Neuroscience

Three Washington University scholars were Rhodes finalists | The Source – Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

Two Washington University in St. Louis students and a recent alumnus were finalists for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

They are:

We are incredibly proud of our finalists, each one an accomplished leader in their respective fields, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said. Summer, Harsh and Taylor are pursuing different goals, but they share a common belief: empathy and understanding lead to impact.

Brown, McKenna and Moolani were among an elite group of scholars from across the globe competing for the scholarship, which provides winners an opportunity to earn an advanced degree at Oxford University. On Nov. 21, the Rhodes Trust selected 32 American scholars to join the program. Washington University has had 29 Rhodes Scholars since the program began in 1902.

Years of service

Age: 23Studies: Social work at the Brown SchoolHome: Paragould, Ark.

Taylor Brown is an advocate for children.

I envision a world where our childrens welfare is our main priority and where our social welfare systems prevent vulnerability, not merely treat the symptoms, he wrote in his scholarship application.

This scholarship would allow me to take the next steps in continuing my fight for children. Ive built this vision through years of service.

Taylor advises the assistant secretary of the U.S. Administration for Children and Families which administers most of the social services in the country, including all federal policy related to child welfare on policy and politics. Previously, he served as an ordained minister at a homeless shelter for three years while earning a bachelors degree in social work from Harding University in Arkansas.

I dreamed of becoming a clinician specializing in childhood trauma therapy, he said.

After he worked for two weeks as a caseworker, the director of the Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services promoted Brown to serve as a legislative aide, setting him on the path of social policy and politics. He then moved to working on childrens policy issues in the governors office.

After moving to St. Louis to begin the Master of Social Work program at the Brown School, Brown has served as legislative aide in the Missouri Legislature; continued his ministry by fighting for racial equity in the city; and served as director of policy and analysis for Ella Jones, the first African American and female mayor of Ferguson, Mo.

These positions have allowed me to create innovative solutions to social issues, he said. Most importantly, however, these experiences have elucidated critical gaps in advancing childrens welfare in the face of a multitude of impending global challenges. Ive already begun to fill those gaps, but this scholarship is the next step.

When youre working with vulnerable people, they become the center of your world, Brown said.

We forget that these people exist amid a myriad of interconnected systems, he said. I led an international child welfare summit between the United States and England, which was so impactful that our countries requested another. I successfully led the Global Children in Care Summit, where government and nonprofit leaders from 30 other countries joined the assistant secretary of the Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services to learn about comparative child-welfare policy by listening to the lived experiences of nine young people who had been in care in various countries around the world.

I envision a formal coalition of countries who are so committed to the welfare of their children that they set aside their differences to better serve their most vulnerable, he said.

Taylor is precisely the kind of person who is likely to make a positive and profound change in our world, said Brett Drake, professor at the Brown School. His combination of intellect, superior interpersonal skills and his genuine and deep commitment to transformative change make him uniquely well suited to take full advantage of any opportunities he is offered.

The world needs more people like Taylor Brown, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said. He is a champion for children all over the world and is using the knowledge gained at the Brown School to help ensure lasting, positive change for young people everywhere.

Taylor plans to earn a PhD in social policy.

Education isnt born of inertia. Its a tool and a passion, Brown said. I was the first in my family to graduate from a four-year college, and I used that knowledge to escape generational poverty and abuse in the rural South, ultimately to help kids who come from homes like mine.

Nuanced care, big-picture thinking

Age: 21Studies: Philosophy-neuroscience-psychology and modern Middle Eastern studies in Arts & SciencesHome: San Antonio

Summer McKenna, 21, is committed to ending decades of distrust and hostility between America and the Middle East through cultural competency and conflict mediation.

My mission is to neutralize our militarys greatest enemy: a glaring lack of cultural, linguistic and historical competency, McKenna wrote in her scholarship application. I am not hungry for war. I am starving for education for our troops, diversification of our Armed Forces, acknowledging the humanness in another and making space for women as warriors of peacebuilding.

McKenna serves as Cadet Battalion Commander, the top cadet leader of the Gateway Battalion, a Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program composed of more than 100 cadets from nine local colleges and universities.

McKenna knew little about the Middle East before she arrived at Washington University to study philosophy-neuroscience-psychology and run track. But two key experiences set her on her current path. The first occurred in 2018, when she traveled to Morocco as part of Project Global Officer, a Department of Defense program to teach cadets critical languages. McKenna had never traveled outside of the United States, nor did she know Arabic. But she learned quickly from her Moroccan host sisters.

We spent a lot of time talking about their views of America both how they wanted to come here to study but also their anger about its role in the region, McKenna recalled. Hearing the perceptions of women my age made me realize that I have a role to play in how the world sees our country.

The next moment occurred in the class The U.S. War in Iraq taught by Krister Knapp, teaching professor of history in Arts & Sciences. The topic was Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison where U.S. soldiers tortured Iraqi detainees.

I was wearing my uniform that day and I felt incredible shame, McKenna said. But I also felt this determination to fix the broken trust that occurred in Iraq.

Jennifer R. Smith, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, said McKennas strength as an interdisciplinary scholar and sensitivity to interpersonal dynamics makes her a natural diplomat.

If I could design the person I would most want engaged in complex, fraught and exceedingly consequential decision-making within international affairs scenarios, particularly as regarding use of military force, it would be Summer, Smith wrote in her recommendation. She combines a nuanced care for individuals with big-picture strategic thinking and an ultimately pragmatic mindset.

McKenna is currently an honors intern at the U.S. Department of Justice. Upon graduation, she will be commissioned as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve.

On campus, McKenna also served as education chairwoman for Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and as member of the Catholic Leadership Development Cohort.

