From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu
Headlines
KU research employs more than 4,100 on campus, buys $53.9M in goods and services from Kansas companies
LAWRENCE — Sponsored research at the University of Kansas supported the salaries of 4,182 people in 2022 and accounted for $53.9 million in spending with Kansas companies on research-related goods and services, according to a new report produced by the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science. About 33% of research-funded employees were students, and about 20% were faculty. The report also details the geographic distribution of KU research-related spending. In 2022, KU pumped research-related revenue into 93 of 105 Kansas counties, and vendors in each of 15 of those counties received more than $100,000 in purchases. Douglas County topped the list, with expenditures around $35.9 million.
KU lab helps researchers worldwide fight infectious diseases
LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas researcher is helping scientists in Kansas and around the world better understand the building blocks of infectious diseases so they can develop new treatments to fight them. Scott Lovell, director of KU’s Protein Structure & X-Ray Crystallography Lab, is now a member of the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease consortium funded by the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases.
KU to host discussion on Iranian public demonstrations
LAWRENCE — University of Kansas faculty, students and staff from the Iranian community will discuss the political demonstrations and unrest in Iran through the perspectives of research and shared experience as part of the Global Conversations series. The hybrid presentation and panel discussion, Global Conversations: Public Demonstrations in Iran, will take place from noon to 1 p.m. April 4 in the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center. Participants can also register to attend virtually on Zoom.
Full stories below.
————————————————————————
Contact: Mindie Paget, Office of Research, 785-864-0013, [email protected], @ResearchAtKU
KU research employs more than 4,100 on campus, buys $53.9M in goods and services from Kansas companies
LAWRENCE — Sponsored research at the University of Kansas supported the salaries of 4,182 people in 2022 and accounted for $53.9 million in spending with Kansas companies on research-related goods and services, according to a new report. About 33% of research-funded employees were students, and about 20% were faculty.
“KU research addresses problems of worldwide significance while delivering solutions that make a difference to Kansas and the region. That research is supported in large part by external grant dollars that researchers spend in Kansas, fueling the economy and investing in communities across the state,” said Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research on KU’s Lawrence campus. “We value our mutually beneficial partnerships with Kansas businesses and organizations, and we hope to expand those relationships in the future.”
The report, produced by the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science, also details the geographic distribution of KU research-related spending. In 2022, KU pumped research-related revenue into 93 of 105 Kansas counties, and vendors in each of 15 of those counties received more than $100,000 in purchases. Douglas County topped the list, with expenditures around $35.9 million.
Additional IRIS reporting shows that KU contributed $952.8 million to the U.S. economy between 2011 and 2021, with spending from external research funding flowing to 6,309 vendors and subcontractors over that time. Of these, nearly 900 were small businesses. Some 575 vendors were minority- or women-owned businesses, which attracted more than $27 million in research spending from KU.
The IRIS reports encompass research spending across all KU campuses. That includes the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, where research purchases ultimately contribute to life-changing medical advances.
“The KU Medical Center engages in a broad array of research up to the point of introducing new therapies into the clinic and distributing them beyond the university. These advances make a huge difference in the lives of Kansans,” said Dr. Matthias Salathe, vice chancellor for research at the medical center. “We are committed to working tirelessly to continue pushing the boundaries of discovery for the benefit of everyone in our state.”
KU’s research-related economic impact extends beyond the data captured in IRIS reporting. For example, 44 active startup companies have spun out of KU or are based on KU technologies, and 25 of those companies are located in Kansas. Through the university’s relationship with the KU Innovation Park, KU researchers help attract businesses to Lawrence, Kansas City and the surrounding area — companies like Archer Daniels Midland and Garmin — who want to be close to KU researchers and students. The park system, which extends to the medical center campus, includes 65 companies and accounts for more than 600 private sector jobs and $40.5 million in annual direct payroll.
IRIS is a national consortium of research universities organized around an IRB-approved data repository, housed at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
“Our reports clarify and explain the economic impact of university research through many different lenses,” said IRIS Executive Director Jason Owen-Smith, a professor of sociology and executive director for research analytics at the University of Michigan. “Through these data-driven reports, our goal is to better understand and explain — and ultimately improve — the public value of higher education and research.”
IRIS reports are based on administrative data that KU supplies to IRIS, which are then merged with other public and private datasets. Reports are available to IRIS members. No individual businesses, employees or students are identifiable in the reports.
Nearly 500 researchers from more than 100 institutions have accessed IRIS data through its virtual data enclave, and more than 40 published papers and three books have used the data.
