All posts by medical

Immunology

We developed tools to study cancer in Tasmanian devils. They could help fight disease in humans – The Conversation AU

Emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19, usually come from non-human animals. However our understanding of most animals immune systems is sadly lacking as theres a shortfall in research tools for species other than humans and mice.

Our research published today in Science Advances details cutting edge immunology tools we developed to understand cancer in Tasmanian devils. Importantly, these tools can be rapidly modified for use on any animal species.

Our work will help future wildlife conservation efforts, as well as preparedness against potential new diseases in humans.

Tasmanian devil populations have undergone a steep decline in recent decades, due to a lethal cancer called devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) first detected in 1996.

A decade after it was discovered, genetic analysis revealed DFT cells are transmitted between devils, usually when they bite each other during mating. A second type of transmissible devil facial tumour (DFT2) was detected in 2014, suggesting devils are prone to developing contagious cancers.

In 2016, researchers reported some wild devils had natural immune responses against DFT1 cancers. A year later an experimental vaccine for the original devil facial tumour (DFT1) was tested in devils artificially inoculated with cancer cells.

While the vaccine didnt protect them, in some cases subsequent treatments were able to induce tumour regression.

But despite the promising results, and other good news from the field, DFT1 continues to suppress devil populations across most of Tasmania. And DFT2 poses an additional threat.

Read more: Deadly disease can 'hide' from a Tasmanian devil's immune system

In humans, there has been incredible progress in treatments targeting protein that regulate our immune system. These treatments work by stimulating the immune system to kill cancer cells.

Our teams analyses of devil DNA showed these immune genes are also present in devils, meaning we may be able to develop similar treatments to stimulate the devil immune system.

But studying the DNA blueprint for devils takes us only so far. To build a strong house, you need to understand the blueprint and have the right tools. Proteins are the building blocks of life. So to build effective treatments and vaccines for devils we have to study the proteins in their immune system.

Until recently, there were few research tools available for this. And this problem was all too familiar to researchers studying immunology and disease in species other than humans, mice or rats.

You could build a house with just a saw, hammer and nails but a better and faster build requires a larger, more versatile toolbox.

In our new research, weve added more than a dozen tools to the toolbox for understanding tumours in Tasmanian devils. These are Fluorescent Adaptable Simple Theranostic proteins or simply, FAST proteins.

The term theranostic merges therapeutic and diagnostic. FAST proteins can be used as a therapeutic drug to treat a disease, or as a diagnostic tool to determine its cause and better understand it.

A key feature of FAST proteins is they can be tagged with a fluorescent protein marker, and can be released from the cells that we engineered in the lab to make them.

This way, we can collect and observe how the proteins attach and interact with other proteins without needing to add a tag later in the process.

To understand this, imagine trying to use a tiny key in a tiny lock in the dark. It would be difficult, but much easier if both were tagged with a coloured light. In the context of the immune system, its easier to understand what we need to turn on or off if we can see where the proteins are.

By mapping how proteins within the devils immune system interact, we can find better ways to stimulate the immune system.

The FAST system is also adaptable, meaning new targets can be cut-and-pasted into the system as theyre identified, like changing the bits on a drill. Therefore, its useful for studying the immune systems of other animals too, including humans.

Also, the system is simple enough that most people with basic cell culture and molecular biology experience could use it.

Read more: A virus is attacking koalas' genes. But their DNA is fighting back

Cancer cells in humans and animals can travel via the bloodstream to spread, or metastasise, throughout the body. Identifying single tumour cells in blood can shed light on how cancer invades devils organs and kills them.

Using FAST tools, we discovered CD200 a protein that inhibits anti-cancer responses in humans is highly expressed in devils. With FAST tools, we were able to mix DFT2 cancer cells into devil blood and pick them out, despite there being about one cancer cell for every 1,000 blood cells.

CD200 is a powerful off switch for the immune system, so identifying this off switch allows us it can help us produce a vaccine that disables the switch.

By rapidly sifting out the best ways to stimulate the devils immune system, FAST tools are accelerating our research into developing a preventative vaccine to protect devils from DFT.

COVID-19 has once again brought emerging infectious diseases onto the global stage. The ability to rapidly develop immunology tools for new species means we can jump into action when a new virus jumps into humans.

Additionally, species are going extinct at an alarming rate, and wildlife disease is increasingly threatening conservation efforts.

