Strategies for Directing the Biological Response to Biomaterial Surfaces by Design
This presentation will consider how surface engineering approaches can be used as part of biomedical device design to provide active chemistries and micro-, meso- and nano-scale surface features on hard and soft biomaterials that can promote and support the types of cellular process required for tissue formation. In particular, the need to develop accessible, validated and cost-effective methods to facilitate these smart surfaces is addressed. Exemplar studies from past and current research activities will be used to show how targeted surface engineering can be used to guide the progression of cell response and how this may allow for translation to more effective implant performance. Professor Brian Meenan Professor of Biomedical Materials, School of Engineering, and Head of the Biomaterials Tissue Engineering Research Group within the Nanotechnology and Integrated Bioengineering Centre, University of Ulster Bj.meenan@ulster.ac.ukFrom:MedTechInnovationTVViews:7 0ratingsTime:20:50More inScience Technology

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Professor Waltraud Kriven - Personal Interview
Waltraud M. Kriven received a PhD in 1976 in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Adelaide in South Australia. The B.Sc. (Hons) and Baccalaureate degrees were in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry and Biochemistry, also from Adelaide University. Dr. Kriven spent one year as a Post Doctoral Teaching and Research Fellow in the Chemistry Dept. at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. She then spent three years (1977-1980) jointly at the University of California at Berkeley, and at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. There, Dr. Kriven conducted post-doctoral research in transmission electron microscopy of ceramics and was a Lecturer, teaching Phase Equilibria in the senior undergraduate Ceramics Program of the Dept. of Materials Science and Mineral Engineering. For almost four years (1980-1983) Dr. Kriven was a Visiting Scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute in Stuttgart, Germany. There she studied the mechanism of transformation toughening of composite zirconia-based ceramics by 1 MeV HVEM, while working in the electron microscopy group headed by Dr. M. Rühle. Since Feb 1984, Professor Kriven has been at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a Full Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, an Affiliate Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering, and an Affiliate Professor of Bioengineering.From:UIUCMaterialsAdvViews:4 0ratingsTime:06:27More inScience Technology

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genespire 13
The symposium aims to bring together Bioengineering students and scholars on a common platform, where they can interact, present their results and exchange information. The symposium focuses on the various modern techniques that are currently developed and applied in the field of life sciences. The topics to be covered for paper poster presentations: #61656; Genetic Engineering #61656; Genomics and proteomics #61656; Tissue Engineering #61656; Environmental Engineering #61656; Chemical Engineering #61656; Biofuels #61656; Biomedical Engineering #61656; Medical Biotechnology #61656; Agricultural Biotechnology #61656; Food Dairy Technology #61656; Fermentation Technology #61656; Nanotechnology in medicine #61656; Downstream processing #61656; BioinformaticsFrom:abi varmaViews:36 0ratingsTime:02:59More inEducation

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Portsmouth Abbey School Dom Luke Childs Lecturer Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP
Portsmouth Abbey School was honored to welcome Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, OP, to deliver the Dom Luke Childs Lecture to the School community on October 15, 2012. Fr. Austriaco, who was also a guest speaker at Portsmouth Institute 2012, is a Catholic priest in the Order of Friars Preachers, also known as the Dominicans. Born in the Philippines, he completed his Bachelor #39;s of Science Degree in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. He then earned his Ph.D. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. At MIT, Fr. Austriaco worked in the laboratory of Professor Leonard Guarente on the genetics of aging in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. After completing his doctoral studies, he was a fellow of the International Human Frontier Science Program at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University College London in the United Kingdom. In 1997, following a deeper conversion to the Lord, Fr. Austriaco entered the novitiate of the Order of Friars Preachers. He completed both his Pontifical Bachelor #39;s Degree in Sacred Theology and his Master #39;s of Divinity Degree at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, in 2003. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 2004. In 2005, he earned his Pontifical License in Sacred Theology (STL) for a thesis in moral theology entitled, Life and Death from the Systems Perspective: A ...From:Portsmouth AbbeyViews:85 0ratingsTime:37:46More inEducation

