Research News

Leading polymer-nanocomposite, fuel-cell, research scientist joining USC 

One of the world's leading scientists in nanotechnogy and fuel-cell research will join the University of South Carolina's faculty in 2008.

Dr. Brian Benicewicz, director of the New York State Center for Polymer Synthesis and a professor of chemistry at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will hold the endowed chair in the Center of Economic Excellence (CoEE) for Polymer Nanocomposite Research. His research team, to be located in the Horizon I building in the university's Innovista research district, will enhance USC's research strength in two key areas: polymer nanocomposites and future fuels. His hiring is part of the CoEE program, established to fuel economic development by using state funding to create research centers at the state's three research universities.

"Dr. Benicewicz joins the university at a time when our research reputation is growing," said Dr. Harris Pastides, the university's vice president for research and health sciences. "The addition of the Center of Economic Excellence for Polymer Nanocomposite Research will enable the university to play a leading role in the future of nanoscience and plastics, the largest manufacturing industry in South Carolina."

The Palmetto State is one of the nation's top producers of plastics, specifically commodity polymers that are used to manufacture packaging products for items such as juices, water, soft drinks, household cleaners and cosmetics. The university and plastics manufacturers have been working since 2002 to study the competitive advantage that nanoscience may offer in developing new products or improving those that already exist.

"Polymer-nanocomposite research is key to the economic development of South Carolina," Dr. Tom Vogt, director of the university's Nanocenter, said. "Bringing Dr. Benicewicz and his research team to the university is a major move forward for an industry that plays such a critical role in the Palmetto State's job market and economy."

Benicewicz, whose research funding includes grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and private industry, also will collaborate with researchers in the university's College of Engineering and Computing, a leader in alternative-fuels research and home to the nation's only Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells funded by the National Science Foundation.

Benicewicz said he was attracted to the university because its leadership is creating a research and teaching environment that will positively impact the university and the state for many years.

"This vision for the future, combined with the outstanding faculty and students I met during my visits, were the primary factors in my decision to join the University of South Carolina," he said. "My research is focused in two major areas that overlap with key research directions of the university: polymer nanocomposites and new polymers for fuel-cell membranes. The opportunity to work with other top researchers in these areas at South Carolina is very exciting and will push our research in new directions."

Dr. Gordon Calundann, the chief technology officer at BASF Fuel Cell GmbH/Inc. in Somerset, N.J., said Benicewicz's move to the University of South Carolina is a "triple-win event."

"The university, with its powerful and still-developing infrastructure in fuel-cell technology, now adds to this growing capability the nation's leading academic researcher and laboratory in high-temperature polymer electrolyte membranes," Calundann said.

"With Dr. Benicewicz, the University of South Carolina adds a world-class synthetic-polymer scientist to its already distinguished staff in the alternative-energy field," he said. "Finally, and perhaps most important from my viewpoint, this move can only aid and accelerate the commercialization of fuel-cell products developed by BASF."

In his leadership role as the endowed chair of the Center of Economic Excellence in Polymer Nanocomposite Research, Benicewicz will position the university as an internationally recognized center of research and education and help it pursue collaborations with businesses and industries in South Carolina, Dr. Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, dean of the university's College of Arts and Sciences, said.

"The college is proud to be selected for a center that is expected to advance the state's economy through its research, and ultimately, create jobs through the application and commercialization of Dr. Benicewicz's research," Fitzpatrick said. "Dr. Benicewicz is another example of the excellent faculty whom we are bringing to the college and the university to work with our outstanding faculty."

The S.C. CoEE program was created by the S.C. General Assembly in 2002 with $200 million in funding from the S.C. Education Lottery for the state's research universities - the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina. State funding for the centers, which ranges from $2 million to $5 million, must be matched with private, federal or municipal funds.

DOD awards $1 Million to Enhance Basic Training

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a $1.1 million grant to the University of South Carolina to incorporate certified athletic trainers directly into military basic training programs. The trainers serve as trainee advocates regarding musculoskeletal injuries and other medical issues.

Dr. James Mensch, Associate Clinical Professor in the College of Education's Department of Physical Education, is the Principal Investigator of the grant that, since August 2007, has placed eight certified athletic training master's students and two full-time athletic trainer coordinators with Fort Jackson training battalions.

Mensch said the athletic trainers' role at Fort Jackson is analogous to the role of athletic trainers hired by the USC athletic department. In both settings there is a high sense of urgency to return the participant from an injury as quickly, yet as safely, as possible. In military training, recruits have only a finite amount of time they can miss before risking restarting the basic training program.

Mensch joined the USC College of Education faculty in 2001. He holds a doctorate in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland and currently serves as Director of the Graduate Athletic Training Program in the Department of Physical Education. His research interests include musculoskeletal injuries in the military population, athletic training clinical education, pedagogical strategies, and socialization.

Innovista lands Loccioni Group-- first international co.

The Loccioni Group has announced it will locate its first North American office in the Innovista research district.

Based in Italy, Loccioni Group provides engineering services in measurement and testing for measurement systems, quality control, automation, ICT and service. Areas benefitting from these specialized services include automotive, household appliances, environment, energy-saving, agriculture and food, health, manufacturing and public administration. The Innovista office will include a purchasing and operations component, employing several people initially with growth potential in research and development.

"Innovista is the ideal site for the launch of our new business," said Konrad Censi, North America Director of Operations, Loccioni Group. "It offers a motivated and established business atmosphere for a startup company. The location is perfect, central to the state and in an area which is growing up extremely fast."

The Loccioni Group will locate initially in the University of South Carolina-City of Columbia Technology Incubator before joining existing Innovista tenants Duck Creek Technologies and Collexis Holdings. All three companies were recruited to Innovista through the efforts of USC, the SC Department of Commerce and the Central SC (economic development) Alliance.

"The Loccioni Group is our first internationally based company to become part of Innovista, and we're honored that they chose to set up their first North American operations here," said Harris Pastides, USC vice president for research and health sciences. "They're one of the most respected companies in Italy, and their products, expertise and services in healthcare, research, engineering, energy, and other areas match up well with [our] core research, education and commercialization strengths. Our students and faculty experts and the Loccioni Group will mutually benefit from the experiences and collaborations that will occur."

Loccioni Group has been awarded Best Workplaces in Italy for the past seven years. The company can be defined as a "technological couture-house" working in synergy with universities and research centers to develop and implement high-technology content "all inclusive" systems for manufactured goods, various services and public administration. The group is based in the center of Italy in the Marche region between the Appennini Mountains and the Adriatic Coast. For more information visit www.loccioni.com.

Study may uncover genes responsible for breast, colon cancers

University of South Carolina scientists are among a group of researchers who may have discovered mutated genes that cause breast and colon cancers.

Dr. Phillip J. Buckhaults, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina's School of Medicine, and Dr. Randall Crowshaw, a surgery resident at the university's medical school, worked with researchers from 11 medical and research centers around the nation on a study that examined the DNA sequence of more than 18,000 genes, the vast majority of the human genome.

