OPINION:

Which is better to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away, or three thousand tyrants one mile away? Rev. Mather Byles (1706-1788)

Does it really matter if the instrument curtailing liberty is a monarch or a popularly elected legislature? This conundrum, along with the witty version of it put to a Boston crowd in 1775 by the little-known colonial-era preacher with the famous uncle Cotton Mather addresses the age-old question of whether liberty can long survive in a democracy.

Byles was a loyalist, who, along with about one-third of the American adult white male population in 1776, opposed the American Revolution and favored continued governance by Great Britain.

He didnt fight for the king or agitate against George Washingtons troops; he merely warned of the dangers of too much democracy.

No liberty-minded thinker I know of seriously argues today in favor of a hereditary monarchy, but many of us are fearful of an out-of-control democracy, which is what we have in America today. I say democracy because there remain in our federal structure a few safeguards against runaway federal tyranny, such as equal state representation in the Senate, the Electoral College, the state control of federal elections, and life-tenured federal judges and justices.

Of course, the Senate as originally crafted did not consist of popularly elected senators. Rather, they were appointed by state legislatures to represent the sovereign states as states, not the people in them. Part of James Madisons genius was the construction of the federal government as a three-sided table. The first side stood for the people the House of Representatives. The second side stood for the sovereign states that created the federal government the Senate. And the third side stood for the nation-state the presidency. The judiciary, whose prominent role today was unthinkable in 1789, was not part of this mix.

In his famous bank speech, Madison argued eloquently against legislation chartering a national bank because the authority to create a bank was not only not present in the Constitution but also was retained by the states and reserved to them by the 10th Amendment.

In that speech, he warned that the creeping expansion of the federal government would trample the powers of the states and also the unenumerated rights of the people that the Ninth Amendment his pride and joy because it protected natural rights prohibited the government from denying or disparaging.

He gave that speech in February of 1791, 11 months before the addition of the Bill of Rights the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Given the popular fears of a new central government, Madison assumed that the Bill of Rights would be quickly ratified. He was right.

His bank speech remains just as relevant today.

Had Madison been alive during the presidency of the anti-Madisonian Woodrow Wilson who gave us World War I, the Federal Reserve, the administrative state and the federal income tax he would have recoiled at a president destroying the three-sided table. Wilson did that by leading the campaign to amend the Constitution so as to provide for the direct popular election of senators. Nor would Madison have stomached the efforts today by liberal Democrats to amend the Constitution to provide for the direct popular election of the president.

Part of Madisons genius was to craft anti-democratic elements into the Constitution. And some of them like retaining state sovereignty created laboratories of liberty. President Ronald Reagan reminded the American public in his first inaugural address that the states formed the federal government, not the other way around. Had I been the scrivener of that speech, Id have begged him to add: And the powers that the states gave to the feds, they can take back.

Reagan also famously said that we could vote with our feet. If you dont like the over-the-top regulations in Massachusetts, you can move to New Hampshire. If you are fed up with the highest state taxes in the union in New Jersey, you can move to Pennsylvania.

But the more state sovereignty the feds absorb the more state governance that is federalized the fewer differences there are among the regulatory and tax structures of the states. This has happened because Congress has become a general legislature without regard for the constitutional limits imposed on it.

If Congress wants to regulate an area of human behavior that is clearly beyond its constitutional competence, it bribes the states to do so with borrowed or Federal Reserve-created cash. Thus, it offered hundreds of millions of dollars to the states to lower their speed limits on highways and to lower the acceptable blood alcohol level in peoples veins this would truly have set Madison off before a presumption of DWI may be argued; all in return for cash to pave state-maintained highways.

The states are partly to blame for this. They take whatever cash Congress offers, and they accept the strings that come with it. And they, too, are tyrants. The states mandated the unconstitutional and crippling lockdowns of 2020-2021, not the feds. The states should be paying the political and financial consequences for their misdeeds, not the feds. They took property and liberty without paying for it as the Constitution requires them to do, not the feds.

Byles feared a government of 3,000. Today, the feds employ close to 3 million. Thomas Jefferson warned that when the federal treasury becomes a federal trough, and the people recognize it as such, they would only send to Washington politicians faithless to the Constitution who promise to bring home the most cash.

In a democracy, faithless to constitutional guarantees, the majority will take whatever it wants from the minority including its liberty and property.

Andrew P. Napolitano is a former professor of law and judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey who has published nine books on the U.S. Constitution.

Human Behavior

Dr. Mark Goulston on why Democrats keep losing: They’re afraid of their own anger – Salon

July 15, 2022 medical

In a series of recent decisions that have taken away women's reproductive rights and freedoms, given guns more protection than human lives, neutered the federal government's power to protect the environment in a moment of global climate disaster and further dissolved the separation of church and state, the radical right-wing justices on the Supreme Court are attempting to force American society back to the Gilded Age if not before.

As a practical matter, the new-old America that the Supreme Court is serving as a wicked midwife for will be a society where women, Black and brown people, gays and lesbians, and other marginalized groups will have their basic civil and human rights greatly reduced, if not stripped away altogether.

This is a judicial coup by a nakedly partisan institution that is publicly collaborating with the Republican-fascist movement to end America's multiracial, pluralist democracy. To this point, the response of Democratic leaders, including President Biden, has been pathetically, pitiably, embarrassingly weak.

RELATED:The Joe Biden reality show: Most stage-managed presidency in history keeps undermining itself

Shortly after the Supreme Court issued its rulingin the Dobbs case that reversed the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, House Democrats responded by singing "God Bless America" on the Capitol steps.

Two weeks later, the Biden administration finally responded to the court's evisceration of reproductive rights and freedoms by issuing an executive order that enhances some protections for women seeking reproductive health services as well as their medical providers. The executive order is intended to "protect access to medication abortion," emergency medical care for pregnant people and contraception. It mandates both the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services to defend the rights of women who need to travel across state lines to access reproductive health care and to ensure that those who experience pregnancy-related medical emergencies can access the care they need, no matter where they are in the country.

