Monthly Archives: August 2012

Nature’s wrinkle reducer

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Sometimes, the answer to a more youthful-looking skin lies within a tree bark.

THE Greek physician Hippocrates once said: Let plants be your medicine. American skincare brand Origins has taken his advice to heart and bases much of its products around the healing powers of nature.

Its award-winning Plantscription Anti-Aging collection offers formulations fortified with Annogeissus tree bark extract, touted to be natures wrinkle reducer.

Native to the Republic of Ghana in West Africa, Anogeissus is commonly known as Siiga, meaning the soul. Local tribes revere the Anogeissus extract as it is regarded a potent natural wound healer and antimicrobial.

After five years of intensive research in partnership with plant scientists at the University of Strasbourg, Origins discovered that the extract of the bark demonstrated an excellent ability to protect collagen and help boost skins natural production levels of a glycoprotein called fibrillin. This resulted in a firmer and more resilient, youthful-looking complexion.

Now, there are new additions to the collection: a cleanser, treatment lotion, serum and two eye products.

The perfect starting point is the Plantscription Anti-Aging foaming cleanser which utilises potent plants to thoroughly wash away dirt, make-up and impurities in one simple step.

The gentle cleansing system contains Anogeissus, along with oat protein and jasmine flowers to condition skin and preserve the vital moisture balance.

The lightweight moisture-rich treatment lotion contains Anogeissus and is fortified with jasmine flowers, caffeine and aloe leaf. It is claimed to deliver softening and conditioning benefits, much like a skin cream.

Skin texture is smoothened and a youthful radiance is restored, as the skin is prepped to receive the optimum benefits from the other Plantscription treatments.

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Chocolate: A sweet method for stroke prevention in men?

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Public release date: 29-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rachel Seroka rseroka@aan.com 612-928-6129 American Academy of Neurology

MINNEAPOLIS Eating a moderate amount of chocolate each week may be associated with a lower risk of stroke in men, according to a new study published in the August 29, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"While other studies have looked at how chocolate may help cardiovascular health, this is the first of its kind study to find that chocolate, may be beneficial for reducing stroke in men," said study author Susanna C. Larsson, PhD, with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

For the study, 37,103 Swedish men ages 49 to 75 were given a food questionnaire that assessed how often they consumed various foods and drinks and were asked how often they had chocolate. Researchers then identified stroke cases through a hospital discharge registry. Over 10 years, there were 1,995 cases of first stroke.

Men in the study who ate the largest amount of chocolate, about one-third of a cup of chocolate chips (63 grams), had a lower risk of stroke compared to those who did not consume any chocolate. Those eating the highest amount of chocolate had a 17-percent lower risk of stroke, or 12 fewer strokes per 100,000 person-years compared to those who ate no chocolate. Person-years is the total number of years that each participant was under observation.

In a larger analysis of five studies that included 4,260 stroke cases, the risk of stroke for individuals in the highest category of chocolate consumption was 19 percent lower compared to non-chocolate consumers. For every increase in chocolate consumption of 50 grams per week, or about a quarter cup of chocolate chips, the risk of stroke decreased by about 14 percent.

"The beneficial effect of chocolate consumption on stroke may be related to the flavonoids in chocolate. Flavonoids appear to be protective against cardiovascular disease through antioxidant, anti-clotting and anti-inflammatory properties. It's also possible that flavonoids in chocolate may decrease blood concentrations of bad cholesterol and reduce blood pressure," said Larsson.

"Interestingly, dark chocolate has previously been associated with heart health benefits, but about 90 percent of the chocolate intake in Sweden, including what was consumed during our study, is milk chocolate," Larsson added.

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Chocolate: A sweet method for stroke prevention in men?

Polymer nanoparticle averts anti-cancer drug resistance

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By Barry Copping

Posted 30 August 2012

Curcumin from turmeric features in novel drug formulation

In a double benefit from nanotechnology, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (HCCNE) have created a polymer nanoparticle that overcomes the resistance of tumours to the common anticancer agent doxorubicin.

It also protects the heart against drug-triggered damage, a therapy-ending side effect that limits doxorubicins effectiveness. The nanoparticle incorporates both doxorubicin and curcumin, a major component of the bright yellow spice turmeric.

The work was led by Anirban Maitra. Recent studies had shown that high doses of curcumin could overcome the resistance to multiple anticancer agents that many, if not most, tumours develop over time. However curcumin is only poorly soluble in the bloodstream, so getting high enough levels of the agent to tumours was challenging.

Maitras approach to solving this problem was to use polymer nanoparticles to deliver curcumin to tumours. The teams latest paper describes how both in vitro and animal tests demonstrated that a dual curcumin/doxorubicin formulation showed striking anticancer activity in models of multiple myeloma, leukaemia, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer.

Perhaps equally important, the animals treated with the nanoparticle did not experience any cardiac toxicity or bone marrow suppression. This was the case even at cumulative doses that normally trigger cardiac toxicity by free doxorubicin or liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin. These were the first two nanoparticle drug formulations approved for use in treating cancer in humans; they are widely used in treating breast cancer. Further examination of the heart-protecting characteristics of the dual formulation showed that encapsulating doxorubicin in a polymer nanoparticle spared heart muscle cells from the oxidative stress normally triggered by doxorubicin.

The work is reported in the peer-reviewed journal Oncotarget.

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Polymer nanoparticle averts anti-cancer drug resistance

Breakthrough in nanotechnology

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Public release date: 29-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Zenaida Kotala zenaida.kotala@ucf.edu 407-823-6120 University of Central Florida

A University of Central Florida assistant professor has developed a new material using nanotechnology, which could help keep pilots and sensitive equipment safe from destructive lasers.

UCF Assistant Professor Jayan Thomas, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University Associate Professor Rongchao Jin chronicle their work in the July issue of the journal Nano Letters. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nl301988v)

Thomas is working with gold nanoparticles and studying their properties when they are shrunk into a small size regime called nanoclusters. Nanoparticles are already microscopic in size, and a nanometer is about 1/80000 of the thickness of a single strand of human hair. Nanoclusters are on the small end and nanocrystals are on the larger end of the nanoregime. Nano clusters are so small that the laws of physics that govern the world people touch and smell aren't often observed.

"Nanoclusters occupy the intriguing quantum size regime between atoms and nanocrystals, and the synthesis of ultra-small, atomically precise metal nanoclusters is a challenging task," Thomas said.

Thomas and his team found that nanoclusters developed by adding atoms in a sequential manner could provide interesting optical properties. It turns out that the gold nanoclusters exhibit qualities that may make them suitable for creating surfaces that would diffuse laser beams of high energy. They appear to be much more effective than its big sister, gold nanocrystal which is the (nano) material used by artists to make medieval church window paintings.

So why does it matter?

Think of commercial pilots or fighter pilots. They use sunglasses or helmet shields to protect their eyes from the sun's light. If the glasses or helmet shield could be coated with nanoclusters tested in Thomas' lab at UCF, the shield could potentially diffuse high-energy beams of light, such as laser. Highly sensitive instruments needed for navigation and other applications could also be protected in case of an enemy attack using high energy laser beams.

"These results give me great pleasure since the technique we used to study the optical properties of these atomically precise particle is one invented by UCF Professors Eric VanStryland and David Hagan many years ago," Thomas said. "But the progression we've made is very exciting."

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Breakthrough in nanotechnology

Nanotechnology: Armed resistance

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Under attack: policemen stand guard outside the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education after a letter bomb exploded there in August 2011.

A. FRANCO/AP/PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES

The shoe-box-sized package was addressed to Armando Herrera Corral. It stated that he was the recipient of an award and it was covered in official-looking stamps. Herrera, a computer scientist at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico City, shook the box a number of times, and something solid jiggled inside. What could it be? He was excited and a little nervous so much so, that he walked down the hall to the office of a colleague, robotics researcher Alejandro Aceves Lpez, and asked Aceves to open it for him.

Aceves sat down at his desk to tear the box open. So when the 20-centimetre-long pipe bomb inside exploded, on 8 August 2011, Aceves took the full force in his chest. Metal pierced one of his lungs. He was in intensive care. He was really bad, says Herrera's brother Gerardo, a theoretical physicist at the nearby Centre for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav). Armando Herrera Corral, who was standing nearby when the bomb went off, escaped with a burst eardrum and burns to his legs.

The next day, an eco-anarchist group calling itself Individuals Tending Towards Savagery (ITS) claimed responsibility for the bombing in a 5,500-word diatribe against nanotechnology that it published online. Police found a charred copy of a similar text in the detritus of the explosion. The bombers said that Herrera had been targeted for his role as director of the technology-transfer centre at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (commonly known as Monterrey Tec), one of the major universities that has staked everything on the development of nanotechnology. The text talked of the potential for the field to cause environmental nanocontamination, and concluded that technology and civilization as a whole should be held responsible for any environmental catastrophe. Chillingly, the bombers listed another five researchers at Monterrey Tec as presumptive targets, as well as a further six universities.

Reporter Leigh Phillips talks about anti-science violence in Mexico.

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The incident had precedent. The ITS had already claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in April and May 2011, both targeting Carlos Alberto Camacho Olgun, head of engineering and nanotechnology at the Polytechnic University of the Valley of Mexico in Tultitln. The first bomb wounded a security guard; the second was identified and disposed of before anyone could be hurt. Last December, the group struck again this time at the Polytechnic University of Pachuca, where a package containing gunpowder exploded in the hand of a teacher, causing minor burns (see 'A litany of letter bombs'). No other developing country has suffered a comparable string of anti-technology attacks.

