Office Of Technology Development Research Articles

Resilience forms pact with Harvard

National Resilience, a company launched last year to advance disruptive technologies in drug manufacturing, is widening its mandate. It has signed a 5-year R&D partnership with Harvard University to develop novel biologics, vaccines, cell and gene therapies, and other complex medicines. A $30 million investment from Resilience will fund faculty research, coordinated by Harvard’s office of technology development, into therapeutic and manufacturing technologies with an eye toward commercialization. The partners claim to have identified one technology to culture millions of in vitro cells that behave like skeletal muscle stem cells for the treatment of skeletal muscle disorders. Resilience has formed a company, Circle Therapeutics, to license the technology, which was developed in the lab of Lee Rubin, a professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard. Resilience debuted last November as a venture-backed start-up with $800 million in the bank. Industry watchers initially viewed Resilience as a contract development

Primate Brain Atlas Reveals Details of Gene Expression Across Early Lifespan

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical and Research NewsFull AccessPrimate Brain Atlas Reveals Details of Gene Expression Across Early LifespanNick ZagorskiNick ZagorskiSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:7 Oct 2016https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2016.9b10AbstractResearchers have developed a primate brain atlas providing genomic and anatomic data across 10 different points in mammalian development from gestation to young adulthood.In an ambitious effort that combines advanced genomics with classical imaging and staining techniques, researchers have composed a time-lapsed portrait of global brain development in the rhesus macaque from early gestation to adulthood.Other studies in recent years have revealed some details about how genes are expressed in different parts of the brain over time, but this project—published July 13 in Nature—has resulted in the most comprehensive spatial and temporal map of mammalian development to date, noted lead investigator Ed Lein, Ph.D., of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. As part of their analysis, Lein and his team of nearly 100 scientists from multiple institutes compared the trajectory of gene expression in their samples to existing data for rats and humans. They found that 9 percent of genes had differing activity over time in humans compared with macaques, while 22 percent of genes differed between humans and rats. So while this new map was built from a nonhuman model, Lein believes it still should provide meaningful insights into the human brain.Some insight has already been gained as it relates to the developmental trajectories of schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), psychiatric disorders with strong genetic links.These disorders share many clinical characteristics—including social and emotional withdrawal, communication deficits, and poor eye contact. What Lein and his colleagues found was that risk genes associated with ASD and schizophrenia were highly active in the same brain region—the neocortex, which is involved in many higher brain functions like language. The activity was also clustered in the same types of cells, namely postmitotic cells (progenitor cells that have finished their cycles of proliferating and are in the process of maturing and forming connections with other neurons). In comparison, genes associated with microencephaly were active in premitotic brain cells, which would lead to less proliferation and smaller brains.The only major difference between schizophrenia and ASD was timing, according to the findings. Autism-related gene activity was highest during the prenatal period (though many genes were also somewhat active after birth), while schizophrenia risk genes didn’t turn on until around three months after birth, which would be consistent with the later onset of this disorder.This concurrence in space but variance in timing also suggests that while clinical symptoms of these illnesses may appear similar, there likely are differences in the underlying causes. Autism risk genes, for example, impact early processes like the ability of a neuron to form appropriate connections, while schizophrenia risk genes may alter the ability of neurons to change or refine existing connections.This intriguing observation may be only the first of many, as all of the information gathered by this team has been placed in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Blueprint Non-Human Primate Brain Atlas, which contains a wealth of imaging, anatomical, and informatics data.“This tremendous resource is freely available to the research community and will guide important research into the causes of many neurodevelopmental disorders for years to come,” said Michelle Freund, Ph.D., a program officer at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Office of Technology Development and Coordination, in a statement.This project was funded by a contract from NIMH as part of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research. ■An abstract of “A Comprehensive Transcrip-tional Map of Primate Brain Development” can be accessed here. The NIH Blueprint Non-Human Primate Atlas is available here. ISSUES NewArchived

An interview with board member Mick Sawka

What strategies can a university apply to support its researchers in bridging the technology gap between the lab and the market? In this interview with the journal Translational Materials Research, Mick Sawka—Director of Business Development, Physical Sciences, at Harvard University's Office of Technology development—talks through his approach to commercializing scientific breakthroughs and suggests how developers can boost their chances of delivering revolutionary products.

