Wisconsin Advanced Technology Advocates, Inc.

Minneapolis biotech firm moving to Wisconsin

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: July 9, 2009 11:56 a.m.

Lured by the state's tax credits for investments in high-growth companies, a Minneapolis biotech start-up said Thursday it is moving to Wisconsin.

VitalMedix Inc. is developing a drug that could be used by first responders to potentially keep trauma victims alive longer. The drug, called Tamiasyn, has been tested in animals and could go into human trials as early as a year from now, said Jeffrey M. Williams, the company's president and chief executive officer.

"This sort of deal is better understood by investors in Wisconsin, and angel groups in Wisconsin are not only more aggressive, there are just a lot more of them," Williams said. The state has 22 organized angel investing groups, up from just a handful five years ago, according to the Wisconsin Angel Network.

Full story.

Madison company generates stem cells from blood

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: July 8, 2009

Cellular Dynamics International's disclosure Wednesday that its researchers have generated stem cells from ordinary human blood samples holds enormous promise in the emerging field of personalized medicine.

The promise in the long term is that, by giving a vial or two of blood, we could all have our own personal stem cells to deploy in the event of a spinal cord injury or the onset of Parkinson's disease or many other now-incurable diseases.

Cellular Dynamics is the first company to say it can make stem cells from something as readily available, and so representative of human diversity, as blood, Palay said.

"This stuff sounds like science fiction, but it's science fact - and we're doing it in a lab in Madison," said Bob Palay, the Madison biotech company's chairman and chief executive.

The discovery will allow the company in the near term to more easily provide a diverse mix of stem cells to researchers to help them understand the basis of disease and how to treat it, he said.

"It opens up all human tissue cells, in all human diversity, to pharmaceutical and academic researchers. It's so huge, and so few people understand it," Palay said.

Full story.

Printable batteries

Research News July 2009 

For a long time, batteries were bulky and heavy. Now, a new cutting-edge battery is revolutionizing the field. It is thinner than a millimeter, lighter than a gram, and can be produced cost-effectively through a printing process.

In the past, it was necessary to race to the bank for every money transfer and every bank statement. Today, bank transactions can be easily carried out at home. Now where is that piece of paper again with the TAN numbers? In the future you can spare yourself the search for the number. Simply touch your EC card and a small integrated display shows the TAN number to be used. Just type in the number and off you go. This is made possible by a printable battery that can be produced cost-effectively on a large scale. It was developed by a research team led by Prof. Dr. Reinhard Baumann of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Electronic Nano Systems ENAS in Chemnitz together with colleagues from TU Chemnitz and Menippos GmbH. “Our goal is to be able to mass produce the batteries at a price of single digit cent range each,” states Dr. Andreas Willert, group manager at ENAS.

Full story.

Cellular Dynamics extends agreement with Roche

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: July 1, 2009

Cellular Dynamics International and Roche have expanded their drug development testing agreement, the companies said Wednesday.

For the next two years, Madison-based Cellular Dynamics will supply heart cells to Roche, and the companies will collaborate to perform various tests on the cells. The agreement expands one forged in March 2008, the companies said.

Cellular Dynamics, known as CDI, grows induced pluripotent cells from human tissue. They have all the characteristics of embryonic stem cells, which means they can turn into beating heart cells or liver cells or any other cells in the human body.

Full story.

Diverse biotech industry pumps millions into state, national economies

By Pete Bach
Gannett Wisconsin Media

BROTHERTOWN — The corn crop sprouting on Bill Hansen's 150-acre farm in Calumet County has a secret: It's fortified with special traits at the microscopic level.

Such genetic alterations begin with the corn seed, which allows it to grow into a plant resistant to rootworms and insects, disease and drought, as well as the popular herbicide Roundup.

It's important because encroaching weeds compete for the same moisture as crops; killing them without collateral damage to the corn makes for a more productive field with noticeably taller stalks, Hansen said.

Genetically altered crops have become the norm. Eighty percent to 90 percent of all soybeans planted in Wisconsin possess what the agricultural community refers to as biotech yield traits, said Kevin Jarek, crops, soils and horticulture agent for the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Outagamie County.