-30-
————————————————————————
The official university Twitter account has changed to @UnivOfKansas.
Refollow @KUNews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.
Tweets by KUnews
————————————————————————
Contact: Mindie Paget, Office of Research, 785-864-0013, [email protected], @ResearchAtKU
KU lab helps researchers worldwide fight infectious diseases
LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas researcher is helping scientists in Kansas and around the world better understand the building blocks of infectious diseases so they can develop new treatments to fight them.
Scott Lovell, director of KU’s Protein Structure & X-Ray Crystallography Lab, is now a member of the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID) consortium funded by the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases. The center experimentally determines the three-dimensional protein structures of infectious organisms. After these structures are published in an open-access database, researchers anywhere can use them in their research targeting specific infectious organisms.
To accomplish this, center group members at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the University of Washington purify synthetic versions of proteins from infectious organisms that are used to grow protein crystals in Lovell’s lab. The crystals are analyzed using an instrument that focuses an X-ray beam on the samples, and data collected from the X-rays that are scattered by the crystals are used to determine the structure of a protein.
“X-ray crystallography is crucial in the drug development process as it allows us to determine how candidate drugs interact with a protein that is the focus of a particular disease,” Lovell said. “We effectively obtain an atomic-level snapshot of a drug binding to a protein, and this information is used by the team to develop more potent compounds.”
The project started in 2007 when the NIAID funded two centers to expedite the structure determination of proteins from various infectious organisms. SSGCID has a team of subcontractors with specific areas of expertise who contribute to the various steps in the structure-determination pipeline but work together as a highly collaborative group.
One of the main attributes of SSGCID is that investigators worldwide can submit structure determination requests for proteins of interest related to their research. This creates new opportunities for academic institutions in the region.
“The structures determined for protein targets are immediately deposited to an open-access database referred to as the Protein Data Bank, where researchers anywhere can download the data to utilize for their research or facilitate new collaborations with SSGCID,” Lovell said.
Requests are processed though the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease website by selecting the Community Requests tab and sending the request via email or though the webform. Researchers can request protein targets for structure determination or samples for a particular protein target for their own research.
This project highlights KU’s strength in the study of molecules and medicines, which is one of the university’s five strategic research themes. Research in this area advances the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human disease through better understanding of disease mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level.
Other recent, though distinct, examples of KU’s activity in this area include the announcement this year of two new research centers monitoring avian flu and mammal pathogens. Last June, KU also invested $3 million toward the use of big data for drug discovery as a part of its Research Rising initiative.
-30-
————————————————————————
Subscribe to KU Today, the campus newsletter,
for additional news about the University of Kansas.
http://www.news.ku.edu
————————————————————————
Contact: Christine Metz Howard, International Affairs, [email protected], @KUintlaffairs
KU to host discussion on Iranian public demonstrations
LAWRENCE — University of Kansas faculty, students and staff from the Iranian community will discuss the political demonstrations and unrest in Iran through the perspectives of research and shared experience as part of the Global Conversations series.
The hybrid presentation and panel discussion, Global Conversations: Public Demonstrations in Iran, will take place from noon to 1 p.m. April 4 in the Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center. Participants can also register to attend virtually on Zoom.
Rana Esfandiary, assistant professor of design and technology, and a KU graduate student co-presenter will provide research-based context for recent events in Iran. They will explore the history of regional protests, their effect on the arts community, censorship from diasporic lenses and the differences between Persian culture and the Islamic regime. A conversation among the KU Iranian Community Association will follow the presentation, including remarks by Homayoon Rafatijo, intellectual property attorney with Spencer Fane LLP.
Protests began in Iran shortly after the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died in police custody after being accused of violating Iran’s strict hijab laws. Since then, the Human Rights Activists News Agency has reported that more than 500 people have been killed in the anti-government protests and nearly 20,000 people have been arrested.
The event is the third in the Global Conversations series. The series focuses on critical conversations about equity in a global context with the hopes of expanding campus literacy on important issues that shape our world. These conversations leverage the knowledge and experience of campus experts as well as students, faculty and staff as they come together to discuss social, cultural and political reverberations of major world events. The series is one of several collaborations across KU that emphasize the value of engaging in internationalization and intersectionality as a core framework of Jayhawks Rising.
The series is sponsored by International Affairs; the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging; and The Commons. The April 4 event is co-sponsored by International Support Services, KU Iranian Community Association, Global Awareness Program and the Center for Global & International Studies.
-30-
————————————————————————
KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]
Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs
