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Virginia research directory
A brief listing
of some of the research going on at Virginia's universities
Virginia Business
February 2005
Adolescent
and Adult Learning Research Center – George Mason
University
The Adolescent and Adult Learn-ing Research Center fosters
multidisciplinary research that bridges the gap between
education and neuroscience to study the application
of neuroscience research to the classroom. Psychologists,
educators, physicists, physiologists, electrical engineers,
computer technologists and neuroscientists develop materials
and work with local school divisions to conduct school-based
research with teachers and students.
Applied
Microbiology Laboratory – GMU
The Applied Microbiology Laboratory is a facility of
the College of Arts & Sciences. The laboratory specializes
in the growth and characterization of prokaryotic microbes
in support of biomedical research.
Applied
Research Center – Old Dominion University
The center is a collaborative enterprise by ODU, Jefferson
Lab, the College of William & Mary, Christopher
Newport University and Norfolk State University. The
shared objective is to promote innovative, high-tech
solutions for private industries and stimulate the state
and local economy.
Biomechanical
engineering – Virginia Tech
Stefan Duma, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering,
is the director of the Impact Biomechanics Laboratory
at Virginia Tech and the Center for Injury Biomechanics.
The interdisciplinary research combines the resources
of Tech’s College of Engineering and the Wake
Forest University School of Medicine. Duma’s work
includes the wiring of football helmets to determine
how much trauma the brain can withstand. This research
could pave the way for the development of systems to
quickly spot dangerous head injuries in sports.
Biomedical
engineering – University of Virginia
Biomedical engineers at U.Va. are working to find methods
for preventing, diagnosing and treating cardiovascular
diseases. Klaus Ley has been studying adhesion molecules
and their role in the development of atherosclerosis,
a dangerous buildup of plaque in the arteries. His work
may lead to the development of a new class of adhesion-based,
anti-inflammatory therapies.
Cancer
research – U.Va.
At the Cancer Center, scientists are looking for ways
to harness the body’s immune system to destroy
cancer cells. A team led by Craig Slingluff has made
strides toward such a vaccine against melanoma —
a serious form of skin cancer. U.Va. is a participant
in exclusive clinical trials of an FDA-approved, NIH-funded
melanoma vaccine. Breakthroughs could lead to the development
of a wide range of immunotherapies to fight many forms
of cancer.
Cell
adhesion – U.Va.
Adhesion is one of the processes that make embryonic
development possible. Cells move by forming temporary
bonds with their surroundings and then cluster together
to form tissues. A class of proteins called cadherins
facilitate the adhesion process, and understanding how
cadherins are regulated during morphogenesis is a major
focus for cell biology Chair Barry Gumbiner. Along with
biology Chair Ray Keller, he has created a Morphogenesis
and Regenerative Medicine Institute at the university.
The
Cell Culture Laboratory – GMU
The Cell Culture Laboratory is a facility of the College
of Arts & Sciences. The lab specializes in the growth
of human cell lines in support of biomedical and functional
genomic research.
Computational
Genomics Laboratory – GMU
The Computational Genomics Lab is involved in investigating
gene expression patterns in various types of cancer.
New projects will address development of distributed
systems for retrieving and analyzing gene expression
data sets.
Effects of cell compression – Virginia Tech
Mechanical forces can alter the metabolic activities
of cells, such as cartilage cells. However, precise
effects are not entirely known. Students and faculty
from several Virginia Tech departments have designed
a device to compress a group of cells encased in a matrix
material — similar to natural cartilage —
to measure the activity. The simple device can apply
mechanical compression to three-dimensional cell constructs
and allows straightforward evaluation of cell responses
to known strains.
Engineering
and crystal growth of inorganic photonic materials –
Norfolk State University
Engineering of photonic materials involves selection
and optimization of the optically active impurity, the
host crystal structure and composition, and processing
conditions. More than 20 new crystals have been designed,
grown, characterized and proposed for various applications.