One year on from the bombing at Monterrey Tec, the repercussions are still being felt. Armando Herrera Corral and Aceves will not speak to Nature about what happened. It's too sensitive, you understand? is all Aceves would say. Herrera has left his job as director of the university's technology park and is now head of postgraduate studies. Other Mexican universities with nanotechnology research programmes have evacuated campuses in response to bomb threats, and universities across the country have introduced stringent security measures. Some researchers are anxious for their own safety; some are furious about being targets. But all the researchers that Nature spoke to in Mexico are adamant that the attacks will not discourage them from their research or dissuade students from entering the field.

So far, there has been little explanation of where the vitriol is coming from. Why are radical environmental groups targeting nanotechnology? Is this field being confronted with the same sort of militant hostility that has dogged genetic-modification research and animal testing? And why Mexico?

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Nanotechnology: Armed resistance

Career ladder shows youth medical careers

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Middle school students interested in the medical field can learn about those professions as part of a career ladder at the medical school.

The Lebanon Health Career Ladder is a joint effort between the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest, Linn-Benton Community College and Oregon State University.

Volunteers from each school come to COMP-Northwest to teach middle school students about health professions.

Jaime Servin, director of the program spoke about the career ladder at the Lebanon Rotary Clubs Aug. 22 meeting.

The students start their day listening to a guest speaker in the lecture hall with their parents, Servin said. After the speaker, kids split up into small groups to learn about health occupations called breakout sessions.

A cohort of sixth-grade students began the program last year.

Some of those students will return this year. The college will pick up a new cohort of middle-school students.

The program will start enrolling sixth-grade students, but any middle school student will be accepted into the first year of the program as long as there is room, Servin said.

Second-year students will do more hands-on activities, Servin said.

Volunteers from OSU and LBCC will show the kids different career paths in medicine.

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Make-A-Wish fulfills teenager's dream of attending Harvard Medical School

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Make-A-Wish, the organization known for making dreams come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions, has flown kids around the world, granted them shopping sprees and helped them meet their favorite celebrities.

Last week, the organization fulfilled one girls wish of attending Harvard Medical School.

My wish was inspired by my past medical problems, Gabrielle Samsock told FoxNews.com. When I went to Boston for surgeries, wed pass by Harvard and Id say, Daddy, Im going to go there when Im older.

Gabrielle, a 14-year-old high school freshman, who lives in Factoryville, Penn., was born with Shones syndrome, a rare congenital heart disease in which the valves on the left side of the heart are narrowed, and blood flow in and out of the heart is obstructed.

In March of 99, Gabrielle had a chronic respiratory infection, and her doctor did an X-ray to make sure she didnt have pneumonia, said Gabrielles mother, Melissa Samsock. He said her heart was too swollen for her body, and to make sure nothing was seriously wrong, he sent us to a cardiologist at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). That was when we found out about her condition.

Gabrielle underwent her first surgery as a 1-year-old at CHOP to repair her aorta. She and her parents were referred to an expert at Boston Childrens Hospital where she has had multiple surgeries to balloon her valves and put in three different stents.

Her condition is not fatal, but she still needs a valve transplant surgery, which should ultimately fix her heart, her mother explained.

Gabrielle said all her time spent as a patient in the hospital fueled her desire to be on the other side of the situation as a doctor. Specifically, she hopes to one day become a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon.

I was 8 years old when I decided I wanted to be a doctor, Gabrielle said. My parents laughed and were like, OK. I was little, and little kids always say those things, like I want to be a firefighter, or I want to be a policeman. But when I brought it up to Make-A-Wish, they were like, Wow, this is what you really want to do.

According to Gabrielle, when she told representatives from Make-A-Wish she wanted to attend medical school, Their jaws just dropped. They were so shocked. They said my wish was so unique and personal. I was just very excited to start my life.

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Make-A-Wish fulfills teenager's dream of attending Harvard Medical School

Increased risk of prematurity and low birth weight in babies born after 3 or more abortions

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Public release date: 29-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Emma Mason wordmason@mac.com European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

One of the largest studies to look at the effect of induced abortions on a subsequent first birth has found that women who have had three or more abortions have a higher risk of some adverse birth outcomes, such as delivering a baby prematurely and with a low birth weight.

The research, which is published online in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1] today (Thursday), found that among 300,858 Finnish mothers, 31,083 (10.3%) had had one induced abortion between 1996-2008, 4,417 (1.5%) had two, and 942 (0.3%) had three or more induced abortions before a first birth (excluding twins and triplets). Those who had had three or more induced abortions had a small, but statistically significant increased risk of having a baby with very low birth weight (less than 1500g), low birth weight (less than 2500g), or of a preterm birth (before 37 weeks), or very preterm birth (before 28 weeks), compared to women who had had no abortions. There was a slightly increased risk of a very preterm birth for women who had had two induced abortions.

