Lonestar Supercomputer to Support Open Science Community |
 In early 2011, University of Texas officials will debut a new $9 million supercomputer at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus in Austin. The University of Texas joined with the National Science Foundation (NSF), Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and other partners to acquire a new Lonestar system that is expected to replace the current Lonestar system and will offer greater capabilities. The latest high performance computing (HPC) system will be built and deployed by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) and is expected to be operational by February.
Like its predecessors, the new supercomputer will be dedicated to open science research and will serve on a national research network called the TeraGrid. Officials expect the computer will support more than 1,000 science and engineering research projects over three years. TACC, in partnership with Round Rock-based Dell Inc., Intel Corp., Mellanox Technologies and DataDirect Networks, Inc., will deploy an HPC system that will achieve optimum performance for scientific applications running on the NSF TeraGrid.
Supercomputers are used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. Researchers have used the existing computing center supercomputer, Ranger, to simulate the Earth's mantle, modeling plate tectonics and continental drift. In June, researchers used Ranger to produce 3-D simulations of the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on coastal areas. Read more... |
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Texas A&M Team Determines Ancient Galaxy Cluster Still Producing Stars |
 Astronomers at Texas A&M University have determined that a significant fraction of an ancient cluster of galaxies is still actively forming stars. This determination was made through ongoing observations of one of the universe’s earliest, most distant cluster of galaxies using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and conducted by an international team of researchers led by Texas A&M’s Dr. Kim-Vy Tran.
Tran, an assistant professor in the Texas A&M Department of Physics and Astronomy and member of the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, and her team have spent the past four months analyzing images taken from the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS), essentially looking back in time nearly 10 billion years at a high red-shift cluster known as CLG J02182-05102. Read more... |
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UT Regents Name Nano Science and Technology Building after President Emeritus Larry Faulkner |
 The University of Texas at Austin's nanoscience building has been named the Larry R. Faulkner Nano Science and Technology Building by the UT System Board of Regents in recognition of former President Faulkner's leadership in bringing the university's nanotechnology program to national prominence.
The 82,463-square-foot Nano Science and Technology Building at 102 East 24th St. behind the new Norman Hackerman Building was completed in 2006.
The state-of-the-art educational and research facility houses programs for the promotion of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Nanoscience is driving fundamental research in many areas of science and engineering, including the development of new solar energy technologies, health diagnostics and treatments, and energy storage devices. Read more... |
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Rice Ranked 17th Among Nation's Top 20 Best Colleges According to U.S. News & World Report |
 For the seventh consecutive year, Rice University is ranked No. 17 in U.S. News & World Report's guide to America's best colleges.
In the 2011 edition of "Best Colleges," Rice is tied with Vanderbilt University for 17th among 262 schools classified as national universities -- institutions that offer a wide range of undergraduate majors and master's and doctoral degrees, including institutions that emphasize research, as Rice does. Harvard holds the No. 1 position.
The rankings are based on several key measures of quality including: undergraduate academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, high school counselor ratings of colleges and the difference between actual and predicted graduation rates. Read more...
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Parkinson’s Disease Targeted with Vaccine
in Development |
 Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) are developing a therapeutic vaccine to combat the debilitating neurological condition known as Parkinson’s disease. Named after the English doctor who identified the condition two hundred years ago, Parkinson’s Disease is a chronic disorder that worsens over time and impacts patients' abilities to perform everyday tasks. Symptoms often include tremors or shaking, slow movements, stiffness in arms and legs, drooling, slurred speech and unsteadiness.
The UTHealth scientists are creating a vaccine to target a protein that accumulates in the brains of people with the disease in an effort to slow the protein buildup of alpha synuclein and hopefully slow the deterioration of nerve cells tied to body movement. While there is no cure, the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be treated effectively. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common of the progressive neurological diseases and affects one percent of the population over the age of 60. Read More…. |
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National Institute for Renewable Energy to Focus on Energy Needs of Texas and the Nation Through Wind Power |
 The Innovate Texas Foundation, in collaboration with the Texas Tech University System and The Wind Alliance, announced the formation of the National Institute for Renewable Energy (NIRE) at the 2010 American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) Windpower 2010 conference in Dallas. NIRE, an independent, public-private collaboration, will help in solving key scientific and technology challenges faced by the wind power industry.
NIRE will operate a for-profit business component that will design, construct and operate research wind farms, selling the power generated in the commercial marketplace to fund a non-profit research center. NIRE also will provide services to industry partners and offer an industry consortium which will be managed by The Wind Alliance.
