Veterinary Memorial Fund transforms grief into promise
Blacksburg, Va. -- When President George W. Bush lost his beloved dog Spot earlier this year, he received a letter of consolation from Gerhardt Schurig, dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.... ...The letter informed the President that a donation had been made to the college's "Veterinary Memorial Fund" by an employee in the White House in honor of his beloved spa...Bush nominates NJIT space explorer Louis Lanzerotti to NSF governing board
President George W. Bush has nominated Louis J. Lanzerotti, PhD, distinguished professor of physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), to serve on the National Science Board (NSB), the 24-member governing body of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Eight prominent nominees were named on the basis of their distinguished service in science and engineering research. They will fill six...Groundbreaking research could ignite new solutions to heat transfer in nano-devices
For the first time, an innovative research technique successfully completed a detailed measurement of how heat energy is created at the molecular level, an approach that could have far reaching implications for developing nano-devices.... Research results to be published in the upcoming issue of Science, detail a collaborative effort involving The University of Scranton, a Jesuit university in Pe...Study explores gene transfer to modify underlying course of Alzheimer's disease
Investigators at Rush University Medical Center have successfully initiated a new technique that uses gene therapy to deliver nerve growth factor into regions of the brain where neurons are degenerating, in order to prevent cell death and reverse cell atrophy, two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. If successful, this could be a major step toward modifying the course of the disease. Rush is the on...NSF awards 22 new projects for plant genome research
ARLINGTON, Va.--The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made 22 new awards as part of the seventh year of its Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP). From apples to Zea mays, the program's goal is to expand knowledge about the biology of the plant kingdom, especially plants that people around the world rely on for food, clothing and other needs....... The awards involve researchers from 56 instit...NSF and AIBS sign cooperative agreement for NEON project office
Arlington, Va.--The scientific community's effort to create a National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) enters a new phase today. ... ...With a two-year, $6 million cooperative agreement from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) will set up a NEON design consortium and project office to develop a blueprint for the network and a plan for...Northeastern University receives $12.4 million NSF grant for creation of nanomanufacturing institute
(9-21-04) BOSTON, Mass. The National Science Foundation today announced a $12.4 ($12.376 million for five years) million grant for a new nanoscale science and engineering center to be headquartered at Northeastern University. The grant fortifies a partnership between Northeastern and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the University of New Hampshire Durham, and a number of industry partners...NSF announces six 'FIBR' awards to tackle some of biology's most challenging questions
ARLINGTON, Va.-- How exactly do animals move? How do organisms adapt to newly acquired genes? What genetic forces draw members of an ecological community together? And does social behavior originate in nature, nurture or both? To tackle these and other major questions in biology, the National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced six new awards totaling nearly $30 million over five years from...NSF awards $10 million in grants to ocean sites for long-term ecological research
Arlington, Va.--Coral reefs and coastal upwelling ecosystems are the subjects of two new Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites awarded funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF). With the addition of the Moorea Coral Reef LTER Site and the California Current Ecosystem LTER Site, there are now 26 NSF-funded sites in the LTER network. The two newest sites will receive approximately $82...UGA named recipient of $5.6 million grant from NSF for corn improvement
Corn is by far the most important cereal grain grown in the United States, and a project at the University of Georgia that could one day lead to the development of artificial corn chromosomes has just been awarded a five-year grant by the National Science Foundation for $5.6 million. ... ...Artificial chromosomes could provide breakthroughs in corn production. For instance, genes protecting crops...NSF invites science journalists to conference
Science journalists are invited to attend a National Science Foundation (NSF) Principal Investigator's meeting for researchers exploring the links between biocomplexity and the environment. The conference will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, Va., Sept. 14-17, 2003....... Speakers include: Dr. Rita Colwell, director of NSF; Dr. Margaret Leinen, NSF assistant director for geos...UCLA receives NSF award for plasma research
UCLA researchers have received a Major Research Instrumentation Program award from the National Science Foundation to build a 256-node, 512-processor computer cluster to advance research and education in broad and diverse areas of plasma science. This major award recognizes the significant role computation plays in scientific discovery and technological advances and especially highlights the stro...UGA faculty of engineering researchers awarded $1 million NSF grant to develop nanoscale biosensors
The National Science Foundation has awarded $1 million to a team of University of Georgia researchers to study and develop 3-D nanoscale structures to address problems in biosensing. The increasing demand and interest in developing implantable glucose sensors for treating diabetes has led to notable progress in this area and the team plans to refine key issues of long-term calibration and other...New $9 million NSF grant to fund creation of center at LSU
