Best Practices for Inclusive Mentoring

This panel discussion will highlight perspectives from faculty mentors and student mentees about how to create and sustain a diverse and inclusive graduate student community at USU. Join us as we talk about structures and practices that meaningfully support graduate student scholars, including strategies for recruitment, retention, and the transition into post-graduate life. Watch the video to see the discussion. Click on the download button for a list of readings and resources.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/inter_inclusion/1002/thumbnail.jp

Housworth-Moseley House

Prepared by the Fall 2007 Conservation of Historic Building Materials Class. This historic structure report details the history, current condition, and future treatment and use for the Houseworth-Moseley house located in the Klondike Community of Southern Dekalb County, Georgia. The home was built approximately 1843.https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_heritagepreservation/1019/thumbnail.jp

It’s RAINing : Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology to Promote Student Success

Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology (RAIN) is a community of educators that aims to bring advanced technologies into K-12 and college classrooms via remote access. RAIN\u27s mission is to facilitate the study of nanoscale science by lowering barriers for instructors to deliver relevant educational activities for younger students interested in learning about nanotechnology across traditional STEM fields. Additionally, RAIN engages the next generation STEM workforce with a connection to experts, tools and institutions where cutting-edge research is being performed. This resource is particularly vital for underrepresented and minority students, especially those attending institutions that cannot provide on-site access to advanced technologies. Currently the RAIN network consists of ten sites across the United States and offers its services free of charge to make STEM education more accessible to the students that would otherwise not encounter these resources. Data shows that RAIN is effective at fostering a passion for the sciences when used in K-12 thru college curricula

Neuronal Dysfunction in iPSC-Derived Medium Spiny Neurons from Chorea-Acanthocytosis Patients Is Reversed by Src Kinase Inhibition and F-Actin Stabilization

Chorea-acanthocytosis (ChAc) is a fatal neurological disorder characterized by red blood cell acanthocytes and striatal neurodegeneration. Recently, severe cell membrane disturbances based on depolymerized cortical actin and an elevated Lyn kinase activity in erythrocytes from ChAc patients were identified. How this contributes to the mechanism of neurodegeneration is still unknown. To gain insight into the pathophysiology, we established a ChAc patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell model and an efficient differentiation protocol providing a large population of human striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs), the main target of neurodegeneration in ChAc. Patient-derived MSNs displayed enhanced neurite outgrowth and ramification, whereas synaptic density was similar to controls. Electrophysiological analysis revealed a pathologically elevated synaptic activity in ChAc MSNs. Treatment with the F-actin stabilizer phallacidin or the Src kinase inhibitor PP2 resulted in the significant reduction of disinhibited synaptic currents to healthy control levels, suggesting a Src kinase- and actin-dependent mechanism. This was underlined by increased G/F-actin ratios and elevated Lyn kinase activity in patient-derived MSNs. These data indicate that F-actin stabilization and Src kinase inhibition represent potential therapeutic targets in ChAc that may restore neuronal function

Time domains of the hypoxic ventilatory response in ectothermic vertebrates

Over a decade has passed since Powell et al. (Respir Physiol 112:123–134, 1998) described and defined the time domains of the hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) in adult mammals. These time domains, however, have yet to receive much attention in other vertebrate groups. The initial, acute HVR of fish, amphibians and reptiles serves to minimize the imbalance between oxygen supply and demand. If the hypoxia is sustained, a suite of secondary adjustments occur giving rise to a more long-term balance (acclimatization) that allows the behaviors of normal life. These secondary responses can change over time as a function of the nature of the stimulus (the pattern and intensity of the hypoxic exposure). To add to the complexity of this process, hypoxia can also lead to metabolic suppression (the hypoxic metabolic response) and the magnitude of this is also time dependent. Unlike the original review of Powell et al. (Respir Physiol 112:123–134, 1998) that only considered the HVR in adult animals, we also consider relevant developmental time points where information is available. Finally, in amphibians and reptiles with incompletely divided hearts the magnitude of the ventilatory response will be modulated by hypoxia-induced changes in intra-cardiac shunting that also improve the match between O2 supply and demand, and these too change in a time-dependent fashion. While the current literature on this topic is reviewed here, it is noted that this area has received little attention. We attempt to redefine time domains in a more ‘holistic’ fashion that better accommodates research on ectotherms. If we are to distinguish between the genetic, developmental and environmental influences underlying the various ventilatory responses to hypoxia, however, we must design future experiments with time domains in mind

SARS-CoV-2 Receptor ACE2 Is an Interferon-Stimulated Gene in Human Airway Epithelial Cells and Is Detected in Specific Cell Subsets across Tissues.

There is pressing urgency to understand the pathogenesis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus clade 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the disease COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein binds angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and in concert with host proteases, principally transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2), promotes cellular entry. The cell subsets targeted by SARS-CoV-2 in host tissues and the factors that regulate ACE2 expression remain unknown. Here, we leverage human, non-human primate, and mouse single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) datasets across health and disease to uncover putative targets of SARS-CoV-2 among tissue-resident cell subsets. We identify ACE2 and TMPRSS2 co-expressing cells within lung type II pneumocytes, ileal absorptive enterocytes, and nasal goblet secretory cells. Strikingly, we discovered that ACE2 is a human interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) in vitro using airway epithelial cells and extend our findings to in vivo viral infections. Our data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 could exploit species-specific interferon-driven upregulation of ACE2, a tissue-protective mediator during lung injury, to enhance infection

Polymerizations with elemental sulfur: A novel route to high sulfur content polymers for sustainability, energy and defense

Recent developments in the polymerizations of elemental sulfur (S-8) to prepare high sulfur content polymers are reviewed. While the homopolymerization of S-8 via ring-opening processes to prepare high molar mass polymeric sulfur has long been known, this form of polymeric sulfur is chemically unstable and depolymerizes back to S-8. In the current report, we discuss the background into the production of sulfur via petroleum refining and the challenges associated with utilizing S-8 as a chemical reagent for materials synthesis. To circumvent these long standing challenges in working with sulfur, the use of S-8 as a reaction medium and comonomer in a process termed, inverse vulcanization, was developed to prepare chemically stable and processable sulfur copolymers. Furthermore, access to polymeric materials with a very high content of sulfur-sulfur (S-S) bonds enabled for the first time the creation of materials with useful (electro)chemical and optical properties which are reviewed for use in Li-S batteries, IR imaging technology and self-healing materials. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.N