2024 Stony Brook University iGEM team. Photo by Ethan Kim
For the third time ever, Stony Brook University’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team brought home the gold medal from the iGEM Giant Jamboree.
Held in Paris, France from October 23-26, the iGEM Giant Jamboree is a world expo for synthetic biology. This year’s competition featured 438 teams from 45+ countries, competing for medals and awards by designing, building, and testing projects using cutting edge synthetic biology. Stony Brook University was one of 16 U.S. collegiate teams to earn a gold medal.
Stony Brook University’s project focused on developing a less invasive, more cost effective way to diagnose B-cell lymphoma. The team focused on equipping E.coli with a genetically engineered gene circuit to detect microRNAs as biomarkers for this disease.
“Stony Brook’s participation in iGEM continues to have a profound impact on our students,” said Peter Gergen, SUNY distinguished service professor, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences. “This year’s team was extremely cohesive and benefited greatly from the advice and assistance provided by former iGEM team members Chris Helenek, AJ Sillato, Abhishek Cherath, Michelle Yang, Bushra Islam and Zach Don as well as input from Dr. Joshua Rest (Ecology and Evolution) and Melanie Cragan (Biochemistry and Cell Biology).”
This year’s interdisciplinary iGEM team, comprising three juniors, four sophomores, and eight first-year students when they started last January, included those with majors in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, information systems, and political science. The team was co-advised by faculty members Peter Gergen and Kathryn Gunn in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and Gabor Balazsi, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and received support from the staff in Undergraduate Biology.
A stock fund is taking a page out of the Newman’s Own playbook.
The food company which was started by the late actor Paul Newman and author A.E. Hotchner donates its after tax profits to charity through the Newman’s Own Foundation, enabling consumers to feel that they aren’t just covering their salad with tasty dressing but are helping the world through their consumer choices.
Range Cancer Therapeutics, an exchange-traded fund that purchases a broad basket of cancer therapeutic stocks, created a new partnership with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to contribute to cancer research.
The fund, which was started in 2015, plans to contribute 23 percent of its revenues, reflecting the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the human genome, each quarter to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
“The contribution from Range will directly benefit the research efforts at CSHL, underscoring our commitment to advancing scientific innovation in oncology therapeutics,” Range ETF’s founder and CSHL Association Board Member Tim Rotolo, said in a statement. The ETF provides “exposure to nearly the entire lifecycle of drug development and distribution, and this new collaboration with CSHL provides an opportunity for investors to also see their money go toward the earliest stages of cancer breakthroughs.”
Revenues collected by the fund are likely to vary by quarter, depending on the amount of money the fund manages. With an estimated $12.1 million in assets under management as of the end of September and an expense ratio of 0.79%, the fund could contribute about $21,850.
“Hopefully, people will feel when they’re buying the ETF that they are in some ways supporting cancer research,” said Charles Prizzi, Senior Vice President for Advancement & Special Advisor to CSHL President Bruce Stillman.
Prizzi anticipates that the funding could support the lab’s efforts to conduct a broad range of research as CSHL’s staff, who come to the site from all over the world, seek to address the kinds of questions that can lead to advancements in a basic understanding of processes as well as to translational breakthroughs that can help in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of various diseases.
Prizzi hopes this partnership will attract attention and inspire other fund managers or businesses to contribute to the lab, particularly amid periods when the budgets for federal funding agencies that support research rise and fall.
Borrowing from the language of genetics, Prizzi hoped that this kind of arrangement will be “replicated” by others.
NASDAQ event
The NASDAQ stock market, which is where the Range Cancer Therapeutics Fund trades under the ticker CNCR, will celebrate the partnership on November 14th in New York City.
The Nasdaq tower will feature a visual display, while Range ETFs and CSHL leadership and guests come together at the Nasdaq podium to mark the ongoing contribution.
Dave Tuveson, head of the Cancer Center, Professor Adrian Krainer, who developed an effective treatment for spinal muscular atrophy using antisense oligonucleotide to affect gene splicing, Vice Chair Howard Morgan, and Goldman Sachs’s Roy Zuckerberg, and others will attend the event.
d Spring Harbor Laboratory President Bruce Stillman. File photo
“Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is one of only seven national basic biological research cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute in Washington, DC,” Bruce Stillman, CEO of the lab said in a statement. “The institution is investing heavily in the growth of our cancer program, specifically in multidisciplinary, collaborative ventures as part of our new brain-body physiology initiative.”
Prizzi is often searching for novel ways to support research and was pleased with the contribution and hopeful that it would spur other creative donations and support.
“I hope people will learn from it and copy it,” Prizzi said. “It will benefit the lab for many years to come.”
Rotolo joined the board at CSHL earlier this year and has supported the lab for about a decade.
Rotolo had approached the lab to establish this financial commitment.
The laboratory is a 501c3 nonprofit institution, which means that donations to the lab are tax deductible.
Prizzi suggested that interested donors often reach out to him towards the end of December.
“We would love to have more people support what we’re doing,” said Prizzi.
