Collaboration and tension between institutions and units providing data management support

A panel of speakers from three universities explored their challenges and progress in building programs to support research data management, whether within the library system or with research offices or computing groups. Since 2012 Oregon State University has partnered with its research office and graduate school, helping students prepare data for preservation and sharing and developing a graduate course for credit in research data management. Based on needs identified through an environmental scan, the University of Washington hired a data services coordinator to promote the services provided and to increase collaborations, visibility and support. Purdue University pairs data services specialists with subject liaison librarians to reach disciplinary faculty and researchers. The connections identify champions, lead to successful collaborations and, most importantly, provide the opportunity to show data services specialists as peers and collaborators. With basic services established, each institution looks forward to strengthening relationships and expanding services, skills and staffing

Data informed learning: A next phase data literacy framework for higher education

This poster was presented at the Association for Information Science and Technology’s (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO on November 9, 2015. Accessing, using and managing data is increasingly recognized as an important learning outcome in higher education. Approaches to data literacy have typically been informed by information literacy. New approaches to information literacy have emerged that address how information is used in the different disciplinary contexts in which people learn and work. Successful approaches to data literacy will also need to address contextual concerns. Informed learning is an approach to information literacy that purposefully addresses contextual concerns by suggesting pedagogic strategies for enabling students to use information in ways that support discipline-focused learning outcomes. As part of an ongoing investigation, we advance data informed learning as a framework for data literacy in higher education that emphasizes how data are used to learn and communicate within disciplinary learning contexts. Drawing from informed learning, we outline principles and characteristics of data informed learning, and suggest future directions to investigate ways that data are used in real-world environments

MIP/Aquaporin 0 Represents a Direct Transcriptional Target of PITX3 in the Developing Lens

The PITX3 bicoid-type homeodomain transcription factor plays an important role in lens development in vertebrates. PITX3 deficiency results in a spectrum of phenotypes from isolated cataracts to microphthalmia in humans, and lens degeneration in mice and zebrafish. While identification of downstream targets of PITX3 is vital for understanding the mechanisms of normal ocular development and human disease, these targets remain largely unknown. To isolate genes that are directly regulated by PITX3, we performed a search for genomic sequences that contain evolutionarily conserved bicoid/PITX3 binding sites and are located in the proximity of known genes. Two bicoid sites that are conserved from zebrafish to human were identified within the human promoter of the major intrinsic protein of lens fiber, MIP/AQP0. MIP/AQP0 deficiency was previously shown to be associated with lens defects in humans and mice. We demonstrate by both chromatin immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic mobility shift assay that PITX3 binds to MIP/AQP0 promoter region in vivo and is able to interact with both bicoid sites in vitro. In addition, we show that wild-type PITX3 is able to activate the MIP/AQP0 promoter via interaction with the proximal bicoid site in cotransfection experiments and that the introduction of mutations disrupting binding to this site abolishes this activation. Furthermore, mutant forms of PITX3 fail to produce the same levels of transactivation as wild-type when cotransfected with the MIP/AQP0 reporter. Finally, knockdown of pitx3 in zebrafish affects formation of a DNA-protein complex associated with mip1 promoter sequences; and examination of expression in pitx3 morphant and control zebrafish revealed a delay in and reduction of mip1 expression in pitx3-deficient embryos. Therefore, our data suggest that PITX3 is involved in direct regulation of MIP/AQP0 expression and that the alteration of MIP/AQP0 expression is likely to contribute to the lens phenotype in cataract patients with PITX3 mutations

Candidate Gene Screen in the Red Flour Beetle Tribolium Reveals Six3 as Ancient Regulator of Anterior Median Head and Central Complex Development

Several highly conserved genes play a role in anterior neural plate patterning of vertebrates and in head and brain patterning of insects. However, head involution in Drosophila has impeded a systematic identification of genes required for insect head formation. Therefore, we use the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum in order to comprehensively test the function of orthologs of vertebrate neural plate patterning genes for a function in insect head development. RNAi analysis reveals that most of these genes are indeed required for insect head capsule patterning, and we also identified several genes that had not been implicated in this process before. Furthermore, we show that Tc-six3/optix acts upstream of Tc-wingless, Tc-orthodenticle1, and Tc-eyeless to control anterior median development. Finally, we demonstrate that Tc-six3/optix is the first gene known to be required for the embryonic formation of the central complex, a midline-spanning brain part connected to the neuroendocrine pars intercerebralis. These functions are very likely conserved among bilaterians since vertebrate six3 is required for neuroendocrine and median brain development with certain mutations leading to holoprosencephaly

In situ photopolymerizable drug delivery matrix: Tensile property, degradation products, tissue adhesiveness, and efficacy in vivo

The assessment of interpenetrating (IPN) tensile property, degradation products, tissue adhesive strength, and efficacy of released in situ photopolymerizable drug delivery, was described. The IPNs were photocured in a mold held directly on freshly isolated rat epidermis, dermis, or latissimus dorsi muscle. IPNs exhibited an enhanced elasticity and strength when compared to glutaraldehyde-fixed gelatin hydrogels. The nature of IPN degradation products was independent of the type of gelatin backbone modification. The results show that IPNs have potential as biodegradabe/compatible, tailorable, in situ delivery matrices for therapeutic drugs and cells in wound management and tissue scaffolding.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex