Over the past few years, Chunlei Guo, professor of optics, and his research team have found ways to manipulate tiny micro- and nanoscale structures on a material’s surface by irradiating them with laser pulses. They’ve altered materials to make them repel water, attract water, and absorb great amounts of light—all without any type of coating.

Now, Guo, Anatoliy Vorobyev, and Ranran Fang at the University’s Institute of Optics have advanced the research another step. They’ve developed a technique to visualize, for the first time, the complete evolution of micro- and nanoscale structural formation on a material’s surface, both during and after the application of a laser pulse.

“After we determined that we could drastically alter the property of a material through creating tiny structures in its surface, the next natural step was to understand how these tiny structures were formed,” Guo says. “This is very important because after you understand how they’re formed you can better control them.”

Having that control will open the way for improvements in all kinds of technologies, including anti-corrosive building materials, energy absorbers, fuel cells, space telescopes, airplane de-icing, medical instrumentation, and sanitation in third world countries.

In a paper published in the Nature journal Light: Science & Applications, the group introduced a scattered-light imaging technique that allows them to record an ultrafast movie of the ways in which laser radiation alters a material’s surface. The technique opens a window on the entire process, from the moment a laser hits the material to melting, transient surface fluctuations, to resolidification resulting in permanent micro- and nanostructures.

It currently takes about an hour to pattern a one-inch by one-inch metal sample. Identifying how micro- and nanostructures form has the potential to allow scientists to streamline the creation of these structures—including increasing the speed and efficiency of patterning surfaces. Creating and altering these small structures makes properties intrinsically part of the material and reduces the need for temporary chemical coatings.

Read more here.

University researchers suggest there is a connection between gut microbes in obesity and impaired musculoskeletal health. Their project, supported by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Incubator Program, suggests manipulating the gut microbiome in obese animals can slow osteoarthritis and speed healing after fracture.

The team, led by Michael Zuscik, associate professor of orthopaedics; Robert Mooney, professor of pathology; and Cheryl Ackert-Bicknell, associate professor of orthopaedics, found that the delayed fracture healing and accelerated erosion of joint cartilage associated with obesity were linked to changes in the gut microbiome.

Feeding mice a high fat diet to mimic obesity and type 2 diabetes altered the types of bacteria in their colon, favoring pro-inflammatory bugs. This coincided with greater systemic inflammation, which may have contributed to accelerated osteoarthritis and delayed fracture healing.

The researchers think they can reverse this change in the microbiome. In preliminary studies, obese mice were fed a fiber supplement that they cannot digest, but that certain helpful gut microbes love. Despite continuing to feed the mice a high fat diet, the non-digestible fiber shifted their microbiome back toward the non-inflammatory bacterial profile seen in lean mice.

Read more here.

Thirty times a second, MC10 BioStampRC sensors worn on the skin can record acceleration in three directions—in effect recording a patient’s every movement, including tremors, for 46 hours at a time.

Gaurav Sharma, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, is collaborating with University neurologist Ray Dorsey to use this wealth of data to better track the progression of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease —enabling physicians to make better informed decisions about treatments, including adjustments in medications.

“Instead of treating all patients as averages, which none of us are, we will be able to customize treatment based on individual data,” says Sharma.

So how does one analyze some 25 million measurements generated by the five sensors each patient wears over a two-day period? And then present the results in ways that are intelligible to a physician?

That’s where data science comes in—especially machine learning, which provides computers with the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.

Sharma and Karthik Dinesh, a graduate student in his lab, use processing algorithms to correlate the signals gathered from the five sensors and convert them into signal features that help measure coordination and tremor intensity. Machine learning techniques, such as clustering and classification, then help them categorize how these attributes differ among individuals who are at various phases of the disease, and from participants without the disease, who serve as controls. Machine learning also helps categorize whether participants have taken their medication so that the efficacy of the medication can be assessed.

“We’ve just scratched the surface in terms of the depth of data we have to work with,” Sharma says.

