The Stony Brook University women’s basketball program secured its first road win in conference play as it defeated Maine (5-9, 2-2 America East), 63-44, on January 9 at the Cross Insurance Center.
The Seawolves had three players score in double-digits, senior guard Anastasia Warren led the team in scoring with a team-high 15 points. Graduate forwards India Pagan and Leighah-Amori Wool followed closely behind finishing with 13 points and 12 points, respectively.
Stony Brook came out strong and took an early lead at the start of the game, a product of a 14-0 scoring run. The Seawolves were able to continue the momentum into the second quarter where they led the Black Bears by 21 points, the largest lead of the contest.
Maine rallied back in the second half cutting the lead to only eight with 9:27 to go, but Stony Brook did not let the Black Bears get any closer than that as Wool hit back-to-back three pointers to secure the Seawolves’ lead.
Stony Brook improved to 11-2, 2-1 America East and has won four of its last five games, as it heads into a matchup with Vermont on Wednesday night back on the Island.
STATS AND NOTES
Warren’s team-high 15 points mark the fifth time this season that she has led the scoring for the Seawolves.
Junior guard Gigi Gonzalez recorded a career-high four steals and dished out a team-high five assists. It was the fifth time this season that she dished out five or more assists in a game.
Pagan’s 13 points mark the seventh time this season she has finished in double figures – Stony Brook has won each of those contests.
Stony Brook’s defense forced 18 turnovers and only let up 14 points in the paint, the lowest amount Maine has scored in the paint all season. The 18 forced turnovers are the second-most forced against the Black Bears this year.
The 21 made free-throws are a new season-high for Stony Brook
Stony Brook held the Black Bears well below their average shooting clips, as they only managed 29.1 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from beyond the arc. Their season averages are 37.8 and 25.5, respectively.
It was the fifth time this season that Stony Brook held an opponent under 50 points. The 44 points allowed are tied for the second-fewest the Seawolves allowed in a game this season (held Rutgers to 44 points on Nov. 16). Stony Brook has held each of its last two opponents to under 50 points (limited Hartford to a season-low 39 points on Jan. 2).
The Seawolves are now 10-0 when they outrebound their opponents, winning the battle on the boards, 46-26.
The team also improved to 5-1 when three players score in double figures.
“I’m pleased with today’s win on the road versus a good Maine team that is hard to beat at home. We started the game very focused which we’ve been talking about as a team. Again, our defense and rebounding ultimately won the game,” said head coach Ashley Langford.
Elijah Olaniyi during Saturday's game. Photo from Stony Brook Athletics
Leading by as much as 21 in the second half, the Stony Brook men’s basketball program was able to hold off a Maine run that saw the lead cut as close as five en route to a win in the America East opener, 80-72, on Jan. 8 at Island Federal Arena.
Elijah Olaniyi and Tykei Greene led the Seawolves with 16 points apiece, two of five players in double figures for the home team. Olaniyi, in his return, also recorded five rebounds, two steals and a big block to seal the game late.
Greene finished a rebound away from a double-double, hauling in a team-high nine rebounds to aid Stony Brook’s advantage on the glass. The Seawolves flew ahead to a 64-43 lead with 9:06 to go after a Greene free throw but Maine rallied back to 73-68 but Stony Brook would not let them get closer than that.
Stony Brook now sits 9-5 on the season, winners of six of its last seven.
“Thrilled we won,” said head coach Geno Ford.”I think we felt like at the ten-minute mark we huddled up and were concerned that the crowd might leave early, so we wanted to keep them until the end. I wish that was it, but I give Maine credit. They kept playing and we didn’t do as good of enough job, obviously. We only had 11 turnovers, we were 16-of-20 from the foul line but it felt like they were all in one little bunched up stretch where the game was able to get tightened down. When it did get to a one or two possession game, Elijah had a huge play, Jahlil had a huge deflection where Juan stole it after we turned it over and we were able to get it back and get fouled. There were more positives than negatives and anytime you win a conference game they don’t give you bonus points for winning by a certain amount. Happy to move and get on to the next one, clearly we have somethings we need to clean up.”
Up next, the team headed to Burlington Vermont on Jan. 12 for a matchup that pits the top two teams in the America East preseason poll. Results were not available as of press time.
Graduate student John Yuen wearing an N95 mask for fit testing after the mask was disinfected via dry heat. Photo from SBU
Study details published in PLOS ONE could serve as a guide to practical, safe reuse of N95s.
Entering a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest infection surge nationwide comes with many challenges. One of those is for a continued adequate supply of masks, including the often used N95 respirator masks for healthcare and other settings. A study led by Stony Brook University researchers discovered that a readily available method using dry ovens can be used to disinfect N95s for reuse, in settings where new masks may not be available. Their findings are published in PLOS ONE.