Understanding how the immune systems of other animals fight diseases could provide a blueprint for developing vaccines and therapeutics to help them.

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We developed tools to study cancer in Tasmanian devils. They could help fight disease in humans - The Conversation AU

Immunology

SARS-CoV-2 Immunity Likely To Be Higher Than Antibody Testing Has Shown – Technology Networks

A recent preprint study published in bioRxiv, suggests that many people who contract SARS-CoV-2 but have mild or no clinical signs still develop so-called T-cell-mediated immunity to the virus, even in the absence of a positive antibody test. The researchers conclude that this is likely to mean that public immunity is probably higher than antibody testing has so far suggested.The multi-centered team based at the Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital performed immunological analyses on over 200 people, including unexposed individuals as well as exposed family members and individuals with acute or convalescent COVID-19. From this they mapped the functional and phenotypic landscape of SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses.

T cells are an important subset of our immune cells, pivotal in the immune systems ability to recognize and destroy virus-infected cells in our bodies and mount an immune response on re-exposure to a previously encountered infection. Cytotoxic T cells are essential in destroying virus-infected cells, whilst a phenotypically distinct group of T cells, sometimes called memory T cells, are important in the development of long-term immunity.

In a University press release, Marcus Buggert, Assistant Professor at the Center for Infectious Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, and one of the papers main authors commented, Advanced analyses have now enabled us to map in detail the T-cell response during and after a COVID-19 infection. Our results indicate that roughly twice as many people have developed T-cell immunity compared with those who we can detect antibodies in.

The team showed that even in the absence of a detectable antibody response, a robust memory T cell response could be measured in many individuals, akin to the response seen following vaccination against other viral infections.

Professor Danny Altmann, British Society for Immunology spokesperson and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, said, Among the many studies of cellular (T cell) immunity to SARS-CoV-2 that have appeared in the past few months, this is one of the most robust, impressive and thorough in the approaches used. It adds to the growing body of evidence that many people who were antibody-negative actually have a specific immune response as measured in T-cell assays, confirming that antibody testing alone under-estimates immunity.

Whilst this could be good news for public health, T-cell testing is less straight-forward than antibody detection, and so may be less accessible for mass testing endeavors.

Altmann continued, The big unknown for the moment is which parameters of immunity offer the most faithful indicator of true, protective immunity from future infection. So far, there is a sense from some studies that functional, virus-neutralizing antibody is one such correlate of protection. We urgently need experimental studies to help confirm whether T-cell immunity alone can give protection. This sentiment was echoed by Buggert. Larger and more longitudinal studies must now be done on both T cells and antibodies to understand how long-lasting the immunity is and how these different components of COVID-19 immunity are related.

This article is based on research findings that are yet to be peer-reviewed. Results are therefore regarded as preliminary and should be interpreted as such. Find out about the role of the peer review process in research here. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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SARS-CoV-2 Immunity Likely To Be Higher Than Antibody Testing Has Shown - Technology Networks

Immunology

In what does Cuba’s genetic study of patients recovered from COVID-19 consist of? – OnCubaNews

Help us keep OnCuba alive here

The appearance at the end of 2019 of a new coronavirus and its rapid spread throughout the world until it became a pandemic, has put the scientific community to work with an intensity rarely observed.

Although currently the main international research is focused on the search for the vaccine, the mass immunization as the only way to stop such a contagious virus, another question arises from a characteristic of the virus, or rather how each person responds to the contagion: Why do some die from COVID-19 and others dont get to feel the slightest symptom?

The answer may lie in genetics; thats why Cuba launched a research that takes this factor into account in the response of those who suffered from the disease and those who have already been discharged.

According to the director of the National Center for Medical Genetics, Beatriz Marcheco, the project includes clinical-epidemiological, laboratory, basically hematological, immunological, and DNA studies.

The research began its clinical stage in early June, in the provinces of Pinar del Ro, Cienfuegos and Las Tunas, as well as the municipality of La Lisa, in Havana.

The study seeks to find out the blood group and factor of each individual and to study the subpopulations of lymphocytes that participate in the immune response, using flow cytometry and Elisa assays, explained the specialist in an interview with Granma daily.

Cuba studying genetic factors of patients recovered from COVID-19

After taking the blood sample, these are taken to the laboratories of the National Center for Medical Genetics to submit them to the tests related to the study, in which the Immunoassay Center also participatesthe Immunoglobulin g test is done there to identify if the person has specific antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virusand the Center for Molecular Immunology.

