News Archive

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ASU CSI Camp:  Solving the mystery of “Who Dunnit?”

Arriving at 6:02pm Monday, June 16th, the CSI Team finds two bodies lying at center field of the football stadium. It’s a double homicide……And so begins the fourth annual CSI Summer Camp for high school students at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro! High school students from around the country come to ASU for this 5 day camp, live in the dorms, and immerse themselves in learning the tools needed to solve the mock crime. This intensive, realistic, hands-on science-based camp challenges campers to learn and use the technology and database tools of forensics and criminal investigation and the reality and importance of proper evidence collection and custody procedures. Exercises include collecting evidence, securing a crime scene, conducting interviews and using computer forensics.

This CSI Summer Camp was originally designed in part as a recruitment tool to build the new Forensic Science undergraduate interdisciplinary program at ASU. Not only has this camp succeeded in attracting young investigators to forensic science but it has also served as an effective recruitment tool for the university, drawing students from as far away as Arizona, Texas, Michigan and Rhode Island.

Robotics for Middle and High School Students

BEST Robotics’ vision is to excite our nation's students about engineering, science and technology to unlock their imagination and discover their potential.  This is accomplished through a series of robotics games based upon an annual theme with four teams competing at once in a series of three-minute, round-robin matches. In addition to the robotic competitions, teams compete for awards on their project summary notebooks, oral presentations, table displays, and spirit and sportsmanship.

Leveraging funds from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority has been able to fund four new robotics hubs.  These hubs will join the three existing Arkansas BEST Robotics Hubs to expand BEST robotics to all areas of the state.  Each hub can serve approximate 25 schools.  These school teams can participate in the local hub competitions at no costs, with 10 teams advancing to the regional competition. It was through the direct support of the grant funds to the hubs that permitted these teams to become involved in the BEST Robotics program.

The BEST Robotics Program supports the goals and Arkansas ASSET Initiative to create new outreach methods and expand existing programs to increase the Arkansas science, engineering and technology student-pipeline with special emphasis on minorities and women to address the workforce issues of regional and national relevance.  Programs such as this one assist students with building their critical thinking and collaborative skills which supports the Arkansas goal of creating a knowledge-based economy for a brighter future.

STEM education outreach is a priority of the Arkansas ASSET (Advancing & Supporting Science, Engineering & Technology) Initiative, a National Science Foundation EPSCoR RII grant awarded to the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority (Authority).

High School Students Conduct Research with UALR Mentors

High school students from 11 schools across Arkansas presented research projects in high-level math and science disciplines, the results of their participation in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock High School Research Program.

The program pairs high school students with a UALR scientist for one-on-one mentoring in a focused research environment. The mentoring guides the high academic achieving students in selecting the high school courses needed to pursue future careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Providing informal peer mentoring by engaging students in faculty research projects allows high school students to establish early contact with college students and professors in specific areas of their interest.

The three-week residential experience comes at no cost to the participants. Students from the central Arkansas area who attended include Shelton Hale of Parkview High School, and Priyanka Murali and Helio Liu from Little Rock Central High School. Students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts include William Anthony, Jesse Thomason, Megan Trett, Andrew Seel, and Jake Berry. Other students include Stephen Sivils from Arkadelphia High School and Karan Batra of Bentonville High School.

Combining Technologies to Heal Patients, Virtually

University of Arkansas researchers seeking new ways to make healthcare more efficient and cost-effective have built a new kind of hospital: one that uses location aware systems, sensors, smart devices, radio-frequency identification and virtual reality.

Anyone can visit this hospital on “University of Arkansas” island in Second Life, a free online 3D virtual world. About 40 university students and six high school students from the EAST Initiative worked with professors Craig Thompson and Fran Hagstrom to create the virtual hospital and supply chain in Second Life.

The students have visited local hospitals to understand what needs to exist. They have created a building with patient rooms, intensive care, a diagnostics suite, a pharmacy and supply rooms. In Second Life, professors and students can create things that they believe will exist soon in the real world, and then interact with those items to see how they work.

“Students in my artificial intelligence class developed smart pill bottles that only the owner can open and that know their pill count, smart shelves that know when to re-order, a restocking robot, wheelchairs that follow way points and virtual RFID readers and tags,” said Thompson.
The students also created something that most avatars, or virtual beings within Second Life, lack – internal organs. Now the virtual doctors can perform virtual organ transplant operations.