To combat any shortages of N95 masks during the pandemic, many institutions were forced to search for other alternatives to protect health care providers and their patients. While some studies have evaluated the impact of various methods of decontamination on how well masks filter viral-sized particles, this study adds to such research and also addresses the equally important concept of maintaining proper mask fit after decontamination.
“Our study demonstrated that treatment of N95 face masks using dry heat was sufficient to inactivate COVID-19, while preserving the ability of these masks to filter aerosolized particles for potentially exposed workers,” summarizes Kenneth Shroyer, MD, PhD, lead author and the Marvin Kushner Professor and Chair of Pathology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.
Since heat is potentially more readily accessible than other methods of decontamination in many healthcare facilities, the researchers used dry heat sterilization to disinfect the masks. They also used X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, contact angle, and electron microscopy collected at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory—to test for changes in the material of N95 masks post decontamination.
By contrast, other methods for disinfection, including treatment with hydrogen peroxide vapor, may be equally effective in specially equipped facilities but are usually not available in most hospitals or outpatient clinical care facilities.
Dr. Shroyer and colleagues also tested autoclaving, which is widely available in most hospitals and is a proven method of sterilization but found that this caused the fit of the respirator onto the user’s face to fail. Thus, the researchers ruled out autoclaving as a safe method to decontaminate N95 masks.
The research involved experts from the School of Medicine, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Institute for Electrochemically Stored Energy, and the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), along with colleagues in the Interdisciplinary Science Department and the Center for Functional Materials at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
For additional details about the initial studies that served as the foundation for this study – which was launched during the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020 – see this story.
Dr. Shroyer emphasizes that the findings from the study highlight the importance of both optimal disinfection and mask fit and suggest that when no other decontamination alternatives are available, N95 masks can be reused after dry heat treatment to ensure the safety of health care workers.
Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time. Stony Brook University is honored to be a finalist for the historic Governors Island Center for Climate Solutions. Stony Brook University is under consideration by the City of New York and the Trust for Governors Island to become the anchor institution that will reimagine Governors Island, creating a global hub for climate science research and innovation.
If selected from among three other institutions, Stony Brook University will build the New York Climate Exchange — an ambitious new marketplace for investment and collaboration around solving the climate crisis. Featuring an innovative campus dedicated to sustainability and climate justice, the Exchange will generate transformative environmental, economic, technical, and social solutions without leaving any community behind.
“We are extremely excited to continue to be in the running for tackling one of the most urgent causes of our time, the climate crisis. We thank the Trust for Governors Island for recognizing Stony Brook University as a finalist,” said Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis. “Looking forward, we hope to be able to put our longstanding commitment, expertise, strength and unparalleled research capabilities to work to benefit our community, our region, our country and our planet through Governors Island’s transformational initiative … The New York Climate Exchange.”
Key elements of The New York Climate Exchange include:
An engaging and interactive living laboratory with 335,000 square feet of green designed building space, including research labs, classroom space, exhibits, greenhouses, mitigation technologies, and housing facilities.
A Research and Technology Accelerator that will source and nurture ideas, projects, and new ventures dedicated to solving the climate crisis.
Green jobs training, doubling the number of green job trainees from 16,000 to 32,000 within ten years.
Partnerships and collaborative grant opportunities with community-based organizations already working to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
A Citizens Advisory Council, composed of key local stakeholders to ensure that partners’ and neighbors’ voices are heard and amplified as we jointly develop and implement new climate solutions, including those of low-income communities of color.
A self-sufficient community that goes “beyond zero” toward net positive sustainability.
Academic programs that prepare students at every level for careers focused on climate change solutions and environmental justice with hands-on learning, including a semester “abroad” on Governors Island, fellowship and internship programs, and continuing education.
Stony Brook University is the leading public research university in the greater NYC area, and a proud member of the SUNY system. Its areas of foremost academic distinction include its School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. Alongside Stony Brook University, the New York Climate Exchange’s founding partners include Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Oxford, and University of Washington. Additional academic partners include Columbia University, Stanford University, Yale University, University of Tokyo, SUNY Maritime College, and Rochester Institute of Technology.
Stony Brook has invested in partnerships with more than 20 local organizations and unions including We Act for Environmental Justice, Good Old Lower East Side, 32BJ, New York City Employment and Training Coalition, the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, the Museum of the City of New York, and more. A full list of current partners can be found on the Governors Island website.
Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis talks to attendees at the fourth annual Light the Brook ceremony in November of 2021. Photo from Stony Brook University
From offering insights about higher education to The New York State Senate, to presenting her academic research on slavery to the University Senate, President Maurie McInnis earned kudos and appreciation as she completes her first full year at the helm of Stony Brook University.
