From the farmlands of France to the rust-colored post-industrial cities of Michigan, this year’s top institutions are finding good science in some rather unusual places.
There are certain places where you expect research to be happening—prestigious universities, worldrenowned hospitals and institutions—many of them among the top 40 Best Places to Work in Academia of 2010. But also among the winners of this year’s survey are few places that don’t automatically spring to mind as hot beds of research, including the farms surrounding many famed Paris palaces, an undergraduate-only college, and the economically hard-hit state of Michigan.
Near Paris, France, researchers at the No. 7-ranked INRA- Versailles are often found out in the fields, monitoring crops and studying nutrient cycling, as well as talking to farmers about the challenges that they are facing. Isabelle Souchon, a microbiologist at INRA, says that the experimental facilities at INRA and the “easy access to experimental platforms”—the farms—make the institute an ideal location for agricultural and environmental research.
On the other side of the ocean, in Grand Rapids, Mich., Calvin College undergraduates are jump starting their research careers. Faculty members at the No. 8 ranked institution say that despite the lack of a graduate program, there is still a strong emphasis on research.
Three other Michigan institutes also placed in our top 40—the Van Andel Institute for biomedical research (No. 3), Michigan State University (No. 14), and Wayne State University (No. 37). While the auto industry may be in dire straights, Michigan is working towards making itself a top location for research, with over $1.1 billion dollars in federal research funding for 2009 according to Research!America. In 2008, the state dedicated $43 million to for-profit companies as part of the Centers of Energy Excellence Program. Last year, the program incorporated academia, requiring companies applying for funding to collaborate with at least one institute of higher learning or national laboratory.
Labs of undergrads
Most life science research happens at the graduate and postgraduate level. But this year’s No. 8 school is the undergraduate- only Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, whose research is no less valuable, says Anding Shen, an immunology professor at the college. Last year, for example, 38 biochemistry students published 12 papers in peer-reviewed journals, on topics ranging from diesel fuel to diabetes. “My goal is that every undergraduate who works with me will have a publication before they graduate” or soon after, says Larry Louters, a biochemist at Calvin.
Much of the research is done during the summer, when students and faculty are free of their classroom responsibilities. Last summer Calvin College offered its first intensive summer course that incorporated research right into the curriculum, covering two semesters of introductory biology with research on bacteriophages. The course, funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), was a “huge success,” says David DeHeer, chair of the department of biology.
Students at Calvin have also collaborated with the nearby Van Andel Research Institute, this year’s No. 3 institution. In his junior year at Calvin, Bill Wondergem began working in the lab of Bin Teh, who studies genetic causes of kidney cancer at Van Andel. The internship helped Wondergem land a research position at Van Andel, where he continues to study renal cancer.
Georgia Tech, this year’s No. 11 school, also emphasizes undergrad research, “offering a thesis-based undergraduate degree in several majors,” says Karen Harwell, director of the undergraduate research program. Students on this track participate in intensive research experiences, such as analyzing gene expression in a leukemia cell line to identify possible therapeutic targets for the cancer.
Conservation at QUEENSLAND
Australia has been described as megabiodiverse because it contains approximately 70 percent of the Earth’s biological diversity on only 10 percent of the global surface. Understanding and managing the risks of climate change on that diversity are top priorities for the No. 1—ranked international institution, University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Ecologists, geneticists, physiologists, zoologists, and botanists “actively research the biodiversity crisis,” UQ zoologist Craig Franklin tells The Scientist in an email.
Last month, the university received some $3.5 million in funding for biofuels research. Lars Nielson secured $2 million for his research on sustainable aviation biofuel at the university’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, and an additional $1.48 million was awarded to molecular biologist Ben Hankamer for research in algal biofuels using photobioreactors. Similarly, geneticist Peter Gresshoff is investigating the possibility of attaining biofuel from the Pongamia pinnata.
Mathematician and ecologist Hugh Possingham takes a different approach to studying biosustainability. In 2000, he helped develop Marxan, a conservation mapping program that helps researchers design reserves and manage natural resources. The tool is currently being used in over 100 countries, including Australia, whose government used Marxan to update protection against commercial and tourist activities by rezoning The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, a portion of the world's largest reef system. For their work, Possingham and his colleagues won the 2009 Eureka Prize, often referred to as the “Oscars” of Australian science.
Collectively, UQ’s School of Biological Sciences has produced over 39,000 peer-reviewed papers in the environmental science, plant science, and agriculture fields in the past 10 years, according to ISI, accounting for 10 percent of the university’s total publications. “UQ is at the forefront of tackling the conservation issues that this planet faces,” Franklin says.
Talking with farmers at INRA
The National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) in Versailles, France, ranked No. 7 among international institutions in this year’s survey, is one of twenty centers that comprise the INRA organization. Founded in 1946 by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the INRA charter was designed to help serve the agricultural needs of society. Touted for its proximity to the farmers that may benefit from its research, the Versailles center focuses on terrestrial ecology and current challenges in agriculture.
When Isabelle Souchon arrived at Versailles in 1996 as an assistant professor, she planned on only staying a few years to gain experience in research and teaching. Fourteen years later, she is the leader of a lab that studies microbiology and food process engineering associated with cheese. Souchon says she turned down higher paying jobs because INRA’s mission—doing research with a social purpose— aligns with her personal convictions.
“The results of our research,” says Marie-Helene Jeuffroy, an agronomist who has worked at the institute since 1987, can be “used by the actors in agriculture.” Researchers at INRA collaborate with farmers, sampling the crop soils and even harvesting some of the crops for their studies, says eco-toxicologist Christian Mougin.
The fact that the institute is located near Paris also offers researchers “great partnerships with numerous laboratories in high schools, universities, other research institutes,” Mougin says. Many faculty at INRA are also jointly appointed with AgroParisTech, a nearby environmental science and engineering graduate school, and collaborate with the faculty there on projects such as experimental farming to increasing the sustainability of dairy farming.
Michigan’s milestones
While other industries in Michigan may not be faring as well, its research sector is booming, with four of the state’s research institutions ranking in the top 40 of this year's survey. From phage research at Calvin College to chloroplast genomics at Michigan State University and cancer studies at Van Andel, Michigan is making itself a leader in the life sciences. The proximity of some of these institutions along the “medical mile” strip of Michigan Avenue offers researchers fertile ground for collaboration. The institutes “build [on their] strengths with collaborative efforts rather than compete,” says Steven Triezenberg, director of education and dean of the graduate school at Van Andel. Furthermore, the 2008 legalization of embryonic stem cell research in Michigan was a boon for the state’s life sciences community, as evidenced by Detroit’s hosting of the 2010 World Stem Cell Summit this upcoming October. Gary Smith, a reproductive scientist at University of Michigan, says he was grateful for the long overdue legalization. His work, made possible by the legislative change, includes developing new human embryonic stem cell lines, and determining the differences between embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells that he hopes will introduce new and improved methods of fertility preservation and infertility treatment. Last year, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, founded the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute to expand the study of embryonic and adult stem cells. With the help of the new center, Smith hopes that the stem cell lines generated by his lab will be available to many other researchers and institutions, not only across the state, but potentially around the world.
