Biology

The Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University is an international leader in biomedical and behavioral research. Research conducted at the center involving nonhuman primates provides a critical link between research with small laboratory animals and clinical trials with humans. The center houses nearly 3,400 nonhuman primates and more than 5,000 rodents between two locations at its main center on Emory's Atlanta campus and its field station in Lawrenceville, Georgia. For more than seven decades, the Yerkes Research Center has been dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of primate biology, behavior, veterinary care and conservation, and to improving human health and well-being. Today, the center, as one of only eight National Institutes of Healthfunded national primate research centers, provides specialized scientific resources, expertise and training opportunities.

The Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) conducts basic and applied biomedical research in three fields frequently identified as priority areas on the nation's agenda for improving human health and well-being: fertility control, early embryo development and women's health -- Division of Reproductive Sciences; brain development and degeneration -- Division of Neuroscience; newly emerging viruses, especially AIDS-related agents --Division of Pathobiology and Immunology. As one of eight such centers supported by the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health, the Center is a resource, both local and international, for scores of scientists and several academic and research institutions. Its neighbors on the West Campus of OHSU include the Oregon Graduate Institute, the Neurological Sciences Institute and the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute.

The California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) is a federally funded biomedical research facility dedicated to improving human and animal health. The CNPRC is part of a network of eight national primate research centers sponsored by the National Center for Research Resources, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Established in 1962, the CNPRC is affiliated with the University of California, Davis, and located on 300 acres on the western edge of the campus. The centers staff of nearly 300 comprises scientists, veterinarians, animal care technicians, specialists in pathology and animal husbandry, graduate and postdoctoral students and laboratory and administrative personnel.

The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center is one of eight federally supported (NIH-NCRR) National Primate Research Centers and the only one in the Midwest. More than 250 center scientists, through competitive grants, conduct research in primate biology with relevance to human and animal health. The Primate Center is based in the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Center has strong research and teaching links to the UW Schools or Colleges of Medicine, Letters and Science, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine. The Center is AAALAC accredited and its policies adhere to the U.S. Government Principles for the Utilization and Care of Vertebrate Animals Used in Testing, Research, and Training.

The Brain Imaging and Analysis Center (BIAC) brings together scientists from throughout Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to find interdisciplinary solutions to fundamental research questions about the human brain. Two key themes underlie research at BIAC. The first is to improve research techniques in neuroimaging, through improvements in MR pulse sequence design, applications to high-field fMRI, experimental control, and understanding of brain hemodynamics. Second, BIAC researchers investigate the functional properties of the human brain by incorporating these state-of-the-art research techniques into studies of cognitive processing. BIAC researchers investigate the organization of visual cortex, the cortical control of attention, brain circuits involved with learning and memory, among many other research topics.

The Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (BDGP) is a consortium of the Drosophila Genome Center, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Cancer Institute, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, through its support of work in the Gerald Rubin, Allan Spradling, Roger Hoskins, Hugo Bellen, Susan Celniker, and Gary Karpen laboratories. The goals of the Drosophila Genome Center are to finish the sequence of the euchromatic genome of Drosophila melanogaster to high quality and to generate and maintain biological annotations of this sequence. In addition to genomic sequencing, the BDGP is 1) producing gene disruptions using P element-mediated mutagenesis on a scale unprecedented in metazoans; 2) characterizing the sequence and expression of cDNAs; and 3) developing informatics tools that support the experimental process, identify features of DNA sequence, and allow us to present up-to-date information about the annotated sequence to the research community.

The California Biodiversity Center (CBC) is an Organized Research Unit of the University of California Berkeley that fosters collaborations between the Berkeley Natural History Museums, Berkeley's Natural History Field Stations, and other partners studying changes in California's biological diversity, past, present, and future. The mission of the California Biodiversity Center is to contribute to our understanding of the natural history of California by increasing interaction between museum-oriented scientists investigating the historical underpinnings of biodiversity, and field-oriented scientists investigating contemporary processes influencing organisms and ecosystems.

Prof. Mao's research interest is in the design, synthesis and application of polymeric materials for drug and gene delivery and tissue engineering.

At JILA, biophysics research groups are applying tools and concepts from physics to the understanding of living systems at the molecular level. This vibrant research field promises to yield answers to important questions about the structure, dynamics, function, and interaction of biological molecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. This research is made possible by new instruments that allow researchers to measure distances much shorter than the wavelength of light (nanometers) and forces as small as one trillionth of the force required to hold an apple against Earth's gravity (piconewtons). JILA biophysics researchers are currently studying "protein motors," protein motions, and the folding dynamics of RNA and DNA.

The California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), a cooperative effort among three campuses of the University of California and private industry, harnesses the quantitative sciences to integrate our understanding of biological systems at all levels of complexity - from atoms and protein molecules to cells, tissues, organs and the entire organism. This long-sought integration allows scientists to attack problems that have been simply unapproachable before, setting the stage for fundamental new discoveries, new products and new technologies for the benefit of human health. The Institute builds on strengths in the engineering and physical sciences at UC Berkeley, engineering and mathematical sciences at UC Santa Cruz, and the medical sciences at UC San Francisco, as well as strong biology programs at the three campuses.

