news.harvard.eu.science.rss.xml - sfeed_tests - sfeed tests and RSS and Atom files
(HTM) git clone git://git.codemadness.org/sfeed_tests
(DIR) Log
(DIR) Files
(DIR) Refs
(DIR) README
(DIR) LICENSE
---
news.harvard.eu.science.rss.xml (620582B)
---
1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
2 xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
3 xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
4 xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
5 xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
6 xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
7 xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
8 >
9
10 <channel>
11 <title>Science & Technology – Harvard Gazette</title>
12 <atom:link href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/section/science-technology/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
13 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette</link>
14 <description>Official news from Harvard University covering innovation in teaching, learning, and research</description>
15 <lastBuildDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2020 18:31:53 +0000</lastBuildDate>
16 <language>en-US</language>
17 <sy:updatePeriod>
18 hourly </sy:updatePeriod>
19 <sy:updateFrequency>
20 1 </sy:updateFrequency>
21 <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.1</generator>
22 <item>
23 <title>Octopus’ suction cups hold its taste and touch sensors</title>
24 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/octopus-suction-cups-hold-its-taste-and-touch-sensors/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
25
26 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
27 <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2020 15:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
28 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
29 <category><![CDATA[Bellono Lab]]></category>
30 <category><![CDATA[Cell]]></category>
31 <category><![CDATA[chemotactile receptors]]></category>
32 <category><![CDATA[Corey A.H. Allard]]></category>
33 <category><![CDATA[Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology]]></category>
34 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
35 <category><![CDATA[FAS]]></category>
36 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
37 <category><![CDATA[Lena van Giesen]]></category>
38 <category><![CDATA[Octopus]]></category>
39 <category><![CDATA[Peter B. Kilian]]></category>
40 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312446</guid>
41
42 <description><![CDATA[Harvard researchers uncover novel family of sensors in octopuses.]]></description>
43 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Octopuses have captured the human imagination for centuries, inspiring sagas of sea monsters from Scandinavian kraken legends to TV’s “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and, most recently, Netflix’s less-threatening “My Octopus Teacher.” With their eight suction-cup covered arms, their very appearance is unique, and their ability to use those appendages to touch and taste while foraging further sets them apart.</p>
44 <p>In fact scientists have wondered for decades how those arms, or more specifically the suction cups on them, do their work, prompting a number of experiments into the biomechanics. But very few have studied what is happening on a molecular level. In a new report, Harvard researchers got a glimpse into how the nervous system in the octopus’ arms (which operate largely independently from its centralized brain) manage this feat. The work published Thursday in Cell.</p>
45 <p>The scientists identified a novel family of sensors in the first layer of cells inside the suction cups that have adapted to react and detect molecules that don’t dissolve well in water. The research suggests these sensors, called chemotactile receptors, use these molecules to help the animal figure out what it’s touching and whether that object is prey.</p>
46 </div> <!-- article-body -->
47 </div> <!-- article-content -->
48 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
49
50 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--article-width">
51
52 <div class="article-embed__content">
53 <video autoplay loop muted playsinline poster="">
54 <source src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Octopus2_2020_LOOP.mp4" type="video/mp4">
55 </video>
56 </div>
57
58 <figcaption class="article-embed__figcaption">
59 <div class="article-embed__figcaption-content">
60 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-credit">Video: Peter B. Kilian</p>
61 </div>
62 </figcaption>
63
64 </figure>
65
66 <div class="article-wrap">
67 <div class="article-content">
68 <div class="article-body basic-text">
69
70 <p>“We think because the molecules do not solubilize well, they could, for instance, be found on the surface of octopuses’ prey and [whatever the animals touch],” said <a href="https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/directory/nicholas-bellono/">Nicholas Bellono</a>, an assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology and the study’s senior author. “So, when the octopus touches a rock versus a crab, now its arm knows, ‘OK, I’m touching a crab [because] I know there’s not only touch but there’s also this sort of taste.’”</p>
71 <p>In addition, scientists found diversity in what the receptors responded to and the signals they then transmitted to the cell and nervous systems.</p>
72 <p>“We think that this is important because it could facilitate complexity in what the octopus senses and also how it can process a range of signals using its semi-autonomous arm nervous system to produce complex behaviors,” Bellono said.</p>
73 <p>The scientists believe this research can help uncover similar receptor systems in other cephalopods, the invertebrate family that also includes squids and cuttlefish. The hope is to determine how these systems work on a molecular level and answer some relatively unexplored questions about how these creatures’ capabilities evolved to suit their environment.</p>
74 <p>“Not much is known about marine chemotactile behavior and with this receptor family as a model system, we can now study which signals are important for the animal and how they can be encoded,” said <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/bellonolab/people/lena-van-giesen">Lena van Giesen</a>, a postdoctoral fellow in the <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/bellonolab">Bellono Lab</a> and lead author of the paper. “These insights into protein evolution and signal coding go far beyond just cephalopods.”</p>
75 <p>Along with Giesen, other co-authors from the lab include <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/bellonolab/people/peter-kilian">Peter B. Kilian</a>, an animal technician, and <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/bellonolab/people/corey-allard">Corey A.H. Allard</a>, a postdoctoral fellow.</p>
76 <p>“The strategies they have evolved in order to solve problems in their environment are unique to them and that inspires a great deal of interest from both scientists and non-scientists alike,” Kilian said. “People are drawn to octopuses and other cephalopods because they are wildly different from most other animals.”</p>
77 <p>The team set out to uncover how the receptors are able to sense chemicals and detect signals in what they touch, like an arm around a snail, to help them make choices.</p>
78 <p>Octopus arms are distinct and complex. About two-thirds of an octopus’s neurons are located in their arms. Because the arms operate partially independently from the brain, if one is severed it can still reach for, identify, and grasp items.</p>
79 <aside class="pull-quote">
80 <div class="pull-quote__text">“People are drawn to octopuses and other cephalopods because they are wildly different from most other animals.”</div>
81 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Peter B. Kilian</div>
82 </aside>
83
84 <p>The team started by identifying which cells in the suckers actually do the detecting. After isolating and cloning the touch and chemical receptors, they inserted them in frog eggs and in human cell lines to study their function in isolation. Nothing like these receptors exists in frog or human cells, so the cells act essentially like closed vessels for the study of these receptors.</p>
85 <p>The researchers then exposed those cells to molecules such as extracts from octopus prey and others items to which these receptors are known to react. Some test subjects were water-soluble, like salts, sugars, amino acids; others do not dissolve well and are not typically considered of interest by aquatic animals. Surprisingly, only the poorly soluble molecules activated the receptors.</p>
86 <p>Researchers then went back to the octopuses in their lab to see whether they too responded to those molecules by putting those same extracts on the floors of their tanks. They found the only odorants the octopuses receptors responded to were a non-dissolving class of naturally occurring chemicals known as terpenoid molecules.</p>
87 <p>“[The octopus] was highly responsive to only the part of the floor that had the molecule infused,” Bellono said. This led the researchers to believe that the receptors they identified pick up on these types of molecules and help the octopus distinguish what it’s touching. “With the semi-autonomous nervous system, it can quickly make this decision: ‘Do I contract and grab this crab or keep searching?’”</p>
88 <p>While the study provides a molecular explanation for this aquatic touch-taste sensation in octopuses through their chemotactile receptors, the researchers suggest further study is needed, given that a great number of unknown natural compounds could also stimulate these receptors to mediate complex behaviors.</p>
89 <p>“We’re now trying to look at other natural molecules that these animals might detect,” Bellono said.</p>
90 <p><em>This research was supported by the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Searle Scholars Program, the Sloan Foundation, the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship, the National Institutes of Health, and the Swiss National Science Foundation.</em></p>
91
92 ]]></content:encoded>
93
94
95
96 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/thumbnail_Octopus3-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
97 <item>
98 <title>LabXchange’s free platform built for STEM students, educators</title>
99 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/rob-lue-labxchange-free-platform-for-stem-instruction/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
100
101 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
102 <pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:28:48 +0000</pubDate>
103 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
104 <category><![CDATA[Digital learning]]></category>
105 <category><![CDATA[iLab]]></category>
106 <category><![CDATA[In the Community]]></category>
107 <category><![CDATA[LabXchange]]></category>
108 <category><![CDATA[Online Learning]]></category>
109 <category><![CDATA[Robert Lue]]></category>
110 <category><![CDATA[STEM]]></category>
111 <category><![CDATA[the Amgen Foundation]]></category>
112 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=302263</guid>
113
114 <description><![CDATA[LabXchange, a free digital-learning platform for science education, allows students, educators, scientists, and researchers to collaborate globally in an online community. ]]></description>
115 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The LabXchange opened to virtual fanfare when it launched this past January, but the excitement was brief. The introduction of the program, created to help STEM teachers bridge ethnic and gender gaps as effectively as possibly, was quickly lost in the explosion of COVID-19.</p>
116 <p>But that doesn’t mean it went away. Despite the pressing pandemic and political news, the website has had more than 2 million users since its debut — and to its creators, it’s clear why.</p>
117 <p>The initiative, developed by <a href="https://www.fas.harvard.edu">Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences</a>, the <a href="https://www.amgen.com">Amgen Foundation</a>, and Massachusetts teachers, is a free resource for students and educators to collaborate in an online community as well as use mentors to help address equity and access in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). LabXchange is accessible from anywhere in the world, offers a library of diverse content, includes a <a href="https://www.labxchange.org/library/clusters/lx-cluster:abe">biotechnology learning resource</a> available in 12 different languages, and applies science to real-world issues.</p>
118 <p><a href="https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/directory/robert-lue/">Robert Lue</a>, faculty director and principal investigator of LabXchange, identified the need for flexible online learning tools that educators and employers at all levels can control to create customized learning plans.</p>
119 <p>“LabXchange is especially pleased to have launched at a time when we could add our STEM resources and online class functionalities to the arsenal that instructors have to teach virtually during the pandemic,” he said.</p>
120 </div> <!-- article-body -->
121 </div> <!-- article-content -->
122 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
123
124 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default">
125
126 <div class="article-embed__content">
127 <video autoplay loop muted playsinline poster="">
128 <source src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/LabXchangeedit-1.mp4" type="video/mp4">
129 </video>
130 </div>
131
132 <figcaption class="article-embed__figcaption">
133 <div class="article-embed__figcaption-content">
134 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-caption">LabXchange content manager Jessica Silverman works with scientists and artists to help create interchangeable modular content.</p>
135 </div>
136 </figcaption>
137
138 </figure>
139
140 <div class="article-wrap">
141 <div class="article-content">
142 <div class="article-body basic-text">
143
144 <p> </p>
145 <p>Last week, in partnership with <a href="https://www.massstemweek.org">Massachusetts STEM Week</a>, the initiative hosted “Personalize Online Learning with LabXchange,” a virtual event for local teachers. Participants learned how to use the platform as a tool that encourages exploration, adaptation, teamwork, experimentation, and creativity through critical thinking, problem-solving, and innovation. They also learned ways to help their students learn to build and sustain a global economy, and increase the roles of women and minorities.</p>
146 <p>LabXchange chief of staff <a href="https://about.labxchange.org">Ilyana Sawka</a> said the initiative is working to break down barriers and stereotypes in science and democratize participation in digital learning. The platform gives people an easy way to jump in and experiment, she said.</p>
147 <p>“There is room for improvement with diversity in the STEM sector, and we want to be part of the conversation about how we can improve outcomes for young people,” she said.</p>
148 <p>This year’s statewide educational theme, “See Yourself in STEM,” was stressed by webinar host <a href="https://about.labxchange.org">Jessica Silverman</a>, LabXchange content and collaborations manager; and participants <a href="https://www.amgenbiotechexperience.com/about/stories/david-mangus">David Mangus</a>, Brockton High School science department head; Mary Liu, Weston High School biology teacher; Andrew Bowersox, Greenfield High School science teacher; and <a href="https://lifesciencesoutreach.fas.harvard.edu/people/alia-qatarneh">Alia Qatarneh</a>, Massachusetts Amgen Biotech experience program director at Harvard University.</p>
149 <aside class="pull-quote">
150 <div class="pull-quote__text">“The pandemic is changing how we do things. We are trying to create a new understanding and new definition of what it means to pursue science in a rapidly changing society.”</div>
151 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Ilyana Sawka, LabXchange chief of staff</div>
152 </aside>
153
154 <p>During the event, Mangus, a former research scientist, demonstrated a molecular biology simulation using virtual lab components to mimic a robust in-person lab.</p>
155 <p>“This provides them low-stakes, low-impact environments where they can explore without having to worry about making mistakes or wasting resources,” he said.</p>
156 <p>Silverman works with scientists and artists to help create interchangeable modular content that stimulates interactive learning to meet specific learning objectives. Interesting graphics, text, and video help learners navigate challenging topics.</p>
157 <p>“It’s not just a linear track, we want to show what experiences are common to all students, and what pathways are available to students for their individual interests and at their own pace,” she said.</p>
158 <p>Sawka said LabXchange shares the Amgen Foundation’s mission of trying to ensure science is informed by a multitude of perspectives promoting success on a career path — whether in medicine, research, policy, communications, or biotech business development. “The pandemic is changing how we do things,” she said. “We are trying to create a new understanding and new definition of what it means to pursue science in a rapidly changing society.”</p>
159
160 <p>LabXchange has been working to support schools across Massachusetts as they transition to, and continue with, remote and hybrid learning. Over the past few months more than 16,000 educators and students have used the platform, for nearly 10,000 hours of teaching and learning. More than 90 Massachusetts schools and institutions, and more than 50 educator co-developers have collaborated on the platform thus far.</p>
161 <p><a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/secretary-of-education">Massachusetts Secretary of Education James Peyser</a>, who made opening remarks at the LabXchange event, said the pandemic has substantially impacted education and brought longstanding equity barriers into starker relief. He praised the positive developments that have come to light providing energy and momentum for educators and students, especially the trend toward digital simulations and other virtual learning experiences such as LabXchange.</p>
162 <p>“They are not just a substitute for traditional instruction, they can actually improve the depth of learning while breaking down barriers that may otherwise prevent students and teachers from getting access to the most effective learning experiences,” he said. “Especially in underserved communities and especially in STEM fields.”</p>
163 ]]></content:encoded>
164
165
166
167 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/20.10.20LabXchange2-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
168 <item>
169 <title>Aging chimps show social selectivity</title>
170 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/aging-chimps-show-social-selectivity/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
171
172 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
173 <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
174 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
175 <category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
176 <category><![CDATA[Alexandra Rosati]]></category>
177 <category><![CDATA[Chimpanzees]]></category>
178 <category><![CDATA[Department of Human Evolutionary Biology]]></category>
179 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
180 <category><![CDATA[FAS]]></category>
181 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
182 <category><![CDATA[Kibale Chimpanzee Project]]></category>
183 <category><![CDATA[Lindsey Hagberg]]></category>
184 <category><![CDATA[Martin N. Muller]]></category>
185 <category><![CDATA[Melissa Emery Thompson]]></category>
186 <category><![CDATA[Richard W. Wrangham]]></category>
187 <category><![CDATA[Science]]></category>
188 <category><![CDATA[Zarin Machanda]]></category>
189 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=314392</guid>
190
191 <description><![CDATA[Understanding why older chimps tend to favor small circles of meaningful, established friendships rather than seek new ones may help scientists gain a better picture of what healthy human aging should look like and what triggers this social change.]]></description>
192 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>No new friends and no drama.</p>
193 <p>When humans age, they tend to favor small circles of meaningful, established friendships rather than seek new ones, and to lean toward positive relationships rather than ones that bring tension or conflict. These behaviors were thought to be unique to humans but it turns out chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives, have these traits, too. Understanding why can help scientists gain a better picture of what healthy aging should look like and what triggers this social change.</p>
194 <p>The work is described in the Oct. 23 issue of the journal <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaz9129">Science</a> and is authored by a team of psychologists and primatologists, including current and former researchers from the <a href="https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/">Harvard Department of Human Evolutionary Biology</a>.</p>
195 <p>The study draws on 78,000 hours of observations, made between 1995 and 2016. It looked at the social interactions of 21 male chimpanzees between 15 and 58 years old in the Kibale National Park in Uganda. It shows what’s believed to be the first evidence of nonhuman animals deliberately selecting who they socialize with during aging.</p>
196 <p>The researchers looked only at male chimpanzees because they show stronger social bonds and have more frequent social interactions than female chimps. Analyzing a trove of data, the researchers saw that the chimpanzees displayed much of the same behavior aging humans exhibit.</p>
197 <p>The older chimpanzees they studied, for instance, had on average more mutual friendships while younger chimps had more one-sided relationships. Mutual friendships are characterized by behavior such as reciprocated grooming whereas in lopsided friendships grooming isn’t always returned.</p>
198 <p>Older males were also more likely to spend more time alone and showed a preference for interacting with — and grooming — chimps they deemed to be more important social partners, like other aging chimps or their mutual friends. And like older humans looking for some peace and quiet, the chimpanzees showed a shift from negative to more positive interactions as they reached their twilight years. The preference is known as a positivity bias.</p>
199 </div> <!-- article-body -->
200 </div> <!-- article-content -->
201 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
202
203 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default">
204
205 <div class="article-embed__content">
206 <video autoplay loop muted playsinline poster="">
207 <source src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-ApesGrooming-01-LOOP.mp4" type="video/mp4">
208 </video>
209 </div>
210
211 <figcaption class="article-embed__figcaption">
212 <div class="article-embed__figcaption-content">
213 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-caption">Kakama and Makoku grooming together; these males are long-term mutual friends and show a high level of tolerance.</p>
214 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-credit">Video by Ronan Donovan</p>
215 </div>
216 </figcaption>
217
218 </figure>
219
220 <div class="article-wrap">
221 <div class="article-content">
222 <div class="article-body basic-text">
223
224 <p>“The really cool thing is that we found that chimpanzees are showing these patterns that mirror those of humans,” said Alexandra Rosati ’05, an assistant professor of psychology and anthropology at the University of Michigan and one of the paper’s lead authors.</p>
225 <p>Future research can help determine if these behaviors constitute the normal or successful course that aging should take, she added. It can serve as a model or baseline.</p>
226 <p>“There’s really a pressing need to understand the biology of aging,” Rosati said. “More humans are living longer than in the past, which can change the dynamics of aging.”</p>
227 <p>Rosati is a former assistant professor and visiting fellow in HEB department, where the study originated. Other Harvard-connected authors on the paper include Zarin Machanda, A.M. ’04, Ph.D. ’09, who’s now an assistant professor at Tufts University; Melissa Emery Thompson, A.M. ’00, Ph.D. ’05, who’s now an associate professor at the University of New Mexico; Lindsey Hagberg ’17, who’s now a medical student at Washington University; and <a href="https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/people/richard-w-wrangham">Richard W. Wrangham</a>, Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology and founder and co-director of the <a href="https://kibalechimpanzees.wordpress.com/">Kibale Chimpanzee Project</a>.</p>
228 <p>Machanda and Thompson worked in Wrangham’s lab as graduate students and currently serve as co-directors for the Kibale project, which has other authors on the paper including Martin N. Muller, a former postdoctoral fellow in HEB. The project started as Hagberg’s undergraduate senior thesis.</p>
229 <p>The study tested the origins of humans prioritizing close, positive relationships during aging and whether that is really triggered by a theory known as socioemotional selectivity. The notion suggests that the central process driving social selectivity during aging is awareness that time is running out and wanting to make the best of what remains.</p>
230 <p>The findings from the study suggest there is more to understand.</p>
231 <p>“Even though chimps are very smart, they do not understand they’re going to die,” Wrangham said. “Much more likely something else is going on in chimps to explain why their relationships become more positive as they get older, and then the question is, is what applies to chimps the same as what applies to humans?”</p>
232 <figure id="attachment_314694" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-314694" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-314694 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500.jpg" alt="Older chimp." width="2500" height="1667" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo9-202010chimpsaging_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-314694" class="wp-caption-text">Big Brown is an older male in the Kanyawara chimpanzee group. Photo by John Lower</figcaption></figure>
233 <p>Some of the observations that led the researchers to their conclusions included looking at proximity and grooming habits. Older chimps preferred sitting close to those who preferred sitting close to them. These are categorized as mutual friendships, while one-sided friendships are when one chimp prefers sitting close to another chimp but that other chimp doesn’t share that habit.</p>
234 <p>Fifteen-year-old chimps had on average 2.1 one-sided friendships and 0.9 mutual friends while 40-year-old chimps almost didn’t bother with one-side friendships (their average was .6), but did have plenty of mutual friends, an average of three. By looking at grooming habits, the researchers then saw the older chimps devote more energy into their relationships with mutual friends.</p>
235
236 <p>“We see individuals having these more lopsided friendships and then as they age they start really spending time with individuals that reciprocate,” said Machanda, who was the paper’s other lead author. “When you have this kind of mutual friendship, you actually groom that individual more, so these older chimps have these mutual friendships and they’re actually grooming those individuals quite a bit. They’re really invested in these relationships.”</p>
237 <p>The scientists weren’t entirely surprised by their findings. Part of it is because chimpanzees and humans are already a lot alike in terms of social organization and social choices. After all, chimpanzees, along with bonobos, share 99 percent of their DNA with humans.</p>
238 <p>“It raises the possibility that we are seeing behavioral systems that have been shared evolutionarily back to our common ancestor, around seven or eight million years ago,” Wrangham said.</p>
239 <p><em>This work was partially funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, and the Leakey Foundation.</em></p>
240
241 ]]></content:encoded>
242
243
244
245 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Photo10-GroomingTriad_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
246 <item>
247 <title>Enzymatic DNA synthesis sees the light</title>
248 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/enzymatic-dna-synthesis-sees-the-light/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
249
250 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
251 <pubDate>Mon, 19 Oct 2020 15:05:07 +0000</pubDate>
252 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
253 <category><![CDATA[DNA]]></category>
254 <category><![CDATA[George Church]]></category>
255 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Medical School]]></category>
256 <category><![CDATA[Wyss Institute]]></category>
257 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=314371</guid>
258
259 <description><![CDATA[Controlling a DNA-synthesizing enzyme with photolithographic methods from the computer chip industry facilitates multiplexed writing and storage of digital data in DNA.]]></description>
260 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="add-drop-cap">According to current estimates, the amount of data produced by humans and machines is rising at an exponential rate, with the digital universe doubling in size every two years. Very likely, the magnetic and optical data-storage systems at our disposal won’t be able to archive this fast-growing volume of digital 1s and 0s anymore at some point. Plus, they cannot safely store data for more than a century without degrading. <span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
261 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One solution to this pending global data-storage problem could be the development of DNA — life’s very own information-storage system — into a digital data storage medium. </span></p>
262 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Researchers already are encoding complex information consisting of digital code into DNA’s four-letter code comprised of its A, T, G, and C nucleotide bases. DNA is an ideal storage medium because it is stable over hundreds or thousands of years, has an extraordinary information density, and its information can be efficiently read (decoded) again with advanced sequencing techniques that are continuously getting less expensive.</span></p>
263 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What lags behind is the ability to write (encode) information into DNA. The programmed synthesis of synthetic DNA sequences still is mostly performed with a decades-old chemical procedure, known as the “phosphoramidite method,” that takes many steps that, although being able to be multiplexed, can only generate DNA sequences with up to around 200 nucleotides in length and makes occasional errors. It also produces environmentally toxic by-products that are not compatible with a “clean data storage technology.”</span></p>
264 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Previously, George Church’s team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has developed the first </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/save-it-in-dna/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">DNA storage approach that uses a DNA-synthesizing biological enzyme</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> known as Terminal deoxynucleotidyl Transferase (TdT), which, in principle, can synthesize much longer DNA sequences with fewer errors. Now, the researchers have applied photolithographic techniques from the computer chip industry to enzymatic DNA synthesis, and thus developed a new method to multiplex TdT’s superior DNA writing ability. In their study published in Nature Communications, they demonstrated the parallel synthesis of 12 DNA strands with varying sequences on a 1.2 square millimeter array surface. </span></p>
265 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We have championed and intensively pursued the use of DNA as a data-archiving medium accessed infrequently, yet with very high capacity and stability. Breakthroughs by us and others have enabled an exponential rise in the amount of digital data encrypted in DNA,” said corresponding author Church. “This study and other advances in enzymatic DNA synthesis will push the envelope of DNA writing much further and faster than chemical approaches.” </span></p>
266 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Church is a core faculty member at the Wyss Institute and lead of its Synthetic Biology Focus Area with DNA data storage as one of its technology development areas. He also is professor of genetics at HMS and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and MIT. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
267 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While the group’s </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/save-it-in-dna/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">first strategy using the TdT enzyme</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> as an effective tool for DNA synthesis and digital data storage controlled TdT’s enzyme activity with a second enzyme, they show in their new study that TdT can be controlled by the high-energy photons that UV-light is composed of. A high level of control is essential as the TdT enzyme needs to be instructed to add only one single or a short block made of one of the four A, T, G, C nucleotide bases to the growing DNA strand with high precision at each cycle of the DNA synthesis process. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
268
269 </div> <!-- article-body -->
270 </div> <!-- article-content -->
271 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
272
273
274 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
275 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
276
277 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 56.22% !important">
278 <img width="1350" height="759" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-1350x759.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Graphic." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-1350x759.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-300x169.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-768x432.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-800x450.jpg 800w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-400x225.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-1500x844.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PhotolithographicDNAsynthesisillustration_2500-1120x630.jpg 1120w" /> </div>
279
280 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
281 <p class="photo-layout__caption">This illustration shows how the Wyss’ team encoded the first measures of the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System video game Super Mario BrothersTM “Overworld Theme” (input) in DNA and then decoded it again into a sound-bite (output). </p>
282 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University</p>
283 </figcaption>
284
285 </figure>
286 </div>
287
288 <div class="article-wrap">
289 <div class="article-content">
290 <div class="article-body basic-text">
291
292
293 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Using a </span><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31160595/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">special codec</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a computational method that encodes digital information into DNA code and decodes it again, which Church’s team developed in their previous study, the researchers encoded the first two measures of the “Overworld Theme” sheet music from the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game Super Mario Brothers within 12 synthetic DNA strands. They generated those strands on an array matrix with a surface measuring merely 1.2 square millimeters by extending short DNA “primer” sequences, which were extended in a 3×4 pattern, using their photolithographic approach. </span></p>
294 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We applied the same photolithographic approach used by the computer chip industry to manufacture chips with electrical circuits patterned with nanometer precision to write DNA,” said first author Howon Lee, a postdoctoral fellow in Church’s group at the time of the study. “This provides enzymatic DNA synthesis with the potential of unprecedented multiplexing in the production of data-encoding DNA strands.”</span></p>
295 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Photolithography, like photography, uses light to transfer images onto a substrate to induce a chemical change. The computer chip industry miniaturized this process and uses silicon instead of film as a substrate. Church’s team now adapted the chip industry’s capabilities in their new DNA writing approach by substituting silicon with their array matrix consisting of microfluidic cells containing the short DNA primer sequences.</span></p>
296 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> In order to control DNA synthesis at primers positioned in the 3×4 pattern, the team directed a beam of UV-light onto a dynamic mask (as is done in computer chip manufacturing) — which essentially is a stencil of the 3×4 pattern in which DNA synthesis is activated — and shrunk the patterned beam on the other side of the mask with optical lenses down to the size of the array matrix.</span></p>
297 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The UV-light reflected from the mask pattern precisely hits the target area of primer elongation and frees up cobalt ions, which the TdT enzyme needs in order to function, by degrading a light-sensitive “caging” molecule that shields the ions from TdT,” said co-author Daniel Wiegand, research scientist at the Wyss Institute. “By the time the UV-light is turned off and the TdT enzyme deactivated again with excess caging molecules, it has added a single nucleotide base or a homopolymer block of one of the four nucleotide bases to the growing primer sequences.”</span></p>
298 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This cycle can be repeated multiple times whereby in each round only one of the four nucleotide bases or a homopolymer of a specific nucleotide base is added to the array matrix. In addition, by selectively covering specific openings of the mask during each cycle, the TdT enzyme only adds that specific nucleotide base to DNA primers where it is activated by UV-light, allowing the researchers to fully program the sequence of nucleotides in each of the strands.</span></p>
299 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Photon-directed multiplexed enzymatic DNA synthesis on this newly instrumented platform can be further developed to enable much higher automated multiplexing with improved TdT enzymes, and, eventually make DNA-based data storage significantly more effective, faster, and cheaper,” said co-corresponding author Richie Kohman, a lead senior research scientist at the Wyss’ Synthetic Biology focus area, who helped coordinate the research in Church’s team at the Wyss Institute.</span></p>
300
301 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This new approach to enzyme-directed synthetic DNA synthesis by the Church team is a clever piece of bioinspired engineering that combines the power of DNA replication with one of the most controllable and robust manufacturing methods developed by humanity — photolithography — to provide a solution that brings us closer to the goal of establishing DNA as a usable data storage medium,” said the Wyss Institute’s Founding Director Don Ingber, who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
302 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Other authors on the study are additional members of Church’s team, including Kettner Griswold, and Sukunya Punthambaker, as well as Honggu Chun, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Korea University. This work was funded by the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.</span></p>
303 ]]></content:encoded>
304
305
306
307 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/istock-2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
308 <item>
309 <title>Research shows lullabies in any language relax babies</title>
310 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/research-shows-lullabies-in-any-language-relax-babies/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
311
312 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
313 <pubDate>Mon, 19 Oct 2020 15:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
314 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
315 <category><![CDATA[Connie Bainbridge]]></category>
316 <category><![CDATA[FAS]]></category>
317 <category><![CDATA[Mila Bertolo]]></category>
318 <category><![CDATA[Music Lab]]></category>
319 <category><![CDATA[Nature Human Behaviour]]></category>
320 <category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
321 <category><![CDATA[Samuel Mehr]]></category>
322 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312444</guid>
323
324 <description><![CDATA[Researchers at Harvard’s Music Lab have determined that American infants relaxed when played lullabies that were unfamiliar and in a foreign language.]]></description>
325 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="add-drop-cap">Virtually all new parents quickly discover that a lullaby will in fact help an infant unwind, but they might be surprised to learn that babies aren’t fussy about the language.</p>
326 <p>Researchers at Harvard’s Music Lab have determined that American infants relaxed when played lullabies that were unfamiliar and in a foreign language. Their <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00963-z">results</a> were published in Nature Human Behaviour on Oct. 19.</p>
327 <p>“There’s a longstanding debate about how music affects listeners as a result of both prior experiences with music and the basic design of our psychology,” said Samuel Mehr, a Department of Psychology research associate and principal investigator at the <a href="https://themusiclab.org/">Music Lab</a>. “Common sense tells us that infants find the lullabies they hear relaxing. Is this just because they’ve experienced their parents’ singing before and know it means they’re safe and secure? Or is there also something universal about lullabies that produces these effects, independently of experience?”</p>
328 <p>The new findings supported the latter hypothesis: Infants responded to universal elements of songs, despite the unfamiliarity of their melodies and words, and relaxed. The study was conducted in 2018 and 2019 at the Music Lab, which focuses on the psychology of music from infancy to adulthood.</p>
329 <p>In the experiment, each infant watched an animated video of two characters singing either a lullaby or a non-lullaby. To measure the infants’ relaxation responses to the recordings, the researchers focused on pupil dilation, heart rate changes, electrodermal activity (a measure of “arousal” or excitement, from electrical resistance of the skin), frequency of blinking, and gaze direction as indicators of relaxation or agitation. Generally, the infants experienced a decrease in heart rate and pupil dilation, and attenuated electrodermal activity in response to the unfamiliar lullabies.</p>
330 <p>The researchers had to act quickly because of their subjects’ limited attention spans; most babies could pay attention for about five minutes before getting distracted.</p>
331 <p>“In an ideal world, we would play babies a dozen songs that are lullabies and a dozen songs that are not lullabies and gather a lot of data from each infant. But an infant’s attention span is short, so the experiment is short too,” said Mila Bertolo, co-first author of the research.</p>
332 <h3>Researchers played infants music from around the world and found they relaxed more in response to lullabies than other types of songs. Can you identify which song is the lullaby in the clips below?</h3>
333 <div class="accordion-wrapper">
334 <div><a class="accordion-title">Answer</a></div>
335 <div class="accordion-content"><b>Clip 1:</b> Lullaby from the Highlanders of Scotland.<br />
336 <b>Clip 2:</b> Healing song from the Seri of Mexico.</div>
337 </div>
338
339 </div> <!-- article-body -->
340 </div> <!-- article-content -->
341 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
342
343 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default">
344
345 <div class="article-embed__content">
346 <div class="audio-wrap noimage">
347 <div class="waveform-wrapper in-content" data-wavesurfer-audio-idx="" data-wavesurfer-audio-url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Lullaby_highland.mp3" data-wavesurfer-audio-id="waveform-314104">
348 <div class="player-control" style="width: 50px;">
349 <span class="play">
350 <svg version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 166 166" style="enable-background:new 0 0 166 166;" xml:space="preserve">
351 <g>
352 <g>
353 <circle class="colored" cx="83" cy="83" r="80.3"/>
354 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M83,5.2c42.9,0,77.8,34.9,77.8,77.8s-34.9,77.8-77.8,77.8S5.2,125.9,5.2,83S40.1,5.2,83,5.2 M83,0.2 C37.3,0.2,0.2,37.3,0.2,83s37.1,82.8,82.8,82.8s82.8-37.1,82.8-82.8S128.7,0.2,83,0.2L83,0.2z"/>
355 </g>
356 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M107.8,82.9L71.3,59.2c-1.1-0.7-2.5,0.1-2.5,1.4V108c0,1.3,1.4,2.1,2.5,1.4l36.5-23.7 C108.8,85,108.8,83.5,107.8,82.9z"/>
357 </g>
358 </svg>
359 </span>
360 <span class="pause">
361 <svg version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 166 166" style="enable-background:new 0 0 166 166;" xml:space="preserve">
362 <g>
363 <g>
364 <circle class="colored" cx="83" cy="83" r="80.3"/>
365 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M83,5.2c42.9,0,77.8,34.9,77.8,77.8s-34.9,77.8-77.8,77.8S5.2,125.9,5.2,83S40.1,5.2,83,5.2 M83,0.2 C37.3,0.2,0.2,37.3,0.2,83s37.1,82.8,82.8,82.8s82.8-37.1,82.8-82.8S128.7,0.2,83,0.2L83,0.2z"/>
366 </g>
367 <g>
368 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M74.7,107.4H63c-0.8,0-1.4-0.6-1.4-1.4V60c0-0.8,0.6-1.4,1.4-1.4h11.6c0.8,0,1.4,0.6,1.4,1.4V106 C76.1,106.8,75.4,107.4,74.7,107.4z"/>
369 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M103,107.4H91.3c-0.8,0-1.4-0.6-1.4-1.4V60c0-0.8,0.6-1.4,1.4-1.4H103c0.8,0,1.4,0.6,1.4,1.4V106 C104.3,106.8,103.7,107.4,103,107.4z"/>
370 </g>
371 </g>
372 </svg>
373 </span>
374 </div>
375 <div id="waveform-314104" class="waveform"></div>
376 </div>
377 </div>
378 </div><!--/.article-embed__content-->
379
380 </figure>
381
382
383 <div class="article-wrap">
384 <div class="article-content">
385 <div class="article-body basic-text">
386
387
388 </div> <!-- article-body -->
389 </div> <!-- article-content -->
390 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
391
392 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default">
393
394 <div class="article-embed__content">
395 <div class="audio-wrap noimage">
396 <div class="waveform-wrapper in-content" data-wavesurfer-audio-idx="" data-wavesurfer-audio-url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Lullaby_Seri.mp3" data-wavesurfer-audio-id="waveform-314106">
397 <div class="player-control" style="width: 50px;">
398 <span class="play">
399 <svg version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 166 166" style="enable-background:new 0 0 166 166;" xml:space="preserve">
400 <g>
401 <g>
402 <circle class="colored" cx="83" cy="83" r="80.3"/>
403 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M83,5.2c42.9,0,77.8,34.9,77.8,77.8s-34.9,77.8-77.8,77.8S5.2,125.9,5.2,83S40.1,5.2,83,5.2 M83,0.2 C37.3,0.2,0.2,37.3,0.2,83s37.1,82.8,82.8,82.8s82.8-37.1,82.8-82.8S128.7,0.2,83,0.2L83,0.2z"/>
404 </g>
405 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M107.8,82.9L71.3,59.2c-1.1-0.7-2.5,0.1-2.5,1.4V108c0,1.3,1.4,2.1,2.5,1.4l36.5-23.7 C108.8,85,108.8,83.5,107.8,82.9z"/>
406 </g>
407 </svg>
408 </span>
409 <span class="pause">
410 <svg version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 166 166" style="enable-background:new 0 0 166 166;" xml:space="preserve">
411 <g>
412 <g>
413 <circle class="colored" cx="83" cy="83" r="80.3"/>
414 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M83,5.2c42.9,0,77.8,34.9,77.8,77.8s-34.9,77.8-77.8,77.8S5.2,125.9,5.2,83S40.1,5.2,83,5.2 M83,0.2 C37.3,0.2,0.2,37.3,0.2,83s37.1,82.8,82.8,82.8s82.8-37.1,82.8-82.8S128.7,0.2,83,0.2L83,0.2z"/>
415 </g>
416 <g>
417 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M74.7,107.4H63c-0.8,0-1.4-0.6-1.4-1.4V60c0-0.8,0.6-1.4,1.4-1.4h11.6c0.8,0,1.4,0.6,1.4,1.4V106 C76.1,106.8,75.4,107.4,74.7,107.4z"/>
418 <path fill="#FFFFFF" d="M103,107.4H91.3c-0.8,0-1.4-0.6-1.4-1.4V60c0-0.8,0.6-1.4,1.4-1.4H103c0.8,0,1.4,0.6,1.4,1.4V106 C104.3,106.8,103.7,107.4,103,107.4z"/>
419 </g>
420 </g>
421 </svg>
422 </span>
423 </div>
424 <div id="waveform-314106" class="waveform"></div>
425 </div>
426 </div>
427 </div><!--/.article-embed__content-->
428
429 </figure>
430
431
432 <div class="article-wrap">
433 <div class="article-content">
434 <div class="article-body basic-text">
435
436 <p> </p>
437 <p>The songs were chosen through a previous Music Lab study, in which adults rated how likely a foreign unfamiliar song was to be a lullaby, a dance song, a healing song, or a love song. Using a cross-cultural sample of adult-rated lullabies helped the researchers avoid incorporating their own selection bias, where they might be more inclined to choose songs that most closely resembled a Western lullaby, said Bertolo.</p>
438 <p>The <a href="https://www.themusiclab.org/nhs_explorer/discography/index.html">16 songs</a> selected for the experiment came from the Natural History of Song Discography, and included lullabies and other songs originally produced to express love, heal the sick, or encourage dancing. Languages like Scottish Gaelic, Hopi, and Western Nahuatl, and regions including Polynesia, Central America, and the Middle East were represented in the songs chosen.</p>
439 <p>“Melody is one of the things that sticks out for lullabies. In comparison, in a lot of other song types, such as dance songs, you would see rhythm as being more of a driving force,” explained Connie Bainbridge, who co-led the research with Bertolo in the Music Lab, and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in communication at UCLA.</p>
440 <p>Separately, researchers asked parents to listen to both types of song and choose which they would use to soothe their infant. They almost always chose the lullaby, indicating that they also recognized the universal elements of the lullaby, even subconsciously. “Calming a fussy infant is an urgent matter for parents. Those of us with kids might be particularly sensitive to the acoustic features that appear universally in lullabies, as these may be most likely to calm our infants efficiently,” said Mehr.</p>
441 <p>The findings are “a testament to how effective music is,” said Bertolo. “This piece of the puzzle helps us make sense of certain kind of downstream effects” like music therapy in clinical settings. “It’s an interesting question to see whether the same thing that drives the relaxation for infants would carry through into adulthood.”</p>
442
443 <p>The researchers predict that the results could be replicated with a different group of subjects from another culture. They also plan to continue investigating questions raised during the experiment, such as which of the specific acoustical elements of a lullaby encourage relaxation, how singing interacts with other activities and environments to induce relaxation, and what inferences infants might make during listening.</p>
444 <p>The research provides evidence that singing can help infants relax — and in doing so might improve daily life for both child and caregiver.</p>
445 <p>“While the music in general was relaxing, there was something about the lullabies that was especially relaxing, so in theory there could be ways to optimize the music we provide to infants, to make them more effective,” added Bainbridge. “Additionally, it’s an interesting area to explore as far as the function of music — is it an adaptation that we evolved to have or a byproduct of language or auditory cognition? Our findings do seem to support the idea that there is actually an evolutionary function of music.”</p>
446 <p><em>This research was supported by the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award and the Harvard Data Science Initiative.</em></p>
447
448 ]]></content:encoded>
449
450
451
452 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Lullaby_Study_MG_3135_H_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
453 <item>
454 <title>Experts consider the ethical implications of new technology</title>
455 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/experts-consider-the-ethical-implications-of-new-technology/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
456
457 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
458 <pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2020 21:14:35 +0000</pubDate>
459 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
460 <category><![CDATA[Alison Simmons]]></category>
461 <category><![CDATA[Barbara Grosz]]></category>
462 <category><![CDATA[Christina Pazzanese]]></category>
463 <category><![CDATA[Computer Science]]></category>
464 <category><![CDATA[David Grant]]></category>
465 <category><![CDATA[Embedded EthiCS]]></category>
466 <category><![CDATA[Ethics]]></category>
467 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Science]]></category>
468 <category><![CDATA[Harvard College]]></category>
469 <category><![CDATA[Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences]]></category>
470 <category><![CDATA[Jeffrey Behrends]]></category>
471 <category><![CDATA[Philosophy]]></category>
472 <category><![CDATA[Radhika Nagpal]]></category>
473 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312804</guid>
474
475 <description><![CDATA[Faculty from the Computer Science and Philosophy departments join forces in a successful new undergraduate initiative, Embedded EthiCS, to change the way computer scientists think about the ethical implications of new technology.]]></description>
476 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="pad-bottom-lg"><i>First in a four-part series that taps the expertise of the Harvard community to examine the promise and potential pitfalls of the rising age of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and how to humanize it.</i></p>
477 <p class="add-drop-cap">For two decades, the flowering of the Digital Era has been greeted with blue-skies optimism, defined by an unflagging belief that each new technological advance, whether more powerful personal computers, faster internet, smarter cellphones, or more personalized social media, would only enhance our lives.</p>
478
479 <p>But public sentiment has curdled in recent years with revelations about Silicon Valley firms and online retailers collecting and sharing people’s data, social media gamed by bad actors spreading false information or sowing discord, and corporate algorithms using opaque metrics that favor some groups over others. These concerns multiply as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning technologies, which made possible many of these advances, quietly begin to nudge aside humans, assuming greater roles in running our economy, transportation, defense, medical care, and personal lives.</p>
480 <p>“Individuality … is increasingly under siege in an era of big data and machine learning,” says Mathias Risse, Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Administration and director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. The center invites scholars and leaders in the private and nonprofit sectors on ethics and AI to engage with students as part of its growing focus on the ways technology is reshaping the future of human rights.</p>
481 <h3 class="compact-bottom"><span style="color: #0081d1;"><strong><big>BUILDING MORE THOUGHTFUL SYSTEMS</big></strong></span></h3>
482 <p>Even before the technology field belatedly began to respond to market and government pressures with promises to do better, it had become clear to <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/directory/grosz">Barbara Grosz</a>, Higgins Research Professor of Natural Sciences at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), that the surest way to get the industry to act more responsibly is to prepare the next generation of tech leaders and workers to think more ethically about the work they’ll be doing. The result is <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/01/harvard-works-to-embed-ethics-in-computer-science-curriculum/">Embedded EthiCS</a>, a groundbreaking novel program that marries the disciplines of computer science and philosophy in an attempt to create change from within.</p>
483 <p>The timing seems on target, since the revolutionary technologies of AI and machine learning have begun making inroads in an ever-broadening range of domains and professions. In medicine, for instance, systems are expected soon to work effectively with physicians to provide better healthcare. In business, tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon have been using smart technologies for years, but use of AI is rapidly spreading, with global corporate spending on software and platforms expected to reach $110 billion by 2024.</p>
484
485 </div><!-- article-body -->
486 </div><!-- article-content -->
487 </div><!--article-wrap -->
488
489
490 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text ">
491
492 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
493 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
494 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 113.9% !important">
495 <img width="899" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-899x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Alison Simmons." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-899x1024.jpg 899w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-263x300.jpg 263w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-768x875.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-1348x1536.jpg 1348w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-1797x2048.jpg 1797w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-1350x1538.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-1316x1500.jpg 1316w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AI1PQsimmons-553x630.jpg 553w" /> </div>
496
497 </div>
498
499 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
500 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer</p>
501 </figcaption>
502 </figure>
503
504 <div class="photo-layout__text">
505 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
506 “A one-off course on ethics for computer scientists would not work. We needed a new pedagogical model.” </h2>
507 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
508 — Alison Simmons, the Samuel H. Wolcott Professor of Philosophy </div>
509 </div>
510
511 </div>
512
513 <div class="article-wrap">
514 <div class="article-content">
515 <div class="article-body basic-text">
516
517
518 <p>So where are we now on these issues, and what does that mean? To answer those questions, this Gazette series will examine emerging technologies in medicine and business, with the help of various experts in the Harvard community. We’ll also take a look at how the humanities can help inform the future coordination of human values and AI efficiencies through University efforts such as the AI+Art project at <a href="https://metalabharvard.github.io/">metaLAB(at)Harvard</a> and Embedded EthiCS.</p>
519 <p>In spring 2017, Grosz recruited <a href="https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/alison-simmons">Alison Simmons</a>, the Samuel H. Wolcott Professor of Philosophy, and together they founded <a href="https://embeddedethics.seas.harvard.edu/index.html">Embedded EthiCS</a>. The <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3330794">idea</a> is to weave philosophical concepts and ways of thinking into existing computer science courses so that students learn to ask not simply “Can I build it?” but rather “Should I build it, and if so, how?”</p>
520 <p>Through Embedded EthiCS, students learn to identify and think through ethical issues, explain their reasoning for taking, or not taking, a specific action, and ideally design more thoughtful systems that reflect basic human values. The program is the first of its kind nationally and is seen as a model for a number of other colleges and universities that plan to adapt it, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.</p>
521 <p>In recent years, computer science has become the second most popular concentration at Harvard College, after economics. About 2,750 students have enrolled in Embedded EthiCS courses since it began. More than 30 courses, including all classes in the computer science department, participated in the program in spring 2019.</p>
522 <aside class="pull-quote">
523 <div class="pull-quote__text">Students learn to ask not simply “Can I build it?” but rather “Should I build it, and if so, how?”</div>
524 <div class="pull-quote__attribution"></div>
525 </aside>
526
527 <p>“We don’t need all courses, what we need is for enough students to learn to use ethical thinking during design to make a difference in the world and to start changing the way computing technology company leaders, systems designers, and programmers think about what they’re doing,” said Grosz.</p>
528 <p>It became clear that Harvard’s computer science students wanted and needed something more just a few years ago, when Grosz taught “Intelligent Systems: Design and Ethical Challenges,” one of only two CS courses that had integrated ethics into the syllabus at the time.</p>
529 <p>During a class discussion about Facebook’s infamous 2014 experiment covertly engineering news feeds to gauge how users’ emotions were affected, students were outraged by what they viewed as the company’s improper psychological manipulation. But just two days later, in a class activity in which students were designing a recommender system for a fictional clothing manufacturer, Grosz asked what information they thought they’d need to collect from hypothetical customers.</p>
530 <p>“It was astonishing,” she said. “How many of the groups talked about the ethical implications of the information they were collecting? None.”</p>
531 <p>When she taught the course again, only one student said she thought about the ethical implications, but felt that “it didn’t seem relevant,” Grosz recalled.</p>
532 <p>“You need to think about what information you’re collecting when you’re designing what you’re going to collect, not collect everything and then say ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have this information,’” she explained.</p>
533 <h3 class="compact-bottom"><strong><big><span style="color: #0081d1;">Making it stick</span></big></strong></h3>
534 <p>Seeing how quickly even students concerned about ethics forgot to consider them when absorbed in a technical project prompted Grosz to focus on how to help students keep ethics up front. Some empirical work shows that standalone courses aren’t very sticky with engineers, and she was also concerned that a single ethics course would not satisfy growing student interest. Grosz and Simmons designed the program to intertwine the ethical with the technical, thus helping students better understand the relevance of ethics to their everyday work.</p>
535 <p>In a broad range of Harvard CS courses now, philosophy Ph.D. students and postdocs lead modules on ethical matters tailored to the technical concepts being taught in the class.</p>
536 <p>“We want the ethical issues to arise organically out of the technical problems that they’re working on in class,’” said Simmons. “We want our students to recognize that technical and ethical challenges need to be addressed hand in hand. So a one-off course on ethics for computer scientists would not work. We needed a new pedagogical model.”</p>
537 <hr />
538 <h2 class="transcript-header-1"><span style="color: #0081d1;"><strong>Key issues</strong></span></h2>
539 <p><strong><em>Examples of ethical problems courses are tackling</em></strong></p>
540
541 <img width="1024" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1-1024x1024.png" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" loading="lazy" link="none" size="large" sl_show_caption="true" columns="4" ids="313157,313160,313161,313158" orderby="post__in" include="313157,313160,313161,313158" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1-300x300.png 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1-150x150.png 150w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1-768x768.png 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1-500x500.png 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1-250x250.png 250w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1-630x630.png 630w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_1.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
542 <img width="1024" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4-1024x1024.png" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" loading="lazy" link="none" size="large" sl_show_caption="true" columns="4" ids="313157,313160,313161,313158" orderby="post__in" include="313157,313160,313161,313158" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4-300x300.png 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4-150x150.png 150w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4-768x768.png 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4-500x500.png 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4-250x250.png 250w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4-630x630.png 630w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_4.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
543 <img width="1024" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5-1024x1024.png" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" loading="lazy" link="none" size="large" sl_show_caption="true" columns="4" ids="313157,313160,313161,313158" orderby="post__in" include="313157,313160,313161,313158" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5-300x300.png 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5-150x150.png 150w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5-768x768.png 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5-500x500.png 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5-250x250.png 250w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5-630x630.png 630w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_5.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
544 <img width="1024" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2-1024x1024.png" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" loading="lazy" link="none" size="large" sl_show_caption="true" columns="4" ids="313157,313160,313161,313158" orderby="post__in" include="313157,313160,313161,313158" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2-300x300.png 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2-150x150.png 150w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2-768x768.png 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2-500x500.png 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2-250x250.png 250w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2-630x630.png 630w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ethics_graphics_2.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
545
546 <p><a href="https://embeddedethics.seas.harvard.edu/module.html"><em>Read more.</em></a></p>
547 <hr />
548 <p>Getting comfortable with a humanities-driven approach to learning, using the ideas and tools of moral and political philosophy, has been an adjustment for the computer-science instructors as well as students, said David Grant, who taught as an Embedded EthiCS postdoc in 2019 and is now assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at San Antonio.</p>
549 <p>“The skill of ethical reasoning is best learned and practiced through open and inclusive discussion with others,” Grant wrote in an email. “But extensive in-class discussion is rare in computer science courses, which makes encouraging active participation in our modules unusually challenging.”</p>
550 <p>Students are used to being presented problems for which there are solutions, program organizers say. But in philosophy, issues or dilemmas become clearer over time, as different perspectives are brought to bear. And while sometimes there can be right or wrong answers, solutions are typically thornier and require some difficult choices.</p>
551 <p>“This is extremely hard for people who are used to finding solutions that can be proved to be right,” said Grosz. “It’s fundamentally a different way of thinking about the world.”</p>
552 <p>“They have to learn to think with normative concepts like moral responsibility and legal responsibility and rights. They need to develop skills for engaging in counterfactual reasoning with those concepts while doing algorithm and systems design” said Simmons. “We in the humanities problem-solve too, but we often do it in a normative domain.”</p>
553
554 </div><!-- article-body -->
555 </div><!-- article-content -->
556 </div><!--article-wrap -->
557
558
559 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text ">
560
561 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
562 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
563 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 113.9% !important">
564 <img width="899" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-899x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Barbara Grosz." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-899x1024.jpg 899w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-263x300.jpg 263w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-768x875.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-1348x1536.jpg 1348w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-1797x2048.jpg 1797w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-1350x1538.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-1316x1500.jpg 1316w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQ1Grosz-553x630.jpg 553w" /> </div>
565
566 </div>
567
568 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
569 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer</p>
570 </figcaption>
571 </figure>
572
573 <div class="photo-layout__text">
574 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
575 “What we need is for enough students to learn to use ethical thinking during design to make a difference in the world.” </h2>
576 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
577 — Barbara Grosz, Higgins Research Professor of Natural Sciences at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences </div>
578 </div>
579
580 </div>
581
582 <div class="article-wrap">
583 <div class="article-content">
584 <div class="article-body basic-text">
585
586
587 <p>The importance of teaching students to consider societal implications of computing systems was not evident in the field’s early days, when there were only a very small number of computer scientists, systems were used largely in closed scientific or industry settings, and there were few “adversarial attacks” by people aiming to exploit system weaknesses, said Grosz, a pioneer in the field. Fears about misuse were minimal because so few had access.</p>
588 <p>But as the technologies have become ubiquitous in the past 10 to 15 years, with more and more people worldwide connecting via smartphones, the internet, and social networking, as well as the rapid application of machine learning and big data computing since 2012, the need for ethical training is urgent. “It’s the penetration of computing technologies throughout life and its use by almost everyone now that has enabled so much that’s caused harm lately,” said Grosz.</p>
589 <p>That apathy has contributed to the perceived disconnect between science and the public. “We now have a gap between those of us who make technology and those of us who use it,” she said.</p>
590 <p>Simmons and Grosz said that while computer science concentrators leaving Harvard and other universities for jobs in the tech sector may have the desire to change the industry, until now they haven’t been furnished with the tools to do so effectively. The program hopes to arm them with an understanding of how to identify and work through potential ethical concerns that may arise from new technology and its applications.</p>
591 <p>“What’s important is giving them the knowledge that they have the skills to make an effective, rational argument with people about what’s going on,” said Grosz, “to give them the confidence … to [say], ‘This isn’t right — and here’s why.’”</p>
592
593 </div><!-- article-body -->
594 </div><!-- article-content -->
595 </div><!--article-wrap -->
596
597
598 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text ">
599
600 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
601 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
602 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 113.9% !important">
603 <img width="899" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-899x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Jeffrey Behrends." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-899x1024.jpg 899w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-263x300.jpg 263w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-768x875.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-1348x1536.jpg 1348w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-1797x2048.jpg 1797w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-1350x1538.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-1316x1500.jpg 1316w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIPQBehrends-553x630.jpg 553w" /> </div>
604
605 </div>
606
607 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
608 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer</p>
609 </figcaption>
610 </figure>
611
612 <div class="photo-layout__text">
613 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
614 “It is exciting. It’s an opportunity to make use of our skills in a way that might have a visible effect in the near- or midterm.” </h2>
615 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
616 — Jeffrey Behrends, co-director of Embedded EthiCS </div>
617 </div>
618
619 </div>
620
621 <div class="article-wrap">
622 <div class="article-content">
623 <div class="article-body basic-text">
624
625
626 <p>A winner of the Responsible CS Challenge in 2019, the program received a $150,000 grant for its work in technology education that helps fund two computer science postdoc positions to collaborate with the philosophy student-teachers in developing the different course modules.</p>
627 <p>Though still young, the program has also had some nice side effects, with faculty and graduate students in the two typically distant cohorts learning in unusual ways from each other. And for the philosophy students there’s been an unexpected boon: working on ethical questions at technology’s cutting edge. It has changed the course of their research and opened up new career options in the growing field of engaged ethics.</p>
628 <p>“It is exciting. It’s an opportunity to make use of our skills in a way that might have a visible effect in the near- or midterm,” said philosophy lecturer <a href="https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/jeff-behrends">Jeffrey Behrends</a>, one of the program’s co-directors.</p>
629 <p>Will this ethical training reshape the way students approach technology once they leave Harvard and join the workforce? That’s the critical question to which the program’s directors are now turning their attention. There isn’t enough data to know yet, and the key components for such an analysis, like tracking down students after they’ve graduated to measure the program’s impact on their work, present a “very difficult evaluation problem” for researchers, said Behrends, who is investigating how best to measure long-term effectiveness.</p>
630 <p>Ultimately, whether stocking the field with designers, technicians, executives, investors, and policymakers will bring about a more responsible and ethical era of technology remains to be seen. But leaving the industry to self-police or wait for market forces to guide reforms clearly hasn’t worked so far.</p>
631 <p>“Somebody has to figure out a different incentive mechanism. That’s where really the danger still lies,” said Grosz of the industry’s intense profit focus. “We can try to educate students to do differently, but in the end, if there isn’t a different incentive mechanism, it’s quite hard to change Silicon Valley practice.”</p>
632 <p><strong><em>Next: Ethical concerns rise as AI takes an ever larger decision-making role in many industries.</em></strong></p>
633 <p> </p>
634 <p> </p>
635
636
637 ]]></content:encoded>
638
639
640
641 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/story_1_shot_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
642 <item>
643 <title>Hands-on lessons are at the crux of new Harvard course</title>
644 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/hands-on-lessons-are-at-the-crux-of-new-harvard-course/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
645
646 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
647 <pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2020 17:50:37 +0000</pubDate>
648 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
649 <category><![CDATA[Charlotte Moses]]></category>
650 <category><![CDATA[coronavirus]]></category>
651 <category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
652 <category><![CDATA[ES20r]]></category>
653 <category><![CDATA[Evelyn Hu]]></category>
654 <category><![CDATA[HEPA filter]]></category>
655 <category><![CDATA[John Doyle]]></category>
656 <category><![CDATA[Michael P. Brenner]]></category>
657 <category><![CDATA[Pandemic]]></category>
658 <category><![CDATA[Science and Engineering for Managing COVID]]></category>
659 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=313995</guid>
660
661 <description><![CDATA[A new Harvard course challenges students to use science to evaluate COVID-19 policies.]]></description>
662 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="add-drop-cap">In an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus, Harvard placed a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in the dorm room of Charlotte Moses and other residential students. The filters are designed to trap airborne particulates — like respiratory droplets that could contain the highly infectious virus.</p>
663 <p>Having a HEPA filter running might bring Moses and her peers some peace of mind, but how well do they actually work?</p>
664 <p>Thanks to “Science and Engineering for Managing COVID (ES20r),” Moses had the opportunity to find out. The first lab in the new <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/">Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</a> course challenged students to use particle generators to put their dorm room HEPA filters to the test, just days after they arrived on campus.</p>
665 <p>Hands-on, real-world lessons are at the crux of ES20r, which was developed by <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/person/michael-brenner">Michael P. Brenner</a>, Michael F. Cronin Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics and Professor of Physics, <a href="https://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/doyle">John Doyle</a>, Henry B. Silsbee Professor of Physics, and <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/person/evelyn-hu">Evelyn Hu</a>, Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, to examine the scientific and engineering basis of COVID-19 policies.</p>
666 <p>Moses, a first-year student, swung by a physics building for a socially-distanced pickup of lab instruments and then got right to work.</p>
667 <p>After using a sodium chloride solution and particle generator to fill the air inside her room with tiny salt particulates, Moses utilized a particle counter to see how long it took for the particles to dissipate, with and without the HEPA filter running.</p>
668 <p>“My dorm received our HEPA filters late with no instruction on how to use them, so many of my hallmates weren’t really sure if they should be turning them on and if they really would make a difference,” she said. “But our results showed that HEPA filters aren’t over-hyped. They really do work if you are concerned about disease transmission through aerosolized particles. While my hallmates were a little confused in the beginning, I’m happy to say they’ve now all turned their filters on.”</p>
669 <p>The students’ observations were summarized in a letter the instructors sent to Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana, outlining some suggestions to improve the communications related to HEPA filters to help ensure they are being used properly.</p>
670 <p>That outcome comes as no surprise to instructors Hu, Brenner, and Doyle, who conceived the course as a way to educate students while generating important information University administrators can incorporate into campus COVID-19 policies and plans.</p>
671
672 </div> <!-- article-body -->
673 </div> <!-- article-content -->
674 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
675
676
677 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
678 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
679
680 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 50.3% !important">
681 <img width="1350" height="679" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-1350x679.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Zoom class." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-1350x679.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-300x151.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-1024x515.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-768x386.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-1536x773.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-2048x1031.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-1500x755.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/es20r_class_zoom_2500-1200x604.jpg 1200w" /> </div>
682
683 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
684 <p class="photo-layout__caption">The students in "Science and Engineering for Managing COVID" (ES20r) are examining the scientific and engineering basis of COVID-19 policies.
