Heather Hall

The AltHost Consortium, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led collaboration, announced a consortium of leading organizations in biopharmaceuticals and vaccines that will work to advance the speed and productivity of alternative host cell research and manufacturing. By adjoining MIT’s cutting-edge research and innovation with the resources and clinical understanding of the industry, “AltHost” will enable its…

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has selected Southwest Research Institute to provide the state’s traffic management software solutions. Under a $1.4 million, three-year contract, SwRI will deploy and support the ActiveITS Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) for statewide use. “The unique thing that SwRI’s ActiveITS brings to the table is the ability to share…

BIC, known for their stationery, lighters and shavers, is partnering with technology company Iprova to launch the BIC-Iprova Invention Lab to enhance BIC’s Innovation and Research & Development (R&D) capability. Using Iprova’s machine learning-based, data-driven approach to invention, the Lab will help BIC anticipate and answer rapidly changing consumer needs with unexpected inventions that will…

By Sarah Olson Michel The clock is ticking when a neurosurgeon is trying to remove a brain tumor but also determining its malignancy and type. Instead of sending samples to a lab where the necessary testing equipment resides to answer those questions, a Purdue scientist is working on shrinking that equipment for use in the…

By Abby E Bower The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has launched a program designed to accelerate deployment of innovations that may help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Rapid Access Licensing Program will allow companies to license these select technologies at no cost for one year. “As ORNL races to find solutions…

By Lindsay Brownell The United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has signed an agreement worth up to $16 million over the next year with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University to identify and test FDA-approved drugs that could be repurposed to prevent or treat COVID-19. This highly collaborative effort…

Park Systems, manufacturer of Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM), announces Park NX-TSH, automated Tip Scan Head for large sample analysis over 300 mm. Park NX-TSH is for large and heavy sample flat panel display glass and features conductive AFM for electric defect analysis by integrating a micro probe station. Park Systems will have a live demo…

By Troy Rummler Sandia National Laboratories is teaming with local hospitals and medical device manufacturers to increase the availability of respirator masks for health care workers. “We’re helping local medical device manufacturers test materials they are using to make medical-grade masks, and we’re helping local hospitals by evaluating methods they’ve developed to clean N95 masks…

By  Jules Bernstein A new film made of gold nanoparticles changes color in response to any type of movement. Its unprecedented qualities could allow robots to mimic chameleons and octopi — among other futuristic applications. Unlike other materials that try to emulate nature’s color changers, this one can respond to any type of movement, like…

By Glenn Roberts Jr. Note: This is part of a recurring series highlighting ongoing Berkeley Lab work in international physics collaborations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Marjorie Shapiro, an experimental particle physicist and faculty senior scientist at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has been accustomed to working remotely and observing extreme…

To help pharmaceutical companies obtain faster results in their drug discovery process and reduce the cost of bringing new drugs to market, Thermo Fisher Scientific has released the Thermo Scientific iSPA Workflow, the first commercially available single particle analysis (SPA) workflow solution. As pharmaceutical labs turn to cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to uncover the structures of difficult-to-crystalize molecules…

By Chris Adam A team of Purdue University innovators has developed a new way for manufacturers to use nanocellulose – a green nanomaterial derived from natural sources such as plant matter, for use in vehicles, food packaging and other manufactured items. Normally to process nanocellulose, solvents or other dispersants are usually added to the mixture…

A unique liquid-handling robot from Denmark is now speeding up the great task of analyzing COVID-19 tests. Every day thousands of tests for COVID-19 are now being prepared for analysis by the sophisticated flowbot ONE from Flow Robotics. Robot technology minimizes the risk of human error and contagion in the process, and it reduces the…

Research infrastructures are increasingly important to research and development activity by providing access to the latest detection, imaging, computational and research techniques at scale. Maintaining and improving these infrastructures requires interdisciplinary skills bridging science, engineering, service provision and management, that are not usually provided by traditional training programs in academia or industry. “During the last years…

The Purair Basic ductless fume hoods are designed to provide high level performance features at an affordable price. The hoods are found in research laboratories, educational facilities and forensic laboratories throughout the world and are designed to protect the user and the environment from hazardous vapors generated on the work surface. At the heart of…

When time is of the essence, after an exposure to a hazardous chemical substance, any delay, even for a few seconds, can result in serious injury. Emergency showers must be located 10 seconds from hazardous work zones, as required by ANSI and OSHA. HEMCO Decontamination Booths are fully assembled and ready for installation to water…

PerkinElmer, a global company committed to innovating for a healthier world, announced today that EUROIMMUN, a PerkinElmer Company, has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its EURORealTime SARS-CoV-2 assay. Clinical laboratories certified under Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to perform high complexity tests can immediately begin using…

Peter Dizikes | MIT News Office According to a new study led by an MIT professor, the R&D tax credit has a significant effect on entrepreneurship. Moreover, the study finds a striking contrast between two types of tax credits. While the R&D tax credit fuels high-quality new-firm growth, the state-level investment tax credit, which supports…

CEA-Leti announced its researchers have broken the throughput world record of 5.1 Gbps in visible light communications (VLC) using a single GaN blue micro light-emitting diode (LED). Their data transmission rate of 7.7 Gbps achieved with a 10 µm microLED marks another step toward commercialization and widespread use of LiFi communication. VLC, commonly called LiFi…

The Pistoia Alliance, a global, not-for-profit alliance that works to lower barriers to innovation in life sciences R&D, launched a new series of programs to help organizations collaborate on advancing the role of digital technology within life sciences R&D and healthcare. As part of the Pistoia Alliance’s strategic refresh, defined by its 2030 vision report,…

By Jennifer Burke ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads new research fellows include Renee Carder, Danielle Castley, Joe Fortenbaugh, Thomas Foulkes, Garret Meyer and Erica Grant. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory welcomed six technology innovators to join the fourth cohort of Innovation Crossroads, the Southeast’s only entrepreneurial research and development…

On June 23, Lonza will host a free 60-minute webinar on how to gain control of bioprocesses through automated, aseptic sampling of bioreactors. Dr. Clint Pepper, director, MAST Products, will present three case studies demonstrating cost savings and enhanced throughput and Product Quality Attribute (PQA) optimization using the MAST Aseptic Sampling System, while maintaining bioreactor…

By Marcin Minor Wladek Minor, PhD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and other top structural biologists have led an international team of biomedical scientists to investigate the protein structures contained in the COVID-19 virus – structures that are vital to developing treatments and vaccines. The team has created a web resource that…

For biopharma companies seeking increased development and manufacturing capacity for vaccines and therapies, including new COVID-19-related programs, Thermo Fisher Scientific provided highlights of its new capabilities during the BIO International Convention, June 8-12, now a virtual event at bio.org/events/bio-digital. “We can now provide an uninterrupted path from development to commercialization for biopharma companies, small to…

Southwest Research Institute is developing machine learning algorithms to measure fugitive methane emissions through a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through the Office of Fossil Energy and managed at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The project leverages an SwRI technology previously funded by DOE, Smart Methane Leak Detection, or SLED/M —…