It had been clear for at least two months how the Supreme Court would rule in the Dobbs case; nothing about this decision came as a surprise. Yet for some reason, the Biden administration took two weeks to respond. When it finally did so, as Claire Lampen writes at the Cut, Biden's response was wholly insufficient to the challenge. Republicans are openly pursuing "new laws that penalize not just providers but also patients, opening them up to surveillance by their neighbors ... and by data brokers," Lampen notes, as in Missouri's attempt "to incentivize private citizens to report people they suspect of crossing state lines" to terminate a pregnancy. Some legislators have already "proposed criminally charging patients directly," and sincerely intend to "pass a federal abortion ban, reconsider gay marriage, scrap the right to birth control."

Joe Biden continues to oppose expanding the Supreme Court in order to neutralize its radical right-wing justices, and has declined to explore allowing access to abortion and other reproductive health services on federal land, including military bases. He now says he supports a Senate filibuster "carve-out" on the issue of reproductive rights, but has done nothing to make that happen.In a statement to the Washington Post on Saturday, the Biden administration even suggested that those who want a more robust defense of women's reproductive rights and freedoms are "out of step" with "the mainstream of the Democratic Party."

Have today's Democrats forgotten how to fight? Or are they refusing to do so because too many of them are beholden to the same moneyed interests that also back the Republican-fascists and the "conservative" movement? Whatever the explanation, at a moment when America desperately needs spirited defenders of democracy, the Democratic Party's leaders are acting demoralized, with little fighting spirit.

In a recent essay at Medium, Dr. Mark Goulston, a leading psychiatrist, former FBI hostage negotiation trainer and the author of the bestsellers "Just Listen" and "Talking to 'Crazy,'" offers a provocative explanation for the Democratic Party's weakness. He argues that Democrats are "highly conflict avoidant" and that such a temperament has made them "mincemeat to the vast majority of the GOP who is allegiant to Donald Trump."

In my recent conversation with Goulston, he expanded on this analysis, arguing that Democrats keep losing to the Republicans because they refuse to speak passionately, clearly and in declarative terms to the American people. He warns that Republicans, especially Trump loyalists, are bullies who embrace and welcome conflict, and that Democrats do not fight back effectively because they refuse to acknowledge the reality that bullies must be confronted and cannot be negotiated with or defeated with rational arguments. Goulston further explains that Trump's followers remain loyal to him precisely because of his antisocial and anti-human behavior, not despite it.

Goulston also explains that many members of America's political class and the news media are naive or in denial about the nature of human evil, and therefore continue to express shock and surprise at each new revelation about the obvious crimes of the Trump regime.At the end of this conversation Goulston shares the advice he would give to Biden and other Democratic leaders about how to break their pattern of self-defeating behavior and formulate a winning plan to defeat the Republicans and preserve American democracy.

American society is experiencing multiple crises at once. Democracy is in crisis, and fascism is in the ascendancy. The pandemic has killed more than a million people in this country. There is extreme social inequality. There are mass shootings. The country is in a state of perennial grief and mourning but with no real catharsis or reckoning. It feels like America is on the verge of self-destruction, a form of societal and political suicide. How are you making sense of all this?

What you are describing is not just one moment of "suicidality." There are actually several moments or a prolonged period of time where people who feel suicidal form psychological adhesions to death as a way to take away their pain. It's not a psychological attachment, because a person can reason through that. A psychological adhesion is different: A person tucks that in their back pocket, so to speak. When you get slightly past the impulse, you reassure everybody: "I'm fine." But in your back pocket is this option, this exit strategy, this permanent solution to a temporary problem that you can always exercise if things get really bad. People don't talk about it because they don't want to scare others.

People who are depressed and suicidal feelhelpless, powerless, useless, worthless, meaningless and purposeless. It appears pointless to go on. We are seeing this on a societal level.

People who are really depressed and suicidal feel despair at the end. If you break down the word despair, it means "unpaired." Unpaired with the future, hopeless. Unpaired with the ability to get out of the challenging situation. You feel helpless, powerless, useless, worthless, meaningless and purposeless. When those feelings are all lined up like some dark one-armed slot machine, it appears pointless to go on. Death is viewed as a way to take the pain away. We are seeing this on a societal level.

America is also in the midst of a moral crisis. Fascism is a form of evil. What Trumpism has wrought and encouraged is fundamentally evil, yet the country's leaders and the larger political and news media class appear terrified of using the appropriate moral language.

It is important to identify evil at the earliest opportunity and then to stop it. You have to confront and stop evil in order to protect the people that you care about. You also need to identify evil in order to escape it. Most people we encounter are not evil. We are lucky in that way. But evil people do in fact exist. Denial of that fact is not healthy.

As a clinician, when you look at Donald Trump and his followers, what do you see?

The people that have trouble with conflict are not bullies. Bullies like to stir up conflict. Such people can get the best of us not only through their bullying behavior but also through their whining and excuse-making behavior. They can outrage us with their behavior. But if we are the type of person who is uncomfortable becoming enraged, then we will do everything we can to suppress our desire to confront that bully, to fight back, to stand up to them in a strong way.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

As soon as the bully sees that we are restraining ourselves, then they push us harder from being outraged to turning that anger inward through a dynamic I call "in-rage." Most people are so uncomfortable with their anger and rage they use almost all their energy to keep a lid on their feelings. Many Democrats, and other rational-minded people more generally, believe in respectful discourse. Those feelings of rage, and how the bully behaves, neuters and neutralizes them.

Here is how to confront a bully. Step one, identify those bullies in your life. Step two, never expect them to act differently when you talk with them. Never expect them to be decent because that's not who they are. Step three, always hold a bit of yourself back so that you're not off balance if the bully tries to provoke you. Finally, when the bully tries to provoke you, look clearly in their eyes. Stare at them firmly.

Don't try to intimidate them, but hold their gaze. By doing that you are communicating to the bully: "You know and I know what you just did and it didn't work." When you communicate that in a measured way, the bully is going to get more agitated. You can then try to engage the bully in a reasonable way or decide to disengage. Tell the bully, "If what you have to say is important, you need to talk to me instead of at me." You just hold your ground from there.

Why are so many members of America's political class and the mainstream media repeatedly "shocked" and "stunned" by Donald Trump's antisocial and anti-human behavior? This is a common reaction to the "revelations" about Jan. 6 and the violence at the Capitol, including Trump wishing death on Mike Pence. Trump has behaved this way for most if not all of his public life. If a person keeps being shocked by obvious behavior, what does that reveal about their personality defects? Are they really shocked, or are they just pretending?