685 </p>
686 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Photo by Evelyn Hu</p>
687 </figcaption>
688
689 </figure>
690 </div>
691
692 <div class="article-wrap">
693 <div class="article-content">
694 <div class="article-body basic-text">
695
696
697 <p>It’s uncharted territory for everyone — no one had ever conducted measurements of aerosolized particles in the dorm rooms before, Doyle said.</p>
698 <p>“What is great about the learning part of this is that they are actually able to see quantitatively some of the ideas they may have heard about, but they are also seeing how these scientific and engineering ideas really do connect with policies and guidelines,” he said. “The students show up on campus and they are able to learn more about the world around them, some aspects of the scientific process, and how it all connects to the bigger picture. Understanding what is going on around them lowers their stress levels and improves their education.”</p>
699 <p>Many of the labs that have been developed for the course are focused on issues the students face every day. For instance, later in the term they may explore cloth mask alternatives to the surgical masks that are currently being used on campus.</p>
700 <p>In addition to the hands-on lab work, the course also focuses on understanding and interpreting COVID-19 data. The cohort studied models of pandemic spread and analyzed different ways of presenting and accessing the data that forms the basis of those models.</p>
701 <p>Each student also selected a university they will monitor throughout the term, examining COVID-19 data for that school and the broader community, and analyzing how the university’s pandemic response compares to Harvard.</p>
702 <p>For Justas Jasevicius, A.B. ’21, an integrative biology concentrator taking the course remotely from his home in Lithuania, delving deeper into COVID-19 data has been both challenging and fascinating.</p>
703 <p>Jasevicius is tracking the COVID-19 response of the London School of Economics.</p>
704 <p>“No one is really tracking colleges to this extent, and there are so many things to consider,” he said. “One issue is, what if there are students off-campus who are still coming to in-person seminars? How do you account for that? It just gets exponentially more complex.”</p>
705 <p>Working around the dynamism of real-world data is a challenge for both students and instructors.</p>
706 <aside class="pull-quote">
707 <div class="pull-quote__text">“This is the way education should be. The students sensed that they were doing things they hadn’t done before. … But they were totally fearless.”</div>
708 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Evelyn Hu, Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering</div>
709 </aside>
710
711 <p>Since the COVID-19 pandemic is happening in real-time, the course is more fluid than a typical freshman seminar, with labs being tweaked at the last minute to incorporate the latest scientific information and keep up with the data the students are gathering from their experiments, said teaching fellow Agnese Curatolo, a postdoctoral fellow in applied mathematics.</p>
712 <p>It may be a bit of a whirlwind to teach, but teaching fellow Michael Cheng, A.B./S.M. ’19, now a master’s student in the MIT Technology and Policy Program, said it is rewarding to act as a mentor to first-years who are transitioning to college life during such an uncertain time.</p>
713 <p>“This class is so unique because COVID-19 is a means to an end,” he added. “Pedagogically, we are using COVID-19 as a way to introduce students to methods of scientific and engineering research. That is going to be very beneficial for them throughout their college careers.”</p>
714 <p>The course could also provide benefits to the University.</p>
715 <p>For their final projects, the students will synthesize everything they’ve learned to develop science-based advice for Harvard administrators regarding COVID-19 and plans for the spring term.</p>
716 <p>“We tell the students each week that they are on the cutting edge, and it is true. They may be freshmen, but they are on the cutting edge of the most important problem of our time,” Brenner said. “They are going to get to learn all these lessons viscerally on a problem they are all now passionate about because they are contributing to the state of the art.”</p>
717 <p>For freshman Karen Li, working on a problem that is so relevant to everyone is a driving force that motivates her as she sifts through dense datasets and tackles tough lab assignments.</p>
718 <p>At every turn, she and her peers are reminded of the critical role science must play in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
719 <p>“I want to learn about how communities are changing because of the pandemic and how we could have a better response next time,” she said. “I don’t think our country has had great preparation for COVID, but if we are able to understand COVID-19 better, we’ll be able to better prepare ourselves in the future.”</p>
720
721 ]]></content:encoded>
722
723
724
725 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/hepa_filter_charlotte_moses_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
726 <item>
727 <title>Analyzing toehold sequences for synthetic biology</title>
728 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/analyzing-toehold-sequences-for-synthetic-biology/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
729
730 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
731 <pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2020 09:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
732 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
733 <category><![CDATA[DNA]]></category>
734 <category><![CDATA[James Collins]]></category>
735 <category><![CDATA[RNA]]></category>
736 <category><![CDATA[synthetic biology]]></category>
737 <category><![CDATA[Wyss Institute]]></category>
738 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=313620</guid>
739
740 <description><![CDATA[Computational algorithms enable identification and optimization of RNA-based tools for myriad applications.]]></description>
741 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">DNA and RNA have been compared to “instruction manuals” containing the information needed for living “machines” to operate. But while electronic machines like computers and robots are designed from the ground up to serve a specific purpose, biological organisms are governed by a much messier, more complex set of functions that lack the predictability of binary code. Inventing new solutions to biological problems requires teasing apart seemingly intractable variables — a task that is daunting to even the most intrepid human brains.</span></p>
742 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Two teams of scientists from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised pathways around this roadblock by going beyond human brains; they developed a set of machine learning algorithms that can analyze reams of RNA-based “toehold” sequences and predict which ones will be most effective at sensing and responding to a desired target sequence. As reported in two papers published concurrently today in Nature Communications, the algorithms could be generalizable to other problems in synthetic biology as well, and could accelerate the development of biotechnology tools to improve science and medicine and help save lives. </span></p>
743 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“These achievements are exciting because they mark the starting point of our ability to ask better questions about the fundamental principles of RNA folding, which we need to know in order to achieve meaningful discoveries and build useful biological technologies,” said </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/postdoctoral-fellow/luis-soenksen/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Luis Soenksen</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute and Venture Builder at MIT’s Jameel Clinic who is a co-first author of the first of the two papers. </span></p>
744 <h2><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><b>Getting ahold of toehold switches</b></h2>
745 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The collaboration between data scientists from the Wyss Institute’s Predictive BioAnalytics Initiative and synthetic biologists in Wyss core faculty member Jim Collins’ lab at MIT was created to apply the computational power of machine learning, neural networks, and other algorithmic architectures to complex problems in biology that have so far defied resolution. </span></p>
746 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a proving ground for their approach, the two teams focused on a specific class of engineered RNA molecules: </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/technology/toehold-switches-for-synthetic-biology/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">toehold switches</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which are folded into a hairpin-like shape in their “off” state. When a complementary RNA strand binds to a “trigger” sequence trailing from one end of the hairpin, the toehold switch unfolds into its “on” state and exposes sequences that were previously hidden within the hairpin, allowing ribosomes to bind to and translate a downstream gene into protein molecules. This precise control over the expression of genes in response to the presence of a given molecule makes toehold switches very powerful components for sensing substances in the environment, detecting disease, and other purposes.</span></p>
747 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, many toehold switches do not work very well when tested experimentally, even though they have been engineered to produce a desired output in response to a given input based on known RNA folding rules. Recognizing this problem, the teams decided to use machine learning to analyze a large volume of toehold switch sequences and use insights from that analysis to more accurately predict which toeholds reliably perform their intended tasks, which would allow researchers to quickly identify high-quality toeholds for various experiments.</span></p>
748
749 </div> <!-- article-body -->
750 </div> <!-- article-content -->
751 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
752
753
754 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
755 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
756
757 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
758 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 140.08% !important">
759 <img width="731" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-731x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="James Collins." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-731x1024.jpg 731w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-214x300.jpg 214w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-1462x2048.jpg 1462w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-1350x1891.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-500x700.jpg 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-1000x1400.jpg 1000w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-1071x1500.jpg 1071w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500-450x630.jpg 450w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JamesCollinsheadshot001_V_1785x2500.jpg 1785w" /> </div>
760 </div>
761
762 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
763 <p class="photo-layout__caption">James Collins, co-senior author of the paper.</p>
764 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Photo courtesy of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University</p>
765 </figcaption>
766
767 </figure>
768 </div>
769
770 <div class="article-wrap">
771 <div class="article-content">
772 <div class="article-body basic-text">
773
774
775 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first hurdle they faced was that there was no dataset of toehold switch sequences large enough for deep learning techniques to analyze effectively. The authors took it upon themselves to generate a dataset that would be useful to train such models. </span></p>
776 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We designed and synthesized a massive library of toehold switches, nearly 100,000 in total, by systematically sampling short trigger regions along the entire genomes of 23 viruses and 906 human transcription factors,” said Alex Garruss, a Harvard graduate student working at the Wyss Institute who is a co-first author of the first paper. “The unprecedented scale of this dataset enables the use of advanced machine learning techniques for identifying and understanding useful switches for immediate downstream applications and future design.”</span></p>
777 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Armed with enough data, the teams first employed tools traditionally used for analyzing synthetic RNA molecules to see if they could accurately predict the behavior of toehold switches now that there were manifold more examples available. However, none of the methods they tried — including mechanistic modeling based on thermodynamics and physical features — were able to predict with sufficient accuracy which toeholds functioned better. </span></p>
778 <h2><b>A picture is worth a thousand base pairs</b></h2>
779 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers then explored various machine learning techniques to see if they could create models with better predictive abilities. The authors of the first paper decided to analyze toehold switches not as sequences of bases, but rather as two-dimensional “images” of base-pair possibilities. </span></p>
780 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We know the baseline rules for how an RNA molecule’s base pairs bond with each other, but molecules are wiggly — they never have a single perfect shape, but rather a probability of different shapes they could be in,” said Nicolaas Angenent-Mari, a MIT graduate student working at the Wyss Institute and co-first author of the first paper. “Computer vision algorithms have become very good at analyzing images, so we created a picture-like representation of all the possible folding states of each toehold switch, and trained a machine learning algorithm on those pictures so it could recognize the subtle patterns indicating whether a given picture would be a good or a bad toehold.”</span></p>
781
782 </div> <!-- article-body -->
783 </div> <!-- article-content -->
784 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
785
786
787 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
788 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
789
790 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 17.7% !important">
791 <img width="1350" height="239" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-1350x239.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Figure." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-1350x239.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-300x53.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-1024x181.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-768x136.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-1536x272.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-2048x362.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-1500x265.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Deep-learning-framework_fig4_H_2500-1200x212.jpg 1200w" /> </div>
792
793 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
794 <p class="photo-layout__caption">By using both models sequentially, the researchers were able to predict which toehold sequences would produce high-quality sensors.
795 </p>
796 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University</p>
797 </figcaption>
798
799 </figure>
800 </div>
801
802 <div class="article-wrap">
803 <div class="article-content">
804 <div class="article-body basic-text">
805
806
807 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another benefit of their visually-based approach is that the team was able to “see” which parts of a toehold switch sequence the algorithm “paid attention” to the most when determining whether a given sequence was “good” or “bad.” They named this interpretation approach Visualizing Secondary Structure Saliency Maps, or VIS4Map, and applied it to their entire toehold switch dataset. VIS4Map successfully identified physical elements of the toehold switches that influenced their performance, and allowed the researchers to conclude that toeholds with more potentially competing internal structures were “leakier” and thus of lower quality than those with fewer such structures, providing insight into RNA folding mechanisms that had not been discovered using traditional analysis techniques.</span></p>
808 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Being able to understand and explain why certain tools work or don’t work has been a secondary goal within the artificial intelligence community for some time, but interpretability needs to be at the forefront of our concerns when studying biology because the underlying reasons for those systems’ behaviors often cannot be intuited,” said </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/james-collins/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jim Collins</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the senior author of the first paper. “Meaningful discoveries and disruptions are the result of deep understanding of how nature works, and this project demonstrates that machine learning, when properly designed and applied, can greatly enhance our ability to gain important insights about biological systems.” Collins is also the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science at MIT.</span></p>
809 <h2><b>Now you’re speaking my language</b></h2>
810 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While the first team analyzed toehold switch sequences as 2D images to predict their quality, the second team created two different deep learning architectures that approached the challenge using orthogonal techniques. They then went beyond predicting toehold quality and used their models to optimize and redesign poorly performing toehold switches for different purposes, which they report in the second paper.</span></p>
811 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first model, based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP), treats toehold sequences as 1D images, or lines of nucleotide bases, and identifies patterns of bases and potential interactions between those bases to predict good and bad toeholds. The team used this model to create an optimization method called STORM (Sequence-based Toehold Optimization and Redesign Model), which allows for complete redesign of a toehold sequence from the ground up. This “blank slate” tool is optimal for generating novel toehold switches to perform a specific function as part of a synthetic genetic circuit, enabling the creation of complex biological tools. </span></p>
812 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The really cool part about STORM and the model underlying it is that after seeding it with input data from the first paper, we were able to fine-tune the model with only 168 samples and use the improved model to optimize toehold switches. That calls into question the prevailing assumption that you need to generate massive datasets every time you want to apply a machine learning algorithm to a new problem, and suggests that deep learning is potentially more applicable for synthetic biologists than we thought,” said co-first author Jackie Valeri, a graduate student at MIT and the Wyss Institute. </span></p>
813
814 </div> <!-- article-body -->
815 </div> <!-- article-content -->
816 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
817
818
819 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
820 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
821
822 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.67% !important">
823 <img width="1350" height="900" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-1350x900.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Rendering." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
824
825 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
826 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Work by Wyss core faculty member Peng Yin in collaboration with Collins and others has demonstrated that different toehold switches can be combined to compute the presence of multiple “triggers,” similar to a computer’s logic board. </p>
827 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University</p>
828 </figcaption>
829
830 </figure>
831 </div>
832
833 <div class="article-wrap">
834 <div class="article-content">
835 <div class="article-body basic-text">
836
837
838 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The second model is based on natural language processing (NLP), and treats each toehold sequence as a “phrase” consisting of patterns of “words,” eventually learning how certain words are put together to make a coherent phrase. “I like to think of each toehold switch as a haiku poem: like a haiku, it’s a very specific arrangement of phrases within its parent language – in this case, RNA. We are essentially training this model to learn how to write a good haiku by feeding it lots and lots of examples,” said co-first author Pradeep Ramesh, a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute and Machine Learning Scientist at Sherlock Biosciences.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
839 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ramesh and his co-authors integrated this NLP-based model with the CNN-based model to create NuSpeak (Nucleic Acid Speech), an optimization approach that allowed them to redesign the last 9 nucleotides of a given toehold switch while keeping the remaining 21 nucleotides intact. This technique allows for the creation of toeholds that are designed to detect the presence of specific pathogenic RNA sequences, and could be used to develop new diagnostic tests.</span></p>
840 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team experimentally validated both of these platforms by optimizing toehold switches designed to sense fragments from the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome. NuSpeak improved the sensors’ performances by an average of 160 percent, while STORM created better versions of four “bad” SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA sensors whose performances improved by up to 28 times.</span></p>
841 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“A real benefit of the STORM and NuSpeak platforms is that they enable you to rapidly design and optimize synthetic biology components, as we showed with the development of toehold sensors for a COVID-19 diagnostic,” said co-first author Katie Collins, an undergraduate MIT student at the Wyss Institute who worked with MIT Associate Professor Timothy Lu, a corresponding author of the second paper. </span></p>
842 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The data-driven approaches enabled by machine learning open the door to really valuable synergies between computer science and synthetic biology, and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface,” said </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/advanced-technology-team/diogo-camacho/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Diogo Camacho</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a corresponding author of the second paper who is a Senior Bioinformatics Scientist and co-lead of the Predictive BioAnalytics Initiative at the Wyss Institute. “Perhaps the most important aspect of the tools we developed in these papers is that they are generalizable to other types of RNA-based sequences such as inducible promoters and naturally occurring riboswitches, and therefore can be applied to a wide range of problems and opportunities in biotechnology and medicine.</span></p>
843
844 </div> <!-- article-body -->
845 </div> <!-- article-content -->
846 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
847
848
849 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
850 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
851
852 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
853 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.6% !important">
854 <img width="1024" height="682" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-1024x682.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Diogo Camache." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Diogo-Camache-headshot_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
855 </div>
856
857 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
858 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Diogo Camache, co-senior author of the paper.</p>
859 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Photo courtesy of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University</p>
860 </figcaption>
861
862 </figure>
863 </div>
864
865 <div class="article-wrap">
866 <div class="article-content">
867 <div class="article-body basic-text">
868
869
870 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
871 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Additional authors of the papers include Wyss core faculty member and Professor of Genetics at HMS </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/george-church/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">George Church</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">; and Wyss and MIT graduate students Miguel Alcantar and Bianca Lepe.</span></p>
872 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Artificial intelligence is wave that is just beginning to impact science and industry, and has incredible potential for helping to solve intractable problems. The breakthroughs described in these studies demonstrate the power of melding computation with synthetic biology at the bench to develop new and more powerful bioinspired technologies, in addition to leading to new insights into fundamental mechanisms of biological control,” said </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/executive-team/donald-ingber/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Don Ingber</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the Wyss Institute’s founding director. Ingber is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as professor of bioengineering at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.</span></p>
873 <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">This work was supported by the DARPA Synergistic Discovery and Design program, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the National Science Foundation, the National Human Genome Research Institute, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and a CONACyT grant.</span></em></p>
874
875
876 ]]></content:encoded>
877
878
879
880 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ribocomputing_H_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
881 <item>
882 <title>New timeline on reptile evolution rebuts long-held theories</title>
883 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/new-timeline-on-reptile-evolution-rebuts-long-held-theories/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
884
885 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
886 <pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2020 19:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
887 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
888 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310234</guid>
889
890 <description><![CDATA[A new study by a team of Harvard-led researchers contradicts a widely held theory that major transitions in evolution always happened in big, quick (geologically speaking) bursts, triggered by major environmental shifts.
891
892 ]]></description>
893 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Challenging a 75-year-old notion about how and when reptiles evolved during the past 300 million-plus years involves a lot of camerawork, loads of CT scanning, and, most of all, thousands of miles of travel. Just check the stamps in <a href="https://mcz.harvard.edu/people/tiago-r-sim%C3%B5es">Tiago R. Simões </a>’ passport.</p>
894 <p>Simões is the Alexander Agassiz Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Harvard paleontologist <a href="https://oeb.harvard.edu/people/stephanie-e-pierce">Stephanie Pierce</a>. From 2013 to 2018, he traveled to more than 20 countries and more than 50 different museums to take CT scans and photos of nearly 1,000 reptilian fossils, some hundreds of millions of years old. It amounted to about 400 days of active collection, helping form what is believed to be the largest available timeline on the evolution of major living and extinct reptile groups.</p>
895 <p>Now, a statistical analysis of that vast database is helping scientists better understand the evolution of these cold-blooded vertebrates by contradicting a widely held theory that major transitions in evolution always happened in big, quick (geologically speaking) bursts, triggered by major environmental shifts. The findings are described in a recently published <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17190-9">paper</a> in Nature Communications.</p>
896 <p>In it, researchers show that the evolution of extinct lineages of reptiles from more than 250 million years ago took place through many small bursts of morphological changes, such as developing armored body plans or wings for gliding, over a period of 50 million years instead of during a single major evolutionary event, as previously thought. They also show that the early evolution of most lizard lineages was a continuously slower and more incremental process than previously understood.</p>
897 <p>“It wasn’t a sudden jump that kind of established the wide diversity that we see today in reptiles,” Simões said. “There was an initial jump, but relatively small, and then a sustained increase over time of those rates [of evolution] and different diversity values.”</p>
898 <figure id="attachment_310695" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310695" style="width: 1785px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-310695 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500.jpg" alt="Field museum shown." width="1785" height="2500" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500.jpg 1785w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-214x300.jpg 214w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-731x1024.jpg 731w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-1462x2048.jpg 1462w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-1350x1891.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-500x700.jpg 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-1000x1400.jpg 1000w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-1071x1500.jpg 1071w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Field-Museum-2_V_1785x2500-450x630.jpg 450w" sizes="(max-width: 1785px) 100vw, 1785px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310695" class="wp-caption-text">Tiago R. Simões gathered information from 50 museums, including Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology.</figcaption></figure>
899 <p>Evidence of this has been seen in other types of animals, but this is the first time it’s been seen in reptiles — one of the most diverse animals on the planet, with more than 10,000 different species and a dizzying variety of abilities and traits. Consider how some lizard species can freeze solid overnight then thaw the next morning, or how turtles grow protective armor.</p>
900 <p>The findings run contrary to the evolutionary theory of adaptive radiation that Harvard paleontologist George G. Simpson popularized in the 1940s, which sought to explain the origins of the planet’s biological diversity. Adaptive radiation has been the focus of intense investigation for decades, but wasn’t until recent years that the technology, methods, and data have existed to precisely measure rapid rates of evolution in the fossil record in terms of different animal species, morphologies, and at the molecular level using DNA.</p>
901 <p>Researchers of this study also included Pierce, the Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and curator of vertebrate paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology; Oksana Vernygora, a graduate student from the University of Alberta in Canada; and Professor Michael Wayne Caldwell at Alberta.</p>
902 <p>Simões traveled to almost all of the world’s major natural history museums to collect the data for the study, including the national natural history museums in London, Paris, Berlin, Ottawa, Beijing, and Tokyo. In the U.S., he visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology.</p>
903 <p>The scientists believe that by understanding how animals evolve over longer periods of time, they can glean a number of lessons on ecology and how organisms are affected by environmental changes. Using the database, researchers can determine when major reptile lineages or morphologies originated, see how those changes affected reptile DNA, and learn important lessons about how species were impacted by historical events.</p>
904 <p>Reptiles, for instance, have survived three major mass extinction events. The biggest was the Permian-Triassic mass extinction about 250 million years ago that killed about 90 percent of the planet’s species, earning it the moniker the Great Dying. It’s believed to have been caused by a buildup of natural greenhouse gases.</p>
905 <p>The timeline researchers created found that the rates at which reptiles were evolving and the anatomical differences among them before the Great Dying were nearly as high as after the event. However, it was only much after the Great Dying that reptiles became dominant in many ecosystems and extremely diverse in terms of the number of different species.</p>
906
907 <p>That finding cemented that fast rates of anatomical change don’t need to coincide with genetic diversity or an abundance of species (called taxonomic diversity), and further rebutted adaptive radiation as the only explanation for the origin of new animal groups and body plans. The researchers also note that it took reptiles almost 10 million years to recover to previous levels of anatomical diversity.</p>
908 <p>“That kind of tells you on the broad scheme of things and on a global scale how much impact, throughout the history of life, sudden environmental changes may have,” Simões said.</p>
909 <p>Further evidence that contradicted adaptive radiation included similar but surprising findings on the origins of snakes, which achieved the major aspects of their skinny, elongated body plans early in their evolution about 170 million years ago (but didn’t fully lose their limbs for another 105 million years). They also underwent rapid changes to their skulls about 170 to 165 million years ago that led to such powerful and flexible mouths that today they can swallow whole prey many times their size. But while snakes experienced the fastest rates of anatomical change in the history of reptile evolution, these changes did not coincide with increases in taxonomic diversity or high rates of molecular evolution as predicted by adaptive radiations, the researchers said.</p>
910 <p>The scientists weren’t able to pinpoint why this mismatch happens, and suggested more research is needed. In particular they want to understand how body plans evolve and how changes in DNA relate to it.</p>
911 <p>“We can see better now what are the big changes in the history of life and especially in the history of reptile life on Earth,” Simões said. “We will keep digging.”</p>
912 <p><em>This work was supported by an Alexander Agassiz Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.</em></p>
913 ]]></content:encoded>
914
915
916
917 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Eu2_H_2500crop-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
918 <item>
919 <title>Study offers clues to how climate affected 1918 pandemic</title>
920 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/study-offers-clues-to-how-climate-affected-1918-pandemic/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
921
922 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
923 <pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2020 21:18:42 +0000</pubDate>
924 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
925 <category><![CDATA[Alexander More]]></category>
926 <category><![CDATA[Alvin Powell]]></category>
927 <category><![CDATA[Environments & Sustainability]]></category>
928 <category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
929 <category><![CDATA[Initiative for the Science of the Human Past]]></category>
930 <category><![CDATA[Long Island University]]></category>
931 <category><![CDATA[Michael McCormick]]></category>
932 <category><![CDATA[Nottingham University]]></category>
933 <category><![CDATA[Paul Mayewski]]></category>
934 <category><![CDATA[rainfall]]></category>
935 <category><![CDATA[Spanish Flu]]></category>
936 <category><![CDATA[University of Maine]]></category>
937 <category><![CDATA[World War I]]></category>
938 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312839</guid>
939
940 <description><![CDATA[A new study of ice-core data shows that an unusual, six-year period of cold temperatures and heavy rainfall coincided with European deaths during the 1918 Spanish flu. ]]></description>
941 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A new collaborative study by a group of scientists and historians finds a connection between the Spanish flu’s European outbreaks, including its most deadly one at the end of World War I, and a six-year period of atrocious weather taking place at the time, which blew in cold temperatures and torrential rain from the North Atlantic.</p>
942 <p>The findings by a team led by <a href="https://sohp.fas.harvard.edu/people/alexander-more">Alexander More</a>, a research associate in the <a href="https://sohp.fas.harvard.edu/">Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard</a>, combines ice-core data from a European glacier with epidemiological and historical records, as well asinstrumental readings in order to map temperature, precipitation, and mortality levels from what they term a “once-in-a-century climate anomaly.” They find the most miserable weather overlapped or just preceded peaks in Spanish flu mortality. The crests also coincide with some of the war’s most notable battles in the years before the flu’s arrival — the Somme, Verdun, Gallipoli. Historical accounts of those actions detail bloody warring between combatants additionally plagued by frostbite, water-filled trenches, and unending mud.</p>
943 <p>More, who is also an associate professor of environmental health at Long Island University and an assistant research professor at the University of Maine’s <a href="https://climatechange.umaine.edu/about/">Climate Change Institute</a>, said though many other factors doubtless played roles in the outbreak’s deadliness — not least the virus’ natural virulence in a population whose immune systems had never seen it before — the unusual environmental conditions likely also played a role, causing crop failures, physically stressing millions of men living in precarious conditions, and potentially interrupting migratory patterns of waterfowl that are known to carry the disease.</p>
944
945 </div> <!-- article-body -->
946 </div> <!-- article-content -->
947 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
948
949
950 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
951 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
952
953 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
954 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 140.08% !important">
955 <img width="731" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-731x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Alex More." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-731x1024.jpg 731w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-214x300.jpg 214w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-1462x2048.jpg 1462w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-1350x1891.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-500x700.jpg 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-1000x1400.jpg 1000w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-1071x1500.jpg 1071w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500-450x630.jpg 450w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/051217_More_Alex_169_V_1785x2500.jpg 1785w" /> </div>
956 </div>
957
958 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
959 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Alex More, research associate in the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, who led the study.</p>
960 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer</p>
961 </figcaption>
962
963 </figure>
964 </div>
965
966 <div class="article-wrap">
967 <div class="article-content">
968 <div class="article-body basic-text">
969
970
971 <p>While the rain and mud of the battlefields have been heavily chronicled, “the thing that we didn’t know was what anomaly caused that,” More said. “We also didn’t know how that anomaly functioned, that it was a six-year anomaly. We didn’t know the close pattern between the precipitation record and the pandemic. Basically, we saw a spike in cold, wet marine air from the northwest Atlantic that came down into Europe and lingered.”</p>
972 <p>The work was published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020GH000277">GeoHealth</a> and supported by a grant from Arcadia, a charitable foundation of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. It came about through a collaboration between researchers at Harvard, the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, the <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/">University of Nottingham</a> — including archaeologist and historian <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/classics-and-archaeology/people/christopher.loveluck">Christopher Loveluck</a> — and <a href="https://www.liu.edu/">Long Island University</a>. The findings are the latest to stem from an ongoing partnership between Harvard’s Initiative for the Science of the Human Past and the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute. The project pairs Harvard historians and University of Maine climate scientists who’ve drilled and analyzed a 72-meter ice core from the Colle Gnifetti glacier on the Swiss/Italian border.</p>
973 <p>“The fact of the matter is that the ice core has been full of surprises … when we applied for the grant we did not expect to shed light on the flu pandemic of 1918 and weather conditions in the trenches of World War I,” said <a href="https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/michael-mccormick">Michael McCormick</a>, Harvard’s Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History, chair of the Initiative on the Science of the Human Past, and a senior author on the paper. “With the ice core — over 100 years — you can see what you can’t with the historical record, that this was an extraordinary anomaly.”</p>
974
975 </div> <!-- article-body -->
976 </div> <!-- article-content -->
977 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
978
979
980 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
981 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
982
983 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
984 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
985 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/041814_McCormick_Michael_042_H_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
986 </div>
987
988 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
989 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Senior author Michael McCormick.</p>
990 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer </p>
991 </figcaption>
992
993 </figure>
994 </div>
995
996 <div class="article-wrap">
997 <div class="article-content">
998 <div class="article-body basic-text">
999
1000
1001 <p>Climate Change Institute Director <a href="https://climatechange.umaine.edu/people/paul-andrew-mayewski/">Paul Mayewski</a>, another senior author, said their analysis included chemical proxies for 60 different variables and is able to detect changes in the ice column that relate to specific storms. The most meaningful find was elevated concentrations of sodium and chloride — a marker of the anomaly’s origin in the salty waters of the North Atlantic — between 1914 and 1919 that were unmatched in 100 years.</p>
1002 <p>Mayewski said an important factor in enabling the findings was the central European location of the glacier from which the core was taken.</p>
1003 <p>“The closer the ice core is to the action, the more relevant it is,” Mayewski said. “I think the most interesting thing [is] that, in a bad sense, a perfect storm occurs. … In this particular case it was the combination of a pandemic and climate change and we all know that that’s exactly what’s happening right now. In the case of World War I, the people who were impacted by this — up to 500 million — were even less likely to get through it because of all the stresses that were already in existence, everything from the battlefield to malnutrition.”</p>
1004 <aside class="pull-quote">
1005 <div class="pull-quote__text">“The environment is a complex system. We can’t account for all variables of how climate affects the outbreak of disease, but we know for a fact that it does.”</div>
1006 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Alex More</div>
1007 </aside>
1008
1009 <p>Historical accounts of conditions at the front commonly mention torrential rains that filled trenches with water, keeping troops continually soaked, and creating seas of churned mud that swallowed, horses, machines, even men. More cited poet Mary Borden, a war nurse and suffragette, who after The Somme wrote “The Song of the Mud,” in which she refers to themuck as “the vast liquid grave of our armies” whose “monstrous, distended belly reeks with the undigested dead.”</p>
1010 <p>The study picked up three peaks of heavy rains followed by spikes in mortality in 1915 and 1916, which led to crop failures and hardship during what was called the “turnip winter” in Germany. The final leap in 1918 preceded the Spanish flu’s most deadly wave in autumn as the war was drawing to a close.</p>
1011 <p>Though debate remains over the Spanish flu’s origins, there seems little doubt about the deadly impact of waves that began in the spring of 1918 and its connection to wartime troop movements. Though estimates vary, it is thought to have infected 500 million and killed 30 million to 50 million.</p>
1012 <p>“The environment is a complex system,” More said. “We can’t account for all variables of how climate affects the outbreak of disease, but we know for a fact that it does.”</p>
1013
1014
1015 ]]></content:encoded>
1016
1017
1018
1019 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Stretcher._Q5935-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1020 <item>
1021 <title>3D model seeks to explain mysterious hexagon storm on Saturn</title>
1022 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/3d-model-seeks-to-explain-mysterious-hexagon-storm-on-saturn/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1023
1024 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1025 <pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2020 18:21:54 +0000</pubDate>
1026 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1027 <category><![CDATA[Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences]]></category>
1028 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
1029 <category><![CDATA[hexagon storm]]></category>
1030 <category><![CDATA[Jeremy Bloxham]]></category>
1031 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
1032 <category><![CDATA[Rakesh K. Yadav]]></category>
1033 <category><![CDATA[Saturn]]></category>
1034 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=307555</guid>
1035
1036 <description><![CDATA[Harvard researchers use a 3D model to figure out how a hexagon-shaped mega-storm on Saturn was formed.
