Look at a map of roads or railroad tracks—the winding lines suffuse the terrain like veins in a body.

That’s no accident, because “they are the stuff of life,” writes Peter Christensen, an assistant professor of art history.

Trained as an architect as well as a scholar, Christensen is the author of a new book—Germany and the Ottoman Railways: Art, Empire, and Infrastructure (Yale, 2017)—that considers globalization through the lens of an immense civil works project that spanned cultures and borders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

While buildings may be the glamorous figures in architecture, “infrastructure is what modernizes us,” Christensen says. And he argues that it deserves a place in architectural history not just as technology, but also as art.

The construction of infrastructure is, at many levels, a collaborative one, crossing boundaries to take advantage of expertise and finances, and reliant not just on the vision of architects and engineers but of local laborers, too. “There are multiple layers of authorship involved in the creation of buildings and all the other objects that go into engineering a railway network,” says Christensen, who has also studied a similar effort in western Canada.

Conceived of by the Ottoman sultan, the railways of the Ottoman Empire—which encompassed the lands of what are now Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Israel, and Greece—were largely a German project in engineering, materials, and finances. But the relationship between the two empires was always an ambiguous one. While the German Empire was a rising power during the Ottoman Empire’s decline, and the railway project was characterized by the international press as a colonial one with Germany at the helm, the connection was more dynamic than antagonistic, Christensen argues.

His book is part of a larger project that also involves three-dimensional imaging. He and his research team have used 3D scanning to map precisely where the various Ottoman railway stations differ, zeroing in on the contributions of on-the-ground laborers, who typically figure little in architectural history. It’s a technology that he’s continuing to develop—with current collaborations at the Rochester Museum and Science Center and the Museum of Modern Art—to yield a tool he hopes will be broadly useful to architectural and art historians.

Read more here.

Some in the medical field and many in the general public attest to ability of kratom, a psychoactive plant, to help curb opioid addiction and relieve pain. However, governmental agencies continue to warn against its dangers to mental health, citing links to psychosis and addiction.

A recently published review of 57 years of international scientific evidence, led by researchers at the Rochester Medical Center and the University of British Columbia, may help reduce misconceptions about kratom and restore its potential as a public health tool that deserves more research.

The study not only points to the potential benefits of kratom as a safer substitute for opioids, but suggests the plant’s potential to reduce negative mood and relieve anxiety. Published online this week in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, the study represents the largest systematic review of the scientific literature on kratom use and mental health.

“There is a lot of confusing information about kratom in the media that makes it difficult for clinicians and the public to make informed choices,” said lead author Marc T. Swogger, associate professor iof psychiatry. “This study clarifies that there is no good scientific basis for claims that kratom causes psychosis, suicide, or violence, and the available data do not indicate that kratom is a significant public health problem.”

“We need to explore all options, and our findings suggest it’s time to carefully examine the potential of this ancient plant,” says co-author Zach Walsh, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia.

Swogger and Walsh reviewed the combined results of 13 studies conducted between January 1960 and July 2017, using data from 28,745 individuals.

“There is a clear need for more rigorous, well-controlled, prospective studies to support a sophisticated, nuanced understanding of the plant,” said Swogger. “But data across cultures indicated that kratom has a legitimate role to play in mitigating harms associated with opioid dependence. The bulk of the available research supports kratom’s benefits as a milder, less addictive, and less dangerous substance than opioids, and one that appears far less likely to cause fatal overdose.”

Read more here.

Inflammation in the blood plays a key role in “chemo-brain,” according to a pilot study that provides evidence for what scientists have long believed. Published in the Journal of Neuroimmunology, the preliminary research is believed to be among the first studies to look at cancer patients in active treatment and whether inflammation is involved in their chemo-brain symptoms.

The research is important because it could lead to a new practice of identifying inflammatory biomarkers in cancer patients and then treating the inflammation with medications or exercise to improve cognition and other symptoms, said senior author Michelle Janelsins, associate professor of surgery in the Cancer Control and Survivorship Program at the Wilmot Cancer Institute.

Results showed that among 22 breast cancer patients taking chemotherapy, those with higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers in their blood did worse on neuropsychological tests for visual memory and concentration.

Chemo-brain, or cancer-related cognitive impairment, is estimated to impact 80 percent of people in treatment. Patients report fogginess, forgetfulness, and difficulty with multitasking and other problem-solving skills.

Researchers discovered that one particular biomarker for acute inflammation—tumor necrosis factor-alpha—was the strongest indicator of cognitive problems. Generally, higher levels of inflammation can be caused by cancer, its treatment, or other health problems; but until lately little had been known about the interplay of inflammation, cancer, and quality of life.

Read more here.

A 18-month, $339,983 grant will enable an ongoing research collaboration to further examine how school districts leverage social networks among administrators and teachers to improve their use of research evidence in ways that benefit youth.

Previous William T. Grant Foundation grants, totaling $902,300, enabled Kara Finnigan, associate professor at the Warner School of Education, and Alan Daly, professor at the University of California, San Diego, to:

• Map districts’ leadership networks and school staff relationships.
• Develop initial measures of how practitioners define, interpret, and use research evidence.
• Examine changes in school and district leadership networks and any associated changes in their definition, acquisition, and use of research evidence over several years.

The new Grant Foundation award will allow Finnigan and Daly to conduct additional analyses of their longitudinal quantitative and social network, along with their qualitative interview data, to better understand how and when “connections” around research happen. In an attempt to identify conditions that enable individuals to diffuse research across schools and school systems, the researchers will look at overall and subgroup network patterns, how these patterns relate to the level of research use, and the various stages of research use.