The reason they're shocked is because a person cannot be partially sociopathic or narcissistic. It's a slippery road when you allow sociopaths or narcissists to ride over you unchecked. The denial, and giving such people the benefit of the doubt, just encourages them.

People on the left are afraid to acknowledge the dark parts of their personalities, such as anger and rage. Therefore, they deny to themselves that Donald Trump and other sociopaths and narcissists are dangerous.

People on the left, the Democrats especially, are also afraid to acknowledge the dark parts of their personalities, such as anger and rage. Such feelings fill them with shame. Therefore, they deny to themselves that Donald Trump and other such sociopaths and narcissists are so dangerous. Leading Democrats such as Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi need to learn to talk to the public in a very authoritative way. They smile and talk so rationally. They need to show some emotion and passion.

One of the reasons I believe Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton is that Donald Trump was declarative, and Hillary was explanatory. Hillary Clinton was showing the American people that she was really prepared for the responsibilities of being president of the United States. In an effort to be convincing, she wasn't compelling. Donald Trump was declarative, which meant you knew where he stood. You might not have agreed with him. But Trump was able to hook his base precisely because of how declarative he was, and is, in his speech.

Trump was also being a type of role model for his followers. He showed them that you don't have to sit on your anger and suppress it. You can act on it. Why keep in all that built-up frustration? Trump told his followers, "Let's go get even with whoever's bothering us! Join me, because we could all shoot someone in Times Square and still get elected! Hey, it's fun!"

Ultimately, Trump appeared on the stage and let the genie out of the bottle as a role model for unsuppressed and unrepressed thoughts and feelings. Many Americans of a certain background and political orientation who have a buildup of frustration and anger psychologically adhered themselves to Donald Trump. This is not a mere attachment. It is a psychological adhesion, which explains why they remain so loyal to him.

When the Supreme Court announced that it was taking away women's reproductive rights and freedoms, leading Democrats went outside on the Capitol steps and started singing. Nancy Pelosi read a poem. It was one of the most pathetic things I've ever seen.How do the Democratic Party's leaders see the world? Why would they default to that kind of pitiful behavior and think that's how you fight back against a bully?

Maybe they were singing to keep themselves from forcefully responding to the Republicans. They were trying to suppress their rage. It may also be that those Democrats were singing hymns to calm themselves down because they were being triggered, and they realized that it is dangerous to escalate with a sociopath or narcissist.

The latter are much more comfortable going off the cliff than most people are. They're going to push you to the limits of what you can tolerate emotionally. A sociopath or narcissist is not afraid of being outrageous. If it is your nature to be uncomfortable with becoming enraged, you're going to want to steer away from those feelings.

By comparison, the Republicans and Trump's other followers love becoming outraged. They use a vocabulary full of rageful words. They love that Trump is disrespectful to others, that he calls his enemies and people he dislikes names. Trump is getting his feelings off of his chest. His followers love that. Meanwhile, the Democrats just repress and suppress their dark feelings.

What do the Republicans and the larger right-wing movement understand about emotion that the Democrats do not?

Many Republicans, especially the likes of a Ted Cruz or Mitch McConnell, don't care about contradicting themselves. To them, it doesn't matter what they say. They're aligning themselves with who they perceive to be the person in power in this case, Donald Trump because they don't want to trigger his ire and they don't want to lose their own followers.

I'm guessing that a lot of the Republicans were raised by decent parents, and at least when they were children they were taught that certain values and ethics and morality were important. But being a politician became more important than those values. "Politician" became the core identity that supersedes other things.

In your recent article at Medium, you described the Democrats as being "highly conflict avoidant," and said that they deal with conflict in an unhealthy way, which helps explain why the Republicans and Trumpists are rolling over them. How does this unhealthy behavior manifest itself on a day-to-day basis?

They are hiding their legitimate outrage and other feelings under a mask of civility. They appear neutered in the eyes of the public because they are not expressing healthy, aggressive feelings. When someone who is neutered goes up against someone who is outrageous in their behavior, the neutered person loses.

If you had the opportunity to speak with President Biden in private what would you say to him?

I would ask him, "What is really going on?" I would keep pushing him on this question to get at the real answer. At some point Biden would say, "I'm a decent person but I am really angry at Trump and want him to get his comeuppance." Biden could never say that in public because it would be taken out of context.

Today's Democrats appear to be obsessed with compromise and finding an acceptable middle ground with the Republicans. But the Republicans only care about winning and power and are now openly willing to embrace fascism, political violence, white supremacy and other anti-democratic and anti-human values. In essence, this is an abusive relationship on a national scale and the Democrats are content to keep being abused. How can they break this cycle?

If I was consulting for the Democratic Party's leadership, I would ask them, "What is your desired outcome?" They might say, "Well, the desired outcome is that we find a way to get the Republicans and Trump to listen to reason and that would in turn break their cult."

I would continue by asking them, "What's the specific approach that you're taking that you believe will get Trump's followers away from his cult?" I would continue pushing them by asking, "Do you actually believe that what you just said would work?"

I would get the Democrats to agree that their current approach is flawed and doomed to failure. Perhaps that would help them open up and admit that they don't know what else to do.

I would get the Democrats to agree that their current approach is flawed and doomed to failure. Perhaps that would help them open up and admit that they don't know what else to do. I would continue pressing them by asking, "What has been your success rate these last four or so years?" In that moment, perhaps the Democratic Party's leadership could have some type of realization or epiphany and come up with a better plan.

You can't convince another person of their flawed approach to decision-making or life more generally. You have to get them to a point of self-discovery. Brainstorming with them is helpful too. "Good, now you're being open. Let's be open and see what might work. What do we know about these other kinds of personalities? What do we know about bullies?"

The Democratic Party's leaders need to have a moment where they realize: "We have to find a way to sound really angry, pissed off and insulted by Donald Trump and his followers. We have to do it a way so that whoever watches us knows that we're pissed off in no uncertain terms. We can't act like we are trying to sugarcoat our anger." That is how the Democrats can start to win.