“We feel there is huge potential here – well beyond health care or the groups we have touched so far,” stated Adam Barnes, a staff member on the project. “The project is really about the future world we will all live in -- where every object is a network object and humans can communicate with things as well as they do with each other.”
“This program cuts across the boundaries of departments and colleges, with participants and ideas from the colleges of engineering, business, education and arts and sciences,” said Malcolm Williamson, who works with the project. Partners in the project include the Center for Innovation in Healthcare Logistics, the RFID Research Center, the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority and the EAST Initiative.
Please visit http://vw.ddns.uark.edu for more information on the project.

 

Future Engineers Experience Summer Program

UALR’s systems Engineering Department hosted 17 high school students at a two-week summer camp. The program, headed by Dr. Seshadri Mohan, offered students some insight into several branches of engineering study.

The 2008 Summer Engineering Scholars Program is funded by the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. The residential program included hands-on experiences in mechanical engineering, computer and electrical applications, robotics, and telecommunications.

Besides introducing the students to an experimental approach to stimulating engineering education, the program included counseling and advising sessions to help students find financial aid resources that are needed to support their educations.

Building robots was just one example of the projects these students worked on. Other activities included two lectures by practicing engineers from Southwest Power Pool and Alltel Wireless, as well as a visit to Molex, a local plant that manufactures cable connectors and other electrical connectors.

Space Tomato Project Offers Potential for Drought, Disease Resistance

Arkansas - home of thousands of backyard gardens, farmer’s markets, and a summer festival that pays annual homage to the tomato - also is home to a team of scientists based at UALR that is developing a tomato plant hearty enough to grow in space and surviving down-to-earth droughts and disease.

More than providing fresh produce for astronauts on extended missions to Mars, the research has important implications for developing crops resistant to drought and other stresses while improving the nutritional value of food.

Dr. Mariya Khodakovskaya, assistant professor of applied science, and Dr. Stephen Grace, associate professor of biology, at UALR - the University of Arkansas at Little Rock - and researchers at Arkansas State University and University of Central Arkansas are preparing to patent their new and effective ways to increase production of antioxidants in plants and make them more tolerant to stresses such as drought and disease.

“We are working now on tomatoes, but we are identifying mechanisms and genes that are responsible for other traits and can be used for other crops more important in countries that have droughts,” Khodakovskaya said. “It has implications for earth agriculture as well as space agriculture, which is why the project has been funded for three years by Arkansas Space Grant Consortium.”

The scientists believe future investments will promote collaborative partnerships between UALR and private and public institutions throughout Arkansas that will make UALR more competitive in attracting research dollars to further expand undergraduate and graduate studies in biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, and related disciplines.

A year when she was affiliated with North Carolina State University, Khodakovskaya placed her experiment growing cherry tomatoes aboard the International Space Station.

“It was the first transgenic tomato tested in space conditions,” she said.

Her transgenic tomato plants show dramatic increases in drought tolerance, vegetative biomass and fruit lycopene concentration. Studies in Arkansas and worldwide have shown that antioxidants such as lycopene are important in the prevention of cancer and many other chronic diseases. These established tomato plants are an excellent model for identification of novel means to enhance production of lycopene and other antioxidants in plants.

Grace, who earned his Ph.D. at Duke University, has focused his research on diverse aspects of plant biology, including biochemical analysis of secondary metabolic pathways to environmental signaling mechanisms and the physiology of stress on plants.

He and Khodakovskaya’s cross-linked research projects are supported by grants from the P3 Research Center of Arkansas NSF EPSCoR Program - the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research - and the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium.

Dr. Khodakovskaya will identify key genes and gene networks involved in stress tolerance and activation of antioxidant production in tomato plants. Her team will also create new reproducible biological source of antioxidants by establishment of highly productive tomato “hairy roots” cultures.

Dr. Grace works on the biochemistry of flavonoids, another important group of plant phytochemicals that act as health promoting antioxidants.  Flavonoids have shown promise in protection against coronary heart disease, neuron damage, certain cancers, and other age-related diseases.

“For this reason, there is great interest in developing crops with optimized levels and composition of these high value natural products,” Grace said. “Our group   studies the light regulation of flavonoid synthesis in tomato in order to develop strategies to increase flavonoid levels for improved nutritional content.”

