The word julep can be traced back over 600 years and stems from the Arabic julab or Persian jul-ab, meaning “rosewater.” The term has been referenced in English literature as early as 1400, originally referring to “a syrup composed solely of water and sugar.” Prior to the founding of America, mint and sugar were already being combined with distilled spirits. Julep is also spelled julip in parts of the United States.
The mint julep has roots in Virginia. Englishman John Davis described the drink in his 1803 book “Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States” as “a dram of spirituous liquor that has mint steeped in it, taken by Virginians of a morning.” The true Southern-style mint julep coincided with the discovery of Kentucky bourbon whiskey around the late 1700s. It is speculated that prior to bourbon, rum, brandy and especially peach brandy were used.
The Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville reports that the mint julep became Churchill Downs’ (named after John and Henry Churchill) signature drink in 1938, the year they began serving it in souvenir glasses for 75 cents. The limited supply glasses became extremely popular and were coveted by collectors until 1974, when retail stores began selling the glasses in honor of the Derby’s 100th anniversary on May 17, 1875. The Kentucky Derby reports there are 120,000 mint juleps sold during the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby each year.
Another name for a small mint julep is a “smash;” a drink made from bourbon whiskey, or other distilled spirits, mixed with sugar and mint, which dates to the 1840s.
Some lovers of the mint julep were Edgar Allan Poe, U.S. Senator Henry Clay from Kentucky, and U.S. Presidents John Tyler and Theodore Roosevelt.
Mint Julip
Mint julep. Pexels photo
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
3 to 4 sprigs of spearmint
1/2 teaspoon cool water
3 to 4 ounces bourbon whiskey
Crushed ice
Directions:
Place the superfine sugar into a shallow dish and add mint, barely covering this with water. Lightly crush the mint leaves and rub them around the rim of a julep glass and discard. Fill the cup 3/4 full of crushed ice and bourbon. Then add the crushed mint, sugar, and water mixture, and stir. On top of this, place several sprigs of mint dusted with powdered sugar. Wait about 30 seconds and all at once the cup or glass will become encrusted with a layer of white frost. Sip and enjoy.
Bob Lipinski is the author of 10 books, including “101: Everything You Need To Know About Whiskey” and “Italian Wine & Cheese Made Simple” (available on Amazon.com). He consults and conducts training seminars on Wine, Spirits, and Food and is available for speaking engagements. He can be reached at www.boblipinski.com OR [email protected].
Meet this week’s Shelter Pet of the Week, the world’s most original looking pup, adorable Kai, up for adoption at the Smithtown Animal Shelter.
Kai is a three-year-old, playful little boy. While not positive, this one-of-a-kind, handsome and distinctive-looking gentleman’s features is believed to stem from a combination of poodle/bully mix and possible plushie toy.
Kai has a playful, fun-loving, puppy-like mentality and is very eager to please. He arrived at the shelter lacking proper training and socialization. However, now he enjoys playing with his four-legged buddies, and his humans at the shelter. Kai has really come out of his shell. He would thrive in a home that will teach him how to “doggo” and give him the memories he was once denied as a puppy. This incredibly sweet boy is a diamond in the ruff, who will bring a lifetime of joy, adventure, and companionship to one lucky family’s heart and home.
Kai would do best in a home with older children and is likely to get along with cats and other dogs. Interested adopters are welcome to schedule a time to get acquainted with this very special boy.
If you are interested in meeting Kai please fill out an application and schedule a date/time to properly interact in a domestic setting, which includes a Meet and Greet Room, dog runs, and a Dog Walk trail.
The Town of Smithtown Animal & Adoption Shelter is located at 410 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. Visitor hours are Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Sundays and Wednesday evenings by appointment only). For more information, call 631-360-7575 or visit TownofSmithtownAnimalShelter.com
Each spring, as daffodils bloom and days grow longer, Christians around the world gather to celebrate the most profound and joyful day in our faith: Easter. This holy day marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead—an event that transformed history, shattered despair and opened the gates of hope for all humanity. For followers of Jesus, Easter is not simply a commemorative holiday; it is the heartbeat of our faith, a celebration of life conquering death, love triumphing over hate, and divine mercy extending to all people.
