worcester polytechnic institute

Through the Sample Return Robot Challenge, NASA and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute are encouraging innovations in robotic technology.

Participating teams will need to demonstrate a robot that can locate and retrieve geologic samples from varied terrain without human control.

$1.5 million in prizes will be awarded.

(Worcester Polytechnic Institute) Expanding their scope of study on the mechanisms of bacterial infection, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have reported the surprise finding from a small clinical study that cranberry juice cocktail blocked a strain of Staphylococcus aureus from beginning the process of infection.

The data was reported in a poster presentation at the American Chemical Society's recent national meeting by Terri Camesano, professor of chemical engineering at WPI.

(Worcester Polytechnic Institute) Revealing the science behind the homespun advice, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have identified and measured the molecular forces that enable cranberry juice to fight off urinary tract infections.

The data is reported in a paper published online, ahead of print, by the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.

The research illuminates the basic mechanics of E. coli infections, which has implications for developing new antibiotic drugs and infection-resistant materials for invasive medical devices.

(Worcester Polytechnic Institute) Elke Rundensteiner, professor of computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), has received a second year of funding from the prestigious HP Labs Innovation Research Program, which provides colleges, universities and research institutes around the world with opportunities to conduct breakthrough collaborative research with HP.

(Worcester Polytechnic Institute) In a paper featured in the "highlights" section of the May 2010 issue of the journal Genetics, a research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute reports that yeast produce a hormone previously known to be made by plants, and that the presence of that hormone in sufficient quantity within the yeast's immediate environment triggers the fungal cells to become more infectious.

The journal editors called it a "surprising finding."

(Worcester Polytechnic Institute) Worcester Polytechnic Institute has received a one-year, $1 million award from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop the final component of an integrated monitoring system designed to reduce firefighter deaths and injuries by precisely locating and tracking them inside buildings, continuously monitoring their vital signs to warn incident commanders when they are at risk of stress-related heart attacks, and taking floor-to-ceiling temperature readings inside buildings to provide an early warning of flashover.