Read more on Donald Trump and America's mental health:

Originally posted here:
Dr. Mark Goulston on why Democrats keep losing: They're afraid of their own anger - Salon

Human Behavior

New study sheds light on the link between racial resentment and perceptions of reverse racism in the United States – PsyPost

July 15, 2022 medical

Increased engagement with politics on social media predicts future decreases in racial resentment among liberals in the United States, according to new research published in Computers in Human Behavior. But this doesnt appear to be the case for conservatives or independents.

What drew my interest to this topic was the public opinion data and individual stories telling us that an increasing number of White Americans perceive that they are facing discrimination for being White, also called reverse racism, study author Ian Hawkins, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

This perception seems to conflict with what is actually occurring as extensive research tells us that minority groups still face the most discrimination. But regardless of whether increased reverse racism is occurring or not, perception is key and can be a motivating factor for some White Americans. I wanted to further understand what influences and possibly contributes to this idea of reverse racism.

For their new study, Hawkins and his colleagues analyzed longitudinal data from 621 White participants, who completed online surveys in August 2016, October/November 2016, and November/December 2016. The participants completed questionnaires regarding their engagement with politics on social media, strength of white identity, political identity, racial resentment, and perceptions of reverse racism.

The researchers found that increased engagement with politics on social media was indirectly linked to decreased perceptions of reverse racism via lower racial resentment.

That is, participants who reported greater engagement with politics on social media were less likely to agree with statements such as Its really a matter of some people just not trying hard enough; if Blacks would only try harder, they could just be as well off as Whites. Lower racial resentment, in turn, was associated with decreased perceptions of reverse racism (e.g. These days non-Whites benefit from preferential treatment that puts Whites at a disadvantage.

However, the negative relationship between social media engagement and racial resentment was only observed among political liberals not conservatives or independents.

We found that engaging with politics on social media reduced reverse racism through reduced racial resentment, but that this relationship was influenced in part by participants who identified as liberal, Hawkins told PsyPost. We also show that having a more conservative political identity is related to increased reverse racism beliefs via higher racial resentment attitudes. Altogether, social media engagement, political identity, and racial resentment all had an influence on reverse racism beliefs.

But the study, like all research, includes some caveats.

Our study only examined how social media use influences different beliefs like racial resentment and reverse racism, Hawkins explained. But media content that might contribute to these attitudes likely comes from various sources rather than just solely social media. Future research should examine how entertainment television, video games, the news, etc. might also influence reverse racism.

Beliefs like reverse racism are harmful and increasingly becoming more widely held and mainstream, Hawkins added. These attitudes do not operate in a vacuum as they likely have implications for policies or political candidates that individuals support or their willingness to participate in collective action. Because of this we need continued information on what is motivating reverse racism and what role social media and identity play.

The study, How social media use, political identity, and racial resentment affect perceptions of reverse racism in the United States, was authored by Ian Hawkins and Muniba Saleem.

Here is the original post:
New study sheds light on the link between racial resentment and perceptions of reverse racism in the United States - PsyPost

Human Behavior

‘Where The Crawdads Sing’ Explores Individual Liberty As A Survival Tool – The Federalist

July 15, 2022 medical

In another time, Where the Crawdads Sing, written by Delia Owens, would be a coming of age, murder-mystery, romance drama with a raw and magnetic appeal. But in a time when all is politically scrutinized, reviewers ask whether Crawdads is green enough, and if Kya Clark is a pink hat-aligned woman.

However, what America finds in both the bestselling novel and the Reese Witherspoon-Taylor Swift-Daisy Edgar-Jones movie coming to theaters this week, is that Kya Clark governs herself in liberty and discipline, keeps to her family values, and is hard not to see as an all-American inspiration.

Editors note: Minor spoilers ahead.

Kyas story begins near the age of birth suffering violent child abuse. Her father physically and emotionally destroys the family that would have raised her. Crawdads pulls no punches on Pas brutality, yet also describes the way his prior choices in the face of economic depression and war corrupted his habits and decayed his mental health. Owens, a wildlife biologist with nonfiction science publications to her name, paints nature as a struggle for survival, and from the novels start rises an undercurrent that society is like an ecosystem in which all are susceptible to pitfalls, yet responsible for their steps and missteps.

Fully abandoned by age six, Kya comes into tension with truancy officers. The district pursues her, but throughout the hunt, Crawdads' tone favors an independent life in the marsh that suits the young girl. The feeling evoked is remarkably real for a child in an almost unbelievable situation. We grip onto the girl who increasingly thrives in nature, who would lose the nesting birds who provide her comforting songs and feathers if child protection were able to pluck her out. Her victory over their chase affirms that seemingly ruinous events in life may need to compost, as detritus in the marsh, enabling regeneration without intervention.

Along the way to maturity in the wild, Kya discovers that affordable gasoline lets her motor through the marsh and beyond the Intracoastal waterway. She can make private transactions of collected mussels for lifes basic necessities with the local merchants. Storekeepers Jumpin and Mabel take to her as would family.

Her mind and body developing, Kya and a boy, Tate, meet for private instruction on subjects beyond schoolbook reading alone. Sharing lessons on how awareness of nature all around them can quicken their verbal faculties, Kya and Tates schooling arrangement is far from standardized public education. Tate teaches Kya without union job security because he sincerely wants to. Their educational and social relationship is fruitful, pure, and passionate, illustrating both academic and social benefits of school choice.

Kyas worst fortunes gradually turn promising. At the pubescent onset of bleeding, Kya privately confides and asks Mabel for guidance. Mabel reassures Kya that startin life is special, and only women can do it. A shared life with someone in marriage becomes Kyas intimate yearning.

Kya breaks into financial independence as a wetlands biology author. Her fastidious illustrations earn the trust of her publisher and readers. Previously a total unknown, her uncensored solo discoveries are not only her economic lifeline but a boon to scholars. Despite town gossip about her swamp filth and mobs attacking her shack, Kya is undistracted from her patient observations.

Even Kyas ancestors, in their absence, endanger her independent life on the land through neglect of the property taxes. Her free way of life, though, is ultimately preserved when, to Kyas relief, she is able to cover the low back taxes by herself.