In the Christian story, Jesus, the Son of God, is crucified—an innocent man executed by the powers of his day. His death was brutal, and for his followers, it seemed the end of everything they had hoped for. But then, on the third day, something happened that no one expected: Jesus rose from the grave. He appeared to his friends, not with vengeance or judgment, but with peace on his lips and love in his wounds. The resurrection of Jesus is not just about his life continuing—it is about a new kind of life that breaks into the world. It is God’s promise that sin, suffering, and death will never have the final word.
Easter proclaims that God is doing something new, not just in the life of Jesus, but in our lives as well. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work among us, bringing hope in our despair, light in our darkness and courage in our fear. In a world still plagued by division, violence, loneliness and injustice, Easter is a bold declaration that love is stronger than hate and that life will always rise again.
For the Episcopal Church, Easter is not only a theological truth but also an invitation to live differently. We believe in a risen Christ who welcomed the outcast, forgave his enemies, and broke bread with the stranger. We seek to follow in his way by practicing a radical welcome—one that mirrors the wide embrace of the empty tomb.
In our congregations, you’ll find people of every background, race, political view, orientation and identity. We believe that God’s table is big enough for everyone. Whether you are a lifelong Christian, someone who’s been away from church for years, or someone who has never stepped into a church before, you are welcome here. Not just tolerated—welcomed, honored and loved.
The Episcopal Church does not claim to have all the answers, but we are committed to asking the right questions in the community. We read Scripture thoughtfully, take tradition seriously and engage with the world with compassion and humility. We hold a faithful tension between being traditional and having a modern approach. We do this not because it’s easy, but because we believe it’s faithful to the radical love Jesus showed on Easter morning.
In this season of renewal, many are searching for meaning, connection and hope. Easter meets us in that longing and reminds us that no matter how lost or weary we feel, resurrection is possible. There is no grave too deep, no failure too final, no sorrow too heavy for the risen Christ to meet us there and lift us up. Easter is not only about what happened long ago in a garden tomb; it’s about what God is still doing—here and now—in the lives of real people and communities.
So if you’re reading this and wondering if church is for you—if God is for you—know this: the answer is yes. Easter is for you. Grace is for you. The door is open, the light is on, and the feast has been set. Come as you are.
This Easter, may we all encounter the hope that rolls away every stone and find ourselves drawn into the joyful mystery of life made new.
Rev. Fr. Andrew Garnett is the rector of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Northport.
Let’s talk springtime soups for a minute. Spring is in the air and that means changes are coming, which is good, but can also be hard. Do we wear long sleeves or short sleeves, jacket or no jacket? It can really make mealtime a challenge, too. Hot or cold, heavy or light? Chasing away those final cool days in the spring can be done in a cinch: just turn a classic soup into a delicious meal.
This Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup calls to mind those classic brothy soups from when you were a kid but with a flavorful spring twist. Serve with fresh cucumber sandwiches for a veggie-forward meal while Roasted Tomato Soup with a mesquite seasoning brings a richness to the tomatoes that takes the soup’s tastiness up a notch. Pair with a grilled cheese sandwich and you will please even your pickiest of eaters.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Recipe courtesy of Cookin’ Savvy
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
YIELD: Makes 4 to 6 servings
INGREDIENTS:
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups cooked, chopped chicken
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
6 cups broth
1 cup orzo
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
cucumber sandwiches, for serving
DIRECTIONS:
Chop carrots and celery. In pot, saute with butter. In bowl, mix chicken with lemon juice and lemon pepper then set aside. After carrots and celery are tender, add broth and orzo to pot. Then add garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and sugar. Simmer 10 minutes then add chicken and cream; simmer about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with cucumber sandwiches.
Roasted Tomato Soup
Recipe courtesy of Cookin’ Savvy
Roasted Tomato Soup
YIELD: Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS:
3 pounds tomatoes
1/2 onion optional
1 garlic bulb optional
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon mesquite seasoning
avocado oil
1 1/2 cups broth of choice
1 cup heavy whipping cream
salt to taste
pepper to taste
grilled cheese sandwiches for serving
DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 375 F. Slice tomatoes. Slice onions and garlic, if desired. Place in baking dish. Sprinkle garlic powder, onion powder, sugar and mesquite seasoning over tomatoes. Drizzle avocado oil over top and mix well. Bake about 1 hour. Blend until smooth. Pour into pot and mix in broth and whipping cream. Bring to simmer and add salt and pepper, to taste.Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches.
Words pour out of our mouths like different kinds of liquids.