They identified 280 candidate cancer genes, or CAN genes, that frequently become mutated in breast and colon cancers.

These are the genes that scientists believe cause most forms of these two diseases, said Buckhaults, a senior scientist with the S.C. Cancer Center, a research partnership between Palmetto Health and the University of South Carolina.

"Individual tumors on average have about 15 CAN genes mutated," he said. "Tumors that look very similar under the microscope have very different sets of genes mutated, making tumors almost as genetically distinct as the people in whom they are found."

This kind of discovery has huge implications, Buckhaults said, because scientists believe that knowing the exact composition of a cancer will allow them to treat it more appropriately from the first diagnosis.

"People who have cancer have very different clinical experiences," he said. "Although two patients may have the same kind of cancer and be treated by the same physicians and medicines, their outcomes may be quite different. We wanted to know why some of those patients live while others die. We believe this discovery brings us closer to doing that."

Clinicians typically treat cancer according to what has already happened in the body. This research may allow clinicians to treat cancer according to what it is capable of doing, he said.

"Researchers believe that the difference between a benign or malignant tumor is the mutation of the genes," Buckhaults said. "If they can know exactly what genes those are, then they can provide better cancer treatment."

As reported recently in the journal Science, benefits of the study would allow clinicians to do the following:

• design treatment specific to the patient based on the cancer's genetic makeup;
• recognize the genetic makeup of cancer and its potential behavior in the future;
• design new chemotherapy treatment that targets mutant genes;
• prevent damages to normal cells through specifically designed chemotherapy.

The benefit that could occur most quickly is using gene mutation profiling to help make clinical decisions, something that could happen within five years, he said.

"Custom drugs will come later. Researchers are being recruited to the University of South Carolina who specialize in these types of projects," he said.

Buckhaults praised the breast-cancer patients who provided samples of their tissue for the study by donating it to the South Carolina Cancer Center Tissue Bank.

"Breast-cancer patients in South Carolina were a critical part of the team," he said. "They donated their tissue to the bank and made this discovery possible. Without their selfless act at a difficult time, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish this. I consider them the real heroes."

To move the project forward, Buckhaults said that collaboration among the S.C. Biorepository System, a newly formed statewide network of tissue banks, will be needed.

The multi-center study used 35 colon samples and 35 breast-cancer samples in advanced stages of disease. Future studies will require hundreds of samples for each cancer in every stage of disease, he said.

"This is clearly something no one cancer center can do alone," Buckhaults said.

Polymer nanocomposite research partners, NSF grant

Carolina's polymer nanocomposites research has attracted four industrial partners-- Eastman Chemical; PBI Performance Products; Mead Westvaco; and Michelin Tire Co.-- and a three-year, $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

The NSF project will team graduate students from chemistry and chemical engineering with International MBA students from the University's Moore School of Business. Together they will work with professors from engineering, chemistry, and business to study problems posed by the industry partners.

The project builds on the University's growing expertise in polymer nanocomposites, the microscopic additives that enhance polymers used to make plastics, fibers, and other materials.

"We're going to be doing technical research in the lab and at the same time doing market analysis and tackling other business issues that our industrial partners have asked for assistance on," said Harry Ploehn, a chemical engineering professor in the College of Engineering and Computing who added, "NSF doesn't normally fund projects that are so applied, but they're interested in accelerating technology transfer and increasing the efficiency of the innovation process. That's what our polymer nanocomposite research is all about--adding value from innovative research to the polymer industry."

Other Carolina faculty involved in the project are chemistry professor Hanno zur Loye, adjunct research professor in chemistry and biochemistry David Pond, and Bill Sandberg, a management professor who teaches entrepreneurial studies in the Moore School of Business.

Dems Nix Colbert in SC Primary

Only four days after Charleston native and Comedy Central TV host Stephen Colbert's  Oct. 28 presidential "campaign" appearance on the USC's historic Horseshoe, the executive committee of the SC Democratic Party has voted down his upcoming primary ballot bid.

During his USC appearance Colbert addressed many of the state's most pressing issues-establishing the superiority of SC peaches to Georgia peaches; of SC shrimp to imported shrimp; and USC's Innovista research district, where "scientists will reside right next to their experiments, so if something goes horribly wrong, they will be the first to mutate."

Colbert's Doritos-sponsored presidential campaign paid the $2,500 filing fee necessary to get into the Democratic primary race just before yesterday's noon deadline. Approximately two hours later, state party committee members voted not to certify his candidacy despite a national poll that gave Colbert 2.3 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, ranking him ahead of Governor Bill Richardson (2.1 percent), Congressman Dennis Kucinich     (2.1 percent) and former Senator Mike Gravel (less than 1 percent).

Nanorod research licensed

Too small to see but not too small to pack a powerful punch, gold nanorods may become a valuable ally in medical treatment, including early detection of cancer and the shrinking of tumors. 

Nanopartz Inc. has developed a new line of gold nanorods using patent-pending technologies developed by Dr. Cathy Murphy, a chemistry professor at the University of South Carolina, and Dr. Eugene Zubarav of Rice University.

Nanorods are expected to have particular application in medical diagnostics, biomedical imaging and medical treatments involving heat. Specific uses include the ability to detect cancer, treat macular degeneration, and detect biomolecules and biodefense agents. Nanorods also can be used to destroy solid cancer tumors by targeting the tumor and its blood vessels without causing significant damage to healthy tissue.

Gold nanoparticles are among the most widely used classes of nanomaterials for chemical, bioanalytical, biomedical, optical and nanotechnological applications. Nanopartz Inc. is the only known commercial source for gold nanorods.

For information on the University of South Carolina's NanoCenter, go to http://www.nano.sc.edu.        To learn more about Nanopartz Inc., visit www.nanopartz.com.

Fuel cell-powered Segways

With $50,000 from the Greater Columbia Fuel Cell Challenge, USC researchers in the College of Engineering and Computing have put fuel cells on two Segways-the personal transporter (that looks like something from "The Jetsons" television program) currently used throughout the world by individuals, business, government and police.

"We wanted to see if we could extend the range ("ride time"). by adding a fuel cell," said Dr. John Weidner, a professor of chemical engineering who developed the fuel cell-powered Segway with fellow chemical engineer Chuck Holland.

The university gave one of the Segways, which are usually powered by lithium-ion batteries that have to be re-charged, to the City of Columbia for the police department; the other is being used by researchers and ultimately will have a home in the Horizon Center of Innovista, the university's research district.

The fuel cell, about the size of a soft-drink can, is expected to increase the amount of time that a Segway can be used by 20 - 90 percent, Weidner said. "For a police department, that might mean that the Segway could be used during an entire shift, rather than two or three hours."

Weidner and Holland also have created a company Hydrogen Hybrid Mobility that will test new uses of hydrogen energy. The next step for the company, Holland said, is to conduct performance tests for the fuel cell-powered Segways and then work toward commercialization of their product.

