Title

Topic

  • Heising-Simons supports conference for women in physics

    “This grant supported the work of professor Orimoto to participate in the the organization of a conference aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by mid-career women physicists in large collaborations. The name of the workshop was Mid-Act 2024 – A workshop for Mid-Career Women in Physics Collaborations. Professor Orimoto has personal experience as a long-time member of large physics collaborations (BaBar and CMS collaborations) and also from being a mid-career woman physicist. In addition, the PI has had significant conference organization experience in the past.”

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  • ‘Effective Nose-to-Brain Delivery of Blood-Brain Barrier Impermeant Anti-IL-1β Antibody via… MIND Technique’

    “Treatment of neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases using biologic therapies is limited due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This study explores a clinically validated approach to bypass the BBB for the purposes of direct central nervous system (CNS) delivery of antibodies using the Minimally Invasive Nasal Depot (MIND) technique. … The results demonstrated that MIND delivery resulted in a significant reduction in IL-1β levels and microglial activation in relevant brain regions, notably outperforming conventional intravenous (IV) administration.” Find the paper and full list of authors in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

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  • ‘Murine model of minimally invasive nasal depot (MIND) technique for central nervous system delivery of … therapeutics’

    “The blood–brain barrier (BBB) poses a substantial obstacle to the successful delivery of therapeutics to the central nervous system (CNS). The transnasal route has been extensively explored, but success rates have been modest. … Here, to address these issues, we have developed a surgical technique known as the minimally invasive nasal depot (MIND). … The MIND procedure represents a unique platform that can be used to overcome the limitations posed by the BBB. This technique can potentially expand the therapeutic toolkit in the treatment of neurological diseases.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Lab Animal.

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  • ‘Measuring Entanglement in Physical Networks’

    “The links of a physical network cannot cross, which often forces the network layout into nonoptimal entangled states. Here we define a network fabric as a two-dimensional projection of a network and propose the average crossing number as a measure of network entanglement. We analytically derive the dependence of the average crossing number on network density, average link length, degree heterogeneity, and community structure and show that the predictions accurately estimate the entanglement of both network models and of real physical networks.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Physical Review Letters.

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  • ‘Advancing Delirium Treatment Trials in Older Adults: Recommendations for Future Trials’

    “To provide background and context, a review of delirium treatment randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2003 and 2023 was conducted and evidence gaps were identified. The four panels addressed the identified subtopics. For each subtopic, research challenges were identified and recommendations to address each were proposed. … We identified key evidence gaps through a systematic literature review, yielding 43 RCTs of delirium treatments. From this review, eight unique challenges for delirium treatment trials were identified, and recommendations to address each were made based on panel input.”Find the paper and full list of authors in Critical Care Medicine.

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  • ‘Weak Lensing Mass Distributions, Red-sequence Galaxy Distributions, and Their Alignment with the Brightest Cluster Galaxy’

    “The Local Volume Complete Cluster Survey is an ongoing program to observe nearly a hundred low-redshift X-ray-luminous galaxy clusters … with the Dark Energy Camera, capturing data in [multiple] bands with a 5σ point source depth of approximately 25th–26th AB magnitudes. Here, we map the aperture masses in 58 galaxy cluster fields using weak gravitational lensing. … We find that the orientations of the BCG and the RS distribution are strongly aligned throughout the [cluster] interiors. … These types of alignment suggest long-term dynamical evolution within the clusters over cosmic timescales.” Find the paper and full list of authors in The…

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  • Space networks and near fields: Jornet gives IEEE keynote

    “Electrical and computer engineering professor and associate dean of research Josep Jornet gave a keynote speech on ‘Terahertz Communications: From the Near Field to Space Networks’ at the IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference in Las Vegas.”

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  • ‘Interplay of Nano-Based Delivery Systems and Protein Signalling in Ameliorating Lung Diseases’

    “This review explores the intricate interplay between the nano-based drug delivery and protein signalling pathways involved in the pathogenesis and management of lung diseases. The key advancements and challenges in the field are discussed, highlighting the potential of nanomedicine to redefine the landscape for the management of lung diseases. This will ultimately provide new opportunities for pulmonary clinics and reduce the massive burden that is faced across the globe due to various lung diseases.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology.