Sometimes, those words can offer necessary relief from white hot anger, agony or discomfort, serving as a cooling salve, bringing a smile to our miserable faces and turning, as the cliche would suggest, a frown upside down.
Other times, the words people choose to share can exacerbate an already inflamed state, serving as lighter fluid, threatening to turn us from a mild shade of pink into a deep red.
Words can also become an avalanche, forcing us to look elsewhere as a nonstop collection of words, phrase or ideas threatens to bury us beneath their verbal weight. Desperate to get away, we might hope the speaker gets distracted by a flying turtle.
A diatribe, lesson or self-aggrandizing soliloquy can be exhausting and irritating.
But, it’s not just the words and their effect that are so familiar in conversations.
No, you see, it’s the facial expressions. Many people have a remarkable ability to run the gamut of human emotions and thoughts without saying a word. A tightening of the skin around their eyes, a slight narrowing of the lids, a crooked smile, or a baring of teeth, which is probably the least subtle of the facial reactions, can reveal something about our inner state or disclose how we’re feeling about the world around us or, more precisely, the person in front of us.
To varying degrees, actors and actresses have mastered the art of using their often photogenic, compelling, or sympathetic faces to tell stories and, perhaps, to reveal the inner conflict we know they are feeling when, say, their sister asks them to be a bridesmaid when she’s planning to marry a person the actress has loved for years. Yes, that was a mildly amusing movie and yes, you probably know it.
The rest of us mere facial mortals, however, may not be as capable of altering our features to reflect the wide range of emotions we might reveal in response to the way we feel behind the masks we try to wear.
When I lived in Manhattan, I thoroughly enjoyed people watching. It’s a form of endless entertainment. Leaning on the railing at Rockefeller Center in mid December years ago, I watched an elderly couple gliding around the rink together, holding hands and glancing contentedly at each other, clearly enjoying the moment. With gloved fingers interlaced, they synchronized their legs as well as any pairs figure skaters might.
While I imagined that they had been together for decades and that they might have gone to an ice skating rink on an early date, they also could have been together for a couple of months or, perhaps, gotten married a year earlier.
Either way, their faces, which I can still picture decades later, revealed a keen and profound satisfaction.
Some people undoubtedly have mastered the art of the poker face, appearing interested or attentive when they are thinking about where to eat dinner later that night, what laundry they need to take to the dry cleaner, or when to sell a stock that’s been teetering with all the others amidst concerns about corporate profits and a potential slowdown in the economy.
Others, however, can reveal the equivalent of an SOS call, with a slight turn of their neck, widening eyes, and a faint but noticeable grimace around their pained mouths.
When we get to know family or friends well, we can read their expressions or hear the flat tone in their voices, knowing that the word “interesting,” or “you don’t say,” really means, “please stop talking. I’ll pay you to stop talking. In fact, here is a set of fake plastic ears that look like mine. Chew on them and, when you’re done, please recycle what’s left over.”
Sometimes, when I know someone well enough, I’ll watch their faces as they listen to a perspective that irritates them, a joke they don’t find remotely amusing, or a comment they don’t appreciate and I’ll recognize the unspoken but deeply held thoughts etched in their faces.
With all the finely tuned muscles in our faces and our ability to raise or lower our eyebrows, we can send signals that the attentive listener or others can read like a subtle or, perhaps more obvious, signal.
A statue of Balto in Central Park. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Roman Eugeniusz
By Leah S. Dunaief
Leah Dunaief, Publisher
While most of us know “of the famous ride of Paul Revere,” quoting Longfellow, there is another ride that happened 100 years ago that we can commemorate. It has to do with one of my favorite dogs. His name was Balto, an Alaskan husky and sled dog born in Nome, and he led a team of sled dogs, driven by Gunnar Kaasen and carrying vital diphtheria antitoxin through fierce Alaskan storms across the wilderness and into history.
The serum was desperately needed to combat an outbreak of the disease. Planes such as they were in 1925, were grounded by the intense weather. The only hope for rescue was with the perilous trip by sled. Kaasen insisted that Balto was the true hero. A movie, a nationwide tour on the vaudeville circuit and a bronze statue in Central Park resulted.
Now I visited Central Park most Sundays, when the weather permitted, throughout my elementary school years, with my dad and younger sister. It was my dad’s way of giving my mother a few hours off and of having some time with us since he worked six days a week, left early in the morning, and only returned for a late dinner. He would cook us breakfast, and then we would walk through the Park, taking a different route each time until my mother would join us in the late afternoon with a picnic supper.