McInnis, who earned her doctorate from Yale University, became the first president to present her research to the University Senate as a scholar in October amid her inauguration week, in a talk titled, “The Shadow of Slavery in American Public Life.”
“She hit it out of the park,” said Richard Larson, president of the University Senate and professor of Linguistics at Stony Brook. “She’s quite a remarkable individual from the standpoint of intellectual achievement.”
The talk included a description of the work of Eyre Crowe, whose 1853 sketches of a slave auction in Richmond, Virginia, provided an eyewitness account abolitionists would use and which formed the basis of an award-winning book by McInnis.
TBR News Media is pleased to recognize McInnis as a Person of the Year for 2021 for her careful guidance of the university amid the pandemic, for her goal of bringing diverse groups of people, departments and communities together, and for her efforts to enhance the profile and talents of the university.
“Day after day, I see a new initiative of hers that expands the visibility of Stony Brook or further tends to the needs of minority students, or helps researchers accomplish their goals,” Alan Alda, award-winning actor and founder of an eponymous science communication effort at the university, explained in an email. “Dr. McInnis brings people together and makes big ideas happen. I don’t think the university could be in better hands.”
Commencement ceremonies
Graduation at Stony Brook in May this year was like the movie “Groundhog Day” for McInnis.
Except that, instead of acting without consequence the way Bill Murray did in the film, McInnis attended 10 graduation ceremonies, which had to be separated to reduce the number of people at each graduation.
McInnis offered her congratulations for the academic achievement of the graduates and applauded their resilience, particularly amid the worst of the pandemic.
She was “quite insistent” that she attend each of these events, which were held over the course of three days in the warm sunlight, Larson said. “She wanted to hand out the certificates personally. That was an incident that just really struck home with me. Each ceremony was many hours long.”
During her inauguration week lecture, McInnis discussed her research in Richmond and Charlottesville, Virginia.
Louis Nelson, a former colleague of McInnis at the University of Virginia, where he is currently vice provost for Academic Outreach and professor of Architectural History, sang her praises.
She is “one of the most impactful social historians of the American South at work today,” said Nelson, who co-edited the book “Educated in Tyranny: Slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s University” with McInnis. Her “scholarship has forged a path toward the truth telling that our nation needs to confront,” he said.
Humanity
Photo from Stony Brook University
In addition to the scholarship and academic rigor she brings to campus, McInnis has won appreciation from her colleagues at Stony Brook for her compassion.
Richard Gatteau, vice president for Student Affairs, explained that he dealt with a health issue earlier this year. “Right away, she was empathetic,” he said. McInnis turned to him during a meeting and asked how he was doing. He genuinely appreciated her support.
A provost at The University of Texas at Austin before she arrived at Stony Brook, McInnis officially joined the school only months after the worst of the pandemic reached Suffolk County. An active participant in calls before her July 1, 2020, start date, she has helped oversee the university’s distinguished response to the pandemic.
Carol Gomes, chief executive officer of Stony Brook University Hospital, observed that McInnis does considerable homework in making decisions. She also emphasized how McInnis “always emphasizes the importance of working together.”
The university president asks “good, insightful questions and she can analyze different sides of an issue, process the information and provide meaningful feedback,” Gomes said.
Even before McInnis arrived on campus, she “did call me regularly to ask how things were going, to get acclimated to what was happening at the hospital during the height of the pandemic,” Gomes said. “It was very comforting to know that I had somebody to whom I was reporting who cared and was compassionate, and who thought about reaching out and developing a relationship before she began.”
McInnis also called state Sen. Jim Gaughran (D-Northport) before she arrived on Long Island.
Gaughran is on the Senate Higher Education Committee, which held hearings around the state, including one on the Stony Brook campus, where McInnis was the lead witness.
“I was very impressed with her presentation and her answers to questions,” he said. “She clearly seems to be the right fit for Stony Brook during what are some very challenging times.”
Diversity
McInnis is committed to developing and enhancing the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
She elevated Judith Brown Clarke, who joined Stony Brook as chief diversity officer in February of 2020, to vice president for Equity and Inclusion.
Brown Clarke described the promotion as “game changing” for diversity, ensuring that fairness and social justice are “woven into every part of campus governance and decision making.”
As an example, Brown Clarke is a part of the governance committee, which allows her to look at the equitable distribution of resources like software that make it possible for students to learn remotely.
Rosemaria Martinelli, vice president for Strategic Initiatives, had served as McInnis’ chief of staff for two years at UT Austin before McInnis joined SBU. Martinelli followed her to Long Island.
