A three-year, $214,500 grant from the Greater Midwest Affiliate of the American Heart Association will help Dr. Dmitry Kadnikov, visiting assistant professor in the chemistry department at Missouri State University, as he researches the design and synthesis of molecules targeting proteins that regulate the levels of cholesterol in the body. This is a continuation of his research into “Molecular Mechanisms of Selective Activation of Liver X Receptors.”

“Development of new drugs with fewer side effects requires a better understanding of the physiological processes and how these processes actually work on the level of atoms and molecules,” said Kadnikov. “The protein we are interested in participates in removing cholesterol from the body, which is therapeutically beneficial. We are working to develop new, drug-like small molecules in order to learn whether it is possible to accelerate the cholesterol-removing activity, while keeping all the other functions of the protein at bay.”

Kadnikov was awarded the funding during his time at Northern Illinois University, before coming to Missouri State. The grant provides resources to hire a lab technician as well as several undergraduate students to work on the project over the summer.

“The ultimate goal of the research is to learn to manipulate the protein to our benefit, and to see one of the molecules we designed and synthesized becoming a lead for a new drug,” Kadnikov said. “We are still in the early stages of this journey, but we have already synthesized several interesting molecules. With this support from the American Heart Association, it’s realistic to expect that we will identify a new small molecule with interesting biological activity, which will be a starting point for future work toward that goal.”

For more information, contact Kadnikov at (417) 836-4487.

Dr. Melissa Dallas, head of Missouri State University’s hospitality and restaurant administration (HRA) department, accepted the Missouri Tourism Council’s (MTC) 2011 Educational Award on behalf of the department for outstanding dedication and service to the Missouri tourism industry. This top award in the state was presented by Greg Maxon, outgoing president of the MTC at the 2012 Capitol Days for Tourism event.

“I’m delighted the Hospitality and Restaurant Administration department at MSU was the recipient of this award,” said Tracy Kimberlin, president and chief executive officer of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. “MSU has built a reputation around the state as an institution that consistently turns out top quality professionals for the hospitality industry.”

Two Missouri State HRA students, Cat Blankenship and Matthew Evans, received top scholarships from the MTC earlier this year. Maxon explained that the quality of these scholarship applicants was what prompted the committee to further investigate the HRA department at Missouri State.

“We were honored to accept this prestigious award and, as a department, will continue to graduate future hospitality and tourism managers who fully understand the economic importance and complexities of these industries,” said Dallas.

The MTC is the official private sector umbrella organization of the tourism industry in the state of Missouri. As a not-for-profit association, its primary aim is to provide economic, social and educational benefits to its broad-based membership through professional development, public advocacy and cooperative state/regional marketing efforts. Through state industry partnerships and a research based business plan, the MTC strengthens the development, promotion and sustainable growth of the Missouri tourism industry for both visitors and state residents.

For more information, contact Dallas at (417) 836-4223.

Ruth Seeliger, a biology graduate student working with Dr. Tom Tomasi, professor of biology at Missouri State University, was awarded $1,800 by the National Speleological Society for the project “Monitoring Gray Bat (Myotis grisescens) Populations at a Priority 1 Hibernaculum in Missouri.” In cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Seeliger and Tomasi will monitor the cave with the largest collection of gray bats in the state in order to conduct a habitation estimate.

“The gray bat is an endangered species both in Missouri and nationally, and it is important to periodically monitor the number living in the wild to determine whether the population is increasing or decreasing,” said Tomasi. “This is now particularly important since the threat of white-nose syndrome is at our borders. We don’t know if this species is susceptible to the disease, but a close relative has been almost wiped out by it in the northeastern United States.”

Current estimates set the population at about 500,000 gray bats in the cave, but counting them can be problematic. The researchers will employ a thermal infrared video camera to film the bats leaving each night and use computer software to count the bats.

The goals of the project also include perfecting a technique that can be used to monitor the number of bats in the cave in subsequent years and addressing additional questions about the timing of bats leaving hibernation.

For more information, contact Tomasi at (417) 836-5169.

