When a catastrophic natural disaster strikes, first responders often make the difference between life and death for potential victims. Training, preparedness and valor play a part in successful rescue efforts, but so do good tools. Sometimes that tool is as basic as an axe or a flashlight, or a life vest or life raft. The recent mega-storm in the NE has us thinking about the kinds of tools that science research is coming up with to address emergency and crisis situations, both during and in the aftermath of a major event. To that end, we're taking a look back today at some of our earlier blogs on life science research invention to see what kinds of scientific solutions are on the horizon (or already here) to aid in disaster relief and recovery efforts.
Tags: UW, Ozcan Nano/Bio Photonics Lab, University of Washington, WSU, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 2012, Los Angeles, Colorado State University Fort Collins, BioResearch Product Faire Event, UCLA, Front Line event, Seattle, Biotechnology Vendor Showcase, Colorado, St.Paul, scientist solutions, CSUFC, disaster relief
The big, shiny black solar panels you're used to seeing bolted onto south-facing rooftops may soon be obsolete, if researchers at UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute continue to advance solar nanoscience at their current lightspeed pace. In fact, you not only won't recognize the new technology, you won't even be able to see it -- because it will be virtually transparent. And instead of being mounted to the roof, these thin plastic flexible sheets will cover your windows and skylights, as well as smaller surfaces like the face of your smartphone or tablet. What if the sun's not shining brightly? No problem, because these polymer solar cells (PSCs) absorb mostly ultra-violet and near-infrared (NIR) light, rather than the visible light that more traditional solar technology relies upon.
Tags: CA, University of California Los Angeles, Photonics, Solar Energy, nanotechnology, California, 2012, Los Angeles, Biochemistry, Engineering, UCLA, scientists solutions, Biotechnology Vendor Showcase, Photonic Devices, scientist solutions
By now you've probably heard about 3D bio printing, a bioengineering technique for literally building functional replacement tissue and eventually organs. (Read an earlier blog of ours on the subject.) While still in the early stages of development in terms of actually producing a human organ for transplant, the technology is advancing and critical problems are being met with innovative solutions. In the July issue of Nature Materials, University of Pennsylvania scientists, in conjunction with MIT and Harvard researchers, published an article documenting their success creating a blood vessel network using sugar.
Tags: Pennsylvania, Northeast, University of Pennsylvania, UPenn, 2012, Cell Research, bioprinting, bio research, Philadelphia, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research, Front Line event, PA, BRPF, scientist solutions, science solution
There's been a lot of promising news lately on the HIV/AIDS drug and treatment front, and more scientific solutions are being developed in labs every day. Bringing new vaccine and drug treatments to fruition has been challenging, though, as test animals such as mice do not have immune systems that are similar enough to ours to predict what would really happen in a human model. Now, at bio science research labs at the Ragon Institute in Boston, scientists have overcome that obstacle by engineering a mouse with what is essentially a human immune system. The Ragon study just published in Science Translational Medicine successfully demonstrated that these "humanized mice" do in fact respond like a human does when infected with HIV. This is a big step towards developing and testing new vaccines in the lab.
Tags: Harvard University, Northeast, AIDS Research, animal research, 2012, Immune System, Boston, BioResearch Product Faire Event, MA, Harvard, BRPF, scientist solutions
In 1962, the Seattle World's Fair was held in the northwestern capital city. The legacy of that event goes well beyond the iconic Seattle Space Needle (right) and is explored in a panoply of summer and fall educational and entertainment festivities celebrating the 50th Anniversary. One of the "Next50" happenings is an interactive exhibit to highlight the role of Washington State's life science research innovations in addressing global health challenges. If space exploration was the governing dream of the near future in the 1960's, our generation's overriding fascination may be with possibilties inherent in life science research discoveries and their applications for transforming the health of millions of people worldwide in order to lead fuller, longer lives.
Tags: UW, University of Washington, Northwest, Lab-on-a-chip Technology, 2012, science event, Event, Front Line event, science current event, Seattle, bioscience event, Science research hub, scientist solutions, Exhibit space
The first construction of an image by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMRI) by Dr. Paul Lauterbur took place at the University at Stony Brook thirty years ago, and the Stony Brook Chemistry professor went on to win the 2003 Nobel Prize for his work. So it's fitting that another breakthrough in MRI technology is also taking place at the Long Island research university, this time by biomedical engineer Balaji Sitharaman, right, and his team, who have developed a potentially safer and more cost effective MRI contrast agent for improved disease diagnosis and detection. The agent is graphene-based rather than gadolinium-based, and the success of the advanced agent is documented in a recent PLoS ONE article.
Tags: biomedical sciences, biomedical research, Northeast, New York, Stony Brook University, venture development in life sciences, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Biomedical Research Funding, scientist solutions, life science products, science solution
Lab product seminars are one of the best marketing tools used by scientific supply companies to gain product exposure, establish corporate credibility, and build brand recognition in the research community.
Tags: Seminar, Life Science Marketing, biotech, scientist solutions, lab products, science sales solutions
We've heard for a while now about the aggressive, determined way Utah is working to grow its biotech economy, particularly through advancing university research and commercializing the technology that comes out of it. Since getting private capital interested in university science invention is a major step in making that commercialization happen, the University of Utah Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) has come up with an innovative arena for matching inventors with backers, and it looks a lot like...speed dating. They call it science "speed teching," and the first University Innovators Speed Teching Showcase event took place May 22nd in a large conference room at Salt Lake City's Zions Bank.
Tags: Utah, university of utah, Southwest, Funding, Research Funding, Event, Front Line event, innovative solution, scientist solutions
The National Eye Institute (NEI) has just awarded a major grant to a team of three scientists from the Scripps Institute and the University of California San Diego to develop a novel treatment for diabetic retinopathy and other forms of macular degeneration. The optical research investigators are:
Tags: University of California San Diego, nanotechnology, Southwest, California, Scripps, Angiogenesis Modulation, San Diego, Funding, innovative solution, Biotechnology Vendor Showcase, scientist solutions, BVS
For those of you who don't know us well, we are a small family owned business with a drive to help those in the research industry get ahead. Like other small family owed businesses, our resources are often more limited than our vision, and like other entrepreneuriall businesses, that doesn't stop us from trying to make things work better, faster, and easier whenever we can. In this business, technology is our friend.
Having said that, I must admit that sometimes the usefulness of new technologies is not immediately apparent. When my sister-in-law first mentioned Twitter at a family gathering a few years ago, I remember thinking " What a colossal waste of time that would be... "Who in the world cares if you are out drinking coffee with a Sally or are watching the latest Alien film?" The usefulness of having easily, accessible, simpler info did not really strike me until weeks later when I was having a conversation with friends who live on a narrow mountain road that was under construction. The workmen would tweet when the road was open and when it was blocked, so residents could get in an out with minimal car waiting time. And if the residents needed to leave they could give the workmen a heads up. This proved to be very useful.
Tags: vendor shows, Life science branding, Life Science Marketing, laboratory sales, marketing, scientist solutions, scientific sales