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City College to Receive NIH Grant to Improve Cancer Care and Education

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be awarding a $15.9 million grant to City College and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as they embark on a five-year partnership to improve cancer care and education in economically disadvantaged communities. The Partnership for Cancer Research, Training and Community Outreach program will be led by Dr. Karen Hubbard, Professor of Biology at City College and Dr. Tim A. Ahles, director of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Neurocognitive Research Laboratory.

The team will work with local agencies, grass roots organizations and churches, such as the Convent Avenue Baptist Church, to coordinate outreach events and seminars on issues such as healthy eating and cancer screening. Part of the grant will also include a project at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx which focuses on the prevention and detection of cervical cancer. The partnership will also facilitate the application of innovations in biology, immunology and biomedical science to neighborhood clinics. Undergraduate, graduate and even high school students will be recruited and mentored to assist with research at both sites, providing an engaging opportunity for biomedical research to students across the city.

Several similar projects have been funded through NIH, specifically the National Cancer Institute arm of the NIH. Dr. Hubbard notes that "the goal is to try to figure out ways in which we can get individuals who normally don't have access to doctors to be screened, treated and educated. We'll provide those resources to help people get that care".

 

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New Protein Could Pave Way for Artificial Blood...and it's Made from Scratch

CBNS partners with NYC Health Department to Study Neighborhood Air Quality

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Shape Determines the Fragrances We Detect

When odor-producing molecules, known as odorants, pass through the nose, they trigger intracellular changes in a subset of the approximately 400 different varieties olfactory sensory neurons (OSN) housed in the nose's internal membrane tissue. The unique reaction pattern produced, known as the olfactory code, is sent as a signal to the brain, which leads to perception of odors. But what happens when the molecules that generate the fragrance change shape? Does the change in molecular shape alter a fragrance? Dr. Kevin Ryan , Assistant Professor of Chemistry at City College and collaborators in the laboratory of Dr. Stuart Firestein at Columbia University set out to explore the question, shedding new insight into how our sense of smell functions. The team studied the odorant octanal, an eight-carbon aldehyde that occurs in many flowers and citrus fruits. It is a structurally flexible molecule that can adapt to many different shapes by rotating its chemical bonds.

The research team designed and synthesized eight-carbon aldehydes that resembled octanal, but had their carbon chains locked by adding one additional bond. The molecules were tested on genetically engineered OSNs that are known to respond to octanal. They found that the aldehyde molecules that could stretch to their greatest length triggered strong activity in the OSNs, but those whose carbon chains were constrained into a U shape blocked the receptor and left the cell unable to sense octanal. "Conformationally constrained odorants were more selective in the number of OSNs they activated. The results indicate that these odorant molecules might be able to alter fragrance odors in two ways: by muting the activity of flexible odorants present in a mixture, and by activating a smaller subset of OSNs than chemically-related flexible odorants.

Olfactory receptors belong to the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) class of proteins, a family of molecules found in cell membranes throughout the body. Dr. Ryan pointed out that half of all commercial pharmaceuticals work by interaction with proteins within this class. Thus, the findings could also have applications to GPCR drug design, as well.

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Sea Lampreys May Lack Homing Phenomenon

Anadromous fishes live most of their lives in the open ocean, but migrate to freshwater bodies to reproduce. Common among anadromous fish species, such as salmon, is the homing of the fish to their natal (birth site) rivers for spawning. An exception to this behavioral trait is the Petromyzon marinus, or sea lamprey, which, Dr. John Waldman , Professor of Biology at Queens College, discovered, may not have that homing ability after all. Unlike other anadromous fish, sea lampreys are parasitic in their adult stage and latch onto larger fishes to feed on their blood for 1-2 weeks. Hence, sea lampreys are dispersed through transport by the host fish they parasitize, possibly making it difficult for sea lamprey to find their birth river.

Sequencing a portion of the mitochondrial DNA from sea lampreys collected from eleven East Coast rivers, Dr. Waldman found no significant genetic differences among populations. Homing in other anadromous fish species allows genetic differentiation among populations, even between neighboring watersheds. If lampreys were returning to their natal rivers, over time the populations would develop slight genetic differences because they would never mix. "What we see with sea lamprey over and over again is that these things have no genetic differences," Dr. Waldman notes, "(from this) we infer that there is no homing going on." The results of the study showed extremely low genetic (haplotypic) variation among sea lamprey collection sites (1.3%), and virtually all haplotype diversity (99%) occurred within populations. He theorizes that rather than homing, the fish rely on chemical cues as an alternative to finding a suitable river habitat to mate in: the ‘suitable river strategy'.