That's also true for 40 percent of the corn grown in the state.

"When you look at crops that have been grown with biotech improvements in the state, it's grown exponentially from where it was five or 10 years ago," Jarek said.

But Wisconsin's blooming biotech industry doesn't just protect corn. It helps protect the state's economic interests too.

The industry in Wisconsin, home to more than 400 biotech companies employing 34,000 people, is among the nation's largest.

Full story.

Next Generation Clinical Research Receives Dane County Small Business Award

Madison, Wisconsin-June 19, 2009- Next Generation Clinical Research is proud to announce it has been named one of this year’s recipients of the Dane County Small Business Award. This prestigious award recognizes small businesses in Dane County who are making strong contributions to our communities and economy.

“It is a great honor to be selected as one of the award recipients this year. This is especially exciting as we celebrate our tenth anniversary.” commented Laura L. Douglass, President & CEO of Next Generation.

Next Generation provides services to small and mid-sized pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the development of new drugs. The company manages clinical trials throughout the US and Canada while providing medical safety oversight and data management services. Douglass credits “employee expertise and adaptability” for company’s continued success in a fast paced and highly regulated industry. Next Generation’s work has supported the approval of new medications in areas of neurological disorders and kidney disease. Douglass relayed “It’s exciting to have a role in finding new cures and impacting people’s lives”.

Next Generation was also recognized for their community contributions as the company sponsors high school scholarships and contributes to numerous local charity and volunteer organizations. Next Generation received the award at a breakfast ceremony emceed by Jody Glynn Patrick of InBusiness Magazine with comments by Dane County Executive, Kathleen Falk. The award is coordinated by the University of Wisconsin Small Business Development Center with judges from different industry sectors each year. Award sponsors for 2009 included Centro Hispano, Chase, In Business Magazine, Madison Gas & Electric, Mid-West Family Broadcasting, Urban League of Greater Madison, UW-Madison Small Business Development Center, Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corporation.

ABOUT NEXT GENERATION – Next Generation is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) focused on providing clinical trial management services to small and mid-sized pharmaceutical and biotech organizations. The company was founded in 1999 and conducts novel, complex clinical trial projects throughout the United States and Canada.

CONTACT:
Christine Wood-Tank
Next Generation Clinical Research
Phone: 608-835-5811
cwood@nextgenclinical.com
www.nextgenclinical.com

TISSUE STUDY VALIDATES MR PERFUSION TECHNOLOGY

Imaging software IB Neuro™ shows high correlation with tissue analysis

A preliminary study, led by cancer researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center (BNI-SJHMC) and Imaging Biometrics LLC (IB), has validated a magnetic resonance imaging perfusion (pMRI) technology with stereotactic tissue biopsy results. Using the proprietary technology contained in IB Neuro™, an accuracy of 95.6% was obtained when distinguishing tumor from post treatment radiation effects (PTRE). This makes IB Neuro™ the only perfusion analysis product directly validated with spatially accurate tissue samples.

IB Neuro™ uses dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) perfusion algorithms to provide information about blood volume and blood flow in the brain. These critical perfusion parameters are valuable for detecting the growth of new tumor blood vessels (angiogenesis). This angiogenic information allows clinicians to more accurately diagnose tumor aggressiveness and potentially predict responses to anti-tumor therapies. However, this rich information has not been widely accepted due to the lack of a reliable and standardized method for use in routine clinical patients.

Researchers at BNI-SJHMC have developed a unique method of correlating imaging measurements with biopsied tumor samples, which has shown promise in validating techniques using IB NeuroTM. Directly comparing pMRI measurements with brain tumor tissue biopsy samples could result in a long awaited standardized pMRI approach. This technology can potentially lead to safer, more efficient, and more accurate diagnosis and treatment of glioma patients.

