Research

KU receives grant to study genome project

Kansas University announced Tuesday it has received a grant to look into how people with disabilities view the ethical, legal and social implications of the Human Genome Project.

The National Human Genome Research Institute awarded KU’s Beach Center on Disabilities a $915,000 grant to learn what people with disabilities think about the pros and cons of the project, which includes mapping some 30,000 genes in human DNA.

The project will be led by Matthew Stowe, assistant research professor, and Rud and Ann Turnbull, co-directors of the Beach Center.

The study will target people with developmental disabilities, mental illness and genetically linked disabilities, and their family members, service providers and policy-makers. Interviews and focus groups will be in Kansas City, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

6Productions

Sportswriter on encore of ‘River City Weekly’

Former Sports Illustrated writer Bill Nack shares stories from his book “My Turf” with host Greg Hurd in an encore presentation of “River City Weekly.”

Highlights include Nack’s discussions of the Louisville, Ky., teenage boxing sensation who would become Muhammad Ali, as well as Secretariat, arguably the greatest race horse in history.

Then find out how to de-stress for the holidays with Belinda Rehmer, communications specialist at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, on this week’s “Better Health” segment.

“River City Weekly” premieres at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6, with encore presentations at 7:30 weeknights, 8:30 weekday mornings and 9 a.m. Saturdays.

Kansas University

Engineering graduates earn national honors

Two May graduates from the Kansas University chemical engineering program have received honors in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ annual student design contest.

Richard Pass, from Birmingham, England, took first place in the contest. Sean Murphy, now a KU graduate student from Denver, took third.

The competition takes a problem from industry and asks students to develop a solution. This year’s challenge was to design a treatment process for a radioactive wastewater stream to recycle nitric acid. Each student turned in documents that were several hundred pages long.

Pass and Murphy will receive cash awards. Pass presented his solution at the organization’s annual student conference last week in San Francisco.