Sea lamprey larvae have been shown to release a bile acid-based pheromone that can be detected by adults in ocean waters. Once detected, male lamprey travel to the spawning grounds and release their own pheromones to communicate their presence to female lamprey. Because many rivers are not suitable for sea lamprey reproduction, choosing an appropriate river in which to mate is crucial for the species' survival.

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New Leadership for CUNY Center for Advanced Technology

Dr. David Crouse has been named the new Director of the CUNY Center for Advanced Technology in Photonics Applications (CUNY CAT). Dr. Crouse is a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the City College of CUNY, and is also a member of the Doctoral Faculty at the CUNY Graduate Center. Dr. Crouse brings to this position a wide range of experience including fundamental research in photonics, as well as industrial experience and technology transfer activities. His research includes photonic crystals, plasmonic crystals and metamaterials, and their applications to sensors, emitters and energy devices. He has published over 25 papers on these topics and has over ten patents or patents pending on these and related technologies. Dr. Crouse is equally interested in technology transfer activities, having been associated with three start-up companies that were spun off from academic research. Two of these companies, Phoebus Optoelectronics, LLC and Hudson Energy Devices, LLC were co-founded by Dr. Crouse. These companies have received significant funding from small business innovative research grants, venture capitalists and other investors, and have developed several technologies including lasers, infrared sensors, and polarimetric sensors. Dr. Crouse is looking forward to working with CUNY faculty and administration to expand the CUNY CAT's facilities and programs for research, development and technology transfer activities.

Dr. Crouse received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and his B.S. in Physics from Purdue University. He has worked as a Senior Process Engineer at Intel, a Senior Photonics Engineer at Nova Crystals, and co-founded and currently serves as Senior Technical Advisor at Phoebus Optoelectronics and Hudson Energy Devices, LLC.

The Vice Chancellor for Research would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Harry Gafney of Queens College – CUNY for his hard work as interim Director of the CUNY CAT for the past two years. Dr. Gafney has been involved with the CAT from its onset and I am confident he will continue to contribute to its success.

 

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Baruch Study Finds That Speaking Two Languages May Unconciously Switch Your Personality

Changes in self-perception, or "frame switching" among bicultural individuals may be triggered by language and unconsciously change their personality when switching languages. Dr. David Luna , Associate Professor of Marketing at Baruch College, along with colleagues from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, studied a group of U.S. Hispanic bilingual females, all of whom associated themselves with both Latino and Anglo cultures and had varying degrees of cultural identification. To determine how language can trigger the "frame switching" of culture-specific identity frames, the researchers used a series of tasks that evaluated participants' perceptions of self-sufficiency, language use, and attitudes towards actors.

In one of the studies, the group viewed advertisements in one language - English or Spanish - and then, six months later, they viewed the same ads in the other language. The perceptions changed significantly. The viewers classified the Spanish speaking actors as more ‘extroverted and self sufficient' than those who spoke English. Furthermore, the participants classified themselves as more 'assertive' when they spoke Spanish than English. The findings, which were published in the August issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, indicated that people, who are bicultural, switched frames more quickly and easily than people who are bilingual, but living or associating with only one culture.

Dr. Luna notes that "Participants not only perceived ad characters differently depending on the language of the ad, but that they themselves acted differently when speaking in different languages, without realizing."

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City College and UMDNJ Study Finds Toxic Chemicals in Synthetic Turf

Dr. William Crain, Professor of Psychology at City College, along with co-investigators Dr. Junfeng (Jim) Zhang and others at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, have found that synthetic turf fields used in parks and school yards contain toxic chemicals that might pose health risks, especially to children. Synthetic turf is found in over 3,500 playing fields across the United States, with new brands increasingly replacing the older, nylon-based "Astro-Turf". Nicknamed "new generation" turf, the new brands feel more natural and springier than Astro-Turf. Most of the new fields use polyethylene fibers and include a rubber granule infill which contributes to the springiness. The tiny rubber granules are about 0.5 to 3mm in size, and lie between the artificial grass fibers. The granules are usually derived from scrap tires.