But her proudest accomplishment is the creation of Interchange for Language & Mentorship, which pairs Syrian refugee high school students with Washington University undergraduates. Before the pandemic, McKenna and fellow tutors would accompany students to class to help them better understand English as well as American concepts like Thanksgiving.

Helping in these minute moments makes a big difference in their education, McKenna said. Students who once felt excluded now feel included.

Always looking to innovate

Age: 22Studied: Neuroscience in Arts & SciencesHome: Owensboro, Ky.

Harsh Moolani understood the devastating consequences of social isolation on older adults long before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. During his years as a hospice volunteer, Moolani befriended many older adults, each with a unique story to tell, each longing to be heard.

Deep human needs require the comfort and confidence of belonging, Moolani wrote in his Rhodes application. The psychosocial challenges like loneliness and social determinants of health for older adults are given little attention despite grave consequences. Seeing how research aligned with my in-person experience of witnessing a shortage of caregivers, inadequate reimbursement systems, poor aging policy and social perceptions as contributors to the challenges in elder care only compounded my fascination for the field and obsession with its intricacies.

In response, Moolani founded Create Circles while still an undergraduate at Washington University. The nonprofit organization strives to reduce social isolation and cognitive decay by pairing young volunteers with older adults in long-term care facilities to produce creative projects such as articles, videos and podcasts.

A lot of programs are about providing companionship, and that, certainly, is important, Moolani said. But we look to give them an opportunity to create after years of losing parts of themselves that are fundamental to their identity. We want to help craft a sense of purpose with them.

Moolani has trained more than 600 volunteers, who assist older adults in 13 states. Currently, volunteers meet virtually, a logistical feat that amazes his mentor, Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the School of Medicine.

Harsh is constantly looking to innovate, whether it is through tools anyone can use to engage their family members or online training to better equip pre-existing organizations, Apte wrote in his recommendation. His journey of learning from physicians, administrators, policymakers and, most importantly, the older adult population he is serving, led him to understand the essence of medicine: to allow people to live life on their own terms for as long as possible. With this realization comes Harshs fascination with the social determinants of health and how he can address this component of health care today.

In addition to his role leading Create Circles, Moolani also is a product manager and analyst for Briocare, where he is developing technology that can be used with Alexa and Google Assistant devices to improve older adults well-being. He also continues his work as a research assistant in Aptes lab, where he is studying age-related macular degeneration.

Moolani also remains a volunteer at Unity Hospice, the Alzheimers Association and VOYCE St. Louis, which advocates for quality long-term care.

Moolani also co-founded Compare Medical Schools, a website that helps students from underrepresented populations find best-fit medical programs.

At Washington University, he served as a residential advisor and was captain and choreographer of WashU Chaahat, a Bollywood-fusion dance team.

To learn more about the Rhodes Scholarship, visitrhodesscholar.org.

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Three Washington University scholars were Rhodes finalists | The Source - Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

Neuroscience

UNC scientists identify brain cells that help drive bodily reaction to fear, anxiety – WRAL Tech Wire

CHAPEL HILL Strong emotions such as fear and anxiety tend to be accompanied and reinforced by measurable bodily changes including increased blood pressure, heart rate and respiration, and dilation of the eyes pupils. These so-called physiological arousal responses are often abnormally high or low in psychiatric illnesses such as anxiety disordersand depression. Now scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have identified a population of brain cells whose activity appears to drive such arousal responses.

The scientists, whosestudy is publishedinCell Reports, found that artificially forcing the activity of these brain cells in mice produced an arousal response in the form of dilated pupils and faster heart rate, and worsened anxiety-like behaviors.

Pnoc neurons in the BNST shown in green (Photo credit Hiroshi Nomura, PhD)

The finding helps illuminate the neural roots of emotions, and point to the possibility that the human-brain counterpart of the newly identified population of arousal-related neurons might be a target of future treatments for anxiety disorders and other illnesses involving abnormal arousal responses.

Focusing on arousal responses might offer a new way to intervene in psychiatric disorders, said first authorJose Rodrguez-Romaguera, PhD, assistant professor in the UNC Department of Psychiatry and member of the UNC Neuroscience Center, and co-director of the Carolina Stress Initiative at the UNC School of Medicine.

Jose Rodrguez-Romaguera (UNC-CH photo)

Rodrguez-Romaguera and co-first author Randall Ung, PhD, an MD-PhD student and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, led this study when they were members of the UNC laboratory of Garret Stuber, PhD, who is now at the University of Washington.

This work not only identifies a new population of neurons implicated in arousal and anxiety, but also opens the door for future experiments to systematically examine how molecularly defined cell types contribute to complex emotional and physiological states, Stuber said. This will be critical going forward for developing new treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Anxiety disorders, depression, and other disorders featuring abnormally high or low arousal responses affect a large fraction of the human population, including tens of millions of adults in the United States alone. Treatments may alleviate symptoms, but many have adverse side effects, and the root causes of these disorders generally remain obscure.

Untangling these roots amid the complexity of the brain has been an enormous challenge, one that laboratory technology has only recently begun to surmount.

Rodrguez-Romaguera, Ung, Stuber and colleagues examined a brain region within the amygdala called the BNST (bed nucleus of the stria terminalis), which has been linked in prior research to fear and anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Increasingly, scientists view this region as a promising target for future psychiatric drugs. In this case, the researchers zeroed in on a set of BNST neurons that express a neurotransmitter gene,Pnoc, known to be linked to pain sensitivity and more recently to motivation.

The team used a relatively new technique called two-photon microscopy to directly image BNSTPnocneurons in the brains of mice while the mice were presented with noxious or appealing odors stimuli that reliably induce fear/anxiety and reward behaviors, respectively, along with the appropriate arousal responses. In this way, the scientists found that activity in these neurons tended to be accompanied by the rapid dilation of the pupils of the mice when the animals were presented with either of these odor stimuli.

