Biotech is Where It’s At The College of Technology has been given one million ways to advance healthcare, enhance food science, or support agriculture. The Texas Workforce Commission awarded the college a $1 million grant to develop
a biotechnology baccalaureate program.
Biotech is a high-growth industry with research possibilities that could positively impact how we live to what we eat. The two project-based laboratory courses will integrate bioinformatics, bioprocessing, and nanobiotechnology and will be connected through a common theme:
a soil bacterium that encodes a pesticide-degrading gene, placing the program’s emphasis on environmental biotechnology.
“This will take students right from the process of scientific discovery
to its applications in biotechnology,” Rupa Iyer, research associate
professor, says. “To my knowledge, no other institution in Texas has
done this at an undergraduate level.”
The Ultimate Machine
He is a mechanical engineer and a former worker in the oil industry. Today, Professor Adam Thrasher is a full-time problem solver. As a newcomer to the Department of Health and Human Performance, Thrasher is putting his engineering expertise to work on the ultimate machine— the human body.
“I was fascinated with the prospect of applying aspects of engineering to the challenges of spinal cord patients,” Thrasher says. “I spent a lot of time around wheelchair athletes. I was completely inspired by them.” To that end, he is creating technology that would prevent a serious side effect for wheelchair or bed-ridden patients—pressure sores that develop when muscles atrophy, leaving bone and skin to chafe against mattresses and chairs. If undetected, these pressure sores can become infected and complicate the patient’s rehabilitation. Thrasher and his research team are developing an electrical stimulation system to build up the muscles of a patient’s buttocks to maintain a cushion between the bone and the mattress or chair. A series of patches would be placed around the worn muscles to send brief electrical currents to make the muscles contract, building them up over time. This research ultimately will target the walking functions of spinal cord patients. Thrasher plans to collaborate with other UH departments, The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, and The Methodist Hospital.
Big Grant for Nano Work
A team of UH engineering professors is looking for a foolproof way
to diagnose cancer and a quick way to evaluate the effectiveness
of cancer medications.
Led by Dmitri Litvinov, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and of chemical and biomolecular engineering, the team
received a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and
the Alliance for NanoHealth. The team is developing technology that
can quickly determine the effectiveness of an antiviral drug.
What does this mean for us? We may one day have a tabletop system
that can screen tens of thousands of drug candidates in an hour, and
a tool that can provide a reliable cancer diagnosis with minuscule
quantities of tissue obtained through noninvasive means.
Beer, Burgers and Barbacoa
What do beer, burgers, and barbacoa (Mexican barbecue) have in common? Each is as critical as bricks and mortar in building community, according to Donna Kacmar, assistant professor of architecture in the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture. “Ice houses, burger joints, and taco stands celebrate the freedom of mobility that dominates Houston’s urban fabric,” she says. “These types of establishments open up the pedestrian zone—sidewalks and passersbys—that encourage the spontaneous and casual collection of a local community to engage in situational urbanism.” Kacmar and her fifth-year architecture students investigated multiple sites in the Bayou City—visiting
the location, interviewing patrons and owners, and observing how the space and physical structure serve to build a level of camaraderie, hospitality, and community where previously there was none.
