research

CU Boulder team to track methane leaks using lasers

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 07:00:00 +0000

CU Boulder team to track methane leaks using lasers Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/27/2017 - 00:00

Principal investigator Greg Rieker, center, in blue, discusses discusses the project with team members while atop their mobile laboratory in rural Colorado.

A team of researchers led by the �鶹��Ƶ has secured a $1.3 million grant from the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy to take a closer look at emissions from natural gas storage facilities across the U.S.

Natural gas for power generation and heating is typically extracted and processed in remote areas before being transported closer to cities for storage. The gas is stored at high pressures in underground reservoirs and caverns. The location of storage sites near cities offers rapid on-demand delivery, but poses significant environmental, health and safety risks in the event of a blowout.

In 2015, the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility northwest of Los Angeles, California, experienced a blowout that released over 100,000 tons of natural gas into the atmosphere over the course of four months. The event led to the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents from their homes and a state of emergency declaration for the area.

Tracking Leaks

The CU Boulder researchers will team up with scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of California Davis and aircraft operator Scientific Aviation to measure emissions from natural gas storage facilities. Their efforts will represent the first field-based campaign of its kind.

“This is an incredible opportunity to bring together cutting edge technologies and researchers to answer an important, practical question. We aim to produce results that will enable sound policy decisions and business practices that keep everyone safe, and keep natural gas in the ground until we’re ready to use it,” says Greg Rieker, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at CU Boulder and the principal investigator of the study.

Finding Methane With Lasers

The CU and NIST teams will field a ground-based laser system based on Nobel-prize-winning frequency comb technology originally invented at CU and NIST. The system, which sends invisible, eye-safe laser beams through the atmosphere to distances well over one mile, was developed under a recent grant from the DOE’s Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy (ARPA-E).

The laser system is able to measure changes in methane concentrations in the air down to one part-per-billion, the equivalent of a single drop of water in an Olympic-size swimming pool. The information will be used to gain a better understanding of how emissions of methane come out of the ground, equipment, and abandoned well heads around storage facilities, and whether these emissions are steady through time or vary.

“The timing is ideal for this opportunity. The technology this team has worked on for several years is at the perfect place to solve this problem,” says Caroline Alden, a CU Boulder post-doctoral researcher on the project.

Partnerships

Meanwhile, the UC-Davis and Scientific Aviation teams will mount light aircraft flights around the storage facility where the ground system is deployed, as well as a large number of other facilities throughout the country. The aircraft is equipped with methane detection technology that will provide estimates of total emissions arising from storage facilities.

The team will share results of the study with the EPA for inclusion in its greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the U.S. In addition, the team believes the monitoring technology may serve a longer-term purpose as a continuous monitoring system for storage facilities.

“Any time we find a home for our technologies in the private sector is a big win for us and for the agencies that fund our research. We genuinely hope that will be the case here,” Rieker says.

January 27,2017 Original Article

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Townsend returns to CU Boulder, joins Research & Innovation Office

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Townsend returns to CU Boulder, joins Research & Innovation Office Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/25/2017 - 00:00

Alan Townsend returns to the �鶹��Ƶ as the associate vice chancellor for research and professor of environmental studies after serving as dean of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and professor of ecosystem ecology. Townsend will report to Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation Terri Fiez.

"We are fortunate to have Alan back with the university," observes Fiez. "Alan is not only a talented researcher and leader; he is a strategic thinker who will help us develop approaches and leaders across campus to ensure that CU Boulder remains at the forefront of research and innovation globally."

Alan will have a faculty appointment in the Environmental Studies Program (ENVS) with tenure and as a fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). As associate vice chancellor for research in the Research & Innovation Office (RIO), formerly known as the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Townsend will devote 50 percent of his time to supporting research development and growing research collaborations in the earth and environmental sciences. He will also help develop and guide a new faculty research leadership program at CU Boulder.

"I’m very happy to be back in Boulder and at CU," Townsend stated. "This university was my professional home for seventeen years, and spending some time away has only further clarified what I’ve always known: CU’s strengths and potential in the broad environmental arena are nearly unmatched."