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Massachusetts company gets $1 million loan from Wisconsin to move to Madison

By JUDY NEWMAN

jdnewman@madison.com

Exact Sciences Corp., a Marlboro, Mass. company working on a new way to screen for colorectal cancer, is getting a $1 million loan from the state of Wisconsin to move to Madison.

Full story.

Sonic laser or "Saser"

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:30:00 GMT

PA163/09

It was an idea born out of curiosity in the physics lab, but now a new type of ‘laser’ for generating ultra-high frequency sound waves instead of light has taken a major step towards becoming a unique and highly useful 21st century technology.

Scientists at The University of Nottingham, in collaboration with colleagues in the Ukraine, have produced a new type of acoustic laser device called a Saser. It’s a sonic equivalent to the laser and produces an intense beam of uniform sound waves on a nano scale. The new device could have significant and useful applications in the worlds of computing, imaging, and even anti-terrorist security screening.

Where a ‘laser’,(Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation), uses packets of electromagnetic vibrations called ‘photons’, the ‘Saser’ uses sound waves composed of sonic vibrations called ‘phonons’. In a laser, the photon beam is produced by stimulating electrons with an external power source so they release energy when they collide with other photons in a highly reflective optical cavity. This produces a coherent and controllable shining beam of laser light in which all the photons have the same frequency and rate of oscillation. From supermarket scanners to DVD players, surgery, manufacturing and the defence industry, the application of laser technology is widespread.

Full story.

Prototype Nokia phone recharges without wires

Pardon the cliche, but it's one of the holiest of Holy Grails of technology: Wireless power. And while early lab experiments have been able to "beam" electricity a few feet to power a light bulb, the day when our laptops and cell phones can charge without having to plug them in to a wall socket still seems decades in the future.

Nokia, however, has taken another baby step in that direction with the invention of a cell phone that recharges itself using a unique system: It harvest ambient radio waves from the air, and turns that energy into usable power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.

While "traditional" (if there is such a thing) wireless power systems are specifically designed with a transmitter and receiver in mind, Nokia's system isn't finicky about where it gets its wireless waves. TV, radio, other mobile phone systems -- all of this stuff just bounces around the air and most of it is wasted, absorbed into the environment or scattered into the ether. Nokia picks up all the bits and pieces of these waves and uses the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone's battery. A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there's no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal). It's the same idea that Tesla was exploring 100 years ago, just on a tiny scale.

Full story.

Crustacean shell with polyester creates mixed-fiber material for nerve repair

In the clothing industry it's common to mix natural and synthetic fibers. Take cotton and add polyester to make clothing that's soft, breathable and wrinkle free.

Now researchers at the University of Washington are using the same principle for biomedical applications. Mixing chitosan, found in the shells of crabs and shrimp, with an industrial polyester creates a promising new material for the tiny tubes that support repair of a severed nerve, and could serve other medical uses. The hybrid fiber combines the biologically favorable qualities of the natural material with the mechanical strength of the synthetic polymer.

"A nerve guide requires very strict conditions. It needs to be biocompatible, stable in solution, resistant to collapse and also pliable, so that surgeons can suture it to the nerve," said Miqin Zhang, a UW professor of material science and engineering and lead author of a paper now available online in the journal Advanced Materials. "This turns out to be very difficult."

After an injury that severs a peripheral nerve, such as one in a finger, nerve endings continue to grow. But to regain control of the nerve surgeons must join the two fragments. For large gaps surgeons used to attempt a more difficult nerve graft. Current surgical practice is to attach tiny tubes, called nerve guides, that channel the two fragments toward each other.

Today's commercial nerve guides are made from collagen, a structural protein derived from animal cells. But collagen is expensive, the protein tends to trigger an immune response and the material is weak in wet environments, such as those inside the body.

The strength of the nerve guide is important for budding nerve cells.

Full story.

New antibiotics could come from a DNA binding compound that kills bacteria in 2 minutes

A synthetic DNA binding compound has proved surprisingly effective at binding to the DNA of bacteria and killing all the bacteria it touched within two minutes. The DNA binding properties of the compound were first discovered in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick by Professor Mike Hannon and Professor Alison Rodger (Professor Mike Hannon is now at the University of Birmingham). However the strength of its antibiotic powers have now made it a compound of high interest for University of Warwick researchers working on the development of novel antibiotics.

