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The University of Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health is now a full member of the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) Consortium, led by Indiana University.

The Consortium works in collaboration with Moi University School of Medicine and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya to help build the care, education and research capacity of these institutions with the goal of providing access to health care for all persons throughout western Kenya. The Eck Institute will serve as the central coordinating body for Notre Dame activities within the AMPATH Consortium.

The recent mild winter throughout much of the United States was a cause for celebration for many. However, butterfly aficionados shouldn’t be joining in the celebration.

A new study by Jessica Hellmann, associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers from Western University found that mild winters, such as the one many of us just experienced, can be taxing for some butterfly or possibly other species.

Hellmann and her fellow researchers studied caterpillars of the Propertius Duskywing butterfly, which feed on Gary Oak trees. This species of caterpillar, like many insects, has a higher metabolic rate and burns more fat during mild winters.

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health have developed a “gene chip” to contribute to the identification of malaria drug resistance, an effort that will allow for real-time response in modified treatment strategies for this devastating disease.

The discovery is described in a paper appearing in the latest early online edition of the journal Science. The team of researchers includes Notre Dame’s Michael Ferdig, associate professor of biological sciences; doctoral student Becky Miller; and John Tan, managing director of the Genomics Core Facility, in collaboration with Tim Anderson of Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Francois Nosten, M.D., of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit in Thailand.

Although there has been growing recognition among researchers and policymakers that shipborne invasive species cause a considerable economic toll, this environmental problem often goes unaddressed because of the difficulty in quantifying annual impacts on ecosystem services.

However, a new paper by researchers from the University of Notre Dame, the University of Wyoming and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands assigns a dollar figure on the cost to the Great Lakes from invasive species that originate in the ballast water of ocean-going vessels.

A new study by University of Notre Dame biologist Michael Pfrender and a team of researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno; Utah State University; and the University of Virginia suggests that snakes from different regions of the world have evolved a similar, remarkable resistance to a deadly neurotoxin.

The finding, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, greatly increases scientists’ understanding of the genetic basis of adaptation and is a model for understanding the limits to adaptation and the degree to which evolutionary responses are predictable.

Wes Jackson, president of the Land Institute, will be the inaugural Lecturer in Sustainability at 7 p.m. on March 28 (Wednesday) in Room 101 of the Jordan Hall of Science at the University of Notre Dame.

His lecture, titled “Why Agriculture Must Take the Lead Toward a Sustainable Future,” is free and open to the public.

University of Notre Dame Professor Jeff Schorey, associate director of the Eck Institute for Global Health and a member of the Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases, is part of a team of researchers who received one of 10 new Grand Challenges in Global Health (GCGH) Grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to identify biomarkers for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB).

TB is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases with an estimated 9 million individuals diagnosed and 1.6 million deaths every year. This makes TB the second leading cause of death by an infectious agent, behind only HIV.

David Lodge, Ludmilla F. and Stephen J. Galla Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame and a world-renowned expert on invasive species, was invited to attend a White House Community Leaders Briefing on the Great Lakes Region that took place today (Feb. 29) in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

The event was a gathering of environmental, recreation, business and academic leaders from the Great Lakes region and included a discussion of Obama administration initiatives and priorities in the region with senior White House and administration officials. It was co-hosted by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Public Engagement.

Last year, Kenya lost 278 elephants to poachers, as compared to 177 in 2010. On the continent of Africa as whole, elephants have declined from an estimated 700,000 in 1990 to 360,000 today due to the demands of the ivory trade.

Spend some time with University of Notre Dame researchers Elizabeth Archie and Patrick Chiyo and you’ll gain a better understanding of just what a tragic loss elephant poaching is.

A thinking, reasoning species with extraordinary memories, a strong sense of family and caring and nurturing natures are increasing at the risk of extinction.