IAB Programs
Kelly Drew, second from left, research faculty with the Alaska Basic Neuroscience Program, works with students and staff in her lab. Ann Wilson, left, June Sun, second from right, Velva Combs, right. Photo credit: James Barker
Salmon strips hang on a rack in a rural Alaska community. Many Yup'ik Eskimo depend on local wild food to feed their families and themselves. CANHR scientists are looking at obesity and genetics, indigenous teen resilience, nutrition and contaminants in subsistance foods, and other biomedical subjects. Photo credit: James Barker
Fish, seal oil and other Yup'ik delicacies grace the table of a potlatch held in a Southwestern Alaska community. Scientists at CANHR are studying obesity and genetics, indigenous teen resilience, nutrition and contaminants in subsistance foods, and other biomedical subjects.. Photo credit: Cecile Lardon/CANHR
Alaska Basic Neuroscience Program (ABNP)
The Alaska Basic Neuroscience Program (ABNP) seeks to expand, facilitate, and stimulate neuroscience research as part of the human health research initiative at UA. The program incorporates interdisciplinary research to study mechanisms of neuroprotective adaptations, spanning the entire spectrum from behavioral to cellular and molecular aspects. Present research objectives concentrate on circadian rhythms and thermoregulation, hibernation as a model of neuroprotection, and neuronal regeneration and survival with an emphasis on the role of reactive oxygen species. This effort is further supported by strong collaborative research with other institutions and investigators in the United States.
Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (AKCFWRU)
The Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is part of a nationwide cooperative program, initiated in 1935, to promote research and graduate student training in the ecology and management of fish, wildlife and their habitats. The Alaska Unit, formed in 1991 by a merger of the Alaska Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit (est. 1950) and Alaska Cooperative Fishery Research Unit (est. 1978), exists by cooperative agreement among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI). Located on the UAF campus and administered through the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology, the Alaska Unit is staffed by USGS-salaried scientists who hold regular faculty appointments and UAF-salaried personnel who provide administrative support. The WMI serves as a liaison among Unit cooperators nation-wide and as an independent voice for the Units on Capitol Hill. Research funds are provided annually by the ADFG, and through grants and contracts obtained by Unit scientists and cooperating faculty. Agencies of the U.S. Departments of Interior and Defense are primary sources of federal research funds for the Alaska Unit.
Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR)
The Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) was established through a five-year grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The purpose of CANHR is to investigate weight, nutrition, and health in Alaska Natives. CANHR approaches this thematic focus from a genetic, dietary, and cultural-behavioral perspective. The funding comes through a program for Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE). This project has been and is being developed in partnership with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC).
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale observatory designed to gather and provide 30 years of ecological data on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity. NEON is a project of the National Science Foundation, with many other U.S. agencies and NGOs cooperating. All NEON data and information products will be freely available via the Web. NEON’s open-access approach to its data and information products will enable scientists, educators, planners, decision makers and the public to map, understand and predict the effects of human activities on ecology and effectively address critical ecological questions and issues.
Vulnerability of Permafrost Carbon Research Coordination Network (VPCRCN)
http://www.biology.ufl.edu/permafrostcarbon
The Vulnerability of Permafrost Carbon Research Coordination Network (RCN) is a National Science Foundation-funded effort to link biological carbon cycle research with well-developed networks in the physical sciences focused on the thermal state of permafrost. The overall objective of the network is to address the fundamental question: What is the magnitude, timing, and form of permafrost carbon release to the atmosphere in a warmer world? This objective of this network is to produce new knowledge through research synthesis that can be used to quantify the role of permafrost carbon in driving climate change in the 21st century and beyond. This new knowledge is being assembled in a format that can be assimilated by biospheric and climate models, so that it can inform future assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as other stakeholders. The Permafrost Carbon RCN is organized around a series of interrelated actual and virtual meetings and working groups that are working to synthesize existing permafrost carbon research. More information about the network and information about how to join and contribute can be found at: www.biology.ufl.edu/permafrostcarbon.