The results could help scientists to characterize all the factors related to the incidence of the disease, its lethality and clinical and therapeutic approach in each case.

If, for example, an individual is identified as being more vulnerable to symptoms or severity, strategies to prevent such severity could be applied with early therapeutic interventions, Marcheco added.

By identifying the genetic factors related to clinical severity, we will be taking a significant step at the same time in the objective of developing personalized treatments that respond to individual genetic characteristics, strengthening the implementation of population-based prevention strategies, she explained.

The studies we are conducting also allow us to appreciate how each person is recovering individually from a disease that strongly damages the immune system. Therefore, the research project contains actions that are part of the strategy of our health system in the post-COVID-19 stage of each patient, she said.

The screening also includes the study of a first-degree relative (mother, father, son or daughter, brother or sister) who lives with the positive case and was exposed to the virus, but had no symptoms nor was positive for COVID-19.

The study of these subjects can be very useful in identifying protective factors against the virus and that is also important in terms of prevention, the scientist concluded.

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In what does Cuba's genetic study of patients recovered from COVID-19 consist of? - OnCubaNews

Immunology

Health Matters: Repeat of Covid-19 Update – Fact from Fiction – Red River Radio

Airs Thursday, July 2, 2020, at 6 p.m. REPEAT -Information about COVID-19 in the news and on social media can be confusing. Tune in for Health Matters, Thursday at 6 p.m. Dr. Randall Brewer will be joined by Dr. Andrew Yurochko, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and Dr. Jeremy Kamil, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, both with LSU Health Shreveport, to help us separate fact from fiction and also tell us if the virus is showing mutations. This is a repeat broadcast and no calls will be taken.

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Health Matters: Repeat of Covid-19 Update - Fact from Fiction - Red River Radio

Immunology

Nobelists: scientists ‘circled the wagons’ over coronavirus threat – Times Higher Education (THE)

Scientists have circled the wagons during the coronavirus pandemic, Nobel laureates have argued, and been afraid to have a truly open debate about whether the virus is as deadly as feared and if lockdowns are justified.

Michael Levitt, a winner of the chemistry prize in 2013 and, since February, an outspoken contrarian voice on the pandemic, said he had received only abuse from fellow scientists for questioning predictions of catastrophic death tolls.

Using statistical analysis across different countries with varying degrees of lockdown, Professor Levitt has repeatedly and publicly argued that the virus slows far earlier than would be expected if everyone was susceptible, possibly indicating some kind of prior immunity.

Just 15 per cent of the population needs to be infected to reach herd immunity, he believes.

The data had very clear things to say, he told the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, an annual gathering of prizewinning academics and young researchers, itself moved online due to coronavirus.

But when sharing his results, nobody said to me, let me check your numbers. They all just said, stop talking like that, he said.

At the beginning of the crisis, scientists failed to collectively ask basic questions like does this thing grow exponentially, said Professor Levitt, Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill professor in cancer research at Stanford University.

Physicists and theoretical chemists who understand trajectories were often better qualified to analyse the pandemic than epidemiologists, who see their job not as getting things correct, but preventing an epidemic, leading them to overstate the threat, he argued in a debate on the role of science in a crisis.

We should never have listened to the epidemiologists, Professor Levitt said. They have caused hundreds of billions of dollars worth of suffering and damage, mainly on the younger generation, he said. Its going to make 9/11 look like a baby story.

Instead of one or two voices dominating the debate, scientific institutions like the Royal Society should have formed a committee back in February to convene a range of experts, Professor Levitt argued.

Instead, we let economics and politics dictate the science, he said. For me, the worst opposition I got was from very, very prominent scientists, who were so scared that the non-scientists would break quarantine and infect them.

Many experts have pushed back against Professor Levitts arguments. As yet, there is no proof of widespread immunity to Covid-19, and the spread has slowed in many countries following lockdowns.

Still, Professor Levitt was not the only laureate to worry that scientists had hidden uncertainty during the pandemic. Saul Perlmutter, a physics prizewinner in 2011, said when scientists felt under attack because the democratic system fails to heed them, there was a tendency to circle the wagons and hide all the conversations that need to happen.

Scientists get scared about whether politicians will respond to them and so take a frozen moment of science and stick to that line until somebody hears it in the political world, said Professor Perlmutter, Franklin W. and Karen Weber Dabby of physics at the University of California, Berkeley.

