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Show JTllE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Monday, June 25, 2007 U to buy building in Research Park $20 million purchase will temporarily house USTAR program Researchers employed under USTAR, a state-sponsored technology research initiative, might soon be working out of a new lab. The U is currently in negotiations with NPS Pharmaceuticals to purchase the company's research facility in Research Park. The building wall temporarily house the USTAR program until a new USTAR facility is built. While the deal is not final, at its June n meeting the U Board of Trustees approved administrators' request to spend up to S20 million to buy LEADERS QUESTION LENDER ACCUSATIONS and renovate the building. The effort will be funded in part by $10 million in bonds. U officials refused to comment on the pending sale. "I don't think its proper for us to comment..until we complete the transaction," said James Bardsley, associate vice president for health sciences. After a new USTAR. facility is constructed, the building will be used to "provide much needed expansion space for the (U's) ongoing research needs," according to the agenda for the Trustees meeting. Dustin Gardiner '•HT-. t The U is negotiating with NPS Pharmaceuticals about purchasing its facility in Research Park to temporarily house the USTAR Program. New research makes disease in mice easier, cheaper, more continued from Page 1 Jared Branch "To my knowledge, no preferential treatment was given to the lenders and no gifts were received from the lenders," Feitz said of the accused Utah schools. He said these colleges and universities were put on the list because of advertising practices with lenders or using money from the lenders for outreach programs. He likened the situation to having Coca-Cola listed on a U campus Scoreboard because it had given some money to the school. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with advertising and these kinds of promotions or sponsorship activities," Feitz said. "It's an unfortunate lumping—with those putting lenders in preferential spots." Other schools, such as the University of Texas, were listed because school financial aid officials received gifts, free meals and travel expenses from lenders. One Texas director also had stock in a lender company. The Utah state ethics law concerning lenders and student loans prohibits schools' receiving any kind of gift or compensation beyond $50. When Kennedy proposed the Student Loan Sunshine Act in the U.S. Senate, it limited gifts to employees to $10 and kept colleges from "branding" the loan products. But regardless of whether these Utah schools were in the wrong, the U has pledged that its student loan practices are clean. John Curl, director of financial aid and scholarships, said the U's policy is not to receive any kind of compensation for any kind of volume of loans. Although the U used to have a list of lenders to give out to students seeking loans, they eliminated it two years ago because information on the companies and loans was changing too quickly to be kept current. The U has a "working relationship" with Utah lenders, but does not have a preferred lender list, Curl said, and instead encourages students to look into lenders that would best meet their needs. "We allow the students to choose, and we wouldn't change that," Curl said. "Anything different would cause us to come into question." Curl also finds faults in Kennedy's report, which he said tries to tie together "two separate issues"—private and government loans. He said the private loan industry has exploded in the past decade because of the continuing rise in the cost of education and the lack of increase in federal financial aid programs. The U's volume of private, or alternative, loans is not high in comparison with other schools because its tuition costs are generally lower. Curl said students from schools with high tuition rates often turn to private loans, "The federal government almost encouraged this, allowing openings for private lenders," Curl said. r.mcconkie@chron icle.utah.edu 132O K. 2OO S. 5X2-57OO STAFF WRITER Mario Capecchi and Sen Wu, doctors of genetics at the U, have been working for the past five years to expedite mutations in mice used for medical research. The technology to mutate the genome of a mouse—sometimes to introduce cancer—has existed for a while, but Cappechi's new research has made it cheaper, quicker and more effective. Capecchi and Wu's method for mutating large, non-gene stretches of DNA is outlined in last week's online edition of Nature Genetics, The research details three ways to mutate the genome: deletion, rearrangement and jumping. The genome is like a complex instruction manual for life. While it is a language only made up of four let- YOUNG GETS SALARY INCREASE . continued from Page 1 on July i, does not include Young's extra compensations, which include retirement money, a Mercedes and a house in the affluent Federal Heights neighborhood. "We have an excellent president who is not overly compensated," said David Pershing, the U's senior vice president for academic affairs. "(Young's) pay has to do with the size of the U and the size of its budget," Pershing said. The authorized salary increases for the rest of university and college presidents in Utah were approved on June 20. The raises, ranging from 3-5 t0 7 percent, are part of an effort to bring Utah salaries closer to the national average, which is around $350,000. The biggest pay increase— 7 percent—went to Utah Valley State College (soon to be Utah Valley University) President William Sederburg, who will make $181,216 a year. At the bottom of the scale are Dixie State College President Lee Caldwell and Southern Utah University ters, it comprises a text so large it is equivalent to a thousand books of a thousand pages each. When researchers want to mutate a segment of the genome, they focus on about 20 to 50 sequences of DNA. If they knock out or delete a section and something goes wrong, researchers then focus on the area to find the region responsible for the defect. "The best way to know the function of the genetic blueprint is by removing part of the DNA and seeing what goes wrong," Wu said. Capecchi, a professor and cochairman of human genetics at the U, and Wu, a postdoctoral fellow in human genetics, have found a way to make very large, efficient deletions using short pieces of DNA called loxP, signposts that tell them where to cut the DNA. Manipulating DNA gives research- President Michael Benson, who both received a 3.5 percent increase. Still, university presidents in Utah are underpaid compared with the national average, which is close to $350,000 a year for public schools and about $500,000 for private schools. "President Young has been receiving many offers from other schools," Pershing said. Although Pershing declined to comment on what schools, he said they were "from the East." Mike Dransfield, a junior in film studies, said, "It seems that they value (Young's) comfort more than the students. They should use the money for students instead." While Young is the highest-paid president in Utah, he is still not the highest paid employee at the U. Kyle Whittingham, head football coach at the U, earned around $690,000 in 2006. Ray Giacoletti, former U men's basketball coach, reported earnings of about $467,000 last year. Pershing is likewise paid more than his boss—earning more than $388,000 in 2006—though Pershing notes that he does not receive the compensation for a car and house that Young does. f.martin@ chronicle.utah.edu ers the opportunity to study disease. During translocation, for example, two chromosomes split apart and rejoin. Most of the time nothing happens, but on rare occasions the event can yield devastating results, such as 30 different types of cancers called sarcomas and about 20 different types of leukemia, Capecchi's research has found a way to improve the frequency of translocation from one in a million to one in 100. The lo.ooo-fold increase in translocation allows conditions such as cancer to be modeled more efficiently in mice, so researchers can understand and treat the condition in humans. When embryo-derived stem cells are put in the right environment, these cells can become any type of cell in the body. Once these cells are grown in a culture they are introduced into an embryo to generate a STUDY WARNS DRIVERS NOT TO USE CELL PHONES mutant mouse. Capecchi and his associates have found a way to make the process much cheaper by using a transposon called piggyBac. Transposons jump throughout the genome, leaving a trail of fluorescent-colored mutations behind. The only problem is that the jumping is random, so it is possible to see where it happened but impossible to know where it will jump next. The new research can be used to study a multitude of mutations, such as those that cause some miscarriages. If a mutation is too drastic, the fetus dies. "Many, many fetuses are miscarriages. We have no idea how high, but my guess is 30 percent to 50 percent of pregnancies are miscarriages," Capecchi said. jJbranch@ chro nic le.utah.edu phone behind the wheel. He hopes to see lobbying groups in the future similar to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 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