MIRA/LOOK Exhibition

This exhibition produced for the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke and displayed in September and October of 2008, highlights community planning and design initiatives that promote cultural expression and community visions for Holyoke. The designs were created by Professor Joseph Krupczynski and students from the Architecture + Design program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Results from the centers for disease control and prevention's predict the 2013-2014 Influenza Season Challenge

Background: Early insights into the timing of the start, peak, and intensity of the influenza season could be useful in planning influenza prevention and control activities. To encourage development and innovation in influenza forecasting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) organized a challenge to predict the 2013-14 Unites States influenza season. Methods: Challenge contestants were asked to forecast the start, peak, and intensity of the 2013-2014 influenza season at the national level and at any or all Health and Human Services (HHS) region level(s). The challenge ran from December 1, 2013-March 27, 2014; contestants were required to submit 9 biweekly forecasts at the national level to be eligible. The selection of the winner was based on expert evaluation of the methodology used to make the prediction and the accuracy of the prediction as judged against the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet). Results: Nine teams submitted 13 forecasts for all required milestones. The first forecast was due on December 2, 2013; 3/13 forecasts received correctly predicted the start of the influenza season within one week, 1/13 predicted the peak within 1 week, 3/13 predicted the peak ILINet percentage within 1 %, and 4/13 predicted the season duration within 1 week. For the prediction due on December 19, 2013, the number of forecasts that correctly forecasted the peak week increased to 2/13, the peak percentage to 6/13, and the duration of the season to 6/13. As the season progressed, the forecasts became more stable and were closer to the season milestones. Conclusion: Forecasting has become technically feasible, but further efforts are needed to improve forecast accuracy so that policy makers can reliably use these predictions. CDC and challenge contestants plan to build upon the methods developed during this contest to improve the accuracy of influenza forecasts. © 2016 The Author(s)

MYOD-SKP2 axis boosts tumorigenesis in fusion negative rhabdomyosarcoma by preventing differentiation through p57Kip2^{Kip2} targeting

Rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) are pediatric mesenchymal-derived malignancies encompassing PAX3/7-FOXO1 Fusion Positive (FP)-RMS, and Fusion Negative (FN)-RMS with frequent RAS pathway mutations. RMS express the master myogenic transcription factor MYOD that, whilst essential for survival, cannot support differentiation. Here we discover SKP2, an oncogenic E3-ubiquitin ligase, as a critical pro-tumorigenic driver in FN-RMS. We show that SKP2 is overexpressed in RMS through the binding of MYOD to an intronic enhancer. SKP2 in FN-RMS promotes cell cycle progression and prevents differentiation by directly targeting p27$^{Kip1}$ and p57$^{Kip2}$, respectively. SKP2 depletion unlocks a partly MYOD-dependent myogenic transcriptional program and strongly affects stemness and tumorigenic features and prevents in vivo tumor growth. These effects are mirrored by the investigational NEDDylation inhibitor MLN4924. Results demonstrate a crucial crosstalk between transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms through the MYOD-SKP2 axis that contributes to tumorigenesis in FN-RMS. Finally, NEDDylation inhibition is identified as a potential therapeutic vulnerability in FN-RMS

City X

Today our cities have surpassed the industrial state that originally organized them, where our social network is no longer bound by the limits of the cities streets, sidewalks, blocks and city centers, but rather by our internet connection. Our cities have become “global-cities” or mere hyperlinks to a global network of information where we have the world at our disposal at the blink of an eye. Technologies i.e. the internet, mobile technology, virtual environments etc. provide us with infinite information, connectivity, accessibility and even experience. One can argue that the way we live and experience our lives is directly associated with our technological capabilities and accessibility to these technologies. While this connectedness exists virtually through the streaming of data throughout space, it cannot be experienced physically. This network of information possesses relationships amongst itself as well as with everything else in the world. While our cities today have become digital melting pots, their image does not reflect the informational state of our society, but rather still resembles the industrial city. Since virtual environments are nothing more then an extension of the physical environment, we cannot limit our perception of space to the way in which we currently experience it, but must understand the various levels of complexity which define the space in all dimensions. While Boston City Hall Plaza currently exists as a baron sea of bricks, it contains virtual information which digitally connects it to the rest of the world. This information, variable X, will be the cities design input to creating new spatial relationships, in turn circulating people into these programmatic voids, as well as reflect the state of our society

MIRA/LOOK Exhibition

This exhibition produced for the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke and displayed in September and October of 2008, highlights community planning and design initiatives that promote cultural expression and community visions for Holyoke. The designs were created by Professor Joseph Krupczynski and students from the Architecture + Design program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

MYOD-SKP2 axis boosts tumorigenesis in fusion negative rhabdomyosarcoma by preventing differentiation through p57^Kip2 targeting

Rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) are pediatric mesenchymal-derived malignancies encompassing PAX3/7-FOXO1 Fusion Positive (FP)-RMS, and Fusion Negative (FN)-RMS with frequent RAS pathway mutations. RMS express the master myogenic transcription factor MYOD that, whilst essential for survival, cannot support differentiation. Here we discover SKP2, an oncogenic E3-ubiquitin ligase, as a critical pro-tumorigenic driver in FN-RMS. We show that SKP2 is overexpressed in RMS through the binding of MYOD to an intronic enhancer. SKP2 in FN-RMS promotes cell cycle progression and prevents differentiation by directly targeting p27Kip1 and p57Kip2, respectively. SKP2 depletion unlocks a partly MYOD-dependent myogenic transcriptional program and strongly affects stemness and tumorigenic features and prevents in vivo tumor growth. These effects are mirrored by the investigational NEDDylation inhibitor MLN4924. Results demonstrate a crucial crosstalk between transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms through the MYOD-SKP2 axis that contributes to tumorigenesis in FN-RMS. Finally, NEDDylation inhibition is identified as a potential therapeutic vulnerability in FN-RMS. </p

Results from the centers for disease control and prevention's predict the 2013-2014 Influenza Season Challenge

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