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  • ‘Perceptions of Algorithmic Criteria: The Role of Procedural Fairness’

    “The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has enabled modern society to automate aspects of the organizational hiring process. Yet, prospective job candidates are hesitant to engage with such technologies in their everyday lives unless they perceive algorithms as behaving fairly. … Our findings indicate that people perceive hiring algorithms as procedurally fairest when they adopt a “Fairness through unawareness” approach to mitigating bias. They are also likely to view companies who use this approach more positively and are more motivated to apply for open positions.” Find the paper and full list of authors at Brookings.

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  • Patent for ‘Compounds for Treating Cannabinoid Toxicity’

    “The present invention relates to novel compounds that can act as antidotes for treating “Acute Cannabinoid Overdose” produced by classical cannabinoids such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and several synthetic psychoactive cannabinoids (SPCs).” Find the paper and full list of authors at the link.

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  • ‘Enhanced Cytotoxicity of 5-Fluorouracil Against Skin Cancer Cell Lines and 3D Spheroid Tumor Model Using Solid Lipid Nanoparticles’

    “This study aimed to develop solid lipid nanoparticles containing 5-fluorouracil (5-FU loaded PGSLNs) to achieve desired physicochemical properties and to enhance in vitro cytotoxicity against monolayered and 3D spheroid skin tumor models. 5-FU loaded PGSLNs were prepared via cold homogenization using Glyceryl Palmitostearate (GP) and Geleol® as solid lipids and Poloxamer 188 and Tween 80 as surfactant and co-surfactant, respectively. … The designed solid lipid nanoparticles significantly enhanced the cytotoxic effect of 5-FU against monolayered and 3D spheroid skin tumor models and can be used as promising approach for skin cancer.” Find the paper and full list of authors in…

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  • ‘Microfluidic-Chip-Based Formulation and In Vivo Evaluations of Squalene Oil Emulsion Adjuvants for Subunit Vaccines’

    “Adjuvants play a crucial role in improving the immunogenicity of various antigens in vaccines. Squalene-in-water emulsions are clinically established vaccine adjuvants that improve immune responses, particularly during a pandemic. … In this study, we explored the feasibility of a microfluidic chip platform to address these challenges and evaluated the adjuvanticity of the emulsion adjuvant prepared using the microfluidic chip process in CB6F1 mice model, and compared it with a control formulation. … These findings demonstrate a proof of concept for using microfluidic chip platforms for formulating emulsion adjuvants.”Find the paper and full list of authors in Vaccines.

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  • ‘Expanding Use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Type 2 Diabetes’

    “A comprehensive literature search from 2008 to 2024 was conducted using PubMed, using key terms including “type 2 diabetes,” “continuous glucose monitoring,” and “non-insulin.” The search included high-impact and peer-reviewed journals dedicated to diabetes research and technology, such as Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics and Diabetes Spectrum. … Based on their relevance to the topic, 4 randomized controlled trials and 2 retrospective/observational studies were selected. … The findings from each study were then analyzed to provide insights into the effectiveness of CGMs in non-insulin-treated T2DM.” Find the paper and full list of authors in ADCES.

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  • ‘Disulfiram-Containing Polymeric Nanocapsules With Anticancer Activity for Cancer Treatment’

    “Disulfiram, a medication traditionally used to treat alcohol addiction, has gained attention as a potential cancer treatment in recent years. Disulfiram works by inhibiting the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase, involved in the breakdown of acetaldehyde, a by-product of alcohol metabolism. This results in the build up of acetaldehyde in the body leading to unpleasant side effects such as nausea and vomiting when alcohol is consumed while taking the drug. With cancer treatment, disulfiram has been found to have several mechanisms of action.”Find the paper and full list of authors in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics.