Commercialization isn't far into the future. A tour company recently contacted the researchers about their Segway adaptation. The company, which gives two tours a day, found that they could extend the number of tours to three if they had a fuel-cell powered Segway.

"They could increase their profit by 50 percent," Holland said. "The future for this product is promising."

The University of South Carolina is recognized as a leader in alternative-fuels research. The College of Engineering and Computing is home to the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells, the nation's only fuel-cell center established by the National Science Foundation.

Earlier this year, the university named Dr. Kenneth Reifsnider, one of the world's pre-eminent fuel-cell researchers, to lead its solid-oxide fuel-cell research initiative and to pursue ways to apply the promising energy conversion devices to benefit society.

Reifsnider, the former director of the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center at the University of Connecticut, is the director of Carolina's Solid Oxide Fuel Program and a professor of mechanical engineering. He is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering, making the University of South Carolina the state's only university with an active faculty member of the prestigious academy.

$6 million NIH grant studies complementary, alternative medicine

 A $6 million federal grant has put USC's School of Medicine among the growing ranks of prestigious institutions studying alternative and complementary medicine. The  National Institutes of Health grant  creates a Center of Excellence for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research on Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disease, one of only three created this year to study similar therapies and one of only 11 in the nation.

Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti, associate dean for basic science at the School of Medicine, will lead the study on the mechanism by which resveratrol, a compound in the skin of red grapes, may help treat multiple sclerosis. Dr. Mitzi Nagarkatti, chair of the department of pathology and microbiology, will study how a compound in hemp may be useful in treating autoimmune hepatitis, and Dr. Lorne Hofseth, an assistant professor in the S.C. College of Pharmacy, will study the anti-inflammatory properties of American ginseng in treating colitis.

The NIH funding underscores the fact that Carolina researchers are increasingly competitive for major federal grants, said Dr. Harris Pastides, the university's vice president for research and health sciences. "NIH has created national centers of excellence to study complementary and alternative medicine at some of the nation's top research institutions, and having the University of South Carolina included in this group is a testament to our growing research reputation."

CDC Awards $1.35 Million for Translation Research

Psychology professor Ron Prinz, a member of the Research Consortium on Children and Families,  has received a $1.35 million three-year award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct a translation research project aimed at more effectively disseminating scientifically-tested programs to the population at large.

The study focuses on  programs aimed at strengthening parenting and promoting child well-being at a population level. Conducted in collaboration with University of Queensland professor Matthew Sanders, this grant furthers the South Carolina-Queensland sister-state partnership and specifically supports a recently signed USC-UQ memorandum of agreement to continue the parenting research professors Prinz and Sanders have been fostering for several years. That work advances practical and effective strategies that build parental confidence, improve parent child relationships, and help children succeed.

Collexis joining Innovista

University of South Carolina President Andrew Sorensen announced Oct. 3 that Collexis Holdings Inc., a leading developer of high definition search and discovery applications, will become the next tenant for Innovista, the university's research campus that is expected to transform the landscape and the economy of the City of Columbia.

"I am delighted that Collexis will become part of Innovista," Sorensen said. "As we work to strengthen our economy, we must have the ability to attract companies that will provide high-paying jobs and have a vested interest in the Midlands. Collexis aligns very nicely with our research in alternative energy and fuel cells, the health sciences and computing."

Collexis will locate on the third floor of the Horizon II Building, which is on the block bound by Assembly, Blossom, South Main and Wheat streets. Horizon II is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy in November 2008.

Bill Kirkland, CEO of Collexis Holdings Inc., said he was eager to become a part of Innovista and looks forward to expanding Collexis' partnership with the University of South Carolina. "We are very pleased to grow our partnership as we join the University of South Carolina's Innovista project as one of the inaugural tenants. As Collexis is one of the world's leading High Definition Search and knowledge discovery technology companies, it is fitting that we join this very exciting and groundbreaking Innovista project. We truly feel that new and exciting synergies will be born from this partnership."

John Parks, executive director of Innovista, said Collexis presents opportunities for collaboration with other companies.

"Collexis is the second tenant slated for Innovista and is representative of the fast-growing technology companies we are seeking to attract," Parks said. "Its location in Horizon presents many opportunities for collaboration with other companies that we are in the process of recruiting."

FY 07 Research funding hits $185 million

USC sponsored program and research awards totaled $185 million in fiscal year 2007, up 6.7 percent from the previous year.

The increase was achieved despite exceptionally intense competition throughout academe for NSF funding and from other traditional funding sources. While the University's funding from federal agencies declined, Carolina faculty did achieve a 23 percent increase in NSF funding.

University faculty submitted 1665 research proposals during the year requesting

$253.7 million in funding. Five hundred thirty faculty members received awards, and there were 941 active projects during the fiscal year.

While dependent on many variables, including federal and state budgets, the prospects for continued growth of research funding at USC appear to be positive.  Two faculty recruiting plans will bring a total of 250 additional faculty members to the campus during the next several years. The Centenary Plan, sponsored by the University's Research and Health Sciences division, is recruiting faculty whose primary goal will be to compete successfully for research awards.

In addition, development of the University's Innovista research district will include the opening of two new facilities in 2008, and continued progress on several research initiatives in alternative energy, computational science, nanotechnology and biomedical science

$5 million senior independence research center funded

The review board that oversees SC's Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE) Program has approved state funding for a new CoEE collaboration between the University of South Carolina and Clemson University with Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) contributing as a major non-state matching partner.

The newly approved SeniorSMARTT CoEE will focus on multidisciplinary research to foster independence for senior citizens. Its research will fall under three major themes: SHARP BRAIN (helping seniors maintain intellectual activity); SMART WHEELS (promoting independent mobility outside the home for seniors); and SMART HOME (helping seniors maintain independent mobility inside the home). In total, the SeniorSMARTT CoEE received a $5 million award, which must be matched dollar for dollar by private, federal or municipal funds.

Dr. Paul Eleazer, professor of internal medicine at the USC School of Medicine, will lead the project and work with Dr. Dennis Poole, dean of the USC College of Social Work; Drs. William Logan, director of geriatrics at the Greenville Hospital System; Victor Hirth, USC/Palmetto Geriatrics; Johnell Brooks, Clemson University;  Harriett Williams and James Laditka, of USC's Arnold School of Public Health; and Judy Baskins, RN, Palmetto Health/USC.

"Researchers will take advantage of Carolina's engineering, social work and medical schools and will work to develop new ways of retrofitting residences so that the elderly can stay in their own homes longer and enjoy a better quality of life," Eleazer said. "In addition, they will conduct research at Clemson's International Center for Automotive Research to develop cars that help older adults retain their ability to drive safely as they continue to age."

The CoEE will be housed primarily at USC's Columbia campus, with additional research taking place at Clemson and the Greenville Hospital System. Health Sciences South Carolina has already announced that it will provide a portion of the required non-state match.

