Researchers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine have been awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health for research that could lead to improved treatment and prevention of cocaine addiction. Researchers in the lab of Xiang-Ping Chu, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Basic Medical Science at the School of Medicine, will use the grant to conduct a research project titled “Targeting acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) to prevent drug addiction.” The grant was awarded through the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Dec 11
22
Researchers at the UMKC School of Biological Sciences have identified a key protein that is essential in the development of proper muscle-tendon attachment and maintaining muscle strength and mobility. The results of the research were published and featured as the cover story in the Journal of Developmental Biology.
With an estimated 1.5 million species, fungi represent one of the largest branches of modern biology’s phylogenetic tree or “Tree of Life.” They have an enormous impact on human affairs and ecosystem functioning due to their diverse activities as decomposers and pathogens, as well as the mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships they share with other organisms. In order to better understand the diversity of fungi and their functions, researchers at the UMKC Fungal Genetics Stock Center (FGSC), have been selected to join an international team of scientists in a five-year project to sequence 1,000 fungal genomes from the Fungal Tree of Life. Click here to read the full UMKC news release.
Nov 11
10
As we grow older, our bones and our muscles grow weaker. It is a simple, biological fact of life. Consequently, this weakening of bone and muscle makes us more susceptible to falls as we age. The risk of falling increases further with the onset of chronic conditions such as osteoporosis (diminished bone mass), which effects an estimated 25 million Americans and sarcopenia (diminished muscle mass and muscle strength), which afflicts approximately 30 percent of elderly Americans.
“According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, one out of three adults in the United States, age 65 and older falls each year,” said Marco Brotto, B.S.N., Ph.D., Professor and Director of the Muscle Biology Group (MUBIG) at the UMKC Schools of Nursing and Medicine. “And among those age 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of injury death and the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma.”
They are three bright, young, dedicated scientists who had offers to attend medical school, conduct research or teach at coastal powerhouses; but they have never doubted the wisdom of their decision to leave all that behind. In the opinion of these exceptional researchers, there is no better place to conduct scientific investigations than UMKC’s School of Biological Sciences.
Jouliana Sadek, a Ph.D. student working in the lab of Prof. Sullivan Read at the UMKC School of Biological Sciences, was honored with the Priscilla Schaffer Award for the Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation at the 36th Annual International Herpesvirus Workshop in Gdansk, Poland. This workshop brings together investigators from all over the world studying all of the human herpesviruses (including Herpes Simplex Viruses 1 and 2, Epstein Barr virus, Varicella Zoster Virus, Cytomegalovirus, and the Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus), and is the major international conference on herpesviruses every year.
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