You've heard the phrase "a force of nature," but we'd have to say that the University of Pittsburgh is clearly a force of science based on several recent news items: the University ranks in the Top 3 among public institutions of higher learning in the US (according to the NSF); they're in the Top 5 in federally financed research and development expenditures; and they've just had 3 of their faculty scientists elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences. Chancellor Mark Nordenberg says of the first honor:
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Tags: University of Pittsburgh, Northeast, BioResearch Product Faire Event, scientific events, Pittsburgh, NSF, BRPF
The 1000 Genomes Project is an international genomic research and data collection effort that has produced "a deep catalog of human genetic variation" for public research use. Now, thanks to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the White House's recently-announced Big Data Research and Development Initiative, the 1000 Genomes data is available gratis on the AWS cloud. In reality, there are over 1700 genome profiles in the demographically-diverse study, and all that data takes up about 200 terabytes of memory, according to a New York Times article on the cloud bonanza. So even though researchers could download the data free to their own computers from 1000 Genomes directly before, it's something you really don't want to do, even if you have that kind of memory (re: 200TB). Instead, you'll likely be better off accessing the data through AMS and paying them to crunch numbers for you, which probably explains why AWS has decided to engage in this bit of philanthropy. Future profit, plus their preeminence as a computational resource in the brave new world of Big Data.
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Tags: CA, 2013, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, genomic research, Southwest, 2012, Berkeley, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Genomics, NIH, biotech solutions, NSF, National Lab, UC Berkeley, UCBerk
Bioresearch students at the University of Colorado, Boulder will be able to do new in depth research into the conversion of biomass to various chemicals and fuels, thanks to a new bioresearch grant from the NSF. The NSF grant was awarded to the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, or C2B2, a joint research renewable energy facility used by CU-Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
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Tags: Bioresearch, biofuels, green chemistry, Southwest, University of Colorado Boulder, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Energy, Colorado, NSF, UCO, BRPF
We live in an age obsessed with cleanliness. Hand washing is at an all-time high, as are sanitizers of every sort. It's not enough that our municiple water is filtered at a plant somewhere before coming into our homes, no, we need to filter it once more before it's safe to drink. Yet even that level of screening for contaminants may not be enough. For people living near air force bases there's an additional threat, and it's caused by a specific chemical used in rocket fuel: ammonium perchlorate. Perchlorate has a tendency to end up in the water supply near these bases, and traditional water filters don't do the trick when it comes to screening out the toxin. Fortunately, two entrepreneurial materials science researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, have come up with a novel filtering material that does screen perchlorate, and they are well on their way to commercializing their invention, thanks to two federal small business awards and the support of the pro-business University of Illinois Research Park.
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Tags: Midwest, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, university research park, Funding, chemistry researchers, innovative solution, chemical supply, laboratory chemicals, NSF, lab chemical
Federal basic and applied science research funding could see an increase of 3.3% over 2012 (enacted) levels, to $64B, if the President's budget request for 2013 is approved. Holding tight to the promise of supporting technology and innovation while at the same time respecting the deficit cap imposed by Congress, the latest budget request proposes only level $30.7B funding for the NIH but funding increases for the NSF, NIST, and DOE Office of Science, with a combined total of $13.1B. 
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Tags: 2012 Research Funding, 2011 Research Funding, venture development in life sciences, Funding, NIH, new research grants, NSF, charitable giving
The National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program has just announced the 2012 winners of its prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who are exceptional both as teachers and researchers. The University of Colorado Boulder boasts two winners this year from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology deparment (EBIO). Together their awards bring over $1.5M in new funding to their research on amphibian and avian biology. The laboratory aspects of Drs. Safran and Johnson's research involve genetics, stable-isotope analysis, and the study of microscopic disease-causing parasites.
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Tags: crowdsourcing, women in science, evolution research, Southwest, 2012, biology research, biology research scientists, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Research Funding, Ecology, CO, NSF, Boulder, UCO, citizen science, University of Colorato
By now it is clear that the big funding compromise the congressional supercommittee hoped to hammer out together has failed to come into being, meaning that automatic, across-the-board spending cuts for federal discretionary programs will go into effect. The probable result for the NIH's portion: cuts between 5-10% each year for the next 10 years. Will the President try and intercede? He says No. Are people happy with Congress' performance after this bipartisan failure? Decidedly not: NPR reported over the weekend that Congress' approval rating is at an all-time-low of 9%. Students, researchers, professional and industry organizations, and universities with vital bioscience programs especially are continuing to be very vocal about the pending funding cuts. We wait to see if and where the axe will fall exactly, though complacency is not the order of the day. Everyone seems to agree that the US needs to maintain its edge internationally as a leader in science and technology, but how to do that while reducing the deficit is a problem still without an equitable solution.
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Tags: 2012 Research Funding, NIH, NSF
The NSF has just announced funding for a new program to establish four Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) with over $70M in grants. One of the four universities chosen to participate in the program is the University of Washington, which will receive $18.5M over the next five years for its ERC for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (ERC/SNE). Researchers will be designing and testing devices to restore or augment the body's capabilities for sensation and movement. UW's Neurobotics Lab will take a lead in the ERC/SNE, along with biologists and scientists focused on human health.
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Tags: Washington, University of Washington, Northwest, Neuroscience, Robotics, NSF
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has recently announced the reformation of the federal Research & Development expenditure website to make data more transparent and easy to navigate. This new online tool now allows the public to monitor national progress in technology and research innovation.
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Tags: Research Funding, NIH, NSF, National
When the President launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) last month, a key component was the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), which will pool the resources of multiple government agencies to support the development of robots designed to augment the work and health of human beings. These are known as assistive systems, in contrast to the totalitarian robots of science fiction dystopias that threaten to supplant humans.
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Tags: Midwest, University of Minnesota, Translational Research, Midwest life science marketing events, 2011 Research Funding, BioResearch Product Faire Event, MN, Robotics, NSF, UMinn, Twin Cities, 2011