The center also will support three endowed chairs. Two at Carolina will focus on memory and brain function, and community and social support, and the chair at Clemson will be designated for research on independence and driving ability.

"South Carolina has an excellent opportunity to become nationally competitive in the area of smart mobility," said Harris Pastides, USC vice president for research and health sciences. "The SeniorSMARTT CoEE leverages core competencies at our state's research universities to help us become a leader in this high-growth industry."

The CoEE Program was established by the SC General Assembly in 2002, with $200 million designated from the SC Education Lottery Account to fund the program through 2010.  The legislation authorizes the state's three public research institutions (Clemson, MUSC and USC) to use state funds to create CoEEs in research areas that will advance SC's economy.

Each CoEE is awarded $2 million to $5 million in state funds, which must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis with federal, private or municipal funds. To receive funding, the research universities must submit proposals that undergo a rigorous three-tier review process involving technical experts, site visits, and an external review panel.

HSSC, a public-private partnership of Clemson University, Greenville Hospital System, the Medical University of South Carolina, Palmetto Health, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System and the University of South Carolina, works to advance health-science education and research.

Economic; social implications of Latino population growth

Carolina researchers Drs. Douglas Woodward and Elaine Lacy outlined demographics of South Carolina's growing Latino population and its impact on the state's educational and healthcare systems, employment and wages, poverty level, and social services at the August 2007 Statewide Hispanic/Latino Issues Conference hosted by the S.C. Commission for Minority Affairs.

Woodward, professor of economics and director of the Division of Research in the Moore School of Business, and Lacy, research director for the Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies and a professor of history at the university's Aiken campus, are two of South Carolina's top authorities on the state's Mexican labor force.

Some key findings:

• 62 percent of Latinos in South Carolina are of Mexican origin.
• Latinos' average stay in South Carolina is 4.8 years, compared with 7.9 years nationally.
• More than 50 percent of Latinos in South Carolina either do not speak English or speak only a few words of English.
• According to 2006 data, only 3.7 percent of all South Carolina public-school students are Hispanic. The largest Latino enrollments are in Greenville, Beaufort, Spartanburg, Horry, Charleston, Lexington, Richland, Berkeley, and York counties, respectively.
• 40 percent of Latino students are fluent in English and fully integrated in "mainstream" classrooms.
• 84 percent of Latinos characterize their health as "good" or "very good." Nearly half of Latinos don't seek medical treatment either because of a lack of health insurance or perceived lack of need.
• While South Carolina employers are more apt to offer health benefits than other benefits to service workers, few Latinos take the benefit, reporting their decision as an "economic impossibility" due to cost.
• From 2000 - 05, median wages for full-time, white South Carolina workers increased by 1.2 percent, while falling by 1 percent for black South Carolinians and by 9.6 percent for Hispanics.
• Median annual earnings for Latinos are $20,400, far below median earnings for South Carolinians in general.
• Construction is the primary employment sector for Latinos, followed by meat and poultry processing and landscaping services.
• 25.7 percent of Latinos in South Carolina live in poverty, a figure that has increased slightly. Black poverty levels in the state fell to 25.1 percent in 2005. In contrast, whites have a poverty level of 9.3 percent.

2007 Governor's Award for Excellence in Scientific Research

Chemistry professor Dan Reger was named a Carolina Distinguished Professor in 1998. Nine years later, he has added the 2007 Governor's Award for Excellence in Scientific Research to his list of career accomplishments. The award, presented in a ceremony at the Statehouse, honors an outstanding scientist who has conducted much of his work in South Carolina.

Reger has published more than 180 original research articles in chemistry journals and has mentored 27 Ph.D. students, a master's student, and numerous postdoctoral fellows and undergraduate students.

Other awards received during his career include the Educational Foundation Research Award for Science, Mathematics and Engineering; Michael J. Mungo Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching; Amoco Outstanding Teacher Award; Carolina Trustees Professor; and the Michael J. Mungo Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching.

Grilled red meat raises breast cancer risk

A longtime diet of grilled, barbecued and smoked meat puts older women at increased risk of developing breast cancer, according to a new study led by a researcher at USC's Arnold School of Public Health.

Dr. Susan E. Steck and colleagues found that postmenopausal women who consumed the most grilled, barbecued or smoked meat over their lifetimes have a 47 percent increased risk of breast cancer compared to women consuming these meats less often. The risk of breast cancer was elevated by 74 percent in those postmenopausal women who ate the cooked meats and also consumed fewer fruit and vegetables.

The findings are published in the May 2007 issue of Epidemiology, the official journal of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology.

Steck, a research assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Statewide Cancer Prevention and Control Program, said, "Our research supports guidelines currently recommended by the American Cancer Society and the American Institute for Cancer Research to limit red meat and processed meat intake and to increase intake of fruits and vegetables."

The study found a close association with but didn't actually show that cooked meats caused breast cancer. Other related factors could be at work, she explained, such as high fat content in the diet of women who consume these types of meat products.

The study noted that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic amines are known carcinogens produced by cooking meat at high temperatures. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are found in grilled, barbecued and smoked meat (as well as many other foods), while pan-fried and grilled meat have particularly high heterocyclic amine content.

Steck said the study compared the lifetime and recent intake of cooked meat among 1,508 women with breast cancer and 1,556 healthy women. The data were drawn from the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project done in 1996-1997.

Postmenopausal women in the highest two thirds for lifetime consumption of smoked, grilled or barbecued meats -- more than once a week -- had a 47 percent greater risk of the disease compared with women who ate the least amount of meat -- once a week or less.

Significantly, post-menopausal women who ate plenty of barbecued or smoked meat but few fruits and vegetables (less than five servings per day) were at a 74 percent increased risk of breast cancer.

However, risk was not elevated substantially in women consuming high amounts of meat and more than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This supports laboratory data which suggests that phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables may protect against carcinogens found in cooked meat.

At the same time, smoked, grilled or barbecued poultry or fish did not increase breast cancer risk when examined independently of red meat, the study reported.

The investigators found no significant association between long- or short-term meat intake and breast cancer in pre-menopausal women.

Steck joined the USC faculty in November 2005. She has a doctorate in nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include nutrition and cancer epidemiology, health disparities in cancer outcomes, and gene-diet interactions and cancer risk and survival.

Continuous glucose monitoring?

Qian Wang, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and doctoral student Siqi Li are helping researchers at Columbia University with the development of a new implantable device for monitoring blood sugar levels in diabetes sufferers.

For Wang and Li, the focus is on developing a biocompatible, nano-scale polymer capable of more accurately detecting and measuring blood glucose levels. Their goal is to put the polymer--a gel-like substance whose primary sensing ingredient is boronic acid--in an implantable chamber smaller than a coin. A special membrane would allow blood to continuously pass through the monitor while keeping the polymer sensor material inside.

