Research Highlights

New New Hampshire NSF EPSCoR Track-1 NH BioMade publication. Said author Chenfeng Ke, “We report a hierarchically templated synthesis of 3D‐Printed crosslinked cyclodextrin nanotubes in Small Advanced Science News to extract lycopene in raw tomato juice.”

Nicole Marone, doctoral ocean engineering student at the University of New Hampshire, is one of five students chosen for this year’s cohort for the DOE Marine Energy Graduate Student Research Program. Nicole will work with Ocean Renewable Power Company and Sandia National Laboratories.

Two new studies released by Vermont NSF EPSCoR BREE researchers Patrick Bitterman and Christopher Koliba debut this month. “A Network Perspective on Multi-Scale Water Governance in the Lake Champlain Basin, Vermont,” published in Ecology and Society, and “Engagement in Water Governance Action Situations in the Lake Champlain Basin,” published in PLOS ONE take two similar but different looks at the Lake Champlain Basin (LCB) and examine how government action can improve the health of the watershed.

Delaware INBRE has been featuring different Pilot Project Investigators. Meet Dr. Fabrizio Sergi, University of Delaware. Through DE-INBRE, Dr. Sergi has been able to have access to facilities and equipment that kickstarted his stroke research project

South Carolina COBRE SC TRIMH located at Clemson University supports the Capstone Design program in Clemson Bioengineering through institutional funds. Through BIOE Capstone Design, an all-women team of Clemson bioengineering students took first place in the undergrad category at the Collegiate Inventors Competition.

A new publication by Dartmouth College researchers on the New Hampshire NSF EPSCoR Track 1 project, NH BioMade, reviews the addition of nanoparticles in various stages of joint arthroplasty surgery. Since these surgeries, specifically total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA) are increasingly common in younger patients, making these joint implants more durable is critical to improving patient outcomes.

Eight years ago, the data was sound but only suggestive, the evidence strong but circumstantial. Now, Nebraska NSF EPSCoR’s Karrie Weber, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and colleagues have experimentally confirmed that nitrate, a compound common in fertilizers and animal waste, can help transport naturally occurring uranium from the underground to groundwater.

The 2022 New Mexico Journal of Science, published by the New Mexico Academy of Science in collaboration with New Mexico NSF EPSCoR, is available for public viewing online. Abstracts from the 2022 New Mexico Research Symposium are inside, including many from NM SMART Grid Center students.

On February 11th, Explora Science Center and Children's Museum opened X Studio, a teen center in Albuquerque that is sure to be a hit with youth. The new 8,000-square-foot facility features an exhibit co-developed with the New Mexico NSF EPSCoR SMART Grid Center that focuses on energy generation and distribution while showcasing grid resilience careers for teens to consider as they continue on to college or trades school. As with the other exhibits featured in the STEM in the Burque exhibition space, one goal of the NM SMART Grid exhibit is to inspire teens to pursue careers in STEM fields.

Efforts to fight disease-causing bacteria by harnessing their natural predators could be undermined when multiple species occupy the same space, according to a study by Dartmouth College researchers.

When growing in mixed colonies, some harmful bacteria may be able to withstand attacks from the bacteria and viruses that target them by finding protection inside groups of rival species, according to a report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The U.S. National Science Foundation-supported study shows that interactions among multiple bacterial species can be difficult to predict from studying species in isolation.