Innovative research
K-STATE CONTRIBUTIONS TO RED FLOUR BEETLE GENOME SEQUENCING FEATURED IN MARCH 27 ARTICLE IN THE JOURNAL NATURE: Most of us hate to find the red flour beetle living happily in the flour sack in our pantries. But for several scientists at Kansas State University, and many others throughout the world, this pest of stored grain and grain products is the best organism for studying genetics.
K-STATE RESEARCHERS BOOST BEEF JERKY SAFETY: With funding provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, K-State researchers Elizabeth Boyle and Kelly Getty have validated a new way for small-scale jerky producers to keep both E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella out of the food chain.
RURAL VETERINARY STUDENTS AT K-STATE LEARN AN IN-DEPTH LESSON ABOUT FOREIGN ANIMAL DISEASE RESPONSE: Kansas State University's National Agricultural Biosecurity Center and the College of Veterinary Medicine enlisted K-State's first class of rural veterinary scholars to study the state's plan and expand upon the role of the college should foot-and-mouth disease come to Kansas.
K-STATE EXPERT SAYS FOOD SAFETY EFFORTS SHOULD LOOK BEYOND E. COLI 0157; ANOTHER E. COLI COULD BE THE NEXT BIG THREAT: T.G. Nagaraja is a professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine. He said that Shiga toxin, a protein secreted by the organism, is what makes E. coli 0157 dangerous to humans -- causing diarrhea and kidney failure -- even though E. coli 0157 is present in healthy cattle.
K-STATE AND WEST TEXAS A&M RESEARCHERS COLLABORATE TO FIND NEW VACCINE TECHNOLOGY DECREASES E. COLI IN BEEF CATTLE: Despite millions of dollars spent on food safety research over the last 10 years, ground beef recalls due to E. coli O157:H7 were higher in 2007 than in 2006, according to researchers from Kansas State University and West Texas A&M University. E. coli O157:H7 has been linked to foodborne illnesses in humans after consuming contaminated beef and produce.
RESEARCH HEADED BY K-STATE VETERINARIANS LEADING TO TOOLS FOR MANAGING BOVINE RESPIRATORY DISEASE COMPLEX, A COSTLY AILMENT: Bovine respiratory disease complex has multiple causes. It's sometimes hard to classify and predict. It also costs the beef industry more than any other disease -- an estimated $690 million in 2006, according to one report.
KANSAS BIOSCIENCE AUTHORITY ANNOUNCES $2.5 MILLION INITIATIVE TO BRING RESEARCHERS FROM ACROSS THE NATION TO K-STATE: The Kansas Bioscience Authority announced today a $2.5 million initiative that will add more horsepower to Kansas State University's research capabilities in addressing threats to the nation's food supply.
K-STATE CONTINUES TO PUT SAFETY FIRST AS THE UNIVERSITY'S ROLE IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH GROWS: K-State has been actively involved in progressive research in food safety and security, agriculture and animal health since K-State veterinarians started developing swine vaccines around the turn of the 20th century. Since then, K-State research on plant and animal diseases has grown exponentially, including work on nutrition, vaccines and therapeutics.
K-STATE'S BEEF STOCKER UNIT TESTING A PROMISING ANIMAL ID SYSTEM THAT MIGHT DETECT CATTLE DISEASE BEFORE PHYSICAL SIGNS APPEAR: Early each morning after feeding, "cowboys" Marc Epp and Rodney Derstein take a spin through the cattle pens at Kansas State University's Beef Stocker Unit.
K-STATE RESEARCHERS DEVELOPING MATHEMATICAL MODELS PREDICTING SPREAD OF EPIDEMICS TO REVEAL FASTER, LESS-DISRUPTIVE WAYS TO MITIGATE DISEASE: An interdisciplinary team of K-State researchers is working on a project called Epicenter to develop mathematical models and simulation software that can predict how and where diseases spread. These epidemic models will offer data that can help researchers to evaluate multiple strategies to stop a disease from spreading.
K-STATE MASTER'S STUDENT USING THE ENVIRONMENT OF DISEASE TO DECIPHER WHERE AND WHEN THE NEXT OUTBREAK COULD HAPPEN: Christine Ellis, who entered K-State's master's of public health program in the spring, is working in a new field called spatial epidemiology. It is the geographic study of where disease occurs and how the environmental conditions at the time contributed to the disease's spread and proliferation.
K-STATE RESEARCHERS FIND THAT FEEDING CATTLE A BYPRODUCT OF ETHANOL PRODUCTION CAUSES E. COLI 0157 TO SPIKE: Ethanol plants and livestock producers have created a symbiotic relationship. Cattle producers feed their livestock distiller's grains, a byproduct of the ethanol distilling process, giving ethanol producers an added source of income. But recent research at Kansas State University has found that cattle fed distiller's grain have an increased prevalence of E. coli 0157 in their hindgut.
RESEARCHERS AT K-STATE EXAMINING FOOD SAFETY EDUCATION FOR OLDER ADULTS: Researchers in Kansas State University's College of Human Ecology have been awarded a $599,000 grant to develop educational programs in food safety targeting vulnerable older adults.
K-STATE RESEARCHERS PREDICT THAT AN OUTBREAK OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE COULD COST KANSAS NEARLY A BILLION DOLLARS: As much as $945 million. That's what agricultural economists at Kansas State University say could be the impact on Kansas' economy were there a large-scale foot-and-mouth outbreak in a region thick with livestock operations.
K-STATE ENTOMOLOGIST PART OF EFFORT TO FIND A MORE HEALTHFUL, EARTH-FRIENDLY METHOD TO KEEP INSECT PESTS OUT OF CURED HAM AND AGED CHEESE: Try enjoying a sandwich knowing that something else already has been nibbling on your ham and cheese. That's why for years food producers have made sure that insect pests don't take a bite out of cured ham or aged cheese before consumers do. Now food producers are looking for more healthful, environmentally friendly ways to keep these pests from getting a taste.
K-STATE EXPERT IN REAL-TIME TESTING SAYS E. COLI TEST USED IN PREPARATION FOR BEIJING OLYMPICS WILL IMPROVE FOOD SAFETY, PUBLIC HEALTH FOR THE EVENT: While the world's athletes train for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Chinese officials are working to get the host country's food safety practices in shape.
GRADUATE STUDENTS TAKING ON NEW 'FRONTIERS' AT K-STATE, USING MULTIMEDIA AND A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO RESEARCH: This summer, Ryan Bradburn, a second-year veterinary medicine student at Kansas State University, had the chance to investigate the realities of border security up close and personal.
K-STATE RESEARCHERS EMBARK ON A HALF-MILLION DOLLAR STUDY TO DETERMINE BENEFITS AND COSTS OF ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS: When the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service needed to take a serious look at animal identification systems, they came to experts at Kansas State University.
K-STATE RESEARCH LEADING TO SOFTWARE TO HELP NATION'S CATTLE PRODUCERS IDENTIFY BIOSECURITY RISKS, EVALUATE IMPACT OF COW-CALF DISEASES ONLINE: Mike Sanderson, associate professor of production medicine at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine, is involved in research that will help producers maintain secure feedlots, as well as research that will help producers understand the impact of specific diseases.
RESEARCH AT K-STATE, PARTNER INSTITUTIONS, TO HELP HOMELAND SECURITY MAKE SENSE OF THE ABUNDANT INFORMATION IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: From online news articles to blogs, a massive amount of information is voluntarily being put before the public every day. Some of this information may be valuable to protecting homeland security. That's why Kansas State University's William Hsu and other computer scientists who research data mining are part of a project to develop technology that makes automated Internet searches more useful and productive.