Fetal alcohol syndrome (FASD) is a pressing public health problem with experts estimating that it affects just as many people as autism, if not more. According to the National Institutes of Health, 1 to 5 percent of Americans may have FASD, making the condition more prevalent than previously recognized. And yet, it is often missed. One reason is the shame of having borne a child with FASD.

After nearly two decades of research in the field of FASD treatment, Christie Petrenko, a research psychologist at Mt. Hope Family Center and the Medical Center, is urging a shift in treatment toward a holistic approach that focuses, among other things, on people’s strengths rather than just their deficits, and on making changes that are important to the patient, not the practitioner. The new conceptual model, which she developed with her graduate student Carson Kautz-Turnbull, is described in their article “From Surviving to Thriving,” published in the International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities and a podcast for the nonprofit organization FASD Success.

In a forthcoming paper in the American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Kautz-Turnbull, Petrenko, and Tangeria Adams, who received her PhD in clinical psychology from Rochester earlier this year, will present results of a study in which they looked at the strengths of children with FASD, including personality characteristics, individual aptitude and skills, and positive effort and persistence.

They found that nearly all caregivers described their children as friendly, helpful, kind, and loving—terms psychologists refer to as exhibiting social motivation. Yet, more importantly, the team also noticed while conducting interviews for the qualitative study that the standard approaches used so far proved at times inadequate at capturing and assessing the full spectrum of what parents and caretakers told them.

“Can we measure their answers fully with the measures we already have? No,” says Kautz-Turnbull. “As a consequence, we’re missing something really important in research on kids with FASD. Read more.

Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience researchers continue to find evidence that the brain’s immune system may not be the culprit behind fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). It has long been thought that cells in the brain’s immune system called microglia are responsible for the neurological damage that occurs when this type of exposure happens.

“We looked for more subtle changes in microglia function this time,” says Ania Majewska, professor of neuroscience and lead author on the study published in Developmental Neurobiology. “We were not able to detect a difference in function leading us to believe that the defect may exist in other cell types. However, given the heterogeneity and complexity of microglial function, we are also exploring how different populations of microglia in different parts of the brain respond to alcohol.”

One out of every 100 babies born in the U.S. is diagnosed with FASD, which occurs when a child is exposed to alcohol in the womb. FASD can cause lifelong physical and cognitive impairments, such as poor impulse control and attention, learning disabilities, compromised fine motor skills, and delays in the ability of the brain to process visual and auditory information. There is no available treatment for FASD.

Majewska’s research initially poked holes in the idea that FASD is driven by damage caused in the brain by impaired microglia when her lab found no difference in brain activity in the area among mice exposed to alcohol early in development when compared to those who were not exposed.

In this recent work, researchers exposed mice to alcohol early in development and looked beyond the baseline of microglial movement. Using advanced imaging technology called two-photon microscopy the scientists observed how the microglia interacted with neuronal dendrites – part of the connection between neurons that enables neighboring nerves cells to communicate. They found no difference in this connection when comparing brains exposed to alcohol to brains that were not.

“The brain is made up of many neuronal types so it is possible other microglia-neuron interactions are changing, but it is not a general phenomenon,” says Majewska. “But just because these are immune cells doesn’t mean that they will be involved in every disorder or developmental perturbation. Narrowing down their exact roles is important in terms of targeting these cells for therapies for neurodevelopmental disorders.” Read more.

Kevin Garewal is the new Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of University of Rochester Libraries. Lam Square is in the background.

Kevin Garewal, associate director of collections at Harvard Law School Library, has been named vice provost and Andrew H. & Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of University of Rochester Libraries. He will begin in this role in February 2022.

At Harvard, Garewal has been heavily involved in diversifying the collection and in leading a Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Anti-Racism plan to assess, diversify, and collect material and increase traditional digital access to these items. As part of this work, he has played a key role in garnering donor support to digitize content from under-represented communities.

Interim Provost Sarah Peyre announced Garewal’s appointment, which follows a four-month national search chaired by Joan Saab, vice provost of academic affairs and professor of art history.

Garewal succeeds Mary Ann Mavrinac, who has served in this leadership role since 2012. Mavrinac is retiring and will officially step down in January.

Faculty affiliates of the Humanities Center have cast their ballots, and the results are in: The theme for 2022-23, which will govern the selection of fellows and visiting lecturers, will be “Futures (Past and Present),” reports Joan Rubin, the Ani & Mark Gabrellian Director of the Humanities Center, in her newsletter.

