Indiana University, EPA to study airborne PCBs
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The elevated PCB levels in U.S. lakes and rivers that led to hundreds of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fish consumption advisories in 2003 may be the result of not only the toxin's persistence underground but also its diffusion through the air....... To investigate the phenomenon, the EPA announced today (Sept. 27) that it would continue its collaboration with Indiana...University of Alberta researcher looks for clues to mysterious disease
Few have heard of the degenerative, deadly disease called Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) but a University of Alberta researcher is hoping to provide clues to this mysterious disorder.... ...Dr. Shelagh Campbell, from the U of A's Department of Biological Sciences, is a basic researcher who studies how normal cell cycles are regulated, by analyzing genes that are responsible for repairing DNA damage...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...K-State, other universities to study how climate affects plant evolution
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Kansas State University is one of several universities that will share an estimated $5 million federal grant to study how plants respond to environmental changes and how the genetic ...pathways underlying their responses evolve in different climates....... "K-State is working with some of the premier labs in the world on this project, which is being funded by the National Scien...Washington University in St. Louis leads group studying aging process
A research team of biologists and engineers led by faculty at Washington University in St. Louis is seeking to find the Fountain of Youth not in Florida, but in photosynthetic cyanobacteria (ancient little blue-green algae). Looking at the cellular systems in cyanobacteria, and then in a model plant and a moss species, these researchers want to determine how these organisms protect themselves...Tufts University establishes $4 million dollar tissue engineering resource center
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. With a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Tufts University has established a Tissue Engineering Resource Center on its Medford/Somerville campus, officials announced today.... ...The grant is funded through the NIH's National Institutes of Biomedical Instrumentation and Bioengineering.... ...Tissue engineering has grown immensely as a discipline...Case for IBD combination therapy comes from research at Baylor, MIT and Hebrew University
Snowmass, Co. (September 10, 2004) - Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, comprised of Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis, are for the most part incurable and their causes are still unknown. About 1 million Americans suffer from IBD and research around the world on new therapeutic strategies against IBD is being reported at a conference sponsored by the American Physiological Society. ... ...On one t...Novel IBD therapeutic approaches reported from Washington Univ., Barcelona, LSU at APS meeting
Snowmass, Co. (September 9, 2004) Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, comprised of Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis, are for the most part incurable and their causes are still unknown. About 1 million Americans suffer from IBD and research around the world on new therapeutic strategies against IBD is being reported at a conference sponsored by the American Physiological Society. ......... ...Below...'Defensive' action by influenza viruses demonstrated by Hebrew university researcher
Combating viruses is often a frustrating business. Find a way to destroy them --- and before you know it, they've found a way to defend themselves and neutralize the anti-viral treatment. ......How, exactly, do the viruses do it? In an article published as the cover story in a recent issue of the journal Proteins, a Hebrew University of Jerusalem researcher, Prof. Isaiah (Shy) T. Arkin, has reve...As informatics grows, Indiana University helps set 'research agenda'
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- As an academic field, it's still very young. But informatics -- the study of information technology and its use -- has already had a palpable effect on people's lives. ... ..."In recent decades, technology has so enhanced our ability to gather data that the sheer volume of data now outstrips our capacity to deal with it," said Indiana University School of Informatics Dean J....University of Arizona licenses patent for natural fungicide
The University of Arizona has licensed its patent for a natural fungicide to Jeneil Biosurfactant Company, a winner of the 2004 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award....... The patent is for the use of a natural product called rhamnolipid to combat fungus-like organisms that cause some of the most economically damaging plant diseases in the world....... Compared with other fungicides, "rha...Washington University in St. Louis plays key role in sequencing moss genome
Washington University in St. Louis will be involved directly with sequencing the entire genome of the moss, Physcomitrella patens, at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Creek, Calif. The Community Sequencing Program at the United States Department of Energy chose a proposal submitted by Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., Spencer T. Olin Professor and Washington University biology department chair...University of Pittsburgh receives $10 million grant for head and neck cancer
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 26 The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) has received a five-year, $10 million Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) federal grant to examine innovative treatment strategies designed to improve survival outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer. The grant, awarded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), is the second SPORE awarded to UPCI the f...Clemson University spin-off uses corn to make plastics, provide cleaner air