CSHL is home to eight Nobel Prize winners and employs 1,000 people, including 600 scientists, students and technicians.
The Meetings & Courses Program bring in more than 12,000 scientists from around the world each year, offering opportunities for researchers to meet and establish collaborations and to learn about the latest scientific breakthroughs.
CSHL is in the first phase of a Foundations for the Future project, which is a seven-acre expansion effort that will tackle research in neuroscience, neuro-AI and the brain-body. Scientists will pursue better patient outcomes by exploring cancer’s whole-body impacts.
In the second phase of the project, the lab will create a new conference center and collaborative research center.
As for the connection with Range, Prizzi added that CSHL is a “lab, we like experiments. This is like an experiment. I hope it goes well and other people build off of it.”
At the Milestones in Microbiology ceremony, standing alongside the Department’s commemorative plaque and a NYS Assembly Proclamation, are, from left: Theresa Koehler, ASM President; Carol Carter, Eckard Wimmer, David Thanassi, Jorge Benach; and Lorraine Findlay, from the ASM Committee on the History of Microbiology and Archives. Photo by Constance Brukin Photography
ASM honors the Department for its decades of work against infectious diseases
The Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) at Stony Brook University was named a “Milestones in Microbiology” site for its advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases globally. The designation by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) recognizes academic and research programs in which “major developments and pivotal discoveries occurred.”
The RSOM Department is only the 20th program nationally to receive this distinction, the third in New York State and second on Long Island. Faculty from the Department and University gathered at a Wang Center Ceremony at Stony Brook University on October 17 to commemorate the honor. They received a plaque from the ASM that commemorates the outstanding research and discoveries by the Department at large, since its inception at Stony Brook in 1972.
“The designation of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology as a Milestones in Microbiology Site is an honor and recognizes the impact the Department has made through its groundbreaking discoveries,” said David Thanassi, PhD, the Zhang Family Endowed Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. “This distinction not only reinforces the significant contributions of our former and current faculty, students and staff, but also raises the profile of the Department and University to the wider scientific community.”
“ASM is delighted to recognize Stony Brook University’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology as a ‘Milestones in Microbiology’ site for its significant contributions to the microbial sciences,” said Theresa Koehler, PhD, ASM President. “The university’s pioneering work investigating causative agents of human diseases have had far-reaching impacts in the sciences and society at large.”
The Department was awarded the Milestones distinction for its broad research and many discoveries. Specifically, the ASM recognized the following accomplishments:
The landmark discovery by Founding Department Chair Joseph Kates, PhD, that viruses could package enzymes required for their replication, with the first demonstration of the vaccinia virus encapsulating the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase enzyme. This laid the groundwork for targeting viral polymerases as a widespread therapeutic strategy.
The discovery of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, by Jorge Benach, PhD and colleagues, along with its isolation from patients and characterization of its environmental reservoir, paved the way for successful antibiotic therapies.
The first description of the de-novo chemical-biochemical synthesis of a virus (poliovirus) in the absence of a natural template by Dr. Eckard Wimmer and the co-discovery of the human receptor of polio virus. This marked the beginning of the total synthesis of microorganisms in the absence of natural templates, enabling new strategies in virus vaccine development.
“As a member of the faculty for several decades, it has been inspiring to witness the emergence of ideas and findings in which the outcomes have had such tremendous impact,” said Carol Carter, PhD, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. “Over the years, I have worked with incredible colleagues, students and supporting staff.”
Five decades impacting infectious disease discovery
In addition to the highlighted research of Drs. Kates, Wimmer and Benach, the Department during its five decades made other groundbreaking discoveries. These include pioneering work in molecular biology on the structure of DNA and regulatory mechanisms of RNA, foreshadowing research by others leading to the Nobel prize this year on the role of regulatory RNAs in eukaryotic cells.
The Department has contributed major findings related to tumor formation and cancer, and has long been a leader in research on pathogenic viruses, bacteria and fungi, revealing how these organisms cause infections and interact with our immune defenses. This research has yielded fundamental biological insights and provided a foundation for the development of therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of disease.
Some of the more recent work impacting the world of infectious diseases includes the role of how cancer-causing herpesviruses manipulate the host to establish life-long infections, advancing the understanding of Adenovirus replication, and unraveling the structure of bacterial appendages that enable kidney infections.
“Although the Milestones in Microbiology designation commemorates past accomplishments, it also sets the stage for future innovations and motivates the Department to keep pushing boundaries, pursue new questions, and lead the way in solving the challenges of tomorrow,” said Peter Igarashi, MD, the Knapp Dean of the RSOM, who pointed out that the Department has had consistently strong funding success, including 17 grants totaling more than $8 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2024.
During the ceremony the department also received a Certificate of Recognition, a Proclamation by New York State Assemblyman Hon. Ed Flood.
For more about the ASM Milestones Program and list of other awarded institutions nationally see this link.
The Department of Microbiology and Immunology is one of 25 departments within the RSOM. It is dedicated to advancing the knowledge of the fundamental causes, means of prevention and treatment of human diseases, and to educating the next generation of scientific investigators in infectious diseases and related fields. For more see this link.
