Something to Chew On
Mechanical engineering professor Ian Grosse was awarded $270,000 from the National Science Foundation to study how eating has shaped the evolution of the human skull. His contention is that the shape of the skull and facial structure evolved as a biomechanical response to the forces and stresses associated with eating hard foods. Grosse and his colleagues are digitally creating virtual skeletal models of the skull, jaw, and teeth of early human ancestors from computer-topography scans of fossil specimens, along with hard food specimens. The result will be a series of biomechanical models for predicting the jaw muscle forces required to initiate cracking of hard food specimens and the resulting mechanical stresses and strains induced in the facial and cranial structures of early human ancestors and some primates. This information will help researchers understand the functional and evolutionary relationships between diet and skull form, says Grosse.

Fat Tastes Good
Consumers often complain that low-fat foods aren’t tasty. In a move to improve the situation, researchers are developing encapsulated fats—small oil droplets formed by mixing oil, water, and a surfactant—in a process similar to making salad dressing. “Our goal is to keep the fat in the food, but stop it from being digested by surrounding it with layers of dietary fiber,” says Julian McClements, food science professor. “Foods produced with these encapsulated fats have the same taste profiles as conventional high-fat foods.”

Of Lice and Men
Head lice affects up to 12 million people in the United States every year and has become resistant to over-the-counter and prescription medications. J. Marshall Clark, Joseph Strycharz, Kyong Sup Yoon, and others in Veterinary and Animal Sciences have found that ivermectin, a compound used to treat intestinal worms and plant parasites, is 100 percent effective in killing resistant head lice. The effectiveness of ivermectin could save children from multiple applications of toxic chemicals. One advantage of ivermectin is that the skin does not readily absorb it, making it suitable for products that are used externally.

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Cheers!
Red wine and tea have been shown to be effective protection from the ravages of heart disease. They may also help regulate blood sugar, according to food science professors Kalidas Shetty, Young-In Kwon, and Emmanouil Apostolidis. “Levels of blood sugar, or blood glucose, rise sharply in patients with Type 2 diabetes immediately following a meal,” says Shetty. “In-vitro lab studies indicate that red wine and tea contain natural antioxidants that may slow the passage of glucose through the small intestines and eventually into the bloodstream and prevent this spike, which is an important step in managing this disease.”

Redeeming the Deer Tick
Deer ticks have a deservedly bad rap, lurking in wait to latch onto you or your pets, and with the potential to pass on Lyme disease. New research by professor Juan Anguita of the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences has found the tick has a redeeming quality, and the discovery may lead to new treatments for HIV. Salp15, a protein found in deer tick saliva, stops T cells from activating by binding to a specifi c site on their surface called the CD4 receptor. Laboratory studies have shown that the presence of Salp15 could inhibit the attachment of HIV-1 by almost 70 percent at the highest concentration tested. It could also turn out to be an effective treatment for asthma, multiple sclerosis, and other diseases caused by an overactive immune system. Says Anguita, “This research could lead to novel vaccines and therapies against auto-immune diseases.”

Shot to the Heart
It’s enough to give you a heart attack: Computer-hackers can potentially extract private medical data from implanted medical devices such as cardiac defi brillators and pacemakers. Kevin E. Fu, assistant professor of computer science, was one of the leaders of a study that found a patient’s private medical information can be extracted and the devices reprogrammed without the patient’s authorization or knowledge. There has yet to be a reported case; the study was designed to identify and prevent future problems. Fu says, “Understanding the security and privacy of implantable devices is essential for protecting the nation’s health and cyber infrastructure.”

Follow the Money
$1 MILLION
To chemical engineering professor Neil Forbes to research the killing of cancer tumors with Salmonella bacteria. From the National Institutes of Health.

$500,000
To scholarships for African-American, Latino, Native American, and Cape Verdean undergraduates, through 2013. From the Ernst & Young Partners in Education Program.

$430,000
To engineering professor Erin Baker to study the federal government’s investments in cost-effective energy technologies for carrying out our nation’s policies to address climatechange. From the National Science Foundation.

$475,000
To Polymer Science and Engineering professor Ryan C. Hayward to study hydrogels—sponges that can change their volume drastically by soaking up or expelling water.” Besides being used in familiar products like diapers, they can mimic qualities of human tissue and could be used, according to Hayward, to make biomaterials that deliver medication on demand. From the National Science Foundation

$400,000
To chemical engineering professor George Huber to study a new method for making biofuels (“green gasoline”) from wood or grasses, a process that would be much less expensive than the process used to create conventional gasoline or ethanol made from corn. From the National Science Foundation.

$400,000
To chemical engineering professor Lianhong Sun to develop research that reconfigures the E. coli bacterium to behave as a tiny protein factory for making insulin, human growth hormone, antibiotics, and other drugs. From the National Science Foundation.

$308,000
To professor Alejandro P. Heuck to develop molecular probes that can measure cholesterol levels in the membranes of individual cells. From the American Heart Association.

$168,000
To professors Nathalie Lavoie and Christian Rojas of the Resource Economics Department to document the effects of superstores (such as Wal-Mart or formations of meatpackers into large corporations) on the welfare of farmers, consumers, retailers, and processors. From the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

$150,000
To professor John Burand, insect pathologist, to study viruses and possible environmental causes for colony collapse disorder and honeybee population decline. From the U.S. Department of Agriculture.