Oxford Nanopore gains exclusive rights to develop and commercialise Harvard technology

Harvard University's Office of Technology Development in the US and UK-based company Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd have formed an agreement to progress nano-pore science. The move aims to integrate discoveries made at Harvard with technology that is in development at Oxford Nanopore.

Opening up the Ivory Tower

Big pharma is increasingly looking to academia for new drug leads and technologies; meanwhile universities are being forced to look beyond the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for funding. This mutual attraction-out-of-necessity is helping to forge new bonds between industry and academia.

Full‐scale technology demonstration of a polyethylene encapsulation process for radioactive, hazardous, and mixed wastes

Abstract A full‐scale technology demonstration of a polyethylene encapsulation process, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Development, was held at the Environmental and Waste Technology Center at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in September 1994 [1]. Polyethylene encapsulation has been developed and tested at BNL as an alternative solidification technology for improved treatment of low‐level radioactive (LLW), hazardous, and mixed wastes. Although originally developed for treatment of DOE‐generated wastes through waste management and environmental restoration activities, polyethylene encapsulation has application within the commercial sector. A fully equipped, production‐scale system, capable of processing over 900 kg/hr (2,000 lb/hr), has been installed at BNL. The demonstration covered all facets of the integrated processing system including pre‐treatment of aqueous wastes, precise feed metering, extrusion processing, on‐line quality control monitoring, and proce...

Foreign technologies reduce costs and accelerate hanford site cleanup

AbstractForeign technologies are being transferred to DOE's Hanford Site in Washington State to reduce costs and accelerate cleanup. Hanford is the most highly contaminated site in the DOE complex; its cleanup mission is projected to take over 30 years at a cost of approximately $230 billion. DOE contractors are using proven foreign technologies and services to accelerate cleanup and bypass costly technology development.Many of the international activities being funded at the Hanford Site by DOE's Office of Environmental Management, Office of Technology Development (EM‐50), play a key role in meeting Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Tri‐Party Agreement) milestones that were established among DOE, EPA, and the Washington State Department of Ecology. For example, the purchase of a safe cask system from France meets the requirement for emergency aboveground transportation of liquid tank waste. An Effluent Treatment Facility built by a U.S. company that is wholly owned by Japan Gas Corporation supports milestones related to effluent waste management. Use of British technical services for various phases of the Initial Pretreatment Module supports other important milestones.This article begins with a brief history of the Hanford Site cleanup mission. The major EM technical focus areas, countries that are collaborating with Hanford Site contractors, and specific initiatives are discussed. This article concludes with a summary of 1994–95 international activities that have had the greatest impact on meeting DOE cleanup goals.

Influence of nitrogen and phosphorus on thein situ bioremediation of trichloroethylene

The US Department of Energy, Office of Technology Development, has supported a field-scalein situ demonstration of trichloroethylene (TCE) bioremediation at the Westinghouse Savannah River Site (WSRS). Several methods were used to examine the influence of nitrogen and phosphorus species on TCE degradation during methane (CH4) injection into contaminated sediments. Laboratory experiments using WSRS ground water revealed that the rate of acetate incorporation into microbial lipids was stimulated when triethyl-phosphate (TEP) or nitrous oxide (N2O) was added. The trend was: CH4+N2O>CH4 +TEP>CH4+N2O+TEP>CH4 alone. The degree of stimulation of14C-TCE mineralization in ground water incubated for 30 d in the laboratory with added methane and nutrients increased in the order: OP=TEP>NH3+TEP=NH3>N2O (OP, orthophosphate; NH3, ammonia). Monitoring of WSRS ground water revealed significant differences among sampling wells over time in nutrient concentrations, nitrogen uptake, and urease activity during operations of the bioremediation demonstration. In the field, the addition of TEP+N2O to the pulsed injection of CH4 resulted in dramatic stimulation of TCE-degrading potentials observed in ground water enrichments. The potential to mineralize14C-TCE in ground water enriched with nutrients in the laboratory increased from 90% of the samples taken during the injection of CH4+TEP+N2O treatment. These results demonstrated the dramatic impacts of nitrogen and phosphorus supplements during thein situ bioremediation of chlorinated solvents.