Dr Reija Klemetti, an associate professor and senior researcher in public health at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland, who led the research, said: "Our results suggest that induced abortions before the first birth, particularly three or more abortions, are associated with a marginally increased risk during the first birth. However, the increased risk is very small, particularly after only one or even two abortions, and women should not be alarmed by our findings."

Most of the induced abortions (88%) were surgically performed and nearly all (91%) were performed before 12 weeks gestation. The researchers adjusted their findings to take account of various factors that could affect birth outcomes, such as social background, marital status, age, smoking, previous ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages. Multiple births (twins and triplets) were excluded.

The risk of having a baby born very preterm appeared to increase slightly with each induced abortion, but only the risk from two abortions or more was statistically significant.

"To put these risks into perspective, for every 1000 women, three who have had no abortion will have a baby born under 28 weeks," said Dr Klemetti. "This rises to four women among those who have had one abortion, six women who have had two abortions, and 11 women who have had three or more."

Among women who had had three or more abortions, there was a statistically significant increased risk of a third (35%) of having a baby born preterm (before 37 weeks), a two-fold (225%) increased risk of very low birth weight, and a two-fifths (43%) increased risk of low birth weight.

The study also showed a small increased risk of a baby's death around the time of birth. However, the numbers for this finding were very low (1498 births or five per 1000 babies) and so should be treated with caution. In addition, the authors say they might not have been able to fully adjust for all the factors that could affect this result and perinatal deaths are sensitive to social factors such as poverty.

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NSF awards $3.4 million to train students in “green chemistry”

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BCGC wins $3.4 million NSF training grant: Grad students encouraged to apply

August 29, 2012

The Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (BCGC) has been awarded a $3.4 million training grant by the National Science Foundation. The grant will train five to six Ph.D. students annually for five years in the principles of green chemistry and the design of clean energy technologies.

The goal of the Systems Approach to Green Energy (SAGE) grant is to develop a generation of scientists, engineers, toxicologists, policy-makers and business leaders who are well versed in the principles of green chemistry and clean energy. By using a systems approach, the program will foster technology innovations in solar energy, biofuel, and energy storage systems.

Photos by Roy Kaltschmidt/LBNL

Chris Vulpe, associate professor in the Department of Nutritional Science and Toxicology, is the principal investigator for the grant. We will bring together disciplines that don't speak the same language, and not only get them to talk, but also work together toward creative solutions to our pressing need for sustainable energy solutions.

John Arnold, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, is a Co-PI. Other Co-PIs include Alastair Iles, an assistant professor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management in the College of Natural Resources, and Thomas McKone of the campus Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. He is an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health and a senior staff scientist in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratorys Environmental Energy Technologies Division.

The SAGE grant team is seeking grad students interested in incorporating green energy research into their graduate studies. They will be recruited from UC Berkeleys School of Public Health, the College of Chemistry, the College of Natural Resources, and the Haas School of Business. SAGE students will participate in interdisciplinary courses related to green chemistry. They will also be advised by interdisciplinary dissertation committees.

Says BCGC Executive Director Marty Mulvihill, We anticipate that SAGE grad students will be fully funded for two years, starting in the spring of their first year and continuing through the fall of their third year. After that, SAGE students will be funded through traditional research and teaching assistant positions. SAGE students will also have access to funding from the National Science Foundations Competitive Innovation Fund.

The program will also feature K-12 outreach programs to Bay Area schools, and the option of studying at universities in England and Sweden that are developing similar green chemistry and sustainable energy programs.

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NSF awards $3.4 million to train students in “green chemistry”

Chemistry, Economics and Gourmet Food! Oh, My!

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Chemistry, Economics and Gourmet Food! Oh, My!

UCR Chemistry Chair Cindy Larive and daughter Erin Kaplan, an economist at Pitt, come together to create The Food Doctors, a blog about great food and the science and economics that make it possible

By Ross French on August 29, 2012

Cindy Larive, the chair of the UC Riverside Department of Chemistry (left) and daughter Erin Kaplan, a professor of economics at Pittsburgh, have come together to create a blog on gourmet food and the chemistry and economics behind its creation. Photo courtesy of Erin Kaplan

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) Cindy Larive, chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Riverside, is well known for her work in bioanalytical chemistry, including research on the stress response of plants to flooding and drought and methods for detecting whether fruit juices have been watered down with cheaper ingredients. But recently, its her work on the buttermilk pancake that has been taking the Web by storm.

Specifically, Buttermilk Pancakes with Mixed Berry Compote and Sweet Vanilla Butter.

Larive and her daughter, Erin Kaplan, a visiting lecturer in economics at the University of Pittsburgh, are co-creators of The Food Doctors, a blog devoted not merely to creating amazing food, but also to the science and economics that make that amazing food possible.