The researchers then used another advanced technique called optogenetics using light to control genetically engineered cells to artificially drive the activity of the BNSTPnocneurons. They found that spurring on BNSTPnocactivity triggered a pupillary response, as well as increased heart rate. Optogenetically driving the neurons while the mice underwent an anxiety-inducing maze test (traditionally used to assess anxiety drugs) increased the animals signs of anxiety, while optogenetically quieting the neurons had the opposite effect.

Essentially we found that activating these BNSTPnocneurons drives arousal responses and worsens anxiety-like states, Rodrguez-Romaguera said.

The discovery is mainly a feat of basic neuroscience. But it also suggests that targeting arousal-driving neurons such as BNSTPnocneurons with future drugs might be a good way to reduce abnormally strong responses to negative stimuli in anxiety disorders, for example, and to boost abnormally weak responses to positive stimuli in depression.

The study uncovered evidence that BNSTPnocneurons are not all the same but differ in their responses to positive or negative stimuli, and the researchers are now cataloguing these BNSTPnocneuron sub-groups.

Even this small part of the amygdala is a complex system with different types of neurons, Ung said. Teasing this apart will help us understand better how this system works.

The other co-authors of the study were Hiroshi Nomura, James Otis, Marcus Basiri, Vijay Namboodiri, Xueqi Zhu, Elliott Robinson, Hanna van den Munkhof, Jenna McHenry, Louisa Eckman, Oksana Kosyk, Thomas Jhou, Thomas Kash, and Michael Bruchas.

(C) UNC-CH

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Physiology

In a warming climate, can birds take the heat? – Agri News

URBANA, Ill. We dont know precisely how hot things will get as climate change marches on, but theres reason to believe animals in the tropics may not fare as well as their temperate relatives.

Many scientists think tropical animals, because theyre accustomed to a more stable thermal environment, may be pushed beyond their limits quickly as temperatures soar. And that could lead to massive species loss.

Yet, in a first-of-its-kind study, University of Illinois researchers show both temperate and tropical birds can handle acute heat stress much better than expected.

In terms of their thermal physiology, a lot of these birds, including tropical species, can tolerate temperatures that are a lot higher than what they experience in their daily lives. That was surprising because tropical ectotherms, such as insects, have been shown to be extremely vulnerable to climate warming, said Henry Pollock, postdoctoral researcher at Illinois and first author on the study. Were just not seeing the same things in birds. It is somewhat encouraging.

Although they observed some promising trends, the researchers caution against celebrating too soon.

Its not necessarily comforting news. If someone walked away from this thinking tropical birds are going to do fine because theyre not going to overheat, that would be a simplistic bottom line to take away from this paper, said Jeff Brawn, professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at U of I and co-author on the study.

Warming is likely to affect tropical birds indirectly, by impacting their resources, the structure of tropical forests. So, they may not be flying around panting, suffering from heat exhaustion, but there may be more indirect effects.

To test the assumption that tropical and temperate birds differ in their ability to cope with heat stress, Pollock brought 81 species from Panama and South Carolina into field labs to test their responses to rising temperatures.

Using tiny sensors, he was able to detect internal body temperatures, as well as metabolic rates, when he exposed the birds to warmer and warmer environments.

Species from both temperate and tropical zones handled the rising temperatures just fine. Birds from South Carolina had a higher heat tolerance, on average, than Panamanian birds, but both groups exceeded Pollock and Brawns expectations.

And among all the birds, doves and pigeons emerged as thermal superstars. Most birds cool down by panting, but doves and pigeons take advantage of their unique-among-birds ability to sweat.

In fact, Pollock said, they exceeded the limits of his testing equipment.

Although the study provided the first-ever heat tolerance data for many bird species, the results take on more meaning when put into the context of warming projections.

Both temperate and tropical birds were able to tolerate temperatures into the 40s (in degrees Celsius), but they only experience maximum temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius in their everyday environments, so they have a substantial buffer, Pollock said.

In other words, even if maximum air temperatures rise 3 to 4 degrees Celsius, as projected by some scientists, thats well within the thermal safety margins of all the birds Pollock measured.

Its important to note the experiment, which measured acute heat stress, doesnt exactly replicate whats projected to happen during much more gradual climate warming.

But few studies have examined the effects of chronic heat stress in birds, and having this baseline knowledge of their acute physiological limits is a good start.

This is the first geographic comparison ever for birds. We need more data from more sites and studies of chronic heat stress over longer periods of time. But I think at the very least, what we can say is that theyre able to tolerate higher temperatures than I think anybody expected, Pollock said.

Brawn added: Were just starting to scratch the surface of what we need to do to really understand how climate change is going to affect birds. But this is an important first step.

The article, Heat tolerances of temperate and tropical birds and their implications for susceptibility to climate warming, is published in Functional Ecology. Authors include Pollock, Brawn and Zachary Cheviron.

The research was supported by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U of I.

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In a warming climate, can birds take the heat? - Agri News

Physiology

UH Hilo students win national STEM research awards | University of Hawaii System News – UH System Current News

Two University of Hawaii at Hilo students received awards for their research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), a national conference held online November 913. ABRCMS is one of the largest professional conferences for underrepresented students. The four-day conference included more than 2,000 virtual poster and oral presentations given by undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students.

Kailee Yoshimura won her award in the category of Physiology and Pharmacology of an Undergraduate for her research project, Development of Quercetin Containing Polymeric Nanoparticles for Oral Delivery.

Fellow student Michelle Biete received her award in the category of Computational and Systems Biology of an Undergraduate Junior for her presentation on her presentation, A Pragmatic Approach to Standardizing Ultrastructure Morphology in Tissue and Cell Culture.

A total of seven UH Hilo Students of Hawaii Advanced Research Program (SHARP) students, including Yoshimura and Biete, were selected to present their research in biomedical or biobehavioral science as first authors. The other student presenters were:

Read more at UH Hilo Stories.

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UH Hilo students win national STEM research awards | University of Hawaii System News - UH System Current News

Cell Biology

Biology Textbooks Wrong? New Research Reveals the Secret Behind a Key Cellular Process – SciTechDaily

For the first time, researchers describe how Rho protein really stops gene expression.

New research has identified and described a cellular process that, despite what textbooks say, has remained elusive to scientists until now precisely how the copying of genetic material that, once started, is properly turned off.

The finding concerns a key process essential to life: the transcription phase of gene expression, which enables cells to live and do their jobs.

During transcription, an enzyme called RNA polymerase wraps itself around the double helix of DNA, using one strand to match nucleotides to make a copy of genetic material resulting in a newly synthesized strand of RNA that breaks off when transcription is complete. That RNA enables production of proteins, which are essential to all life and perform most of the work inside cells.

Just as with any coherent message, RNA needs to start and stop in the right place to make sense. A bacterial protein called Rho was discovered more than 50 years ago because of its ability to stop, or terminate, transcription. In every textbook, Rho is used as a model terminator that, using its very strong motor force, binds to the RNA and pulls it out of RNA polymerase. But a closer look by these scientists showed that Rho wouldnt be able to find the RNAs it needs to release using the textbook mechanism.

We started studying Rho, and realized it cannot possibly work in ways people tell us it works, said Irina Artsimovitch, co-lead author of the study and professor of microbiology at The Ohio State University.

The research, published online by the journalScience today, November 26, 2020, determined that instead of attaching to a specific piece of RNA near the end of transcription and helping it unwind from DNA, Rho actually hitchhikes on RNA polymerase for the duration of transcription. Rho cooperates with other proteins to eventually coax the enzyme through a series of structural changes that end with an inactive state enabling release of the RNA.

The team used sophisticated microscopes to reveal how Rho acts on a complete transcription complex composed of RNA polymerase and two accessory proteins that travel with it throughout transcription.

This is the first structure of a termination complex in any system, and was supposed to be impossible to obtain because it falls apart too quickly, Artsimovitch said.

It answers a fundamental question transcription is fundamental to life, but if it were not controlled, nothing would work. RNA polymerase by itself has to be completely neutral. It has to be able to make any RNA, including those that are damaged or could harm the cell. While traveling with RNA polymerase, Rho can tell if the synthesized RNA is worth making and if not, Rho releases it.

Artsimovitch has made many important discoveries about how RNA polymerase so successfully completes transcription. She didnt set out to counter years of understanding about Rhos role in termination until an undergraduate student in her lab identified surprising mutations in Rho while working on a genetics project.

Rho is known to silence the expression of virulence genes in bacteria, essentially keeping them dormant until theyre needed to cause infection. But these genes do not have any RNA sequences that Rho is known to preferentially bind. Because of that, Artsimovitch said, it has never made sense that Rho looks only for specific RNA sequences, without even knowing if they are still attached to RNA polymerase.

In fact, the scientific understanding of the Rho mechanism was established using simplified biochemical experiments that frequently left out RNA polymerase in essence, defining how a process ends without factoring in the process itself.

In this work, the researchers used cryo-electron microscopy to capture images of RNA polymerase operating on a DNA template in Escherichia coli, their model system. This high-resolution visualization, combined with high-end computation, made accurate modeling of transcription termination possible.

RNA polymerase moves along, matching hundreds of thousands of nucleotides in bacteria. The complex is extremely stable because it has to be if the RNA is released, it is lost, Artsimovitch said. Yet Rho is able to make the complex fall apart in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. You can look at it, but you cant get a stable complex to analyze.

Using a clever method to trap complexes just before they fall apart enabled the scientists to visualize seven complexes that represent sequential steps in the termination pathway, starting from Rhos engagement with RNA polymerase and ending with a completely inactive RNA polymerase. The team created models based on what they saw, and then made sure that these models were correct using genetic and biochemical methods.

Though the study was conducted in bacteria, Artsimovitch said this termination process is likely to occur in other forms of life.

It appears to be common, she said. In general, cells use similar working mechanisms from a common ancestor. They all learned the same tricks as long as these tricks were useful.

Reference: 26 November 2020, Science.

Artsimovitch, working with an international research team of collaborators, co-led the study with Markus Wahl, a former Ohio State graduate student now at Freie Universitt Berlin.

This work was supported by grants from the German Research Foundation; the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; the Indian Council of Medical Research; the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India; the National Institutes of Health; and the Sigrid Juslius Foundation.

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Biology Textbooks Wrong? New Research Reveals the Secret Behind a Key Cellular Process - SciTechDaily

Cell Biology

MTSU researcher-led study: Instructors need to address compatibility of religion, science while teaching evolution – Wgnsradio

MTSU science education researcher and biology assistant professor Elizabeth Barnes and five colleagues have published in CBE Life Sciences Educations quarterly journal. The study suggests that a difference in culture and beliefs between science instructors and students may inadvertently lead to low acceptance of evolution among minority students particularly Black students in biology. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. A first-of-its-kind study led byMiddle Tennessee State University biologyresearcherElizabeth Barnessuggests that a difference in culture and beliefs between science instructors and students may inadvertently lead to low acceptance of evolution among minority students particularly Black students in biology.