But Peter Doherty, an immunology expert who won the medicine prize in 1996, defended other aspects of the scientific response to coronavirus, arguing that in the hunt for treatments and a vaccine, researchers had worked with extraordinary speed, and with extraordinary cooperation.

I think science comes out of it very well in fact, and I think thats the general perception, said Professor Doherty, laureate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Melbourne.

david.matthews@timeshighereducation.com

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Nobelists: scientists 'circled the wagons' over coronavirus threat - Times Higher Education (THE)

Anatomy

What Happened After ‘Greys Anatomy’ Showrunner Got Personal About White Privilege on Twitter – Hollywood Reporter

Krista Vernoff talks about her viral social media post on racism that drew praise from Ava DuVernay and led to frank conversations with her own teenagers.

Just after 9 a.m. on June 15, at the start of a new week, Greys Anatomy and Station 19 showrunner Krista Vernoff posted an 11-tweet thread detailing past experiences, or lack thereof, with police.

The encounters included getting booked at 15 for stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise but never handcuffed; pulled over for drunk driving at 18 but getting out of it by faking asthma to avoid a breathalyzer; being lightly reprimanded and sent home by police after punching a guy in the face standing two feet from a cop; and between the ages of 11-22 being chased or admonished by police for drinking and doing drugs on private property or in public.

The revelations served to illuminate the ways white people are treated by law enforcement in the wake of yet another killing of a Black person by police: Rayshard Brooks, in Atlanta, on June 12. Im asking the white people reading this to think about the crimes youve committed, Vernoff posed. You dont call them crimes. You and your parents call them mistakes. Think of all the mistakes youve made that you were allowed to survive.

The thread went viral, with more than 128,000 retweets, among them filmmaker Ava DuVernay who replied This is a white woman talking honestly about her experiences and its one of the best threads on the criminalization of Black people that Ive read lately.

As for Vernoff, she tells THR: The thread going viral necessitated some conversations with my three teenagers. Those were stories from my life that I had not yet shared with them. The fact that there have been no career ramifications and only support from my peers in Hollywood is another reflection of my white privilege.

A version of this story first appeared in the July 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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What Happened After 'Greys Anatomy' Showrunner Got Personal About White Privilege on Twitter - Hollywood Reporter

Anatomy

Weather Wednesday: Anatomy of a Heat Wave – WLNS

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) Michigan residents are known for being outside during the summer season, and soaking in the sunshine and heat. Michiganders are no strangers to heat, humidity or even a heat wave.

In the upcoming forecast, there is a stretch of time where highs are forecasted in the 90s. The definition of a heat wave is three days with highs at 90 degrees or more. Early in the summer season, this heat will make its mark as minimal rainfall is expected during what could be almost a two week period.

StormTracker 6 Chief Meteorologist David Young explains the science of a heat wave during this weeks Weather Wednesday segment.

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Weather Wednesday: Anatomy of a Heat Wave - WLNS

Anatomy

Anatomy of a Panel: Alex Sanchez Brings YOU BROUGHT ME THE OCEAN – Comicosity

Comics history is intermedial, seeing its evolution as a journey of creative cross-pollinations with stage, photographic, musical, film, animation, radio, and long and short form prose narrative arts. Along with this history, there have been notable creator cross-overs and bi-directional cross-flows.

From comics to long form narrative fiction we have notables like Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dennis ONeil, Chris Claremont, and G. Willow Wilson. And, from long form narrative fiction to comics we have notables such as Marjorie Lu , Stephen King, Jonathan Lethem, Margaret Atwood, Duane Swierczynski, and Greg Rucka.

To this latter, famed list we can now add Alex Sanchez, author of DCs hot-off-press, You Brought Me the Ocean (2020).

Alex brings more than his novel-writing narrative chops to DCs new line of teen graphic novels. He brings his extraordinary skill at building ethnoracial and queer teen storyworlds to DCs teen super-hero reboots.

In all his fiction, Alex draws deeply on his own autobiographical experience. Born in Mexico City. Grown in Tejas where he also struggled with coming out as gay. Higher educated at Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University.

