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Clemson’s 15 patents in 2016 span bioengineering, advanced materials – Clemson Newsstand

Posted on May 3, 2017 by ev1

CLEMSON, South Carolina Rapid diagnostic tests for point-of-care diagnostics, diabetic-resistant coatings, HIV inhibitors and an impact-resistant, corrosion-prohibiting coating were among the 15 innovations for which Clemson University researchers received patents in 2016.

Tanju Karanfil, vice president for research at Clemson University, says the patent awards are one example of the impact Clemson makes on the region. Image Credit: Craig Mahaffey / Clemson University

The Clemson University Research Foundation(CURF) facilitates and manages technology transfer for Clemson faculty. Collaboration between researchers and CURF has produced more than 150 patents that are nowavailable to the private sector for licensing.

The patent recipients received special recognition recently at an annual award event sponsored by theClemson Inventors Club, a select group of faculty chosen for their high level of research activity, which often produces inventions.

Invention and innovation in research are just a few ways Clemson impacts the world, said Tanju Karanfil, vice president for research at Clemson. Congratulations to all the inventors for their hard work and dedication to academic research.

Bob Quinn, executive director of theSouth Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) outlined the new vision for the organization.

The patent awards are a great representation of the innovation happening at Clemson, Quinn said. We were honored to be able to share how SCRA works with innovators to commercialize their technologies.

Our annual patent awards recognize the quality of the research being done at Clemson, said Casey Porto, executive director of the foundation. Its a privilege to honor these researchers and celebrate their contributions to innovation that starts at Clemson and moves into the marketplace.

For a complete list of 2016 Clemson patents and recipients,click here.

For a complete list of all patents awarded to Clemson faculty, click here.

END

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Clemson's 15 patents in 2016 span bioengineering, advanced materials - Clemson Newsstand

Around the Pier: The Bioengineering Behind the Beauty – Scripps Oceanography News

Posted on May 3, 2017 by ev1

Marine phytoplankton are famously photogenic.

Take, for instance, diatoms. They are among the most common type of phytoplankton and are especially breathtaking: their cell walls are made of silica, a glass-like compound, and take a variety of forms including discs, tubes, and star-like structures.

Scientists have long sought to understand the factors that contribute to the diversity of phytoplankton.

Presumably all these different shapes have some ecological meaning, said Andrew Barton, an assistant professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Biological Sciences Division at the University of California San Diego. Some shapes might be hard to eat, or maybe are advantageous for acquiring scarce resources.

Barton has just received the Simons Foundation Early Career Investigation in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution Award, which will support an interdisciplinary research project to attempt to answer this question.

The project will use a combination of underwater microscope data from the Scripps Pier Plankton Camera operated by the Jaffe Laboratory for Underwater Imaging, environmental data from the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS), and numerical models that simulate plankton communities to understand the ecological reasons for the poorly understood diversity in phytoplankton shapes and sizes.

The Scripps Plankton Camera is an underwater microscope deployed at the Scripps Pier that uses real-time image processing and object detection to monitor plankton species and abundance. Barton and his team will combine data collected by the microscope and the SCCOOS environmental data to look for correlations between environmental conditions and abundance of different kinds of plankton over time. The information they gather will help researchers understand the local environment better. Barton and his team will also create numerical models to extrapolate the trends they see to the rest of the ocean.

We can take what we learn from the data at Scripps Pier and try to extrapolate that to a larger-scale perspective, Barton said. For example, where in the global ocean is it advantageous to be a spherical cell? Where it is advantageous to form large colonies of cells? We can try to make some estimates of how cell and colony morphology vary across the planet.

The outcomes of the project could also help answer oceanographic questions beyond phytoplankton ecology. Phytoplankton are an important part of the carbon cycle and their contributions to carbon dioxide uptake from the atmosphere and oxygen creation is a significant factor in most oceanographic and climate models.

Most models and theories about how phytoplankton do what they do are predicated on them being spheres, which is obviously untrue, Barton said.

The size and shape of organisms in the ocean is important in determining where carbon and energy go in the food web, and whether the carbon absorbed will be exported from the ocean's surface to the deep sea or sediments. Providing updated information on phytoplankton morphology and how it varies throughout the worlds oceans could improve sciences understanding of the carbon cycle.

For example, if you have a really dense large cell like a diatom, it will sink from the ocean's surface, resulting in a loss of organic matter, Barton said, whereas if you have a small cell, it may just stay near the surface and be recycled locally.

The interdisciplinary research will involve Jules Jaffe, a research oceanographer in the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps, Paul Roberts, an engineer in Jaffes lab, and Peter Franks, a professor of biological oceanography who will help the team estimate water column turbulence and understand how turbulence in the ocean shapes cell and colony morphology.

I'm really grateful for the Simons Foundation support and happy that we now have the team and the tools to do some compelling and important science, Barton said.

And as Barton is a relatively new faculty member, this big project will be an excellent opportunity for him to collaborate with other researchers at Scripps.

This is kind of a kick-off in terms of collaborating with a Scripps team and using data collected here at the institution, he said. Im very excited.

Mallory Pickett

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Around the Pier: The Bioengineering Behind the Beauty - Scripps Oceanography News

Research | UW Bioengineering

Posted on May 24, 2017 by ev1

Research Laura Elizabeth Wright 2017-02-28T13:38:36+00:00

With a strong base of external funding, UW Bioengineering faculty and students conduct a mix of basic and applied research and engage in interdisciplinary collaborations that bridge traditional boundaries between engineering, physical sciences and medicine.

Developing new engineering approaches for the repair and replacement of human tissues damaged by injury, illness and aging.

Exploring how molecular-level interactions drive cellular behavior, and designing new molecular systems for medical applications.

Creating cost-effective medical technologies for use in developed and developing countries.

Developing tools for basic science and medicine, mainly in areas of medical imaging.

Analyzing the interacting networks that give rise to an organisms function, and using that knowledge to create new organisms to treat disease.

UW Bioengineerings interdisciplinary research centers create unique communities for exploring a range of research frontiers.

Learn more about UW Bioengineerings research centers.

We are proud of all our faculty, staff and students, and the many awards they earn for their work in teaching, mentoring and improving lives through bioengineering research and innovation.

Learn more about UW Bioengineerings awards and recognition.

