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BIG ideas at Bayer
BSE test takes seconds, costs pennies
Enzymes use quantum tunnels
ConAgra cuts the trans-fat
Chromium picolinate gets thumbs-up
Cargill to process trans-fat-free soy
Innovation
BIG ideas at Bayer
Germany’s Bayer Group has set up
innovation hotshop, Bayer Innovation GmbH BIG in Düsseldorf. An independent
company, BIG is to identify and evaluate innovative project ideas, develop
them into workable business concepts and sell them to Bayer companies or to
third parties.
Bayer CEO Werner Wenning said
"BIG will focus not only on innovative products, but also on completely
new fields of business outside our current portfolio."
Udo Oels, who heads Bayer’s
innovation, technology and environment efforts, will head the shareholder's
committee. The board chairman is Fred-Robert Heiker, former head of
corporate development at Bayer AG, and Ralph Arnold. Heiker said the first
projects are in the field of medical technology, where the aim is to combine
Bayer's expertise in health care and polymers, and in optical data storage
media for secure systems.
Safety
BSE test takes seconds, costs
pennies
A way to screen cattle for BSE in
seconds that was developed in Europe will be commercialised by Colt
Technologies, based in Salt Lake City in the US.
Colt said it acquired the exclusive
worldwide licensing rights from Zurich Holding Co, whose chairman Michael
Stamm, who holds a patent on the use of microwave spectrography to identify
cells. Colt has also agreed to sponsor the research and development of the
test equipment.
Current BSE tests take hours or days
and cost over a thousand dollars per test. Stamm’s method cuts the time to
seconds at a fraction of the current cost.
The technology could also be adapted
to identify other known diseases such as avian influenza (bird flu), and
porcina (swine flu), both of which are transmittable to humans.
Stamm holds a doctorate in
theoretical physics from the University of Munich and is an expert in
microwave frequency identification.
The companies hope to market the
finished product within a year. “We're very optimistic because of
successful proof of concept tests that were conducted in 2004 by a major
Swiss university, and a European government-funded physics laboratory,"
a spokesman said.
Science
Enzymes use quantum tunnels
Efforts to design enzymes that work
better should be more successful now that scientists at the University of
Leicester have shown that enzymes work differently to how most suppose.
They showed recently that some
enzymes can travel through, rather than over, an energy barrier using
quantum mechanical effects such as tunnelling.
This may explain why attempts to make
artificial enzymes have often disappointed. Enzymes are biological molecules
that accelerate chemical reactions and are central to life.
These new ideas upset classical
models of enzyme catalysis. They could have a dramatic effect on the use of
enzymes in industry and biomedical research, as the new theory is likely to
underpin the mode of action of all enzymes.
Ingredients
ConAgra cuts the trans-fat
ConAgra Foods has reformulated its
three national tablespread products to remove trans-fats. Fleischmann's
brand went in June 2004 with Blue Bonnet trans fat-free as of August 2004.
Parkay has just converted. All ConAgra Foods margarines and spreads are
cholesterol-free with zero grams of total carbohydrates per serving.
Research
Chromium picolinate gets thumbs-up
Study results presented at a recent
international Environmental Mutagen Society meeting suggest that the UK’s
Food Safety Agency may be overcautious in its concern that chromium
picolinate is bad for you.
The studies, funded by the
manufacturer of Chromax, suggest that the chemical, widely used in
nutritional supplements to improve insulin function and blood sugar control
in people with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, does not damage DNA
in hamster ovary cell tests.
Chromax has been affirmed as
Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).
Trans fats
Cargill to process trans-fat-free
soy
Cargill is to process Monsanto's new
Vistive low-linolenic soybeans and will market the oil to the food industry.
The low-linolenic soybeans,
introduced last month, will reduce the need for partial hydrogenation of
soybean oil. This will help food companies cut the amount of trans fatty
acids (trans fats) in their products.
For the 2005 growing season, will pay
a premium to Iowa producers for up to 50,000 acres of Vistive soybean
production. The new soybeans, developed through conventional breeding,
contain less than 3% linolenic acid as compared to the typical 8% in
traditional soybeans. This gives a more stable soybean oil, with less need
for hydrogenation. This reduces trans fats in processed soybean oil.
From 1 January 2006 all US food
products and supplements will have to list trans fat content.
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