1037 ]]></description>
1038 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>With its dazzling system of icy rings, Saturn has been a subject of fascination since ancient times. Even now the sixth planet from the sun holds many mysteries, partly because its distance away makes direct observation difficult and partly because this gas giant (which is multiple times the size of our planet) has a composition and atmosphere, mostly hydrogen and helium, so unlike that of Earth. Learning more about it could yield some insights into the creation of the solar system itself.</p>
1039 <p>One of Saturn’s mysteries involves the massive storm in the shape of a hexagon at its north pole. The six-sided vortex is an atmospheric phenomenon that has been fascinating planetary scientists since its discovery in the 1980s by the American Voyager program, and the subsequent visit in 2006 by the U.S.-European Cassini–Huygens mission. The storm is about 20,000 miles in diameter and is bordered by bands of winds blowing up to 300 miles per hour. A hurricane like it doesn’t exist on any other known planet or moon.</p>
1040 <p>Two of the many scientists-turned-interplanetary-storm-chasers working to uncover the secrets of this marvel are <a href="https://eps.harvard.edu/people/faculty/bloxham-group">Jeremy Bloxham</a>, the Mallinckrodt Professor of Geophysics, and research associate <a href="https://eps.harvard.edu/people/rakesh-yadav">Rakesh K. Yadav</a>, who works in Bloxham’s lab in Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. In a recently published <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/25/13991">paper</a> in PNAS, the researchers began to wrap their heads around how the vortex came to be.</p>
1041 <p>“We see storms on Earth regularly and they are always spiraling, sometimes circular, but never something with hexagon segments or polygons with edges,” Yadav said. “That is really striking and completely unexpected. [The question on Saturn is] how did such a large system form and how can such a large system stay unchanged on this large planet?”</p>
1042 <p>By creating a 3D simulation model of Saturn’s atmosphere, Yadav and Bloxham believe are they closing in on an answer.</p>
1043 <p>In their paper, the scientists say that the unnatural-looking hurricane occurs when atmospheric flows deep within Saturn create large and small vortices (aka cyclones) that surround a larger horizontal jet stream blowing east near the planet’s north pole that also has a number of storms within it. The smaller storms interact with the larger system and as a result effectively pinch the eastern jet and confine it to the top of the planet. The pinching process warps the stream into a hexagon.</p>
1044 <p>“This jet is going around and around the planet, and it has to coexist with these localized [smaller] storms,” said Yadav, the study’s lead author. Think of it like this: “Imagine we have a rubber band and we place a bunch of smaller rubber bands around it and then we just squeeze the entire thing from the outside. That central ring is going to be compressed by some inches and form some weird shape with a certain number of edges. That’s basically the physics of what’s happening. We have these smaller storms and they’re basically pinching the larger storms at the polar region and since they have to coexist, they have to somehow find a space to basically house each system. By doing that, they end up making this polygonal shape.”</p>
1045 </div> <!-- article-body -->
1046 </div> <!-- article-content -->
1047 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
1048
1049 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default">
1050
1051 <div class="article-embed__content">
1052 <video autoplay loop muted playsinline poster="">
1053 <source src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/YADAVBLOXHAM_movie_hex_full.mp4" type="video/mp4">
1054 </video>
1055 </div>
1056
1057 <figcaption class="article-embed__figcaption">
1058 <div class="article-embed__figcaption-content">
1059 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-caption">The smaller storms on Saturn interact with the larger system and as a result effectively pinch the eastern jet and confine it to the top of the planet. The pinching process warps the stream into a hexagon.</p>
1060 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-credit">Credit: Jeremy Bloxham and Rakesh K. Yadav</p>
1061 </div>
1062 </figcaption>
1063
1064 </figure>
1065
1066 <div class="article-wrap">
1067 <div class="article-content">
1068 <div class="article-body basic-text">
1069
1070 <p>The model the researchers created suggests the storm is thousands of kilometers deep, well beneath Saturn’s cloud tops. The simulation imitates the planet’s outer layer and covers only about 10 percent of its radius. In a monthlong experiment the scientists ran, the computer simulation showed that a phenomenon called deep thermal convection — which happens when heat is transferred from one place to another by the movement of fluids or gases — can unexpectedly give rise to atmospheric flows that create large polar cyclones and a high-latitude eastward jet pattern. When these mix at the top it forms the unexpected shape, and because the storms form deep within the planet, the scientists said it makes the hexagon furious and persistent.</p>
1071 <p>Convection is the same force that causes tornadoes and hurricanes on Earth. It’s similar to boiling a pot of water: The heat from the bottom transfers up to the colder surface, causing the top to bubble. This is what is believed to cause many of the storms on Saturn, which, as a gas giant, doesn’t have a solid surface like Earth’s.</p>
1072 <p>“The hexagonal flow pattern on Saturn is a striking example of turbulent self-organization,” the researchers wrote in the June paper. “Our model simultaneously and self-consistently produces alternating zonal jets, the polar cyclone, and hexagon-like polygonal structures similar to those observed on Saturn.”</p>
1073 <p>What the model didn’t produce, however, was a hexagon. Instead, the shape the researchers saw was a nine-side polygon that moved faster than Saturn’s storm. Still, the shape serves as proof of concept for the overall thesis on how the majestic shape is formed and why it has been relatively unchanged for almost 40 years.</p>
1074 <p>Interest in Saturn’s hexagon storm goes back to 1988, when astronomer David A. Godfrey analyzed flyby data from the Voyager spacecraft’s 1980 and 1981 Saturn passes and reported the discovery. Decades later, from 2004 to 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured some of the clearest and best-known images of the anomaly before plunging into the planet.</p>
1075
1076 <p>Relatively little is known about the storm because the planet takes 30 years to orbit the sun, leaving either pole in darkness for that time. Cassini, for instance, only took thermal images of the storm when it first arrived in 2004. Even when the sun shines on Saturn’s northern pole, the clouds are so thick that light doesn’t penetrate deep into the planet.</p>
1077 <p>Regardless, many hypotheses exist on how the storm formed. Most center on two schools of thought: One suggests that the hexagon is shallow and only extends hundreds of kilometers deep; the other suggests the zonal jets are thousands of kilometers deep.</p>
1078 <p>Yadav and Bloxham’s findings build on the latter theory, but need to include more atmospheric data from Saturn and further refine their model to create a more accurate picture of what’s happening with the storm. Overall, the duo hope their findings can help paint a portrait of activity on Saturn in general.</p>
1079 <p>“From a scientific point of view, the atmosphere is really important in determining how quickly a planet cools. All these things you see on the surface, they’re basically manifestations of the planet cooling down and the planet cooling down tells us a lot about what’s happening inside of the planet,” Yadav said. “The scientific motivation is basically understanding how Saturn came to be and how it evolves over time.”</p>
1080 <p><em>This work was supported by the FAS Research Computing, the NASA High-End Computing Program, and the NASA Juno project.</em></p>
1081 ]]></content:encoded>
1082
1083
1084
1085 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Saturn_Cover_art_2500_H_2500_Cropped-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1086 <item>
1087 <title>Signaling mechanism allows chaotic cells to self-organize</title>
1088 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/signaling-mechanism-allows-chaotic-cells-to-self-organize/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1089
1090 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1091 <pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2020 13:47:54 +0000</pubDate>
1092 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1093 <category><![CDATA[Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School]]></category>
1094 <category><![CDATA[Embryo]]></category>
1095 <category><![CDATA[Embryonic Development]]></category>
1096 <category><![CDATA[morphogens]]></category>
1097 <category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
1098 <category><![CDATA[Tony Tsai]]></category>
1099 <category><![CDATA[zebrafish embryos]]></category>
1100 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312982</guid>
1101
1102 <description><![CDATA[Researchers have discovered a key control mechanism that cells use to self-organize in early embryonic development.]]></description>
1103 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Under a microscope, the first few hours of every multicellular organism’s life seem incongruously chaotic. After fertilization, a once tranquil single-celled egg divides again and again, quickly becoming a visually tumultuous mosh pit of cells jockeying for position inside the rapidly growing embryo.</p>
1104 <p>Yet, amid this apparent pandemonium, cells begin to self-organize. Soon, spatial patterns emerge, serving as the foundation for the construction of tissues, organs, and elaborate anatomical structures from brains to toes and everything in between. For decades, scientists have intensively studied this process, called morphogenesis, but it remains in many ways enigmatic.</p>
1105 <p>Now, researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria have discovered a key control mechanism that cells use to self-organize in early embryonic development. The findings, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6512/113">published in Science</a> on Oct. 2, shed light on a process fundamental to multicellular life and open new avenues for improved tissue and organ engineering strategies.</p>
1106 <p>Studying spinal cord formation in zebrafish embryos, a team co-led by <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.google.com_search-3Fclient-3Dfirefox-2Db-2D1-2Dd-26q-3Dsean-2Bmegason-2Bcatalyst&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=o9FQ81YV7gcyJZ4TM0SlrxAm4DjFpwKA1bHaBakPU8E&s=kDxsx0i5oCPu9bptgfk_vDeISALX0jO8dmAaqQDyph4&e=">Sean Megason</a>, professor of systems biology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School (HMS), revealed that different cell types express unique combinations of adhesion molecules in order to self-sort during morphogenesis. These “adhesion codes” determine which cells prefer to stay connected, and how strongly they do so, even as widespread cellular rearrangements occur in the developing embryo.</p>
1107 <p> </p>
1108 <aside class="pull-quote">
1109 <div class="pull-quote__text">Insights into how cells self-organize in early development could also aid efforts to engineer tissues and organs for clinical uses such as transplantation.</div>
1110 <div class="pull-quote__attribution"></div>
1111 </aside>
1112
1113 <p>The researchers found that adhesion codes are regulated by morphogens, master signaling molecules long known to govern cell fate and pattern formation in development. The results suggest that the interplay of morphogens and adhesion properties allows cells to organize with the precision and consistency required to construct an organism.</p>
1114 <p>“My lab’s goal is to understand the basic design principles of biological form,” said Megason, co-corresponding author on the study. “Our findings represent a new way of approaching the question of morphogenesis, which is one of the oldest and most important in embryology. We see this as the tip of the iceberg for such efforts.”</p>
1115 <p>Insights into how cells self-organize in early development could also aid efforts to engineer tissues and organs for clinical uses such as transplantation, the authors said.</p>
1116 <p>“Constructing artificial tissues for research or medical applications is a critically important goal, but currently one of the biggest problems is inconsistency,” said lead study author <a href="https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/124128">Tony Tsai</a>, research fellow in systems biology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School. “There is a clear lesson to learn from understanding and reverse engineering how cells in a developing embryo are able to build the components of an organism in such a robust and reproducible way.”</p>
1117 <figure id="attachment_313317" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-313317" style="width: 330px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-313317 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Cell-tug-of-war-1.gif" alt="Cellular tug of war. A micropipette assay measures adhesion force between two cells." width="330" height="308" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-313317" class="wp-caption-text">Cellular tug of war. A micropipette assay measures adhesion force between two cells. Tony Tsai/Sean Megason/Harvard Medical School</figcaption></figure>
1118 <h2><strong>Tug of war</strong></h2>
1119 <p>Spearheaded by Tsai and in collaboration with <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__ist.ac.at_en_research_heisenberg-2Dgroup_&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=o9FQ81YV7gcyJZ4TM0SlrxAm4DjFpwKA1bHaBakPU8E&s=DRw8whPL4FTeuh-KQBD7oW3A8CcKFhvMancZynM5zZw&e=">Carl-Philipp Heisenberg</a> and colleagues at IST Austria, the research team first looked at one of the most well-established frameworks for morphogenesis, the French flag model.</p>
1120 <p>In this model, morphogens are released from localized sources in the embryo, exposing nearby cells to higher levels of the signaling molecule than cells farther away. The amount of morphogen a cell is exposed to activates different cellular programs, particularly those that determine cell fate. Concentration gradients of morphogens therefore “paint” patterns onto groups of cells, evocative of the distinct color bands of the French flag.</p>
1121 <p>This model has limitations, however. <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov_pmc_articles_PMC3674856_&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=o9FQ81YV7gcyJZ4TM0SlrxAm4DjFpwKA1bHaBakPU8E&s=PF2X38z5eiTRyklFE6n6q6ZBmVxA1mI-FwCXYtJRFIk&e=">Previous studies</a> from the Megason lab used live-cell imaging and single-cell tracking in whole zebrafish embryos to show that morphogen signals can be noisy and imprecise, particularly at the boundaries of the “flag.” In addition, cells in a developing embryo are constantly dividing and in motion, which can scramble the morphogen signal. This results in an initial mixed patterning of cell types.</p>
1122 <p>Nevertheless, cells self-sort into precise patterns, even with a noisy start, and in the current study, the team set out to understand how. They focused on a hypothesis proposed over 50 years ago, known as differential adhesion. This model suggests that cells adhere to certain other cell types, self-sorting in a way similar to how oil and vinegar separates over time. But there was little evidence that this plays a role in patterning.</p>
1123 <p>To investigate, Megason, Tsai and colleagues developed a method to measure the force by which cells adhere to one another. They placed two individual cells together and then pulled on each cell with precisely controlled suction pressure from two micropipettes. This allowed the researchers to measure the precise amount of force needed to pull the cells apart. By analyzing three cells at once, they could also establish adhesion preferences.</p>
1124 <p>The team used this technique to study the patterning of three different types of neural progenitor cells involved in building the nascent spinal cord in zebrafish embryos.</p>
1125 <p>The experiments revealed that cells of a similar type strongly and preferentially adhered to one another. To identify the relevant adhesion molecule-encoding genes, the researchers analyzed the gene expression profile of each cell type using RNA sequencing. They then used CRISPR-Cas9 to block the expression of candidate genes, one at a time. If pattern formation became disrupted, they applied the pulling assay to see how much the molecule contributed to adhesion.</p>
1126 <h2><strong>Adhesion code</strong></h2>
1127 <p>Three genes — <em>N-cadherin</em>, <em>cadherin 11</em> and <em>protocadherin 19 </em>— emerged as essential for normal patterning. The expression of different combinations and different levels of these genes was responsible for differences in adhesion preference, representing what the team dubbed an adhesion code. This code was unique to each of the cell types and determined which other cells each cell type stays connected to during morphogenesis.</p>
1128 <p>“All three adhesion molecules we looked at are expressed in different amounts in each cell type,” Tsai said. “Cells use this code to preferentially adhere to cells of their own type, which is what allows different cell types to separate during pattern formation. But cells also maintain some level of adhesion with other cell types since they have to collaborate to form tissues. By piecing together these local interaction rules, we can illuminate the global picture.”</p>
1129 <p>Because the adhesion code is cell-type specific, the researchers hypothesized that it is likely controlled by the same processes that determine cell fate — namely, morphogen signaling. They looked at how perturbations to one the most well-known morphogens, Sonic hedgehog (Shh), affected cell type and corresponding adhesion-molecule gene expression.</p>
1130 <aside class="pull-quote">
1131 <div class="pull-quote__text">“The issue with tissue engineering right now is that we just don’t know what the underlying science is. … Our goal is to figure out what those rules are for the embryo.”</div>
1132 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Sean Megason, Blavatnik Institute at HMS</div>
1133 </aside>
1134
1135 <p>The analyses revealed that both cell type and adhesion-molecule gene expression were highly correlated, both in level and spatial position. This held true across the entire nascent spinal cord, where patterns of gene expression for cell type and adhesion molecule changed together in response to differences in Shh activity.</p>
1136 <p>“What we found is that this morphogen not only controls cell fate, it controls cell adhesion,” Megason said. “The French flag model gives a rough sketch, and differential adhesion then forms the precise pattern. Combining these different strategies appears to be how cells build patterns in 3D space and time as the embryo is forming.”</p>
1137 <p>The researchers are now further investigating the interplay between morphogen signaling and adhesion in developing embryos. The current study looked at only three different cell types, and there are many other adhesion-molecule candidates and morphogens that remain to be analyzed, the authors said. In addition, the details of how morphogens control both cell type and adhesion molecule expression remain unclear.</p>
1138
1139 <p>Better understanding these processes could help scientists uncover and reverse engineer the fundamental mechanisms by which a single-celled egg constructs a whole organism, the authors said. This could have profound implications in biotechnology, particularly for efforts to build artificial tissues and organs for transplantation or for testing new drug candidates.</p>
1140 <p>“The issue with tissue engineering right now is that we just don’t know what the underlying science is,” Megason said. “If you want to build a little bridge over a stream, maybe you could do that without understanding physics. But if you wanted to build a big suspension bridge, you need to know a lot about the underlying physics. Our goal is to figure out what those rules are for the embryo.”</p>
1141 <p>Additional authors on the study include Mateusz Sikora, Peng Xia, Tugba Colak-Champollion and Holger Knaut.</p>
1142 <p><em>This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01GM107733, R01NS102322), a K99 fellowship from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (1K99HD092623), the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation, the Company of Biologists, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the European Research Council.</em></p>
1143 ]]></content:encoded>
1144
1145
1146
1147 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Spinal-cord-development-3-copy-250x250.gif" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1148 <item>
1149 <title>Harvard climate change expert discusses extreme heat</title>
1150 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/harvard-climate-change-expert-discusses-extreme-heat/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1151
1152 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1153 <pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2020 18:47:01 +0000</pubDate>
1154 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1155 <category><![CDATA[Climate Change]]></category>
1156 <category><![CDATA[Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences]]></category>
1157 <category><![CDATA[extreme heat]]></category>
1158 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
1159 <category><![CDATA[Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences]]></category>
1160 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
1161 <category><![CDATA[Peter Huybers]]></category>
1162 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312054</guid>
1163
1164 <description><![CDATA[With the threat of extreme heat rising, from California to Siberia, we ask climate scientist Peter Huybers what to expect in the future.]]></description>
1165 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Extreme heat events have been registered across the world in recent months. It hit 100 degrees in a Siberian town above the Arctic Circle in June. Baghdad reached 125.2 degrees on July 28. California’s Death Valley, one of the hottest places on earth, soared to a record 130 degrees in August. Many scientists expect events like these to continue and get worse, affecting ecosystems and setting the stage for disasters like the wildfires in the Western U.S. that were stoked, in part, by record heat and extremely dry conditions. <a href="https://eps.harvard.edu/people/peter-huybers">Peter Huybers</a>, a Harvard professor of earth and planetary sciences and environmental science and engineering, has been studying extreme temperatures for years. Recipient of a <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/macarthur-fellows-named/">MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant</a> in 2009, Huybers co-authored recent papers on how <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0028-7">climate change can influence yields of crops</a> such as corn and whether higher summer temperatures will be associated with <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020GL087624">increases in temperature variability</a> in mid-latitude continents. He spoke to the Gazette about what we can expect in the future.</p>
1166 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">Q&A</h2>
1167 <h3 class="transcript-header-2">Peter Huybers</h3>
1168 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> What exactly is extreme heat and why are we seeing these events?</p>
1169 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HUYBERS:</strong></span> It’s a relative term. Basically, extreme heat is when you’re expecting one temperature but get something much hotter. What you are expecting, of course, depends on time and place. In Cambridge what counts as extreme heat in January is different than in August. One way to get extreme temperatures is to wait long enough and, with enough samples, eventually one will be extreme. But we are seeing record high-temperature events occurring more often — and more frequently than record-low temperatures — because of global warming. Baseline temperature is going up so that natural excursions above that baseline bring us more readily into record-setting territory.</p>
1170 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> What are the consequences of continual record-breaking temperatures?</p>
1171 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HUYBERS:</strong></span> Just like extremes are relative, so are their consequences. If you’re a farmer, extreme heat may damage your crops. If you live in Arctic tundra, extreme heat might look like buildings and roads losing their footing. And if you live near a forest, it looks like increased fire risk. At the end of July, temperatures reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit in Baghdad, and if you didn’t have access to air conditioning, extreme heat posed a serious health risk. How climate change will play out depends on how prepared we are for the consequences, including with respect to how we manage the built environment, forests, and agricultural systems. We face some big questions. Are we able to generate new ways of living that are more tolerant of high heat and don’t contribute to further heating? Who of us will need to move because our environment becomes untenable, and where will we go? In fact, we are answering these questions in real time, but often poorly and at the last minute.</p>
1172 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> Is this going to become the norm everywhere or just in certain places?</p>
1173 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HUYBERS:</strong></span> As best we can tell, Earth’s surface has warmed everywhere over the last century. And, again, as baseline temperatures warm, natural excursions above that baseline will bring more record-setting events. We have not, however, seen systematic changes in the variability around the mean in summer temperatures, though such changes are possible going forward. If soils become drier, for example, both the mean temperature and its variance would generally increase.</p>
1174 <p>At a more basic level, there is the famous effect formalized by [mathematician and meteorologist] Ed Lorenz whereby a butterfly flapping its wings influences a tornado half a world away some weeks later. Furthermore, with atmospheric CO2 levels now at 410 ppm [parts per million], up from a preindustrial value of 280 ppm, it’s not an isolated nudge but a sustained global push toward warmer surface temperatures. Our weather is already interconnected, and it’s being globally forced, so climate change is very much everywhere. Of course, our human systems are also globally linked. There is a case to be made, for example, that climate change contributed to the displacement of farmers in Syria, the outbreak of civil war in 2011, and the ongoing refugee crisis that war fomented.</p>
1175 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> Could any places become uninhabitable?</p>
1176 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HUYBERS:</strong></span> I think it depends how you want to live. There are places now where for certain parts of the day during certain times of the year, if you were to go outside and didn’t have access to cooling, you couldn’t survive. It’s uninhabitable in that regard, and the regions and intervals subjected to such conditions are growing. In some cases people can adapt, for example, by choosing when to go outside and by installing air conditioning. But not everyone can adapt equally. Let’s say you work on a farm or in construction and you’re facing a situation where it’s dangerous during the hottest parts of the day — is working at night or taking frequent cooling breaks a viable option?</p>
1177 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> What does it all mean in terms of our future?</p>
1178
1179 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HUYBERS:</strong></span> That’s a broad question. Normal is a shifting target. What we call extreme heat today will be more normal in the coming decades. Another thing is that we shouldn’t be talking only about temperature. Water resources, sea level, storms, and pollution are all important considerations in environmental change. Let me leave off by noting that, foremost, we need to stabilize and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in order to avert major future changes in climate. Insomuch as we don’t constrain greenhouse gas concentrations, we’ll be forced to remake how we live in a changed environment. Averting negative changes where possible and adapting where necessary demand forethought and innovation, and I hope that Harvard will contribute its share.</p>
1180 <p><em>This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.</em></p>
1181
1182 ]]></content:encoded>
1183
1184
1185
1186 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ExtremeHeat_AP_20264228474786_H_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1187 <item>
1188 <title>New tool offers insights into antibody response to COVID-19</title>
1189 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/new-tool-offers-insights-into-antibody-response-to-covid-19/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1190
1191 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1192 <pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2020 17:20:53 +0000</pubDate>
1193 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1194 <category><![CDATA[Brigham and Women's Hospital]]></category>
1195 <category><![CDATA[coronavirus]]></category>
1196 <category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
1197 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Medical School]]></category>
1198 <category><![CDATA[Pandemic]]></category>
1199 <category><![CDATA[SARS-CoV-2]]></category>
1200 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312934</guid>
1201
1202 <description><![CDATA[“Viral history” tool VirScan offers new insights into antibody response to SARS-CoV-2.]]></description>
1203 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> </p>
1204 <p class="add-drop-cap">A tool designed to detect viral history in a drop of blood has gotten an upgrade in the age of COVID-19.</p>
1205 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">VirScan, a technology that can determine which of more than 1,000 different viruses have infected a person, can now also </span><a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/news/learning-recovered"><span style="font-weight: 400;">detect evidence of infection from coronaviruses</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, including SARS-CoV-2. </span></p>
1206 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The insights could inform the development of COVID-19 treatments, vaccines, and blood-based diagnostic tests.</span></p>
1207 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a paper published online Sept. 29 in </span><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/28/science.abd4250"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Science</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, investigators from Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital offer a treasure trove of details about the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 and how this response may differ in individuals who go on to have a more severe case of COVID-19. </span></p>
1208 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This may be the deepest serological analysis of any virus in terms of resolution,” said corresponding author </span><a href="https://elledge.hms.harvard.edu/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Stephen Elledge</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS and Brigham and Women’s. </span></p>
1209 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We now understand much, much more about the antibodies generated in response to SARS-CoV-2 and how frequently they are made,” he said. “The next question is, what do those antibodies do? We need to identify which antibodies have an inhibitory capacity or which, if any, may promote the virus and actually help it enter into immune cells.”</span></p>
1210 <h2><strong>Analyzing epitopes</strong></h2>
1211 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In their analysis, Elledge and colleagues looked in depth at antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 by using VirScan to analyze blood samples from 232 COVID-19 patients and 190 pre-COVID-19 era controls. </span></p>
1212 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team identified 800 sites of the virus that the immune system can recognize, known as epitopes. </span></p>
1213 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Not all epitopes are created equal; some may be recognized by neutralizing antibodies, which can elicit a response that eliminates the infection. However, if the body creates antibodies against other epitopes, it may launch a less effective response, giving the virus an advantage. In some cases, including the related coronavirus that causes SARS, viruses may even be able to benefit from the body’s antibody response, using antibodies to enter cells in a phenomenon known as antibody-dependent enhancement.</span></p>
1214 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the case of SARS-CoV-2, the team detected a range of antibody frequencies against various epitopes. </span></p>
1215 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Many were public epitopes — regions recognized by the immune systems of large numbers of patients. One public epitope was recognized by 79 percent of COVID-19 patients. </span></p>
1216 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Others are considered private and recognized by only a few or even one individual. </span></p>
1217 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ten epitopes were in regions essential for viral entry and are likely recognized by neutralizing antibodies. </span></p>
1218 <h2><strong>Putting insights to work</strong></h2>
1219 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team used the most discriminatory epitopes to develop a rapid diagnostic test.</span></p>
1220 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team’s epitope findings may have important implications for vaccines. If the immune system’s response to public epitopes isn’t found to be protective — or even gives the virus an advantage — vaccines will need to target other regions of the virus to give the immune system a boost. </span></p>
1221 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In addition, the team found that there are several epitopes conserved across coronaviruses, and that the immune system is likely to try to reuse antibodies against them when infected with SARS-CoV-2 — a possible explanation for why so many serology tests for COVID-19 produce false positives. </span></p>
1222 <h2><strong>Not all created equal</strong></h2>
1223 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team further analyzed where and when different antibody responses occurred. </span></p>
1224 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They found that patients with severe COVID-19 were more likely to launch a stronger, broader response against SARS-CoV-2, possibly because their initial immune response failed to control the infection early. </span></p>
1225 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Within hospitalized patients, males made more antibodies than females. </span></p>
1226 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers also compared the viral histories of hospitalized and non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients and found that hospitalized patients were much more likely to have had CMV and HSV-1, two common herpes viruses. However, the researchers note that it is difficult to draw conclusions about causality given that the group of non-hospitalized patients was younger and consisted of a higher percentage of white people and women, demographic groups that generally have lower CMV infection rates. </span></p>
1227 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Elledge envisions the team’s studies as a stepping stone for identifying the most effective antibodies and eliciting them.</span></p>
1228 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Our paper illuminates the landscape of antibody responses in COVID-19 patients,” he said. “Next, we need to identify the antibodies that bind these recurrently recognized epitopes to determine whether they are neutralizing antibodies or antibodies that might exacerbate patient outcomes. This could inform the production of improved diagnostics and vaccines for SARS-CoV-2.”</span></p>
1229 <h2><strong>Disclosures and funding<br />
1230 </strong></h2>
1231 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Elledge and a co-author are founders of TSCAN Therapeutics; Elledge is a founder of MAZE Therapeutics and Mirimus; and Elledge serves on the scientific advisory board of Homology Medicines, TSCAN Therapeutics, MAZE and XChem and is an adviser for MPM, none of which impact this work. </span></p>
1232 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Elledge and two co-authors are inventors on a patent application filed by Brigham and Women’s (US20160320406A) that covers the use of the VirScan library to identify pathogen antibodies in blood.</span></p>
1233 <p><em>Funding for this work was provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health (AI121394, AI139538, a U24 grant), the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Value of Vaccination Research Network (VoVRN), the Executive Committee on Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, the Pemberton-Trinity Fellowship, a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship (201387/Z/16/Z), the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Enid Schwartz, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. </em></p>
1234
1235
1236 ]]></content:encoded>
1237
1238
1239
1240 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SARS-CoV-2-particles.NIAID-2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1241 <item>
1242 <title>3D images of 19th-century glass marine invertebrates go online</title>
1243 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/3d-images-of-19th-century-glass-marine-invertebrates-go-online/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1244
1245 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1246 <pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2020 22:28:20 +0000</pubDate>
1247 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1248 <category><![CDATA[David Brown]]></category>
1249 <category><![CDATA[Drew Harvell]]></category>
1250 <category><![CDATA[James Hanken]]></category>
1251 <category><![CDATA[Jonathan Woodward]]></category>
1252 <category><![CDATA[MCZ]]></category>
1253 <category><![CDATA[Museum of Comparative Zoology]]></category>
1254 <category><![CDATA[Peter Fried]]></category>
1255 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310901</guid>
1256
1257 <description><![CDATA[Harvard has digitized 19th-century glass models of 15 marine invertebrates made by Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka. The 3D models are the result of between 250 to 700 images that had to be taken per glass piece.]]></description>
1258 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Five researchers set out three years ago to capture the full beauty of a museum’s famous glass models through images. Today, there are interactive and three-dimensional models of a blue button jellyfish, a stout bobtail squid, and sea anemone that reveal their flower-like tentacles to both in-person visitors and those online.</p>
1259 <p>“Museum professionals are extremely proud of and excited about the collections in their care, and at the same time they are frustrated that many other people don’t get to see those objects,” said James Hanken, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, curator of herpetology and director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ). “By developing a novel imaging technique that provides high-quality 3D images of the glass animals, we are helping people far from Harvard to learn about and appreciate these spectacular specimens.”</p>
1260 </div> <!-- article-body -->
1261 </div> <!-- article-content -->
1262 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
1263
1264 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default article-ratio--16-9">
1265
1266 <div class="article-embed__content">
1267 </p>
1268 <div class=’embed-container’>
1269 <div class="sketchfab-embed-wrapper">
1270 <iframe title="A 3D model" width="100%" height="480" src="https://sketchfab.com/models/7146007516cb41d29259926ab235fe1e/embed?autostart=1&ui_controls=1&ui_infos=1&ui_inspector=1&ui_stop=1&ui_watermark=1&ui_watermark_link=1" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; vr" mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
1271 <p>
1272 </div>
1273
1274 <figcaption class="article-embed__figcaption">
1275 <div class="article-embed__figcaption-content">
1276 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-caption">A 4-inch glass model of a sea anemone.</p>
1277 </div>
1278 </figcaption>
1279
1280 </figure>
1281
1282 <div class="article-wrap">
1283 <div class="article-content">
1284 <div class="article-body basic-text">
1285
1286 <p><em>Touch or click and drag your mouse to explore. View <a href="https://sketchfab.com/ARC-3D">more 3D models</a>.</em></p>
1287 <p> </p>
1288 <p>The researchers successfully digitized 19th-century glass models of 15 marine invertebrates made by Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka. In order to capture the intricacy, detail, and glossy surfaces of these models, the researchers took 250 to 700 images of each invertebrate, created specific lighting, and, for the more challenging models, administered X-ray computed-tomography (CT) scans. The full team is made up of Hanken and MCZ curatorial assistant Jonathan Woodward as well as Peter Fried (NYU Tandon School of Engineering), David Brown (Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University), and Drew Harvell (Cornell University).</p>
1289 <p>“Handling the Blaschka models requires focus and patience, but it’s such a genuine pleasure to pay focused attention to such beautiful and intricate objects,” said Woodward, who performed the micro-CT scans. “I’m especially pleased to have contributed to a process that will share these unique objects more widely and more faithfully than ever before.”</p>
1290 <p>“The technique we’ve developed for combining CT and photogrammetry scans is generic, insofar as it can work, in principle, for any complex and highly reflective glass specimen. It should be of interest and use to all kinds of museums,” said Hanken. “We would love nothing more than to have other institutions use our technique to reveal the beauty and intricacy of their objects, as well as ours.”</p>
1291
1292
1293 ]]></content:encoded>
1294
1295
1296
1297 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Figure-2_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1298 <item>
1299 <title>Map of the human heart could guide treatments</title>
1300 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/map-of-the-human-heart-could-guide-treatments/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1301
1302 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1303 <pubDate>Sun, 27 Sep 2020 23:45:04 +0000</pubDate>
1304 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1305 <category><![CDATA[Brigham and Women's Hospital]]></category>
1306 <category><![CDATA[Cardiovascular Disease]]></category>
1307 <category><![CDATA[cells]]></category>
1308 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Medical School]]></category>
1309 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312700</guid>
1310
1311 <description><![CDATA[Highly detailed map of the human heart could guide personalized heart treatments.]]></description>
1312 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="add-drop-cap">Scientists have created a detailed cellular and molecular map of the healthy human heart to understand how this vital organ functions and to shed light on what goes awry in cardiovascular disease.</p>
1313 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The work, published in Nature Sept. 24 was led by investigators at Harvard Medical School, Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Germany, Imperial College London and their global collaborators.</span></p>
1314 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team analyzed almost a half million individual cells to build the most extensive cell atlas of the human heart to date. The atlas shows the huge diversity of cells and reveals heart muscle cell types, cardiac protective immune cells and an intricate network of blood vessels. It also predicts how the cells communicate to keep the heart working. </span></p>
1315 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The research is part of the </span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.humancellatlas.org_&d=DwMFBA&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=hoeq7bnSIC-iOEceTqICGWoTgUAEUYRdWxtdSUg7M6U&s=lP6XO04VqCt1n97j2umz4u6UX2eSSFBsz4wJlOK_5cA&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">Human Cell Atlas</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> initiative to map every cell type in the human body. The new molecular and cellular knowledge of the heart promises to enable better understanding of heart disease and guide the development of highly individualized treatments. </span></p>
1316 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The work also sets the stage for therapies based on regenerative medicine in the future, the researchers said.</span></p>
1317 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Over a lifetime, the average human heart delivers more than 2 billion life-sustaining beats to the body. In doing so, it helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells, tissues and organs and enables the removal of carbon dioxide and waste products. Each day, the heart beats around 100,000 times with a one-way flow through four different chambers, varying speed with rest, exercise and stress. Every beat requires an exquisitely complex but perfect synchronization across various cells in different parts of heart. When this complex coordination goes bad, it can result in cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide, killing an estimated 17.9 million people each year. </span></p>
1318 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Detailing the molecular processes inside the cells of a healthy heart is critical to understanding how things go awry in heart disease. Such knowledge can lead to more precise, better treatment strategies for various forms of cardiovascular illness. </span></p>
1319 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Millions of people are undergoing treatments for cardiovascular diseases. Understanding the healthy heart will help us understand interactions between cell types and cell states that can allow lifelong function and how these differ in diseases,” said study co-senior author </span><a href="https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/29608"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Christine Seidman</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, professor of medicine in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and a cardiovascular geneticist at Brigham and Women’s. </span></p>
1320 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Ultimately, these fundamental insights may suggest specific targets that can lead to individualized therapies in the future, creating personalized medicines for heart disease and improving the effectiveness of treatments for each patient,” Seidman said. </span></p>
1321 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is what researchers set out to do in the new study. </span></p>
1322 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team studied nearly 500,000 individual cells and cell nuclei from six different regions of the heart obtained from 14 organ donors whose hearts were healthy but unsuitable for transplantation. </span></p>
1323 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Using a combination of single-cell analysis, machine learning and imaging techniques, the team could see exactly which genes were switched on and off in each cell. </span></p>
1324 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers discovered major differences in the cells in different areas of the heart. They also observed that each area of the heart had specific subsets of cells — a finding that points to different developmental origins and suggests that these cells would respond differently to treatments.</span></p>
1325 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This project marks the beginning of new understandings into how the heart is built from single cells, many with different cell states,” said study co-first author </span><a href="https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/172958"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Daniel Reichart</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, research fellow in genetics at Harvard Medical School. “With knowledge of the regional differences throughout the heart, we can begin to consider the effects of age, exercise and disease and help push the field of cardiology toward the era of precision medicine.” </span></p>
1326 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This is the first time anyone has looked at the single cells of the human heart at this scale, which has only become possible with large-scale single-cell sequencing,” said Norbert Hübner, co-senior author and professor at Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine. “This study shows the power of single-cell genomics and international collaboration,” he added. “Knowledge of the full range of cardiac cells and their gene activity is a fundamental necessity to understand how the heart functions and to start to unravel how it responds to stress and disease.”</span></p>
1327 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As part of this study, the researchers also looked at blood vessels running through the heart in unprecedented detail. The atlas showed how the cells in these veins and arteries are adapted to the different pressures and locations and how this could help researchers understand what goes wrong in blood vessels during coronary heart disease.</span></p>
1328 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Our international effort provides an invaluable set of information to the scientific community by illuminating the cellular and molecular details of cardiac cells that work together to pump blood around the body,” said co-senior author Michela Noseda of Imperial College, London. “We mapped the cardiac cells that can be potentially infected by SARS-CoV-2 and found that specialized cells of the small blood vessels are also virus targets,” she said. “Our datasets are a goldmine of information to understand subtleties of heart disease.”</span></p>
1329 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers also focused on understanding cardiac repair, looking at how the immune cells interact and communicate with other cells in the healthy heart and how this differs from skeletal muscle. </span></p>
1330 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Further research will include investigating whether any heart cells could be induced to repair themselves.</span></p>
1331 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This great collaborative effort is part of the global Human Cell Atlas initiative to create a ‘Google map’ of the human body,” said Sarah Teichmann of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, co-senior author of the study and co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas Organising Committee. </span></p>
1332 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Openly available to researchers worldwide, the Heart Cell Atlas is a fantastic resource, which will lead to new understanding of heart health and disease, new treatments and potentially even finding ways of regenerating damaged heart tissue,” she said.</span></p>
1333 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This study was supported by the British Heart Foundation, European Research Council, Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung e.V., Leducq Fondation, German Research Foundation, Chinese Council Scholarship, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, EMBO, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Alberta Innovates, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome, U.S. National Institutes of Health and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. </span></p>
1334 <p><a href="https://seidman.hms.harvard.edu/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jonathan Seidman</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation Professor of Genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, is also co-senior author. Monika Litviňuková and Carlos Talavera-López of the Sanger Institute and Henrike Maatz of the Max Delbrück Center are co-first authors with Daniel Reichart.</span></p>
1335 ]]></content:encoded>
1336
1337
1338
1339 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cell-atlas-of-the-heart-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1340 <item>
1341 <title>Harvard journal keeps data scientists connected during COVID</title>
1342 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/harvard-journal-keeps-data-scientists-connected-during-covid/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1343
1344 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1345 <pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2020 18:54:01 +0000</pubDate>
1346 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1347 <category><![CDATA[Alvin Powell]]></category>
1348 <category><![CDATA[bias]]></category>
1349 <category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
1350 <category><![CDATA[data science]]></category>
1351 <category><![CDATA[Francesca Dominici]]></category>
1352 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Data Science Initiative]]></category>
1353 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Data Science Review]]></category>
1354 <category><![CDATA[Inequality]]></category>
1355 <category><![CDATA[Xiao-Li Meng]]></category>
1356 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=311326</guid>
1357
1358 <description><![CDATA[Data science provides a foundation for an important front in the battle against COVID-19. The Harvard Data Science Review, a journal of the Harvard Data Science Initiative, is helping keep data scientists connected and up to date on the latest findings.]]></description>
1359 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Data science has made key contributions in the battle against COVID-19, from tracking cases and deaths to understanding how populations move during travel restrictions to vaccine design. <a href="https://datascience.harvard.edu/">The Harvard Data Science Initiative</a> is working to support faculty members, students, and fellows in designing and applying the tools of statistics and computer science and creating a community to foster the flow of ideas. The year-old <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu">Harvard Data Science Review</a> published a special issue online this summer dedicated to COVID-19 that will be updated with the latest findings, with a goal of fostering innovation and keeping the conversation going about how data science can help meet the COVID-19 challenge. The Gazette spoke with Francesca Dominici, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population and Data Science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and co-director of the initiative, and Xiao-Li Meng, the review’s editor in chief and the Whipple V.N. Jones Professor of Statistics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, about how data science can be used to meet today’s challenges, and in turn, challenges facing the field.</p>
1360 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">Q&A</h2>
1361 <h3 class="transcript-header-2">Francesca Dominici and Xiao-Li Meng</h3>
1362 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>How is data science important to our understanding of and response to COVID-19?</p>
1363 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">DOMINICI:</span> </strong>Data science is on the front page of The New York Times probably every single day. I think that the pandemic has definitely increased the appreciation of data science as an important discipline that can help us solve enormous challenges impacting society. Data science is becoming paramount to understanding almost all of the critical aspects of COVID-19. That includes the development and testing of a COVID-19 vaccine, understanding the factors that slow the rate of infection, understanding the role of airborne transmission — which is critical to understanding whether we can reopen the schools — identifying environmental and socioeconomic factors, and tracking mobility to better understand key behavioral interventions to contain the spread of the virus. Some of my research, for example, is on pollution and COVID-19, which the wildfires in California are making even worse. It’s hard to think about an example regarding COVID-19 that doesn’t have data science methodology and challenges at the forefront, and Harvard faculty across all of the Schools have been doing cutting-edge research at the intersection of data science and COVID-19.</p>
1364 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>How has data science helped decision-makers and others think more clearly about uncertainty?</p>
1365 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">MENG:</span> </strong>If there’s any silver lining to COVID-19, it’s that it is making everybody aware of the importance of understanding uncertainty. How do you assess uncertainty? How do you plan under uncertainty? For this special issue on COVID-19, we launched new feature called “Conversations with Leaders,” and <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/3sifzfua/release/2">the first interview</a> is with President Larry Bacow. We asked him how he used data to plan for Harvard’s shutdown in March and to decide how to reopen this fall. He says it was easier to shut down because the risk was asymmetric: If we closed too early and it turned out to be nothing, he would have gotten laughed at, but leaders get laughed at all the time. But if Harvard closed too late and people died, that is something we can’t live with. Deciding how to open up was much harder because there were a lot more unknowns. Students tend to be younger and impacted less by COVID-19. But President Bacow had to worry about the entire University community — faculty, staff, and different age groups. It was enormously complicated. We did <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/3omret8r/release/1">a second conversation</a> with the MIT president, L. Rafael Reif, and we asked him the same question. MIT has designed its dorms to help students interact with each other, which now became a challenge. We talked about how you can talk to experts to understand risk, but due to uncertainty no single person knows for sure. Collectively, we hope we can get a better picture — I don’t think we would ever get a perfect picture — and the Harvard Data Science Review is a place to hear all these different voices, and different perspectives.</p>
1366 <aside class="pull-quote">
1367 <div class="pull-quote__text">“It’s hard to think about an example regarding COVID-19 that doesn’t have data science methodology and challenges at the forefront.”</div>
1368 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Francesca Dominici</div>
1369 </aside>
1370
1371 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>A lot of people have been wrestling with uncertainty, but the public may not quite understand the central role that uncertainty has played in this pandemic. Leaders are forced to make decisions based on imperfect, perhaps conflicting, information. Can you talk about how data science helps in situations where there isn’t a yes-or-no answer?</p>
1372 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">DOMINICI:</span> </strong>We all feel the importance of quantifying and communicating uncertainty and embracing the need to make decisions under uncertainty. Unfortunately, some leaders want to dismiss uncertainty in making decisions while data scientists want to acknowledge uncertainty, which doesn’t mean that they [the data scientists] cannot provide new information and guide decision-making. The result is an enormous amount of tension.</p>
1373 <figure id="attachment_312329" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-312329" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-312329 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072.jpg" alt="Xiao-Li Meng and Francesca Dominici." width="2500" height="1667" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_072-945x630.jpg 945w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-312329" class="wp-caption-text">“I think that the pandemic has definitely increased the appreciation of data science as an important discipline that can help us solve enormous challenges impacting society,” said Francesca Dominici.</figcaption></figure>
1374 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>Is there a misunderstanding that uncertainty means you should dismiss findings — because we’re not sure — even though in your field, uncertainty just means you use all the tools at your disposal to find a likely path, perhaps the most likely path, to success?</p>
1375 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">MENG:</span> </strong>We had this <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/hakf37oi/release/2">conversation with the head of statistics for BBC News</a> on exactly that point. As data scientists or statisticians, we like to present things called “confidence intervals.” We’re saying, “We’re not sure what it is, but there’s a range.” But ironically, presenting confidence intervals may result in the public losing confidence in us. Many people want one number even though the reality is we can’t produce one number, because even the best possible number comes with so much uncertainty. We had a conversation with the <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/2nyke6dy/release/1">editor in chief of Brief19, Jeremy Faust</a>, a Harvard faculty member and ER doctor. He said it’s incredibly hard to estimate how many people really died from COVID19. You might think that’s a trivial question, but we know for sure very early on in the pandemic that people died whose deaths were not attributed to COVID-19. Now, however, it’s possible that there’s over-attribution, because whenever people die of multiple possible causes, if one of them is COVID-19, then likely that will be reported.</p>
1376 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>I know you’re using that as an example of a broader point, but there’s a rousing debate on COVID-19 death estimates. Do you have a sense as to which direction data science is pushing the numbers, higher or lower than official estimates?</p>
1377 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">MENG:</span> </strong>Well, to answer this as a true statistician, I don’t trust any single numbers, because they should be given as a range. Another thing that makes this incredibly hard is data quality. One HDSR paper that has been quoted by the World Health Organization, <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/y9vc2u36/release/6">“On Identifying and Mitigating Bias in the Estimation of the COVID-19 Case Fatality Rate,”</a> deals with multiple sources of statistical bias in calculating case fatality numbers. So, instead of using any single number, let’s play out all these different scenarios and then see what the range of numbers is. In a way, you can already see it in how the media has been constantly revising numbers. Although they’re reporting one number at a time, the revisions are effectively reflecting various kinds of assumed states.</p>
1378 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">DOMINICI:</span> </strong>There are two enormous complications. First of all, this is still evolving because we are still in the middle of the epidemic. These data keep coming so all of these analyses will have to be implemented in a way that can be repeated routinely. But I think the biggest challenge is that when you’re thinking about range, which number you pick within the range has enormous political and economic consequences. This is why the role of data science and the role of the Data Science Review is to be transparent about these challenges, so that when we look retrospectively at data science’s contribution to this topic, it’s clear that we have always been rigorous and we haven’t been partisan in one way or another.</p>
1379 <aside class="pull-quote">
1380 <div class="pull-quote__text">“If there’s any silver lining to COVID-19, it’s that it is making everybody aware of the importance of understanding uncertainty.”</div>
1381 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Xiao-Li Meng</div>
1382 </aside>
1383
1384 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>Have there been key data science findings that have not gotten enough attention over the last few months?</p>
1385 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">MENG:</span> </strong>The key findings, which most people in the field would suspect from the very beginning but which have not been emphasized enough, is that the quality of the data is really very low. We all understand no one’s to blame because we’re all struggling and it’s just hard to collect data well when everyone is trying to save lives. Whatever data you can collect, you collect. In the medical community, there are practices for dealing with emergency situations, we have emergency protocols, emergency rooms, etc. But in the data science community, we don’t have this idea of a rapid response team. So when something like this happens we are unprepared. We want to share data without invading privacy, but how do you collect accurate, timely data when people are frantically trying to save lives? For most doctors, they’re not thinking about collecting data, but if you think of the big picture, collecting reliable data is also about saving lives.</p>
1386 <p>Another question I think people are starting to pay more attention to is how do you deal with societal dilemmas like protecting privacy? Tracing people’s movements is definitely helping understand how the pandemic is evolving, but there are enormous privacy issues there. How do you strike the right balance? It used to be that we had guidelines we could work with, but this pandemic is global in scale and different countries have different ways of doing it. One particular article, <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/as1p81um/release/3"><strong>“</strong>Tackling COVID-19 through Responsible AI Innovation: Five Steps in the Right Direction,”</a> is getting lots of attention. This is the longest paper we’ve ever published, over 16,000 words. The author laid down guiding principles for dealing with these complicated issues, difficult problems that really, truly have no unique solution. These are really charged questions and, in the end, these are not problems that data scientists — or any single group — can solve. This is a question for the society: How much trade-off do we want to have?</p>
1387 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">DOMINICI:</span> </strong>To go back to Xiao-Li’s initial point and one which has not been given enough attention, there is no good data science without good data. I think that we are learning but we have to do better in terms of making sure that the data is available. A national registry about individual COVID-19 cases should be made available. Some states are releasing data and some are not. The great majority of research on COVID-19 has been done with data from the Johns Hopkins site. They have been in the forefront, but that data is at the county level for the United States and we’d like to see individual data. That goes back to what Xiao-Li pointed out in terms of mounting an emergency response to gather quality data. There is no easy solution but I think that is something we should work on. We also need an international registry on individual cases and deaths from COVID-19. There are privacy issues about mobility data, but there are fewer issues with respect to case data because they can be de-identified. We need age, race, and gender. Politicians make decisions based on the evidence, so we need to get the best possible evidence out there.</p>
1388 <figure id="attachment_312327" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-312327" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-312327 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040.jpg" alt="Xiao-Li Meng." width="2500" height="1667" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_040-945x630.jpg 945w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-312327" class="wp-caption-text">“In most people’s minds, data science is machine learning, computer science, and statistics. But it includes ethical issues in data collection and analysis…” said Xiao-Li Meng</figcaption></figure>
1389 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>I was speaking with some folks about artificial intelligence and COVID yesterday and they said the same thing. AI has been more or less a disappointment in our COVID response, and the reason has been because the data quality is very low.</p>
1390 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">DOMINICI:</span> </strong>These algorithms are not intelligent if you don’t train them with high-quality data. You’re going to get artificial stupidity instead of artificial intelligence.</p>
1391 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">MENG:</span> </strong>The problem is that the incentive structures are not right. Collecting data well doesn’t make you a hero, but the data itself is fundamental. Not too long ago, I had a conversation with a few people who were deeply involved in producing national data and statistics. I asked them what big reform they wanted to see, and their first answer was health record data. Collecting this data is not easy because there are other things involved besides the data itself. Lots of us, unfortunately, have multiple diseases, and doctors should determine which is the primary one according to their medical judgment. In most cases that [probably does happen]. But there are incentives to designate as the primary condition one most likely to get the most insurance reimbursement. It’s enormously complicated but most times we don’t hear about the complication, we only hear results: how many cases have been reported. But analyses and predictions are being done without knowing what the underlying numbers really mean. We need a national protocol for doing these things. Another big problem is that you need a workforce that’s trained well enough to be at the forefront of collecting data. They should be able to look at the data, know when “This doesn’t look right,” and understand that the decisions they make in collecting it will directly impact analysis later. Efforts are being made to provide such training as reported in <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/0mb0zzlc/release/5#:~:text=The%20program%E2%80%94which%20trains%20government,place%20in%20a%20secure%20environment.">“Change Through Data: A Data Analytics Training Program for Government Employees.”</a></p>
1392 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>Why don’t we talk about the origin of the Harvard Data Science Review? Francesca, why did the initiative decide that having a publication like this was a good idea?</p>
1393 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">DOMINICI:</span> </strong>The Harvard Data Science Review has been a perfect way to communicate data science around the world. To step back for a moment, the Data Science Initiative was launched in 2017, and its goal is to work across Schools and departments to engage and activate data science pioneers in order to address major challenges facing humanities. We wanted to create a highly collaborative network of researchers to multiply the impact of data science discovery in academia and our society. The Data Science Initiative focuses mostly on research and organizes educational conferences. We have a very successful corporate membership program. We wanted to unite our leading computer scientists, statisticians, and domain experts from law, business, public policy, education, medicine, and public health. So we were absolutely delighted when Xiao-Li had this idea of launching a journal. It has become pretty clear that data science is not only statistics; it’s not only computer science; it’s really a new discipline where we need to integrate and leverage expertise across different areas.</p>
1394 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>Who is the review’s intended audience? Scientists? The general public?</p>
1395 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">MENG:</span> </strong>Data science has become this enormous ecosystem, as I wrote in my first editorial. In most people’s minds, data science is machine learning, computer science, and statistics. But it includes ethical issues in data collection and analysis, the work of epidemiologists on COVID-19, AI, and topics all the way to quantum computing. Because people working with data science are making advances in their specialty fields, there isn’t a single place to get together to exchange ideas and findings involving data science. As for the Review’s content, we definitely want scholarly research because it’s important that data science is grounded in rigorous theory and methods. We also definitely want to highlight impact, because data science would not exist if it wasn’t for its impact. And, we’re a university, so including data science education is absolutely crucial. When a marketing team asked, “Who is your target audience?” and I answered, “We target everyone,” they said I was crazy. But that’s literally what data science should be.</p>
1396 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>Can you walk us through a typical issue?</p>
1397 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">MENG:</span> </strong>The review has four main sections. “Panorama” features pieces from thought leaders on anything data-science-related — philosophy, industry, government. “Cornucopia” features impact, innovation, and knowledge transfer, highlighting how data science can be used in any field. Then “Stepping Stones” has learning, teaching, and communication. Last is “Milestones and Millstones,” where the deeper material runs. We also have columns with different themes. A current one is written by a comedian in the U.K., and she talks about how statistics should <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/sf1fi1p0/release/3">“Stop Flaunting Those Curves.”</a> There are columns for <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/minding-the-future">pre-college students,</a> for the general public, such as <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/1vdc2z91/release/1">“Can Machine Learning Predict the Price of Art at Auction?”</a> and <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/wjrl1qsq/release/1">“Recipes for Success: Data Science in the Home Kitchen.”</a> We have columns on the <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/0aytgrau/release/2">history of AI</a>, <a href="https://hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/3adoxb26/release/2">the history of baseball</a>. The goal here is that anybody can pick up this issue, any issue, and find at least one article where they say, “Well, this is interesting.” You can read articles that have no formulas in them, then go to another and think, “Holy cow, how could anybody read this?” Essentially, it’s like a magazine published in multiple languages. What you get out of it depends on who you are.</p>
1398
1399 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">GAZETTE:</span> </strong>Where is the initiative heading over the next year?</p>
1400 <p><strong><span class="transcript-speaker">DOMINICI:</span> </strong>We changed the focus for this year because of what’s happening with COVID-19 and what’s happening with racial discrimination. Those are things that we want to pay attention to. I was impressed because we were contacted by our postdoctoral Harvard data science fellows who said, “We really want to think about the role of data science in addressing racial bias.” So, the goal for the initiative is to pay even more attention to these broader concepts through the lens of data science. We have announced a series of activities looking at responsible data science and data science that reveals discrimination bias. We are devoting a seminar series as well as research funding to using data science to uncover biases and to understand and address the use of badly conceived data science that reinforces bias and inequity. There are many examples where if you’re training machine-learning models used in artificial intelligence on, for example, genetic or diagnostic data from the white population, then you cannot make conclusions regarding what is happening to the Black population. We all know of examples in criminal justice that have exacerbated bias. We also have a very strong corporate members program and another flagship initiative on trust in science: How do we increase public trust in science by leveraging data science? For example, to what degree will people be willing to take the new COVID vaccine?</p>
1401 <p><em>This interview was edited for clarity and length.</em></p>
1402 ]]></content:encoded>
1403
1404
1405
1406 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/091720_Covid_data_114-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1407 <item>
1408 <title>Curve on shoes makes walking easier, but may lead to foot problems</title>
1409 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/curve-on-shoes-makes-walking-easier-but-may-lead-to-foot-problems/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1410
1411 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1412 <pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2020 15:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
1413 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1414 <category><![CDATA[Daniel E. Lieberman]]></category>
1415 <category><![CDATA[Department of Human Evolutionary Biology]]></category>
1416 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
1417 <category><![CDATA[Freddy Sichting]]></category>
1418 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
1419 <category><![CDATA[MTP joints]]></category>
1420 <category><![CDATA[Nicholas B. Holowka]]></category>
1421 <category><![CDATA[Oliver B. Hansen]]></category>
1422 <category><![CDATA[Skeletal Biology and Biomechanics Lab]]></category>
1423 <category><![CDATA[toe springs]]></category>
1424 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312056</guid>
1425
1426 <description><![CDATA[Toe springs in shoes make walking easier but may come at a cost.]]></description>
1427 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The toes of most shoes, especially sneakers, bend ever so slightly upward. While that curve, called a toe spring, can make walking easier and more comfortable, it may also weaken feet and potentially open them up to some common (and painful) foot-related problems.</p>
1428 <p>That’s the conclusion reached by Harvard evolutionary biologist <a href="https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/people/daniel-e-lieberman">Daniel E. Lieberman</a>, his former undergraduate student Oliver B. Hansen ’19, and two former postdoctoral researchers, Freddy Sichting and Nicholas B. Holowka, who studied toe springs and their effect on the biomechanics of walking.</p>
1429 <p>The scientists found that the more curved a toe spring is, the less power the foot inside the shoe has to exert when pushing off from the ground while walking. That means foot muscles are doing less work, and this, the researchers hypothesize, may have consequences.</p>
1430 <p>“It stands to reason that if the foot muscles have to do less work, then they’re probably going to have less endurance given that many thousands of times a day you push off on your toes,” said Lieberman, the Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Science and senior author on the paper. The work on toe springs is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71247-9">described</a> in Scientific Reports.</p>
1431 <p>The researchers say this potential weakness could make people more susceptible to medical conditions like plantar fasciitis — a common, hard to repair, and painful inflammation of the thick, web-like band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes.</p>
1432 <figure id="attachment_312169" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-312169" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-312169 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500.jpg" alt="Dan Lieberman." width="2500" height="1667" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/031618_Lieberman_010_H_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-312169" class="wp-caption-text">Harvard evolutionary biologist Daniel E. Lieberman looks at the way we use and abuse our feet. Jon Chase/Harvard file photo</figcaption></figure>
1433 <p>“One of the biggest problems in the world today of people’s feet is plantar fasciitis,” Lieberman said. “We think that what happens is that people are relying on their plantar fascia to do what muscles normally do. When you get weak muscles and the plantar fascia has to do more work, it’s not really evolved for that and so it gets inflamed.”</p>
1434 <p>The scientists say their next step is to validate their hypothesis in future studies.</p>
1435 <p>“From an evolutionary perspective, wearing modern shoes that have arch supports, cushioning, and other supportive features is a very recent phenomenon,” said Sichting, who’s now a post-doctoral researcher and academic assistant in human locomotion at Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany and was the paper’s first author. “Several lines of evidence suggest that weak foot muscles may be partly a consequence of such features. In our research, we were interested in a nearly ubiquitous element of modern shoes that has not been studied before: the upward curvature at the front of the shoe.”</p>
1436 <p>He means the toe spring, of course, which constantly flexes the toe box above ground and is a feature of most modern footwear, especially athletic shoes.</p>
1437 <p>The project started after Sichting and Lieberman met at a conference in Boston, and (of course) went for a run by the Charles River, during which they talked about foot biomechanics and plantar fasciitis. That led to Sichting coming to Lieberman’s <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/skeleton">Skeletal Biology and Biomechanics Lab</a> in 2018 to work on the project with Holowka, who’s now an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Buffalo, and Hansen, a former Crimson rower who graduated with a concentration in human evolutionary biology. Hansen worked on the paper as part of his senior honor’s thesis.</p>
1438 <p>In the experiment, 13 participants walked barefoot and in four pairs of custom-made sandals on a specially designed treadmill equipped with force plates and an infrared camera system to measure how much power is put into each step. The sandals each had varying degrees of toe spring angles — from 10 degrees to 40 degrees. They were designed to mimic the stiffness and shape found in commercially available shoes.</p>
1439
1440 </div><!-- article-body -->
1441 </div><!-- article-content -->
1442 </div><!--article-wrap -->
1443
1444
1445 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-asymmetric symmetric">
1446 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
1447 <div class="photo-layout__images">
1448
1449 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--a">
1450 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
1451 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Illustration of a toe" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .406), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .406), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image02_H_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
1452 </div>
1453
1454 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--b">
1455 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 67.19% !important">
1456 <img width="1024" height="688" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-1024x688.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Image of several shoes." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 704px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .575), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .575), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-1024x688.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-300x202.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-768x516.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-1536x1032.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-2048x1376.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-1350x907.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-1500x1008.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Image01_H_2500-938x630.jpg 938w" /> </div>
1457 </div>
1458
1459 </div>
1460
1461 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
1462 <p class="photo-layout__caption">The more curved a toe spring is, the less power the foot inside the shoe has to exert when pushing off from the ground while walking.</p>
1463 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Credit: Freddy Sichting</p>
1464 </figcaption>
1465 </figure>
1466 </div>
1467
1468 <div class="article-wrap">
1469 <div class="article-content">
1470 <div class="article-body basic-text">
1471
1472
1473 <p>It became clear while analyzing the data that the propulsive force generated by the metatarsophalangeal or MTP joints (that’s where the toes connect to the rest of your foot bones) decreases as the curve of the toe spring on the specially-made sandals increased. MTP joints are one of the key features that have evolved so that humans can walk and run on two feet so effectively and efficiently.</p>
1474 <p>“By reducing moments at the MTP joints, toe springs likely relieve the intrinsic foot muscles of some of the work necessary to stiffen these joints,” the researchers wrote in the study. “These small differences in muscle work likely add up to substantial differences over time when considering that the average individual in industrialized countries takes 4,000 to 6,000 steps per day. Thus, habitually wearing shoes with toe springs could inhibit or de-condition the force-generating capacity of intrinsic foot muscles.”</p>
1475
1476 <p>The researchers make clear in the paper that more research is needed on all fronts and that their study does not directly link toe springs with plantar fasciitis or other common foot problems. The study also included only habitual shoe users whose feet may already have been adapted to shoes with toe springs.</p>
1477 <p>“This study isolated just one element of our shoes,” said Hansen. “More research is needed to investigate how toe springs interact with other elements of shoes such as stiff soles or cushioning. This could give us a more complete picture of how shoes affect our biomechanics.”</p>
1478 <p>Still, they say the unrecognized biomechanical effects of toe springs on foot function merit further consideration.</p>
1479 <p>“Walking in shoes with comfortable features such as a toe spring has its costs,” Sichting said.</p>
1480 <p>Don’t expect toe springs to go anywhere anytime soon, though.</p>
1481 <p>“We like comfort,” Lieberman said. “That’s why we sit in chairs and take elevators.”</p>
1482 <p><em>This work was funded by the American School of </em><em>Prehistoric Research.</em></p>
1483 <p><em> </em></p>
1484 ]]></content:encoded>
1485
1486
1487
1488 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/TS-work-and-power_H_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1489 <item>
1490 <title>Joseph Henrich explores WEIRD societies</title>
1491 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/joseph-henrich-explores-weird-societies/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1492
1493 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1494 <pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2020 18:55:15 +0000</pubDate>
1495 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1496 <category><![CDATA[Department of Human Evolutionary Biology]]></category>
1497 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
1498 <category><![CDATA[Joseph Henrich]]></category>
1499 <category><![CDATA[WEIRD]]></category>
1500 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312219</guid>
1501
1502 <description><![CDATA[In his new book Joe Henrich looks at how the West became psychologically peculiar and prosperous.]]></description>
1503 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="add-drop-cap"><a href="https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/people/joseph-henrich">Joseph Henrich</a> thinks many people reading this are probably WEIRD. He means no offense, only that they were raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. About a decade ago, Henrich coined the term after determining that individuals from such cultures tend to exhibit a specific combination of psychological characteristics. Now, he’s put it all in a new book called <a href="https://weirdpeople.fas.harvard.edu/">“The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous.”</a> In it, he lays out how people from these societies differ psychologically from most other people throughout human history. The Gazette interviewed Henrich, who is a professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology and its chair, on what being WEIRD is all about.</p>
1504 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">Q&A</h2>
1505 <h3 class="transcript-header-2">Joseph Henrich</h3>
1506 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> What do you mean when you say someone is from a WEIRD society?</p>
1507 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HENRICH:</strong></span> If you measure people’s psychology using the tools that psychologists and economists do, you’ll find substantial variation around the world. Societies that are Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic often anchor the extremes of these global distributions. Among the most prominent features that make people WEIRD is prioritizing impersonal pro-sociality over interpersonal relationships. Impersonal psychology includes inclinations to trust strangers or cooperating with anonymous others. Another big one is having high levels of individualism, meaning a focus on the self and one’s attributes. This is often accompanied by tendencies toward self-enhancement and overconfidence. WEIRD people also rely heavily on analytic thinking over more holistic approaches to problems. I’ll give you an example: Analytic thinking places people or objects into distinct categories and assigns them properties to account for their behavior. Here people get assigned preferences or personality. Particles and planets get assigned charge and gravity. On the other hand, holistic thinkers focus on relationships, context, and interaction. For example, if person A is yelling at person B, an analytical thinker might infer that person A is an angry person while a holistic thinker worries about the relationship between persons A and B. This patterning extends to mental states. WEIRD people tend to focus on people’s intentions, beliefs, and desires in judging them morally instead of emphasizing their actions. In many non-WEIRD societies, for example, the penalties for premeditated murders and accidental killings were the same while in many WEIRD societies they came to depend on the killer’s mental states, on his intentions and beliefs.</p>
1508 <p>These differences all have to do with the kind of worlds we grow up in, the kind of institutions we have to adapt to, the ways our families are structured, and the social and economic world we need to navigate.</p>
1509 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> Is that why you focused on and explored topics people are familiar with, like family, law, and religion?</p>
1510 <figure id="attachment_312224" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-312224" style="width: 1667px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-312224 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500.jpg" alt="Book cover." width="1667" height="2500" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500.jpg 1667w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500-1366x2048.jpg 1366w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500-1350x2025.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500-1000x1500.jpg 1000w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Henrich.Jacket_2500-420x630.jpg 420w" sizes="(max-width: 1667px) 100vw, 1667px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-312224" class="wp-caption-text">Credit: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux</figcaption></figure>
1511 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HENRICH:</strong></span> Exactly. The goal of the book is to explain these kinds of psychological variations. I tried to look at how different institutions beginning with the family lead to a greater trust with strangers and more individualistic thinking. I’m partially being driven by wanting to explain psychological variation and then looking at the ways that different institutions, like religions, culturally shape the kinds of psychologies that develop in different places.</p>
1512 <p>One of the points I want to make is a lot of the big institutions we think about, like Western law or representative government, actually flow, in part, from the way people think about the world. It wasn’t that people invented these institutions first and then they began to think about the world differently. Rather, this was a kind of evolving process where people began to think about the world a little bit differently because their families had been transformed, so they tended to adopt different kinds of laws and think about new kinds of laws to account for this. As European societies became increasingly dominated by monogamous nuclear families in the High Middle Ages, for instance, the laws being created centered increasingly on the individual and on their intentions, rights, and obligations as separate from their kin groups. Those laws then shaped the world that they subsequently grew up in even more, and you had this kind of coevolution between our psychology on one hand and our social norms and institutions on the other.</p>
1513 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> How did WEIRD societies originate?</p>
1514 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HENRICH:</strong></span> It goes back medieval European history and to a set of prohibitions, taboos, and prescriptions about the family that were developed by one particular branch of Christianity. This branch, which evolved into the Roman Catholic Church, established, during late antiquity in the early Middle Ages, a series of taboos on cousin marriage, a campaign against polygamous marriage, and new inheritance customs, where individuals could inherit as individuals rather than after someone dies having a property divided among a network of relatives or going laterally out to cousins. As a result, all of these restructured European families — from kindreds, clans, and other formations that anthropologists have documented around the world — formed into monogamous nuclear families. In the book, I provide evidence suggesting that it’s this particular family structure and variation and the variants of it that lead to particular ways of thinking that are more individualistic, analytic, and impersonal.</p>
1515 <aside class="pull-quote">
1516 <div class="pull-quote__text">“It can take decades, or even longer, for people to culturally adapt their norms … to these formal institutions that were imposed upon them by foreign (often colonial) powers.”</div>
1517 <div class="pull-quote__attribution"></div>
1518 </aside>
1519
1520 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> What drew you to write this account?</p>
1521 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HENRICH:</strong></span> This line of research started when some colleagues and I were compiling all the evidence we could find from around the world on psychological differences. Our project started as a critique of psychology’s emphasis on using American undergraduates for experiments. The database of psychology is largely Western students at universities and predominantly Americans, even among that. We were critiquing the field but then as we began to assemble the data, we found that the subjects most commonly used by psychologists and other experimental behavioral psychologists, like experimental economists, were psychologically unusual. This can be seen in experimental studies from across the social sciences, from the bargaining games studied by economics to work in social and developmental psychology on how people think, reason, and infer. I got to wondering what could explain these variations we were seeing and we coined the acronym WEIRD, as a kind of consciousness-raising device to remind people that researchers in particular use subjects in their experiments who are typically psychologically unusual and that they couldn’t readily generalize to everyone around the world from studying this one peculiar group.</p>
1522 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>GAZETTE:</strong></span> At this particular moment, why is understanding how psychological differences have given rise to the modern world so important?</p>
1523 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>HENRICH:</strong></span> As we’re trying to understand cultural diversity and human diversity, I think it’s valuable to recognize that people actually think quite differently about the world and that how people think about the world has been shaped by the social environments that we created culturally and then passed down from one generation to the next, creating enduring differences among populations. That then leads to some of the cultural legacies we see today where it can take decades, or even longer, for people to culturally adapt their norms along with their ways of thinking and feeling to these formal institutions —laws and forms of government — that were imposed upon them by foreign (often colonial) powers.</p>
1524 <p><em>This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.</em></p>
1525
1526
1527 ]]></content:encoded>
1528
1529
1530
1531 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AHi_j0090_2_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1532 <item>
1533 <title>Machine learning models predict mice lifespan</title>
1534 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/machine-learning-models-predict-mice-lifespan/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1535
1536 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1537 <pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:43:45 +0000</pubDate>
1538 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1539 <category><![CDATA[Aging]]></category>
1540 <category><![CDATA[Alice Kane]]></category>
1541 <category><![CDATA[Blavatnik Institute]]></category>
1542 <category><![CDATA[David Sinclair]]></category>
1543 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Medical School]]></category>
1544 <category><![CDATA[Machine Learning]]></category>
1545 <category><![CDATA[Michael Schultz]]></category>
1546 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=312111</guid>
1547
1548 <description><![CDATA[Researchers have built two machine learning models that gauge biological age and predict remaining lifespan in mice.