Fuel
cell research – Virginia Commonwealth University
VCU scientists have focused on new materials and processes
for the development of improved fuel cell and battery
technology. Specific attention is being given to NASA
requirements, which include the portability and the
ability to deliver power in extreme environments (low
temperatures, presence of high-energy radiation).
Functional
Genomics Microarray Laboratory – GMU
The Microarray Lab is a facility of the College of Arts
& Sciences. The lab specializes in creating microarrays
in support of biomedical and functional genomic research.
High
performance computing – Virginia Tech
A team of Virginia Tech researchers led by Srinidhi
Varadarajan of computer science built a supercomputer
— System X. In less than three months, they assembled
System X from 1,100 off-the-shelf personal computers
for $5.2 million. This represents about one-tenth the
cost of the world’s fastest machines. In November
2003, System X was ranked as the fastest supercomputer
at any academic institution and the third fastest in
the world.
Langley
Full Scale Tunnel – ODU
ODU operates the Langley Full Scale Tunnel with a mandate
that emphasizes use for all types of transportation
systems and commercialization for the benefit of the
private sector.
Maglev project moves forward – ODU
The $16 million project with American Maglev Technology
(AMT), Lockheed Martin, other industry participants,
and the federal and state governments began at ODU two
years ago with the construction of an elevated concrete
guideway and track. After the initial research and development
efforts at AMT’s Edgewater, Fla., facility, the
maglev vehicle arrived on campus and test runs began
in July 2002. With the federal funding, work continues
in ODU engineering labs, where comprehensive modeling
and simulation testing can further evaluate the system.
MD-PhD
program – VCU
The MD-PhD program provides six to seven years of research
and clinical training for graduates who will go on to
acquire new medical knowledge, set standards for clinical
care, and teach the physicians of the future. Under
Dr. Gordon Archer, chair of Infectious Diseases, the
program aims to produce outstanding physician-scientists
who will become the future research faculty of the VCU
School of Medicine.
Nanostructures
– Virginia Tech
Randy Heflin of the Virginia Tech Physics Department
is the associate director of the Center for Self-Assembled
Nanostructures and devices (CSAND). His research
focuses on nonlinear optical and optoelectronic properties
of organic self-assembled and nanoscale materials.
Nano-
and supramolecular organic materials for opto-electronic
devices – Norfolk State
This project focuses on developing lightweight, flexible
shape and inexpensive thin film type photovoltaic devices.
Photovoltaic materials find their key applications in
solar (or light) energy conversion on Earth and in space
flight missions. For instance, solar panes are the main
power sources for manmade satellites and space station.
NanoQuest
Institute – U.Va.
The nanoscale is reported to be the next frontier in
science and engineering. Distances measured in nanometers
— billionths of a meter — and time broken
down into nanoseconds — a billionth of a second
— are the basis by which Robert Hull, materials
science professor and Ian Harrison, chemistry professor,
formed the NanoQuest Institute. Some $15 million worth
of nanoresearch instrumentation has been installed at
the university during the past several years, and a
$40 million facility is scheduled for completion this
year.
Nuclear
Magnetic Resonance Laboratory – Norfolk State
The lab’s work includes studies of transport properties,
spin-lattice and magnetic interactions and spin relaxation
processes in magnetic and magnetically diluted systems,
in particular, in manganese perovskites, the materials
of interest for spintronics applications. This research
provides information on the correlation between ferromagnetic
and antiferromagnetic interactions, charge transport,
role of lattice effects and magnetic clasters.
Pioneering work in advanced materials –
VCU
Work is under way to create materials known as perovskites
for use as multifunctional oxides — both with
molecular beam epitaxy and sputtering. Led by Hadis
Morkoc and his team and funded by the Office of Naval
Research, VCU researchers are synthesizing multifunctional
perovskite dielectric materials single crystal form
on GaN, SiC and Si. The initial payoff will be in high-quality
gate dielectrics to control the flow of electrons through
high-performance GaN and SiC transistors.
