Science and Technology

University at Buffalo researchers are developing a rugged, inexpensive Breathalyzer-type device that, just like the nose of a human -- or other mammal -- will contain thousands of chemical sensors "trained" to recognize complex chemical patterns, some of which are known biomarkers for certain diseases.

"Thresholds Along the Frontier: Contemporary U.S. Border Stations" a traveling exhibition of newly designed U.S. international border stations, will be on display in the James Dyett Gallery in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning Feb. 1through March 13 before traveling to other venues in the U.S. and Canada.

An earthquake engineer at the University at Buffalo has developed a new "multi-hazard" design for bridges that will make them more resistant to terrorist attacks and earthquakes.

For diabetes patients, who can't produce their own insulin, human stem cell-based transplants that produce insulin would be a major breakthrough. But current laboratory methods of culturing human stem cells result in very limited quantities, far short of the quantities necessary for therapeutic applications. For that reason, Emmanouhl (Manolis) Tzanakakis, Ph.D., is striving to boost the numbers of stem cells produced in the laboratory, expanding the pool of cells that eventually can be differentiated into insulin-producing cells.

"Mr. Freeze," the Chem-E-Car designed by chemical engineering students in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, finished fourth in the seventh annual Chem-E-Car competition held recently in Cincinnati.

The Center for Urban Studies in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning has received a three-year, $359,090 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to fund a comprehensive, university-assisted community development plan for two Buffalo neighborhoods in serious decline.

Finding compounds that bind to and inhibit an RNA sequence -- as a potential new approach to designing disease treatments -- is still very much a trial-and-error process, involving the tedious screening of millions of molecules against a single RNA sequence. Now, a University at Buffalo medicinal chemist is hoping to change that.

Dermatologists seem to agree that something in milk and dairy products may be linked to teen-age acne. But is it hormones and "bioactive molecules," as a study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology suggested, or is there something else? University at Buffalo dermatologist Harvey Arbesman, M.D., says there could be something else: Iodine.

Male water fleas that scientists have never seen have made their debut in a University at Buffalo laboratory, providing biologists with their first glimpse of these elusive organisms. The UB research, opens a new window on the biological diversity of several species of water fleas that play major roles in freshwater food webs.

Researchers at the University at Buffalo involved in diverse fields in engineering and economics have been awarded a total of $1.5 million in faculty development grants from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research.