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Portsmouth Abbey School Dom Luke Childs Lecturer Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP - Video

Playing Pong using just your eyes
Millions of people suffering from Multiple Scleorosis, Parkinson #39;s, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injuries or amputees could soon interact with their computers and surroundings using just their eyes thanks to a new device that costs just £43. Comprised of off-the-shelf materials, the new device, can work out exactly where a person is looking by tracking their eye movements, allowing them to control a cursor on a screen just like a normal computer mouse. The researchers demonstrated the device by getting students to play the computer game Pong using just their eyes. Credit: Dr Aldo Faisal, leader of the Neurotechnology laboratory at the Dept of Bioengineering and the Dept. of Comptuing Imperial College.From:shaggar70Views:20 1ratingsTime:00:26More inEducation

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Playing Pong using just your eyes - Video

Engineering research at the University of Liverpool (2/3)
Dr Matt Murphy explains some of the engineering research taking place at the University of Liverpool. He explains research in the areas of automotive, construction, smart materials and bioengineering. The talk is given at the University of Liverpool and has been recorded as part of the Into Engineering project. emerg.liv.ac.uk This video is aimed at people who are considering studying engineering at university. The video has been filmed and edited by John Connor for the Engineering and Materials Research Group at the University of Liverpool. emerg.liv.ac.ukFrom:EMERG LivViews:1 0ratingsTime:04:01More inEducation

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Engineering Prototype - Eline Meul student in Bioengineering - Science: It #39;s a girl thing!
In September 2011 we went therefore to Helsinki. It was a beautiful experience where I learned a lot from other European students. ec.europa.eu In my last year of high school, I participated together with two friends in the science expo, a national competition. We had invented a motor: "FROSTAL", which is the abbreviation of Full Rotative Stirloïd Alternator. It is a motor that works on a temperature difference. Curious about it? Just press play, watch, enjoy comment, rate and share! Subscribe ! http://www.youtube.com Check out our website ! http://www.ec.europa.eu Stay tuned by following us on: Science: It #39;s a girl thing! #39;s Facebook: http://www.facebook.com Transcript EN I #39;m Eline Meul. As a student in bioengineering, I #39;m occupied with science every day. At the end of this year I will be 20 years old, so I have still a lot of time ahead to learn and to do many things in the scientific field. Before I went to university, at high school, I studied science and mathematics. I already knew when I was little that I wanted to study this. Not economics, not history, only science! In my last year of high school, I participated together with two friends in the science expo, a national competition. We had invented a motor: "FROSTAL", which is the abbreviation of Full Rotative Stirloïd Alternator. It is a motor that works on a temperature difference. With this motor, we won the innovation price and were selected to go to EUCYS, the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. In September 2011 we went ...From:sciencegirlthingViews:18 0ratingsTime:01:03More inScience Technology

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Titan Spine Cellular Animation
This video is an animated depiction of the superior cellular response to the nano-textured surface of the Titan Spine Endoskeleton spinal interbody implant as compared to PEEK polymers. The animation illustrates the enhanced bone forming reaction caused by the Titan Spine surface and the role that nanotechnology is beginning to play in spinal implant applications. The content of this animation is based on in-vitro studies led by Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology.From:TitanSpineLLCViews:6 0ratingsTime:03:22More inScience Technology

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- What happens when astronauts are hurtling toward Mars on a years-long space voyage and one is injured, requiring emergency surgery in a environment lacking gravity?

It may sound like science fiction, but it's one of the challenges NASA faces in its goal of putting astronauts on Mars by 2035. And it has spurred a University of Louisville researcher to test a potentially lifesaving surgical device aimed at helping make zero-gravity surgery possible.

George Pantalos, a professor of surgery and bioengineering, and colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University are conducting four days of tests this week in Houston aboard a NASA zero-gravity jet known as the "vomit comet," which flies in gut-churning parabolic arcs to generate 20 to 30 seconds of weightlessness.