Other scientists working on the project are Dr. Nawab Ali, research associate professor in UALR’s Graduate Institute of Technology; Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar of Arkansas State University; and Dr. J.D. Swanson of the University of Central Arkansas. Undergraduate and graduate students at each institution are involved in research projects directed at enhancing nutritional and pharmaceutical value of crops by genetic approaches.

“As soon as we develop a new tomato with drought tolerance and more antioxidants, we will test how it grows in space conditions,” Khodakovskaya said.

 

Training Helps Researchers Get On the Fast Track

A new technology by itself doesn't constitute a company.  To succeed, entrepreneurs must develop a strong team, acquire capital, understand the market, and attract customers. 

On April 16th and 17th, researchers convened at the Bailey Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to learn these vital skills. The event was lead by Ms. Sharon Ballard, a highly experience consultant certified in FastTrac® TechVenture™ curriculum, a product of the Kaufman Foundation.  This specialized curriculum helps researchers translate their discoveries into business opportunities.

The special two-day seminar/workshop is designed to help new entrepreneurs define their target customers, develop business and marketing plans, determine the financing needed,  where to access it, and how to build a management team. 

The event was hosted by the Arkansas ASSET Initiative, and is one in a series of workshops to provide these skills through a grant to the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC). 

“It caused me to ask myself the hard questions and think through my concept differently,” said Doug Chenault of ClickNation, one of the participants at the seminar.

Participants commented on the ease at which the material was presented, as well.  “All of the information presented was done so in such a subliminal manner,” said Vicki Malpass of Winrock International. ” I didn’t even realize I was learning so much!”

Additional events have already been planned. SBDTC will repeat this special series of educational events in May and in June. The focus will be to provide training in the necessary skills and understanding of building a business from intellectual property developed in the laboratory. 

The upcoming events will be open to all researchers either free or for a small fee.  These remaining FastTrac® TechVenture™ workshops will be held on two EPSCoR participating campuses:  Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

 The next workshop will be held May 15-16 on the ASU campus, and June 18-19 on the UAF campus.  More information is available at www.ArkEPSCoR.org. 

New BioSensor Technology Helps Detect the Onset of Heart Failure

Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have fabricated and tested a unique biosensor that measures concentrations of potassium and hydrogen ions in the human heart with high specificity. The research could lead to a superior method of monitoring indicators of acute myocardial ischemia, or AMI, one of the leading causes of cardiovascular failure.

“AMI is triggered by insufficient blood supply to the heart muscles,” said Taeksoo Ji, assistant professor of electrical engineering. “This lack of blood supply results in excess anaerobic metabolism, or lack of oxygen, which we know is accompanied by an increase in potassium and hydrogen ions released from cardiovascular cells. The goal is to develop a robust yet inexpensive sensor that rapidly detects these chemicals that signal the onset of AMI.”

Due in part to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s emphasis on promoting research on rapid detection of the symptoms of acute myocardial ischemia, various types of biosensor designs, including ion-selective optical fibers, wave-guides, nanoparticle fluorescence sensors and ion-selective electrodes, have been used to detect potassium and hydrogen in the blood stream. Working in the Organic Electronics and Devices Laboratory, Ji, research assistant professor Soyoun Jung and student Pratyush Rai developed an ion-sensitive field effect transistor, yet another type of sensor used to detect potassium and hydrogen in blood.

Most ion-sensitive field effect transistors are silicon based. Instead of silicon, Ji’s team worked with a low-cost organic semiconductor known as poly 3-hexylthiophene, which they fabricated on a flexible substrate. The design and fabrication process was based on special devices used to deposit organic semiconductors on substrates. Organic semiconductor films do not require high vacuum and temperature cycles for deposition and curing, which reduces cost of production.

The researchers also developed a smoothing technique to assess the effect of external electric fields on the devices. The human heart creates a great amount of electrical charge from the organ’s network of neurons that help it relay electrical impulse for pace-making activity. The myocardium, or the middle section of the heart wall, has intense electrical activity. Diagnostic tools such as electrocardiograms detect electric fields emanating from the heart. To operate properly, implantable biosensor devices must be immune to these electric fields, or background noise.

The researchers’ smoothing technique and noise calculation demonstrated a high signal-to-noise ratio. Overall, the testing and validation process for the device displayed stable calibration characteristics, which proved its independence from surrounding electrical fields. In other words, the sensor was immune to external voltages.

Ji collaborates with Vijay Varadan, distinguished professor of electrical engineering and director of the Center for Wireless Nano-, Bio- and Info-Tech Sensors and Systems, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. Led by Ji, the Organic Electronics and Devices Laboratory is one of the center’s four laboratories.

Varadan holds the College of Engineering’s Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in Nano- and Bio-Technologies and Medicine and the college’s Chair in Microelectronics and High Density Electronics. In addition to his position as director of the above center, he directs the university’s High Density Electronics Center. Varadan is also a professor of neurosurgery in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Ark.

The researchers’ findings were published in Applied Physics Letters, a journal of the American Institute of Physics Publishing. An electronic copy of the article can be provided upon request.

ASSET Initiative Advisory Board Brings Top Minds to Little Rock

On April 3, the External Advisory Board of the Arkansas ASSET (Advancing and Supporting Science, Engineering and Technology) Initiative convened at the Hilton Hotel in Little Rock for the site visit evaluation of the ASSET Initiative Grant. The External Advisory Board is made up of experts from various fields of science and engineering.

The Arkansas ASSET Initiative is designed to strengthen two specialty research areas developing in Arkansas, the wireless nanosensor systems and plant-based bioproduction. These programs have potential for national significance and major economic development in Arkansas.

Starting the day’s events, Dr. Gail McClure, Program Director of Arkansas EPSCoR, updated the board on the progress made by the ASSET Initiative, highlighting recent achievements and the future impact on the state.

Included in her presentation was an overview of EPSCoR’s educational outreach activities, communication efforts, and evaluation tools. Educational outreach activities focused on grant funding results for award programs benefiting K-12 students. The overview offered award results for organizations providing professional development workshops, BEST Robotics Hubs, Summer Academies, grants for teachers, the SMART Lesson Plan Portal, and the East Second Life Project (an interactive pilot between EAST Initiative students and University of Arkansas computer science students). Dr. McClure also briefly reviewed new entrepreneurial training workshops and evaluation strategies.

Next on the agenda was an update on the EPSCoR Center for Plant-Powered Production (P3). The P3 Center focuses on plant bioproduction research at the interface of agriculture and health. This Center is a statewide multi-institutional virtual center with direct implications for the agricultural economy of the Delta region of the Southern United States.

Presenting the update was Dr. Carole Cramer of Arkansas State University and the project leader for the P3 Center. During the hour long presentation, Dr. Cramer addressed EPSCoR’s goals for P3 including infrastructure, human resource needs, and development of collaborative cross-disciplinary projects that lead to innovative research. She stressed that while P3 researchers are working to develop new high-value plant derived products, they are also building on Arkansas’ strengths to insure impact on research competitiveness, educational outreach, and diverse workplace development.

The final presentation of the day came from Dr. Vijay Varadan of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and the project leader of the Wireless Nanosensor and Systems (WiNS) Center. Utilizing the expertise and infrastructure across three campuses, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas State University, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the WiNS Center is a collaborative virtual center for the design of wireless nanosensor applications and devices. The goal is to integrate organic nanosensor technology that can be fabricated for specialized applications at a low-cost with wireless systems that can collect and assimilate the respective data generated by these newly fabricated devices.

During his talk, Dr. Varadan discussed the Center’s various areas of research including nanomaterials and sensors, organic polymer devices, alternate power supplies to sensors, and Wireless Sensor Networking Testbeds to implement protocols for routing, data collection, and security.

A majority of the board, comprised of top minds from across the country, was in attendance. Dr. Denise Barnes, the Program Officer at the National Science Foundation also attended the workshop. They concluded the day with an executive session to evaluate ASSET progress, followed by an open session for feedback and suggestions.