In their study, published in the upcoming issue of the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, the investigators found that the rubber granules contain zinc and lead, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-all of which could be harmful to both humans and non-human species in the environment. A sample of polyethylene fibers contained a small amount of lead. Although the lead concentrations in the granules and fibers were low to moderate, many health scientists worry that any level of lead presents health risks to children.

The small-scale study also looked into the effects of ingesting the polyethylene fibers and the rubber granules. The study examined absorption in synthetic saliva, synthetic gastric fluid, and synthetic intestinal fluid. For a sample of fibers, the results yielded no lead dissolved in saliva, but 34.6% and 54.0% of the lead in the samples dissolved in the gastric and intestinal fluids, respectively. Once dissolved, the lead might enter the blood and cause damage. For two samples of rubber granules, the investigators found that 24.7% and 44.2% of the lead was dissolved in the gastric fluid. Dr. Crain notes that if replicated, the results suggest that ingestion of fibers and granules could negatively impact children's neurocognitive development. Although the investigators found that PAH's are not absorbed into the digestive tract, alternate PAH exposure routes, such as skin contact or inhalation, should be explored.

Dr. Crain says that we should be especially concerned about very young children playing on the fields, since they tend to put things in their mouths and are very vulnerable to toxic exposures. He emphasizes the urgent need for more research on the possible health risks of synthetic turf.

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Queens College Professor Highlights the Korean Grocery Experience in New York City

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New Center for Emergency Response Studies and Research Opens at John Jay College

Named after a 28-year-old probationary firefighter who perished in the September 11 attacks, the Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies opened its doors on September 4, 2008. Serving as a repository and clearinghouse, the research center will be instrumental in developing comprehensive approaches to the study of large scale disasters and emergency responses. Future threats, such as major earthquakes on the west coast and hurricane events that mimic Hurricane Katrina will also be dissected. Dr. Charles Jennings, former Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety for the City of White Plains and Professor of Protection Management at John Jay, was named the Center's Director. "We recognize a need for a research agenda relative to first responders, trying to document from the ground level up, lessons that we've learned, and to develop information that would be of use to first responders in dealing with large scale events," Jennings said. Aside from gathering essential information on first responder observations, the Center will create a digital database of all the findings to make policy recommendations on improving emergency response protocols during disaster events. The information will also be used to develop training methods and educational programs. Research conducted at the center will be funded by a grant from the Justice Department.

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Sophie Davis School to Collaborate on $2.7 Million Grant from the National Cancer Institute

Dr. Nancy Sohler, Assistant Medical Professor, Dr. Marthe Gold, Medical Professor and Chair, and Dr. Wei-Hsin Lu, Research Associate in the Department of Community Health and Social Medicine at the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, will be collaborating on a multi-institutional, 5-year $2.7M grant from the National Cancer Institute to investigate the use of language-specific interactive multimedia computer programs on screening behaviors in a number of Hispanic patients who receive colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. The funding will be used to refine custom-designed software and evaluate its impact in various physicians' offices in New York City and Rochester, Tampa, Florida, and Sacramento, California.

 

Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the United States. About 108,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to the American Cancer Society. Screening can reduce the number of colorectal cancer cases by identifying them early, and if possible, removing polyps before they become cancerous. Hispanics are less likely than non-Hispanics to report having been screened for CRC. The findings from this study will determine if the software can be implemented in physicians' offices across the country, potentially reducing disparities in CRC screening between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Drs. Sohler and Gold will lead the New York City testing site with local community health centers, where the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education has had long-standing teaching and research partnerships.

 

The study is being led by Dr. Anthony Jerant at University of California, Davis. Co-collaborators on the grant also include Dr. Peter Franks at the University of California at Davis, Dr. Richard Roetzheim at the Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa; Dr. Kevin Fiscella at the University of Rochester and Dr. Matthew Kreuter at the St. Louis University School of Public Health.