Prior to his time at Duke, Townsend served as director of the Division of Environmental Biology at the National Science Foundation and the lead of CU Boulder’s efforts to secure the U.S. hub of Future Earth, now located in SEEC (Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex). Before that, he held a variety of roles at CU Boulder, including: director of ENVS, both professor and assistant professor at INSTAAR and the Deptartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, as well as the associate director at INSTAAR.

January 25, 2017 Original Article

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Engineering professor earns prestigious presidential honor

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Engineering professor earns prestigious presidential honor Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/17/2017 - 00:00

Franck Vernerey (Photo: Casey A. Cass / �鶹��Ƶ)

�鶹��Ƶ associate professor Franck Vernerey has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest U.S. government honor awarded to promising scientists and researchers beginning their careers.

In a statement, President Barack Obama congratulated the 102 newest award recipients. “These innovators are working to help keep the United States on the cutting edge, showing that Federal investments in science lead to advancements that expand our knowledge of the world around us and contribute to our economy,” said Obama.

“It is a great honor to receive an award from the White House. I did not expect it, and it came as a wonderful surprise,” said Vernerey, an associate professor in CU Boulder’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and a Vogel faculty fellow. “I feel that this distinction is much more than just a recognition of my current research directions — it is a special inspiration for me to excel in research and gives me the freedom to pursue novel, perhaps risker ideas.”

Vernerey’s work centers on understanding soft matter, a peculiar class of materials that ranges from polymers to gels to micron-scale particles. The materials can be synthetized to perform active tasks and possess properties reminiscent of biological tissues and cells, giving them the potential for use in nano-medicine, tissue regeneration and individualized drug delivery strategies.

“In 2017 and beyond, we will increase our efforts to use mathematical modeling to explore the physics and mechanics of polymers, hydrogels and lipid membranes and seek to tailor their functionalities for optimized interactions with biological materials,” said Vernerey.

Vernerey and his colleagues in other CU Boulder labs will use computational simulations to “program” the function of hydrogels to act as scaffolds that can support the regeneration of biological tissue in the hope that the research will enable ways to replenish tissues of injured, infected or aging patients.

The group will also explore the structure and function of micron-sized carriers (such as micro-bubbles or vesicles that can carry drugs through the body) that are used for both diagnosis and therapeutic applications. A better understanding of the interactions between soft particles and the surrounding tissue could enable much more efficient and targeted systems to fight a number of diseases such as cancer.

“Going forward, we will work to ensure that our theoretical approaches will be critical to applications that will make an impact to the real world, with a particular emphasis on personalized medicine,” said Vernerey.

Vernerey also expressed gratitude to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Vogel faculty fellowship for supporting his research.

“This work would not be possible without our sponsors, the great interactions with colleagues at CU Boulder, the hard work of my graduate students and the support of my family,” said Vernerey.

Vernerey is one of three CU Boulder affiliates to win the Early Career Award in 2017. The others are Anne Perring of CIRES / NOAA and John Teufel of NIST.

January 17,2017 Original Article

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New CU Boulder-Ball Aerospace agreement to support research collaborations, talent pipeline

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 07:00:00 +0000

New CU Boulder-Ball Aerospace agreement to support research collaborations, talent pipeline Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/17/2017 - 00:00

Boulder and Ball Aerospace sign master research agreement

Bolstering its 60-year collaboration with Ball Aerospace, the �鶹��Ƶ today announced a new Master University Research Agreement between the two organizations. The agreement will facilitate and streamline opportunities for students and faculty to work with Ball to carry out sponsored research, contribute to Ball’s talent pipeline and partner on projects.

The five-year agreement will apply to a variety of activities, including government-sponsored research and development work, Ball-funded work, consulting services and university student design projects. Because the agreement sets in place a majority of the terms and conditions, the contracting process is significantly streamlined, expanding and enhancing collaboration opportunities between both parties.

“Our relationship with Ball is truly a special one and this agreement demonstrates our commitment to nurturing and growing this unique partnership,” said Terri Fiez, CU Boulder vice chancellor for Research & Innovation. “Our faculty, staff and students will reap the benefits of the greater ease of partnering on research and student projects, and we’ll continue to bring value to Ball and Colorado’s aerospace industry through our collaborative research outputs and contributions.”

