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Scientists at a Chinese university said Monday they can use rice to make albumin, a protein found in human blood that is often used for treating burns, traumatic shock and liver disease. When extracted from rice seeds, the protein is "physically and chemically equivalent to blood-derived human serum albumin (HSA)," said the research in the US-published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings could lead to a breakthrough in production of HSA, which typically comes from human blood donations. The demand for the blood protein is about 500 tons per year worldwide, and China has faced worrying shortages in the past. The rice method was devised by scientists at Wuhan University in China and colleagues from the National Research Council of Canada and the Center for Functional Genomics at the University at Albany in New York. First, they genetically engineered rice seeds to produce high levels of HSA. Then, they worked out a way to purify the protein from the se...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500165_162-20126356/body-parts-manufacturing-future-may-be-now/ CBS News)   Synthetic body parts sound like something out of a science fiction novel, but body parts that can be used in humans are actually being made and used. A medical professor in England has developed a new nano-plastic that has enabled a world first in organ transplantation and opened the door to "off-the-shelf" body parts.  CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips remarked that professor Alex Seifalian's work might well be the start of a whole new medical industry. While the technique is not yet approved in the United States, Seifalian's London lab is already getting body part orders from other countries around the world. "60 Minutes" on growing body parts Phillips, who recently visited Seifalian's lab, reported that you might think you'd stumbled onto a film set for a re-make of "Frankenstein" in which the synthetic parts are manufactured. Bu...

In desert ‘aircraft graveyards’, where retired planes often go when flight service ends, good parts are removed and sold and many materials are recycled. Increasingly popular strong, light carbon fibre composites (or carbon fibre reinforced plastics) were once too difficult to recycle, so went to landfill. In the past decade, researchers at Nottingham led by Dr Steve Pickering have developed ways to recycle carbon fibre composites. They have worked with Boeing since 2006. Now Boeing plans to invest $1,000,000 per year in a strategic research collaboration – an inclusive partnership in which Boeing will collaborate with Nottingham in all its composites recycling activities. Sir Roger Bone, President of Boeing UK, launched this major new collaborative investment in carbon fibre recycling research involving Boeing Commercial Airplanes and The University of Nottingham’s Faculty of Engineering when he visited Nottingham on Monday 24 October. First introduced into military aircraft 30...

Momentive Performance Materials Inc., one of the leading global providers of silicones and advanced materials, has announced that its StatSil* antimicrobial elastomer platform technology is being customized for a growing number of applications in the healthcare industry, as customers seek built-in antimicrobial protection for various products. The innovative portfolio of addition curable, high consistency rubber (HCR) and liquid silicone rubber (LSR) custom compounds is based on direct incorporation of a silver-based antimicrobial additive into the base silicone elastomer. Silver's effectiveness against a variety of microorganisms, including bacteria and mold, has been demonstrated in several published studies. "StatSil technology is an excellent candidate for manufacturers to consider for greater design flexibility and performance in applications where controlling the growth of microbes in or on the body is of concern," said Dr. Burkhard Ledig, Marketing Manager for Co...

Teijin Aramid started the production of the first all black aramid fiber, Twaron Black, in Emmen. Twaron, normally golden yellow in color due to the chemical process, now is completely black for the first time. With its three production sites in the Netherlands, Teijin Aramid is responsible for more than half of the world's production of aramid. Aramid is difficult to dye by nature, but it is now possible to produce black threads of the same quality. Twaron is five times stronger than steel at the same weight and is often used in bullet-proof vests, ropes and cables, sails and firefighter suits. At the request of customers in the sailing and sports industries, Teijin Aramid started to investigate other colors for Twaron. Twaron Black will soon be seen for the first time in the sails of the world's largest ocean sailing race, the Volvo Ocean Race. For the threads to become completely black, they are not dyed afterwards, like cotton fibers. The production process has...

The formulation features CTS’s new novolac-based bio-hardener, Novocard™ XFN, which introduces a high level of renewable content to prepregs and increases impact strength by 163 percent, when compared to composite prepregs made with a conventional amine-cured resin and carbon fiber.  The aerospace, wind energy, transportation and sporting industries can use the bio-based prepreg in a range of applications due to its versatility and strength. Novocard resin is produced with oil extracted from discarded cashew nutshells. Thermally, chemically, and water-resistant, the bio-resin delivers superior fiber wetting and improved surface appearance.  In addition to higher impact strength, Novocard-cured prepregs show improved material flow properties and processability in hot melt prepreg processes due to longer gel time when compared to traditional amine-cured epoxy systems. Mechanical tests of a composite laminate made with a Novocard prepreg demonstrated higher shear ...

For the reflector used in an automotive interior lighting application, the international automotive supplier Delphi has recently started to employ a high-performance plastic from BASF. After being injection molded, the complex and highly detailed part is metalized by means of physical vapor deposition (PVD), a process with demanding requirements for the plastic. The relatively new Ultrason E 2010 MR is a polyether sulfone ( PESU ) characterized by its good mold release properties. The reflector is manufactured by Goletz GmbH, located in Kierspe (Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia). For this small and complicated part, ease of demolding is especially important, since it could otherwise be removed from the injection mold only with difficulty or possibly even not at all. BASF has succeeded in combining a variety of properties in this material: it offers not only excellent mold release characteristics, but as a high-temperature material it also easily withstands a continuous s...