The blog was conceived last spring as Kaplan and Larive were hiking in Cinque Terre National Park in Italy. Kaplan had recently won a dessert-making competition and had one of her recipes featured on the How Sweet It Is blog. As they explored the park, Erin suggested starting a blog of their own. Naturally, they came up with the blogs framework during dinner.

We wanted to create something more academic than the average food blog a place where we could geek out over food and maybe teach people a little bit along the way, Kaplan said. Teaching economics comes very naturally to me, and I know my mother feels the same passion about chemistry. It was kind of a perfect storm.

Creating great food has always been a major part of life for Larive and her daughters, dating back to when she was completing her Ph.D. here at UCR and Kaplan and sister Megan were students at the UCR pre-school. Erin recalls that she religiously watched Julia Child: Bon Apptit, convinced that the master chef was a long-lost grandmother.

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Chemistry, Economics and Gourmet Food! Oh, My!

Research and Markets: Wine Flavour Chemistry

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2dfsn2/wine_flavour_chem) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "Wine. Flavour Chemistry" to their offering.

Wine Flavour Chemistry brings together a vast wealth of information describing components of wine, their underlying chemistry and their possible role in the taste, smell and overall perception. It includes both table wines and fortified wines, such as Sherry, Port and the newly added Madeira, as well as other special wines. This fully revised and updated edition includes new information also on retsina wines, ross, organic and reduced alcohol wines, and has been expanded with coverage of the latest research. Both EU and non-EU countries are referred to, making this book a truly global reference for academics and enologists worldwide.

Wine Flavour Chemistry is essential reading for all those involved in commercial wine making, whether in production, trade or research. The book is of great use and interest to all enologists, and to food and beverage scientists and technologists working in commerce and academia. Upper level students and teachers on enology courses will need to read this book: wherever food and beverage science, technology and chemistry are taught, libraries should have multiple copies of this important book.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Grape Varieties and Growing Regions

3 Basic Taste and Stimulant Components

4 Volatile Components

5 Wine Tasting Procedures and Overall Wine Flavour

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Research and Markets: Wine Flavour Chemistry

Biotech Firm Matrix Genetics Receives Investment From Avista Development

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SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire -08/29/12)- Matrix Genetics ("Matrix"), a biotechnology company focused on producing renewable fuels and specialty chemicals derived from cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) announced today that Spokane, Wash. based Avista Development, Inc. has invested in the company. Avista Development is the venture arm of Avista Corp. (AVA), an energy company involved in the production, transmission and distribution of energy as well as other energy-related businesses. The investment provides Matrix with working capital needed to complete its spinout from Seattle-based Targeted Growth, an agricultural biotechnology company where the foundation of Matrix's technology was developed.

"Avista's investment is the springboard for Matrix to become an independent company with the resources to further develop our technologies that are creating a pathway to low-carbon, sustainable and renewable fuels and chemicals," said Margaret McCormick, CEO of Matrix Genetics. "Their support will enable us to add staff, expand our labs, and continue the great tradition of bioscience companies in the state of Washington."

Matrix is developing technologies to leverage the potential of cyanobacteria as a feedstock for the production of a rich diversity of valuable carbon-based chemicals. Cyanobacteria are the most abundant, diverse and robust micro-algae on Earth, using only the energy from sunlight to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into fuels and other biological chemicals. They are also relatively simple, single cell organisms; the genome (the cell's DNA) has already been mapped for several cyanobacteria species; and there is a robust set of "tools" available to modify them.

Matrix has used these tools and the immense power of biotechnology to create new and proprietary strains of cyanobacteria that can produce oil in significant quantities and in a range of specifications. Second and third generation organisms are being developed that not only surpass these oil yields, but also contain additional new traits that enhance their production characteristics and make them suitable for a range of end products including fuels, chemicals and other products.

"Avista has a long history of fostering innovation within the energy sector," said Roger Woodworth, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Avista Corp. "We appreciate the need to find alternatives to petroleum for a sustainable future, and we are excited by the progress and the promise of Matrix's approach."

As the company completes its spinout, Matrix is now focused on further developing its technology to: produce lipids (oils) for fuels and other products; develop production strains that are suitable for different growing environments, resistant to predators and harmless to the environment around them; create strains that continually produce and secrete oils, removing the need for costly harvesting; and increase the cultivation capacity to provide samples for testing with commercialization partners and prospects.

The announcement will be made today at a special event at Matrix Genetics' current lab facilities as part of the "Summer of Algae II," a national campaign sponsored by the Algae Biomass Organization, the trade association for the U.S. algae industry, which features similar open house-style events across the country.

