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 'Dr. Chatbot' evolves into regional COVID-19 tracking toolWhen the pandemic finally reached Rochester in March, anxious citizens deluged a COVID-19 hotline at the Medical Center, tying up emergency room and Urgent Care physicians and staff. Medical Center leaders needed a way to screen out the calls from the “worried well,” so people with actual symptoms could get through. Pronto.
They turned to the UR Health Lab.
In two days, the team produced a chatbot—a software application to conduct an online chat conversation via text or text-to-speech, in lieu of direct contact with a live human. Within a week the app—dubbed Dr. Chatbot—reduced the hotline’s volume of calls by 50 percent.
When New York ordered statewide lock downs a week later, the UR Health Team again delivered, revamping Dr. Chatbot so the University could better conduct daily screening for 9,000 essential employees who still needed to report for work.
And now, a third iteration of the COVID-19-tracking chatbot technology is gaining national attention. It will be used to track the pandemic across 13 counties in the Rochester region, giving policymakers a tool to quickly detect any uptick in cases as the region continues a phased reopening of businesses and other activities.
What is UR Health lab? An “innovation shop that is very different from anything else at the University,” says co-director Michael Hasselberg, an associate professor of psychiatry and clinical nursing. (Read more here.)
‘Dr. Chatbot’ available free as open source software
The software code at the heart of the “Dr. Chatbot” screening tool is now available free as open source software, so employers across the country can advance reopening efforts.
“Based on tremendous interest in our technology from other universities and employers of all types, we realize that our tool can be beneficial far beyond our institution in fighting the spread of COVID-19. We are giving away our code for free to all employers who can use it as a way of giving back during this health crisis,” says Stephen Dewhurst, vice dean for research at the School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Institutional IT departments or commercial software developers can use, modify or enhance the University of Rochester code to meet the needs of their organizations or customers. The code, which comes with the standard MIT License for unlimited use and a Read Me file, is accessible on the GitHub software development website on a page hosted by UR Ventures, which protects intellectual property developed by University researchers and helps them commercialize their discoveries. Employers interested in the health care screening technology can freely access the code at https://github.com/University-of-Rochester-URVentures/EmployeeChatBot.
Prison education initiative receives $1 million grantThe University has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the Rochester Education Justice Initiative (REJI), the University’s cornerstone prison education initiative. The award, to be distributed over three years, enables REJI to significantly expand its work providing higher education opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in the Rochester area as part of a broader mission to address the problem of mass incarceration.
“This award comes at a critical and important time,” says Gloria Culver, dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. “Efforts to recognize and address social injustices on our campus and in our community must continue and be redoubled. The work of the Rochester Education Justice Initiative, by serving one of our society’s most marginalized communities—and helping them to be a part of our learning experience and associated opportunities as well—is vital to the University’s mission to make the world ever better.”
For the past five years, with funding from the University as well as recent philanthropic partners the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation and the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation, the initiative has enabled University of Rochester faculty and graduate students to teach 20 courses, in a range of disciplines, at four area correctional facilities.
The Mellon Foundation grant will enable REJI to:
- provide more academic offerings for both incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals;
- increase undergraduate and graduate student engagement in these programs;
- bring together local higher education and community partners to build a network of advocates working to lower incarceration in the city, region, and state.
Read more here.
Warner model for math coaches gets $2.8 million grantMathematics educators in rural districts often work in isolation and lack access to high quality professional learning experiences.
A team of University scholars aims to address these education disparities through a new online professional development model for mathematics coaches that can be replicated nationwide. The team, led by Warner School of Education professors Jeffrey Choppin and Cynthia Callard, along with Julie Amador, a University of Idaho Coeur d’Alene faculty member, received $2.7 million in grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study and provide coaches in rural areas with access to high-quality professional development in mathematics.
The four-year funding will support the recruitment, training, and research of three cohorts of rural mathematics coaches from across the U.S. The coach participants will take part in online courses, one-on-one interactions with coach mentors, and video club meetings where they will review and analyze videos of their teaching.
Read more here.
Neurons can shift how they process information about motionIn a paper published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, University researchers including Greg DeAngelis, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, examine how neurons in the brain represent the motion of an object while the observer is also moving.
Specifically, the researchers studied how observers judge an object’s motion relative to the observer’s head or relative to the world.
They found that neurons in a specific brain region — the ventral intraparietal (VIP) area — have a remarkable property: their responses to object motion change depending on the task.
The research offers important information about the inner workings of the brain and potentially could be used for applications such as neural prosthetics, in which brain activity is used to control artificial limbs or vehicles. They could also potentially lead to therapies to treat brain disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia, which impair the ability to take in sensory information and infer which events in the world caused that sensory input—an ability known as causal inference. Read more here.