Martinelli is thrilled with McInnis’ support and guidance for Stony Brook’s bid to compete for a global competition to establish a climate solutions center on Governors Island in New York City.
SBU’s proposal, which involved numerous departments, “energized everybody,” Martinelli said. “We engaged our campus community and [McInnis] helped us identify the academic partners. She was involved in every step.”
Judith Greiman, chief deputy to the president, lauded the McInnis leadership style.
“She is unique [among college presidents] in that she has all the credentials anybody might want, she has ambition for the institution, and she does not have an ego that gets in the way,” Greiman said. She has a “collaborative leadership style.”
Indeed, Doon Gibbs, laboratory director at Brookhaven National Laboratory, appreciated McInnis’ commitment to collaborations.
She has “galvanized impact at the university and among its partners with a new sense of energy, unity and inclusiveness,” Gibbs explained in an email. He suggested it was “a pleasure to work with her on behalf of Long Island and New York state.”
Judith Greiman, center, with Joan Dickinson, SBU’s director of university community relations, and Michael Arens, assistant vice president for government and community relations. The three executives were attending community service day Aug. 21 outside the Staller Center. Photo from Stony Brook University
It didn’t take long for chief deputy to the president of Stony Brook University, Judith Greiman, to impress her new boss.
When Maurie McInnis was interviewing for the job as president, Greiman drove her around and had breakfast with her.
The two spent a “good bit of time together,” McInnis said. “I immediately thought to myself, ‘If I’m lucky enough to get this position, I would be lucky if I could keep [Greiman] in that role.’ It was not a long evaluation process. She [is] an incredible asset.”
TBR News Media is pleased to recognize Greiman as a Person of the Year for 2021 for her tireless work at Stony Brook University.
Greiman is “behind the scenes doing her work with little fanfare, but she makes a tremendous impact,” said Carol Gomes, CEO of Stony Brook University Hospital.
Gomes cited Greiman’s decision making and her relationship with government agencies that work in tandem with the university. She also said Greiman has the university’s, community’s and students’ best interests at heart whenever she makes a decision.
Greiman’s colleagues are impressed by her dedication to work.
“I’m usually the second-to-last person to leave the suite,” said Braden Hosch, associate vice president for Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness. Greiman “is the last.”
Hosch knew her before the two joined Stony Brook University, when he was chief academic and financial officer at the State of Connecticut Office of Higher Education and Greiman was president of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges. The two interacted regularly, sometimes on different sides of an issue.
“She always won,” Hosch recalled. “You want to make sure she’s the person in your corner.”
Hosch suggested that McInnis’ decision to keep Greiman as her chief of staff is a testament to Greiman’s deep institutional knowledge. She started her Stony Brook tenure on July 1, 2015, which is exactly five years to the day before McInnis joined the university.
Judith Brown Clarke, vice president for Equity and Inclusion and the chief diversity officer, appreciates the support she has received from Greiman.
Greiman is “so gracious with ensuring that she’s working with me on these strategies,” Brown Clarke said. “If I was doing it by myself, there may be some things I would think, not knowing the culture, that I may come up with a different solution.”
A bowl of rocks sits on the desk of SBU President Maurie McInnis. Judith Greiman collected the rocks and asked SBU vice presidents to share a single word for each one. Photo by from Judith Greiman
In addition to keeping the big picture goals in mind, Greiman had a well-received idea the week McInnis was inaugurated.
Greiman knew McInnis believed in the rocks, pebbles, sand metaphor for work. A management philosophy, the rocks represent the bigger picture goals or principles, while the pebbles are smaller issues and the sand represents even less significant but necessary items. Filling a bowl with rocks leaves room for sand and pebbles. Putting sand in first, however, could make it harder to include the necessary rocks.
“As a leader,” McInnis said, “we will be well served by understanding that you need to remember what your priorities are. Make sure you’re allocating your time toward those priorities,” which are the larger rocks.
“It’s a visual way to remind yourself that you have to think of the big rocks,” McInnis said.
Keeping this lesson in mind, Greiman collected rocks and asked the vice presidents to share a single word for each rock. Greiman gave McInnis a bowl of rocks with a word on each. The bowl sits on her desk.
Greiman’s word was “humor,” Gomes used the word “strategic,” while Brown Clarke shared a Japanese word that means a way of recognizing the beauty in imperfections.
“That’s how I see DEI,” Brown Clarke said. Filling imperfections in society with something of value can “make it beautiful.”
McInnis was thrilled with the gift.
While Greiman works such long hours that McInnis has urged her, unsuccessfully, to take time off, Greiman helps provide balance, humor, peace and muffins for her staff.
A talented baker, Greiman has provided those members of the staff who can or do eat sweets with goods she bakes at home.