1549 ]]></description>
1550 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">How old are you for your age?</span></p>
1551 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Scientists who study aging have begun to distinguish chronological age: how long it’s been since a person was born, and so-called biological age: how much a body is “aged” and how close it is to the end of life. </span></p>
1552 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These researchers are uncovering ways to measure biological age, from grip strength to the lengths of protective caps on the ends of chromosomes, known as telomeres. Their goal: to construct a comprehensive set of metrics that predicts an individual’s life span and health span — the number of healthy years they have left — and illuminates the drivers of, and treatments for, age-related diseases.</span></p>
1553 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A team led by David Sinclair, professor of genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, has just taken another step toward this goal by developing two artificial intelligence-based clocks that use established measures of frailty to gauge both chronological and biological age in mice.</span></p>
1554
1555 </div> <!-- article-body -->
1556 </div> <!-- article-content -->
1557 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
1558
1559
1560 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
1561 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
1562
1563 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
1564 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
1565 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="David Sinclair." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/022719_Sinclair_029_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
1566 </div>
1567
1568 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
1569 <p class="photo-layout__caption">David Sinclair displays an evaporator device used in the lab for aging research and drug discovery.</p>
1570 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Jon Chase/Harvard file photo</p>
1571 </figcaption>
1572
1573 </figure>
1574 </div>
1575
1576 <div class="article-wrap">
1577 <div class="article-content">
1578 <div class="article-body basic-text">
1579
1580
1581 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We are working to predict mouse health spans so we can quickly assess the effectiveness of interventions intended to extend life and move toward doing the same one day in humans,” said Sinclair, senior author of the study, published Sept. 15 in Nature Communications.</span></p>
1582 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The work marks the first time a study has tracked frailty for the duration of a mouse’s life, the authors said.</span></p>
1583 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It can take up to three years to complete a longevity study in mice to see if a particular drug or diet slows the aging process,” said co-first author Alice Kane, Harvard Medical School (HMS) research fellow in genetics in the Sinclair lab. “Predictive biometrics can accelerate such research by indicating whether an intervention is likely to work.”</span></p>
1584 <h2><strong>The findings</strong></h2>
1585 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team tracked the health of 60 aging mice for more than a year, until they died naturally. Health was measured by a standard set of noninvasive tests that provides a frailty score. Such tests were first created for people before being adapted for mice. Examples include walking ability, back curvature, and hearing and vision loss.</span></p>
1586 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers then trained two computer models to learn from the mouse data. The Frailty Inferred Geriatric Health Timeline, or FRIGHT, clock gauges how biologically old a mouse is based on its frailty status. The Analysis of Frailty and Death, or AFRAID, clock predicts how much longer an old mouse has to live, up to one year ahead of time. Predictions in the study were accurate to within two months.</span></p>
1587 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers went on to track frailty in two groups of mice given treatments or diets shown to extend life or health span in previous mouse studies. The clocks accurately predicted whether each intervention would improve biological age or lead to longer life.</span></p>
1588 <aside class="pull-quote">
1589 <div class="pull-quote__text">“[Multiple] diseases … predominantly affect older people. We want to understand how the aging process itself works so we can find ways to reduce the incidence of all these diseases together, rather than one at a time.”</div>
1590 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Alice Kane</div>
1591 </aside>
1592
1593 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The lab has made the clocks freely available for other researchers. </span></p>
1594 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers also found that some measures of frailty correspond better to age and longevity than others. For instance, hearing loss and tremor were more strongly linked than vision and whisker loss. The authors propose giving certain factors more weight when calculating biological age.</span></p>
1595 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team chose the model names because aging and death are frightening to many people.</span></p>
1596 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Many aspects of aging are indeed scary, and we want to find ways to prevent or reverse them so we can all stay biologically younger for longer,” said co-first author Michael Schultz, a Harvard Medical School research fellow in genetics in the Sinclair lab. “A recently developed clock from UCLA based on DNA methylation patterns in humans is called GrimAge, so the names for our clocks certainly fit within the same theme,” he added.</span></p>
1597 <h2>The limitations</h2>
1598 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The clocks were assessed only in male mice. The lab is now expanding its studies to female mice.</span></p>
1599 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mice are not people; the clocks cannot yet be used to predict human health, biological age or longevity. The researchers caution that humans have far more complex biological, physiological, behavioral, environmental and social influences on health and disease. </span></p>
1600 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Since frailty indices already exist for people, in principle “it would be relatively straightforward” to develop a life expectancy clock like AFRAID for humans — “if we had the proper data set,” said Schultz. “However, such a large, longitudinal dataset that tracks people from their 60s into their 90s with significant mortality follow-up data is not available, to our knowledge.”</span></p>
1601 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The models would also be strengthened by incorporating molecular markers alongside the current physiological ones, the authors said. </span></p>
1602 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Finding a less expensive or less invasive way to test the molecular underpinnings of physiological signs like gait would help us make earlier and more accurate health span predictions and interventions,” said Schultz.</span><br />
1603 </p>
1604 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team and others continue to work toward that ultimate goal. </span></p>
1605 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, neurodegeneration and even severe COVID-19 predominantly affect older people,” said Kane. “We want to understand how the aging process itself works so we can find ways to reduce the incidence of all these diseases together, rather than one at a time.”</span></p>
1606 <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">This work was supported by the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, National Institutes of Health (R37AG028730, R01AG019719, R01DK100263, R01DK090629-08, 5T32GM070449 and 2R56AG036712-06A1), an Epigenetics Seed Grant from the HMS Department of Genetics (601139_2018), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PGT 162462) and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (G-19-0026260).</span></em></p>
1607 <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The authors declare they are not filing patents or forming companies based on this study.</span></em></p>
1608 <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sinclair’s financial disclosures can be found </span><a href="https://genetics.med.harvard.edu/sinclair-test/people/sinclair-other.php"><span style="font-weight: 400;">here</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Co-author Michael Bonkowski is a stockholder of MetroBiotech and Animal Biosciences, a division of Life Biosciences. Other authors have no conflicts to declare.</span></em></p>
1609 ]]></content:encoded>
1610
1611
1612
1613 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/john-moeses-bauan-GqHnRApyEqg-unsplash_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1614 <item>
1615 <title>Harvard researchers make sense of ancient fossils using 3D</title>
1616 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/harvard-researchers-make-sense-of-ancient-fossils-using-3d/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1617
1618 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1619 <pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2020 20:41:09 +0000</pubDate>
1620 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1621 <category><![CDATA[arthropods]]></category>
1622 <category><![CDATA[BMC Evolutionary Biology]]></category>
1623 <category><![CDATA[Cambrian]]></category>
1624 <category><![CDATA[Chengjiang Biota]]></category>
1625 <category><![CDATA[Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology]]></category>
1626 <category><![CDATA[FAS]]></category>
1627 <category><![CDATA[Harvard]]></category>
1628 <category><![CDATA[Harvard China Fund]]></category>
1629 <category><![CDATA[Javier Ortega-Hernández]]></category>
1630 <category><![CDATA[Joanna M. Wolfe]]></category>
1631 <category><![CDATA[micro-computed tomography]]></category>
1632 <category><![CDATA[micro-CT]]></category>
1633 <category><![CDATA[Museum of Comparative Zoology]]></category>
1634 <category><![CDATA[Xiaocaris luoi]]></category>
1635 <category><![CDATA[Yu Liu]]></category>
1636 <category><![CDATA[Yunnan University]]></category>
1637 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310236</guid>
1638
1639 <description><![CDATA[Harvard and Chinese scientists study Cambrian fossils using micro-CT and 3D models.]]></description>
1640 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The shrimp-like fossil was discovered in the 1980s, and researchers knew almost nothing about it other than its species. It turned out even that was wrong, but the big story here isn’t as much the end as the means.</p>
1641 <p>After a team of paleontologists, co-led by a Harvard scientist, used special X-ray imaging in 2018 to create a 3D rendering of the ancient specimen, they discovered the fossil was a completely unknown species that had lived sometime in the early Cambrian, approximately 518 million years ago. The creature they described was particularly fierce. Though only 2 centimeters long, it brandished 810 dagger-like spines that were divided among its 54 legs. It used them to shred prey, like worms, on the ocean floor.</p>
1642 <p>The discovery was <a href="https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-020-01625-4">published</a> this summer in BMC Evolutionary Biology and is one of the latest examples of a growing body of research opening new avenues in how scientists understand the early evolution of arthropods, all of it made possible by the use of the imaging technique called micro-computed tomography, or micro-CT.</p>
1643 <p>The work is partially funded by the <a href="https://hcf.fas.harvard.edu/">Harvard China Fund</a> and has led to five papers in the past year and a half that have helped reveal new details of early Cambrian fossils. The features formerly had been undiscernible through more conventional methods; taken together, they are helping cast further light on why we have the species of spiders, crabs, butterflies, and other arthropods we do today.</p>
1644 <p>“Usually, we can only see one side of the animal [because of the way these fossils are stuck on the rock on which they are preserved],” said <a href="https://oeb.harvard.edu/people/javier-ortega-hernandez">Javier Ortega-Hernández</a>, an assistant professor in the Harvard Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and curator of invertebrate paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. “But, ideally, we want to get to the underside, which has all the juicy, lovely details.”</p>
1645 <p>That is what Ortega-Hernández has been doing during the last five years in conjunction with Yu Liu, a paleobiology professor at Yunnan University in China, using micro-CT.</p>
1646
1647 </div><!-- article-body -->
1648 </div><!-- article-content -->
1649 </div><!--article-wrap -->
1650
1651
1652 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-asymmetric ">
1653 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
1654 <div class="photo-layout__images">
1655
1656 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--a">
1657 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 140.08% !important">
1658 <img width="731" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-731x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Joanna M. Wolfe." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .406), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .406), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-731x1024.jpg 731w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-214x300.jpg 214w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-1462x2048.jpg 1462w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-1350x1891.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-500x700.jpg 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-1000x1400.jpg 1000w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-1071x1500.jpg 1071w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1-450x630.jpg 450w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170909_155711_V_1785x2500-1.jpg 1785w" /> </div>
1659 </div>
1660
1661 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--b">
1662 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 56.25% !important">
1663 <img width="1024" height="576" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-1024x576.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Researchers looking at computer scan." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 704px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .575), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .575), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-400x225.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-1350x759.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-1500x844.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_20170907_211843_H_2500-1-1120x630.jpg 1120w" /> </div>
1664 </div>
1665
1666 </div>
1667
1668 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
1669 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Joanna M. Wolfe, studying the part and counterpart of the Ercaicunia fossil on a microscope. Researchers Dayou Zhai (from left), Yu Liu, and Javier Ortega-Hernández, looking at the 3D model of Ercaicunia. </p>
1670 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Photos by Dayou Zhai and Joanna M. Wolfe</p>
1671 </figcaption>
1672 </figure>
1673 </div>
1674
1675 <div class="article-wrap">
1676 <div class="article-content">
1677 <div class="article-body basic-text">
1678
1679
1680 <p>The method is basically a creative way of getting around the common problem with almost all Cambrian arthropod specimens: While these macrofossils are big enough to see without a microscope, they often resemble a piece of flattened roadkill and are fused with the slab of rock in which they are found. It often makes it almost impossible to put together an accurate picture of the preserved animal with all its features and traits.</p>
1681 <p>The technique works a lot like the basic X-ray a person gets for a broken arm. The main difference is this machine is a lot stronger, since instead of soft tissue, the researchers are using it to look through chunks of rock, iron, and minerals like pyrite. The fossils are placed on a rotating stage and then the X-ray machine takes thousands of digital photographs as it slowly completes its cycle. Those images are then compiled to make an interactive 3D rendering of the animal the researchers are studying.</p>
1682 <p>The process has been gaining prominence in the study of Cambrian arthropod macrofossils during the past five years, as micro-CT machines have become more powerful, affordable, and common in research labs around the world.</p>
1683 <p>“It is a very exciting way of being able to study again some of these animals that we either thought we knew and [now] we’re finding new details on, or, alternatively, that we knew very little about because sometimes they’re just so poorly preserved,” Ortega-Hernández said. “With this approach, even a single crummy specimen has the potential of revealing amazingly well-preserved features in 3D … that can transform everything.”</p>
1684 <p>It’s this technique that Ortega-Hernández and Liu used to discover the unique features on that knife-wielding, shrimp-like creature they dubbed <em>Xiaocaris luoi</em>. Using the scan, they were able to discern other tantalizing details. For instance, the creature is a distant forerunner of some of today’s arthropods, like spiders, centipedes, and, of course, shrimp. It had a hard exoskeleton to protect itself from predators, a boomerang-shaped head, a pair of antennae it used to sense its environment, and it moved in a wave-like motion similar to a sea monkey.</p>
1685 <p>In another paper <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30772-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982220307727%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">published in June</a> in Current Biology (just weeks apart from the paper on <em>X.</em> <em>luoi)</em>, the scientists looked at the head morphology of another problematic group of early Cambrian arthropods called megacheirans, specifically, a sample of the species <em>Leanchoilia illecebrosa</em>. Using micro-CT, they were able to show its head organization with unprecedented detail, including a precise location of the eyes, claw-like appendages, and the unexpected presence of a flap-like labrum near the mouth.</p>
1686 </div> <!-- article-body -->
1687 </div> <!-- article-content -->
1688 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
1689
1690 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default">
1691
1692 <div class="article-embed__content">
1693 <video autoplay loop muted playsinline poster="">
1694 <source src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/S2_Movie2-7mm-head-without-SGA.mp4" type="video/mp4">
1695 </video>
1696 </div>
1697
1698 <figcaption class="article-embed__figcaption">
1699 <div class="article-embed__figcaption-content">
1700 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-caption">Using micro-CT, the researchers were able to show the head organization of the species Leanchoilia illecebrosa with unprecedented detail, including a precise location of the eyes, claw-like appendages, and the unexpected presence of a flap-like labrum near the mouth.</p>
1701 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-credit">Video courtesy of Javier Ortega-Hernandez (Invert Paleo Lab) and Chen et al. 2019 (BMC Evolutionary Biology)</p>
1702 </div>
1703 </figcaption>
1704
1705 </figure>
1706
1707 <div class="article-wrap">
1708 <div class="article-content">
1709 <div class="article-body basic-text">
1710
1711 <p>This discovery was important because the flappy labrum, a kind of upper lip, lies in front of the mouth of most arthropods living today. The finding supports the theory that <em>Leanchoilia</em> and other megacheirans are distant relatives of the living group of arthropods known as chelicerates. They include modern horseshoe crabs, scorpions, and spiders. Until now, the existence of a labrum in megacheirans and its position have been the source of heated debate in the field. It is considered one of the most important features of an arthropod’s head and has prompted very different interpretations about their evolution.</p>
1712 <p>The group published three other papers as part of this work. Two of them were also in Current Biology and BMC Evolutionary Biology, while another was in Geological Magazine.</p>
1713 <p>In the other Current Biology <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31590-2#%20">paper</a> in 2019, for instance, the team looked at the Cambrian ancestor of crustaceans to describe the antennae and mandibles on its head in greater detail than previously had been possible.</p>
1714 <p>“Having the additional data that come from the scans, it basically lets you see that much more,” said <a href="https://mcz.harvard.edu/people/joanna-m-wolfe">Joanna M. Wolfe</a>, a research associate in the Ortega-Hernández lab and co-author of that 2019 paper and another. “You can make a more direct comparison of the fossil onto its living relatives.”</p>
1715 <p>The samples the group works with each came from an area in the Yunnan Province in China called the Chengjiang Biota. It’s a popular spot for paleontologists because it’s bustling with diverse and well-preserved Cambrian fossils.</p>
1716 <p>Liu and Ortega-Hernández first connected in 2015 on another project, and have been working together on this one ever since Liu sent Ortega-Hernández micro-CT scans of an ancient fossil.</p>
1717 <aside class="pull-quote">
1718 <div class="pull-quote__text">“With this approach, even a single crummy specimen has the potential of revealing amazingly well-preserved features in 3D … that can transform everything.”</div>
1719 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Javier Ortega-Hernández</div>
1720 </aside>
1721
1722 <p>“I had no idea what I was looking at, but it looked really nice,” Ortega-Hernández said. “It just became a very organic collaboration in that we would have this back and forth between us to refine the interpretation, discuss the broader significance of the discoveries, and simply engage in a very active collaborative effort altogether.”</p>
1723 <p>Most of the scanning work is done in China at Yunnan University, largely to avoid damaging the specimens in travel. It means a lot of the work happens remotely, but Ortega-Hernández and members of his lab are no strangers to visiting Liu’s lab in China to do some analysis. In fact, it goes both ways. Liu has been working at Harvard for the past year as a visiting researcher. He even brought some specimens with him.</p>
1724 <p>“Before COVID-19, we had several face-to-face discussions which were so stimulating and led to some very good ideas as to how some of the scientific problems should be addressed or might be solved,” Liu said. “Our recent Current Biology paper, for instance, was not in the original plan of my visit. It came out naturally after those stimulating discussions.”</p>
1725 <p>Still, the ability to access the data remotely comes in handy, especially in the classroom.</p>
1726 <p>“I would love to be able to showcase fossils from China in my classroom,” Ortega-Hernández said. “But that is not simply not possible … but what I can do is show them amazing 3D models, which are visually stunning and actually have even more data than the fossil itself.”</p>
1727 <p>Ortega-Hernández and Liu say the research isn’t stopping anytime soon.</p>
1728 <p>“We have only really begun to scratch the surface because there are hundreds of species and thousands of specimens in this deposit and we have only used this approach with about a dozen or so,” Ortega-Hernández said, referring to the Chengjiang Biota. “There is a lot of work still to be done.”</p>
1729 <p class="p1"><em>Javier Ortega-Hernández will speak about his work in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a <a href="https://hmsc.harvard.edu/event/wonderful-cambrian-beasts">free virtual Evolution Matters Lecture</a> on Wednesday, October 14 at 6 p.m. sponsored by the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.</em></p>
1730 ]]></content:encoded>
1731
1732
1733
1734 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cambrian_Xiaocaris_luoi_H_2500-1-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1735 <item>
1736 <title>Harvard team uses laser to cool polyatomic molecule</title>
1737 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/harvard-team-uses-laser-to-cool-polyatomic-molecule/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1738
1739 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1740 <pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:16:29 +0000</pubDate>
1741 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1742 <category><![CDATA[CaOCH3]]></category>
1743 <category><![CDATA[Debayan Mitra]]></category>
1744 <category><![CDATA[Doyle Research Group]]></category>
1745 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
1746 <category><![CDATA[John Doyle]]></category>
1747 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
1748 <category><![CDATA[molecule calcium monomethoxide]]></category>
1749 <category><![CDATA[Nathaniel B. Vilas]]></category>
1750 <category><![CDATA[quantum]]></category>
1751 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=311955</guid>
1752
1753 <description><![CDATA[Harvard researchers become the first to cool a polyatomic molecule using light.]]></description>
1754 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>After firing the lasers and bombarding the ultracold molecule with light, the scientists gathered around the camera to check the results. By seeing how far the molecule expanded they would know almost instantly whether they were on the right track to chart new paths in quantum science by being the first to cool — aka, slow down — a particularly complex, six-atom molecule using nothing but light.</p>
1755 <p>“When we started out on the project we were optimistic but were not sure that we would see something that would show a very dramatic effect,” said <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/jdoyle/people/debayan-mitra">Debayan Mitra</a>, a postdoctoral researcher in Harvard’s <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/jdoyle">Doyle Research Group</a>. “We thought that we would need more evidence to prove that we were actually cooling the molecule, but then when we saw the signal, it was like, ‘Yeah, nobody will doubt that.’ It was big and it was right there.”</p>
1756 <p>The study led by Mitra and graduate student <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/jdoyle/people/nathaniel-vilas">Nathaniel B. Vilas</a> is the focus of a new paper <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6509/1366">published</a> in Science. In it, the group describes using a novel method combining cryogenic technology and direct laser light to cool the nonlinear polyatomic molecule calcium monomethoxide (CaOCH3) to just above absolute zero.</p>
1757 <p>The scientists believe their experiment marks the first time such a large complex molecule has been cooled using laser light, and say it opens new avenues of study in quantum simulation and computation, particle physics, and quantum chemistry.</p>
1758 <p>“These kinds of molecules have structure that is ubiquitous in chemical and biological systems,” said <a href="https://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/doyle">John M. Doyle</a>, the Henry B. Silsbee Professor of Physics and senior author on the paper. “Controlling perfectly their quantum states is basic research that could shed light on fundamental quantum processes in these building blocks of nature.”</p>
1759
1760 </div> <!-- article-body -->
1761 </div> <!-- article-content -->
1762 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
1763
1764
1765 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
1766 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
1767
1768 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.67% !important">
1769 <img width="1350" height="900" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-1350x900.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="John Doyle in his lab." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/101918_Doyle_005-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
1770
1771 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
1772 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Inside the lab of John Doyle (pictured), Harvard researchers were the first to cool a polyatomic molecule using light. </p>
1773 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Kris Snibbe/Harvard file photo</p>
1774 </figcaption>
1775
1776 </figure>
1777 </div>
1778
1779 <div class="article-wrap">
1780 <div class="article-content">
1781 <div class="article-body basic-text">
1782
1783
1784 <p>The use of lasers to control and atoms and molecules — the eventual building blocks of quantum computers — has been practiced since the 1960s and has since revolutionized atomic, molecular, and optical physics.</p>
1785 <p>The technique essentially works by firing a laser at the atoms and molecules, causing them to absorb the photons from the light and recoil in the opposite direction. This eventually slows them down and even stops them in their tracks. When this happens, quantum mechanics becomes the dominant way to describe and study their motions.</p>
1786 <p>“The idea is that on one end of the spectrum there are atoms that have very few quantum states,” Doyle said. Because of this, these atoms are easy to control with light, since they often remain in the same quantum state after absorbing and emitting light, he said. “With molecules, they have motion that does not occur in atoms — vibrations and rotations. When the molecule absorbs and emits light this process can sometimes make the molecule spin around or vibrate internally. When this happens, it is now in a different quantum state and absorbing and emitting light no longer works [to cool it]. We have to ‘calm the molecule down,’ get rid of its extra vibration before it can interact with the light the way we want.”</p>
1787
1788 <p>Scientists — including those from the Doyle Group which is part of the Harvard <a href="http://physics.harvard.edu/">Department of Physics</a> and a member of the <a href="http://cua.mit.edu/">Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms</a> — have been able to cool a number of molecules using light, including diatomic and triatomic molecules, which each have two or three atoms.</p>
1789 <p>Polyatomic molecules, on the other hand, are much more complex and have proven much harder to manipulate because of all the vibrations and rotations.</p>
1790 <p>To get around this, the group used a method they pioneered to cool diatomic and triatomic molecules. Researchers set up a sealed cryogenic chamber where they cooled helium to below four Kelvin (nearly 450 degrees below zero Fahrenheit). This chamber essentially acts as a refrigerator, in which the scientists created the molecule CaOCH3. Right off the bat, it began moving at a much slower velocity than it would normally, making it ideal for further cooling.</p>
1791 <p>Next came the lasers. They turned on two beams of light on the molecule, coming from opposing directions. The counterpropagating lasers prompted a reaction known as Sisyphus cooling. The reaction takes its name from the myth of Sisyphus, a Greek king who angered Zeus and was doomed to roll a giant boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll back down when he nears the top.</p>
1792 <p>Essentially the same thing happens here with the molecule, Mitra said. When two identical laser beams are firing in opposite directions, they form a standing wave of light, stronger in some places and less intense in others. This wave forms a metaphorical hill for the molecule.</p>
1793 <p>The molecule “starts at the bottom of a hill formed by the counter-propagating laser beams, and it starts climbing that hill just because it has some kinetic energy in it and as it climbs that hill, slowly, the kinetic energy that was its velocity gets converted into potential energy and it slows down and slows down and slows down until it gets to the top of the hill where it’s the slowest,” Mitra said.</p>
1794 <p>At that point, the molecule moves closer to a region where the light intensity is high and the molecule is more likely absorb a photon that causes it to roll back down to the opposite side. “All [it] can do is keep doing this again and again and again,” Mitra said.</p>
1795 <p>By looking at images from cameras placed outside the sealed chamber, the scientists inspect how much a cloud of these molecules expands as it travels through the system. The narrower the cloud, the less kinetic energy it has — and therefore the colder it is.</p>
1796 <p>Analyzing the data further, the researchers saw just how cold. They took it from 22 millikelvin to about 1 millikelvin — just a few thousandths of a decimal point above absolute zero.</p>
1797 <p>The paper lays out ways to get the molecule even colder, and discusses some of the pathways that opens in a range of physical and chemical research frontiers. The scientists said the study is proof of concept that their method could be used to cool other carefully chosen complex molecules to advance quantum science.</p>
1798 <p>“What we did here is sort of extending the state of the art,” Mitra said. “It’s always been debated whether we would ever have technology that will be good enough to control complex molecules at the quantum level. This particular experiment is just a stepping stone.”</p>
1799 <p><em>This research was supported with funding from the National Science Foundation.</em></p>
1800 ]]></content:encoded>
1801
1802
1803
1804 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Laser1_KS-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1805 <item>
1806 <title>Harvard rolls out contact tracing effort</title>
1807 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/harvard-rolls-out-contact-tracing-effort/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1808
1809 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1810 <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2020 22:42:19 +0000</pubDate>
1811 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1812 <category><![CDATA[Angela Sigal Poock]]></category>
1813 <category><![CDATA[contact tracing]]></category>
1814 <category><![CDATA[Harvard University Health Services]]></category>
1815 <category><![CDATA[Jonathan Mills]]></category>
1816 <category><![CDATA[Keep Harvard Healthy]]></category>
1817 <category><![CDATA[Latanya Sweeney]]></category>
1818 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=311330</guid>
1819
1820 <description><![CDATA[A look at COVID-19 contact tracing efforts at Harvard.]]></description>
1821 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Angela Sigal Poock helped one patient get a letter excusing that person from work and aided another in figuring out grocery deliveries. But the COVID-19 contact tracer really spends most of her time just listening.</p>
1822 <p>“Some people were really emotional,” she said. “I’ve been on the phone for a while with them to just get over the fact that, yes, they are positive and then give them a minute to adjust because they have to leave work or they have to leave class. It’s a big deal, and I think that starting from that is really important, and then you get into all the questions about contacts and whatnot.”</p>
1823 <p>A registered nurse with <a href="https://huhs.harvard.edu/">Harvard University Health Services</a> (HUHS), Poock is part of the eight-person group that identifies and tracks everyone in the University community who tests positive for the novel coronavirus or has had close contact with someone who has. The idea is to isolate the positive cases quickly, break the chain of infection, and stop potential outbreaks.</p>
1824 <p>“It’s a lot of work. It’s time consuming and whatnot, but to me, personally, I want to help the community stay healthy. That is my big role,” said Poock. “If you keep one person healthy, then their contacts can be healthy, and they can keep others healthy. It’s almost like a domino effect.”</p>
1825 <p>Contact tracing is part of <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/coronavirus">Harvard’s plan</a> for a phased reopening of on-campus activities such as labs, and academic and residential life. In many ways, it is a last line of defense in case that other <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/protocols-resources-for-returning-to-harvards-campus/">COVID safety measures</a> such as high-cadence testing, mask wearing, and social distancing falter.</p>
1826 <p>“If you can remove people from the community while they’re infectious and identify those close contacts and do the same thing, you’re [essentially] reducing all of that opportunity to spread the virus over the timeframe,” said Jonathan Mills, HUHS director of health care quality and patient safety. “It really can squash that amplification possibility.”<br />
1827 <figure id="attachment_311898" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-311898" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-311898 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500.jpg" alt="Angela Sigal Poock." width="2500" height="1664" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-768x511.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-1350x899.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-1500x998.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-947x630.jpg 947w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-311898" class="wp-caption-text">Angela Sigal Poock, an R.N. with HUHS, speaks with people who have tested positive and those they were in contact with. Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer</figcaption></figure></p>
1828 <p>Mills heads the contact-tracing team, which includes four nurses who were hired for the project and three others such as Poock who were already working at HUHS and agreed to dedicate a block of time to the task.</p>
1829 <p>Everyone in the group has been through the Johns Hopkins University contact tracing course and received additional training at HUHS. The team also has been trained on how to add patient information into the Massachusetts Virtual Epidemiologic Network, an infectious-disease database that helps monitor the spread of infection. And they monitor Harvard’s self-reporting platforms, <a href="https://crimsonclear.harvard.edu/">Crimson Clear</a> and <a href="https://www.color.com/?kw=color%20tests&pos&mt=p&device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7Nj5BRCZARIsABwxDKIQZKIWvy9LNNbc37Wl4ZLSI8i2ASF4_WHza8YrVslWgndnuVLWd5EaAsLBEALw_wcB&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=9992496911">Color</a>, for notification on positive cases.</p>
1830 <p>So far, the campaign has been highly efficient.</p>
1831 <p>“Because of the way we’re set up and [because] we’re monitoring from around 8 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, we are basically able to — I would say within an hour — get in touch with the case once we get the positive test,” Mills said.</p>
1832 <p>Besides contacting individuals who test positive, tracers also track down those who may have been exposed to an infected person, meaning they were within six feet of them for 15 minutes or more, per Centers for Disease Control guidelines.</p>
1833 <p>Both steps involve phone interviews, which usually last 20 to 30 minutes. Working from a script, the tracer informs people that they tested positive or have been exposed to the virus. They are then asked to isolate and seek tests, if needed. The tracer lets them know what resources are available, tells them best practices on isolation, tries to help them work around logistical problems, and makes sure they have what they need.</p>
1834 <p>The initial call from contact tracers is followed by daily monitoring, recording temperatures, and attesting to evolving symptoms. That initial call also involves helping those who test positive recall their movements from when they first developed symptoms, or two days from the positive test if they have no symptoms. That helps the tracer to develop a list of those who need to be informed that they may have been exposed.</p>
1835
1836 <p>A lot of the conversations are simply educating people on what comes next.</p>
1837 <p>“I’d say the bulk of the 20 or 30 minutes with both the case and the close contact is doing that very specific thing,” Mills said. “If anyone has specific questions about next steps or the virus itself, we’ll simply answer during the call. And if we don’t know the answer, we will find out and close the loop with them.”</p>
1838 <p>Students who live in a dorm and test positive are moved into isolation housing. Those from the Business School and Law School isolate in their own bedrooms and access to their own bathrooms. Students who are quarantining because they came into contact with someone who tested positive stay in their rooms. Staff and students who live off-campus are asked to isolate and quarantine in place.</p>
1839 <p>Poock said a big portion of her job is reassuring patients and building ties. But her favorite part is when she gets to discharge them from quarantine. She gave two people that good news recently.</p>
1840 <p>“Their reaction was like, ‘Really, you’re not going to call me anymore? You’re not going to follow up with me? But I got so used to you because you’ve been calling me for the past few days. You’re like part of my family because you always ask about things, and it makes me feel so much better,’ ” Poock said.</p>
1841 <p>“It’s why we do this,” she added.</p>
1842 ]]></content:encoded>
1843
1844
1845
1846 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/090320__trace_104_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1847 <item>
1848 <title>Undergrads creating antiviral treatment for COVID-19</title>
1849 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/undergrads-creating-antiviral-treatment-for-covid-19/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1850
1851 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1852 <pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2020 15:22:10 +0000</pubDate>
1853 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1854 <category><![CDATA[antiviral treatment]]></category>
1855 <category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
1856 <category><![CDATA[iGEM]]></category>
1857 <category><![CDATA[International Genetically Engineered Machine]]></category>
1858 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=311702</guid>
1859
1860 <description><![CDATA[A team of undergrads is using computational biology to create a therapeutic that enables the body to quickly develop COVID-19 antibodies and jump-start the immune system’s battle against the disease.]]></description>
1861 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Six months into the global pandemic, there is still no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. A team of Harvard undergraduates is working to change that.</p>
1862 <p>Members of Harvard’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team are using computational biology to develop a therapy that enables the body to quickly develop COVID-19 antibodies and jump-start the immune system’s battle against the disease.</p>
1863 <p>“Our goal is to make a viral therapeutic that is easily accessible to people across a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, and is also quick to produce,” said Frank D’Agostino ’23, an applied math concentrator. “As we’ve seen, with lockdowns there aren’t easy ways to get into labs. So to be able to do things computationally is crucial because it reduces the amount of time you have to spend in the lab.”</p>
1864 <p>Using computational tools, and collaborating via Zoom and Slack, the students are designing a DNA origami structure to deliver a COVID-19 antibody protein directly to the immune system.</p>
1865 <p>Building the origami structure involves folding DNA strands into specific shapes, drawing on different methods of DNA complementarity, to create an effective delivery vehicle for the molecular cargo.</p>
1866 <aside class="pull-quote">
1867 <div class="pull-quote__text">“Our goal is to make a viral therapeutic that is easily accessible to people across a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, and is also quick to produce.”</div>
1868 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Frank D’Agostino ’23</div>
1869 </aside>
1870
1871 <p>“The DNA origami nanostructure acts as the capsule to protect the cargo that we want to deliver to the specific cells,” said David Cao ’23, a bioengineering concentrator. “It also acts as the specificity to target which cells, because there are so many cells in the body. The DNA origami has little receptors on the outside of the box that can attach to specific parts of the cells we are trying to target.”</p>
1872 <p>Inside that DNA origami nanostructure will be a tiny sequence of antibody mRNA that will enable the body’s B-cells to produce a burst of COVID-19 antibodies. The students are using machine learning to sift through tens of thousands of different antibodies, then identify and optimize the best one to fight COVID-19, from which they will draw the mRNA.</p>
1873 <p>Utilizing mRNA rather than the antibody itself is significantly less expensive, which could enable this therapy to be more widely adopted, said Robert Shekoyan ’23, a human developmental and regenerative biology concentrator.</p>
1874 <p>Using machine learning has been a learning experience, D’Agostino said, as the team has had to determine which machine learning technique is the right tool for their process — a process that would typically be performed experimentally.</p>
1875 <p>“We are trying to translate one-dimensional sequence data into what will hopefully be a three-dimensional antibody that has to interact in a complex environment,” D’Agostino said. “It has been challenging to get the resources and know-how to translate those things correctly without making major assumptions that could be detrimental to the machine learning process.”</p>
1876 <p>The work has emphasized to the students the critical role of computational biology, and how machine learning and computational design methods will become even more significant for future synthetic biology research.</p>
1877
1878 <p>To adviser <a href="https://liulab.seas.harvard.edu/prof-jia-liu">Jia Liu</a>, assistant professor of bioengineering at the <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/">John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</a>, the remote nature of this year’s iGEM project highlights the importance of computational training for students in experimental sciences.</p>
1879 <p>He sees this as a golden opportunity to implement more computational biology components into iGEM, combining computational techniques with bench work to show how these cutting-edge tools can enhance experimental research.</p>
1880 <p>And since iGEM is offering teams the option of a two-phase project over the next two years, the 2021 iGEM team may be able to pick up this computational groundwork and bring it into the lab, experimentally validating the effectiveness of the antibody design and DNA structure.</p>
1881 <p>“Things are very different in a virtual setting,” D’Agostino said. “We need to do all this while having the foresight of being in a laboratory setting so we can set ourselves up for success. Everything can be much more complicated in a real-world scenario.”</p>
1882 ]]></content:encoded>
1883
1884
1885
1886 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DNAorigamipic_SEAS-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1887 <item>
1888 <title>CfA research on twin suns, ’Oumuamua, and Betelgeuse</title>
1889 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/cfa-research-on-twin-suns-oumuamua-betelgeuse/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1890
1891 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1892 <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2020 16:16:43 +0000</pubDate>
1893 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1894 <category><![CDATA[‘Oumuamua]]></category>
1895 <category><![CDATA[Amir Siraj]]></category>
1896 <category><![CDATA[Andrea Dupree]]></category>
1897 <category><![CDATA[Avi Loeb]]></category>
1898 <category><![CDATA[Betelgeuse]]></category>
1899 <category><![CDATA[binary suns]]></category>
1900 <category><![CDATA[Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian]]></category>
1901 <category><![CDATA[CFA]]></category>
1902 <category><![CDATA[sneezing star]]></category>
1903 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=311328</guid>
1904
1905 <description><![CDATA[CfA astronomers theorize that the solar system originally had two suns as they further research a sneezing star and ‘Oumuamua.]]></description>
1906 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It was a busy summer for scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Researchers put forth a theory that indirectly nods to a famous “Star Wars” scene, resolved one mystery about the solar system’s first known interstellar visitor, and showed that a star can sort of “sneeze.” We caught up with them and asked about these far-out findings.</p>
1907 <h2><strong>A long time ago but not so far, far away</strong></h2>
1908 <p>It was an unforgettable scene in the first “Star Wars” movie: Young Luke, eager for adventure, storms out his house after fighting with his uncle about having to spend another year stuck at home. Outside he gazes up at the fiery twin suns of the planet Tatooine as they slide toward the horizon, John Williams’ “The Force Theme” rising in the background.</p>
1909 <p>While a new study from a pair of Harvard astronomers may not have the same visual power, it does reveal that a similar view of binary suns may have existed in our very own solar system roughly 4 billion years ago.</p>
1910 <p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/abac66">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>, <a href="https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/people/avi-loeb">Avi Loeb</a>, Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard, and Amir Siraj ’21, an astrophysics concentrator, theorize that the solar system originally had two suns instead of one, and if true that could have far-reaching implications for the origins of a dense cloud that surrounds the system and a possible ninth planet.</p>
1911 <p>First, a little info on the sun’s long-lost twin: Loeb and Siraj think it had the same mass as its companion and was formed alongside it when the solar system began, but was situated 1,000 times farther from the Earth than our own sun. As to its fate, the two researchers believe it drifted away well before the Earth formed.</p>
1912 <div class="mceTemp"></div>
1913 <p>“The binary companion was [most likely] freed by the gravitational influence of a passing star in the sun’s dense birth environment,” Siraj said. “It could now be anywhere in the Milky Way galaxy.”</p>
1914 <p>Siraj and Loeb aren’t the first to theorize a two-star start to the solar system. In fact, most stars are born with companions. But Siraj and Loeb’s theory could help explain the formation of the Oort cloud — the sprawling sphere of debris that sits at the edge of the system and surrounds it.</p>
1915 <p>Many astronomers believe the Oort cloud formed with leftover chunks of rock and ice from our solar system and neighboring ones. Siraj and Loeb say their two-sun theory could account for why the cloud is as dense as it is, since binary systems are far better at pulling in and capturing these types of objects than single-star systems.</p>
1916 <p>Such a system could also help explain the existence of a potential ninth planet that astronomers believe is out there — an undisputed one this time (no offense, Pluto). Their model supports the theory that this ninth planet was captured into the system, meaning it didn’t form here.</p>
1917 <figure id="attachment_311471" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-311471" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-311471 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500.jpg" alt="An artist's rendering of 'Oumuamua, a visitor from outside the solar system." width="2500" height="1405" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-300x169.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-768x432.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-2048x1151.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-800x450.jpg 800w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-400x225.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-1350x759.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-1500x843.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/su201842_H_2500-1121x630.jpg 1121w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-311471" class="wp-caption-text">An artist’s rendering of ‘Oumuamua, a visitor from outside the solar system. Credit: The international Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA artwork by J. Pollard</figcaption></figure>
1918 <h2><strong>The ‘Oumuamua debate continues</strong></h2>
1919 <p>The mystery surrounding our solar system’s first known interstellar visitor deepened after astronomers ruled out a major explanation in a new <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/abab0c">paper</a> in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.</p>
1920 <p>The study rebuts a theory published earlier this year that suggests the object, dubbed ‘Oumuamua from the Hawaiian for scout, was a cosmic iceberg made of frozen hydrogen. Co-authored by Loeb, the paper concluded this is likely not the case because, if it was, the object wouldn’t have been able to make the journey intact. The scientists argue it would quickly melt or break apart when it passed close to a star. ‘Oumuamua didn’t even flinch when it passed the sun.</p>
1921 <p>The astronomers also looked at what it would take to form a hydrogen iceberg the size of ‘Oumuamua, and where it could have originated. They focused on one of the closest giant molecular clouds to Earth (only 17,000 light-years away). They found the environment there too inhospitable for iceberg formation — and so far away that it would be highly unlikely that it could have survived the journey, even if it somehow managed to form.</p>
1922 <p>The debate around ‘Oumuamua started in 2017, when it was first discovered by observers at the Haleakalā Observatory on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Among other theories, it has been hypothesized to be an interstellar asteroid, a comet, and even an alien artifact — Loeb himself <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/11/harvard-researchers-see-alien-potential-in-mysterious-object/">suggested this</a> in 2018 and has put out <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/Oumuamua.html">a body of work</a> on the topic. He has a book on ‘Oumuamua, <a href="https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/Extraterrestrial/9780358274551">“Extraterrestrial,”</a> due out early next year.</p>
1923 <p>All of this is to say that the truth on ‘Oumuamua is still out there, but perhaps it won’t be a mystery for long.</p>
1924 <p>“If ‘Oumuamua is a member of a population of similar objects on random trajectories, then the [new] Vera Rubin Observatory, which is scheduled to [be operational] next year, should detect roughly one ‘Oumuamua-like object per month,” Loeb said. “We will all wait with anticipation to see what it will find.”</p>
1925 <h2><strong><em>Gesundheit</em></strong><strong> … to a star?</strong></h2>
1926 <p>Betelgeuse, the 10th-brightest star in the night sky and the second-brightest in the Orion constellation, mysteriously dimmed toward the end of 2019. By February 2020, the star had lost more than two-thirds of its brilliance. It was a change so noticeable that observers on Earth could see it with the naked eye. Many thought the old star was finally dying and would go supernova. Then it suddenly started regaining its brightness. By April, in fact, it was restored. So what happened?</p>
1927 <p>Put simply, Betelgeuse kind of sneezed.</p>
1928
1929 </div> <!-- article-body -->
1930 </div> <!-- article-content -->
1931 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
1932
1933
1934 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
1935 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
1936
1937 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
1938 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 68.55% !important">
1939 <img width="1024" height="702" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-1024x702.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Four panel graphic." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-1024x702.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-300x206.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-768x527.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-1536x1053.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-2048x1404.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-1350x926.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-1500x1028.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Betelgeuse-2080x1415_2500-919x630.jpg 919w" /> </div>
1940 </div>
1941
1942 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
1943 <p class="photo-layout__caption">In the first two panels a bright, hot blob of plasma is ejected from the emergence of a huge convection cell on Betelgeuse's surface. In panel three, gas rapidly expands outward, cooling to form an enormous cloud of obscuring dust grains. The final panel reveals the huge dust cloud blocking the light (as seen from Earth) from a quarter of the star's surface.
