Neuroscience

Andre Walker Balancing Career in NFL And Neuroscience – Heavy.com

GettyA video board displays the text "THE PICK IS IN" for the Carolina Panthers.

Former Houston Baptist defensive end, Andre Walker III, is one of the most intriguing prospects in this years NFL Draft class.

The 61 225 pound collegiate defensive end turned professional linebacker has captured the attention of multiple NFL scouts and team personnel.

Walker is arguably one of the best pass rushers in the 2020 class and has separated himself as one of the best FCS prospects available.

In his last year at Houston Baptist, Walker was second in all of division one in sacks per game. He averaged an impressive 1.25 sacks per contest which trailed only Ohio States Chase Young at 1.38 sacks per game.

Young will likely be a top 5 pick in April. On the other hand, Walker will probably be a day 2 or day 3 selection.

Yet, Walker has the potential to be one of those hidden gems selected in the later rounds of the draft that could immediately produce for a franchise.

Walkers attention to detail, commitment to precision, and ability to retain information quickly will make him a stellar professional football player on the next level.

However, his love for neuroscience could make him one of the most influential players the game has ever witnessed.

Walker is a New Orleans, Louisiana, native who was not highly recruited coming out of high school.

Even though Walker competed in the same high school district as some of the most notable names in college football such as LSUs Kristian Fulton and JaMarr Chase in addition to Alabamas Dylan Moses, he did not receive the same level of interest from those schools.

The talented defensive playmaker admitted that he was small coming out of high school and only weighed 213 pounds. He was able to capture a few FCS offers but he decided to attend Houston Baptist to leave his legacy on an emerging program.

I wasnt getting a lot of attention, said Walker. Houston Baptist was a small school but I felt excited about working with the program and I just wanted to build up a legacy to help start something new.

As a result of his decision to go to Houston Baptist, Walker would not only gain powerful football insight to transform his playing career, he would gain knowledge to transform the minds of others.

Walker graduated from his university after majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He maintained a 3.69 GPA while becoming a major force in FCS opponents backfields.

A lot of times I would be missing practice because I was in lab, stated Walker. There were a lot of research experiments I had to do outside of class.

Even last season we tried to isolate a bacteriophage from sweat, Walker continued. So, after every practice I would run up and collect everybodys sweat. I was sitting there ringing out shirts and stuff.

Walkers commitment to both the classroom and the football field have helped create one of the most interesting prospects that we have seen come into the Draft in years.

The defensive standout plans to go to medical school when he is done playing football and wants to transition into becoming a neurosurgeon.

Walker has had a significant interest in the brain for awhile and says that he was inspired to study the brain when he realized the detrimental effects that the sport of football could cause on arguably the most important organ in your body.

CTE is what actually sparked my interest in medicine, said Walker. Neurodegeneration is definitely something I am going to study in the future.

For Walker, the future might be closer than you think. He may look to balance his science interests while testing different methods to get to the quarterback on Sundays.

Im really big on Astrophysics and all that type of stuff so you know who knows at that point, said Walker. Im really leaning toward space medicine as well too theres really a lot of things I can do with it Just taking it day by day and doing my research.

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Andre Walker Balancing Career in NFL And Neuroscience - Heavy.com

Neuroscience

The Science Of Falling In Love – NPR

A promotional still from Skunk Bear's episode "A Neuroscience Love Song." Adam Cole/NPR's Skunk Bear hide caption

A promotional still from Skunk Bear's episode "A Neuroscience Love Song."

Ever wonder what's causing all those reactions in your body when you're falling in love with someone? We certainly did. So, we called up Adam Cole. He's a freelancer right now (read: for hire), but back in the day, he worked for NPR's Skunk Bear. That's when he gathered up a bunch of science about bodily reactions to love and wrote "A Neuroscience Love Song."

You can check out the additional reporting he and co-producer Ryan Kellman did around the Skunk Bear episode here. Plus, see their entire YouTube series here.

Follow Maddie Sofia and Adam Cole on Twitter. Email love letters to the show at shortwave@npr.org.

- XOXO, Short Wave

This episode was produced by Rebecca Ramirez and edited by Viet Le.

