2007 Kentucky NSF EPSCoR Research Enhancement Grant (REG)
Molecular Biology Core Research Facility
Project Leader : David Peyton (PI)
Institution: Morehead State University
Award Type: Instrumentation
Award Length: May 2007 - December 2007
EPSCoR Support:
$93,076
The major objective of the project is to provide faculty and student researchers at Morehead State University with a modern biotechnology research facility with state of the art research equipment to: 1) facilitate the successful completion of on-going supported research projects, 2) enhance the future competitiveness of faculty research proposals submitted to federal agencies, and 3) enhance the research training of underserved students from the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky. Six current projects are planned for completion through the use of this instrumentation.
Acquisition of the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer for use in Genetic Research Programs & Undergraduate Education
Project Leader: Claire Rinehart (PI)
Institution: Western Kentucky University
Award Type: Instrumentation
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $31,657
The Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer will be used in WKU's Genetic Research Programs as well as for undergraduate laboratory teaching efforts. The Bioanalyzer can size and quantify RNA, DNA, protein and act as a cell sorter. The small sample requirements and rapid results will greatly enhance our research and teaching capabilities and provide a new dimension for quality control of our samples.
Geophysical Survey of the Wickliffe Mounds Archaeological Site
Project Leader : Kit W. Wesler (PI)
Institution: Murray State University
Award Type: Instrumentation
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $24,925
Murray State University requests funds for a near-surface remote sensing device, to be employed in the investigation of the Wickliffe Mounds in Ballard County, Kentucky. Murray State personnel and students will prepare a new topographic map of the site using a total station, and conduct non-intrusive subsurface survey with a ground-penetrating radar (requested) and a flux gradiometer (in hand). The results will be compared with those of traditional excavation, which was conducted over fifteen summers between 1984 and 2004, for comprehensive study of the spatial organization of the village, cemetery and mound complex.
Laser Diffraction Particle Size Analyzer for Research & Teaching in Environmental Geosciences
Project Leader: Stephen T. Kenworthy (PI)
Institution: Western Kentucky University
Award Type: Instrumentation
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $57,560
Western Kentucky University requests funding for a laser particle size analyzer for research and teaching in environmental geosciences. This device will be used to characterize grain size distributions of samples of fluvial sediments, soils, and other natural materials. Natural sediments are a primary component of the “critical zone” near the Earth’s surface where a variety of important physical, biogeochemical and ecological processes are concentrated. Characterization of the materials and processes occurring in this critical zone is essential to understanding many aspects of global environmental change and the impact of global change on ecosystems and human society. Initial applications include a study of Upper Green River floodplain deposits and a project analyzing late Holocene variations in lake sedimentation in the Bahamas.
The Metabolic and Mutualistic Activities of Microbial Subsistence in Oligotrophic Cave Environments
Project Leader: Hazel Barton(PI)
Institution: Northern Kentucky University
Award Type: Standard
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $25,000
The research component of this proposal is aimed at understanding how microbial species adapt to starved (oligotrophic) conditions; defined as <2 mg/l total organic carbon. To understand the physiological adaptation that microbial ecosystems undergo in response to nutrient stress, we propose examining such systems within oligotrophic cave environments. We aim to use a combination of molecular and cultivation techniques, along with methods from the geological and chemical sciences, to chemically define the nutrients supporting growth in these oligotrophic systems. In doing so, we aim to increase the culturability of unique species from these environments, determine the metabolic interactions that support community growth and determine whether metabolic adaptations to starvation promote increased metabolic efficiency and mutualistic interactions within the community.
Design & Construction of Bulk-Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaic Devices Containing Electrode-Oriented Semi-conducting Oligomers for Improved Charge
Project Leader : Kevin Revell (PI)
Institution: Murray State University
Award Type: Standard
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $20,343
This project involves the design and preparation of organic solar cells based on an 'ordered bulk heterojunction' concept, in which the semiconducting polymeric materials are oriented perpendicular to the electrodes. This approach addresses the issue of charge mobility which has been problematic in previous designs. Initial efforts will focus on the preparation of end-functionalized, double-chain oligomers containing conjugated electron-donating and receiving chains tethered by a nonconjugated linker. A key objective of this work is the incorporation of these oligomers into self-assembled monolayers on gold electrodes, and subsequent evaluation of the photoelectric properties of these systems.
Creation of an Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) Library for the Developing Wings of the Buckeye Butterfly
Project Leader: Jeffrey Marcus (PI)
Institution: Western Kentucky University
Award Type: Standard
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $25,000
The focus of this award is to create an EST (expressed sequence tag) library from the developing wing imaginal discs of the common buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia. This library will include a representative sampling of all of the poly-A tailed mRNAs being expressed in developing wing discs at the pre-pupal stage; the stage when wing color patterns are being determined. This library will help identify genes that are involved in butterfly color pattern formation.
Developing Replicable RNA Affinity Tags for Resolving Combinatorial Chemistry Libraries
Project Leader : Craig Tuerk (PI)
Institution: Morehead State University
Award Type: Standard
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $22,216
This award's goal is to establish proof of concept for a novel method for tagging members of a complex chemical combinatorial library with members of an intermediate (linking) RNA library. Two examples of mock chemical libraries will be created to test the validity of the method. One will be a mixture of two different cysteine-tagged epitopes to be partitioned by monoclonal antibodies on solid support matrix. The second (small molecule library) will be a mixture of mercaptobiotin with other mercaptans to be partitioned by solid support streptavidin.
Expanding the Application of Microfluidic Devices in Chemical Genomics
Project Leader : Robert Daniel Johnson (PI)
Institution: Murray State University
Award Type: Standard
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $24,817
The objective of the research is the development of enzymatic activity assays for deubiquitinases and protein methylases using capillary electrophoresis on microfluidic chips. Successful completion of this work will broaden the availability of microfluidic assay protocols that could be applied to pharmaceutical, toxicological, metabolomic, and other chemogenomic studies.
Bringing the John W. Thieret Herbarium Collections into the Digital Age
Project Leader: Maggie K. Whitson (PI)
Institution: Northern Kentucky University
Award Type: Standard
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $21,605
This project will begin modernization of the NKU collections found in the John W. Thieret herbarium, in order to increase usage of the collections and broaden access to collections information. The project will be conducted in two stages. First, the equipment needed to get collections data and images of certain specimens into a computerized format will be obtained. The summer of 2007 will be spent getting the equipment and software set up, learning how to use it, establishing written protocols for doing so, and getting student-workers trained and started on databasing specimen information. Once the protocols are established, the second phase of the project can begin. Work-study activities will focus on barcoding and databasing as many specimens as possible, while the curatorial staff will focus on updating nomenclature and photographing ID features for various taxa.
Separation Problems on Chessboard Graphs
Project Leader : Richard Chatham(PI)
Institution: Morehead State University
Award Type: Standard
Award Length: May 2007-December 2007
EPSCoR Support: $25,000
Three investigators from Morehead State University and one investigator from Northern Kentucky University will work with four undergraduate student assistants on various “chessboard separation problems”, which alter problems like the classic N-Queens Problem by placing obstacles on the chessboard. The project involves questions in both mathematics and computer science, and the results may potentially have technological applications like those of the N-Queens Problem.