Category Archives: Research
Texas A&M advances global disease prevention with launch of field-to-clinic initiative
By Blair Williamson As the next step in a series of advancements to transform scientific discovery across Texas A&M University and, in turn, the state and nation, the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) Institute of Biosciences and Technology (IBT) in Houston is establishing a new Center for Epigenetics & Disease Prevention (CEDP) with support from the Chancellor’s Research Initiative (CRI). The CEDP, with collaborators from across The Texas A&M University System, is poised to transform health care by shifting the standard model of disease prevention through an…
Jayaprakasha named American Chemical Society Fellow
COLLEGE STATION — Dr. G.K. Jayaprakasha, a researcher at Texas A&M AgriLife’s Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center and department of horticultural sciences in College Station, has been selected a Fellow in the American Chemical Society’s Division of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. Jayaprakasha will receive the honor at the society’s annual meeting Sept. 8-12 in Indianapolis. According to the citation, his collaborative work has been published in more than 105 peer-reviewed food science and technology, analytical, bio-organic and medical chemistry journals. He has edited and authored several books, reviews…
Student workers value jobs in research more after national competition
Story by: Kathleen Phillips COLLEGE STATION — Anyone familiar with a university town knows that many restaurants and retail stores revolve around college student employees, who may be learning life-long lessons in customer service while paying for their college education but who don’t plan to stay in those businesses. Patients in physicians’ clinics and hospitals, however, may not realize that their medical treatments also likely had a student worker preparing samples and replicating trials in the laboratories of professors who maintain research projects alongside of academics. These students…
How Circadian Rhythms Give Vegetables A Healthy Boost
Story By: Allison Aubrey Just as we have internal clocks that help regulate the systems in our bodies, fruit and vegetable plants have circadian rhythms, too. And a new study published in Current Biology finds there may be a way to boost some of the beneficial compounds in plants by simulating the light-dark cycle after crops are harvested. So, how does it work? Well, take cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, which contains cancer-fighting compounds called glucosinolates. Studies have shown that glucosinolates secrete enzymes that can remove carcinogens. “The protective effect of these vegetables is that they…
Artichokes finding a place in the ‘heart’ of Texas
By: Paul Schattenberg BROWNSVILLE — It was cool and overcast during the recent harvest of a 12-acre field of artichokes being grown by MO Produce LLC in Rancho Viejo, near Brownsville. As the workers methodically harvested the fist-size globes from the tops of plants, Mike Ortiz, one of the operation’s owners, oversaw the harvest and inspected the rest of the crop. A worker harvests artichokes grown by MO Produce LLC in Rancho Viejo. The grower has been successfully producing artichokes in the Rio Grande Valley for the past…
Professor Studies Plants, Foods to Prevent Cancer
Story by Jennifer R. Lloyd, San Antonio Express-News Twigs, leaves and berries may sound like the diet of the destitute, but for molecular medicine professor Michael Wargovich, certain plants — like those in traditional medicines and food in developing countries — could be gold mines in the fight against cancer. In his newly outfitted lab at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Wargovich and his staff are testing the cancer-preventing properties of green tea. They’ll also soon start investigating the anti-inflammatory abilities of the neem…