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Seed Grants Propel Big Ideas in Alternative Energy FEST Award Recipient Unravels Mysteries of Brain Development Institute on Aging Conducts Long-Term Cognition Study
Seed grants from U.Va. will advance alternative energy technologies. Among the projects: buildings that heat and cool based upon the number of occupants; cheaper, and more efficient solar cells; algae that transform carbon dioxide and sunlight into biofuel; and a new type of "solar cell" that will gather energy to transform water into hydrogen. Noelle Dwyer, assistant professor of cell biology, is working to identify novel genes that are vital to brain development. A $50,000 Fund for Excellence in Science and Technology (FEST) Distinguished Young Investigator grant will advance her promising research. Researchers with U.Va.'s Cognitive Aging Laboratory are testing and tracking hundreds of volunteer participants to gain insight to changes in cognition, and possibly discover ways to alleviate or slow the rate of decline, says Tim Salthouse, a U.Va. professor of psychology and the lead investigator.

University Research in the News

  • Clinical Data Acquires Adenosine Therapeutics
    Business Wire
    Clinical Data, Inc. today announced the acquisition of [U.Va. start-up] Adenosine Therapeutics, L.L.C., a developer of drug products based on its extensive portfolio of composition of matter and method of use patents relating to selective adenosine receptor modulators.
  • Athletes in the Zone May See the World Differently
    ABC News
    ...[U.Va. graduate Jessica] Witt and her fellow researchers, Sally A. Linkenauger, Jonathan Z. Bakdash and Dennis R. Proffitt of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, conducted three experiments involving both experienced golfers and duffers, to see if playing well, or badly, affected their perception of the size of the hole. The results showed that only the players who were playing well perceived the hole as being bigger than it really is.
  • Study Confirms Folklore Legend
    ABC News
    ... According to a new study by Microsoft, not only are the odds pretty good, but you can probably be linked to anyone else by fewer than seven acquaintances. ... For years now, the "small world" theory found practicality in a trivia game called the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, in which competitors would attempt to connect the actor with other actors using as few links as possible. The University of Virginia Computer Science department took the game to a higher level, creating a computer program called "The Oracle of Bacon" that automatically maps the links between Kevin Bacon and any other actor or actress through information at the Internet Movie Database.
  • How Some Seatbelts Can Do More Harm
    driving.ca
    ... Ford has developed the more lifelike abdomen insert for the Hybrid3 crash-test dummy in conjunction with STR Systems, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Wayne State University, the University of Virginia and the Takata Corp.
  • Nanoparticles and Light Combo Offers New Way to Kill Tumour Cells
    newwindpress.com
    University of Virginia medical physicists have come up with a new idea to kill tumour cells with the help of nanoparticles and light.
  • 23 University of Virginia Students Receive Virginia Space Grant Consortium Scholarships
    U.Va. Today
    Twenty-three University of Virginia students are among the 77 recipients of the Virginia Space Grant Consortium's $330,100 in scholarships and fellowships for students pursuing higher education at Virginia Space Grant universities and community colleges for the 2008-09 academic year.

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