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Alumni Journal - Volume 94, Number 3, Loma Linda University School Of Medicine

Alumni Journal, School of Medicine

Editorials

2 | From the Editor
4 | From the President
6 | From the Dean

News

8 | Alumni News
10 | This & That
12 | APC 2024 Preview
14 | School of Medicine News
16 | Students
18 | AIMS Report: BARAKA: Hope and Healing for Sudanese Refugees
20 | Department Report: Pathology & Human Anatomy

Features

14 | Women in Medicine: Stories of Experience, Contributions, and Accomplishments
26 | Women in Medicine: A Conversation
32 | Early Hightory of Women in Medicine at LLU
34 | One Doctor's Story of Teaching and Healing in Angola
38 …

Metaverse’S Rise And Decline, Nir Kshetri, Jeffrey Voas, Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Diana Rojas Torres, Gayle O'Keefe

Business: Faculty Publications

Major companies in diverse industries have recently downsized or closed down their metaverse divisions. The authors look at the factors that have led to such strategies.

Water Current, Volume 55, No. 3, Fall 2023

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Future Of U.S. Agricultural Biotechnology And Trade: Summary Of A Roundtable Discussion

Yeutter Institute Publications

The United States is one of the largest and highest-yield agricultural producers and exporters in the world. But the world’s population is growing, and growing conditions themselves are changing. Farms face shifting weather patterns, more frequent and severe storms, floods, and drought, and changing pest and disease pressures. What farmers plant and how they plant it are evolving to keep pace with these changes. Future global food security, sustainability, and U.S. leadership in agriculture will depend on the domestic and international policy and regulatory landscapes for agricultural biotechnology innovation. The Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance at the …

University Libraries Newsletter - October 2023, Paula Webb

USA Libraries Newsletter

University Libraries newsletter for October 2023.

Contents include:

• Jia He Appointed to the Joint Council of Librarians of Color
• Marx Library Faculty and Staff Help with Transfer Student Orientation
• USA Faculty and Staff Present at the Southeastern Library Conference
• Panel Highlights USA Collaboration at the Society of Alabama Archivists Conference
• McCall Library Acquires William C. (Bill) Shrout Photography Collection
• Navigating High School, Avik Bank
• Biomedical Librarians Promote Health Information at Senior Lifestyle Expo
• University Libraries Presentations
• USA Libraries Exhibits and Events
• Key Points & Happenings for October 2023 from the Executive Director
• University Libraries Values and Standards of Practice

Gsl Researcher (Fall 2023)

GSL Researcher

GSL Researcher (Fall 2023)

Greetings

People

Range and pasture update

Technical note

Ranch update

Highlighted research

GSL Open House agenda

GSL spotlight

Learning Opportunities 2023/2024, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Course Catalogs

The graduation requirements of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy are established by the IMSA Board of Trustees. Each semester students must take a minimum of five academic courses (2.5 credits) for a letter grade (not Pass/Fail) not including Fine Arts, Wellness, SIR, Internship, and Independent Study. Students may enroll in a maximum of eight courses each semester including academic courses, Fine Arts, Wellness, SIR, Internship, and Independent Study. The College and Academic Counselor approves enrollment for students in all courses and experiences. Only courses taken for a letter grade will count toward graduation credit.

Imsa’S Equity And Excellence Plan: 3 Year Outcome Report, Adrienne Coleman

Equity and Excellence Plan

The Academy recognizes and acknowledges the historical underrepresentation and marginalization of culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse groups, both universally, and particularly, in STEM education and professions. These disparities also exist in the representation of the Academy’s workforce. We are committed to advancing equity in STEM education and representation and creating a diverse, inclusive community of global citizens who can realize their full potential, and execute our mission to advance the human condition, through a model of Equity and Excellence.

Imagination To Innovation: Design Thinking For Young Learners, Lindsey Herlehy, Cassandra Armstrong

Publications & Research

Design thinking is the intersection of engineering design and social-emotional learning. Today’s learners must be empathetic problem solvers capable of defining problems and designing appropriate solutions to meet the needs of the user. In this session, participants will experience design thinking through literature-based scenarios appropriate for early learners. They will analyze and compare their own models to those of others and compose a lesson that will engage students in the design thinking process.