World Bank Approves 500 Million Project to Develop Green Resilient and Safe Highways in India | Cuttack NYOOOZ – NYOOOZ

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Danzig

New Delhi: The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a $500 million project to build safe and green national highway corridors in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.The project will also enhance the capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in mainstreaming safety and green technologies.India's road network of 5.48 million km carries 65 percent of freight traffic and 85 percent of passenger traffic.The Green National Highways Corridors Project will support MoRTH construct 783 km of highways in various geographies by integrating safe and green technology designs such as local and marginal materials, industrial byproducts, and other bioengineering solutions.The Bank will leverage its global knowledge in green transport and support the states in mainstreaming climate resilience, resource efficiency, and green solutions in the development and maintenance of National Highways.

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UH students turn alcohol project into hand sanitizer – UH System Current News

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Danzig

CTAHR students distilling alcohol into hand sanitizer.

Desperate times call for imaginative measures. Instead of making rum and ginger beer, students in the University of Hawaii at Mnoas College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering (MBBE) are using the knowledge they gained to distill hand sanitizer to help combat COVID-19.

The project began in early March, when classmates in fermentation biochemistry were originally planning to make rum for the annual CTAHR Awards Banquet by fermenting sugar and water to be distilled into alcohol. However, public shortages of hand sanitizer caused by COVID-19 led them to change direction and turn the product into hand sanitizer.

The class only had to alter a few steps in the process, including distilling the spirit to a greater percentage of ethanol. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines call for hand sanitizers to be at least 60 percent alcohol to kill the coronavirus, and the students product will meet that mark.

Fermentation biochemistry course consultant and MBBE PhD candidate Nick Sinclair is excited about the project. We are hoping that all of Hawaii will be able to benefit from us alleviating at least our section of the populace from having to buy hand sanitizer, he said. This is also a learning experience for everyone involved, so this experience enriches our education as well.

After distillation, the pulp of fresh, locally grown aloe provided by specialist Ken Leonhardt from the Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences was extracted and blended smooth. This creates a gel-like consistency and keeps the spirit from drying out hands excessively. Next, it will be mixed with the distilled alcohol and the product will be tested.

Eventually, we hope to be able to distribute it at the very least to people around us, but the class is also working on other channels of distribution, said Sinclair.

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UH students turn alcohol project into hand sanitizer - UH System Current News

Nasal gel to prevent COVID-19 to be made in IIT Bombay – Deccan Herald

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

As part of a multi-pronged strategy to combat COVID-19, a nasal gel is being made.

The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay is playing a lead role in the project initiated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

"The nasal gel, being developed in conjunction with other protective measures, will provide a strong extra layer of defense," according to Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body of the DST, is supporting a technology by the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering (DBB), IIT Bombay for capturing and the inactivation of novel coronavirus, the causative agent of COVID-19.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

The funding will help the team from the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay develop a gel that can be applied to nasal passage, which is a major entry point of the coronavirus, according to a press statement.

This solution is not only expected to protect the safety of health workers, but can also lead to reduction in community transmission of COVID-19, thereby helping disease management.Given the contagious nature of COVID-19, health providers, including doctors and nurses, are at maximum risk while taking care of COVID-19 patients, particularly asymptomatic ones who cannot be detected and pose a greater risk in spreading the disease.

The team is planning a two-pronged approach to limit transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent of COVID-19.

Track state-wise confirmed coronavirus cases here

Primarily, since viruses replicate within host cells of the lungs, the first component of the strategy will be to inhibit the binding of viruses to host cells. While this is expected to reduce host cell infection, viruses will still remain active, therefore raising the need to inactivate them.

Secondly, biological molecules would be incorporated, which would inactivate the trapped viruses in a manner similar to that of detergents. Upon completion, this approach will lead to development of gels that can be locally applied in the nasal cavity.

"Our healthcare workers and others working in the front-line of the fight against the virus deserve a fool-proof, 200% protection. The nasal gel, being developed in conjunction with other protective measures, will provide a strong extra layer of defence," said Prof Sharma.

Prof Kiran Kondabagil, Prof Rinti Banerjee, Prof Ashutosh Kumar and Prof Shamik Sen from the IIT Bombay will be part of this project. The team has expertise in the areas encompassing virology, structural biology, biophysics, biomaterials, and drug delivery and it is expected that the technology would be ready in about nine months.

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Nasal gel to prevent COVID-19 to be made in IIT Bombay - Deccan Herald

Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Market to Witness Swift Growth Owing to Extensive Demand & Rise in Industrialization by 2025 – Bandera County Courier

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Danzig

The report contains a wide-view explaining Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Marketon the global and regional basis. Global Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market report is a definitive source of information and provides latest market research intelligence, changing consumer trends with actionable insights on emerging players, products, and technologies. Our analysts possess statistical data to provide insights on statistical report including the factors responsible for driving and hindering the growth of the market along with the impact theyll have on the demand over the coming years.

The study is a combined effort of primary as well as secondary research. The report gives insights on the key factors concerned with generating and limiting Feed Grade Fumaric Acid industry growth. Additionally, the report also studies competitive developments, such as mergers and acquisitions, new partnerships, new contracts, and new product developments in the global Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market. The past trends and future prospects included in this report makes it highly comprehensible for the analysis of the market. Moreover, the latest trends, product portfolio, demographics, geographical segmentation, and regulatory framework of the Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market have also been included in the study.

Feed Grade Fumaric Acid industry competition by top manufacturers/ Key player Profiled:Bartek Ingredients, Jiangsu Jiecheng Bioengineering, Isegen, Polynt Group, Yantai Hengyuan Bioengineering, Thirumalai Chemical, Anhui Sealong Biotechnology, Nippon Shokubai, Fuso Chemicals, Changzhou Yabang Chemical, Jiangsu Suhua Group, Changmao Biochemical Engineering, Jiaoda Rising Weinan Chemical, China Blue Star Harbin Petrochemical, Suzhou Youhe Science and Technology, China BBCA Group, Zhejiang Dongda Biological Technology

Scope of the Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Market Report:

APAC is expected to dominate the global Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market during the forecast period. The worldwide market for Feed Grade Fumaric Acid is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly xx% over the next five years, will reach xx million US$ in 2025, from xx million US$ in 2020, according to the study. This report focuses on the Feed Grade Fumaric Acid in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa.

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The next part also sheds light on the gap between supply and consumption. Apart from the mentioned information, growth rate of Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market in 2025is also explained. Additionally, type (Purity: 99.5%, Others) wise and application (Poultry, Swine, Ruminant, Others) wise consumption tables and figures of Feed Grade Fumaric Acidmarketare also given.