Under the leadership of Dr. Robert R. Recker and Dr. Robert P. Heaney, the Creighton University Osteoporosis Research Center (ORC) continues today a 40-year effort that has created an international center of excellence in bone research.

The Xenobe Research Institute (XRI) is a collaborative venture established in San Diego and National City, California. We are organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research institute. XRI was founded to provide a deeper understanding of the interactions between the molecule, cell, tissue, organism and ecosystem. The study of life and its ailments are guided by this interactivity and its union with time, material and information. The development of this knowledge is fundamental to our understanding of life.

The MIT Center for Cancer Research (CCR) was founded in 1974, and is one of eight National Cancer Institute-designated basic research centers. Our mission is to apply the tools of basic science and technology to determine how cancer is caused, progresses and responds to treatment. Through this effort we have developed an increasingly complete understanding of the nature of cancer cells, which as led directly to improved treatments for the disease. Molecules identified by CCR research teams were used as targets for two of the first few FDA-approved cancer-fighting drugs produced by molecular medicine (approved by the FDA in 1998 and 2001). Today, the Center for Cancer Research continues to generate critical new insights into the basic mechanisms of cancer that are essential for advancing diagnosis and treatment of cancer. We remain committed to our founding vision that we can conquer cancer through research and technology.

For more than 35 years, HST has been a pioneer in interdisciplinary educational and research programs designed to educate outstanding minds, cultivate leaders, create knowledge, and generate cost-effective preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic innovations. Today, HST draws upon the extraordinary resources of Harvard, MIT, and their research centers and Harvard Medical School's teaching hospitals to provide students and faculty with a unique range of educational and research opportunities. The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology (HST) is dedicated to integrating medicine, science, and engineering into an educational program that carries these disciplines from the laboratory bench to the patient's bedside, and, conversely, brings clinical insights from the patient's bedside to the laboratory bench. HST effectively integrates patient care and laboratory research through three primary focus areas: Biomedical Imaging; Biomedical Informatics and Integrative Biology; and Regenerative and Functional Biomedical Technologies.

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit, independent research and educational institution with pioneering programs in stem cells, cancer research, immunology, neurological disorders, developmental biology, genetics and genomics. It was founded though the generosity of Edwin C. Jack Whitehead, a businessman and philanthropist whose dream was to create a new type of research enterpriseone that could exist independently, yet fully benefit from partnering with a world-class academic institution. This dream was realized in 1982 when Whitehead Institute was established, an arrangement that included a faculty and teaching affiliation with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems (ETE) Program was formed by a group of professional researchers in paleontology who study the evolutionary paleoecology of land ecosystems. We share a conviction that long-term patterns of evolutionary change cannot be fully understood without knowledge of changes in ecology (at many scales) over geologic time periods, and an understanding of the interaction between ecological and evolutionary processes. Thus, we are interested not only in how the environment has changed, but how ecosystems themselves have changed, and how evolution has occurred in its ecological context over the last 400 million years. The ETE database captures and organizes fossil evidence concerning land biotas in support of ETEs research objectives. The ETE Program is is affiliated with the Departments of Paleobiology and Anthropology (Human Origins Program) at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Dental microwear is the study of the microscopic scratches and pits that form on a tooth's surface as the result of its use. Much of the dental microwear research that has been conducted thus far has focused on humans and non-human primates. These can be used as models to reconstruct diets in human ancestors and other fossil primates. Find software, images, texture analysis, data, contacts, links, and references. Hosted by the Department of Antropology at the University of Arkansas.

The nanoScience and Technology Studies consortium at the University of South Carolina aims to provide the highest quality scholarship and commentary on issues of nano-science and -technology: to define and elucidate the fundamental philosophical ethical, legal, political and societal issues that the development of nano-science and -technology produce; to articulate the benefits and risks, opportunities and problems, collaborations and conflicts, of nano-science and -technology [NST] that may have significant societal impact; to articulate fruitful ways to approach these opportunities and problems, collaborations and conflicts; and to propose public and private sector approaches for providing better democratic procedures and policies concerning the development of nanotechnology.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project produces reports that explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the Internet through collection of data and analysis of real-world developments as they affect the virtual world. The basis of the reports are nationwide random digit dial telephone surveys as well as online surveys. This data collection is supplemented with research from government agencies, academia, and other expert venues; observations of what people do and how they behave when they are online; in-depth interviews with Internet users and Internet experts alike; and other efforts that try to examine individual and group behavior. The Project releases 15-20 pieces of research a year, varying in size, scope, and ambition.

Part of the School of Psychology, the Sonification Lab studies the psychophysical and practical aspects of auditory displays, paying particular attention to sonification. Special consideration is paid to Human Factors in the display of information in "complex task environments," such as in cockpits, nuclear powerplants, and Space.