In the nucleus of the cell, researchers often focus on the genetic machinery, as the double-helical DNA sends signals that enable the creation of everything from my fingers that are typing these words to your brain that is processing what you’ve read.
But DNA, which occupies most of the nucleus, is not alone. Scattered through the nucleus are protein and RNA filled structures that have an influence on their important gene-bearing nuclear cohabitants, including speckles.
One of the newest members of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory team, Assistant Professor Kate Alexander, who joined the lab in August, is focused on a range of questions about these speckles, which represent about 10 to 30 percent of the nuclear volume.
Preliminary data from Alexander’s lab support the idea that speckles can signal how a person responds to various types of therapy, although careful extensive follow up studies are needed, Alexander explained. She would like to know how the speckles are affecting the genetic machinery.
While speckles have been known since 1910, the ways they affect healthy cells and diseased cells remains a mystery. In some cases, normal or aberrant speckles can signal how a person responds to various types of therapy.
Normal speckles are in the center of the cell nucleus, while aberrant speckles are more scattered. Aberrant speckles can activate some of the surrounding DNA.
At this point, Alexander and her colleagues have “found that normal or aberrant speckle states correlate with survival of clear cell renal cell carcinoma. This accounts for over 80 percent of all kidney cancers.”
Medical choices
After a patient with clear cell renal cell carcinoma receives a cancer diagnosis, the first line of treatment is usually surgery to remove the tumor in the kidney. In addition, doctors could treat the tumor with a systematic anti-cancer therapy. The treatments themselves can and often do cause difficult side effects, as therapies can harm healthy cells and can disrupt normal biological functioning.
Normal speckles look something like the face of the man on the moon and are more centrally located.
Alexander is hoping speckles will help predict the state of the tumor, offering clues about how it might respond to different types of treatments. She could envision how aberrant speckles could correlate with better responses to one drug, while normal speckles might correlate with better responses to another treatment.
In her research, Alexander is exploring how DNA is organized around speckles, as well as how the speckles affect DNA.
“Speckles can change and impact what’s happening to all the DNA that’s surrounding them,” she said.
Over 20 tumor types show evidence for both normal and aberrant speckles. Aberrant tumors can occur in many types of cancer.
“The consequence of [speckles] becoming normal or aberrant are starting to become more clear,” she said, although there is “still a lot to learn.”
Alexander is trying to figure out how to alter the conformation of these speckles. During cancer, she suspects these speckles may get trapped in a particular state.
In one of the first experiments in her lab, she’s culturing cells in an incubator and is trying to predict what cues may cause speckles in those cells to switch states.
‘Speckle club’ leader
Alexander previously did postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Shelley Berger, where she was also a Research Associate. She led a subgroup in the lab known as the “speckle club.”
Charly Good, who is now Senior Research Investigator in Berger’s lab, worked with Alexander at Penn from 2017 until this summer.
Aberrant speckles are scattered throughout the nucleus.
Alexander “helped recruit me to the postdoc I ended up doing,” said Good who appreciated Alexander’s computational skills in analyzing big data sets. Speckles represent an “up and coming area” for research, which Alexander and Berger are helping lead, Good suggested.
Alexander’s quick thinking meant she would go to a talk and would email the speaker as soon as she got back to her desk. “Her brain is always spinning,” said Good.
Alexander is building her lab at CSHL. Sana Mir is working as a technician and is helping manage the lab. Recently, Hiroe Namba joined the group as a postdoctoral researcher. In the next few years, Alexander would like to add a few graduate students and, within five years, have about eight people.
Originally from Tigard, Oregon, Alexander attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. In her freshman year, she tried to get into a physics class that was full and wound up taking a biology class. She was concerned that biology classes were mostly memorization. When she started the course, she appreciated how the science involved searching for missing pieces of information.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory appealed to her because she could go in whatever direction the research took her.
For Alexander, scientific questions are like a layer of cloth with a few threads sticking out.
“You see one sticking out and you start to pull,” Alexander said. “You don’t necessarily know what’s going to come out, but you keep getting the urge to pull at that thread. You realize that it is connected to all these other things and you can look at those, too.”
She is excited to cross numerous disciplines in her work and is eager to think about how her research might “interplay across those fields and boundaries.”
Speckle origins
As for speckles, Alexander observed during her postdoctoral research how one factor seemed to influence a neighborhood of genes.
For that to occur, she realized that something had to affect those genes at the same time in the physical space. She hadn’t known about speckles before. A few of her colleagues, including Good, came across speckles in their analysis. That made Alexander curious about what these speckles might be doing.
She saw an opening to pursue connections between changes in these potential gene activators and illnesses.
Researchers know that viruses can use speckles to help them copy themselves.
If they are used by viruses “they must be important” and they “probably go wrong in a lot of diseases,” Alexander said. There are a series of neurodevelopmental disorders called “speckleopathies” that involve mutations in proteins found inside speckles.
“We have the computational and experimental tools to start investigating them across a wide variety of conditions,” she said.
At the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists make history while expanding the frontiers of discovery.