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City Tech Receives A New NSF REU Grant in Remote Sensing

Dr. Reginald Blake, Assistant Professor of Physics at New York City College of Technology, has been awarded a new, three-year NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant. The funds will used to facilitate faculty-supervised student research in state-of-the-art satellite and ground-based, remote sensing. Ten students will be working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center (NOAA-CREST), based at City College and will be chosen from five CUNY campuses - City Tech, LaGuardia Community College, York College, Medgar Evers College, and City College. Particular selection will be made for students from underrepresented groups - women, people of color and students with disabilities.

 

"Remote sensing technology is at the cutting edge of research in studies of air quality monitoring; precipitation estimation; hurricane genesis; development and tracking offloods anddroughts; global climate change, and a host of other aspects of geophysics" explains Dr. Blake, who was been appointed to Mayor Bloomberg's recent New York City Climate Change Technical Advisory Committee. "City Tech's new NSF grant will help create an educational pipeline that will produce a diverse workforce for NOAA and for the nation," notes Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi, Director of NOAA-CREST. This past summer, all ten students participating in the program commuted to CCNY in Harlem to study and research remote sensing as it applies to aerosols, vegetation, hurricanes, coastal waters and "nowcasting" (the prediction of severe weather within a short time before its occurrence). They also visited the Bronx Botanical Gardens' Geographical Information System Laboratory, The American Museum of Natural History, the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the National Weather Service.

 

Two of the ten students (City Tech's Adam Atia and CCNY's Ibrahim Siddo), will participate in one of the project's most exciting aspects - they will conduct research aboard the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown, as it sails across the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Caribbean in March 2009. On board, they will assist in the study of why and how aerosols are transported from the Sahara Desert across the Atlantic Ocean and towards the U.S. and the Caribbean. They spent part of this past summer with Dr. Vernon Morris and his team at Howard University, where remote sensing research is ongoing.

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CENSES to Focus on Sustainable Energy, Environmental Monitoring, and Emerging Technologies

Among the major challenges facing our nation and the world today are the development of sustainable energy technologies that focus on renewable resources, and the monitoring of health, the environment and national security threats. A new NSF-funded center at City College, the Center for Exploitation of Nanostructures in Sensors and Energy Systems (CENSES), seeks to enhance and develop research expertise associated with sensors, and energy generation and conversion systems, in order to serve as a national resource center in these critical areas, and to be available for collaboration in research and development efforts with potential partners.

With a $5 Million, 5-year budget, CENSES will focus on three research programs. The first program focuses on nanomaterials and nanostructures for sensor applications, including mid-IR sensors based on semiconductors, environmental sensors from single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and liposome-based arrays with nanoparticle markers for toxin detection. Program two exploits nanomaterials and nanostructures in energy systems, with projects concerned with battery electrode nanomaterials, SWNTs with attached electrocatalysts for fuel cell applications, and hybrid quantum well/quantum dot high-performance solar cells.
The third program focuses on emerging technologies, focusing on areas such as biologically inspired self-assembled nanostructures, cobalt-oxide-based thermoelectric materials, and femtosecond (1 x 10^-15 seconds) time-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy.
The CENSES project includes an extensive educational improvement plan, that integrates research and education, much of which will be implemented in connection with the CUNY School for Professional Studies. These educational activities will include:

• Learning communities based on Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) Workshop approach;
• New online curricular courses for students as well as online courses for the public;
• International, extended research visits (XRVs) for students-so they can become globally-engaged researchers;
• Recruitment/retention strategies for students underrepresented in science and engineering;
• Seed funding of new, but related projects-to foster dynamic change in the Center by incorporation of new innovative ideas.

The Director of CENSES is Dr. Daniel Akins (Chemistry) and the three subprojects will be lead by co-PIs, Drs. Maria Tamargo (Chemistry), Alex Couzis (Chemical Engineering), and Swapan Gayen (Physics), respectively. Seventeen other City College faculty from the departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, and the Benjamin Levich Institute will participate in research at CENSES. External collaborations already include the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) and the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) at Columbia University, and the Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) at Bronx Community College. For more information, contact Dr Dan Akins at akins@sci.ccny.cuny.edu

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Multi-College Research Team to Examine Outcomes of NSF STEM Education Grants at CUNY

Over the past five years, faculty at CUNY campuses have been highly successful in winning a variety of National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awards related to math and science education. This reflects well on the quality of our faculty proposals and on the collaborations within and across campuses that lead to awards. In order to help and encourage our faculty to continue this trend and develop future proposals as NSF RFPs are posted, Vice Chancellor for Research Gillian Small and University Dean of Academic Affairs Jane Ashdown collaborated in the development of a unique funding opportunity for CUNY faculty to explore these past successes.