The External Advisory Board is comprised of the following members:

External Advisory Board Chairman: Dr. Jim Coleman, Vice Provost for Research, Rice University

Dr. Richard Bissell, Executive Director, National Academies, Policy and Global Affairs National Research Council

Dr. Sang H. Choi, Senior Scientist, Nano-BEAMS Lab, NASA Langley Research Center

Dr. Mo Jamshidi, Director of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , University of Texas, San Antonio

Dr. Ranu Jung, Co-director for the Center for Adaptive Neural Systems in the Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University

Dr. Paul B. Ruffin, Senior Research Scientist for Micro Sensors and Systems, US Army (AMRDEC)

Dr. Eve Schooler , Senior Research Engineer, Corporate Technology Group, Intel Corporation

Dr. Joe Chappell, Professor, Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky
Dr. Kent D. Chapman, Director and Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas

Dr. Joel L. Cuello, Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Arizona

Dr. Cecilia McIntosh, Professor of Biological Sciences, Dean of School of Graduate Studies, East Tennessee State University
Dr. Gary Thompson, Head, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University

Dr. Brenda Winkel, Professor, Department of Biology, Virginia Tech University

About Arkansas EPSCoR and Arkansas ASSET Initiative

Arkansas EPSCoR program supports various EPSCoR programs available for Arkansas researchers, coordinates the activities of the Arkansas EPSCoR committee, and directly manages the state's NSF EPSCoR Program. Through outreach efforts, the Arkansas EPSCoR program and the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority (Authority) strive to enhance science and technology education and strengthen the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) career pipeline.

Arkansas ASSET Initiative is a program funded by the National Science Foundation EPSCoR program (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) and maintained through the Authority.

UALR Anechoic Chamber Serves As Testing Facility

A state-of-the-art anechoic chamber has been constructed at UALR to design and test antennas developed at UALR for use in wireless devices. The antennas will be integrated with nano-sensors fabricated at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville that collect data and send to remote servers for processing and analysis.

Researchers within the EPSCoR wireless research group WiNS have invented several nanostructured antennas. The researchers and the university have filed for a patent on the new device. The researchers are Dr. Hussain Al-Rizzo, Dr. Alex Biris, Taha Elwi, and Daniel Rucker. Three of the researchers, Dr. Al-Rizzo, Taha Elwi, and Daniel Rucker are EPSCoR WiNS Center researchers and Dr. Biris is with the Department of Applied Science and the UALR Nanotechnology Center.

The equipment in the anechoic chamber was manufactured by Cuming-Lehman Chambers, and the installation was completed in December 2008. Next steps include obtaining and installing additional equipment to conduct research, including Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) equipment with four transmitting and four receiving antennas. The transmitting devices will be arbitrary waveform generators and the receiving devices will be spectrum analyzers. The system will be able to accept input from MATLAB for custom signals. This will allow for research in the MIMO area to be conducted at UALR.

Technical Specifications

1. Tapered anechoic chamber design
2. Frequency range 400 MHz – 18 GHz
3. Minimum guaranteed performance voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of -35 dB at 400 MHz

Univ. of Arkansas WiNS researchers offering a new course of “Nanotechnology in Medicine”

Dr. Vijay K. Varadan, Director of Wireless Nanosensors and Systems (WiNS) Center at the University of Arkansas, said “Recent advances in nanomedicine offering ground-breaking methods for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of some fatal diseases will be taught in an on-line class to the students at three different campuses, University of Arkansas Fayetteville, University of Arkansas Little Rock and Arkansas State University”. After a substantial amount of work for this on-line course to be offered in the above three campuses supported by NSF EPSCoR, the first lecture started this Spring Semester and is being transmitted through the ACCESS GRID on-line network system. In this class, nanotechnology and its applications in engineering and medicine, focusing on nanoelectronics, nanosensors and magnetic nanomedicine are introduced. Emerging nanotechnology topics also include functional nanomaterials, molecular electronics, nanocomputing, nanobiotechnology, drug delivery systems and implantable nanomedical devices. Dr. Varadan’s new book recently published by Wiley, “Nanomedicine: Design and Applications of Magnetic Nanomaterials, Nanosensors and Nanosystems” is used as the course textbook.
“In our classroom, students are introduced to new scientific and engineering challenges in nanotechnology focusing on medical areas” he said. This course will be offered to senior and graduate level students with various backgrounds in engineering and science such as electronics, computer science, biology, chemistry, physics, mechanics and materials.  The following areas will be covered by four excellent WiNS researchers, Drs. Vijay Varadan, Hargsoon Yoon, Jining Xie and Linfeng Chen for each session; 1) Introduction to Nanotechnolog in Engineering and Medicine, 2) Basic Theory of Nano-Science and Technology, 3) Nanostructured Materials, 4) Nanofabrication and Nanodevices and 5) Magnetic Nanomedicine.