Brookhaven Lab will host a celebration for the milestone anniversaries of two Nobel Prize-winning discoveries — as well as future explorations in physics. This symposium will be held at Brookhaven Lab on Friday, Nov. 22, from 1 to 6 p.m. EST in Berkner Hall.
The event, titled “Decades of Discovery at Brookhaven National Laboratory: Charge-Parity Violation, J/psi, and Future Endeavors in Physics,” is free and open to the public. Visitors to the Laboratory ages 16 and older must bring valid, government-issued photo ID. Digital IDs and copies cannot be accepted.
Those who can’t join in person may attend virtually.
Whether participating in person or virtually, attendees are asked to register as soon as possible.
This symposium will feature talks on the discoveries of charge-parity (CP) violation, the J/psi particle, and their impacts on physics research.
“Physicists study particles to unlock mysteries of how the universe works,” said JoAnne Hewett, director of Brookhaven Lab, theoretical physicist, and a featured speaker at the event. “As we celebrate and build on these discoveries, we look ahead to experiments around the world, including the future Electron-Ion Collider, which will use the J/psi for precise measurements inside the atom’s nucleus. We have questions that, today, are unanswered and will be resolved years from now.”
The event will also provide insights on current and future experiments to advance our understanding of the universe, particularly at the:
The list of speakers scheduled to present — including Hewett, Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting, distinguished physicist Martin Breidenbach, former Brookhaven Lab Director Nicholas Samios, historian Robert Crease, and others — is available here.
Refreshments will be served for those who attend in person. The symposium will conclude with a toast to discovery science’s past, present, and future.
About the Nobel Prize-winning discoveries
enlargeFrom left: Nobel Laureates Val Fitch and James Cronin
60 years since CP violation discovery: This occurred at Brookhaven Lab in 1964, when Val Fitch and James Cronin led a team that discovered a violation of charge conjugation (C) and parity (P) — called “CP violation” — in an experiment at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS). Fitch and Cronin were presented with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1980.
enlargeNobel Laureates Samuel C.C. Ting (front) with collaborators
50 years since J/psi discovery: This occurred in 1974, when the J/psi particle was discovered by teams at both Brookhaven Lab and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), which today is DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Samuel C.C. Ting and his team discovered what he called the “J” particle using the AGS at Brookhaven. Burton Richter and his team found the same particle, which he called the “psi,” at SLAC. Ting and Richter shared the Nobel prize for Physics in 1976.
SLAC is also hosting an event to celebrate discovery of the J/psi particle. That symposium will be held on Friday, Nov. 8. For more information, visit the event webpage.
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.
Pictured from left, Akhil Kolanti, Kent Christian, Professor Lance Snead, Professor David Sprouster, Saima Haque, and Mingxi Ouyang. Photo by Lance Snead
Funding Part of DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Program to Enable Commercial Fusion Energy
Stony Brook University has been selected to receive $2,500,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
The funding is part of the Creating Hardened And Durable fusion first Wall Incorporating Centralized Knowledge (CHADWICK) program. This program is focused on researching and developing new, advanced materials and manufacturing techniques to enhance the durability of the “first wall” in a fusion power plant (where energy is derived from a process called fusion). That first wall is the critical armor that surrounds the fusion reactor’s core plasma.
“The CHADWICK program represents an extraordinary opportunity for our Department and Stony Brook University to contribute to the future of sustainable energy by developing materials that can withstand the extreme conditions of fusion power,” said Dilip Gersappe, chair, Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering. “This pioneering work led by Professor Snead could lead to transformative advancements in the durability and efficiency of fusion power plants.”
Under this program Professor Lance Snead will work with Co-Principal Investigator Professor David Sprouster, also from the Materials Science and Engineering Department, and collaborators from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the Massachusetts of Technology, and the Sandia National Laboratory.
Through the CHADWICK program, Stony Brook University will increase the ductility, thermal conductivity, and irradiation resistance of ceramic materials through second phase additives into low activation ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTC). In the past, ceramics materials have not been seriously considered for fusion power applications due to their brittle nature and rapid loss in thermal conductivity under irradiation. The successful development of more relevant ceramic materials for use as fusion first wall armor under excessive temperature and irradiation damage would represent a significant technological step forward.
Stony Brook University researchers Fusheng Wang and Dr. Richard Rosenthal
By Daniel Dunaief
Health care providers can use all the help they can get amid an ongoing opioid epidemic that claims the lives of 130 Americans each day.
In a cross-disciplinary effort that combines the computer science skills of Fusheng Wang and the clinical knowledge and experience of doctors including Dr. Richard Rosenthal, Stony Brook University is developing an artificial intelligence model that the collaborators hope will predict risk related to opioid use disorder and opioid overdose.
Fusheng Wang
Wang, a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Computer Science at Stony Brook and Rosenthal, a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health in the Renaissance School of Medicine, received a $1.05 million, three-year contract from the independent funding organization Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
“We have patients, clinical stakeholders, clinician scientists and community-based people within the system of care that have an interest at the table in the development cycle of this AI mechanism from day one,” Rosenthal said. The PCORI required that the scientists identify these stakeholders as a part of the research strategy.