Dr Adair Richards from the University of Warwick said:

"This research will assist the design of new compounds that can attack bacteria in a highly effective way which gets around the methods bacteria have developed to resist our current antibacterial drugs. As this antibiotic compound operates by targeting DNA, it should avoid all current resistance mechanisms of multi-resistant bacteria such as MRSA."

The compound [Fe2L3]4+ is an iron triple helicate with three organic strands wrapped around two iron centres to give a helix which looks cylindrical in shape and neatly fits within the major groove of a DNA helix. It is about the same size as the parts of a protein that recognise and bind with particular sequences of DNA. The high positive charge of the compound enhances its ability to bind to DNA which is negatively charged.

When the iron-helicate binds to the major groove of DNA it coils the DNA so that it is no longer available to bind to anything else and is not able to drive biological or chemical processes. Initially the researchers focused on the application of this useful property for targeting the DNA of cancer cells as it could bind to, coil up and shut down the cancer cell's DNA either killing the cell or stopping it replicate. However the team quickly realised that it might also be a very clever way of targeting drug-resistant bacteria.

Full story.

A Billion Year Ultra-Dense Memory Chip

When it comes to data storage, density and durability have always moved in opposite directions - the greater the density the shorter the durability. For example, information carved in stone is not dense but can last thousands of years, whereas today’s silicon memory chips can hold their information for only a few decades. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have smashed this tradition with a new memory storage medium that can pack thousands of times more data into one square inch of space than conventional chips and preserve this data for more than a billion years!

This video shows an iron nanoparticle shuttle moving through a carbon nanotube in the presence of a low voltage electrical current. The shuttle’s position inside the tube can function as a high-density nonvolatile memory element. (Courtesy of Zettl Research Group) “We’ve developed a new mechanism for digital memory storage that consists of a crystalline iron nanoparticle shuttle enclosed within the hollow of a multiwalled carbon nanotube,” said physicist Alex Zettl who led this research.

“Through this combination of nanomaterials and interactions, we’ve created a memory device that features both ultra-high density and ultra-long lifetimes, and that can be written to and read from using the conventional voltages already available in digital electronics.”

Full story.

IMAGING BIOMETRICS AND CLARIO MEDICAL IMAGING ANNOUNCE INTEGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF IB NEURO™ AND ZVISION™

Seattle, WA and Elm Grove, WI (June 3, 2009) – Clario Medical Imaging and Imaging Biometrics announced today that their two products (zVision™ and IB Neuro™) have been integrated. Clario will be non-exclusively offering the IB Neuro plug-in for sale to current and future zVision customers. The combined software will be demonstrated at the upcoming SIIM ’09 meeting in Charlotte, NC.

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Adult Bone Marrow Stem Cells Injected into Skeletal Muscle Can Repair Heart Tissue

Release Date: May 28, 2009

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo researchers have demonstrated for the first time that injecting adult bone marrow stem cells into skeletal muscle can repair cardiac tissue, reversing heart failure.

Using an animal model, the researchers showed that this non-invasive procedure increased myocytes, or heart cells, by two-fold and reduced cardiac tissue injury by 60 percent.

The therapy also improved function of the left ventricle, the primary pumping chamber of the heart, by 40 percent and reduced fibrosis, the hardening of the heart lining that impairs its ability to contract, by up to 50 percent.

"This work demonstrates a novel non-invasive mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapeutic regimen for heart failure based on an intramuscular delivery route," said Techung Lee, Ph.D., UB associate professor of biochemistry and senior author on the paper.

Mesenchymal stem cells are found in the bone marrow and can differentiate into a variety of cell types.

Full story.

Creation of 'GM' monkey heralds health revolution

Gene breakthrough offers hope of treatments for 'incurable' Parkinson's disease and MS

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Scientists yesterday announced a breakthrough that could transform research into a range of incurable diseases but spark a dramatic increase in the number of monkeys used in experiments. Researchers have developed a technique to create genetically modified monkeys that suffer from human illnesses.

