Title: The Effect of Neuronal Network Plasticity and Refinement in Drosophila melanogaster

Nociceptors are sensory neurons that fire in response to sharp pain or heat, but unstimulating firing has also been observed in developing drosophila neuronal networks. We are investigating whether the frequency of this firing could play a role in signaling a synapse to be pruned.

Who is your mentor(s) for your project?
My mentor is Dr. Fernando Vonhoff from the Biology Department. I used to study in the lab break room with some friends who worked on that floor of the Biology Building. I knew some people who were familiar with Dr. Vonhoff’s work and the projects lined up quite well with my interests. The same friends told me how Dr. Vonhoff provided excellent guidance and freedom to those working under him and so I asked if there was anything I could do for the lab.

How did you become interested in this project?
I had previously done some neuroscience research and this project allowed me to not only work on investigating pruning at the scale of a single synapse but also more macro topics such as refinement of a developing neuronal network as a whole.

What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher?
The hardest part of this project has been the day to day collection of data. It can be repetitive, but it takes a long time to investigate something substantial.

What has been the most rewarding part?
The most rewarding part has been learning new skills and being able to use them to further the project. There is a real feeling of being a part of the neuroscience community when you can perform an experiment that you’ve read in a paper and then actually use that data. 

How will you disseminate your research?
Hopefully, we will have something to publish soon and I plan to present at the Spring URCAD event.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?
I would tell them to read around a good bit to make sure you are interested in the work that you’ll be doing. It is also equally, if not more, important that you find a mentor who you will enjoy working with and who has the time to guide you. As far as getting into a lab, simply send out as many emails as it takes for someone to invite you in for an interview. It might take a month or two but there are so many opportunities on campus to get involved in research.

What are your career goals?
I hope to become a physician.

(Excerpt) 

UMBC chemical engineering students take second place in national Jeopardy competition

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | NOVEMBER 23, 2020 | MEGAN HANKS

Last weekend, four UMBC students earned second prize in the national Jeopardy competition hosted virtually by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The team competed against 12 other teams at the national level after winning the Mid-Atlantic regional competition in October. 

UMBC’s team included Cameron Sloan ‘21, Nicholas Balasus ‘21, Ellie Vonderhorst ‘22, and Chris Ashby ‘21, all chemical engineering majors. Sloan is chair of the Jeopardy project in UMBC’s student chapter of AIChE, the professional organization for chemical engineers. He explains that participating in the competition was an important moment for the group, though the move to an online format wasn’t ideal. 

“Competing virtually had its challenges, for sure, but all in all it was a fantastic experience,” says Sloan. “I wish we would have had the opportunity to meet our competitors and be able to speak to them, rather than just seeing their digitized faces on our screens.”

Read full article

Congratulations to Fabian Amurrio!

For the second time in UMBC’s history, Samuel Patterson has earned the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Naomi Mburu (’18 Chemical Engineering) won the award in 2017. Established in 1902, the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and perhaps most prestigious international scholarship program in the world, enabling outstanding young people from around the world to undertake full-time postgraduate study at the University of Oxford, (ranked first internationally in the Times Higher Education rankings for 2017 and 2018). Sam was one of only thirty-two students selected from nearly 1,000 applicants, for his outstanding scholarly achievements, his outstanding character, his commitment to others and to the common good, and for his potential for leadership in his academic field. 

At UMBC, Sam is earning a triple degree in Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics. He is a member of the Honors College and a Meyerhoff Scholar. He has participated in three high-level internship experiences: one, with the Harvard Leadership Alliance; another at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business; and most recently at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he evaluated the COVID-induced changes with regard to public transportation usage trends in cities such as New York, resulting in a forthcoming publication. He has consistently been named to the Dean’s and President’s lists at UMBC. His research interests include transportation economics, and bringing together those doing advocacy work and those doing research, introducing new ideas to government leaders and creating real change by providing opportunities for people to escape poverty. His work asks questions about how people access their jobs, schools, hospitals, food, election polls, cultural institutions, via public transportation, and how that access can be improved.

If that isn’t enough, Sam is a dedicated musician who plays multiple instruments and produces music, avidly collects funk music records, and performs locally with his bands. Sam is from Marietta, Georgia, but quickly made Arbutus his home. As the Music Director of the Retriever Music Society, he has performed at OCA Mocha, the UMBC-owned, student-run coffee shop in Arbutus. He has also worked as a volunteer for Creative Coders, an after-school program at Arbutus Middle School, teaching public school children computer coding skills, and he even made efforts to save Mike’s pizza shop in Arbutus when it was going out of business as a result of the COVID pandemic.

The Rhodes Scholarship is a life-changing opportunity for exceptional young people with the potential to make a difference for good in the world. Sam has that rare mixture of grit and excellence that is the best of what UMBC represents. His experience in the U.K. will enrich not only his academic path, but also his personal journey in so many profound ways. We can’t wait to see what he can accomplish with the support he will receive from this scholarship.

