Trainable Skin Cells
Our pets may be difficult to train, but researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a peptide-based hydrogel system that helps encourage skin cells to crawl towards each other, leading to a more rapid closure on chronic wounds commonly found in diabetic patients. With their hydrogel system, wounds closed in less than 2 weeks. […]
Caramel: A Baker’s Excuse for Over-Cooking
As the holiday baking season approaches, we are naturally thinking about caramel. At CPG, we have tested caramels and other food products in order to determine why some of these products have better ‘mouth-feel’ than others based on rheological assessment, a science sometimes termed ‘psychorheology’. Chemistry of Caramel The discussion today, however, has to do […]
FDA Workshop on Refurbishing of Medical Devices
If you were not able to attend the FDA workshop on “Refurbishing, Reconditioning, Rebuilding, Remarketing, Remanufacturing, and Servicing of Medical Devices Performed by Third-Party Entities and Original Equipment Manufacturers” last October, the video and transcript are available here. CPG President Stephen Spiegelberg speaks during October 28, Part 4.
Nano Diet for Silkworms
Silk is recognized as an expensive, luxury textile material, having been used for several thousand years for fine fabrics, tapestries, clothing, and runs. Silk is a protein-based fiber produced by the larvae-form of several insects, most notably silkworms, but also by spiders, bees, beetles, and other insects. The mechanical properties of silk can rival synthetic […]
Tickling the Synthetic Formulations
You may have heard the expression ‘tickling the ivories,’ referring to someone playing the piano. This expression of course results from the original coverings on the white keys of a piano, which were ivory chips from the tusks of elephants and walruses. White piano keys were usually made of spruce or basswood so that the […]
Degradable Products in Medical Devices
Join Cambridge Polymer Group scientists Adam Kozak and Stephen Spiegelberg for a webinar on how to establish and mitigate the risks of degradable products in medical devices. This webinar will focus on techniques to identify and quantify degradation products in in vitro and in vivo environments. Knowledge of the kinetics of degradation products and the […]
Reprocessing Medical Devices Primer
With the upcoming ASTM workshop on reprocessing of re-usable devices, we thought a primer on this important area of the health care industry would be in order. Reprocessing is a set of procedures that will take a previously used medical device and return it to a state fit for a subsequent clinical use. Usually, the […]
CPG Achieves ISO 9001:2015 Certification
Click to view certificate CPG Transitions from ISO 9001:2008 to the Updated ISO 9001:2015 Standard Cambridge Polymer Group is pleased to announce that it is now certified as an ISO 9001:2015 compliant organization by International Certifications Ltd. CPG is certified as meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 for the following activities: Contract Research and Analytical […]
Origin of the Jack O’Lantern
Originally, “Jack o’lantern” meant “man with a lantern,” but was later used to describe the lights that floated over bogs, swamps and marshes. Before science provided possible explanations for these lights, many believed the illuminations to be wandering spirits. Irish children carved lanterns out of turnips and carried them about, simulating the floating lights to […]
Hydrogel Horticulture
Flowers usually open to the sun, but scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have engineered a polymer bloom that unfurls over the course of two hours, due to the location, strength and number of its molecular bonds. This feat of hydrogel horticulture isn’t just aesthetically pleasing, it also demonstrates how a […]