Award Data

Potentially insufficient corn stock supplies make necessary the development of industrial yeast strains for converting alternative cellulosic materials for renewable fuel sources. This project investigates the feasibility and develops the capability of using Holographic Optical Trapping as an automated manipulation tool for yeast cells, to characterize and evaluate yeast strains.

Basic science discoveries have led to the development of a series of human biotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of cancer and HIV as well as many other diseases. Currently there are over 400 drugs in clinical trials just for the first two diseases. The current biotherapeutics' manufacturing platforms have not kept pace resulting in a dramatic rise in treatment cost and more importantly unmet the ...

This proposed work will generate a targeted phosphate ester hydrolysis catalyst for agent denial. This catalyst will be targeted by conjugation to single stranded DNA. Characteristics of the catalyst will be determined, including ruggedness, targeting selectivity, and potential methods for deployment.

Removal and disposal of agricultural mulch films made from polyethylene requires large expenditures of time and money, and creates excessive demand for landfill space. The purpose of this project is to create agricultural mulch films from renewable resources that can be incorporated into the soil for disposal rather than being landfilled.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) biopesticides are an environmentally safe alternative to chemical pesticides but less efficacious than chemical alternatives. The purpose of this study is to determine the suitability of BtBooster in improving Bt biopesticides so that it as good as or better than the more efficacious chemical alternatives.

Economic losses due to inadequate ripeness detection in the orchard and post-harvest continue to plague the apple industry. It is anticipated that the in-orchard/packinghouse sensor approach will significantly reduce the waste/spoilage-to-edible-fruit ratio, thereby increasing fruit quality and availability and resultant consumer demand at the domestic retail level as well as in the export market. ...

Durable, economical, and highly functional erosion control materials for use in high stress, arid and semi-arid environments are not generally available. And, few uses exist for value-added products made from woody residuals created by small-diameter forest thinning and wildland/urban interface fuels reduction operations. The project will create a durable erosion control system using the lowest va ...

One problem that exists for manufacturers producing standardized medicinal plant products is variability of raw material. Most medicinal plant products are produced from material which has been collected from the wild resulting in a wide range of bioactive ingredient content. Increasing demand for these products has resulted in some of the more effective plants, including Hydrastis canadensis (gol ...

Conventional methods of providing power require expensive pole-drop utility connections, high replacement cost of battery-backup systems, other regular maintenance, or inordinate size and substandard reliability. The proposed device uses an optimized combination of battery and solar power, which when coupled with sophisticated power electronics circuits, is capable of supplying 50 W-hr/day of elec ...

Due to environmental and regulatory concerns, research and development of non-chemical alternatives for pest suppression is necessary. Entomopathogenic nematodes are environmentally friendly biocontrol agents that can suppress a wide variety of economically important insect pests including the black vine weevil, the Japanese beetle, diaprepes root weevil, and fungus gnats. Commercialization of the ...