Barnes and Arizona State University researchers asked whether Black and Hispanic students tended to reject evolution more than students from other racial/ethnic identities and whether any differences could be explained by the fact they tend to be more religious.

The study, published Friday, Nov. 20, byCBE Life Sciences Educationsquarterly journal, can be foundhere.

Christianity is popular among 65% of college biology students, but not among the biologists (25%) who are teaching students, which helped the research group understand the motivation for the study.

Further, when looking at students from minority populations, the gap between biologists and student religious affiliation is even wider Black students tend to have stronger religious cultures and backgrounds compared to majority populations.

Researchers found that rejection of evolution was particularly high for Black students, but once they controlled for religious background in their statistical models, the differences between Black and white students were diminished.

This is a concerning finding for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) educators because Black students are already minoritized in biology and they are particularly absent in fields that emphasize evolution such as ecology and evolutionary biology, said Barnes, who joined the MTSU faculty in August. Our study starts to offer some explanation for why.

Researchers suggest that a solution is to use instructional techniques that highlight the compatibility between religion and evolution rather than where they might conflict.

Science instructors who are often secular themselves are hesitant to address religion and when they do it is often in a way that highlights conflict between religion and science and not compatibility, Barnes said.

To promote an equitable and comfortable STEM environment for religious students, science instructors should more often highlight views such as theistic evolution, for which student can both believe in God and recognize evolution as credible science, she added

Barnes was joined in the research byK. Supriya,Hayley M. Dunlop,Taija M. Hendrix,Gale M. SinatraandSara E. Brownell. They began collecting data five years ago.

We collected a lot of data and spent a lot of time revising the work based on feedback and reading about the experiences of Black and Hispanic individuals, Barnes said.

Barnes labs website can be foundhere.

CBE Life Sciences Education is a free, online quarterly journal published by the American Society of Cell Biology. It publishes peer-reviewed articles on life science education at the K-12, undergraduate and graduate levels.

About Liz Barnes

Assistant professor ElizabethBarnesis an MTSU science education researcher. She studies the intersections of science and religion, how individuals perceive the relationship between science and religion and how science educators can foster productive conversations with communities and students of faith to promote science education.

Coming from Arizona State University, where she earned bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees, and was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, Barnes arrived with grants to continue her research at MTSU.

I came to MTSU to study how to effectively teach controversial topics in biology to students across different religious and political spectrums, she said. I was lured to MTSU because of theMathematics and Science Education Ph.D. program, which will allow me to mentor graduate students and build a robust research program.

On deck: My past and current research focus is on perceptions of evolution and I have studied how to make evolution education more inclusive for students from different religious and racial/ethnic backgrounds, she said. I am now excited to be embarking on projects exploring perceptions of climate change, vaccines and COVID19.

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Cell Biology

Global Spatial Genomics and Transcriptomics Market: Focus on Product Type, Sample Type, Workflow, Application, End User, Region and Competitive…

New York, Nov. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Spatial Genomics and Transcriptomics Market: Focus on Product Type, Sample Type, Workflow, Application, End User, Region and Competitive Landscape - Analysis and Forecast, 2020-2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05989635/?utm_source=GNW Market Segmentation

Product Type Kits and Assays, Instruments, Software, and Services Sample Type Fresh Frozen Tissues, Fixed Frozen Tissues, Fixed-Formalin Paraffin Embedded Tissues, and Cultured Cells Workflow Spatial Imaging, Spatial Analysis, and Spatial Sequencing Application- Diagnostics, Drug Discovery and Development, Translational Research, Single-Cell Analysis, Cell Biology and Others End User Academic and Research Institutions, Biopharmaceutical and Biotechnological Companies, Contract Research Organizations and Other End Users

Regional Segmentation

North America U.S., Canada Europe Germany, France, Italy, U.K., Spain, and Rest-of-Europe Asia-Pacific China, Japan, India, Singapore, Australia, and Rest-of-Asia-Pacific (RoAPAC) Latin America Brazil, Mexico, and Rest-of-the-Latin America Rest-of-the-World

Growth Drivers

Increasing Prevalence of Various Types of Genetic Disorders Globally Technological Advancements in Sequencing Technologies Increasing Research Funding in the Field of Spatial Transcriptomics

Market Challenges

High Capital Requirement Hampering the Expansion of Global Reach Lack of Tools for Computational Analysis

Market Opportunities

Opportunity (by Product) Opportunity (by Technology) Expansion into New Research Application such as Spatial Metagenomics Expansion into Emerging Markets

Key Companies ProfiledNanoString Technologies, Inc., S2 Genomics, Inc., Flagship Biosciences, Inc., Akoya Biosciences, Inc. RareCyte, Inc., IONpath, Inc., Fluidigm Corporation, 10x Genomics, Inc., Visikol, Inc., Miltenyi Biotec, and BioSpyder Technologies

Key Questions Answered in this Report: What are the major market drivers, challenges, and opportunities in the global spatial genomics and transcriptomics market? What is the potential impact of biotechnological advancement in the diagnostic industry among the end users, such as researchers, pathologists, and laboratory technicians? What is the current market demand along with future expected demand for the global spatial genomics and transcriptomics market? How have spatial profiling helped cellular imaging and visualization to become a prominent tool for diagnostics in various clinical applications? What are the key development strategies which are implemented by the major players in order to sustain in the competitive market? How is each segment of the market expected to grow during the forecast period from 2020 to 2030 based each on segment?

Following are each segment type:o product typeo sample typeo workflowo applicationo end usero region, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Rest-of-the-World (ROW) Who are the leading players with significant offerings to the global spatial genomics and transcriptomics market? What is the expected market dominance for each of these leading players? Which emerging companies are anticipated to be highly disruptive in the future, and what are their key strategies for sustainable growth in the global spatial genomics and transcriptomics market?

