Further Findings

It seems that the only time astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin took a break from finding new planets and bigger black holes during the fall 2011 semester was when university geologists edged in with evidence of a lake under the surface of Saturn’s moon, Europa.

As busy as those researchers were, the semester also brought discoveries in green energy, Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, concealed handguns and the relationship between children’s happiness and their parents.

Here’s a look at
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Adela Ben-Yakar, an engineering professor, and Jon Pierce-Shimomura, a neurobiology professor, have teamed up to develop technology to test drugs for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Scientific collaborations across disciplines can be great when they happen.

Researchers bring different skills, expertise and perspectives that can illuminate hard problems.

But just bringing different disciplines together can be a hard problem in itself, despite work being done by universities to break down the siloes that contain them.

So we wondered how Adela Ben-Yakar, a professor in the
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Cockrell School of Engineering Associate Professor Adela Ben-Yakar and College of Natural Sciences Assistant Professor Jon Pierce-Shimomura received a competitive $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant will fund research that aims to prevent degeneration of the nervous system, which occurs through natural aging and diseases like Alzheimer’s. Photo by Marsha Miller

This article originally appeared on the Cockrell School of Engineering Web site. It was written by Melissa Mixon.

Technology developed by researchers at The University of
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There are more than 1.2 million cases of skin cancer in the United States each year.

Biomedical engineers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a device that could reduce the need for biopsies that are performed to determine whether a growth is cancerous.

James Tunnell and his student researchers developed a pen-sized, light-based device for detecting skin cancers.

For every melanoma found, doctors perform approximately 50 biopsies. As a result, healthcare providers spend billions of dollars per year taking
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Computer simulations “provide patients with a realistic picture of what they would look like after their surgery and are constrained by what is actually surgically possible,” said biomedical engineer Mia Markey. Photo by Melissa Mixon.

This story was first published on the Cockrell School of Engineering Web site. It was written by Melissa Mixon.

Faculty and students at the Cockrell School of Engineering are developing ways for cancer patients and children born with facial deformities to make more informed decisions about which
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Brian Zaccheo with his sensor for acute pancreatitis.

When Brian Zaccheo designed a low-cost, self-powered diagnostic device for acute pancreatitis, he combined skills from his undergraduate training in biochemistry with the analytical chemistry expertise in the laboratory of his adviser, Prof. Richard Crooks.

But he added another element to the mix: business sense.

The result is a device that can be made cheaply with ingredients such as milk protein, gelatin, aluminum foil and LED lights.

It works quickly. Place a sample on the device
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Psychology undergraduate Martinique Jones has conducted research in Houston schools.

We put the spotlight on several undergraduates who conduct research to mark Research Week, which was April 11-15.

Check out their stories on the Know Web site.

Martinique Jones
Major: Psychology
Research Topic: The African American Dream: A Progressive Discussion of Academic Achievement in African American Students

Margaret Sanders
Major: Plan II and Psychology
Research Topic: The Effect of Categorization on Judgments of Paintings

Zachary Garber
Major: Government
Research Topic: William Lauder’s Impact on the History of Barbados

Jose Ybarra
Major: Human Biology
Research Topic:
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One of the most famous science experiments is the one involving Pavlov and his dog in which Ivan Pavlov conditioned the dog to salivate at the sound of a bell.

Addictive drugs affect the brain in a similar but more powerful way, says Hitoshi Morikawa, a neurobiologist in the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research.

“We think addiction is a form of pathological overlearning in which the brain remembers too much the association between certain environmental stimuli and drug-seeking or drug-taking
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You could call it The University of Texas at Austin’s app store.

Bugao Xu developed a way to make a three dimensional body scan.

It’s the list of technologies developed by university researchers that are available for commercialization.

Want to give a drop of blood to see if you have cancer? There’s an app for that.

Want a three dimensional scan of your body? Hey, there’s an app for that.

Want to speed up the growth of your tomatoes? There’s an app for that.

Need a flexible e-reader or
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The northern ice cap of Mars, showing spiral troughs and Chasma Boreale.

Catch up on University of Texas at Austin research from the spring 2010 semester when these questions were answered.

How were two curious features in the northern ice cap of Mars — a chasm larger than the Grand Canyon and a series of spiral troughs formed?

Jack Holt and Isaac Smith of The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics and their colleagues used radar data collected by NASA’s Mars
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