The University of Minnesota announced Thursday that it has granted an exclusive license to a San Francisco pharmaceutical company that will commercialize a cyanide-poisoning antidote researchers have developed.Vytacera Pharma Inc. will develop and marketSulfanegen, a compound that can be administered by first responders to victims of smoke inhalation or a large-scale terrorist attack. Current treatments [...]

Medical device design usually involves the use of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing, or CAD/CAM environments. The process is long and iterative.Now, two professors at the University of Minnesota have come up with a 3-D visualization device that aims to revolutionize how medical devices are designed and tested, thereby shortening R&D cycles and the costs [...]

The old Medtronic Infuse controversy is being stirred up again.The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today published a story on Thomas Zdeblick, the chairman of the Department of Orthopedics & Rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has received more than $25 million in royalties from Medtronic since 2003.The article calls to question Zdeblick’s position as chairman [...]

Three diabetes-related research projects at Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota received more than $1.8 million through a state-funded research initiative for preventing, treating and curing diabetes.Decade of Discovery is an initiative of the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, a collaboration between the university, the clinic and the state of Minnesota. It [...]

We often hear about medical device approvals, how they are performing in clinical trials, etc, etc. But where are these devices born? How does a medical device go from idea to approval? One answer: the Medical Devices Center at the University of Minnesota. In this interview, Dr. Art Erdman tells us how the unique Medical [...]

Kenny Beckman knows a little bit about personalized medicine.Beckman is the director of the Biomedical Genomics Center at the University of Minnesota. Last week he discussed, among other things, some of his favorite genomics companies while speaking at the 2011 Minnesota Bioscience Summit.Two of Beckman’s picks are Complete Genomics (NASDAQ:GNOM) and Knome, which he says [...]

You’ve likely heard of the pharma patent cliff. But upcoming drug patent expiration dates are also threatening another sector: university technology transfer offices.The University of Minnesota, which has spent years resuscitating its tech transfer prowess, is now among the institutions facing a patent cliff that will dry up revenue from commercialized research. Most of its [...]

A St. Jude Medical research scientist will now pave the way for healthcare innovations emerging from the University of Minnesota.Saurav Paul, who has been with the Minnesota medical device company since 2002, has been named director of the Innovation Fellows Program at the University of Minnesota’s Medical Devices Center, the Star Tribune reported Tuesday.Paul replaces [...]

It’s time to call the $24 million University Enterprise Laboratories Inc. what it is: a successful landlord.During the past six years, UEL has portrayed itself as a biotech incubator helping the University of Minnesota’s technology transfer efforts. But, for the most part, the university has been propping up what is a textbook case of how [...]

Budget cuts may be a harsh reality that other Minnesota entities engaged in economic development have to face.Not the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, a collaboration between the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota.Following the longest state shutdown in U.S. history, state lawmakers have decided to provide the group with $7.49 million [...]