They're testing prototypes of an "aqueous immersion surgical system" -- an airtight and watertight dome with surgical ports that would be filled with saline and surround a wound in a zero-gravity environment. The idea is to stop bleeding and contain fluids that would otherwise float through the spacecraft, potentially endangering the patient and crew.

To test the concept, the researchers used plastic containers inside a prenatal care box. The researchers, held in place by foot straps, successfully controlled artificial blood coursing through a simulated vein Tuesday. On Wednesday, they conducted a simulated surgical procedure on a pig's heart.

"We're grateful that it turned out so well," Pantalos said by phone Tuesday night from Ellington Field at the Johnson Space Center Reduced Gravity Program, adding that he hopes the device eventually could be used in other challenging environments, such as war zones.

Pantalos, 60, is working on the device with Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon bioengineering researchers James Antaki, Jennifer Hayden and James Burgess.

Although the United States has retired its space shuttle program, President Obama in 2010 announced that his goal is to have a manned flight reach an asteroid by 2025 and Mars by the mid-2030s, a round-trip mission likely to take several years.

Interest in Mars has grown recently with NASA's successful landing of the Curiosity rover, which landed on the red planet in August after an eight-month journey.

Pantalos is one of many researchers working on the challenges of extended space travel. Those include health care concerns, such as the rapid loss of bone density, wounds that heal slowly in space and the possibility of having to do medical procedures using remote-controlled robots.

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Researchers test zero-gravity surgery device

Public release date: 31-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jana Smith jana.smith@ou.edu 405-325-1322 University of Oklahoma

Learning to crawl comes naturally for most infants, but those with cerebral palsy lack the muscle strength and coordination to perform the 25 individual movements required for crawling. With a $1.135 million, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation's National Robotics Initiative, University of Oklahoma researchers from the Norman and Health Sciences Center campuses are combining robotics, machine learning and brain imaging to assist infants with CP with the challenging, life-altering skill.

"Because infants with CP are unable to reliably perform the individual movements that make up crawling behavior, they learn to stop trying instead of continuing to practice these movements," said Project Leader Andrew Fagg, associate professor in the OU departments of Computer Science and Bioengineering and project leader. "This substantially delays their development of skilled crawling. In turn, cognitive development and other areas of development are delayed because they both rely on the infants being able to explore their surrounding world."

"In our previous study, we were able to capture many of the infant's actions and had a robot that could assist some of the infant's attempts at crawling. These assists serve as rewards that encourage continued practice of specific limb movements. This grant will allow us, among other things, to develop new robot platforms that can allow a greater range of infant mobility" said David Miller, professor in the OU departments of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering. "In the latter part of this grant, we will also start working with the transition from crawling to walking."

"This grant is also important because it builds on and expands our previous work that maximizes the interaction of robotics with what an infant can do," said Thubi Kolobe, professor of rehabilitative sciences at the OU Health Sciences Center College of Allied Health. "Infant learning is integral, and when infants stop trying, parts of the brain responsible for the skill are negatively affected. The next step of this research is to increase the level of help that infants with or at risk for CP are getting. We are looking for combinations of assists that result in the best incentives for these infants. We also want to see if there is a connection between what the infants are learning and what is happening in the brain."

Lei Ding, assistant professor in the OU departments of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering, will then perform brain scans using electroencephalograph to determine how the infants' brains respond when they are assisted by the robotic device. The EEG technology will assess brain activity of infants during crawling and provide information about changes that occur because of robotics assists and infant efforts.

"Beginning in spring 2013, we will conduct clinical trials to test six infants without CP on the new crawling robot," says Kolobe. "Then, one year later, we will conduct clinical trials to test 24 CP infants on the crawling robot. Initial tests on standing and walking with infants without CP will be conducted by the end of the project. No CP infants will be tested on standing and walking in this grant, only healthy infants."