With his fictional writing skills honed at the Fine Arts Work Center in Massachusetts, he chose to return to his seminal struggles with his sexuality and ethnoracial identity. He began churning out middle-grade and young adult ethnoracial and queer-themed novels, including the award-winning Rainbow Boys (2001), as well as Rainbow High (2003), So Hard to Say (2004), Rainbow Road (2005), Getting It (2006), Bait (2009), and Boyfriends with Girlfriends (2011), among others.

Alex shared his creative process and insights in the creation of Jackson Hydes coming of age and coming out story as gay and as the Aqualad superhero in the magical and magisterial You Brought Me the Ocean.

Cover art by Julie Maroh

Frederick Luis Aldama: Alex, I am so, so excited to be talking with you about your latestthe graphic novel You Brought Me the Ocean. It combines all of my loves: YA novels, LGBTQ themes, and comic books!!! Can you share a little bit about your journey first with gay teen fiction and now the move into comic books?

Alex Sanchez: Being a teenager can be a tough time. For me it was very confusing and scary, in large part because I was sorting out my attraction to guys, not girls. I had bottled all this up inside, until I began to write.

At first, I was scared to put on the page all these conflicts and struggles with my identity. It was scarier still to share this with other people. To make myself vulnerable to rejection, once again. The process was also incredibly empowering. To be able to say, this is who I am and to connect with others and receive positive feedback. Writing fiction is all about emotional honesty. Its about putting our innermost thoughts and feelings on the page.

FLA: In 2001 you published Rainbow Boys right at the cusp of teen fiction explosion, both in terms of industry and also creativity.

AS: Harry Potter had blown open the YA market, not just attracting more young readers but also more adults. Teen fiction was telling powerful, real-life stories. Within this scene, Rainbow Boys was considered groundbreaking. Up until this point, LGBT characters that had appeared were loners, usually committed suicide or died tragically. No one dies in my novel, instead focusing on and developing the love triangle between three high school senior boys.

FLA: The way you build complexity of emotions, ethics, and actions into your teen fiction has since created empowered YA queer reading communities. Comic books can also be a space for creating communities of readersespecially those pushed to the edges. And now you are creating within this storytelling spacean exciting one with DCs recent launch of its teen graphic fiction series.

AS: DC wants to reach a broader audience than those who typically read comic books. They want these graphic novels to focus on real-life teen issues, including sexuality and sexual orientation. After asking around who might be a good writer to do this, they reached out to me to see if I might be interested in writing a new version of Aqualad, who had identified as gay in previous versions.

I was really excited. Unlike a 32-page comic book, I knew that I could go more in-depth into the emotional experience of the characters with the graphic novels 150-200 pages.

I was excited, too, because there just arent very many LGBT superheroes. The superhero genre traditionally has worked as more of a metaphor for LGBT readers: growing up queer and having to live with secret identities and double lives because were dealing with this real-life super villain thats homophobia and transphobia. I was excited to explore Jake Hydes coming out with his sexuality and discovering his superpowers.

FLA: In the introduction, you talk about monsters in comics and also how LGBTQ folx and people of color in the US continue to be seen as deviants as monsters?

AS: Im an immigrant from Mexico. I was five-years-old when we moved to Texas and faced a lot of prejudice against Mexicans. At the time, I couldnt understand why they were picking on me for being Mexican. I felt like I was a monster just because of who I was. As I got older and realized that I was romantically attracted to boys as well as girls, I felt like there was something wrong with me; that I was a monster.

In You Brought Me the Ocean, Jake struggles with people who consider him monstrous for being gay and for having these strange markings on his body. Hes picked on, bullied, and harassed just because hes different.

FLA: Writing a graphic novel was a new creative foray for you. Was there a moment when you hesitated to take the project?

AS: It was both exciting and scary. Even though I loved to draw as a boy and read my fair share of comics, I knew nothing about writing graphic novels. DC told me not to worry: That I knew how to tell a story, to focus on the emotional core of the story, and not to worry about doing ton of research about the character. They gave me tremendous freedom make the story my own. To really write the story that I wanted to tell.

They did set some perimeters, including that it needed to be set in the DC universe. So, when Jake and his best friend, Maria, walk through the desert they see Superman swooshing through sky, setting it in the DC Universe and reminding readers that this is a superhero story. And, DC did provide me and other authors training in writing for a graphic novel.

FLA: Alex, so how does writing a graphic novel script differ from writing a novel?

AS: To start out, I didnt realize that they are written in script form; like a movie script except but that also includes breaking the script down into panels. More specifically, I see several key differences from writing a standard prose novel.

