The groundbreaking work of three scholars with ties to the University took center stage this week when pioneering laser scientist Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD) and her Rochester advisor Gerard Mourou formally received the Nobel Prize in Physics, and Paul Romer, whose early career tenure-track appointment was in Rochester’s Department of Economics, received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Strickland, who is now an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and Mourou, now a professor at the École Polytechnique in France, were recognized for their Rochester work to develop “chirped-pulse amplification,” a technology that harnesses the power of lasers as precision tools and helped pave the way for laser-eye surgery, the machining of key parts for cell phones and other devices, tools for cancer treatment, and other clinical and commercial applications. The technology was the basis for Strickland’s 1988 doctoral dissertation at Rochester, where she was a graduate student working with Mourou at the University’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics. They both receive a share of the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Romer, who was an assistant professor in the Department of Economics from 1982 to 1988 shortly after receiving his PhD from the University of Chicago, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work to assess the interaction of technology, productivity, and economic growth. He shares the prize with economist William Nordhaus of Yale University.

Read more here. And click here for a photo essay on the LLE lab where Strickland and Mourou did their work.

Imagine being at a packed concert hall with a mosh pit full of dancers creating a wall against outsiders. When targeted drugs try to make their way toward a pancreas tumor, they encounter a similar obstacle in the stiff tissue that surrounds and protects the cancer. A new University study demonstrates how imaging technology can be used to accurately measure tissue stiffness — thereby predicting the likelihood that drugs will be able get through to the tumor and guide drug penetration.

“Being able to ‘see’ stiff tissue in the tumor microenvironment is a detection strategy that could help oncologists plan treatments for their patients and monitor progress,” says senior author Marvin Doyley, a medical physicist and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering,

In recently published data in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, Doyley’s team showed for the first time in a mouse model a clear correlation between tissue stiffness and high tissue pressure, the characteristic that stops drugs from targeting the tumor. They also showed that a type of imaging called elastography, which is similar to ultrasound technology, can display tissue stiffness on an ultrasound screen.

The imaging technology uses sound waves to hunt down stiff and high-pressure tissue, and then projects the tumor and stiff tissue in colorful hues, with blues and greens depicting softer tissue, and hotter colors such as red and reddish-brown representing stiff tissue.

Tissue stiffness is an important factor in cervical and breast cancer as well as pancreatic cancer, but Doyley says he was struck by the dismal five-year survival rate of less than 7 percent in pancreas cancer and chose to initially focus on ways to boost outcomes for that disease.

Doyley is collaborating with David Linehan, a surgeon/scientist and director of clinical operations at Wilmot Cancer Institute who also has a special interest in pancreatic cancer. For years Linehan has been investigating the critical role the microenvironment plays in promoting pancreas tumors, and he has designed clinical trials for drugs that stimulate the immune system to attack pancreas tumors.

Their collaboration recognizes that chemotherapy followed by surgery is currently the best treatment, and therefore reducing tissue stiffness is critical for that goal.

Doyley and Linehan are seeking funding to continue the investigation in humans. They would like to confirm that ultrasound technology can be used effectively to guide drug delivery. Their team is working with Edward Brown, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, who studies the collagen-rich fibers near tumors that contribute to tissue stiffness and cancer metastasis.

The apparent simplicity of picking up a cup of coffee or turning a doorknob belies the complex sequence of calculations and processes that the brain must undergo to locate an item in space, move the arm and hand toward it, and shape the fingers to hold or manipulate the object.

New research, published in Cell Reports, upends the established understanding of how the brain undertakes this complex task and could have implications for the development of neuro-prosthetics.

“This study shows that activity patterns in populations of neurons shift progressively during the course of a single movement,” says co-author Marc Schieber, a professor in the Department of Neurology and the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience. “Interpreting these shifts in activity that allow groups of neurons to work together to perform distinctive and precise movements is the first step in understanding how to harness this information for potential new therapies.”

The established model contends that separate populations of neurons in the brain are dedicated to reaching versus grasping, much as one set of players on a football team is dedicated to defense and another to offense. The new study shows that these cells act more like a basketball team, with the same group of players switching from defensive to offensive responsibilities depending upon the circumstances at any given moment.

