In today’s Bulldog wrapup of life science and technology news:

  • Pressured by government, Uber agrees to protect rider data
  • Can’t wait for delivery? Amazon offers instant pickup
  • 5 researchers share $500,000 prize for work on gene editing
  • New Facebook data center a boost to Ohio’s technology sector

The details:

  • Pressured by government, Uber agrees to protect rider data

Ride-hailing service Uber has agreed to protect data and audit use of rider information to settle a complaint from the federal government that it deceived customers.

The Federal Trade Commission, in a complaint settled on Tuesday, alleged that Uber failed to secure data about rider trips and neglected to monitor employee access to the information. It’s another in a long string of missteps for the San Francisco-based company, which faces a separate federal investigation for allegedly using a phony app to block city inspectors from monitoring its service.

Uber misrepresented how well it monitored employee access to personal information about users and drivers, and it misstated that it took steps to secure customer data, FTC Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen said in a statement. “This case shows that even if you’re a fast-growing company, you can’t leave consumers behind: You must honor your privacy and security promises,” she said.

Uber said the allegations date to 2014, and before the government complaint, it had already put safeguards in place to protect data. Since then, it has strengthened privacy and data security and will keep investing in security programs, the company said.

But the FTC alleged in its complaint that after news reports of Uber employees improperly accessing customer data, the company issued a statement in November of 2014 that it had a strict policy prohibiting employees from viewing the data except for legitimate business purposes. The company also said employee access would be closely monitored.

But Uber stopped using a monitoring system less than a year later and for nine months, rarely monitored access to customer and driver information.

Also, Uber claimed that data was securely stored in its databases, but an intruder gained access to driver data in May of 2014, including 100,000 names and driver’s license numbers, the complaint said.

  • Can’t wait for delivery? Amazon offers instant pickup

Need some chips fast? Amazon has you covered.

The Seattle-based company launched a service Tuesday that lets Prime members in five cities pick up things like snacks, cold drinks or phone chargers within two minutes of ordering them online. Customers need to head over to an Amazon location to collect their order.

The service, called Instant Pickup, is the latest move by the e-commerce giant to grow its presence in physical stores. Amazon.com Inc. has been opening brick-and-mortar book shops around the country and is buying organic grocer Whole Foods.

For now, the pickup locations are near college campuses in five cities: Atlanta; Berkeley, California; College Park, Maryland; Columbus, Ohio; and Los Angeles.

Amazon says it plans to expand the service into more locations in the coming months.

  • 5 researchers share $500,000 prize for work on gene editing

Five researchers will share a $500,000 medical prize for their roles in developing a groundbreaking gene-editing tool that lets scientists alter the DNA of living cells.

The recipients of the annual Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research were announced Tuesday. They are being recognized for their contributions related to the development of the tool, called CRISPR-Cas9.

The faster, cheaper and simpler gene-editing tool has sparked a boom in research over the past five years. Researchers using the technology recently edited the genes of piglets to rid them of viruses harmful to humans, a step that could lead to viable organ transplants from animals.

The recipients are: Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany; Jennifer Doudna, University of California, Berkeley; Luciano Marraffini, The Rockefeller University, New York City; Francisco J.M. Mojica, University of Alicante, Spain; Feng Zhang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“The Albany Prize recognizes that such a significant development in science is brought forth by a community of scientists, and, therefore, we felt it was appropriate to name a larger number of recipients than in the past,” said Vincent Verdile, dean of Albany Medical College.

The five researchers will receive the award at a ceremony Sept. 27 in Albany, New York.

  • New Facebook data center a boost to Ohio’s technology sector

Facebook will spend $750 million on a new data center in central Ohio, the company announced Tuesday — marking another boost for the state’s growing technology sector.

The world’s biggest social media company joined Republican Gov. John Kasich and a host of other dignitaries to announce its 10th data center will be in New Albany, just northeast of Columbus.

The 22-acre (8.9-hectare) data center will be powered exclusively with renewable energy. It is expected to employ 100 people to start and to begin providing services in 2019.

Rachel Peterson, the company’s director of data center strategy and development, said several factors attracted Facebook to the location, including fiber and power infrastructure, government support, livability and the availability of high-tech talent.

“We look at that community fit and how we’re going to live and work in a community,” she said. “We not only live there. We work there, too. We hire there locally. So we want to make sure there’s a strong fit.”

She said the availability of renewable energy sources, including wind, solar and hydro, was critical to the decision — a factor underlined by Kasich, who has pushed back against legislative efforts to turn back the state’s alternative energy requirements.