One, because of this breaking down into panels aspect you have more control over how its going to be seen on the page. You can pace it according to how many panels and where you are on the page.

Two, theres the importance of the page turn: whats going to be in that bottom right panelespecially on the right-side pagethats going to keep the reader turning the pages. So, as Im writing the script, Im thinking about what hook will appear in that bottom right panel that will take the reader to the next page.

Third, the panels should be dynamicand not just talking heads. In other words, your eye shouldnt be directed straight to the dialogue or to the captions, they should be directed to the actions, expressions and body language of the characters in the panels. For each panel I would figure out how it could be more dynamic in terms of how the characters might be doing something that would cause the eye to pause.

Ideally, when were reading a graphic novel were doing so on two levels: the text (dialogue and the captions) and the pictures. Thats the power of its storytelling. Otherwise, it may as well just be writing straight prose.

FLA: Can you speak to the collaborative process?

AS: This was really exciting for me. When I write a novel, I have a vague idea of what the character is going to look like. Working with Julie Mohr known for Blue Is the Warmest Color I was able to then to see how they brought the characters to life. Julies artwork is so gorgeous. Its so exhilarating as a writer to see the characters that I created come to life through the artists creation.

FLA: Did you write the script from A-Z then share with Julie?

AS: Working with the editor Sarah Miller, I broke down my original synopsis into chunks of script that we then sent to Julie; Julie created some initial sketches that DC published at the end of the book so you can see what they did there, their process. And then Julie went to work.

I have so much admiration for Julie because they were cranking out five pages (20-30 panels) a week. I dont know how they did it. Julie is such a talent. She is able to capture an incredible range of emotions with the characters.

FLA: Id even go so far as to say that by bringing you and Julie together to create You Brought Me the Ocean is giving an otherwise stagnant DC a jolt of life. Can you tell us about the storys setting?

AS: In previous Aqualad stories, Jackson Hyde (son of Black Manta) lives as far away from the water and Black Manta as possible. He lives in Silver City, New Mexico. I changed the town name to Truth or Consequences a town Id driven through before. The name resonated for me in terms of the story and themes of truth, honesty, and being true to who we are.

FLA: The landscape and architecture as well as the racial demographic is so diverse and different.

AS: Its muted earth tones the tans and browns and oranges and yellows and Julies watercolors the blues and turquoise and green capture this beautifully. As the story unfolds, Julies colors become more vibrant. In the same way that as writer I use all my writer tools to build the conflict and escalate the complications, so too does Julie use her artist tools to make visually vivid the story as it unfolds.

FLA: For the most part, the parents in your storyworld are gentle with the teenagers. So often in coming out stories, the struggle and conflict is built into the relationship between the teen and parent. In fact, Jacks mom is more worried about him coming into his superpowers than coming out?

AS: Whether it be a hero or a villain, I want the reader to be able to connect to all the characters I create. So even for the bully in this story that isnt very likable, I wanted to get at his real human feelings his jealousies and motivations to make him so the reader can at least understand him. This creates in the reader a cognitive dissonance: Im not supposed to like this character, but I understand them. Cut and dry characters dont reflect the complex range of our motivations. We all have a mix of good and bad in us.

FLA: Jake and Kenny are gay and ethnoracially identified as a matter of fact as part of everyday life.

AS: Creating this story as a graphic novel meant that I didnt have to be commenting on their race and ethnicity. You see it on the page. What I find so exciting about graphic novels is how diversity and diverse images can simply exist visually on the page.

FLA: A-listers like Spider-man, Batman, Captain America, Iron Man all wear masks of some sort. For Jake, the challenge is really to take his mask off, right?

AS: Jakes story is the combination of superhero with real life. The real super villain in our lives is transphobia and homophobia, forcing us when growing up to wear the mask of straightness. For Jake to express himself he has to learn to be true to who he is.

Empowerment is not being forced to deny aspects of ourselves and being able to embrace the totality of who we are as integrated human. My hope is, that young readers will walk away from Jakes story knowing that their superpower is being able to embrace all of who they areand with this empowerment contribute in powerful ways to make the world a better place.

FLA: Might you unpack page 65 when Jake struggles with his body and dreams of leaving town for the ocean where he can figure out who I truly am.