Objective of Studies:

Report on Global Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Industry 2020 mainly covers 10 Section in Table as follows:-

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Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Market to Witness Swift Growth Owing to Extensive Demand & Rise in Industrialization by 2025 - Bandera County Courier

Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives Market Insights on Growing Applications by 2025 – Daily Science

Posted on March 16, 2020 by Danzig

The global Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives market reached ~US$ xx Mn in 2018 and is anticipated grow at a CAGR of xx% over the forecast period 2019-2029. In this Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives market study, the following years are considered to predict the market footprint:

The business intelligence study of the Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives market covers the estimation size of the market both in terms of value (Mn/Bn USD) and volume (x units). In a bid to recognize the growth prospects in the Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives market, the market study has been geographically fragmented into important regions that are progressing faster than the overall market. Each segment of the Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives market has been individually analyzed on the basis of pricing, distribution, and demand prospect for the following regions:

Each market player encompassed in the Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives market study is assessed according to its market share, production footprint, current launches, agreements, ongoing R&D projects, and business tactics. In addition, the Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives market study scrutinizes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis.

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On the basis of age group, the global Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives market report covers the footprint, and adoption pattern of the segments including

In global market, the following companies are covered: Celanese CorporationKoninklijke DSM N.V.E.I.du Pont de Nemours and CompanyKerry Group PlcGalactic SAHawkins Watts LimitedInnophos Holdings IncKemin Industries, IncCargill, IncorporatedAkzo Nobel N.V.Albemarle CorporationNaturalin Bio-Resources Co., LtdShandong Kunda Biotechnology Co., LtdShanghai Ruidian Trading Development Co.Ecochem Group Co., LtdNingbo Pangs Chem Intl Co., Ltd.Zhejiang Silver Elephant Bioengineering Co., Ltd.Shandong Tong Tai Wei Run Chemical Co., LtdLaiwu Taihe Biochemistry Co., LtdSEEBIO BIOTECH (SHANGHAI) CO.,LTD

Market Segment by Product TypeNaturalBenzoatesNitritesSulfiteSorbatesPropionatesOthers

Market Segment by ApplicationBakeryConfectioneryMeat, Poultry & Sea FoodDairyBeveragesSnack FoodFrozen FoodFats and OilsOthers

Key Regions split in this report: breakdown data for each region.United StatesChinaEuropean UnionRest of World (Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)

The study objectives are:To analyze and research the Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives status and future forecast in United States, European Union and China, involving sales, value (revenue), growth rate (CAGR), market share, historical and forecast.To present the key Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives manufacturers, presenting the sales, revenue, market share, and recent development for key players.To split the breakdown data by regions, type, companies and applications To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regionsTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives are as follows:History Year: 2014-2018Base Year: 2018Estimated Year: 2019Forecast Year 2019 to 2025

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Processed Food & Beverage Preservatives Market Insights on Growing Applications by 2025 - Daily Science

Bruins go to downtown Los Angeles to share the big potential of the very small – UCLA Newsroom

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Danzig

Los Angeles has a well-earned reputation as a world center for arts and entertainment but thats just one part of the picture according to Paul Weiss, UCLA distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry. He told a downtown Los Angeles audience that he believes that the same restless creative energy also drives the research community on campus.

Weiss was speaking as part of a new collaboration between UCLA and MindshareLA; that partnership is a key component of UCLAs commitment to share the knowledge its scholars are creating with people in communities beyond Westwood. The night served as the kickoff for a yearlong, four-event series, called Vision 2020.

We have this pressure on us here that if youre not doing something a little crazy and going out on a limb, youre not doing your job, said Weiss, a member and former director of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. Its a very different environment than the typical conservative academic places that many of us have seen in our training.

Weiss, who also is a distinguished professor of bioengineering and of materials science and engineering, relates this atmosphere of ingenuity and freedom to the sometimes-surprising collaborations hes part of as a nanoscientist, connecting with everyone from neuroscientists to transplant surgeons.

The potential of interdisciplinary work involving nanoscience explorations at the scale of billionths of a meter was a theme that cropped up repeatedly during It Came from Nanospace , an evening of presentations and hands-on experiences produced by UCLA and MindshareLA. Weiss was among four from UCLA who were featured in the Feb. 1 event at the Cross Campus office space in downtown Los Angeles, to a crowd of about 275 attendees.

Weiss, who holds a UC Presidential Chair and is founding editor-in-chief of the journal ACS Nano, shared highlights of his own activities as a leader in his field, from his work while at IBM on a microscope capable of imaging individual atoms to his involvement with ambitious public research initiatives launched during the Obama era. He also discussed the part that nanoscience itself an interdisciplinary field encompassing chemistry, physics, engineering and more is playing in tackling problems in other fields.

It Came from Nanospace began with a presentation by Adam Stieg, a UCLA research scientist and an associate director of CNSI. He provided a brief and engaging history of computing, leading up to a new paradigm hes exploring in his own research with UCLA distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry James Gimzewski: nanoscale devices physically and functionally modeled after certain aspects of the human brain. Potential future devices based on this approach wouldnt separate processing and memory, as contemporary computers do, and as a result are expected to operate with much greater energy efficiency.

Stieg noted that such interdisciplinary work fits naturally with nanoscience.

As much as nano is a thing of scale it absolutely is it ultimately becomes something of thinking, where we have to think differently about what we expect, because things dont behave as we would expect them to at the smallest of scales, he said.

We need to expect to see the unexpected, he continued, and to think creatively about how to leverage and harness these unique properties, and in many cases that requires talking across disciplines that we normally wouldnt.

Marc Roseboro/UCLA

Attendees enjoy the It Came from Nanospace event, which combined presentations and hands-on experiences in downtown Los Angeles.

After a musical interlude, the attendees heard from Clarice Aiello, UCLA assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and a member of CNSI. She discussed her investigations into the quantum behavior behind chemical sensors in nature such as those that underlie birds ability to use faint signals from Earths magnetic field to guide their migration.

The question that my group and other groups are trying to answer is, Can quantum physics be established or refuted to account for relevant biological phenomena, and importantly be manipulated and controlled for technological and therapeutic advantage? said Aiello, who leads the Quantum Biology Tech Lab at UCLA, known as QuBIT.

She spoke about recent discoveries about cryptochrome, a protein found in the retinas of birds that is believed to be the key to their magnetic sense. She also provided examples of potential applications for knowledge about these kinds of quantum-based biochemical reactions: drugs that protect from the harmful effects of radiation, magnetic therapies that correct metabolic disorders and quantum computers that work at room temperature instead of requiring extreme cold.

Aiello echoed the importance of collaborations across scientific fields.