Read more here.

The KL2 Career Development Award that Wakenda Tyler received “was the first point in my career where I had enough support to dedicate significant time to research,” the associate professor of orthopaedics says.

“As an orthopaedic surgeon, it’s hard to carve out that time. Being funded by the KL2 let people in my department know that I needed to have protected time for research.”

Click here at the CTSI Stories blog to read her Q&A with Susanne Pallo on how the award affected her research, and what she’s working on now.

John Tarduno, professor of geophysics and chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, who is recipient of the 2017 Petrus Peregrinus Medal from the European Geosciences Union in recognition of his research on the evolution of the early Earth’s magnetic field. The Petrus Peregrinus Medal is awarded annually for outstanding scientific contributions in the field of magnetism and paleomagnetism.

Steven Piantadosi, an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences, who was recently named to the list of distinguished Rising Stars by the Association for Psychological Science (previously the American Psychological Society).  His research focuses on how people learn language and concepts. The Rising Star designation recognizes outstanding psychological scientists in the early stages of their post-PhD research career, whose innovative research has already advanced the field and signals great potential for their continued contributions.

The Three-Minute Thesis Competition features PhD students and postdoctoral appointees describing their research within three minutes to a general audience.

It gives them a chance to practice presentation skills, meet other trainees, and win up to $1,000 in travel awards.

Registration will run from Monday, April 10, to Friday, April 14, with subheats held on Wednesday, April 26, and Thursday, April 27. The final competition is Thursday, May 11.

For more information, visit cpd.urmc.edu/3MT or attend the info session at 2 p.m. Friday, March 31 in Sloan Auditorium (Room 101, Goergen Hall).

Training and insights for challenging racial and ethnic disparities in health care and research will be presented at a one-day conference on April 24 hosted by the Medical Center’s Office for Inclusion and Culture Development and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

Unconscious biases and cultural misunderstandings, as well as uninformed assumptions and oversights, can lead to disparities in health care for women, underrepresented groups, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, and others.

The conference, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Flaum Atrium, will enable clinicians to give better care to their patients and help researchers engage more diverse study populations.  Click here for the agenda and registration.

Feng Zhang, the first scientist to successfully adapt CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing in eukaryotic cells, will give two talks at the Medical Center on April 19. The entire University community is invited to attend.

Zhang is a core member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and investigator for the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT.

He will discuss:

“Exploration of CRISPR Diversity: from Microbiology to Biotechnology” from 1 to 3 p.m., Class of ’62 Auditorium (G-9425) as part of the Graduate Student NIH T32 Retreat in Cellular, Biochemical, and Molecular Sciences. Zhang’s talk will be preceded by talks by T32 trainees Lauren Rice and Sierra Fox. Hosts are Lynne Maquat and Jeffrey Hayes.

“From the Beginning: How I Came to CRISPR” from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m., Class of ’62 Auditorium (G-9425) as part of the Graduate Women in Science seminar series. Hosts are Lynne Maquat and Catherine Ovitt.

The Department of Public Health Sciences is supporting a limited number of pilot projects. The goal is to stimulate new interdepartmental collaborations with public health sciences faculty. Projects should have a substantial component of or potential impact on population health. The deadline for submitting initial applications is Monday, May 15. Learn more…

Stephanie Syc-Mazurek, Neuroscience, “The Molecular Signaling Pathways Controlling Apoptotic Retinal Ganglion Cell Death after Axonal Injury.” 10:30 a.m., March 27, 2017. Upper Auditorium (3-7619). Advisor: Richard Libby.

Donna Walck, Education, “Understanding Culturally Diverse Client Motivation from a Self-determination Theory Perspective Using a Critical Race Theory Lens.” 9 a.m., March 29, 2017. LeChase Hall 215. Advisors: Martin Lynch, Silvia Sorensen.