David Nance, Executive Director of Innovate Texas Foundation, member of the TAMEST Industry and Community Affairs Committee and a NIRE board member, said that “We believe NIRE will significantly enhance innovation and result in more rapid commercialization of suites of complementary renewable energy technologies. NIRE's collaborations with industry, state and federal agencies will advance integration of new power generation and transmission tools and develop new standards. This high impact initiative will create high-value jobs and provide benefits throughout Texas and across the United States.”
National organizations indicating support for NIRE include the AWEA, The Wind Alliance and The Wind Coalition. They will be joined by as many as 30 private-sector firms with large investments in renewable energy projects. |
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Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at
UT Southwestern Medical Center Earns
National Cancer Institute Designation |
 The Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center has attained National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation, an elite distinction bestowed upon the nation's top cancer centers in recognition of innovative research and excellence in patient care.
The Simmons Cancer Center, established in 1988 through generous donations from Dallas philanthropist Harold C. Simmons and his family foundation, is the first and only medical center in North Texas to attain this prestigious status. There are 65 other centers in the U.S. and two other centers in Texas with this designation.
As an NCI-designated center, the Simmons Cancer Center will receive a $7.5 million support grant over the next five years, which complements the $24.4 million in NCI grants that are currently active at UT Southwestern. Also with the designation comes the ability to provide cancer patients access to promising new cancer treatments only available through the network of these NCI centers. Read more... |
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Collaborative Research Among TAMEST Member Institutions Yields Discovery of Key Step in the Creation of New Red Blood Cells
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 Researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center, Texas A&M Health Science Center, University of Houston and the Texas Heart Institute, an affiliate of the UT Health Science Center at Houston, have uncovered a key step in the creation of new red blood cells in an animal study.
They found that a tiny fragment of ribonucleic acid (RNA) prompts stem cells to mature into red blood cells. The researchers also created an artificial RNA inhibitor to block this process.
These interventions, if successful in humans, may be useful against some cancers and other diseases, such as polycythemia vera, in which the body produces a life-threatening excess of blood cells. Conversely, a drug that boosts red blood cell production might be useful against anemia, blood loss or altitude sickness.
"The important finding is that this microRNA, miR-451, is a powerful natural regulator of red blood cell production," said Dr. Eric Olson, chairman of molecular biology at UT Southwestern, TAMEST member and the senior author of the study which appears in the August 1st issue of Genetics and Development. Read more... |
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Emission Choices Made Now Impacts Climate Changes for Centuries |
Choices made now about carbon dioxide emissions reductions will affect climate change and its impacts over the next few decades and in coming centuries and millennia.
The National Research Council, along with Texas Tech Climate Researcher Katharine Hayhoe, devised a list of advice and recommendations for possible outcomes to consider when deciding about future emissions targets. Their report is titled Climate Stabilization Targets: Emissions, Concentrations, and Impacts Over Decades to Millennia.
The report presents the probabilities of certain impacts at different levels of global temperature increase. It also estimates the average temperature increases that would be likely if carbon dioxide was stabilized in the atmosphere at various target levels. Currently, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is about 390 parts per million – the highest level in at least 800,000 years.
The researchers, led by Susan Solomon of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sought to quantify the relationships between atmospheric carbon dioxide and warming levels, and between warming levels and future impacts. The report estimates changes in precipitation, stream flow, wildfires, crop yields and sea level rise that can be expected with different degrees of warming. Read more… |
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Biochemistry Team from Texas A&M University Reveals Invading Virus Immune Response |
The process by which the body protects itself against an invading virus has been revealed by a biochemistry team from Texas A&M University. The results of the research were published on July 15 by Structure of Cell Press and could eventually lead to new therapies for many different kinds of viral infections, from the common cold to hepatitis and AIDS.
Research undertaken by Dr. Pingwei Li, Texas A&M University's department of biochemistry and biophysics and the 10-member team of experts focused on the innate immune system of human beings. Unlike an adaptive immune response, innate immune response gives immediate protection against infection. Adaptive immune responses are learned by the body -- or "taught" as with inoculation. By comparison, innate immunity is built right into the cell's genetic structure and is ready to respond whenever a pathogen invades the host. Read More...
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NIH Awards Rice Bioengineers $1.7M for Cartilage-Regeneration Research |
Bioengineers from Rice University's BioScience Research Collaborative have won a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an injectable mix of polymers and adult stem cells that can spur the growth of new cartilage in injured knees and other joints.
