Watch out corn, you might just have some competition from the tequila plant in the modern day quest for biofuels. The DOE is funding a new $14.3M multi-lab project to study the CAM pathway in drought tolerant plants like agave, a hearty desert succulent. Dr. John Cushman in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Reno is receiving a new $7.6M grant, with a portion going to the University Liverpool in England as collaborators. The rest of the grant, $6.3M, is being divided between the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Newcastle University, and UT Knoxville. The name of this substantial new grant is: Engineering CAM Photosynthetic Machinery into Bioenergy Crops for Biofuels Production in Marginal Environments. Reno's high desert climate is an ideal center for this innovative biofuel research at a time when rainfall is becoming scarce and new solutions are going to have to be found if we plan to adapt to climate change.
Tags: 2012 Research Funding, University of Nevada, biofuels, UNR, Southwest, 2012, University Research, Funding, Research Funding, Front Line event, NV, new research grants, Reno
Tags: university of utah, AIDS Research, Northwest, 2012, UT, scientific research, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Research Funding, science research, Salt Lake City
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.
Tags: University of Michigan, Midwest, Bioresearch, 2012, Michigan, scientific research, Ann Arbor, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research Funding, MI, research scientists, research scientist, UM
In the search for early life we are going where we have never gone before...with newly-funded astrobiology research at the University of Illinois.
Tags: Midwest, Bioresearch, Bioresearch funding, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2012, Illinois, biology research, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Research Funding, IL, genomics research, research grant, new research grants, UIUC
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
There's been a lot of news coming out of Chicago this week from the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Two announcements concerning prostate cancer research are especially worth broadcasting. An Ann Arbor pathologist, Arul M. Chinnaiyan, of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, will be leading a "dream team" of specialists from 5 of the top cancer research institutes in the world in a $10M, 3-year research project titled “Precision Therapy for Advanced Prostate Cancer.” The funding comes from AACR partner, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF). Heading up the team with Dr. Chinnaiyan is Dr. Charles L. Sawyers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Tags: University of Michigan, Midwest, Bioresearch, cancer research, nanotechnology, genome research, genomic medicine, 2012, Ann Arbor, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Funding, Research Funding, Conference, MI, science event, scientific conference, science current event, scientific events, UMich, Cancer Center, science research funding
The 225th Anniversary of the University of Pittsburgh will be celebrated this year. One of their most notable accomplishments was contributing to the launch of the "Biotech Industry". Herbert Boyer, a Pitt PhD graduate helped discover how to cut and transfer individual genes within the DNA molecule and transfer them from one organism to another. Boyer eventually founded Genetech, widely considered one of the first successful biotech companies.
With many accomplishments, in 2000, Herbert Boyer and his wife established the Herbert W. and Grace Boyer Chair in molecular biology in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Biological Sciences. Today the Herbert W. and Grace Boyer Chair in Molecular Biology is used to support an outstanding faculty member in the field of post-genomic molecular biology.
Tags: University of Pittsburgh, Northeast, Life Science Funding, UPITT, 2012, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research Funding, Life Science Marketing, Biotechnology, laboratory product show, current science events, PA, bioscience event, Pittsburgh, Laboratory Equipment Supplier, BRPF, scientific sales, Science sales, scientific supplies, scientific equipment
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.
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
Originally published in June of 2011, we're reprinting this blog because watching thousands of people dance and sing makes us happy, and for those folks currently shoveling snow it's a reminder that summer will come again one day! --12/23/2011
Tags: Midwest, Michigan, Research Funding, industry news
Despite a challenging economic climate, Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing is thriving and continues to develop strong research programs. Currently the university is working on constructing a $40-million bioengineering facility, along with other building projects in progress that include the Bott Building for Nursing Education and Research and a state-of-the-art Plant Science Building. When completed, these buildings will add to an already strong research hub at MSU.
Tags: Michigan State University, Midwest, 2012, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research Funding, MI, research laboratories, East Lansing, MSU, 2011