About Matrix GeneticsMatrix Genetics, LLC ("Matrix"), located in Seattle, Wash., is a biotechnology company focused on producing renewable fuel and specialty chemicals derived from cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). The company's state-of-the-art, metabolic engineering and systems biology platform is the most cost-efficient method to customize organisms with a range of traits for these industries. More information is available at http://www.matrixgenetics.com.

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Biotech Firm Matrix Genetics Receives Investment From Avista Development

Small cap round-up: Angel Biotechnology, Glanbia, MBL Group

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LONDON (ShareCast) - Angel Biotechnology (Berlin: A3G.BE - news) has signed an agreement with arGentis Pharmaceuticals that could see it manufacture the firm's ARG201 drug, a treatment for the life-threatening autoimmune disease, systemic sclerosis. Angel's stock rose 6.6% in morning trading.

Glanbia (Irish: GL9.IR - news) , a nutritional solutions and cheese maker, has announced plans to enter a joint venture to incorporate the business and assets of Dairy Ingredients Ireland. The business is the largest dairy ingredients processor in Ireland (Xetra: A0Q8L3 - news) , assembling a milk pool of 1.6bn litres and processing it into around 180,000 tonnes of ingredients, largely for export. The group also reported first half results on Wednesday showing pre-tax profits up 24% on the prior year. Glanbia's shares were up 4% at 11:28.

MBL Group (Berlin: BWYA.BE - news) , an audio and visual entertainment distributor, appears to be clawing its way back to health after losing its most important customer, Morrisons, last year. In its full year results to the end of March, revenues dropped massively, from 195.3m to 28.1m. Revenue from continuing operations dropped from 20m to 17.7 while the loss before tax came in at 2.1m (from discontinued operations this figure was 8.8m). Group loss per share was 40.8p. Nevertheless, MBL is free from debt and has cash balances of 4.0m and a headcount down 75%. This was enough to boost the stock 8% in morning trading.

BS

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Small cap round-up: Angel Biotechnology, Glanbia, MBL Group

Press Conference: Companies to Display Visible Progress in Meeting Advanced Biofuels Goals

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Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO):

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the worlds largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIO produces BIOtechNOW, an online portal and monthly newsletter chronicling innovations transforming our world. Subscribe to BIOtechNOW.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO India International Conference September 12 13, 2012 Mumbai, India

Livestock Biotech Summit September 19 21, 2012 Kansas City, MO

BIO Investor Forum October 9 10, 2012 San Francisco, CA

Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy October 10 12, 2012 Vancouver, Canada

The BIO Convention in China October 24 25, 2012 Shanghai, China

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Press Conference: Companies to Display Visible Progress in Meeting Advanced Biofuels Goals

Research and Markets: Biotechnology Biotech Finances

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/w886vm/biotechnology_biot) has announced the addition of the "Biotechnology Biotech Finances" subscription to their offering.

The premier European weekly newsletter dedicated to all the financial aspects Biotechnology Biotech Finances has more than 22,000 weekly readers worldwide who use it as their invaluable first point of reference because it:

- Provides up-to-date, pertinent information delivered by experts, investigators and journalists who talk directly to the people who matter;

- Offers efficient networking with professionals through our search engine;

- Helps identify and target potential investors and partners;

- Facilitates exclusive business opportunities, collaboration offers, recruitment, finding investors, acquiring licensing rights, finding equipment and premises, all of which is reported directly by industry leaders in the interviews featured in the newsletter.

Why is Biotech Finances different?

Biotech Finances does not recycle news stories that have already been published elsewhere. A team of specialists actually talk to key players in the field, such as CEOs of leading companies, politicians and regulators. As a result, you'll find news in Biotech Finances that you won't find elsewhere.

In addition, Biotech Finances' tables of financial transactions in the biotechnology field provide early notification of key M&A activity in the sector. Ultimately, Biotech Finances provides the information your business needs to succeed in the dynamic field of biotechnology.

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Research and Markets: Biotechnology Biotech Finances

Puma Biotechnology to Present at Stifel Nicolaus 2012 Healthcare Conference

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LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI), a development stage biopharmaceutical company, announced that Alan H. Auerbach, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President and Founder of Puma, will present an overview of the Company at 11:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, September 5, at the Stifel Nicolaus 2012 Healthcare Conference in Boston.

A live webcast will be available on the Companys website at http://www.pumabiotechnology.com. The presentation will be archived on the website and available for 30 days.

About Puma Biotechnology

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. is a development stage biopharmaceutical company that acquires and develops innovative products for the treatment of various forms of cancer. The Company focuses on in-licensing drug candidates that are undergoing or have already completed initial clinical testing for the treatment of cancer and then seeks to further develop those drug candidates for commercial use. The Company is initially focused on the development of PB272 (oral neratinib), a potent irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer.

