Misc Research articles

https://news.fsu.edu/news/health-medicine/2019/01/21/fsu-research-sheds-light-on-spinal-cord-injuries/

Yi Ren, a professor of biomedical sciences at the Florida State University College of Medicine, is making progress in understanding why such significant harm is inflicted in the weeks and months after a spinal injury. In a study published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Ren explained how a natural immune system response may contribute to additional injury.

When spinal cord damage occurs, the endothelial cells that line blood vessels are activated to remove potentially harmful material, like myelin debris, from the site of the injury. However, Ren and her team discovered that this process may be responsible for causing further harm.

“The consequences of the effort of endothelial cells to clear myelin debris is often severe, contributing to post-traumatic degeneration of the spinal cord and to the functional disabilities often associated with spinal cord injuries,” said Ren, whose team conducted the study over a period of five years.

https://news.fsu.edu/news/health-medicine/2019/01/16/noted-behavioral-scientist-joins-college-of-nursing-faculty/

Frank Y. Wong, a National Institutes of Health-funded researcher investigating sexual health and substance use/abuse among Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the United States, has joined the Florida State University College of Nursing.

Wong is an expert in community-based research targeting racial/ethnic and underserved populations, including immigrants, refugees, and linguistic and sexual minorities with a history of or who are currently using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and engaging in HIV-related risk practices.

He is the principal investigator of a five-year, NIH-funded study investigating hypertension in HIV-positive African-American and Asian/Pacific-American men who are sexually involved with other men.

“We were elated to have Professor Wong join the faculty at the College of Nursing this fall,” said Vice President for Research Gary K. Ostrander. “Not long after he began his tenure at FSU, he was awarded a $2.25 million NIH grant, a huge show of confidence in the important work he does in community health.”

https://news.fsu.edu/news/science-technology/2019/01/30/fsu-team-breaks-new-ground-in-study-of-malignant-pediatric-brain-tumor/

Scientists are making important progress in the battle against a class of devilishly complex human pediatric brain cancers thanks to a new study from a team of Florida State University students and faculty.

Among young children, there’s no brain tumor more common than medulloblastoma. But no specific and effective therapy yet exists for this dangerous disease. Instead, doctors are forced to resort to onerous and invasive treatments like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, often at the expense of the child’s quality of life.

Medulloblastoma, which is divided into four subgroups, is partially caused when a mutation occurs in the “driver genes” that either promote or suppress cancerous tumor growth. These mutations can be inherited, sporadic or environmentally induced, but once they appear, they increase the risk for the unfettered and abnormal cell division that leads to malignant tumors.

A team of FSU researchers, led by Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Qing-Xiang “Amy” Sang, was interested in learning more about these mutations. Using data from the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer, they identified a series of cancer-causing driver gene mutations and discovered that medulloblastoma is perhaps an even more dynamic and variable tumor than expected.

https://news.fsu.edu/news/science-technology/2019/02/11/across-the-spectrum-researchers-find-way-to-stabilize-color-of-light-in-next-gen-material/

A team of Florida State University physicists has found a way to stabilize the color of light being emitted from a promising class of next-generation materials that researchers believe could be the basis for efficient and more cost-effective optoelectronic technologies that can turn light into electricity or vice versa.

The research is published in Nature Communications.

“This particular work is solving a critical problem that has inhibited the development of viable applications based on these materials,” said Assistant Professor of Physics Hanwei Gao.

Gao and physics doctoral student Xi Wang were working with a class of materials called halide perovskites. Researchers believe these materials have great potential for optoelectronic technologies because they are inexpensive to obtain and highly efficient. However, in these technologies, scientists need to be able to tune the bandgap or the color of the light emission. In halide perovskites this has been a bit tricky.

Color tunability has always been possible with halide perovskites, but it’s not been stable. For example, a device with this material might shine one color such as yellow, but then turn to red quickly if illuminated continuously by ultraviolet light.