Researchers Use Nanowires to Develop Neural Probe That Will Limit Damage to Cells and Biological Tissue

Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a neural probe that demonstrates significantly greater electrical charge storage capacity than all other neural prosthetic devices. More charge storage capacity means the device can stimulate nerves and tissues with less damage and sense neural signals with better sensitivity. Findings of the project were published in Nanotechnology 2008 and will be included in an upcoming issue of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.
The neural probe, made of gold and iridium oxide nanowires grown vertically on a polymer or titanium substrate, will improve the function and reliability of neural prosthetic devices. It has also displayed superior biocompatibility and mechanical strength compared to similar silicon structures.

“Our goal is to develop functional systems that can simultaneously stimulate nerves or muscle cells and record physiological changes in the human body,” said Dr. Hargsoon Yoon, research assistant professor in the College of Engineering and lead researcher on the project. “Our approach can minimize cell damage and even provide higher electrode efficiency than commonly used electrodes.”

Needle probes are used as neural prostheses to help improve quality of life for patients with severe impairments. Current clinical applications of neural prosthetics include cochlear and retinal implants, cardiac pacing and defibrillation, restoration of urinary bladder function, functional electrical stimulation in paralyzed individuals and deep brain stimulation for people with Parkinson’s disease and Tourette syndrome.

The research team, based at the university’s WiNS Center, developed probes that integrate free-standing, “hetero-structured” nanowires. Hetero-structured means the nanowires have an inner core and outer layer. Made of gold, the inner-core nanowires were grown vertically on titanium and polymer substrates. The outer, functional layer, made of iridium oxide, provides charge storage capacity for neural signal sensing and stimulation.

Researchers repeatedly demonstrated an electrical storage capacity of 48.6 Coulombs per square centimeter. Units of electrical charge are measured in Coulombs. Working with different materials, other major research groups, including teams at Stanford University and University of Southern California, have developed probes with less than half the storage capacity of the University of Arkansas probe.

Because storage capacity is directly related to density of electrical current needed to stimulate nerves and muscle cells, the probe can transfer charge into biological cells and tissues using less voltage – and less battery power – and thus can operate longer with less tissue and cell damage.

“Electrodes with low-charge storage capacity require higher stimulating voltage levels,” Yoon said. “It is this higher voltage that can damage biological tissues and the electrode itself.”

Dr. Yoon collaborates with Dr. Vijay Varadan, WiNS Center Project Leader, to develop a system that will include nanowire electrodes, wireless communication and a power source for bio-packaging. The wireless network will facilitate closed-loop dynamic adjustments of the system and continuous monitoring of patients during stimulation.

UALR plans HPC Facility

The first High Performance Computing (HPC) facility at UALR is on its way!

UALR’s Wireless Nanosensor and System (WiNS) Laboratory has installed a supercomputer that allows researchers to complete computational work that requires a much more massive resource than a desktop computer, as is the case with many scientific applications. The theoretical peak performance of the UALR supercomputer is 5.45Tflops, or 5.45 trillion floating point operations each second, which can be fully utilized only if workload is balanced properly.

One of the challenges supercomputer users face is efficiently parallelizing their program, and they invest a great amount of their time doing so. Furthermore, the developed code may not always be optimized to fully take advantage of the supercomputer.

The UALR team has deployed Star-P – a special tool to automatically parallelize MatLab and Python code with a minimal coding –  tremendously improving parallel code generation while significantly reducing the time researchers spend trying to optimize. Now potential MatLab and Python users can obtain optimized parallel code, and they also can publish their discovery quickly, adding competitive edge to their research.

