New Science

EXTending Life

Julie O'Connor — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:31 PST

Slowing the aging process, delaying the onset of diseases, extending cellular life... as people grow older, they often seek products or therapies to try to stay young and healthy. A researcher in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University may have discovered the proverbial “fountain of youth” that may one day help us all to live better and happier lives. Stanley R. Terlecky, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology in the School of Medicine has identified a novel technology that can reduce or even eliminate accumulation of free radicals or oxidants in cells long associated with the aging process. His research focuses on peroxisomes, essential subcellular structures whose critical roles in metabolism, aging, and disease have only recently come to light.

Small in Scale, Big in Possibilities: Wayne State Researcher Develops Nano- and Micro-Scale Devices for Improved Medical Practices

Amy Oprean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:31 PST

The stethoscope is a longstanding symbol of the medical profession, having been used by doctors for more than two centuries to obtain basic vital signs through listening to the heart and respiratory noises. Although it is a fundamental part of almost every medical exam and surgical procedure, stethoscopes have several major disadvantages. Among these is the inability to give continuous readings and a bulky size that prevents their use in some situations. Yong Xu, Ph.D., associate professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering, received a National Science Foundation CAREER award, a prestigious award given to promising faculty early in their career, to develop a stethoscope alternative that has the potential to change the paradigm for respiratory sound monitoring. Using a micro-scale cantilever design and intelligent textile technology, Xu is developing a micro-sensor that is sensitive and compact; capable of picking up the weak vibrations given off by breathing, yet small enough to be worn comfortably throughout the day for continuous monitoring.

New Science Volume 17

Division of Research — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:31 PST

Full issue of Volume 17 of New Science

When the Eyes Fail

Julie O'Connor — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:30 PST

Wayne State University researchers and colleagues, led by Zhuo-Hua Pan, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and cell biology in the School of Medicine, have reported a novel strategy for treatment of blinding retinal degenerative disease such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP). This National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health supported research was published in Neuron, a highly regarded journal which publishes reports of novel results in any area of the neurosciences.

The A to Zzzz's of Exercise: Treating Sleep Disruptions with Exercise Prescriptions For Post-Menopausal Women

Amy Oprean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:29 PST

When it comes to improving overall health, few activities are cited as frequently as exercising regularly and getting enough sleep. These activities are not only important in their own right, but now appear to be connected. Research in recent years has uncovered exercise’s ability to help people fall asleep faster and stay in deeper stages of sleep longer, revealing that a better night’s sleep could be attainable without the prescription sleep aids that some people need. Specific exercise regimens may be the answer for those who have trouble sleeping. Jean Davis, Ph.D., associate professor and assistant dean for adult health in WSU’s College of Nursing, and Hermann-Josef Engels, Ph.D., professor of exercise physiology in WSU’s College of Education have been working to find a solution to getting a better night’s sleep. Funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, their interdisciplinary team conducted a study to determine whether a personalized exercise program could serve as a non-pharmacological treatment for sleep problems. They focused specifically on post-menopausal women, a group for which disrupted sleep – difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, or both – is one of the most common complaints.

Finding the Missing Puzzle Piece of Autism

Julie O'Connor — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:29 PST

Autism, one of the greatest mysteries of medicine – and the most pervasive development disorder that is characterized by the impairment of social interactions and communication, severely restricted interest levels and highly repetitive behavior – is prevalent in one to two per 1,000 people. Autism affects many parts of the brain, but how it happens is not clearly understood. Signs of autism become noticeable in the first three years of a child’s life, and early intervention can help children gain important social, communication and self-care skills they would otherwise lack. There is no single known cause of autism and there is no cure for the disease that requires a lifetime of support. Dr. Diane Chugani, professor of pediatrics and radiology at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine and director of the Translational Imaging Laboratory at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, is doing research to find the origins and a possible treatment for autism.