To all this wild growth, Chase Andrews is a foil, a life subsumed by the same public administrations whose officers would have hunted Kya down. Popular and victorious on the ball field, Chase is made into a hero in a school district so out of touch that it looks down its collective nose at Kya. Chase is lionized within the district despite prevalent beliefs that he tramples on the hearts and bodies of women and wildlife.

When Chases body is discovered, the novels suspense surges to a head. An intricate trial ensues til almost the finale. Most of the town hardly entertains critiques of Chase, nor itself, for the treatment of the types like Kya who live in the marsh. Their miseducations would never let them.

Unlike the pretenders who warp reality by evading true contact with it, as does Chase, the traditional working men are in-touch, reliable, strong, and sensible, including Scupper, Tate, Jumpin, Tom, and Jodie (Kyas brother). With woman and man connecting in nature, Crawdads envisions the sexes in harmony.

Owens says her idea for Crawdads came while face to face with lions and elephants, as she realized how much our behavior is similar to the animals. A spellbinding theme to todays readers, the idea of the animal in human nature also emerged in framing the U.S. Constitution. The founders realized our moral state was animal-like in its capability for both sublimity and tyranny. This inspired the Constitutions enumerated limits, checks, and balances on power, as well as the complimentary idea that moral cultivation is essential to civil society.

Inalienable rights let us, like Kya Clark, chart our own course. Conservative undertones are woven into Crawdads' earthy narrative in a way that seems more than coincidental. Owens muses on survival and territorial advantage in nature and human behavior. If the author were probed about consent of the governed, liberty, and family values in relation to the theme of the wild-like human condition, it would be interesting to hear her thoughts.

Crawdads is a cultural achievement; it does not need to be a culture warrior. It speaks to the soul not of environmentalist America or feminist America, but, refreshingly, the soul of America.

If true to the book, the movie directed by Olivia Newman (Chicago Fire, FBI) and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) as Kya, will showcase indefatigable red-blooded boys and girls, free men and women living unbridled and steadfast.

Michael Bedar works in media and design, enjoys building and managing small construction, wrote a novel, "Sweet Healing," about freedom and wellbeing, and is married and raising children. He learned boating in and around marshes.

Here is the original post:
'Where The Crawdads Sing' Explores Individual Liberty As A Survival Tool - The Federalist

Biochemistry

Seeing the molecular beauty of life – ASBMB Today

July 15, 2022 medical

When Collins Maina was in secondary school in Kenya, a genetics class piqued his interest in science. He found especially fascinating how certain mutations can be disastrous to the well-being of organisms. And when he took his national exams, he was placed into a biochemistry program, which coincidentally turned out to be a good move for him.

Collins Maina

Collins Maina earned his bachelors degree in biochemistry and molecular biologyfrom South Eastern Kenya University in November.

Maina attended South Eastern Kenya University, where he earned his bachelors degree in biochemistry and molecular biology in November. He said two particularly memorable classes were Biochemistry of Tumors and Biochemical Techniques and Instrumentation.

Not only were these classes interesting, he said, but he also was able to apply what he learned to his own life situation. Learning about the molecular and cellular bases of tumors helped him and his family when his grandfather developed prostate cancer.

I remember I was the go-to guy for the family when they wanted to sort of analyze and translate the pathologists reports, he said.

Learning about laboratory techniques in biochemistry was a highlight for Maina because of the physics involved. He was also able to carry and apply some of this knowledge to his career in industry as a medical representative.

In general, Maina said, biochemistry has helped him better understand what life is and how complex it is at the molecular level.

Its really fun knowing very well that beyond what you see in a person, you see there are a couple of three-letter sequences (codons) that determine who you are, determine the personality, determine so many things in your life how a mishap in the placement of an amino acid, how a molecule that lacks the right conformation can have very detrimental effects on an organism, he said. At the basic level they are nothing more than molecules, very beautiful molecules.

Maina values how relatable biochemistry is to real life. If I dont watch my health currently, Im expecting to develop osteoporosis as I get into my 40s, he said. And so, its like reading the future.

While applying to postgraduate programs and reading extensively about various areas of research, Maina has developed a passion for molecular microbiology and is particularly interested in quorum sensing, which involves responding to cell population density via gene regulation. He plans to continue his studies by earning a Master of Science degree, preferably in Canada, the United States, Scotland or New Zealand. He easily excelled in his undergraduate courses, but the high cost of and limited access to good schools make this goal quite difficult. Few research jobs are available in Kenya. Still, he remains hopeful.

Eventually, Maina said, he sees himself completing a Ph.D. program, doing a lot of research and retiring as a lecturer.

I have so many questions I think I need to answer, he said.

View post:
Seeing the molecular beauty of life - ASBMB Today

Biochemistry

Post-Doctoral Associate in the Division of Science, Biochemistry, Dr. Azam Gholami job with NEW YORK UNIVERSITY ABU DHABI | 300813 – Times Higher…

July 15, 2022 medical

Description

Applications are invited for a fully-funded Post-Doctoral Associate position in the newly established multidisciplinary group of Prof. Azam Gholami at New York University Abu Dhabi. The appointed candidate will be expected to work on:

We seek a highly qualified candidate with a strong background in protein production and purification with a focus on trans-membrane proteins. The appointed candidate will be expected to be familiar with bacterial protein expression and chromatographic purification techniques. Expertise in the reconstitution of membrane proteins into lipid vesicles/polymersomes and skills in microfluidics and optical microscopy are highly advantageous.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in protein biochemistry or a related field and an excellent track record of original research on the relevant topics. For consideration, applicants need to submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae with full publication list, statement of research accomplishments and interests and contact information for at least three references, all in PDF format. If you have any questions, please email Prof. Azam Gholami atag9141@nyu.edu

This position is not located in the United States and the applicant must be willing to relocate to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The terms of employment are very competitive and include housing and educational subsidies for children. Applications will be accepted immediately and candidates will be considered until the position is filled.

About NYUAD

NYU Abu Dhabi is a degree-granting research university with a fully integrated liberal arts and science undergraduate program in the Arts, Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Engineering. NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU New York, and NYU Shanghai, form the backbone of NYUs global network university, an interconnected network of portal campuses and academic centers across six continents that enable seamless international mobility of students and faculty in their pursuit of academic and scholarly activity. This global university represents a transformative shift in higher education, one in which the intellectual and creative endeavors of academia are shaped and examined through an international and multicultural perspective. As a major intellectual hub at the crossroads of the Arab world, NYUAD serves as a center for scholarly thought, advanced research, knowledge creation, and sharing, through its academic, research, and creative activities.

