A Collaborative Model for Accelerating the Discovery and Translation of Cancer Therapies

Preclinical studies using genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM) have the potential to expedite the development of effective new therapies; however, they are not routinely integrated into drug development pipelines. GEMMs may be particularly valuable for investigating treatments for less common cancers, which frequently lack alternative faithful models. Here, we describe a multicenter cooperative group that has successfully leveraged the expertise and resources from philanthropic foundations, academia, and industry to advance therapeutic discovery and translation using GEMMs as a preclinical platform. This effort, known as the Neurofibromatosis Preclinical Consortium (NFPC), was established to accelerate new treatments for tumors associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). At its inception, there were no effective treatments for NF1 and few promising approaches on the horizon. Since 2008, participating laboratories have conducted 95 preclinical trials of 38 drugs or combinations through collaborations with 18 pharmaceutical companies. Importantly, these studies have identified 13 therapeutic targets, which have inspired 16 clinical trials. This review outlines the opportunities and challenges of building this type of consortium and highlights how it can accelerate clinical translation. We believe that this strategy of foundation-academic-industry partnering is generally applicable to many diseases and has the potential to markedly improve the success of therapeutic development

Finding Significant Stress Episodes in a Discontinuous Time Series of Rapidly Varying Mobile Sensor Data

Management of daily stress can be greatly improved by delivering sensor-triggered just-in-time interventions (JITIs) on mobile devices. The success of such JITIs critically depends on being able to mine the time series of noisy sensor data to find the most opportune moments. In this paper, we propose a time series pattern mining method to detect significant stress episodes in a time series of discontinuous and rapidly varying stress data. We apply our model to 4 weeks of physiological, GPS, and activity data collected from 38 users in their natural environment to discover patterns of stress in real-life. We find that the duration of a prior stress episode predicts the duration of the next stress episode and stress in mornings and evenings is lower than during the day. We then analyze the relationship between stress and objectively rated disorder in the surrounding neighborhood and develop a model to predict stressful episodes

ESCAPES - evacuation simulation with children, authorities, parents, emotions, and social comparison

In creating an evacuation simulation for training and planning, realistic agents that reproduce known phenomenon are required. Evacuation simulation in the airport domain requires additional features beyond most simulations, including the unique behaviors of firsttime visitors who have incomplete knowledge of the area and families that do not necessarily adhere to often-assumed pedestrian behaviors. Evacuation simulations not customized for the airport domain do not incorporate the factors important to it, leading to inaccuracies when applied to it. In this paper, we describe ESCAPES, a multiagent evacuation simulation tool that incorporates four key features: (i) different agent types; (ii) emotional interactions; (iii) informational interactions; (iv) behavioral interactions. Our simulator reproduces phenomena observed in existing studies on evacuation scenarios and the features we incorporate substantially impact escape time. We use ESCAPES to model the International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and receive high praise from security officials

Plexus 2019: Reflections

PLEXUS is a student-organized publication that showcases creative work by medical students, physicians, faculty, patients, and others in the medical community. Through the universal language of art, the journal aspires to connect those who seek to heal and to be healed.This year, we are excited to celebrate the 20th edition of Plexus. To commemorate this milestone, we chose the theme of “Reflections” to encourage introspection on an often long but rewarding journey through the path of medicine. We feel so privileged to be a part of an incredible field with a unique legacy, allowing us to reflect on our past heritage and future legacy. While the journal submission and publication process is run by medical students, we believe that the medical humanities is a creative space open to everyone in the medical community. In keeping with last year, we continued to include wonderful submissions from students in the UCI School of Nursing, as well as graduate students from the biological sciences. Every year we are amazed by the emotions, reflections, stories, richness, and creativity of the submissions. We thank all of our submitters for their time and thought. Additionally, please find our performing arts pieces on our website, www.uciplexus.org. Previous publications and submissions are also available online.A huge heartfelt thanks to our amazing editors, staff, and faculty for their support in making this special 20th edition possible. We would like to give special thanks to our faculty advisors Dr. Johanna Shapiro and Dr. Tan Nguyen, and Dr. Ellena Peterson (Associate Dean of Admissions & Outreach) – this journal would not have been possible without their continuous support and guidance. We hope you enjoy PLEXUS 2019 – Reflections.Co-Editors-in-Chief: Shreya Aiyar, Yvonne Lu, Priyanka SharmaDesign Chair: May Hui,Design Team: Ruchi Desai, Tammy TranPerforming Arts Chair: Janani PrasadCreative Writing Chair: Malcolm CrawfordSocial Media/Community Outreach Chair: Tammy TranWinners of the PLEXUS medical student competitions were made possible by the Program in Medical Humanities & Arts. Congratulations to this year’s winners:Writing:1st: Nazin Sedehi (MS3) “An Ode to My Bed”2nd: Olivia Tsai (MS2) “Encounter”3rd: Inbal Epstein (MS3) “Dr. Pyre”Visual:1st: Thalia Nguyen (MS3) “What Will My Reflection Show?”2nd: Michael Niechayev (MS4) “Little Del Mar”3rd: Sarah O’Dell (MS2) “Axonal Threads”Performing Arts1st: Matthew Sanford (Patient Account Rep, SBO, Medical Center) “First Takes 091818”2nd: Alex Miner (Resident physician) “Don’t Stop Kicking Mommy”3rd: Jeremy Martin and Nathan Calixto (MS4s) “Two German Songs: Widmung (Dedication) and Auf dem Flusse (On the River)