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The Science Of Falling In Love - NPR

Neuroscience

Will That Antidepressant Work For You? The Answer May Lie In Your Brain Waves – WMFE

Scientists have taken a small step toward personalizing treatment for depression.

A study of more than 300 people with major depression found that brain wave patterns predicted which ones were most likely to respond to the drug sertraline (Zoloft), a team reported Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

If the approach pans out, it could offer better care for the millions of people in the U.S. with major depression.

This is definitely a step forward, says Michele Ferrante, who directs the computational psychiatry and computational neuroscience programs at the National Institute of Mental Health. He was not a part of the study.

Right now, one of our great frustrations is that when a patient comes in with depression we have very little idea what the right treatment for them is, says Dr. Amit Etkin, an author of the study and a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University. Essentially, the medications are chosen by trial and error.

Etkin is also the CEO of Alto Neuroscience, a Stanford-backed start-up developing computer-based approaches to diagnosing mental illness and selecting treatments.

In the study, researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze the brainwave patterns in more than 300 patients whod been diagnosed with major depression. Then they looked to see what happened when these same patients started treatment with sertraline.

And one pattern of electrical activity seemed to predict how well a patient would do. If the person scores particularly high on that, the recommendation would be to get sertraline, Etkin says.

Also, people whose brain waves showed they wouldnt do well with the drug, were more likely to respond to a non-drug therapy called transcranial magnetic stimulation.

The results suggest depression treatment doesnt have to rely on trial and error. By finding people who are particularly sensitive to an antidepressant, we can find those people for whom the drug is very effective, Etkin says.

And he says most psychiatrists and psychologists already have the EEG equipment needed to collect brainwave data though they would need to upload that data to be analyzed.

Its something that could be done very quickly and easily in any clinic, and then you can get your result by the time you leave the office, he says.

Someday, perhaps, says Ferrante. It should be clear that these are like just the first promising efforts in that space, he says.

But Ferrante thinks the study shows that scientists are finally getting closer to understanding how to pick the best treatment for someone with depression.

We are certainly pushing in that direction, he says.

The next step will be to show whether depression patients really are more likely to get better when treatment is decided by brain wave patterns, Ferrante says, adding that future research will need to include more than a single drug.

What we would like to have is models that can distinguish across multiple treatments, he says.

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Will That Antidepressant Work For You? The Answer May Lie In Your Brain Waves - WMFE

Neuroscience

Why virtual reality is a ‘far from perfect’ tool for studying how the brain works – Genetic Literacy Project

Virtual Reality (VR) is not just for video games. Researchers use it in studies of brains from all kinds of animals .Thishas become a powerful tool in neuroscience, because it has many advantages for researchers that allow them to answer new questions about the brain.

If youve ever experienced VR, you know that it is still quite far from the real world. And this has consequences for how your brain responds to it.

One ofthe issues with VRis thelimited number of sensesit works on. Often the environment is only projected on a screen, giving visual input, without the subject getting any other inputs, such as touch or smell.

We know that we should be critical when interpreting results from neuroscience studies that use VR. Although VR is a great tool, it is far from perfect, and it affects the way our brain acts. We should not readily accept conclusions from VR studies, without first considering how the use of VR in that study may have affected those conclusions. Hopefully, as our methods get more sophisticated, the differences in brain activity between VR and the real world will also become smaller.

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Why virtual reality is a 'far from perfect' tool for studying how the brain works - Genetic Literacy Project

Neuroscience

Physician-scientist bridges the neurobiology lab to the NICU – Newswise

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Newswise As a neonatologist at UChicago Medicine Comer Childrens Hospital,Timothy Sanders, MD, PhD, provides care for some of the most vulnerable infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. But as a scientist with a lab in theGrossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, he studies some of the most basic elements of life, including how cells organize and communicate with each other during embryogenesis to develop tissues, organs, limbs and the nervous system.

Sanders earned his PhD in neurobiology at the University of Chicago in the lab ofCliff Ragsdale, PhD, who is best known for decoding the octopus genome. After medical school and additional training in neonatal medicine elsewhere, these two stages of Sanders career would seem like polar opposites, yet his background is characteristic of a physician-scientist at the University of Chicago Medicine.

I came back to the University of Chicago, in part because of the rich intellectual community that is engaging, welcoming and open to collaboration, he said. The developmental biology community and the neuroscience community are exceptional, both in talent and also in their willingness to embrace new ideas and to explore projects. I find that very appealing.

Sanders studies the mechanisms that early embryos and maturing tissues use as the blueprint for development at a cellular level. These mechanisms are essential for understanding how organs develop and how tissues prepare themselves to regenerate. While some developmental biologists focus on how genetic instructions embedded in DNA determine the shape and form of cells and tissues, Sanders believes that their ultimate fate is also determined by their environment, which instructs the behavior of cells and in turn activates their developmental programs.

Using powerful new imaging tools and data processing technology, partnering with the likes of UChicagosAdvanced Electron Microscopy FacilityandIntegrated Light Microscopy Core Facility, this line of inquiry can help Sanders and his colleagues understand not just how tissues form, but what happens when things go wrong. These early cellular mishaps can lead to the kinds of congenital anomalies Sanders sees in patients from the NICU, things like cleft lip and palate, missing digits or malformed limbs, or spinal conditions like spina bifida. By learning more about the root causes of these conditions, he hopes to uncover clues to predicting or even preventing them.

Yes, we can understand how congenital malformations occur, but how can we convince cells to regenerate and repair themselves? How can we more effectively use stem cells during this process? he said. Now with advanced imaging, we can actually look and see at extremely high resolution how cells are communicating and reacting to their environment during development.

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Physician-scientist bridges the neurobiology lab to the NICU - Newswise

Neuroscience

Looking age in the eye: Daniel J. Levitin on how to live well, not just longer – Montreal Gazette

The numbers dont lie.

In 2018, 17.2 per cent of Canadians were 65 or older. By 2030, according to Statistics Canada, that number will be up to 23 per cent. There are more of us, and whats more, were living longer. But are we living better? The jury is very much out on that question.

We need to learn to think more in terms of health span, and less in terms of simple life span, said part-time Montrealer Daniel J. Levitin. The writer, cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist and musician sensed a gap in the literature on the subject and, as he has done with such bestselling titles as This Is Your Brain on Music and The Organized Mind, he set out to fill it.

My parents are in their 80s and I wanted to recommend a book for them, the 62-year-old said last week. I looked and looked, but couldnt find one. I realized that a lot of the new neuroscience hadnt trickled down to the average person, so I read roughly 4,000 peer-reviewed papers, thinking, How would I explain this to my parents?

The result is Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives (Allen Lane, 528 pages, $34), a wide-ranging work that confirms the authors flair for marshalling voluminous research and tested science into an accessible whole a layered practice in which, in his words, what might seem like superficial things are stand-ins for really big issues.

Part of the societal narrative that I want to push back on is that we tend to think of life as comprising these developmental stages prenatal, infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and so on, and that after some point 65, 70, whatever its just decline, Levitin said. And thats not borne out by the research.

(Old age) is a distinct developmental stage, and as with any other, there are pluses and minuses. So I wanted to write about what science had to say about the course of aging and what happens in the brain, from the womb right up to old age.

As for practical application, said Levitin, The book wasnt intended as a problem-solving book, a what do I do about my elderly aunt? book. What Im really concerned with is that we start talking about and preparing for (old age) sooner.

A big part of that, he stressed, has to do with making the appropriate decision, whenever possible, about where you live: the common desire to retire to a rural or exurban setting, for example, comes with complications. In Successful Aging, a three-part catchphrase ice cream, lunch and light bulbs serves as a way into the idea.

If you want to just walk down the street and get an ice cream and be surrounded by people, are you living in a way that allows you to be spontaneous? Levitin said. Are you in a place socially and geographically where you can have a standing (weekly) lunch with someone? As for the light bulb, are you really going to climb a ladder to replace it, or is there someone who can help you?

Daniel J. Levitin, the James McGill Professor Emeritus of behavioural neuroscience at McGill University, displays his knack for making potentially daunting research accessible in Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives.John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette

Another popular perception Levitin would like to help dispel is the idea that people need less sleep as they get older.