Experimenting on these monkeys, they believe, will advance our understanding and treatment of incurable conditions such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. However, the scientific breakthrough has caused consternation among groups opposed to animal experiments because the development will almost certainly lead to a sudden increase in the number of primates used in medical research at a time when there are calls for fewer monkeys to be used in experiments.

The development also raises the prospect that we will be able to apply the technique to humans – another primate. This could help families affected by inherited disorders such Huntington's disease and cystic fibrosis by permenantly eradicating their defective genes from future generations.

Full story.

Evidence of macroscopic quantum tunneling detected in nanowires

5/27/09

Phil Ciciora, News Editor
217-333-2177;pciciora@illinois.edu

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A team of researchers at the University of Illinois has demonstrated that, counter to classical Newtonian mechanics, an entire collection of superconducting electrons in an ultrathin superconducting wire is able to “tunnel” as a pack from a state with a higher electrical current to one with a notably lower current, providing more evidence of the phenomenon of macroscopic quantum tunneling.

Physics professors Alexey Bezryadin and Paul Goldbart led the team, with graduate student Mitrabhanu Sahu performing the bulk of the measurements. Their research was published on the Web site of the journal Nature Physics on May 17.

Quantum tunneling is the capability of a particle to inhabit regions of space that would normally be off-limits according to classical mechanics. This research observes a process called a quantum phase slip, whereby packs of roughly 100,000 electrons tunnel together from higher electrical current states to lower ones. The energy locked in the motion of the electrons as they phase slip is dissipated as heat, causing the nanowires to switch from a superconducting state to a more highly resistive one.

It’s through this switching of states that allows the tunneling of the phase slip to be observed, the researchers say.

Full story.

Sulphur in just one hair could blow a terrorist's alibi

A group of researchers from the LGC Chemical Metrology Laboratory in the United Kingdom and the University of Oviedo, Spain, have come up with a method to detect how the proportions of isotopes in a chemical element (atoms with an equal number of protons and electrons but different numbers of neutrons) vary throughout the length of a single hair. The mid-term objective is to be able to use these methods to track the geographical movements of people, including international crime suspects and victims.

In order to carry out this study, which is published this month in the journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, the scientists focused on the most abundant sulphur isotopes in hair keratin – sulphur-32 (32S), which accounts for about 95%, and sulphur-34 (34S), which makes up around 4%. This proportion can change slightly in response to people's diets and if they travel from one country to another, and the technique is able to detect these small variations.

"The new method is based on combining a laser ablation system and multicollector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (abbreviated to LA-MC-ICP-MS)", Rebeca Santamaría-Fernández of LGC, lead author of the study, tells SINC. To summarise, the laser makes contact with the selected fraction of the hair, generating an aerosol, which later ionises within plasma, with the spectrometer providing the exact proportions of the sulphur isotopes.

"The advantage of this method compared with others is the high resolution resulting from use of the laser", points out Santamaría-Fernández. This advance has enabled the scientists to confirm that the sulphur variations in hair can be linked to peoples' geographical movements.

The traveller experiment

The researchers collected hair samples of more than 4cm in length donated by three volunteers. Two were permanent residents in the United Kingdom, while the third – dubbed "the traveller" – had spent the past six months in Croatia, Austria, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Kern foundation awards $10 million to Medical College

By Kathleen Gallagher and Erica Perez of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: May. 26, 2009

Philanthropists Robert and Patricia Kern have pledged $10 million to the Medical College of Wisconsin - the largest, single private gift in the college's history - to develop devices for detecting and treating disease.

The Kerns' personal gift will go to hire researchers and purchase mass spectrometers - sensitive equipment used to find very low concentrations of molecules that might reveal the presence of cancer, heart diseases or other problems.

The new innovation cluster, to be housed in the college's Biotechnology and Bioengineering Center, will capitalize on partnerships with Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, and in the future, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"It's a wonderful gift," said Medical College President and CEO T. Michael Bolger. "It will help propel the medical school into the next echelon of research in molecular biology and cellular biology and genetics."

