For the first time, researchers at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) have found a way to turn a liquid metal into a plasma and to observe the temperature where a liquid under high-density conditions crosses over to a plasma state. Their observations, published in Physical Review Letters, have implications for better understanding stars and planets and could aid in the realization of controlled nuclear fusion—a promising alternative energy source whose realization has eluded scientists for decades. The research is supported by the US Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Plasmas consist of a hot soup of free moving electrons and ions—atoms that have lost their electrons—that easily conducts electricity. Although plasmas are not common naturally on Earth, they comprise most of the matter in the observable universe, such as the surface of the sun. Scientists are able to generate artificial plasmas here on Earth, typically by heating a gas to thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, which strips the atoms of their electrons. On a smaller scale, this is the same process that allows plasma TVs and neon signs to “glow”: electricity excites the atoms of a neon gas, causing neon to enter a plasma state and emit photons of light.

As Mohamed Zaghoo, a research associate at the LLE, and his colleagues observed, however, there is another way to create a plasma. 

Heating a liquid metal to very high temperatures under high density conditions will also produce a dense plasma. “The transition to the latter has not been observed scientifically before and is precisely what we did,” Zaghoo says.

Understanding the fundamentals of liquids and plasmas allows researchers to develop new models to describe how materials at high densities conduct electricity and heat, and can help explain matter in the extremes of the solar system, as well as help in attaining fusion energy, Zaghoo says. “This work is not just a laboratory curiosity. Plasmas comprise the vast interiors of astrophysical bodies like brown dwarfs and also represent the states of matter needed to achieve thermonuclear fusion. These models are essential in our understanding of how to better design experiments to achieve fusion.”

Read more here.

The human genome is littered with selfish genetic elements—repetitive elements that do not seem to benefit their hosts, but instead seek only to propagate themselves by inserting new copies into their host genomes. A class of selfish genetic elements called LINE1 retrotransposons are the most prevalent retrotransposon selfish genetic elements found in humans; approximately 20 percent of both human and mice genomes are composed of LINE1s.

Researchers have long suspected that LINE1s contribute to cancer and genomic instability. However, the harm inflicted by these genomic parasites reaches much further than researchers had at first thought. In a paper in the journal Cell Metabolism, University researchers, including Vera Gorbunova, the Doris Johns Cherry professor of biology, and Andrei Seluanov, professor of biology, show that LINE1 retrotransposons become more active with age and may cause age-related diseases by triggering inflammation. By understanding the impacts of retrotransposons, researchers can better recognize the processes by which cells age and how to combat the deleterious effects of aging.

Human cells have evolved multiple molecular mechanisms—such as gene silencing—to keep selfish genetic elements like LINE1s at bay. However, these mechanisms become less efficient during the aging process, allowing LINE1 elements to be reactivated.

As LINE1s become active, some of their copies leak outside the cell nucleus into the cytoplasm, Gorbunova says. “Any DNA in the cytoplasm is a signal for alarm, as it resembles viruses that are invading the cell.” Cytoplasmic “guardians”—types of DNA sensors—typically recognize invaders and trigger immune responses like inflammation. This process, which normally functions to protect humans from viruses and foreign DNA, recognizes leaked LINE1 copies in the old cells and triggers a “false alarm” in the form of age-related inflammation.

The researchers found that they can reduce LINE1s by using drugs that inhibit reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that catalyzes LINE 1 DNA formation. These drugs were originally developed to combat reverse transcriptase in HIV patients. Using these drugs to reduce LINE1s improves health in mice and reduces inflammation, in addition to improving lifespan, Seluanov says. “Sterile inflammation triggered by LINE1 elements is a new mechanism of aging. We can now develop strategies that target LINE1s and the pathways that lead to inflammation.”

“The joy of science lies in pondering the magnificent and seeking answers to the unknown,” writes Jonathon McPhetres, a PhD candidate in psychology and the author of a new study published in the journal Cognition and Emotion.

McPhetres finds that feeling awe leads to greater awareness of the things we don’t know, which in turn makes us more likely to seek out a framework to fill those gaps. Science is one such framework.

To test the hypothesis that awe serves as an antecedent to interest in science, McPhetres conducted four studies that manipulated the experience of a person’s sense of awe through online and virtual reality videos.

He discovered that once people were aware of a particular gap in their knowledge, the awareness led them to a greater interest in science. How did he measure that? First, McPhetres subjected study participants to an awe-inducing video. Then he offered them free tickets to either a science or an art museum. Participants were much more likely to choose the science museum (68 percent) than the art museum (32 percent).

