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Yearly Archives: 2024

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West Meadow Beach. Photo by Beth Squire

Stony Brook University researchers are conducting a pilot program aimed at facilitating equitable public access to the Long Island Sound waterfront. Professor Anil Yazici, Undergraduate Director, Department of Civil Engineering; and Professor Elizabeth Hewitt, Department of Technology and Society, received a grant from the nonprofit New York Sea Grant (NYSG) program, which is being used to provide participants no-cost, round trip shuttle service between their selected pick-up location and West Meadow Beach.

The free shuttles run every weekend of summer 2024 and can be requested by downloading a free app, which is available in both English and Spanish. As part of the  project, rideshare participants will be asked to complete a survey to identify changes in attitudes toward the Long Island Sound environment.

The objectives of the project being conducted are:

  • To provide beach access to disadvantaged communities with limited mobility options
  • To determine if participants have an increased appreciation toward the Long Island Sound waterfront
  • To gauge if improved public beach access increases awareness of the environmental issues and climate change concerns for Long Island Sound and how the public sees its role within the overall ecosystem
  • To use ridership trends to assess long-term feasibility of the shuttle, such as future shuttle schedules, travel routes, the popularity of different beaches, and how much users are willing to pay for a transportation service

“Long Island is car-dependent, which can be a real barrier to accessing local amenities for some community members. We’re excited to provide a free shuttle to expand mobility options and Long Island Sound beach access to underserved populations this summer,” said Professor Elizabeth Hewitt, Department of Technology and Society.

“Having access to natural resources has been shown to improve health and quality of life, yet especially disadvantaged populations face transportation related barriers to utilize the natural resources. Our project addresses both transportation and environmental equity concerns by providing a transportation service for people who do not own a car or means to access Long Island Sound beaches. We welcome all Long Island communities to utilize our shuttle with their families,” said Professor Anil Yazici, Undergraduate Director, Department of Civil Engineering.

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About Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University — New York’s flagship university and No. 1 public university — is going far beyond the expectations of today’s public universities. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. With nearly 26,000 students, more than 2,900 faculty members, more than 200,000 alumni, a premier academic healthcare system and 18 NCAA Division I athletic programs, Stony Brook is a research-intensive distinguished center of innovation dedicated to addressing the world’s biggest challenges. The university embraces its mission to provide comprehensive undergraduate, graduate and professional education of the highest quality, and is ranked as the #58 overall university and #26 among public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges listing. Fostering a commitment to academic research and intellectual endeavors, Stony Brook’s membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU) places it among the top 71 research institutions in North America.

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Battery chemist Xiao-Qing Yang (left) with colleagues Enyuan Hu and Eli Stavitski at the Inner-Shell Spectroscopy (ISS) beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source-II at Brookhaven National Laboratory. (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Longer lasting batteries would allow electric vehicles (EVs) to drive farther and perhaps inspire more people to make the switch from fossil fuels. One key to better EV batteries is understanding the intricate details of how they work — and stop working.

Xiao-Qing Yang, a physicist who leads the Electrochemical Energy Storage group within the Chemistry Division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, has spent a good deal of his professional career doing just that. DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) recently recognized his contributions with a Distinguished Achievement Award presented during its 2024 Annual Merit Review. Each year, VTO presents awards to individuals from partner institutions for contributions to overall program efforts and to recognize research, development, demonstration, and deployment achievements in specific areas.

Yang was honored “for pioneering [the use of] advanced characterization tools, such as in situ X-ray diffraction and absorption, to analyze battery materials under operational and extreme conditions in support of VTO battery research and development (R&D) at Brookhaven National Laboratory over the last 38 years.”

These techniques use intense beams of X-rays — for example, at Brookhaven Lab’s National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) — to study the atomic-level structure and chemical and electronic characteristics of battery materials in real time as the batteries charge and discharge under real-world operating conditions over repeated cycles. The use of these methods has been adopted at other synchrotrons throughout the DOE complex of national laboratories to provide scientists with a fundamental understanding of the relationship between the structure and the performance of battery systems. This research also provides guidance and approaches to design and synthesize new improved materials.