Ball Aerospace, part of Ball Corporation, is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2016-17 and was incorporated at the dawn of the space age as the Ball Brothers Research Corporation. Ed Ball’s collaboration with faculty and graduate students from CU’s Upper Air Laboratory (now known as Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics – LASP), or CU Rocket Project, resulted in the new company, which has been a part of Ball Corporation since its founding in 1956. Since the early days, Ball Aerospace and CU Boulder have enjoyed a strong partnership that has resulted in several historic firsts and helped to advance understanding of the solar system with the design and building of innovative spacecraft and instruments.

“This agreement allows us to efficiently build upon our long and storied heritage of working together, leveraging some of the nation’s best and brightest research and talent to develop critical technologies that go beyond, explore, discover and protect the nation,” said Michael Gazarik, vice president of engineering at Ball Aerospace.

Through its collaborations, CU Boulder and Ball Aerospace have together participated in a number of NASA contracts, including the recently announced NASA Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission to study black holes. One of the most successful collaborations is an instrument designed by CU Boulder scientists at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA) and built by Ball that is now on the Hubble Space Telescope. The instrument, called the Cosmic Origins Spectograph, is being used to look back in time to reconstruct the physical conditions of the early universe, probing the evolution of galaxies, stars and intergalactic matter by breaking down ultraviolet light.

Other notable research and mission operations services provided by CU researchers and students include the NASA QuickSCAT Satellite, KEPLER, Total solar irradiance Calibration Transfer Experiment Total Irradiance Monitor (TCTE TIM) and Mission Operations projects. Such programs demonstrate the mutual benefits of the relationship: providing cost-effective, competitive programs for Ball and valuable research opportunities for CU faculty and students.

Ball has been a regular collaborator with CU’s LASP, CASA and Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences (APS), generating more than $100 million in shared NASA contracts. Ball regularly engages in research and development partnerships with CU faculty to remain on the cutting-edge of aerospace technology. Ball has been a consistent sponsor of a number of CU Boulder's engineering senior design courses, scholarships and diversity initiatives, and regularly taps CU Boulder students for internships and full-time employment.

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Researcher receives prize for work on telomerase, a key driver of cancer

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Researcher receives prize for work on telomerase, a key driver of cancer Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/12/2017 - 00:00

Jens Schmidt, of the BioFrontiers Institute, is the first Coloradan to receive the Damon Runyon-Dale Frey Breakthrough Award for cancer research.

If an anti-aging regimen that involves telomeres—part of the human chromosome—sounds too good to be true, it probably is, says Jens Schmidt, a postdoctoral fellow in the Cech Lab at CU Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute.

“There are all these products out there that say ‘hypercharge your telomeres!’ But if you do that in cells that are predisposed to turn into cancer cells you might be in trouble,” says Schmidt, who was just named the first Coloradan to win the prestigious Damon Runyon-Dale Frey Breakthrough Award for cancer research.

Telomeres are elongated caps at the ends of each of our 46 chromosomes which, like the tips of shoelaces, serve to protect our precious DNA from fraying. As telomeres shorten, cells wither and die, and we age. Consequently, telomere preservation – via everything from gene therapy to dietary supplements – has been broadly viewed as the modern-day fountain of youth.

But Schmidt sees telomeres in a darker light. When preserved via a naturally-occurring enzyme called telomerase, they can also immortalize some cells that are meant to stop dividing and die. Left to proliferate, those cells can lead to cancer.

“Telomere maintenance is one of the few key things cancer needs to survive,” says Schmidt.

With a brand new baby at home, the 33-year-old, Berlin-born scientist aims to use the $100,000 award to further his groundbreaking research exploring precisely how the telomerase enzyme finds, attaches itself to and replenishes telomeres. Ultimately, he and others envision a new generation of targeted cancer drugs which would work by inhibiting that cell-preserving process in cancer cells, while sparing healthy ones (thus avoiding the hair loss and other side effects that cancer drugs can bring).

“Jens has made a significant contribution to the field of understanding telomerase, which has big potential to impact cancer treatment,” says Yung Lie, chief scientific officer for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. “He has a developed a very unique way of looking at this in a way that was not technologically possible before.”