Mantle Flow Underneath The South China Sea Revealed By Seismic Anisotropy, Fansheng Kong, Rui Gao, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Weiwei Ding, Xiongwei Niu, Aiguo Ruan, Pingchuan Tan, Jianke Fan, Shaoping Lu, Zhengyi Tong, Liqun Cheng, Wenfei Gong, Yanghui Zhao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

It Has Long Been Established that Plastic Flow in the Asthenosphere Interacts Constantly with the overlying Lithosphere and Plays a Pivotal Role in Controlling the Occurrence of Geohazards Such as Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions. Unfortunately, Accurately Characterizing the Direction and Lateral Extents of the Mantle Flow Field is Notoriously Difficult, Especially in Oceanic Areas Where Deployment of Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBSs) is Expensive and Thus Rare. in This Study, by Applying Shear Wave Splitting Analyses to a Dataset Recorded by an OBS Array that We Deployed between Mid-2019 and Mid-2020 in the South China Sea (SCS), We Show that the …

Greener Routes To Biomass Valorization: Lignin Upgrading Using Electrochemical Method, Fang Lin

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Due to the concerns over the global environmental impact of fossil fuel use, the conversion of renewable biomass to fuels and useful chemicals has attracted increasing attention. Lignin has emerged as a promising candidate due to its unique aromatic backbone structure and its natural abundance coupled with its underutilization as a feedstock. The growing interest in lignin as a renewable feedstock for aromatic platform chemicals has led to increased research efforts into its valorization, particularly through controlled depolymerization into smaller aromatic building blocks. One of the most common bonds in lignin’s complex structure is the C-O bond, and these bonds …

The Role Of Mechanical Forces In Biological Motion And Morphology, Sorosh Amiri

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Mechanical forces are essential in many life processes. The mechanical machinery of cells \textbf{--} the cytoskeleton is a complex system of force-bearing and active force-generation components. These components dynamically interact far from equilibrium in order to perform or facilitate biological functions at the cell scale such as shape change, migration, and polarization. Collectively, cells orchestrate single-cell mechanical functions to give rise to emerging mechanics at the tissue scale, such as embryo development or collective migration. Despite a good understanding of molecular mechanisms of force generation and force bearing, it is still unclear how molecular mechanics leads to cell-scale or tissue-scale …

Environmental Surveillance Of Viral Pathogens For Identifying Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Alessandro Zulli

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

The detection and quantification of viral infectious disease outbreaks is necessary for theeffective implementation of public health interventions that protect human health. Communicable viral diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and prior pandemics have had acute economic and social impacts. However, the identification and tracking of community wide outbreaks for most human viruses across the developed and developing world does not occur due to resource constraints. The goal of this dissertation’s research is to develop the science and methodology that underpin the environmental surveillance of viruses, focusing specifically on wastewater monitoring for identifying and tracking viral …

Early And Late Stage Mechanisms Of Autophagosome Formation, Taryn J. Olivas

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

During autophagosome biogenesis, the incorporation of transmembrane proteins into the expanding phagophore is not readily observed. In addition, the membrane surface area of the organelle expands rapidly, while the volume of the autophagosome is kept low. This means that canonical methods for membrane biogenesis do not apply to autophagosomes. Exciting developments in recent years support a new mechanism that could explain these unique attributes of this double-membrane organelle. Several recent studies have suggested the autophagosome expands predominantly through the direct protein-mediated transfer of lipids through the lipid transfer protein ATG2.As these lipids are only introduced into the cytoplasmic-facing leaflet of …

Mechanisms Of Immunopathology Following Covid-19 And Vaccination In Children & Early Life Immunity In Neonates, Anjali Ramaswamy

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Children and babies have unique infectious and inflammatory susceptibilities and are at an increased risk for developing severe disease or autoinflammatory sequelae from infections. However, many pediatric autoinflammatory diseases are poorly understood, as are mechanisms by which humans mount immune defenses in early life. We uncovered novel immunopathologic mechanisms underlying two childhood inflammatory conditions linked to COVID-19 infection and vaccination: multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and vaccine-adjacent myopericarditis, respectively. We leveraged a systems approach to study these conditions, using multiomic single-cell RNA sequencing and serum profiling. We found key signatures of MIS-C that include innate immune triggering, and an …

Tackling Fgfr Fusion-Positive Cancers With A Novel Synergistic Combination Of Fgfr And Hdac Inhibitors, Zechen Wang

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

FGFR genomic alterations have been implicated in a number of cancers as oncogenesis driver genes. However, despite the approval of several FGFR inhibitors as targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer patients with FGFR aberrations in recent years, durable responses for FGFR inhibitors are still uncommon and most patients relapse to metastatic disease. In particular, FGFR2 fusions have been detected in ~15% of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patients. ICC is a highly aggressive bile duct carcinoma, with a dismal 5-year overall survival rate for patients at advanced stages. Therefore, there is a desperate and urgent need for the development of new …