"We've been working to develop a polymer that is highly sensitive to glucose detection," Wang said, adding that in the lab, their sensor does an admirable job of detecting glucose while responding weakly to fructose levels. That's a good thing, he said, because fructose is a natural sugar from fruits that diabetics don't need to monitor. Other sensors already on the market don't differentiate between fructose and glucose, which compromises their accuracy.

Unlike conventional twice-a-day blood testing, the proposed device would continuously monitor blood glucose levels so the user could correlate blood sugar swings with diet and make changes as needed, Wang said. In addition, the system could be integrated with an insulin pump for automated medication based on the user's glucose levels.

The device has several hurdles to overcome before it can be tested in human trials, not the least of which is biocompatibility issues with the polymer. Still, Wang hopes that animal studies could begin in one to two years. If ultimately successful, the device could go a long ways toward making glucose monitoring a painless, automatic process.

Bacterial communication under investigation

Dr. Sean Norman of the Arnold School of Public Health is using a $774,000 National Science Foundation grant to investigate the quorum sensing process-- how bacteria communicate in natural ecosystems-- in "real world" settings in San Salvador - and its island neighbor, Highborne Cay.

A new assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Norman said that in addition to adding to the body of knowledge about bacteria, a deeper understanding of quorum sensing may provide a means of enhancing the beneficial activity of some bacteria, such as the breakdown of environmental contaminants or inhibiting the activity of other disease-causing bacteria.

The three-year study began with the collection of samples from bacterial mats found in many of San Salvador's hypersaline ponds-- extreme environments that inhibit all but specially adapted life. The mats found in these environments are made up of a number of layered microbial communities, and contain a surprisingly high diversity of bacterial species; surpassing even that of tropical rain forest communities.

As part of the same trip, Norman is also taking samples from the ocean at Highborne Cay where bacteria have formed into microbial mat communities called stromatolites. Among the oldest structures on earth, marine stromatolites are finely-laminated rock structures, consisting of horizontal layers of calcium carbonate precipitate. They are produced through the organized activities of several groups of bacteria. Understanding how bacteria communicate in these ancient ecosystems may help us understand how cellular communication originally began on early Earth.

On his return from the island, Norman will process his samples and analyze the novel genomic composition of the microbial mat communities at the new USC Environmental Genomics Laboratory located in the Arnold School's Public Health Research Center. That process will involve extracting and separating bacterial genomes from the complex mat communities and identifying genes that either activate or repress quorum sensing.

Norman, principal investigator for the study, plans to disseminate the results of the study in peer-reviewed scientific journals and via a website available to the general public. Dr. Alan Decho is co-PI. The study team also will make poster and platform presentations at an array of scientific meetings each year.

Norman, who grew up on a farm in Georgia, earned a bachelor's degree from the Department of Biological Sciences at Augusta State University in 1995.

He earned his master's degree in environmental studies from the Medical University of South Carolina(MUSC) and the University of Charleston in 1999. He earned his doctorate in molecular cellular biology and pathobiology from MUSC in 2003. He also did postdoctoral research at Rutgers University from 2004-2006.

Researcher helping diagnose voice disorders

Arnold School Department of Communication Science and Disorders researcher Dr. Dimitar Deliyski is embarking on a five-year study to develop a new methodology to help diagnose voice disorders and to advance the basic science of understanding voice.

The research is supported by a $3.1 million RO1 grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The amount is about twice as large as most RO1 grants because the project requires the development of high-tech instrumentation and involves collaboration with five external institutions, Deliyski said.

He is using laryngeal high-speed videoendoscopy, the latest technology employed to view the larynx and vocal folds. This technology became commercially available about ten years ago and today is employed around the world to help understand an array of voice problems ranging from nodules and acid reflux damage to vocal fold paralysis and cancer.

Deliyski is intimately familiar with the equipment, having helped develop much of it, first as principal scientist of Kay Elemetrics Corp. in Lincoln Park, NJ from 1992-1999 and later as director of research of Vocal Point, Inc. (Loquendo, Inc) in San Francisco from 1999-2002.

Kay Elemetrics had about 80 percent of the worldwide market for laryngeal videostroboscopy and acoustic voice and speech clinical instrumentation when it was purchased by PENTAX of America, Inc. in 2005.

While videostroboscopy is in widespread use, Deliyski says in about half of the patients with voice disorders the vocal folds produce stroboscopic images that cannot be used to accurately diagnose voice problems. Resolving that issue will be a key focus of a team that Deliyski is putting together at his headquarters laboratory at USC. The lab, located on the 6th floor of the Williams-Brice Building, will be supported by a team that includes a mathematics professor, a speech-language pathology researcher, a statistician, a post-doctoral fellow with expertise in signal processing algorithms and a computer engineer.

Besides the lab at USC, clinics in Charlotte, Charleston, and Boston will be contributing data to the research, Deliyski said. Researchers and physicians at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston will use the same equipment to collect data and will report on patients' conditions pre- and post-surgery.

Because all of the data must be collected using the same equipment, high-tech manufacturers are part of the effort along with theoretical researchers who are doing modeling research at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and University of Iowa, and a physiology researcher at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

Deliyski said the high-speed videoendoscopic procedures produce huge computer video files that require a major storage capacity. He is currently putting together a 12-terabyte data server in his lab to store all incoming data and provide instant access to that data for his research team.

The huge files also open new methodological challenges. "It's one thing to be able to record the information you need, but you also need to be able to take advantage of it," Deliyski said.

An example is a high-speed video of vocal folds that takes 10 seconds to record in real time. Deliyski says when the same video is rerun in slow motion mode for diagnostic purposes, it can take up to three hours to view in its entirety. "The diagnostic information we need is in that video," Deliyski said. "The challenge is to develop automated techniques that extract the data that we believe to be clinically valid."

Deliyski has been on the USC faculty since 2002. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from Sofia Technical University in Sofia, Bulgaria. He earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, also in Sofia, specializing in signal processing of acoustic voice signals.

He maintained his focus on voice research through his post-doctorate studies in speech science at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee and through the ten years spent in the industrial sector, where he also received several federally funded research grants.

Nationally recognized research veteran tapped HSSC leader

Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC), a collaborative that links the University of South Carolina (USC), the state's other research universities, and its largest health systems to advance South Carolina's economy and improve its public health through research, has selected Dr. Jay Moskowitz to be its first president.

An acknowledged leader of American biomedical research with the experience necessary to propel America's only research collaborative of its kind to national prominence, Moskowitz officially begins his new role Sept. 24.

Currently associate vice president for Health Sciences Research, Pennsylvania State University; vice dean for Research and Graduate Studies, Penn State College of Medicine; and chief scientific officer for the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Moskowitz began his career at the National Institutes of Health, rising to the position of principal deputy director and deputy director for Science Policy and Technology Transfer, Office of the Director.

Michael Riordan, HSSC chairman and CEO and president of the Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, said, "It is an honor to have an individual of Dr. Moskowitz's experience, talent and national reputation join HSSC as our first president. Since its inception in April 2004 [HSSC has]...been fortunate to have the support of the General Assembly, The Duke Endowment and many people within our own organizations and communities. We have accomplished many great things in a short time, and with Dr. Moskowitz's leadership...more great things will be accomplished."