AS: As Im writing a page like this, Im thinking constantly, how can I make this part of the story as visual as possible. Jakes going through a dark moment. He needs to make a decision about who he is and where his life is going. He falls back on his bed and stares up at the ceiling. But having him just staring up at the ceiling is a boring image.

I wanted to make visually more exciting and to convey this sense of him wanting to leave escape his confinement. So, I decided to put a map of the world on his ceiling that he can look at and dream. Julie captured this so beautifully in the final image.

DC told us to can give the artist words that describe what the character is feeling in any given moment. Julie took my words then visually rendered his different emotions through the drawing of his body posture and expression.

The second image shows Jake filled with shame as he looks at his reflection in a mirror. Hes shedding the outer skin, the covering that hes always wearing in public. He has the shame, the shame about those markings, so now hes like uncovering the shame and looking at who he is. This emotion turns to disappointment a loss of hope in the following image with him in the chair.

Julie has Jakes slumped over. The image with him lying on his back conveys his vulnerability. Julies black swirls express the confusion and darkness that hes feeling at that moment. The floating fish is there to keep the story fun and a reminder that while the story deals with serious issues, its also a fun superhero story.

FLA: How about pages 102-103 when Jake and Kenny first kiss?

AS: I wanted this sequence to really convey the longing and romance between the two. I gave Julie a description of whats happening in each panel: whos looking at who, whos talking to who, what is each of them feeling. In the very first panel, Jake is unbuttoning his shirt. In the second panel Kenny is looking up at him from the pool.

With the second page I wanted to convey the sensuality of them holding and touching each other. Here we have Kenny giving Jake a little foot massage. And one of the things I learned long ago in my writing, whenever you have characters making physical contact, that lights of up something in our brains, because how powerful that is in real life, whether were shaking hands or touching someone on the shoulder.

Physical contact gives us that sensory sense that can be stimulating for us as a readers. In the final panels, Jake and Kenny reach out to one another, touch, then kiss.

FLA: Your dialogues very carefully crafted. It both feels like this is teenagers talking to each other, and it intensifies their longing, desire, and love of one another. In a beautifully sensitive moment, Kenny asks permission to touch that usually untouched part of our body toes and feet.

AS: Because it is a YA graphic novel, the aim is not only to tell a good story, but at the same time to give a representation for young gay people about how they might approach each other and how to communicate ones desires. When LGBT teen readers of my novels let me know that my characters were their role models, I realized that its okay to create positive role models for these young readers to learn how to navigate their lives.

FLA: The work that you do is incredible, Alex. I feel very honored to have had this moment with you.

AS: Well, thank you so much. I have enjoyed it tremendously.

Want more? Check out Professor Latinxs video chat with Alex Sanchez!

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Anatomy of a Panel: Alex Sanchez Brings YOU BROUGHT ME THE OCEAN - Comicosity

Anatomy

Anatomy of a winner: picking a coronavirus success stock – Proactive Investors UK

While the pandemic has roiled global markets, and society, since March, investors may have found success among the lockdown if they had parked their cash in a number of sectors and industries ahead of the crisis

While the wider market has been plunged into almost historical volatility as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the subsequent lockdown measures around the world and the added bonus of an oil price crash, some companies have seen the recent turmoil as a boon to their share prices.

If investors had decided to ring in the new year by parking their cash in any of the companys below, they are likely to have made a tidy profit off of the coronavirus crisis, netting them something of a pandemic payday.

While it may perhaps seem obvious, the pandemic has seen a surge in the value of multiple biotechnology firms, particularly those that have projects related to either battling the symptoms of coronavirus or working towards a vaccine.

It is, in fact, a biotech that since has seen the largest share price increase across the entire London market since January 2. In late March, () was provided emergency authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to deploy its test for coronavirus, just when the outbreak was accelerating in several western countries.

Since then, the firm has secured a slew of manufacturing agreements as well as other deal relating to testing for the virus, while since the start of the year its shares have rocketed over 1,700% to around 258p at Thursdays close.

Other groups in the sector that have seen their share prices surge on the back of pandemic demand include (), which is currently testing whether its SNG001 treatment, designed to help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are also suffering cold or flu infections, can be repurposed to help coronavirus sufferers. Its shares have risen nearly 650% since the start of the year.

Another big biotech riser is Avacta PLC (), which so far this year has surged around 616% as its Affimer technology is incorporated into rapid tests for coronavirus.

