Award Data

Homologous recombination (HR) permits the precise insertion, deletion, or substitution of genetic material in the genome of an organism. HR offers numerous opportunities for modifying plant genomes to enhance our understanding of plant gene function and regulation, especially with respect to enhancing the production of biofuels. Although HR normally occurs at very low frequencies, approximately ...

We propose to use physiological sensors to measure the quality of a trainee's interaction with a virtual environment (VE) as a function of VE fidelity to enable design improvements in VEs and to enhance training effectiveness through feedback of physiological-based performance information. Currently, VE design is guided by subjective design models that involve multiple design iterations and focus ...

Today’s Warfighter often carries an inordinate load that can lead to injuries and encumbered performance. Equipment is distributed among squad members with little, if any regard for differences in strength and anthropometry. Consequently, the current focus on human-centric design requires a modeling and simulation tool that can reduce the load Warfighters carry and can help distribute equipmen ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will prove out the concept that appropriately doped single crystals of lanthanide oxides (i.e. Yb:Sc2O3) can be grown via a commercially viable hydrothermal process. These crystals will enable the development of new high powered diode pumped solid state lasers with cw powers in kilowatts and pulse operations to 200 femtoseconds. The use of do ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Signal transduction systems regulate the majority of cellular activities including the metabolism, development, host-recognition, biofilm production, virulence, and antibiotic resistance of human pathogens. Thus, knowle dge of the proteins and interactions that comprise these communication networks is an essential component to furthering biomedical discovery. T ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A collaborative effort between ASL Analytical, Inc. and a research team at the University of Iowa is proposed to development a noninvasive nocturnal hypoglycemic alarm. The goal for the alarm system is to provide continuous noninvasive measurements during the sleep period of an individual with diabetes, sounding an audible alarm to wake the person if an impe ...

War fighters face increased risk in the post 9-11 era of expanding terrorist activity and urban military conflicts. The problem is compounded by complex modern urban areas and modern rules of engagement often preclude the use of wide area offensive tactics. Consequently dismounted forces are called to enter challenging hostile terrain in search of select enemy targets. Many of these respondents ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is for the development of technology to crystallize proteins using less sample and with higher speed and success than current high throughput protein crystallization methods. Protein crystallization is an intermediate step in determining the precise three-dimensional shape of a protein, and proteins are involved in virtually every cellular pr ...

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy and broad applicability of the human immune-modulating alphaGal Adjuvant Technology for antiviral vaccine development. We will use viral vaccine candidates for the select Category A viral pathogens Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV, filovirus), Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV, bunyavirus), and Lassa virus (LV, arenavirus), to evaluate the adjuvant pot ...

Determining meat quality attributes in food animals is essential for genetic selection, sorting, and marketing. Ultrasound techniques have the potential to benefit the swine industry for improvements in both quality and yield measures by non-destructive means. There is a need to continually improve percentage intramuscular fat estimation accuracy and reduced bias, especially before integration of ...