USC President Andrew Sorensen, HSSC vice chair, said, "Throughout his career in academic research and at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Moskowitz has demonstrated a keen ability not only to identify research with economic potential but also to bring together stakeholders to support, participate in, and help take those results out of the labs into the real world," he said. "We look forward to his leadership... and to working with him to bring HSSC's collaborative research to fruition so it will have a lasting impact on the health and wellness of our citizens."

Moskowitz' primary office will be in Columbia. He will hold a tenured faculty appointment with USC's Arnold School of Public Health. He also will have faculty appointments with Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina.

"I am thoroughly impressed with the leadership [across South Carolina's universities and health systems] ... and what HSSC has accomplished to date," Moskowitz said. "This is a critical moment in the state's history in the translation of health research to healthcare and economic growth. Both talent and passion exists within all of the stakeholders. Everything is aligned for success. I am looking forward to being part of this creative health initiative."

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About Health Sciences South Carolina
Established in April 2004, HSSC is a statewide public-private collaborative of universities and health systems possessing the shared vision of using health-sciences research to improve the health and economic wellbeing of South Carolina. HSSC includes Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina, Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, Palmetto Health and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System. For more information, visit www.healthsciencessc.org.

Brightly colored birds affected most by Chernobyl disaster

Brightly colored birds are among the species most adversely affected by the high levels of radiation around the Chernobyl nuclear plant, ecologists have discovered.

The findings, published online in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, help explain why some species are harder hit by radiation than others.

Dr. Anders Moller, a researcher at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, and Dr. Timothy Mousseau, a biology researcher at the University of South Carolina, examined 1,570 birds from 57 different species in the forests around Chernobyl at varying distances from the reactor.

The study is the first to examine the impact that large-scale nuclear contamination has across communities, Mousseau said.

"This is the type of long-term damage that one might expect from a dirty bomb or industrial nuclear disaster," he said. "We haven't had studies that examined different species. Most have focused only on one group, not entire communities."

The researchers found that several groups of birds - those with red, yellow and orange plumage derived from carotenoids, those that laid the biggest eggs and those that migrated or dispersed the furthest - declined more than other species.

The intriguing results center on the role of antioxidants, substances in living organisms that protect them from the damaging effects of free radicals. Certain activities use up large amounts of antioxidants. These include producing carotenoid-based pigments for feathers, migrating long distances and laying large eggs (birds pass on antioxidants in their eggs and will deposit larger amounts of antioxidants in larger eggs).

Moller and Mousseau hypothesized that because these birds had fewer antioxidants left to fight dangerous free radicals, these birds were most adversely affected by exposure to radiation around Chernobyl.

"We found that bird species differed in their response to radiation from Chernobyl," Mousseau said. "The strongest declines in population density with radiation level were found among species with carotenoid-based plumage, long-distance migration and dispersal and large eggs for their body size. All of these factors are associated with antioxidant levels, suggesting that reduced antioxidant levels may cause population declines when species are exposed to radiation."

Among the brightly colored species most affected were orioles, blackbirds and blue tits, while drab species like tree pipits, coal tits and chaffinches were much less affected.

Long-distance migrants or dispersers that were most affected included quail, orioles, hoopoes, blackbirds and robins, while non-migrant or short-dispersing species like great tits, coal tits and song thrushes were much less affected.

"Although all species must cope with the potentially detrimental effects of free radicals, because of their use of antioxidants, certain species are predisposed to suffer most from these negative effects," the researchers said in the paper.

The study also sets a baseline for future research, and the results could have important implications for other animals elsewhere.

"There is large variation in natural levels of radioactivity because of the differences in the abundance of radioactive isotopes, mainly in mountain regions where the underlying rock reaches the surface," Mousseau said.

"There are no studies of the biological consequences of such variation in natural levels of radioactivity, but we suggest that some of the consequences can be predicted from the present study," he said.

Mousseau and Moller were in Chernobyl in the spring for their studies on the ecological impact of the nuclear disaster more than two decades ago. They also have expanded their research to include the impact of the disaster on birds in areas of Belarus, 50 - 200 miles from Chernobyl.

New USC Centers of Economic Excellence approved

The review board that oversees South Carolina's endowed chairs for research has voted to fund two new Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE) at the University of South Carolina (USC) and a third CoEE involving joint research between USC and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

The two centers approved for USC include $5 million for rehabilitation and reconstructive sciences and $5 million to address strategic environmental approaches to electricity production from coal.

The rehabilitative center will focus on research in tissue-engineered materials and implantable devices to help the thousands of people who suffer from orthopedic maladies each year. Led by an endowed professorship in reconstructive methodologies and materials, this center's research and clinical activities will focus on new materials to optimize rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged joints and other injuries. The university's partners in this CoEE are Smith & Nephew, a medical-devices company based in London, and Steadman-Hawkins, a provider of clinic-based orthopedic care in Upstate South Carolina.

The coal-production CoEE will focus on research to reduce the harmful environmental effects of burning coal to produce electricity and is considered another step toward making the University of South Carolina an international leader in future fuels/energy research. The university's partners in this CoEE include Santee Cooper and the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, which have pledged $5 million.

The CoEE approved for collaborative research between USC and MUSC is aimed at strengthening clinical and basic stroke research in South Carolina, and will provide for a faculty appointment at USC's Columbia campus for stroke research. Partners in this CoEE include Greenville Health System and the Greenwood Genetics Center. Greenville Health System has begun constructing the Research and Education Innovation Institute, a $20 million facility that will house academic programs in patient safety and clinical effectiveness, pharmacy, medicine and dental medicine. Greenwood Genetics Center will participate in research programs associated with the genetics of stroke.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, South Carolina has the second-highest stroke mortality rate in the nation.

The S.C. CoEE Program was established by the South Carolina General Assembly in 2002, with $200 million appropriated from the South Carolina Education Lottery Account to fund the program through 2010. The legislation authorizes the state's three public research institutions (Clemson, MUSC and USC) to use state funds to create CoEEs in research areas that will advance South Carolina's economy. Each CoEE is awarded between $2 million and $5 million in state funds, which must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis with federal, private or municipal funds.

$1.5 million grant continues speech, hearing studies

Arnold School of Public Health researcher Dr. Eric Healy's new $1.5 million, five-year NIH grant will continue work aimed at better understanding how humans process speech and how that process is influenced by hearing problems.

Some 25 million Americans already have hearing loss, double the rate 30 years ago. "It's a serious problem," Healy said, with "a profound influence on social and emotional health." By the time Americans turn 70, "twenty percent either use a hearing aid or have obvious difficulty hearing speech. You can increase that to 40 percent for people over 80."

The first wave of an estimated 80 million Baby Boomers will reach age 70 just nine years from now.

