Science Market Update

By this point, most Americans are familiar with the gelatinous yellow pill harked by many as a critically necessary supplement. Fish oil pills, packed with omega-3 fatty acids, are sold in many grocery stores and can be found in even more households nationwide. At Michigan State University, bioresearchers are delving deeper into the effects of fish oil on the body. What they have found may sound a little surprising at first: fish oil can increase immunity in people with certain health conditions.

Michigan State University is helping to make East Lansing a highly funded market for biotechnology vendors and lab suppliers in Michigan, according to the latest NIH and NSF research funding statistics. In 2012, the NIH awarded Michigan State University $46.1 million in research funding. The money will go towards a number of research projects across various departments at the university. We have broken down the number of projects awarded money in each science research discipline and the total amount of funding for those projects in the list below:

In a potentially dangerous situation, many animals release stress hormones into the body to prepare the animal for raw survival. Sometimes these evoke defense mechanisms and sometimes they assist in fleeing from danger, hence the idea of a “fight or flight” response. Now, research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor shows that tadpoles instead choose a third option: physical transformation.

With the North American drought  ended last year according to the USDA, it still affects parts of the United States and dries out plant life in its wake. The drought reached 80 percent of the country’s agricultural land, and many of the impacts of the stunted food production will be felt this year at supermarkets and restaurants. It’s no surprise, then, that a large question in agricultural biotechnology is how to more effectively combat drought for the present and future. This is where Michigan State University shines, presenting a way for plants to make even better use of the water they receive.

The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is one of the most richly funded markets in the country for biotechnology vendors and lab suppliers, as recent NIH and NSF research funding statistics show. In 2012, the NIH gave the University of Michigan $456.3 million in research funding. The money has been awarded to various departments for research projects including:

Dependence on fossil fuels has been a hot topic for decades now. Several United States presidents have urged that we step away from oil and utilize other natural resources. Now, a partnership between Michigan State University at East Lansing and Luleå University of Technology in Sweden is working on just that. Their plan for alternative energy comes from a biomaterial produced from agricultural residue called butyric acid.

Michigan State University at East Lansing is priming plants to cope with two very different adversaries: hostile insects on Earth and the stressful conditions of space. Rather than furnishing them with armor or a spacesuit, researchers are working at the molecular level in order to make these plants more genetically hardy.

Our sense of smell is something we often take for granted. Besides allowing us to take in such wonderful aromas as flowers or fresh-baked cookies, our olfactory receptors help us keep a healthy appetite and tell us when to steer clear of hazards like pollution or spoiled food. Therefore, it’s concerning that olfactory dysfunction affects one in every hundred Americans under the age of 65, and over 50% of the population over 65. Fortunately, researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor have made recent breakthroughs in the restoration of smell to those who have lost it over time or were born without it.

One of the most prestigious scientific awards, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), has been awarded to not one University of Michigan Ann Arbor researcher, but three! This award, started in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, was founded to recognize "the most meritorious scientists and engineers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for assuring America's preeminence in science and engineering and contributing to the awarding agencies' missions," as per a White House press release. These scientists are nominated by eleven different US government departments and agencies including the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services, as well as the National Science Foundation. 

Protein research at Michigan State University has lead to the development of a new protein structure which could neutralize flu viruses during an epidemic. The team of international researchers working on the project were lead by Tim Whitehead, assistant professor of materials science and chemical engineering at MSU (image courtesy of MSU).