In a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment, University researchers were able to use magnetism to determine, for the first time, when carbonaceous chondrite asteroids—asteroids that are rich in water and amino acids—first arrived in the inner solar system.

The research provides data that helps inform scientists about the early origins of the solar system and why some planets, such as Earth, became habitable and were able to sustain conditions conducive for life, while other planets, such as Mars, did not.

The research also gives scientists data that can be applied to the discovery of new exoplanets.

“There is special interest in defining this history—in reference to the huge number of exoplanet discoveries—to deduce whether events might have been similar or different in exo-solar systems,” says John Tarduno, the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and dean of research for Arts, Sciences & Engineering at Rochester. “This is another component of the search for other habitable planets.” Read more here.

M. Kerry O’Banion, professor of neuroscience and neurology in the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, has been awarded $1.8 million from NASA to explore the effect space travel has on the immune system and bone marrow, and how that impacts brain function.

The grant is one of 21 research proposals recently awarded by NASA to help answer questions about astronaut health and performance during future long-duration missions, including crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.

Using simulated space radiation produced by particle accelerators at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, O’Banion and his team will examine tissue and cellular changes in genes, blood flow, and immune cell function in mice. Behavioral tests and computer-assisted imaging will also be used to quantify damage and inflammation in the brain.

O’Banion and colleagues previously worked with NASA on a study that showed exposure to a particular form of space radiation called high-mass, high-charged particles caused biological and cognitive changes in mice suggesting an accelerated risk for the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

This time around, O’Banion will be working with Laura Calvi, an endocrinologist and co-director of the UR Multidisciplinary Neuroendocrinology Clinic. Her preliminary data found space radiation changes in bone marrow suggestive of a skewed phenotype, in which white blood cells are changed into a more inflammatory phenotype. Similar changes are found with aging. “This helps to bind a common hypothesis about dysfunction and degeneration in multiple systems, with the bone marrow communicating to the brain through the vasculature,” O’Banion says. Read more here.

The Medical Center’s Infectious Diseases Division has partnered with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study HIV/AIDS for more than 30 years. Their efforts have been recognized with a new $18 million grant to continue conducting vaccine and treatment trials and engaging with communities affected by HIV.

The award also allows Rochester researchers to study other high-priority infectious diseases, including COVID-19. The team pivoted to study coronavirus vaccines and treatments over the past six months, contributing to the worldwide effort to bring safe and effective vaccines and therapies to market as quickly as possible.

“While creating a preventive HIV vaccine has been complex, our work has established approaches that are used for HIV and also contributed to the unprecedented speed at which coronavirus vaccines are being developed,” says Michael C. Keefer, professor in the department of Medicine and interim chief of the Infectious Diseases Division.

For example, vaccines using adenoviruses as carriers of HIV proteins have been used in HIV research for years, and that is one of the approaches being used in two of the actively enrolling COVID-19 vaccine efficacy trials (AstraZeneca and Janssen trials). Additionally, anti-HIV monoclonal neutralizing antibodies have been shown to be effective in preventing some HIV infections, and anti-coronavirus monoclonal antibodies have become an important strategy to treat patients with early-stage COVID-19. Read more here.

States with more vapers had larger numbers of daily coronavirus cases and deaths in the early weeks of the pandemic — with New York state as a hot spot, according to a Medical Center analysis.

Led by Dongmei Li, an expert in biostatistics at URMC, the study adds to growing national data that links vaping and the coronavirus. Although the current analysis does not provide a direct cause-and-effect between the two, it raises more concerns about vaping, which has also been linked to outbreaks of other illnesses and deaths from the chemicals in vaping products.

The journal Preventive Medicine Reports published Li’s findings.

“As the country comes to grips with behaviors that may raise or lower risks of contracting COVID-19,” Li said, “our study supports the possibility that vaping increases the risk.”

The study also found that states with a higher proportion of residents without a high school degree, for example, had higher coronavirus death rates. Read more here.

Oncologists at the Wilmot Cancer Institute and across the U.S., and their grateful patients, are seeing the benefits of one of the most exciting new cancer treatments to emerge in recent years. CAR T-cell therapy is based on an old idea — that the immune system can be super-charged to attack tumors — and thanks to modern technology and a series of new discoveries, it’s showing more promise than ever.

CAR T-cell therapy was originally designed for blood cancers. The earliest versions were used to treat pediatric leukemia. Now, adults who have a relentless form of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma may qualify for CAR T-cell therapy when their disease progresses despite standard aggressive treatment.

More recently, researchers have been expanding the playbook to other types of blood cancer with success.

Nationally, approximately 80 percent of patients improve immediately after receiving CAR T-cell therapy, says Patrick Reagan, assistant professor of hematology/oncology, who leads Wilmot’s program to administer the treatment.

Nearly 50 percent of those patients have a complete response, which means their tumors vanish within three months.

Approximately 40 percent stay well for two years or longer, Reagan says, citing national data. These individuals likely would have succumbed to their cancer within weeks or months had they not received CAR T-cell therapy. Instead, they are not only alive, but they’re healthy and productive. Read more here.

The Research Methods Forum of the University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI) provides an interactive setting for investigators to present new and developing research ideas to multidisciplinary experts and potential collaborators to get their feedback and recommendations.

You can present your research proposals at an early stage of project development and again when the research design is more advanced and the team is more established. We recommend getting on the calendar to present 2-3 months before your grant is due. Submit a request online to participate.

The UR CTSI announces a UNYTE Pipeline-to-Pilot grant opportunity of up to two awards of $10,000. The main goal of this program is to stimulate early phase research partnerships between University of Rochester faculty and UNYTE member institution faculty, facilitating their ability to compete as a collaborative team for future funding for translational biomedical research. Apply by Monday, February 1, 2021.

Here are important links for researchers:

• The University’s COVID-19 Resource Center 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
• The University’s COVID-19 “Restart and Recovery” web page

With the much-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech expected to be approved soon, the Medical Center is preparing to receive, store, and distribute initial doses to health care workers at high risk of COVID-19 exposure as early as next week.  Medical Center staff can find the latest information on the vaccination intranet site.

Please note that the University’s COVID-19 Dashboard is updated daily and dashboard numbers may reflect additional cases confirmed later in the day. When a new case is known, the contact-tracing process begins immediately with the Monroe County Health Department, with confirmed exposures being contacted and required to quarantine. Remember:

• A temperature of 100 °F (37.8 °C) or higher
• Chills
• Muscle or body aches
• Severe fatigue
• Headache
• Congestion or runny nose
• Sore throat
• Loss of taste, smell, or appetite
• Cough, shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea