Health and Medicine

Linking computer scientists with life scientists to develop computational tools that will help draw a far more complete picture of the causes behind complex diseases like cancer, multiple sclerosis and coronary artery disease is the goal of researchers at the University at Buffalo working under two major federal grants totaling $2.8 million.

Yvonne Scherer, Ed.D., associate professor in the School of Nursing at the University at Buffalo, has received a $1 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to support new academic programs aimed at alleviating the chronic shortage of skilled nurses and nursing faculty.

A new software package under development by Virmatics, LLC., a spin-off company formed by researchers at the University at Buffalo and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, will provide molecular biologists with the tools they need to design successful experiments, potentially boosting the pace of new drug discoveries.

At the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, all medical students have added something new -- and high-tech -- to their list of must-have school supplies: a personal digital assistant, more commonly known as a PDA.

The University at Buffalo has been selected to partner in the research initiatives of the new Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE) to be established at the New York State Department of Health in Albany.

An antiretroviral drug for HIV, methadone for heroin addiction, a birth control pill and an antidepressant. For some AIDS patients, this is a daily medication regimen. How do all of these substances affect how HIV drugs work and how do HIV drugs, in turn, affect the other drugs a patient takes? That question is at the heart of research being conducted by the University at Buffalo's Laboratory for Antiviral Research, where researchers are developing innovative new methods of testing the blood and cells of HIV patients for these interactions.

Some of the world's most advanced research in micro- and nanoelectronic-packaging reliability is taking place in the Electronic Packaging Laboratory in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. UB engineers are addressing critical problems confronting the electronics industry as it attempts to make electronic packages much smaller and more reliable. Their research is helping to reduce the size and increase the speed and life span of electronic devices, and is opening the door for the creation of new devices.

How you drink alcohol -- how often, how much, when and what kind -- can influence the risk of heart disease by affecting the accumulation of abdominal fat, a body characteristic shown to be an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, University at Buffalo epidemiologists have shown.

Barbara Bono, associate professor in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed director of UB's Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender for 2003-05.

In an innovative approach to easing the chronic nursing shortage, the School of Nursing at the University of Buffalo, in partnership with the Catholic Health System and the Kaleida Health System, is launching a fast-track degree program that allows persons who hold a bachelor's degree in another field to receive a bachelor's of science in nursing in 12 months.