"This is groundbreaking research, and no one else in the world is doing it," says Kolobe. "We want to invite anyone with an infant who is at risk for CP or severe developmental delays, between four and eight months old, who is interested in participating in these clinical trials to contact Dr. Thubi H.A. Kolobe, at 405-271-2131 ext. 47121 or hkolobe@ouhsc.edu."

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OU research team developing robotic devices to aid infants with cerebral palsy

Using microbes to create useful products is nothing new. Humans have been doing it for centuries to bake bread or brew alcohol, for example. More recent techniques have employed microbes in green technology, where they are used in the production of biofuels and in the generation of electricity from waste.

But sometimes in a laboratory setting, using microbes that have been finely tuned by evolution is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. This is where bioengineering steps in.

Here are three recent examples of how bioengineering microbes could create better biofuels, more sustainable manufacturing, and even the possibility of settlements on Mars.

Synthetic Evolution

Using a non-food feedstock to create biofuels is better both environmentally and economically, which is why researchers from Iowa State University areworkingto turn corn stalks and sawdust into ethanol.

The process involves heating the feedstock until it becomes a sugar-rich bio oil, then unleashing microbes to feed on the oil and produce ethanol as a by-product. Unfortunately, the microbes have a bad reaction to some of the compounds in the oil, which prevents them from efficiently digesting it.

To work around this, the team is using a technique called directed evolution.

The method works by growing each generation of microbes in a higher concentration of the maligned compounds. Each time the microbes divide, their DNA is replicated, which leads to mistakes in the DNA. The researchers hope one of these mistakes will produce an improved microbe that is tolerant of the oil.

The team has already had some success; some of the newly evolved microbes are able to live in slightly higher concentrations of the compounds. Once the ideal microbe emerges, the researchers will analyze its genetic data in order to duplicate it, and will be on their way to creating better, more sustainable biofuels.

Manufacturing with Microbes

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Engineering Microbes for Sustainable Manufacturing and Better Biofuels

CollPlant Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLPT) has signed an agreement to supply CollPlant's recombinant human collagen, derived from tobacco plants, to Hawaii-based Cellular Bioengineering Inc. for use in its synthetic cornea implants. Cellular Bioengineering will pay CollPlant for the collagen and royalties on future sales of its product that use, if any.

CollPlant will supply collagen to Cellular Bioengineering on the basis of non-binding forecasts during the first year of the five-year agreement, and binding annual forecasts for minimum deliveries from the agreement's second year. CollPlant will give Cellular Bioengineering an exclusive worldwide license to use the collagen in artificial corneas, and limited to this use. The agreement can be extended.

CollPlant CEO Yehiel Tal said, "This is a breakthrough. The advantages of synthetic corneas based on CollPlant's collagen are the absence of an immune reaction because no donor material is involved, there is no risk of transmitting a disease from a cornea donor to the patient, and the production costs of artificial corneas are much lower than the cost of a cornea from an organ donor. We envision artificial corneas as an off-the-shelf product, without the need for eye banks or the production of corneas from donors, at a cost of $2,000 per unit. The shelf life of an artificial cornea will be higher than the shelf life of donor corneas, and implants will be possible without the need for the special infrastructures necessary to support the supply of corneas from donors."

Tal added, "This is our first agreement following negotiations for the commercial supply of collagen to a company that develops and manufactures collagen-based products. It meets our strategic targets for 2012. Contracts of this kind fit in with our business model and long-term strategy, which include the marketing of CollPlant's products, the joint development of products with foreign strategic partners, and contracts for the supply of CollPlant's collagen."

Today's agreement follows an agreement that CollPlant signed with Cellular Bioengineering subsidiary Eyegenix Inc. in February 2012.