Market OverviewHealthcare experts have found the spatial genomics and transcriptomics market to be one of the most rapidly evolving markets, which is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 23.20% during the forecast period of 2020-2030. The market is driven by certain factors, which include the increasing prevalence of various types of genetic disorders, such as cancer, neurological disorder, and rare diseases, inciting the development of high-resolution multiplex assays and instruments, technological advancements in sequencing technologies, and significant research funding in the field of spatial-based technology for executing R&D exercises.

The market is favored by the development of spatial profiling-based solutions for visualization and analysis of tissue microenvironment, tumor biology, and tissue biomarker. The gradual increase in the prevalence of neurological disorders and rare diseases globally has furthered the spatial genomics and transcriptomics market.

Furthermore, several contract research organizations are focusing on the development of spatial profiling-based services, which enables simultaneous in-situ spatial analysis of multiple biomarkers proteins or more than a hundred mRNAs from single formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue or frozen tissue section.

Within the research report, the market is segmented on the basis of product type, sample type, workflow, application, end users, and region. Each of these segments covers the snapshot of the market over the projected years, the inclination of the market revenue, underlying patterns, and trends by using analytics on the primary and secondary data obtained.

Competitive LandscapeThe exponential rise in the application of precision medicine on the global level has created a buzz among companies to invest in the development of high-resolution multiplex diagnostics providing information on cellular interaction and tissue heterogeneity to understand disease biology and pathology. Due to technologically advanced solutions and intense market penetration, BioTechne Corporation has been a pioneer in this field and has been a significant competitor in this market.

Other key players in the market are NanoString Technologies, Inc., S2 Genomics, Inc., Flagship Biosciences, Inc., Akoya Biosciences, Inc. RareCyte, Inc., IONpath, Inc., Fluidigm Corporation, 10x Genomics, Inc., Visikol, Inc., Miltenyi Biotec, and BioSpyder Technologies.

On the basis of region, North America holds the largest share of spatial genomics and transcriptomics market due to improved healthcare infrastructure, rise in per capita income, and availability of state-of-the-art research laboratories and institutions in the region. Apart from this, Europe region is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR of 23.54% during the forecast period 2020-2030.

The market utilizes several technologies, such as barcoding, sequencing, mass cytometry, and microscopy, for the development of instruments and assay for spatial profiling of tissue section to gain an understanding of tissue microenvironment. Each solution offered by the leading players is the combination of next-generation omics tools for application in several clinical areas, such oncology, neurology, immunology, and pathology.

Countries Covered North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany France Spain U.K. Italy Rest-of-Europe Asia-Pacific China India Singapore Australia Japan Rest-of-Asia-Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest-of-Latin America Rest-of-the-WorldRead the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05989635/?utm_source=GNW

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Global Spatial Genomics and Transcriptomics Market: Focus on Product Type, Sample Type, Workflow, Application, End User, Region and Competitive...

Cell Biology

Symphony of Cellular Activities Revealed by Fluorescent Imaging Technique – SciTechDaily

MIT researchers have developed a way to simultaneously image up to five different molecules within a cell, by targeting glowing reporters to distinct locations inside the cell. This approach could allow scientists to learn much more about the complex signaling networks that control most cell functions. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

Fluorescent imaging technique simultaneously captures different signal types from multiple locations in a live cell.

Within a single cell, thousands of molecules, such as proteins, ions, and other signaling molecules, work together to perform all kinds of functions absorbing nutrients, storing memories, and differentiating into specific tissues, among many others.

Deciphering these molecules, and all of their interactions, is a monumental task. Over the past 20 years, scientists have developed fluorescent reporters they can use to read out the dynamics of individual molecules within cells. However, typically only one or two such signals can be observed at a time, because a microscope cannot distinguish between many fluorescent colors.

MIT researchers have now developed a way to image up to five different molecule types at a time, by measuring each signal from random, distinct locations throughout a cell. This approach could allow scientists to learn much more about the complex signaling networks that control most cell functions, says Edward Boyden, the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology and a professor of biological engineering, media arts and sciences, and brain and cognitive sciences at MIT.

There are thousands of molecules encoded by the genome, and theyre interacting in ways that we dont understand. Only by watching them at the same time can we understand their relationships, says Boyden, who is also a member of MITs McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

In a new study, Boyden and his colleagues used this technique to identify two populations of neurons that respond to calcium signals in different ways, which may influence how they encode long-term memories, the researchers say.

Boyden is the senior author of the study, which was published on November 23, 2020, in Cell. The papers lead authors are MIT postdoc Changyang Linghu and graduate student Shannon Johnson.

Just like listening to the sound of a single instrument from an orchestra is far from enough to fully appreciate a symphony, Linghu says, by enabling observations of multiple cellular signals at the same time, our technology will help us understand the symphony of cellular activities. These four images compare various ways scientists make molecular activity visible, with the new technique on the bottom right. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers. Edited by MIT News

To make molecular activity visible within a cell, scientists typically create reporters by fusing a protein that senses a target molecule to a protein that glows. This is similar to how a smoke detector will sense smoke and then flash a light, says Johnson, who is also a fellow in the Yang-Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics. The most commonly used glowing protein is green fluorescent protein (GFP), which is based on a molecule originally found in a fluorescent jellyfish.

Typically a biologist can see one or two colors at the same time on a microscope, and many of the reporters out there are green, because theyre based on the green fluorescent protein, Boyden says. What has been lacking until now is the ability to see more than a couple of these signals at once.

Just like listening to the sound of a single instrument from an orchestra is far from enough to fully appreciate a symphony, Linghu says, by enabling observations of multiple cellular signals at the same time, our technology will help us understand the symphony of cellular activities.

To boost the number of signals they could see, the researchers set out to identify signals by location instead of by color. They modified existing reporters to cause them to accumulate in clusters at different locations within a cell. They did this by adding two small peptides to each reporter, which helped the reporters form distinct clusters within cells.

Its like having reporter X be tethered to a LEGO brick, and reporter Z tethered to a KNEX piece only LEGO bricks will snap to other LEGO bricks, causing only reporter X to be clustered with more of reporter X, Johnson says.

With this technique, each cell ends up with hundreds of clusters of fluorescent reporters. After measuring the activity of each cluster under a microscope, based on the changing fluorescence, the researchers can identify which molecule was being measured in each cluster by preserving the cell and staining for peptide tags that are unique to each reporter. The peptide tags are invisible in the live cell, but they can be stained and seen after the live imaging is done. This allows the researchers to distinguish signals for different molecules even though they may all be fluorescing the same color in the live cell.

Using this approach, the researchers showed that they could see five different molecular signals in a single cell. To demonstrate the potential usefulness of this strategy, they measured the activities of three molecules in parallel calcium, cyclic AMP, and protein kinase A (PKA). These molecules form a signaling network that is involved with many different cellular functions throughout the body. In neurons, it plays an important role in translating a short-term input (from upstream neurons) into long-term changes such as strengthening the connections between neurons a process that is necessary for learning and forming new memories.

Applying this imaging technique to pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus, the researchers identified two novel subpopulations with different calcium signaling dynamics. One population showed slow calcium responses. In the other population, neurons had faster calcium responses. The latter population had larger PKA responses. The researchers believe this heightened response may help sustain long-lasting changes in the neurons.

The researchers now plan to try this approach in living animals so they can study how signaling network activities relate to behavior, and also to expand it to other types of cells, such as immune cells. This technique could also be useful for comparing signaling network patterns between cells from healthy and diseased tissue.

In this paper, the researchers showed they could record five different molecular signals at once, and by modifying their existing strategy, they believe they could get up to 16. With additional work, that number could reach into the hundreds, they say.

That really might help crack open some of these tough questions about how the parts of a cell work together, Boyden says. One might imagine an era when we can watch everything going on in a living cell, or at least the part involved with learning, or with disease, or with the treatment of a disease.

Read Real Time Spying on the Symphony of Cellular Signals That Drive Biology for more on this research.

Reference: Spatial multiplexing of fluorescent reporters for dynamic imaging of signal transduction networks by Changyang Linghu, Shannon L. Johnson, Pablo A. Valdes, Or A. Shemesh, Won Min Park, Demian Park, Kiryl D. Piatkevich, Asmamaw T. Wassie, Yixi Liu, Bobae An, Stephanie A. Barnes, Orhan T. Celiker, Chun-Chen Yao, Chih-Chieh (Jay) Yu, Ru Wang, Katarzyna P. Adamala, Mark F. Bear, Amy E. Keating and Edward S. Boyden, 23 November 2020, Cell.DOI:: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.035

The research was funded by the Friends of the McGovern Institute Fellowship; the J. Douglas Tan Fellowship; Lisa Yang; the Yang-Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics; John Doerr; the Open Philanthropy Project; the HHMI-Simons Faculty Scholars Program; the Human Frontier Science Program; the U.S. Army Research Laboratory; the MIT Media Lab; the Picower Institute Innovation Fund; the National Institutes of Health, including an NIH Directors Pioneer Award; and the National Science Foundation.

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Symphony of Cellular Activities Revealed by Fluorescent Imaging Technique - SciTechDaily

Cell Biology

More Evidence that Cellular Death by Iron Could Be Promising Avenue of Cancer Treatment – On Cancer – Memorial Sloan Kettering

Summary

Genetic mutations that give cancers a metabolic boost may also leave them vulnerable to drugs that promote a particular form of cell death, Sloan Kettering Institute researchers have found.

If there is a silver lining in cancers chaotic biology, its that the same traits that give cancer cells a growth advantage often present opportunities for sabotaging them.

Thats the central idea behind a new research paper published November 23in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by Xuejun Jiang, a cell biologist in the Sloan Kettering Institute, and Craig Thompson, President and CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering. They found that cancer cells often exhibit metabolic changes that make them vulnerable to a particular type of cell death called ferroptosis.

Cell Biology Program

MSK researchers explore the molecular mechanisms that control normal cell behavior and how these mechanisms are disrupted in cancer.

Ferroptosis literally, death by iron is often triggered by oxidative stress, the buildup in cells of free radicals and other corrosive chemicals that are byproducts of using oxygen to burnfuel for energy. But many cancer cells, which need abundant amounts of energy to grow and divide, have found a way around this problem.

Genetic mutations that allow cancer cells to cope with oxidative stress make them more resistant to ferroptosis, Dr. Jiang says. Another way to say this is that without the benefit of those mutations, cancer cells might be very, very sensitive to ferroptosis.

He and his colleagues, including postdoctoral fellows Junmei Yi and Jiajun Zhu, tested this idea by giving mice a combination of drugs one that promotes ferroptosis and one that blocks the effect of the mutations. The results of this one-two punch were dramatic.

The particular mutations Dr. Jiang and colleagues studied affect a signal-sending pathway called PI3K-AKT-mTOR, which controls metabolism. Mutations in this pathway are among the most common found in cancer. That likely reflects the fact that cancer cells have increased metabolic demands owing to how quickly they reproduce. Cancers with mutations in the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway are some of the most difficult to treat.

The team found that tumor cells with these mutations demonstrated a hardy resistance to an experimental ferroptosis-inducing drugthat wasadministered to cells growing in a dish. When the scientists added drugs that block the action of this metabolic pathway to the ferroptosis-inducing drug, the cancer cells died.

