Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) recently received $245,115 in new NIH science research funding for a study of the effectiveness of two drugs commonly used to restore heart function in cardiac arrest victims. Researchers will be determining whether the drugs Amiodarone and Lidocaine actually improve cardiac arrest patients' chance of survival, and if so which is more effective. These drugs are both used to restore the loss of rhythmic and regular heartbeats that is a common cause of cardiac arrest, though their overall effectiveness at improving survival among patients has not been well documented. Typically first responders pick one or the other, but their decisions are not based on hard comparative evidence of the drugs' benefits.
Tags: Northeast, Oregon Health Sciences University, Oregon, 2012, Cardiac Arrest, Front Line event, NIH, OR, OHSU, Portland, BRPF
Construction began four years ago on Mt. Sinai New York's new 550,000sf Hess Center for Science and Medicine on E. 102nd St., between Madison and Fifth Avenues in East Harlem. Originally due for completion this fall, the new opening date has been pushed into spring of 2013. The 13-storey building is a major advance in the medical institute's larger plan of integrating its clinical and research areas through a strong translational medicine program. Basic research facilities will include wet and dry bench labs, animal facilities, and computer-supported research spaces. There will be lounges, meeting and education rooms, and other open, interactive spaces to encourage collaboration through daily contact. The half million square feet will add to, not replace, Mount Sinai School of Medicine's overall facility space. They have already begun recruiting and hiring new faculty researchers.
Tags: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Northeast, Translational Research, New research facilities, 2012, MSSM, BioResearch Product Faire Event, NY, New York City, new construction
Sometimes it makes more sense to start from scratch and get it right than to try and retrofit and modernize older lab buildings. That's just what Ohio State University in Columbus decided to do for its Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry Building (CBEC). The new 225,000 gsf lab building broke ground last month and will replace 4 older facilities that had deferred maintenance and lacked proper floor-to-floor height, structural dimensions, and environmental stability. The New Koffolt Laboratories will be LEED-certifiable (possibly Silver) and will constitute a substantial upgrade with their science wet labs, computational research spaces, shared core laboratories, instructional spaces, and offices. The $126M project is due to be completed in September 2014.
Tags: Midwest, Ohio State University, Ohio, Bioresearch, University of Cincinnati, New research facilities, new science wet labs, 2012, Biochemistry, bio research, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Cincinnati, research laboratories, Columbus, OH, new construction, BRPF, OSU, UC
A vital part of academic research is networking, and one of the ways researchers share their work is at professional conferences. Universities and departments sponsor these conferences where groundbreaking papers are given (usually long before publishing) and colleagues from around the world share insights. The University of California Los Angeles has world-class scientists and other thinkers in its ranks, and Los Angeles seems a natural hub for gathering great minds for this important mode of networking. Unfortunately, UCLA has lacked meeting facilities on par with the caliber of its faculty and research labs. That is about to be remedied, thanks to a commitment by the UC Regents and a generous donor pledge to build a new conference center with a 250-bed hotel right on campus and near existing facilities. According to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block:
Tags: CA, University of California Los Angeles, California, 2012, Los Angeles, UCLA, Conference, Event, Biotechnology Vendor Showcase, new construction, Exhibit space, Event Company
There's been a lot of promising news lately on the HIV/AIDS drug and treatment front, and more scientific solutions are being developed in labs every day. Bringing new vaccine and drug treatments to fruition has been challenging, though, as test animals such as mice do not have immune systems that are similar enough to ours to predict what would really happen in a human model. Now, at bio science research labs at the Ragon Institute in Boston, scientists have overcome that obstacle by engineering a mouse with what is essentially a human immune system. The Ragon study just published in Science Translational Medicine successfully demonstrated that these "humanized mice" do in fact respond like a human does when infected with HIV. This is a big step towards developing and testing new vaccines in the lab.
Tags: Harvard University, Northeast, AIDS Research, animal research, 2012, Immune System, Boston, BioResearch Product Faire Event, MA, Harvard, BRPF, scientist solutions
Construction has begun on a new research building at the University of Oregon, which will house new lab space for the Oregon Research Institute. The expansion of Oregon Research lab space is an important step for this growing institute, which is by far the largest and top funded independent research center in Oregon.
Tags: UOr, New research facilities, University of Oregon, Oregon, 2012, Front Line event, OR, Eugene
Remember the character of Pigpen in the comic strip Peanuts? He walked around within a cloud of dust and dirt. Well, according to University of California Davis microbiologist Jonathan Eisen, we all live within our own aura of microbes --10 times as many microbial cells as human cells!--and that's probably a very good thing for our health. It sounds counterintuitive at first, but not all microbes are bad. We've come to realize intestinal biota are good for digestion and colon health (among other things), but the outside of our bodies is also host to vast colonies of microbes that are increasingly proving to be vital cohorts of our immune system.
Tags: University of California Davis, microbiome, DNA Sequencing, genomic research, California, 2012, BioResearch Product Faire Event, UCSD, Sacramento Campus, TED
The University of Colorado already has a terrific medical program at its Anschutz Medical Campus. This April we talked about their groundbreaking efforts against multiple sclerosis. Now, Anschutz Medical is waging war on one of America's greatest enemies: obesity.
Tags: biomedical research, University of Colorado, Southwest, 2012, Anschutz Medical Campus, BioResearch Product Faire Event, CO, public health, Fitz, Aurora
Research scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered five rare mutations in an “autism susceptibility gene” that seem to increase the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in boys. According to an article on Medical Xpress, the number of children diagnosed with autism has recently increased to 1 in 100, so the research now is more relevant than ever.
Tags: Emory University, 2012, Georgia, Emory, BioResearch Product Faire Event, research scientists, Atlanta, GA
Oregon State University recently opened a new nutritional sciences building with the help of a record donation from philanthropists Bob and Charlee Moore, founders of Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods (photo courtesy of Oregonlive). The new facility was named the Moore Family Center for Whole Grain Foods, Nutrition and Preventive Health in their honor.
Tags: Oregon State University, New research facilities, Oregon, 2012, Front Line event, OR, Corvallis, new construction, OSU, ORSTU