“The theme encompasses a broad range of topics, including, among many others, climate change; modernisms and reassertions of traditions; intergenerational obligations; crisis and resilience; apocalyptic and utopian frameworks; Afro-futurism; futurisms and literary studies; movements for reform, revolution, and social change; science fiction; ideas of progress; and concepts of human development across time, place, and culture,” Rubin writes.
 
The Humanities Center is now accepting applications from tenure-track or tenured faculty members for four internal fellowships (two in fall 2022 and two in spring 2023).  Preference will be given to junior faculty members whose projects bear a close relationship to the theme.  The fellowships carry release from teaching obligations.

Fellows must present a work-in-progress seminar about their work, attend the bi-weekly Work in Progress sessions, and meet informally for reading and discussion with other fellows during the weeks without a seminar.

They may apply for up to $3,000 in research funds if their needs exceed their departmental research accounts; awards will be contingent on the availability of Center resources.  Please see the Humanities Center website for application information. The due date is December 15.

Left to right, Joseph Eberly, Jonathan Mink, José G. Pérez-Ramos, and Doug Ravenal.

Joseph Eberly, the Andrew Carnegie Professor of Physics and a professor of optics, who has been selected as the 2021 Honorary Member of Optica, the international society for optics and photonics. Honorary membership is the most distinguished member category for the organization previously known as the Optical Society of America.

Jonathan Mink, the Frederick A. Horner MD Distinguished Professor in Pediatric Neurology and chief of child neurology, who has has been awarded the Child Neurology Society’s 2021 Hower Award. The award is the organization’s highest honor and is given annually to a child neurologist recognized as an outstanding teacher, scholar, and for making high levels of contributions to the field and to the society.

José G. Pérez-Ramos, a research assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and public health sciences, who is one of 15 scholars from across the U.S. to receive a Health Equity Scholars for Action grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Pérez-Ramos, will use the grant to continue his research focused on integrating telehealth services and deploying community health workers to increase access to health care and improve health on the island of Culebra, an isolated municipality of Puerto Rico.

Doug Ravenel, the Fayerweather Professor of Mathematics, who has received the 2022 Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry from the American Mathematical Society for solving a geometry problem that has puzzled mathematicians for 50 years. The Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry is considered the premier international award in geometry and is awarded every three years for notable research in geometry or topology.

A two-part Regulatory Exchange Program seminar series on FDA regulatory science, medical device oversight, and regulatory review begins next Wednesday, 3-4:30 p.m. December 8 at the University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Research Institute.

The series, being offered in-person and virtually, will provide University at Buffalo and University of Rochester students, researchers, and clinicians with the opportunity to hear from experts in regulatory science and in the regulatory review process.

The December 8 program is focused on medical devices. The 2022 Spring session (date and time TBA) will be focused on medical devices and drugs.

Each seminar will be divided into sections. One section will focus on areas of emerging
science and the development of new tools and approaches to assess the safety, efficacy, quality, and performance of FDA-regulated products. The next section will be a regulatory review with a focus on moving novel medical device technologies through FDA review and ultimately to patients.

The program is organized by the Jacobs Institute, a nonprofit medical device innovation center; UR’s Clinical & Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI), and UB’s Clinical & Translational Science Institute (UB’s CTSI).

For webinar (Zoom) or in-person, please register here.

The University libraries have made it easier and more cost-effective for Rochester-affiliated researchers to publish their work as open access resources.

Join Rochester librarians from 10  to 11 a.m. Thursday, December 9, in Carlson Science and Engineering Library, Room 103, for a comprehensive look at open access publishing agreements and the potential impact they have on publishing prospects.

There will also be a Q & A section.

The Medical Faculty Council offers travel reimbursement awards of up to $500 to assist students and trainees in the School of Medicine and Dentistry to attend important national or international meetings at which they will present their research and make professional connections.

Eligible applications for the current cycle are for travel between September 1, 2021 and February 28, 2022.

Apply by 6 p.m., Friday, December 10. Learn more.

Applications are now being accepted for the next round of University Research Awards, which provide seed money for innovative research projects.

Applications are sought from faculty across the University, and funding is awarded to recipients who demonstrate that their projects, when sufficiently developed, are likely to attract external support. Applications for planning grants are also encouraged. A review committee of faculty from across the University provides peer review of the applications.

Learn more here about the request for proposal and application. Completed applications should be directed to Adele Coelho by 5 p.m., January 31, 2022.