Fountain explores state development in digital age as Distinguished Faculty Lectures begin Oct. 24

Political scientist Jane E. Fountain of the Center for Public Policy and Administration will lead off the 2012-13 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series on Wednesday, Oct. 24. Fountain, who is the founder and director of the National Center for Digital Government, will discuss “Technological Change as a Variable in State Development.”

Fountain will describe the ways in which information and communication technologies are transforming democracy around the world, and will suggest that these same technologies have the capacity to mitigate policy problems such as disaster preparedness, disease

Faculty & Staff Campaign for 2012-13

Members of the campus community are invited to participate in the 2012-13 Faculty & Staff Campaign. Gifts can support student scholarships, a specific college or department, an athletic program, or one of hundreds of special programs you choose. 

Recognizing the importance of growing the culture of philanthropy on campus, a fund of $500,000 has again been established to match gifts given by current or retired faculty and staff during the 2012-13 academic year. The matching offer expands the strength of giving to the campus and departments people care about.

Graduate School has more international students, higher selectivity and an overall increase in applications

This fall’s Graduate School class has an increased number of international students, a slightly higher overall number enrolled than last year, and reflects more selectivity in choosing who will pursue graduate degrees, university officials say.

The incoming class includes 1,586 students, up from 1,540 in the fall of 2011. Overall, the Graduate School has about 6,300 students pursuing advanced degrees, including those enrolled in online programs.

John McCarthy is vice provost for Graduate Education and dean of the Graduate School. He is also a Distinguished University Professor.

Biochemists open path for possible molecular 'chaperone' therapy for inherited metabolic disease

A research team, including Scott Garman, associate professor of Biochemistry, and alumnus Nathaniel Clark, experts in revealing molecular structure by X-ray crystallography, has identified two new small “chaperone” molecules that may be useful in treating the inherited metabolic disorder known as Schindler/Kanzaki disease. This offers hope for developing the first ever drug treatment for this very rare disease. Findings are reported in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

Along with Garman and Clark, the team is made up of other researchers at UMass Amherst

Gregory Tew and research team score advance in manipulating T cells

Gregory Tew, professor of Polymer Science and Engineering and colleagues, including immunologist Lisa Minter, have found a way to get inside naïve T cells and to deliver bio-active cargo such as proteins and synthetic molecules across what had been a long-locked cell membrane. They do this by using a new synthetic protein transduction domain (PTD) that mimics natural ones. Tew and colleagues call their new macromolecules “PTD mimics” (PTDMs). They are able to slip through the T cell’s membrane and deliver a payload of therapeutic small interfering RNA (siRNA).

The invention is “something like

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