“Reaching and grasping traditionally have been thought to be driven concurrently by two separate channels in the brain with one controlling the reaching arm and another controlling the grasping hand,” says co-author Adam Rouse, a research assistant professor in the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience. “We have found, however, that individual neurons in the motor cortex transition from encoding the reach location early in a movement to encoding the object to be grasped later on.”

The new findings were possible because of advanced microelectrode arrays that allowed the researchers to simultaneously monitor and record hundreds of neurons in the motor cortex.

The research has significant implications for the creation of brain-computer interfaces that tap into the electrical activity of the brain and use this information to control prosthetic devices, like a mechanical arm. While previous efforts have sought to tap into the electrical activity of individual or groups of neurons, the new findings show that these systems will likely need to employ more advanced machine learning algorithms to interpret the shifting patterns of activity.

Read more here.

Wendi Heinzelman, dean of the Hajim School and professor of electrical and computer engineering; Sandhya Dwarkadas, the Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor and chair of computer science; and Jiebo Luo, professor of computer science, all three of whom are among the 56 newly elected fellows of the Association for Computer Machinery (ACM).

Heinzelman’s citation is for “contributions to wireless communication systems and protocols, and leadership in broadening participation in computing.” Her research centers on transforming users’ experiences with mobile ad hoc and wireless sensor networks through design of advanced protocols and architectures. She co-founded Networking Networking Women (N2 Women), an international organization that fosters connections among under-represented women in computer networking and related research fields.

Dwarkadas is being recognized for her “contributions to shared memory and reconfigurability.” Her research lies at the intersection of computer hardware and software with a particular focus on support for parallelism. She has made fundamental contributions to the design and implementation of shared memory both in hardware and software, and to hardware and software energy- and resource-aware configurability.

Luo is being recognized for “contributions to multimedia content analysis and social multimedia informatics.” Luo’s research spans image processing, computer vision, machine learning, data mining, social media, biomedical informatics, and ubiquitous computing. He has done pioneering work in contextual inference in semantic understanding of visual data, and social multimedia data mining.

Read more here.

Learn how a clinical trial management system transformed clinical research at Yale University from Tesheia Johnson, Yale’s associate director of clinical research, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., December 17 in the Class of ’62 Auditorium.

Mark Taubman and Martin Zand will give opening remarks about plans to implement this software system at the Medical Center. The system will reduce the administrative burden on clinical research staff.

All faculty and staff are encouraged to attend in person or via Zoom.

Read more here.

University Research Awards (URA) provide “seed” grants for promising, high-risk projects, says Robert Clark, provost and senior vice president for research.  The fund has been increased from $500,000 annually to $1 million with half of the funding coming from the President’s Fund, and the rest being matched by the various schools whose faculty members are recipients.

Applications are sought from faculty across the University, and funding is awarded to recipients who demonstrate their projects favor new research with a high probability of being leveraged by future external funding.

A review committee of faculty from across the University provides peer review of the applications. Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on February 4, 2019. Late submissions and or revisions will not be accepted.

Selected applicants may be asked to present their research project to the Executive Research Committee prior to the final award decisions, which will be announced mid-May. Recipients of this award are required to peer review future University Research Award proposals.

Completed applications should be directed to Adele Coelho, Faculty Outreach Coordinator in the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Research, at adele.coelho@rochester.edu

The sixth annual America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent student competition, scheduled for Wednesday, February 13, 2019, is now accepting applications. Organized by Joan Adamo and Scott Steele, the competition aims to promote student interest in regulatory science. The winning team will travel to the Washington DC/Maryland region to meet with the FDA.

Students matriculated in any classes at the University are welcome to submit a 50-word entry and provide a five-minute presentation during the competition. The proposed solution should align with the FDA Regulatory Science priority areas.

Visit the UR CTSI website to learn more.

Entry forms are due by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, January 30, 2019.

Hanxiao Liang, electrical engineering, “High-Q Lithium niobate Micro-/Nano- resonators.” 10 a.m. December 17, 2018. 601 Computer Studies Building. Advisor: Qiang Lin.

Sarah Koopman, brain and cognitive sciences, “Phylogeny, Ecology, and Algorithms in the Origins of Numerical Cognition.” 9 a.m. December 18, 2018. Meliora Hall 269. Advisor: Jessica Cantlon.

