Visikol Inc., a student-run biotech startup from RU-New Brunswick, raised $500,000 in venture capital in recent days. Named after its product, which is used in scientific and medical research, the company was founded by two current doctoral students at Rutgers - CEO Michael Johnson and chief science officer Tom Villani - along with co-inventors James Simon, a distinguished professor of plant biology at Rutgers, and Adolfina Koroch, a visiting scientist at Rutgers. Visikol is in use by more than 230 researchers around the world to aid in the study of plants. The company has also recently been approved for space in the Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies, an incubator operated by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.   Read more.

As part of a major effort to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia for older African Americans, RU-Newark Neuroscientist Mark Gluck is leading a team that will use a five-year $1 million grant from the New Jersey Department of Health to teach people how to protect their brains through exercise. They hope to demonstrate that this improves memory and cognitive vitality, reducing people's risk for Alzheimer's disease. RU-N's participation in supporting this effort of community-based scholarship and research is part of its strategic plan for being an "anchor institution" that serves the needs of the people of Newark. Read more.

Eric Klein, an assistant professor of biology at Rutgers University-Camden, has received a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. The five-year, $1.2 million grant will fund research on the mysterious properties of a bacterial species. Klein will work with RU-Camden undergraduate and graduate students, in addition to students at the LEAP Academy University Charter School in Camden. Read more.