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  • ‘Detection of ChatGPT Fake Science With the xFakeSci Learning Algorithm’

    “Generative AI tools exemplified by ChatGPT are becoming a new reality. This study is motivated by the premise that “AI generated content may exhibit a distinctive behavior that can be separated from scientific articles”. In this study, we show how articles can be generated using means of prompt engineering for various diseases and conditions. We then show how we tested this premise in two phases and prove its validity.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Nature Scientific Reports.

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  • Cram receives NSF award for valve research

    “Many of the organs in our body are built of tubes. … Critical components of these tubular systems are contractile valves and sphincters. … However, tiny valves composed of a just few cells can somehow also perform these functions. In the reproductive system of the nematode C. elegans there is a donut-shaped valve that opens and closes hundreds of times to allow eggs to pass from where they are fertilized to the uterus. The team … will characterize the inner structure of the valve cell with light and electron microscopy and use genetic perturbations to discover the molecular mechanisms that…

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  • ‘Nonlinear Optical Responses in Multiorbital Topological Superconductors’

    “We theoretically study first- and second-order optical responses in a transition-metal dichalcogenide monolayer with distinct trivial, nodal, and time-reversal invariant topological superconducting (TRITOPS) phases. We show that the second-order dc response, also known as the photogalvanic response, contains signatures for differentiating these phases while the first-order optical response does not. We find that the high-frequency photogalvanic response is insensitive to the phase of the system, while the low-frequency response exhibits features distinguishing the three phases.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Physical Review B.

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  • ‘Introspection Is Signal Detection’

    “Introspection is a fundamental part of our mental lives. Nevertheless, its reliability and its underlying cognitive architecture have been widely disputed. Here, I propose a principled way to model introspection. By using time-tested principles from signal detection theory (SDT) and extrapolating them from perception to introspection, I offer a new framework for an introspective signal detection theory (iSDT).”

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  • ‘A Computational Account of Transsaccadic Attentional Allocation Based on Visual Gain Fields’

    “Saccadic eye movements are the primary means by which people gather information about the environment. An average fixation duration is a fraction of a second in natural viewing conditions. … How the brain maintains perceptual stability across these interruptions remains a mystery. Here, we combined a unique psychophysical protocol with bespoke analytical tools to investigate such active vision with greater spatial and temporal resolution than ever before. We show that the visual system can compute a visual object’s real-world position in the earliest stages of processing, thereby allowing precise object tracking across saccades.” Find the paper and authors list in…

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  • ‘Resolving Chaperone-Assisted Protein Folding on the Ribosome at the Peptide Level’

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    “Protein folding in vivo begins during synthesis on the ribosome and is modulated by molecular chaperones that engage the nascent polypeptide. How these features of protein biogenesis influence the maturation pathway of nascent proteins is incompletely understood. Here, we use hydrogen–deuterium exchange mass spectrometry to define, at peptide resolution, the cotranslational chaperone-assisted folding pathway of Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

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  • ‘Second Dome of Superconductivity in YBa2⁢Cu3⁢O7 at High Pressure’

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    “Evidence is growing that a second dome of high-𝑇cc superconductivity can be accessed in the cuprates by increasing the doping beyond the first dome. Here, we use ab initio methods without invoking any free parameters … to reveal that pressure could turn YBa2⁢Cu3⁢O7 into an ideal candidate for second dome superconductivity, displaying the predicted signature of strongly hybridized 𝑑𝑥2−𝑦2 and 𝑑𝑧2 orbitals. … Our study suggests that the origin of the second dome is correlated with the oxygen-hole fraction in the CuO2 planes and the collapse of the pseudogap phase.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Physical…

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  • Sayre receives ACS grant

    “Photocatalyzed C−N cross coupling creates pharmaceutical and agricultural chemicals using the energy of light. This project aims to improve the efficiency of photocatalyzed C−N cross coupling by enhancing light absorption and exploiting reaction mechanisms.”