EOE/AA/Minorities/Females/Vet/Disabled/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity Employer

UAE Nationals are encouraged to apply

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

For people in the EU, click here for information on your privacy rights under GDPR:www.nyu.edu/it/gdpr

NYU is an equal opportunity employer committed to equity, diversity, and social inclusion.

Visit link:
Post-Doctoral Associate in the Division of Science, Biochemistry, Dr. Azam Gholami job with NEW YORK UNIVERSITY ABU DHABI | 300813 - Times Higher...

Biochemistry

Dr. Nina Schor appointed as the NIH Acting Deputy Director for Intramural Research – National Institutes of Health (.gov)

July 15, 2022 medical

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Nina F. Schor, M.D., Ph.D., as the NIH Acting Deputy Director for Intramural Research (DDIR) in the NIH Office of the Director. Michael M. Gottesman, M.D., who served as NIH DDIR for 29 years, announced his plans last year to step down to return to the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, where he is chief of the Laboratory of Cell Biology. Dr. Schor will begin her new role on August 1, 2022.

As Acting DDIR, Dr. Schor will lead the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP) and facilitate coordination and collaboration among the 24 NIH institutes and centers that are a part of NIHs distinct research community. She will be responsible for the selection and approval of new NIH principal investigators, human subjects research protection, research integrity, technology transfer, and animal care and use for the IRP. Additionally, Dr. Schor will oversee efforts to train the next generation of biomedical and behavioral researchers at NIH, as well as efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive culture across the IRP.

With a career that has touched all realms of the biomedical research enterprise, Dr. Schor brings substantial experience as an educator, scientist, clinician, and administrator. Dr. Schor joined NIH in January 2018 as Deputy Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and in May 2021, she also assumed the role of Acting Scientific Director of NINDS. As Deputy Director, she guided the institutes strategic planning activities, career development programs, maternal and child neurologic health collaborations with other NIH institutes, and the creation and implementation of the Ultra-Rare GENe-based Therapies (URGenT) Network. Prior to joining NIH, Dr. Schor worked at the University of Rochester, where for nearly 12 years she held the positions of Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Pediatrician-in-Chief of the Golisano Childrens Hospital. Prior to that, she spent 20 years building her academic and scientific career at the University of Pittsburgh, culminating with her roles as Associate Dean for Medical Student Research and Chief of the Division of Child Neurology in the Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology.

Dr. Schor earned her Ph.D. in medical biochemistry from Rockefeller University and her M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. Her residency and postdoctoral fellowship training in pediatrics, child neurology, and molecular biochemistry and pharmacology took place at Harvard University Medical School and Boston Childrens Hospital, where she began her three-decades-long, NIH-funded research efforts focused on targeted therapy for neuroblastoma, a type of pediatric cancer, and neuronal cell death caused by oxidative stress, which occurs when harmful forms of oxygen molecules damage cells.

I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Gottesman for his many years of leadership and service at NIH. With his contagious optimism, adept problem-solving attitude, and wise policymaking, Michael leaves a strong legacy to guide the future DDIR. The programs he developed touch every stage of a scientific career from high school and college internship programs, graduate studies, and postdoctoral training, to recruitment, career development, tenure, and emeritus transition of faculty. His leadership will be remembered in many things, including the remarkable improvements seen in research integrity and the recruitment and subsequent achievements of a diverse scientific workforce over the last three decades. We wish him all the best in this next chapter.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Schor to the NIH leadership team.

Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D.Acting Director, National Institutes of Health

The rest is here:
Dr. Nina Schor appointed as the NIH Acting Deputy Director for Intramural Research - National Institutes of Health (.gov)

Biochemistry

10 scientists elected leaders of the ASBMB – EurekAlert

July 15, 2022 medical

Members of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology have elected several new leaders. Three members of the governingCouncilwere re-elected. Theres a new secretary. And both theNominating Committeeand the Publications Committeehave new members.

Council

TheASBMB Councilserves as an advisory board to the president and the executive director for setting priorities and strategic directions, overseeing resource allocations, and ensuring that all activities align with the mission of the society. Councilors are elected for three-year terms and can be re-elected or reappointed to serve one additional term. Three incumbents were re-elected to the Council.

Suzanne Barbourisa professor anddean of the Graduate School at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She wrote in her candidate statement: During my first term, I have learned more about our society, its challenges and opportunities. I am particularly intrigued by an opportunity that was discussed at a recent Council meeting: pursuing philanthropic support for the ASBMB. My experience as a dean, working with alumni, friends and prospective donors, will be helpful for this effort. Barbour is a former member ofthe Minority Affairs Committee (now the Maximizing Access Committee), has organizedannual meeting symposiaand was honored as a member ofthefirst class of ASBMB fellowsin 2021.Read herfull candidate profile.

Joan Broderickis a professor and department head atMontana State University. In 2022, she becamean elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. Broderick has been at Montana State since 2005; before that she was on the faculty ofa small liberal arts college and a research-intensive state university. This range of experiences has given me a broad perspective on science education and academic research and the intersection of the two, she wrote.Read herfull candidate profile.

Matthew Gentryis a professor at theUniversity of Kentucky. He has served on the societys Membership Committee, Public Affairs Advisory Committee andJournal of Biological Chemistry editorial board. For this term on the Council,he has prioritized sharing with members how to utilize their passions to serve on an ASBMB committee, recruiting the societys next executive director; serving as a resource and adviser to PresidentAnn Stock, who was elected in 2021, and headquarters leaders; and spreading the word about how the ASBMB can help biochemists at all career stages.Read hisfull candidate profile.

Nominating Committee

TheASBMB Nominating Committeenominates regular members of the society to stand for election for president, the Council, the Publications Committee and the Nominating Committee.Committee members are elected for three-year terms and can be re-elected or reappointed to serve one additional term. ASBMB members elected two new committee members this year.

Juan L. Mendozais an assistant professor at theUniversity of Chicago. He twice has co-chaired the Enzyme Interest Group at the ASBMB annual meeting and is an active advocate for diversity and inclusion. I am passionate about making education in STEM accessible to everyone and inspiring future generations of scientists. For me, this includes active participation in community outreach and societies such as the ASBMB, he wrote.Read hisfull candidate profile.

Jeremy Thorneris a distinguished professor emeritus at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. He won the ASBMBsHerb Tabor Research Award in 2019. The many activities of ASBMB are best achieved by ensuring gender equity and diversity in its advisory bodies and leadership, as well as in its general membership, he wrote. To thrive, our organization needs to be inclusive, and to hear from and recruit diverse voices. Hence, the most important function of the Nominating Committee is to make certain we draw on the rich pool of our membership and secure the participation of individuals from all quarters of the biochemical sciences.Read the full candidate profile.

Secretary

The secretary is responsible for reviewing the minutes of the society, serving on the Nominating Committee and the Audit Committee, and completing other duties as assigned by the Council, which may include certifying Council resolutions to support the operations of the society.The secretary is a voting member of Council and participates in the governance of the society. The secretary serves a three-year term.

George Carmanis a distinguished professor atRutgers Universityand director of theRutgers Center for Lipid Research. He won the ASBMBsAvanti Award in Lipids in 2012,has beenan associate editorfor the societys Journal of Lipid Research and Journal of Biological Chemistry, and has served on the Council and several committees. He co-directs the societysLipid Research Division. The ASBMB has been a large part of my professional life since I joined the society in 1980, he wrote. Throughout my career, I have profited from formal and informal mentors, and I am obliged to pay forward my knowledge and experiences to early-career scientists including undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral associates. Carman was a member of the societysinaugural class of fellowsin 2021.Read hisfull candidate profile.

Publications Committee

TheASBMB Publications Committeeoversees the societys scholarly publishing activities, advises the Council on policy and ethical issues that may arise, and advises journal editors about editorial matters, including the approval of associate editor appointments. Committee members are elected for five-year terms and can be re-elected or reappointed to serve one additional term. ASBMB members elected four new committee members.

Walid Houryis a professor at theUniversity of Toronto. Hes been a member of the Journal of Biological Chemistry editorial board since 2017. During his term on the committee, he intends to advocate for innovative article review and publication formats. He wrote: I find this to be especially important given the new and different article reviewing and publishing approaches being used by other journals. Hence, a clear policy needs to be established to address how ASBMB journals will interact with open-access preprint repositories such as bioRxiv and what value will be placed on reviews provided by journal-independent peer-review platforms such as the Review Commons.Read hisfull candidate profile.

Marcelo Kazanietzis a professor at theUniversity of Pennsylvania. He has been an editorial board member for the Journal of Biological Chemistry and several other peer-reviewed publications. I understand emerging challenges to keep disseminating our scientific discoveries in a highly competitive environment.I aim to support efforts toward facilitating communication between editors, authors and readers, with the ultimate goal of promoting high-impact science while affirming strong ethical publishing values, he wrote.Read hisfull candidate profile.

Daniel Leahyis a professor atUniversity of Texas at Austin. He served on the ASBMB Council from 2012 to 2015, has helpedorganize meeting themes and other society events,and is a member of the societys2022 class of fellows. Chief among the jewels in the ASBMB crown are its publications, which are run by scientists for scientists, and I am delighted at the opportunity to help continue the ASBMBs tradition of excellent publications as modes of scientific communication continue to evolve, he wrote.Read hisfull candidate profile.

Anne-Frances Milleris a distinguished professor at theUniversity of Kentucky. She has been a member of the Journal of Biological Chemistry editorial board and a member of the Publications Committee before. I understand that publications are central to both the professional conduct of science and also its social fabric, she wrote. I am a big admirer of how ASBMBs publications have spanned both spheres via the several journals the society produces. ASBMB Today nurtures networks of people and interest and keeps the science fun, engaging us all beyond the boundaries of our own specializations and keeping the best of our humanity connected to the best of our science. Meanwhile, ASBMBs established research journals provide critical channels for sharing high-quality scientific progress, complete with the assurances of expert peer review.Read herfull candidate profile.

About the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)

The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members worldwide. Founded in 1906 to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology, the society publishes three peer-reviewed journals, advocates for funding of basic research and education, supports science education at all levels, and promotes the diversity of individuals entering the scientific workforce. For more information about the ASBMB, visitwww.asbmb.org.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

Read this article:
10 scientists elected leaders of the ASBMB - EurekAlert

Biochemistry

U-M researchers track protein binding, build synthetic proteins to study gene expression – University of Michigan News

July 15, 2022 medical

How does a nose remember that its a nose? Or an eye remember that its an eye?

As scientists probe the question of how cells remember what kind of cells they are supposed to be, or their genetic lineage, its important to understand how cells express different genes without changing the DNA sequence itself.

But studying this subject is difficult: Researchers can purify the proteins that drive genetic expression, put them in a test tube and watch them bind. But doing so inside the nucleus of cells, their native environment, has been so far impossible.

Study: HP1 oligomerization compensates for low-affinity H3K9me recognition and provides a tunable mechanism for heterochromatin-specific localization (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abk0793)

Now, a team of researchers at three University of Michigan labs have been able to track how a protein binds to its chromatin substrate within a living cell by establishing a collaboration that combines state-of-the-art ultra high-resolution imaging, synthetic protein design and computational modeling. Their results are published in Science Advances.

The biological question that were asking is, How do cells actually remember past experiences? And how do these experiences also lead to cells establishing distinct identities, as it happens in the case of the human body where you have lineages of cells that form neurons, or blood cells, or brain cells, and all actually maintain their identities for many generations,' said lead author Kaushik Ragunathan, assistant professor of biological chemistry at the U-M Medical School.

An example I like to think about is that if you chop off your nose, you dont get a hand growing there, even though the genome in your nose and the genome in your hand are exactly the same.

Cells control how and which genes are expressed from a copy of the DNA sequence held within each cell, despite that sequence being the same across all cells in the body. One way they control expression is by changing how tightly the DNA is packaged within the nucleus using proteins called histones. Histones can be modified through the addition of small chemical tags that regulate how tightly the DNA is wound around them and thus whether the genes can be expressed.