Professor Receives Prestigious British Petroleum Award

Dr. Jianfeng Xu, assistant professor of Biochemical Engineering at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute and the Arkansas State University College of Agriculture, was presented with the 2008 British Petroleum (BP) Young Scientist and Student Award at the 13th International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition Oct.12-17, 2008, in Dalian,  Northeast China. The International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition is held only once every four years and is recognized as the premier international conference in the field of biotechnology. 
            Dr. Xu was selected from more than two hundred applicants to receive this global award.  At the conference, 10 experts in the field judged Xu on his poster, “High-yield Expression of Therapeutic Proteins with Extended Serum Half-life in Tobacco Cells,” and his oral presentation, “Develop a Platform for High-Yield Secretion of Therapeutic Proteins in Plant Cell Culture.”  Dr. Xu was also judged on a question-and-answer discussion session. 
            Dr. Xu was presented his award by Professor Werner Arber, 1978 Nobel Laureate in Medicine of the University of Basel, Switzerland.  He was also presented with an award of $1,500 by John Morgan, Senior Vice President of British Petroleum (BP), Group Research & Technology. 
            The overall theme of the Symposium for 2008 was “Biotechnology for the Sustainability of Human Society.”  The symposium examined the milestone achievements and successes in biotechnology and discussed how biotechnology can contribute to global sustainability in the 21st century. 
            Dr. Xu is part of the Arkansas Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Plant Powered Production (P3) Center. The EPSCoR P3 Center is a research partnership between ASU, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Research Infrastructure Improvement program (RII): Arkansas ASSET Initiative (Advancing and Supporting Science, Engineering and Technology), and the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority (Authority).
            The EPSCoR Center offers cross-disciplinary opportunities to engage with cutting-edge advances in plant-based bioproduction technology. The EPSCoR P3 Center focuses on enhancing research infrastructure and cross-disciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration, linking research competitiveness with outreach and entrepreneurship to ensure knowledge-based economic development.

Dr. Argelia Lorence Invited to Speak at 7th Pan American Symposium - Mexico

Dr. Argelia Lorence, Assistant Professor in Metabolic Engineering at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro (ABI and Department of Chemistry and Physics), recently returned from Cuernavaca, Mexico, after serving as an invited speaker at the 7th Pan American Symposium -Mexico 2008 “Pharmaceutical Environment for Students in Pharmacy: Current and Future Perspectives”.  The event, which took place September 8-12, was organized by the local chapter of the International Pharmaceutical Student’s Federation (IPSF, http://www.ipsf.org/) an organization that represents 350,000 pharmacy students in 70 countries worldwide. Dr. Lorence spoke on “Advances in the Study and Manipulation of Plant Vitamin C Biosynthesis”. While in Cuernavaca, Dr. Lorence was also invited to serve as international evaluator of the Academic Program in Pharmacy offered by the School of Pharmacy of Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM). In addition, during this trip Dr. Lorence and her collaborator, Dr. María Luisa Villarreal Ortega, submitted the proposal entitled “Molecular characterization of natural populations of Galphimia glauca” to UAEM. If approved, these funds will allow Dr. Anabel Ortiz Caltempa, one of the scientists from the Villarreal Laboratory coming for a year to do post-doctoral studies at the Lorence Group.

Dr. Lorence is a member of the Arkansas Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Plant Powered Production (P3) Center.  The EPSCoR P3 Center is a research partnership between ASU, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Research Infrastructure Improvement Program (RII): Arkansas ASSET Initiative (Advancing and Supporting Science, Engineering and Technology), and the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority (Authority).

 

P3 Seed Grant Recipient Presents in Shanghai, China

Xiuzhen Huang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Computer Sciences, Arkansas State University, recently attended and presented at The Third International Multi-Symposiums on Computer and Computational Sciences 2008, held at the Medical School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, on October 18, 2008.  Huang presented a paper entitled “Addressing Bio-sequence and Bio-structure Problems”.  The paper presented a review of her lab’s work on developing novel algorithmic sequence and new complexity analysis methodology and applying them to address biosequence and bio-structure problems.  While at the symposium, Huang discussed collaborations with researchers from both bioinformatics and from medical science. 

Huang’s lab is in the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at Arkansas State University, and her research represented at the symposium is largely funded through a P3 Seed Grant through the Arkansas Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Plant Powered Production (P3) Center.  The EPSCoR P3 Center is a research partnership between ASU, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Research Infrastructure Improvement Program (RII): Arkansas ASSET Initiative (Advancing and Supporting Science, Engineering and Technology), and the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority (Authority).

 

Cramer & Hood Present at the Planting Seeds for the Future: West Tennessee Alternative Crops Conference

Carole L. Cramer, PhD, Executive Director, Arkansas Biosciences Institute at Arkansas State University, and Elizabeth Hood, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Agriculture, Arkansas State University and President & CEO of Infinite Enzymes, recently attended the Planting Seeds for the Future: West Tennessee Alternative Crops Conference at the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, November 12-13, 2008. 