Further information about Puma Biotechnology can be found at http://www.pumabiotechnology.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and actual outcomes and results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, the risk factors disclosed in the periodic reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

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Puma Biotechnology to Present at Stifel Nicolaus 2012 Healthcare Conference

Scaled-Down: New Nano Device Can Weigh Single Molecules

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A tiny resonating beam, just 10 millionths of a meter in length, can measure the mass of a molecule or nanoparticle in real time

By John Matson

WEIGHTY MATTERS: The diagonal beam in this image can detect the presence of single molecules and determine their mass. Image: Caltech/Scott Kelber and Michael Roukes

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Dieters and exercise buffs might feel better about their progress if they tracked their weight loss in daltons. Even a short jog can help you shed a few septillion daltons, a unit of mass often used in biochemistry that is equivalent to the atomic mass unit. (Of course, no weight-conscious individual would want to know their full weight in this unitthe average American male weighs approximately 5 X 1028 daltons.)

Even the megadalton, or one million daltons, is a tiny unit of measurea gold particle five nanometers across weighs in at just a few megadaltons. (One nanometer is a billionth of a meter.) But researchers at the California Institute of Technology and CEALeti, a government-funded research organization in Grenoble, France, have built a scale that weighs single objects even lighter than a megadalton, including nanoparticles and human antibody molecules. The device is the first of its kind to determine the masses of individual molecules and nanoparticles in real time, the researchers reported in a study published online August 26 in Nature Nanotechnology. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)

The heart of the device is a nanoelectromechanical resonatora tiny beam of silicon vibrating at two tones simultaneously. "It's like vibrating a guitar string at the fundamental and a harmonic," says study co-author Michael Roukes, a Caltech physicist. "We're continuously strumming it with an electrostatic excitation." The beam runs diagonally across the photo (above); it measures 10 microns long and 300 nanometers wide. (A micron is one millionth of a meter.)

Tiny arms connecting the ends of the beam to the rest of the device convert the resonator's vibrations into an electrical signal via a phenomenon known as the piezoresistive effect. "The smallest pieces there are flexed slightly, and when they're flexed their resistance changes," Roukes says. "And so we can read out the motion as a change in resistance." A single molecule landing on the beam shifts the frequency of the two tones downward, and from the accompanying change in resistance the researchers can deduce both the mass of the particle and where it landed along the beam.

The device's sensitivity to single molecules allowed the researchers to perform mass spectroscopyidentifying the various particles in a mixture by their masseson collections of gold nanoparticles five and 10 nanometers in diameter, as well as on the antibody molecule immunoglobulin M, which weighs just under one megadalton. (The natural molecules proved much more consistent in their construction than did the man-made nanoparticles, whose masses fluctuated by a factor of five or so from particle to particle.)

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Scaled-Down: New Nano Device Can Weigh Single Molecules

Project MICREAgents: self-assembling smart microscopic reagents to pioneer pourable electronics

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29.08.2012 - (idw) Ruhr-Universitt Bochum

First place in an EU competitive call on Unconventional Computing was awarded to a collaborative proposal coordinated by Prof. John McCaskill from the RUB Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The project MICREAgents plans to build autonomous self-assembling electronic microreagents that are almost as small as cells. They will exchange chemical and electronic information to jointly direct complex chemical reactions and analyses in the solutions they are poured into. The EU supports the project within the FP7 programme with 3.4 million Euros for three years. Turning chemistry inside-out Self-assembling smart microscopic reagents to pioneer pourable electronics 3.4 million Euros from EU programme for international research project

First place in an EU competitive call on Unconventional Computing was awarded to a collaborative proposal coordinated by Prof. John McCaskill from the RUB Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The project MICREAgents plans to build autonomous self-assembling electronic microreagents that are almost as small as cells. They will exchange chemical and electronic information to jointly direct complex chemical reactions and analyses in the solutions they are poured into. This is a form of embedded computation to compute is to construct in which for example the output is a particular catalyst or coating needed in the (input) local chemical environment. The EU supports the project within the FP7 programme with 3.4 million Euros for three years. Four research groups at RUB will join forces with top teams across Europe, from Israel and New Zealand.

Self-assembling electronic agents

In order to create this programmable microscale electronic chemistry, MICREAgents (Microscopic Chemically Reactive Electronic Agents) will contain electronic circuits on 3D microchips, called lablets. The lablets have a diameter of less than 100 m and self-assemble in pairs or like dominos to enclose transient reaction compartments. They can selectively concentrate, process, and release chemicals into the surrounding solution, under local electronic control, in a similar way to which the genetic information in cells controls local chemical processes. The reversible pairwise association allows the lablets to transfer information from one to another.

Translating electronic signals into chemical processes

The lablet devices will integrate transistors, supercapacitors, energy transducers, sensors and actuators, and will translate electronic signals into constructive chemical processing as well as record the results of this processing. Instead of making chemical reactors to contain chemicals, the smart MICREAgents will be poured into chemical mixtures, to organize the chemistry from within. Ultimately, such microreactors, like cells in the bloodstream, will open up the possibility of controlling complex chemistry from the inside out.

