Posts tagged Office
Space flight to test antibiotic’s effectiveness
Jan 3rd
education project on ants to space station
NASA Television will provide live coverage of the launch of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s commercial Cygnus spacecraft on Tuesday, Jan. 7 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, which will be carrying two University of Colorado Boulder payloads to the International Space Station.
The two CU-Boulder payloads — a biomedical antibiotic experiment and an educational K-12 experiment involving ant behavior in microgravity — are slated to be launched aboard Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket at 11:55 a.m. MST. Both experiments were designed by BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA-funded center in CU-Boulder’s aerospace engineering sciences department.
The CU-Boulder biomedical experiment was designed to test the effectiveness of antibiotics in space. Past experiments by CU-Boulder and other institutions have shown bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics is significantly reduced during spaceflight, although the reason is not yet known, said CU-Boulder Associate Professor David Klaus, principal investigator on the project.
Klaus said the investigation will examine changes in the gene expression of the bacteria E. coli during exposure to different concentrations of antibiotics while in the microgravity environment of space. The hope is to locate particular genes that are key to resisting antibiotics, which could lead to improved testing on Earth as well as new drug targets or new approaches to understanding antibiotic resistance in certain diseases or infections, said Klaus.
“Previous studies carried out in microgravity have shown that bacteria are able to grow in what normally would be an inhibitory concentration of the antibiotic,” said Klaus. “This investigation is aimed at characterizing the genetic basis for this response in the weightless environment of space with the intent of applying any insight gained toward combating the increasing emergence of drug-resistant pathogens here on Earth.”
Co-investigators on the project include BioServe Director Louis Stodieck, a research professor in aerospace engineering, and Shawn Levy, a researcher at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Ala. The research effort also involves CU-Boulder doctoral candidate Luis Zea.
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics kills 100,000 Americans every year and represents a roughly $20 billion expense to the U.S. government in excess health care costs, said Klaus. The experiments will be undertaken using spaceflight test tubes contained in the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, or CGBA, an automated, suitcase-sized incubator, all designed and built by BioServe.
The second experiment launching to ISS is known as Ants in Space, which examines foraging patterns based on the density of the common Pavement Ant, said BioServe Business Development Manager and Education Program Director Stefanie Countryman. “Past experiments by Professor Deborah Gordon, principal investigator on this project, have shown that some ant species have the ability to search areas collectively without individual communication. When ant densities are high, each ant thoroughly searches one small area in a circular, “random” walk, she said. When ant densities are low, each ant searches by walking in a relatively straight line, allowing it to cover more ground.
“Ants assess their own density at the rate at which they meet,” said Countryman, who said the eight individual ant habitats on ISS will be loaded with roughly 100 ants each. “The experiment examines whether in microgravity ants will use the rate at which they meet to assess density, and so use straighter paths in the larger habitat areas. The results will be compared to ground controls, which in this case will include ant habitats in hundreds of K-12 classrooms around the world.”
Countryman has previously directed BioServe K-12 education experiments involving the behavior of butterflies, ladybugs and spiders in space, reaching hundreds of thousands of students around the world in the past two decades. For the ant experiments, BioServe is partnering with the Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Education Outreach, a longstanding BioServe partner that has developed the education curriculum guide for the experiment.
BioServe research partners on the ant project include Gordon of Stanford University and Associate Professor Michael Greene of the University of Colorado Denver. The experiment is sponsored by NASA’s National Lab Education Office as well as the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, a nonprofit group headquartered in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Teachers interested in participating in the ant experiments may contact Countryman at countrym@colorado.edu. More information on the project for teachers and students will be online beginning in mid-January at http://www.bioedonline.org.
The flight will be the first Cygnus resupply cargo mission launched to ISS by Orbital Sciences Corp. and follows the earlier, successful launch of a Cygnus demo flight to ISS that arrived at the orbiting station Oct. 22.
In the past 25 years, BioServe has designed, built and flown microgravity life science research experiments on more than 40 space missions. BioServe has a full suite of space flight hardware, both on ISS and on the ground, which supports its own research as well as research conducted by its customers and partners. Past BioServe partners include large and small pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and NASA-funded researchers.
For more information on BioServe visit http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/BioServe/index.html.
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Suspect in nearly a dozen robberies arrested
Jan 2nd
Boulder police have arrested the suspect investigators believe is responsible for a string of robberies in the city and in Boulder County. Alishan Yapoujian (DOB 11/23/1988) is in the Boulder County Jail after being arrested on a charge of Aggravated Robbery.
Boulder detectives have been working with other law enforcement agencies during the investigations. On New Year’s Eve, the Colorado State Patrol located the black Chevy Blazer that Boulder police were looking for in connection with a robbery at the Conoco gas station, located at 4742 Table Mesa Drive, and another gas station located in the county, which occurred on Dec. 29, 2013. The vehicle was located in Niwot, CO.
Detectives identified a male they believed was the getaway driver of the Blazer in the Conoco robbery. He was cooperative with police and investigators were able to obtain information about the robbery suspect, Alishan Yapoujian. Police are not identifying the suspected getaway driver at this time.
On Dec. 31, 2013, Boulder police partnered with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office to execute a search warrant of Yapoujian’s residence, along with a warrant for his arrest, in the 6300 block of Arapahoe.
Police believe Yapoujian is responsible for 10 robberies in the city of Boulder, as well as two other robberies in Boulder County. Those cases are still being investigated. The Boulder Police Department has been working closely with the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, and it’s likely that more charges will be filed against Yapoujian. We also anticipate further arrests in this series of robberies.
Boulder police are grateful for the assistance of the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, the Colorado State Patrol, the Lafayette Police Department and the Longmont Police Department.
Detective Kurt Foster is the lead investigator in the robbery cases. Anyone with information may contact him at 303-441-4329. Those who have information but wish to remain anonymous may contact the Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or 1-800-444-3776. Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website at www.crimeshurt.com. Those submitting tips through Crime Stoppers that lead to the arrest and filing of charges on a suspect(s) may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 from Crime Stoppers.
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Another armed robbery, same suspect?
Dec 30th
BOULDER COUNTY-On December 29, 2013 at approximately 7:35 p.m. The Short Stop gas station located at 1595 55th Street in Boulder County was robbed. The station clerk reported a male displayed a gun, which he had in his waistband, and demanded money before leaving the area.
The suspect is described as a Latin male approximately 5’8-5’10 with a “scrawny build”. He wore a gray beanie hat with an orange decal or writing on one side that may have been a Denver Broncos logo or emblem. He had a dark gray jacket with a black inside or liner and blue jeans. The jeans were held on by a black belt and his jeans were sagging quite a bit. He had a tattoo on his abdomen that appeared to be old English writing.
He was driving a dark colored older model 2-door Chevrolet blazer with duct tape on the rear passenger wing window and left driving southbound on 55th Street from Arapahoe Road.
Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to contact Detective Brian Jones at 303-441-1681 and refer to case number 13-6916.
Commander Heidi Prentup
Boulder County Sheriff’s Office
303-441-1500