When were younger, as with other things, we can be somewhat cavalier about sleep, he said. But as we get older some bodily systems become less efficient, and one of the things that declines is the ability of your biological clock to reset itself. Sleep hygiene is the idea that you have to look after and tend to your sleep cycle by going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time every day, insofar as possible. Older people tend to get less sleep, but they need eight or nine hours just like the rest of us. Many cases of Alzheimers are misdiagnosed cases of sleep deprivation.

For all the growing unease about possible long-term effects of online culture, the digital realm is undeniably where were having more and more of our interactions a situation Levitin is at pains to warn against.

I like that in the three minutes every morning I allocate to Facebook I can quickly catch up on people who are far from me, he said. But its not a substitute for face-to-face conversation. Weve been sold a lack of nuance in the name of efficiency, but in the long run its less efficient, because nuance contributes to efficiency.

Montreal science writer Susan Pinker decries the relative lack of third spaces places other than home and the workplace where people can gather that cater to the elderly.Random House Canada

Another prominent Montreal science writer, Susan Pinker dealt with the subject above in her 2015 book The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier and Happier. She said last week that her subsequent research following my nose, she called it has underlined her findings.

The research has continued to indicate that in-person social interaction has a different impact on our brains and bodies than digital interaction, said Pinker, 62. Although she stressed that one needs to be careful when it comes to anti-digital jeremiads.

Ive found that theres no wrath quite like the wrath of a grandparent whos been told that Skype isnt as good as the real thing, she said. Dont try to tell someone that seeing her grandchilds face on a screen is a bad thing.

The increasing recognition of the need to balance out the atomizing effects of the internet in short, to get out more can be a challenge for those who are more inclined toward solitude and introspection.

You cant just will yourself out of that, Levitin acknowledged. But for many adults, after a certain age neurochemical shifts cause them to be more outgoing. Grandparents do tend to talk and communicate more than parents, and its the micro-connections that are crucial talking to your postal carrier, to the person next in line at the checkout counter at the grocery store. It brings you out of loneliness.

But I would add a distinction that I maybe didnt make enough of in the book that loneliness and solitude are not the same. Some people enjoy solitude and dont feel lonely; other people are lonely in a crowded room. Loneliness is the killer, not solitude. I write about Sonny Rollins, Donald Fagen, Malcolm Gladwell people who really seem to enjoy their solitude. I see Gladwell in New York City having lunch alone. Ive never seen him lunching with someone.

The need for what Pinker identifies as third spaces places other than home and the workplace where people can gather to satisfy a natural craving for human contact is increasingly evident.

If your municipality doesnt create them, then people will find them, Pinker said. Tims (Tim Hortons) is a great Canadian example of that.

The relative paucity of such places is an example of something Pinker decries with regard to the elderly: a frustrating gap between need and service.

I would love to see more policy efforts directed at the fact that we are living longer, and people who are living longer want to live well, she said. One of my biggest bugaboos about some of the cultural scenes here is that theyre not accessible to the seniors who would love to participate. My mom loves classical music, but my dad has passed away and shes having mobility issues, so shes not going to go by herself. But if the orchestra, say, convened a group of seniors and gave them a good deal on tickets, and had concerts for them, possibly during the day when its easier for them to get out, theyd get a huge number of subscribers. I dont think they see it that way. Theyre upset that their market is greying, as opposed to saying, Thats what our market is, lets go get them.

The book wasnt intended as a problem-solving book, a what do I do about my elderly aunt? book, Daniel J. Levitin says of Successful Aging. What Im really concerned with is that we start talking about and preparing for (old age) sooner.John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette

In much of the talk around age, the elephant in the room is the need to overcome deep-rooted cultural ageism. Progress is being made, but its an ongoing battle.

Its a huge battle, Levitin concurred. Even within the neuroscience community its not talked about. When you think about all of the different isms or prejudices that face society, whether its sexism, racism, prejudice against LGBTQ people all of these are far from solved, but at least theyre part of the national conversation. Theyre on the table. Ageism is not. If youre 60, 62, 65, its virtually impossible to get a promotion, very very difficult to move into a new company. Even in the arts, Ive seen musicians and artists denied the opportunities younger people would get, for reasons having nothing to do with talent.

Another question that needs addressing involves the growing existential crisis posed by climate change: Can we have more and more people staying active for longer and longer without overtaxing an environment already at crisis point? Levitin believes we can.

It seems to me that if youve got more people working and contributing to the economy, rather than drawing on a strained social insurance system, thats a good thing, he said. And if youve got more older people with experience and wisdom helping younger adults solve problems wisdom being the aggregate of experiences, and older adults being much better at problem solving thats a good thing, too.

ianmcgillis2@gmail.com

Margaret Atwood in Montreal in 2012: at the centre of our culture for longer than any other writer.Dario Ayala / Montreal Gazette files

There is no current shortage of people who have remained vital cultural presences far past the age when previous eras might have seen them step politely aside. Here are six of them.

Paul Simon

Anyone who witnessed Simons remarkable 2018 concert at the Bell Centre 2 1/2 hours of high-intensity performance, including a spot of lively Cajun two-step dancing had to be impressed at his protean energy and commitment to his art. Ive known him for many years, said Levitin. He said he decided (around) age 60, starting with the Youre the One album (in 2000), to raise his game and hone his craft to a new level. Not bad for someone whod been no slouch through age 59. (See also: Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Paul McCartney, Elton John.)

The Dalai Lama

His Holiness made a deep impression on Levitin when the writer visited him in India last year. He was 83 and he had just published his 125th book, Levitin said. Hes a very happy guy a bit of a prankster. He told me, The thing Ive discovered about being 83 is that when you tell people you dont want to travel, they say OK.

Margaret Atwood

The remarkable ongoing impact of The Handmaids Tale has underlined something we may sometimes take for granted: Atwood has been at the centre of our culture for longer than any other writer. At 80 she shows no sign of slowing down, and of all the praise we can bestow on her, theres none more telling than the fact that we have no real idea what she might do next.

Paul Simon showcased an undeniable energy and commitment to his art at the Bell Centre in 2018.Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette files

Charles Taylor

The acclaimed and influential 88-year-old philosopher is Susan Pinkers nomination for this list.Everybody has their own way of being human, something we each have to find in our own way, he told the Montreal Gazette in 2018. Thats something that needs to be articulated, and you find youre missing something if youre not going outside the usual objective factors and quantifiable things.

Larry David

Hailed as a style icon on the cover of the February issue of GQ magazine, David was already something of a late bloomer when he came to prominence as co-creator of Seinfeld. Now 72 and still very much visible as the face of Curb Your Enthusiasm, David found his niche by acknowledging indeed, embracing and celebrating his inner curmudgeon. Happiness is where you find it.

Sheila Fischman

The doyenne of Canadian literary translation remains on the job at 82, rendering Quebec writers like Kim Thy accessible to English-language readers just as she did for the first wave of modern Qubcois writers in the 1960s, and for every generation since.

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Looking age in the eye: Daniel J. Levitin on how to live well, not just longer - Montreal Gazette

Embryology

Everything you need to know about IVF – The New Indian Express

Express News Service

KOCHI: Infertility is a global issue affecting approximately 13 to 14 per cent of the population worldwide resulting in close to one in six couples facing difficulty in conceiving. However, with a better understanding of human reproductive physiology and the availability of modern diagnostic technology, more and more couples are receiving the gift of parenthood.

The birth of Louis Brown, the worlds first IVF baby on July 25, 1978, revolutionised the management of infertility. Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), the broad spectrum of medical procedures used to treat infertility includes treatments that address complications of both the egg and sperm.In vitro fertilisation (IVF) or Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is done as firstline of treatment in cases concerning tubal pathology, severe male factor infertility azoospermia, fertility preservation in cancer patients, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and donor oocyte. IVF is also recommended for patients with ovulatory dysfunction (PCOS) and endometriosis.

Here are some FAQs about fertility treatment

What is the difference between IVF & ICSI?Both are forms of In vitro fertilisation, differing in only the method of fertilisation in the embryology lab. In IVF, the sperms and the egg are allowed to fertilise in a small petri dish and this method is very similar to the natural form of fertilisation. IVF is deployed when sperm parameters are normal. ICSI is mainly for male factor infertility, where each egg is injected with the help of a fine needle with the sperm. ICSI is recommended when the sperm parameters are deranged in count, motility or morphology.What is an IVF cycle?During IVF, mature eggs are collected (retrieved) from ovaries and fertilised with the sperm in a lab. Then, the fertilised egg (embryo) or eggs are transferred to a uterus. One full cycle of IVF takes about three weeks. Sometimes these steps are split into different parts and the process can take longer.