Hanan Alwaseem, chemistry, “Late-stage Functionalization of Sesquiterpenoids via Engineered P450 Enzymes.” 2 p.m., December 18, 2018. Goergen Hall 108. Advisor: Rudi Fasan.

Patrick Harrington, chemistry, “I. Studies Towards an Iodoaldol Addition and Cationic Cyclization Reaction. II. The 1,6 Conjugate Initiated Nazarov and 1,5-Hydride Transfer Initiated Cascade Cyclization.” 3 p.m. December 18, 2018. Hutchison 473. Advisor: Alison Frontier.

Longjun Wu, biology, “The Genetic Basis of Novelty in the Spiralia.” 1 p.m. December 20, 2018. Hutchison 473. Advisor: David Lambert.

Today: The Center for Integrated Research Computing (CIRC) symposium. Paul Boutz from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics will talk about RNA processing and computational approaches. Kilean Lucas from the Department of Biomedical Engineering will explore multiphysics simulations of a microfluidic system. 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Wegmans 1400. Lunch will be served.

Today: 6 p.m. deadline to apply for travel reimbursement awards of up to $1,000  (one for clinical research and one for basic sciences research) to support a School of Medicine & Dentistry medical student, graduate student, postdoctoral trainee, clinical resident, and/or clinical fellow to attend national or international meetings at which they will present their research and make professional connections. For questions, email Amy Blatt or call 585-275-4912. View the full RFA.

Dec. 17: Tales from Yale: how a clinical trial management system transformed clinical research at Yale University. Tesheia Johnson, Yale’s associate director of clinical research. Mark Taubman and Martin Zand will give opening remarks about plans to implement this software system at the Medical Center. 1 to 2:30 p.m., Class of ’62 Auditorium. All faculty and staff are encouraged to attend in person or via Zoom. Read more here.

Jan 2.: Letters of intent/initial abstracts due by 8 a.m. for Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Incubator award from the School of Medicine and Dentistry to foster the establishment of extramurally funded, nationally recognized centers of excellence in biomedical research.  View details and application instructions and the SAC Incubator Program RFA. Contact Anne Reed for more information.

Jan. 14: Applications due for pilot funding from the Environmental Health Science Center to support projects relevant to the theme of “Environmental Agents as Modulators of Human Disease and Dysfunction.” Forms and guidelines can be found on the Environmental Health Sciences Center web site. Send applications to Pat Noonan-Sullivan.

Jan. 15: Deadline to submit cancer research grant applications for new collaborative studies targeting future MPI R01, P01, and U01 funding from National Cancer Institute. Applications should be submitted electronically to  Pamela_Iadarola@urmc.rochester.edu at the Wilmot Cancer Institute. Questions should also be directed to her.

Jan. 24: Phelps Colloquium Series: Donald Hall, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences & Engineering, “Looking Beyond Our Horizons: Interdisciplinary Education and Civic Responsibility.” Pablo Sierra Silva, assistant professor of history, “Pirates, Captives, and the Digital Archive: Researching Afro-Mexican History in the 21st Century.” 4-5:30 p.m. Feldman Ballroom, Douglass Commons. Register here. Questions? Contact Adele Coelho or call 273-2571.

Jan. 30: Entry forms due for the America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent student competition. Teams propose a solution to align with the FDA Regulatory Science priority areas. Visit the UR CTSI website to learn more.

Feb. 1: Initial proposal abstracts due for Department of Public Health Sciences funding for esearch pilot projects that have a substantial component of or impact on public health sciences, practices, or policies. See submission criteria and other details.

Feb. 4: Applications due for University Research Awards, which provide “seed funding” for promising, high-risk research projects. Completed applications should be directed to Adele Coelho, Faculty Outreach Coordinator in the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Research, at adele.coelho@rochester.edu

Feb. 15: Applications due for Wilmot Cancer Research postdoctoral fellowship providing mentored research training for physicians with MD or MD/PhD degrees who have completed their residency training and intend to pursue an academic career in clinical, translational, or basic cancer research. View application details. For questions, email Pamela Iadarola or call 585-275-1537.