July 2009

The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute provides this news brief for civic, corporate, political and scientific leaders to update you on the progress of the life sciences initiative in the Kansas City area. To unsubscribe, please contact Sharon Newman at 816-753-7700.

• Frontiers in Comparative Medicine: Animal Models for Human Disease - Third Annual CVC Symposium Underway

• Dog-Loving Couple Donates $1 Million to Support MU Veterinary Students

• University of Missouri Curators OK UMKC-foundation agreement

• MU issues $332M to finance campus upgrades

• K-State to offer new animal health industry business certificate

• MU study confirms negative consequences for overweight children

• Asian spice could protect postmenopausal women from breast cancer

• K-State researcher to study link between taste sensitivity and diabetes

• K-State plant pathologists work to help manage plant diseases world wide

• K-State receives $500K NIH grant to study cataracts

• National patients’ rights advocate joins TMC

• TMC Bluford named to AHA Board

• MRI advances algal biofuels research at new facilities
  

Third Annual CVC Symposium
Frontiers in Comparative Medicine: Animal Models for Human Disease

Capitalizing on the animal health practitioners visiting Kansas City for the Central Veterinary Conference (CVC) in August, KCALSI is joining forces again with the veterinary schools of the University of Missouri-Columbia and Kansas State University to offer a free research symposium for members of the medical, veterinary and public health community.

The symposium will be moderated by Dr. Daniel P. Getman, KCALSI President and feature national and regional experts who will discuss the relationship between animal and human health. National speakers include Dr. Stephen J. Withrow, Director, Animal Cancer Center Stuart Chair in Oncology, University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University; Dr. Kevin A. Hahn from Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc.; Drs. Joan R. Coates, Dennis O’Brien and Kimberly A. Selting, from MU and Drs. Mary Lynn Higginbotham and Kenneth R Harkin from K-State.

Application has been submitted for 3.00 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB’s RACE approval. More info

Dog-Loving Couple Donates $1 Million to Support MU Veterinary Students

A gift to the University of Missouri will honor the memory of two golden retrievers and support veterinary students in the College of Veterinary Medicine. MU administrators announced today that David and Gloria Lowell, dog owners and friends of MU, have committed $1 million of their estate to fund scholarships for students in the college. More info

University of Missouri Curators OK UMKC-foundation agreement

An affiliation agreement has been approved between a newly formed UMKC Foundation and UMKC. The UMKC Foundation be responsible fundraising on behalf of UMKC. More info

MU issues $332M to finance campus upgrades

The University of Missouri has issued $332 million in bonds to finance updates at more than a dozen facilities at its four campuses in Kansas City, Columbia, Rolla and St. Louis. More info

K-State to offer new animal health industry business certificate

Kansas State University’s College of Business Administration will partner with its Beef Cattle Institute and Division of Continuing Education to offer a new 16-credit-hour animal health industry certificate. The online business certificate is designed to help meet the unique management needs of animal health companies. More info

MU study confirms negative consequences for overweight children

A recent University of Missouri study found that overweight kids, especially girls, display more depression, anxiety and loneliness than kids that are never overweight. These negative feelings were found to start as early as kindergarten and well before kids actually reached the 95th percentile in Body Mass Index and classified as overweight. More info

Asian spice could protect postmenopausal women from breast cancer

University of Missouri researchers have found that curcumin, a popular Indian spice derived from the turmeric root, could reduce cancer risk for postmenopausal women who rely on combined estrogen and progestin hormone replacement therapy. More info

K-State student to study link between taste sensitivity and diabetes

Kansas State University’s Kathy Nguyen, a senior in public health nutrition, is studying the genotypes of diabetic and non-diabetic individuals to determine if one’s sensitivity to taste bitterness is linked to Type 2 diabetes. Results could lay the ground work for healthcare providers to screen individuals for bitterness sensitivity and to use that information as a predictive marker for diabetes and other chronic diseases. More info

K-State plant pathologists work to help manage plant diseases world wide

Information on plant diseases that threaten the food supply and economy are sparse, especially in resource-poor regions. Kansas State University plant pathologists have now developed online teaching modules to help farmers adapt to change and build resilient plant systems. So far more than 30,000 visitors from more than 100 countries have accessed the free modules. More info

K-State receives $500K NIH grant to study cataracts

The National Institutes of Health awarded Kansas State University nearly $500,000 to study the changes of protein interactions in the lens of the eye, which are believed to trigger cataracts. It is hoped that findings of the study will lead to a nonsurgical method of preventing and reversing cataracts, the leading cause of blindness in the world. More info

National patients’ rights advocate joins TMC

Truman Medical Centers named William (Bill) H. Colby as it new general counsel June 22. Colby, a well-known national patients’ rights advocate will also serve as general counsel to TMC’s charitable foundation. More info

TMC Bluford named to AHA Board

The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Board of Trustees has elected John W. Bluford, President and CEO of Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, Mo. as its chair-elect designate. He assumes the chairmanship in 2011, becoming the top elected official of the national organization that represents America’s hospitals and health systems. More info

MRI advances algal biofuels research at new facilities

Midwest Research Institute is among the nation’s top institutes studying and advancing algae as a new way to address energy and environmental challenges. With its new Center for Integrated Algal Research, MRI is making huge strides in both the development of biofuels and related products, and addressing carbon dioxide capture. More info

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