DENTON (UNT), Texas — For many teens, their first summer job means taking food orders or bussing the tables in a restaurant, sacking groceries, babysitting or working as a camp counselor or lifeguard.

Mira Patel's job, however, is in the University of North Texas biology lab of Pamela Padilla, identifying a molecular mechanism involved with how diet and genotype influence stress responses. The research will provide more information about the consequences of gestational diabetes.

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The University of North Texas gave three local teachers the opportunity to go back to school.

The university hosted the teachers last month during the Summer Science Institute with the aim of helping them develop lesson plans in English and Spanish.

“The goal of the Summer Institute is for teachers to inspire their Hispanic students to engage more in the field of science especially given the shortage of Hispanic scientists in the U.S.,” said Ana Figueras, a graduate assistant in the Office of Bilingual/ESL Teacher Education in the UNT...

DENTON, Texas (UNT) — Amber Lu, a student from the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science at the University of North Texas has been named a 2017 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Winner.

“It’s a really humbling experience,” said Lu. “It could have easily been any of the other nominees. Being surrounded by these peers is amazing, they are all doing such amazing research and they just make me want to do better.”

Lu, a 16-year-old from Sugar Land, has been working on research at UNT with chemistry professor William Acree to find the best way to purify fossil fuels. She was named a...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — It may not be long before residents of Dallas, Denton, Tarrant and surrounding counties feel the vicious heat of summer and, on certain days, hazy conditions caused by particle pollution in the air. When particulate matter levels in the air are high, anyone sensitive to them may need to limit time spent outdoors, particularly outdoor exercise.

Planting trees in certain urban areas may improve air quality because the trees' leaves and branches in summer foliage become "urban air filters,"...

DENTON, Texas (UNT) — A University of North Texas student has been awarded with one of the highest honors in the scientific community. Michael Thomas, a doctoral student studying in the Department of Chemistry, has been selected to receive a 2017 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Thomas said his eight years serving in the U.S. Marines, including a tour in Afghanistan, helped lead him to his...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — Like so many other high school students, Leta Cunningham spent the second semester of her senior year preparing for life at a university — the University of North Texas, where she was accepted into the Honors College.

She was looking forward to her graduation ceremony and...

DENTON (UNT), Texas – Arabidopsis thaliana is a seed so tiny that it can fit into Abraham Lincoln’s eye on a penny. Its small size, rapid life cycle and ability to produce thousands of seeds make this plant perfect for research. Now scientists who use it for studies have a new advantage. Drew Sturtevant, a student from the University of North Texas, was just able to complete 3D imaging of the inside of this tiny seed that reveals its chemical mapping for the first time. His breakthrough was recently published in the journal...

           DENTON (UNT), Texas - On April 20, 2010, a massive explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico led to 11 people being killed and millions of gallons of oil spilled. The oil spill was an instant change to the environment for the animals and plants that live in that water. Since 2015, Warren Burggren and his colleagues in the RECOVER Consortium from the Department of Biological...

Researchers at the University of North Texas have identified a novel mutation that may be associated with prostate cancer in African American men, according to a new study published in PLOS Computational Biology.

Scientists have long known that a huge variety of DNA mutations can lead to cancer. Some proteins can repair DNA mutations, but when repair proteins are mutated themselves, cancer may arise. Knowing which mutations are linked to which...

DENTON (UNT), Texas – When you think of cancer fighters, you most likely don’t think of mathematicians, but Xuexia “Helen” Wang is both. She is a biostatistics professor in the Department of Mathematics...