They presented the forum on Plant as Biofactories: New Crops with Novel Output Traits. 

This conference was based on alternative or “new” crops that can be used in high-value food, health and industrial applications.  Farmers, agriculture and bio-products professionals, technology developers, educators, researchers, government officials and entrepreneurs all gathered to explore some of the non-traditional crops and how they could be utilized, and the challenges of developing business around these “new” crops. 

Hood’s company, Infinite Enzymes, was both a sponsor and participant in the partnering forum held the first night of the conference.  The Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the Memphis Bioworks Foundation were the conference sponsors.  The Memphis Bioworks Foundation is comprised of AgBioworks and BioDimensions, and is dedicated to developing new agricultural technologies and processing, resulting in a stronger bioeconomy in the Mississippi Delta, impacting both workforce development and the economy. 

Together, AgBioworks and BioDimensions are developing a strategic plan for the 83-county Mississippi Delta region that encompasses the regions of Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee to help align public and private funding, create opportunities for farmers, improve the environment and increase green jobs. 
Hood’s work in developing plant-made enzymes for cellulosic biomass conversion has been awarded a $1.845 million grant by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Wal-Mart Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, and is taking place at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) at Arkansas State University. 

Dr. Hood’s and Dr. Cramer’s laboratories are located at ABI, and both professors are members of the Arkansas Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Plant Powered Production (P3) Center.  The EPSCoR

P3 Center is a research partnership between ASU, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and it is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Research Infrastructure Improvement Program (RII): Arkansas ASSET Initiative (Advancing and Supporting Science, Engineering and Technology), and the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority (Authority).

P3 Center Aims to Boost Molecular Biology Research

Molecular biology with plants has been given a shot in the arm by the National Science Foundation funding for what collaborating scientists call the Plant Powered Production (P3) Center, a research group on three Arkansas campuses.  The P3 Center links research programs in the University of Arkansas System's statewide Division of Agriculture, on the Fayetteville and Little Rock campuses of the U of A, and in the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

This research group was awarded a total of $5 million over three years by the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority through funding it received in August 2007 from the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. Project leaders are Dr. Ken Korth, a plant pathology professor with the Division of Agriculture based at UA, Fayetteville; Dr. Steve Grace, a biology professor at UALR; and Dr. Carole Cramer, director of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute at ASU. 
“The goals are to develop plant molecular biology research infrastructure, develop statewide collaborative work, add new personnel, and make existing faculty more competitive for research funds,” Korth said. “For example, researchers in Fayetteville will use their expertise in extraction methods of plant compounds and work with researchers in Jonesboro who have developed plant cultures producing resveratrol, the chemical component of red wines that has many benefits to human health. Ultimately, we want to understand the ways in which plants can be used to improve human and environmental health,” Korth said.  "New frontiers of plant research of antioxidants, antimicrobial agents and targeted gene insertion can be explored in rich detail."

The P3 project awards seed grants for research projects, including several so far on topics such as extraction of useful products from plant cultures and natural defenses of plants against insects. Some $440,320 worth of new instruments, all housed at Fayetteville, will streamline the collection of data.  “What once took hours is now configured and tallied in seconds.  This equipment is meant to add to total research capacity for scientists at UAF,” Korth said. “It is also meant to be accessible to any researcher with a need, so if anyone is interested in using the equipment they can contact me.”

Four pieces of equipment added this year include:
-- a Storm 540 phosphorimager scanner, equipped with a high-powered laser to detect quantity of fluorescence and radioisotope-labeled DNA, RNA, and proteins;
-- a Nanodrop fluorometer for accurate measurement of fluorescent samples in volumes as low as one microliter;
-- New Brunswick shaker-incubators, equipped with refrigeration, gas ports and photosynthetic lights for controlled growth of bacterial and plant cultures; and
-- a Varian Gas Chromatograph with quadruple-mass spectrometer with MS/MS capability, equipped with an autosampler injection system for liquid, volatile, or solid-phase microextraction injections. This $200,000 purchase included $100,000 from a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant awarded to faculty in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. It is in the Statewide Mass Spectrometry lab in the Chemistry Building, directed by Jack Lay.
(News releases and photos are available online at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/392.htm)