Next, they tested whether this same effect would be seen in mouse models of breast and prostate cancers containing these mutations. Indeed, the drug combination resulted in near-complete tumor destruction in the mice.

These were some of the most significant tumor regressions I've ever seen coming from experiments in my lab.

These were some of the most significant tumor regressions Ive ever seen coming from experiments in my lab, Dr. Jiang says.

He and his collaborators further showed that the way the mutated PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathwayprotects cancer cells is by increasing the activity of a protein that is involved in making lipids for the cells outer membrane. These extra lipids help to protect the cells against oxidative stress, and therefore ferroptosis. Blocking PI3K-AKT-mTOR prevents this lipid synthesis and re-sensitizes the cells to ferroptosis.

The new findings complement previous work from the Jiang lab, published in 2019 in the journal Nature. In that paper, Dr. Jiang found the some cancers have mutations that make them more sensitive to ferroptosis, even without administering metabolism-altering drugs. In a sense, the new results represent the flipside of the equation.

The key point is that many cancers have genetic alterations that can be exploited to trigger ferroptosis and kill the cells. Its an exciting way to think about developing new cancer treatments.

The team has applied for a patent related to this work. Their next step is to test the drug combination in tumor samples obtained from patients being treated at MSK.

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More Evidence that Cellular Death by Iron Could Be Promising Avenue of Cancer Treatment - On Cancer - Memorial Sloan Kettering

Cell Biology

Severe infections wreak havoc on mouse blood cell production | Imperial News – Imperial College London

Severe infections like malaria cause short and long-term damage to precursor blood cells in mice, but some damage could be reversed, find researchers.

A team led by researchers from Imperial College London and The Francis Crick Institute have discovered that severe infections caused by malaria disrupt the processes that form blood cells in mice. This potentially causes long-term damage that could mean people who have recovered from severe infections are vulnerable to new infections or to developing blood cancers.

The team also discovered that the damage could be reduced or partially reversed in mice with a hormone treatment that regulates bone calcium coupled with an antioxidant. The research could lead to new ways of preventing long-term damage from severe infections including malaria, TB and COVID-19.

The research is published today in Nature Cell Biology.

First author Dr Myriam Haltalli, who completed the work while at the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: We discovered that malaria infection reprograms the process of blood cell production in mice and significantly affects the function of precursor blood cells. These changes could cause long-term alterations, but we also found a way to significantly reduce the amount of damage and potentially rescue the healthy production of blood cells.

Blood is made up of several different cell types, that all originate as haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in the bone marrow. During severe infection, the production of all blood cells ramps up to help the body fight the infection, depleting the HSCs.

Now, the team has shown how infections also damage the bone marrow environment that is crucial for healthy HSC production and function. They discovered this using advanced microscopy technologies at Imperial and the Crick, RNA analyses led by the Gottgens group at Cambridge University, and mathematical modelling led by Professor Ken Duffy at Maynooth University.

The mice developed malaria naturally, following bites from mosquitoes carrying Plasmodium parasites, provided by Dr Andrew Blagborough at Cambridge University. The researchers subsequently observed the changes in the bone marrow environment and the effect on HSC function.

Within days of infection, blood vessels became leaky and there was a dramatic loss in bone-forming cells called osteoblasts. These changes appear strongly linked to the decline in the pool of HSCs during infection.

Lead author Professor Cristina Lo Celso, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: We were surprised at the speed of the changes, which was completely unexpected. We may think of bone as an impenetrable fortress, but the bone marrow environment is incredibly dynamic and susceptible to damage.

Reducing the pool of HSCs can have several consequences. In the short-term, it appears to particularly affect the production of neutrophils white blood cells that form an essential part of the immune system. This can leave patients vulnerable to further infections, with potentially long-term consequences for the functioning of the immune system.

In the long term, the pool of HSCs may remain below normal levels, which can increase the chances of the patient developing blood cancers like leukaemia.

By injecting fluorescent molecules (magenta) that would normally remain in circulation and taking a series of images over time, intravital microscopy revealed that infected mice had very leaky vessels with the contents of the bone marrow blood vessels, lined by endothelial cells (green), escaping into the surrounding tissue. The red boxes highlight the areas compared in the analysis and the white lines mark the bone.

After determining in detail how severe infection affects the bone marrow environment and HSC function, the team tested a way to prevent the damage. Before infecting the mice, they treated them with a hormone that regulates bone calcium and an antioxidant to counter cellular oxidative stress, and then again after infection.

This process led to a tenfold increase in HSC function following infection compared to mice that received no treatment (around 20-40 per cent function compared to two percent function, respectively). Although this is not a complete recovery, the vast increase in function is a positive sign.

The team note that the requirement to start the hormone treatment before infection, combined with its expense and need to be refrigerated, make it unviable as a solution, especially in many parts of the world where severe infections like malaria and TB are prevalent.

However, they hope that proof that the impact of severe infection on HSC function can be significantly lessened will lead to the development of new treatments that can be widely administered.

Professor Lo Celso said: The long-term impacts of COVID-19 infection are just starting to be known. The impact on HSC function appears similar across multiple severe infections, suggesting our work on malaria could shed light on the possible long-term consequences of COVID-19, and how we might mitigate them.

Dr Haltalli concluded: Protecting HSC function while still developing strong immune responses is key for healthy ageing.

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Manipulating niche composition limits damage to haematopoietic stem cells during Plasmodium infection by Myriam L.R. Haltalli et al. is published in Nature Cell Biology.

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Severe infections wreak havoc on mouse blood cell production | Imperial News - Imperial College London