We recognize the scholarly and service contributions of Rochester faculty members to their fields. Recent award recipients include:

William Calnon—a professor in the Department of Dentistry, was presented with the 2023 Dr. Mark J. Feldman Distinguished Service Award.

Alexis Ghanem, an associate professor with the Eastman Institute for Oral Health, has joined the honorary International Academy of Facial Aesthetics.

Marjorie Gloff, the associate chair of perioperative medicine, was the inaugural recipient of the Perioperative Medicine Physician of the Year Award, given by the Society for Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement (SPAQI).

Susana Marcos, the David R. Williams Director of the Center for Visual Science and the Nicholas George Endowed Professor in Optics, has been awarded the Edwin H. Land Medal by Optica (formerly OSA) and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology.

Irfan Rahman, the Dean’s Professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine, has received the Leading Edge in Basic Science Award from the Society for Toxicology. Rahman was also honored with the society’s Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section Career Achievement Award.

Tricia Shalka, an associate professor in the Warner School of Education and Human Development’s higher education program, was honored by ACUI (Association of College Unions International) with the 2023 Distinguished Faculty Award.

Rick Spielman, a senior scientist at the University’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics and a research professor of physics, has received the 2023 Erwin Marx Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) professional association.

(Photo by Matt Napo on Unsplash)

The US Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing two candidates for a vaccine to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults.

Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center are helping lead the development of one of these—a vaccine developed by Pfizer that is detailed in a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Of the four adult RSV vaccine contenders (two under FDA review and two with late phase clinical trials), URMC has been involved in studying three of them.

There are an estimated 60,000 to 120,000 hospitalizations and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths in adults 65 years or older each year from RSV infection, according to the CDC. Severity of RSV disease can increase with age and comorbidities, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, and asthma. Along with COVID and the flu, RSV contributed to the “tripledemic” that has been placing significant strain on the nation’s health care system over the last several months.

Learn more about the “worst disease that nobody knows about.”

(Photo by Yash Kapadia on Unsplash)

A new study by Medical Center researchers shows how a biological clock molecule, called REV-ERBα, contributes to lung scarring, uncovering new potential drugs and drug targets along the way.

The study, published in Nature Communications, confirms a previously discovered link between the body’s biological clock (or circadian rhythm) and lung diseases and uncovers a new mechanism underlying this link. Study authors show that a lack of the circadian rhythm protein, REV-ERBα, contributes to lung scarring in mice by increasing production of collagen, a major component of connective tissue, and lysyl oxidase, which stabilizes connective tissue and makes it more rigid.

The team, which was led by Irfan Rahman, the Dean’s Professor of Environmental Medicine, found low levels of REV-ERBα and large amounts of collagen and lysyl oxidase in lung samples from patients with pulmonary fibrosis. Inducing lung injury in mice had a similar outcome: reduced REV-ERBα levels and increased levels of collagen, lysyl oxidase, and other markers of fibrosis.

“Night-shift work usually occurs during the midnight timeframe when the expression of REV-ERBα is lowest,” Rahman says. “Our study suggests there is less protection against lung fibrosis generated from REV-ERBα activation at night.”

Learn more about the findings.

Stage 4 results of the COVIAL trial, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, suggest that we may need to continually update our COVID boosters to better protect against emerging viral variants.

The study compared immune responses to two Pfizer/BioNTech boosters, which were given as a second booster dose. One booster targets the original SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as the BA.1 Omicron variant; the other targets the original virus and BA.4/BA.5 Omicron variants.

The participants had the largest and longest-lasting responses to the original virus and the weakest response to the newest variants (BQ.1.1 and XBB.1), regardless of which booster the participants received. The BA.4/BA.5 booster also outperformed the BA.1 booster when it came to eliciting an immune response to the BA.4/BA.5 variants, which came on the scene much later than the BA.1 variant.

As the FDA gears up to authorize a second COVID booster dose for people at high risk, this study points to the need to continue monitoring for new variants and to possibly develop new boosters to better neutralize them.

Find out more about the COVIAL trial.

Tuesday, April 25, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Rush Rhees Library, Gamble Room 361

What does data look like in the humanities? What are best practices for creating humanities data management and sustainability plans? What data and digital tools are available to help you in your humanities research? Join River Campus Libraries’ Data Librarian Heather Owen to learn more about data considerations for humanities scholars, including data management and sustainability plans; data management practices; various tools for humanities research; and examples of humanities research projects that use data. Please register to attend.

Wednesday, May 3, noon to 1 p.m. EDT
Virtual

LabArchives Inventory, which is now available to all Rochester researchers, faculty, and students, streamlines the organization, tracking, and ordering of lab inventory. It also closely integrates with the LabArchives Notebook, further extending the benefits of securely managing your research data with LabArchives. Whether you need to order inventory from a vendor or manage your in-lab created materials, LabArchives Inventory provides a simple and customizable solution for your physical inventory management needs. Join this session to learn how to customize inventory types and storage locations, add and manage lab inventory items, and use the ordering options to request and receive materials. Please register to receive the Zoom link.