An innovative optical fiber greatly reduces the “noise” interfering with the signals it transmits compared to the single-mode fibers now widely used, University researchers report.

The anti-resonant hollow core fiber, created by researchers at the University of Central Florida, produces the lowest levels ever recorded from interference caused by the vibration of quantum material—known as acoustic phonons—in the glass as the signals travel through the fiber at room temperatures.

The lab’s findings demonstrate that the fiber is a “promising platform for low-noise applications, such as for quantum information processing and optical communications,” writes lead author Arjun Iyer, a graduate research associate in the lab of William Renninger, an assistant professor of optics at Rochester.

To document the properties of the fiber, researchers in Renninger’s lab developed a highly sensitive measuring technique. Their findings are reported in a paper published in APL Photonics.

“It’s a very valuable fiber, and despite a lot of interest in it by researchers and some companies, nobody had really studied the behavior of phonons supported by the structure, and to what extent it actually reduced ‘noise,’” says Renninger, an expert in experimental and theoretical nonlinear optics. Read more here.

New research suggests the seasonal colds you’ve had in the past may provide some protection from COVID-19. The study, authored by infectious disease experts at the Medical Center, also suggests that immunity to COVID-19 is likely to last a long time – maybe even a lifetime.

The study, published in mBio, is the first to show that the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2, induces memory B cells, long-lived immune cells that detect pathogens, create antibodies to destroy them and remember them for the future. The next time that pathogen tries to enter the body, those memory B cells can hop into action even faster to clear the infection before it starts.

Because memory B cells can survive for decades, they could protect COVID-19 survivors from subsequent infections for a long time, but further research will have to bear that out.

The study is also the first to report cross-reactivity of memory B cells – meaning B cells that once attacked cold-causing coronaviruses appeared to also recognize SARS-CoV-2. Study authors believe this could mean that anyone who has been infected by a common coronavirus – which is nearly everyone – may have some degree of pre-existing immunity to COVID-19.

Read more here.

Ruth O’Regan, chief of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care at the University of Wisconsin, has been named the next Charles A. Dewey Professor and Chair of Medicine at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, pending approval by the University Board of Trustees. With nearly 500 faculty across 14 divisions, Medicine is the Medical Center’s largest clinical and academic department.

O’Regan brings more than 20 years of experience in academic medicine and a distinguished history of research and publication to her new role, which she will begin Jan. 1, 2021.

O’Regan has held her current position at the University of Wisconsin since 2015. She is also an endowed professor of Hematology/Oncology, deputy director of the University’s Carbone Cancer Center, chief scientific officer of the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium, and vice chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Board of Directors.

O’Regan’s research centers on developing novel therapeutic approaches for treatment-resistant breast cancers, with a focus on triple negative and endocrine-resistant metastatic breast cancers—areas in which she is a nationally known thought leader. O’Regan’s work has been supported with funding from the NCI, foundations, and industry. Read more here.

On September 29, University leaders from Global Engagement and the International Services Office (ISO) issued a response to the unsettling proposed changes to the Department of Homeland Security rules that, if enacted, would set limited terms of up to four years for student visas and establish that international students need to apply to extend their stay to continue studying in the United States.

Global Engagement, ISO and the Office of Government and Community Relations are working together to make clear the University’s opposition to these changes, join with professional associations to bring collective pressure on DHS to rescind these measures, and continue to support affected international students and scholars through this prolonged uncertainty.

What do vapers, smokers, and non-smokers with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes have in common? They all are at higher risk for COVID-19.

The scientific explanation behind this is complex and not yet certain — but it may boil down to an enzyme known as ACE2, that lives on the surface of many cells in the lungs and serves as the entry point for the coronavirus.

Evidence shows that people with chronic inflammatory illnesses, vulnerable older adults, and those who smoke or vape, all have an abundance of ACE2 receptor proteins to serve as a gateway to the deadly virus.

A Medical Center research team led by Irfan Rahman published a series of studies during the pandemic that focus on the vital role of ACE2 — which is already at the center of many other scientific investigations — to shape a clearer picture of the critical cellular mechanisms that regulate the deadly virus and its link to vaping.

While Rochester investigators are working in lockstep with scientists around the world, Rahman’s special interest is on the growing problem of young people who test positive and may be spreading coronavirus at alarming rates. Even some older children and teens who have higher levels of the ACE2 receptor seem to be more vulnerable to the virus. Read more here.