The Stony Brook researchers are combining data from Cerner, a major electronic health record vendor under an institutional data usage agreement, with an awareness of the need to create a program that doctors can use and patients can understand.
Traditional public health studies rely on analyzing incidents that occurred. This approach, however, can be applied to population health management through early interventions, Wang explained.
With artificial intelligence, computer scientists typically plug enormous amounts of data into a model that searches through individual or combined factors and comes up with a prediction through a deep learning process.
The factors, which may be in the hundreds or even more, that contributed to the conclusion about a risk level aren’t always clear, which makes them difficult for doctors to explain and for patients to understand. Many of the factors may not be clinically intuitive.
Deep learning models can provide certain types of information about the prediction, such as a ranking of top factors. These factors, however, may not necessarily be clinically relevant, Wang explained.
To balance the need for data-driven analysis with the desire to create a product that people feel confident using, the scientists plan to become a part of the process.
“We are all going to educate each other,” said Rosenthal. “Patients will tell you what it means to be a patient, to be at the receiving end of some doctors telling them something they don’t know” while each group will share their lived experience.
Each participant will be a student and a teacher. Rosenthal believes this stakeholder in the loop approach will create a tool that is clinically relevant.
“There’s an opportunity to produce a highly accurate predictive mechanism that is highly acceptable based on transparency,” he said.
To be sure, people involved in this process could deemphasize a factor that doesn’t make sense to them, but that might otherwise increase the predictive accuracy of the developing model.
“This might come at the expense of the performance metric,” Rosenthal said.
Still, he doesn’t think any human correction or rebalancing of various factors will reduce the value of the program. At the same time, he believes the process will likely increase the chances that doctors and patients will react to its prognosis.
A program with a personal touch
Wang created the model the scientists are using and enhancing. He reached out to several physicians, including Director of the Primary Care Track in Internal Medicine Rachel Wong and later, Rosenthal, for his addiction research expertise.
Dr. Richard Rosenthal
Rosenthal started collaborating on grant proposals focused on big data and the opioid epidemic and attending Wang’s graduate student workgroup in 2018.
Wang recognized the value of the clinician’s experience when communicating about these tools.
“Studies show that patients have lots of skepticism about AI,” he explained. Designing a tool that will generate enough information and evidence that a patient can easily use is critical.
The kind of predictions and risk profiles these models forecast could help doctors as they seek the best way to prevent the development of an addiction that could destroy the quality and quantity of their patients’ lives.
“If we can identify early risk before the patient begins to get addicted, that will be extremely helpful,” Wang added.
If opioid use disorder has already started for a patient, the tool also could predict whether a patient has a high chance of ending treatment, which could create worse outcomes.
Refinements to the model will likely include local factors that residents might experience in one area that would be different for populations living in other regions.
Depending on what they learn, this could allow “us to frame our machine learning questions in a more context-dependent population, population-dependent domain,” Rosenthal said.
Opioid-related health problems in the northeast, in places like Long Island, is often tied to the use of cocaine. In the Southwest, the threat from opioids comes from mixing it with stimulants such as methamphetamines, Rosenthal added.
“Localization increases the accuracy and precision” in these models, he said.
Eventually, the model could include a risk dashboard that indicates what kind of preventive measures someone might need to take to protect themselves.
The scientists envision doctors and patients examining the dashboard together. A doctor can explain, using the model and the variable that it includes, how he or she is concerned about a patient, without declaring that the person will have a problem.
“Given these factors, that puts you at greater risk,” said Rosenthal. “We are not saying you’re going to have a problem” but that the potential for an opioid-related health crisis has increased.
Unless someone already has a certain diagnosis, doctors can only discuss probabilities and give sensible recommendations, Rosenthal explained.
They hope the tool they are developing will offer guidance through an understandable process.
“At the end of the day, the machine is never going to make the decision,” said Rosenthal. With the help of the patient, the clinician can and should develop a plan that protects the health of the patient.
“We’re aiming to improve the quality of care for patients,” he said.
It’s back, bigger than ever, with an added Peter-and-the-Wolf style musical debut.
This year’s version of Science on Stage at Stony Brook University, which brings together the research and life experiences of three scientists with the artistic interpretation and creative talents of three playwrights, focuses on the theme of climate change.
Before the reading of the plays at the free October 28th event at the Staller Center’s Recital Hall, a group of eight high school students and two graduate students will perform an original piece of music composed by Professor Margaret Schedel called “Carnival of the Endangered Animals” (see accompanying story below).
Christine Gilbert with graduate student Emily Gelardi. Photo by Conor Harrigan
The event, which has a seating capacity of 379, which is almost triple the potential audience size from last year, and requires advance registration, is sponsored by the Collaborative for the Earth (C4E).
The organizers of Science on Stage “want people to be thinking about [climate change] from new ways or with new perspectives,” said Heather Lynch, inaugural director of the C4E and Endowed Chair for Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook’s Institute for Advanced Computational Science and Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution.
