Taking a page from the field of renewable energy, research in the journal Nature Aging shows that genetically engineered mitochondria can convert light energy into chemical energy that cells can use, ultimately extending the life of the roundworm C. elegans. While the prospect of sunlight-charged cells in humans is more science fiction than science, the findings shed light on important mechanisms in the aging process.

“We know that mitochondrial dysfunction is a consequence of aging,” says senior author Andrew Wojtovich, associate professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine and of pharmacology and physiology. “This study found that simply boosting metabolism using light-powered mitochondria gave laboratory worms longer, healthier lives. These findings and new research tools will enable us to further study mitochondria and identify new ways to treat age-related diseases and age healthier.”

Mitochondria, found in most cells in the body, are often referred to as cellular power plants. They use glucose to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the compound that provides energy for key functions in the cell, such as muscle contraction and the electrical impulses that help nerve cells communicate with each other.

Production of ATP is the result of reactions made possible by the exchange of protons across a membrane that separates different compartments in mitochondria. The efficiency of this process is called membrane potential. Known to decline with age, membrane potential is a topic of great interest in the scientific community because of its potential role in a number of age-related diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders. Learn more.

Traditional heart surgery, which involves fully opening the chest and cutting through the breastbone, comes with a high risk of complications and a long recovery time. Newer minimally invasive procedures avoid a lot of that risk and can get people back on their feet quicker, but a new Medical Center study suggests that black patients do not have the same level of access to these new, safer procedures as white patients.

“We’ve known for 35 years that historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups tend to have less access to cardiovascular procedures,” says lead study author Laurent G. Glance, professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine. “This study highlights the fact that . . .  if you’re not white, you don’t get the same therapies that white people do.”

The study, which appears in JAMA Network Open, found that non-Hispanic Black patients had 35 percent lower odds of undergoing minimally invasive mitral valve surgery and 62 percent higher odds of having serious complications or dying compared to non-Hispanic white patients. Hispanic patients, on the other hand, had 26 percent higher odds of major complications or death compared to white patients, but they were not less likely to get minimally invasive surgery.

The findings were based on an analysis of data from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Adult Cardiac Surgery Database. Nearly 104,000 patients across 1,085 hospitals who underwent mitral valve surgery between 2014 and 2019 were included in the analysis.

“Minimally invasive surgeries set patients up for the best outcomes,” says study co-author Peter W. Knight, chief and Dr. Jude S. Sauer Family Distinguished Professor in Cardiac Surgery, who has spearheaded the adoption of minimally invasive procedures at the Medical Center. “That is why the inequities we found in this study are so troubling.” Learn more.

Unsplash photo/Harold Mendoza

According to the most recent Bright Line Watch survey—Rebound in Confidence: American Democracy and the 2022 Midterm Elections—which was fielded right after the November elections, more voters in the United States now trust the integrity and fairness of elections than they did prior to the midterms, according to previous Bright Line Watch polls.

The post-election survey, conducted by a team of academics who have been polling experts and the public at regular intervals about the health of US democracy since 2017, finds a notable increase in trust from before to after the 2022 midterm elections among Republican voters—from 68 to 78 percent in terms of their individual votes, and from 67 to 73 percent in terms of all votes in statewide elections. Confidence in the national vote among Republicans, which was already much lower than the confidence level of Democrats, rose slightly from 49 percent in October to 51 percent in November.

“I am heartened by the fact that those red lines for Republicans are not tilting downward the way they did in 2020 before and after the election when we saw a real decline in Republican confidence,” says Bright Line Watch cofounder Gretchen Helmke, the Thomas H. Jackson Distinguished University Professor and the faculty director of the Democracy Center at the University of Rochester.

The same post-election survey also finds that the majority of polled political scientists see the Democratic Party’s strategy of supporting election denier candidates in the GOP primaries as ultimately a threat to democracy, even as those election deniers ended up underperforming in the midterm elections. Learn more.

From 2 to 3 p.m. today, two PhD candidates from the Department of Economics will present research projects that have earned support from the River Campus Libraries Data Set Grant Program.

The presentations—“Industrial Upgrading and the Development of China’s Gig Economy” by Lipeng Chen, and “Original Sin in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Firm Currency Choices in Trade and Financing” by Chang Liu—will take place in Evans Lam Square, Rush Rhees Library.

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to join a casual reading group this semester to discuss the metaverse and try out virtual reality experiences together in Studio X. Participants will read The Metaverse Handbook to gain familiarity with the concept and try out metaverse experiences. Funds have been made available through the Humanities Center to purchase books for participants; Studio X’s collection of headsets will be used for experiences.

The group will meet biweekly from 12–1 p.m. on Fridays beginning February 3. If you are interested in joining the reading group, please fill out this short form and Kate Phillips, associate professor of writing, speaking, and argument, will be in touch with further details.

BioRender Premium is a scientific illustration app for life science research, publications, posters, and presentations with drag-and-drop icons, intuitive figures, and free design templates.

Available to Rochester faculty, staff and students, the University discounted price is $199.40 per year.

Details and information on how to purchase can be found on the University of Rochester Software Licensing page under “BioRender.”