Stories

March 23, 2008

A New Friend in the Fight Against Cystic Fibrosis

For years, scientists have studied cystic fibrosis using mice in which the cystic fibrosis gene was altered. However, mice do not develop lung disease like humans with cystic fibrosis. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri and the University of Iowa have taken the first step in developing a cystic fibrosis model with animals more common to humans—pigs.

Dec. 10, 2007

A Promising Plant

An international research center co-directed by William Folk, Ph.D., biochemist, in the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the School of Medicine, will study the medical effectiveness of the plant commonly called Sutherlandia. A clinical study seeks to determine if the plant is safe and can benefit people in the early stages of HIV/AIDS.

Dec. 1, 2007

A Small Piece of a Big Prize

Lupo, an associate professor of atmospheric science in the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resource's Department of Soil, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences, is a contributing author and expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that shared the prize this summer with former vice president Al Gore, Jr.

Nov. 2, 2007

Biting Discovery

"It's much, much worse than a bee or wasp sting," said Robert Sites, an entomologist in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "It's actually not a sting; it's a bite. You'll be thinking about it a half hour or an hour. I was bitten in the pad of my little finger, and I felt intense pain all the way to my elbow for a good 30 minutes." Working with researchers from universities in Thailand, Slovenia and the United States, Sites discovered more than 50 new insect species over a three-year period.