University of Massachusetts Amherst | Research

Ready for the last #TriviaTuesday of summer?

Detecting foodborne viruses is like finding a needle in a proverbial haystack. That's why University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientist and virologist Matthew Moore is on a quest to devise more efficient and effective ways to identify these food-borne viruses in time to prevent or quickly respond to an outbreak of gastroenteritis, or worse. Moore recently received a $650,000 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) to develop and investigate magnetic liquids for concentrating and detecting foodborne viruses. With collaborators at Iowa State University, Moore will investigate two types of magnetic liquids – magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) – for concentrating noroviruses and hepatitis A virus from food and environmental samples. “Both MILs and DESs have shown promise for concentration and detection of other pathogen and contamination targets, like bacteria, but work on viruses is still limited,” Moore says. Learn more: https://bit.ly/46IlTuG

The Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (MassAITC), housed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, recently announced its third round of grant funding, totaling $2.3 million, awarded to 11 pilot programs. The goal of the funding is to leverage technology, including #AI and #MachineLearning, to address a range of challenges related to aging and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). Learn more about the projects and MassAITC's mission: https://bit.ly/3SIoi2P #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #Technology #AlzheimersResearch #AlzheimersDisease #HealthyAging #AgingResearch

Summer is winding down, but there's no end in sight to the heat records being broken around the world. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, faculty and students across schools and colleges are working to address and mitigate the effects of climate change through innovative research. In this issue of Revolutionary Research Insider, we share two examples of research with real-world impact—one close to home, the other in Africa. #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #ClimateChange #WorldElephantDay #EnergyTransition #RenewableEnergy #GreenEnergy

Marta Vicarelli, assistant professor of economics and public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, recently briefed the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on new research she led demonstrating that nature-based solutions (NbS) are an economically effective method to mitigate risks from a range of natural disasters, which are only expected to intensify with #climatechange. NbS are interventions where an ecosystem is either preserved, sustainably managed or restored to provide benefits to society and nature, such as mitigating risk from a natural disaster. A classic example is restoring wetlands to address coastal flooding rather than constructing a seawall. “Many humanitarian organizations are very interested in nature-based solutions, because recovery cannot happen if there is not a healthy environment,” Vicarelli recently explained to MassLive. “Also, nature-based solutions that mitigate hazards also mitigate the impacts to human health and human security.” In their research, Vicarelli and her co-authors, four of whom are UMass alumni, found that the majority of funding for NbS has, so far, come from the public sector. They argue that for these interventions to scale up, innovative financing strategies involving private actors are required. Last year, the Biden-Harris administration announced new actions to advance NbS to better protect communities from the impacts of climate change. The federal government has also developed an NbS roadmap, which was unveiled at the 2022 U.N. Climate Change Conference. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3AmnYQZ #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #ClimateResearch #ClimateChangeResearch #PublicPolicy

Could it be? Yep, it's time for another #TriviaTuesday.

Individual health outcomes are not simply dictated by one's genes and lifestyle choices. There is ample evidence that social determinants—factors that include access to high-quality housing, education, safe neighborhoods, health care, and healthy foods and living environments—play a crucial role. As Aline Gubrium, professor and program head of community health education in the UMass Amherst School of Public Health & Health Sciences, explains, “Biased public policy that limits access to advantageous social determinants of health have disadvantaged economically and socially marginalized populations for generations, resulting in immense disparities in health and mental health.” At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, researchers across diverse disciplines are working together to address persistent disparities in health outcomes across social groups. They are thinking outside the box, engaging communities, and even harnessing the power of the arts in their quest create a more just, healthy, and equitable society. Learn more about this impactful research: https://bit.ly/4dxObdE #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #HealthResearch #HealthEquity #SocialJustice

Congratulations to eight University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty members who have been named recipients of National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awards during the 2023–24 academic year! These prestigious awards recognize early career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. The UMass faculty honored are pursuing research on topics ranging from edge computing and #AI to drug delivery to water contamination. The College of Engineering, UMass Amherst was awarded four CAREER grants this year, bringing its total to 24 awards within the last five academic years. The College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst received two CAREER grants, bringing its total to 63. And the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, UMass Amherst garnered two grants, bringing CICS's cumulative number to 38. Learn more about this year's awardees: https://bit.ly/3WwngI2 #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #NSF #Awards #CAREERAwards #Innovation

The Institute of Diversity Sciences | UMass recently announced its second cohort of Sloan Fellows, including 12 faculty mentors and 18 undergraduate students. Funded with a nearly $500,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the program aims to diversify STEM culture across UMass. “For students in science, engineering and technology, academic success requires forging meaningful relationships with faculty and peers in research labs, acquiring hands-on research skills, and understanding the culture of science,” says Nilanjana Buju Dasgupta, professor of psychological and brain sciences at University of Massachusetts Amherst and director of the IDS. Learn more about the Sloan Fellows program and see a list of this year's recipients. https://bit.ly/3A4it9e #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #Diversity #DiversitySciences #STEMEducation

Pop quiz: If asked to select the most sustainable packaging option for orange juice, which would you pick: -Aluminum/canned, made with recycled material; -Carton, described as biodegradable/compostable; -Glass, 100% recyclable; or -Plastic, described as biodegradable/compostable? If you chose glass, then you'd be aligned with the majority of U.S. consumers recently surveyed by University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientists. You'd also be mistaken. Looking at the whole packaging lifecycle, glass is actually among the least sustainable choices, say the researchers. According to their study, "The production and end-of-life impacts of plastic are less than that of glass, plastic is lighter and thus requires less energy to transport, furthermore, the aseptic sealing process of plastic containers using steam is less energy demanding than the retort system used for glass.” Learn more about this research and how you can make more sustainable choices in the grocery store. https://bit.ly/4cYRHO9 #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #Sustainability #Recycling #ConsumerChoice