A Call for Proposals was released this February, seeking proposals for a study synthesizing the outcomes and impact of past NSF funded projects in math and science education awarded to CUNY faculty. The rationale for this RFP was strategic. The purpose of this project is to strengthen future CUNY submissions to NSF. Making available a synthesis of outcomes from past funded projects across the CUNY system will help identify strengths and highlight gaps in the scope and outcomes of these math and science education projects. Thus all new NSF CUNY applications will have the advantage of knowing and being able to reference in a new proposal what has been accomplished in the past as a justification and warrant for future funded work. This internal initiative also reflects the increasing emphasis from NSF for proposals to be driven by research questions and to generate evidence-based contributions to teaching and learning in math and science, so that successful strategies and practices can be disseminated.

Eight faculty teams submitted proposals and after review, two proposals addressed nearly identical issues but from dramatically different approaches: education and computer science. These two teams were offered the opportunity to merge into a single, synthetic research group with an expanded budget to address both the acquisition and analysis of outcome data, and the development of a accessible database of these data and results. The combined team includes faculty from 4 CUNY colleges: Drs. Angela Kelly (Lehman, Middle & High School Education), Jinlin Chen (Queens, Computer Science), Serigne Gningue (Lehman, MHSE), Rathika Rajaravivarma (NY City Tech, CS), and Subash Shankar (Hunter, CS). Results of this research are expected to be available for use by the CUNY community by the end of summer 2009.

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Brooklyn College Researchers Find Evidence of Memory in Ancient Cephalopods

It is well known that coleoid cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, and octopus) have well developed brains with dedicated centers (vertical lobes) for communication and learning. But, according to new research, nautiluses, the ancient shelled relatives of the more advanced cephalopods, which lack these complex, learning centers, show signs of memory. Nautiloids are the sole living members of an ancient group of mollusks that flourished from the Ordovician to Carboniferous (480–300 million years ago) and have changed little since that time.

In the 30 May 2008 issue of The Journal of Experimental Biology, Drs. Robyn Crook and Jennifer Basil of Brooklyn College (Biology) report their findings on nautilus memory. With an elegantly simple experimental design, they used Pavlovian conditioning that associated a food reward with a flash of blue light to train nautiluses. The subject animals responded to light flashes with feeding behaviors including extending their tentacles and were tested at time intervals (3 min, 30 min, 1 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 24 h) for response. Animals reacted up to one hour after their training before they became unresponsive. Surprisingly, their feeding behavior returned after six hours, and lasted up to twenty-four hours. This suggests that while they lack the complex brain structures of other cephalopods, nautiluses exhibit forms of both short- and long-term memory.

"We were quite surprised to see memory at all," says Crook. She, like most researchers, hypothesized the nautilus' daily trips up and down a coral reef didn't require memory. "Because their brain is so simple, and because it lacks the dedicated learning regions of octopus and cuttlefish and squid, it had been implied they would have some deficits in learning and memory," she says.

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City College Team Determine the Density Limit for Randomly-Packed Spheres

The problem of how many identical-sized spheres can be randomly packed into a container has challenged mathematicians for centuries. A team of physicists at City College has come up with a solution that could have implications for everything from processing granular materials to shipping fruit.

In the 30 May 2008 issue of Nature, Dr. Hernán Makse (Physics), along with two of his doctoral students, Chaoming Song and Ping Wang, report that random packing of hard (i.e., non-crushable) spheres in three dimensions cannot exceed a density limit of 63.4 % of the volume. This upper limit is a consequence of a completely "jammed" state that occurs when the materials are at their lowest energy levels, i.e. as close to inert as possible.

"Theoretically, the jammed state would be achieved by lowering the temperature of the spheres to approach absolute zero (-460 °F), since this would cause them to contract," explained Dr. Makse, "In real life, however, it is attained by shaking the materials."

The findings have potential applications for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, where powders have to be mixed to a homogenous consistency, he said. Currently, manufacturers must rely on empirical data (i.e., trial and error) to establish their formulas. Dr. Makse said his goal is to develop a theory of powders that could enable manufacturers to more efficiently develop new products.

