The Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC), a national research center at Cornell University, will hold its annual meeting June 21 in 700 Clark Hall on the Cornell campus. The meeting, under the theme of "Moving Into the Future," will feature presentations on current research, including opportunities in medicine and life sciences and the novel properties of nanostructures. The public is invited to attend the meeting without charge, although there will be limited seating. (June 10, 2002)
ITHACA, N.Y./ RICHMOND, Va. -- Since early January, bird researchers, conservationists and bird enthusiasts everywhere have been holding their breath for results of a series of cooperative expeditions conducted by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Zeiss Sports Optics and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries in search of the ivory-billed woodpecker. Although the species has been long thought to be extinct, recent reports suggested that a few could have lingered undetected in a remote part of Louisiana. Analysis of more than 4,000 hours of digital data captured by 12 acoustic recording units (ARUs), developed by the Cornell lab's team of bioacoustics engineers, have shown no indication of the species' presence. (June 10, 2002)
Paul L. Houston, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, has been appointed senior associate dean in Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1.
Mark P. Bridgen, Cornell University professor of horticulture, has been appointed director of the Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center at Riverhead, N.Y., by Susan Henry, dean of Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Bridgen succeeds Joseph Sieczka, who recently retired. Before joining the Cornell faculty in January 2002, Bridgen was professor of horticulture and head of the Plant Tissue Culture and Micropropagation Facility at the University of Connecticut. (June 10, 2002)
New York, NY (June 7, 2002) In a new study just published in the journal Circulation Research, scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College demonstrate that therapy with bone-marrow-derived precursor cells can restore aging cardiac blood vessel-forming capacity, thus possibly preventing some of the morbidity and mortality associated with ischemic heart disease in older individuals. The study points to a promising and novel approach to preventing and treating heart disease in the aging.The lead author, Dr. Jay Edelberg, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell and Assistant Attending Physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's Weill Cornell Medical Center, says the study, in an animal model, builds on previous research in his lab that examined changes in the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels of older hearts. That study found that molecular alterations in those aged cells lead to a dysregulation of a molecular pathway by which platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) normally contributes to angiogenesis, or new blood vessel formation. In the new study, he and his colleagues show the possibility of restoring this pathway by bone marrow transplantation.
Bridging psychoanalytic thought and sexual science, a new book by two leading New York psychiatrists brings sexuality back to the center of psychoanalysis, showing how important it is for students of human sexuality to understand motives that are irrational and unconscious.
Cornell is one of eight academic institutions and four not-for-profit organizations forming a statewide consortium with corporate and economic development partners to improve environmental quality through the development of new integrated systems that enhance human health and performance.
Molecular biologists at Cornell University have established a Recombinant Protein Expression Laboratory with a five-year, $986,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Located in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, the centralized facility will produce proteins for cancer-related research throughout Cornell's Ithaca campus as well as at the Weill Medical College of Cornell and its Tri-Institutional Collaboration partners (Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) in New York City. (June 7, 2002)
BETHPAGE, N.Y. -- Forget the sand traps and the water hazards. The real battle on Long Island's Bethpage State Park golf course, the site of this year's U.S. Open June 13-16, is making the putting greens free from fungal diseases, cutworms and weevils ---- and safe from the pesticides used to combat them. Turf scientists at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and the Bethpage greenskeepers have been looking for ways to substantially reduce pesticide use on one of the nation's busiest public golf-course complexes. (June 6, 2002)
Three Cornell graduate students are among 17 at seven American universities to receive grants as Teresa Heinz Scholars for Environmental Research. o Heidi E. Gjertsen, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Applied Economics and Management, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.