By combining just enough of a patient's own stem cells with the proper mix of growth factors and polymers, the team hopes to allow the body to fill in small gaps with healthy, new bone-protecting cartilage.
Rice's research team on the new project includes Kurt Kasper, a faculty fellow in the Department of Bioengineering, and Antonios Mikos, the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering, professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering and director of Rice's Center for Excellence in Tissue Engineering. Dr. Mikos was the recipient of the 2007 O'Donnell Award in Engineering.
The team will use mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a type of stem cell that the body uses naturally to repair broken bones, injured skin and other tissues. Read More...
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Baylor College of Medicine Researchers leading efforts in Bladder Cancer Research |
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine are leading efforts in bladder cancer research in three different areas: drug development, new theories about bladder cancer stem cells and the biology of the bladder.
Dr. Guru Sonpavde, clinical assistant professor of medicine – hematology and oncology, is involved in a variety of clinical and laboratory trials that have tested a host of new therapies. He has participated in studies researching Sutent and Sprycel, both drugs currently approved for the treatment of other diseases. He is currently researching the effects of a new drug called CEP-11981 and the drug lenalidomide (Revlimid).
Additionally, Sonpavde is involved in studying the natural history of bladder cancer after surgery to remove the bladder cancer. Such studies of large numbers of patients will help identify patients with a higher risk of future recurrence of cancer that might require more aggressive therapy following surgery.
The study of cancer stem cells, the cells that are resistant to conventional therapies (chemotherapy, radiation) is an emerging area of research. Dr. Keith Syson Chan, assistant professor of urology and of molecular and cellular biology, has focused his research on a promising new theory regarding cancer stem cells. Chan and his team have isolated bladder cancer stem cells and are studying how to better attack them and improve targeted therapy. Read more… |
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Dr. David Daniel Appointed to Committee for
Gulf Oil Spill Analysis |
 Dr. David Daniel, President of The University of Texas at Dallas and Past President of TAMEST, has been appointed to a committee to conduct a technical analysis of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and provide recommendations for preventing similar disasters.
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Research Council announced they are assembling an expert committee of academic and industry engineers for this technical analysis. The analysis was requested by the Department of the Interior to supplement the joint investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service (MMS), and it will also be used by the Presidential Oil Spill Commission. The committee will be chaired by marine engineer Donald Winter, former Secretary of the Navy and Northrop Grumman executive, who is now at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Read more…
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UT Southwestern Researchers Discover Compound that Boosts Brain Cell Production While Preserving Newly Created Brain Cells |
A UT Southwestern Medical Center research team, led by Dr. Steven McKnight and Dr. Andrew Pieper, has found a compound that preserves newly created brain cells and boosts learning and memory in an animal study.
The three-year study that yielded the discovery of the compound was funded by a $2.5 million National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award presented to Dr. Steven McKnight. The award gives highly innovative investigators the freedom to pursue bold new avenues of research. Dr. Steven McKnight is Chairman of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study and led the research effort along with Dr. Andrew Pieper, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Biochemistry at UT Southwestern.
The compound found by the researchers, called P7C3, enhances the production of neurons in the hippocampus by protecting newborn neurons from dying. The researchers currently are studying the mechanism by which P7C3 protects cells from dying, and whether it might have any protective effect in other models of neurodegenerative disease. The study of this compound appears in the July 9 issue of Cell. Read more... |
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UT Southwestern Researcher Finds That Disruption of Circadian Rhythm Can
Lead
to Diabetes |
 Disruption of two genes that control circadian rhythms (cyclical patterns in biological activities) can lead to diabetes, a researcher at UT Southwestern Medical Center found in a related animal study.
Dr. Joseph Takahashi found that mice with defective copies of the genes, called CLOCK and BMAL1, develop abnormalities in pancreatic cells that eventually render the cells unable to release sufficient amounts of insulin, which can lead to diabetes.
The CLOCK gene, discovered by Dr. Takahashi in 1997, operates in many tissues of the body to regulate circadian rhythms. The gene codes for a protein called a transcription factor, which binds to other genes and controls whether they become active. BMAL1 also codes for a transcription factor that works together with the CLOCK protein.
The researchers examined pancreatic islet beta cells, which secrete insulin when blood sugar levels increase. They genetically engineered some mice to have defective CLOCK genes and some to also lack the BMAL1 gene. The mice also were engineered to contain a bioluminescent molecule that allowed the researchers to detect the circadian clock in pancreatic cells as a fluctuating glow. Read more... |
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in 2004 to provide broader recognition of the state's top
achievers in medicine, engineering and science, and to
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