I really think that by joining forces we can actually solve a lot of more-interesting problems than if we are just restricted to our own disciplines, she said.

Attendees also enjoyed musical performances and hands-on experiences such as Noise Aquarium, an art installation by Victoria Vesna, professor of design media arts and director of the UCLA Art|Sci Center, which is a collaboration between the design media arts department in the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture and CNSI.

The interactive installation provided participants with an immersive virtual reality trip beneath the oceans surface, where they had close encounters with enlarged projections of plankton collectively the largest source of oxygen in our atmosphere and experienced the underwater noise pollution that results from human activities such as sonar navigation and fracking.

A collaboration involving artists and scientists in Vienna, the installation uses three-dimensional scans of the microscopic plankton, as well as actual sounds recorded in the ocean. Noise Aquarium, which evolved from a linear video that has been presented to audiences around the globe, is meant to bring awareness to issues such as climate change and pollution.

MindshareLA is an event series and mecca for entrepreneurs, designers, technologists and other creative, forward-thinking Angelenos seeking inspiration and connection. It has hosted 150 events and spawned numerous successful companies and countless relationships.

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Bruins go to downtown Los Angeles to share the big potential of the very small - UCLA Newsroom

2020 Report on the Global Omega-3 Market Including Analysis, Trends & Industry Forecast – Leading Companies Include Polaris, Pharma Marine &…

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Danzig

The "Global Omega-3 Market Analysis & Trends - Industry Forecast to 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Omega-3 Market is poised to grow strong during the forecast period 2018 to 2028. Some of the prominent trends that the market is witnessing include rise in focus on preventive healthcare, growing application profiling and increase in demand for food fortification.

This industry report analyzes the market estimates and forecasts of all the given segments on global as well as regional levels presented in the research scope. The study provides historical market data for 2017, 2018 revenue estimations are presented for 2019 and forecasts for 2023 and 2028.

The study focuses on market trends, leading players, supply chain trends, technological innovations, key developments, and future strategies. With comprehensive market assessment across the major geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Latin America and Rest of the world the report is a valuable asset for the existing players, new entrants and the future investors.

The study presents detailed market analysis with inputs derived from industry professionals across the value chain. A special focus has been made on 23 countries such as U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Germany, Spain, France, Italy, China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, etc.

The market data is gathered from extensive primary interviews and secondary research. The market size is calculated based on the revenue generated through sales from all the given segments and sub segments in the research scope. The market sizing analysis includes both top-down and bottom-up approaches for data validation and accuracy measures.

Report Highlights:

Key Topics Covered:

1 Market Outline

1.1 Research Methodology

1.1.1 Research Approach & Sources

1.2 Market Trends

1.3 Regulatory Factors

1.4 Application Analysis

1.5 Strategic Benchmarking

1.6 Opportunity Analysis

2 Executive Summary

3 Market Overview

3.1 Current Trends

3.1.1 Rise in Focus on Preventive Healthcare

3.1.2 Growing Application Profiling and Existing Applications

3.1.3 Increase in Demand for Food Fortification

3.1.4 Growth Opportunities/Investment Opportunities

3.2 Drivers

3.3 Constraints

3.4 Industry Attractiveness

3.4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers

3.4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

3.4.3 Threat of substitutes

3.4.4 Threat of new entrants

3.4.5 Competitive rivalry

4 Omega-3 Market, By Type

4.1 Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA)

4.2 Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA)

4.3 Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA)

5 Omega-3 Market, By Distribution Channel

5.1 Pharmacies and Drug Stores

5.2 Internet Retailing

5.3 Grocery Retailers

5.4 Other Distribution Channels

6 Omega-3 Market, By Source

6.1 Nuts and Seeds

6.1.1 Pumpkin Seeds

6.1.2 Walnut

6.1.3 Other Seeds

6.1.3.1 Tahini

6.1.3.2 Hazelnuts

6.1.3.3 Chia Seeds

6.2 Vegetable oils

6.2.1 Canola Oil

6.2.2 Soybean Oil

6.2.3 Other Vegetable oils

6.2.3.1 Flaxseed Oil

6.2.3.2 Olive Oil

6.3 Plant Source

6.4 Soya and Soya Products

6.4.1 Bean curd

6.4.2 Soya milk

6.5 Marine Source

6.5.1 Algal Oil

6.5.2 Fish Oil & Krill Oil

7 Omega-3 Market, By Application

7.1 Sports Nutrition

7.2 Pharmaceuticals

7.3 Pet Food and Feed

7.4 Infant Formula

7.5 Functional Foods & Beverages

7.6 Fish Feed

7.7 Dietary Supplements

8 Omega-3 Market, By Geography

8.1 North America

8.2 Europe

8.3 Asia Pacific

8.4 Middle East

8.5 Latin America

8.6 Rest of the World (RoW)

9 Key Player Activities

9.1 Acquisitions & Mergers

9.2 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures

9.3 Product Launch & Expansions

9.4 Other Activities

10 Leading Companies

10.1 Sinomega Biotech Engineering

10.2 Polaris

10.3 Pharma Marine

10.4 Orkla Health

10.5 Nordic Naturals

10.6 Lonza

10.7 Kinomega Biopharm

10.8 KD Pharma

10.9 Huatai Biopharm

10.10 Guangdong Runke Bioengineering

10.11 Golden Omega

10.12 GC Rieber

10.13 EPAx

10.14 DSM

10.15 Croda International

10.16 Corbion

10.17 Cargill

10.18 Biosearch Life

Here Comes 1984: China’s Regime Is An Existential Threat to the World – The National Interest Online

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Danzig

The Chinese communist government increasingly poses an existential threat not just to its own 1.4 billion citizens but to the world at large.

China is currently in adangerously chaotic state.And why not, when a premodern authoritarian society leaps wildly into the brave new world ofhigh-tech sciencein a single generation?

The Chinese technological revolution is overseen by an Orwellian dictatorship. Predictably, the Chinese Communist Party has not developed the social, political, or cultural infrastructure to ensure that its sophisticated industrial and biological research does not go rogue andbecome destructive to itselfand to the billions of people who are on the importing end of Chinese products and protocols.

Central party officials run the government, military, media, and universities collectively in a manner reminiscent of the science-fiction Borg organism of Star Trek, which was a horde of robot-like entitiesall under the controlof a central mind.

Thirty years ago, American pundits began gushing over Chinas sudden leap from horse-drawn power to solar, wind, and nuclear energy. The Chinese communist government wowed Westerners. It created from nothing high-speed rail, solar farms, shiny new airports, and gleaming new high-density apartment buildings.