The self-assembling smart micro reactors can be programmed for molecular amplification and other chemical processing pathways that start from complex mixtures, concentrate and purify chemicals, perform reactions in programmed cascades, sense reaction completion, and transport and release products to defined locations. MICREAgents represent a novel form of computation intertwined with construction. By embracing self-assembly and evolution, they are a step towards a robust and evolvable realization of John von Neumanns universal construction machine vision. Although these nanoscale structures will soon be sufficiently complex to allow self-replication of their chemical and electronic information, they will not present a proliferative threat to the environment, because they depend for their function on the electronic circuit layer that is fabricated as part of their substrate.

RUB collaborators

For the project, Prof. Dr. John S. McCaskill (Microsystems Chemistry and Biological Information Technology) collaborates with Prof. Dr. Gnter von Kiedrowski (Bioorganic Chemistry), Prof. Dr. Jrgen Oehm (Analog Integrated Circuits) and Dr. Pierre Mayr (Integrated Digital Circuits). McCaskills and von Kiedrowskis labs at RUB have already joined forces in previous European Projects forging a path towards artificial cells. The ECCell project, for example, that finished in February this year, has laid the foundation for an electronic chemical cell. There, the electronics and microfluidics were exterior to the chemistry: in MICREAgents this is being turned inside out.

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Project MICREAgents: self-assembling smart microscopic reagents to pioneer pourable electronics

Hurricane Isaac forces closure of county beaches

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Boca Chica Beach and the county beaches on South Padre Island were closed late Tuesday because of conditions created by Hurricane Isaac.

County Judge Carlos H. Cascos ordered the temporary closing of the beaches until further notice, officials said. This includes Beach Access No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 on the northern part of the Island and Isla Blanca Park on the southern end of the Island, and Boca Chica Beach. He ordered the closures particularly because of high tides.

I have asked our law enforcement authorities to ensure that no individuals or vehicles be allowed access to the beaches on the north end and sound end of South Padre Island as well as Boca Chica Beach, Cascos said in a press release.

It is very important that the public pay attention to our warnings and stay out of harms way, he said. We continue to monitor tidal conditions as Hurricane Isaac makes it way to the Louisiana coast.

County Parks Director Javier Mendez said officials on Tuesday had been monitoring conditions in case closures were necessary

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Isaac became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday morning with winds of 75 mph. It was expected to get stronger by the time it reached the swampy coast of southeast Louisiana.

County workers removed the trash cans from beaches as a precautionary measure against higher-than-usual tides, Mendez said.

The parks director said there were a few people there, including surfers taking advantage of the high waves.

The National Weather Service in Brownsville said the risk of high tides and strong rip currents will continue through today. The agency said long period swells could increase waves to head height or more. Four to six feet waves are possible. In addition, some tidal run up to the sand dunes was possible, which might curtail driving on the beaches today.

While Isaac is not expected to bring any rain to the Rio Grande Valley, it is expected to cause high temperatures in South Texas, according the NWS. The high today is expected to reach 99 degrees and on Thursday, 101 degrees.

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Hurricane Isaac forces closure of county beaches

'Patrolled beaches don't need shark nets'

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SHARK NETS: A grey nurse shark caught in a shark net. WA Premier Colin Barnett says metro beches are safe from sharks without the nets. Source: The Daily Telegraph

SHARK nets probably won't be adopted at West Australian beaches, with Premier Colin Barnett saying swimmers can feel safe between the flags in patrolled areas.

Mr Barnett's comments came as a 34-year-old surfer recovered in Royal Perth Hospital after being attacked by a shark in a remote part of the Gascoyne region, some 140km north of Carnarvon, yesterday afternoon.

In addition, another shark was sighted off Garden Island this morning, the latest in a spate of recent shark sightings off Perth and nearby beaches.

Late this morning, Surf Life Saving WA reported that a 3.5m shark was spotted by recreational fishers at Harding Rock, at the northern end of of Garden Island, at about 9.30am.

A report commissioned by the WA government was "not particularly encouraging'' about shark nets, Mr Barnett said.

"I have said, given the numbers of attacks and another one yesterday, that we will look at everything that is used to minimise the risk of shark attack including shark nets,'' he told ABC radio.

"A shark net is in fact a shark trap ... and people have very mixed views about shark nets when they see it in that context, but there are other things that are being looked at.''

Mr Barnett said the WA government would consider easing restrictions on the number of sharks professional fisherman could catch and culling large great whites that lurk close to swimming areas.

The government was also looking at providing surf life saving clubs with more equipment to help them protect people in the water, and had increased shark patrols.

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'Patrolled beaches don't need shark nets'