Healy's research is aimed at understanding exactly what constitutes normal hearing so that when something goes wrong, an appropriate treatment can target the problem. He explained that listening to speech is an effortless process that goes unnoticed for most people. The reason for that is because the processing mechanism is so powerful and effective.

The grant comes from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders which, for the past three years, funded Healy's research at the Speech Psychoacoustics Laboratory in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders. The previous grant resulted in 21 peer-reviewed publications, including six in just the first five months of this year and three currently in press.

Collaborative American history initiative awarded $999K

The University of South Carolina, South Carolina Department of Archives and History and Richland School District One will collaborate on a $999,796 U.S. Department of Education grant to improve the teaching of American history. The grant is part of a $116 million effort -- the Teaching American History discretionary grant program -- targeting school districts in 40 states by supporting three-year projects to improve teachers' knowledge and understanding of traditional American history through intensive, on-going professional development.

Dr. Ken Vogler, assistant professor in the university's department of instruction and teacher education, will serve as the co-project investigator in charge of the research component and as the university's liaison with Richland One.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for teachers in the Richland County School District One to improve their content knowledge of American History," he said. "After all, you can't teach what you don't know."

Through the grant, 24 Richland One teachers will enhance their knowledge through traditional university-directed coursework during the spring semester. Another 24 teachers will be able to travel to historic sites during 12-day intensive summer tours. In the fall, both groups of teachers will enroll in a university course to develop instructional units using their acquired knowledge. By the end of the three years, participating teachers will have earned 15 graduate credit hours: six in history and nine in education.

Where the ancients went?

A theory put forth by a group of 25 geo-scientists suggests that a massive comet exploded over Canada, possibly wiping out both beast and man around 12,900 years ago, and pushing the earth into another ice age.

University of South Carolina archaeologist Dr. Albert Goodyear said the theory may not be such "out-of-this-world" thinking based on his study of ancient stone-tool artifacts he and his team have excavated from the Topper dig site in Allendale, as well as ones found in Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

The tools, or fluted spear points, made by flaking and chipping flint, were used for hunting and made by the Clovis people, who lived 13,100 to 12,900 years ago, and from the Redstone people who emerged afterwards. The two points are distinctly different in appearance, with Redstone points more impressively long and steeple-shaped.

"I saw a tremendous drop-off of Redstone points after Clovis," said Goodyear. "When you see such a widespread decline or pattern like that, you really have to wonder whether there is a population decline to go with it."

For every Redstone point, Goodyear says, there are four or five Clovis points. His findings are leading archaeologists from across North America to reexamine their fluted points, and their inventories are yielding similar results: a widespread decline of post-Clovis points that suggests a possible widespread decline of humans.

"What is interesting is that Redstone people came after Clovis people and may have lasted as many centuries as Clovis did, probably even longer, but there are fewer of these Redstone points than Clovis ones," Goodyear said. "That is really odd, because if the Redstone culture simply came right after the Clovis culture you'd expect at least as many Redstone points as Clovis ones. We just don't see that, and the question is why, and what happened to the people who made these tools?"

Archaeologists have long known that the great beasts of the age – the wooly mammoth and mastodon – suddenly disappeared around the same time period (12,900 - 12, 800 years ), but little was known about their demise. It was thought to be the result of over-hunting by Clovis man or climate change associated with a new ice age.

The notion that a comet collided with Earth and caused these events was farfetched until recently, when the group of scientists began looking for evidence of a comet impact, which they call the Younger - Dryas Event. They turned to Goodyear and the pristine Clovis site of Topper.

In 2005, Arizona geophysicist Dr. Allen West and his team traveled to Topper in hopes of finding concentrations of iridium, an extra-terrestrial element found in comets, in the layer of Clovis-era sediment.

"They found iridium and plenty of it," said Goodyear. "The high concentrations were much higher than you would normally see in the background of the earth's crust. That tends to be an indicator of a terrestrial impact from outer space."

The researchers also found high iridium concentrations at six other Clovis sites throughout North America, as well as in and along the rims of the Carolina Bays, the elliptically shaped depressions that are home to an array of flora and fauna along South Carolina's coast.

The Younger- Dryas Event suggests that a large comet exploded above Canada, creating a storm of fiery fragments that rained over North America. The fragments could have easily killed the giant mammals of the day, as well as Clovis man.

"No one has ever had a really good explanation for the disappearance of mammoth and mastodon," Goodyear said. "The archaeological community is waking up to the Younger-Dryas Event. It doesn't prove that these Clovis people were affected by this comet, but it is consistent with the idea that something catastrophic happened to the Clovis people at the same time period."

The comet theory dominated the recent annual meetings of the American Geophysical Union held in Mexico. Goodyear's Clovis-Redstone point study and West's research on the comet were featured at the AGU meetings and by the journal, Nature. The comet will be the subject of documentaries featured on the National Geographic Channel and NOVA television late this fall and in early 2008.
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The Topper story

Dr. Al Goodyear, who conducts research through the University of South Carolina's S.C. Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology, began excavating Clovis artifacts along the Savannah River in Allendale County in 1984. In 1998, with the hope of finding evidence of a pre-Clovis culture earlier than the accepted 13,100 years, Goodyear began a concerted digging effort on a site called Topper, located on the property of the Clariant Co.

His efforts paid off. Goodyear unearthed blades made of flint and chert that he believed to be the tools of an ice age culture back some 16,000 years or more. His findings, as well as similar ones yielded at other pre-Clovis sites in North America, sparked great change and debate in the scientific community.

Believing that if Clovis and Redstone people thrived near the banks of the Savannah River, Goodyear thought the area could haven been an ideal location for a more ancient culture. Acting on a hunch in 2004, Goodyear dug even deeper down into the Pleistocene Terrace and found more artifacts of a pre-Clovis type buried in a layer of sediment stained with charcoal deposits. Radio carbon dates of the burnt plant remains yielded dates of 50,000 years, which suggested man was in South Carolina long before the last ice age. Goodyear's finding not only captured international media attention, but it has put the archaeology field in flux, opening scientific minds to the possibility of an even earlier pre-Clovis occupation of the Americas.

Since 2004, Goodyear has continued his Clovis and pre-Clovis excavations at Topper. With support of Clariant Corp. and SCANA, plus numerous individual donors, a massive shelter and viewing deck now sit above the dig site to allow Goodyear and his team of graduate students and community volunteers to dig free from the heat and rain and to protect what may be the most significant early-man dig in America.

Research by USC chemical oceanographer makes SCIENCE

Congratulations to Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson, Associate Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, on publication of her research on mesoscale eddies (Mesoscale Eddies Drive Increased Silica Export in the Subtropical Pacific Ocean) in the May 18, 2007 edition of Science magazine (pgs 1017-1021).

Benitez-Nelson and her colleagues studied ocean eddies-- water swirls up to 200 kilometers across that suck nutrients up from the deep and feed large plankton blooms in the surface waters-- and how at their centers, bacteria and tiny floating animals such as krill, feed on the plant plankton, thereby recycling their carbon and preventing it from being stored on the ocean bed. The implication: the ocean will be unable to absorb CO2 as quickly as it is being emitted by human activities (contributing to a 20 to 40 year acceleration in global warming).