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CUNY Undergrads Receive Summer Research Fellowships from SBCNY

In 2007, CUNY partnered with Mount Sinai School of Medicine on an NIH grant awarded to fund the Systems Biology Center of New York (SBCNY). SBCNY is a consortium funded by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health, and is housed at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM). A portion of the CUNY award specifically provides undergraduate research opportunities for students participating in projects with faculty examining how the effects of molecular interactions are propagated across scales of organization from cells to tissues and organs affecting physiology and pathophysiology.

SBCNY brings together researchers and educators from MSSM, City University of New York, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU, Stony Brook University (SUNY), National Centre for Biological Sciences (India), and IBM T.J. Watson Research Center.

Together these research activities, along with education and outreach activities, such as the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships, will allow SBCNY to make significant contributions towards the development of Systems Medicine and Therapeutics.

In this inaugural year of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program, five CUNY undergraduates who showed strong mathematics skills and expressed interest in research careers were selected to conduct research for ten weeks in laboratories at Mount Sinai or Hunter College:

• Anastasia Sagalovitch (Baruch College)
• Allison Goldberg (Hunter College)
• Ona Liu (City College)
• Fejzijie Bala (New York City Tech and City College)
• Preet Minhas (City College)
  
• 
  

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Physics professor Michio Kaku honored with 2008 Klopsteg Memorial Award

The Klopsteg Memorial Award is given annually to notable physicists, recognizing their outstanding contributions in the communication of the excitement of contemporary physics to the general public. This year, Dr. Michio Kaku, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at City College, received this honor at the American Association of Physics Teachers annual meeting in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Besides authoring several graduate-level physics textbooks and more than 70 peer-reviewed articles, the co-creator of string field theory has become a New York Times best-selling popular science author, with “Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension” and his latest, “Physics of the Impossible.” His 2006 best-seller, “Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos” was a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction (the UK counterpart of the Pulitzer Prize).

Dr. Kaku has the unique ability to explain complex physics topics in clear, layperson terms and this skill has made him a common fixture in the American and British media. He has appeared on numerous news programs, including “Good Morning America,” 60 Minutes,” “Nightline,” “20/20,” “The Screen Savers,” and “Larry King Live.” Earlier this year, he hosted a BBC series, “Time” and a Discovery Channel series, “2057.” His weekly syndicated radio shows, “Explorations in Science” and “Science Fantastic” are heard in more than 130 cities.

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Groundbreaking New REU Program in Physics at Queensborough CC

The Queensborough Community College Physics Department has been awarded a new 3-year National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant entitled, “A Community College REU Site for Physics Applications in Astronomy and Biology“ by Drs. Tak Cheung and David Lieberman.

This award is the first REU physics program granted to a community college and the first REU program for research to be performed on a community college campus. This project has the potential to become a model for future community college REUs.

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Hunter College researchers find mechanism of tumor cell suppression of Chinese herbal compound

Honokiol, a natural component found in the buds of magnolia trees, may provide a method to treat several difficult-to-treat human cancer types. Many human cancers, that rely on Ras activation and elevated levels of phospholipids D (PLD), have proven elusive to today’s therapeutic reagents. Ras proteins transmit extracellular signals that promote the growth, proliferation, and survival of cells. Stress-induced elevation of PLD activity has been linked to Ras activation and in cancer cells and elevated PLD activity suppresses default cell death programs and in doing so promotes the survival of these cells that would ordinarily die.

Honokiol, which is used in Chinese and Japanese herbal medicine, was found to inhibit mouse tumor growth in 2003 by Dr Jack Arbiser at Emory University in Atlanta. A collaboration between Dr. Arbiser and Hunter Professor David Foster was begun to evaluate the effect of honokiol on the survival signals mediated by Ras and PLD in cancer cells. In the July 2008 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, Foster and his graduate students, Avalon Garcia and Yang Zheng report that honokiol suppresses stress-induced PLD activity in human cancer cell lines where PLD activity provides a survival signal. The PLD activity in these cancer cells was dependent on Ras, and honokiol also suppressed Ras activation in these cells. This work, which also also involved collaborations with the laboratory of Dafna Bar-Sagi at New York University School of Medicine, and Alex Brown at Vanderbilt University, reveal a potential therapeutic tool in treating cancers dependent on PLD and Ras.

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Researchers Find Clue In Missing Protein Related to Fragile X Syndrome

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), the most common form of inherited mental retardation, is caused by the silencing of a protein necessary for brain signaling at the synapse, the site where two neurons communicate via chemical and electrical systems. This signaling is essential for normal brain development, learning, and memory. This protein, known as FMRP (Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein), is an mRNA (messenger RNA) binding protein. By regulating mRNA molecules, mRNA binding proteins crucially influence how proteins are synthesized from mRNAs.

In the 10 June 2008 issue of Developmental Cell, a team of researchers led by Dr. Jason Dictenberg (Biological Sciences, Hunter College) and his colleagues Dr. Gary Bassell, Professor of Cell Biology and Neurology at Emory University School of Medicine and Dr. Robert Singer, Professor and co-Chair of Anatomy and Structural Biology at Albert Einstein School of Medicine, reported their findings on how FMRP regulates mRNA transport in neurons.

The researchers showed that FMRP functions in delivering mRNAs to synapses that are stimulated by activity, through specific receptors that have a unique pharmacology and are important for synapse development. In the absence of FMRP, as in Fragile X syndrome, there is a marked decrease in this mRNA delivery to the synapse, and the decrease is correlated to changes in synapse structure, a hallmark of neurodevelopmental disorders. Until now, it wasn't clear how FMRP and its bound mRNAs were delivered to the axons and dendrites, and their synapses during development.

By finding how the lack of FMRP in Fragile X Syndrome interferes with this vitally important signaling process, their results may lead to the development of new treatments for Fragile X Syndrome, which also contributes significantly to other neurological pathologies such as autism spectrum disorders and epilepsy.

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City College Doctoral Researcher Receives Prestigious Kirschstein NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship

Paul Thomson, a City College doctoral student working with Dr. Mahesh Lakshman (Chemistry), has been selected to receive a prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Predoctoral Fellowship Award from the National Institutes of Health. The award includes a competitive annual stipend and an institutional allowance (for attending professional conferences and health insurance).

Since it began in 1975, the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships has provided up to five years of support for research training leading to the Ph.D. or equivalent. The overall goal of this program is to increase the number of scientists from diverse population groups who are prepared to pursue careers in biomedical, behavioral, social, clinical, or health services research.

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City College Researchers Find Effective Marker for Detection of Prostate Cancer

Researchers at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL) at City College have conducted time-resolved fluorescence measurement and optical imaging studies that demonstrate the efficacy of Cytate as a fluorescence marker to detect prostate cancer. Cytate, a contrast agent that conjugates to receptors on prostate cancer cells, exhibited greater fluorescence when applied to cancerous prostate tissue as opposed to normal prostate tissue.
Prostate cancer accounts for approximately 29% of cancer among men. According to a report in 2007, prostate cancer was responsible for 27,000 deaths in the United States. Early detection is important to reducing the death count. Current noninvasive detection methods, which include digital exams, blood tests and ultrasound, have limited accuracy. “There is a need to develop a noninvasive technique for early detection of prostate cancer with higher accuracy and resolution,” said Dr. Robert Alfano, Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering and Director of IUSL.

Cytate is dye-peptide conjugate consisting of a near-infrared dye and a somatostatin receptor ligand. Somatostatin is a small neuropeptide, believed to regulate the production of other hormones. Somatostatin is also believed to perform an important role in the cancer development.

“Somatostatin receptors are over-expressed on cancerous cells relative to normal cells, so they adsorb more of the Cytate,” Dr. Alfano added. The next step in the investigation is development of an optical probe called the “photonic finger” that can perform imaging of the prostate from inside the body, he said. The project’s ultimate goal is to develop reliable cancer detection techniques based on imaging as an alternative to biopsies. Previous studies had shown that Cytate could target somatostatin receptor-rich pancreas tumors in animal models because of its high affinity for these receptors.

The findings of the IUSL researchers, including Dr. W. Wong and Yang Pu, and a colleague, Prof. Samuel Achilefu of the Washington University School of Medicine, were reported in the 25 April issue of Applied Optics and was selected for publication in the most recent issue of the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics (VJBO).

