A local couple who had to deal with the loss of a child while welcoming a new child hope to raise awareness about the need to fund research to prevent premature birth and birth defects.

Jeff and Kelly Zimmer met 12 years ago in college and have been married for seven years. They always planned to add children to their family, but it wasn't as easy as they hoped.

"We found ourselves a year in talking to a doctor, and another year later going to a fertility specialist," Jeff said.

It took five years, but this February, thanks to in vitro fertilization, they learned Kelly was pregnant with twins.

But the 17-week ultrasound indicated a problem.

"We could tell right away that the sonographer was concerned about something," Kelly said.

They were sent to a "high risk clinic," knowing only that there was a dangerously low amount of fluid around one twin.

"I said, 'Should we be worried? And he said it is worrisome, and our hearts just sank," Kelly said.

For the homeless, uninsured and unemployed, proper health care is difficult to find, and co-pays, transport, and communication issues present significant barriers to health care access. Still, the need for health care is high for low-income families and individuals.

In February of 1991, Dr. Ted Goodfriend, a faculty physician at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine joined with students in taking a step toward addressing these issues by establishing a free clinic for homeless men at Porchlight Men’s Shelter at Grace Episcopal Church.

The success of the program inspired the creation of six other Medical Information Centers (MEDiCs) throughout Madison.

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have been selected to lead a national, multi-institution effort to improve the quality and safety of processed potatoes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced.

The $3.7 million Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant will support an effort to reduce the amount of acrylamide, a potential carcinogen, in french fries and potato chips, without sacrificing the taste and texture that make these products so popular with consumers.

"Acrylamide is an unwanted compound in these products that we didn't know was there until 2002. We actually don't know if it is a serious health concern, but it's much better to be out in front of this," said the project's leader, Paul Bethke, a UW-Madison assistant professor of horticulture and USDA-ARS plant physiologist.