Translating Science to Improve Urban Health: An International Linkage of Geospatial Information with Environmentally Induced Asthma Models

Julie O'Connor — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:28 PST

Wayne State University has a long-standing commitment to bringing change to urban health, particularly through research on disparate outcomes in disease, prevention and cure experienced among different ethnic, cultural and socio-economic groups. Through WSU’s Research Enhancement Program to Support Clinical Translational Science in Urban Health, the university is joining together researchers from multiple institutions. These teams bring together expertise from their respective disciplines to analyze problems from many perspectives, with the goal of resolving them across a variety of domains such as biological, psychological and environmental. By fostering multidisciplinary clinical and translational research at WSU, its affiliates and collaborating institutions, WSU hopes to be a true academic home for research that will impact healthcare throughout the United States and beyond. One such project funded through this initiative has great potential in aiding the control and management of community, family and school- based interventions of asthma and potentially other diseases in children and adults in the cities of Detroit and Windsor. The study, Linking Geospatial Information with Public Health Outcomes: Modeling Asthma Morbidity Across an Urban International Border, is potentially one of the first international studies that is comparing and contrasting environmental indicators with specific health outcomes in cities with shared pollution sources, yet very different healthcare systems.

Moving Beyond the Campus to the Community

Amy Oprean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:28 PST

Wayne State University’s commitment to improving human conditions is far reaching, and the School of Social Work has taken this on as a serious challenge. In 2008, the school launched a new center that merges research and practice – with the goal of improving both. The culmination of strong leadership, hard work and years of planning, the Center for Social Work Practice and Policy Research is a state-of-the-art hub that will assist WSU faculty in their research, engage in partnerships with Detroit community service providers and communicate social work policy and practice information to the public. “We’re trying to generate and disseminate knowledge that improves the lives of the disadvantaged through research, consultation and dissemination,” said Joanne Sobeck, Ph.D., associate professor and director of research in the School of Social Work, and the center’s inaugural director. Since its induction, the center has served as a dynamic resource to Wayne State faculty members for support in their research, outside community organizations for technical support and collaboration opportunities, and the public for developments in social work research and policy.

Aging Out

Sarah James — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:27 PST

At a time in the United States when a record number of parents are financially and emotionally supporting their children well into adulthood, one group of adolescents and probably the most ill prepared, is forced to fend for themselves at age eighteen. Each year, approximately 20,000 American adolescents “age out” of the foster care system, often without the resources needed to live successfully on their own for the first time. Usually without a family support system, savings or training for independent living, odds are doubly against these youth already at increased risk for negative economic and social outcomes. Children in the foster care system typically come from poor communities, receive inadequate education, undergo frequent school changes and have suffered abuse and neglect as children, which prompted their placement in foster care. Wayne State University’s Research Group on Homelessness and Poverty and the group’s founder, Professor Paul Toro, have been studying the issue of homelessness from a variety of angles since the 1980s. “I never get bored with studying this issue because homelessness is such a complicated problem,” says Dr. Toro. “We are probably the only scholars in the world who have studied most aspects of homelessness, from public opinion to prevalence to intervention to prevention research.”

Turning Down Tinnitus: Giving Veterans their Peace and Quiet

Amy Oprean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:27 PST

For many people, it’s a temporary annoyance – the high-pitched ringing in the ears that comes after working with a power saw, a leaf blower or perhaps most commonly, the unwanted souvenir from a concert. But while tinnitus may be a transient hassle for many, there is another group of people for which it’s a permanent and debilitating phenomenon. Military personnel stationed in the warzones of Iraq and Afghanistan experience the “phantom sound” of tinnitus much like civilians do, but for troops, the perpetual exposure to roadside bombs, gunfire, and rocket-propelled grenades exacerbates the condition to the point of no return. Wayne State researchers Anthony Cacace, Ph.D., and Jinsheng Zhang, Ph.D., are working to change that with two potential treatments for chronic tinnitus. Different by design but united with a common goal of suppression, these potential treatments pose the possibility of curing an injury that stays with soldiers long after other battle wounds have healed.

Giving Hope Through Research: A Search for Novel Treatments for Parkinson's Disease, Depression and Drug Abuse

Julie O'Connor — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:26 PST

Parkinson’s disease affects approximately one percent of people older than 65 years of age. Nearly one million people in the United States have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a chronic and progressively debilitating disorder. This motor system disorder which causes trembling in hands, arms, legs, jaw and face; stiffness of the limbs and trunk; slowness of movement; and impaired balance and coordination, is the result of the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells. While there is great hope in Parkinson’s disease research, there is no cure. A variety of medications provide relief from the symptoms, including levodopa, also known as L-dopa, that converts into dopamine as it reaches nerve cells in the brain. Levodopa therapy often results in the emergence of motor complications and eventually patients may not respond to the drug. Multiple years of L-dopatreatment can cause severe side effects and possible neurotoxicity leading to the withdrawal of use of the drug. But an answer to why Parkinson’s disease develops in some patients and a cure for it remains a mystery. “No ideal therapies are available for slowing the progression of the degeneration process and at the same time relieving symptomatic abnormalities associated with the disease,” said Aloke Dutta, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences and medicinal chemistry in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Wayne State University.