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CUNY NYCSEF Finalists Win Awards at ISEF 2008

Each year, high school students from throughout the five boroughs of New York City compete in the New York City Science and Engineering Fair (NYCSEF).

This year, CUNY College Now, in collaboration with the New York Department of Education, organized the NYCSEF, connecting the city's only research competition for high school students with CUNY's largest collaborative program with the NYCDOE and a network of more than 290 public high schools.

In CUNY’s inaugural year as host institution, approx. 800 NYCSEF applications from 1000 students were received. This year’s Preliminary Round was held on February 3rd at City College with 450 project entries. The top 25% of student researchers from each subject category, a total of 125 projects, were selected to participate in the Finals Round on March 10th at the Graduate Center where 18 student finalists were selected (12 individual projects and 3 team projects). These finalists were honored at the NYCSEF Awards Ceremony on April 17th at John Jay College. Each year, NYCSEF finalists represent New York City in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). This year’s ISEF was held on May 11-16th in Atlanta, GA.

Three of this year’s 18 NYCSEF finalists were mentored by CUNY faculty and all won place awards at ISEF 2008. Erin Zeqja (Townsend Harris H.S.) presented his individual research on Detection of biomolecules via coupling of Type-I and Type-II quantum dots, under the guidance of Dr. Igor Kuskovsky (Queens College, Physics) and won $1000 with his 3rd Place Award in Physics. Team project finalists, Tinya Cheng and Nischay Kumar both from Townsend Harris H.S., were mentored by Dr. Vinod Menon, also from the Department of Physics (Queens College) on their team project, Development of three-dimensional photonic integrated circuits through a bottom-up approach. They were awarded a $1500 2nd Place Award.

In addition to the ISEF winners from New York City, Daniel Barson (John Jay H.S., Cross River, NY) won a $1000 3rd Place Award in Cellular and Molecular Biology for his individual research on Using laminin to promote the reversal of myelin inhibition in Central Nervous System neurons under the mentorship of Drs. Marie Filbin and Wilfredo Mellado (Hunter College, Biology).

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CUNY Distinguished Professor elected to the National Academy of Sciences Council

Dr. Myriam Sarachik, Distinguished Professor of Physics (City College) was among four members elected to the Academy’s governing council. The Academy is governed by a 17-member council that includes five officers (president, vice-president, home secretary, foreign secretary, and treasurer) and twelve councilors.
Dr. Sarachick, along with Dr. Linda Bartoshuk (University of Florida), Dr. Rita Colwell (University of Maryland), and Dr. Judith Kimble (Howard Hughes Medical Institute and University of Wisconsin) will begin their 3-year terms on July 1st, 2008.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that provides science advice under a congressional charter. The Academy membership is comprised of approximately 2,000 members and 350 foreign associates, of whom more than 200 have won Nobel Prizes. Members and foreign associates of the Academy are elected in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research; election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or engineer.

Dr. Sarachik was featured in the Faculty Spotlight of the inaugural June 2005 issue of the CUNY Research Newsletter at this site.

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Renowned CUNY Professor Receives Davies Medal at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Dr. Sheldon Weinbaum, Distinguished Professor of Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering (City College), received the prestigious Davies Medal for Engineering Achievement from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Engineering. The event took place on Friday, April 18, 2008 at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies auditorium on the RPI campus.
A prolific researcher with more than 200 published papers and a celebrated career, Dr. Weinbaum was instrumental in establishing City College’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and the New York Center for Biomedical Engineering, a consortium with eight NYC area hospitals and other institutions. The department in 2001 received a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH to create a “national urban model for minority biomedical engineering education.” The grant was renewed in 2006 for five additional years.

Dr. Weinbaum is one of only seven living Americans elected to all three U.S. National Academies: Science, Engineering, and Medicine. His other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ H.R, Lissner Award in 1994 and Melville Medal in 1996, and an NSF “Special Creativity Award” in 1985.

After receiving his Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree from Rensselaer in 1959, he went on to earn his Master of Science degree in Applied Physics and Doctorate in Engineering from Harvard University in 1960 and 1963, respectively. He joined the faculty of City College in 1967. He continues to advise students and conduct research at CCNY, supported by five grants from the NSF and NIH.

Rensselaer’s Davies Medal award is funded by an endowment from Mr. and Mrs. J. Erik Jonsson.