Oklahoma video showcase research advances
Video showcases Oklahoma’s use of IDea funds to drive cutting edge research, expand biomedical research faculty, enhance research infrastructure.
Northwest Nazarene University uses systems biology to study effects of alcohol on vitamin A
Researchers developed computer simulations to study the possible link between alcohol and disease. One hypothesis is that alcohol blocks the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase from properly metabolizing vitamin A. Read More
Idaho researchers look at drugs that disrupt communication between bacteria
Due to the dramatic rise in antibiotic resistant microbes, there is a continual need to develop new antimicrobial drugs. Researchers at Boise State are looking at drugs that can interrupt the way bacteria communicate with each other.
Researcher in Idaho is developing novel methods to control microorganism transmission
Potentially pathogenic microorganisms, including Staphylococcus aureus, are becoming increasingly pervasive in society. Researchers at The College of Idaho are developing new materials that use light to control the viable population of these microorganisms in the environment. It is hoped that the work may lead to novel approaches to reduce the transmission and rate of infection for a wide variety of problematic microorganisms.
University of Wyoming Researchers Engineer Silkworms to Produce Stronger Silk
Working with colleagues at the University of Notre Dame and Zhejiang University in China, UW researchers have genetically engineered silkworms to spin silk containing spider silk proteins. Those fibers are stronger than fibers normally spun by silkworms and almost as tough as spider silk.
The team’s research was publicized in the Jan. 3 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the world’s top scientific journals. The successful genetic engineering of silkworms has attracted worldwide media attention.
uw-researchers-engineer-silkworms-to-produce-stronger-silk.html
VGN’s James Vincent named Globus Online user of the month
By Rajkumar Kettimuthu
James has transferred more than 5TBs of data in less than one month. He has transferred data between several TereGrid/XSEDE resources (including Blacklight, Golem, Lonestar, Ranch and Ranger) and also between his Vermont site and XSEDE resources. He has obtained stellar transfer rates — as high as 1.3 Gbps!
https://www.globusonline.org/2011/12/06/december-2011-user-of-the-month-james-vincent/
Montana State researcher studies the mechanisms of Aspergillus.
Dr. Robert Cramer, at Montana State University, is working with Aspergillus fumigatus, a filamentous fungus that is responsible for significant mortality in immunocompromised patients.
For further information: http://www.montana.edu/cobre/rp2.html
Researchers share equipment, space and ideas to fight ALS
Three scientists at the University of Kansas Medical Center are combining their expertise to better understand the mechanism of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Hiroshi Nishimune, PhD, Paige Geiger, PhD, and John Stanford, PhD, are collaborating to provide earlier diagnosis and better treatment of the fatal motor neuron disease.
http://www.kumc.edu/kinbre/news.html
Vermont researcher uses PSC’s Blacklight as a tool for genome sequencing.
By Michael Schneider
Vermont researcher uses PSC’s (Pittsburgh SuperComputing Center) Blacklight as a tool for genome sequencing. James Vincent of the University of Vermont, who directs the Bioinformatics Core of the Vermont Genetics Network, is part of a team of bioinformatics scientists collaborating through the Northeast Cyberinfrastructure Consortium (NECC), Vincent is using Blacklight to assemble the genome of the little skate (Leucoraja erinacea), a fish species of the northwestern Atlantic.
http://psc.edu/science/2011/sequencing/
Study of Skates and Sharks Questions Assumptions About ‘Essential’ Genes
Biologists have long assumed that all animals with jaws and spinal columns possess nearly identical genes that regulate critical aspects of their embryological development. But a paper in the December 16 issue of Science by Benjamin King of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) and three of his colleagues shows that a class of fishes that includes skates and sharks lack genes that were formerly thought to be essential for their development.
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (2011, December 15). Study of skates and sharks questions assumptions about ‘essential’ genes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 16, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2011/12/111215141609.htm
