Wednesday December 23, 2009
UNL Research Aims to Understand Homelessness Among Women
Women make up nearly one-third of the homeless population in the United States. Yet little is known about how they become homeless or how they live. University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist Les Whitbeck hopes his new research project surveying the lives of homeless women will lead to better understanding and to programs that help combat the problem. His research also will create employment and job skills for those most in need.
Whitbeck recently received a $400,715 two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to begin the pilot project. more...
UHC Offers H1N1 Vaccines
Beginning on Monday, Dec. 21, 2009, the University Health Center will be able to give H1N1 vaccines to all UNL students, faculty, staff and family by appointment only. The shot will be at no charge for UHC facility fee paying students (those taking 7 or more credit hours); students taking 6 or less credits and UNL faculty, staff and family will be charged the administration fee of $6. Call (402) 472-5000 to schedule an appointment.
UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER
Moriyama's Focus on Developing Bioinformatics Tools Earns Stimulus Grant
Scientific advances in areas as diverse as medicine and agriculture often require finding specific snippets of DNA within an organism's vast genetic information -- and University of Nebraska-Lincoln biologist Etsuko Moriyama is working to develop tools to locate them.
Recent sequencing of many organisms' genomes, including humans, offers crucial and nearly unlimited genetic data. Researchers use the information to treat human diseases, improve crop performance and better understand evolution, among many other pursuits. They often start with identifying proteins of interest. From there, researchers must find the fragments of DNA sequences that encode the protein, an often difficult next step in solving biological questions. more...
Stimulus Funds Support Bio-Nano Hybrid Systems Research
Ravi Saraf studies bio-nano hybrid systems that harness chemical reactions in living cells. Now the University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering is exploring the "science of manufacturability" for bio-nano devices based on microorganisms. A recent $391,056 grant from the National Science Foundation through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds this work.
Saraf's project focuses on transformative nanotechnology. The goal is to create a top-down, inexpensive self-assembly approach to fabricate a bio-nano device that can be transitioned from the lab to a manufacturable system. Success eventually could create new jobs producing these bio-nano hybrids. more...
H1N1 Page at UNL Updated for Fall
The university continues to closely monitor the worldwide and local impact of H1N1 flu. At this time there is no immediate impact on UNL, its community or operations, except heightened alert and awareness, and efforts to communicate the necessity of proper hygiene and stemming the spread of the virus.
For more information, including Student and Employee attendence policies, visit the H1N1 Information page at http://emergency.unl.edu/.