CLEMSON -- Tetramer Technologies, LLC is adding corn to plastic containers -- and cars, airplanes and golf clubs -- while creating jobs along the way.... ...The Pendleton-based Clemson University spin-off company received a $100,000 Phase I Small Business Innovative Research award (SBIR) from the National Science Foundation to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of plastics partially derived f...Carnegie Mellon University hosts ACS-PRF summer school on green chemistry
... ... The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF) is sponsoring a summer school on green chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University. Close to 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from countries including Canada, the United States, Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico will come to Carnegie Mellon for a week of immersion in green chemistry, the science of replacing polluting pr...Springtime blooms seen earlier now than in the past, say Boston University biologists
(Boston) Taking something of a back-to-the-future approach, biologists from Boston University have looked into the past to find that flowering plants growing today blossom more than a week earlier than a century ago. Their findings, being presented at the Society for Conservation Biology's annual meeting in New York City July 30 August 2, show that among the plants studied in Boston's Arnold A...University of Pittsburgh medical center among first to implant heart assist device
PITTSBURGH, July 20 The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) today is discharging its first patient who was successfully implanted, on July 2, with the Heartmate XVE Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS). It was implanted as a permanent implant in lieu of a heart transplant, as opposed to the traditional use for this type of device....... The patient, 58-year-old John Didion, has recov...Fat cells fight disease, Purdue University researchers find
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Fat cells, commonly blamed for a number of diseases, also may aid in the body's defense against illnesses such as diabetes and cancer, according to Purdue University researchers.... ...Rather than contributing to disease, fat cells, or adipocytes (pronounced ah-dip-poe-sights), normally function as part of the immune system and help control lipid accumulation, so they actua...Tufts University bioengineers discover secret of spider, silkworm fiber strength
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. Tufts University bioengineers have discovered how spiders and silkworms are able to spin webs and cocoons made of incredibly strong fibers. The answer lies in how they control the silk protein solubility and structural organization in their glands....... "This finding could lead to the development of processing methods resulting in new high-strength and high-performance...University of Chicago scientists pinpoint cellular cause of SIDS
University of Chicago researchers may have found a crucial clue to understanding and ultimately eliminating sudden infant death syndrome, the leading cause of post-neonatal mortality in the United States. Approximately 3,000 infants die each year from the disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ... ...In the July 8, 2004, issue of the journal Neuron, the researchers...National study shows dog and cat allergens are universally present in U.S. homes
Scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have found that detectable levels of dog and cat allergens are universally present in U.S. homes. Although allergen levels were considerably higher in homes with an indoor dog or cat, levels previously associated with an...Earliest evidence of hereditary genetic disorder discovered by Hebrew University researchers
The discovery of what is believed to be the oldest evidence yet found of a human hereditary genetic disorder has been announced by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.... ...The researchers are Dr. Uri Zilberman and Patricia Smith, the Joel Wilbush Professor of Medical Anthropology, both of the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the Hebrew University and Dr. Silvana Condemi a senior rese...NIH awards grant for cancer research to the University of Wisconsin
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced today the award of a $7 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to the University of Wisconsin to help construct a cancer research facility, which will enable basic researchers and clinical investigators to work together to address the causes, prevention, and treatment of breast cancer. Last year, the Secretary announced a similar award to the U...COPD is forgotten killer, says University of Toronto professor
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will kill more women in Canada this year than breast cancer, says a University of Toronto researcher.... ...In a paper published in the June 2004 issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, U of T medical professor Kenneth R. Chapman says women may be more predisposed to develop COPD, a permanent narrowing of the breathing tubes, because of their smaller airwa...Therapeutic cloning may be permitted at Newcastle University
A special licensing committee of the UK Human Fertilization & Embryology Authority (HFEA) met on June 16 in London to decide whether to grant a license to scientists at The Center for Life at Newcastle University. If approved, this will be the first license to begin research involving cell nuclear replacement (therapeutic cloning), focusing on the treatment of diabetes in the UK and will be a fir...Clemson University researcher reaches for the stars to prevent osteoporosis
CLEMSON -- A Clemson University researcher looks to astronauts in space to help prevent osteoporosis here on earth.... ...The National Space Biomedical Research Institute has announced that Clemson University professor of bioengineering Ted Bateman will receive $725,000 to study bone loss in astronauts.... ...The skeletal system is dynamic, constantly restoring old, damaged bone with newer b...NIH funds new Boston College-Boston University study of B-1a cell associated with leukemia
BC Biology Professor Thomas Chiles and Colleagues at BU Medical Center Awarded NIH Program Project Grant to Study Type of White Blood Cell Associated with Lymphocytic Leukemia... ...Boston College Biology Professor Thomas Chiles and colleagues at Boston University Medical Center have been awarded a five-year, approximately $4.5-million program project grant from the National Institutes of Allergy...Tufts University groundbreaking research on caterpillar locomotion
