New York State Health IT Strategy May Be Model For The Nation Health information technology programs implemented in New York state are active and functioning a full two years after being established, and could serve as models for new federal initiatives, according to a study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Patented Inventions Double at University of Buffalo An antibody with the potential to stop breast cancer in its path. A nanoparticle that can address a side effect of the treatment that hemophiliacs cannot live without. A "quantum dot" with the potential to treat cancer or harvest the power of the sun. An air purifier that kills the world's nastiest toxins. No, they're not the stuff of science fiction. These are some of the new inventions that were patented in 2008 by University at Buffalo researchers, a year that has seen the number of UB patents more than double from nine in 2007 to 21 last year.
Nanotechnology Research Network Receives Five-Year Renewal Grant from NSF A high-profile consortium of nanotechnology research centers, of which Cornell is a founding member, has received a five-year renewal grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the amount of $17 million per year. With the renewal -- a 20 percent increase over the previous grant -- the Network entered its second five-year term on March 1 and provides researchers with cutting-edge facilities and support in nanoscale fabrication, synthesis, characterization, modeling, design, computation and training.
Nanomedical Product Creation The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it will collaborate with the Alliance for NanoHealth to speed creation of safe nanotechnology medical products. The FDA said it and the alliance's member institutions will cooperate in a nanotechnology initiative to "expand knowledge of how nanoparticles behave and affect biologic systems, and to facilitate the development of tests and processes that might mitigate the risks associated with nanoengineered products."
New Funding for Cancer Research The National Cancer Institute will give $22.5 million a year to fund nine different cancer research centers that will serve as the core of its Integrative Cancer Biology Program. These Centers for Cancer Systems Biology may receive up to $2 million per year in direct costs for up to five years to conduct interdisciplinary research that will couple systems biology with computational methods.
A Call for Energy Discovery-Innovation Institutes A recent report from the presidents of several universities and the Brookings Institution called for creation of a national network of "discovery-innovation institutes," with up to $6 billion in federal funds, to focus on energy research with direct commercial use.