In these performances, professional actors, directed by Logan Vaughn, share a dramatic reading of the scripts, titled “Ghost Forest,” “Counterfactual,” and “Resplendence.” After the performance, the scientists and playwrights will participate in a question and answer session led by Lecturer J.D. Allen, who is managing editor of NPR affiliate WSHU.
Provost Carl Lejuez, whose office provides funding for the C4E, celebrated the ongoing collaboration between the humanities and the sciences.
“Science on Stage is one of our true interdisciplinary gems,” Lejuez explained. “In a time of such misinformation, the arts provide such a powerful vehicle to communicate science in accessible and inspiring ways.”
Indeed, in addition to hearing an original piece of music and listening to a reading of the plays, audience members will have the opportunity to share their perspectives on climate science before and after the performance.
Christine Gilbert, who holds a joint appointment at the School of Communication and Journalism and the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and is one of the participating scientists, is conducting a study of the effect of the experience with audience members.
Attendees can participate in a short mobile-based survey before the plays and immediately afterwards. A social scientist, Gilbert will follow up with those members who are willing to engage in individual interviews in the weeks after the performance.
Event organizers wanted to know “what is it that’s so magical in the intersection between science, humanity and art” that drew a crowd so large last year that the fire marshal had to turn people away, said Gilbert.
By polling the audience, Gilbert, who was one of the people who couldn’t watch the show last year, hopes to explore the effect of teaching complex science in this forum.
She also hopes to assess how audience members feel after hearing more about climate change and plans to share what she learns with Stony Brook and with the broader scientific community through a published paper.
Heavy and humorous
The scientists and the playwrights appreciated the opportunity to learn from each other and to engage in a creative effort designed to use science, or the life of scientists, to appeal to audiences.
Lynch, who participated in the Science on Stage effort last year, suggested that this year’s plays are powerful and evocative.
“These are deep, adult serious issues,” she said, cautioning that the language includes some cursing and that the themes include loss, parenthood and grief. “This is not Disney.”
To be sure, the plays blend a wide range of emotions.
“With short plays that deal with heavier topics, playwrights will gravitate towards humor,” said Ken Weitzman, Founder and Associate Professor of Theater at Stony Brook, who started Science on Stage virtually in 2020. “It’s how we engage” and commune with an audience.
Counterfactual
Playwright Mat Smart
Author of the play “The Agitators,” about a true narrative describing the 45-year friendship between suffragist Susan B. Anthony and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Smart said he has taken long Uber rides with people whose views differ from his, leading to spirited conversations.
When Smart described his experiences to Reed, they discovered they had similar interactions.
While much of the script involves a combination of conversations and ideas, Smart explained that part of the dialogue in the play came from a discussion he and Reed had about food choices and climate change.
The interaction about cheeseburgers is “based on something [Reed] said to me,” Smart said. Reed explained the high carbon footprint of a cheeseburger, although he urged Smart to cut back rather than eliminate them from his diet.
“The play is about two people who see things very differently who choose to have a dialogue and to have a tough conversation,” said Smart. “They’re both affected by it.”
Ghost forest
Playwright Gab Reisman
Elizabeth Watson, Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolution, teamed up with Gab Reisman, who wrote “Ghost Forest.”
In this play, a climate researcher’s subjects spring to life as she writes an important grant proposal.
While it doesn’t reflect how field research or grant writing typically goes, it does capture “some things that have happened to me,” Watson said.
Her field work has involved considerable challenges, including getting stuck in the mud, being covered in ticks, crawling across mudflats, and being abandoned on a raft in a lagoon.
Watson appreciates how the artistic effort allows her to connect with people who probably aren’t the same ones who would read a publication she wrote or come to a presentation.
She also added that the world has what it needs to deal with climate change and that people need to understand the kinds of partnerships and actions that make a difference.
Resplendence
Playwright Kareem Fahmy
After speaking with Gilbert, playwright Kareem Fahmy wrote “Resplendence,” which follows three generations of a family who try to save their island off the coast of Maine.
The New England State is an important setting for playwright and scientist.
“Maine has such a special place in my heart,” said Gilbert, who has family in the state and attended college at the University of Maine. The pull of the “wild, eastern coast of Maine is so ubiquitous.”
Gilbert appreciated how Fahmy did a “great job of personalizing the context” of the state.
The challenge of preserving destinations, particularly those close to sea level, will likely persist.
“When you do any research about climate change, you have to be aware that this is not just a problem for people living today, but for people 200 years from now,” Gilbert said.
Weitzman said the play was an epic despite its short running time and thought it was “quite touching.”
Beyond the performance
Weitzman suggested that the plays can provide an educational component beyond the confines of the Staller Recital Hall.
While people can’t produce the plays as part of paid entertainment, teachers can read and use them in the classroom. Actors Bill Heck, April Matthis, Tina Benko, Mandi Masden and Taylor Crousore will provide dramatic reading of the plays.
In a short time, the actors are “practically off the book,” as they embrace the opportunity to bring the words to life, Weitzman said.
