The more than 50 students who presented at the recent AS&E Graduate Student Research Symposium “shared the breadth of outstanding research and scholarship going on across AS&E,” says Nick Vamivakas, dean of graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, whose office hosted the day-long event.

The students gave 10-minute presentations and took five minutes of questions from audiences that included students, faculty, and staff. Six students were chosen to receive prizes based on their ability to effectively communicate their research to a mixed audience. They are:

Zachary Barber, philosophy, GEPA Choice Award, “Why Mindfulness Matters for Morality.” Barber is advised by William FitzPatrick.

Symposium Session Winners are:

Daniel Gorman Jr., history, “Phantom Luminaries: Frederick Willis, Spiritualism, and Paranormal Investigators in the Age of Disruption.” Gorman is advised by Joan Shelley Rubin.

Katie Gregory, earth and environmental sciences, “Engineering Better Tools to Assess Aquatic Greenhouse Gas Dynamics.” Gregory is advised by John Kessler.

Michael Chavrimootoo, computer science, “Separating and Collapsing Electoral Control Types.” Chavrimootoo is advised by Lane Hemaspaandra.

Samantha Cox, chemical engineering, “Symmetric Molecular Dynamics.” Cox is advised by Andrew White.

Seungju Yeo, mechanical engineering, “Variability Estimation in a Crack Growth Simulation Model using Design of Experiments.” Yeo is advised by Hesam Askari.

You can find abstracts of all the symposium presentations here.

Scientists have discovered an important molecular link between lung tumor growth and disrupted circadian rhythms, according to a new paper co-authored by Wilmot Cancer Institute investigator Brian Altman and led by the Scripps Research Institute in California.

Circadian rhythms, sometimes called the “biological clock,” is the cellular process that rules sleep-wake cycles. Jet lag, nighttime snacking, lack of sleep, or irregular work schedules can wreck circadian rhythms. The World Health Organization has proclaimed that disrupted circadian rhythms are a probable carcinogen.

The latest research, published in the high-impact journal Science Advances, describes that when the circadian clock gets off track it implicates a cancer-signature gene known as HSF1 that can trigger lung tumors. Lungs are under tight circadian control and seem to be particularly vulnerable to a disrupted biological clock. Learn more.

Michael Giacomelli uses two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPFM) to analyze biopsied tissue in two minutes.

Consider what happens when a skin lesion is biopsied for nonmelanoma skin cancer.

“The surgeon will take a little piece of the skin out,” says Michael Giacomelli, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and of optics. Next, “someone in pathology will look at it under a microscope. And then, depending on what they find, the patient is notified that everything’s fine, don’t worry about it, or we need you to come back for a second appointment so we can treat you.”

Giacomelli, who is also on the research faculty at the Wilmot Cancer Institute, is developing a novel imaging system, contained on a portable cart, to shorten this process to two minutes. This would enable a surgeon to immediately determine whether the lesion is cancerous and, if so, to “treat the patient during the same visit instead of stretching it out over the next month and multiple visits.”

The system—using two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPFM)—demonstrated remarkable accuracy in a pilot study summarized recently in JAMA Dermatology. Learn more.

Kathy Nightingale, the Theo Pilkington Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, and Manoj Menon ’04 ’10 (PhD), director of clinical science and innovation at Philips Ultrasound, will be the distinguished lecturers at the Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound annual Symposium Day, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, November 10 in the Feldman Ballroom at Frederick Douglass Commons.

The day’s events will also include graduate student presentations, a poster session, lunch, and networking. Contact Carla Boff (carla.boff@rochester.edu) to register (please include any dietary restrictions) or if you will be presenting a poster.

The University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI) offers two user-friendly, HIPAA-compliant cohort discovery tools, TriNetX and the ACT Network, to help researchers determine study feasibility, obtain summary patient counts, and identify sites for potential partnerships in multi-site studies. Visit the UR CTSI FAQ page for more information on cohort discovery or submit a request online.