Polymer
research – Virginia Tech
Garth Wilkes is a professor emeritus of chemical engineering
at Virginia Tech. Wilkes is a past recipient of
the Flory Education Award, established to recognize,
encourage and stimulate outstanding achievements by
an individual in promoting undergraduate and/or graduate
polymer education.
Spintronics
– U.Va.
Haydn Wadley, is conducting re-search in the area of
digital storage through the new field of spintronics.
By manipulating an electronic field we can push and
pull electrons around a device, getting them to produce
work. However, electrons also have another property
that has only begun to be explored: their spin. Electrons
can spin in one of two directions, a process that turns
them into tiny magnets. If you build a magnetic field
into a device, you can manipulate the movement of the
electrons.
Synthetic
materials – U.Va.
Cassandra Fraser specializes in building polymers —
large molecules consisting of repeated chemical units.
Fraser and her staff are conducting research on advanced
biomaterials that use metals as the hub of the polymer
chain. Fraser has also developed a method for producing
macromolecules that can alter their structure in response
to changes in their surroundings. These qualities can
make them vehicles for targeted delivery and triggered
release of drugs for biological research.
Tobacco research – Virginia Tech
Scott Buswell, a biological systems engineer major,
is studying whether tobacco can be developed to yield
the protein relaxin, a hormone with many potential benefits.
Most notably, the protein plays a key role in the birth
process, relaxing pelvic ligaments and preparing the
uterus for birth. The protein has been extracted from
other sources but none are commercially viable. If the
tobacco leaf can be engineered to produce relaxin, it
could become a veritable protein factory. One of the
advantages of using tobacco is that it is not in the
food supply, so any induced genetic materials will not
enter the food chain.
Transportation
– Virginia Tech
Tom Dingus, professor of civil and environmental engineering,
directs the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute,
one of the leading transportation research institutions.
The Institute is working on several highway safety systems,
including a roadway technology to flash a stop signal
when a vehicle’s speed and distance show it will
soon run a red light or stop sign. Another system would
signal a device in the vehicle to produce a noise and
flash a stop icon to warn the driver of the imminent
hazard.
Quantum
informatics – VCU
Quantum informatics, the science of using quantum mechanics
to store, encode, process and communicate information,
has the potential to make current computing technology
obsolete. Quantum computers can manipulate more bits
of information than the total number of atoms in the
known universe. They can solve virtually intractable
problems that will take the most advanced computer of
today a century to solve in a matter of minutes. However,
these computers are fragile and creating them is a challenge.
A promising approach, being pursued by VCU researchers,
uses the quantum mechanical “spin” property
of an electron to encode a quantum bit of information
(known as a “qubit”).
Unmanned
vehicles – Virginia Tech
The student research team led by Charles Reinholtz earned
a slot in the unmanned vehicle Grand Challenge race
sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency. Of the 106 teams that submited plans, only 15
qualified for the race and Virginia Tech was one of
the qualifiers. In June, Reinholtz and colleague Al
Wicks received a $2.2 million grant from the Department
of Defense for research on unmanned systems.
Vaccine
discovery – U.Va.
University of Virginia researcher John Herr has been
leading an effort to develop a vaccine that would use
a women’s natural antibodies to prevent fertilization.
His team has isolated a human sperm antigen which may
lead to certain types of immune-induced infertility.
The study may lead to the development of an antibody-based
birth control method.
Virginia
Bioinformatics Institute – Virginia Tech
The Institute serves as a flagship bioinformatics research
facility combining cutting-edge biological research
with state-of-the-art computer science. Utilized together,
these tools catalyze new knowledge and economic development
for the Commonwealth of Virginia and beyond. The Institute’s
faculty and staff, under the leadership of Bruno Sobral,
encourage research collaboration to increase the understanding
of molecular, cellular, and environmental interactions
that affect human health, agricultural systems, and
the environment. By integrating experimental and computational
laboratories, VBI provides a unique research platform
to all stakeholders on a cost-recovery basis.
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