1944 </p>
1945 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Wheatley (STScI)</p>
1946 </figcaption>
1947
1948 </figure>
1949 </div>
1950
1951 <div class="article-wrap">
1952 <div class="article-content">
1953 <div class="article-body basic-text">
1954
1955
1956 <p>This is the explanation a team of international astronomers led by <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/hea/sws/dupree.html">Andrea Dupree</a>, the CfA’s associate director, published in a paper in Astrophysical Journal.</p>
1957 <p>Looking at recent observation data, researchers believe the dimming periods were most likely caused by the ejection and cooling of dense, hot gases. Between October and November 2019, data and images gathered by the <a href="https://www.stsci.edu/hst">Hubble Space Telescope</a> showed intense, heated material moving out of the star’s extended atmosphere at 200,000 miles per hour. They believe this mass formed a soot-like dust cloud when it cooled that blocked the southern part of the star, accounting for its dimming in January and February.</p>
1958
1959 <p>While researchers think they can account partially for the anomaly, they have other questions. They can’t, for example, determine how the outburst started or why, nor do they know why the star is losing mass at an exceedingly high rate.</p>
1960 <p>What they do know is that Betelgeuse dims every 420 days. But new observations between late June and early August of this year show it’s off schedule. The star is dimming roughly 300 days earlier than expected. Yet another new mystery.</p>
1961 <p>Researchers also believe Betelgeuse is nearing the end of its life and eventually will go supernova. In fact, it might have happened already, and we just haven’t seen it yet.</p>
1962 <p>“Betelgeuse is so far away, it takes about 750 years for the light to reach us on Earth,” Dupree said. “So, the light from Betelgeuse [we saw] left the star at about 1270 A.D. here on Earth.”</p>
1963 ]]></content:encoded>
1964
1965
1966
1967 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cfa-021-companion_sunG_H_1667-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
1968 <item>
1969 <title>A textile that can change and remember its shape</title>
1970 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/a-textile-that-can-change-and-remember-its-shape/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
1971
1972 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
1973 <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2020 15:39:28 +0000</pubDate>
1974 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
1975 <category><![CDATA[3D printing]]></category>
1976 <category><![CDATA[Kit Parker]]></category>
1977 <category><![CDATA[Leah Burrows]]></category>
1978 <category><![CDATA[SEAS]]></category>
1979 <category><![CDATA[Sustainability]]></category>
1980 <category><![CDATA[Textiles]]></category>
1981 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=311487</guid>
1982
1983 <description><![CDATA[SEAS researchers have developed a material made from recycled wool can be 3D-printed into any shape and pre-programmed with reversible shape memory. ]]></description>
1984 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As everyone who has painstakingly straightened their hair knows, water is the enemy. Hair carefully straightened by heat will bounce back into curls the minute it touches water. Why? Because hair has shape memory. Its material properties allow it to change shape in response to certain stimuli and return to its original shape in response to others.</p>
1985 <p>What if other materials, especially textiles, had this type of shape memory? Imagine a T-shirt with cooling vents that opened when exposed to moisture and closed when dry, or one-size-fits-all clothing that stretches or shrinks to a person’s measurements.</p>
1986 <p>Now, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a biocompatible material that can be 3D-printed into any shape and pre-programmed with reversible shape memory. The material is made using keratin, a fibrous protein found in hair, nails, and shells. The researchers extracted the keratin from leftover Agora wool used in textile manufacturing.</p>
1987 <p>The research could help the effort to reduce waste in the fashion industry, one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Already, designers such as Stella McCarthy are reimagining how the industry uses materials, including wool. The material may also have medical uses.</p>
1988 <p>“With this project, we have shown that not only can we recycle wool but we can build things out of the recycled wool that have never been imagined before,” said Kit Parker, the Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at SEAS and senior author of the paper on the subject published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-020-0789-2">Nature Materials</a>. “The implications for the sustainability of natural resources are clear. With recycled keratin protein, we can do just as much, or more, than what has been done by shearing animals to date and, in doing so, reduce the environmental impact of the textile and fashion industry.”</p>
1989
1990 </div><!-- article-body -->
1991 </div><!-- article-content -->
1992 </div><!--article-wrap -->
1993
1994
1995 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-asymmetric symmetric">
1996 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
1997 <div class="photo-layout__images">
1998
1999 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--a">
2000 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
2001 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Origami shaped textile." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .406), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .406), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/origami_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2002 </div>
2003
2004 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--b">
2005 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
2006 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Star-shaped textile." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 704px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .575), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .575), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/star1-1_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2007 </div>
2008
2009 </div>
2010
2011 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2012 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Researchers 3D-printed sheets made from recycled wool in a variety of shapes. They programmed the material’s permanent shape using a solution of hydrogen peroxide and monosodium phosphate. Once the memory was set, the sheet could be re-programmed and molded into new shapes.</p>
2013 </figcaption>
2014 </figure>
2015 </div>
2016
2017 <div class="article-wrap">
2018 <div class="article-content">
2019 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2020
2021
2022 <p> </p>
2023 <p>The key to keratin’s shape-changing abilities is its hierarchical structure, said Luca Cera, a postdoctoral fellow at SEAS and first author of the paper. A single chain of keratin is arranged into a spring-like structure known as alpha-helix. Two of these chains twist together to form a structure known as a coiled coil. Many of these are assembled into protofilaments and eventually large fibers.</p>
2024 <p>“The organization of the alpha helix and the connective chemical bonds give the material both strength and shape memory,” said Cera.</p>
2025 <p>When a fiber is stretched or exposed to a particular stimulus, the spring-like structures uncoil, and the bonds realign to form stable beta-sheets. The fiber remains in that position until it is triggered to coil back into its original shape.</p>
2026 <p>To demonstrate this process, the researchers 3D-printed keratin sheets in a variety of shapes. They programmed the material’s permanent shape — which it will always return to when triggered — using a solution of hydrogen peroxide and monosodium phosphate. Once the memory was set, the sheet could be re-programmed and molded into new shapes.</p>
2027 <p>For example, one keratin sheet was folded into a complex origami star as its permanent shape. Once the memory was set, the researchers dunked the star in water, where it unfolded and became malleable. From there, they rolled the sheet into a tight tube. Once dry, the sheet was locked in as a fully stable and functional tube. To reverse the process, they put the tube back into water, where it unrolled and folded back into an origami star.</p>
2028 <p>“This two-step process of 3D printing the material and then setting its permanent shapes allows for the fabrication of really complex shapes with structural features down to the micron level,” said Cera. “This makes the material suitable for a vast range of applications from textile to tissue engineering.”</p>
2029 <p>“Whether you are using fibers like this to make brassieres whose cup size and shape can be customized every day, or you are trying to make actuating textiles for medical therapeutics, the possibilities of Luca’s work are broad and exciting,” said Parker. “We are continuing to reimagine textiles by using biological molecules as engineering substrates like they have never been used before.”</p>
2030 <p><strong> </strong><em>This research is co-authored by Grant Gonzalez, Qihan Liu, Suji Choi, Christophe Chantre, Juncheol Lee, Rudy Gabardi, Myung Choi, and Kwanwoo Shin.</em></p>
2031 <p><em>It was supported in part by the Harvard University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), under grant DMR-1420570 from the Nation Science Foundation.</em></p>
2032 <p> </p>
2033
2034
2035 ]]></content:encoded>
2036
2037
2038
2039 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/textilersz-250x250.gif" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2040 <item>
2041 <title>Bonobo prey preference as potential sign of culture</title>
2042 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/09/bonobo-prey-preference-as-potential-sign-of-culture/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2043
2044 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2045 <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2020 16:27:58 +0000</pubDate>
2046 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2047 <category><![CDATA[bonobos]]></category>
2048 <category><![CDATA[Department of Human Evolutionary Biology]]></category>
2049 <category><![CDATA[eLife]]></category>
2050 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Science]]></category>
2051 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
2052 <category><![CDATA[Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project]]></category>
2053 <category><![CDATA[Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve]]></category>
2054 <category><![CDATA[Liran Samuni]]></category>
2055 <category><![CDATA[Martin Surbeck]]></category>
2056 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310984</guid>
2057
2058 <description><![CDATA[According to new study, bonobo hunting tendencies show proof of culture ]]></description>
2059 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Human societies developed food preferences based on a blend of what was available and what the group decided it liked most. Those predilections were then passed along as part of the set of socially learned behaviors, values, knowledge, and customs that make up culture. Besides humans, many other social animals are believed to exhibit forms of culture in various ways, too.</p>
2060 <p>In fact, according to a new study led by Harvard primatologists <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/kokolopori/people/liran-samuni">Liran Samuni</a> and <a href="https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/people/martin-surbeck">Martin Surbeck</a>, bonobos, one of our closest living relatives, could be the latest addition to the list.</p>
2061 <p>The research, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59191">published today</a> in eLife, is the result of a five-year examination of the hunting and feeding habits of two neighboring groups of bonobos at the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They looked at whether ecological and social factors influence those habits. Four of those years were spent tracking the neighboring groups of great apes using GPS and some old-fashioned leg work to record each time they hunted.</p>
2062 <p>Analyzing the data, the scientists saw many similarities in the lives of the two bonobo groups, given the names the Ekalakala and the Kokoalongo. Both roam the same territory, roughly 22 square miles of forest. Both wake up and fall asleep in the bird-like nests they build after traveling all day. And, most importantly, both have the access and opportunity to hunt the same kind of prey. This, however, is precisely where researchers noticed a striking difference.</p>
2063 <p>The groups consistently preferred to hunt and feast on two different types of prey. The Ekalakala group almost always went after a type of squirrel-like rodent called an anomalure that is capable of gliding through the air from tree to tree. The Kokoalongo group, on the other hand, favored a small to medium-sized antelope called a duiker that lives on the forest floor.</p>
2064 <aside class="pull-quote">
2065 <div class="pull-quote__text">“The idea is that if our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, both have some cultural traits, then [it’s likely] our ancestors already had some capacity for culture.”</div>
2066 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Liran Samuni</div>
2067 </aside>
2068
2069 <p>Out of 59 hunts between August 2016 and January 2020, the Ekalakala captured and ate 31 anomalure, going after duikers only once. Kokoalongo ate 11 duikers in that time and only three gliding rodents.</p>
2070 <p>“It’s basically like two cultures exploiting a common resource in different ways,” said Samuni, a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard’s <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/kokolopori">Pan Lab</a> and the paper’s lead author. “Think about two human cultures living very close to each other but having different preferences: one preferring chicken more while the other culture is more of a beef-eating culture. … That’s kind of what we see.”</p>
2071 <p>Using statistical modeling, the scientists found this behavior happens independent of factors like the location of the hunts, their timing, or the season. They also found the preference wasn’t influenced by hunting party size or group cohesion. In fact, the researchers’ model found that the only variable that could reliably predict prey preference was whether the hunters were team Ekalakala or team Kokoalongo.</p>
2072 <p>The researchers make clear in the paper that they didn’t investigate how the bonobo groups learned this hunting preference, but through their analysis they were able to rule out ecological factors or genetic differences between the two groups. Basically, it means all evidence points toward this being a learned social behavior.</p>
2073
2074 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2075 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2076 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2077
2078
2079 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
2080 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2081
2082 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.67% !important">
2083 <img width="1350" height="900" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-1350x900.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/111219_Surbeck_005_H_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2084
2085 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2086 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Martin Surbek.</p>
2087 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Kris Snibbe/Harvard file photo</p>
2088 </figcaption>
2089
2090 </figure>
2091 </div>
2092
2093 <div class="article-wrap">
2094 <div class="article-content">
2095 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2096
2097
2098 <p>“It’s the same population, and it’s neighboring communities,” said Surbeck, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology and the paper’s senior author. He founded and directs the <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/kokolopori/KBRP">Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project</a>. “These two communities basically live in the same exact forest. They use the exact same places, but, nevertheless, they show these differences.”</p>
2099 <p>The paper amounts to what’s believed to be the strongest evidence of cultural behavior in this primate species.</p>
2100 <p>The researchers believe this paper is only the tip of the iceberg and are already planning the next part of the work: looking at how the bonobo groups learned these behaviors.</p>
2101 <p>One of the main goals driving this work is helping characterize the cultural capabilities of the last common ancestor between humans and our two closely related great ape cousins.</p>
2102 <p>“The idea is that if our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, both have some cultural traits, then [it’s likely] our ancestors already had some capacity for culture,” Samuni said.</p>
2103
2104 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2105 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2106 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2107
2108
2109 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
2110 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2111
2112 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 54.74% !important">
2113 <img width="1350" height="739" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-1350x739.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Bonobos." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-1350x739.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-300x164.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-768x420.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-1536x840.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-2048x1121.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-1500x821.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-1151x630.jpg 1151w" /> </div>
2114
2115 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2116 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Bonobos interacting in tolerant intergroup encounters in Kokolopori bonobos.</p>
2117 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Credit: the Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project/Liran Samuni.</p>
2118 </figcaption>
2119
2120 </figure>
2121 </div>
2122
2123 <div class="article-wrap">
2124 <div class="article-content">
2125 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2126
2127
2128 <p>Bonobos can play a special role in this mystery. Like chimpanzees, which they are often mistaken for, bonobos share 99 percent of their DNA with humans. Bonobos are often seen as less aggressive and territorial, however, favoring sex in various partner combinations over fighting. Chimp groups, on the other hand, sometimes battle when they meet in the wild, occasionally to the death.</p>
2129 <p>Different Bonobo population groups are known to interact and even share meals, which along with their socio-sexual behavior has earned them the moniker “hippie apes.” It’s those free love and peace traits that make them prime for this type of study since scientists can observe two neighboring bonobo groups to distinguish whether a behavior that differs between two groups that interact regularly comes about because of some sort of a learning mechanism (or social preference) or because the environment dictates it, the researchers said.</p>
2130 <p>The authors of the paper were not much surprised by their findings.</p>
2131 <p>They had noticed this hunting preference anecdotally, and it’s already believed that bonobos have subtle cultural traits. After all, a number of social animals display cultural behavior, especially when it comes to feeding habits. Chimps teach their young to use sticks to fish for termites. Dolphin mothers teach offspring to fit marine sponges to their noses to protect them as they forage on the seafloor.</p>
2132 <p>What excites the researchers about this discovery, however, is that it shows the value of studying this often-overlooked endangered species and diving into its culture.</p>
2133 <p>“They’re like the missing puzzle piece,” Surbeck said.</p>
2134 <p><em>This work was supported by the Max Planck Society and Harvard University.</em></p>
2135
2136 ]]></content:encoded>
2137
2138
2139
2140 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Bonobo_DSC00617_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2141 <item>
2142 <title>COVID lockdown offers insight into human-wildlife interactions</title>
2143 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/covid-lockdown-offers-insight-into-human-wildlife-interactions/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2144
2145 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2146 <pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2020 17:18:11 +0000</pubDate>
2147 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2148 <category><![CDATA[Christian Rutz]]></category>
2149 <category><![CDATA[Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study]]></category>
2150 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=308860</guid>
2151
2152 <description><![CDATA[Researchers led by Christian Rutz, 2019–2020 Grass Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, are examining human impact on wildlife using data collected during the pandemic quarantine.]]></description>
2153 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As COVID-19 lockdowns forced billions indoors, wildlife came out to play in many parts of the world. Sightings have been reported of coyotes roaming through San Francisco, dolphins frolicking along Istanbul’s shores, and wild goats wandering the streets of a North Wales town.</p>
2154 <p>And researchers have been watching. One group of experts recently coined the term “anthropause” to describe the global slowdown of human activity during the pandemic and noted the conditions could produce critical insights into human-wildlife interactions.</p>
2155 <p>“Coordinated global wildlife research during the anthropause will make contributions that go well beyond informing conservation science — it will challenge humanity to reconsider our future on Earth,” wrote the team of researchers led by <a href="https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/christian-rutz(3db2ebc6-f546-4632-ae35-059c35b57b4d).html">Christian Rutz</a>, 2019–2020 Grass Fellow at the <a href="https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/">Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study</a>, in a recent <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-1237-z">article</a> published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The paper amounts to a call to study humankind’s impact on wildlife using data collected during the pandemic, and suggests such research could yield “opportunities to reinvent the way we live our lives, and to forge a mutually beneficial coexistence with other species.”</p>
2156 <p>Rutz, a biology professor at the University of St. Andrews and a leading expert on animal tool behavior and crows, co-launched the global research initiative this spring during a Radcliffe fellowship. Shortly after returning to his home in Scotland in March (several months earlier than planned due to the pandemic) Rutz and several fellow biologists began discussing via email how they could take advantage of the pause in human movement to study its effects on avian, marine, and terrestrial wildlife.</p>
2157
2158 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2159 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2160 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2161
2162
2163 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
2164 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2165
2166 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.67% !important">
2167 <img width="1350" height="900" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-1350x900.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Christian Rutz." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Christian-Rutz_DSC_2863_web_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2168
2169 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2170 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Christian Rutz said scientists have long studied human-wildlife interactions but have struggled to understand whether animals have been most affected by human infrastructure.</p>
2171 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Kevin Grady/Radcliffe Institute</p>
2172 </figcaption>
2173
2174 </figure>
2175 </div>
2176
2177 <div class="article-wrap">
2178 <div class="article-content">
2179 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2180
2181
2182 <p>As the president of the International Bio-Logging Society, a group of wildlife biologists from around the world who track animal movements and activity patterns using tiny attachable electronic tags (so-called “bio-loggers”), Rutz knew he and his colleagues had a unique chance to gather key data, so they made an appeal to the society’s roughly 1,000 international members.</p>
2183 <p>“We went into lockdown, but all the while these little tracking devices kept recording data for a large number of animals,” he said. “We realized that there was an opportunity to use these tracking data from before, during, and after lockdown to gain unprecedented insights into human-wildlife interactions.”</p>
2184 <p>In their article, Rutz’s team defined their plan, urged relevant authorities to allow scientists to continue their research during lockdown, and encouraged leaders of local animal tracking projects and owners of high-quality human mobility data to join their global collaboration.</p>
2185 <p>Soon they had more than 300 responses from colleagues tracking everything from small garden birds to massive whales. “The last numbers I’ve seen indicate that we’ve been offered data for 180 species across 279 populations from all around the globe,” Rutz said. “This provides an opportunity to go beyond anecdotal observations and to look at broader patterns across species, ecosystems, and geographic regions.”</p>
2186 <p>Images have flooded social media in recent weeks offering glimpses of how animals are responding to having fewer humans around. Dolphins have been seen swimming in Italy’s Gulf of Trieste; pumas on the streets of Santiago, Chile; and jackals in parks in Tel Aviv, Israel, in broad daylight. But other animals appear to be facing serious threats due to the lockdowns. According to reports, monkeys and seagulls that survive on scraps of human food in some parts of the world are going hungry, and the temporary shutdown of wildlife reserves has heightened the poaching threat to endangered animals such as rhinoceroses and elephants.</p>
2187 <p>Rutz said scientists have long studied human-wildlife interactions but have struggled to understand whether animals have been most affected by human infrastructure, such as buildings and roads, the physical presence of humans in their midst, or a combination of both. The anthropause has given scientists the chance “to get precisely at that question because, for the most tragic reasons, humans were briefly taken out of the equation,” said Rutz.</p>
2188 <p>The current closure of large parts of society has returned the world to levels of human mobility observed only a few decades ago, added Rutz, allowing researchers to study how even small shifts in human behavior might have a dramatic beneficial impact on species around the globe.</p>
2189
2190 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2191 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2192 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2193
2194
2195 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
2196 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2197
2198 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.67% !important">
2199 <img width="1350" height="900" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1350x900.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Galapagos giant tortoise with solar GPS tag" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24-Galapagos-giant-tortoise-with-solar-GPS-tag-Christian-Ziegler_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2200
2201 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2202 <p class="photo-layout__caption">A Galapagos giant tortoise with a solar GPS tag. Tracking wildlife during the COVID-19 lockdown has given researchers new insights on animal movements.</p>
2203 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Photo by Christian Ziegler ©</p>
2204 </figcaption>
2205
2206 </figure>
2207 </div>
2208
2209 <div class="article-wrap">
2210 <div class="article-content">
2211 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2212
2213
2214
2215 </div><!-- article-body -->
2216 </div><!-- article-content -->
2217 </div><!--article-wrap -->
2218
2219
2220 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-asymmetric symmetric">
2221 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2222 <div class="photo-layout__images">
2223
2224 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--a">
2225 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.6% !important">
2226 <img width="1024" height="682" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1024x682.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Hawkmoth with transmitter." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .406), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .406), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20-hawkmoth-with-transmitter-Christian-Ziegler_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2227 </div>
2228
2229 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--b">
2230 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.6% !important">
2231 <img width="1024" height="682" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1024x682.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Martin Wikelski with straw-colored fruit bat." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 704px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .575), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .575), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/23-Martin-Wikelski-with-straw-coloured-fruit-bat-Christian-Ziegler_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2232 </div>
2233
2234 </div>
2235
2236 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2237 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Tracking a hawk moth and a straw-colored fruit bat.</p>
2238 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Photos by Christian Ziegler ©</p>
2239 </figcaption>
2240 </figure>
2241 </div>
2242
2243 <div class="article-wrap">
2244 <div class="article-content">
2245 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2246
2247
2248 <p>“Nobody is asking for humans to stay in a state of permanent lockdown,” said Rutz. “Humans will go about their lives. They will want to travel, and they should travel. But we anticipate that there will be opportunities to make relatively minor changes that have significant impact to, for example, how we lay out and operate our transport networks — roads on land and vessel routes at sea. If we find through our replicated analyses, across different species and regions, that a particular way of arranging traffic routes is really bad for animals, we can make concrete proposals for improvements.”</p>
2249 <p>The research could also have dramatic implications for a world battling a deadly virus <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.31.116061v1.full">that likely originated in bats before spreading to people</a>. Rutz thinks the project could help shed light on the transmission of viruses from animals to humans.</p>
2250 <p>“I definitely think that the more we understand about the movements and activity patterns of wild animals, especially across species and habitats, the more informed models will be that describe the potential spread of diseases,” said Rutz. “Our project gets at the heart of what happens at that human wildlife interface, which is, of course, key to understanding how diseases may jump from animals to humans.”</p>
2251 <p>Although the global impact of COVID-19 is unprecedented in modern times, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster and its effects on the surrounding wildlife hint at the kind of results Rutz and his team might find. For years, scientists studied wild animal populations from the exclusion zone, the approximately 1,600-square-mile area around the plant in northern Ukraine that was permanently evacuated of its more than 100,000 residents after one of the plant’s reactors melted down in April 1986. In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215009884#bib1">2015 study</a>, researchers reported finding an “an abundant mammal community after nearly three decades of chronic radiation exposures” and suggested that prior to the accident, “mammal population densities were likely depressed due to hunting, forestry and agriculture.”</p>
2252 <p>“This is a research opportunity that has come about through the most tragic circumstances due to COVID-19,” said Rutz. “But we feel, as a research community, that it is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. We will be able to learn some important lessons going forward, not just for wildlife conservation, but also for planning our own future on this increasingly crowded planet.”</p>
2253 ]]></content:encoded>
2254
2255
2256
2257 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/22-white-stork-with-solar-GPS-tag-Renate-Herz_1-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2258 <item>
2259 <title>Synthetic lining offers better drug delivery to small intestine</title>
2260 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/synthetic-lining-offers-better-drug-delivery-to-small-intestine/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2261
2262 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2263 <pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2020 18:06:18 +0000</pubDate>
2264 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2265 <category><![CDATA[basic research]]></category>
2266 <category><![CDATA[Brigham and Women's Hospital]]></category>
2267 <category><![CDATA[Diabetes]]></category>
2268 <category><![CDATA[gastrointestinal synthetic epithelial lining]]></category>
2269 <category><![CDATA[GSEL]]></category>
2270 <category><![CDATA[lactose intolerance]]></category>
2271 <category><![CDATA[Obesity]]></category>
2272 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=311156</guid>
2273
2274 <description><![CDATA[Researchers have developed a synthetic lining that could deliver drugs in a sustained way to the small intestine, offering hope for those suffering from lactose intolerance, diabetes, and obesity.]]></description>
2275 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A newly developed synthetic lining that coats the small intestine may have potential to treat conditions, ranging from lactose intolerance to diabetes and obesity, according to investigators from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</p>
2276 <p>A team of researchers has been working on an innovative way of sustainably delivering drugs and influencing nutrient absorption in the gut by using the gastrointestinal synthetic epithelial lining (GSEL) system. Because GSEL is designed to coat the small intestine, an organ that plays a key role in drug and nutrient absorption, researchers have demonstrated the GSEL system’s ability to adhere to segments of the gastrointestinal tract from pigs and humans. In pig models, the team has reported potential applications in treating not only diabetes, but tropical diseases such as schistosomiasis.</p>
2277 <figure id="attachment_311161" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-311161" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-311161 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine.jpg" alt="Treated and untreated porcine small intestine." width="2500" height="1667" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GSEL-on-intestine-945x630.jpg 945w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-311161" class="wp-caption-text">Image showing fresh resected tissue specimens from porcine small intestine without (left) and with (right) ex vivo GSEL coating. Credit: Junwei Li/Science Translational Medicine</figcaption></figure>
2278 <p>Results of the team’s proof-of-concept studies are published in <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__doi.org_10.1126_scitranslmed.-2520eabc0441&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=DnS34uF8FMox2vVhGrzlX28MWrSDyn-iGaJF58zdbu4&m=1WqBY6ptqXjgI9tes63xecLDytI5bi5NfoFQc3XgAgk&s=OTsLY6vcA9MGbOFhG180fA2N8mU9LZJvh0Gw_oKuMgY&e=">Science Translational Medicine</a>.</p>
2279 <p>“The small intestine is an amazing organ — it’s the main site of drug and nutrient absorption and digestion and plays an important role as a barrier. We recognized its potential: If we could specifically target this location, it would open up new avenues for drug delivery and nutritional modulation,” said corresponding author <a href="https://physiciandirectory.brighamandwomens.org/details/12957/carlo-traverso-gastroenterology_hepatology_and_endoscopy-boston?FreeText:Keyword=traverso">C. Giovanni Traverso</a>, a gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Brigham.</p>
2280 <p>The GSEL system combines two nature-inspired innovations. The first takes advantage of a chemical reaction triggered by catalase, an enzyme that helps break down hydrogen peroxide into oxygen in the small intestine. The second is a mussel-inspired tissue adhesive, similar to what mollusks use to attach themselves to rocks. Using these two concepts, Traverso, first author Junwei Li, and colleagues designed the synthetic gut lining. Their goal is to develop a capsule, pill or gel that could be ingested, but for now, the team has tested administering the GSEL system endoscopically — that is, directly inserting it into the small intestine.</p>
2281 <p>To test the lining’s therapeutic potential, the team looked at pig models for testing lactose intolerance, glucose absorption and the delivery of praziquantel, a drug for treating schistosomiasis. The team found evidence that the lining could deliver the drug in a sustained way, potentially reducing treatment to a once-a-day dose instead of three time a day. It also improved lactose digestion and regulated glucose absorption, indicating its potential for treating Type 2 diabetes and preventing obesity.</p>
2282 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2283 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2284 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2285
2286 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default article-ratio--16-9">
2287
2288 <div class="article-embed__content">
2289 <div class="embed-container embed-container--video"><iframe title="Gastrointestinal Synthetic Epithelial Linings" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sh0JPzy80aI?feature=oembed&modestbranding=1&autohide=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
2290 </div>
2291
2292
2293 </figure>
2294
2295 <div class="article-wrap">
2296 <div class="article-content">
2297 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2298
2299 <p>In order to move from pig models into human trials, several hurdles remain, including further developing the GSEL system into an ingestible form. For now, Traverso, Li and colleagues are focused on continuing to evaluate safety in preclinical studies.</p>
2300 <p>“For our studies, safety is a key focus of our work,” said Traverso. “There are indications that this system can help patients suffering from many diseases, but before we can translate this technology for humans, we need to fully validate its safety and the effects of chronic use.”</p>
2301 <p><em>This work was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grants (OPP1179091), the NIH (EB000244) and funds from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT.<br />
2302 </em></p>
2303 <p><em>Adapted from a Brigham and Women’s news release by Haley Bridger</em>.</p>
2304 ]]></content:encoded>
2305
2306
2307
2308 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Small_intestine_low_mag-1-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2309 <item>
2310 <title>Engineers bring surgical robots down to microscale size</title>
2311 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/engineers-bring-surgical-robots-down-to-microscale-size/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2312
2313 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2314 <pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2020 13:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
2315 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2316 <category><![CDATA[Origami-inspired miniature manipulator]]></category>
2317 <category><![CDATA[surgical robotics]]></category>
2318 <category><![CDATA[Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard]]></category>
2319 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310919</guid>
2320
2321 <description><![CDATA[In a collaboration between Harvard and Sony, engineers have brought surgical robotics down to the microscale by creating a new, origami-inspired miniature manipulator to improve precision and control.]]></description>
2322 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In a collaboration between <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/cutting-surgical-robots-down-to-size/">Harvard and Sony,</a> engineers have brought surgical robotics down to the microscale by creating a new, origami-inspired miniature manipulator to improve precision and control.</p>
2323 <p>The robotic systems that currently assist surgeons in laparoscopic surgery can often take up an entire room, their tools larger than the delicate tissues and structures on which they operate.</p>
2324 <p>Wyss Associate Faculty member <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/associate-faculty/robert-wood/">Robert Wood</a> and robotics engineer Hiroyuki Suzuki of Sony Corp. have designed the “mini-RCM,” a robot the size of a tennis ball, weighing about as much as a penny, and successfully performing a difficult mock surgical task, as described in a recent issue of <a href="https://www.nature.com/natmachintell/volumes/2/issues/8">Nature Machine Intelligence</a>.</p>
2325 <h2><strong>A mini-robot for micro tasks</strong></h2>
2326 <p>To create their miniature surgical robot, Suzuki and Wood turned to the <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/technology/pop-up-mems-origami-inspired-micromanufacturing/">Pop-Up MEMS</a> manufacturing technique developed in Wood’s lab, in which materials are deposited on top of each other in layers that are bonded together, then laser-cut in a specific pattern that allows the desired 3D shape to “pop up,” as in a children’s pop-up picture book. This technique greatly simplifies the mass-production of small, complex structures that would otherwise have to be painstakingly constructed by hand.</p>
2327 <p>The team created a parallelogram shape to serve as the main structure of the robot, then fabricated three linear actuators (mini-LAs) to control the robot’s movement: one parallel to the bottom of the parallelogram that raises and lowers it, one perpendicular to the parallelogram that rotates it, and one at the tip of the parallelogram that extends and retracts the tool in use. The result was a robot that is much smaller and lighter than other microsurgical devices previously developed in academia.</p>
2328 <p>The mini-LAs are themselves marvels in miniature, built around a piezoelectric ceramic material that changes shape when an electrical field is applied. The shape change pushes the mini-LA’s “runner unit” along its “rail unit” like a train on train tracks, and that linear motion is harnessed to move the robot. Because piezoelectric materials inherently deform as they change shape, the team also integrated LED-based optical sensors into the mini-LA to detect and correct any deviations from the desired movement, such as those caused by hand tremors.</p>
2329 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2330 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2331 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2332
2333 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default article-ratio--16-9">
2334
2335 <div class="article-embed__content">
2336 <div class="embed-container embed-container--video"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/449716409?dnt=1&app_id=122963" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
2337 </div>
2338
2339
2340 </figure>
2341
2342 <div class="article-wrap">
2343 <div class="article-content">
2344 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2345
2346 <h2><strong>Steadier than a surgeon’s hands</strong></h2>
2347 <p>To mimic the conditions of a teleoperated surgery, the team connected the mini-RCM to a Phantom Omni device, which manipulated the mini-RCM in response to the movements of a user’s hand controlling a pen-like tool. Their first test evaluated a human’s ability to trace a tiny square smaller than the tip of a ballpoint pen, looking through a microscope and either tracing it by hand, or tracing it using the mini-RCM. The mini-RCM tests dramatically improved user accuracy, reducing error by 68 percent compared to manual operation — an especially important quality given the precision required to repair small and delicate structures in the human body.</p>
2348 <p>Given the mini-RCM’s success on the tracing test, the researchers then created a mock version of a surgical procedure called retinal vein cannulation, in which a surgeon must carefully insert a needle through the eye to inject therapeutics into the tiny veins at the back of the eyeball. They fabricated a silicone tube the same size as the retinal vein (about twice the thickness of a human hair), and successfully punctured it with a needle attached to the end of the mini-RCM without causing local damage or disruption.</p>
2349
2350 <p>In addition to its efficacy in performing delicate surgical maneuvers, the mini-RCM’s small size provides another important benefit: it is easy to set up and install and, in the case of a complication or electrical outage, the robot can be easily removed from a patient’s body by hand.</p>
2351 <p>“The Pop-Up MEMS method is proving to be a valuable approach in a number of areas that require small yet sophisticated machines, and it was very satisfying to know that it has the potential to improve the safety and efficiency of surgeries to make them even less invasive for patients,” said Wood, who is also the Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).</p>
2352 <p>The researchers aim to increase the force of the robot’s actuators to cover the maximum forces experienced during an operation, and improve its positioning precision. They are also investigating using a laser with a shorter pulse during the machining process, to improve the mini-LAs’ sensing resolution.</p>
2353 <p>“This unique collaboration between the Wood lab and Sony illustrates the benefits that can arise from combining the real-world focus of industry with the innovative spirit of academia, and we look forward to seeing the impact this work will have on surgical robotics in the near future,” said Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, and professor of bioengineering at SEAS.</p>
2354 ]]></content:encoded>
2355
2356
2357
2358 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Origami-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2359 <item>
2360 <title>Author Michael Pollan discusses how caffeine changed the world</title>
2361 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/author-michael-pollan-discusses-how-caffeine-changed-the-world/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2362
2363 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2364 <pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2020 16:22:15 +0000</pubDate>
2365 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2366 <category><![CDATA[Caffeine]]></category>
2367 <category><![CDATA[Coffee]]></category>
2368 <category><![CDATA[Michael Pollan]]></category>
2369 <category><![CDATA[Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study]]></category>
2370 <category><![CDATA[Tea]]></category>
2371 <category><![CDATA[Tomiko Brown-Nagin]]></category>
2372 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=309210</guid>
2373
2374 <description><![CDATA[The seductive powers, dark history, health benefits, and harmful side effects of the world’s most-used drug, are included in Michael Pollan’s new audiobook, “Caffeine: How Coffee and Tea Created the Modern World.”]]></description>
2375 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It is the world’s most-used drug, one many of us simply refuse to live without, opting for addiction over the loss of that first, or second, or in some cases third cup that gets us through the day.</p>
2376 <p>And now its seductive powers, its dark history, its health benefits, and its harmful side effects are on full display in best-selling author <a href="https://michaelpollan.com/about/">Michael Pollan</a>’s new audiobook “<a href="https://michaelpollan.com/">Caffeine: How Coffee and Tea Created the Modern World</a>.”</p>
2377 <p>The Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer and Professor of the Practice of Non-Fiction has made a career of writing about how the things we consume affect our lives, our health, and our planet (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “How to Change your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence”). He discussed his latest effort with <a href="https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/">Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study</a> Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin during a Tuesday Zoom talk.</p>
2378 <p>Pollan, who worked on his psychedelics book while a Radcliffe fellow, said he has been obsessed with “this reciprocal relationship we have with plants” and with certain plants’ ability “to change the textures of our experiences of the world” for years. Crafting a piece on caffeine had long been on his to-do list, he said, but he was unaware it would require a precious sacrifice.</p>
2379 <p>As he has done in his earlier work, Pollan became a human test subject for his art, giving up coffee, or more specifically, caffeine, while he worked on the new book in order to truly appreciate its effects on the human body and mind. He said his story’s narrative “demanded it.” Yet, as anyone who has dropped the stimulant from their diet knows, it wasn’t easy.</p>
2380 <p>In his book Pollan recounts the day he finally decided to forgo his routine morning cup, recalling how the “lovely dispersal of the mental fog that the first hit of caffeine ushers into consciousness never arrived. The fog settled over me and would not budge.”</p>
2381
2382 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2383 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2384 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2385
2386
2387 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
2388 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2389
2390 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
2391 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
2392 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Michael Pollan." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/082917_Pollan_1990_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2393 </div>
2394
2395 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2396 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Michael Pollan, who gave up caffeine while writing his book, said he wasn't aware how addicted he was to the drug.</p>
2397 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Rose Lincoln/Harvard file photo</p>
2398 </figcaption>
2399
2400 </figure>
2401 </div>
2402
2403 <div class="article-wrap">
2404 <div class="article-content">
2405 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2406
2407
2408 <p>Pollan said he didn’t fully understand how addicted he was to the drug — also known by its scientific name: 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine — until he got off it. All the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal were there, he noted, including headaches, fatigue, and perhaps most insidious for a writer trying to tell a compelling story, difficulty concentrating.</p>
2409 <p>As his work progressed, he also realized that because caffeine is so ubiquitous — more than 90 percent of people on the planet consume it daily, and we even regularly allow children to have the drug in the form of soda — constant personal caffeination “has simply become baseline human consciousness.”</p>
2410 <p>During the talk Pollan delved into the science, discussing how the tiny caffeine molecule acts on the central nervous system by suppressing the neuromodulator adenosine that helps make us sleepy. Caffeine, one-quarter of which can stay in your system for up to 12 hours, then becomes the solution to the problem it creates, he said, making people who are sleep-deprived from their caffeine consumption the day before eager for a morning hit to charge them up for the day ahead.</p>
2411 <p>Pollan explains in a section of the audiobook on the substance’s origins that caffeine was first discovered in China around 1000 B.C. in the form of tea. The discovery of coffee is traced to Ethiopia around 850 A.D. According to the legend, a herder who noticed how jumpy his goats got after eating the berries of an arabica plant gave some of the berries to a local monk, who used them to concoct the world’s first cup of coffee. As time went on, caffeine’s history took a dark turn. Growers and sellers built the industry on the backs of enslaved people forced to harvest both the coffee beans and the sugar needed to sweeten the bitter drink that had become increasingly popular in the West.</p>
2412 <p> </p>
2413 <p><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/867360676&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%" height="166" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
2414 <div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc; line-break: anywhere; word-break: normal; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-weight: 100;"><a style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" title="Audible" href="https://soundcloud.com/audible" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Audible</a> · <a style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" title="[Audible Exclusive] Caffeine written and performed by Michael Pollan" href="https://soundcloud.com/audible/audible-exclusive-caffeine-written-and-performed-by-michael-pollan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[Audible Exclusive] Caffeine written and performed by Michael Pollan</a></div>
2415 <p> </p>
2416 <p>In his work, Pollan addresses the question of whether caffeine has been a boon or bane to human civilization. He concludes that the price has been undeniably high, possibly too high, with its historical connections to a brutal system of production and the back-breaking work involved in growing and harvesting coffee that continues today. Then there is the havoc it wreaks on our sleep — particularly the deep, slow-wave sleep that is critical to memory.</p>
2417 <p>But Pollan highlights the positives as well. He notes that before there were ready supplies of potable water, boiled beverages, like coffee or tea, “were the safest thing a person could drink,” with the most commonly available alternative being alcohol. He also points out the continuing health benefits attributed to caffeine and confirmed by the science. Taken in moderation, coffee and tea can decrease the risk of several cancers, as well cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.</p>
2418 <p>He also suggests that the consumption of caffeinated drinks even might have helped societies that embraced them to thrive. According to Pollan, caffeine drove a kind of “Enlightenment thinking.” The coffee houses that stretched first across the Arab world and eventually Europe became not only the internet of their day, spreading gossip and news, but also centers of discussion that fostered important cultural, political, and scientific exchanges and helped usher in a “new spirit of rationalism.”</p>
2419 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2420 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2421 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2422
2423 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default article-ratio--16-9">
2424
2425 <div class="article-embed__content">
2426 <div class="embed-container embed-container--video"><iframe title="Book Talk: Michael Pollan || Radcliffe Institute" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wMIyEy4RtdM?feature=oembed&modestbranding=1&autohide=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
2427 </div>
2428
2429
2430 </figure>
2431
2432 <div class="article-wrap">
2433 <div class="article-content">
2434 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2435
2436
2437 <p>And the mental edge provided by caffeine helped transform work, he said, by improving focus and the ability to concentrate — keys to the safety and success of the machine-based labor that powered the Industrial Revolution as well as every generation since. Pollan calls the coffee break, created in the U.S. in the 1940s as a way to increase worker output, “the best evidence of caffeine’s gift to capitalism.”</p>
2438 <p>“It’s amazing that we’ve institutionalized a drug for the express purpose of improving productivity and quality control, but so we have,” said Pollan.</p>
2439 <p>In the end, where did Pollan finally land on his own caffeine intake? He made a compromise with himself, he said, only having coffee on Saturdays, or when he is in real need of that mental boost. He acknowledges it is “not an addiction that troubles me.”</p>
2440 <p>The author also encouraged his listeners to try to kick their caffeine habit, if only temporarily, by tapering down slowly to avoid withdrawal symptoms. “The first cup after you’ve been off is the best way to reacquaint yourself with what a powerful drug it is,” said Pollan, who plans to include his work on caffeine in a print book featuring three psychoactive plants. It is tentatively titled “This Is Your Brain on Plants.”</p>
2441 <p>And we just might have to get used to having less caffeine in our lives in the future. According to some estimates, said Pollan, because of climate change, by the middle of the century 50 percent of the land currently growing coffee plants will “no longer be suitable for coffee production.”</p>
2442
2443 ]]></content:encoded>
2444
2445
2446
2447 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/070517_food_2565_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2448 <item>
2449 <title>Vaccine strategy could aid in COVID-19 immunization</title>
2450 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/vaccine-strategy-could-aid-in-covid-19-immunization/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2451
2452 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2453 <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2020 17:50:31 +0000</pubDate>
2454 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2455 <category><![CDATA[coronavirus]]></category>
2456 <category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
2457 <category><![CDATA[David Mooney]]></category>
2458 <category><![CDATA[Omnivax]]></category>
2459 <category><![CDATA[Vaccine]]></category>
2460 <category><![CDATA[Wyss Institute]]></category>
2461 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310771</guid>
2462
2463 <description><![CDATA[A biomaterials-based infection vaccine strategy shows first promise in eliciting immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and could be applied broadly to stave off infectious disease.]]></description>
2464 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To confront the many challenges that infectious diseases pose to mankind head-on, a multi-disciplinary team of bioengineers, materials-scientists and immunologists at Harvard’s Wyss Institute has developed a broadly deployable biomaterials-based </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/technology/omnivax-broadly-deployable-infection-vaccine-platform/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">infection vaccine technology called “OMNIVAX.”</span></a></p>
2465 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">OMNIVAX was inspired by a fundamentally new cancer vaccine approach created by </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/david-mooney/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">David Mooney</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">’s group in the immuno-materials platform that he leads at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Mooney is a Wyss core faculty member and the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).</span></p>
2466 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The vaccine platform approach is rooted in the idea that antigens, when they are incorporated together with immune-activating adjuvants in a longer-lived biomaterial scaffold that concentrates immune cells at the site of vaccination, can be presented to the immune system in a more controlled and sustained way than when merely provided transiently in soluble form. As a result of this, the immune system’s protective responses can be more effective and prolonged. </span></p>
2467 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Soon after COVID-19 started to spread across the globe, devastating a millions of lives and pushing the health systems and economies of many countries to their limits, Mooney’s team, which had previously focused on other infectious diseases, pivoted and used their OMNIVAX platform to generate vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the pandemic. </span></p>
2468 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is widely accepted that a safe and effective vaccine that creates broad immunity against the coronavirus, and can be made quickly and distributed almost universally will be critical to address this pandemic. Experts estimate that it might take around 12 to 18 months to achieve this goal, which still would be record time for delivering a vaccine — and the race is on in many corners of the world.</span></p>
2469 <h2><b>The secrets of OMNIVAXination</b></h2>
2470 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Using OMNIVAX’s fast and effective vaccine strategy, the team created a collection of vaccines against the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus. Their approach is highly modular, based on the simple and rapid combination of a mesoporous silica material, an adjuvant, the dendritic cell-recruiting factor GM-CSF, and one or more antigen(s). Many different antigens and adjuvants can be combined in a plug-and-play fashion. </span></p>
2471 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers believe that OMNIVAX vaccines with their unique structure and mechanism could provide protection against a number of infectious diseases caused by uncontrollable viral and bacterial pathogens, including those that will be responsible for forthcoming epidemics. Researchers believe it may have great potential to become a vaccine technology of the future.</span></p>
2472
2473 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2474 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2475 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2476
2477
2478 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
2479 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2480
2481 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
2482 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
2483 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Graphic showing omnivax process." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAXGraphic_COVID_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2484 </div>
2485
2486 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2487 <p class="photo-layout__caption">In the modular assembly of SARS-CoV-2-specific OMNIVAX vaccines, the team combined a scaffold-forming mesoporous silica biomaterial (top right), the dendritic cell-recruiting factor GM-CSF (bottom left), an immune-stimulating adjuvant (bottom right), and combinations of specific antigens derived from the host cell-binding spike structure on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 (top left). </p>
2488 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University</p>
2489 </figcaption>
2490
2491 </figure>
2492 </div>
2493
2494 <div class="article-wrap">
2495 <div class="article-content">
2496 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2497
2498
2499 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Wyss Institute recognized the potential of the technology early on, years before COVID-19 changed our world in a matter of a few months, and had designated the OMNIVAX platform technology “Institute Project” status. This prioritization is reserved for its most prestigious projects to accelerate their translational path to becoming the main assets of future startup companies with special business and technology development support.</span></p>
2500 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The uniqueness of the OMNIVAX approach is based on its design that directs dendritic cells, the key orchestrators of pathogen-directed and other immune responses, to be actively recruited into the porous scaffold structure. Once in the structure, they are reprogrammed more effectively against a pathogen by specific antigen/adjuvant combinations. The trafficking of the dendritic cells can occur for the duration of the vaccine, allowing a significant multiplication of the resultant immune response. </span></p>
2501 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Then, just like after their normal activation in the body, the reprogrammed dendritic cells migrate to nearby lymph nodes where they initiate a complex immune response involving both, fast-acting T cells and antibody-producing B cells that attack pathogens using different mechanisms. By allowing the activation of dendritic cells to be more prolonged, the OMNIVAX approach essentially adds a fourth dimension, namely time, to the three dimensions of the physical vaccine structure, which sets it apart from other vaccine approaches, and generates significantly more robust and durable responses than standard vaccines. </span></p>
2502 <h2><b>Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and beyond</b></h2>
2503 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Taking advantage of the modular nature of the OMNIVAX approach, the Wyss team generated their SARS-CoV-2 vaccines incorporating different combinations of viral antigens in combination with a general immune-activating adjuvant, and recently reported their preliminary findings in a </span><a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.07.192203v1.full.pdf"><span style="font-weight: 400;">bioRxiv paper</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. After receiving virus-specific antigens, it took the team merely three days to complete vaccines that were ready for injection. </span></p>
2504 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">A single injection of the vaccines into mice stimulated the rapid production of significant levels of antibodies that were specific to the viral antigens, and maintained for at least 96 days. In addition, the researchers analyzed blood sera from the vaccinated animals, the liquid component of blood which contains antibodies previously made by the immune system’s B cells like, in this case, SARS-CoV-2-directed antibodies.</span></p>
2505
2506 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">in vitro </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">neutralization assays, the sera could prevent the infection of cultured cells by a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, which is commonly used in coronavirus research as a key step to analyze the protective function of a vaccine. The team is currently pursuing studies in which they aim to protect animal models that are challenged with the actual coronavirus to confirm the efficacy of the vaccines.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
2507 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Besides these first promising observations on the COVID-19 OMNIVAX vaccines, the team’s new approach could also provide protective solutions for many common unmet infectious diseases that have been threatening people in different environments.</span></p>
2508 ]]></content:encoded>
2509
2510
2511
2512 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMNIVAX-COVIDspikeprotein_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2513 <item>
2514 <title>Wyss Institute’s improved face shield design hits 7M mark</title>
2515 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/wyss-institutes-improved-face-shield-design-hits-7m-mark/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2516
2517 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2518 <pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2020 13:05:32 +0000</pubDate>
2519 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2520 <category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
2521 <category><![CDATA[Inc.]]></category>
2522 <category><![CDATA[Jennifer Lewis]]></category>
2523 <category><![CDATA[Lacerta Group]]></category>
2524 <category><![CDATA[PPE]]></category>
2525 <category><![CDATA[Wyss Institute]]></category>
2526 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310496</guid>
2527
2528 <description><![CDATA[The Wyss Institute made improvements to its face shields based on recommendations from area hospitals. Joining forces with a Mansfield, Mass.-based manufacturer, the institute’s face shields are now being produced at a rate of 400,000 a day.]]></description>
2529 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe in early 2020, a new three-letter acronym spread with it: PPE, short for personal protective equipment, which was suddenly both in high demand and short supply. Lockdowns to curb the virus’ infection rate disrupted the worldwide supply chains that moved products between designers, manufacturers, assemblers, distributors, and customers, revealing that the global consumer economy was like a house of cards — structurally impressive, but fragile.</p>
2530 <p>Local labs, maker spaces, and hobbyists with access to 3D printers jumped into the fray, helping to fill the gap between PPE supply and demand by manufacturing face shields and other equipment for frontline health care workers. Multiple groups at the Wyss Institute used 3D printers and laser cutters to prototype and produce face shields that were evaluated at several Boston-area hospitals, and nearly 1,000 of them were then <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/harvard-researchers-deliver-hundreds-of-face-shields-to-frontline-medical-personnel/">distributed to local hospitals and clinics</a>.</p>
2531 <p>But a co-leader of that effort, James Weaver, knew they could do more.</p>
2532
2533 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2534 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2535 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2536
2537
2538 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
2539 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2540
2541 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.67% !important">
2542 <img width="1350" height="900" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-1350x900.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="James Weaver in front of production line." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Production_Line_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2543
2544 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2545 <p class="photo-layout__caption">James Weaver stands next to one of the Massachusetts-based large-scale face shield production lines.</p>
2546 </figcaption>
2547
2548 </figure>
2549 </div>
2550
2551 <div class="article-wrap">
2552 <div class="article-content">
2553 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2554
2555
2556 <p>“It was wonderful to see everyone coming together to make and deliver face shields so quickly, but as the pandemic continued to grow, it was clear that we weren’t going to be able to produce them in the lab at the volumes needed to sufficiently protect our health care workers,” said Weaver, who was a senior research scientist at the Wyss Institute at the time and is now a senior staff scientist at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).</p>
2557 <p>So, Weaver started talking to clinicians at local hospitals, asking what features they needed in a face shield that might offer improvements over more traditional designs. Due to ongoing supply chain problems and facing domestic foam and elastic shortages, he asked potential users whether it would be acceptable for the face shields to be made out of a single material that was easy to manufacture, rather than the separate plastic, foam, and elastic components that go into traditional designs. “The front-line medical workers we collaborated with were very enthusiastic about participating in the face shield design process, and the prototypes we came up with together offered new features that weren’t available in existing products. Learning how open they were to alternative materials and form factors completely changed how we approached this manufacturing effort, which was very exciting for all of us,” said Weaver.</p>
2558 <h2><strong>Local connections, national impact</strong></h2>
2559 <p>The collaborative team co-led by Weaver and Wyss core faculty member <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/jennifer-lewis/">Jennifer Lewis</a>, ultimately grew to include researchers from <a href="https://techventures.columbia.edu/face-shield-designs-columbia-engineers">Columbia University</a> and <a href="http://lacerta.com/">Lacerta Group, Inc.</a>, a Mansfield, Mass.-based plastic food packaging manufacturer.</p>
2560 <p>“Early on, when COVID-19 first hit, Lacerta received requests through friends and family for face shields. Working with James and the team from the Wyss Institute, within days we were able to design and produce face shields, and we ramped up production capacity within a couple weeks to meet the needs of the medical community,” said Craig Muldrew, vice president of sales and marketing at Lacerta.</p>
2561 <p>Lacerta provided materials to Weaver’s team for testing and design optimization based on feedback from clinical users, and by early April they had started manufacturing them at an industrial scale. Today, they’re being produced at a pace of up to 400,000 per day, and over 7 million face shields have been shipped both locally and nationally for use in the health care, food service, manufacturing, and academic research communities. This effort has been a labor of love for Weaver, who has personally driven thousands of miles across New England over the past few months to meet with clinical collaborators and deliver boxes of face shields to customers.</p>
2562 <p>To meet the diverse needs of different users, the collaborative team came up with a series of anti-fogging face shield designs ranging from the more traditional “Lacerta Shield” to the full-coverage “Dome Shield” that provides additional protection, all of which are made of food-grade materials in Lacerta’s FDA-approved manufacturing facility in Massachusetts. The face shields range from 40 to 75 cents each (about 1/5th the price of their closest mass-produced alternatives), and are available from <a href="http://www.Lacerta.com">www.Lacerta.com</a> or <u>www.Dome-Shield.com</u>. The team has also donated face shields to support several local, regional, and national humanitarian efforts, and the designs have been very well received by the local communities.</p>
2563 <p>“A well-designed, affordable face shield, like the Dome Shield, protects the wearer’s face and contain coughs, greatly reducing community transmission if widely used,” said Eli Perencevich, a professor at the University of Iowa who was an early promoter of the Dome Shield. “Since March, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics have distributed face shields to all employees in order to create a safe healthcare environment, and we have been encouraging face shield use in the community to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and help with containment.”</p>
2564 <p>Because the Dome Shield is made of only one material, which Lacerta makes in-house, its production does not compete for the same strained supply chains on which most other manufacturers rely. As a result, the face shields can be manufactured at a much greater scale than university-led PPE production efforts. Lacerta also internally recycles its leftover and excess material into new products for an efficient, zero-waste manufacturing process.</p>
2565 <p>“As the country’s economy reopens and people start to go back to work, many of the companies and organizations that temporarily switched to manufacturing PPE are going back to producing whatever it is they usually sell. We are confident Lacerta can take on increased demand for our face shields as a result of that shift,” said Muldrew.</p>
2566 <h2><strong>Ear savers for life savers</strong></h2>
2567 <p>Lacerta isn’t the only manufacturer with whom Weaver has connected about PPE manufacturing needs. He is also working with Cromwell, CT-based <a href="https://www.goactgroup.com/">ACT Group</a> to mass-produce an ergonomic accessory for surgical masks called “ear savers” that relieves the ear discomfort caused by wearing a face mask with elastic ear loops for hours on end. “Medical professionals typically don’t wear their masks for 12 hours a day, multiple days in a row, and now there are millions of people doing exactly that to stay safe. Those masks simply weren’t designed for long-term comfort,” said Weaver.</p>
2568 <p>The collaboration has leveraged ACT Group’s state-of-the-art additive manufacturing expertise and built on existing designs developed within the global maker community. The high-throughput 3D printing techniques employed as part of this collaboration were critical for producing the quantities needed within the required timelines.</p>
2569 <figure id="attachment_310503" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310503" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-310503 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500.jpg" alt="Ear savers." width="2500" height="1667" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Ear_Saver_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310503" class="wp-caption-text">Ear savers attach to the straps of a conventional surgical mask and relieve pressure on the ears during prolonged use, keeping workers comfortable and encouraging them to wear their masks correctly.</figcaption></figure>
2570 <p>“ACT Group has been involved in developing and producing various PPE designs for the scientific and medical communities to address COVID-19,” said Emily Turcan of ACT Group. “When James Weaver reached out, there was no question we were going to help, and our durable, yet flexible nylon material turned out to be a perfect match for the ear savers project.”</p>
2571 <p>To date, over 30,000 of these accessories have been distributed to doctors in the Boston area, and more are being printed daily. ACT Group stands ready to increase production or aid in the tool-up required to switch from additive manufacturing to injection molding, depending on demand.</p>
2572
2573 <p>“All of the designers, researchers, physicians, hospitals, and industrial partners that have been involved in these projects have been amazing,” said Weaver. “They committed time, effort, and resources into helping develop these face shields and ear savers, saying ‘yes’ when they could have easily said ‘no.’ And now millions of people can protect themselves while working essential jobs to get our country through the pandemic. I’m humbled to be part of that team.”</p>
2574 <p>One of the collaborators who said “yes” early on was Tod Woolf, the executive director of the Technology Ventures Office at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “The pandemic presented lots of complicated problems that needed an engineer’s mind and dedication to solve, and James was right there on the front lines whipping off prototypes, driving samples to clinicians, and coordinating with suppliers. At Beth Israel, we’re now trying to brace ourselves for a second wave of COVID-19 as cold weather arrives and the risk of transmission increases, and fortunately, the Lacerta shields are on the list of products we know we can buy when we need them,” Woolf said.</p>
2575 <p>Other members of the Wyss and Harvard face shield and ear saver R&D teams include staff engineer Tom Blough, 3D printing specialist Ted Sirota, research associate Sébastien Uzel, postdoctoral fellows Sanlin Robinson, and Daniel Reynolds, and Harvard Graduate School of Design student Lara Tomholt.</p>
2576 <p>“This effort exemplifies the proactive, collaborative, can-do attitude that defines the Wyss Institute and the culture we have created,” said Wyss Institute’s Founding Director <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/executive-team/donald-ingber/">Don Ingber</a>. “When confronted with the problem of critical PPE shortages due to the pandemic, James and his teammates selflessly stepped up and created a solution that is helping to keep millions of people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. We couldn’t be prouder of them for their creativity, drive, and perseverance in confronting this ongoing crisis.” Ingber is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at SEAS.</p>
2577 ]]></content:encoded>
2578
2579
2580
2581 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Weaver_Dome_Shield_45_1785-1-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2582 <item>
2583 <title>Study finds promising results using acupuncture to treat inflammation</title>
2584 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/study-reveals-acupuncture-affects-disease-course/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2585
2586 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2587 <pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2020 15:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
2588 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2589 <category><![CDATA[Acupuncture]]></category>
2590 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Medical School]]></category>
2591 <category><![CDATA[HMS]]></category>
2592 <category><![CDATA[inflammation]]></category>
2593 <category><![CDATA[Qiufu Ma]]></category>
2594 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310246</guid>
2595
2596 <description><![CDATA[Acupuncture activates inflammation-regulating pathways, tames cytokine storm in mice.]]></description>
2597 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A team of researchers led by neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School has successfully used acupuncture to tame systemic inflammation in mice.</p>
2598 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the study, published Aug. 12 in </span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.cell.com_neuron_home&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=ltCA4SJzM252kbnXFmm3TQf7Dq9G1rcjfwoeZWLq4xw&s=OmNMe4KxGZYtGuEl7HEJPMOQb9wtNjPNNl7Vu-NoC4k&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">Neuron</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, acupuncture activated different signaling pathways that triggered either a pro-inflammatory or an anti-inflammatory response in animals with bacterially induced systemic inflammation.</span></p>
2599 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Further, the team found that three factors determined how acupuncture affected response: site, intensity and timing of treatment. Where in the body the stimulation occurred, how strong it was and when the stimulation was administered yielded dramatically different effects on inflammatory markers and survival.</span></p>
2600 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This represents a critical step toward defining the neuroanatomical mechanisms underlying acupuncture and offers a roadmap for harnessing the approach for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.</span></p>
2601 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The scientists caution, however, that before any therapeutic use, the observations must be confirmed in further research — in animals as well as in humans — and the optimal parameters for acupuncture stimulation must be carefully defined.</span></p>
2602 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Our findings represent an important step in ongoing efforts not only to understand the neuroanatomy of acupuncture but to identify ways to incorporate it into the treatment arsenal of inflammatory diseases, including sepsis,” said study principal investigator </span><a href="https://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/qiufu-ma"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Qiufu Ma</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, professor of neurobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and a researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
2603 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the study, acupuncture stimulation influenced how animals coped with cytokine storm — the rapid release of large amounts of cytokines, inflammation-fueling molecules. The phenomenon has gained mainstream attention as a complication of severe COVID-19, but this aberrant immune reaction can occur in the setting of any infection and has been long known to physicians as a hallmark of sepsis, an organ-damaging, often-fatal inflammatory response to infection. Sepsis is estimated to affect </span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.cdc.gov_sepsis_datareports_index.html&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=ltCA4SJzM252kbnXFmm3TQf7Dq9G1rcjfwoeZWLq4xw&s=-xuuKJiEDeKlHZdxu5qHEzQ916B0sb7bvmg8vn8vzis&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">1.7 million people</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the United States and </span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.who.int_sepsis_en_&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=ltCA4SJzM252kbnXFmm3TQf7Dq9G1rcjfwoeZWLq4xw&s=ZXhC0OfX36GEReSpC81gMx3H3n2BO80ZPWdWFqcVMrE&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">30 million</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> people worldwide each year. </span></p>
2604 <p><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov_books_NBK532287_&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=ltCA4SJzM252kbnXFmm3TQf7Dq9G1rcjfwoeZWLq4xw&s=N38gKOVtL71Re5BmL52U9h51C_fyde7TyqVo7WsvDEI&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">Acupuncture</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, has recently grown more integrated into Western medicine, particularly for the treatment of chronic pain and gastrointestinal disorders. The approach involves mechanical stimulation of certain points on the body’s surface — known as acupoints. The stimulation purportedly triggers nerve signaling and remotely affects the function of internal organs corresponding to specific acupoints. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
2605 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yet, the basic mechanisms underlying acupuncture’s action and effect have not been fully elucidated.</span></p>
2606 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The new study is an important step in mapping the neuroanatomy of acupuncture, the research team said. </span></p>
2607 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a neurobiologist who studies the fundamental mechanisms of pain, Ma has been curious about the biology of acupuncture for years. He was intrigued by a 2014 </span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov_24562381_&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=ltCA4SJzM252kbnXFmm3TQf7Dq9G1rcjfwoeZWLq4xw&s=HXc55OBmmMzCZPf-aOewcR8wtMINcqKFTOayfsehit4&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">paper</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> which showed that using acupuncture in mice could alleviate systemic inflammation by stimulating the vagal-adrenal axis — a signaling pathway in which the vagus nerve carries signals to the adrenal glands — to trigger the glands to release dopamine. Ma’s curiosity was further intensified by </span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.pnas.org_content_113_29_8284&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=ltCA4SJzM252kbnXFmm3TQf7Dq9G1rcjfwoeZWLq4xw&s=wYN_uK_5bqzB3RZ4OkT-SKQUxkDA3IBXCHSIfkY0bfQ&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">work</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> published in 2016 showing that vagus-nerve stimulation tamed the activity of inflammatory molecules and lessened symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. </span></p>
2608 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the current study, researchers used electroacupuncture — a modern version of the traditional manual approach that involves the insertion of ultra-thin needles just under the skin in various areas of the body. Instead of needles, electroacupuncture uses very thin electrodes inserted into the skin and into the connective tissue, offering better control of stimulation intensities.</span></p>
2609 <p>Building on previous research pointing to neurotransmitters’ role in inflammation regulation, the researchers focused on two specific cell types known to secrete them — chromaffin cells that reside in the adrenal glands and noradrenergic neurons that are located in the peripheral nerve system and directly connected to the spleen through an abundance of nerve fibers.</p>
2610 <aside class="pull-quote">
2611 <div class="pull-quote__text">“If practiced inappropriately, acupuncture could have detrimental results, which I don’t think is something people necessarily appreciate.”</div>
2612 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Qiufu Ma</div>
2613 </aside>
2614
2615 <p>Chromaffin cells are the body’s main producers of the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline and of dopamine, while noradrenergic neurons release noradrenaline. In addition to their well-established functions, adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine, the researchers said, appear to play a role in inflammation response — an observation that’s been borne out in previous research and is now reaffirmed in the experiments of the current study.</p>
2616 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team wanted to determine the precise role these nerve cells play in the inflammatory response. To do so, they used a novel genetic tool to ablate chromaffin cells or noradrenergic neurons. This allowed them to compare the response to inflammation in mice with and without these cells to determine just whether and how they were involved in modulating inflammation. The markedly different response in mice with and without such cells conclusively pinpointed these nerve cells as key regulators of inflammation.</span></p>
2617 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">In one set of experiments, researchers applied low-intensity electroacupuncture (0.5 milliamperes) to a specific point on the hind legs of mice with cytokine storm caused by a bacterial toxin. This stimulation activated the vagus-adrenal axis, inducing secretion of dopamine from the chromaffin cells of the adrenal glands.</span></p>
2618 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Animals treated this way had lower levels of three key types of inflammation-inducing cytokines and had greater survival than control mice — 60 percent of acupuncture-treated animals survived, compared with 20 percent of untreated animals. Intriguingly, the researchers observed, the vagus-adrenal axis could be activated through hindlimb electroacupuncture but not from abdominal acupoints — a finding that shows the importance of acupoint selectivity in driving specific anti-inflammatory pathways. </span></p>
2619 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In another experiment, the team delivered high-intensity electroacupuncture (3 milliamperes) to the same hind leg acupoint as well as to an acupoint on the abdomen of mice with sepsis. That stimulation activated noradrenergic nerve fibers in the spleen. The timing of treatment was critical, the researchers observed. High-intensity stimulation of the abdomen produced markedly different outcomes depending on when treatment occurred.</span></p>
2620 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Animals treated with acupuncture immediately before they developed cytokine storm, experienced lower levels of inflammation during subsequent disease and fared better. This preventive measure of high-intensity stimulation increased survival from 20 to 80 percent. By contrast, animals that received acupuncture after disease onset and during the peak of cytokine storm experienced worse inflammation and more severe disease. </span></p>
2621 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The findings demonstrate how the same stimulus could produce dramatically different results depending on location, timing and intensity.</span></p>
2622 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This observation underscores the idea that if practiced inappropriately, acupuncture could have detrimental results, which I don’t think is something people necessarily appreciate,” Ma said. </span></p>
2623 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If borne out in further work, Ma added, the findings suggest the possibility that electroacupuncture could one day be used as a versatile treatment modality — from adjunct therapy for sepsis in the intensive care unit to more targeted treatment of site-specific inflammation, such as in inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.</span></p>
2624 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another possible use, Ma said, would be to help modulate inflammation resulting from cancer immune therapy, which while lifesaving can sometimes trigger cytokine storm due to overstimulation of the immune system. Acupuncture is </span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.dana-2Dfarber.org_for-2Dpatients-2Dand-2Dfamilies_care-2Dand-2Dtreatment_support-2Dservices-2Dand-2Damenities_zakim-2Dcenter-2Dfor-2Dintegrative-2Dtherapies_acupuncture_&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=ltCA4SJzM252kbnXFmm3TQf7Dq9G1rcjfwoeZWLq4xw&s=DMuz9su6aBBtVOr67ylSTrw9dTtzY-Dd7rjkGdO4hsI&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">already used</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> as part of integrative cancer treatment to help patients cope with </span><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__blog.dana-2Dfarber.org_insight_2013_04_can-2Dacupuncture-2Dease-2Dcancer-2Dsymptoms_&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=ltCA4SJzM252kbnXFmm3TQf7Dq9G1rcjfwoeZWLq4xw&s=Cwh9z_tirxoJ0O6WyPoN83-BAgWbgJD1YevwYGApSvk&e="><span style="font-weight: 400;">side effects</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.</span></p>
2625
2626 <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Other investigators included Shenbin Liu, Zhifu Wang, Yangshuai Su, Russell Ray, Xianghong Jing and Yanqing Wang.</span></em></p>
2627 <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The work was supported by National Institutes of Health (grant R01AT010629), Harvard/MIT Joint Research Grants Program in Basic Neuroscience and Wellcome Trust (grant 200183/Z/15/Z). </span></em></p>
2628 <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Additional funding was provided in the form of partial salary support for Liu from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (KLF101846) and by Development Project of Shanghai Peak Disciplines-Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (20150407). Su received salary support from China Scholarship Council (CSC NO. 201609110039). Wang received partial salary support from Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.</span></em></p>
2629
2630 ]]></content:encoded>
2631
2632
2633
2634 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/acupuncture-850_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2635 <item>
2636 <title>Harvard scientists find vision relates to movement</title>
2637 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/harvard-scientists-find-vision-relates-to-movement/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2638
2639 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2640 <pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2020 19:06:59 +0000</pubDate>
2641 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2642 <category><![CDATA[David Cox]]></category>
2643 <category><![CDATA[Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology]]></category>
2644 <category><![CDATA[Grigori Guitchounts]]></category>
2645 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Center for Brain Science]]></category>
2646 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
2647 <category><![CDATA[Neuron]]></category>
2648 <category><![CDATA[primary visual cortex]]></category>
2649 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310223</guid>
2650
2651 <description><![CDATA[Harvard neuroscientists look at how movement influences vision and perception.]]></description>
2652 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To get a better look at the world around them, animals constantly are in motion. Primates and people use complex eye movements to focus their vision (as humans do when reading, for instance); birds, insects, and rodents do the same by moving their heads, and can even estimate distances that way. Yet how these movements play out in the elaborate circuitry of neurons that the brain uses to “see” is largely unknown. And it could be a potential problem area as scientists create artificial neural networks that mimic how vision works in self-driving cars.</p>
2653 <p>To better understand the relationship between movement and vision, a team of Harvard researchers looked at what happens in one of the brain’s primary regions for analyzing imagery when animals are free to roam naturally. The results of the study, published <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(20)30531-6">Tuesday</a> in the journal Neuron, suggest that image-processing circuits in the primary visual cortex not only are more active when animals move, but that they receive signals from a movement-controlling region of the brain that is independent from the region that processes what the animal is looking at. In fact, the researchers <a href="https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/uncategorized/moving-in-the-dark-primary-visual-cortex-encodes-information-3d-orienting-movements-of-the-head/">describe</a> two sets of movement-related patterns in the visual cortex that are based on head motion and whether an animal is in the light or the dark.</p>
2654 <p>The movement-related findings were unexpected, since vision tends to be thought of as a feed-forward computation system in which visual information enters through the retina and travels on neural circuits that operate on a one-way path, processing the information piece by piece. What the researchers saw here is more evidence that the visual system has many more feedback components where information can travel in opposite directions than had been thought.</p>
2655 <p>These results offer a nuanced glimpse into how neural activity works in a sensory region of the brain, and add to a growing body of research that is rewriting the textbook model of vision in the brain.</p>
2656 <aside class="pull-quote">
2657 <div class="pull-quote__text">“Neuroscience is entering into a new era where we understand that perception and action are intertwined loops. … There’s no action without perception and no perception without action.”</div>
2658 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Grigori Guitchounts</div>
2659 </aside>
2660
2661 <p>“It was really surprising to see this type of [movement-related] information in the visual cortex because traditionally people have thought of the visual cortex as something that only processes images,” said <a href="https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/119472">Grigori Guitchounts</a>, a postdoctoral researcher in the Neurobiology Department at Harvard Medical School and the study’s lead author. “It was mysterious, at first, why this sensory region would have this representation of the specific types of movements the animal was making.”</p>
2662 <p>While the scientists weren’t able to definitively say why this happens, they believe it has to do with how the brain perceives what’s around it.</p>
2663 <p>“The model explanation for this is that the brain somehow needs to coordinate perception and action,” Guitchounts said. “You need to know when a sensory input is caused by your own action as opposed to when it’s caused by something out there in the world.”</p>
2664 <p>For the study, Guitchounts teamed up with former Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology Professor <a href="http://www.coxlab.org/personnel/">David Cox</a>, alumnus Javier Masis, M.A. ’15, Ph.D. ’18, and postdoctoral researcher <a href="https://olveczkylab.oeb.harvard.edu/people/steffen-wolff">Steffen B.E. Wolff</a>. The work started in 2017 and wrapped up in 2019 while Guitchounts was a graduate researcher in <a href="http://www.coxlab.org/">Cox’s lab</a>. A preprint version of the paper published in January.</p>
2665 <p>The typical setup of past experiments on vision worked like this: Animals, like mice or monkeys, were sedated, restrained so their heads were in fixed positions, and then given visual stimuli, like photographs, so researchers could see which neurons in the brain reacted. The approach was pioneered by Harvard scientists David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel in the 1960s, and in 1981 they won a Nobel Prize in medicine for their efforts. Many experiments since then have followed their model, but it did not illuminate how movement affects the neurons that analyze.</p>
2666 <p>Researchers in this latest experiment wanted to explore that, so they watched 10 rats going about their days and nights. The scientists placed each rat in an enclosure, which doubled as its home, and continuously recorded their head movements. Using implanted electrodes, they measured the brain activity in the primary visual cortex as the rats moved.</p>
2667 <p>Half of the recordings were taken with the lights on. The other half were recorded in total darkness. The researchers wanted to compare what the visual cortex was doing when there was visual input versus when there wasn’t. To be sure the room was pitch black, they taped shut any crevice that could let in light, since rats have notoriously good vision at night.</p>
2668 <p>The data showed that on average, neurons in the rats’ visual cortices were more active when the animals moved than when they rested, even in the dark. That caught the researchers off guard: In a pitch-black room, there is no visual data to process. This meant that the activity was coming from the motor cortex, not an external image.</p>
2669
2670 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2671 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2672 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2673
2674
2675 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
2676 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2677
2678 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
2679 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.6% !important">
2680 <img width="1024" height="682" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-1024x682.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Rat brain scan." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/thumbnail_rat_lesion-01_H_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2681 </div>
2682
2683 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2684 <p class="photo-layout__caption">A digital micro-CT reconstruction of a rat's brain. This rat's secondary motor cortex was surgically removed (highlighted in blue), which did not affect the animal's movement, but did result in a total loss of movement-related signals in the visual cortex. </p>
2685 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Courtesy of Grigori Guitchounts</p>
2686 </figcaption>
2687
2688 </figure>
2689 </div>
2690
2691 <div class="article-wrap">
2692 <div class="article-content">
2693 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2694
2695
2696 <p>The team also noticed that the neural patterns in the visual cortex that were firing during movement differed in the dark and light, meaning they weren’t directly connected. Some neurons that were ready to activate in the dark were in a kind of sleep mode in the light.</p>
2697 <p>Using a machine-learning algorithm, the researchers encoded both patterns. That let them not only tell which way a rat was moving its head by just looking at the neural activity in its visual cortex, but also predict the movement several hundred milliseconds before the rat made it.</p>
2698 <p>The researchers confirmed that the movement signals came from the motor area of the brain by focusing on the secondary motor cortex. They surgically destroyed it in several rats, then ran the experiments again. The rats in which this area of the brain was lesioned no longer gave off signals in the visual cortex. However, the researchers were not able to determine if the signal originates in the secondary motor cortex. It could be only where it passes through, they said.</p>
2699
2700 <p>Furthermore, the scientists pointed out some limitations in their findings. For instance, they only measured the movement of the head, and did not measure eye movement. The study is also based on rodents, which are nocturnal. Their visual systems share similarities with humans and primates, but differ in complexity. Still, the paper adds to new lines of research and the findings could potentially be applied to neural networks that control machine vision, like those in autonomous vehicles.</p>
2701 <p>“It’s all to better understand how vision actually works,” Guitchounts said. “Neuroscience is entering into a new era where we understand that perception and action are intertwined loops. … There’s no action without perception and no perception without action. We have the technology now to measure this.”</p>
2702 <p><i>This work was supported by the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.</i></p>
2703
2704 ]]></content:encoded>
2705
2706
2707
2708 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2018_05_22__RecognizedCode-2-2_s2c12_H_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2709 <item>
2710 <title>Resistant cancer cells can be targeted for elimination</title>
2711 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/resistant-cancer-cells-can-be-targeted-for-elimination/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2712
2713 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2714 <pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2020 16:37:21 +0000</pubDate>
2715 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2716 <category><![CDATA[blood cancer]]></category>
2717 <category><![CDATA[Cell Metabolism]]></category>
2718 <category><![CDATA[Chemotherapy]]></category>
2719 <category><![CDATA[David Scadden]]></category>
2720 <category><![CDATA[resistant cancer cells]]></category>
2721 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310187</guid>
2722
2723 <description><![CDATA[Harvard University researchers have identified a unique characteristic of the resistant cancer cells, which could lead to an inhibitor can be repurposed and combined with chemotherapy to improve patient outcomes.]]></description>
2724 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Blood cancers, such as leukemia, can be effectively treated with chemotherapy, although relapse usually occurs when resistant cancer cells evade the original drug regimen.</p>
2725 <p>Harvard University researchers have identified a unique characteristic of the resistant cancer cells: a temporary change in metabolism, or how they use nutrients. The findings, <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(20)30367-3">published</a> in the journal Cell Metabolism, pave the way for using drugs to target the metabolic pathway and eliminate resistant cells.</p>
2726 <p>“In the cancer field, we usually think about resistance as a concept linked to permanent genetic changes. Our findings show that there are other mechanisms contributing to why some cells survive chemotherapy and others do not — the nutrients they have in their microenvironment and how they use them might matter just as much as the genetic background,” said senior author David Scadden, the Gerald and Darlene Jordan Professor of Medicine and professor of stem cell and regenerative biology.</p>
2727 <p>Resistant cancer cells are rare, so they are difficult to detect after chemotherapy. To identify the cells and track their progression over time, the researchers used a mouse model of acute myeloid leukemia and labeled the cells with a bioluminescent protein and a fluorescent protein. The researchers honed in on the cells at two specific time points.</p>
2728 <p>“We studied the cells when the cancer relapsed, which is normally the point that resistance is studied, because it is clinically obvious,” said lead author Nick van Gastel. “But we also isolated the cells at the point of maximal chemotherapy response, which is basically the moment that you have the fewest cells left. Those are the cells that endured the chemotherapy stress and can now cause relapse.”</p>
2729 <p>The researchers found that the cells left after chemotherapy went through a temporary change in metabolism. Specifically, they changed the way they used the amino acid glutamine, directing it almost exclusively to fuel nucleotide production.</p>
2730 <p>“If you look too late, when the relapse has occurred, these changes are no longer visible,” van Gastel said. “It’s a transient stress response. If you target metabolism during that time, the cancer cells are extremely vulnerable.”</p>
2731
2732 <p>When the researchers targeted glutamine metabolism or nucleotide production for even just one day, resistant cells were eliminated and disease survival improved.</p>
2733 <p>“This opens a whole new set of possibilities for targeting these cells because you’re no longer just looking for drugs that can target genetic mutations, which is difficult to do,” van Gastel said. “Metabolic programs are driven by enzymes, and from a chemical point of view they are much easier to target pharmacologically using small molecules and drugs.”</p>
2734 <p>Currently, several companies are developing potential drugs that inhibit this metabolic pathway, although not necessarily intended for cancer treatment. The researchers hope that an inhibitor can be repurposed and combined with chemotherapy to improve patient outcomes.</p>
2735 <p>“If you give the inhibitor to patients who have undergone chemotherapy, you might not need to give them this new drug for a very long period. You can really target that exact moment of metabolic change, which might avoid some of the toxicity issues associated with longer term treatments,” van Gastel said.</p>
2736 <p>Beyond leukemia, the researchers believe their approach has broader applicability. Scadden said: “In other types of cancer and diseases, the cells’ environment contributes to and often drives the outcome. Viewing these problems in the context of dynamic ecosystems can often lead to new approaches, but it does require moving away from the reductionist view of single genes or single cells. Find a key moment or pathway in the lives of cell communities, and we might be able to make a difference. It’s a bit like the keystone in an arch: studying that one stone won’t tell you much, but consider it in terms of the time of its placement and the stones beside it, and you really see its meaning.”</p>
2737 <p><em>This study was supported by Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, Tap Cancer Out, the Koch Institute – DF/HCC Bridge Project, the Swedish Research Council, the National Institutes of Health, the MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine, the Ludwig Center at MIT, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Ludwig Center at Harvard, and the Gerald and Darlene Jordan Chair of Medicine at Harvard.</em></p>
2738 ]]></content:encoded>
2739
2740
2741
2742 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Scadden_Cell_Metabolism_Aug2020_combined-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2743 <item>
2744 <title>Emily Balskus wins Waterman Award with $1M in research funding</title>
2745 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/emily-balskus-wins-waterman-award-with-1m-in-research-funding/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2746
2747 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2748 <pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
2749 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2750 <category><![CDATA[Award]]></category>
2751 <category><![CDATA[Bacteria]]></category>
2752 <category><![CDATA[Caitlin McDermott-Murphy]]></category>
2753 <category><![CDATA[Cancer]]></category>
2754 <category><![CDATA[Catherine Drennan]]></category>
2755 <category><![CDATA[Chemistry]]></category>
2756 <category><![CDATA[Chemistry and Chemical Biology]]></category>
2757 <category><![CDATA[Cholesterol]]></category>
2758 <category><![CDATA[Colon cancer]]></category>
2759 <category><![CDATA[Disease]]></category>
2760 <category><![CDATA[Emily Balskus]]></category>
2761 <category><![CDATA[FAS]]></category>
2762 <category><![CDATA[Gut]]></category>
2763 <category><![CDATA[human health]]></category>
2764 <category><![CDATA[L-dopa]]></category>
2765 <category><![CDATA[metagenomics]]></category>
2766 <category><![CDATA[Microbes]]></category>
2767 <category><![CDATA[Microbiology]]></category>
2768 <category><![CDATA[Microbiome]]></category>
2769 <category><![CDATA[National Science Foundation]]></category>
2770 <category><![CDATA[NSF]]></category>
2771 <category><![CDATA[Parkinson's disease]]></category>
2772 <category><![CDATA[Sethuraman Panchanathan]]></category>
2773 <category><![CDATA[therapeutics]]></category>
2774 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=309641</guid>
2775
2776 <description><![CDATA[Emily Balskus has won the Alan T. Waterman Award, the National Science Foundation's most prestigious prize for scientists under 40 in the United States. ]]></description>
2777 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Two plush microbes stare up at everyone who visits Emily Balskus’ office. One, a buttercup yellow, mimics the fuzzy hotdog-shaped <em>E. coli</em>. Another, baker’s yeast or <em>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</em>, is just a white sphere with eyes.</p>
2778 <p>Far larger than living microorganisms (and far cuter), these cuddly counterparts reveal not just Balskus’ research area, but also her admiration for her subjects. Most people fear the trillions of bacteria that live in and on the human body. But for Balskus, these microbes provide potential solutions to vast problems in human health and medicine ranging from drug metabolism to cholesterol management and even cancer.</p>
2779 <p>“Emily Balskus has opened up novel ways to explore and exploit the chemistry and biology of microbes that live in our bodies and how they are linked to our health,” said Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). “And we’re already seeing the potential impact.”</p>
2780 <p>Today, Panchanathan announced that Balskus is one of two recipients of the Alan T. Waterman Award, the NSF’s most prestigious prize for scientists under 40 in the United States. Balskus is only the sixth Harvard scientist (and the only Harvard woman) to receive a Waterman, which the government has awarded annually since 1975.</p>
2781 <p>“I hope that through receiving this award I can help to bring attention to microbes, the important roles they play in all aspects of our lives, and how chemistry can help us to understand the microbial world,” said Balskus, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology. She credits her research group, past and present, for earning this award. “It means a lot to all of us to know that the scientific community is excited about our discoveries and approach to science.”</p>
2782 <p>To study microbes, Balskus shifted into the biological realm, but her work is still fundamentally chemical. Bacteria perform mysterious chemistry, sometimes forging or dismantling molecules using reactions that lie beyond the skills of today’s best chemists. So, Balskus hunts for microbial genes that produce enzymes, protein-based catalysts that perform chemical reactions, to understand how and why microbes do what they do.</p>
2783 <p>“Despite the important roles these organisms play in all habitats, we know very little about how they influence surrounding environments and organisms,” Balskus said. “We don’t understand the chemistry they perform. For example, 85 percent of genes in the human gut microbiome can’t confidently be linked to a microbial activity.”</p>
2784 <p>But in her latest work, Balskus and her team linked genes in the human microbiome to microbial activity, mapping, in a way, how some members of the human gut might influence their host.</p>
2785 <p>For example, her lab recently discovered how certain microbes break down cholesterol in the human gut. Only some people host these cholesterol-busting bacteria and those who do tend to experience lower levels of blood cholesterol. This finding could lead to new types of treatment to manage high cholesterol levels.</p>
2786 <p>Balskus also discovered that some gut microbes can interfere with drug metabolism, gobbling up L-dopa, for example, before the Parkinson’s treatment can reach the brain and help assuage symptoms of the disease. And, her lab played an important role in discovering how <em>E. coli</em> produce a harmful toxin that damages the digestive system and potentially leads to increased risk of colon cancer.</p>
2787
2788 <p>“Much of our work has focused on elucidating how microbes in this environment are performing chemistry — what are the specific catalysts, or enzymes, that they use to perform chemical transformations that are linked to health or disease,” Balskus said. “With this knowledge, we can more accurately predict the chemistry performed by microbial communities, can begin to study its biological consequences, and can even think about developing tools to control it.”</p>
2789 <p>The Waterman Award, Balskus said, will allow her research team to take on higher-risk projects with potentially greater rewards and pursue creative directions that would have been impossible without NSF support.</p>
2790 <p>But Balskus has more than just scientific ambitions. “I hope that by receiving this award,” she said, “I can inspire women and other individuals who are underrepresented in science as well as gain a platform to highlight the challenges we currently face.” Growing up, all her science teachers were women; because of that, she didn’t hesitate to pursue a career in science.</p>
2791 <p>“The future of human health, of medicine, needs Emily’s research,” said <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_qFNuVJw8Q">Catherine Drennan</a>, a professor of biology and chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of Balskus’ collaborators. “I’m a fan of Emily. I’m just really inspired by her. And I want my 11-year-old daughter to look at her and say, ‘yes, women can do anything.’”</p>
2792 <p>Balskus shares the 2020 Waterman Award with John O. Dabiri, an aeronautical engineer at the California Institute of Technology. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSF postponed the original award ceremony; the agency will present Balskus and Dabiri with their awards, which include a medal and $1 million in research funding over five years, in Washington, D.C., at an unspecified date.</p>
2793 ]]></content:encoded>
2794
2795
2796
2797 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/111519_Emily-Balskus_060_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2798 <item>
2799 <title>Arboretum examines climate change’s impact on maple trees</title>
2800 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/arboretum-examines-climate-changes-impact-on-maple-trees/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2801
2802 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2803 <pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2020 11:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
2804 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2805 <category><![CDATA[Al Kovaleski]]></category>
2806 <category><![CDATA[Arnold Arboretum]]></category>
2807 <category><![CDATA[Climate Change]]></category>
2808 <category><![CDATA[Environments & Sustainability]]></category>
2809 <category><![CDATA[Evolution]]></category>
2810 <category><![CDATA[Jake Grossman]]></category>
2811 <category><![CDATA[maples]]></category>
2812 <category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
2813 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=300808</guid>
2814
2815 <description><![CDATA[Researchers at the Arnold Arboretum are studying how maple trees are adapting to climate change.]]></description>
2816 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This year’s dramatically fluctuating temperature cycles from seasonably cold days to atypically warm stretches and back again has affected the life cycles of many species, including plants. At the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, two scientists are examining how maple trees (<em>Acer</em>) are responding to climate stress and what that means for the future of the genus. Jake Grossman and Al Kovaleski, Putnam Fellows at the Arboretum, are modeling the evolution of the maples located in the Arboretum’s living collections, examining their 60 million-year journey from their origins in East Asia to current global distribution. By learning how the trees withstand low temperature stress in their tissues and respond to warm spells when they are dormant — called “cold hardiness” — they can help predict outcomes of climate change for maples, and other trees in Northern Hemisphere forests, and potentially even crops and agriculture. We asked the researchers what they are learning about how plants adapt and evolve to climate change and what it means for New England and beyond.</p>
2817 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">Q&A</h2>
2818 <h3 class="transcript-header-1 transcript-header-2">Jake Grossman and Al Kovaleski</h3>
2819 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Gazette:</strong></span> Does the rate of climate change impact a species’ ability to evolve and adapt to weather conditions?</p>
2820 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Grossman</strong>:</span> Climate change does two things to weather. First, over time, average weather conditions change. The most obvious example of this is that our climate is getting warmer. So, every year, the average low temps and, to a lesser extent, the average high temps get higher. Second, climate change increases variability in weather. So, some years feature multiple extreme snow or rainstorms and flooding whereas other years feature droughts. This is already happening, but humans can still control how fast it happens, and that matters to plant evolution.</p>
2821 <p>One way of thinking about this is in terms of “generation time” — the years from when a maple seedling sprouts to when it produces its own first daughter seed. This probably ranges from 10 to 30 years for maples. Maples have been evolving independently as a genus for about two million generations. This means that if you traced back any given maple tree two million generations, you would hit the grandmother of all maples. During that time, the climate changed a lot, going from periods in which there was no ice anywhere on earth through several ice ages, and maples evolved along with it. By 2200, in about seven maple generations, the climate could change so much that it resembles a past extremely hot climate that the world hasn’t seen for roughly 1.5 million maple generations, or 50 million years. Maples will probably be able to survive somewhere on Earth in this new, hot climate, but they absolutely will not be able to evolve to be adapted to it in seven generations. For reference, our hominid ancestors began using tools only 1.8 million years — or 60,000 maple generations ago, so this future climate scenario will also be totally unlike anything we have ever seen.</p>
2822
2823 </div><!-- article-body -->
2824 </div><!-- article-content -->
2825 </div><!--article-wrap -->
2826
2827
2828 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-asymmetric symmetric">
2829 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2830 <div class="photo-layout__images">
2831
2832 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--a">
2833 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.21% !important">
2834 <img width="1024" height="678" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-1024x678.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Jake Grossman, Arnold Arboretum Putnam Fellow, in the lab." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .406), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .406), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-300x199.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-768x509.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-2048x1357.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-1350x894.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-1500x994.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7092_2500-951x630.jpg 951w" /> </div>
2835 </div>
2836
2837 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--b">
2838 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.21% !important">
2839 <img width="1024" height="678" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-1024x678.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Freezing maple twigs using liquid Nitrogen." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 704px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .575), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .575), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-300x199.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-768x509.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-2048x1357.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-1350x894.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-1500x994.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7189_2500-951x630.jpg 951w" /> </div>
2840 </div>
2841
2842 </div>
2843
2844 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2845 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Jake Grossman uses a conductivity probe to assess the damage caused by the freezing of a maple twig in the Arboretum’s Weld Hill lab. Grossman and Al Kovaleski use liquid nitrogen to cause the deep freeze.</p>
2846 </figcaption>
2847 </figure>
2848 </div>
2849
2850 <div class="article-wrap">
2851 <div class="article-content">
2852 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2853
2854
2855 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Kovaleski</strong>:</span> Another thing we have to consider when studying the adaptation of plants is their plasticity, how plants can mold themselves to the conditions they are exposed to. As Jake mentioned, there is year-to-year variation in weather, and plants respond slightly differently each year to accommodate this variation. This means that the same plant adapts to a range of climates. This is important to acknowledge because a lot of times we’ll see that the climate is changing, but plants still seem to be adapted to it. However, they’re being continuously pushed toward their limit now — even if we can’t perceive it. The early onset of spring this year can leave plants at an extreme risk of great damage should a late freeze occur.</p>
2856 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Gazette:</strong></span> Is there a way to mitigate the negative effects of climate change on plants and crops?</p>
2857 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Grossman</strong>:</span> The best way to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on plants is through things like dramatically reducing emissions and creating policies to protect our environment in order to prevent further climate change. But given that we are already committed to considerable climate warming, we can manage our forests and farm fields, gardens and parks to be more resilient to the warmer temperatures and more erratic patterns of rain and snow that we will experience in the future. This could mean experimenting with planting more drought-tolerant species in New England with the expectation that our climate here will continue to get warmer and more drought-prone. Or it could include “assisted migration,” when we plant seeds or whole plants in areas that might not be ideal for them now, but where they might thrive in future climate scenarios.</p>
2858 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Kovaleski</strong>:</span> For crops, we can consider crossing populations that are already well-adapted to different climates to generate a new population that is expected to be intermediate in its climatic adaptation. This is what plant breeders work on continuously for all crops: adapting them to emerging climate conditions, as well as pest resistance, nutritional quality, etc. Blueberries are perhaps the best example of a very successful story. What was done was crossing highbush blueberry plants with good fruit quality that are native to temperate climates with other species that are native to warmer climate regions in the southeastern US but didn’t have very good fruit. By doing this, breeders were able to combine the fruit quality with the adaptation to a warmer climate, thus generating what is now called the southern highbush blueberry.</p>
2859 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Gazette:</strong></span> How might the warmer winter temperatures we are experiencing now impact the production of New England maple syrup?</p>
2860 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Grossman</strong>:</span> For ideal maple syrup production, trees need to experience cold nights and relatively warm days. This causes sap to move rapidly through a maple’s trunk, which creates opportunities for us to siphon it off. Often times, our warming climate manifests as an increase in daily low temperatures, rather than an increase in daily high temperatures, producing less extreme cold-warm cycles over a day. This might make sap less mobile, harming syrup production. On a larger level, climate change is projected to reduce sugar maple abundance in New England, which means fewer trees will be available to tap.</p>
2861
2862 </div> <!-- article-body -->
2863 </div> <!-- article-content -->
2864 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
2865
2866
2867 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
2868 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2869
2870 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.22% !important">
2871 <img width="1350" height="894" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-1350x894.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Twigs are routinely collected." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-1350x894.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-300x199.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-768x509.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-2048x1357.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-1500x994.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7127_2500-951x630.jpg 951w" /> </div>
2872
2873 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2874 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Twigs are routinely collected from a panel of 16 species in the Arboretum’s landscape.</p>
2875 </figcaption>
2876
2877 </figure>
2878 </div>
2879
2880 <div class="article-wrap">
2881 <div class="article-content">
2882 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2883
2884
2885 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Gazette:</strong></span> The Arboretum has a diverse collection of maples — including rare and endangered species from around the world. What is the effect of this research on the Arboretum’s collection? What is the effect on United States forests?</p>
2886 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Grossman</strong>:</span> Our research helps us understand more about the response of maples to what we might call climate stress — the environmental factors that challenge woody plants and that are likely to get even worse as our climate changes. Our findings will help the Arboretum’s managers decide which maples to seek out and plant — species that will be able to survive here in the future. They also will help staff keep the existing maples alive by, for instance, informing irrigation priorities. When we think about forests overall, maples are dominant trees in eastern deciduous forests and important sources of wood, syrup, and other things. Knowing how climate stress affects particular maples species will help foresters, conservationists, and other land managers to prioritize the planting, care, and harvest of natural forests, plantations, and urban woodlands.</p>
2887 <figure id="attachment_302664" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-302664" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-302664 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500.jpg" alt="maple twigs just clipped from a red maple tree." width="1024" height="678" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500-300x199.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500-768x509.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500-2048x1357.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500-1350x894.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500-1500x994.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7162_2500-951x630.jpg 951w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-302664" class="wp-caption-text">Freshly clipped red maple twigs.</figcaption></figure>
2888 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Gazette:</strong></span> Can maple species fail?</p>
2889 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Grossman</strong>:</span> It is maybe best to think about failure in terms of individual trees, and the answer is yes. For instance, all trees have small tubes that extend all the way around their trunks, these are called xylem. Their purpose is to conduct water from the ground to the leaves at the top of the tree, and everywhere in between. During exceptionally warm conditions, if a particular tree’s soil becomes really dry, bubbles form in these tubes. When that happens to a particular xylem tube, it is unusable forever. If most or all of a tree’s xylem gets emptied out — or cavitated — the tree dies. Or with freezing, we could imagine that a particular maple tree has been exposed to warm weather for several weeks. It begins to send out new leaves and flowers because it has received signals that spring has arrived. If a really cold period moves in, this tender, actively growing material might freeze or get dried out. If so, the tree has now lost its investment in a whole cohort of leaves or flowers. If it is a small or already weak tree, it may have trouble replacing them and could starve to death in the coming year. Finally, if we want to think about the ultimate “failure” of a particular species, that would be something like extinction. This is certainly possible, although it often takes a long time for long-lived trees like maples. If humans are not overharvesting a species, it takes a long time for total climate-induced extinction to affect a long-lived woody species.</p>
2890 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Kovaleski</strong>:</span> Adding to Jake’s example of freezing, which is more easily observed because you could see green tissues on the tree or plant, this can also happen <em>within</em> the buds of the plants <em>before</em> they’ve gone through any visible changes. If the temperatures drop below the cold hardiness level a certain plant has, the buds can be killed and they just won’t grow the following season, without a very clear sign — unless you are scientifically tracking the cold hardiness of things throughout the winter.</p>
2891 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Gazette:</strong></span> What does the broader impact of your research mean for scientists working on climate change mitigation around the world?</p>
2892 <p><span class="transcript-speaker"><strong>Grossman</strong>:</span> Our research helps demonstrate the consequences of climate change for temperate forests, urban trees, and forestry plantations. Hopefully, if people know more about what is likely to happen, they will be motivated to mitigate climate change. From an adaptation angle, our research can guide management of trees and forests in a rapidly changing climate.</p>
2893
2894 ]]></content:encoded>
2895
2896
2897
2898 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AI_Jake_DSC_7139_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2899 <item>
2900 <title>New England’s trees capturing more carbon, says 25-year study</title>
2901 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/new-englands-trees-capturing-more-carbon-says-25-year-study/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2902
2903 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2904 <pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2020 15:50:21 +0000</pubDate>
2905 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2906 <category><![CDATA[carbon storing]]></category>
2907 <category><![CDATA[Climate Change]]></category>
2908 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Forest]]></category>
2909 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site]]></category>
2910 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=310004</guid>
2911
2912 <description><![CDATA[The rate at which carbon is captured from the atmosphere at Harvard Forest nearly doubled between 1992 and 2015, a 25-year study reveals.]]></description>
2913 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Climate change has increased the productivity of forests, according to a new study that synthesizes hundreds of thousands of carbon observations collected over the last quarter century at the <a href="https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/research/LTER">Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site</a>, one of the most intensively studied forests in the world.</p>
2914 <p>The study, published today in Ecological Monographs, reveals that the rate at which carbon is captured from the atmosphere at <a href="http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/">Harvard Forest</a> nearly doubled between 1992 and 2015. The scientists attribute much of the increase in storage capacity to the growth of 100-year-old oak trees, still vigorously rebounding from colonial-era land clearing, intensive timber harvest, and the 1938 Hurricane — and bolstered more recently by increasing temperatures and a longer growing season due to climate change. Trees have also been growing faster due to regional increases in precipitation and atmospheric carbon dioxide, while decreases in atmospheric pollutants such as ozone, sulfur, and nitrogen have reduced forest stress.</p>
2915 <p>“It is remarkable that changes in climate and atmospheric chemistry within our own lifetimes have accelerated the rate at which forest are capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” says Adrien Finzi, professor of biology at Boston University and a co-lead author of the study.</p>
2916
2917 </div><!-- article-body -->
2918 </div><!-- article-content -->
2919 </div><!--article-wrap -->
2920
2921
2922 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-asymmetric ">
2923 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
2924 <div class="photo-layout__images">
2925
2926 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--a">
2927 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
2928 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Soil respiration chamber." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .406), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .406), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/soil-respiration-chamber_Marc-Andre-Giasson2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2929 </div>
2930
2931 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap photo-layout__image-wrap--b">
2932 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
2933 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Monitoring a tree's respiration." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 704px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .575), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .575), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Monitoring-tree-respiration.2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
2934 </div>
2935
2936 </div>
2937
2938 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
2939 <p class="photo-layout__caption">An automated soil respiration chamber measures carbon dioxide emitted by the soil as plant roots and microscopic organisms use energy. Postdoctoral fellow Tim Rademacher and student researcher Kyle Wyche measure the respiration of an oak tree at Harvard Forest.</p>
2940 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Photos by Marc-Andre Giasson and Sara Plisinski</p>
2941 </figcaption>
2942 </figure>
2943 </div>
2944
2945 <div class="article-wrap">
2946 <div class="article-content">
2947 <div class="article-body basic-text">
2948
2949