To understand just how a telomerase enzyme replenishes a fraying chromosomal end, Schmidt first set out to learn how the two find each other in the relatively vast open space inside the cell.

“It’s like if you have 10 buddies and you all go to a Broncos game and you scatter at the stadium,” he explains. “How are you going to find each other without cell phones? What are the chances you’ll just bump into each other? And if you do, how do you keep holding hands to make sure you don’t lose each other again?”

In August, Schmidt and his mentor Nobel laureate Thomas Cech coauthored a paper in the journal Cell which shed significant light on the process.

Schmidt developed a method using the CRISPR genome editing tool to attach fluorescent tags to telomerase enzymes and telomeres. Then he used a high-powered microscope to spy on their movements inside the nuclei of living human cancer cells.

A resulting video shows telomerase zipping around the nuclei at a frenzied pace, bumping into telomere after telomere thousands of times before settling in on some, resting there for up to 8 minutes, then zipping away.

Schmidt suspects the telomerase is adding DNA sequences as it rests there, elongating the telomere. With his next study, he hopes to find out for sure. “I want to understand this whole process in gory detail.”

Originally from Germany, Schmidt attended the Freie Universitat in Berlin before earning a doctorate in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and coming to CU Boulder to study with Cech under a postdoctoral fellowship sponsored by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.

Of 27 fellows who applied for the Breakthrough Award, he was one of three recipients.

He notes that in some cases, as with the stem cells that yield skin and hair, telomere preservation is indeed beneficial.

But when it comes to dietary supplements that aim to promote longevity by enhancing the process, he warns: Buyer beware. None have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and whether they do anything to truly influence telomeres remains uncertain.

And if they do? “You might look younger,” he says. “But you also might be boosting your cancer risk.”

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6QTu-O5VGk]

January 12, 2017 Original Article

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CIRES: Anne Perring Receives Presidential Honor

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 07:00:00 +0000

CIRES: Anne Perring Receives Presidential Honor Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/10/2017 - 00:00

President Obama has named CIRES Anne Perring, an atmospheric scientist who works at NOAA in Boulder, as one of 102 young scientists and engineers to receive the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on early career science and engineering professionals.

“I congratulate these outstanding scientists and engineers on their impactful work,” President Obama said in a statement Monday. “These innovators are working to help keep the United States on the cutting edge, showing that Federal investments in science lead to advancements that expand our knowledge of the world around us and contribute to our economy.”

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Perring. “I’m especially honored that my department, the Chemical Sciences Division at ESRL, was willing to put in the time to nominate me for this. That feels terrific.”

January 10, 2017 Full Article

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CU invention serves as muscular 'gas gauge' for Buffs in training

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 07:00:00 +0000

CU invention serves as muscular 'gas gauge' for Buffs in training Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/28/2016 - 00:00

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLuCEPSLT3U]

Whether it’s a wide-receiver hauling in a pass, a runner sprinting the 1,500-meter, or a power forward taking the ball to the hole, athletes share one fundamental need as they strive for peak performance: They must have enough carbohydrates, a.k.a. sugar or “glycogen,” stored in their muscles to power them well.

Inigo San Millan, director of the Sports Performance Program at the CU Sports Medicine and Performance Center on the Boulder campus, uses his invention to measure muscle glycogen levels in pro cyclist Lachlan Norris.

Until recently, the only way to scientifically gauge that level was via an impractical surgical biopsy. Non-scientifically, athletes knew they’d run out of fuel when they bonked mid-race or lacked the power to score.

But thanks to a new ultrasound technology developed by CU researchers and used by CU Boulder football, track and field, and basketball players, athletes can now painlessly measure their muscle glycogen levels in real-time in 15 seconds.

“We have basically developed a glycogen gas gauge,” explains Inigo San Millan, PhD, director of the Sports Performance Program at the CU Sports Medicine and Performance Center on the Boulder campus.

With the CU Buffs football players, San Millan would often test key athletes after practice and before they hit the weight room. If their arms lacked glycogen he might advise they focus on legs, or vice versa. He also used it post-game, to determine how long it took certain players to recover. “It has played an important role in dialing in the nutrition, training workload and recovery plans of our players and it’s been a big educational tool to help us establish protocols.”