With the recent acquisition of Nobel Prize-winning technology and two new grants, Wilmot Cancer Institute researchers are streamlining their investigations into a malignant blood disease known as MDS and are working toward discovering targeted therapies.

Laura Calvi and Clara Kielkopf are leading collaborative teams that will be using a Medical Center cryo-electron microscope that has ushered in a new era in biochemistry. The microscope allows scientists to see 3D snapshots and more details of living molecules than ever before, down to near-atomic resolution, to understand disease and uncover new ways to design drugs. The developers of the technology were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017.

Calvi and Kielkopf each received Edward P. Evans Foundation awards totaling $1.2 million for this project. Evans grants go to scientists seeking a cure for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), which originate in the bone marrow and disrupt healthy blood cell formation. MDS often leads to leukemia.

The Kielkopf lab will use the cryo-electron microscope to obtain 3D views of recurrent MDS mutations as guides for targeting molecular therapies. The modern microscope is the first of its kind in the Rochester region, Kielkopf said, and will be accessible to all UR researchers through the Electron Microscopy Shared Resource Laboratory. She is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the Center for RNA Biology.

Calvi, a professor of medicine/oncology and co-leader of Wilmot’s Cancer Microenvironment research program, is an expert in the communication between hematopoietic stem cells and bone cells, which is critical for normal blood cell development. When those signals are disrupted, MDS and other blood cancers can occur. For this project, her lab is focused on the microenvironmental metabolism of MDS.

Read more here.

• Jonathan Stone ’16M, an associate professor of neurosurgery and director of the Simulation Innovation Laboratory at  Strong Memorial Hospital who is also founder and CEO of Simulated Inanimate Models, which received the Outstanding Graduate Award and $400,000 recently from the Luminate NY Accelerator Competition. The company offers an immersive “flight simulator for surgery” that eliminates patient risk by enabling surgeons to practice complete procedures on lifelike anatomical models in an augmented reality environment.
• Dennis Kessler, the Edward & Agnes Ackley Clinical Professor and Director of Entrepreneurship at the Simon Business School, who has been named a Fulbright Scholar for 2021. Kessler will be researching and teaching entrepreneurial ecosystems at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Madrid, Spain next year.
• Mitchell Lovett, an associate professor of marketing at Simon Business School, who has been named a 2020 Marketing Science Institute Scholar. He joins a group of 35 mid-career faculty who are being recognized by the organization for excellence in marketing scholarship.
• Wasifur Rahman, a PhD student in the research group of Ehsan Hoque, associate professor of computer science. Rahman won a Distinguished Paper Award at ACM UbiComp 2020, one of the flagship conferences for human-computer interaction research. In his spare time, Rahman collaborated with the Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET) on diagnosing PTSD using a portable wearable neuro-headset and validating it with a standard PTSD questionnaire. “What is really impressive is that the research was conducted at the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, the largest refugee camp in the world,” Hoque notes. “Many of these refugees have undiagnosed PTSD and have no way of seeking treatment. This inexpensive and portable solution potentially contributes to equity and access to healthcare in an underserved community. I am very proud of the example that Wasifur demonstrated in outreach and mentorship outside of our University.” Read more here.

The 25th annual Wilmot Cancer Institute Scientific Symposium will be held virtually via Zoom on Friday, November 20, from noon to 4:30 p.m. EST, bringing together scientists working in basic, translational, and clinical cancer research. 

This year’s keynote speaker is Omar Abdel-Wahab from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who conducts research focused on RNA splicing alterations and epigenetic regulation in leukemogenesis. Learn more about the symposium, and register to attend.

In lieu of a poster session, there will be a short talk competition; submissions are due by October 30.

The fall 2020 round of the University’s Technology Development Fund has opened.

Eligible projects propose the development of a technology to a commercial endpoint, and awards are up to $100,000 and support animal testing, prototyping, and other proof-of-concept studies.

The fund is open to all faculty, staff, and students; however, a submitted invention disclosure to URVentures is required with an application. Pre-proposal applications are due to Omar Bakht by October 23. Learn more.

The escalating costs of advanced education and training in medicine and clinical specialties are forcing some scientists to abandon their research careers for higher-paying private industry or private practice careers.