CollPlant's share price rose 15.8% by mid-afternoon, following the announcement, to NIS 0.52, giving a market cap of NIS 70 million.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - http://www.globes-online.com - on October 30, 2012

Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012

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CollPlant to supply collagen for artificial corneas

Public release date: 16-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Shelly Leachman shelly.leachman@ia.ucsb.edu 805-893-8726 University of California - Santa Barbara

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) By growing new retinal cells to replace those that have malfunctioned, scientists hope to one day create and fuse entire layers of fresh cells a synthetic patch akin to a contact lens as a treatment for age-related macular degeneration, the top cause of visual impairment among people over 60.

Such is the goal of an elite research team at UC Santa Barbara, which aims to advance the novel therapy out of the lab and into the clinic by way of regenerative bioengineering. With stem cells also showing great promise for diabetic retinopathy, the same group is taking a similar approach to this condition the leading cause of blindness in younger adults.

Based at UCSB's Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering, the two projects are being pursued in tandem, in a new, five-year endeavor funded by a $5-million gift from philanthropist Bill Bowes, founder of biotechnology giant Amgen. With the development of cellular therapies as its goal, the Garland Initiative for Vision named for Bowes' mother, who was a physician and Santa Barbara native will position the campus to propel its ocular innovations toward clinical trials.

"UC Santa Barbara is honored by the visionary and generous philanthropy of Bill and Ute Bowes in establishing the Garland Initiative. We are deeply grateful for their longstanding leadership and dedication to advance critical research in ocular diseases," said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. "This gift expands the impact of the Bowes' earlier inspirational gift to establish the Ruth Garland Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering, and will fuel new discoveries and further strengthen the outstanding work of our faculty conducting interdisciplinary research in bioengineering and biomedicine.

Asked what inspires him to give, Bowes, Amgen's first chairman and the still-active founding partner of Silicon Valley-based U.S. Venture Partners, said, "For me, philanthropy is the best use of resources, by far. I've come to respect UC Santa Barbara as a very important technological institution. My firm has used Santa Barbara technologies to start companies, and that has enabled me to get a pretty good look at what's going on down there. My respect level has been going up and up and up over the years. That's all it takes.

"I put UC Santa Barbara in a small cadre of institutions that I have respect for and work with and support that includes Caltech, UCSF, Stanford, and Harvard," Bowes added. "The people at UC Santa Barbara and the technology there are ripe for a program that makes some real accomplishments in the vision field."

A stem cell dream team of renowned researchers all directors of the UC Santa Barbara stem cell center will lead the Bowes-funded project. They include Dennis Clegg, a professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, and co-principal investigator of the California Project to Cure Blindness; Neuroscience Research Institute research biologist Peter Coffey, director of the London Project to Cure Blindness; James Thomson, professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at UCSB, and director of Regenerative Biology at the University of Wisconsin's Morgridge Institute for Research; and H. Tom Soh, professor of mechanical engineering and of materials, associate director of the California NanoSystems Institute, and a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow in engineering.

The Garland Initiative will tackle age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy with biology and engineering two of UCSB's core scientific strengths.

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Envisioning novel approaches for eye disease: 'The new medicine' at UC Santa Barbara

A few had panda jewelry. Some drew the black and white bears on their name tags. Others sported attire that one might expect from semifinalists in a contest to become a world panda ambassador, or Pambassador.

Ashley Jaeger, 23, a bioengineering researcher at the National Institutes of Health, had black-and-white panda-colored nails and panda-patterned shoes.

I thought it was fun and kind of something to set me apart, she said.

Jaeger is one of 24 semifinalists one from Brazil, the rest from the United States competing in Washington at the Omni Shoreham Hotel on Tuesday and Wednesday for a chance to spend a year as a global envoy for wildlife conservation.

Four finalists will be selected Wednesday afternoon to spend nearly a month at the Chengdu Panda Base in China, working to introduce the bears into the wild. Later, the four will compete in Chengdu against 12 other finalists from Britain, Singapore and Chinato be named one of three globe-trotting pambassadors.

Those unofficial diplomats will receive a $20,000 stipend which could buy a lot of bamboo in tough economic times and will visit pandas around the world while promoting conservation at the community level. There were 45,000 online applications worldwide for the honor.

The competitions sponsors, the Chengdu Panda Base and the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization WildAid, are using pandas as the adorable public face of wildlife conservation and endangered species. The contest started in 2010, but it did not take place last year.

WildAid Executive Director Peter Knights said that in the conservation business pandas with their cute faces and scruffy fur are far more appealing as spokescreatures than, say, sharks.

A lot of animals dont have that going for them, Knights said. The panda is an icon for many endangered species.

Giant pandas are among the rarest animals in the world, according to the National Zoos Web site. About 1,600 live in the wild. Another 300 are in zoos and breeding centers around the world, mostly in China.

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‘Panda ambassador’ hopefuls compete in D.C.

Home News Politics Loading

Published: 10/17/2012 - Updated: 15 hours ago

BY TOM TROY BLADE POLITICS WRITER

Debate-viewers at a downtown Toledo eatery and watering hole saw a more aggressive Barack Obama in the second presidential debate on Tuesday night.

Whether that added up to a victory for Mr. Obama and a defeat for Republican Mitt Romney was another question.

RELATED: Obama, Romney feud on issues

"Definitely Obama is different from the last time, more engaged and aggressive," said Zachary Reaver, 22, a University of Toledo student from Millersport, Ohio, majoring in bioengineering and biochemistry. "Before he was looking down. Now hes engaged, smiling. I cant really say whos winning or losing. I think theyre both actively engaged in answering the questions."

A small crowd of debate watchers followed the presidential pugilistics in the bar of PizzaPapalis Taverna some of them at the invitation of The Blade through Facebook and social media, others just because they happened to be there.

13abc.com: Breaking News, Weather and Sports

Paige Strancar, 29, a volunteer coordinator from a nonprofit agency who lives in West Toledo, admitted she's an Obama supporter who was pleased with his performance. She was disappointed when the candidates seemed to be avoiding the issues she was interested in poverty, women's health, contraception, and education but said eventually all those topics were touched upon.

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Debate gets high marks

Drug delivery research in India will advance with help from New Zealand, with the gift of a highly advanced qNano system to Prof. Rinti Banerjee from the Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai.

New Zealand nanotechnology company Izon Science gifted the instrument to accelerate advancement of research in the area of nanoparticles for drug delivery. The qNano provides the highly accurate information required to aid development of drug delivery systems that could deliver cancer drugs directly to the tumor. The gift recognises the path-breaking technology platform and drug delivery mechanism award winning Prof. Rinti Banerjee has developed.

The qNano system was presented to Prof. Banerjee by Hans van der Voorn, the Executive Chairman of Izon Science. The function held at IIT Bombay was attended by Hon Steven Joyce, New Zealands Science and Innovation Minister, as part of his visit to India with a delegation of New Zealand education and aviation companies. Acting Director of IIT Bombay, Prof. R.K. Malik and Prof. N.S. Punekar, Head of Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering were also present at the occasion.

Prof. Banerjee is the winner of numerous awards for her work including most recently the prestigious National Award for Women Bio-scientists by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Her group works in the area of nanomedicine. Her group focuses on development of non-invasive carriers for delivery of drugs using specifically engineered nanoparticle technologies.

At present the technologies are being developed for therapy in cancers, respiratory diseases, ocular diseases and malnutrition. Several technologies developed by her group have been patented and have shown promising effects in in vivo animal models. Prof. Banerjee is keen to collaborate with industrial partners for further translation of these technologies.

Gavin Young, New Zealands Trade Commissioner and Consul General in Mumbai says, "Its great to see a New Zealand company helping researchers in India at the forefront of new research frontiers. New Zealands focus on science and innovation is something we share with India."

Izon Sciences Hans van der Voorn says, "Were very pleased to be contributing to Prof. Banerjees very important research work into controlled release drug delivery. This research could lead to the development of high value added products that could really make a difference to peoples wellbeing worldwide, as well as to the Indian economy.

"This gift is a sign of our commitment to building business and research relationships in India. Half of our global sales already come from Asia and we see India as a very important market going forward."

Prof. Banerjee says, "I am thankful to Izon Science, New Zealand for presenting me with the qNano which is a state-of-the art piece of equipment renowned for its precise measurements of nanoparticle sizes and concentrations. I am very excited that qNano will help us in accelerating our translational efforts in nanoparticle based drug delivery for affordable therapies in cancers and other diseases worldwide."

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NZ aids drug delivery research at IIT Bombay

Media Release

New Zealand aids drug delivery research at IIT Bombay

MUMBAI, 16 October 2012 Drug delivery research in India will advance with help from New Zealand, with the gift of a highly advanced qNano system to Prof. Rinti Banerjee from the Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai.

New Zealand nanotechnology company Izon Science gifted the instrument to accelerate advancement of research in the area of nanoparticles for drug delivery. The qNano provides the highly accurate information required to aid development of drug delivery systems that could deliver cancer drugs directly to the tumor. The gift recognises the path-breaking technology platform and drug delivery mechanism award winning Prof. Rinti Banerjee has developed.

The qNano system was presented to Prof. Banerjee by Hans van der Voorn, the Executive Chairman of Izon Science. The function held at IIT Bombay was attended by Hon Steven Joyce, New Zealands Science and Innovation Minister, as part of his visit to India with a delegation of New Zealand education and aviation companies. Acting Director of IIT Bombay, Prof. R.K. Malik and Prof. N.S. Punekar, Head of Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering were also present at the occasion.

Prof. Banerjee is the winner of numerous awards for her work including most recently the prestigious National Award for Women Bio-scientists by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Her group works in the area of nanomedicine. Her group focuses on development of non-invasive carriers for delivery of drugs using specifically engineered nanoparticle technologies.

At present the technologies are being developed for therapy in cancers, respiratory diseases, ocular diseases and malnutrition. Several technologies developed by her group have been patented and have shown promising effects in in vivo animal models. Prof. Banerjee is keen to collaborate with industrial partners for further translation of these technologies.

Gavin Young, New Zealands Trade Commissioner and Consul General in Mumbai says, Its great to see a New Zealand company helping researchers in India at the forefront of new research frontiers. New Zealands focus on science and innovation is something we share with India.

Izon Sciences Hans van der Voorn says, Were very pleased to be contributing to Prof. Banerjees very important research work into controlled release drug delivery. This research could lead to the development of high value added products that could really make a difference to peoples wellbeing worldwide, as well as to the Indian economy.

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New Zealand aids drug delivery research at IIT Bombay

Vaccines given with a painless skin patch rather than needles are a step closer after Australian innovators secured a deal with international vaccine manufacturer Merck.

The Nanopatch, developed by University of Queensland Professor Mark Kendall and his bioengineering and nanotechnology team, uses 100 times less vaccine than a syringe and is smaller than a postage stamp.

The technology is being commercialised by an investor-backed company, Vaxxas, formed in August 2011, but the partnership with Merck has injected extra research funds and potentially opens up a suite of vaccines to eventually be used with the patch.

Merck, the international distributor of the Gardasil HPV vaccine pioneered by Australia's Professor Ian Frazer, will initially fund Vaxxas to evaluate the Nanopatch for use with one of its vaccines.

'This is an essential step for Vaxxas because for the first time we have a partnership with one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers,' Prof Kendall told AAP on Monday.

He said the deal validated the development of the Nanopatch, which was selected by Merck from a field of about 40 other international technologies.

Vaxxas raised about $15 million last year to commercialise the Nanopatch technology.

This process will involve several rigorous testing phases to ensure the patch is effective and safe.

The patch had already been tested in animal models and would move into human clinical trials within the next two years, Prof Kendall said.

