The University of Cincinnati came out the clear winner in the latest round of awards through the Ohio Board of Regents Investment Fund program. UC researchers will collaborate on four of the six projects funded, and UC is the lead institution on three of the six projects. These funding decisions were made by a group of distinguished investigators from across the United States, and that says University of Cincinnati faculty are producing proposals that are extremely competitive. The College of Engineering is also collaborating on a fourth project with Ohio State, the University of Akron and Case Western Reserve University. In medicine, James Hall and Robert Highsmith will be the principal investigators on an expansion of UC's transgenic animal core facility.
Knockout mice are invaluable for studying many aspects of physiology and development.
Researchers selectively eliminate one or more genes which allows them to zero in quickly on the gene's function in the body. Materials science and engineering professor Wim van Ooij will lead a collaboration among UC, Kent State and Ohio University to establish a Center for Excellence in Surface and Thin Film Analysis. The research will help in the development of materials with better qualities such as higher strength or more resistance to corrosion. Britton has already gained worldwide attention for his virtual reality re-creation of the interior of France's Caves of Lascaux. Future projects include a virtual reality simulation of the first lunar landing by Britton and a reconstruction of the prehistoric Hopewell and Adena burial mounds in southern Ohio by Hancock.