Hosch savors her blueberry muffins with fresh ginger, while Brown Clarke enjoys the chocolate chip cookies.
McInnis, who remains active by kayaking and can’t eat most of the foods because of a gluten allergy, is grateful for everything Greiman brings to the proverbial table.
“I could not hope for a better person to work with,” McInnis said. “Not only does she have such an incredible command of all the issues, both the internal campus issues but also the external issues, but she does so with this amazing presence.”
McInnis said her deputy’s sense of humor “tends to set everybody right in the room. She is a very centered individual [who] has the ability to build the team and help everybody work through even the most difficult of situations.”
Maurizio Del Poeta, right, with his wife, Chiara Luberto, in front of the pizza oven that he built himself at his Mount Sinai home. Photo by TBR News Media
He’s a scientist, dedicated father and husband, businessman, mentor, collaborator, accomplished cook and gracious host. It seems fitting that Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta, a distinguished professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and someone several people described as a Renaissance man, would work at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.
A fungal researcher who is working to find treatments and vaccines for fungal infections that kill over 1.3 million people annually, Del Poeta turned his talents to the study of COVID-19 this year.
Teaming up with researchers at The University of Arizona and Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina, Del Poeta and his collaborators worked with an enzyme also found in rattlesnake venom that may provide a target for diagnostics and therapeutic intervention for COVID-19.
TBR News Media is pleased to recognize the research efforts of Del Poeta, who represents one of several scientists throughout Long Island and around the world working to find ways to improve human health and reduce the life-altering effects of the pandemic.
In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the research team found that an enzyme called secreted phospholipase A2 group IIA, or sPLA2-IIA, is in higher concentrations in well over half the people with the most severe forms of the disease.
“This is certainly an exciting discovery in terms of a marker [that might] provide a mechanistic understanding of severe cases of COVID,” said David Thanassi, Zhang family endowed professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Renaissance School of Medicine. “It’s hard to know exactly how this is going to play out” in terms of a therapy or a cure, he said, but it offers hope in terms of a way to diagnose or treat COVID.
Dr. Yusuf Hannun, director of the SBU Cancer Center who contributed to this research effort, described the work as a “major discovery” that could provide a “novel key player in the development of the COVID-19 illness.”
Hannun, who has known Del Poeta for 25 years, suggested that his colleague’s success stems from his commitment to his work.
Del Poeta’s “energy and passion are very observable in his academic life,” Hannun said. “His research team is energized by his enthusiasm and good instinct for important problems.”
Indeed, the members of his lab appreciate his commitment to making scientific discoveries and to providing considerable personal and professional support for them.
Antonella Rella worked in Del Poeta’s labs from 2010 through 2017. When she arrived in the United States, Rella joined Del Poeta’s lab at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Maurizio Del Poeta. File photo from SBU
While Rella appreciated all the scientific support she received over the years, including after she moved with him to Stony Brook in 2012, she was especially grateful for the first impression he made when she arrived at the airport.
On her trip from Italy, her flight was delayed and she had to stay overnight in Atlanta. When she landed in South Carolina, Del Poeta not only met her at the airport, but he also greeted her with his wife Chiara Luberto and their first child.
“I thought nobody would be at the airport,” said Rella, who is now a senior scientist with Estée Lauder. “When you meet your boss, you are not feeling very comfortable. Instead, I was very happy and relieved and felt welcomed.”
Rella said Del Poeta and Luberto, who is research associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Stony Brook, have treated other members of his lab the same way, especially when they come from abroad.
Rella said she and her lab mates were thrilled when Del Poeta and Luberto hosted them at their house in Mount Sinai.
“We were super happy whenever we were invited” to their home, Rella said. “We knew the food would be super amazing” because he cooked pizza at a brick oven he designed and built himself. He also made considerable effort to prepare food like tagliatelle.
“There is heart in everything he does,” Rella said.
That includes his dedication and focus on research. In addition to making scientific discoveries, Del Poeta, who earned his medical degree from the University of Ancona, Italy, is eager to apply those findings to the medical field.
The co-founder of MicroRid Technologies, Del Poeta and MicroRid are working to develop small-molecule anti-fungal drugs. Last year, the company received a five-year, $4 million award administered by the Department of Defense.
As for his COVID research, Del Poeta explained that the use of an existing drug for snake venom would involve a different preparation to treat people battling against the coronavirus.
In addition to the work he does in the lab, Del Poeta contributes to SBU and to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Up until the pandemic, Del Poeta and Luberto hosted prospective graduate students in his department at their house. The gatherings highlighted the camaraderie in the department, Thanassi said.
He appreciates Del Poeta’s commitment to mentoring and training, which helps attract and retain students.
“He brings a really nice recognition to the department” through the results of his research and his funding, Thanassi added.
Hannun is confident in his colleague’s success. He said his first impression of Del Poeta was that he was a capable and committed scientist who was aspiring to go after big questions.
Davuluri first arrived in the United States from his native India in 1999, when he worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. After numerous other jobs throughout the United States, including as Assistant Professor at Ohio State University and Associate Professor and Director of Computational Biology at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, Davuluri has come back to Long Island.
As of the fall of 2020, he became a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Director of Bioinformatics Shared Resource at Stony Brook Cancer Center.
“After coming from India, this is where we landed and where we established our life. This feels like our home town,” said Davuluri, who purchased a home in East Setauket with his wife Lakshmi and their six-year-old daughter Roopavi.
Although Davuluri’s formal training in biology ended in high school, he has applied his foundations in statistics, computer programming and, more recently, the application of machine learning and deep algorithms to the problems of cancer data science, particularly for analyses of genomic and other molecular data.
Davuluri likens the process of the work he does to interpreting language based on the context and order in which the words appear.
The word “fly,” for example, could be a noun, as in an insect at a picnic, or a verb, as in to hop on an airplane and visit family for the first time in several years.
Interpreting the meaning of genetic sentences requires an understanding not only of the order of a genetic code, but also of the context in which that code builds the equivalent of molecular biological sentences.
A critical point for genetic sequences starts with a promoter, which is where genes become active. As it turns out, these areas have considerable variability, which affects the genetic information they produce.
“Most of the genetic variability we have so far observed in population-level genomic data is present near the promoter regions, with the highest density overlapping with the transcription start site,” he explained in an email.
Most of the work he does involves understanding the non-coding portion of genomes. The long-term goal is to understand the complex puzzle of gene-gene interactions at isoform levels, which means how the interactions change if one splice variant is replaced by another of the same gene.
“We are trying to prioritize variants by computational predictions so the experimentalists can focus on a few candidates rather than millions,” Davuluri added.
Most of Davuluri’s work depends on the novel application of machine learning. Recently, he has used deep learning methods on large volumes of data. A recent example includes building a classifier based on a set of transcripts’ expression to predict a subtype of brain cancer or ovarian cancer.
In his work on glioblastoma and high grade ovarian cancer subtyping, he has applied machine learning algorithms on isoform level gene expression data.
Davuluri hopes to turn his ability to interpret specific genetic coding regions into a better understanding not only of cancer, but also of the specific drugs researchers use to treat it.
He recently developed an informatics pipeline for evaluating the differences in interaction profiles between a drug and its target protein isoforms.
In research he recently published in Scientific Reports, he found that over three quarters of drugs either missed a potential target isoform or target other isoforms with varied expression in multiple normal tissues.
Research into drug discovery is often done “as if one gene is making one protein,” Davuluri said. He believes the biggest reason for the failure of early stage drug discovery resides in picking a candidate that is not specific enough.
Ramana Davuluri with his daughter Roopavi. Photo by Laskshmi Davuluri
Davuluri is trying to make an impact by searching more specifically for the type of protein or drug target, which could, prior to use in a clinical trial, enhance the specificity and effectiveness of any treatment.
Hiring Davuluri expands the bioinformatics department, in which Joel Saltz is chairman, as well as the overall cancer effort.
Davuluri had worked with Saltz years ago when both scientists conducted research at Ohio State University.
“I was impressed with him,” Saltz said. “I was delighted to hear that he was available and potentially interested. People who are senior and highly accomplished bioinfomaticians are rare and difficult to recruit.”
Saltz cited the “tremendous progress” Davuluri has made in the field of transcription factors and cancer.
Bioinformatic analysis generally doesn’t take into account the way genes can be interpreted in different ways in different kinds of cancer. Davuluri’s work, however, does, Saltz said.
Developing ways to understand how tumors interact with non-tumor areas, how metastases develop, and how immune cells interact with a tumor can provide key advances in the field of cancer research, Saltz said. “If you can look at how this plays out over space and time, you can get more insights as to how a cancer develops and the different part of cancer that interact,” he said.
When he was younger, Davuluri dreamt of being a doctor. In 10th grade, he went on a field trip to a nearby teaching hospital, which changed his mind after watching a doctor perform surgery on a patient.
Later in college, he realized he was better in mathematics than many other subjects.
Davuluri and Lakshmi are thrilled to be raising their daughter, whose name is a combination of the words for “beautiful” and “brave” in their native Telugu.
As for Davuluri’s work, within the next year he would like to understand variants.
“Genetic variants can explain not only how we are different from one another, but also our susceptibility to complex diseases,” he explained. With increasing population level genomic data, he hopes to uncover variants in different ethnic groups that might provide better biomarkers.
While wind is nice and effective, moving water is even more promising, especially in the future of alternative energies.
Ali Khosronejad. Photo from SBU
That’s because water is almost 1,000 times more dense than air, which means that the movement of the wet stuff due to tides or storms could produce a considerable amount of energy.
Indeed, “if we can effectively harness the energy from moving waters in our national waterways alone, it could provide enough energy to power the whole country,” said Ali Khosronejad, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Stony Brook University.
Khosronejad recently received $2 million as part of a $9.7 million four-year Department of Energy grant to study and develop ways to turn the movement of water into usable energy.
“I’m very optimistic about the future of this” approach, he said.
The DOE funds, which will involve a collaboration with East Carolina University, the University of New Hampshire, and Lehigh University, is a part of the new Atlantic Marine Energy Center, for which Khosronejad is a co-director.
The funds at Stony Brook will support hiring researchers at numerous levels, from post doctoral scientists, to graduate students and undergraduates. The money will also support adding new computer modules and expanding storage at the supercomputer.
Stony Brook will also tap into these funds to enable travel for these new hires, to help them interact in person with their collaborators from other universities.
The combined effort at these academic centers will be dedicated to researching ocean energy technology, education and outreach.
Researchers will work in the field, the laboratory and with computers on these ocean energy projects. They will seek to use wave energy and tidal energy conversion through such efforts as wave energy converters and tidal turbine farms.
This image depicts simulated turbulence in a waterway where a virtual tidal farm can be installed. The Stony Brook research team will use such simulations to investigate potential renewable ocean energy options. Image from Ali Khosronejad
The wave-energy converter floats on the seawater surface and uses the energy from the up and down motion of the water surface to produce electrical energy.
Researchers around the world are working to improve the efficiency of tidal turbine farms. Khosronejad described the effort as being in its infancy.
A good portion of the current project involves finding ways to optimize the positioning and layout of turbines in tidal farms. In his team, Khosronejad will work on the development of new artificial intelligence approaches to optimize the positioning and layout of turbines in tidal farms.
Stony Brook’s role in this project will involve working with computers.
In his research group, Khosronejad will work with supercomputers. His effort involves working to develop high-fidelity mathematical models that can address sediment transport and sediment-laden flows in tidal farms.
Scientists at the University of New Hampshire and ECU are involved in addressing environmental concerns.
In the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stony Brook, co-principal investigators Fang Luo, Associate Professor and Peng Zhang, Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering will work with computers and laboratories for micro-grid software and hardware research, respectively.
Ali Khosronejad, right, with former graduate student Kevin Flora, who earned his PhD in 2021
Working with Lehigh University, Khosronejad is doing high fidelity simulations, to replicate what researchers in the field at the University of New Hampshire and the Coastal Studies Institute at ECU are studying.
“We validate and develop artificial intelligence for design optimization of these tidal farms,” Khosronejad explained. The goal is to optimize the design of hydrokinetic turbines in estuaries and coastal areas that can create tidal farms.
The collaboration will coordinate with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, European Marine Energy Centre and Old Dominion University.
The first year of the project involves hiring, training graduates and undergraduates, setting up the foundation, and beginning the infrastructure upgrade.
“The training part is important,” Khosronejad said. “This will be the next workforce. The infrastructure will stay there for the next 10 years” so the university can use it in a host of other projects.
Khosronejad is encouraged by the financial commitment from the Department of Energy. “They understand how important it is, which is why they are investing a lot in this,” he said. Some of these tidal farms are already working in the East River, between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island.
Wind turbines
At the same time, Khosronejad is continuing a wind turbine project he started with Fotis Sotiropoulos, the former dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook who is now Provost at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Khosronejad is now the principal investigator on that $1.1 million project and is continuing to work with Sotiropoulos, who officially left the project but is still volunteering to participate in its research activities. The scientists are working on how to use artificial intelligence to enhance the design of wind turbines.
Computer programs can alter the angle of the blades for the offshore wind farms where they attempt to use a control system to pitch the blades automatically to reduce the wind load during highly turbulent wind flows.
Changing the angle of attack of the blade can lower the loads and save money that would otherwise go to repairing blades that cracked or developed weaknesses amid strong winds, Khosronejad said.
The researchers presented their results at the American Physical Society meeting in Phoenix just before Thanksgiving.
The researchers are trying to balance between using the turbine to generate energy and preventing the force of the winds from damaging the system.
