SD EPSCoR Impacts

SD EPSCoR Impacts for the Week of November 8, 2018:

• A major grant impacting South Dakota’s bioscience economy has been renewed for five more years. The National Institutes of Health has renewed the initial $12 million Sanford Research Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, or CoBRE, grant that was used to establish and support the development of the Center for Pediatric Research, a research group focused on childhood diseases. The renewal provides another five years of support, and the team will further develop the center, with a focus on how stem cells contribute to pediatric diseases. More

• South Dakota School of Mines & Technology has been awarded $475,000 from the National Science Foundation to study how termites construct mounds with the idea that humans might one day adapt the energy-efficient homebuilding techniques of the insects. The award is a follow-up to a previous grant by NSF of $300,000. Mines faculty researchers spent time in the African country of Namibia to study the shape and function of termite mounds. The mounds are resilient and naturally energy efficient. Their intricate interior designs provide ventilation and temperature regulation throughout what can easily be a 15-foot-tall home for a single colony of 2 million termites. More