{"id":99436,"date":"2014-12-24T11:24:18","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T16:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=99436"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:20:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:20:41","slug":"advancing-knowledge-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/12\/advancing-knowledge-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Advancing Knowledge: Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the year 2014 winds down, UConn Today takes a look at some highlights of the past 12 months in a series of posts. Here, a glimpse into research discoveries by UConn faculty.<\/em><\/p>\n

From the verdant landscape beneath power lines that crisscross New England<\/a> to an excavation site in Armenia<\/a>. From a ship’s grave in the waters of the southern Caribbean<\/a> to the bustling shrimp habitat off the coast of North Carolina<\/a>. From charter school funding<\/a> to educational achievement gaps<\/a>; farmers’ markets<\/a> to church pews<\/a>; and genomics labs<\/a> to neonatal intensive care units<\/a>, UConn faculty have pushed the boundaries of knowledge through their research this year.<\/p>\n

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They have studied, questioned, tested and advanced understanding of important questions about the environment, history, economics, education, bioscience, genetics, health and human behavior, and more. Among their discoveries:<\/p>\n

\"Pharmaceutical<\/a>
Pharmaceutical science professors Dennis Wright and Amy Anderson conduct research on strategies to combat drug-resistant bacteria. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A pair of pharmaceutical science professors broke new ground in the war against diseases resistant to all known antibiotics<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 so-called “superbugs.” In UConn’s Technology Incubation Program, scientists discovered a novel approach to treating multiple sclerosis<\/a> with embryonic stem cells.<\/p>\n

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In other labs, researchers found a new way to identify protein mutations on cancer cells, a method now being used to develop personalized vaccines to treat patients with ovarian cancer<\/a>. And a nanoparticle designed by a UConn professor became a key component of a potent new malaria vaccine<\/a> that’s now being tested.<\/p>\n

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At UConn Health, a two-month-old patient’s\u00a0rare genetic mutation prompted researchers to sift through recordings of breathing patterns in an effort to identify early warning systems that could save other infants<\/a>. Other advances pertained to more widespread health issues, including obesity and ACL, a common athletic injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Researchers identified how religious bias affects applicants’ hiring chances<\/a> and how weight bias impacts the care that obese patients receive from their doctors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By studying the behavior of people, one professor discovered that the online world produced achievement gaps in teen reading skills<\/a>. But for a professor in digital media, a virtual world proved a successful behavioral intervention tool<\/a> for risky alcohol, drug, and sexual behavior. By studying the behavior of Monk Parakeets, a faculty member discovered a way to stop the invasive birds from causing costly damage to power lines.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
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Products of UConn research also rolled off 3-D printers, ranging from artificial kidneys<\/a> that may someday keep people alive, to replacement mouthparts that brought antique musical instruments <\/a>back to life.<\/p>\n

\"Sina<\/a>
UConn researchers have developed a new method for using micro-computed tomography to examine antique wind instruments and then create new parts using 3-D printing technology. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A glimpse into this past year’s discoveries by UConn researchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":88751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2231,2076,2387,2227],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-99436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-well-being","category-research","category-sustainability","category-uconn-edu-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 20:16:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99436"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107600,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99436\/revisions\/107600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/88751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99436"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=99436"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=99436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}