When wind speeds are up to 25 miles per hour, the system uses the full power of the wind to maximize energy production. At speeds above that, the turbulent wind can damage the rotor and gearbox. The blades are pitched to reduce the angular velocity, which is known as self-preservation mode. At speeds over 55 miles per hour, the turbine stops working to produce no energy and avoid significant damage to the rotors and gearbox.
Generally, such federal research projects involve sharing results publicly and with the industry sector. The goal is to share science that enables the production of reliable energy.
The team celebrates with head coach Mark Anderson after weekend victory. Photo from Stony Brook Athletics
Salmon, Liew and Conway set new meet records
The Stony Brook swimming and diving team put forth a strong team effort over the course of the weekend to win the Blue Devil Invite. The Seawolves swam their way to five first-place finishes and three more meet records on Sunday to help them secure a first-place finish at the Blue Devil Invite with a final score of 626 points.
Stony Brook had multiple athletes earn first-place finishes and set a meet record in their individual events.
Senior Jessica Salmon started the final day off strong for the Seawolves winning the 50 breast and setting a new meet record with her time of 30.18. Salmon surpassed CCSU’s Mariana Espino’s record of 30.54 set in 2019. Sophomore Briana Liew kept points rolling for Stony Brook as she took first in the 50 fly and also set a new meet record clocking in at 25.60, beating Wagner’s Dorian McMenemy’s previous record of 25.82.
Sophomore Mary Kate Conway had another record-breaking day at the Invite. Conway took first in the 100 free touching the wall in 51.88, setting a new meet record by crushing Vermont’s Christa Weaver’s previous time of 52.18. Conway also earned a first-place finish in the 200 fly and anchored the victorious 400 free relay squad.
DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS
Sophomore Mary Kate Conway swam a new personal best in the 500 free with a time of 5:00.48, beating her previous best of 5:00.50 from 2018. Conway didn’t stop there, she also set a new meet record for the 500 free surpassing CCSU’s Taylor Friedmann’s previous record of 5:00.92 set in 2012. Conway ended the night anchoring the 400 medley relay squad to a first-place finish.
The victorious 400 medley relay team comprised of junior Reagan MacDonald, senior Jessica Salmon, sophomore Briana Liew, and Conway finished the night off with a bang. The squad’s 3:52.61 finish earned them a first-place win and set a new meet record, beating the previous record from 2012 set by the University of Vermont (3:53.34).
Junior Amanda Heinz placed second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:09.47, beating her previous personal best of 2:12.03.
MacDonald placed right behind Heinz in the 200 IM touching the wall in 2:10.44, which earned her a third-place finish.
Liew set a new season best in the 50 yard free with her final time of 24.58, surpassing her previous season best of 24.82. She earned a seventh-place finish.
DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS
Conway claimed first-place in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:51.93, setting a new meet record.
The 200 medley relay team comprised of sophomore Briana Liew, senior Jessica Salmon, sophomore Lara Youssef, and Conway earned a first-place finish (1:46.26).
Salmon took second in the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.57. Her prelim time of 1:04.77 tied the Stony Brook program record, which was set by Jessica Peters in 2011.
Youssef took first in the 100 fly touching the wall in 56.90.
Liew earned an individual first-place finish in the 100 IM clocking in at 59.05.
Salmon earned first-place and set a new meet record in the 50 breast with her time of 30.18. Salmon also finished fourth in the 200 breast (2:25.74).
Liew touched the wall in 25.60 in the 50 fly to earn herself a victory and set a new meet record.
Sophomore Lara Youssef finished right behind Liew in second with a time of 25.87 in the 50 fly.
Conway claimed first-place in the 100 free and set a new meet record, touching the wall in 51.88. She also earned a victory in the 200 fly (2:04.84).
Freshman Emma Hawkins followed behind Conway earning a fourth-place finish in the 200 fly with her time of 2:11.27.
Senior Haille Bogumil clocked in at 54.65 in the 100 free which was good for eighth overall in the finals.
Senior Yurika Tomita claimed a first-place finish in the B final (seventh overall) in the 200 breast touching the wall in 2:29.24. Tomita set a new personal best, beating her previous time of 2:35.65.
Junior Amanda Heinz placed third overall in the 200 breast with a time of 2:23.83.
Freshman Zoe Rebol clocked in at 17:53.03 in the 1650 free earning a second-place finish and a new personal best, her previous best was 18:11.50.
Sophomore Sara DiStefano represented Stony Brook in the 1-meter dive finals earning a fifth-place finish (200.05).
The 400 free relay squad comprised of junior Reagan MacDonald, Liew, Bogumil, and Conway finished the Invite with a bang earning a victory with a time of 3:32.59
Next up, the swimming and diving team is back in action on Jan. 22 when they hit the road to compete against Rider in Newark, N.J.
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