The innovation cluster will develop new technologies using mass spectrometry that can be transferred into commercial use, said Andrew S. Greene, a physiology professor who runs the biotech and bioengineering center.

Full story.

California couple gives $5 million to Marquette University engineering school

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Updated: May. 21, 2009 11:45 a.m.

A California couple has pledged $5 million to Marquette University's engineering school to endow a chair in secure and renewable energy systems.

The faculty member who holds the Thomas H. and Suzanne M. Werner Chair in Secure and Renewable Energy Systems will lead a multidisciplinary research cluster of four to six faculty members and develop a cutting-edge curriculum, Stan Jaskolski, Marquette's Opus dean of engineering, said in a news release.

Thomas Werner said his vision for the program is that it "trains new technologists in a new field and primes the pump for America to be the innovator in renewable energy."

Full story.

Pfizer signs embryonic stem cell license with UW foundation

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: May. 5, 2009

Pfizer Inc. said Tuesday that it has signed a license with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation to use human embryonic stem cells for the development of new drug therapies. With annual revenue of more than $48 billion,

Pfizer is the biggest of the 35 companies to sign an embryonic stem cell license with the foundation, said Andy DeTienne, WARF's licensing manager for stem cells. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Full story.

Long-lasting Nerve Block Could Change Pain Management

Injectable local anesthetic shows promise for prolonged pain relief without toxicity

April 13, 2009

Boston, Mass. -- Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have developed a slow-release anesthetic drug-delivery system that could potentially revolutionize treatment of pain during and after surgery, and may also have a large impact on chronic pain management.

In NIH-funded work, they used specially designed fat-based particles called liposomes to package saxitoxin, a potent anesthetic, and produced long-lasting local anesthesia in rats without apparent toxicity to nerve or muscle cells. The research will be published online on April 13 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Full story.

April 23 and 24 -- 8th Annual International Bioethics Forum: Sustainability

Where:  BioPharmaceutical Technology Center, Madison, WI
When:  April 23-24, 2009

OVERVIEW: Join us for a lively two days of information-sharing and discussion regarding this important - and often challenging (sometimes controversial) - topic! This year's program is designed to allow participants to explore these questions: How do we define “sustainability” and what are the causes of “unsustainability?” What are the most relevant technologies for us to understand? How are various sectors and organizations responding to these issues, e.g. governmental units, research/educational institutions, businesses and faith communities? What is the role of the individual decision-maker? Does what one person does - or does not do - matter?

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Jaimie P. Cloud, M.A. (President, The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education)
Calvin B. DeWitt, Ph.D. (Professor, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison)
Lewis S. Gilbert, Ph. D. (Associate Director, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison)
Regina Hauser, J.D. (Executive Director, The Natural Step Network)
Mary Ann Lazarus (Senior Vice President, Sustainable Design Director, HOK)
Robert Streiffer, Ph.D. (Associate Professor, Department of Medical History and Department of Philosophy, UW-Madison)
Paul B. Thompson, Ph.D. (Professor, W. K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics, Michigan State University)

For More Information

Flexible, transparent supercapacitors are latest devices from USC nanotube lab

It is a completely transparent and flexible energy conversion and storage device that you can bend and twist like a poker card.

It continues a line of prototype devices created at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering that can perform the electronic operations now usually handled by silicon chips using carbon nanotubes and metal nanowires set in indium oxide films, and can potentially do so at prices competitive with those of existing technologies.

The device is a supercapacitor, a circuit component that can temporarily store large amounts of electrical energy for release when needed. A team headed by Chongwu Zhou describes it a newly-published paper on "Flexible and Transparent Supercapacitor based on Indium Nanowire / Carbon Nanotube Heterogeneous Films" in the journal Applied Physics Letters (Vol.94, Issue 4, Page 043113, 2009).

Its creators believe the device points the way to further applications, such as flexible power supply components in "e-paper" displays and conformable products.

The device stores an energy density of 1.29 Watt-hour/kilogram with a specific capacitance of 64 Farad/gram. By contrast, conventional capacitors usually have an energy density of less than 0.1 Wh/kg and a storage capacitance of several tenth millifarads.

Zhou, who holds the Jack Munushiun Early Career Chair at the USC Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, worked with USC graduate students Po-Chiang Chen and Sawalok Sukcharoenchoke, and post-doc Guozhen Shen.

The group incorporated metal oxide nanowires with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to form heterogeneous films and further optimized the film thickness attaching on transparent plastic substrates to maintain the mechanical flexibility and optical transparency of the supercapacitors.

UWM scientists develop techniques to unravel proteins' mysteries

By Mark Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Mar. 30, 2009

Proteins, the work-horse molecules necessary for virtually every human action from breathing to thinking, have proved an almost ghostly presence, daring scientists to fully grasp their structure and behavior.

Now, physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have developed powerful imaging techniques that promise to tell us much more about what proteins are and what they do, how they change shapes and how they work together in a cell.

Such questions go to the heart of our quest to understand diseases and find effective drugs.

"The vast majority of diseases are caused by impairment in some kind of protein function - too much or not enough of a certain protein, or a protein that's not working properly," said Andy Greene, director of the Biotechnology and Bioengineering Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who was not involved in the UWM work.

Using X-rays, lasers, powerful microscopes and mathematical equations, the UWM scientists have attacked the task of protein-watching on two fronts, publishing papers in the journals Nature Physics and Nature Photonics.

One group led by Valerica Raicu, an assistant physics professor, has discovered a novel way to eavesdrop on the interactions between one protein and another. These communications between proteins are considered vital to understanding what happens inside a living cell.

A second group, led by Abbas Ourmazd, professor of physics and electrical engineering, has developed what may be a vastly improved method of viewing the atomic structure of a single protein.

Full story.

Battle for control of TomoTherapy heating up

Judy Newman Wisconsin State Journal — 3/28/2009 6:17 am

Pressure is mounting on TomoTherapy as its annual stockholders meeting, on May 1, approaches.

TomoTherapy and its disgruntled shareowner, Avalon Portfolio, have each sent stockholders dueling proxy statements, according to papers filed with federal regulators.

TomoTherapy includes a lengthy letter from chief executive Fred Robertson, admitting that 2008 was "clearly a difficult year" but saying the Madison medical device company has taken steps to keep the company strong. Expenses have been cut — including a 12 percent staff reduction — and two product innovations were introduced, Robertson said.

TomoDirect is a quick form of the company’s Hi-Art radiation therapy system for simple cancer treatment, and Tomo Quality Assurance is "the first integrated, machine-specific quality assurance solution to be offered by a radiation therapy vendor," Robertson said. Additional developments also are in the works.

The company has a new global sales manager, a distribution agreement in Japan, and $155 million in cash and short-term investments as of Dec. 31, 2008.

Full story.

Turning sunlight into liquid fuels

Berkeley Lab researchers create a nano-sized photocatalyst for artificial photosynthesis.

Berkeley, CA - For millions of years, green plants have employed photosynthesis to capture energy from sunlight and convert it into electrochemical energy. A goal of scientists has been to develop an artificial version of photosynthesis that can be used to produce liquid fuels from carbon dioxide and water. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have now taken a critical step towards this goal with the discovery that nano-sized crystals of cobalt oxide can effectively carry out the critical photosynthetic reaction of splitting water molecules.

"Photooxidation of water molecules into oxygen, electrons and protons (hydrogen ions) is one of the two essential half reactions of an artifical photosynthesis system - it provides the electrons needed to reduce carbon dioxide to a fuel," said Heinz Frei, a chemist with Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division, who conducted this research with his postdoctoral fellow Feng Jiao. "Effective photooxidation requires a catalyst that is both efficient in its use of solar photons and fast enough to keep up with solar flux in order to avoid wasting those photons. Clusters of cobalt oxide nanocrystals are sufficiently efficient and fast, and are also robust (last a long time) and abundant. They perfectly fit the bill."

