The Oshkosh Northwestern from Oshkosh, Wisconsin • A4

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readandunderstand. termloans.Nomoneydown. Seeour ACTIONVIDEO! at AmericaGarageBuilders.com OSHKOSH (920)232-0577 he 60 Yard has a world premiere date, and you betcha, in Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers-themed comedy filmed in Green Bay has been accepted to the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison, where it will screen at 7 p.m. April 2.

be the first chance for the public to get a look at the 96-minute movie that features former Packers players John Kuhn, Ahman Green and Mark Tauscher and a host of local extras. The filmmakers released a promo video Thursday to announce the news. Beloit native Ryan Churchill co-wrote and co-produced the romantic comedy with Nick Greco. the story of a guy who takes his wedding fund money and buys a house next to Lambeau Field, where he can party on game days and be near the team he loves. Not coincidentally, 60 Yard was filmed at an Ashwaubenon house whose backyard is just feet from the Lambeau parking lot.

the same house that best friend bought in 2004 for the sole purpose of parking cars on the front lawn and hosting backyard tailgate parties on Packers home game days. Filming was done in the fall of 2015 with additional scenes that required snow shot in early 2016. The cast includes Randall Park (Danny Chung on Cedric Yarbrough (Vic on and retired mixed martial artist Chuck Liddell. Churchill and Greco also star. Local extras were tapped for a variety of tailgating scenes.

In an interview with Press-Gazette Media in December, Churchill said the ultimate goal is to have the film seen by a national audience, but the first step to doing that was entering it in film festivals. There are also plans for a Green Bay premiere event once the film rolls out, he said. The Wisconsin Film Festival runs March 30-April 6. Presented by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute in association with the Department of Communication Arts, it boasts an average of 150 film screenings over eight days and is the largest university-produced film festival in the nation. Tickets for the festival go on sale at noon Saturday at wifilmfest.org.

Churchill, Greco and Yard director Leif Gantvoort are scheduled to attend the screening at the Barrymore Theater. dia.com and follow her on Twitter Yard will make its world premiere in Madison COURTESY OF "THE 60 YARD LINE" "The 60 Yard Line" has been accepted to the Wisconsin Film Festival, where it will have its world premiere on April 2 in Madison. KENDRA MEINERT USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN MADISON- From diabetes, asthma and tooth decay to lake algae, dairy production and panda reproduction, UW-Madison researchers are studying how tiny bugs in our guts, our mouths and a variety of ecosystems help or harm. Anew initiative on campus will award up to $1 million in grants to scientists who study micro- biomes communities of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microorganisms that live in humans, other animals and the environment, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. The goal is to bring in additional federal money and explore how health, agriculture, climate and other interests are influenced and possibly can be improved by living things we can see only under a microscope.

With microbes increasingly viewed as powerhouses of biology, new technology available to sequence their genes and the announcement last year of a National Micro- biome Initiative, the time is right for UW-Madison to step up its efforts, said Jo Handelsman, director of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. seen as an area of growth for science and for industry and for academic Handelsman told UW-Madison researchers last year, when she was associate director for science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. and more disease is thought to be treatable by changing the mi- crobiome, but we have a clue how to do that in Handelsman said in an interview last week, in which she said microbiomes also can affect how people respond to drugs. someday be able to get a simple test of your micro- biome and know which of five drugs is more likely to work on she said. As faculty from a variety of fields prepare to apply by March 15 for grants through Microbiome Initiative, many are already analyzing how microbes interact with people and the world.

About 20 faculty members have microbiome research grants from federal agencies or other organizations, worth a total of about $8 million a year. Focus on diabetes For Alan Attie, a professor of biochemistry, the focus is diabetes, a disease associated with obesity that involves impaired manufacturing or use of the hormone insulin. Studies have suggested links between gut microbes and obesity, though findings have been mixed. Attie works with Federico Rey, an assistant professor of bacteriology, in using mice to study insulin production. They gave several strains of mice a diet high in fat and sugar, causing one strain to become obese and develop signs of diabetes while a genetically different strain remained lean and healthy.

The researchers transplanted feces, containing gut microbiomes, from the two groups of mice into a third group raised in isolation to be germfree, without micro- biomes. The transplant recipients, when given the same diet, developed conditions similar to their donors. After meals high in sugar, or glucose, insulin levels spiked in one group but not in the other, the researchers reported last month in the journal Cell Reports. microbes that colonize the gut control how much insulin the mouse secretes when it encounters Rey said. Christine Sorkness, a UW-Madison pharmacist, has studied the relationship between the lung mi- crobiome and asthma.

Other medical conditions thought to be influenced by microbes include autism, heart disease and some cancers. Dental cavities could also be related to micro- biomes. In recent years, some studies have yielded asurprising finding: elite athletes seem to get more cavities than other people, even though they are healthier in other ways. Melissa Christopherson, a faculty associate in bacteriology, examined why last year by asking UW-Madison athletes and students from her microbiology class to contribute saliva samples and fill out questionnaires. The microbiology students compared the mouth microbiomes of the two groups, looking at ahost of factors that could contribute to oral health, such as smoking, mouthwash, caffeine and use of an electric toothbrush.

were no variables that made a huge difference except for being an Christopherson said. microbiomes had different quantities of three species of microbes, a finding that now can be explored further. Participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study a decades-old effort assessing success, health and aging by following thousands of high school graduates from the class of 1957, as well as some of their spouses and siblings are used to giving up samples of saliva, blood and urine. Two years ago, some were asked to join the mi- crobiome craze and contribute their feces. About 450 participants, or 78 percent of those asked, said yes.

were really great about said Pamela Herd, a professor of public affairs and sociology who directs the study. It is sometimes called the Days after the 1970s television sitcom set in Milwaukee in 1957. With help from lab, where feces samples are stored in coolers at minus 80 degrees Celsius, Herd learned that gut mi- crobiomes of married couples are more similar, and apparently healthier, than those of siblings. Additionally, microbiomes of married couples who report close relationships are more similar, and apparently healthier, than those of married couples who say close. Water microbiones Trina McMahon, a professor of bacteriology and civil and environmental engineering, is looking beneath the water, comparing microbiomes in Lake Mendota with those from two lakes north of Minocqua: Sparkling Lake and Trout Bog Lake.

She is studying how cyanobacteria or blue- green algae, a human health concern intermingle with other bacteria in fresh water, and how light and temperature influence various microbe populations. Another project in lab involves the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage Nine Springs wastewater treatment plant. She and other campus researchers are studying microbes that remove nitrogen or phosphorus, which can make lakes mucky in summer, from sewage. Currently, the plant pumps compressed air into wastewater to feed the bacteria that remove the nutrients. you could reduce the amount of compressed air you have to add, you could save a lot of money and reduce the carbon McMahon said.

Handelsman, the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery director who is also a former chairwoman of bacteriology department, studies microbiomes in soil, focusing on erosion and carbon storage. Soil contains more carbon than all of the plants, or the atmosphere, Handelsman said. going to have alarge impact on climate change and carbon concentrations, we have to be considering the microbes in she said. Garrett Suen, an assistant professor of bacteriology, studies micro- biomes in panda poop. research suggests the animals might not be good at digesting bamboo.

Pandas in captivity periodically stop eating and shed their gastrointestinal tract linings in their stool. The episodes often occur when females are pregnant. Working with the Memphis Zoo, Suen compared microbiomes in regular panda feces with those in the abnormal feces. He found key differences and suspects sharp edges might be injuring gastrointestinal tracts. this is one of the reasons why challenging for pandas to reproduce in he said.

Madison microbiome research aims to help health, environment JOHN HART, WISCONSIN STATE UW-Madison grad student Julia Kreznar tends mice housed as part of a microbiome study in the university's Microbial Sciences Building in Madison. JOHN HART, WISCONSIN STATE Federico Rey, assistant professor of bacteriology at UW-Madison, discusses ongoing department studies in his research lab on the campus of UW-Madison in Madison. JOHN HART, WISCONSIN STATE Federico Rey, assistant professor of bacteriology at UW-Madison, stands with chambers that house mice used in the university's microbiome research studies in the Microbial Science Building on the campus in Madison. Subject seen as area for growth DAVID WAHLBERG WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL.