Airborne Particles in Museums

Presents one in a series of research activities aimed at a better understanding of the origin and fate of air pollution within the built environment

Quantum manipulation and measurement of single atoms in optical cavity QED

Using laser-cooled atoms strongly coupled to a high finesse optical cavity, we have performed real-time continuous measurements of single atomic trajectories in terms of the interaction energy (Eint) with the cavity. Individual transit events reveal a shot-noise limited measurement (fractional) sensitivity of 4×10-4/√Hz to variations in Eint/&planck; within a bandwidth of 1300 kHz. The strong coupling of atom and cavity leads to a maximum interaction energy greater than the kinetic energy of an intracavity laser-cooled atom, even under weak cavity excitation. Evidence of mechanical light forces for intracavity photon number <1 has been observed. The quantum character of the nonlinear optical response of the atom-cavity system is manifested for the trajectory of a single atom

Building a Quantum Engineering Undergraduate Program

Contribution: A roadmap is provided for building a quantum engineering education program to satisfy U.S. national and international workforce needs. Background: The rapidly growing quantum information science and engineering (QISE) industry will require both quantum-aware and quantum-proficient engineers at the bachelor\u27s level. Research Question: What is the best way to provide a flexible framework that can be tailored for the full academic ecosystem? Methodology: A workshop of 480 QISE researchers from across academia, government, industry, and national laboratories was convened to draw on best practices; representative authors developed this roadmap. Findings: 1) For quantum-aware engineers, design of a first quantum engineering course, accessible to all STEM students, is described; 2) for the education and training of quantum-proficient engineers, both a quantum engineering minor accessible to all STEM majors, and a quantum track directly integrated into individual engineering majors are detailed, requiring only three to four newly developed courses complementing existing STEM classes; 3) a conceptual QISE course for implementation at any postsecondary institution, including community colleges and military schools, is delineated; 4) QISE presents extraordinary opportunities to work toward rectifying issues of inclusivity and equity that continue to be pervasive within engineering. A plan to do so is presented, as well as how quantum engineering education offers an excellent set of education research opportunities; and 5) a hands-on training plan on quantum hardware is outlined, a key component of any quantum engineering program, with a variety of technologies, including optics, atoms and ions, cryogenic and solid-state technologies, nanofabrication, and control and readout electronics

Building a Quantum Engineering Undergraduate Program

The rapidly growing quantum information science and engineering (QISE) industry will require both quantum-aware and quantum-proficient engineers at the bachelor's level. We provide a roadmap for building a quantum engineering education program to satisfy this need. For quantum-aware engineers, we describe how to design a first quantum engineering course accessible to all STEM students. For the education and training of quantum-proficient engineers, we detail both a quantum engineering minor accessible to all STEM majors, and a quantum track directly integrated into individual engineering majors. We propose that such programs typically require only three or four newly developed courses that complement existing engineering and science classes available on most larger campuses. We describe a conceptual quantum information science course for implementation at any post-secondary institution, including community colleges and military schools. QISE presents extraordinary opportunities to work towards rectifying issues of inclusivity and equity that continue to be pervasive within engineering. We present a plan to do so and describe how quantum engineering education presents an excellent set of education research opportunities. Finally, we outline a hands-on training plan on quantum hardware, a key component of any quantum engineering program, with a variety of technologies including optics, atoms and ions, cryogenic and solid-state technologies, nanofabrication, and control and readout electronics. Our recommendations provide a flexible framework that can be tailored for academic institutions ranging from teaching and undergraduate-focused two- and four-year colleges to research-intensive universities.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figure

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment