The University of California Irvine may be a youngster in the world of great universities (having been established as recently as 1965), but the Southern California campus has not wasted any time distinguishing its research and academic programs. In fact, according to a recent ranking by the UK's Times Higher Education, UC Irvine is #1 in the US and #4 in the world among the Times' Top 100 Universities Under 50 Years Old. The new ranking category was added to specifically look at the merits of campuses that were not old enough to compete with prestigious, long-established institutions in areas like alumni support and "reputation" but nonetheless were strong in research and publications. The 100 Under 50 recognizes current and future promise more than past success, and in that respect UCI is unmatched in the US.
Tags: CA, biomedical research, Stem cell research, Southwest, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Irvine, CIRM, UCI, UC Irvine
UC Riverside, once considered by some as the poor cousin to more established UC's, is now a thriving beehive of growth and activity in the areas of biomedicine and life science research. UC Riverside has always been strong in agriculture, business, and engineering; but UC Riverside had lacked the prestige that comes with being a medical training center, until now. With a new medical faculty, a new medical school, new buildings, and new research programs, UC Riverside is on its way to becoming a world class research institute in the medical science field; a title previously reserved for its rich cousin's in Southern and Northern California.
Tags: University of California Riverside, Medical Research, Stem cell research, Southwest, California, Funding, research laboratories, UC Riverside, science research funding
We've heard for a while now about the aggressive, determined way Utah is working to grow its biotech economy, particularly through advancing university research and commercializing the technology that comes out of it. Since getting private capital interested in university science invention is a major step in making that commercialization happen, the University of Utah Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) has come up with an innovative arena for matching inventors with backers, and it looks a lot like...speed dating. They call it science "speed teching," and the first University Innovators Speed Teching Showcase event took place May 22nd in a large conference room at Salt Lake City's Zions Bank.
Tags: Utah, university of utah, Southwest, Funding, Research Funding, Event, Front Line event, innovative solution, scientist solutions
University of Cincinnati scientist Laura Woollett, professor of pathology, (photo courtesy of UC), recently received $100,000 in new life science research funding for investigation into fetal growth rates in developing countries. Woollett's research team will be investigiating the link between maternal cholesterol and fetal growth.
Tags: University of Cincinnati, Funding, new research grants
We're finding out that there's a lot more to malnutrition among infants and children than just not getting enough to eat, or enough high-quality food. Individuals may develop malnutrition as a result of what is or isn't growing in their gut, where food gets processed. It's a fascinating insight with significant implications for treating a deadly world problem. In addition to getting sufficient good food, malnutrition could be addressed with novel dietary and microbial therapeutics, effectively optimizing a person's ability to draw nutrients and calories from the food and drink they take in, as well as making sure the immune system is being supported rather than compromised in the process.
Tags: CA, Bioscience research, Midwest, Washington University, WashU, University of Colorado, microbiome, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Northwest, Biofrontiers Institute, Southwest, UCDMC, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Genomics, CO, St Louis, Sacramento, Boulder, UCO, UC Davis
Oracle Corporation is a Northern California computer technology giant with its world headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area's Silicon Valley. From its wildly popular OpenWorld tech conference event held annually in San Francisco to its America's Cup sailboat that can be seen tacking across the Bay to and from the Golden Gate Yacht Club on a nice day, Oracle maintains a strong presence in the Bay Area, even beyond its extensive Redwood City campus. But that doesn't mean the company's Chairman of the Board (and former CFO) Jeff Henley lacks the vision to see that one of California's great strengths as far as technology goes is in the University of California System, and that strength comes from leveraging its power and resources across the state. That's why Henley and his wife have just committed $50M to fund a new science building, labs and faculty salaries on the UC Santa Barbara campus, where Henley got his undergraduate education.
Tags: California, University of California Santa Barbara, Engineering, Funding, Conference, Event, Energy, charitable giving
At the University of Pennsylvania, Steve Fluharty is the senior vice provost for research, as well as a professor and researcher himself in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Now he's got one more hat to wear, as a member of the selection committee for the newly-announced Golden Goose Awards, sponsored by a congressional committee and supported by the AAAS and a broad base of other organizations and industry. At a time when basic research in particular is hard-tasked to justify its continued funding, the point of the awards is to look positively at the sometimes-serendipitous nature of scientific progress so as not to "kill the golden goose" (that lays the golden eggs), which all variations on the ancient fable agree is a really bad idea. Wikipedia says of the phrase: It is generally used of a short-sighted action that destroys the profitability of an asset. Exactly.
Tags: Northeast, University of Pennsylvania, scientific research, animal science, Philadelphia, Funding, scientists solutions, basic research funding
The University of California at Riverside is part of the Inland Empire, the geographic area just south and east of the Greater Los Angeles metro area and Orange County. As a member of the UC System, Riverside enjoys the advantage of being a part of the strongest public university system in the United States. Now UCR is making other collaborative ties, this time not statewise but more locally: by teaming up with Loma Linda University and Cal State San Bernardino to pool stem cell laboratory resources. The new regional entity will be known as the Inland Empire Stem Cell Consortium, and it will allow all three schools to qualify for increased federal funding in addition to the other benefits of joining forces.
Tags: University of California Riverside, Medical Research, Stem cell research, Southwest, California, Funding, research laboratories, UC Riverside, science research funding
The University of Wisconsin at Madison is doing very well launching bioscience startups and attracting young entrepreneurs to set up shop near the sprawling campus on Lake Mendota. The University Research Park is so popular there's a huge Phase II addition several years in the planning and due to break ground any day. Funding for university spinoffs, like the NIH's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, are helping to fuel Madison's bioscience economy too, as a team from the Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering just proved in securing $362,489 towards developing its novel advanced biomaterials for wound healing and surgical applications.
Tags: Midwest, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin, University Research, university research park, University of Wisconsin Madison, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, NIH, chemistry researchers, Biomedical Research Funding
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is a branch of the NIH, and they administer the ENCODE project, which stands for Encyclopedia of DNA Elements. Established in 2003, the goal of ENCODE is to create a comprehensive catalog of functional genomic elements. Towards that end, they have just awarded a further $10.5M in grants to 10 research institutions with investigators working in three main areas:
Tags: genomic research, genome research, biology research, Funding, Genomics, NIH, research lab awards