Dr. Dixie L. Smith
Phone: 620-235-4732 Fax: 620-235-4194
May 2013 Congratulations to Dr. Jody Neef, Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Dr. Neal Snow, Assistant Professor, Biology. Both have received $25,000 awards from the NIH Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research administered by Kansas University Medical Center. Dr. Neef’s award is titled Biosensors Derived from Ferrocene Containing Polymers and Dr. Snow’s award will provide start up supplies and instruments for his lab in the fall of 2014. Four Biology undergraduate students also received K-INBRE Scholar awards of $4,000 to conduct biomedical research: Samantha Young, Trevor Harris, Boya Abudu, and Austin Price. Biology student Chris Ward received the K-INBRE Star Trainee award of $10,000. The objectives of KINBRE are to:
K-INBRE funding is also intended to strengthen the basic science departments of the undergraduate institutions in the network by involving students in research. The undergraduate institutions also serve an important "feeder" role to the science departments of graduate schools within the IDeA-eligible areas.
February 2013Dr. Dan Zurek, PSU Biology Professor, has received a research grant from the Kansas Soybean Commission for $26,676 for the project, Developing Charcoal Rot Resistant Soybeans. According to the grant abstract, the initial objective of the project is to create soybeans partially or completely resistant to Charcoal Rot fungus, with the ultimate goal of producing a transgenic soybean strain able to thrive in Kansas and other locations where Charcoal Rot is endemic and unavoidable. This disease costs Kansas farmers 50-60 million dollars each year. Dr. Zurek’s laboratory has planted nine separate strains of transgenic plants, transformed using genetic construct created in his lab that he hopes will be charcoal rot resistant. The objectives of the research project are: 1. analyze the current set of plants to see that they in fact have the glucanase genetic construct, and are producing protein from it throughout the plant; 2. Determine whether this protein retains antibiotic/antifungal activity in these plants; and 3. Analyze the transgenic plants for charcoal rot resistance.
February 2013Students from Pittsburg State University participated in the 2013 Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Student Symposium at Kansas State University on January 19-20, 2013 making presentations and exhibiting posters about biomedical research being conducted by students in the departments of Biology and Chemistry. The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) to foster research within states that traditionally have not received significant levels of competitive funding from the NIH. One of the approaches of the IDeA Program and the source of support on this campus was the Biomedical Research Infrastructure Networks (BRIN) now referred to as the Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (KINBRE). The objectives of K-INBRE are to: 1. bring together institutions within a state to establish a network; 2. provide competitive funding to the state-based network; 3. support institutional alterations and renovations; 4. provide funding for modern laboratory equipment; and 5. assist in the recruitment of new faculty. K-INBRE funding is also intended to strengthen the basic science departments of the undergraduate institutions in the network by involving students in research. The undergraduate institutions also serve an important "feeder" role to the science departments of graduate schools within the IDeA-eligible areas.