Most often, he made sure our meanderings took us past the statue of Balto. I would climb up on the rock on which he stood, then sit astride his back, and listen as my dad read the words on the plaque adorning the site “dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the winter of 1925: endurance, fidelity, intelligence” Visuals of the trip would run through my mind as I sat there, courtesy of Jack London, whose books I read. I loved Balto.
But there is quite a back story.
For starters, Balto was an underdog in a literal sense. He was owned by Leonhard Seppala, a native Norwegian, sled dog breeder, musher and competitive racer, and was named after an Arctic explorer. Balto had a black fur coat, a small, stocky build with two white stocking front feet and was considered “second rate” as a racer by Seppala, who had him neutered at six months and used him to haul freight for short runs and help pull railcars with miners over a disused railroad track. Gunnar Kaasen, another native Norwegian and a close family friend of Seppala, with 21 years of dog sledding experience who worked for the breeder, came to know Balto and believed Seppala had misjudged the dog because of his short stature.
Early in 1925, doctors realized a deadly diphtheria epidemic could affect thepeople of Nome, Alaska, and putting the city under quarantine, transmitted with Morse code that the town desperately needed more serum, whose supply was almost depleted. Mushers were summoned to relay the precious cargo. Radio, a recent invention, picked up the story, as well as newspapers, and followed the more than 20 mushers as they took turns through storms and strong winds. Kaasen was appointed to drive a team of Seppala’s dogs, and although Seppala wanted a dog named Fox to lead the team, Kaasen picked Balto. They left the town of Bluff with the antitoxin at 10 p.m.
Shortly after they started, a blizzard caused them to become confused and lost. Kaasen yelled, “Go home, Balto,” and the dog, used to hauling heavy loads, navigated his team through the wild winds. At one point, Balto unexpectedly stopped before some ice on the Topkok River that broke in front of him, thereby saving Kaasen’s life and that of the entire team, according to the musher. The package was delivered in time, and the residents were saved.
There is more to the story. Especially as money entered the picture, lies and deception, jealousy and hatred all became part of the human saga. But Balto will always remain my 100-year-old dog.
One in 36 children aged eight in the U.S. were diagnosed with the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in 36 means that around 32 students are affected by ASD in a high school of 1238 students–the number of students enrolled at Smithtown High School West from 2023-2024. It means that 76 students from kindergarten to sixth grade in the Three Village School District may have trouble socializing, communicating and learning.
The number of adults impacted is less defined, with some adults going undiagnosed, though the CDC estimates 1 in 45 adults in the U.S. have ASD. These individuals are artists. They are educators, technicians, writers, engineers and leaders. They helped make our community, but our community was not made for them.
Often people with ASD have to “mask.” According to the National Autistic Society, people with ASD sometimes mask in order to appear non-autisitic. Autistic people have described masking as “tightly controlling and adjusting how you express yourself based on the real or anticipated reactions of others.”
ASD causes the person to have trouble communicating in social situations. They may exhibit repetitive behaviors called “stimming” or strictly adhere to a fixed routine. They may get overstimulated by certain sensations or experiences. Autism is a spectrum, so it affects everyone in varying degrees.
People with ASD have helped shaped our society in significant ways. Greta Thunberg, for example, is a 22-year old environmental activist who inspired thousands to advocate for environmental protections. She is also on the autistic spectrum.
Renowned actor Anthony Hopkins is also reportedly on the autistic spectrum and was diagnosed late in his life.
Most people have some connection to a person who has ASD. Expanding consideration to the different needs and preferences of autistic individuals does not take much work. Offering different resources and services, like Father Andrew Garnett is doing in holding a sensory-friendly church service, is a great way to show that people with different abilities are valued. We can ask questions–what can we do to help? Perhaps we can communicate differently and avoid sarcasm. We can be cognizant of sensory issues. Most importantly, we can listen. Let’s make an effort to be more considerate to those with ASD and to learn about how we can make our community more inclusive, not just this April during Autism Awareness Monthbut always.
It’s hard to avoid the flood of advertisements for products — from supplements to “brain games” — that promise to help us avoid cognitive decline as we age. Fear of slowing down cognitively as we age is a big driver of sales, I’m sure.
