This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Briefs

Published: June 23, 2011

  • Falcons have flown the coop

    Fans of UB’s FalconCam are experiencing empty nest syndrome, as all four of the falcon chicks have left the nest.

    The falcons have fledged successfully, says Connie Adams, senior wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Adams says the chicks have been flying since last week and are unlikely to return to the nesting box in Mackay Heating Tower on the South Campus, where they had lived since hatching in early May.

    And while the chicks have flown the coop, their parents, BB and Yankee, are expected to remain at their UB nesting box for many years.

  • CAS to offer free concerts

    The sound of music will be heard outside the Student Union again this summer as the College of Arts and Sciences hosts a free summer concert series.

    The series, which is open to all members of the UB and Western New York community, will be held from noon to 1 p.m. on four consecutive Tuesdays, beginning July 12 and concluding on Aug. 2. The rain venue will be in the Center for the Arts.

    The lineup:

    • July 12: Neville Francis and the Riddim Posse (reggae)
    • July 19: Alison Pipitone Band (rock/Americana)
    • July 26: The Party Squad (pop/rock covers)
    • Aug. 2: Stone Country (classic country)

    For more information, check the CAS website or call the dean’s office at 645-2711.

  • Structural biologists receive NIH grant

    Two UB and Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) scientists have received a four-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to develop new crystallization technologies for macromolecules in HWI’s High-Throughput Crystallization Screening Laboratory (HTSlab).

    Joseph Luft and Geogre DeTitta, co-directors of the HTSlab, also hold appointments—research instructor and professor, respectively—in UB’s Department of Structural Biology, part of HWI.

    HTSlab aims to screen crystallization conditions for as many as 1,200 proteins per year, with technologies for high-throughput crystal optimization applied to a subset of these proteins. Understanding the structural quality of these proteins aids researchers working in numerous fields, such as drug design and combating disease.

    Since February 2000, the HTSlab has investigated the crystallization properties of 13,000 individual proteins. This work is continuing in partnership with more than 1,000 investigators in the structural biology community, as well as one of the four large-scale structure determination centers funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Protein Structure Initiative.

  • Flags at half-mast today

    Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has directed that flags on state government buildings—including those at UB—be flown at half-mast on June 23 in honor of a Fort Drum soldier who died of wounds received while serving in Afghanistan on June 18.

    Pfc. Brian J. Backus died when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire in Kandahar province. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team. He was from Saginaw Township, Michigan.

    Cuomo has ordered that flags on all state buildings be lowered to half-mast in honor of and tribute to New York service members who are killed in action or die in a combat zone.