Michael Gibilisco, Political Science, “Three Essays on Political Science.” 2:30 p.m., March 29, 2017. Harkness Hall 329. Advisor: Anastassios Kalandrakis.

Thomas Noel, Education, “The Juxtaposition of Teachers as Community Members in the Districts Where They Teach:  An Examination of the Relationship Between Teacher Residency Requirement Policy and Student-Teacher Relationships.” 1 p.m., March 30, 2017. LeChase Hall 481. Advisors: Brian Brent,  Douglas Guiffrida.

Srdan Prodanovic, Mechanical Engineering, “Power dissipation in the mammalian cochlea and consequences on the frequency selectivity.” 9 a.m., March 30, 2017. Hopeman 224. Advisors: Jong-Hoon Nam, Sheryl Gracewski.

Serenity Sutherland, History, “Discovering Science for Women: The Life of Ellen Swallow Richards, 1842-1911.” 10 a.m., March 30, 2017. Gamble Room, Rush Rhees Library. Advisor: Thomas Slaughter.

Chang Liu, Statistics, “Bayesian Semiparametric Measurement Error Models: Estimation, Variable Selection, and Fast Algorithms.” 1:30 p.m., March 31, 2017. Helen Wood Hall (1W-501). Advisor: Sally Thurston.

Julian Martinez, Physics, “Weak-Values Metrological Techniques for Parameter Estimation.” 2 p.m., March 31, 2017. Bausch and Lomb 109. Advisor: John Howell.

Jennifer Anstey, Education, “Decision Processes of Emigrants from Nazi Germany.” 4 p.m., April 3, 2017. LeChase Hall 481. Advisors: Kathryn Douthit, Dena Swanson.

Nguyen Mai, Neuroscience, “Lung-Brain Immunological Coupling Mediates Neutrophil De-Priming and Neuroprotection following Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion.” 9 a.m., April 10, 2017. Whipple Auditorium (2-6424). Advisor: Marc Halterman.

Deven Patel, Epidemiology, “The Association between Urban Green Space and Depressive Symptoms in a Cardiac Rehabilitation Population.” 9:30 a.m., April 10, 2017. Helen Wood Hall (1W-501. Advisor: Edwin Van Wijngaarden.

Matthew Brewer, Microbiology & Immunology, “The Effects that Antigen Density and Composition of Nanoparticles has on the Immune Response.” 2 p.m., April 10, 2017. K307 (3-6408). Advisor: Stephen Dewhurst.

Christopher S. Anderson, Microbiology & Immunology, “The Effect of Memory B cells on Influenza Vaccination, Immune Focusing, and Implications on Vaccine Design.” 11 a.m., April 11, 2017. Adolph Auditorium (1-7619). Advisor: David J. Topham.

Evan McConnell, Neurobiology & Anatomy, “Developmental Changes in Astrocytic Calcium Signaling and Microcirculatory Failure in the Setting of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Role for Potassium.” 1 p.m., April 12, 2017. Auditorium K-307 (3-6408). Advisor: Maiken Nedergaard.

Katherine Herman, Microbiology & Immunology, “Spontaneous Immune Dysregulation in the Skin in the Absence of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein.” 2 p.m., April 12, 2017. K207 (2-6408). Advisor: Deborah Fowell.

Salvador Pena, Pathology, “Hypoxia and the Mitochondrial Unfolded Protein Response.” 1 p.m., April 13, 2017. Class of ’62 Auditorium (G-9425). Advisor: Keith Nehrke.

Xiaowei Wang, Neuroscience, “Studies of Na+-K+-2Cl-Cotransporter-1 function in the Central Nervous System in Health and Disease.” 2 p.m., April 17, 2017. Auditorium K-207 (2-6408). Advisor: Maiken Nedergaard.

Karl Smith, Biophysics, “Understanding Sieving and Clogging in Ultrathin Membrane Filtration.” 9 a.m., April 20, 2017. Neuman Room (1-6823). Advisor: James McGrath.