2950 <p>The volume of data brought together for the analysis — by two dozen scientists from 11 institutions — is unprecedented, as is the consistency of the results. Carbon measurements taken in air, soil, water, and trees are notoriously difficult to reconcile, in part because of the different timescales on which the processes operate. But when viewed together, a nearly complete carbon budget — one of the holy grails of ecology — emerges, documenting the flow of carbon through the forest in a complex, multi-decadal circuit.</p>
2951 <p>“Our data show that the growth of trees is the engine that drives carbon storage in this forest ecosystem,” says Audrey Barker Plotkin, senior ecologist at Harvard Forest and a co-lead author of the study. “Soils contain a lot of the forest’s carbon — about half of the total — but that storage hasn’t changed much in the past quarter-century.”</p>
2952 <p>The trees show no signs of slowing their growth, even as they come into their second century of life. But the scientists note that what we see today may not be the forest’s future. “It’s entirely possible that other forest development processes like tree age may dampen or reverse the pattern we’ve observed,” says Finzi.</p>
2953 <p>The study revealed other seeds of vulnerability resulting from climate change and human activity, such as the spread of invasive insects.</p>
2954
2955 <p>At Harvard Forest, hemlock-dominated forests were accumulating carbon at similar rates to hardwood forests until the arrival of the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect, in the early 2000s. In 2014, as more trees began to die, the hemlock forest switched from a carbon “sink,” which stores carbon, to a carbon “source,” which releases more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than it captures.</p>
2956 <p>The research team also points to extreme storms, suburbanization, and the recent relaxation of federal air and water quality standards as pressures that could reverse the gains forests have made.</p>
2957 <p>“Witnessing in real time the rapid decline of our beloved hemlock forest makes the threat of future losses very real,” says Barker Plotkin. “It’s important to recognize the vital service forests are providing now, and to safeguard those into the future.”</p>
2958
2959 ]]></content:encoded>
2960
2961
2962
2963 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ProspectHill_2007_EMSTower_1785-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
2964 <item>
2965 <title>Never-before-seen bacterium found at Arnold Arboretum</title>
2966 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/never-before-seen-bacterium-found-at-arnold-arboretum/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
2967
2968 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
2969 <pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2020 16:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
2970 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
2971 <category><![CDATA[Alvin Powell]]></category>
2972 <category><![CDATA[Arnold Arboretum]]></category>
2973 <category><![CDATA[Bacteria]]></category>
2974 <category><![CDATA[basic research]]></category>
2975 <category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
2976 <category><![CDATA[Environmental]]></category>
2977 <category><![CDATA[Kathryn Richardson]]></category>
2978 <category><![CDATA[Kristie Tanner]]></category>
2979 <category><![CDATA[Michael Dosmann]]></category>
2980 <category><![CDATA[new species]]></category>
2981 <category><![CDATA[Real Colegio Complutense]]></category>
2982 <category><![CDATA[Solar panel]]></category>
2983 <category><![CDATA[Sphingomonas solaris]]></category>
2984 <category><![CDATA[William Friedman]]></category>
2985 <category><![CDATA[Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering]]></category>
2986 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=297570</guid>
2987
2988 <description><![CDATA[A new species of bacteria, one that makes its home on the relatively hot and dry surface of a solar panel, was discovered recently at the Arnold Arboretum, offering a lesson that nature’s reach extends even to the artificial.]]></description>
2989 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Researchers have discovered new life — a never-before-seen bacterium — in a novel environment, one created by humans and spreading rapidly around the globe, at Harvard University’s <a href="https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/">Arnold Arboretum</a>.</p>
2990 <p>The new species is marked by the presence of colorful carotenoid pigments and an affinity for solar radiation, high temperatures, limited nutrients, and desiccation. That combination may be tough to find in lush New England, but is common on solar panels like those at the Arboretum’s Hunnewell Building, where it was discovered.</p>
2991 <p>Arboretum Director <a href="https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/people/ned-friedman/">William “Ned” Friedman</a> said the find is a reminder that, even as humans dominate nature to an unprecedented extent, natural processes still continue in seemingly unnatural environments, like the solar panels that provide about a third of the Arboretum’s power.</p>
2992 <p>“Every time we throw up panels, every time we create new surfaces, not only are there things that can exploit them — like this new species — but you shouldn’t expect that evolution isn’t going to happen and create things that better exploit them over time,” Friedman said. “In urban ecosystems, one might even anticipate that there are accelerated aspects of evolution because you’re presenting nature with new challenges or opportunities.”</p>
2993 <figure id="attachment_297592" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-297592" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-297592 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500.jpg" alt="Samples of bacteria." width="1024" height="1434" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500.jpg 1785w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-214x300.jpg 214w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-731x1024.jpg 731w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-1462x2048.jpg 1462w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-1350x1891.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-500x700.jpg 500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-1000x1400.jpg 1000w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-1071x1500.jpg 1071w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Holding-Petri-dish_2500-450x630.jpg 450w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-297592" class="wp-caption-text">Samples of the bacteria after being cultured in the lab. Photo by Kristie Tanner</figcaption></figure>
2994 <p>The bacterium, <em>Sphingomonas solaris</em>, was discovered by Kristie Tanner, a <a href="https://www.uv.es/uvweb/college/en/university-valencia-1285845048380.html">University of Valencia</a> graduate student on a three-month stay in Boston, thanks to a grant from <a href="https://rcc.harvard.edu/">Harvard’s Real Colegio Complutense</a>. Tanner was conducting Ph.D. research, which included sampling and characterizing microbial communities living on solar panels in an array of environments, such as the Arctic, Antarctic, Boston, and her native Spain.</p>
2995 <p>The collecting trip lasted just an afternoon, Tanner said. She took samples from the Hunnewell Building’s solar array by washing the panels with sterile water and collecting the water in test tubes. Once at the lab of her host, <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/visiting-scholars/ahmad-khalil/">Ahmad Khalil</a>, a visiting scholar at Harvard’s <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/">Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering</a> and a <a href="https://www.bu.edu/">Boston University</a> biomedical engineering professor, she isolated 40 different bacteria species and noticed that one’s 16S gene — an identification marker — differed from anything known.</p>
2996 <p>“It was a big surprise,” Tanner said. “I’ve been doing bioprospecting for five years, studying bacteria in these weird and wonderful environments, and I said, ‘This could be a new species.’”</p>
2997 <p>Tanner, assisted by colleagues in Boston and Spain, set about characterizing the new species and writing the exhaustive description required to introduce it to the broader scientific community. The manuscript was published in January in the <a href="https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.003977">International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology</a>. The manuscript preparation was nerve-wracking, Tanner said, because she had to be both thorough and fast — and keep an eye on scientific publications to ensure another group didn’t beat her to it.</p>
2998 <p>“It’s been very exciting,” she said.</p>
2999 <p>Tanner and Friedman said it is most likely that the new species was an unrecognized transplant from the nearby environment, perhaps nearby soil. It joins more than 120 species of the <em>Sphingomonas</em> genus, discovered in 1990. Some <em>Sphingomonas </em>species have potential applications in bioremediation of heavy metals and other environmental pollutants.</p>
3000
3001 <p><a href="https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/people/michael-dosmann/">Michael Dosmann</a>, the Arboretum’s keeper of living collections, said the find adds to the long list of species whose discovery is linked to the Arboretum’s work. Over its nearly 150-year history, Arboretum researchers have discovered numerous species as they’ve traveled in search of specimens to add to its 16,000 living plants and 1.5 million herbarium specimens.</p>
3002 <p>Relatively few species have been discovered on the grounds of the Arboretum itself, but those discoveries are not unknown. In 2016, a postdoc at Harvard’s <a href="https://huh.harvard.edu/pages/farlow-herbarium-fh">Farlow Herbarium</a> discovered a new species of truffle fungus, <em>Tuber arnoldianum</em>, living symbiotically among tree roots, and in 2018, researchers there discovered that an evergreen hemlock — already part of the collection — was in fact a new species, <em>Tsuga ulleungensis</em>, native to an island off South Korea’s east coast.</p>
3003 <p>The most recent find, Dosmann said, highlights how little we still know about biodiversity, even in places as well-trod and well-studied as Arnold Arboretum. Dosmann said that finding a new species used to mean taking a plane, then a boat, a train, a bus, and a horse to reach untouched wilderness, but as our understanding of the micro-environment grows, as humans continually alter the landscape, and as the climate affecting known ecosystems shifts, the idea of “novel ecosystems” — and the biodiversity it promotes — comes closer and closer to home.</p>
3004 <p>“What we’ve written down is a moon-cast shadow to what exists,” Dosmann said. “It does make you wonder: What are we going to find tomorrow?”</p>
3005 ]]></content:encoded>
3006
3007
3008
3009 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Solar-panels-9-20182_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3010 <item>
3011 <title>Harvard researchers create hybrid algorithm for NMR readings</title>
3012 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/harvard-researchers-create-hybrid-algorithm-for-nmr-readings/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3013
3014 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3015 <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2020 17:28:32 +0000</pubDate>
3016 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3017 <category><![CDATA[Brigham and Women's Hospital]]></category>
3018 <category><![CDATA[Dries Sels]]></category>
3019 <category><![CDATA[Eugene Demler]]></category>
3020 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
3021 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Medical School]]></category>
3022 <category><![CDATA[Hesam Dashti]]></category>
3023 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
3024 <category><![CDATA[Nature Machine Intelligence]]></category>
3025 <category><![CDATA[NMR spectroscopy]]></category>
3026 <category><![CDATA[Olga Demler]]></category>
3027 <category><![CDATA[Physics Department]]></category>
3028 <category><![CDATA[quantum computers]]></category>
3029 <category><![CDATA[Samia Mora]]></category>
3030 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=308862</guid>
3031
3032 <description><![CDATA[New quantum-classical algorithm brings nuclear magnetic resonance readings closer to “near-term” quantum computing. ]]></description>
3033 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A process called NMR spectroscopy that is often used to find and identify small molecules in biological samples such as blood and urine has become a powerful diagnostic tool for medical professionals, helping identify biomarkers of specific diseases and disorders.</p>
3034 <p>But the technique has its limits, especially when researchers need to identify molecules that haven’t been catalogued already — that is, the vast majority of them.</p>
3035 <p>A trio of doctors and medical researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School wanted to make this complicated and time-consuming process a lot simpler, and hoped quantum physics could help. They figured that since the basics of NMR, short for nuclear magnetic resonance, is grounded in quantum mechanics, then perhaps a quantum computer could help push the technique beyond the current limits set by using ordinary computer processors to interpret the data.</p>
3036 <p>The researchers from the Medical School enlisted a pair of quantum physicists from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to help. Now, the combination of medical researchers and quantum scientists have published the results of their collaboration — a new algorithm for decoding signals from NMR readings that draws from both quantum computing and classical machine learning — in a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-020-0198-x">new study</a> in Nature Machine Intelligence<em>.</em></p>
3037 <p>The hybrid algorithm does, in theory, just what the researchers hoped. It would reduce a process that can take days for classical computers days into just minutes by using quantum systems that run on only 50 to 100 quantum bits, or “qubits,” the fundamental building blocks on which these computers operate. In other words, the algorithm works on both quantum computers that already exist and the so-called “near-term” quantum computers now being developed. These machines would act as a bridge between the intermediate period of current error- (or “noise-”) prone machines and the error-correcting, perfected versions envisioned to become reality decades from now.</p>
3038 <p>The researchers believe the new hybrid algorithm can be one of the first applications for the not-so-distant intermediate computers, helping fill a growing need in practical applications of quantum technology as the hardware catches up with the theory. Quantum computers use the mysterious properties of matter at extremely small scales to greatly advance processing power and perform calculations that are virtually impossible for ordinary computers to solve.</p>
3039 <p>In recent years, finding useful applications for existing or near-term quantum computers has been a central challenge for researchers, said <a href="https://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/demler">Eugene Demler</a>, professor of physics and one of the paper’s co-authors.</p>
3040 <p>“We should not just think of applications for perfect quantum computers. We should think of applications of quantum computers for the near future,” Demler said. “It’s important to realize that we can use these non-perfect computers — these noisy, intermediate-scale quantum computers — to already study what’s important for biomedical research.”</p>
3041 <p>The algorithm has only just passed the proof-of-concept stage, according to the paper, but it opens a door to possibilities in chemical, medical, and biological research using NMR if it can be expanded beyond the tests the researchers outlined.</p>
3042 <p>Take blood, for example, said paper co-author <a href="https://researchfaculty.brighamandwomens.org/BRIProfile.aspx?id=1703">Samia Mora</a>, an associate professor of medicine at the Medical School and a cardiovascular medicine specialist at the Brigham. “We know there are thousands of molecules in the bloodstream, but right now with NMR we probably only measure about 200 [of them],” she said. “In the future, ideally, we would be able to expand this algorithm to be able to solve for this problem of what are these molecules in the bloodstream beyond the ones that we already know.”</p>
3043 <p>Doctors could then base treatments, like cancer therapy, off those readings, or they could prescribe preventative measures if a patient has small molecules in his or her blood that correspond with heart disease. The readings could also help in drug discovery or vaccine research.</p>
3044 <p>“Having a better understanding of the molecular signatures of diseases or treatments is really very impactful for many areas across many, many different disciplines,” Mora said.</p>
3045 <p>Other Harvard researchers who worked on the study included <a href="https://dashti.bwh.harvard.edu/">Hesam Dashti</a>, a research fellow at the Brigham and HMS, <a href="https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/61711">Olga Demler</a>, an associate biostatistician at the Brigham and assistant professor at HMS, and Dries Sels, Demler’s postdoctoral fellow and the lead author of the study.</p>
3046 <p>Sels and Demler had been searching for an opportunity like the one presented in the paper. They wanted a crack at a problem that has real-world applications, is hard for classical computers, yet could be solved using existing and near-term quantum computers. Quantum-assisted NMR spectroscopy checked all the boxes since the readings, called a spectrogram, are put together by measuring a complex set of quantum spins.</p>
3047 <p>For example, to get a spectrogram, biological samples are placed inside a machine that has a magnetic field and are then bombarded with radio waves to excite the nuclear magnetic properties in the molecules. The NMR machine reads those spins as different signatures.</p>
3048
3049 <p>The recorded spectrogram, however, only contains very indirect information about the molecular structures, making analyzing and identifying those molecules a complex pattern-recognition problem. If the patterns aren’t recognized or previously known, it can take days or months of trial and error to put together an answer, because ordinary computers must make those computations one at a time.</p>
3050 <p>Using a quantum system takes advantage of its ability to access and calculate faster, and makes use of a mathematical construct known as Hilbert space and the higher processing power of qubits. One qubit can be two traditional values at once, a pair can be four, and so on. The problem with the current or intermediate quantum computers, though, is that all that computing power accumulates a lot of noise, making the whole calculation inaccurate.</p>
3051 <p>Hybrid algorithms have been proven to be an effective bridge to solve for this, so the researchers thought they might work here, too. In the paper, they describe how their hybrid algorithm uses classical statistical methods, like Bayesian machine learning, to cluster and refine the search to correct for errors brought on by the quantum part of the algorithm, leading to the correct molecule.</p>
3052 <p>“There are three parts to the paper,” said Sels. “All three ingredients are necessary because if you leave out the first part where we restrict ourselves to these clusters of physical molecules, then basically you’ll start in some place that’s so far away from where you actually want to end up that you’ll be searching for it forever. And then in the last part, the same thing: If you don’t do it cleverly, then the noise levels of your quantum computer will be so high, they’ll just be going in circles — you’ll be randomly searching.”</p>
3053 <p>They tested the algorithm using simple molecules that had only four quantum spins and had already been identified, so they knew whether the algorithm worked. The researchers hope to expand the algorithm’s capability so it can analyze and identify more-complex molecules. They also believe the algorithm can be extended to solve for other types of spectroscopic analysis using existing quantum computers.</p>
3054 <p>“It probably took us 20 or so years to get to the current stage of development of quantum computing hardware,” Sels said. “The road ahead to quantum computers that can do error correction and are good enough to be plug-and-play devices is presumably equally as long. If we don’t have applications for these intermediate or current state-of-the-art machines, then we might face a quantum winter.”</p>
3055 <p><em>Harvard’s <a title="https://otd.harvard.edu/" href="https://otd.harvard.edu/">Office of Technology Development</a> has protected the intellectual property associated with this work and is exploring possible commercialization opportunities.</em></p>
3056 <p><em>This work was supported by the Harvard Quantum Initiative, the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Dries Sels is a senior postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders in Belgium.</em></p>
3057 ]]></content:encoded>
3058
3059
3060
3061 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Molecule_iStock-Rasi-Bhadramani-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3062 <item>
3063 <title>‘I Am A Scientist’ offers students STEM role models</title>
3064 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/i-am-a-scientist/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3065
3066 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3067 <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2020 21:21:07 +0000</pubDate>
3068 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3069 <category><![CDATA[Cassandra Extavour]]></category>
3070 <category><![CDATA[Daniele Foresti]]></category>
3071 <category><![CDATA[David Kelley]]></category>
3072 <category><![CDATA[Diversity and Inclusion]]></category>
3073 <category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
3074 <category><![CDATA[Francesca Dominici]]></category>
3075 <category><![CDATA[I Am A Scientist]]></category>
3076 <category><![CDATA[Marinna Madrid]]></category>
3077 <category><![CDATA[Noor Al-Alusi]]></category>
3078 <category><![CDATA[Pardis Sabeti]]></category>
3079 <category><![CDATA[Rodrigo Braga]]></category>
3080 <category><![CDATA[Ryoji Amamoto]]></category>
3081 <category><![CDATA[Science]]></category>
3082 <category><![CDATA[Scott Edwards]]></category>
3083 <category><![CDATA[STEM]]></category>
3084 <category><![CDATA[Wade Campbell]]></category>
3085 <category><![CDATA[Yamicia Connor]]></category>
3086 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=308540</guid>
3087
3088 <description><![CDATA[An initiative seeks to make scientists and their work more relatable to young students to promote STEM diversity.]]></description>
3089 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The idea is simple: Students who see themselves in science are more likely to imagine themselves working in the field.</p>
3090 <p>To that end, a project called “<a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/">I Am A Scientist</a>” is giving middle and high school students the opportunity to interact with modern-day researchers — breaking down barriers like race, gender, and personal interests. It provides teachers with toolkits containing stories, posters, and career resources showcasing 22 scientists’ range of personalities, backgrounds, pathways, and passions. Many of those portrayed have Harvard connections.</p>
3091 <p>“I think that a lot of us have gone onto Google search images and the first thing that comes up when you search for a scientist is a caricature of an old white man with maybe tufts of white hair on the side and glasses falling off his nose,” said <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/ayanna-thomas">Ayanna Thomas</a>, a Tufts psychologist featured in the project.</p>
3092 <p>The spark for the project came in 2016 when Nabiha Saklayen, Ph.D. ’17, wrote a <a href="https://medium.com/@nsaklayen/i-dont-look-like-a-physicist-edcf2549967e">blog post</a> about not fitting into society’s dated ideas of what a physicist looks like, drawing the attention of her longtime friend, Stephanie Fine Sasse, founder and director of educational design studio <a href="https://theplenary.co/public-blog/2019/10/10/introducing-the-plenary">The Plenary</a>. The women found that they had faced many similar challenges, despite coming from different fields and backgrounds. Their commitment to reducing the barriers for future generations combined with their belief that STEM benefits from diversity birthed the initiative.</p>
3093 </div> <!-- article-body -->
3094 </div> <!-- article-content -->
3095 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
3096
3097 <figure class="article-embed article-embed--default article-ratio--16-9">
3098
3099 <div class="article-embed__content">
3100 <div class="embed-container embed-container--video"><iframe title="#IAmAScientist: Breaking Barriers & Stereotypes in STE(A)M" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E0ZFXUpZ0-Y?feature=oembed&modestbranding=1&autohide=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
3101 </div>
3102
3103 <figcaption class="article-embed__figcaption">
3104 <div class="article-embed__figcaption-content">
3105 <p class="article-embed__figcaption-caption">Albert Einstein? ... Bill Nye The Science Guy? In this video, students who struggle to name scientists off the top of their heads meet researchers and get a close-up look at the work they do.</p>
3106 </div>
3107 </figcaption>
3108
3109 </figure>
3110
3111 <div class="article-wrap">
3112 <div class="article-content">
3113 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3114
3115 <p> </p>
3116 <p>Twelve of the 22 scientists featured in the project are Harvard-trained or -affiliated. Below are snippets of their stories.</p>
3117 <hr />
3118 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A world traveler and adventurer committed to using science to keep all communities healthy</h2>
3119
3120 </div><!-- article-body -->
3121 </div><!-- article-content -->
3122 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3123
3124
3125 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3126
3127 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3128 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3129 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3130 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Noor-Al-Alusi-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Noor Al-Alusi." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Noor-Al-Alusi-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Noor-Al-Alusi-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Noor-Al-Alusi-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Noor-Al-Alusi-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Noor-Al-Alusi.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3131
3132 </div>
3133
3134 </figure>
3135
3136 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3137 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3138 Noor Al-Alusi </h2>
3139 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3140 <b>Epidemiologist</b><br>
3141 <i>University of California, San Francisco</i><br><br>
3142 <b>Harvard connection:</b> Studied at T.H. Chan School of Public Health<br><br><br>
3143 <b>“I have a black belt in Taekwondo. When I was in high school, I was on the pole vaulting team. I am driven by a deep desire to help others. Sometimes I talk in my sleep. I believe that all people have a fundamental right to health care.”</b> <br><br><br>
3144 <b>Her work:</b> During the Zika epidemic, Al-Alusi met with communities hardest hit by the virus, using data and mathematical models to keep them safe and healthy.<br><br>
3145 <b>She wants to know:</b> What makes diseases spread? How do we make sure everyone has what they need to fight disease?<br><br>
3146 <b>Background:</b> Al-Alusi was born in California but her parents emigrated from Iraq. This experience provided her with an understanding of the health needs of the immigrant community.<br><br>
3147 <b>Loves:</b> Human rights, adventure, fashion, public health, travel<br><br><br>
3148 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/noor-al-alusi">Learn more about Al-Alusi and epidemiology.</a> </div>
3149 </div>
3150
3151 </div>
3152
3153 <div class="article-wrap">
3154 <div class="article-content">
3155 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3156
3157
3158 <hr />
3159 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">An adventurous sports fan studying how brains grow and regenerate</h2>
3160
3161 </div><!-- article-body -->
3162 </div><!-- article-content -->
3163 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3164
3165
3166 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3167
3168 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3169 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3170 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3171 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ryoji-Amamoto-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Ryoji Amamoto." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ryoji-Amamoto-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ryoji-Amamoto-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ryoji-Amamoto-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ryoji-Amamoto-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ryoji-Amamoto.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3172
3173 </div>
3174
3175 </figure>
3176
3177 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3178 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3179 Ryoji Amamoto </h2>
3180 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3181 <b>Neurobiologist</B><br>
3182 <i>The Cepko Lab, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School</i><br><br><br>
3183 <b>“I’m a huge sports fan. I study animals that can regrow their brains. I’ve traveled to 40+ countries. I’m a licensed scuba diver but a terrible swimmer. I moved to the U.S. at 8 and couldn’t speak the language. I hated science in high school.”</b><br><br><br>
3184 <b>His work:</b> Amamoto studies the tiny but amazing brains of animals that have a superpower — the ability to regenerate. He learns what factors help these special brains regrow, so that we can try to treat diseases like Parkinson’s and damage like concussions in the human brain by regrowing or reconnecting our own lost neurons.<br><br>
3185 <b>He wants to know:</b> How is it possible for some animals to regenerate organs? Can we find a way for humans to regenerate their own brains?<br><br>
3186 <b>Background:</b> Amamoto lived in Japan until age 8 when his family moved to Chicago. He had to overcome a language barrier and shift between speaking English at school and Japanese at home. The youngest of three siblings, he was always competitive and got involved in basketball and volleyball.<br><br>
3187 <b>Loves:</b> Philosophy, adventure, volleyball, classic guitar, people-watching<br><br><br>
3188 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/ryoji-amamoto">Learn more about Amamoto and neurobiology.</a> </div>
3189 </div>
3190
3191 </div>
3192
3193 <div class="article-wrap">
3194 <div class="article-content">
3195 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3196
3197
3198 <hr />
3199 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A soccer-playing musician who wants to know what makes humans so unique</h2>
3200
3201 </div><!-- article-body -->
3202 </div><!-- article-content -->
3203 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3204
3205
3206 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3207
3208 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3209 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3210 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3211 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RodrigoBraga-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Rodrigo Braga." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RodrigoBraga-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RodrigoBraga-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RodrigoBraga-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RodrigoBraga-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RodrigoBraga.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3212
3213 </div>
3214
3215 </figure>
3216
3217 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3218 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3219 Rodrigo Braga </h2>
3220 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3221 <b>Cognitive neuroscientist</b><br>
3222 <i>Northwestern</i><br><br>
3223 <b>Harvard connection:</b> Former postdoctoral fellow, Department of Psychology<br><br><br>
3224 <b>“I love playing soccer. I got in trouble a lot in school. I was born in Brazil but grew up in London. Playing music or video games helps me relax. I’m shy around new people. I study the human brain so we can better understand ourselves.”</b> <br><br><br>
3225 <b>His work:</b> Braga uses fMRI, which is a tool that lets us see the structure of the brain and how active different parts of the brain are when we’re doing different things, like daydreaming, math, or looking at pictures of other people. He looks for patterns that can tell us which parts of the brain communicate with each other, which we call a “network.”<br><br>
3226 <b>He wants to know:</b> How is the brain organized? How do different parts of the brain talk to each other to create consciousness, or “us”?<br><br>
3227 <b>Background:</b> Braga was born in Brazil but grew up in the U.K. He was always getting in trouble for missing class, drawing, or disrupting other students. He once got a prize for least attendance but wasn’t there to receive it. He always had a little bit of “imposter syndrome.” He didn’t question his core abilities, but struggled with his memory and felt like he couldn’t think as quickly as people around him.<br><br>
3228 <b>Loves:</b> Philosophy, soccer, video games, playing guitar, spending time with loved ones<br><br><br>
3229 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/rodrigo-braga">Learn more about Braga and cognitive neuroscience.</a> </div>
3230 </div>
3231
3232 </div>
3233
3234 <div class="article-wrap">
3235 <div class="article-content">
3236 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3237
3238
3239 <hr />
3240 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">An outdoors-loving explorer who is building bridges between the past and the present</h2>
3241
3242 </div><!-- article-body -->
3243 </div><!-- article-content -->
3244 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3245
3246
3247 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3248
3249 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3250 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3251 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3252 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Wade-Campbell-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Wade Campbell." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Wade-Campbell-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Wade-Campbell-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Wade-Campbell-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Wade-Campbell-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Wade-Campbell.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3253
3254 </div>
3255
3256 </figure>
3257
3258 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3259 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3260 Wade Campbell </h2>
3261 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3262 <b>Archaeologist</b><br>
3263 <i>Doctoral student, Department of Anthropology</i> <br><br><br>
3264 <b>“I enjoy exploring landscapes. I’m a good whistler. I grew up in the Four Corners area of Arizona and New Mexico and am a member of the Navajo Nation. I like to write in cursive and take notes by hand. I love gardening, hiking, and soccer.”</b> <br><br><br>
3265 <b>His work:</b> Campbell studies the history of the American Southwest. By studying records, land, and artifacts, he can better understand how interactions between the Navajo, Spanish, and other groups that lived there changed the local culture, beliefs, and practices.<br><br>
3266 <b>He wants to know:</b> What was the historical relationship between the Natives and the Spanish? What happens physically and culturally, when two worlds collide?<br><br>
3267 <b>Background:</b> Campbell grew up in the Four Corners region of Arizona and New Mexico and is a member of the Navajo Nation. He is mixed-race — Navajo and Anglo — and, from a young age knew he didn’t fit into a specific mold. He liked to explore and became very interested on the beautiful land he was living on and its history.<br><br>
3268 <b>Loves:</b> Biking, soccer, camping, global music, sci-fi and fantasy<br><br><br>
3269 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/wade-campbell">Learn more about Campbell and archaeology.</a> </div>
3270 </div>
3271
3272 </div>
3273
3274 <div class="article-wrap">
3275 <div class="article-content">
3276 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3277
3278
3279 <hr />
3280 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A party-loving doctor who’s fighting to cure cancer in women</h2>
3281
3282 </div><!-- article-body -->
3283 </div><!-- article-content -->
3284 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3285
3286
3287 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3288
3289 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3290 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3291 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3292 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Yamicia-Connor-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Yamicia Connor." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Yamicia-Connor-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Yamicia-Connor-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Yamicia-Connor-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Yamicia-Connor-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Yamicia-Connor.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3293
3294 </div>
3295
3296 </figure>
3297
3298 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3299 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3300 Yamicia Connor </h2>
3301 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3302 <b>Physician Scientist</b><br>
3303 <i>Beth Israel</i><br><br><br>
3304 <b>“I once competed in a robot competition. I love Beyoncé. I started a tutoring organization to support students. I’m not the best speller. I love grilling, cooking, and hanging out at home. I’m a doctor who studies ways to improve women’s health.”</b> <br><br><br>
3305 <b>Her work:</b> Connor is a doctor at a hospital in Boston where she studies cancer cells in a lab using microscopes and computers, but also works with patients to test new cancer treatments.<br><br>
3306 <b>She wants to know:</b> How do we tackle cancers that specifically affect women? How do we use medicine to improve the lives of women?<br><br>
3307 <b>Background:</b> Growing up in Florida, Connor was a serious kid who stressed about the little things. She was into her schoolwork and loved to put on plays with her friends where she orchestrated the whole thing and assigned everyone a role.<br><br>
3308 <b>Loves:</b> Entertaining friends, volleyball, cooking, relaxing at home, supporting students<br><br><br>
3309 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/yamicia-connor">Learn more about Connor and physician science.</a> </div>
3310 </div>
3311
3312 </div>
3313
3314 <div class="article-wrap">
3315 <div class="article-content">
3316 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3317
3318
3319 <hr />
3320 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A marathon-running champion for women who uses data to improve public health</h2>
3321
3322 </div><!-- article-body -->
3323 </div><!-- article-content -->
3324 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3325
3326
3327 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3328
3329 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3330 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3331 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3332 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Francesca-Dominici-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Francesca Dominici." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Francesca-Dominici-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Francesca-Dominici-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Francesca-Dominici-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Francesca-Dominici-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Francesca-Dominici.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3333
3334 </div>
3335
3336 </figure>
3337
3338 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3339 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3340 Francesca Dominici </h2>
3341 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3342 <b>Biostatistician</b><br>
3343 <i>Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; co-director, Harvard Data Science Initiative</i><br><br><br>
3344 <b>“I love fashion. I believe women in power have a responsibility to help each other. I love to run and have completed over 12 marathons. I’m a mom. I was the first person in my family to go to college.”</b><br><br><br>
3345 <b>Her work:</b> Dominici works in a lab filled with people, charts, graphs, and computers. She analyzes data and looks for patterns that teach us about what is and what is not healthy in our everyday lives. She is particular interested in pollution, which can mean air quality or even the level of noise in our environment.<br><br>
3346 <b>She wants to know:</b> What environmental factors threaten our health? How do we design policies to keep us safe?<br><br>
3347 <b>Background:</b> Dominici grew up in Italy in a small neighborhood outside of Rome. She learned to cook from her grandmother, and traveled often to everywhere from Africa to South America. She became the first person in her family to attend college.<br><br>
3348 <b>Loves:</b> Fashion, marathons, cooking, parties and entertaining, mentorship and supporting women<br><br><br>
3349 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/francesca-dominici">Learn more about Dominici and biostatistics.</a> </div>
3350 </div>
3351
3352 </div>
3353
3354 <div class="article-wrap">
3355 <div class="article-content">
3356 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3357
3358
3359 <hr />
3360 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A nature-loving professor and museum curator who is fascinated by the beauty and evolution of life on Earth</h2>
3361
3362 </div><!-- article-body -->
3363 </div><!-- article-content -->
3364 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3365
3366
3367 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3368
3369 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3370 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3371 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3372 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Scott-Edwards-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Scott Edwards." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Scott-Edwards-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Scott-Edwards-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Scott-Edwards-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Scott-Edwards-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Scott-Edwards.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3373
3374 </div>
3375
3376 </figure>
3377
3378 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3379 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3380 Scott Edwards </h2>
3381 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3382 <b>Ornithologist</b><br>
3383 <i>Harvard University & Museum of Comparative Zoology</i><br><br><br>
3384 <b>“My training as a biologist helped me see the beauty in the world. I believe the line between biology and the arts is thin. I play the drums. One of my goals is to beat my brother at ping-pong. I am the only scientist in my family.”</b><br><br><br>
3385 <b>His work:</b> Edwards works in many settings: in the outdoors, searching for specimens all around the world; in a lab, where he analyzes blood and tissue samples to study genes; and at a museum, where he manages a collection of birds.<br><br>
3386 <b>He wants to know:</b> How did birds and other forms of life evolve? What can their genes tell us about where they came from?<br><br>
3387 <b>Background:</b> Edwards was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, but grew up in Manhattan. He was a happy-go-lucky kid who had a relatively stress-free childhood. He and his brother used to invent ridiculous games. When he was 11 or 12, his neighbor took him bird-watching and he loved it. <br><br>
3388 <b>Loves:</b> Nature, hiking, 1970s pop music, conservation, science education<br><br><br>
3389 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/scott-edwards">Learn more about Edwards and ornithology.</a> </div>
3390 </div>
3391
3392 </div>
3393
3394 <div class="article-wrap">
3395 <div class="article-content">
3396 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3397
3398
3399 <hr />
3400 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A singing, dancing biologist who wants to understand where we came from</h2>
3401
3402 </div><!-- article-body -->
3403 </div><!-- article-content -->
3404 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3405
3406
3407 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3408
3409 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3410 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3411 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3412 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cassandra-Extavour-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Cassandra Extavour." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cassandra-Extavour-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cassandra-Extavour-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cassandra-Extavour-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cassandra-Extavour-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cassandra-Extavour.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3413
3414 </div>
3415
3416 </figure>
3417
3418 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3419 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3420 Cassandra Extavour </h2>
3421 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3422 <b>Developmental biologist</b><br>
3423 <i>Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology</i><br><br><br>
3424 <b>“I am classical singer. I wanted to be a pastry chef as a kid. In middle school, I never showed much interest in math or science. I love to salsa. I worked at McDonald’s to pay for school. I study crickets to learn about genetics.”</b><br><br><br>
3425 <b>Her work:</b> Extavour runs a lab filled with white boards, microscopes, petri dishes, and lots of cages and containers. She studies crickets, spiders, and other bugs to better understand how some of our most important cells behave.<br><br>
3426 <b>She wants to know:</b> How do humans and other living things work? And how did we get that way?<br><br>
3427 <b>Background:</b> Extavour was born in Canada but has roots in Trinidad. She had a diverse childhood filled with music, art, food, activism, and lots of family. As a child, she wanted to dance, sing, and bake, and had little interest in science. She came to science accidentally after acing a math test in high school. She decided to go to college but needed to pay for it herself. She had part-time jobs starting in high school working at the library, McDonald’s, and as a secretary.<br><br>
3428 <b>Loves:</b> Social activism, sci-fi movies, salsa dancing, singing classical music, cooking and baking<br><br><br>
3429 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/cassandra-extavour">Learn more about Extavour and developmental biology.</a> </div>
3430 </div>
3431
3432 </div>
3433
3434 <div class="article-wrap">
3435 <div class="article-content">
3436 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3437
3438
3439 <hr />
3440 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A soccer-playing, art-loving biochemical engineer who is changing the way we think about 3D printing</h2>
3441
3442 </div><!-- article-body -->
3443 </div><!-- article-content -->
3444 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3445
3446
3447 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3448
3449 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3450 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3451 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3452 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Daniele-Foresti-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Daniele Foresti." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Daniele-Foresti-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Daniele-Foresti-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Daniele-Foresti-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Daniele-Foresti-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Daniele-Foresti.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3453
3454 </div>
3455
3456 </figure>
3457
3458 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3459 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3460 Daniele Foresti </h2>
3461 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3462 <b>Mechanical engineer</b><br>
3463 <i>John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</i><br><br><br>
3464 <b>“I can be a total drama queen. I loved playing Legos as a kid. My mom came from a family of farmers and my dad worked in a pasta factory. I know how to repair a motorcycle because I used to fix my own. I won a science-inspired art competition.”</b><br><br><br>
3465 <b>His work:</b> Foresti works in a lab filled with 3D printers, bottles, jars of different liquids, and unusual machines for testing. He uses scientific principles to invent a way to use sound waves to create precise droplets of nearly any liquid. This technology has a lot of applications, and he developed a way to use it to make it easier to 3D print with a wide range of materials for use in everything from medicine to foods to cosmetics to art.<br><br>
3466 <b>He wants to know:</b> How do we create tools that allow us to print any type of ink onto any type of surface?<br><br>
3467 <b>Background:</b> Raised in Italy, Foresti didn’t expect to go to college. His dad loved tinkering in small shops, which inspired him to think about different ways of making things. His first job was as a dishwasher when he was still young to help his family cover costs. <br><br>
3468 <b>Loves:</b> Science art, trendy hats and glasses, documentaries, pick-up soccer games, advocating for economic equality.<br><br><br>
3469 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/daniele-foresti">Learn more about Foresti and mechanical engineering</a> </div>
3470 </div>
3471
3472 </div>
3473
3474 <div class="article-wrap">
3475 <div class="article-content">
3476 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3477
3478
3479 <hr />
3480 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A music-loving sports fanatic who creates new tools for studying why we age</h2>
3481
3482 </div><!-- article-body -->
3483 </div><!-- article-content -->
3484 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3485
3486
3487 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3488
3489 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3490 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3491 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3492 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/David-Kelley-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="David Kelley." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/David-Kelley-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/David-Kelley-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/David-Kelley-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/David-Kelley-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/David-Kelley.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3493
3494 </div>
3495
3496 </figure>
3497
3498 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3499 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3500 David Kelley </h2>
3501 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3502 <b>Computational biologist</b><br>
3503 <i>Calico</i><br><br>
3504 <b>Harvard connection:</b> Former postdoctoral research fellow in stem cell and regenerative biology<br><br><br>
3505 <b>“I got into statistics so I could beat my friends at fantasy sports. I play hockey every weekend. I used to play semi-professional poker. I love hiking and going to concerts. I use machine learning to better understand our genes.”</b><br><br><br>
3506 <b>His work:</b> Kelley uses math, computer science, and a lot of coding. He uses machine learning to train computers to analyze really large data sets. He creates programs that can look for patterns across thousands of genomes.<br><br>
3507 <b>He wants to know:</b> Can we use machine learning to understand how life works at the genetic level? And use that knowledge to live longer, healthier lives?<br><br>
3508 <b>Background:</b> Kelley grew up in a small town in New Jersey. He loved playing sports with friends, especially hockey and baseball, and got into statistics to beat his friends at fantasy sports. His parents were both mathematicians so he had a lot of exposure to math at home.<br><br>
3509 <b>Loves:</b> Playing hockey and snowboarding, going to concerts, hiking and swimming, podcasts, fantasy football, and baseball with friends<br><br><br>
3510 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/david-kelley">Learn more about Kelley and computational biology.</a> </div>
3511 </div>
3512
3513 </div>
3514
3515 <div class="article-wrap">
3516 <div class="article-content">
3517 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3518
3519
3520 <hr />
3521 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">A surfing, dancing entrepreneur who uses lasers to create tiny technologies for the next generation of health care</h2>
3522
3523 </div><!-- article-body -->
3524 </div><!-- article-content -->
3525 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3526
3527
3528 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3529
3530 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3531 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3532 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3533 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Marinna-Madrid-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Marinna Madrid." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Marinna-Madrid-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Marinna-Madrid-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Marinna-Madrid-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Marinna-Madrid-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Marinna-Madrid.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3534
3535 </div>
3536
3537 </figure>
3538
3539 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3540 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3541 Marinna Madrid </h2>
3542 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3543 <b>Biophysicist</b><br>
3544 <i>Cellino</i><br><br>
3545 <b>Harvard connection:</b> Earned Ph.D. in applied physics here<br><br><br>
3546 <b>“I thought I was going to be a journalist. I have four sisters. I try to learn a new instrument every year. Community college introduced me to physics. I was a dancer in high school. I’m a terrible cook and almost blew myself up once.”</b><br><br><br>
3547 <b>Her work:</b> Madrid works as both a scientist and an entrepreneur. She developed special laser-based devices that might make it possible to take your cells out if they are sick, put them on a really tiny device, and deliver medicine into them. Then it would be possible to give these cells back to you to cure the disease.<br><br>
3548 <b>She wants to know:</b> How can we apply physics to improve health care? Can we use science to create new cells when we need them?<br><br>
3549 <b>Background:</b> Madrid loved to clean and organize growing up. She was excited when her mom let her do the dishes. She liked to read a lot, especially Goosebumps or Nancy Drew books. She loved music and dancing and decided to study journalism at NYU but found it was a bad fit, dropped out, and moved home in the middle of her first year. She started over at a community college, where she performed well in physics, biology, and math courses.<br><br>
3550 <b>Loves:</b> Mexican food, hiphop dance, animals, learning new instruments, surfing<br><br><br>
3551 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/marinna-madrid">Learn more about Madrid and biophysics.</a> </div>
3552 </div>
3553
3554 </div>
3555
3556 <div class="article-wrap">
3557 <div class="article-content">
3558 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3559
3560
3561 <hr />
3562 <h2 class="transcript-header-1">An indie rocker and Photoshop enthusiast who uses mathematics to fight deadly diseases</h2>
3563
3564 </div><!-- article-body -->
3565 </div><!-- article-content -->
3566 </div><!--article-wrap -->
3567
3568
3569 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--two-col-text sticky">
3570
3571 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3572 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3573 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 149.93% !important">
3574 <img width="683" height="1024" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Pardis-Sabeti-683x1024.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 496px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .488 * .83), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .49), (min-width: 600px) calc((100vw - 120px)), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Pardis-Sabeti-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Pardis-Sabeti-200x300.jpg 200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Pardis-Sabeti-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Pardis-Sabeti-420x630.jpg 420w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Pardis-Sabeti.jpg 1000w" /> </div>
3575
3576 </div>
3577
3578 </figure>
3579
3580 <div class="photo-layout__text">
3581 <h2 class="photo-layout__text-heading">
3582 Pardis Sabeti </h2>
3583 <div class="photo-layout__text-content">
3584 <b>Medical geneticist</b><br>
3585 <i>Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health</i><br><br><br>
3586 <b>“I study things that are so small you need a microscope to see them. My family immigrated from Iran. I love having pet rats. My body is filled with metal pins and plates. I sing in a rock band. I helped lead the fight against the Ebola outbreak.”</b><br><br><br>
3587 <b>Her work:</b> Animals, plants, humans, and even microbes all have genes that contain lots of important information. By studying genetic factors of diseases, Sabeti can better understand how they evolved, what puts people at risk, and how to protect us. Instead of just using the tools that already exist, Sabeti uses mathematics and computers to invent new tools that are even better at answering these important questions.<br><br>
3588 <b>She wants to know:</b> What can DNA teach us about viruses? How do we detect pathogens and prevent deadly outbreaks?<br><br>
3589 <b>Background:</b> Sabeti was born in Tehran, Iran, and her family immigrated when she was young. She was a good kid and also a bit of an oddball, so she didn’t always fit in. She loved games and playing sports like football, but also loved Math Olympiad.<br><br>
3590 <b>Loves:</b> Being in a rock band, making up new games, playing volleyball and tennis, my label maker, creating funny holiday cards<br><br><br>
3591 <a href="https://www.iamascientist.info/pardis-sabeti">Learn more about Sabeti and medical genetics.</a> </div>
3592 </div>
3593
3594 </div>
3595
3596 <div class="article-wrap">
3597 <div class="article-content">
3598 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3599
3600
3601 <p> </p>
3602
3603 <p> </p>
3604
3605 <p> </p>
3606
3607 ]]></content:encoded>
3608
3609
3610
3611 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/scientistgrid3-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3612 <item>
3613 <title>Student-developed device predicts avocado ripeness</title>
3614 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/student-developed-device-predicts-avocado-ripeness/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3615
3616 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3617 <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2020 17:52:12 +0000</pubDate>
3618 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3619 <category><![CDATA[avocados]]></category>
3620 <category><![CDATA[food waste]]></category>
3621 <category><![CDATA[Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences]]></category>
3622 <category><![CDATA[John Schmidt]]></category>
3623 <category><![CDATA[Jonas LaPier]]></category>
3624 <category><![CDATA[Joseph Sanchez]]></category>
3625 <category><![CDATA[Juliet Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke]]></category>
3626 <category><![CDATA[Mark Meneses]]></category>
3627 <category><![CDATA[Savormetrics]]></category>
3628 <category><![CDATA[SEAS]]></category>
3629 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=309410</guid>
3630
3631 <description><![CDATA[With the goal of reducing food waste, a student-developed device predicts when an avocado will be ripe]]></description>
3632 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Each year, about 40 percent of all food in the U.S. goes uneaten. That means Americans throw away $165 billion worth of food that could been used to make more than 58 billion meals, according to the National Resource Defense Council.</p>
3633 <p>A team of <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/">Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</a> students tackled this complex problem as their project in “Engineering Problem Solving and Design Project” (ES 96), and this time came up with an answer to the always head-scratching supermarket and kitchen question: How do you know when an avocado is ripe?</p>
3634 <p>The course routinely challenges students to use engineering design skills to create a solution for a real-world client. They partnered with <a href="http://savormetrics.com/">Savormetrics</a>, a predictive food safety startup, to develop a product that could help reduce food waste. The juniors in the course, who represent all five engineering concentrations, collaborated to design and drive the project.</p>
3635 <p>After studying the supply chain, the students chose to focus on food waste at the retail level. Grocery stores and distributors are responsible for about 13 percent of all food waste, with produce comprising an outsized portion, the council reports. Overstocking is one reason so much produce is wasted in grocery stores. Consumers are drawn to abundant displays of produce, but since the appearance of that produce declines as it becomes overripe, much is discarded before it can be purchased.</p>
3636 <p>“In order to prevent produce from being discarded, what we need is metrics in order to know which produce are going to ripen faster,” said project co-lead Mark Meneses ’21, an engineering sciences concentrator. “How can we use metrics to drive retailer action in reducing food loss and waste?”</p>
3637
3638 </div> <!-- article-body -->
3639 </div> <!-- article-content -->
3640 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
3641
3642
3643 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
3644 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3645
3646 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
3647 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
3648 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="John Schmidt." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/es96_avocado_test_integrating_instrument1-student-john-schmidt_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
3649 </div>
3650
3651 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
3652 <p class="photo-layout__caption">John Schmidt working with the avocado test integrating instrument. </p>
3653 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Photo courtesy of SEAS Communications </p>
3654 </figcaption>
3655
3656 </figure>
3657 </div>
3658
3659 <div class="article-wrap">
3660 <div class="article-content">
3661 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3662
3663
3664 <p>To generate those metrics, the students developed a multi-sensing device that could predict when produce would ripen. They focused on avocados, since the fruits have a high price and high market value — about $2.28 billion per year in the U.S. — with about a 10 percent annual growth rate in the market.</p>
3665 <p>“Saving just a few avocados could help justify the price of our device,” said Joseph Sanchez ’21, a mechanical engineering concentrator.</p>
3666 <p>The device they developed incorporates sensors to measure certain chemical properties of an avocado. Information from these sensors is incorporated into a machine-learning model the students developed to predict when an avocado will be ripe. The model’s output is displayed through an app that shows the estimated date of ripeness and the number of days until each tested avocado will be ripe.</p>
3667 <p>The app also allows users to view batch stats on avocados that were scanned together, providing information on the average days until avocados in that group will be ripe, and also a graph that shows the count of avocados at each of five stages, from hard to overripe.</p>
3668
3669 </div> <!-- article-body -->
3670 </div> <!-- article-content -->
3671 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
3672
3673
3674 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
3675 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3676
3677 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.67% !important">
3678 <img width="1350" height="900" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-1350x900.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Juliet Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/011918_Wintersession_Mural_057_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
3679
3680 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
3681 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Juliet Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke, one of the team members on the project. </p>
3682 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard file photo</p>
3683 </figcaption>
3684
3685 </figure>
3686 </div>
3687
3688 <div class="article-wrap">
3689 <div class="article-content">
3690 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3691
3692
3693 <p>“Ripeness prediction is really difficult for avocados, and because they are so valuable, it is really a critical point for retailers,” said Juliet Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke ’21, a mechanical engineering concentrator. “We hope this information would allow retailers to take very decisive actions.”</p>
3694 <p>For instance, retailers could advertise the ripeness states of avocados so consumers can make more informed produce purchasing decisions. Retailers could also set different prices for different levels of ripeness, or change store displays so the ripest avocados are at the front.</p>
3695 <p>The biggest challenge the students faced resulted from the University’s transition to remote instruction in mid-March — right in the middle of their project. After they left campus, the members of the sensor development team were forced to individually assemble sensors and then ship them to teammate John Schmidt ’21, a mechanical engineering concentrator, who faced the burden of assembling the device and testing 80 avocados on his own, said project co-lead Jonas LaPier ’21, an environmental engineering concentrator.</p>
3696 <p>And a sudden sensor malfunction during testing threatened to derail the entire project, but the students were able to get a new part shipped the next day.</p>
3697 <p>Despite those challenges, the students created an effective prototype — 60 percent of the estimates were accurate to within one day, with an additional 30 percent accurate within two days.</p>
3698 <aside class="pull-quote">
3699 <div class="pull-quote__text">“Because [avocados] are so valuable, it is really a critical point for retailers. We hope this information would allow retailers to take very decisive actions.”</div>
3700 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Juliet Nwagwu Ume-Ezeok</div>
3701 </aside>
3702
3703 <p>“The predictive model worked fairly well, which was great to see because we really weren’t sure with all of the moving parts in our project. The success of the modeling was contingent on our sensing approach and our avocado testing procedure which were both difficult to implement,” said LaPier. “I was consistently surprised by the hard work and exceptional skills that my fellow engineers brought to our team. There was never a point where we couldn’t count on someone to finish a task and move us all forward.”</p>
3704 <p>Instructor Nabil Harfoush, visiting associate professor, was impressed by the determination the students showed to complete the project, even in the face of the unprecedented challenges they faced during the spring term.</p>
3705 <p>“My hope is that students learned how to dwell more in the problem space before jumping to solutions, how to engage collectively with a complex problem, and what aspects and perspectives must be considered beyond technology in a real-world project,” he said.</p>
3706 <p>Harjeet Bajaj, president and CEO of Savormetrics, was also impressed by the students’ work.</p>
3707 <p>“Savormetrics will be polishing this off and bringing this product into market. I am very surprised at the efficacy of the students on our project,” he said. “Kudos to Dr. Harfoush and Dr. [Fawwaz] Habbal. We are planning on presenting a stock option opportunity to the students to bring this product to market, by providing them access to our office in Boston and other resources.”</p>
3708
3709 ]]></content:encoded>
3710
3711
3712
3713 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/fruit-avocado-1562329_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3714 <item>
3715 <title>Cracking the case of the missing molecules</title>
3716 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/cracking-the-case-of-the-missing-molecules/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3717
3718 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3719 <pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:56:24 +0000</pubDate>
