IAB Programs
Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (AKCFWRU)
https://uaf.edu/akcfwru
The Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is part of a nationwide cooperative program, initiated in 1935, to promote research and graduate student training in the ecology and management of fish, wildlife and their habitats. The Alaska Unit, formed in 1991 by a merger of the Alaska Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit (est. 1950) and Alaska Cooperative Fishery Research Unit (est. 1978), exists by cooperative agreement among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø (UAF) and the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI). Located on the UAF campus and administered through the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology, the Alaska Unit is staffed by USGS-salaried scientists who hold regular faculty appointments and UAF-salaried personnel who provide administrative support. The WMI serves as a liaison among Unit cooperators nation-wide and as an independent voice for the Units on Capitol Hill. Research funds are provided annually by the ADFG, and through grants and contracts obtained by Unit scientists and cooperating faculty. Agencies of the U.S. Departments of Interior and Defense are primary sources of federal research funds for the Alaska Unit.
Alaska IDeA Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE)
Alaska IDeA Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) is an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) funded by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Alaska INBRE is a statewide program to support new faculty, conduct research, provide new equipment, expand research infrastructure, and train Alaska students in biomedical research. Themes are emerging infectious diseases and the molecular mechanisms of contaminant damage in subsistence food species. Alaska INBRE will bridge among Alaska's three main campuses (UAF, UAA, UAS) to enrich educational opportunities and research and will partner with state, federal, and local agencies. Alaska's continuing INBRE program will strengthen and expand our biomedical research and education network toward translational perspectives. Research is focused on the interface of the environment, health, and disease in people and animals.
Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research program (BNZ-LTER)
The Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research program is located in the boreal forest of interior Alaska, USA. Our facilities are centered in the city of ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø. Research at our LTER site focuses on improving our understanding of the long-term consequences of changing climate and disturbance regimes in the Alaskan boreal forest. Our overall objective is to document the major controls over forest dynamics, biogeochemistry, and disturbance and their interactions in the face of a changing climate. The site was established in ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø, Alaska in 1987 as part of the National Science Foundation's LTER Program. The Bonanza Creek LTER has two primary research sites located in Alaska's interior: (BCEF), located approximately 20 km south of ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø at 64.8° N, 148.0° W, and (CPCRW), located at 65.16° N, 147.5° W, approximately 45 km north of ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø.
Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR)
The Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) was established through a five-year grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources to the ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø. The purpose of CANHR is to investigate weight, nutrition, and health in Alaska Natives. CANHR approaches this thematic focus from a genetic, dietary, and cultural-behavioral perspective. The funding comes through a program for Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE). This project has been and is being developed in partnership with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC).
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale observatory designed to gather and provide 30 years of ecological data on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity. NEON is a project of the National Science Foundation, with many other U.S. agencies and NGOs cooperating. All NEON data and information products will be freely available via the Web. NEON’s open-access approach to its data and information products will enable scientists, educators, planners, decision makers and the public to map, understand and predict the effects of human activities on ecology and effectively address critical ecological questions and issues.
Permafrost Carbon Network (PCN)
The Permafrost Carbon Network is part of the multi-million dollar Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) project. The SEARCH project, headed by the University of Alaska ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø as the lead institution and Northern Arizona University as one partner, is a system-scale, cross-disciplinary research program that seeks to connect the science of Arctic change to decision makers. Three Action Teams comprise a core structural aspect of SEARCH, each focused on data synthesis and model development with projections used to advance current knowledge of a changing Arctic. The Permafrost Action Team, led by Ted Schuur will, in part, support activities developed by the Permafrost Carbon Network. The network has been successfully running for the last four years and includes more than 200 sicentist from 88 research institutions located in 17 countries.
Transformative Research in Metabolism (TRiM)
The NIH COBRE-funded center for Transformative Research in Metabolism (TRiM) at the University of Alaska is housed within the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology and collaborates with UAA as a partner institution (NIH Grant Award Number P20GM130443). The center supports interdisciplinary biomedical research to study hibernation and metabolism with the long-term goal of developing therapies to treat metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, sarcopenia, and cardiovascular disease. TRiM’s supported research uses genomic, proteomic and metabolomic data to inform target identification, and in vitro and in vivo studies in non-hibernating species to confirm efficacy of target manipulation. This work is expected to enhance healthy aging and lessen the burden of metabolic disease and trauma.
