Project probes evolutionary roots of patience

May 28th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, Issue, May 22, Research

A chimpanzee will wait more than two minutes to eat six grapes, but a black lemur would rather eat two grapes now than wait any longer than 15 seconds for a bigger serving. It’s an echo of the dilemma human beings face with a long line at a posh restaurant. How long are they willing […]



Yang, UNMC duo partner on hernia surgery project

May 28th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, Issue, May 22, Research

UNL textiles scholar Yiqi Yang has partnered with researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center to develop a novel mesh that will reduce complications associated with hernia repair surgeries. “This project is a good combination of expertise,” said Yang, Charles Bessey Professor of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design, and professor of biological systems engineering. […]



Mackenzie receives $3M Gates Foundation award

May 28th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, Issue, May 22, Research

Manipulating how plants express their genes holds the promise of higher crop yields and better performance under drought or other environmental stress. UNL plant scientist Sally Mackenzie is harnessing her breakthrough to improve crops important to developing countries. Mackenzie discovered that using a transformation technique to turn off a specific gene found in most plants […]



Lim receives $430K CAREER award

May 28th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, Issue, May 22, Research

A type of stem cell that morphs into fat cells may hold secrets to reducing obesity, a major public health problem. A UNL engineer’s research to understand that process may one day lead to therapies to control obesity. Jung Yul Lim, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering, has earned a five-year, $430,554 Faculty Early […]



Study tracks gender shift in rural Great Plains

May 28th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, Issue, May 22, Research

In many rural communities hard hit by decades of population declines, young men increasingly outnumber young women, a new study of Kansas and Nebraska census data shows. In places with 800 or fewer residents, the proportion of young men increased by an average of nearly 40 percent as people went from their teens to their […]



Morrison addition open for research

Apr 24th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, April 24, Issue, Research

Amid smiles and handshakes, UNL on April 2 celebrated the completion of a new addition to the Ken Morrison Life Sciences Research Center, home to the Nebraska Center for Virology. Several dozen faculty, staff, students and visitors assembled in the new wing, north of the original 67,000-square-foot structure on UNL’s East Campus, for a ribbon-cutting […]



DiMagno’s startup receives $726K NSF grant

Apr 24th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, April 24, Issue, Research

Ground Fluor Pharmaceuticals Inc., a startup company that grew from technology developed at UNL, has won a $726,000 National Science Foundation grant to expand its research and product development. The Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant will fund further research and production of a positron emission tomography, or PET, agent that can be used […]



Shizuka assists condor project

Apr 24th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, April 24, Issue, Research

UNL ecologist Daizaburo Shizuka is lending his know-how to a crowdsourced research project to learn more about California condors — and, hopefully, to protect the embattled birds’ population. Shizuka, an assistant professor of research in the School of Biological Sciences, has joined researchers from four other U.S. institutions to build the crowdsourced site Condor Watch, […]



DiRusso is a Jefferson Science fellow

Apr 24th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, April 24, Issue, Research

Concetta DiRusso, a biochemistry professor, has been selected as a Jefferson Science Fellow for 2014-15. She was chosen from a large number of professors nationwide who are accomplished in the fields of science and engineering. “I am very excited to have this opportunity and hope this experience will be of use in furthering UNL’s science […]



Century-old sod house unites researchers

Apr 24th, 2014 | By | Category: 2014, April 24, Issue, Research

The little house on the prairie is not so little anymore. An interdisciplanary team of researchers has begun analysis on part of a 110-year-old sod house that was once home to a group of Custer County pioneers. “This is the oddest project I have every worked on,” said John Carter, senior research folklorist/associate editor at […]