Dr. Jens Walter was selected to participate at the 15th Annual German-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium held Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7, 2009. This symposium series is co-sponsored by the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and it is the Academy’s premiere activity for distinguished young scientists.  Attendees are selected by a committee of Academy members from among young researchers who have already made recognized contributions to science, including recipients of major fellowships and awards. More than one hundred of its “alumni” have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and eight have received Nobel Prizes. Dr. Walter did present a poster with the title: Diversification of the gut symbiont Lactobacillus reuteri as a result of host-driven bacterial evolution. Dr. Walter has also been elected into the organizing committee for next year’s meeting in Potsdam, Germany.

The Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting was held in early June and Food Science and Technology garnered several awards:
o    Dr. Stephen Taylor received the 2009 Babcock-Hart Award for contributions to food science which resulted in improved public health
o    Kenzi Clark won first place in the Biotechnology Division for her paper entitled, "Functional metagenomic analysis of the chicken gut microbiota to identify optimal enzymes for poultry feed supplementation".  Kenzi is a Ph.D. student and her advisor is Jens Walter.
o    Morgan McGowan won third place in the Biotechnology Division for her paper entitled, "Prebiotic oligosaccharides inhibit adherence of enteric pathogens to intestinal epithelial cells" .  Morgan is an M.S. student and she is co-advised by Bob Hutkins and Jens Walter.
o    Daniela Bautista won 3rd place in the Undergraduate Paper Competition for her paper entitled, "Viability of probiotic microorganisms in nontraditional foods". 
o    Melanie Downs received 2nd place in the Sue L. Hefle Toxicology and Safety Evaluation Division Poster Competition.

Dr. Vicki Schlegel has recently received $24,419 from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture for her project “Antioxidants in Split Pinto Beans”.

The 11th Annual NIH SBIR/STTR is being held in Omaha, NE at the Qwest Center Omaha on June 30 and July 1, 2009.

Over 600 attendees are expected from across the US to learn how to tap into the $650 million available annually through the National Institutes of Health’s R&D funding exclusively for small business in the areas of biomedical, behavioral and life science research and innovation.

The conference is geared both to those who are attempting their first funding and to those who have received funding in the past. This conference will provide attendees the opportunity to learn about the current and future health related projects of interest and being funded by NIH, specific instruction on how to tap into the $650M available annually in NIH SBIR funding, strategies for commercialization, university partnerships, how proposals are evaluated, application/submission rules, networking opportunities with staff from all 27 Institute and Centers, and more.

If you have questions about the conference, please direct your inquiries to the conference coordinator, Lisa Tedesco, SBIR Specialist, Nebraska Business Development Center, at mtedesco@unomaha.edu or 402.554.6270.