“Clearly awe makes us realize what we don’t know about the natural world. We come to know how much we do not know, which is a privilege because most people don’t know what they don’t know,” says McPhetres, referring to what psychologists call the Dunning-Kruger effect. This kind of experience makes people ask questions about nature and, his research suggests, seek answers to those questions in a methodological and systematic way.

Read more here.

Acute kidney injury — a sudden decline in kidney function — occurs frequently among hospitalized patients with serious, long-lasting effects and even increased risk of death. It’s often preventable, but we currently lack the ability to reliably predict when it will happen and to whom. That is why researchers at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI) analyzed data from over 34,000 patients to develop a risk score for acute kidney injury that could help doctors intervene and prevent it.

Part of the reason we can’t predict when a patient will develop acute kidney injury is that while some risk factors are known, we often don’t use them in a coordinated way.  For example, machine learning papers often focus on factors that increase risk of acute kidney injury, such as diabetes and medications, but not those that lower that risk. On top of that, most previous studies have looked at single hospitalizations for all patients, many of whom have not been previously hospitalized. By not looking at patients’ past data, those studies missed the opportunity to discover health factors or patterns that reliably precede acute kidney injury.

Samuel Weisenthal, an MD-PhD student, and Martin Zand, co-director of UR CTSI, took a different tack, focusing on re-hospitalized patients. The pair and their colleagues analyzed electronic health record data from patients’ prior hospitalizations to identify factors that predict acute kidney injury. From those factors, they used machine learning to developed a risk score that could be calculated for patients at the time of re-hospitalization.

“Developing an accurate risk index for acute kidney injury in re-hospitalized patients could have a major impact on hospital care, particularly if it could allow preventive intervention or better tailored treatments from the time of hospital admission,” says Zand, who is also the senior associate dean for clinical research at URMC.

For example, acute kidney injury caused by radiocontrast dye or chemotherapy can be prevented by administering fluids or altering a patient’s treatment plan. When these factors are adjusted accordingly, patients fare better and the cost and length of stay can be decreased.

And while such predictive systems require extensive validation before clinical deployment, this work is a step toward creating acute kidney injury predictions, specifically for re-hospitalized patients.

“This study will hopefully help move us in the direction of an automated, locally trained tool that leverages sometimes hidden, longitudinal electronic health record data to estimate acute kidney injury risk without manually ordering tests or collecting and entering data,” says Zand.

Read the full study in PLOS One.

Phillip D. Zamore, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Massachusetts, will lecture on piRNAs and the Struggle to Reproduce at the 31st Annual Genetics Day, to be held 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. April 25 in the Class of ’62 Auditorium and Flaum Atrium.

Register for a poster presentation by 5 p.m. Monday, April 15. Cash prizes will be awarded for graduate student and postdoc posters.

Ninoshka Fernandes, biomedical engineering, “CD4+ Effector T cell interactions with the Extracellular Matrix at Sites of Inflammation.” 2:15 p.m. March 29, 2019, 3-6408 K-307 Auditorium (Medical Center). Advisors: Deborah Fowell and Edward Brown.

Abigail Freyer, chemistry, “Investigation of Doped Nanocrystals Utilizing Electrostatic Force Microscopy.” Noon, April 1, 2019. 209 Computer Studies Building. Advisor: Todd Krauss.

Tianran Hu, computer science, “Decoding Human Lives from Social Media Data.” Noon, April 3, 2019. Dewey 2110E. Advisor: Jiebo Luo.

Allison Li, pathology, “Assessing the Role of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS)-Induced Bone Marrow Microenvironment Remodeling in MDS Progression.” 1 p.m., April 3, 2019. 1-7619 Lower Adolph (Medical Center). Advisor: Laura Calvi.

Mohammad Kazemi, electrical engineering, “Scalable Spin Torque Driven Devices and Circuits for High Performance Memory and Computing.” 2:30 p.m. April 8, 2019. Computer Studies Building 703. Advisor: Mark Bocko.

Thomas Nevins, physics, “Fronts and Filaments: Methods for Tracking and Predicting the Dynamical Effects of Advection on Excitable Reactions.” 11 a.m., April 12, 2019. Bausch and Lomb 106. Advisor: Douglas Kelley.

Today: “The Crisis Years: Professional Psychology Meets Cultural Feminism, 1970-1979” presented by graduate student Katherine Elena, 12:45 p.m. Gamble Room, Rush Rhees Library. The Department Workshop is a forum for the presentation of work-in-progress by history department faculty and graduate students. Learn more and get a copy of the paper.