What do we really know about the brain, though?
We know that head injuries and certain drugs can have negative effects. Many neurological, infectious, and rheumatologic disorders can also have long-term effects. Examples include autoimmune and psychiatric mood disorders, diabetes and heart disease. In these cases, addressing the underlying medical issue is critical.
Lifestyle choices also make a difference. Several studies suggest that we may be able to help our brains function more effectively by making simple lifestyle changes around our sleep and exercise habits. It’s also possible that taking omega-3s can help.
What is brain clutter?
Are 20-somethings more quick-witted than people over 60? It’s a common societal assumption.
German researchers put this to the test. They found that educated older people tend to have a larger mental database of words and phrases to draw upon when responding to a question (1). When this was factored into their simulation analysis, the difference in terms of age-related cognitive decline was negligible.
However, the more you know, the harder it can be to provide a simple answer to a question, leading to slower processing and response times.
Interestingly, a recent study that analyzed trends from three separate studies of brain health and aging found that older adults’ cognition has been increasing over time (2). The author notes that much of this can be attributed to environmental factors, such as education, healthcare and nutrition. Interestingly, younger adults’ cognition has not changed over the same study periods.
Let’s take a closer look at things we can control in our daily lives.
Regulating sleep
Researchers have identified two specific benefits we receive from sleep: clearing the mind and increased productivity.
For the former, a study done in mice shows that sleep may help the brain remove waste, such as beta-amyloid plaques (3). Excessive plaque buildup in the brain may be a sign of Alzheimer’s. When mice were sleeping, the interstitial space (the space between brain structures) increased by as much as 60 percent.
This allowed the lymphatic system, with its cerebrospinal fluid, to clear out plaques, toxins and other waste that had developed during waking hours. With the enlargement of the interstitial space during sleep, waste removal was quicker and more thorough, because cerebrospinal fluid could reach much farther. A similar effect was seen when the mice were anesthetized.
An Australian study showed that sleep deprivation may have contributed to an almost one percent decline in gross domestic product (4). Why? When people don’t get enough sleep, they are not as productive. They tend to be more irritable, and their concentration may be affected. While we may be able to turn on and off sleepiness in the short term, we can’t do this continually.
One study found that sleep deprivation results were comparable to alcohol impairment (5). Subjects’ response time and accuracy with assigned tasks after 17-19 hours without sleep were the same or worse than their performance when they had a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of .05 percent. With more than 19 hours of sleeplessness, performance equaled .1 percent BAC.
Exercise’s impact
One study with rats suggests that a lack of exercise can cause unwanted new brain connections. Rats that were not allowed to exercise were found to have rewired neurons around their medulla, the part of the brain involved in breathing and other involuntary activities. This included more sympathetic (excitatory) stimulus that could lead to increased risk of heart disease (6).
Among the rats allowed to exercise regularly, there was no unusual wiring, and sympathetic stimuli remained constant.
An analysis of 98 randomized controlled trials assessing exercise’s cognitive results in older adults, both with and without cognitive impairment, found that a minimum of 52 hours of physical exercise distributed over 25 weeks led to improvements in cognitive function. Physical exercise included aerobic, resistance (strength) training, mind–body exercises, or combinations of these. The authors suggest that, based on the data trends, benefits accumulate over time (7).
Omega-3 fatty acids
The hippocampus is involved in memory and cognitive function. In the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study, results showed that postmenopausal women who were in the highest quartile of measured omega-3 fatty acids had significantly greater brain volume and hippocampal volume than those in the lowest quartile (8).
Specifically, the researchers looked at the levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in red blood cell membranes. The source of the omega-3 fatty acids was from either fish or supplementation.
While we have a lot to learn about maintaining brain function as we age, it’s comforting to know that we can positively influence it with lifestyle adjustments, including improving our sleep quality, exercising, and ensuring we consume enough omega-3 fatty acids.
Dr. David Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com or consult your personal physician.
An annual report — especially from a government entity — tends to be a dry, statistic- driven tome that only a bureaucrat could love. And that’s what makes the 2024 annual report of the Unified Court System so different and distinctive.
The report, submitted by March 15 as required by statute, is less a story of numbers and more a story of people. In the report by Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas, we meet several people whose lives were transformed, and even saved, through their interaction with the courts.
Ashley, a first-generation American, utilized the Scales of Justice initiative as the initial step toward earning a law degree. She is now an associate at a prominent Manhattan law firm.