How many IVF cycles are recommended?According to at least one study, women who conceived with IVF treatment went through an average of 2.7 cycles. They found that the odds for successfor women of all agesafter three IVF cycles were between 34 and 42 per cent. Practically speaking, to improve your odds, you should try for at least three IVF cycles.

How painful are IVF injections?First of all, not every woman finds the shots painful, so that is something to keep in mind. For most patients, the injections arent pleasant, but they are quick and any discomfort is over in a few seconds. Most of the medications you will take during IVF are administered this way, usually with an injection pen.How many times can I try IVF?Studies examining the likelihood of pregnancy after multiple IVF attempts show varied results, with some suggesting that three rounds are the optimal maximum, given the emotional and financial strain that IVF can cause. Financial limitations aside, it may be worth continuing beyond three cycles.

Tips to improve IVF success rateMaintain a healthy weight.Eat fertility-enhancing foods which are rich in antioxidants like leafy greens (good source of iron and folate), fruits, nuts and grains.Partner with a good doctor and embryology laboratory.Reduce stress.Improve sleep. Quit smoking and drinking. Consider taking supplements in consultation with your doctor. Ensure you have adequate levels of vitamin D. Focus on persistence and patience. Practice breathing exercises.

Dr Meera B is a consultant at KIMS Centre for Fertility, KIMS Thiruvananthapuram. (The views expressed are her own)

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Everything you need to know about IVF - The New Indian Express

Biochemistry

In the right (lab) culture, mentorship flourishes and science benefits – Yale News

You might imagine a science lab looking a bit sterile and impersonal little sunlight, masked figures in white coats pouring neon-colored liquid into beakers, all business. You might not expect to hear a science lab referred to as familial, where badminton tournaments, movie nights and barbeques are commonplace.

But Yales Patrick Lusk, associate professor of cell biology, describes his lab as just that kind of place, where fun, mentorship, and hard science are all wrapped into one.

My job as a researcher is to provide my students with resources and tools so that, ultimately, they can make it on their own in the scientific universe, said Lusk, whose academic expertise is the cells nucleus. Im here to provide guidance, not as a boss, but as an advisor pushing my students towards independence.

For Lusk, the student-mentor relationship is an important part of that, and working with the labs eight students is an investment in both scientific progress and in their personal development.

One product of that culture is David Thaller, a doctoral candidate in the lab whose research explores how cells nuclei repair themselves following a rupture within the cell.

Just as the body has specialized organ systems such as the heart, lungs, and digestive tract, each of the millions of cells that make up those organs are also subdivided into specialized components, or organelles, including the nucleus, which protects our genome. When a nucleus ruptures and is not repaired effectively, DNA is damaged and can accumulate harmful mutations that can trigger diseases such as cancer. Thaller has been trying to understand what causes the ruptures and how cells might prevent their own destruction.

Its been going well: In October 2019, Thaller was awarded the Porter Prize for Research Excellence from the American Society for Cell Biology for the work he has done in Lusks lab.

Thaller is thankful for the opportunity to push forward his own experiment designs, to learn new model systems, and to engage with new techniques.

The Lusk Lab has been nothing but a supportive space, he said.

In short, Lusks emphasis on lab culture in the broadest sense has contributed to scientific success for professor and doctoral student alike.

David has been a major driver of the research in my laboratory over the last five years, Lusk said. He has played a singular role in catalyzing new research directions and establishing new techniques in my lab under the auspices of answering fundamental cell biological problems of subcellular compartmentalization.

For Thaller, a 6th-year doctoral student who wants to continue lab research, Lusks family analogy resonates in many dimensions.

Our backgrounds in biochemistry or cell biology make for a unique space to do different kinds of science. Im definitely addicted to research.