Proteins that have the ability to read, write and erase these histone tags explore the DNA within the nucleus of the cell very rapidlyon the order of milliseconds, according to Ragunathan. Ultimately, all this epigenetic information needs to be inherited across generations, but the recognition of these tags is a complicated process that involves chromatin binding and proteins meeting and interacting with each other amidst the chaos of all other possible competing interactions within the cell.

Being able to understand each step of the processand therefore enabling control of how the epigenetic information is inheritedintrigued co-author Julie Biteen, professor of chemistry and biophysics.

Biteen uses single-molecule fluorescence imaging to track individual proteins inside cells. Her lab can see where these proteins are relative to the chromatin, and Ragunathans expertise is in the molecular mechanisms underpinning how histone modifications and histone-binding proteins interact. These two worlds needed to come together so that the biochemistry of what happens in a test tube outside of cells could be tested to figure out what happens inside of them.

The timing of this process is critically important to ensure that the right genes are silenced at the right place and at the right time, Biteen said. What hooked me on this project is that in vitroin a test tubeyou can purify two proteins, watch them bind and see how good that binding is, or what is the affinity for one another. That tells you what can happen in the cells, but not what does happen in the cells.

Biteen and Ragunathan worked with Peter Freddolino, associate professor of biological chemistry, and computational medicine and bioinformatics at the U-M Medical School, to combine computer modeling with their experimental results.

This is really where our collaboration becomes really powerful, Biteen said. On one hand, seeing molecules is very helpful and knowing how fast the molecules move helps a lot in terms of understanding what is possible inside the cell, but here we could take a leap forward by perturbing the system even in unnatural ways in order to understand what these different motions of molecules in the cell actually mean.

While epigenetic marks are tremendously important for maintaining different tissues in complex organisms like humans, they also play an important role in regulating genes of single-celled organisms such as yeast. The team focused on a type of HP1 protein in yeast cells called Swi6. This family of proteins binds to a specific type of histone modifications in the cell to enforce gene silencing. By integrating fluorescent labels with Swi6, Bitees lab watched Swi6 move inside the cells nucleus.

While Swi6 searches for the correct binding site on DNA, it moves quickly, Biteen said. When it finds its target, it slows down significantly. The movement of a protein within the cell is akin to gears in a car and things can move at different speeds based on whom proteins interact with.

From these spaghetti tracks that we get inside the cell, we then figure out how much time they are spending searching and how much of the time they are spending bound, Biteen said. The amount of time they spend not moving tells us about how strongly theyre interacting and their biochemical properties.

While Biteens lab can measure movements in the cell on the scale of tens of milliseconds, much of the biochemistry happening in the cell is happening even faster, she said. Freddolino took this experimental information and developed models to estimate the ability of the Swi6 proteins to jump between the binding states that were identified in experiments.

Freddolinos modeling took into account the experimental measurements and the possible biochemical properties, which includes how the Swi6 molecules interact in the cell. These interactions include molecules that freely float in the solution of the cell, molecules that have bound to DNA, and molecules that are holding hands with each other, he said.

My lab wanted to come up with a more fine-grained model that estimated what was the most likely set of molecular states of the proteins and their ability to jump between those states, that would then give rise to the imaging data that Biteens lab created, Freddolino said.

Having this numerical model allows us to do the computational experiments of what happens if the protein binding is twice as fast as we think. What if its 10 times as fast as we think? Or 10 times slower? Could that still give rise to the data? Very happily, in this case, we were able to show that the relevant processes were really being captured in the fluorescence microscopy.

After identifying the binding properties of natural Swi6, the researchers tested their findings by redesigning Swi6 from its components to see whether they could replicate some of its biochemical properties, Ragunathan said. This allowed the researchers to determine that the imaging and modeling conducted in the first part of the paper reflects how the protein was binding in its native environment.

Can we do what nature did over the course of millions of years and make a protein that in many ways has properties similar to that of Swi6 in cells? Ragunathan said. In vivo biochemistry, which is what weve decided to call this, was not something that was ever thought to be possible inside living cells, but we have shown this is entirely feasible by using imaging as a modality. We are using this project as a foundation in order to understand how these epigenetic states can be established and maintained across generations.

See the rest here:
U-M researchers track protein binding, build synthetic proteins to study gene expression - University of Michigan News

Biochemistry

University of Houston researchers snag $1.8M to develop cancer-fighting virus – InnovationMap

July 15, 2022 medical

Viruses attack human cells, and that's usually a bad thing some Houston researchers have received fresh funding to develop and use the evil powers of viruses for good.

The developing cancer treatment is called oncolytic virotherapy and has risen in popularity among immunotherapy research. The viruses can kill cancer cells while being ineffective to surrounding cells and tissue. Basically, the virus targets the bad guys by "activating an antitumor immune response made of immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells," according to a news release from the University of Houston.

However exciting this rising OV treatment seems, the early stage development is far from perfect. Shaun Zhang, director of the Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling at the University of Houston, is hoping his work will help improve OV treatment and make it more effective.

We have developed a novel strategy that not only can prevent NK cells from clearing the administered oncolytic virus, but also goes one step further by guiding them to attack tumor cells. We took an entirely different approach to create this oncolytic virotherapy by deleting a region of the gene which has been shown to activate the signaling pathway that enables the virus to replicate in normal cells, Zhang says in the release.

Zhang, who is also a M.D. Anderson professor in the Department of Biology & Biochemistry, has received a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue his work.

Zhang and his team are specifically creating a new OV called FusOn-H2 and based on the Herpes simplex 2 virus.

Our recent studies showed that arming FusOn-H2 with a chimeric NK engager (C-NK-E) that can engage the infiltrated natural killer cells with tumor cells could significantly enhance the effectiveness of this virotherapy, he says. Most importantly, we observed that tumor destruction by the joint effect of the direct oncolysis and the engaged NK cells led to a measurable elicitation of neoantigen-specific antitumor immunity.

Shaun Zhang is the director of the Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling at the University of Houston and M.D. Anderson professor in the Department of Biology & Biochemistry. Image via UH.edu

Go here to see the original:
University of Houston researchers snag $1.8M to develop cancer-fighting virus - InnovationMap