Keisha was addicted to drugs and alcohol and looking at seven years in prison when she was diverted to a treatment court. Today, she’s clean, sober and prosperous.
Christopher is a Marine who was twice deployed to Iraq and seriously wounded. He became addicted to opioids and alcohol and found himself in jail. His predicament and clear PTSD caught the attentive eye of the local Veterans Court representative, who interceded. That encounter, he says, changed and likely saved his life.
Ronette suffered abuse and homelessness as a child, and enduring physical and mental issues haunted her well into adulthood. She drifted from homeless shelter to homeless shelter, racking up a string of misdemeanors and then a felony that could have landed her in state prison. Instead, she was rescued by an Alternative to Incarceration Court, which steered her to extensive therapy. Now, she’s a successful artist.
Court Officer Steven Byrd interceded when he encountered traumatized children in Family Court, guiding the family through a trying experience.
Yenifer, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was exiled by her family for getting pregnant at 16, and spent the rest of her youth in foster care. The judge monitoring her placement became her mentor. Yenifer, who had been on a fast track to nowhere, graduated from the City College of New York, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
And Anthony, a young man with no criminal record but living in a dangerous neighborhood, procured a gun for his own safety. He was looking at a felony conviction and several years in state prison when he was diverted to U-CAN, a court-based mentoring program. Today, Anthony is proudly and honorably serving his country as a recently promoted United States Marine.
We also hear from the people in the trenches who, Chief Administrative Judge Zayas humbly acknowledges, know more about the day-to-day/ hour-by-hour functioning of the courts than he does. Among them are Warren Clark, the District Executive in Suffolk County, who writes of the human trafficking crisis and the way the Family Court is helping exploited children.
Lisa Courtney, director of the Division of Alternative Dispute Resolution, discusses mediation, arbitration and other ways of resolving disagreements quickly and effectively without protracted litigation. James Tardy, the Statewide ADA Coordinator, explains the court system’s commitment to accommodating people with disabilities.
These stories and essays illustrate, in a way that statistics never can, how the courts help people. They don’t merely “process cases” or kick the can down the road. Our criminal courts protect victims. Our civil courts provide a forum for the peaceful resolution of disputes. Our family and surrogate’s courts guide families through what may be the most traumatic experience of their lives.
Today, courts and judges are under relentless, and dangerous, attack and I wish that the public and press would remember all the good that comes out of the courthouse and do what judges do: tune out the noise and base their opinion on facts and evidence rather than who yells the loudest.
Hon. Gail Prudenti is the former Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of the State of New York, former Presiding Justice of the Appellate Department, 2nd Division, former Dean of The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and present Partner at Burner Prudenti Law, P.C.
Jeremy Borniger with Cecilia Pazzi, a student from the cancer neuroscience course. Photo courtesy of CSHL
By Daniel Dunaief
People battling cancer can sometimes live long after they and their doctors first start treating the disease. Even if and when their types of cancer don’t continue to threaten their lives in the same way, they can struggle with symptoms such as chronic fatigue, pain, and difficulty sleeping.
These ongoing symptoms, however, could be a remnant of the way the nervous system and cancer interact, as well as a byproduct of the treatment.
Cancer neuroscience uses “tools from both neuroscience and cancer to fundamentally understand how cancer influences the functioning on the nervous system” and how the nervous system can be used to affect cancer, explained Jeremy Borniger, Assistant Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Indeed, the field of cancer neuroscience, which extends beyond the study and treatment of brain cancer, has been growing over the last six years, after researchers made important discoveries that suggest the possible role and target for treatment of neurons.
A group of student during one of the lab sessions. Photo courtesy of CSHL
To encourage cancer scientists to learn more about the principles and techniques of neuroscience and to bring neuroscientists up to speed with cancer research, Borniger and three other scientists coordinated the first two-week Methods in Cancer Neuroscience course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory last month.
Attended by 14 researchers from domestic and international institutions, the days often started early in the morning and lasted past 10 p.m. The course included lectures about the basic science as well as considerable lab work.
Course attendees, most of whom had a background in cancer biology but little background in neuroscience, appreciated the opportunity to learn from the lecturers and to build their networks.
“We were introduced to a wide variety of techniques from the leading experts in the field and got to listen to insightful lectures from the invited speakers,” said Irem Uppman, a graduate student at Uppsala University in Sweden.
