Search Results for: Research

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has called on EU national governments to increase their spending on radioactive waste management research. Speaking to a Brussels workshop on the topic, he said spending “in many – but not all – member states is not sufficient to make real progress in the short to medium term”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PHARMACEUTICAL companies have been accused of risking missing the opportunities offered by the latest technological zeitgeist, that of nanotechnology. Consultants Lux Research has warned that while European Union (EU) governments are spending on nanotechnology research, large medicine manufacturers are investing very little.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN consortium claims to have successfully developed a mobile and self-erecting crane, “to create a single crane that can do the work of five”. The six participating Belgian, German, Italian and Dutch companies – linked under the banner of European research network Eureka – say the crane “features an anti-sway device which makes it safer as well as more efficient”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PAN-EUROPEAN research project is investigating how nano-particles can best be incorporated in liquids such as paints, improving their effectiveness. For instance, the three-year PROFORM project thinks nano-particles can help protect paint from the sunlight, for instance, but only if these tiny elements are consistently distributed within a liquid, a tall order given the gaps in knowledge about their behaviour and properties.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PAN-EUROPEAN research project is investigating how nano-particles can best be incorporated in liquids such as body-lotions, improving their effectiveness. For instance, the three-year PROFORM project thinks nano-particles can make body-lotions less visible on the skin, but only if these tiny elements are consistently distributed within a liquid, a tall order given the gaps in knowledge about their behaviour and properties.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) has called for international cooperation on testing potential vaccines for HIV/AIDS because it is concerned that the current boom in research could exhaust available clinical trial capacity. WHO vaccine research director Marie-Paule Kieny (CORRECT SPELLING) has called for trials to be shared amongst a number of sites, each of whom were responsible for testing vaccines on a particular strain of the disease.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW European Union (EU)-funded research project is helping the European dye industry survive against intense overseas competition by developing new ecologically-sound niche products. The Euro 10 million SOPHIED project should wrap up next year. Its aims, said an in house technical note, are:

*Identifying new dye molecules which are less toxic and synthesised biotechnologically for high added value markets;

*Creating new safe enzyme-assisted processes for the production of existing dyes;

*Inventing new clean-up technologies for detoxifying dye-contaminated wastewaters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) research network Eureka is developing a quality control device for lignite and brown coal, measuring its purity and calorific content by measuring its natural gamma radiation. Poland’s EMAG Research and Development Centre for Electrical Engineering and Automation in Mining is currently coordinating the project, with potential partners from Greece, its Institute for Solid Fuels Technology and Applications (Isfta) and company Aspo Technology.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A STRATEGIC plan has been developed for developing an effective HIV vaccine by the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise, whose membership includes the European Commission plus 140 agencies and research units from 17 European and developing countries. The plan highlights the main roadblocks to developing a vaccine and suggests how to tackle them.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has drawn up plans to lend Finland pharmaceutical company the Orion Corporation up to Euro 150 million for its research into medicines for central nervous system problems, cardiovascular diseases and hormonal therapies. The bank is supporting the Espoo-based company’s work, under its Innovation 2010 Initiative fostering innovation and research.…