A new $9 million research grant from the National Science Foundation will fund the establishment of the Center for BioModular Microsystems, or CBM2, at LSU.... The center represents a collaboration between researchers at LSU, LSU's Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices, the LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans, Tulane Health Science Center and Xavier University in New Orleans. ......The protection of human subjects in gene transfer research explored at conference in July
The protection of human subjects as research volunteers in gene transfer clinical trials is the topic of a conference July 8-10, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago, and sponsored by Rush University Medical Center, Chicago.... ...The conference is being held in collaboration with the federal Food and Drug Administration, the Office of Human Research Protection, the University of Chicago, the Depa...From lung to gut the Wnt signaling pathway transforms cell fate
Researchers have uncovered a cellular mechanism that can alter the fate of progenitor cells that normally generate the lung, causing them to create gut cells instead. The findings, which are published this week in the top-tier Open Access journal, Journal of Biology, could help researchers hoping to use adult stem cells for therapeutic purposes....... Brigid Hogan and Tadashi Okubo, from Duke Uni...Proteins transform DNA into 'molecular velcro'
Proteins critical for compacting DNA in preparation for cell division actually interact with the double helix to fashion it into a kind of "molecular Velcro," researchers have discovered.... ...The proteins, called condensins, are important for a variety of housekeeping processes in chromosomes, but the mechanics behind their function have been largely unknown. When the researchers alter...NSF funds summer research program abroad for undergraduates at UC San Diego
Undergraduate students from the University of California, San Diego will be living and working this summer thousands of miles away from the La Jolla campus, doing research at leading technology laboratories in Japan, Taiwan and Australia. They will take part in a three-year, $156,000 program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help prepare more U.S. engineers and scientists to work...URI oceanographer awarded NSF grant to study function of jellyfish in coastal ecosystems
URI Graduate School of Oceanography biological oceanographer Dr. Dian Gifford and collaborators Dr. John Costello, Providence College, and Dr. Sean Colin, Roger Williams University, have been awarded an $860,400 grant by the National Science Foundation to study the ecological function of small jellyfish (hydromedusae) in coastal ecosystems. The three-year project will begin on June 1.... The foc...Gene transfer allows mammals to produce heart-healthy fats
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have found that tissues from mice transgenic for a gene usually found in the c.elegans roundworm contain omega-3 fatty acids, consumption of which has been shown to protect against heart disease. Usually mammals cannot produce omega-3s from the more abundant omega-6 fatty acids, which do not have the health benefits of omega-3s. The finding,...Breakthroughs lead to better understanding in prevention of transfusion-transmitted infection
(SAN DIEGO, Calif., December 8, 2003) While the nation's blood supply is safe overall and there is a relatively small likelihood that transfusion recipients will acquire a transmitted disease, there are still risks involved when transferring one person's blood into another. The advent of new diseases, such as West Nile Virus (WNV), increases the need for further clinical vigilance and improved...U of Minnesota receives NSF grant to sequence bacterial genome
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL--The University of Minnesota has received a National Science Foundation grant of $699,245 for sequencing the genome of a soil bacterium that breaks down atrazine and other herbicides. ...... "This isn't just an esoteric science--it has a definite impact on people's lives," said Sadowsky. "It speeds up the discovery of useful attributes that microbes have by orders of magnit...University of Minnesota receives NSF grant to sequence legume genome
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL--The University of Minnesota has received $10.8 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a multi-institution initiative to sequence the genome of a model legume known by its scientific name, Medicago truncatula (the barrel medic). Medicago truncatula is the third plant genome to be sequenced; only Arabidopsis--a plant widely studied as a model green plant--and...NSF awards four-year, $3.9 million grant to plant biology team led by University of Georgia
The National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research Program has awarded a grant of $3.9 million to a team of researchers directed by University of Georgia plant biologist Michael Scanlon. ......The funded project is called "Functional Analyses of Genes Involved in Meristem Organization and Leaf Initiation," and will be granted over a four-year period. ......"This NSF award to Dr. Scanlon's te...NSF awards $31.9 million in grants to study biocomplexity in the environment
To better understand the interrelationships among living things from molecular structures to genes to ecosystems--and how they interact with their environment--the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $31.9 million in 30 research grants to scientists and engineers across the country.... ..."These investigations will provide a more complete understanding of natural processes and cycles, o...NSF awards $68 million for new engineering centers
ARLINGTON, Va.- The National Science Foundation (NSF), the independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, announces four new Engineering Research Centers (ERCs), an initial estimated NSF investment of $68 million over the next five years. ... ...The centers will conduct pioneering research in emerging technologies and tra...$9.4 million NSF grant backs UCSB-led effort in bio-image informatics
Santa Barbara, Calif.--The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $9.4 million grant to a research project led by University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) electrical and computer engineering professor Bangalore Manjunath. The five-year grant, one of eight the NSF conferred through its Information Technology Research (ITR) program, provides $6.9 million to UCSB and $2.5 million t...NSF grant to ORNL is big step toward national cyberinfrastructure
