VIDEO: Faster sequencing of DNA holds enormous potential for biology and medicine, particularly for personalized diagnosis and customized treatment based on each individual’s genomic makeup. At present however, sequencing technology remains cumbersome and cost prohibitive for most clinical applications, though this may be changing, thanks to a range of innovative new techniques. In the current […]
Berkeley Lab’s Wim Leemans wins 2009 E. O. Lawrence Award
Berkeley, CA ? Wim Leemans, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has won DOE’s Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award for 2009. Leemans, cited for his breakthrough work with laser plasma accelerators, is one of six winners named this year by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “The contributions made by these […]
Heart cells on lab chip display ‘nanosense’ that guides behavior
Johns Hopkins biomedical engineers, working with colleagues in Korea, have produced a laboratory chip with nanoscopic grooves and ridges capable of growing cardiac tissue that more closely resembles natural heart muscle. Surprisingly, heart cells cultured in this way used a “nanosense” to collect instructions for growth and function solely from the physical patterns on the […]
Tracking new cancer-killing particles with MRI
HOUSTON — (Dec. 14, 2009) — Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have created a single nanoparticle that can be tracked in real time with MRI as it homes in on cancer cells, tags them with a fluorescent dye and kills them with heat. The all-in-one particle is one of the […]
Rapid cardiac biomarker testing system developed by Singapore scientists
Scientists at Singapore’s Institute of Microelectronics (IME) have developed a rapid and sensitive integrated system to test simultaneously for specific cardiac biomarkers in finger prick amount of blood. The silicon-based integrated system’s features could help physicians quickly arrive at the right diagnosis for timely medical intervention in patients suspected of having heart attacks — particularly […]
Drug studied as possible treatment for spinal injuries
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Researchers have shown how an experimental drug might restore the function of nerves damaged in spinal cord injuries by preventing short circuits caused when tiny “potassium channels” in the fibers are exposed. The chemical compound also might be developed as a treatment for multiple sclerosis. Because nerves usually are not severed […]
NIEHS awards Recovery Act funds to focus more research on health and safety of nanomaterials
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, is increasing its investment in understanding the potential health, safety and environmental issues related to tiny particles that are used in many everyday products such as sunscreens, cosmetics and electronics. The NIEHS will award about $13 million over a two-year […]
A mobile phone or an MP3 player tells if you’re sleeping soundly
MSc (Tech) Väinö Virtanen has developed a method for analysing snoring sounds by using a PC with a microphone connection and a wireless microphone. The objective was to create an application that could be used at home to monitor snoring. By utilizing this technology, researchers from Tampere University of Technology and the University of Helsinki […]
