Carnegie Mellon's Peter Adams receives EPA research grant
PITTSBURGHCarnegie Mellon Universitys Peter J. Adams has been awarded a $900,000 research grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study how global climate change and international pollution impact U.S. air quality. Spyros Pandis, a chemical engineering research professor, is a co-investigator on the grant. ... Adams, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering...Carnegie Mellon scientists find key HIV protein makes cell membranes bend more easily
PITTSBURGH -- Carnegie Mellon University scientists have made an important discovery that aids the understanding of why HIV enters immune cells with ease. The researchers found that after HIV docks onto a host cell, it dramatically lowers the energy required for a cell membrane to bend, making it easier for the virus to infect immune cells. The finding, in press in Biophysical Journal, will prov...Carnegie Mellon engineers devise new process to improve energy efficiency of ethanol production
PITTSBURGH.Carnegie Mellon University Chemical Engineers have devised a new process that can improve the efficiency of ethanol production, a major component in making biofuels a significant part of the U.S. energy supply.... Carnegie Mellon researchers have used advanced process design methods combined with mathematical optimization techniques to reduce the operating costs of...DNA gets new twist: Carnegie Mellon scientists develop unique 'DNA nanotags'
... "Our DNA nanotags offer unprecedented densities of fluorescent dyes and, thus, the potential for extremely bright fluorescent labels, s...Carnegie Mellon's David Sholl identifies new materials
PITTSBURGH Carnegie Mellon University's David S. Sholl is working to identify new materials that would help make hydrogen more stable and cost-efficient than fossil fuels. Increased concern about global warming and a need to conserve natural fuel sources prompted Carnegie Mellon researchers to find new, lightweight, low-cost hydrogen-storage materials. ... "We are currently studying the use of...Carnegie Mellon University scientists identify genes activated during learning and memory
PITTSBURGHResearchers have long recognized that for learning and memory to take place, certain genes must be activated to alter neuron activity inside the brain. Disruptions in normal gene expression within these neurons can lead to alarming consequences, such as seizures and epilepsy. But identifying and cataloging all the genes involved in learning is a daunting task. In the March 13 issue of...Carnegie Mellon University research shows how sensory-deprived brain compensates
.....Carnegie Mellon researchers urge regulators to rethink strategies for soot emission
PITTSBURGH -- Carnegie Mellon University researchers say government officials need to adopt new ways of measuring and regulating the fine particles of smoke and soot so endemic to serious health problems and the global warming crisis.... In a March 2 article published in the journal Science, professors Allen L. Robinson and Neil M. Donahue report a new conceptual model for how microscopic part...Carnegie Mellon researcher proposes development of artificial cells to fight disease
PITTSBURGHCarnegie Mellon University's Philip LeDuc predicts the use of artificially created cells could be a potential new therapeutic approach for treating diseases in an ever-changing world. ... LeDuc, an assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering, penned an article for the January edition of Nature Nanotechnology Journal about the efficacy of using man-made cells to treat...Sustainability, environmental education highlight carnegie mellon presentations at AAAS Meeting
... ... Alfred Blumstein, the J. Erik Jonsson University Professor of Urban Systems and Operations Research, will...Carnegie Mellon's Granger Morgan pens op-ed
PITTSBURGH--Carnegie Mellon University international engineering and environmental policy expert M. Granger Morgan is challenging U.S. federal and state officials to take the lead in eliminating dangerous carbon dioxide emissions that fuel global warming. ... In today's Science magazine, Morgan argues that legislators should impose regulations that will prevent power companies from rushing to b...Carnegie Mellon scientist plays key role in unveiling sea urchin genome
... "Havin...Carnegie Mellon study reveals that odor discrimination is linked to the timing at which neurons fire
... Their work, appearing in the Nov. 8 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, describes for the first time a cellular mechanism linking a specific stimulus to t...Carnegie Mellon uses new imaging technique to discover differences in brains of people with autism
... The results of this latest study were published in the journal NeuroReport. The scientis...Carnegie Mellon scientists use 'green' approach to transform plastics manufacturing
PITTSBURGH--Using environmentally safe compounds like sugars and vitamin C, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have vastly improved a popular technology used to generate a diverse range of industrial plastics for applications ranging from targeted drug delivery systems to resilient paint coatings.... The revolutionary improvement in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) now enables l...Carnegie Mellon, Pitt receive $15 million from NSF to found center to improve quality of life
Pittsburgh -- Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) have been awarded a five-year, $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish an engineering research center that will develop technologies to help older adults and people with disabilities live independently and productively. ... Researchers at the new Quality of Life Technology Enginee...Carnegie Mellon researchers discover key deficiencies in brains of people with autism
... Previous studies have demonstrated a lower degree of synchronization among activated brain areas in people with autism, as well as smaller size of the corpus callosum, the white matter that acts as cables to wire the parts of the brain together. This latest research shows for the first time that t...Carnegie Mellon researchers discover new cell properties
PITTSBURGH--Carnegie Mellon University researchers Kris Noel Dahl and Mohammad F. Islam have made a new breakthrough for children suffering from an extremely rare disease that accelerates the aging process by about seven times the normal rate.... ... Dahl, an assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, said her work with researchers at the National Cancer Instit...Carnegie Mellon, USDA report that Fe-TAML catalysts degrade estrogenic compounds
PITTSBURGH--Scientists from Carnegie Mellon University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have found that a rapid, environmentally friendly catalytic process involving Fe-TAML activators and hydrogen peroxide breaks down two types of estrogenic compounds. These natural and synthetic compounds can mimic or block the activities of hormones in wildlife and humans, which may disrupt the no...DNA conclusive yet still controversial, Carnegie Mellon professor says
PITTSBURGH--Although the odds that DNA evidence found at a crime scene will match by chance the DNA of a person who was not there are infinitesimal, controversy continues about DNA identification and its use in criminal investigations, says Carnegie Mellon University Statistics Professor Kathryn Roeder. Roeder will present a historical overview of the use of DNA identification on Tuesday, April 2...NIH awards $13.3 million to Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH--A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh has received a five-year, $13.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a National Technology Center for Networks and Pathways.... ...The center, headquartered at Carnegie Mellon, will focus on developing fluorescent probe and imaging technologies to investigate regul...Carnegie Mellon study identifies impact of neural connections in learning process
Through a clever experimental design, Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientists have validated decades of experiments to show how learning and memory may be encoded in a living animal. The research, published in the March issue of Neuron, identifies for the first time the specific neural connections that strengthen as an animal's brain responds to new experiences. ...... "We are very excited by...Carnegie Mellon scientists show brain uses optimal code for sound
PITTSBURGH--Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered that our ears use the most efficient way to process the sounds we hear, from babbling brooks to wailing babies. These results represent a significant advance in our understanding of how sound is encoded for transmission to the brain, according to the authors, whose work is published with an accompanying "News and Views" editoria...Carnegie Mellon develops non-invasive technique to detect transplant rejection at cellular level
Carnegie Mellon University scientist Chien Ho and his colleagues have developed a promising tool that uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to track immune cells as they infiltrate a transplanted heart in the early stages of organ rejection. This pre-clinical advance, described in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), ultimately could provide a non-invas...Carnegie Mellon U. scientist receives NSF funding to build innovative mass spectrometer
Carnegie Mellon University's Mark Bier has received a $546,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Instrument Development for Biological Research program to build a heavy-ion mass spectrometer. This one-of-a-kind mass spectrometer will characterize with unprecedented sensitivity large biomolecules, such as intact proteins, protein complexes, virus particles and DNA. It may also provide a...Carnegie Mellon researchers find links between happiness and health, but questions remain
There is growing evidence that positive emotions such as happiness are linked to good health and increased longevity, but too many questions remain unanswered to draw definitive conclusions, according to a review of research conducted over the past 10 years. The paper, authored by Sheldon Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, and Sarah Pressman, a doc...Carnegie Mellon U. transforms DNA microarrays with standard Internet communications tool
A standard Internet protocol that checks errors made during email transmissions has now inspired a revolutionary method to transform DNA microarray analysis, a common technology used to understand gene activation. The new method, which blends experiment and computation, strengthens DNA microarray analysis, according to its Carnegie Mellon University inventor, who is publishing his findings in the...Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh receive educational grant from HHMI
PITTSBURGH--Carnegie Mellon University, in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh, has received a prestigious grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to support the development of an interdisciplinary joint doctoral program in computational biology. ......The $1 million grant, one of only 10 awarded from a competition of 132 applicants nationwide, will support the new Ph.D....Team led by Carnegie Mellon University scientist finds first evidence of a living memory trace
An international team of scientists for the first time has detected a memory trace in a living animal after it has encountered a single, new stimulus. The research, done with honeybees sensing new odors, allows neuroscientists to peer within the living brain and explore short-term memory as never before, according to scientist Roberto Fernndez Galn, a leading author on the report who is currently...Carnegie Mellon study finds that facial expressions reveal how the body reacts to stress
PITTSBURGH--A provocative new study has found that people who respond to stressful situations with angry facial expressions, rather than fearful expressions, are less likely to suffer such ill effects of stress as high blood pressure and high stress hormone secretion. The paper, authored by scholars at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pi...Green catalyst destroys pesticides and munitions toxins, finds Carnegie Mellon University
A chemical catalyst developed at Carnegie Mellon University completely destroys dangerous nitrophenols in laboratory tests, according to Arani Chanda, a doctoral student who is presenting his findings on Sunday, Aug. 28, at the 230th meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, D.C. (Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Convention Center Hall A).... "We found an eff...Carnegie Mellon University research reveals how cells process large genes
PITTSBURGH--Important messages require accurate transmission. Big genes are especially challenging because they combine many coding segments (exons) that lie between long stretches of non-coding elements (introns). During processing, introns are snipped out and exons pasted together to form a template for proteins called messenger RNA (mRNA). Mistakes in RNA processing can reduce the expression o...Carnegie Mellon CyLab researchers work to develop new red tide monitoring
PITTSBURGH--Carnegie Mellon CyLab computer scientist Yang Cai is working with NASA's Earth-Sun System Technology Office (ESTO), the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop new software for detecting and tracking toxic algae plaguing North American waters. ... "We are developing software that will monitor dangerous algae and vari...Carnegie Mellon rover heads to Atacama Desert for final mission in 3-year search for life
PITTSBURGH--Carnegie Mellon University researchers and their colleagues from NASA's Ames Research Center, the universities of Tennessee, Arizona and Iowa, as well as Chilean researchers at Universidad Catolica del Norte (Antofagasta) are preparing for the final stage of a three-year project to develop a prototype robotic astrobiologist, a robot that can explore and study life in the driest desert...Carnegie Mellon computational biologist wins PECASE Award
PITTSBURGH-Computational biologist Russell Schwartz of Carnegie Mellon University is being recognized as part of an elite group of the most promising early-career scientists and engineers at a Washington, D.C. ceremony on Monday, June 13. ......Schwartz, an assistant professor of biological sciences, is one of 58 young innovators this year to receive the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scien...NSF grant to Carnegie Mellon establishes research experiences for undergraduates site
Pittsburgh -- The Department of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University has received a $407,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site. ... Beginning in late May, ten rising juniors and seniors will spend ten weeks at Carnegie Mellon participating in a program called "Mentored, Cutting Edge Research Experiences...Gene 'archeology' gets easier using Carnegie Mellon University software
Comparing genomes of different species can tell you when new genes evolved and what they do for their respective hosts. But pinpointing the ancestry of any given gene is a complex computational task. Now, powerful new software makes gene "archeology" considerably easier, reports a team of investigators at Carnegie Mellon University. The scientists, who are making this software publicly available...Carnegie Mellon and U. of Pittsburgh create tool to understand neuron rhythms, learning
A simple, elegant method could enable scientists to predict how groups of neurons respond to one another and synchronize their activity, report a group of investigators at Carnegie Mellon University. Their work, in press with "Physical Review Letters," ultimately could help scientists understand how neurons network with one another in learning and disease. ... The research was conducted at the Ce...Carnegie Mellon scientists develop tool that uses MRI to visualize gene expression in living animals
PITTSBURGH--In a first, Carnegie Mellon University scientists have "programmed" cells to make their own contrast agents, enabling unprecedented high-resolution, deep-tissue imaging of gene expression. The results, appearing in the April issue of Nature Medicine, hold considerable promise for conducting preclinical studies in the emerging field of molecular therapeutics and for monitoring the deli...Robot-based system developed at Carnegie Mellon detects life in Chile's Atacama desert
PITTSBURGH--A unique rover-based life detection system developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientists has found signs of life in Chile's Atacama Desert, according to results being presented at the 36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 14-18 in Houston. This marks the first time a rover-based automated technology has been used to identify life in this harsh region, which serves as...