March 27: Phelps Colloquium Series: Huaxia Rui, associate professor, Simon Business School, Open Voice or Private Message? The Hidden Tug-of-War on Social Media Customer Service, and Maria Marconi, assistant professor of clinical nursing, and specialty director of Health Care Organization and Management Master’s Program and of the master’s program in nursing, Leveraging Generational Diversity in Our Classrooms. 4-5:30 p.m. Location TBD. Register here. Questions? Contact Adele Coelho or call 273-2571.

March 28: Open Science in perspective: Early Career Researcher Edition symposium. 6:30-8 p.m. Gamble Room, Rush Rhees Library, or online. Hear directly from early career researchers engaged in research that sheds light on how the open movement is perceived among students and faculty. Sponsored by River Campus Libraries and Graduate Student Association. Read more here.

March 28: 5 p.m. deadline to apply for pilot projects relevant to the regulation of tobacco products. Available through the Center for Research on Flavored Tobacco at the University of Rochester and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Read the full request for applications. Questions? Contact Deborah Ossip Ph.D. or Scott Steel, Ph.D.

April 1: Strengthening Latino Health: the 2019 Latino Health and Health Disparities Conference (Fortaleciendo La Salud Latina: Conferencia de Salud Latina 2019.) Researchers, practitioners, and advocates share emerging research, best practices, and community perspectives that shape the agenda for Latino health and eliminating disparities. 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., School of Medicine and Dentistry. View course information and register online.

April 3: Jesse L. Rosenberger Works-in-Progress seminar. Jennifer Kyker, associate professor of music, presents “Sekuru’s Stories: Musical Sound and the Digital Humanities” as part of the theme of expertise and evidence. Noon to 2 p.m. Humanities Center Conference Room D at Rush Rhees LIbrary. Lunch provided. RSVP by clicking here.

April 4: University Technology Showcase, sponsored by Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences and the Center of Excellence in Data Science. 1 to 5 p.m., Doubletree, 1111 Jefferson Road. Speakers are Julie Gerstenberger, CEO and co-founder of Moondog Labs; Sharon Samjitsingh, co-founder of Health Care Originals; and Michael Molaire, CEO and founder of Molecular Glasses. Poster session. Register at https://ceis.wufoo.com/forms/moa11nv1mhui4d/

April 5: 8th Annual Medical Scientist Research Symposium. Keynote address: “Catch Me if You Can: Resistance to Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell Therapy” by Marco Ruella, assistant professor of hematology/oncology and scientific director of the Lymphoma Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Noon, Class of ’62 Auditorium. Student poster session 1:30 – 3 p.m. Flaum Atrium. Student oral presentations 3-4:30 p.m., Class of ’62 Auditorium.  For questions or requests, email Cathy Senecal-Rice or call 5-8721. Additional Information

April 17: Jesse L. Rosenberger Works-in-Progress seminar. Anaar Desai-Stephens, assistant professor of ethnomusicology, presents “‘You have to feel to sing!’: Affective Pedagogy, and the Commodification of  ‘Feel’ in (Neo)liberalizing India” as part of the theme of expertise and evidence. Noon to 2 p.m. Humanities Center Conference Room D at Rush Rhees LIbrary. Lunch provided. RSVP by clicking here.

April 22: Deadline to apply for UR-CTSI Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Pipeline-to-Pilot grant of up to $15,000. Read the full request for applications. For questions, contact John Cullen.

April 25: 31st Annual Genetics Day. 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Class of ’62 Auditorium and Flaum Atrium. Lecture by Phillip D. Zamore, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Massachusetts on piRNAs and the Struggle to Reproduce.  Register for a poster presentation by Monday, April 15, 5:00 p.m.

May 2: Jesse L. Rosenberger Works-in-Progress seminar. Tracy Stuber and Anastasia Nikolis, Public Humanities graduate fellows, present a public humanities fellowship update. Noon to 2 p.m. Humanities Center Conference Room D at Rush Rhees LIbrary. Lunch provided. RSVP by clicking here.

May 23: Deadline to apply for funding from the Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences (CEIS) to support projects with NY companies that promote technology transfer to those companies. All proposals must be submitted by email as attachments using the forms on the CEIS web site at http://www.ceis.rochester.edu/funding/CIRP.html. Documentation of company commitment must accompany the proposal. Proposals must be received by Cathy Adams (cathy.adams@rochester.edu, 585-275-3999). Questions may be addressed to her as well.