He suggested the plays offer a glimpse into researchers’ lives. “Here is this person on the front lines. I’m surprised at the angles that are taken” in these plays.
Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts, 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook will present this year’s Science on Stage: Climate Edition on Monday, Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public but reservations are strongly recommended.
To register, go to: https://bit.ly/4dcDtsi or click here.
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SBU’s Margaret Schedel brings endangered species to life through musi
Margaret Schedel discusses the ‘Carnival of the Endangered Animals’ with the band and conductor Justin Stolarik during rehearsal. Photo by Heather Lynch
Science on Stage at Stony Brook University added a new dimension to the performance this year, as Margaret Schedel, Associate Professor of Music, composed “Carnival of the Endangered Animals.” The original music, which will debut on Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. at the Staller Center’s Recital Hall, is a recreation of the sounds of a wide range of animals who are in danger of becoming extinct.
“It’s melodic, interrupted by moments of trying to translate” the calls from these animals, Schedel said.
Ken Weitzman, Founder and Associate Professor at Stony Brook, appreciates how quickly music can resonate for audiences.
“Music appeals to the emotions,” said Weitzman. “I’m jealous of how quickly music can do in 10 seconds what it takes me hours to do.”
The animals featured in the piece, along with the instrument that captures their sounds, are: the Atlantic Right Whale (Marimba); the A’kikiki bird, which is a Hawaiian honeycreeper (flute); Sumatran Tiger (trumpet); sage grouse (clarinet); Bajii, which is a Yangtze river dolphin; and the Jiangtun, which is a Yangtze finless porpoise (four-hand piano); gorilla (french horn); African bush elephant (trombone); Koala (bassoon); and the penguin (oboe).
Schedel plans to share information about each piece, which eight area high school students and two graduate students will perform, with the audience through a QR code, so they can connect the sounds with the message or visuals she was conveying.
Schedel tried to use a logical progression of the instruments, mixing up the woodwinds, percussion and brass.
Threatened by land development, the sage grouse includes high and low notes from the clarinet that gets covered up by the sounds of a flute and trumpet, imitating the sounds excavators make when they back up and develop McMansions.
Endangered by the spread of avian malaria carried by mosquitoes, the Hawaiian A’kikiki bird had been able to evade these insects by traveling higher up the mountain, where the colder temperatures kills the mosquitoes. That is not happening as much because global warming is enabling the blood sucking creatures to survive at higher elevation.
The sage grouse music starts with a melodic theme on the flute and as it goes higher, the theme becomes compressed. The buzzing brass, meanwhile, gets louder and louder as the mosquito pursues its meal, infecting the bird with a lethal parasite.
Reflecting the struggle for survival these creatures face, the Yangtze river dolphin, which had about 20 members when Schedel first started composing the music, may have become extinct by the time of the performance. That is, in part, why she combined the dolphin and the finless porpoise on the four hand piano.
As for the sounds of the elephant, Schedel recalled a safari she had experienced when she had been in South Africa. Elephants charged at Schedel and her group, who had come too close to the younger ones in the herd.
The elephants growled at Schedel and her companions.
“You can feel it in your chest, the sound waves moving,” she said. “Little by little, the younger ones put up their trunks and eventually a big momma elephant with a broken tusk put up her trunk, which is a symbol of, “we are calm,’” she said. With the trombone representing the elephant, the bass drum connotes its growling sounds.
When she was growing up, Schedel listened to the Leonard Bernstein version of “Peter and the Wolf” so many times that the recording is “nearly dead,” she laughed. She hopes people enjoy her piece with the same energy and excitement, connecting the sounds and the stories with the endangered animals.
Schedel described the experience of creating the music as a “labor of love.”
The American Society for Microbiology named Stony Brook University’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology a “Milestone” program on Oct. 17th, recognizing the department’s historical research contributions in fields ranging from Lyme disease to polio virus, and infection and vaccines.
Stony Brook is the 20th program to receive this distinction from the ASM, joining Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as the second such distinguished program on Long Island, and the fourth in the state.
It’s a “shared distinction among all the friends and colleagues from the department over the years” since its inception in 1972, said Carol Carter, Distinguished Professor in the department, and recent inductee into the National Academy of Sciences.
“It’s a family-community [honor],” she continued.
The Milestone recognition from the ASM raises the profile of the department and the university, as it recognizes its historical contribution to the field, and encourages and inspires the growing staff in a department in which basic research can lead to breakthrough discoveries.
“This is not an award or discovery for the last year or year before,” said Kevin Gardner, Vice President for Research and member of the Office of the President. “This is for historical levels of achievement over a really long period of time.”
Gardner planned to join department members, politicians including Assemblymember Edward Flood (R-Port Jefferson) and executives at ASM, as part of the recognition ceremony. The ASM, which was founded in 1899, and has over 32,000 members, is a “high-quality professional society and is about as good as they get,” Gardner added.
“It’s a tremendous honor.”
Theresa Koehler, president of ASM, will give a speech on the historic microbial science accomplishments at Stony Brook and designate the site officially a Milestone program.