See the complete news articles at http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn11876-southern-ocean-already-losing-ability-to-absorb-cosub2sub.html and http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/517/2 and Benitez-Nelson's report at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;316/5827/1017.

Middle school teaching research funded
Congratulations to Dr. David Virtue, Assistant Professor in the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education, on his $125,000 grant from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education to address the state’s need for properly certified and “highly qualified” middle school teachers. According to the South Carolina Department of Education, many of the state’s middle school teachers are not properly certified or highly qualified in the subjects they teach. Virtue’s project will help those teachers in seven partner districts-- Colleton, Dorchester 4, Georgetown, Greenville, Lexington 2, Marion 7, and Newberry-- become “highly qualified” and properly certified as defined by state and federal regulations. The teachers’ content knowledge will be increased in the subjects they teach so that they will be considered “content competent” as defined by state regulations. In addition, they will learn to implement research-based content area reading strategies to more effectively teach content to their students.

Landmark environmental-research initiative
Santee Cooper and the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina have pledged a combined $5 million to establish a Center of Excellence at USC to research strategic environmental approaches to electricity production from coal. The partnership seeks to bring leading researchers together to develop technological initiatives reducing carbon emissions at coal-fired power plants.

Half of the pledge will be endowed to provide sustained support for the Center of Excellence. The other half will provide immediate direct support of the carbon removal research. It is hoped that the funding will be matched by the state of South Carolina's Center for Economic Excellence initiative, which would then create long-term sustainable resources to finance these efforts.

NIJ funds Social Work researcher

Congratulations to Dr. Dana DeHart, research assistant professor in the Center for Child & Family Studies, College of Social Work, on her $297,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice to examine links between victimization and crime among girls in the juvenile justice system. The NIJ award stems from a $13,264 Research Consortium on Children and Families pilot award DeHart used to demonstrate the merit and feasibility of her research on victimization experiences of delinquent girls.

These girls often experience disproportionately high rates of violence exposure--such as child maltreatment, rape, and dating violence--prior to their delinquent or criminal offending. DeHart's NIJ-funded study, an extension of her previous work on victimization of incarcerated women, will gather information on girls' histories of violence exposure, use of community services, and the relationship of victimization and service use to girls' delinquency or crime.

Making findings useful for practitioners and policymakers is a major goal of her study, and funding is included for activities to help translate the research to practice.

NHA recognizes USC fuel-cell outreach/education

The National Hydrogen Association has awarded University of South Carolina the Dr. Robert M. Zweig Public Education Award for outstanding initiatives in fuel-cell education and outreach.

Dr. Harris Pastides, the university's vice president for research and health sciences, said, "The National Hydrogen Association is the nation's premier industrial consortium advocating for the hydrogen and fuel-cell economy. Its recognition of our contributions to local and national efforts is an indication that the University of South Carolina and the state of South Carolina have a real shot at winning the alternative energy race."

The award recognizes the university for its undergraduate and graduate hydrogen program; its partnerships with industry and cooperative agreements to advance the university's efforts in hydrogen and fuel-cell development in Europe, Asia and North America; its creation of a citizens' school for fuel-cell technology; its hydrogen and fuel-cell technology exhibit for a regional children's museum; and the university's development of hydrogen and fuel-cell educational materials for students in grades K-12.

The university houses the nation's only National Science Foundation-sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells. Established in 2002, the center fosters collaborative research among its industrial partners, which include John Deere Advance Power Systems, General Motors and DuPont Fuel Cells.

In 2005, South Carolina signed agreements with Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany, and with the Korean Institute for Energy Research to establish joint research programs in fuel-cell technology, hydrogen storage and other energy initiatives.

USC recently hired Dr. Ken Reifsnider, a leading international researcher, to lead its solid-oxide fuel research effort. Reifsnider will join the university later this year from the University of Connecticut.

Rowen named USC dean for SC College of Pharmacy

Dr. Randall C. Rowen has been named USC campus dean for the South Carolina College of Pharmacy, effective April 3, 2007.

Interim campus dean since January 2006, he will be responsible for day-to-day operations, including research, budget, student services and curriculum, on the Columbia campus of the SCCP, which comprises pharmacy programs at the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina.

He will report to Dr. Joseph DiPiro, executive dean of the SCCP, who said, "We are very fortunate to have Dr. Rowen accept this position. A progressive thinker and a high-energy individual respected by students, faculty, staff and alumni, he's had an integral role in the advances of the college over the past few years, and will be a solid leader for the years ahead."

University President Andrew Sorensen called Rowen's appointment "key to the future of the SCCP,"which plans to expand pharmacy education to the Upstate. "His leadership is vital in our efforts to expand pharmacy education statewide and train the future pharmacy professionals who will serve the people of the Palmetto State."

Food poisoning 'dipstick' presented to ASC

At the March 25 American Chemical Society meeting in Chicago, Ivy Tran,
a 23-year-old USC chemistry senior from Rock Hill, S.C., presented a new disposable "dipstick" that reveals if food is safe to eat.

The test is capable of detecting the presence of chemicals, called "nonvolatile biogenic amines" formed by disease-causing bacteria, in less than five minutes. Preliminary studies have found the test to be 90-percent accurate, said Tran who conducted the research with Dr. John J. Lavigne, an assistant professor in the university's department of chemistry and biochemistry.

In the United States, food poisoning affects more than 75 million people and carries a health care cost of more than $6 billion annually Lavigne said, adding that consumers might be able to use the dipsticks anywhere, including homes, restaurants and commercial kitchens.

"There's no other test like this targeting the consumer market right now that I am aware of," he said. "It has the potential to greatly impact public health and change the way individual diners think about the quality of their food."

Lavigne said Amines, which are generated when food proteins decay, are an indication of food spoilage. Tran and Lavigne, working with graduate students Marc Maynor and Toby Nelson, developed special polymer biosensors that change color in the presence of amines and then tested the biosensors against samples of fish, including fresh salmon, fresh tuna and canned tuna.

Lavigne said the researchers are working to improve the speed, sensitivity and accuracy of the new test, but it could be on store shelves in two to three years.

DiPette is new SOM dean

Donald J. DiPette, M.D., chairman and professor of the department of medicine at the Texas A&M Health Sciences Center, College of Medicine, and Scott & White Health System, has been named dean of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs, effective July 1.

"Dr. DiPette is an experienced educator, a talented researcher, and a respected clinician, and his proven leadership in medical education will help guide our School of Medicine as it continues to train outstanding physicians for our state and region, and increases its presence as one of the nation's leading medical schools," said Dr. Harris Pastides, university vice president for research and health sciences. "Under Dr. DiPette's leadership, we look forward to the School of Medicine's growth and progress as a leader in teaching, research and patient care."