March 25: Brainstorming for the Healthy Weight Initiative, which aims to increase the proportion of people with healthy weight in Rochester and beyond. The goal is to identify potential collaborators and research topics in any area related to body weight development as a first step toward developing new transdisciplinary research teams to obtain more research funding. For more information, go to the CTSI Stories Blog.

March 28: Sources and Effects of Transcriptomic Heterogeneity, presented by Matthew N. McCall, assistant professor of biostatistics, Center for Biomedical Informatics Seminar Series. Noon to 1 p.m., K-307 Auditorium (3-6408).

March 28: Seeds for Collaboration mixer. Presentations by David Auerbach, Danielle Benoit, and Eric Phizicky. 4:30 to 6 p.m., LeChase Assembly Hall (G-9576). Sponsored by the Del Monte Institute for Neuromedicine and the office of the dean of basic research.

March 29:  “Two Decades of Nursing Home Compare: What Have We Learned?” Presented by R. Tamara Konetzka, professor of health services research at the University of Chicago. Saward-Berg Honorary Lecture sponsored by Department of Public Health Sciences.  12:30 to 2 p.m. Helen Wood Hall Auditorium (Room 1W304).

March 31: Information session on Three-Minute Thesis Competition, 2 p.m., Sloan Auditorium (Room 101, Goergen Hall). For more information, visit cpd.urmc.edu/3MT.

April 7: “Innate Allergy?” Keynote address by Richard Locksley ’76, professor of infectious disease and director of the Strategic Asthma Basic Research Center at University of California, San Francisco. Medical Scientist Research Symposium. 3-4:30 p.m. Class of ’62 Auditorium. The Medical Scientist Research Symposium showcases the research and scientific accomplishments of the University’s Medical Scientist Training Program, and also includes luncheon and student oral presentations at noon in the auditorium, and poster sessions at 1:30 and 2:15 p.m. in the Flaum Atrium. Click here for more  information.

April 10: Deadline to apply for pilot and feasibility awards offered by the Schmitt Program in Integrative Neuroscience (SPIN), in conjunction with the Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience. Click here for more information and to download the RFA.

April 10-14: Registration open for Three-Minute Thesis Competition. For more information, visit cpd.urmc.edu/3MT.

April 13: CEIS (Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences) Technology Showcase. Researchers share their work in optics, imaging and photonics, energy and materials, biomedical technology, and IP with industry professionals. 1 to 5 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, 1111 Jefferson Road. Free and open to the public. Register online.

April 19: Feng Zhang, the first scientist to successfully adapt CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing in eukaryotic cells, will give two talks at the Medical Center. “Exploration of CRISPR Diversity: from Microbiology to Biotechnology,” 1 to 3 p.m., Class of ’62 Auditorium (G-9425), Graduate Student NIH T32 Retreat in Cellular, Biochemical and Molecular Sciences. “From the Beginning: How I Came to CRISPR,” 3:15 to 4:15 p.m., Class of ’62 Auditorium (G-9425), Graduate Women in Science seminar series.

April 24: One-day conference examining racial and ethnic disparities in health care and research, hosted by the Medical Center’s Office for Inclusion and Culture Development and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Flaum Atrium. Click here for the agenda and registration.

April 26: “Precision Medicine: Notre Dame’s Bold Initiative to Lead the 21st Century Revolution in Personalized Care.” Presented by Paul Bohn, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, University of Notre Dame. Hesburgh Lecture, sponsored by Notre Dame Club of Rochester and Department of Pharmacology and Physiology. 7 p.m., Adolph Auditorium, Medical Center.

May 15: Deadline for submitting applications for population health pilot projects supported by the Department of Public Health Science. Learn more…

May 22: Deadline to apply for research awards from the Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences to collaborate with New York state companies on projects in ophthalmic and vision science, fiber optic communications, biomedical imaging, geospatial imaging, precision optics, consumer imaging and displays. Click here to learn more.