Polymers News and Research

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New dental implants for people with bone deficit

Elderly or people with osteoporosis, smokers, diabetics or people who have had cancer are sometimes not eligible to receive dental implants as their bones are unable to correctly integrate the new prostheses which replace the root.

22 Jan 2013

Scientists discover role of OTUD7B enzyme as TRAF3's protector

Marked for death with molecular tags that act like a homing signal for a cell's protein-destroying machinery, a pivotal enzyme is rescued by another molecule that sweeps the telltale targets off in the nick of time.

21 Jan 2013

Bionic devices: an interview with Dr Rylie Green

Bionic devices are implants which replace biological functions which have been lost due to nerve damage. They use electrical signals to stimulate the remaining nerve cells following disease or injury. Although the term bionic was only coined in the late 1950s, the earliest bionic devices were cardiac pacemakers, developed in the early 1900s. However the first commercial implantable units were not available until the 1950s.

14 Jan 2013

Regenerative medicine: an interview with Christophe Dardel, President of DSM Biomedical

Regenerative medicine is a new, exciting field that is based upon the belief that the human body has the inherent power to heal itself, but in some instances it just needs a little help.

3 Jan 2013

University of Sheffield experts recreate randomly distributed stem cell sticky spots

Randomly distributed sticky spots which are integral to the development of stem cells by maximising adhesion and acting as internal scaffolding have been artificially recreated by experts from the University of Sheffield for the first time.

14 Dec 2012

UBM Canon’s MedTech Innovate Seminars to be held from Feb. 12-14, 2013

Today UBM Canon announces the expansion of its educational events aimed at the medical technology sector, with new 'Innovation' seminars being held this February, 2013. The seminars, named MedTech Innovate Seminars, will run concurrently with the MD&M West Conference and Exhibition, one of the largest medical design and manufacturing events in the world.

5 Dec 2012

University of Washington team develops electrically spun cloth to prevent pregnancy, HIV

The only way to protect against HIV and unintended pregnancy today is the condom. It's an effective technology, but not appropriate or popular in all situations.

1 Dec 2012

New polymer nanoparticles can generate heat and kill colorectal cancer cells

Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have modified electrically-conductive polymers, commonly used in solar energy applications, to develop revolutionary polymer nanoparticles (PNs) for a medical application. When the nanoparticles are exposed to infrared light, they generate heat that can be used to kill colorectal cancer cells.

21 Nov 2012

New polymer-based system to fight infection, filter water and heal wounds

Working in the lab for the last few years, three generations of University of Akron polymer scientists say their mutual and passionate curiosity about science has led to their discovery of a first-of-its-kind, easily adaptable biocompatible polymer structure able to fight infection, filter water and perform a host of other functions.

20 Nov 2012

Shear thinning hydrogels hold promise in treating many diseases, including cancer

Gels that can be injected into the body, carrying drugs or cells that regenerate damaged tissue, hold promise for treating many types of disease, including cancer. However, these injectable gels don't always maintain their solid structure once inside the body.

16 Nov 2012

Promising new minimally toxic approach to treat solid tumors with radiation

A promising new approach to treating solid tumors with radiation was highly efficacious and minimally toxic to healthy tissue in a mouse model of cancer, according to data published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

15 Nov 2012

ALN RNAi therapeutic program represents novel approach for treatment of AAT deficiency

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has presented new pre-clinical data with an RNAi therapeutic targeting alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) for the treatment of liver disease associated with AAT deficiency. These data were presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD, "The Liver Meeting") held November 9-13, 2012 in Boston.

15 Nov 2012

Oxidative stress occurs in genetic models of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency

A team of researchers under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Teckman in the Department of Pediatrics at St. Louis University, have demonstrated that oxidative stress occurs in a genetic model of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.

30 Oct 2012

Nano-reinforced plastics improve friction resistance of orthodontics

Brackets made from clear plastic polymer used in dental correction orthodontics have produced very good results in recent years, especially in relation to the improved esthetics when compared to metal brackets, but they do present certain problems of wear and tear within the mouth.

29 Oct 2012

DSM extends license to supply CarboSil® TSPCU for use in AxioMed Spine Corporation’s Freedom® Spinal Discs

DSM, a global leader in biomedical materials sciences, and AxioMed Spine Corporation, an innovator in the field of spinal implant devices, today announced that they have revised and extended an existing licensing and supply agreement. DSM will supply its proprietary CarboSil®Thermoplastic Silicone-Polycarbonate-urethane material for use in AxioMed’s Freedom® Lumbar and Freedom® Cervical Discs.

24 Oct 2012

Salk findings on cold virus proteins may spur new cancer treatments

Cold viruses generally get a bad rap----which they've certainly earned----but new findings by a team of scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggest that these viruses might also be a valuable ally in the fight against cancer.

17 Oct 2012

Isolating and concentrating cells from whole blood: an interview with Victor Ugaz

There are several reasons for this. One is because analysis involving different kinds of blood cells may require you to be able to separate red blood cells from white blood cells, or plasma from whole blood etc.

21 Sep 2012

UMass Amherst develops 'chemical nose' array to detect metastatic cancers

In the fight against cancer, knowing the enemy's exact identity is crucial for diagnosis and treatment, especially in metastatic cancers, those that spread between organs and tissues. Now chemists led by Vincent Rotello at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a rapid, sensitive way to detect microscopic levels of many different metastatic cell types in living tissue. Findings appear in the current issue of the journal ACS Nano.

14 Sep 2012

Methodist Hospital develops new technology to rapidly detect drug-resistant TB

Technology developed by scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute could halve the time it takes to diagnose tuberculosis infection, and also tell doctors in a day or two whether the bacteria are drug resistant -- a process that currently takes weeks. Initial tests of the device were recently described in Scientific Reports, a Nature online journal.

11 Sep 2012

Bio DG’s novel metal system receives U.S. patent for use in implantable medical devices

Bio DG announced today that its patent for a novel metal system for use as biodegradable material in developing implantable medical devices was granted by the U.S. Patent Office on August 21, 2012.