Graduate student Noah Pines ʼ20 asked Studio X to purchase a Lume Pad, a tablet created by Leia, Inc. that produces 3D images that can be seen without the assistance of glasses or a headset. Pines’ primary interest in the Lume Pad is its use of light field technology, which he looks to incorporate in an AR/VR headset he’s developing. His approach is one of the ways developers are tackling a fundamental issue in VR.

“In VR headset development, the overarching challenge is making things look as real as possible,” Pines says. “For the most part, images look and feel fine, but there’s stuff going on in our brain and visual system that tells us something’s not right. It’s not how we normally see, and that causes eye strain. So, everyone is trying to figure out how to minimize eye strain during the VR experience.”

The Lume Pad and an array of other equipment is now available at Studio X—the new hub of extended reality (AR, VR, and everything in between) in Carlson Library.

Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) is a strategic area of research focus at the University, with the potential to transform everything from education to entertainment to health care. With nearly 60 faculty in 16 academic departments already using these technologies, the University is fast becoming a powerhouse in this area.

Studio X is an important partner, providing opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to gain training in the tools of the technology and further explore the field. Studio X fosters a community of cross-disciplinary collaboration, exploration, and peer-to-peer learning that lowers barriers to entry, inspires experimentation, and drives innovative research and teaching in immersive technologies.

Read more here about the range of equipment that can be reserved for use within Studio X or checked out and taken outside of the library. For more information contact Emily Sherwood. To have a conversation about supporting the purchase of new equipment for Studio X, contact Pamela Jackson, senior director of Advancement for the River Campus Libraries.

Environmental and socio-economic factors – including income disparity, family poverty, and air pollution – increase a person’s risk of developing psychotic-like experiences, such as subtle hallucinations and delusions that can become precursors to a schizophrenia diagnosis later in life. Research has long focused on young adults but now, thanks to data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, University researchers have found these risk factors can be observed in pre-adolescent children.

“These findings could have a major impact on public health initiatives to reduce the risk of psychotic-like experiences,” says Abhishek Saxena, a graduate student in psychology and first author of the study recently published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. “Past research has largely focused on the biological factors that lead to development of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, but we now know that social and environmental factors can also play a large role in the risk and development of schizophrenia. And this research shows these factors impact people starting at a very young age.”

Researchers looked at data collected from 8,000 children enrolled in the ABCD study. They found that the more urban of an environment a child lived in – proximity to roads, houses with lead paint risks, families in poverty, and income disparity – the greater number of psychotic-like experiences they had over a year’s time. These findings are in line with past research conducted in young adults, but have not been found like this in pre-adolescences.

“It is disconcerting that the association between these exposures and psychotic-like experiences are already present in late childhood,” says David Dodell-Feder, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience and lead author of this study. “The fact that the impact of these exposures may occur as early as pre-adolescence highlights the importance of early prevention.” Learn more.

Chad Heatwole, at left, and Ray Dorsey.

Chad Heatwole has been appointed the new director of the Center for Health + Technology (CHeT) at the University.  Selected through a national search process, Heatwole took over on a permanent basis on April 25 from Ray Dorsey who led the Center since 2013.

“CHeT has a proud history dating back 35 years and has played a leading role in the study and approval of many of the drugs we use today to treat Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases,” says Bob Holloway, chair of the Department of Neurology.  “More recently, under Ray’s leadership CHeT has become a pioneer in deploying technologies to improve remote access to specialized care and allow broader participation in clinical research. Chad is well-positioned to lead CHeT into the next chapter and bring patients and communities – across a range of diseases – more into the center of what we do and become true partners in the development of future therapeutics.”

Heatwole is a professor of neurology with a research focus in experimental therapeutics and is sought out by patients from across the country for his expertise in neuromuscular disease and myotonic dystrophy. Dorsey took over as director of CHeT in 2013, and expanded the center by creating the Innovation division, which he will continue to lead, the Outcome Measures division led by Heatwole, and an Analytics division led by Charles Venuto. Learn more.

As health technologies rapidly advance, the regulatory systems that ensure they are safe and effective must keep pace. Scott Steele, director of regulatory programs at the University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI), co-authored a position paper advocating for a more agile regulatory ecosystem with collaborators from the Food and Drug Administration. Read the full paper in Clinical and Translational Science.

Arica Riley VanderWal, Biochemistry
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
“The Role of CRISPR-Csx28 in CRISPR-Cas Anti-Phage Immunity”
Advisor: Mitchell O’Connell

Hannah Bell, Microbiology & Immunology
Monday, May 9, 2022 | 9:30 a.m. | Online
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/94981043997?pwd=V0RBSEpiK2R0SldXdHdBT0h1QXFyZz09 Passcode: 456707
“The Function of Type Three Secretion System Protein VopZZ in Vibrio cholerae Infection”
Advisor: Michelle Dziejman

Li Xie, Genetics
Monday, May 9, 2022 | 1:30 p.m. | K-207 Auditorium (2-6408)
“Deciphering EIF2B5 deficiency in Vanishing White Matter disease”
Advisor: Chris Proschel

Health disparities and issues of healthcare equity inspire both clinical concerns and research projects. The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Healthcare Equity Symposium from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 24, will allow colleagues doing healthcare equity research to connect and learn from one another.

Keynote topics for this event include community-engaged research and ethics of transgender care. Learn more.

The Study Coordinators Organization for Research and Education (SCORE), a UR CTSI educational program, provides support to University research coordinators and staff.

Register now for this year’s SCORE Annual Seminar, “Caring for Yourself to Care for Others” from 9-11 a.m. on June 7 and 8. Keynote speaker Patricia Lück, assistant professor of clinical medical humanities, will speak on “Thriving Through Overwhelm—A Mindfulness Approach.”

The Goergen Institute for Data Science (GIDS) is inviting proposals for up to $20,000 of data science seed funding. The GIDS seed funding program supports collaborative, data science-related research efforts, with the goal of attracting major external funding. PI’s must be UR faculty members, and at least one PI or co-PI should be a GIDS affiliated faculty member. Proposals are due June 15 and can be submitted via REDCap.