3720 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3721 <category><![CDATA[Caitlin McDermott-Murphy]]></category>
3722 <category><![CDATA[chemical reaction]]></category>
3723 <category><![CDATA[Chemistry]]></category>
3724 <category><![CDATA[Graduate School of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
3725 <category><![CDATA[Kang-Kuen Ni]]></category>
3726 <category><![CDATA[lasers]]></category>
3727 <category><![CDATA[Molecules]]></category>
3728 <category><![CDATA[Nature]]></category>
3729 <category><![CDATA[Physics]]></category>
3730 <category><![CDATA[potassium rubidium]]></category>
3731 <category><![CDATA[Quantum computing]]></category>
3732 <category><![CDATA[quantum control]]></category>
3733 <category><![CDATA[Quantum mechanics]]></category>
3734 <category><![CDATA[ultracold]]></category>
3735 <category><![CDATA[Yu Liu]]></category>
3736 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=309374</guid>
3737
3738 <description><![CDATA[When scientists moved from manipulating atoms to messing with molecules, molecules started to disappear from view. Professor Kang-Kuen Ni has figured out why.]]></description>
3739 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In a famous parable, three blind men encounter an elephant for the first time. Each touches a part —the trunk, ear, side — and concludes the creature is a thick snake, a fan, or a wall. This elephant, said <a href="https://chemistry.harvard.edu/people/kang-kuen-ni">Kang-Kuen Ni</a>, is like the quantum world. But scientists understand that they can only explore one tiny bit of this vast, unknown creature at a time. Now, Ni has revealed a few more to explore.</p>
3740 <p>It started last December, when she and her team constructed a new apparatus capable of achieving the <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/12/ultracold-environment-offers-a-first-look-at-a-chemical-reaction/">lowest-temperature chemical reactions</a> of any currently available technology, and then broke and formed the coldest bonds in the history of molecular coupling. An unforeseen benefit was that the ultracold temperatures slowed the reaction so much that researchers caught the first real-time glimpse of what happens during a chemical transformation. Though reactions were considered too fast to measure, Ni managed to determine the lifetime of that one — and solve the mystery of the missing molecules in the process.</p>
3741 <p>With ultracold chemistry, Ni, the Morris Kahn Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics, and her team cooled two potassium-rubidium molecules to just above absolute zero and found the “intermediate,” the space where reactants transform into products, lived for about 360 nanoseconds (almost a million times longer than they live in higher-temperature reactions). “It’s not the reactant. It’s not the product. It’s something in between,” Ni said. Watching that transformation, like touching the side of an elephant, can tell her researchers something new about how molecules, the foundation of everything, work.</p>
3742 <p>But they didn’t just watch.</p>
3743 <p>“This thing lives so long that now we can actually mess around with it … with light,” said Yu Liu, a grad student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and first author on the study published in Nature Physics. “Typical complexes, like those in a room-temperature reaction, you wouldn’t be able to do much with because they dissociate into products so quickly.”</p>
3744 <p>Like “Star Trek” tractor beams, lasers can trap and manipulate molecules. In ultracold physics, this is the go-to method for capturing and controlling atoms, observing them in their quantum ground state, or forcing them to react. But when scientists moved from manipulating atoms to messing with molecules, something strange happened: Molecules started to disappear from view.</p>
3745 <p>“They prepared these molecules, hoping to realize many of the applications that they promise — building quantum computers, for example — but instead what they see is loss,” Liu said.</p>
3746 <p>Alkali atoms, like the potassium and rubidium Ni and her team study, are easy to cool down in the ultracold realm. In 1997, scientists <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1997/advanced-information/">won a Nobel Prize in physics</a> for cooling and trapping alkali atoms in laser light. But molecules are wonkier than atoms: They aren’t just a spherical thing sitting there, said Liu. They can rotate and vibrate. When trapped together in the laser light, the gas molecules bumped against each other as expected, but some simply disappeared.</p>
3747 <p>Scientists speculated that the molecular loss resulted from reactions — two molecules bumped together and, instead of heading off in different directions, they transformed into something new. But how?</p>
3748 <p>“What we found in this paper answers that question,” Liu said. Turns out it’s the light’s fault.</p>
3749 <p>When Liu and Ni used lasers to manipulate that intermediate complex — the middle of their chemical reaction — they discovered the light forced the molecules off their typical reaction path and into a new one. A pair of molecules, stuck together as an intermediate complex, can get “photo-excited” instead of following their traditional path, Liu said. Alkali molecules are particularly susceptible because of how long they live in their intermediate complex.</p>
3750 <p>“Basically, if you want to eliminate loss, you’ve got to turn off the light,” Liu said. “You’ve got to find another way to trap these things.” Magnets, for example, or electric fields can trap molecules, too. “But these are all technically demanding,” said Liu. Light is just simpler.</p>
3751
3752 <p>Next, Ni wants to see where these complexes go when they disappear. Certain wavelengths of light (like the infrared the team used to excite their potassium-rubidium molecules) can create different reaction paths — but no one knows which wavelengths send molecules into which new formations.</p>
3753 <p>They also plan to explore what the complex looks like at various stages of transformation. “To probe its structure, we can vary the frequency of the light and see how the degree of excitation varies,” Liu said. “From there, we can figure out where the energy levels of this thing are, which informs on its quantum mechanical construct.”</p>
3754 <p>“We hope this will serve as a model system,” Ni said, an example for how researchers can explore other low-temperature reactions that don’t involve potassium and rubidium.</p>
3755 <p>“This reaction is, like many other chemical reactions, sort of a universe in its own,” said Liu. With each new observation, the team reveals a tiny part of the giant quantum elephant. Since there are an infinite number of chemical reactions in the known universe, there are still many, many pieces to explore.</p>
3756 <p><em>Funding support for the project came from the Department of Energy, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Dutch Research Council (NWO), and the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and the Alexander von Humboldt Found</em></p>
3757 ]]></content:encoded>
3758
3759
3760
3761 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/121019_Coldest_001-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3762 <item>
3763 <title>Treatment significantly reduces symptoms of psoriasis in mice</title>
3764 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/treatment-significantly-reduces-symptoms-of-psoriasis-in-mice/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3765
3766 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3767 <pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:09:53 +0000</pubDate>
3768 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3769 <category><![CDATA[ionic liquid]]></category>
3770 <category><![CDATA[John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences]]></category>
3771 <category><![CDATA[Psoriasis]]></category>
3772 <category><![CDATA[Steroids]]></category>
3773 <category><![CDATA[Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering]]></category>
3774 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=309355</guid>
3775
3776 <description><![CDATA[Researchers have created a treatment that when applied directly to the skin in a mouse model of psoriasis, significantly reduces levels of inflammation and symptoms of psoriasis without systemic side effects.]]></description>
3777 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Psoriasis, a chronic skin condition that causes itchy, red, scaly patches, afflicts more than 8 million Americans and 125 million people worldwide. Small molecule-based drugs like steroids can penetrate the skin to treat the condition, but they can cause skin irritation and thinning and their efficacy can decrease over time. Antibodies that target specific inflammation-related molecules associated with psoriasis have been developed, but because they cannot be delivered <em>via </em>the skin, they are injected using needles and syringes, which limits their acceptance and can have negative systemic side effects.</p>
3778 <p>A team of researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has circumvented these limitations by using an ionic liquid (IL) combination to successfully deliver a small interfering RNA (siRNA)-based treatment directly to the skin in a mouse model of psoriasis, significantly reducing levels of inflammatory cytokines and symptoms of psoriasis without systemic side effects. The research is published today in Science Advances.</p>
3779 <p>“Compared to other technologies that have demonstrated delivery of nucleic acids to the skin, our IL platform offers unique opportunities in terms of tunability, an excellent safety profile, and economical scale-up,” said first author Abhirup Mandal, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute and SEAS who is now a senior research scientist at <a href="https://cagebio.com/">CAGE Bio.</a> “We think that effective topical delivery of macromolecules will revolutionize the treatment options for debilitating dermatological disorders like psoriasis.”</p>
3780 <figure id="attachment_309359" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-309359" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-309359 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C.jpg" alt="Absorption as seen on mouse skin." width="1024" height="345" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C-300x101.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C-1024x345.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C-768x259.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C-1536x517.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C-2048x690.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C-1350x455.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C-1500x505.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure4C-1200x404.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-309359" class="wp-caption-text">When “naked” siRNA was applied to mouse skin, it showed poor absorption (center). Complexing it with the CAGE+CAPA ionic liquid allowed increased penetration into the epidermis (right).</figcaption></figure>
3781 <h2><strong>Running simulations to predict real success</strong></h2>
3782 <p>Synthetic siRNAs are non-coding double-stranded RNA molecules that are routinely used in biological research to “silence” a target gene by destroying the gene’s RNA transcripts. This ability also makes them very attractive candidates for treating diseases and disorders without modifying the DNA in a patient’s cells. However, their use in medicine has been hampered because RNAs are large, hydrophilic molecules, and therefore have a hard time crossing cells’ hydrophobic membranes.</p>
3783 <p>The team at the Wyss Institute and SEAS tackled that challenge using a recently discovered class of material called ionic liquids (ILs), which are essentially salts that are liquid at room temperature. Based on earlier research investigating the interactions of ILs with lipids, the researchers had a hunch that ILs could stabilize siRNAs and improve their penetration across lipid-based cell membranes, enabling localized gene silencing.</p>
3784 <p>The team first created a library of different ILs, then tested combinations of them to see which had the physical and chemical properties they were looking for. They settled on a mixture of two — CAGE (choline and geranic acid) and CAPA (choline and phenylpropanoic acid) — that helped associated siRNA molecules retain their structural integrity and led to increased siRNA penetration into pig skin <em>in vitro</em>. When they applied the CAGE+CAPA mixture as a thick topical liquid to the skin of living mice, they observed no inflammation or irritation, indicating that it was non-toxic.</p>
3785 <p>Because ILs are a fairly new material, predicting their interactions with the cargoes they are meant to deliver is challenging. The researchers collaborated with co-author <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/research-scientists-engineers/charles-reilly/">Charles Reilly</a>, a senior staff scientist in the Bioinspired Therapeutics & Diagnostics platform at the Wyss Institute, to perform molecular dynamics simulations to model and understand how the CAGE+CAPA solution would interact with siRNA and cell membranes at the molecular level. The observations from those simulations predicted that this IL-siRNA complex had superior stability due to its component ions’ strong chemical interactions with the RNA base pairs. The model also suggested that it led to higher penetration of cell membranes because the ions in the IL were able to pack closely together, forming aggregates that augmented the complex’s ability to disrupt the membrane and allow the siRNA’s entry.</p>
3786 <figure id="attachment_309360" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-309360" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-309360 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C.jpg" alt="Inflammation of skin." width="1024" height="292" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C-300x85.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C-1024x292.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C-768x219.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C-1536x437.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C-2048x583.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C-1350x384.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C-1500x427.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IL-siRNAFigure5C-1200x342.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-309360" class="wp-caption-text">When psoriasis was induced in mouse skin, it caused inflammation (left). When treated with an ionic liquid without an siRNA, the inflammation worsened (center). When treated with the IL-siRNA complex, the inflammation was reduced (right).</figcaption></figure>
3787 <h2><strong>Breaking down barriers</strong></h2>
3788 <p>Armed with an effective delivery vehicle, the team then coupled it with a specific siRNA designed to silence a gene called NFKBIZ, which has been implicated in the upregulation of a number of inflammatory molecules that are involved in psoriasis. They applied the CAGE+CAPA mixture along with the siRNA to the skin of mice with a psoriasis-like condition for four days, then compared those mice to others that had received CAGE+CAPA with a control siRNA, CAGE+CAPA alone, or no treatment.</p>
3789 <p>The mice that were given the NFKBIZ siRNA treatment had reduced epidermal thickening, skin discoloration, and keratin overgrowth compared to the other experimental groups, as well as less redness and scaling. They also displayed a significant reduction in the expression of NFKBIZ and other psoriasis-related gene products in their skin cells, demonstrating for the first time that IL-siRNA complexes can induce a therapeutic effect at both molecular and macroscopic levels by silencing a target gene <em>in vivo </em>following topical administration.</p>
3790 <p>“Topical creams have been used to treat skin conditions for hundreds of years, but the skin is a very effective barrier against most substances, which limits their effectiveness. Being able to bridge that barrier to deliver nucleic acid therapeutics directly to skin cells is a huge accomplishment in the quest for targeted, effective therapeutics,” said corresponding author <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/samir-mitragotri/">Samir Mitragotri</a>, who is a core faculty member at the Wyss Institute and the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at SEAS.</p>
3791 <p>This IL-based delivery platform can be easily scaled up and tuned to interface with a variety of therapeutic molecules, including DNA and antibodies. It could also empower transdermal drug delivery for the treatment of other dermatologic skin conditions including eczema, and improve the long-term efficacy of therapies by targeting genes that mediate multiple disease pathways.</p>
3792 <p>Based on the encouraging results from this study, Mitragotri’s lab is initiating new collaborations with researchers at various institutions focusing on understanding local and systemic mechanisms associated with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases in the skin.</p>
3793 <p>“Many of the innovations that biologists have been using in research for years have significant clinical potential, but most haven’t achieved it because of fundamental limiting factors such as, in this case, the barrier posed by the skin. This creative solution to this drug delivery problem holds great promise for enabling a new class of effective treatments that are long overdue,” said the Wyss Institute’s Founding Director and co-author of the paper <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/executive-team/donald-ingber/">Donald Ingber</a>, who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology<em> </em>at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at SEAS.</p>
3794 <p>Additional authors of the paper include Ninad Kumbhojkar and Anvay Ukidve from the Wyss Institute and SEAS, and Vimisha Dharamdasani, formerly of the Wyss Institute and SEAS and currently at the University of Cambridge.</p>
3795 <p><em>This research was supported by The Leo Foundation and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.</em></p>
3796 ]]></content:encoded>
3797
3798
3799
3800 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/MolecularDynamicSimulation-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3801 <item>
3802 <title>Harvard technology to be commercialized by Vesigen Therapeutics</title>
3803 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/harvard-technology-to-be-commercialized-by-vesigen-therapeutics/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3804
3805 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3806 <pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2020 11:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
3807 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3808 <category><![CDATA[ARMMs]]></category>
3809 <category><![CDATA[ARRDC1-mediated microvesicles]]></category>
3810 <category><![CDATA[Blavatnik Biomedical Accesserator]]></category>
3811 <category><![CDATA[Caroline Perry]]></category>
3812 <category><![CDATA[Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health]]></category>
3813 <category><![CDATA[large-molecule drugs]]></category>
3814 <category><![CDATA[Office of Technology Development]]></category>
3815 <category><![CDATA[Quan Lu]]></category>
3816 <category><![CDATA[Vesigen Therapeutics]]></category>
3817 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=309264</guid>
3818
3819 <description><![CDATA[The startup company Vesigen will develop and commercialize the drug-delivery technology created in the lab of Harvard Chan School Professor Quan Lu.]]></description>
3820 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Harvard University’s <a href="https://otd.harvard.edu/">Office of Technology Development</a> (OTD) and the <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/">Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health</a> today announced the launch of Vesigen Therapeutics, a startup company that aims to overcome the challenge of delivering next-generation therapeutics, such as gene-editing complexes, RNA molecules, and other large proteins, to intracellular targets in specific tissues of interest.</p>
3821 <p>Through an exclusive license agreement with Harvard, Vesigen will develop and commercialize novel drug-delivery technologies that originated in the lab of <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/quan-lu/">Quan Lu</a>, professor of environmental genetics and physiology at the Harvard Chan School. In Lu’s lab, what began as a basic biological study of how cells communicate with each other ended up pointing, “completely unexpectedly,” to a new way of creating tiny, mobile capsules that efficiently direct therapeutic molecules to the cells where they’re needed. Support from Harvard’s <a href="https://otd.harvard.edu/accelerators/blavatnik-biomedical-accelerator/">Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator</a> enabled Lu’s research team at the Harvard Chan School to conduct validating studies and advance the nascent technology to a point of readiness for full commercial development.</p>
3822 <p>“We can harness the capability of these vesicles, called ARMMs” — for ARRDC1-mediated microvesicles — “to first package and then deliver therapeutic cargoes to the targeted tissues. That’s the ultimate goal of this, to enable next-generation therapeutics to reach their full potential in combating a wide range of diseases,” explained Lu.</p>
3823 <p>Vesigen launches with $28.5 million in Series A investment led by Leaps by Bayer and Morningside Ventures, with participation by Linden Lake Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments. Vesigen will use the capital raised to build out the ARMMs platform as well as to advance numerous therapeutic agents into preclinical and clinical development.</p>
3824 <p>More than 80 percent of identified and biologically validated drug targets in humans are located inside cells. Yet some of the most promising new therapeutics, such as CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing complexes or mRNA or RNAi molecules, are large proteins and nucleic acids that cannot cross the cell membrane without help. Several approaches, including adeno-associated viruses and lipid nanoparticles, rely on a natural process called endocytosis to deliver their cargo into cells. The drawback is that most of what enters the cell in this way ends up channeled to the lysosomes and degraded, resulting in low efficiency. The key innovation from Lu’s lab stems from the discovery of a previously unrecognized mechanism in the cell membrane that allows it to accept deliveries without, essentially, sending them to be destroyed.</p>
3825 <figure id="attachment_309271" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-309271" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-309271 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667.jpg" alt="ARRMs graphic showing drug delivery." width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ARMMs-graphic_2500x1667-945x630.jpg 945w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-309271" class="wp-caption-text">Image courtesy of Vesigen Therapeutics</figcaption></figure>
3826 <aside class="pull-quote">
3827 <div class="pull-quote__text">“We can harness the capability of these vesicles, called ARMMs, to first package and then deliver therapeutic cargoes to the targeted tissues. That’s the ultimate goal of this, to enable next-generation therapeutics to reach their full potential in combating a wide range of diseases.”</div>
3828 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Quan Lu, Harvard Chan School</div>
3829 </aside>
3830
3831 <p>The advance could enable the development of new therapeutics for numerous conditions for which intracellular drug delivery is currently a roadblock. Vesigen intends to focus primarily on the targeted delivery of treatments for neurological diseases, oncology, and ophthalmology, while making engineered vesicles available to interested companies advancing treatments in other indications.</p>
3832 <p>Using his lab’s technology, Lu said, “If you want to deliver a therapeutic to the muscle, this vesicle can be engineered with specific surface molecules to target muscle cells.” In the case of eye diseases, he noted, “Injecting locally into the retina might avoid some of the unwanted immune responses and toxicity associated with viral delivery methods.”</p>
3833 <p>“ARMMs have the potential to solve some truly vexing problems for the biotech industry,” said <a href="https://otd.harvard.edu/about-otd/team/grant-zimmermann/">Grant Zimmermann</a>, managing director of business development in Harvard OTD. “For example, many therapeutic modalities would benefit from a drug-delivery mechanism with low immunogenicity, an intrinsic ability to traffic to specific tissues and cell types, and an efficient capability to deliver cargo directly to the cytoplasm of target cells. Additionally, RNA- or protein-based therapeutic cargo is directly loaded into the ARMM delivery vehicle during biogenesis, streamlining the biological manufacturing process. The innovations from the Lu Lab are extremely promising in these respects, and I’m thrilled to see them enter commercial development.”</p>
3834 <p>In Lu’s lab, the work began a decade ago. From a postdoc at Stanford, Lu was recruited to a faculty position at the Chan School to study the biology of the lung — specifically, how smooth-muscle tissue in the airway expands and contracts. Having expertise in genomic screening tools, Lu was able to sift through the genes active in these smooth-muscle cells and identify the signaling mechanism that regulates the cells’ receptivity to asthma drugs called beta-agonists. Lu subsequently expanded his work to examine more broadly the complex gene-environment interactions in asthma and in other multigenic human diseases such as diabetes and neurodegeneration. His work generated important insights, but along the way, he stumbled onto something else.</p>
3835
3836 <p>A protein called ARRDC1 (arrestin domain containing protein 1), closely related to a key protein identified in the asthma study, localizes “beautifully on the cell surface.” While ARRDC1 is not involved in airway response to beta-agonists or in asthma, Lu’s lab was stunned to discover that this protein drives the formation of small vesicles that transport materials in and out of the cell, essentially passing messages among neighboring cells in a way that was previously unrecognized. In the same <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306724/">2012 PNAS publication</a>, the research team noted that this mechanism explains how budding viruses like HIV and Ebola egress from within a cell host, coopting some components of ARMMs for their own purposes. The lab also <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28955033/">showed</a>, a few years later, that ARMMs can package and transfer bioactive receptor protein molecules between cells. Each ARMM vesicle is about one-millionth the volume of the cell, but it can hold hundreds of large molecules, and each cell can produce thousands of vesicles in a day.</p>
3837 <p>“Once we figured that out, we thought, well, if cells can transfer molecules from one cell to another through this mechanism, then you could actually replace the endogenous molecule with a therapeutic cargo,” said Lu.</p>
3838 <p>With funding and strategic advising from the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator, Lu proved the point. His lab demonstrated that its researchers could engineer ARMMs to deliver the tumor-suppressor protein p53 to cells that were lacking it, in mice. The research team published this work in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29511190/">Nature Communications in 2018</a>, and generated important validating data on how the vesicles move within the body. Harvard OTD helped Lu develop a business plan and assemble a founding team, and in 2019, Vesigen received the Alexandria LaunchLabs Innovation Prize, a recognition of the startup’s “excellence in scientific innovation, leadership, and business strategy.”</p>
3839 <p>“The support from the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator was critical for my lab,” noted Lu. “It allowed me to complete most of the experiments described in our 2018 publication. Equally importantly, the Office of Technology Development and their Accelerator team helped me to make connections in industry and navigate the interactions with venture capitalists and pharmaceutical companies. They played a pivotal role in translating my lab’s innovations into the critical opportunities that led to the founding of Vesigen.”</p>
3840 <p>Lu is a cofounder of Vesigen and will serve on the company’s scientific advisory board while remaining full-time at Harvard Chan School to continue to focus primarily on his research and teaching.</p>
3841 <p>“My lab did not set out to find a therapeutic cure or a method to deliver therapeutics; we research biological questions that are relevant to public health,” he said. “But I’m very satisfied that some of the very basic findings in my lab have found these translation opportunities, and hopeful that our work may enable new therapies that save lives.”</p>
3842 <p>Entrepreneur Robert Millman will lead the company as cofounder and CEO. Millman previously founded and led two other companies to commercialize biomedical innovations from Harvard: Semma Therapeutics and CoStim Pharmaceuticals.</p>
3843 <p>“Many biotechs today, including some that I’ve worked with, have made it their mission to translate new biological tools, such as RNA interference, mRNA replacement, and DNA editing, into new therapies,” said Millman. “For most companies in this space, delivering the agent into the cell safely and efficiently is still an unsolved problem. With the ARMMs technology, we aim to overcome this barrier and expand the treatment options for patients.”</p>
3844 <p>Vesigen has named Morningside Ventures’ Gerald Chan, S.M. ’75, S.D. ’79, as chairman of the company, while Stephen Bruso of Morningside and Jürgen Eckhardt and Jak Knowles of Leaps by Bayer will join the board of directors.</p>
3845
3846 ]]></content:encoded>
3847
3848
3849
3850 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/iStock-cell-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3851 <item>
3852 <title>Prostate cancer’s link to fetal development of the gland</title>
3853 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/prostate-cancers-link-to-fetal-development-of-the-gland/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3854
3855 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3856 <pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2020 18:32:29 +0000</pubDate>
3857 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3858 <category><![CDATA[Dana-Farber Cancer Institute]]></category>
3859 <category><![CDATA[Prostate Cancer]]></category>
3860 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=309251</guid>
3861
3862 <description><![CDATA[Prostate cancer progresses to a more-dangerous metastatic state by resurrecting dormant molecular mechanisms that had guided the fetal development of the prostate gland but had been subsequently switched off.]]></description>
3863 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When prostate cancer progresses to a more-dangerous metastatic state, it does so by resurrecting dormant molecular mechanisms that had guided the fetal development of the prostate gland but had been subsequently switched off, say scientists from Harvard-affiliated <a href="https://www.dana-farber.org/">Dana-Farber Cancer Institute</a>.</p>
3864 <p>The study, an international collaboration with <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net_ls_click-3Fupn-3D4tNED-2D2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUar2zy4NeYdz5cq9tBiRa-2D2Bc-2D3DUQ6y-5FmCGayY2wjumZJveMcBum-2D2F7ctSwKB0arLXLRHDV3b44V1Kq6wTS8FgojJRH-2D2BM7dUZ1Q58CJHluT-2D2FF5nYpQPIKE7hs5mLwMQgh-2D2FWeidZUDUn5FSQjHhjaWy-2D2FxlB4D6Zu9guFgnfaLu0WRp7RrlY2C5lkEOX-2D2B7d1ygHO8TULeEmyQEXZTNT3DOvBqoW7NBr2D6KCmCYGoaRqlob4yB76VL4da4UxvEw8CMPm0W62nL79qGLevGt-2D2FgeizNjD-2D2Fhx4gMxizMb6-2D2B-2D2FkPrpSRCEBYK-2D2BKLoOHnWATGPI4wV2mUFbwSmc-2D2FvfV1QnEUUVoHHq0Y7v4SKRBwShdLbqfuPiqsDvwz6XwKX1ef2tnbF684FSAIoBbU-2D3D&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=r0KjD795lfEbuT6_m8JH4yfpJL1ZlwZFlyAdBvKFw8I&s=QXU9Uu1VQvHkE34aNnyA5zQjgCdu1TogbXMWm2TqYHU&e=">The Netherlands Cancer Institute</a>, was published in <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net_ls_click-3Fupn-3D4tNED-2D2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUTOg-2D2Bj-2D2BgJ-2D2Fbn0TaqTIjqgfrddYcPBeYcxMCLiZXFzFvAHjOrLaVJnq4dS2yjtAMSBw-2D3D-2D3DJG8k-5FmCGayY2wjumZJveMcBum-2D2F7ctSwKB0arLXLRHDV3b44V1Kq6wTS8FgojJRH-2D2BM7dUZ1Q58CJHluT-2D2FF5nYpQPIKE7hs5mLwMQgh-2D2FWeidZUDUn5FSQjHhjaWy-2D2FxlB4D6Zu9guFgnfaLu0WRp7RrlY2C5lkEOX-2D2B7d1ygHO8TULeEmyQEXZTNT3DOvBqoW7NBr2D6KCmCYGoaRqlob4yB76VL4dfQyslCudFNl4Dd-2D2BCi6GaulPBZoSAQjn-2D2BV6C4C-2D2FHlEYBZBu-2D2Bjxom6mPAvmymTvoQ4oaGDyPmW2v1zmd2pk19SMgwgzULGUMAXpqbVhzu9s9uiV-2D2BMlxxmh9j00-2D2FBB95RXwJ1jJ12bKql2DpXmYZvZ2GY-2D3D&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=OVK7sU5mBCVgCUuUkNph1L7MlrZB5FOkJPkpuY88e74&m=r0KjD795lfEbuT6_m8JH4yfpJL1ZlwZFlyAdBvKFw8I&s=oBDbg5v0yy2x-re8KCLPg1a2VZHkjfmFsxYac6PIAGU&e=">Nature Genetics</a>. “It shows that particular programs that were operative during prostate fetal development become reactivated during metastatic disease,” said <u>Matthew Freedman,</u> a Dana-Farber medical oncologist and co-corresponding author of the report. “The reactivation of these programs is presumably important for the spread of the disease, and if we could understand it better, and potentially block or inhibit the process, it may help us to suppress metastatic prostate disease.”</p>
3865 <p>The insight, gained from one of the largest studies of charting the epigenetic landscape in normal, cancerous, and metastatic prostate tissues, could lay the groundwork for identifying ways of slowing or preventing the initiation and spread of prostate cancer, the investigators say. The comprehensive study of epigenetic changes in prostate cancer, the authors propose, “is foundational for understanding the mechanisms underlying tumor progression” and identifying viable therapeutic targets and vulnerabilities.</p>
3866 <p>The discovery reflects the crafty, efficient nature of cancer’s survival strategies. The investigators showed that cells in a localized prostate tumor need not adopt a new mechanism to acquire the characteristics that enable them to migrate away from their origin and travel around the body. Rather, they reactivate a molecular pathway which, in the developing embryo and fetus, had enabled cells to move about and invade tissues to form the prostate gland in fetal development. Then, no longer needed, the pathway was shut down in the mature prostate gland. Although silenced, the molecular “memory” of the mechanism remained present in the epigenome of the prostate cells.</p>
3867 <p>“As the cancer cell searches for ways to grow and metastasize, it appears to access and hijack the program that is most easily ‘visible’ — the bookmarked developmental site,” explained <u>Mark Pomerantz, </u>co-first author of the report. He is a medical oncologist in the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber. “Development is a time of great movement and a time of great invasion — similar traits that are used by tumor cells to metastasize,” explained Freedman.</p>
3868 <p>“We were amazed to see this was a universal phenomenon, shared by all metastatic prostate tumors we studied,” said Wilbert Zwart of the Netherlands Cancer Institute and co-corresponding author of the study.</p>
3869 <p>Prostate cancer can be viewed as an epigenetic disease. Epigenetics literally means “above” or “on top of” genetics and refers to modifications that turn genes “on” or “off” without changing the DNA sequence.</p>
3870 <p>The investigators say that the study produced the largest epigenomic dataset in prostate biology spanning normal, prostate tumors, as well as metastatic prostate disease. “It’s a landscape that will serve as a foundation for countless other investigators to utilize these data within their own experiments,” said Pomerantz.</p>
3871 <p>The researchers analyzed 268 sets of epigenetic data from patient-derived samples related to the transition of normal prostate tissue to localized prostate tumors, and from localized tumors to metastatic disease. They integrated the datasets to identify thousands of sites across the prostate genome that regulate expression of nearby and faraway genes. The specific reconfiguration of these gene regulatory elements is implicated in prostate tumor formation and progression. To demonstrate the broad utility of the data, the researchers also noted that the DNA code within these regulatory elements, “were strongly associated with prostate cancer risk heritability” — that is, these regions harbored genetic variants that increase the likelihood of someone developing prostate cancer.</p>
3872 <p>“This work has been the result of many years of intense international collaboration and a prime example of how international teamwork pushes the field forward to better understand cancer,” said Zwart.</p>
3873 <p><em>This study was funded by Rebecca and Nathan Milikowsky, a Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award, the National Institutes of Health (grants R01GM107427, R01CA193910, K0813CA218530), VIDI grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the Dutch Cancer Society/Alpe d’HuZes (10084) and Oncode Institute, Jean Perkins Foundation, Prostate Cancer Foundation, STOP Cancer Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense (grant W81XWH-14-1-0273), the H.L. Snyder Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health (grant P50CA092131).</em></p>
3874 <p><em>The Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPORE (grant P50 CA097186), the Department of Defense (grant W81XWH-17-1-0415, P01 CA163227), and the Institute for Prostate Cancer Research supported establishment and generation of the LuCaP PDXs models.</em></p>
3875 ]]></content:encoded>
3876
3877
3878
3879 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Prostate-cancer-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3880 <item>
3881 <title>The hair-raising reason for goosebumps is revealed</title>
3882 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/the-hair-raising-reason-for-goosebumps-is-revealed/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3883
3884 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3885 <pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2020 17:01:57 +0000</pubDate>
3886 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3887 <category><![CDATA[goosebumps]]></category>
3888 <category><![CDATA[hair growth]]></category>
3889 <category><![CDATA[Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology]]></category>
3890 <category><![CDATA[Stem Cells]]></category>
3891 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=309236</guid>
3892
3893 <description><![CDATA[Researchers have found that the same cell types that cause goosebumps are responsible for controlling hair growth.]]></description>
3894 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you’ve ever wondered why we get goosebumps, you’re in good company — so did Charles Darwin, who mused about them in his writings on evolution. Goosebumps might protect animals with thick fur from the cold, but we humans don’t seem to benefit from the reaction much — so why has it been preserved during evolution all this time?</p>
3895 <p>In a new study, Harvard University scientists have discovered the reason: the cell types that cause goosebumps are also important for regulating the stem cells that regenerate the hair follicle and hair. Underneath the skin, the muscle that contracts to create goosebumps is necessary to bridge the sympathetic nerve’s connection to hair follicle stem cells. The sympathetic nerve reacts to cold by contracting the muscle and causing goosebumps in the short term, and by driving hair follicle stem cell activation and new hair growth over the long term.</p>
3896 <p>Published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)30808-4">Cell,</a> these findings in mice give researchers a better understanding of how different cell types interact to link stem cell activity with changes in the outside environment.</p>
3897 <p>“We have always been interested in understanding how stem cell behaviors are regulated by external stimuli,” said Ya-Chieh Hsu, the Alvin and Esta Star Associate Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, who led the study in collaboration with Professor Sung-Jan Lin of National Taiwan University.</p>
3898 <p>“The skin is a fascinating system: it has multiple stem cells surrounded by diverse cell types, and is located at the interface between our body and the outside world. Therefore, its stem cells could potentially respond to a diverse array of stimuli — from the niche, the whole body, or even the outside environment,” explained Hsu. “In this study, we identify an interesting dual-component niche that not only regulates the stem cells under steady state, but also modulates stem cell behaviors according to temperature changes outside.”</p>
3899 <figure id="attachment_309239" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-309239" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-309239 size-full" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram.jpg" alt="Graphic of hair follicle." width="1024" height="569" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram.jpg 2500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram-300x167.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram-768x427.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram-1536x854.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram-2048x1139.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram-1350x751.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram-1500x834.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_diagram-1133x630.jpg 1133w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-309239" class="wp-caption-text">In response to the cold, the muscle (pink) in the hair follicle contracts, resulting in goosebumps. But in addition, the sympathetic nerve (green) releases neurotransmitters that target hair follicle stem cells (blue), causing them to activate and grow new hair. Credit: Shwartz, Gonzalez-Celeiro, Chen, et al./ Cell</figcaption></figure>
3900 <h2>A system for regulating hair growth</h2>
3901 <p>Many organs are made of three types of tissue: epithelium, mesenchyme, and nerve. In the skin, these three lineages are organized in a special arrangement. The sympathetic nerve, part of our nervous system that controls body homeostasis and our responses to external stimuli, connects with a tiny smooth muscle in the mesenchyme. This smooth muscle in turn connects to hair follicle stem cells, a type of epithelial stem cell critical for regenerating the hair follicle as well as repairing wounds.</p>
3902 <p>The connection between the sympathetic nerve and the muscle has been well known, since they are the cellular basis behind goosebumps: the cold triggers sympathetic neurons to send a nerve signal, and the muscle reacts by contracting and causing the hair to stand on end. However, when examining the skin under extremely high resolution using electron microscopy, the researchers found that the sympathetic nerve not only associated with the muscle, but also formed a direct connection to the hair follicle stem cells. In fact, the nerve fibers wrapped around the hair follicle stem cells like a ribbon.</p>
3903 <p>“We could really see at an ultrastructure level how the nerve and the stem cell interact. Neurons tend to regulate excitable cells, like other neurons or muscle with synapses. But we were surprised to find that they form similar synapse-like structures with an epithelial stem cell, which is not a very typical target for neurons,” Hsu said.</p>
3904 <p>Next, the researchers confirmed that the nerve indeed targeted the stem cells. The sympathetic nervous system is normally activated at a constant low level to maintain body homeostasis, and the researchers found that this low level of nerve activity maintained the stem cells in a poised state ready for regeneration. Under prolonged cold, the nerve was activated at a much higher level and more neurotransmitters were released, causing the stem cells to activate quickly, regenerate the hair follicle, and grow new hair.</p>
3905 <aside class="pull-quote">
3906 <div class="pull-quote__text">The sympathetic nerve reacts to cold by contracting the muscle and causing goosebumps in the short term, and by driving hair follicle stem cell activation and new hair growth over the long term.</div>
3907 <div class="pull-quote__attribution"></div>
3908 </aside>
3909
3910 <p>The researchers also investigated what maintained the nerve connections to the hair follicle stem cells. When they removed the muscle connected to the hair follicle, the sympathetic nerve retracted and the nerve connection to the hair follicle stem cells was lost, showing that the muscle was a necessary structural support to bridge the sympathetic nerve to the hair follicle.</p>
3911 <h2>How the system develops</h2>
3912 <p>In addition to studying the hair follicle in its fully formed state, the researchers investigated how the system initially develops — how the muscle and nerve reach the hair follicle in the first place.</p>
3913 <p>“We discovered that the signal comes from the developing hair follicle itself. It secretes a protein that regulates the formation of the smooth muscle, which then attracts the sympathetic nerve. Then in the adult, the interaction turns around, with the nerve and muscle together regulating the hair follicle stem cells to regenerate the new hair follicle. It’s closing the whole circle — the developing hair follicle is establishing its own niche,” said Yulia Shwartz, a postdoctoral fellow in the Hsu lab. She was a co-first author of the study, along with Meryem Gonzalez-Celeiro, a graduate student in the Hsu Lab, and Chih-Lung Chen, a postdoctoral fellow in the Lin lab.</p>
3914 <h2>Responding to the environment</h2>
3915 <p>With these experiments, the researchers identified a two-component system that regulates hair follicle stem cells. The nerve is the signaling component that activates the stem cells through neurotransmitters, while the muscle is the structural component that allows the nerve fibers to directly connect with hair follicle stem cells.</p>
3916 <p>“You can regulate hair follicle stem cells in so many different ways, and they are wonderful models to study tissue regeneration,” Shwartz said. “This particular reaction is helpful for coupling tissue regeneration with changes in the outside world, such as temperature. It’s a two-layer response: goosebumps are a quick way to provide some sort of relief in the short term. But when the cold lasts, this becomes a nice mechanism for the stem cells to know it’s maybe time to regenerate new hair coat.”</p>
3917 <p>In the future, the researchers will further explore how the external environment might influence the stem cells in the skin, both under homeostasis and in repair situations such as wound healing.</p>
3918 <p>“We live in a constantly changing environment. Since the skin is always in contact with the outside world, it gives us a chance to study what mechanisms stem cells in our body use to integrate tissue production with changing demands, which is essential for organisms to thrive in this dynamic world,” Hsu said.</p>
3919 <p><em>This study was supported by the New York Stem Cell Foundation, Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award, Pew Charitable Trusts, Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard Medical School Dean’s Innovation Grant, American Cancer Society, National Institutes of Health, Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology, and National Taiwan University Hospital.</em></p>
3920
3921 ]]></content:encoded>
3922
3923
3924
3925 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Hsu_Cell_July2020_goosebumps_microscopy-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3926 <item>
3927 <title>Red blood cells could generate immune response via vaccines</title>
3928 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/red-blood-cells-could-generate-immune-response-via-vaccines/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
3929
3930 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
3931 <pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2020 19:05:48 +0000</pubDate>
3932 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
3933 <category><![CDATA[Anvay Ukidve]]></category>
3934 <category><![CDATA[Donald Ingber]]></category>
3935 <category><![CDATA[John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences]]></category>
3936 <category><![CDATA[Samir Mitragotri]]></category>
3937 <category><![CDATA[SEAS]]></category>
3938 <category><![CDATA[Vaccinations]]></category>
3939 <category><![CDATA[Vaccines]]></category>
3940 <category><![CDATA[Wyss Institute]]></category>
3941 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=308840</guid>
3942
3943 <description><![CDATA[New platform technology uses red blood cells to generate targeted immune responses in mice]]></description>
3944 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Red blood cells do more than shuttle oxygen from our lungs to our organs: they also help the body fight off infections by capturing pathogens on their surfaces, neutralizing them, and presenting them to immune cells in the spleen and liver. </span></p>
3945 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A team of researchers from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has harnessed this innate ability to build a platform technology that uses red blood cells to deliver antigens to antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in the spleen, generating an immune response. </span></p>
3946 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This approach successfully slowed the growth of cancerous tumors in mice, and could also be used as a biocompatible adjuvant for a variety of vaccines. The technology, called Erythrocyte-Driven Immune Targeting (EDIT), is reported this week in </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">PNAS</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
3947 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The spleen is one of the best organs in the body to target when generating an immune response, because it is one of the few organs where red and white blood cells naturally interact,” said senior author </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/samir-mitragotri/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Samir Mitragotri</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a Wyss Core Faculty member who is also the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at SEAS. “Red blood cells’ innate ability to transfer attached pathogens to immune cells has only recently been discovered, and this study unlocks the door to an exciting array of future developments in the field of using human cells for disease treatment and prevention.”</span></p>
3948 <h2><b>A ‘check me out’ signal</b></h2>
3949 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Using red blood cells as delivery vehicles for drugs is </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/hitchhiking-his-way-to-better-drug-delivery/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">not a new idea</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, but the vast majority of existing technologies target the lungs, because their dense network of capillaries causes cargoes to </span><a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/elect-ing-a-better-candidate-for-chemo-delivery/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">shear off of red blood cells</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> as they squeeze through the tiny vessels. Mitragotri’s research team first needed to figure out how to get antigens to stick to red blood cells strongly enough to resist shearing off and reach the spleen. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
3950 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They coated polystyrene nanoparticles with ovalbumin, an antigenic protein known to cause a mild immune response, then incubated them with mouse red blood cells. The ratio of 300 nanoparticles per blood cell resulted in the greatest number of nanoparticles bound to the cells, retention of about 80 percent of the nanoparticles when the cells were exposed to the shear stress found in lung capillaries, and moderate expression of a lipid molecule called phosphatidyl serine (PS) on the cells’ membranes.</span></p>
3951
3952 </div> <!-- article-body -->
3953 </div> <!-- article-content -->
3954 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
3955
3956
3957 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
3958 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
3959
3960 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.67% !important">
3961 <img width="1350" height="900" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-1350x900.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Red blood cells." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RBCSpleenActivation001_2500-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
3962
3963 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
3964 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Nanoparticles coated in an antigen stick to red blood cells strongly enough to resist being sheared off in the lungs, allowing them to reach the spleen and be passed off to immune cells, initiating an antigen-specific immune response. </p>
3965 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University</p>
3966 </figcaption>
3967
3968 </figure>
3969 </div>
3970
3971 <div class="article-wrap">
3972 <div class="article-content">
3973 <div class="article-body basic-text">
3974
3975
3976 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“A high level of PS on red blood cells is essentially an ‘eat me’ signal that causes them to be digested by the spleen when they are stressed or damaged, which we wanted to avoid. We hoped that a lower amount of PS would instead temporarily signal ‘check me out’ to the spleen’s APCs, which would then take up the red blood cells’ antigen-coated nanoparticles without the cells themselves getting destroyed,” said Anvay Ukidve, a graduate student in the Mitragotri lab and co-first author of the paper.</span></p>
3977 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To test that hypothesis, the team injected red blood cells coated with their nanoparticles into mice, then tracked where they accumulated in their bodies. Twenty minutes after injection, more than 99 percent of the nanoparticles had been cleared from the animals’ blood, and more nanoparticles were present in their spleens than their lungs. </span></p>
3978 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The higher nanoparticle accumulation in the spleen persisted for up to 24 hours and the number of EDIT red blood cells in the circulation remained unchanged, showing that the red blood cells had successfully delivered their cargoes to the spleen without being destroyed.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
3979 <h2><b>Effective, adjuvant-free vaccines</b></h2>
3980 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Having confirmed that their nanoparticles were successfully delivered to the spleen </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">in vivo</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the researchers next evaluated whether the antigens on the nanoparticles’ surfaces induced an immune response. </span></p>
3981 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mice were injected with EDIT once a week for three weeks, and then their spleen cells were analyzed. Treated mice displayed eight-fold and 2.2-fold more T cells displaying the delivered ovalbumin antigen than mice that were given “free” nanoparticles or were untreated, respectively. Mice treated with EDIT also produced more antibodies against ovalbumin in their blood than either of the other groups of mice.</span></p>
3982 <aside class="pull-quote">
3983 <div class="pull-quote__text">“[Red blood cells’] ability to enhance immune responses could make them a safe alternative to foreign adjuvants, increasing the efficacy of vaccines and speed of vaccine creation.”</div>
3984 <div class="pull-quote__attribution">— Zongmin Zhao, co-first author</div>
3985 </aside>
3986
3987 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To see if these EDIT-induced immune responses could potentially prevent or treat disease, the team repeated their three-week prophylactic injection of EDIT into mice, then inoculated them with lymphoma cells that expressed ovalbumin on their surfaces. </span></p>
3988 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The mice that received EDIT had about three-fold slower tumor growth compared with the control group and the group that received free nanoparticles, and had lower numbers of viable cancerous cells. This outcome significantly increased the window of time during which the tumor could be treated before the mice succumbed to the disease.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
3989 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“EDIT essentially is an adjuvant-free vaccine platform. Part of the reason why vaccine development today takes so long is that foreign adjuvants delivered along with an antigen have to go through a full clinical safety trial for each new vaccine,” said Zongmin Zhao, a postdoctoral fellow in the Mitragotri lab and co-first author of the paper. “Red blood cells have been safely transfused into patients for centuries, and their ability to enhance immune responses could make them a safe alternative to foreign adjuvants, increasing the efficacy of vaccines and speed of vaccine creation.”</span></p>
3990 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team is continuing to work on understanding exactly how an immune response that is specific to the antigen presented by EDIT is generated by the spleen’s APCs, and plans to test it with other antigens beyond ovalbumin. They hope to use this additional insight to drive their pursuit of the optimal clinical setting(s) for the technology. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
3991 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The human body is a treasure trove of elegant solutions to healthcare problems, and while medicine has come a long way in understanding those mechanisms, we are still in the early stages of being able to harness them to improve the length and quality of human life. This research is an exciting step forward toward that goal, and could dramatically change how immune responses are modulated in patients,” said the Wyss Institute’s Founding Director Donald Ingber, who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, and professor of bioengineering at SEAS.</span></p>
3992 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Additional authors of the paper include Vinu Krishnan, Daniel C. Pan, Yongsheng Gao, and Abhirup Mandal from the Wyss Institute and SEAS; Alexandra Fehnel from SEAS, and Vladimir Muzykantov from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. This research was supported by the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and the National Institutes of Health under grant # 1R01HL143806-01.</span></p>
3993
3994 ]]></content:encoded>
3995
3996
3997
3998 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/080807_Vaccine_04_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
3999 <item>
4000 <title>African grey parrot outperforms children and college students</title>
4001 <link>https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/african-grey-parrot-outperforms-children-and-college-students/?utm_medium=Feed&utm_source=Syndication</link>
4002
4003 <dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
4004 <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2020 15:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
4005 <category><![CDATA[Science & Technology]]></category>
4006 <category><![CDATA[African grey parrot]]></category>
4007 <category><![CDATA[Faculty of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
4008 <category><![CDATA[Graduate School of Arts and Sciences]]></category>
4009 <category><![CDATA[Griffin]]></category>
4010 <category><![CDATA[Harvard Psychology Department]]></category>
4011 <category><![CDATA[Hrag Pailian]]></category>
4012 <category><![CDATA[Irene Pepperberg]]></category>
4013 <category><![CDATA[Juan Siliezar]]></category>
4014 <category><![CDATA[Justin Halberda]]></category>
4015 <category><![CDATA[Scientific Reports]]></category>
4016 <category><![CDATA[Susan Carey]]></category>
4017 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=304510</guid>
4018
4019 <description><![CDATA[African grey parrot Griffin shows off his brain power, making students doubt their own.]]></description>
4020 <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What happens when an African grey parrot goes head-to-head with 21 Harvard students in a test measuring a type of visual memory? Put simply: The parrot moves to the head of the class.</p>
4021 <p>Harvard researchers compared how 21 human adults and 21 6- to 8-year-old children stacked up against an African grey parrot named Griffin in a complex version of the classic shell game.</p>
4022 <p>It worked like this: Tiny colored pom-poms were covered with cups and then shuffled, so participants had to track which object was under which cup. The experimenter then showed them a pom-pom that matched one of the same color hidden under one of the cups and asked them to point at the cup. (Griffin, of course, used his beak to point.) The participants were tested on tracking two, three, and four different-colored pom-poms. The position of the cups were swapped zero to four times for each of those combinations. Griffin and the students did 120 trials; the children did 36.</p>
4023 <p>The game tests the brain’s ability to retain memory of items that are no longer in view, and then updating when faced with new information, like a change in location. This cognitive system is known as visual working memory and is the one of the foundations for intelligent behavior.</p>
4024 <p>So how did the parrot fare? Griffin outperformed the 6- to 8-year-olds across all levels on average, and he performed either as well as or slightly better than the 21 Harvard undergraduates on 12 of the 14 of trial types.</p>
4025 <p>That’s not bad at all for a so-called bird brain.</p>
4026
4027 </div> <!-- article-body -->
4028 </div> <!-- article-content -->
4029 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
4030
4031
4032 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--article-width ">
4033 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
4034
4035 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 56.15% !important">
4036 <img width="1350" height="758" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-1350x758.jpg" class="attachment-article-width size-article-width" alt="Graphs." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 1224px, (min-width: 1070px) calc(100vw - 160px), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-1350x758.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-300x168.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-768x431.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-2048x1150.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-400x225.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-1500x842.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thumbnail_image001_H_2500-1-1122x630.jpg 1122w" /> </div>
4037
4038 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
4039 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Three graphs indicating the parrot's success against the human participants. </p>
4040 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Courtesy of Hrag Pailian and Irene Pepperberg</p>
4041 </figcaption>
4042
4043 </figure>
4044 </div>
4045
4046 <div class="article-wrap">
4047 <div class="article-content">
4048 <div class="article-body basic-text">
4049
4050
4051 <p>“Think about it: Grey parrot outperforms Harvard undergrads. That’s pretty freaking awesome,” said <a href="http://brain.harvard.edu/grants/young-scientist-development-award-program/hrag-pailian/">Hrag Pailian</a>, the postdoctoral fellow at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who led the experiment. “We had students concentrating in engineering, pre-meds, this, that, seniors, and he just kicked their butts.”</p>
4052 <p>Full disclosure: Griffin has been the star of past <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/02/harvard-study-shows-parrots-can-pass-classic-test-of-intelligence/">cognitive studies</a>, like showing he’s <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/12/harvard-researchers-test-intelligence-of-african-grey-parrot/">smarter</a> than the typical 4-year-old and as intelligent as a 6- to 8-year-old child. But making Harvard students do a double take on their own intelligence is quite the step up.</p>
4053 <p>To be fair, the Harvard students did manage to keep (some) of their Crimson pride intact. On the final two tests, which involved the most items and the most movement, the adults had the clear edge. Griffin’s average dipped toward the children’s performance — though never below it. The researchers were unable to determine the precise reason for this drop, but they believe it has something to do with the way human intelligence works (arguably making the Harvard students’ victory a matter of performance enhancement of the genetic variety).</p>
4054 <p>The experiment was part of a study <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64666-1#Abs1">published in Scientific Reports</a> in May. Pailian was the lead author and he collaborated with comparative psychologist <a href="https://psychology.fas.harvard.edu/people/irene-pepperberg-0">Irene Pepperberg</a>, Henry A. Morss Jr. and Elisabeth W. Morss Professor of Psychology <a href="https://psychology.fas.harvard.edu/people/susan-e-carey">Susan Carey</a>, and Justin Halberda at John Hopkins University.</p>
4055 <p>The researchers were investigating the limits of the brain’s ability to process and update mental representations. In other words, they were looking at the “working” portion of the visual working memory system. The ability is referred to as manipulation. And ultimately, they were hoping to gain insights into the development and origin of the visual working memory system and the nature of human intelligence.</p>
4056 <p>“Any operation that you perform in your mind, it takes place in visual working memory,” Pailian said. “You store information from the outside world; you play around with it; and then you shuttle it up for higher cognition. It helps fuel STEM aptitude, mental wellness, and all these different types of important cognitive attributes …. We think that one of the main components of human intelligence, the key characteristic is that we’re able to think about all these things in our minds and do these mental manipulations, but if we find that other animals, other species can perform those manipulation operations [and also see how ancient this ability is], maybe that can help us inform what delineates human intelligence from other animal intelligence, as well.”</p>
4057
4058 </div> <!-- article-body -->
4059 </div> <!-- article-content -->
4060 </div> <!-- article-wrap -->
4061
4062
4063 <div class="photo-layout photo-layout--hanging-cap ">
4064 <figure class="photo-layout__figure">
4065
4066 <div class="photo-layout__image-wrap">
4067 <div class="photo-layout__image responsive-placeholder" style="padding-top: 66.7% !important">
4068 <img width="1024" height="683" src="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-1024x683.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="Irene Pepperberg with her parrot." loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1384px) 808px, (min-width: 1070px) calc((100vw - 160px) * .66), (min-width: 768px) calc((100vw - 120px) * .75), (min-width: 600px) calc(100vw - 120px), calc(100vw - 50px)" srcset="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-1350x900.jpg 1350w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-900x600.jpg 900w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-400x267.jpg 400w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-1-945x630.jpg 945w" /> </div>
4069 </div>
4070
4071 <figcaption class="photo-layout__figcaption">
4072 <p class="photo-layout__caption">Irene Pepperberg with Griffin.</p>
4073 <p class="photo-layout__credit">Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard file photo</p>
4074 </figcaption>
4075
4076 </figure>
4077 </div>
4078
4079 <div class="article-wrap">
4080 <div class="article-content">
4081 <div class="article-body basic-text">
4082
4083
4084 <p>At a broad level, the paper’s findings hint at the possible evolutionary origins of the ability to manipulate visual memory. Griffin’s success suggests it is not limited to humans and might be shared across species derived from a common ancestor. In this case, the ancestor would be the dinosaurs, since humans and parrots are separated by more than 300 million years of evolution.</p>
4085 <p>“We’re suggesting that it’s possible — we can’t prove this — that dinosaurs, our common ancestor, may have had some basic capacity,” said Pepperberg, a research associate in Harvard’s Psychology Department. “Then this [advanced manipulation] ability could have evolved in parallel [in primates and birds]. The other possibility is that our common ancestor lacked this ability, and it somehow arose independently in these two lines. But we’re arguing that because manipulation is built on storage capacity, and so many different species have similar storage capacities, that some simple form of manipulation likely existed in a common ancestor.”</p>
4086 <p>In the paper, the researchers note that future work is needed to confirm manipulation ability across a wider variety of species and identify its origins.</p>
4087 <p>“It’s not that we proved everything provable,” Pepperberg added. “It’s that we’ve demonstrated a behavior that leads to a lot of different questions.”</p>
4088 <p>Griffin was a prime candidate for this experiment because the researchers needed an animal whose brain was functionally similar to humans but evolutionarily distant for comparison. It was also likely that parrots possessed the manipulation ability because of environmental pressures in the wild, like tracking their hungry fledglings or threats like predators. Plus, Griffin is always ready to show off his brain power and earn a few cashews as a reward.</p>
4089 <p>“He’s the kind of student who asks you, ‘What do I have to do to get the A?’” and then goes and does it, Pepperberg said.</p>
4090
4091 ]]></content:encoded>
4092
4093
4094
4095 <enclosure url="https://news.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/030514_Pepperberg_Irene_008_H_2500-250x250.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg" /> </item>
4096 </channel>
4097 </rss>