See the full UMBC News story here:

https://news.umbc.edu/sam-patterson-umbcs-newest-rhodes-scholar-plans-to-transform-transportation/

Dr. Mira Marcus-Kalish of Tel Aviv University

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CARTA Distinguished Lecture Series

Medical Informatics – Promise and Barriers Towards Precise Medicine

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Dr. Mira Marcus-Kalish
Director, International Research Affairs
Tel Aviv University

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10:00 am-12:00 pm ET, Monday, 23 Nov. 2020

Online via Webex

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The challenging time facing the pandemic forced us to relate to the human being’s broadband picture and his surrounding as one functioning system across countries and continents. The need is to relate both to the Micro (including in-body, physical, and mental conditions) and the Macro (such as environmental, cultural, and economic factors) providing a comprehensive understanding of the human body functioning in the surrounding, towards a precise, personalized “disease signature,” definition, especially these days. A systematic literature review on the “disease signature” term revealed no clear definition. In many articles, the “disease signature” phrase appears as a single biomarker (often genetic), mainly related to neurology or oncology. (Stemmer, A. at All, 2019. Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, 67(4)). The major goal is the unity of nature, science, and technology, from the nanoscale towards converging knowledge and tools, at a confluence of disciplines, as was envisioned by the NSF in 2001 (NBIC) and further at the joint EU-US WTEC effort “Converging of Knowledge, Technology, Society,” Roco et al., Springer 2013.

The COVID-19 global health emergency increased the need for early precise diagnosis and treatment while facing major physical and mental threat and stress, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These understandings reemphasized the need to join all forces, converge, verify and embed all knowledge, expertise, and new advanced technologies in the various disciplines. Furthermore, it enforced to verify the data originated by various sources while bridging all cultural, conceptual, curation and technology barriers, preserving privacy and ethics regulations and ensuring reliable advanced analysis tools. All of the above provide profound insight into the human body and brain functioning in the surrounding and reliable “Disease Signature,” followed by suitable therapeutic treatment.

The question to be asked: Are we able to collect Big enough data, distributed and representative enough, while bridging all barriers and accurate analysis tools to ensure reliable, replicable, reproducible outcome towards precise, personalized medicine? The Brain Medical Informatics Platform (MIP), developed by the EU Human Brain Flagship Project, as part of the EBRAINS platform, is a key feasibility study along these lines. It involves broad clinical data collections from 30 hospitals, converging knowledge and data, embedding new technologies for data privacy, preservation, and curation, as well as sophisticated analysis tools. The MIP and EBRAINS framework goal is to identify “BRAIN Disease Signatures” towards reliable medical treatment. A 3C (Categorize, Classify, Cluster) Methodology, developed in our lab, is one of the tools available on the MIP. It incorporates expert medical knowledge and experience into the analysis process of disease manifestation and potential biomarkers towards reliable insights. The 3C approach was applied to the ADNI (Alzheimer’s disease Neuro Imaging) cohort, discovering association with new subtypes, which were later verified using the Rome Gemelli hospital labs clinical data. Other case studies were Parkinson’s Disease, genetic and biomarker research: (Tal Kozlovski, et al., 2019, Frontiers in Neurology, Movement Disorders), as well as PTSD research (Ben-Zion et al., 2020, Translational Psychiatry), both in collaboration with the Tel Aviv Medical Center. The COVID-19 global health emergency increased the need for early precise diagnosis and treatment while facing major physical and mental threat and stress, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These understandings reemphasized the need to join all forces, converge, verify and embed all knowledge, expertise, and new advanced technologies in the various disciplines. Furthermore, it enforced to verify the data originated by various sources while bridging all cultural, conceptual, curation and technology barriers, preserving privacy and ethics regulations and ensuring reliable advanced analysis tools. All of the above to provide profound insight into the human body and brain functioning in the surrounding as well as reliable “Disease Signature”, followed by suitable therapeutic treatment.

Providing “Healthy Aging” to the elderly is a perfect example conceiving all, these days, as the elderly became one of the vulnerable groups at risk. The loneliness and isolation forced by the current pandemic results in severe conditions, including stress disorders and PTSD. Thus, an International “Healthy Aging” initiative was established at TAU, promoting broad interdisciplinary research, combining knowledge and data analysis as well as advanced technologies, from most areas of science: including economics, art, social sciences, mental and physical health, lifestyle, engineering, etc. All that to ensure the best fitted reliable treatment and a balanced quality of life to the elderly in general, and in these days, in particular.

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Dr. Mira Marcus-Kalish is the Director of International Research Collaborations at Tel Aviv University. Her main areas of research are mathematical modeling, converging technologies, and data mining. Dr. Kalish holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, where she developed one of the first computerized systems for electrocardiogram (ECG) diagnosis. Her postdoctoral training was at Harvard University, the MBCRR (Molecular Biology Computer Research and Resource) laboratory, and at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She was awarded her B.Sc. in Statistics and Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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