Western-trained Chinese scientists soon were conducting sophisticated medical and scientific research. And they often did so rapidly, without the prying regulators, nosy elected officials, and bothersome citizen lawsuits that often burden American and European scientists.

To make China instantly rich and modern, the communist hierarchythe same government that once caused the deaths of some 60 million innocents under Mao Zedongignored property rights.It crushed individual freedom.It embraced secrecy and bulldozed over any who stood in its way.

In much the same manner that silly American pundits once praised Benito Mussolinis fascist efforts to modernize Depression-era Italy, many naifs in the West praised China only because they wished that their own countries could recalibrate so quickly and efficientlyespecially in service to green agendas.

But the world is learning that China does not just move mountains for new dams or bulldoze ancient neighborhoods that stand in the path of high-speed rail. It also hid the outbreak and the mysterious origins of the deadly coronavirus from its own people and the rest of the planet as wella more dangerous replay of its earlier effort to mask the spread of the SARS virus.

The result was that thousands of unknowing carriers spread the viral plague while the government covered up its epidemic proportions.

China, of course, does not wish to have either its products or citizens quarantined from other countries. But the Chinese government will not allow foreign scientists to enter its country to collaborate on containing the coronavirus and developing a vaccine.

No wonder internet conspiracies speculate that the virus was either a rogue product of the Chinese militarys bioengineering weapons lab or originated from bats, snakes, or pangolins and the open-air markets where they are sold as food.

It is hard to believe that in 2020, the worlds largest and second-wealthiest county, which boasts of high-tech consumer products and gleaming cities, has imprisoned in re-education camps more than 1 million Uighur Muslims in the manner that Hitler, Stalin, and Mao once relocated undesirable populations.

China seems confident that it will soon rule the world, given its huge population, massive trade surpluses, vast cash reserves, and industries that produce so many of the worlds electronic devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods.

For a year, the Chinese government has battled massive street demonstrations for democracy in Hong Kong. Beijing cynically assumes that Western nations dont care. They are expected to drop their characteristic human rights advocacy because of how profitable their investments inside China have proven.

Beijing was right. Few Western companies complain that Chinese society is surveilled, regulated, and controlled in a nightmarish fashion that George Orwell once predicted in his dystopian novel 1984.

All of these recent scandals should remind the world that China got rich by warping trade and stealing technology in much the same way that it deals with epidemics and dissidents. That is, by simply ignoring legitimate criticism and crushing anyone in its way.

If the Chinese communist Borg is willing to put millions of its own citizens at risk of infection and death, why would it care about foreigners complaints that China is getting rich and powerful by breaking international trade rules?

The truth about President Donald Trumps decision to call China to account over its systematic abuse of international trade norms is not that Trumps policy is reckless or ill-considered. Its that at this late date, the reckoning might prove too little, too late.

Link:
Here Comes 1984: China's Regime Is An Existential Threat to the World - The National Interest Online

Robotic system can plan and perform biosynthesis without human intervention – Chemistry World

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Danzig

A fully automated algorithm-driven platform can not only design, build and test biochemical pathways to make valuable compounds, it can learn from its mistakes and optimise the process too.1 After the initial setup, the robotic system plans and performs all the experiments without further human participation. The new approach can be used to produce a variety of chemicals using biological engineering.

The prospects of computer scientists working more closely with bioengineers is salivating

Vikramaditya Yadav,University of British Columbia

Materials developed using synthetic biology and bioengineering are important for research, medicine and industry, but biological systems are complex, so many rounds of design, build, test and learn (DBTL) are usually required. The development of biofoundries systems that mimic factories and can produce valuable compounds by making use of biochemical pathways has been an important step towards automating the design, build and test components of the cycle, but there are no examples of automating learning. Now, a US team has created the BioAutomata platform that can do just this.

We empowered a state-of-the-art robotic system for chemical manufacturing and biological experimentation with artificial intelligence (AI) for planning its experiments without human intervention, says Saurabh Sinha of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US. His colleague Huimin Zhao points out that previous biofoundry efforts focused on one or two components of the DBTL cycle whereas theirs can perform all four. We have demonstrated for the first time that we can close the entire cycle by combining AI and automation, he says. Sinha adds that the system contains an algorithm that can learn and plan new experiments as it goes. We incorporated the learn component in the cycle, where the robotic system learns from its tests and gets ready to repeat the cycle of engineering, he says.

BioAutomata was built using the Illinois Biological Foundry for Advanced Biomanufacturing (iBioFAB), which was developed by Zhaos team in 2014.2 iBioFAB integrates more than 20 instruments with a robotic arm on a large platform and can be used to perform many different biological engineering experiments, Zhao says. The scientists tested their system by optimising the biosynthesis of lycopene, a red food additive and colourant found in tomatoes. Sinha explains that BioAutomatas task was to tune the activities of three genes in the pathway to obtain the desired product. But each of the genes can be tuned to one of many different levels of activity, so theres a huge number of possible combinations.

To explore this large space of possibilities, each of which can be achieved by an experiment that will reveal if its a productive setting, BioAutomata adopts a special algorithm called Bayesian optimisation, Sinha says. Using this algorithm, the new platform evaluated less than 1% of the 13,824 possibilities and was still able to outperform conventional trial-and-error strategies by 77%.

Paul Freemont at Imperial College London, UK, who was not involved in the study, says that the work demonstrates the power of new biofoundry approaches for biosynthetic pathway engineering. By showing the clear advantage of using automated experimental design over random approaches for biosynthetic pathway engineering, it reinforces the emerging roles of biofoundries in synthetic biology.

Vikramaditya Yadav of the University of British Columbia, Canada, adds that the results are an elegant demonstration of how machine learning will drive biosystems optimisation in the future. The closest rival technology is George Churchs Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering, which is also a very successful method, he says.3 The big difference is the elimination of randomness in this work.

The researchers point out that their approach can also be applied to the production of other chemicals. This strategy can be used for engineering of enzymes, pathways and genomes for basic and applied biological research, and for identifying new biological mechanisms or insights, says Zhao.

Yadav believes that there are exciting times ahead. Machine learning is the ultimate differentiator and the prospects of computer scientists working more closely with bioengineers is salivating. We are looking at a new era of targeted, high-precision and high-throughout bioengineering, he says.

