sample preparation used in forensics and gene sequencing, has chosen Zeta's 3D surface measurement solution to analyze the dimensional properties of its micro-channel biochips.