Uppman was grateful for the opportunity to meet her fellow students and hopes to stay in touch throughout their careers.
“It was also very exciting to meet all the instructors and lecturers,” Uppman said. “The small size of the course allowed us to interact more intimately which is something we often can’t do in the setting of big conferences.”
Uppman, who has been a PhD candidate for three years and hopes to graduate in the next two years, is a tumor biologist by background and hopes to incorporate more cancer neuroscience in her future work.
Course origins
During another conference, Borniger recalled how a group of cancer neuroscientists were discussing the field. One of the speakers suggested the need for a workshop where students could learn techniques from both of these disciplines.
“I raised my hand and said, “Cold Spring Harbor does this all the time,” Borniger said.
The leadership at the lab, including CEO Bruce Stillman, were excited about the possibility and encouraged Borniger to help coordinate the course. After the lab publicized the conference, 67 prospective students submitted applications. The organizers had several marathon zoom sessions to review the applicants.
“We wanted a good spread of earlier career and later career students,” said Borniger.
It would have been possible to fill the course with students conducting research on brain cancer exclusively, but the organizers wanted a broader scientific representation.
Neurons and cancer
As electrically active tissue, neurons play important roles in healthy biology as well as with cancer.
“It’s not just another cell type in the tumor environment,” Borniger explained, adding that nerve cells connect tumors with the central nervous system, which governs all conscious and unconscious systems.
Historically, cancer neuroscience has had two major moments that helped push the field into the mainstream of scientific research.
In a couple of papers between 2010 to 2013, before anyone started using the term “cancer neuroscience,” scientists showed that getting rid of localized sympathetic nerves, which include the kinds of nerves that control the heart rate and blood pressure, can cause breast cancer and prostate cancers to stop growing.
“Everyone assumed the nerves don’t really do anything,” Borniger said. They are “little tiny projections in the tumor. A lot of cancer biologists ignored it” in part because of a paper in the 1960’s that suggested tumor cells were not electrically coupled together. Scientists believed, prematurely and inaccurately, that electrochemical signaling didn’t play a role in cancer.
Then, in 2019, three papers came out around the same time that demonstrated that tumors in the brain can form connections with neurons like normal neurons do. These cancerous cells can integrate with circuits and communicate with each other.
“The level of integration that these cancer cells have with your brain dictates how bad the cancer is,” Borniger said. “If you disconnect the cancer cells from the neurons in your brain, you can make cancer much easier to treat.”
Researchers and pharmaceutical companies are looking for ways to use drugs to slow or stop the cancers.
Some research efforts are trying to block the gap junctions which dramatically reduces the number of cancer cells that receive input.
In breast to brain cancer, scientists are looking to target NMDA receptors, while in brain cancer, they’re targeting AMPA receptors.
Researchers are hoping to repurpose drugs approved for other conditions, such as bipolar disorder or epilepsy.
Origin story
When Borniger was in graduate school at Ohio State University, he was interested in sleep and how sleep works. He had the opportunity to attend several lectures and talks to gather information and pursue research that interested him.
In one meeting, which he said he might have attended to get free food, oncology nurses were talking about the subjective experience of cancer patients. At the end of the talk, they shared a summary slide of the top complaints, which included fatigue, pain, sleep disruption, cognitive impairment and changes in appetite.
Borniger thought these were all neuroscience problems.
He immediately looked online to see if anyone had seen how a tumor influences these neurological processes.
When he tested to see if breast cancer could influence brain activity and lead to sleep disruption, what he found convinced him it was a research field worth pursuing.
“The signal that comes from the tumor can reprogram your brain,” he said. “How does that work? That got me into the field.”
When he got the job at CSHL in 2019, Borniger attended a Banbury conference where the top people in the developing field gathered. He’s also interested in the opportunity to contribute to a new field.
“There’s not 30 years of dogma that we’re going to have to break down,” Borniger said. “We’re inventing the foundation as we go.”
Borniger is hoping to continue to expand the field to newer people, including those who work in neurodevelopment, bioinformatics and behavioral science.
The tide is turning towards cancer neuroscience, Borniger believes. Years ago, cancer biologists would say, “Who cares about sleep? We’re driving to cure the cancer!” Now, with help from patient advocates, Borniger explained, clinicians are starting to realize the subjective health of the patient can have “immense impact” on their prognosis.
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