Dr. Nikolay Gerasimchuk, associate professor of chemistry, co-authored and published two recent articles in Inorganica Chimica Acta:

 

• “Part 1: Experimental and Theoretical Studies of 2-cyano-2-isonitroso-N-piperidynylacetamide (HPiPCO), 2-cyano-2-isonitroso-N-morpholylacetamide (HMCO) and Their Pt- and Pd-complexes.” His co-authors were Jessica Ratcliff, Janina Kuduk-Jaworska, Henryk Chojnacki and Victor Nemykin.
•  ”Part 2: In Vitro Cytotoxicity Studies of Two ML2 Complexes (M = Pd, Pt; L = 2-cyano-2-isonitroso-N-morpholylacetamide, HMCO.” His co-authors were Ratcliff; Dr. Paul Durham, professor of biology  at Missouri State Universityand director of the Center for Biomedical and Life Sciences at the Jordan Valley Innovation Center; and Andriy Mokhir.

 

Marrone Bio Innovations developed a selective organic pesticide called Zequanox to target the zebra mussel. The mussel is an invasive freshwater Eurasian bivalve that has spread rapidly in North America since its introduction to the Great Lakes in the mid 1980s.

“The zebra mussel causes problems because, unlike native freshwater mussels, it attaches itself to solid objects in large numbers and can block pipelines, intake screens and power plant cooling systems,” said Barnhart.

Barnhart’s lab will test the toxicity of Zequanox to non-target organisms. “We want to know if it has unintended effects on native mussels, many of which are endangered,” explained Barnhart. The lab has extensive experience in the culture and toxicology of native mussels. The grant will support graduate and undergraduate students involved in the research.

Jane Hood, associate director of the Center for Resource Planning and Management at Missouri State University, was awarded a $1,000 contract with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce to continue the “Cost of Living Index Price Report” project.

Students involved in the project collect economic data, which is then compiled by the Council for Community and Economic Research to provide a useful and reasonably accurate measure to compare the cost of living differences among urban areas.

“We have had a contract with the Springfield Chamber for the students in our center to gather this information since 2009,” said Hood. “This is good experience for our students and lets them see how this type of information can be used by businesses and families living in our area, or looking to relocate to our area.”

Items on which the index is based have been carefully chosen to reflect the different categories of consumer expenditures, and are all priced in each location at a specified time and according to standardized specifications. The weights assigned to relative costs are based on government survey data on expenditure patterns for mid-management households.

For more information, contact Hood at (417) 836-6273.

 Ashley Whaley, graduate student in the biology department at Missouri State University, was awarded a $11,200 fellowship continuation by the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation. Whaley is evaluating a rangeland education curriculum developed by the Welder Wildlife Foundation and training teachers to use the curriculum. She also serves as the conservation educator at the Welder Wildlife Foundation refuge leading programs for students and the public.

“Ashley has completed one year of evaluations on the effectiveness of the curriculum on student knowledge and understanding of the benefits of rangelands, which are a vital part of Texas culture and history,” said Dr. Janice Greene, professor of biology. “It is important that students today understand the benefits of rangelands to water quality, wildlife diversity and the economy.”

Whaley is currently in her second year of the three-year fellowship. The Welder Wildlife Foundation has a national reputation in the wildlife management and conservation fields, and was established in 1954 to conduct research and education in those fields.

For more information, contact Greene at (417) 836-5306.

Although photography is classified as an art form, Dr. Mike Reed, associate professor of astronomy at Missouri State University, has developed a new photographic instrument that can be used to further his seismology research. It is a variation of a 3-CCD photometer, which he has termed the Grindstaff Tricolor Camera or GT Cam, and it is only the fourth such instrument in the world.

A 3-CCD photometer is a set of three cameras mounted at three locations, and each camera photographs the same field of stars while being connected to its own computer. These cameras simultaneously take pictures in three separate colors, according to Reed.

“We do seismology of stars – that is the vibrations of stars. The vibrations are different depending on the color you look at, so by looking at a vibrating star simultaneously in three colors, we see three different features that we can use to understand the inside of the star,” Reed explained.

The National Science Foundation granted Reed the funds to build this instrument for his seismology research.

Reed, along with a team of students and researchers, completed the build shortly before their January observations at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The team will return to Kitt Peak for more observations on Feb. 20.

http://news.missouristate.edu/2012/02/01/gtcam/

In the chapter abstract, Vollmar wrote: “For a number of years, we have incorporated service-learning into our computer science undergraduate curriculum through software engineering course projects. Although students benefit from participation, project outcomes have been mixed. The number of causes of project failure is relatively small but difficult to recognize and predict at project start.”

 

The book will be published by IEEE press July.