Counter Attack: Developing New Weapons in the Battle Against Antibiotic Resistance

Amy Oprean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:26 PST

In the course of human medicine, few discoveries have been as far-reaching and successful as the development of antibiotics in the 20th century. Introduced to mainstream medicine in the 1940s, these drugs have been utilized to vanquish a vast array of bacterial infections, relieving the suffering and saving the lives of millions of people. But antibiotics aren’t the surefire defense they used to be. A drop in research over the past several decades in developing new antibiotics, coupled with bacteria’s evolutionary drive to develop resistance, has caused the number of effective antibiotics to diminish, and with increasing speed. Christine Chow, Ph.D., professor of Chemistry in Wayne State’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is leading a research team in developing a novel strategy to get an edge over bacteria’s relentlessly evolving defense mechanisms. “Resistance is a huge problem,” Dr. Chow said. “There are now strains of bacteria that are completely resistant to every known drug. We want to create something new that isn’t as easy for bacteria to resist.”

Two Part Harmony: Beginner Music Students Learn the Strings as Undergrads Make Teaching Debut

Amy Oprean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:25 PST

Ever since she was 12 years old, Dr. Laura Roelofs, assistant professor of music in Wayne State University’s College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, knew she wanted to be a performer, but it took a few more years to discover she also wanted to teach. “I planned right away on playing the violin professionally, but I realized within a few years that performing and teaching go hand in hand, and that you learn even more from teaching someone else than you do by practicing.” Roelofs hopes some of Wayne State University’s music students will experience a similar moment of discovery during their time as teachers in the String Project @ Wayne, an intensive teacher-training program that began its first semester in September 2008. The program offers three levels of lessons for the violin, viola, cello and bass for Detroit-area children grades three to five, taught by WSU music performance or music education undergraduate students under the supervision of a master teacher. Classes are small – no more than 10 students to a teacher – and range from $4 to $5 per session, depending on the class. For 2008-09, the project is funded by WSU’s President’s Research Enhancement Program and the NAMM Foundation through the National String Project Consortium. The String Project @ Wayne has also formed a collaborative partnership with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; the project classes serve as the foundation level of the DSO’s Power of Dreams Program, a project that provides children with little to no access to string education the opportunity to participate in string classes.

Degree of Distraction: What Cell Phones Do To A Driver's Brain

Amy Oprean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:25 PST

In today’s fast paced, technology-saturated world, cell phones have changed daily life in a multitude of ways – and not always for the better. A major concern surrounding mobile phones is the hazard of conversation-engrossed drivers losing focus on the road, potentially contributing to crashes. But while anecdotes of cell phone- distracted drivers aren’t hard to find, an actual scientific measure of how dangerous cell phones are – both hand-held and hands-free – is still a highly controversial topic among researchers, lawmakers and drivers. Li Hsieh, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is one such researcher working to assess the mechanisms underlying how cell phone conversations affect driver performance, with a specific focus on visual event detection.

Protecting the Mature Mind

Julie O'Connor — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:24 PST

One of the major unsolved mysteries of aging two hormones thought to influence the brain’s MRI scanner reveal that older participants had is why some people age gracefully with little to no memory or cognitive dysfunction, while others are afflicted with debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. An adult brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells – neurons - that branch out and connect to more than 100 trillion points. Signals traveling through the neurons form the basis of thoughts, feelings and memories. It is these cells that are destroyed by Alzheimer’s disease, leading to tissue loss throughout the brain, affecting nearly all of its functions. Dr. Scott Moffat’s research is focused on understanding these complex elements of the mind which may one day lead to new solutions to slow or stop debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Dr. Moffat, associate professor in the Institute of Gerontology, and his research team are investigating two principal areas of research associated with aging. The first which is conducted in his Neuroscience of Aging Lab, seeks to understand the cognitive, structural and functional brain changes associated with aging. He has developed virtual reality technology that incorporates functional MRI studies to assess the behavioral and neural mechanisms of age-related decline in human spatial cognition.

