News

Sustainability experts to meet at UAB to find solutions for city Experts from around the world will gather at UAB to help make Birmingham a model of smart growth, healthy living and sustainability. The UAB Sustainable Smart Cities Symposium, which is free and open to the public, will assemble leaders in green design and transportation, environmental sustainability and economic development for the inaugural event Monday, Feb. 16. Register at www.UABSSC.org.

“As the world’s population continues to urbanize, we need sustainable, smart cities with a strong infrastructure that makes them environmentally friendly, increases residents’ quality of life and cuts costs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs,” says Fouad H. Fouad, Ph.D., chair of UAB’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.

 “UAB is committed to drawing upon its intensely collaborative and innovative culture to discover ways of making Birmingham and cities everywhere greener, smarter and healthier," says UAB President Carol Garrison.

Breakthroughs

Diamonds  are a knee’s (and hip’s) best friend New UAB research may help improve the next generation of artificial knee and hip joint implants needed by more than 700,000 Americans each year. Nanodiamonds designed to toughen artificial joints also might prevent the inflammation caused when metal joints shed debris into the body, according to an early study published in the journal Acta Biomaterialia by Vinoy Thomas, Ph.D., research associate in the Department of Physics within the UAB College of Arts & Sciences. His team found that diamond coatings, at least in early cell studies, are also less toxic and cause less pain and inflammation than conventional metal, polymer or plastic implants. 

“Our results add to the early evidence that nanodiamonds are indeed nontoxic in living cells,” says Thomas. “The next step will be to conduct experiments to confirm where nanodiamond particles of varying sizes and concentrations end up, and if buildup at those destinations is safe.”

New drug for CF tested at UAB The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first drug to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis – marketed under the name Kalydeco. Kalydeco, which was tested in four trials at UAB, is approved for people with CF ages 6 and older who have at least one copy of the G551D mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene.

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