“This award recognizes the efforts of and honors the whole Electrochemical Energy Storage group, not just me,” said Yang. “Throughout my career, my goal has been to design and synthesize new high-energy materials with improved power density, longer cycle and calendar lives, and good safety characteristics,” he noted. “It’s great to see these efforts recognized as we try to move toward increased use of electric vehicles to meet our transportation needs.”

Xiao-Qing Yang earned a Bachelor of Science degree in material science from Shannxi Mechanic Engineering Institute in China in 1976 and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1986. He joined Brookhaven Lab’s Materials Science Department in 1986 and rose through the ranks, serving as a Principal Investigator (PI) in materials science from 1993-2005. Since then, he has been a PI in the Lab’s Chemistry Department (now Division), serving as group leader for the Electrochemical Energy Storage Group and as a lead PI and coordinator for several battery research programs funded by VTO within DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, including the Battery500 consortium. He received the 2012 Vehicle Technologies Program R&D Award and the 2015 International Battery Materials Association (IBA) Research Award. He is a member of the Board of Directors of both IBA and IMLB LLC, the organization that runs international meetings for lithium battery researchers, and he has served as an organizer and invited speaker at these and many other conferences.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov [https://www.energy.gov/science/].

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Several pieces from the famous Blue Guitar Collection, once on display in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, will be part of the Jazz Loft’s annual John Monteleone, ‘Art of the Guitar’ Festival.

The John Monteleone, “Art of the Guitar” Festival, named for renowned guitar craftsman John Monteleone, will feature demonstrations, exhibits, workshops and performances at the Jazz Loft, located at 275 Christian Avenue in Stony Brook. The festival, which kicked off Aug. 1 with an opening reception, will continue on Aug. 2 and 3. Performances will include Laurence Juber, The Anthony Wilson Organ Trio, Frank Vignola & Pasquale Grasso, and Martin Taylor &Allison Burns.

Recognized as being one of the finest living archtop guitar and mandolin makers in the world today, Monteleone has been at the forefront of innovative cutting-edge archtop instrument making for many years. A resident of Islip, New York, Monteleone has been pushing the luthier envelope for more than 40 years with his refreshing passion for new and elegant designs. Producing instruments of great tonal expression with stunning artistic beauty is also one of Monteleone’s missions in life.

Currently, Monteleone is being honored with an exclusive exhibit of his guitars at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook. The exhibit, Musical Masterworks: John Monteleone’s Guitars and Other Instruments, runs through October 13, 2024.

During John’s workshop on Saturday, August 3, guitarist Steve Salerno will join John to bring these incredible instruments to life and display their exquisite sound and history.

“It’s a privilege to present such a world-class Guitar Jazz Festival,” said Tom Manuel, founder of the Jazz Loft. “Audiences will experience the incredible music, the artistry of these iconic guitars, and be up close with the performers as well as the guitars displayed in the gallery. John’s importance to this music, and Festival, is the best reflection of what Jazz represents.”

The music from world-known musicians is just part of the allure of the festival. For guitar aficionados, there will be plenty to look at. The festival will once again feature the Iconic & Historic Guitar Gallery, displaying two of the Archtop Foundation’s Blue Guitars, George Benson’s 1958 D’Angelico New Yorker, Frank Sinatra’s longtime guitarist, Al Viola’s Epiphone, Bucky Pizzarelli’s first guitar and over 20 guitars rarely seen. Two once-in-a-lifetime surprises are also in the works to be shown publicly at the event.

The vision of a Blue Guitar Collection came from vintage guitar collector, the late Scott Chinery, a major figure in the vintage guitar world. “Often thought that it would be neat to get all the greatest builders together and have them interpret the same guitar, an 18-inch archtop, in the same color blue,” Chinery said. The Collection, now owned by the Archtop Foundation, is continuing the tradition of inviting the industry’s top luthiers to build new expressions of the original concept.