Changing the Course of Children's Health: Michigan Alliance for the National Children's Study

Julie O'Connor — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:23 PST

As a nation, we have made great advances in improving the health and development of children over the past century. However, high rates of asthma, developmental disorders, obesity, preventable injuries and a host of other problems are still a challenge for our society. While studies in recent years have offered important insights into these conditions, most have been too small or too specific to analyze the wide range of environmental factors and relationships that may impact diseases and conditions afflicting today’s child. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is leading the most ambitious nationwide children’s health research project in history – the National Children’s Study – which is designed to follow children from before birth to age 21 to study the impact of the environment, broadly defined, on their health and ultimately to seek out ways to prevent many of the diseases from which children suffer. In 2007, the NIH awarded $18.5 million to the Michigan Alliance for the National Children’s Study (MANCS) for study work in Wayne County, and an additional $57 million in 2008 to study children in Genesee, Grand Traverse, Lenawee and Macomb counties. Through these awards, MANCS will monitor 5,000 children in Michigan to pinpoint the root causes of many of today’s major childhood diseases and disorders and determine what aspects of the environment are harmful, but also what is helpful to children’s health and development.

Helping Our Heroes: Investigating Blast Induced Neurotrauma in U.S. Troops

Amy Oprean — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:23 PST

From the machine guns and air raids of the World Wars to the lingering effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the threats that U.S. troops endure have continually changed with every era of war. No exception to this rule are the conflicts of Afghanistan and Iraq, which are the first in U.S. history to see improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – bombs detonated under artillery vehicles and on crowded streets, sometimes strapped to suicide bombers – as the primary mode of attack waged on U.S. soldiers. Young in their diagnosis but vast in impact, blast injuries from IEDs make up about 80 percent of injuries to U.S. troops returning from Iraq, and have earned the title the signature injury of these wars. The prevalence of injuries from this weapon of choice has elicited an onslaught of questions that researchers are scrambling to answer: What are the long term effects of these close-range, frequent blasts? How do blast waves impact soldiers in artillery vehicles differently than those on foot? And perhaps the most perplexing, how are these blasts causing traumatic brain injury, or TBI, in 10 to 20 percent of returning troops? Wayne State researchers, Dr. Cynthia Bir and Dr. Pamela VandeVord, and a team of collaborators are working to answer those questions with the project Blast Induced Neurotrauma, an investigation funded by a $790,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research and additional funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Using a state of the art blast tube – one of less than a dozen owned by U.S. universities – Bir and VandeVord are conducting an integrative investigation of “primary” blast injuries, or damages caused by the short duration, high amplitude pressure waves emitted from explosives. These injuries are now believed to be the reason behind the unprecedented number of soldiers that are returning from war with symptoms of mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries, many of whom don’t recall being hit in the head.

Letter from the Vice President for Research

Hilary Ratner — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:29:22 PST

At Wayne State University, we have long viewed our mission as embedded in the life of our community, one of America’s great cities, which leads to a focus on urban issues and a commitment to social action. Wayne State University’s urban mission is manifest in our history, location and tradition, and the commitment to this mission has been reaffirmed as part of the vision for WSU as the model research urban university for the 21st century. WSU has a rich history and long tradition of innovation - developing new knowledge and products, discovering “why” so we can know “how,” offering creative solutions to real-world problems, and educating our students. Here at Wayne State, research serves as a bridge between access and excellence. The research enterprise at Wayne State has undergone fundamental changes in the past decade, leading to significant success. Some of our success stories are shared here. Multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator, and multi-institutional projects; opportunities for commercialization and entrepreneurship; economic development; and translational research are just some of the influences that have shaped the work we do. Most important, however, is the fact that our achievements would not be possible without the talent, commitment, and investment of our exceptional faculty whose ideas are transformational. In this issue of New Science, we offer you a sample of the groundbreaking advances in our research and scholarship, often conducted collaboratively with partners such as the University Research Corridor, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and the Henry Ford Health System. Alliances such as these not only create more opportunities for new ideas, but also support translating our research into action faster, better, and smarter. Our faculty’s commitment to foster teaching and research programs that educate future leaders provides many with the knowledge to improve the world in which we live. Wayne State University is at the forefront of pioneering approaches critical to economic growth, solving universal problems, and improving the quality of urban life here at home, across the nation, and around the world. I hope you enjoy this issue of New Science.

New Science Volume 18

Division of Research — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:08:22 PST

Full issue to Volume 18 of New Science

New Science Volume 19

Division of Research — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:57:05 PST

Full issue to Volume 19 of New Science