NIH’s Loan Repayment Programs counteract that financial pressure by repaying up to $50,000 annually of a researcher’s qualified educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH mission-relevant research.

Learn more and apply for extramural new and renewal awards by November 20, 2020.

Here are important links for researchers:

• University’s COVID-19 website for important updates and guidance on working, teaching, and learning remotely
• University of Rochester Medical Center website for restrictions, resources, and news
• Office of Research and Project Administration (ORPA) site on Coronavirus 2019 resources related to sponsored programs
• University’s COVID-19 “Restart and Recovery” web page.

University’s schools outline their spring 2021 plans: Read about each school’s plan for coursework in the spring semester.

Apply for COVID-19 Synergy Paper Funding: Collaborative teams are invited to apply for assistance from UR CTSI’s Center for Leading Innovation and Collaboration to write a synergy paper that focuses on either:

1. A new approach to a significant translational science process or method implemented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and how to address this challenge to advance translational science; or
2. A content/knowledge review of a pressing translational science topic across several stages of the translational continuum, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying gaps and approaches to move the field forward.

Apply by Sunday, November 15.

Online Learning Symposium Series: Every fall, the University of Rochester hosts a series of open forums to provide insight and promote dialogue about Online Learning with the community. This fall the series is centered around discussions with panels of University of Rochester faculty who have designed and developed online versions of their courses and are teaching them this semester. The panels are organized by broad disciplinary areas.

• Wednesday, October 14 (noon-1 p.m.)
  Faculty experiences with Online Learning in the Health Sciences at the University of Rochester
  Christopher Seplaki, associate professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine
  Luis A. Rosario-McCabe, assistant professor of clinical nursing, specialty director for the CNL Program, School of Nursing
  Margie Hodges Shaw, associate professor, law and bioethics, Division of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, School of Medicine
  Cynthia L. Wong, associate professor of clinical dentistry and clinical pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Dentistry, Eastman Institute for Oral Health
  Register in advance for this meeting:
  https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwuduysqjorH9JpFBRzM2JhOk1lIbdHtvDU
  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
• Wednesday, October 28 (noon-1 p.m.)
  Faculty experiences with Online Learning in the Humanities at the University of Rochester
  Guoming Tian, assistant professor of instruction in Chinese, College of Arts & Sciences
  Denise Malloy, assistant professor, Writing Speaking and Argument Program, College of Arts & Sciences
  Heather Layton, senior lecturer, Sage Arts Center, College of Arts & Sciences
  Jonathan Dunsby, professor of music theory, chair of music theory, Eastman School of Music
  Register in advance for this meeting:
  https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUof-mvpzgjE9BgCaCfbh5I3QNW6ZX50LlJ
  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
• Monday, November 9 (noon -1 p.m.)
  Faculty experiences with Online Learning in STEM at the University of Rochester
  Andrew Berger, professor of optics, associate professor of biomedical engineering, Hajim School of Engineering
  John Kessler, professor and department chair, earth and environmental sciences, College of Arts & Sciences
  John Lambropoulos, professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and professor, Materials Science, Hajim School of Engineering
  Lewis Rothberg, professor of chemistry; professor of chemical engineering, College of Arts & Sciences
  Register in advance for this meeting:
  https://rochester.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAtdOCqqjgoHdz18k_ulOqmhrsaO3hurEFq
  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

“COVID Connects Us: Using Science to Empower Youth Collaboration and Anti-COVID Action in Their Communities,” is a new partnership between the University’s Warner School of Education, School of Medicine & Dentistry, and a diverse network of secondary science teachers and their schools. The project aims to help Rochester-area youth amplify their voices in explaining why and how COVID-19 is affecting their communities and what they, together with their community, can do about it.

Working Parents Network—back to school in a pandemic: Join Life-Work Connections/EAP and Well-U on Thursday, October 8, from noon to 1 p.m. EDT for an opportunity to connect with other parents who are managing work and their children’s return to school during the pandemic. Share tips and tricks, discuss challenges, and receive support. Register here.

University links with WeWork to support undergraduates in China: The Office for Global Engagement and Center for Education Abroad have recently joined with global space provider WeWork to provide work and study areas to undergraduates throughout China who are remote this semester.