The schedule for the festival, all taking place inside The Jazz Loft, is below:

Friday, August 2, 2024:

5 p.m. performance by Laurence Juber

7 pm.  Performance by The Anthony Wilson Organ Trio

Saturday, August 3, 2024:

12 p.m. Guitar Workshop with John Monteleone & Steve Salerno

4 p.m. performance by Frank Vignolo & Pasquale Grasso

7 p.m. performance by Martin Taylor & Alison Burns

For information, please visit https://www.thejazzloft.org/monteleone.

The Jazz Loft is located at 275 Christian Avenue in Stony Brook. Tickets for the guitar festival can be purchased here: https://www.thejazzloft.org/tickets

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Halle Hazzard

Onetime Gurwin volunteers, now Olympic hopefuls, set their eyes on gold

All eyes are trained on Paris and the athletes competing in the Olympic Games, and two young women from Long Island have their moms to thank for getting them there.

Brianna Jones

Halle Hazzard of Commack and Brianna Jones of North Babylon are each first-time Olympians. Hazzard is representing Grenada and competing in the 100-meter dash, and Jones is representing Puerto Rico in Women’s Basketball. Watching their children live out their dreams are Pauline Hazzard and Christina Jones, mothers of Hale and Brianna, both long-time employees of Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Commack.

Halle began running at 14 years old and went on to compete in meets across Long Island and New York State while attending high school at St. Anthony’s. She attended the University of Virginia and received her master’s degree at the University of Southern California in journalism, documentary and film.

Pauline, a Certified Nursing Assistant and Program Assistant in Gurwin’s Social Adult Day Care Program, was happy to sacrifice to ensure Halle achieved her dreams.  “Our weekend road trips started in high school to various meets across NY State and beyond,” she said. “It continued through college with track meets worldwide. As parents, we are very proud of keeping her grounded and helping her pursue her goals; we are even more proud of her staying humble while chasing her Olympic dream.”

Brianna began playing basketball in the second grade and attended North Babylon High School. She then went on to graduate from Georgetown with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s in sports industry management.

“It is a moment of immense pride and joy for our family to see Brianna playing for the Puerto Rican Women’s National Basketball team in the Olympics. The years of training, early morning workouts, long road trips to tournaments and sacrifices she has made have culminated in this remarkable achievement,” said Christina, RN, Director of Nursing at Gurwin’s nursing and rehabilitation center.  “As a parent, there is no greater feeling than seeing your child realize her dreams. She is a source of inspiration for others and to young Puerto Rican women. Her journey serves as a reminder that with passion, dedication and determination, anything is possible.”

In addition to having mothers as full-time employees at Gurwin, Halle and Brianna each volunteered at Gurwin while juggling their busy athletic schedules. Halle began volunteering at Gurwin in the sixth grade and would frequently visit Gurwin throughout college. Brianna volunteered  in Gurwin’s therapeutic recreation department throughout high school, helping with programs for the elderly residents in the nursing home.

“Here at Gurwin, we celebrate the incredible achievements of our team members and their families. We are exceptionally proud of Halle and Brianna as they chase their Olympic dreams,” said Stuart B. Almer, President and CEO, Gurwin Healthcare System. “Their dedication, hard work and excellence inspire us all. We are certainly watching and cheering Halle and Brianna on!”

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Do you recognize this man? Photo from SCPD
Do you recognize this man? Photo from SCPD

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Police Sixth Precinct Crime Section officers are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the man who allegedly stole merchandise from a Selden store.

A man allegedly stole an electric toothbrush, valued at $150, from Target, located at 307 Independence Plaza, on July 27 at approximately 4 p.m.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS, utilizing a mobile app which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play by searching P3 Tips, or online at www.P3Tips.com. All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential.

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Do you recognize this man? Photo from SCPD

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Police Second Squad detectives are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the man who was allegedly in possession of a stolen vehicle from a Melville home in July.

A black Honda Accord was stolen from a Court North Drive home during the overnight hours of July 8 into July 9. The vehicle was located in Queens Village on July 26 at approximately 4:00 a.m.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS, utilizing a mobile app which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play by searching P3 Tips, or online at www.P3Tips.com. All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential.

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Caprese Zucchini Noodle Bowl

By Heidi Sutton

Zucchini is one of the most versatile veggies out there. If you have a bumper crop this year, try these delicious recipes for lunch, dinner and dessert. 

Zucchini Boats

Zucchini Boats

YIELD: Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS: 

4 medium zucchinis, halved lengthwise

1 jar (16 ounces) marinara sauce

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning, divided

olive oil

2 cups finely shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup mini pepperonis

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Scoop out insides of each half zucchini and place in medium bowl. In medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine zucchini insides, marinara sauce and 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning. Cook 8-10 minutes, or until zucchini is tender. 

Place six hollow zucchini halves in baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and remaining Italian seasoning. Scoop sauce mixture into zucchini. Top with mozzarella cheese and mini pepperonis. Bake 15-17 minutes. Switch oven to high broil 4-5 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown, watching closely.

Caprese Zucchini Noodle Bowl

Caprese Zucchini Noodle Bowl

YIELD: Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS: 

4 medium zucchini, spiralized

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 cups heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil

1 ball (8 ounces) burrata cheese, torn

DIRECTIONS:

Toss together zucchini, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper; let stand 10 minutes, or until zucchini starts to soften. Gently stir in tomatoes and basil. Divide salad among four bowls. Top with cheese.

Zucchini & Apple Bread

Zucchini & Apple Bread

YIELD: Makes about 12 servings

INGREDIENTS: 

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 medium zucchini, shredded (1-1/2 cups)

1 medium apple, peeled, cored and shredded

3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with vegetable pan spray. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. In medium bowl, whisk together oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir into flour mixture. Stir in zucchini, apple and pecans, mixing until just combined. (Do not overmix.) Turn mixture into prepared pan. 

Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool bread in pan 10 minutes. Loosen edges of bread from pan. Remove bread from pan; cool completely.

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Cecilia Verbeek

Prepared by the Verbeek Family

Cecilia M. Verbeek, a longtime resident of Stony Brook, died Monday, July 1, in Potomac, Maryland, of natural causes. Her brother, Robert Miguel who also lived in Stony Brook, predeceased her in 2023 in Whiting, New Jersey. Her husband of 53 years, Clemens, died in June 2020.

Survivors include her brother Mauro Arturo Miguel and his wife Gloria of Severn, Maryland, their children Celerina, Arturo, and Fernando, along with their families. Mrs. Verbeek is also survived by three sons: Christiaan and his wife Siobhan and their two sons, Nicolaas and Aidan, of Potomac; Erik and his wife April and their daughter Alexa of Morgan Hill, California; and Philip and his wife Tara and their daughter Brooklyn of Hudson, Massachusetts. She also leaves behind a large extended family on her husband’s side in the Netherlands.

Mrs. Verbeek, a registered nurse and 1962 graduate of Cornell Nursing School, lived and worked in New York City before moving to Long Island. She enjoyed the arts with lifelong friends and roommates Dottie Eva, Barbara, and Lizzie. After nursing school, she traveled extensively through Asia, parts of the Middle East, and Europe, where she met her husband in Amsterdam. They married in New York in 1966. Mrs. Verbeek first worked at New York Hospital in Manhattan — now New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center — alongside her mother Celerina, also a registered nurse, and later at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, Long Island, until her retirement.

An avid gardener and skilled baker and cook, Mrs. Verbeek was also a master quiltmaker and enjoyed music – singing and playing the piano – well into her 80s. She was a central figure in her large family, who emigrated from the Philippines after World War II, and will be deeply missed.

A funeral service for Cecilia Verbeek was held July 20 at the Robert A. Pumphrey Funeral Home in Maryland. 

