(Over the last 20 years, researchers have been uncovering the complexity of lymphoma and the challenges it presents for treatment. The lymphoma program at Wilmot Cancer Institute is helping lead the search for answers. This is the first installment based on a recent story at the institute’s Dialogue Blog.)

The term “lymphoma” applies to more than 60 diseases with very distinct characteristics. Their behavior often can’t be predicted at diagnosis, which complicates choosing the best course of action.

However, in a study that has garnered international attention, Carla Casulo, a Wilmot oncologist, found that about 20 percent of people with follicuar lymphoma — a common non-Hodgkin lymphoma — relapse within two years. There’s no way to identify them before their cancer comes back.

Casulo was also able to establish that patients who relapse early also have poor survival outcomes. Her study showed that about half of them will die within five years — regardless of which treatments they receive — a finding that brought urgency to addressing these patients’ needs.

“We can’t wait two years to find out whether they will relapse or not,” Casulo says. “We need to identify them at diagnosis.”

Her findings have been validated by researchers around the world, and they have prompted a flurry of studies to find out more about what makes these patients different and what treatments will be most effective for them.

Casulo is continuing to study this group. She is collaborating with hematopathologist Richard Burack, to identify the biologic characteristics of these patients using samples from Wilmot’s own tissue bank.

Beyond Rochester, the National Cancer Institute’s Lymphoma Steering Committee has designated this early-relapse group a priority population for further dedicated study on a national scale. As part of that effort, Wilmot hematologist Paul Barr is designing the largest cooperative group clinical trial in the country focused on these patients.

This randomized, phase 2 study will be conducted at Wilmot and many other cancer centers nationwide led by NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network. It will compare standard chemotherapy with two novel treatment strategies for patients who relapse early.

“Making follicular lymphoma a manageable chronic disease for more patients — or even curable for some — is possible in our lifetime,” Barr says.

New findings from a nationwide program that links neurologists with patients with Parkinson’s disease in their homes via video conferencing shows that telemedicine can successfully deliver quality care.  The study, which appears in the journal Neurology, points to a new way to improve care for people who suffer from the disease, but may have not have access to a neurologist.

“Virtual house calls for chronic diseases like Parkinson’s are not only as effective as in-person care  but broader adoption of this technology has the potential to expand access to patient-centered care,” says Ray Dorsey, the David M. Levy Professor of Neurology and lead author of the study.  “We now have the ability to reach anyone, anywhere but the promise and benefits of telemedicine will not be fully realized until the changes are made in Medicare policy.”

The goal of the study was to see if telemedicine would allow neurologists to deliver care to patients in the comfort of their homes. A total of 195 individuals with Parkinson’s from across the U.S. were selected to participate in the study. Participants either received care through their primary care physician or had that care supplemented with up to four visits via video conference with a neurologist they had not seen before.

Parkinson’s disease particularly lends itself to telemedicine because many aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of the disease are “visual” – meaning that the interaction with the doctor primarily consists of listening to the patient and observing them perform certain tasks such as holding their hands out or walking.

The researchers found that the telemedicine visits were as effective as in-person visits in the doctor’s office, with the quality of life reported by the participants as no better or worse for people who received care in their homes compared with those who received standard care. The virtual house calls also saved patients an average of 169 minutes and nearly 100 miles of travel per visit.

Read more here.

Austin Bailey ’18 (T5) working in the chemistry lab of professor Todd Krauss. His summer research project involved using polymers to attach light-harvesting materials to nanotubes, helping create renewable energy solutions. (University photo / J. Adam Fenster)

Chemistry major Austin Bailey ’18 (T5) has been able to carry out specialized research to a rare degree for an undergraduate student. As a participant in the National Science Foundation–funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in summer 2015, he was introduced to the world of carbon nanotubes. He’s been studying them ever since.

Carbon nanotubes are extremely tiny sheets of carbon rolled into cylinders with diameters 10,000 times smaller than a human hair. Despite their small size, they are 10 times stronger than steel, yet are a fraction of the weight.

The unique chemical and physical properties of carbon nanotubes—including their strength, flexibility, and ability to conduct heat and electricity—fascinate researchers.

“They are the only material that can be made into a fiber and stretched to such an enormous height that in principle you could use them to tether a satellite to the earth,” says Rochester chemistry professor Todd Krauss.

This summer, under a grant from the US Department of Energy, Bailey is working with Krauss to develop a special polymer to attach other molecules to nanotubes. Their work could have significant applications for creating renewable energy sources.

The ultimate goal is to use the polymer to attach light-harvesting materials to the nanotubes. These materials would grab photons of light and then transfer the light’s energy to the nanotube. Another possibility is attaching materials to the nanotubes that take the protons in water and turn them into hydrogen, a clean-burning fuel. In both cases, the polymers would help create renewable energy solutions.

Click here to read this story in full — and others showcasing the University’s summer research opportunities for undergraduates.

Jack Caton, chair and program director of the Periodontics Department at the Eastman Institute for Oral Health, who has received the 2017 Master Clinician Award from the American Academy of Periodontology. In a career that spans nearly 45 years, Caton’s research has been published in more than 120 scientific articles and book chapters. “His pioneering research work in periodontal wound healing provided the clinical as well as histological basis for evaluating and understanding periodontal regenerative procedures,” says AAP Secretary/Treasurer Bryan Frantz. Read more here.

Four AS&E faculty members chosen as this year’s Wilmot Assistant Professors. The two-year awards recognize “some of the most promising young men and women in the early stages of their academic careers.” They are:

• Hussein Aluie of mechanical engineering, an expert on computational fluid dynamics as applied at scales ranging from many kilometers to mere micrometers — from ocean currents to inertial confinement fusion.
• Margarita Guillory of religion, who studies black spiritualists and their churches in America.
• Yena Park of economics, whose research is mainly concerned with the interaction of public insurance, for example federal disability insurance programs, and the insurance provided through private markets.
• Steven Piantadosi of brain and cognitive sciences, who combines mathematics, computer science, theory, and experimental psychology to understand the computational mechanisms that support children’s acquisition of cognitive systems such as number and language.

Faculty members with an interest in New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) clean energy initiatives are invited to attend a presentation and Q&A with two NYSERDA program managers: Mark Torpey, director of technology and business Innovation, and Jeff Peterson, senior advisor for entrepreneurship.

The presentation will be from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 23 in Douglass Meeting Room 403. RSVP by Tuesday August 22 through Paula Losey at paula.losey@rochester.edu or call 275-6049.

PumpPrimer is Arts, Sciences & Engineering’s intramural seed funding program designed to stimulate extramural funding for projects otherwise difficult to launch.

The next deadline for PumpPrimer II, which is for innovative and high-risk projects, is Sunday, October 1.

Faculty in the School of Arts & Sciences should refer questions to debra.haring@rochester.edu and those in the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences to cindy.gary@rochester.edu.

PumpPrimer I and Researcher Mobility funds are also available and applications are accepted any time.

Andrew Nadeau, Electrical Engineering, “Hidden Markov Models for Supercapacitor State-of-Charge Tracking and Audio Watermarking.” Noon, Aug. 21, 2017. Computer Studies Building Room 426. Advisor: Gaurav Sharma.

Aug. 20: Deadline to apply for Innovation Lab to Drive Early Career Grants, a five-day creative problem-solving event to help early-career scholars develop transdisciplinary collaborative grant proposals to address the growing opioid abuse epidemic. To be held Nov. 6-10 in Buffalo. Click here to apply, and here for more information.

Aug. 23: Science, Technology, and Culture – a multidisciplinary reading group examining how science is shaped by the culture that surrounds it and how technological innovations change society. Join us for snacks and good conversation about Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, 5 p.m., Humanities Center Lobby (Rush Rhees Library). Contact Emma_Grygotis@urmc.rochester.edu with any questions.

Aug. 23:  New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) University Engagement Presentation with Q&A on clean energy initiatives. 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Douglass Meeting Room 403. RSVP by Tuesday August 22 through Paula Losey at paula.losey@rochester.edu or call 275-6049.

Aug. 28: Deadline to apply for Clinical and Translational Science Institute pilot study and ‘super-pilot’ Incubator awards. Click here for the request for pilot study applications, and here for the RFA for Incubator Program awards.

Aug. 29: Registration deadline for a Department of Public Health Sciences three-credit course on participant recruitment and retention for health research studies. For more information, contact Pattie Kolomic, graduate programs administrator, 275-7882.  Contact the Graduate Education Office for instructions on how to register.

Sept. 1: Deadline to apply for pilot funding from The Rochester Aging Research Center for projects in basic or geriatric aging research. Contact Dirk Bohmann or Anne Reed for more information.

Sept. 1: Deadline to submit initial applications for Environmental Health Sciences Center pilot project awards. For more information, contact Michael O’Reilly  or Pat Noonan-Sullivan, or go to the EHSC website.

Sept. 4: Series of talks by leading computer science theoreticians honoring Joel Seiferis, professor emeritus of computer science. Click here for more details and to register by Aug. 22.

September 13:  Humanities Center Welcome Back reception.  Enjoy refreshments, greet colleagues, and learn about programming for the coming year.  5 p.m. Humanities Center Lounge.

Sept. 12-14: LIght and Sound Interactive conference, trade show, career fair, and presentations focusing on eight emerging technologies: virtual and augmented reality, games and interactive media, cinema, music and audio engineering, imaging, displays and lighting, health care, and optics and photonics. Riverside Convention Center. Click here for updates as new keynote speakers and events are added.

Sept. 17: Celebrating a Community of Diverse Students and Trainees at URMC. 1 to 4 p.m., Canalside Shelter, Genesee Valley Park. The event, for students, trainees and their families, is sponsored by the Medical Center, and includes food, fun, and games. Click here to RSVP by September 8.

Sept. 25: 5 p.m. deadline to submit initial abstracts for Novel Biostatistical and Epidemiologic Methods awards from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Click here to view the RFA.

Sept. 25 to 29: Early Stage Faculty Boot Camp to help senior instructors and assistant professors identify the skills they need for successful career advancement. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit the CTSI website for more details. Registration deadline is September 1.

Oct. 1: Deadline for applications for AS&E PumpPrimer II awards to stimulate extramural funding for projects otherwise difficult to launch. Click here for more information.