1999 USB/BNL Seed Grant Winners
Vitaly Citovsky,
Dept. of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
& Geoffrey Hind, Dept. of Biology, BNL
"Protein Kinase Involved in Regulation of Plasmodesmata"
Plasmodesmata (PD), one of the major routes of intercellular communication within plants, will be studied.Evidence suggests that a protein kinase (PK) associated with plant cell walls may be a functional component of PD. PK will be purified at Brookhaven for study at Stony Brook to further investigate the composition and regulation of PD channels.
Robert
Crease, Dept. of Philosophy and Historian, BNL
"Science Study Forum"
Seed support for an interdisciplinary group of faculty in the social sciences and humanities who discuss society's reactions to perceived environmental threats, ethics in science, and related topics.
Clare Grey,
Dept. of Chemistry & John Hill, Dept. of Physics, BNL
"Research Initiative in Lithium Manganese Oxides:
a Study of the Charge Ordering in Battery Materials"
Lithium manganese oxides are of current interest because of their use in rechargeable lithium batteries. The project will study the charge ordering in these compounds with a goal of improving the quality of rechargeable batteries.
Peisen Huang,
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering &
Peter Takacs, Instrumentation Division, BNL
"Optical Profiler for Testing of Aspheric Mirrors"
The objectives of the project are to develop a nanoradian angle sensor for surface slope measurement and demonstrate the feasibility of an optical profiler with improved accuracy. The optical profiler may result in an improvement of two orders of magnitude in the accuracy of the testing of the aspheric mirrors.
Janet
Leatherwood, Dept. of Molecular Microbiology &
Carl Anderson, Dept. of Biology, BNL
"Functional Analysis of Human Checkpoint Signaling
in Yeast"
This collaboration will use yeast to analyze mechanisms by which human cells respond to DNA damage. Of particular interest is the signaling to the tumor suppressor protein p53, which is one of the most frequently mutated genes in human cancers. An analysis of these pathways using genetic and molecular models available in yeast will be performed.
Manuel Lerdau,
Dept. of Ecology and Evolution &
Carmen Benkovitz, Dept. of Environmental Chemistry, BNL &
George Hendrey, Dept. of Applied Sciences, BNL
"Influences of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Herbivory
in Terrestrial Ecosystems"
This project will study the effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on plant ecology in terrestrial ecosystems, focusing particularly on the impacts on plants the their insect herbivores. This general topic is of great importance in understanding basic ecological processes and the effects of large-scale changes on ecosystems.
Andreas Mayr, Dept. of Chemistry
&
Bruce Brunschwig, Dept. of Chemistry, BNL
"Metal-Carbon Multiple Bonds as Building Blocks for
Molecular Electronic Devices"
This project proposed a non-traditional application of metal-carbon multiple bonds as functional and structural components in molecular electronic devices. Specifically the group proposes to develop low-valent alkylidyne metal complexes as versatile building blocks for the development of molecular devices.
Duane Waliser, Marine Sciences
Research Center &
Joyce Tichler, Dept. of Applied Science, BNL
"Acquisition of a Real-Time Satellite Receiving System
for
Regional Environmental Research and Education"
This project involves the acquisition of a satellite receiving system to be located at Stony Brook and provide feeds to Brookhaven National Laboratory. The system will be an excellent classroom resource for the teaching of meteorology and education outreach programs. As well, this shared resource will tie together environmental research, monitoring and on-going education efforts at Stony Brook, Brookhaven and the Eastern Regional offices of the National Weather Service.