Polymers News and Research

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Chemical engineer builds working models of human tissues for disease research

Shelly Peyton, a chemical engineer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is building working models of human bone, breast, liver and artery tissues to see how cells behave when they are affected by a disease such as cancer.

12 May 2011

Bayer MaterialScience LLC’s polycarbonate gives innovative sinus therapy device strength and striking color

Anyone suffering from colds, flu, sinusitis, allergies, croup and chronic dryness knows the soothing power of warm vapor. Vapore, Inc. has brought a new dimension to this relief with its innovative, over-the-counter (OTC) sinus therapy device, MyPurMist™.

5 May 2011

Medical-grade polycarbonate exhibits excellent retention of mechanical properties after gamma irradiation

Consistent resin performance and the retention of physical and mechanical properties over a wide range of conditions are critical to plastic medical devices. Bayer MaterialScience LLC scientists have studied newly introduced medical grades of its Makrolon® polycarbonate resin to demonstrate how these grades maintain stiffness, toughness and other key properties after gamma sterilization.

5 May 2011

Celanese EVA Performance Polymers, PSI partner to develop drug-eluting devices

Particle Sciences Inc., a leading pharmaceutical CRO, and Celanese EVA Performance Polymers, a leading supplier of ethylene vinyl acetate into pharmaceutical applications, are working together to streamline the development of drug-eluting devices.

29 Apr 2011

Pharmatek purchases spray dryer for drug formulation and manufacturing

Pharmatek Laboratories, Inc., a premier contract development and manufacturing organization supporting the pharmaceutical industry, announced that it has added spray drying to its drug formulation and manufacturing capabilities. The company has purchased a Buchi B-290 Mini Spray Dryer for formulation feasibility studies and small-scale clinical manufacture. This technology can be used for both oral and parenteral dosage forms.

25 Apr 2011

Scientists create hollow nanofiber spheres for tissue repair

For the first time, scientists have made star-shaped, biodegradable polymers that can self-assemble into hollow, nanofiber spheres, and when the spheres are injected with cells into wounds, these spheres biodegrade, but the cells live on to form new tissue.

18 Apr 2011

Zacharon, Pfizer enter research collaboration to develop drugs for orphan diseases

Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the company has entered into a strategic research collaboration with Pfizer Inc. to develop drugs for orphan diseases, including lysosomal storage disorders. The potential value of the collaboration to Zacharon is approximately USD $210 million. The collaboration includes the potential development of compounds that may be discovered using Zacharon's innovative platform for developing small molecule drugs targeting specific carbohydrate polymers or glycans.

7 Apr 2011

New ‘nanotech’ weapon against drug-resistant superbugs

Scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) and IBM Research – Almaden have developed the first biodegradable polymer nanoparticles to combat drug-resistant superbugs, such as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These nanoparticles can selectively kill the bacteria without destroying healthy red blood cells, and being biodegradable, have great potential to treat infectious diseases in the body. This was reported today in the leading scientific journal, Nature Chemistry [(2011) DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1012].

3 Apr 2011

Accelrys announces Modeling and Simulation Suite for optimizing R&D value chain

Accelrys, Inc., a leading scientific enterprise R&D software and services company, today announced the Accelrys Modeling and Simulation Suite, a pillar of the new Accelrys Enterprise R&D Architecture.

30 Mar 2011

Ohio engineers invent new fluorescent nano-particle to tag molecules in biomedical tests

Engineers at Ohio State University have invented a new kind of nano-particle that shines in different colors to tag molecules in biomedical tests.

29 Mar 2011

BioCer to showcase plant-based hemostasis and coated hernia repair technologies to China.

BioCer Entwicklungs GmbH, a Bayreuth, Germany based medical device manufacturer, has announced their attendance at the China Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) Shenzhen, China 15th-19th April 2011. HaemoCer™ an Absorbable Polysaccharide Hemostat (APH) and Ti0²Mesh™ Hernia repair system will be on exhibit at the BioCer booth.

24 Mar 2011

Contrast agent for tumor diagnostics

X-rays are not the only way: visible and especially infrared light can also be used to image human tissue. The effectiveness of optical imaging processes can be significantly improved with suitable dyes used as contrast agents. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a team led by Wenbin Lin at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, USA) has now introduced a novel contrast agent that marks tumor cells in vitro. The dye is a phosphorescent ruthenium complex incorporated into nanoparticles of a metal–organic coordination polymer, which allows an extraordinarily high level of dye loading.

23 Mar 2011

Scientists discover enzyme family that plays a crucial role in regulating cell motility

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered that members of an enzyme family found in humans and throughout the plant and animal kingdoms play a crucial role in regulating cell motility. Their findings suggest an entirely new strategy for treating conditions ranging from diabetic ulcers to metastatic cancer.

19 Mar 2011

NovaSterilis awarded NIH funding for supercritical CO2 sterilization of advanced biomaterials and absorbable sutures

NovaSterilis today received a $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for developing a supercritical CO2 process to sterilize absorbable sutures and advanced biomaterials. The grant funds a collaboration with Chih-Chang Chu Ph.D, a pioneer in absorbable polymer development at Cornell University.

18 Mar 2011

Liquid polymer research could represent next breakthrough in stem cell therapy

At present, cartilage implants created using stem cells can only be constructed as a solid shape, acting as an interim measure before the almost inevitable need for total joint replacement.

18 Mar 2011

New research may shed light on possible treatments for prion diseases

New research by Chongsuk Ryou, researcher at the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics in the UK College of Medicine, may shed light on possible treatments for prion diseases.

15 Mar 2011

New Sanitized MedX 200s active ingredient series to reduce risk of HAI

The new Sanitized MedX 200s active ingredient series, which has been used with success in the plastics of medical equipment, makes a contribution to reducing the risk of Healthcare-Associated Infections, HAI.

3 Mar 2011

Quebec researchers use Malvern’s new high temperature chromatography system in novel work

Researchers working at NanoQAM, the nanotechnology research centre of the University of Quebec (Montreal, Canada), are successfully innovating novel polymer coatings on the basis of data measured using a Viscotek high temperature gel permeation chromatography (HT-GPC) system from Malvern Panalytical.

From Malvern Panalytical 1 Mar 2011

Harvard Medical School selects Agilent's NMR spectrometer for biomolecular research applications

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced that Harvard Medical School has selected Agilent's 700-MHz Ultra-High Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer for biomolecular research applications.

25 Feb 2011

Micell initiates enrollment in DESSOLVE II MiStent Drug-Eluting Coronary Stent System trial

Micell Technologies,™ Inc. today announced it has enrolled the first patient in the DESSOLVE II (DES with Sirolimus and a bioabsorbable pOLymer for the treatment of patients with de noVo lEsions in the native coronary arteries) clinical trial. Stefan Verheye, M.D., Ph.D. at Middelheim Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium enrolled the first patient in the study. This clinical investigation is being conducted to support CE Mark approval of the company's MiStent™ Drug-Eluting Coronary Stent System (MiStent DES).

18 Feb 2011