David Thaller

The kinds of conversations we have with one another are rigorous but also its just so much fun, Thaller said. Everyone is an expert in a different technique or field. Our backgrounds in biochemistry or cell biology make for a unique space to do a lot of different kinds of science. Im definitely addicted to research.

Outside the lab, members attend lab parties and game nights together.

Thaller credits Lusk with creating an academic space where mentorship and growth are at the forefront. And Lusk is certain that in Thaller hes found a talented and ambitious contributor, both to his lab and to the future of science.

There is no question that Dave is outstanding and one of the top students in his class, Lusk said. He will be a scientific leader in the future.

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Biochemistry

Seminar on Combining Theory and Experiment to Develop New Chemical Reactions – Seton Hall University News & Events

Professor Osvaldo Gutierrez

The Rose Mercadante Chemistry and Biochemistry Seminar Series is pleased to present a seminar by Professor Osvaldo Gutierrez from the University of Maryland entitled "Combining Theory and Experiment to Develop Selective C-C Bond Formations via Open-Shell Intermediates."

The seminar will be held from 5:45 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday February 25, 2020 in the Helen Lerner Amphitheater, Science and Technology Center, Seton Hall University. Refreshments are available at 5:30 p.m.

Dr. Gutierrez was born in Mexico and raised in Sacramento, California. He attended Sacramento City College and transferred to UCLA in 2006 where he worked as an undergraduate at the laboratories of Prof. Houk. He obtained his B.S./M.S. in 2009 and completed his Ph.D. in 2012 (UC Davis) under the guidance of Prof. Tantillo. From 2012-2016 he worked as a postdoc with Prof. Kozlowski at the University of Pennsylvania where he used computational and experimental tools to study transition metal-catalyzed processes. He is now at the University of Maryland College Park where his research combines computational and experimental approaches to advance our understanding of iron- and photo-catalyzed reaction mechanisms.

Despite advances in high-throughput screening methods leading to a surge in the discovery of catalytic reactions, our knowledge of the molecular-level interactions in the rate- and selectivity-determining steps of catalytic reactions, especially those involving highly unstable and reactive open-shell intermediates, is rudimentary. These knowledge gaps prevent control, suppression or enhancement, of competing reaction channels that can drive development of unprecedented catalytic reactions. In this talk, Gutierrezwill focus on theuse of high-level quantum mechanical calculations, rigorously calibrated against experimental data, to interrogate the mechanisms and to guide the development of new catalysts and reagents for currently sluggish or unselective reactions. In particular, the talkwill focus on theuse of combined experimental and computational tools to understand and develop new (asymmetric) iron-catalyzed radical cascade/cross-coupling reactions.

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistryat Seton Hall University offers BS, MS and PhD degrees with specializations in all areas of chemistry. Our unique research environment, including traditional full-time students and part-time students is designed to foster collaborations with industry and colleagues in other disciplines. The Rose Mercadante Seminar Series is named for Rose Mercadante, the departmental secretary for over 40 years, in honor of our alumni, her "boys and girls."

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Seminar on Combining Theory and Experiment to Develop New Chemical Reactions - Seton Hall University News & Events

Biochemistry

Jan Scrimgeour Receives Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor at Clarkson University – Clarkson University News

Prof. Jan Scrimgeour

Clarkson University President Tony Collins has announced that Jan Scrimgeour has been granted tenure and promoted from assistant professor to associate professor of physics in the School of Arts and Sciences.

His research interests involve the application of advanced optical microscopy for the visualization and characterization of nanostructured biological interfaces. He is especially interested in the interplay between the nanostructure, physics and biochemistry of cell-surface polymers and the roles of each in mediating interactions between tissue surfaces and the immune system. His work can shed light on chronic inflammatory conditions.

Last year, he was awarded a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation for more than $541,000. Scrimgeour was awarded the grant for use on his project titled CAREER: Understanding the Structure and Function of the Endothelial Glycocalyx through Single Molecule Visualization.

He received his master of physics degree with first class honours in optoelectronics and laser engineering, from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. He received his D.Phil. in condensed matter physics from the University of Oxford.

Before coming to Clarkson, Scrimgeour was a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Gothenburg University in Sweden.

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Jan Scrimgeour Receives Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor at Clarkson University - Clarkson University News