'If everything works well, quite possibly this could be on the market within the next five to seven years,' he said.

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Needle-less technology developed in Aust

Much like humans use the Internet to communicate, cells have mechanisms to pass on data to each other. Its a system that is being hacked by scientists who realize the value of being able to send custom genetic data from cell to cell. Because when large groups of cells can be commanded by humans to work on complex tasks, the possibilities are endless.

Typically, scientists have spurred on communication by sending sugar molecules from cell to cell--the concentration of sugar either activates something in a receiver cell or doesnt, depending on the command. But this is limiting, says Monica Ortiz, a doctoral candidate in bioengineering at Stanford. "You cant send very much information with these sugar molecules." So Ortiz and Drew Endy, an assistant professor of bioengineering, set out to create a more complex system.

Their solution, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Biological Engineering: a bacteriophage, or virus that infect bacteria. "We recognized that phage are essentially nucleic acids packaged by protein, and we know that genes and other elements in the genome are always encoded into DNA. So we know that we can encode anything we want to in DNA," explains Ortiz. "We can encode genes, activation of transcription in various ways and we dont need to rely on this middleman sugar molecule."

Ortiz and Endy selected M13 as their cell-communicating virus. Its the ideal specimen: It doesnt kill the host cell, scientists can vary the length of DNA that theyre packaging (M13 packages genetic messages), and it has been engineered to get its DNA into mammalian cells.

The M13 communication system is, as Stanford Engineering explains, like a wireless information network for cells to send and receive messages. M13 wraps up strands of DNA (programmed by scientists) and sends them out in proteins that infect cells and release the DNA messages once they have gained entry. Scientists can send whatever they want in the DNA--everything from a sentence in a book to a sequence that encodes fluorescent protein.

The M13 system dramatically increases the amount of data that can be transmitted at one time compared to previous cell-to-cell communication systems--roughly 80,000 bits compared to one bit with the sugar molecule system. M13 can also transmit data over long ranges.

"Practically I think sending DNA between cells has a lot of applications," says Ortiz. "What weve shown is that we can send and receive a message and do something in the receiver cell with that message." In the future--were talking decades down the line--the technology could be used in tissue engineering as well as in creating artificial organs and biomaterials that have no direct analog in nature.

Ortiz emphasizes that the research is just beginning. "People are calling it the biological Internet, and thats a fairly good analogy. I want to make the point that this is a very early stage proof-of-principle paper."

Ariel Schwartz is a Senior Editor at Co.Exist. She has contributed to SF Weekly, Popular Science, Inhabitat, Greenbiz, NBC Bay Area, GOOD Magazine and more. Continued

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The Biological Internet That Could One Day Program Artificial Organs

Vaccines given with a painless skin patch rather than needles are a step closer after Australian innovators secured a deal with international vaccine manufacturer Merck.

The Nanopatch, developed by University of Queensland Professor Mark Kendall and his bioengineering and nanotechnology team, uses 100 times less vaccine than a syringe and is smaller than a postage stamp.

The technology is being commercialised by an investor-backed company, Vaxxas, formed in August 2011, but the partnership with Merck has injected extra research funds and potentially opens up a suite of vaccines to eventually be used with the patch.

Merck, the international distributor of the Gardasil HPV vaccine pioneered by Australia's Professor Ian Frazer, will initially fund Vaxxas to evaluate the Nanopatch for use with one of its vaccines.

'This is an essential step for Vaxxas because for the first time we have a partnership with one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers,' Prof Kendall told AAP on Monday.

He said the deal validated the development of the Nanopatch, which was selected by Merck from a field of about 40 other international technologies.

Vaxxas raised about $15 million last year to commercialise the Nanopatch technology.

This process will involve several rigorous testing phases to ensure the patch is effective and safe.

The patch had already been tested in animal models and would move into human clinical trials within the next two years, Prof Kendall said.

'If everything works well, quite possibly this could be on the market within the next five to seven years,' he said.

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Needle-less technology developed