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Researchers Begin to Decipher Metabolism of Sexual Assault Drug

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:01 -0500

It’s a naturally occurring brain chemical with an unwieldy name: 4-hydroxybutyrate (4-HB). Taken by mouth, it can be abused or used as a date-rape drug.

Now, a team of Ohio and Michigan scientists have determined new routes by which 4-HB is metabolized by the body. “This is new and important information,” said K. Michael Gibson, professor and chair of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University and a member of the research team. “It may provide new clues on how to counteract the drug’s effects, or to enhance its metabolism and decrease toxicity for chronic abusers or victims of sexual assault.”

Gibson is . . .

Building a Grid that Plays Nice

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:58:11 -0500

It's unlikely that you'll crash the local utility system by turning on your microwave. But in smaller electric grids it's not that hard for a single, power-gobbling component—say, central air-conditioning—to blow the proverbial main fuse.

Wayne Weaver, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Tech, is interested in designing ways for all components in smaller electrical grids to share power. His work applies to systems as simple as a solar-powered home and as complex as a naval vessel, an industrial park or a military outpost.

With a three-year, $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Weaver will use game . . .

Grad Student Takes Aim at Sugar Maple Dieback

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:00:36 -0400

When Tara Bal brings a 12-gauge into the woods, she doesn’t worry about exceeding her limit.

Bal, a Michigan Technological University PhD student in forest science, isn’t a hunter. She is more of a gatherer, using the shotgun to bring down sugar maple leaves from the forest canopy.

With Andrew Storer, a professor of forest resources and environmental science, she aims to find out why so many Upper Peninsula sugar maples are in trouble. If you go for a walk in the woods and look up, you’ll see quite a few trees with dieback: branches, even whole sections of the tree, . . .

Michigan Tech Researchers Lead Project to Develop Cleaner, More Efficient Diesel Engines

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:51:11 -0400

Diesel engines are famously high-performance, reliable and economical. In recent years, they have also improved their image through advanced emissions control systems.

An unfortunate side effect of cleaning up diesel exhaust, however, can be a drop in engine efficiency, which translates into increased fuel consumption. Now, a partnership led by researchers at Michigan Technological University is addressing the problem. The work is being funded by a three-year, $2.8 million grant from the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Additional support and in-kind goods, services and expertise for the three-year, $2.8 million project are being provided by Michigan Tech; diesel engine . . .

Transplanted Liver Cells Hold Hope for Treating Inherited Diseases

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 10:19:41 -0400

Mike Gibson, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Michigan Technological University, has spent most of his professional life trying to better understand genetic metabolic disorders that arise in children. With that knowledge, he is working to develop treatments in mice--including liver-cell transplants--that could one day be used to treat a variety of liver-based illnesses in people.

The genetic diseases Gibson studies are often dizzyingly complex, involving a cascade of biochemical reactions that go awry. While the knowledge gained by studying a single disease could help researchers develop a better treatment, it may also expand our fundamental understanding of physiology . . .

Researchers Receive $1.5 Million to Make Steel, Syngas Using Microwaves

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:08:56 -0400

A project spearheaded by a team of materials science and engineering researchers has received $1.5 million from the Michigan Public Service Commission to further develop a new, energy-efficient method for making steel. And, by the way, it also produces syngas.

The grant was awarded jointly to Michigan Tech and to U.P. Steel, a start-up company created by Professor Jiann-Yang Hwang and Xiaodi Huang, a project manager and research leader in the Institute of Materials Processing.

“We started this concept back in 1991, using microwaves to do steel-making,” said Huang. “Iron ore and carbon, which are used to make steel, are both excellent . . .

Michigan Tech Hires 7 Multi-disciplinary Computational Innovators

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

In its second Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiative (SFHI), Michigan Technological University has hired seven new faculty members to conduct research in computational discovery and innovation. They come from some of the best research universities across the country and the world. They will join six different departments at Michigan Tech.

The new hires include

• Laura Brown, Vanderbilt University, computer science.

Brown’s research focuses on computational causal discovery algorithms, specifically algorithms for learning the structure of Bayesian networks, which are graphical models of random variables and their interconnections.

• Zhou Feng, Texas A&M University, electrical and computer engineering.

Feng’s technical area is modeling and simulation of . . .

GM Gives Michigan Tech 3 Hybrid Vehicles for Research and Education

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:07:35 -0400

General Motors has donated two Saturn Vue hybrids and a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid—the Chevy that a top GM executive drove to Washington, DC, last spring to meet with Congress—to Michigan Technological University. The vehicles will be used for research and education.
“The donation of these vehicles from GM will enable us to further our research in reducing fuel consumption and emissions, including enabling near-zero emissions for biofueled vehicles,” said Jeff Naber, a professor of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics at Michigan Tech and a lead researcher and director of the Advanced Internal Combustion Laboratories at Michigan Tech.
The Saturns will be used to . . .

Michigan Tech Team Models Molecular Transistor

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:50:20 -0400

Electronic gadgetry gets tinier and more powerful all the time, but at some point, the transistors and myriad other component parts will get so little they won't work. That's because when things get really small, the regular rules of Newtonian physics quit and the weird rules of quantum mechanics kick in. When that happens, as physics professor and chair Ravindra Pandey puts it, "everything goes haywire."
Theorists in the field of molecular electronics hope to get around the problem by designing components out of a single molecule. Pandey's group has done just that—theoretically—by modeling a single-molecule field-effect transistor on . . .

From the Roots Up, Developing Trees for Sustainable Biofuel

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:41:14 -0400

New tree varieties with wonder roots could one day supercharge the biofuel industry.
Scientists at Michigan Technological University aim to develop poplar trees with roots that enable them to thrive in dry, infertile soils. Their work is funded by a three-year, $900,000 grant from the joint USDA and Department of Energy’s Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy Research Program.
“Biofuel crops will be grown on marginal lands to avoid competition with food production and curb greenhouse gas emissions,” says Victor Busov, leading project principal investigator. “These plants will have to be pretty robust, and we’re focusing on the roots.”
The poplar is more . . .