Professor Emeritus, Nassau Community College/ University Medical Center and ASM Member, Lorraine Findlay, will also attend.
The ASM has been recognizing Milestones in Microbiology sites since 2002, when the first such honoree, Selman Waksam’s Laboratory at Rutgers University, received the honor.
“The program celebrates groundbreaking achievements that have shaped our understanding of microbiology and inspire future generations,” ASM Archivist Colleen Puterbaugh explained in an email.
The Stony Brook Department of Microbiology and Immunology has made the kind of fundamental discoveries regarding how cells work and how DNA and RNA and the different genetic building blocks come together that have led to treatments for diseases like polio, Gardner added.
“These types of recognition really help put the word out about what we’ve done and continue to do,” said David Thanassi, Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. “It helps build morale” and aids in recruiting additional faculty.
Last year, the department added four faculty members and is in the process of searching for another person to join.
In the wake of the COVID Pandemic, universities and research facilities have emphasized the importance of microbiology, immunology and virology, which are fields that could help provide the kind of basic science that leads to early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
“Other places want virologists, too, because there’s a greater awareness of the need for these types of researchers,” said Thanassi.
Compelling research
In the application Carter helped prepare to submit to the ASM, she focused on three specific basic research achievements that have had an important impact on human health.
Joseph Kates, Founding Chair of the department, discovered that viruses could package enzymes required to copy themselves. His research made it possible to target viral polymerases as a type of therapy.
“Up to that point, it really wasn’t known about the basics of how viruses replicate themselves,” said Carter. “Finding this enzyme that viruses have to carry in their coat meant humans could devise a strategy for countering their ability to replicate.”
When she was considering joining the young state university, Carter interviewed with Kates in 1975. Kates “was so impressive and so much fun,” said Carter, “it was difficult to envision why you wouldn’t come and work in his department.”
Additionally, the ASM considered the research of Jorge Benach, Willy Burgdorfer and scientists from the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, who identified the cause of Lyme disease, which is a particular problem on Long Island.
This work made it possible to create antibiotic therapies.
Benach was able to “isolate the spirochetes from patients and demonstrate that they were the causative agent of Lyme,” said Carter.
Benach also characterized the form of the infection that occurs in dogs. Meanwhile, Eckard Wimmer was the first to describe the chemical synthesis of a polio virus without using a natural template. He was also the co-discoverer, with Vincent Racaniello, of the human receptor for poliovirus.
Wimmer’s work started efforts to synthesize organisms in the absence of a natural template, making it possible to develop new strategies in virus vaccine development.
Two plaques
As a part of the ceremony, the ASM will award Stony Brook two plaques. One of them will be visible in the department itself, while the other will go up in the Renaissance School of Medicine’s lobby, near the dean’s office and the library.
Carter suggested that the department continues to conduct research that is globally important.
“These days, the [discoveries] are not low-hanging fruit,” Carter said.
“The answers don’t come easily. You do feel gratified, whether you or somebody else in your unit, provides some sort of understanding that we didn’t appreciate before,” she continued.
In addition to the principal investigators who conducted research that proved important for human health, Carter added that the students who gained experience and insights at the university have gone on to develop productive careers.
Ron Darling will this year's keynote speaker. Photo from PSEG Long Island
Energy efficiency workshops, products and programs will provide backdrop for Darling’s personal account as player, sports commentator, author and actor
New York Mets World Series champion and recently inducted College Baseball Hall of Fame honoree, Ron Darling, will deliver the keynote address at PSEG Long Island’s Energize Long Island conference on Thursday, Nov. 7 from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The all-day event at the Hilton Long Island/Huntington, 598 Broadhollow Road, Melville will feature more than a dozen educational workshops to help attendees reduce their carbon footprint, maximize efficient energy usage and cultivate renewable energy resources. Darling’s inclusion in the program will delight baseball fans and sports enthusiasts in attendance.
“We are thrilled to have Ron Darling as our keynote speaker for the Energize Long Island conference this year as his former team makes a playoff run,” said Michael Voltz, director of Energy Efficiency and Renewables for PSEG Long Island. “I am certain attendees will enjoy hearing about his amazing career as a major league ball player, actor, author and award-winning sports commentator – even as he’s currently calling the Yankees playoff games. We’re glad to provide this value-added opportunity for our attendees. This will be the ninth year we’re providing this venue to educate people on saving money and protecting the planet through energy efficiency measures.”
Energize Long Island is geared for business owners, property managers and developers, architects, engineers, contractors, consultants and consumers interested in implementing cost-effective, proven and sustainable energy efficiency solutions. Led by industry experts, the agenda includes discussions on a wide variety of topics and best practices to benefit business owners and builders, the local economy and environment. The more than 500 expected attendees will learn about financial incentive programs, new technologies and programs that lead to reduced energy usage. Along with Ron Darling as the keynote speaker, attendees will also have the opportunity to see and learn about many products and new technologies that will be on display at a vendor showcase throughout the day.
Registration for the Energize Long Island conference is free for PSEG Long Island customers, and only $50 for all other attendees. Sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities are available. For additional information please visit www.energizelongisland.com.
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