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Sept. 29, 2003 -- Researchers from around the nation will have access to some of the world's finest scientific tools because of a $3.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to the Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ......The grant, announced today by NSF, is to establish a network hub and high-performance network connections to suppo...NSF'S 'FIBR' to mix disciplines, use breakthroughs on 5-year explorations into biology's mysteries
ARLINGTON, Va.--How do species arise? Do they even matter among microbes? And what does sex--or more precisely, genetic recombination--do for Daphnia?... ...These questions are among those to be pursued by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) new Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research (FIBR) program, which today announced its first six five-year projects. Totaling $30 million, they e...ORNL earns top Southeastern laboratory technology transfer award
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Sept. 19, 2003--Robust wireless technologies for extreme-environment communications--developed by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory--received the Excellence In Technology Transfer Award of the Year during the annual awards dinner of the Southeastern Region of the Federal Laboratory Consortium Sept. 18 in Charleston, S.C....... The ORNL-developed wireless c...NSF news tips - September 22, 2003
... ... By matching bicuspid to bicuspid and filling to filling, forensic investigators use dental records to give a John or Jane Doe a real name. Researchers from West Virginia University, Michigan State University and the University of Miami are combining advanced image-processing techniques with elements of logic to accelerate and improve the accuracy of identity matches. ...... The researc...UC San Diego researchers receive $14 million from NSF for 10 new information technology projects
San Diego, Sept. 17, 2003 -- Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) will receive more than $14.3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for ten new projects in the information-technology arena. Twenty-one faculty members and researchers will investigate topics ranging from how to make cryptography easier to use, to the development of better computer simulations...Platelet refrigeration method may ease shortages for transfusions, researchers report in Science
A new method for treating and chilling blood platelets may prolong their shelf-life by a week or more, helping to ease chronic shortages that endanger patients needing platelet transfusions. These findings appear in the 12 September issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS, the science society.... ...Platelets, the cell fragments in blood that help make clots to stop bleeding, must current...Amphibians' life stages influence contaminant transfer from aquatic to terrestrial environments
Scientists at the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory have taken the first step toward understanding how variations in the life stages of amphibians may influence contaminant transfer from aquatic to terrestrial environments. Using bullfrog larvae from a coal combustion waste-settling basin, the scientists investigated the effects of both developmental stage and the timing o...Success and single embryo transfer in IVF
Madrid, Spain: Doctors in Australia have found that transferring one embryo instead of two during an IVF cycle does not reduce the chances of a woman having a baby, when frozen as well as fresh embryos are taken into account.... ...Dr. Jim Catt, Embryology director of Sydney IVF, Australia, and his colleagues have conducted the first study looking at cumulative pregnancy and live birth rates that...VEGF gene transfer fails to help peripheral arterial disease patients
CHICAGO A gene-transfer study aimed at easing the pain and disability caused by blocked leg blood vessels -- via the injection of a gene to encourage the growth of new capillaries does not improve symptoms more than placebo, new results show.... ...But University of Michigan cardiologist Sanjay Rajagopalan, M.D. says that related strategies now being tested hold the potential to fulfill expecta...NIH and NSF team up to link math and biology at February 12 Symposium
The future of biological research depends partly on mathematics. ...... Math is a key framework for organizing and making sense of the vast amounts of biological data that scientists have generated in recent years. For example, mathematical models are a powerful way to understand complex biological systems....... To bring more mathematicians into biological research, the National Institutes of...Oxygen key switch in transforming adult stem cells from fat into cartilage
NEW ORLEANS -- In their ongoing research on turning adult stem cells isolated from fat into cartilage, Duke University Medical Center researchers have demonstrated that the level of oxygen present during the transformation process is a key switch in stimulating the stem cells to change....... Their findings were presented today (Feb. 2, 2003) at the annual meeting of the Orthopedic Research Socie...Webcast of NSF Director Rita Colwell's Chafee Memorial Lecture
National Science Foundation Director Dr. Rita Colwell's presentation of the third John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture on Science and the Environment will be webcast live from the 3rd National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment on Thursday, January 30th, at 5:30 p.m.... ...Colwell's talk is titled "Obstinate Issues, Sophisticated Solutions: Environmental Science and Education for a New...Facing extreme ice conditions, coast guard, NSF deploy second icebreaker to Antarctica
Extremely unusual ice conditions at McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) logistics and science hub in Antarctica, will require two Coast Guard icebreakers to ensure that resupply and refueling ships can reach the station. ... Al Sutherland, ocean projects manager in NSF's Office of Polar Programs, said the ice extends almost three times farther out from the station than...