Originally posted here:
Robotic system can plan and perform biosynthesis without human intervention - Chemistry World

A dual imaging modality to improve ovarian cancer treatment – UC Riverside

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Danzig

Bahman Anvari, a professor of bioengineering in the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering,has received a $300,000 Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research, or EAGER, grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a dual imaging technique for improved staging and localization of ovarian cancer before and during surgery. The project is a collaboration with Vikas Kundra, a radiologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

The proposed approach uses a fluorescent dye embedded in a nanosized liposome that glows when a light shines on it, and can be viewed optically. It provides information about the size of tumor nodules smaller than 1 millimeter that cannot be otherwise be visualized accurately by current imaging methods. The same liposomal construct is also loaded with a magnetic resonance agent so that MRI can be used for determining the stage of development and pinpointing the precise location.

Using dual imaging modalities you can determine the stage and how widely spread the cancer is, Anvari said.

Fluorescence imaging has better resolution and can spot tiny tumors that MRI cant see, which makes it useful during surgery. Surgeons can shine a light while they are operating and fluorescence will help them find small tumors to remove.

The new dual imaging modality could reduce the number of surgeries required to remove ovarian tumors by making it possible to locate and stage them accurately before surgery and ensuring that anything missed by the MRI is located during the surgery. The dual imaging modality will be tested in mice.

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A dual imaging modality to improve ovarian cancer treatment - UC Riverside

Decoding protein that repairs damaged DNA – The Hindu

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Danzig

The Indian Institute of Technology - Hyderabad (IIT-H) researchers have unravelled the working of a protein that repairs damaged DNA.

Nature has evolved techniques to not only protect DNA, but also repair damaged DNA so that a catastrophic damage can be averted.

In humans, one such repair mechanism involves activation of a special class of proteins called DNA repair proteins.

With increasing awareness of the impact of DNA damage on almost all diseases and maladies, there is a worldwide effort to understand how these repair proteins work, both as an academic exercise and as the foundation for therapeutic interventions.

The research team was headed by associate professor, department of biotechnology, Anindya Roy. The research was funded by Science and Engineering Research Board, department of science and technology, Government of India.

The results of the study, conducted in collaboration with professor of the department of biosciences and bioengineering of IIT- Guwahati, Arun Goyal, has been published recently in the journal Nucleic Acid Research. The paper has been co-authored by Dr. Anindya Roy, Dr. Arun Goyal and research scholars namely Monisha Mohan, Deepa Akula and Arun Dhillon.

What makes matter a living being, be it a bacterium or man, is a DNA. DNA is the blueprint of life form and encodes directions that the life form must take in order to become a bacterium, rose, lion or man.

It is thus essential for the survival of every cell and is usually kept well-protected within the nucleus of cells, and in some non-nuclear parts like the mitochondria.

Any damage to DNA can result in outcomes that can range from mild changes that cannot be perceived like a sudden appearance of a harmless mole to catastrophic diseases like cancer. The retention of DNA integrity is therefore essential for proper function and survival of all organisms.

Protection of DNA is daunting because of the possibility of damage by external sources and the intrinsic instability of DNA itself.

Our laboratory at IIT-Hyderabad seeks to understand the working of DNA damage repair proteins. Certain types of chemicals produced naturally in the body can cause damages in DNA and, if not fixed fast, may trigger cell death, Dr. Anindya Roy said.

Ms. Monisha Mohan discovered the mechanism by which these DNA repair proteins assemble when DNA is under threat. They studied the action of one specific protein called alkB homolog 3, or ALKBH3. It is known that ALKBH3 repairs alkylated DNA containing 1-methyladenosine and 3-methylcytosine through oxidative demethylation, but the mechanism has hitherto remained unclear.

Dr. Anindya Roy and the research team have unravelled the mechanism by which ALKBH3 brings about demethylation.

We have found that ALKBH3 has a direct protein-protein interaction with another protein called RAD51C and this interaction stimulates ALKBH3-mediated repair of methyl-adduct located within 3- tailed DNA, adds Dr. Anindya Roy on the technical aspects of their discovery.

The team is fascinated by the universality of the mechanism it is just as applicable to the bacterium as it is to human beings.

The knowledge gained from our studies might, in the long term, be beneficial from a cancer therapeutic perspective, hopes Dr. Anindya Roy, as his team proceeds with work on understanding how DNA repair works.

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Technological Growth of Baropodometry Platforms Market SWOT Analysis and Opportunity Assessment from 2019-2025: Top Key Companies: Biodex, Sani…

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Danzig

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Technological Growth of Baropodometry Platforms Market SWOT Analysis and Opportunity Assessment from 2019-2025: Top Key Companies: Biodex, Sani...

Five Berkeley faculty members elected fellows of the AAAS – UC Berkeley

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Danzig

Five Berkeley faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon the societys members by their peers.

The five are among 443 members awarded the honor because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. Founded in 1848, the AAAS is the worlds largest general scientific society and publisher of Science and five other journals.

The new fellows are:

Rebecca Abergel, assistant professor of nuclear engineering and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), for distinguished contributions to heavy element chemistry, particularly applied to the development of new chelation therapies, separation processes, and radionuclide targeted delivery strategies. At Berkeley Lab, she leads the BioActinide Chemistry Group, the Heavy Element Chemistry Program and the Heavy Element Research Laboratory, and she is director of the Glenn T. Seaborg Center.

Roland Brgmann, professor of earth and planetary science, for outstanding contributions to research, teaching, innovation, service to societies and to the public in geodynamics, tectonics, rheology, seismology, geodesy and volcanology. Brgmann is a faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab.

Richard Ivry, professor of psychology, for foundational research on the cognitive processes underlying movement selection, planning, and execution, and the implementation of action in neural structures. He is director of the The Cognition and Action Lab and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute.

Michael Manga, professor of earth and planetary science, for many outstanding contributions to geological processes involving fluids in physical volcanology, geodynamics, hydrogeology, and geomorphology, and for service to academe, government, and societies. Manga is the Garniss H. Curtis Endowed Department Chair, a faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab and a member of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory.

David Schaffer, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of bioengineering, for pioneering contributions to biomolecular engineering, with particular attention to directed evolution to create viruses for the efficient, targeted and safe delivery of gene medicines. He is director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center, a faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute.

The new fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a rosette pin in gold and blue representing science and engineering, respectively on Saturday, Feb. 15, during the 2020 AAAS annual meeting in Seattle, Washington.

