News

Forests and Climate Change
Regents Professor Peter Reich, an MSI PI in the Department of Forest Resources (College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences), was interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio’s Climate Cast program on March 1, 2018. Professor Reich talked about his research into forests and climate change. The program can be found on the MPR website: What’s going on in the Arctic?
March 2018 Maintenance
On Wednesday, March 7, 2018, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems. Primary Storage, Mesabi, and Itasca will be unavailable throughout much of the day. March maintenance will include:
Non-invasive Treatment for Cerebral Palsy
MSI PI Bernadette Gillick (assistant professor, Rehabilitation Medicine) is the lead author on a recently published pilot study of using non-invasive brain stimulation to improve the motor skills and coordination of children affected by cerebral palsy (CP). The study investigated the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation, in which low-level electrical current is positioned on the scalp to target specific areas of the brain.
MSI PIs Receive Teaching Awards
Two MSI PIs have received teaching awards in recognition of their outstanding contributions to education. Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education: Professor Victor Barocas, Biomedical Engineering
Quiet Crickets
A recent article in The Atlantic magazine features an article about MSI PI Marlene Zuk (Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior) and her research into crickets on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The crickets’ population had been decreasing due to a parasitic fly, which located the crickets by their calls and placed their larvae on or near the crickets. The larvae then killed the crickets by burrowing into their bodies.
MSI PI Frank Albert Receives Sloan Research Fellowship
MSI PI Frank Albert (Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development) has been awarded a 2018 Sloan Research Fellowship. This award is made to early-career scientists who show potential to make substantial contributions to their field.
MSI PIs Featured in Spring 2018 Petri Dish Series
The College of Biological Science’s Petri Dish Series, a series of conversations with University of Minnesota experts on a wide variety of biology-related topics, includes several MSI PIs for the Spring 2018 series. The schedule can be found on the College of Biological Sciences Connect blog.
2018-20 McKnight Land-Grant Professors Include MSI PIs
Four MSI PIs are among the faculty selected for McKnight Land-Grant Professorships for 2018-20. The goal of this program is to advance the careers of new assistant professors. Ran Blekhman; Genetics, Cell Biology and Development Project: Using genomics to understand how the microbiome impacts human health
February 2018 Maintenance
On Wednesday, February 7, 2018, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems. Primary Storage, Mesabi, and Itasca will be unavailable throughout much of the day. In preparation for February's Maintenance Day, a system reservation will be placed on all nodes starting at 12pm on Tuesday, February 6.
Power Outage in NHH to Affect MSI Systems
A power outage in Nils Hasselmo Hall on Friday, February 2, will affect some MSI systems. The outage is scheduled for 2-6am, Systems affected include: MSI Lab Queue Lab Queue login nodes BIG MSI has set up a reservation on the Lab Queue for that time. Any interactive jobs running on the lab nodes or login nodes will be affected. Please contact the Helpdesk, help@msi.umn.edu, if you have questions.  
Brewers Association Grants Fund Hops and Barley Research
Three MSI PIs are the recipients of grants from the Brewers Association to fund research into hops and barley. They are among 17 grants awarded by the association for 2018.
New Kind of Magnetoresistance Discovered
Researchers developing improved kinds of computer memory have been working with a phenomenon known as magnetoresistance. A new type of magnetoresistance involving topological insulators has been discovered by a team including MSI PI Jian-Ping Wang (Electrical and Computer Engineering; Director, Center for Spintronic Materials, Interfaces, and Novel Architectures). The discovery was published recently in the journal Nature Communications.
MSI PIs Receive Grants in Translational Medicine Research
Two MSI PIs are among the recipients of grants from Regenerative Medicine Minnesota (BMM), an organization that funds research into regenerative medicine and chronic disorders.
MSI PI Jonathan Schilling Becomes Director of Itasca Biological Station
MSI PI Jonathan Schilling (associate professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology) took over as director of the Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories at the beginning of 2018. He is interviewed by the College of Biological Sciences on their website: A Q&A With Jonathan Schilling.
Scientific Collaboration With NutNet
The Nutrient Network, a global collaborative to study how humans affect grasslands, is co-directed by MSI PI Eric Seabloom and Elizabeth Borer, both of the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences (CBS).
The Intersection of Swimming and Racial Inequality
MSI PI Samuel Myers , director of the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, is featured by the Humphrey School for his research that uses disparities in drowning rates among different racial groups in the US to study racial inequality as a whole. Professor Myers is a competitive swimmer as well as an expert in economics and social justice.
Video Course on Fundamentals of Supercomputing Now Available
For users who are new to supercomputing, the University of Oklahoma Norman campus is offering Supercomputing in Plain English (SiPE) for the Spring 2018 semester. The course begins January 23, 2018 and classes are held on Tuesdays through May 1. They are available live via teleconferencing, 12:30pm Central Time. This course is free. Registration is open (you only need to register once for the entire semester, not for each week): SiPE Registration Form.
New Device for Treating Parkinson’s Disease
MSI PI Jerrold Vitek (Head, Department of Neurology) recently led a surgical team that implanted a newly approved treatment device that fights the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The device is an improved version of a treatment called Deep Brain Stimulation. The University of Minnesota was also involved in the clinical trial for the device, called Vercise. Articles describing the new device and the medical procedure can be found at the following media outlets:
Studying Wolves at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
In Fall 2017, a group of researchers began a project to understand how the reintroduction of large predators will affect an ecosystem. Wolves have been found at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, a biological field station of the College of Biological Sciences.
Engineered Enzymes Neutralize Harmful Compounds
MSI PI Mikael Elias (assistant professor, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics) has recently published research that describes using engineered enzymes to break down organophosphorous (OP) compounds, which are used as fertilizers. Although they are excellent at helping farmers improve crop yields, they are also implicated in forms of cancer and some neurological problems. Professor Elias’s enzyme can break down OPs into harmless substances.

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