With the pandemic playing havoc with equities, one beneficiary of the coronavirus fallout has been the traditional haven asset of gold, which has seen its price steadily climb over the last six months before hitting an eight-year high of around US$1,770 an ounce earlier this month.

The surge also shows little signs of receding, with some experts [LINK] predicting the price could reach as high as US$3,000.

The scramble for the yellow metal has provided a boost to the worlds gold miners, as after having struggled in recent years to secure funding for exploration now find themselves facing a market willing to provide almost unlimited funding in pursuit of a secure investment.

AIM 100 gold explorer (), which has a portfolio of gold projects in Western Australia, has seen its share price climb around 556% since the start of January.

Other small caps riding the wave of gold price appreciation are West-African focused explorer Goldstone Resources Limited (), which has seen a 314% rise in its share price since the start of the year, while fellow African miner, (), has jumped 146% in value.

One of the more notable and substantial changed brought upon by the outbreak is the proliferation of technology enabling both students and workers to interact and perform their tasks remotely as office spaces and schools closed to comply with lockdown measures.

While the technology to allow remote working and schooling has existed for years, many businesses and schools are now being forced to adopt these measures to ensure a childs continued education as well as the continued viability of a companys operating structure.

This shift, which is already being discussed as a potential new normal, firms such as VR Education PLC () has seen its share surge around 120% since the start of the year as the lockdown has driven renewed interest in ENGAGE, the companys virtual reality (VR) platform designed to allow users to interact in virtual classrooms and offices.

Another beneficiary of the boom in teleworking is conference call specialist () as its shares have surged just under 96% since the start of 2020.

These three sectors are not the only industries to achieve winner status within the volatile market.

With so many in isolation during lockdown delivery firms have found themselves firmly in demand to ferry products from businesses to customers, with the likes of grocery group () up around 57% so far this year while Poland-focused pizza delivery group () has jumped 60%.

The effects of the pandemic on global markets have also proved to be a boon for the LSEs spread-betters, which has seen demand surge as traders look to take advantage of the turbulent markets or to offload their holdings and cut losses.

() has seen its value increase by 84% during the economic crisis, while peer () has climbed just shy of 50%.

Video game firms and shrewd investment funds have also partaken in the coronavirus boom, however the enduring success of the firms with rocketing market caps may depend much more on the new normal the world, and markets, will now face.

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Anatomy of a winner: picking a coronavirus success stock - Proactive Investors UK

Anatomy

Greys Anatomy Season 17 : Amelia And Lincoln Soon Parted? – Auto Freak

Season 17 of Greys Anatomy is currently in preparation. Amelia may opt to put an end.

Fans of Greys Anatomy are waiting for the season. Lincoln and amelia are close, but they could break in another season. Beware, the report contains spoilers.

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Season 16 of Greys Anatomy has had some concerns because of the Covid-19. The fans have not been able to see this seasons four episodes. But that they could follow along with the maternity of Amelia.

Amelia has undergone a range of disasters in love, and its put an end to his background with Owen. In reality, Owen wished to begin a family, and Teddy has had a kid with him. Thus, the sister of Derek moved nearer to Lincoln.

Lincoln is shown to individual, and hes managed to conquer Amelia. This one is pregnant, and they have chosen to maintain the child. But she had some doubts since she thought that Owen could be the father of the infant.

This generated some worries between Amelia and Lincoln, and they even broke up in the season 16 of Greys Anatomy. So far, understand he is the father of the baby, and they have begun to locate Lincoln.

So, in the last few episodes of Greys Anatomy, Amelia gave Lincoln and arrival remained at his side. They form a beautiful little family, and Lincoln is quite caring for her and the baby.

However, we are aware that the writers are cruel with the personalities of the series. As a result of this, we wonder if this pleasure will last in season 17. In fact, there has ever been a significant drama to put an end to couples. It remembers April and Jackson, whos busted after having lost their infant.

Then, the showrunners are they likely to conserve Amelia and Lincoln? The two young parents are going to already have to learn how to take care of the baby while managing their use of time. Find solutions, and Lincoln should triumph to appease his love, although this promises to a few issues of the business.

In any case, Lincoln and Amelias life will change a lot in season 17 of Greys Anatomy. We all hope that nothing will interfere with their happiness, because everyone is quite glad that the sister of Derek has finally found love!

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Greys Anatomy Season 17 : Amelia And Lincoln Soon Parted? - Auto Freak