Their findings could inform the construction of future interventions to bolster the use of research evidence in K-12 educational systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The provisions of ESSA call for state and local educational systems to undertake significant improvement efforts that prioritize evidence-based programs and practices. This study will generate new knowledge of how evidence moves throughout a school system as educators alter their instructional approaches or adopt new classroom or school-wide strategies to improve outcomes for youth.

Read more here.

Deborah Ossip, co-director of the Center for Leading Innovation and Collaboration and professor of public health, who has been named a Fellow by the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco. The Fellows Program recognizes society members who have made outstanding research contributions and have been actively engaged in the society. Ossip has been helping people quit using tobacco through several decades of behavioral research and community outreach. She started studying tobacco use and cessation in 1980 and conducted one of the original trials that led to the national Quitline, a toll-free tobacco cessation service. Read more in the CTSI Stories Blog.

William Renninger has joined The Institute of Optics as an assistant professor after serving as an associate research scientist and a postdoctoral associate at Yale University’s Department of Applied Physics. Previously, Renninger was a postdoctoral associate in the School of Applied Physics at Cornell University, where he earned his PhD. Renninger studies experimental nonlinear optics to explore the ways in which light and matter interact as well as to identify and develop successful commercialized technologies. With expertise on ultrafast optical and novel optomechanical phenomena, Renninger will form a research group equipped to explore contemporary problems in nonlinear optics. Initial areas of focus will include nonlinear pattern formation, arbitrary ultrashort pulse generation, multimode nonlinear optics, and traveling-wave optomechanics. The group will apply their results to technologies ranging from high performance optical sources and silicon photonics to the rapidly evolving area of quantum information technology.

Applications will be accepted from faculty members through February 23 for 2018-19 University Research Awards and for the next round of PumpPrimer II awards.

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AWARDS

Originally called Provost’s Multidisciplinary Awards, these are given to recipients who demonstrate their projects favor new research with a high probability of being leveraged by future external funding. The Request for Proposals and application are available here.

Applications will also be considered from University faculty members who are first-named, lead investigators for collaborations with faculty outside of the University of Rochester, as long as matching funds can be guaranteed from the US institution(s) in which non-UR faculty member(s) hold their primary appointment(s). International collaborations also may be entertained with the same criteria, some of which may be in-kind support.

Selected applicants may be asked to present their research project to the Executive Research Committee prior to the final award decisions, which will be announced mid-May. Recipients of this award are required to help peer review future University Research Award proposals.

Completed applications should be directed to adele.coelho@rochester.edu.

PUMPPRIMER II AWARDS

PumpPrimer is an intramural funding program for Arts, Science and Engineering researchers. It is designed to stimulate extramural funding for projects that are otherwise difficult to launch.

PumpPrimer II awards are designed to help faculty secure extramural funding for bold new research directions.

• Typical budgets will be up to $50K.
• Cost-sharing with departmental resources is encouraged.
• All eligibility criterion is enumerated in the Guidelines.

Applicants for PumpPrimer II are expected to submit a proposal for external funding within 18 months of the allocation of intramural support. PumpPrimer grants will require a brief final survey/final report to help us evaluate the effectiveness of this program. Awardees will be expected to review for the program in future cycles.

Faculty in Arts & Science should refer questions to Debra Haring, and those in Engineering to Cindy Gary.

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

The next issue of Research Connections will be January 5.

Jan. 31: Deadline to enter the fifth annual America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent Student Competition,  in which students from across the University compete for a chance to present their regulatory science ideas at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Additional information, an entry form, and instructions on how to apply are on the America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent web page. Submit entry forms to Scott Steele by January 31, 2018.

Feb. 1: Deadline to submit initial abstracts for Public Health Science pilot projects to stimulate new collaborations with PHS faculty. Proposals are being solicited that support collaborative relationships between investigators who do not have a recent history (past 3 years) of joint funding or who want to expand their current collaborative efforts in new directions and for whom the pilot project would be catalytic in their effort to obtain extramural funding. More information can be found at the PHS website.

Feb. 8: “Deserts, Dust, and Iron Fertilization of the North Pacific Ocean: Cause or Consequence of Global Cooling?” Presented by Carmala Garzione, Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Phelps Colloquium Series. 4-5:30 p.m., Feldman Ballroom, Frederick Douglass Commons. Click here to register.

Feb 23: Deadline to apply for University Research Awards. The Request for Proposals and application are available here. Completed applications should be directed to adele.coelho@rochester.edu.

Feb. 23: Deadline to apply for AS&E PumpPrimer II Awards, which provide seed money to stimulate extramural funding for innovative and high-risk projects otherwise difficult to launch. Faculty in Arts & Science should refer questions to Debra Haring, and those in Engineering to Cindy Gary.

March 1: “Doing Better Next Time: Policy Lessons from the Great Recession and Not-So-Great Recovery.” Presented by Narayana Kocherlakota, Lionel W. McKenzie Professor of Economics. Phelps Colloquium Series. 4-5:30 p.m., location TBD. Click here to register.

April 12: “The American Health Paradox: What’s Missing?” Presented by Nancy Bennett, professor of medicine and public health sciences, director of the Center for Community Health, and co-director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Phelps Colloquium Series. 4-5:30 p.m., Helen Wood Hall. Click here to register.