San Millan, a former pro cyclist and an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the CU School of Medicine, began developing the technology in 2011 with colleague Dr. John Hill, a professor in the Department of Family Medicine. The two saw it as an indispensable tool for athletes, who lose power, fatigue faster and run the risk of injury when they train hard with low glycogen stores. They also saw it as a potential tool for helping Intensive Care Unit patients fend off cachexia, the tissue-wasting that often occurs post-trauma when muscles – starved of glucose – break down protein for fuel.

“Whether you are running a marathon or recovering from an accident, when the body runs out of glycogen the same thing happens: the muscle eats itself to feed itself,” explains San Millan.

The duo scientifically validated the methodology and licensed their patented technology to a Denver-based company called MuscleSound, and it has been used by an array of professional, Olympic and collegiate sports teams, including the Colorado Rapids, Colorado Rockies, Oregon State University and U.S.A. Cycling.

This year, MuscleSound rolled out a smart phone application with an ultrasound attachment for use by trainers in gyms. Military and medical applications are also in the works.

It works much like a fetal ultrasound. A coach or doctor runs a small hand-held wand over a muscle, emitting sound waves which bounce back in varying degrees based on how much water is present. (Carbohydrates soak up water so more water means more glycogen). On a nearby screen, an image appears with black showing glycogen-rich muscle while white indicates depletion. Then an algorithm spits out a Muscle Energy Status score. If it’s too low, the athlete may need to load up on carbs or lighten up on training. Glycogen depletion in a certain region may also be a sign of a brewing injury. If the score is too high, it may mean the athlete is training too little or eating too much and at risk of fat gain.Three-time Olympian and CU alumna Jenny Simpson, who took home the bronze medal in the women’s 1,500-meters in August, came to the center weekly during a tough stretch of training before Rio, for MuscleSound and other testing.

She said it gave her one more piece of information to fine-tune her training.

“The whole old-school idea that you just go out and push as hard as you can and rely solely on coaches’ observations to guide you is shifting,” she says. “This is a tool that is showing how coaching can work really harmoniously with science.”

December 28, 2016 Original Article

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Top 16 in 2016

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Top 16 in 2016 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/15/2016 - 00:00

In 2016, we again celebrated a campus community that brings innovation and positive impacts to Colorado and the nation. We marked new discoveries, faculty achievements, Olympic medalists and a resurgent football program while welcoming high-profile visitors to campus and sending satellites throughout our solar system. Enjoy this recap of an outstanding year.

See the Top 16 list here

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9 News: CU space mission to study upper atmosphere

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 07:00:00 +0000

9 News: CU space mission to study upper atmosphere Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/14/2016 - 00:00

Maya Rodriguez

The GOLD Mission Principal Investigator. (Photo: Courtesy: CU/LASP)

KUSA - Inside CU's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, there's GOLD.

The GOLD instrument to be precise.

"I've dreamed about it for decades and I know a lot of other people have," said Richard Eastes, the GOLD Mission Principal Investigator.

GOLD stands for Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk. It’s a $64-million project that will study the interaction of the Earth and Sun in a region known as the upper atmosphere – about 90 miles above us. It's a tricky place to operate in.

December 14, 2016 Full Article

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Daily Mail: Revealed: 'Natural thermostat' that cools the air in Earth's atmosphere during violent solar storms

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Daily Mail: Revealed: 'Natural thermostat' that cools the air in Earth's atmosphere during violent solar storms Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/14/2016 - 00:00

Libby Plummer

Researchers have pinpointed the 'natural thermostat' that cools the air in Earth's upper atmosphere after violent solar storms. This activity includes solar flares and coronal mass ejections or CMEs (illustrated) - which release electrically charged plasma from the sun

Researchers have pinpointed the 'natural thermostat' that cools the air in Earth's upper atmosphere after violent solar storms.

This activity includes solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) - which release electrically charged plasma from the sun.

It is known to damage satellites, cause power outages back on Earth, and even disrupt GPS navigation services.

December 14, 2016 Full Article

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