Science and Technology

A new software package under development by Virmatics, LLC., a spin-off company formed by researchers at the University at Buffalo and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, will provide molecular biologists with the tools they need to design successful experiments, potentially boosting the pace of new drug discoveries.

At the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, all medical students have added something new -- and high-tech -- to their list of must-have school supplies: a personal digital assistant, more commonly known as a PDA.

The University at Buffalo has been selected to partner in the research initiatives of the new Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE) to be established at the New York State Department of Health in Albany.

Some of the world's most advanced research in micro- and nanoelectronic-packaging reliability is taking place in the Electronic Packaging Laboratory in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. UB engineers are addressing critical problems confronting the electronics industry as it attempts to make electronic packages much smaller and more reliable. Their research is helping to reduce the size and increase the speed and life span of electronic devices, and is opening the door for the creation of new devices.

A new software system designed by a University at Buffalo aerospace engineer will help NASA detect and find air leaks in the International Space Station.

When Jim D. Atwood became the chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University at Buffalo in 1998, he said he wanted to make freshman chemistry "a little less hated." And with about 30 percent of freshmen flunking out of General Chemistry 101, he had a tough job ahead of him. Now, five years later, having instituted major changes in the freshman chemistry courses, Atwood and his faculty have succeeded beyond their most ambitious dreams.

Victor Paquet watches workers work -- over and over again. An expert on ergonomic job analysis and workplace injury prevention, the University at Buffalo assistant professor of industrial engineering is looking for patterns of repetitive movement that may cause injury to workers on the job.

When officials communicate the dangers of volcanic hazards to local populations, one picture may be worth a thousand words. Keeping that sentiment in mind, scientists at the University at Buffalo working on volcanic hazard mitigation have left no technology untapped as they create images of past volcanic flows in order to better predict future ones.

The first demonstration of reduction-oxidation, or redox, chemistry in RNA -- a critical missing link in the experimental evidence for an ancient RNA world -- was reported Sunday by University at Buffalo chemists in Nature Structural Biology online.

Students in an upper-level computer software engineering class at the University at Buffalo are helping to solve a real-world problem -- and restore a sense of independence to persons with speech and motor disabilities -- by designing augmentation communication devices.