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  • Klein receives Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to expand criminal court data

    “Criminal municipal courts in the US are standalone courts that operate under the purview of municipalities and cities, as opposed to state judiciaries. They are largely thought to be the ‘lowest’ tier of the criminal legal system. … The general public has little sense of the volume of cases being tried in the system, the amount of money collected by municipalities through fines and fees, and even the number of courts in a given state. In this grant, we take a system-wide approach in collecting, digitizing, and visualizing longitudinal data on every criminal municipal court in every state where they…

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  • Di Pierro receives NSF grant for computational genetics

    “Genomes fold into distinct architectures that reflect both the cell’s phase and type, with the spatial organization of genes playing a crucial role in facilitating physical interactions among genetic regulatory elements. These interactions are essential for gene regulation within organisms and tissues. This project aims to develop innovative theoretical and computational tools to model the mechanics of chromatin at the gene level, enabling the study of how various genetic factors influence the three-dimensional structure of genes.”

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  • ‘Improved Data Acquisition Settings on … Mass Spectrometers for Proteomic Analysis of Limited Samples’

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    “Deep proteomic profiling of complex biological and medical samples available at low nanogram and subnanogram levels is still challenging. Thorough optimization of settings, parameters, and conditions in nanoflow liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic profiling is crucial for generating informative data using amount-limited samples. This study demonstrates that by adjusting selected instrument parameters, … and minimally altering the conditions for resuspending or storing the sample in solvents of different compositions, up to 15-fold more thorough proteomic profiling can be achieved compared to conventionally used settings.” Find the paper and full list of authors in the Journal of Proteome Research.

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  • Barabási receives NIH funds to investigate ‘impact of biomedical tools’

    “The impact of biomedical tools on the scientific community and society at large is largely invisible to traditional metrics. This project will develop a ground truth corpus by extracting laboratory techniques, software applications, and modeling methods from existing ontologies, and identifying their mentions by analyzing the full-text of millions of documents from publications and grants to patents and clinical trials. Then link this information to generate a knowledge base called BioToolKB and develop a multidimensional impact measure of BioTools to allow us to quantify and understand their diffusion and the diffusion mechanisms across biomedical fields.”

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  • Egido receives NSF funding to study electric vehicle infrastructure

    “The project integrates theory and methods from computational social science, urban resilience, behavioral science, and complex systems to address a pressing societal need — the equitable, resilient, and sustainable deployment of Electric Vehicles Charging Stations (EVCSs). The results of this project will enable agencies and businesses to evaluate hypothetical deployment scenarios of EVCSs , promoting a multi-dimensional approach to infrastructure design.”

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  • Monaghan Lab receives NIH funding to research retinoic acid in axolotls

    “This study aims to investigate the mechanisms by which retinoic acid modifies chromatin architecture and gene expression to establish the proximodistal (shoulder to digit) axis in the salamander forelimb during regeneration. Utilizing methods in nucleic acid sequencing, in situ visualization, and genome editing, the investigators explore the molecular underpinnings of retinoic acid’s influence on positional identity in regenerating limb cells. The results of this study will deepen our understanding of the fundamental pathways promoting complex tissue regeneration, potentiating novel therapeutic targets in humans, whose regenerative capacity is largely restricted to the digit tip.”

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  • Brenhouse made president-elect of International Society for Developmental Psychobiology

    Heather Brenhouse, professor of psychology at Northeastern University, “directs the Developmental Neuropsychobiology Lab. She has served on the ISDP Governing Board since 2022, and has been honored to help further the organization’s mission of encouraging and disseminating science related to perinatal development, childhood and adolescence — all critically important for a comprehensive understanding of the brain and behavior. She has also served on the Women’s Task Force as a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), and is a member of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology (SBN).”

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  • ‘Machine Learning for Prediction of Protein Function and Elucidation of Enzyme Function and Control’

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    “Our machine learning methodology, partial order optimum likelihood (POOL) is used to predict biochemically active amino acids in the three-dimensional structures of proteins. Computed electrostatic and chemical properties of individual amino acids serve as input features. Our most recent applications of POOL are described. From predicted local sites of biochemical activity, the biochemical functions of structural genomics proteins of unknown function are predicted by local structure matching of predicted spatial arrays of active amino acids with those of proteins of known function.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Biophysical Journal.

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