 A family burial is scheduled for August 2 at 10 a.m. at Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum in Farmingdale. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to a charitable organization of the donor’s choice.

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The Liverpool Shuffle plays on the balcony of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Joe Refano on lead guitar high above the crowd at Stony Brook village. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Beatles fans enjoy the first outdoor concert at LIMEHOF. Photo by Steven Zaitz
The Liverpool Shuffle plays on the balcony of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Photo by Steven Ziatz

By Steven Zaitz

Stony Brook village became Strawberry Fields for a few magical, musical hours on Sunday, July 28, as four lads who call themselves The Liverpool Shuffle pleased the crowd of Beatlemaniacs.

A ticket to ride was unnecessary for this show, as the boys played for free on the balcony of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF).

Formed in 2003 by singer, bassist and guitarist Joe Refano, who played with Herman’s Hermits as well as with Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, the band delighted the crowd for close to two hours with hits such as “All My Loving,” “In My Life,” “Day Tripper” and “Back In The U.S.S.R.”

The concert was a nod to the famous Beatles on the rooftop concert in January of 1969 on top of their Apple Corps headquarters in central London. That was the last time they performed together in front of a live audience. After playing “Get Back” for the third time that rainy afternoon, John Lennon famously and playfully asked the crowd if the most influential band in the history of music had “passed the audition.”

Refano, who lives in Centerport, saw the Beatles live at Shea Stadium in 1966, and like pretty much everyone else, was hooked.

“We are very excited to play on the balcony and pay tribute to the Beatles for the people of Stony Brook,” said Refano as he tuned his guitar at sound check.

Jamie Bateman, a distant cousin to Ringo Starr and is originally from Liverpool, sings and plays the guitar and harmonica; Andrew Lubman plays bass, guitar, keyboard and sings many of Paul McCartney’s parts; and Brian James is behind the drum kit.

Ernie Canadeo, chairman of LIMEHOF, introduced the band and was thrilled to showcase the museum and facility in its first-ever outdoor concert.

“We decided to do the first outdoor concert as a ‘Beatles on the Balcony’ tribute, as the Beatles mean so much to everyone and they have a lot of connection to Long Island,” Canadeo said. “They played Shea Stadium and Forest Hills. Paul McCartney lives here, Ringo still plays out here and John spent a few summers here so we thought this would be a great idea.”

After “Hey Jude” and the encore of “I Saw Her Standing There,” the show was over and there was no doubt that The Liverpool Shuffle had passed the audition.

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Qingtao Sun, postdoctoral researcher at CSHL, presents a poster of the cachexia research taken at a Society for Neuroscience meeting in 2023 in Washington, DC. Photo by Dr. Wenqiang Zheng

By Daniel Dunaief

Cancer acts as a thief, robbing people of time, energy, and quality of life. In the end, cancer can trigger the painful wasting condition known as cachexia, in which a beloved relative, friend or neighbor loses far too much weight, leaving them in an emaciated, weakened condition.

A team of researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has been studying various triggers and mechanisms involved in cachexia, hoping to find the signals that enable this process.

Recently, CSHL scientists collaborated on a discovery published in the journal Nature Communications that connected a molecule called interleukin-6, or IL-6, to the area postrema in the brain, triggering cachexia.

By deleting the receptors in this part of the brain for IL-6, “we can prevent animals from developing cachexia,” said Qingtao Sun, a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Professor Bo Li.

Through additional experiments, scientists hope to build on this discovery to develop new therapeutic treatments when doctors have no current remedy for a condition that is often the cause of death for people who develop cancer.

To be sure, the promising research results at this point have been in an animal model. Any new treatment for people would not only require additional research, but would also need to minimize the potential side effects of reducing IL-6.

Like so many other molecules in the body, IL-6 plays an important role in a healthy system, promoting anti- and pro-inflammatory responses among immune cells, which can help fight off infections and even prevent cancer.

“Our study suggests we need to specifically target IL-6 or its receptors only in the area prostrema,” explained Li in an email.

Tobias Janowitz, Associate Professor at CSHL and a collaborator on this project, recognized that balancing therapeutic effects with potential side effects is a “big challenge in general and also is here.”

Additionally, Li added that it is possible that the progression of cachexia could involve other mechanistic steps in humans, which could mean reducing IL-6 alone might not be sufficient to slow or stop this process.

“Cachexia is the consequence of multi-organ interactions and progressive changes, so the underlying mechanisms have to be multifactorial, too,” Miriam Ferrer Gonzalez, a co-first author and former PhD student in Janowitz’s lab, explained in an email.

Nonetheless, this research result offers a promising potential target to develop future stand alone or cocktail treatments.

The power of collaborations

Working in a neuroscience lab, Sun explained that this discovery depended on several collaborations throughout Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. 

“This progress wouldn’t be possible if it’s only done in our own lab,” said Sun. “We are a neuroscience lab. Before this study, we mainly focused on how the brain works. We have no experience in studying cachexia.”

This paper is the first in Li’s lab that studied cachexia. Before Li’s postdoc started this project, Sun had focused on how the brain works and had no experience with cachexia.

When Sun first joined Li’s lab three years ago, Li asked his postdoctoral researcher to conduct an experiment to see whether circulating IL-6 could enter the brain and, if so where.

Sun discovered that it could only enter one area, which took Li’s research “in an exciting direction,” Li said.

CSHL Collaborators included Janowitz, Ferrer Gonzalez, Associate Professor Jessica Tolkhun, and Cancer Center Director David Tuveson and former CSHL Professor and current Principal Investigator in Neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine Z. Josh Huang.

Tollkuhn’s lab provided the genetic tool to help delete the IL-6 receptor.

The combination of expertise is “what made this collaboration a success,” Ferrer Gonzalez, who is now Program Manager for the Weill Cornell Medicine partnership with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, explained in an email.

Tuveson added that pancreatic cancer is often accompanied by severe cachexia.

“Identifying a specific area in the brain that participates in sensing IL-6 levels is fascinating as it suggests new ways to understand physiological responses to elevated inflammation and to intervene to blunt this response,” Tuveson explained. “Work in the field supports the concept that slowing or reversing cachexia would improve the fitness of cancer patients to thereby improve the quality and quantity of life and enable therapeutic interventions to proceed.”

Tuveson described his lab’s role as “modest” in promoting this research program by providing cancer model systems and advising senior authors Li and Janowitz.

Co-leading an effort to develop new treatments for cachexia that received a $25 million grant from the Cancer Grand Challenge, Janowitz helped Sun understand the processes involved in the wasting disease. 

Connecting the tumor biology to the brain is an “important step” for cachexia research, Janowitz added. He believes this step is likely not the only causative process for cachexia.

Cutting the signal

After discovering that IL-6 affected the brain in the area postrema, Sun sought to determine its relevance in the context of cachexia.

After he deleted receptors for this molecule, the survival period for the test animals was double that for those who had interleukin 6 receptors in this part of the brain. Some of the test animals still died of cachexia, which Sun suggested may be due to technical issues. The virus they used may not have affected enough neurons in the area postrema.

In the Nature Communications research, Sun studied cachexia for colon cancer, lung cancer and pancreatic cancer.

Sun expects that he will look at cancer models for other types of the disease as well.

“In the future, we will probably focus on different types” of cancer, he added.

Long journey

Born and raised in Henan province in the town of Weihui, China, Sun currently lives in Syosset. When he’s not in the lab, he enjoyed playing basketball and fishing for flounder.

When he was growing up, he showed a particular interest in science.

As for the next steps in the research, Sun is collaborating with other labs to develop new strategies to treat cancer cachexia.

He is eager to contribute to efforts that will lead to future remedies for cachexia.

“We are trying to develop some therapeutic treatment,” Sun said.

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