Exploring 3d Genomics And Its Regulation: Spatial Crispr Screening Reveals Regulators Of 3d Genome Architectures And Chromatin Tracing Unfolds X Chromosome Conformations In Human Pluripotent Stem Cells, Bing Yang

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

3D genomics is a rapidly emerging field that seeks to understand the role of the three-dimensional organization of the genome in gene regulation, cellular function, and biological processes. Chromatin tracing has recently emerged as an image-based highly multiplexed fluorescent in-situ hybridization method to detect 3D genome architectures in various biological contexts. However, the regulation of 3D genomics remains less understood. Recent advances in CRISPR screening have enabled systematic identification of genetic perturbations critical to cellular phenotypes and diseases. Yet, the phenotype readouts provided by current CRISPR screens are limited to low content, posing challenges for detection of complex 3D genome …

Investigation Of Variant Guanine Riboswitches And Other Nucleic Acid Motifs That Sense Metal Ions, Siddhartha Hamal Dhakal

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Riboswitches are regulatory RNA elements commonly present in the 5′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of certain mRNA molecules. They carry a conserved aptamer region that binds to metabolites or elemental ions. The binding of ligand promotes distinct folding pathway in the RNA structure which is translated into a regulatory response that either activates or inhibits the expression of downstream genes. Over 55 different classes of riboswitches have been experimentally validated so far that govern various aspects of biology in bacteria, archaea, and select eukaryotes. These RNA elements are thought have played crucial roles in gene regulation during the RNA World era, …

Determining The Role Of Beta-Tubulin 4b In Cilia And Development, Mycah Theair Sewell

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Microtubules (MTs) are a key component of the cytoskeleton and participate in multiple cellular functions and processes. MTs are made of α- and β-tubulin proteins that are encoded by multiple, individual isotype genes. Over the recent decades there has been mounting evidence that despite the high similarity among tubulin proteins, these various isotypes have unique functions rather than being functionally redundant. First, tubulins have different expression and localization patterns. Second, mutations in different tubulin genes result in a variety of disease phenotypes, some of which are exclusively tied to specific tubulins. Finally, multiple tubulin studies have shown that tubulin composition …

Data-Driven Heart Geometry Modeling For Patient-Specific Biomechanics, Daniel Hyungseok Pak

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Accurate heart geometry modeling from medical images is important for both cardiovascular research and clinical practice. Prominent use cases include anatomical measurements, physics-based simulations, and 3D-printed phantoms. Various computational approaches have been proposed to automate the geometry modeling tasks. Most existing methods have utilized a ``bottom-up" approach, starting with a simpler geometry representation and progressively increasing its complexity to obtain the final desired output. Such methods have often consisted of mixtures of techniques that tackle each sub-problem separately, which can offer flexibility in the modeling process but can also lead to inefficient workflows and high dependency on human experts. In …

Gradient-Free Magnetic Resonance Imaging In A Nonuniform B0, With A Novel Low-Field Magnet System, Kartiga Selvaganesan

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Over the last 50 years Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has become a mainstay of modern medicine as a noninvasive diagnostic imaging tool. Most clinical and research MR scanners have trended towards higher field strengths as a means of improving spatial resolution while minimizing scan time. However, widespread availability of these systems is limited, with 90% of people worldwide still lacking access to MRI. Much of this discrepancy comes from the high cost and complexity associated with installing, operating, and maintaining conventional MR scanners. By relaxing the hardware requirements, moving to lower field-strengths, and creating more open-bore systems, MRI can become …

Resource Allocation Problems For Efficient And Sustainable Next-Generation Networks, Nicholas Nordlund

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

A “next-generation” of networks is emerging as the requirements for and capabilities of modern networked systems grow increasing more complex compared to their predecessors. These next-generation networks include cloud data centers with hardware disaggregation, mega-constellations of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, and alternative fuel vehicle transportation networks. To ensure efficient design and operation, they require more sophisticated resource allocation strategies. Better resource allocation strategies unlock the full potential of next-generation network infrastructure by using resources more efficiently. These resource allocation strategies that improve efficiency are particularly relevant today as governments, companies, and researchers have begun placing greater emphasis on environmental sustainability. …

The Satellite And The Territory: Essays On Remote Sensing And The Economics Of Sustainable Development, Matthew Gordon

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

The increasing availability of satellite data is creating unprecedented opportunities to study sustainable development processes at both a global scale and fine temporal and spatial resolution. Economists and environmental researchers are using satellite data products to measure land-use change, economic growth, household vulnerability, air pollution, and more. When these data products are used in research or policy-making uncritically, however, the conclusions that follow can be inappropriate. This dissertation examines the potential opportunities and the shortcomings of three different uses of satellite data to inform sustainable development policy -- targeting policy, causal inference, and measurement. The first chapter studies the question …

On The Evolution Of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism: Diversity, Anatomy, And Genetic Components, Ian Spencer Gilman

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is an adaption to water- and CO2-limitation that has evolved independently in dozens of vascular plant lineages. The study of CAM began with 18th and 19th botanists, who noted curious changes in plant sap acidity and dark-period gas exchange in succulent plants, and continues into the genomics age with goals of engineering CAM into crops in light of global climate change. The major enzymes, metabolites, and day-night rhythms of CAM have long been established, but many fundamental questions remain, and modern molecular and computational tools allow us to ask new questions about the evolution and genetic …

Deciphering Immune Interactions In The Tumor Microenvironment, Orr-El Weizman

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Deciphering the Tumor Immune Interactome Cancerous transformations are initiated in normal healthy cells by oncogenic hits. Subsequent acquisition of somatic mutations over time results in the transformation of aberrant cells to cancerous outgrowth to eventual metastatic dissemination. Since the multistep process of oncogenesis does not exist in a vacuum, as these cells arise within the context of a tissue, how does host defenses interact with aberrant transformed cancerous cells? As early as 1909, Paul Ehrlich offered the first hypothesis of immune interaction with tumor cells, arguing that the immune cells can recognize and protect against cancer cells. Further developed by …

Towards Practical Electrocatalysis For Industrial Wastewater Treatment, David Kim

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Electrocatalytic water treatment has emerged into the limelight of academic interest, yet their long-term viability remains largely in the dark. Despite major progress in materials and systems development, little is known regarding their performance under real wastewater matrices, which contain a multitude of impurities at everchanging concentrations. In this dissertation, we will present a thorough framework on how to realize the solutions of these key challenges and move towards practical implementation. This work will first demonstrate the formulation of a benchmarking protocol to systematically assess the impacts of wastewater on catalytic performance. In particular, H2O2 electrocatalytic synthesis is highlighted as …

Learning Latent Representations For Biological Molecules, Tianxiao Li

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Recent progresses in machine learning have achieved phenomenal successes in the prediction of properties of biological molecules from large biological data. However, how much the models really “understand” the nature of the data remains an important question. Representation learning aims at extracting information-rich, low dimensional vector representations from complex high dimensional data. Such representations not only facilitate visualization and interpretation of the data, but also flexibly and efficiently generalized to other downstream tasks without having to re-learn universal patterns in every application. Furthermore, in generative modelling, the latent representations can be directly manipulated to direct the generation towards desired properties. …

Improving Genetic Diagnostics And Developing Gene Therapies In Rare Muscle Diseases, Kaiyue Ma

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

The journey towards finding a cure for rare disease patients is hindered by two significant obstacles: the challenge of obtaining a definitive diagnosis and the difficulty in accessing effective treatment. This dissertation research aims to address both issues in rare muscle diseases. Firstly, a highly adaptable workflow called Saturation Mutagenesis-Reinforced Functional assays (SMuRF) was developed to enhance variant interpretation and aid in clinical decision-making. To validate its utility, SMuRF was applied to a group of rare diseases called dystroglycanopathies, which are caused by mutations in enzymes involved in alpha-dystroglycan glycosylation, including FKRP and LARGE1. Over 99.9% of all possible single …

Manipulating And Measuring States Of A Superfluid Optomechanical Resonator In The Quantum Regime, Yiqi Wang

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Quantum optomechanics describes utilizing optics to precisely manipulate and read out the motional degrees of freedom of a mechanical oscillator. If the mechanical oscillator is very weakly coupled to its environment, then the optomechanical interaction can be used to control the state of the mechanical oscillator in a quantum way. Applying these systems to advanced sensing techniques has inaugurated experiments on dark matter searches, gravitational wave detection, quantum gravitational phenomena tests, and sensing beyond the standard quantum limit. I am motivated by asking: “What is the largest and most tangible object to reveal purely quantum phenomena?” In addition, I seek …

Informing Design Of Sustainable Sorbents For Drinking Water Treatment: Faceted Nanohematite For Oxoanion Removal, Holly Elizabeth Rudel

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Provision of safe drinking water is of global importance, as evidenced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and yet significant inequities still exist in its access. Particularly, people that are geographically and/or economically limited bear the greatest burden. Within the United States, high costs of treatment for small communities or individual households pose significant barriers to the removal of contaminants below regulatory limits, let alone to health protective concentrations. Of particular concern are inorganic oxoanions (e.g., arsenic (As) and selenium (Se)), which pose serious risks to human and environmental health and are simultaneously challenging to remove because of their …