Frei and Jiao have reported the results of their study in the journal Angewandte Chemie, in a paper entitled: "Nanostructured Cobalt Oxide Clusters in Mesoporous Silica as Efficient Oxygen-Evolving Catalysts." This research was performed through the Helios Solar Energy Research Center (Helios SERC), a scientific program at Berkeley Lab under the direction of Paul Alivisatos, which is aimed at developing fuels from sunlight. Frei serves as deputy director of Helios SERC.

Full story.

Stimulus stiffs biotech start-ups

Mike Ivey  —  3/11/2009 7:10 am

With all the stimulus money getting tossed around these days, you'd figure biotechnology would be near the top of the wish list.

Instead, specific funding for early stage science companies was practically written out of the $780 billion package, claims the president of Madison-based Centrose LLC.

A line inserted into the massive spending bill says $10 billion in stimulus funds provided to the National Institutes of Health are exempt from a previous requirement that 2.5 percent of NIH research money go to private companies.

"This single line stole a potential $250 million from research being conducted at small businesses," says Centrose CEO and founder Jim Prudent. "That may seem fine to some people. But to the businesses who create most, if not all, of the new non-government jobs, it's an outrage."

Prudent says NIH officials explain they've had difficulty getting enough high-quality grant proposals to meet the small-business funding mandate. They also told Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., that having funding flexibility allows the agency to devote excess money to "pure science" vs. research on a specific product or application.

But Prudent says that approach is a big mistake, arguing that taxpayer dollars are better aimed at actual companies. Founded in 2007, Centrose has eight employees and a sugar-based technology that improves the uptake and potency of pharmaceuticals.

Full story.

Fermilab collider experiments discover rare single top quark

Batavia, Ill.—Scientists of the CDF and DZero collaborations at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have observed particle collisions that produce single top quarks. The discovery of the single top confirms important parameters of particle physics, including the total number of quarks, and has significance for the ongoing search for the Higgs particle at Fermilab’s Tevatron, currently the world’s most powerful operating particle accelerator.

Previously, top quarks had only been observed when produced by the strong nuclear force. That interaction leads to the production of pairs of top quarks. The production of single top quarks, which involves the weak nuclear force and is harder to identify experimentally, has now been observed, almost 14 years to the day of the top quark discovery in 1995.

Searching for single-top production makes finding a needle in a haystack look easy. Only one in every 20 billion proton-antiproton collisions produces a single top quark. Even worse, the signal of these rare occurrences is easily mimicked by other “background” processes that occur at much higher rates.

"Observation of the single top quark production is an important milestone for the Tevatron program," said Dr. Dennis Kovar, Associate Director of the Office of Science for High Energy Physics at the U.S. Department of Energy. "Furthermore, the highly sensitive and successful analysis is an important step in the search for the Higgs."

Discovering the single top quark production presents challenges similar to the Higgs boson search in the need to extract an extremely small signal from a very large background. Advanced analysis techniques pioneered for the single top discovery are now in use for the Higgs boson search. In addition, the single top and the Higgs signals have backgrounds in common, and the single top is itself a background for the Higgs particle.

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Engineers Ride ‘Rogue’ Laser Waves to Build Better Light Sources

New Technology Presented at World's Largest Optical Communication Conference Produces Better Sources of White Light

WASHINGTON, March 4—A freak wave at sea is a terrifying sight. Seven stories tall, wildly unpredictable, and incredibly destructive, such waves have been known to emerge from calm waters and swallow ships whole. But rogue waves of light -- rare and explosive flare-ups that are mathematically similar to their oceanic counterparts -- have recently been tamed by a group of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

UCLA's Daniel Solli, Claus Ropers, and Bahram Jalali are putting rogue light waves to work in order to produce brighter, more stable white light sources, a breakthrough in optics that may pave the way for better clocks, faster cameras, and more powerful radar and communications technologies. Their findings will be presented during the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC), taking place March 22-26 in San Diego.

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