Pitt Showcases Emerging Energy Innovations Dec. 9

From devising more efficient and cleaner uses of such old-time energy sources as coal to developing futuristic nanotech solutions for storing hydrogen, Pitt researchers will demonstrate some of the cutting-edge energy solutions in progress during “The Energy Event: A Pitt Showcase of Energy Innovation,” 4-6:30 p.m. Dec. 9 on the 5th floor of Alumni Hall. The event is free, but advance registration is recommended.

Hosted by Pitt’s Office of the Provost and its Technology Commercialization Alliance, “The Energy Event” features a reception and poster presentations by the researchers.

“This promises to be an exciting, informative, and extremely timely event, showcasing the wide range of important, energy-related technology being developed at the University,” said George Klinzing, Pitt vice provost for research. “We hope the event encourages greater interaction and collaboration among research faculty, students, industry, and the investor community and ultimately fosters commercial innovation and academic entrepreneurship at Pitt.”

In addition to the aforementioned coal and hydrogen storage efforts, research and development projects that will be highlighted during “The Energy Event” include:

• Catalytic production of hydrogen from methanol;
• Carbon dioxide additives for enhanced oil recovery;
• Radio frequency-based energy harvesting, scavenging, and collecting;
• Heat integration for catalytic fuel processing; and
• Gas hydrate recovery methods for deposits in the deep ocean.

To register or for more information about the event or the research being featured, contact Dan Bates at 412-624-4474.

—John Fedele

Racial Disparities Noted in Immune System Genes

Specific variants in genes that encode proteins regulating inflammation may hold a key to explaining a host of disease processes known to cause increased risk of illness and death among African Americans, according to a study from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH). The study, “Differential Distribution of Allelic Variants in Cytokine Genes Among African Americans and White Americans,” appeared in the Dec. 1 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

“We found that African Americans were significantly more likely to carry genetic variants known to stimulate the inflammatory response,” said Roberta B. Ness, professor and chair in GSPH’s Department of Epidemiology and the study’s primary author. “At the same time, genotypes known to dampen the release of anti-inflammatory proteins were more common among African Americans. This is kind of a double whammy.”

Researchers examined the race-specific distribution of allelic variants in cytokine genes known to promote inflammation. Chromosomes and genes occur in alternative forms, and these alternative genetic forms are called alleles. Cytokines are proteins that are secreted by immune system cells that regulate the body’s immune response to injury and illness.

Inflammation is believed to be a fundamental component of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease, all of which strike African Americans in higher proportions than Whites. Other disorders associated with the inflammatory response include premature labor, transplant rejection, and such autoimmune disorders as multiple sclerosis and scleroderma—again, all more common among African Americans.

The study is available at http://aje.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/160/11/1033. The research was funded by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Child Health and Development, both at the National Institutes of Health, and from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

—Michele D. Baum

Center for National Preparedness to Launch Seminar Series

The Center for National Preparedness, a Pitt initiative developed by Vice Provost for Research George Klinzing, is launching a series of seminars highlighting international-, biological-, and homeland-security research at Pitt.

The first seminar in the series, 3-4:30 p.m.Dec. 13 on the 5th floor of Pitt’s Alumni Hall, will feature a discussion of the Pittsburgh Matrix by Michael P. Allswede, director of Strategic Medical Intelligence for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and of the FBI’s Strategic Medical Intelligence Project. The Pittsburgh Matrix is a hospital planning tool that assesses the survivability of patients who are victims of bioterrorism relative to the scale and timing of attacks and guides resource allocation decisions for preparedness intervention that maximizes the saving of lives.

Allswede has served as an instructor for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Domestic Preparedness Program and has trained Metropolitan Medical Strike Team members in Detroit, New York, Chicago, and Boston. He worked with the Michigan State Police and the U.S. Department of Justice to create a prototype state-level management system against weapons of mass destruction.

For more information on the seminar series, or to RSVP for the Dec. 13 seminar by the Dec. 10 deadline, visit www.cnp.pitt.edu/seminar.

—Karen Hoffmann