Health and Medicine

Pharmaceutical researchers at the University at Buffalo have joined forces with scientists from several of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to tackle fundamental research questions that need to be answered to advance development of promising protein-based drugs.

Researchers at the University at Buffalo -- the first to identify the anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective properties of insulin -- now have discovered one pathway through which the hormone produces this effect.

It's well documented that children of obese parents are at risk of becoming obese early in life, and that obese children are at risk of becoming obese adults. Now, in the first study of its kind in the U.S., University at Buffalo researchers, who have been at the forefront of the fight against childhood obesity for nearly three decades, will test a family-based weight-control intervention in three large pediatric practices in Western New York, funded by a $2.58 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Persons with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can relieve their symptoms as effectively by following a self-administered, at-home cognitive behavioral program as they can by undergoing a 10-week in-office program administered by a trained therapist, a new pilot study has shown.

Karl D. Fiebelkorn of Getzville, associate dean for student affairs and professional relations in the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, received the 2008 Excellence in Teaching Award at the pharmacy school's recent commencement ceremony.

Two University at Buffalo Law School professors have taken steps to make the school a world-renowned center for confronting what they call the epidemic of domestic-violence crimes, locally and internationally, using their teaching positions to coordinate a network of domestic violence advocacy that so far reaches from the classrooms of UB's O'Brian Hall to at least two other continents.

Scientists at the University at Buffalo have created a mutant worm that changes color when it moves. The color change is generated by an optical sensor called stFRET. The sensor is composed of a pair of fluorescent molecules connected by a molecular spring that is inserted into structural proteins in the worm's cells.

Anne E. Meyer of Eggertsville, director of the Buffalo site of the Industry/University Center for Biosurfaces (IUCB), has been named a fellow in biomaterials science and engineering by the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering (IUSBSE).

The University at Buffalo has created an annual UB Faculty Entrepreneur Award to recognize faculty who demonstrate the vision and perseverance to translate their discoveries and inventions into products that save lives, relieve suffering or otherwise improve the well-being of individuals and communities.

A program designed by University at Buffalo researchers to increase mathematics achievement in pre-kindergarten students has proven successful in a large-scale study in Buffalo and Boston.