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Five Berkeley faculty members elected fellows of the AAAS - UC Berkeley

Innovation TED Talks coming to Fairfield University – CTPost

Posted on October 26, 2019 by Danzig

Cindi Bigelow, CEO of Bigelow Tea in Fairfield

Photo: Dan Haar / Hearst Connecticut Media / Dan Haar / Hearst Connecticut Me

Cindi Bigelow, CEO of Bigelow Tea in Fairfield

Innovation TED Talks coming to Fairfield University

FAIRFIELD Fairfield University will host a diverse line-up of speakers at a TEDx program on October 28.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design topics that combined in 1984 to form the first TED Talk in Monterey, Calif.

Today, the idea has been expanded to sharing ideas worth spreading. TEDx, programs launched in 2009 to share TED-worthy ideas on a smaller scale.

Featured in the Fairfield U event at Wien Experimental Theatre of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts will be a current student, an alumna, an honorary degree recipient, and a faculty member, as well as individuals in health care, education, business, and technology.

Doors open at 2 p.m. and the event is free but registration is required. While TEDx audiences are capped at 100 to promote an intimate live experience, overflow attendees will be invited to watch the presentations via live-stream in the adjacent Kelley Theatre.

The theme for the event will be Innovation and Inspiration, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the university's School of Engineering.

The nine speakers include:

* Dr. Stephen F. Badylak, deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

* David C. Banks, president and CEO of The Eagle Academy Foundation, Inc.

* Cindi Bigelow, the third-generation president and CEO of Bigelow Tea, headquartered in Fairfield.

* Dr. Donna Coletti, scholar-in-residence at the Egan Schools Kanarek Center for Palliative Care.

* Lilliana Delmonico Class of 2020 and a bioengineering major in the School of Engineering and co-founder of the Biomedical Engineering Society at Fairfield University.

* Dr. T. Sloane Guy, professor of surgery and director of Minimally Invasive & Robotic Cardiac Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

* Aidan Kehoe, founder and CEO of Skout Cybersecurity.

* Dawne Ware, Class of 1989 and CEO of Ware Consulting LLC.

* Mark Unger, owner and director of Unger Global Companies, who wrote his book First Survivor, to honor those who helped him reject the diagnosis of zero chance of survival when his son was diagnosed with childhood cancer.

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Innovation TED Talks coming to Fairfield University - CTPost

Carson River restoration projects underway – The Record-Courier

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Danzig

From Alpine County to the Fort Churchill area, restoration projects are underway along the Carson River.

A group of project coordinators and other stakeholders gathered Wednesday to talk about keys to success and challenges. The seminar at Western Nevada College was hosted by the Carson Water Subconservancy District, the Carson River Coalition, and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.

All three of these projects had funding, which is often the biggest hurdle, said Kimra McAfee, executive director, Alpine Watershed Group.

McAfee described two completed projects in Hope Valley meadow conducted in 2010 and 2016, and a third project to begin construction next year.

The upcoming project entails two sites, one to reduce erosion, stabilize river banks, improve water quality and enhance aquatic habitat, and the other to shore up work done in one of the older projects.

Work at both sites is being funded through the state of California from fines levied against two ski resorts for clean water violations.

What is really special about this funding is it will go out four years and cover monitoring and adaptive management, said McAfee.

The challenges affect projects up and down the river: the variability of precipitation, typified by recent wet winters, which may only get worse with global warming, said McAfee, and slow and hard to grow vegetation.

We live in an area that can have both intense heat and frigid cold, said Francisca Mendive, Carson Valley Conservation District, which affects vegetative growth.

Mendive talked about a project near Cradlebaugh Bridge in Douglas Countys Johnson Lane area to reestablish and stabilize banks which are now cut in 10 to 15 foot verticals.

The project involves using willow cuttings and other bioengineering practices.

I want to debunk the scary term, bioengineering, she said. Property owners are not usually welcoming of a project, especially one with a big scary term like bioengineering.

A property owner helped draw attention to the need for work now underway years later in the Fort Churchill area.

Rob Holley, Dayton Valley Conservation District, showed a series of aerial photographs of the site starting in 1994 highlighting how the riverbed there has widened and receded, creating 15-foot vertical cut banks dangerously close to Fort Churchill Road and Buckland Ditch, which is used to irrigate 600 acres.

Its threatening infrastructure, said Holley.

The project is scheduled to start next summer.

We have a narrow window for construction. And the distance to the site adds to the cost, said Holley. This is time critical because it continues to erode.

A panel discussed funding, always the biggest obstacle.

Representatives from California and Nevada talked about federal grants available for projects to reduce non-point source pollution, so-called 319 money named for that section of the Clean Water Act.

States have some leeway how to administer the program and Birgit Widegren, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, talked about Nevadas requirements.

The bad news is we get $1 million annually, said Widegren.

Thats in contrast to the $4 million annually allocated to California, but the Nevada program is somewhat less stringent and more inclusive, funding education programs as well, for example.

Ed James, general manager, CWSD, said the subconservancy district has roughly $300,000 to $400,000 annually to award projects. The money, which is not from the federal government, can also be used by recipients as matching funds for federal grants.

CWSD sends out a notice to apply in January and a panel reviews projects in March.

We usually get applications for five times what we have to give, said James. Our priority is construction.

And Jim Lawrence, deputy director, Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, talked about new funding to come from the state.

Assembly Bill 84 passed this year authorized up to $217 million in bonds for conservation and wildlife management, including $10 million for work on the Carson and Truckee rivers.

A staff position to oversee the program is slated to start in July, and regulations, which will outline key details, could be hammered out either before then or once the position is filled, said Lawrence.

This is going to be highly competitive, he said. As youre thinking about this program, what I think is most beneficial is telling a story, collectively telling a story for the Carson River corridor.

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Carson River restoration projects underway - The Record-Courier

Locking up fats in CAGEs to treat obesity – Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Danzig

Obesity, which affects more than one-third of American adults, is more than just an uncomfortable excess of weight - it is a driver of several, often fatal diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, stroke, and congestive health failure, making it one of the most significant public health threats. The cost of treating and managing obesity-related diseases is expected to double every decade, ballooning to account for about 16 percent of all US healthcare costs by 2030.

While genetics plays a role, eating high-calorie foods rich in carbohydrates and fats is a major cause of this epidemic, and though doctors and nutritionists recommend a healthy, balanced diet as a prevention strategy, many people simply lack affordable access to fresh foods. Several weight-loss drugs that reduce weight by about 10 percent have been approved by the FDA over the last few decades, but they come with significant side effects including headaches, diarrhea, severe liver injury, birth defects, sleep apnea, pancreatitis, and suicidal thoughts.

Now, a new study from the Harvard John A. Paulson School for Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Harvards Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has found that an orally administered liquid salt called Choline and Geranate (CAGE) can physically reduce the absorption of fats from food with no discernible side effects in rats, and reduces total body weight by about 12 percent. The research is reported in PNAS.