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. Tufts University neurobiologist Barry Trimmer is inching his way to unlocking the secrets behind the way caterpillars maneuver and climb, and is using that knowledge to one day build flexible robots that could explore internal organs, blood vessels and the insides of pipelines. ... ...Trimmer recently received his third National Science Foundation grant, totaling nearly...First time in the U.S.: Saint Louis University tests third-generation vaccine against smallpox
ST. LOUIS - Not everybody can safely be vaccinated against smallpox using the current FDA-approved vaccine. Scientists hope another study vaccine, now undergoing its first testing in the United States at Saint Louis University, will give a choice to people who can't be given the current vaccine, known as Dryvax.... ..."There are limits to the current vaccine," said Sharon Frey, M.D., from Saint...Rb2 expression could play vital role in ovarian cancer Temple University researchers find
Protein expression of the tumor suppressing gene Rb2/p130 could play a vital role in ovarian cancer, according to a study by researchers at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine in the Center for Biotechnology at Temple University ( ... Their study, "Frequent loss of Rb2/p130 in human ovarian carcinoma," will be published in the May 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research (...University of Michigan symposium charts course for the future of telemedicine
ANN ARBOR, Mich. A pediatric patient in Marquette, Michigan is being examined by a doctor but the doctor is 365 miles away in Ann Arbor. Elsewhere in Michigan, a mental health patient, his family and psychiatrist are participating in a commitment hearing in the safe, secure environment of a psychiatric unit but the judge is actually on the other side of town. ...... These are examples of telemedi...University of Pittsburgh receives NIH funding to develop heart assist device for infants
PITTSBURGH, April 28 The University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine has been awarded a five-year $4.5 million contract from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to develop a heart assist device for infants. Working with Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and industry partners, the Pitt researchers envision the pediatric ventricular...S.C. hospitals and universities form statewide health research collaborative
The leaders of Greenville Hospital System, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Palmetto Health, and the ...University of South Carolina (USC) today signed a memorandum of understanding to ...establish the South Carolina Health Sciences Collaborative (SCHSC). The unprecedented ...initiative calls for four of the state's largest universities and health systems to invest a total of ...$...Grant from GE Foundation to University of Houston to strengthen math, tech 'pipeline'
HOUSTON, April 13, 2004 A $300,000 grant from the GE Foundation to the University of Houston will enhance an education program aimed at encouraging students to pursue college-level studies in the quantitative areas of mathematics, science, technology and engineering. ...... The GE Foundation's Math Excellence Program Grant, given to UH's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM), is des...University of Toronto scientists light a path for new nerve cells
Scientists at the University of Toronto are taking regenerative medicine to a new dimension with a process for guiding nerve cells that could someday help reconnect severed nerve endings. ... ...Molly Shoichet, a professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), has devised a new method that helps guide cell migration and...Rockefeller University scientists take on controversial 'vibration theory' of smell
Two researchers at Rockefeller University have put a controversial theory of smell to the sniff test and have found no evidence to support it....... They say their study, published in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience, should raise firm doubts about the validity of "vibration theory," which states that molecules in each substance generate a specific vibration frequency that the nose can inte...University of Delaware lays keel for new research vessel
The University of Delaware officially launched the construction of its new, 146-foot coastal research vessel on Tuesday evening, February 17, when UD President David Roselle signed a symbolic "keel" -- a four-foot-long metal beam that will become part of the ship. ......Provost Dan Rich and Carolyn Thoroughgood, dean of the College of Marine Studies, also participated in the signing, which was he...Life in the universe takes orders from space
A century ago, when biologists used to talk about the primordial soup from which all life on Earth came, they probably never imagined from how far away the ingredients may have come. Recent findings have the origins of life reaching far out from what was once considered "the home planet." Evolution on the early Earth may have been influenced by some pretty far-out stuff.... ...In a paper publishe...University of Pittsburgh Medical Center acquires biotechnology firm Rheogene Inc.
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 17 The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has acquired important gene regulation technology, thanks to a donation from specialty chemical company Rohm and Haas Co. The donation is the first of its kind for UPMC and includes intellectual property, equipment, compounds, biological materials, research and commercial agreements and licenses that have been consolidated in...Most clones doomed from the start, according to Temple University embryologist
Until scientists can improve the early development of cloned embryos, cloning will remain marginally successful, according to research presented today at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Currently, only 1-5 percent of cloned embryos succeed, and many that do succeed are unhealthy. ...Keith Latham, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Temple University Sch...