For both dairy and beef production, cows are an important part of the US economy and food supply. When they get sick, it's bad for business (and not too pleasant for the cow). The most common illness in cattle is Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD), which accounts for losses of more than $690M annually in the US alone. To combat this threat to bovine health and productivity, the USDA has recently awarded a $9M 5-year grant to researchers at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Missouri, to study genetic selection for breeding more disease-resitant stock. A second $5M grant will go towards research into feed efficiency, again with the aim of breeding heartier, healthier, and more profitable animals.
Tags: Texas A&M University, Texas, veterinary medicine, Southwest, 2012, animal science, College Station, TAMU, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Texas A&M Research, Genomics, Genetics, Texas A&M
Storms both meteorological and political have dominated the front page news in the past month, but the upset that has rocked Texas' Cancer Prevention & Research Institute (CPRIT) since the spring continues to make headlines in the science press. The journal Nature has published regular editorials since the flap began, intensifying in late October with the exodus of chief scientific officer and Nobel winner Alfred Gilman (right) and nearly 30 other scientists from the state cancer funding agency's review board. Here is our recap of the story, the issues at stake, and a look at where CPRIT is positioned to go from here.
Tags: cancer research, Texas A&M University, Texas Medical Center, Texas, 2012, College Station, TAMU, tmc, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Houston
Often growing up as a child you hear, “eat your veggies if you want to grow up to be big and strong.” With new research on triple negative breast cancer, that old saying might have to change to "eat your veggies if you want to keep cancer away". Recently, at the 2012 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting, Mandip Sachdeva announced: "We are confident that the compounds we are currently working with are an effective treatment for triple-negative breast cancer. These compounds are safer for the patient than current treatments available".
Tags: Bioscience research, cancer research, Texas A&M University, Texas, 2012, Cancer Treatment, Cancer, College Station, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Texas A&M Research, Texas A&M Life Science Funding, TX, Texas A&M
It seems we can get oil from any number of unlikely substances these days, and a joint biofuel research team from Texas A&M and Cornell is trying to do just that. With a $2M grant from the NSF, researchers are studying how to extract the naturally-produced oil from algae. So next time you look at a green swimming pool, consider that a similar muck just might be able to fuel your car. Algae is an eukaryotic organism that is photosynthetic and generally aquatic, and it comes in a wide variety of forms. It can be a very small single cell organism like B. braunii or a very large multi-cellular organism like kelp. It fact algae is one of the newest and most promising subjects of research in the quest for biofuels.
Tags: Cornell University, biofuels, Texas A&M University, Texas, Southwest, 2012, Biochemistry, College Station, TAMU, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Energy, TX, BRPF
San Antonio, Texas is a good place to be if you're a nurse. According to Workforce Solutions Alamo, the demand for nursing jobs in the county will increase by 1,800 positions in the next four years. This is good news for the University of Texas Health Science Center, the only college in the region that offers a doctorate nursing progam. The Health Science Center educates more than 800 students per year in its nursing college alone.
Tags: Biomedical expansion, Texas, 2012, UT Health Science Center San Antonio, UTxSA, BioResearch Product Faire Event, San Antonio, TX
New research at Texas Medical Center is underway at the newly opened Neurological Sleep Medicine Center in the Memorial Hermann Hospital. This progress is taking place amidst the tireless construction and restless activity of downtown Houston.
Tags: Bioresearch, Texas Medical Center, Texas, 2012, tmc, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Houston, TX, TMC New Research Facilities
Science researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have received a $3.3 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to work on a medication to treat alcoholism and drug addiction, according to a UT Austin news article. The donating institute is a part of the National Institutes of Health.
Tags: University of Texas at Austin, Texas, UTAust, alcoholism research, UT Austin, science researcher
A new science building and facility expansion are in the works at Texas A&M. On February 9th, the University System Board of Regents approved a $120 million building and facility expansion for the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in College Station, Texas. The new building will house high-tech laboratories and classrooms that are expected to facilitate learning by offering a superior science research atmosphere.
Tags: biomedical sciences, Texas, Southwest, science research, Texas A&M, new construction, science buildings
Tags: cancer research, Texas Medical Center, Texas