A reduction in body weight of 12 percent is like getting a human from 200 pounds down to 176, which is a significant change, said first author Md Nurunnabi, a former Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute and SEAS who is now an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso. Our goal is to translate this work into a product that can help people maintain a healthier weight, and this study marks the very beginning of that journey.

Turning a bug into a feature

CAGE, which is a salt in its liquid state, was created a few years ago by Samir Mitragotri, the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjrg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering, as part of an effort to improve the bodys absorption of medicines. Last year, his lab published a paper describing CAGEs ability to enhance the uptake of insulin when given orally. However, in their study of CAGEs properties, they found that there was one molecule that was not helped by the liquid: a small hydrophobic molecule. Mitragotris team had a hunch that CAGE was somehow binding to this molecule and preventing it from being absorbed.

That observation led us to wonder if there were any contexts in which we would want to prevent the uptake of this type of molecule. We realized that fats are small and hydrophobic, and that CAGE could potentially be of interest as a medical treatment for obesity, said Mitragotri, who is also a Wyss Core Faculty member.

The researchers got to work evaluating CAGEs interactions with fats by mixing the liquid with an omega-3 fat called DHA and water. They saw that the DHA formed large particles about 3 to 4 microns in length, about the size of a cells nucleus. DHA molecules mixed with water alone formed much smaller particles in the range of 50 to 400 nanometers, suggesting that there is some interaction between the CAGE and DHA molecules that causes them to aggregate into larger particles.

The team then added the DHA-CAGE mixture to healthy rat intestines ex vivo. Compared to intestines that were only injected with DHA, the inclusion of CAGE significantly reduced the permeation of DHA into the intestinal tissue over the course of six hours.

Helping rats resist obesity

To evaluate the performance of CAGE in living organisms, the researchers prepared capsules with a mixture of DHA and CAGE and gave them orally to rats. After six hours, the amount of DHA absorbed into their blood from the mixture was about half the amount that was absorbed when they were given DHA alone. Biodistribution studies showed that giving CAGE along with the DHA increased its concentration in the rats stomachs and intestines two-fold and reduced its presence in their livers, suggesting that CAGE prevents DHA from leaving the gastrointestinal tract.

They then studied the effect of CAGE on fat uptake in rats who were fed a high-fat diet, which has 20 percent more fat than a regular diet, for 30 days. A daily, 10-microliter dose of CAGE caused rats to gain 12 percent less weight than rats that received either a 5-microliter dose or no CAGE. The untreated rats usually ate about 10 grams of food every day, whereas the high-dose CAGE cohort ate about eight grams of food, suggesting that CAGE might also have an effect on enzymes that regulate digestion, and/or increase the feeling of fullness after a meal.

Importantly, over the 30-day time period, no side effects were observed in the rats treated with CAGE, and there were no signs of inflammation or differences in the animals organ structure or function. There was also no trace of CAGEs components in the body following treatment.

This is the first proof-of-concept that orally administered ionic liquids can help reduce fat uptake and body mass, and this approach has significant clinical potential given that it is simple, fast, and much less invasive than liposuction or bariatric surgery and, because its mechanism of action is physical rather than chemical, it lacks the side effects observed with other drugs, said Mitragotri.

The team is now pursuing answers to the more mechanistic questions about CAGE, including exactly how CAGE binds to fats, how long its effects last, what its potential interactions with the obesity-associated leptin signaling pathway are, and where the unabsorbed fat goes.

Additional authors of the study are Kelly Ibsen, a former Postdoctoral Fellow in the Mitragotri lab, and Eden Tanner, a current Postdoctoral Fellow.

FDA approves first-in-human trial for neural-enabled prosthetic hand system developed at FIU – Medical Xpress

Posted on March 29, 2017 by ev1

March 29, 2017 by Jennifer Lacayo Credit: Florida International University

Upper extremity amputees are one step closer to successfully picking up a cookie or an egg, thanks to a new advanced prosthetic system that is designed to restore sensation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an investigational device exemption for the first-in-human trial with this technology. The system was developed at Florida International University by Ranu Jung and her Adaptive Neural Systems Laboratory team.

"The system is intended to restore the sense of touch, and hand opening which would allow users to precisely differentiate the size and fragility of various objects," said Ranu Jung, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computing and a Wallace H. Coulter Eminent Scholars Chair in biomedical engineering. "The prostheses that exist today make it difficult for amputees to manipulate delicate and small objects because they can't feel them."

Jung's technology, a neural-enabled prosthetic hand system (NEPH), stimulates nerves in the arm to provide sensation as the person is using the prosthetic hand. The prosthetic system has the first fully implantable, wirelessly controlled Class-III device with electrodes that can be surgically implanted within the nerves of the residual arm.

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"The system reflects an almost decade-long collaborative team effort. For the first time, amputees will be able to use a fully implantable, sensory enabled prosthetic hand system at home for daily activities and researchers will be able to assess the long term clinical impact of its use in real-world environments," said Jung.

Similar to a pacemaker, the system works by delivering small electrical pulses to specific nerves in the arm. Wires as thin as a hair strand are placed within nerve bundles in the arm and connected to an electrical stimulator. Sensors embedded in the prosthetic hand send signals wirelessly to the implanted stimulator, which then elicits sensation by delivering weak electrical pulses via the implanted electrodes. As a result, the person should be able to sense their hand opening position and grip items when the prosthetic hand encounters an object.

Participants in the trial will be able to use the system outside of the laboratory on a daily basis. At this time, the NEPH system is not approved by the FDA for U.S. commercial distribution, but if this first-in-human trial is successful, Jung and her team plan to continue testing through larger clinical trials and eventually seek such approval.

The system can potentially be interfaced with several different advanced prosthetic hands that are currently being developed commercially or under government support. Jung has spent the last decade developing the prosthetic hand system with the assistance of a Bioengineering Research Partnership grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), specifically its National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD).

"This research journey started from foundational neuroscience and engineering principles to incorporating with painstaking accuracy the validation needed to make this system ready for clinical studies and this first-in-human trial. This unique system, integrating the long-term efforts of academia and industry, is an example of the bioengineering partnerships we promote," said Grace Peng, Ph.D., Program Director at NIBIB.

The HAPTIX program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is an agency of the Department of Defense, is now supporting the first-in-human trial of the system. Florida International University, with Jung as principal investigator, will receive up to $2.2 million in support of this first-in-human trial.

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