Sat, 10/16/2021
Welcome to ‘Tech Roundup,’ where we highlight some of the most significant tech news items from Nebraska and the surrounding area. If you have a news item you would like to see in the Roundup, please email neil.rutledge@unl.edu.
Local/Regional
Husker agronomist co-developing global agriculture platform
Nebraska Today
- How do you feed a growing population while protecting the environment? Using global data, Nebraska agronomist Patricio Grassini is helping agricultural stakeholders find common ground.
- The data is known as the Global Yield Gap and Water Productivity Atlas, an online platform that estimates water productivity, crop nutrient requirements and yield gaps — the difference between current and potential yields — for major crops in 70 countries.
- “Currently, we are expanding cropland areas at a rate of 13 million hectares every year and destroying fragile ecosystems,” Grassini said. “We need to understand how much more food we can produce on existing cropland — and where. The places with the biggest yield gaps have the biggest opportunities.”
- NUtech’s Jeewan Jyot has worked with the team to develop a licensing strategy for the platform’s data, which has been downloaded by more than 40,000 people worldwide. Companies pay to use the data for commercial purposes, but government users and nonprofits can access it for free.
Omaha Hospital Providing Information for Review of COVID-19 Vaccines for Children
Nebraska Public Media
- An Omaha hospital is collecting information on vaccines for children ages 11 and under. Omaha Children’s Hospital is working with Pfizer to better understand COVID-19 vaccines in this age group.
- The study, being led by Pediatrician in Chief Dr. Kari Simonsen of Children’s Omaha, began in the spring of this year. It will analyze 50 children from across the region over two years, looking at whether they develop symptoms of an active COVID-19 infection.
- Dr. Simonsen said information on effectiveness and side effects on these age groups will be continually sent to Pfizer. She said the preliminary results look good.
Nebraska’s poorest county is also its most vaccinated. Here’s why.
Nebraska Public Media
- As Nebraska struggles to get its rural residents vaccinated, Native Americans living in rural places here have gotten jabbed at extremely high rates.
- Case in point: 76 percent of Winnebago Tribe members 12 and older are now fully vaccinated, according to the Twelve Clans Unity Hospital. The nearby Omaha Tribe has 75 percent of its eligible members fully vaxxed, including nearly every tribal employee, said Sarah Rowland, director of Macy’s Curtis Health Center.
For Clarke’s research, pictures are worth thousands of data points
Nebraska Today
- In the most recent installment of “She’s a Scientist”, the series showcased Jennifer Clarke, director of the Quantitative Life Sciences Initiative, and her plant research that uses millions of images to collect data on growth, resiliency and overall health. The research could help with higher crop yields, and better food security for the world.
Nerds Of All Stripes Invited To Assemble For AfroCon 2021
Nebraska Public Media
- Those interested in all things nerdy are invited to attend AfroCon 2021.
- Jade Rogers, an adjunct professor at Metropolitan Community College and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, founded the event as well as the nonprofit organization putting it on, House of Afros, Capes, and Curls. She did so to provide safe spaces for people of color to congregate around topics like anime, board games and science fiction.
8 Qs with a Silicon Prairie Founder: Dana Dyksterhuis of HERE: For You, For Them
Silicon Prairie News
- Dana Dyksterhuis is co-founder of HERE: For You, For Them, a mindfulness-based mental health support company with offices in Omaha and London.
- Dyksterhuis and her company are part of the Startup Collaborative; in this interview she answers questions about her professional trajectory and Silicon Prairie.
Huskers maintain audiology service in Nicaragua despite travel limitations
Nebraska Today
- It has been more than two and a half years since either Stacie Ray or Hannah Ditmars have been to Nicaragua, but that has not stopped them from continuing the project they started in 2015 to provide sustainable hearing healthcare to a country of people desperately in need of such services.
Husker scientist studying cellular metabolism’s role in fight against diseases
Nebraska Today
- Cellular metabolism is emerging as a critical factor in controlling the immune system’s response to pathogens that cause human disease, as well as the activity of cancerous cells.
- A University of Nebraska–Lincoln scientist is studying how those relationships evolve, with an eye toward development of therapeutics or drugs that could give the immune system an edge over these sometimes deadly enemies.
- “We would like to know how our white blood cells interact with infections … both pathogenic infections from a bacteria or viral strain … and also nonpathogenic infections such as cancer,” said Rajib Saha, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
Regional Startup Spotlight
- Omaha startup Leash Pet Transportation was founded on the idea that, much like people, pets have places to be.
- Whether it’s a session with a groomer, a day at doggy day care, or a trip to the veterinarian or a boarding facility, pet ownership can mean more errands, making humans feel like bona fide pet taxis.
- Leash, founded by Marty and Kate Sampson, provides services to deliver your pet for you and cross a chore off your to-do list.
Tags: Tech Round-Up
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