Congratulations to . . . Catherine (Kate) Cerulli, director of the Susan B. Anthony Center and the Laboratory of Interpersonal Violence and Victimization (LIVV), and a professor of psychiatry, who has been named a Health Policy Fellow by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Academy of Medicine. Cerulli, along with five others, will spend a year in Washington, DC, to work with national health and health policy leaders, participate in seminars and leadership development, and engage with members of Congress. Read more here.
Three recipients of recent fellowships from the Wilmot Cancer Institute. They are:
Shuyang Qin (mentor Peter Prieto), who received a pre-doctoral fellowship for “Effects of intertumoral genetic heterogeneity on T cell exhaustion and response to PD-1 blockade.”
Sara Hardy (mentors Michelle Janelsins, Giovanni Schifitto, Michael Milano) who received a post-doctoral fellowship for “The role of the mammillary bodies in radiation-related cognitive decline.”
Jacob Kallenbach (mentor Joe Chakkalakal) who received a pre-doctoral fellowship for “Targeting CCR2 to Mitigate the Late Effects of Juvenile Radiation-Induced Skeletal Muscle Decline.”
Keeping abreast of the University's response to COVID-19
Here are four important links for researchers:
Cancer investigators pivot, take on coronavirus research: Using their specialized knowledge of viruses and genomics technology at the Wilmot Cancer Institute, Isaac Harris, an assistant professor of biomedical genetics, and Josh Munger, an assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics and of microbiology and immunology, are searching for new and existing US Food and Drug Administration-approved medications that could block the coronavirus.
COVID-19’s toll in nursing homes: A new study shows that residents of long-term care facilities with lower nurse staffing levels, poorer quality scores, and higher concentrations of disadvantaged residents suffer from higher rates of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths. Read more here.
Career support for recent graduates: The COVID-19 pandemic has created turmoil in the job market, presenting a challenge for college students not seen since the Great Recession of 2008–09. Lisa Kahn, a professor of economics who previously studied the economic lives of students who graduated during that recession, says the Class of 2020 may have a rockier start as they compete against experienced workers for fewer jobs. But they should try to remember that over time, their degrees will be an advantage. “They need to remember that college graduates are better off than those without college degrees,” says Kahn. “And as the recovery eventually takes hold, they will be well-positioned for new employment opportunities.”
University resources and alumni can help:
New COVID-19 Funding Opportunities
- The National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities will soon solicit research to evaluate community interventions testing 1) the impacts of mitigation strategies to prevent COVID-19 transmission in health disparity populations and other vulnerable groups; and 2) interventions to address the adverse psychosocial, sociocultural, behavioral, and socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic on the health of these groups. First application due date: Wednesday, July 22.
- The National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are offering two funding opportunities (RFA-CA-20-038) and (RFA-CA-20-039) to establish Serological Sciences Research Projects with the goals of identifying and advancing research opportunities to characterize the immune responses elicited by SARS-CoV-2 viral infection; understanding the mechanisms driving the serological, humoral and cellular immune responses; determining host, genetic and environmental modifiers of the immune response; determining the serological correlates of disease pathogenesis and protection against future infection; and defining access, communication, and implementation barriers related to SARS-CoV-2 serological testing. Apply by Wednesday, July 22.
- NIH will soon offer four funding opportunities as part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) initiative, a $500 million initiative to reduce COVID-19 associated morbidity and mortality disparities for vulnerable and underserved populations that are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Applications will be accepted through Monday, August 31.
Expiring Deadlines for COVID-19 Funding
- NIAID is soliciting research applications for milestone-driven projects focused on preclinical development of candidate therapeutics, vaccines and related countermeasures against select emerging infectious diseases and pathogens. Applications must include a product development strategy and demonstrate investment by at least one industrial participant. Apply by Monday, June 29.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides support for innovation in rapid and accurate patient testing for 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and other diagnostic solutions to mitigate future outbreaks through its Diagnostic Development Initiative. AWS is offering technical support and providing promotional credits to support the use of their services to advance diagnostic research for selected institutions and companies. Apply by Tuesday, June 30.
Finger Lakes Region in New York’s Phase 3: With our region now in Phase 3 of New York State’s regional reopening plans, the Coronavirus University Restart Team (CURT) continues to recommend remote-work status for nonessential employees throughout Phase 3. Read more. With the exception of University medical and clinical care facilities, the University continues to be closed to outside guests or visitors until further notice. Those who must visit campus—vendors and service personnel who are essential to campus operations, for example—must wear masks when in public spaces and maintain social distancing of at least six feet.
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