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Rutgers Researchers Aim to Edit Proteins in Humans and Attain Insight into Illness

Posted on by Sean Downey

Rutgers researchers are seeking to develop the technology to modify or edit protein molecules in the body—an advance that could spur major breakthroughs in human health. While such research is in its early phases, the Rutgers team has received support from a National Science Foundation (NSF) program that provides funding for boldly conceived research.

“This research, if successful, would build the technology to allow precision editing of proteins,” says Sagar Khare, the principal investigator on the project and a professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences. “The ability to edit proteins will widen our understanding of fundamental human biology as well as lay the foundation for therapies that could selectively destroy or correct defective proteins associated with disease.”

The research team, which includes faculty members from multiple disciplines on the New Brunswick and Camden campuses, recently received a three-year $1.5 million grant from the NSF Molecular Foundations for Biotechnology program for high-risk-high-payoff research that could set new directions in 21st-century science.

Rutgers SAS research team
Sagar D. Khare, Jean Baum, and Sijian Wang

Proteins are the workhorses of biology—responsible for making cells function in all living things. Everything from the immune system to respiration to thought and emotion are carried out by complex protein molecules, each with its own 3D shape that determines its function. Defective or misfolding proteins are associated with illnesses from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases to cancer.

“Pathologies often arise because protein function goes awry,” says Khare, who is also graduate program director at the Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine. “That is where we come in and try to fix function by selectively modifying particular types of protein.”

The goal, in short, is to build molecules, or “protein editors” in the lab that can recognize, attach to, and modify proteins in the body. That would require a high degree of precision: There are an estimated 10,000 to several million protein molecules in human cells. Accordingly, the project encompasses chemistry, biophysics, robotics, computer science, and statistics.

The team includes Jean Baum, a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in SAS, Adam Gormley, a professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering, Guillaume Lamoureux, professor of chemistry at Rutgers University-Camden, and Sijian Wang, professor of statistics in SAS.

The project would use machine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence, to train computer models to recognize or predict complex patterns of protein shapes and sequences that can edit a given target protein—like building a lock around a key, says Khare. Modeled proteins would then be synthesized and tested in molecular science labs. The back-and-forth interplay between sophisticated data science and wet lab work would continue over the course of the project, producing increasingly precise models of editors.

The project comes amid the rise of gene editing technologies that are transforming science and medicine by allowing scientists to modify an organism’s genetic material.

Khare says protein editing is the next frontier. “There is no such technology for proteins. But we have some ideas, which makes us think we can do it. And the potential benefits are enormous.”

 

Story originally appeared in Rutgers SAS.

At Rutgers, the Rapid COVID-19 Test Was Just the Beginning

Posted on by Tahjaun Clarke

The Rutgers Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases made worldwide news last year when its researchers developed a multivariant COVID-19 test that was faster, easier and cheaper than anything previously available. Now leaders of the institute believe Rutgers researchers are poised to make far greater contributions to global health in years to come.

Ongoing projects seek to produce everything from revolutionary allergy treatments to rapid tests for other pathogens to high-tech bandages designed to make wounds heal faster and better.

Nicholas Bessman, a recent recruit from Cornell University, is researching a nutritional treatment that would fight cancer and inflammatory bowel disease by creating a healthier gut microbiome. Karen Edelblum, a researcher recruited from the University of Chicago, has identified an immune cell population in the intestinal barrier that may be targeted for the treatment of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Mark Siracusa, originally recruited from the University of Pennsylvania, has recently formed a company called NemaGen that is marketing a novel treatment that targets mast cells to control severe allergic reactions, Their different projects all share a similar basic strategy: targeting harmful components of the immune system while favoring the beneficial functions that guard against infectious diseases.

“We’re at this incredible period in history when advances in our fundamental understanding of both infection and inflammation give us an unprecedented opportunity to create better more personalized treatments for a wide range of conditions: AIDS, malaria, influenza, diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease and many more,” said William C. Gause, director of the institute and a Rutgers professor of medicine and a senior associate dean for research.

“We saw both this big opportunity for innovation and a relative lack of research organizations in the space, so Rutgers jumped in with both feet and launched the institute as a major initiative in 2016,” Gause said. “Our team has been doing important work from the start, but after six years of both internal and external recruiting, we have assembled a large team of brilliant people, and the pace of innovation continues to accelerate.”

So far, the institute has expanded from just an idea to 53 full faculty members and about 150 associate faculty members, most of whom also have appointments in other Rutgers schools. Collectively, institute faculty attract about $70 million in annual funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to one of four distinct centers:

  • Center for Emerging and Re-emerging Pathogens
  • Center for Immunity and Inflammation
  • Public Health Research Institute (PHRI)
  • Center for Covid Response and Pandemic Preparedness (CCRP2)

The institute has also just launched the new Center for Virus-Host-Innate-Immunity (CVHII) and a new program in neuroinflammation that will operate in collaboration with the Rutgers Brain Health Institute.

External seminar series, journal clubs, data clubs and working lab meetings — many of which are open to researchers throughout Rutgers — have promoted extensive cross-laboratory collaborations that have attracted multi-investigator NIH grants.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the dangers of infectious disease apparent to all, but the institute’s founders were discussing these dangers and advocating potential solutions long before COVID-19 even existed.

Indeed, early documents from the institute now seem prescient. A PowerPoint presentation Gause gave at several meetings in 2018 predicted the institute would be able to help global health by developing novel rapid diagnostic tests for rapidly spreading pathogens. In 2021, a team led by David Alland, who directs both the PHRI and the CCRP2, did exactly that.

The test, which Rutgers made freely available worldwide, was the first COVID-19 test to use “sloppy molecular beacon probes,” which are highly sensitive and specific DNA sequences used to detect frequent mutations in organisms. It was developed and validated in just a few weeks.

“We are well positioned to develop many other tools of equal or greater impact,” said Alland, who also is chief of the division of infectious diseases at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. “We have a great team and great facilities as well, including some that are truly rare, like an NIH-funded regional biocontainment laboratory — one of 12 in the US — where research on highly infectious select pathogens can be conducted in biosafety level 3 laboratory conditions. That’s a pretty nice thing to have when you’re doing infectious disease research.”

 

Story originally appeared in Rutgers Today.

Opening the Door for Future Generations

Posted on by Annabelle Arana-David

When Gigio K. Ninan and Kanwar S. Kelley studied at Rutgers Law School in Camden slightly more than a decade ago, the two hungry students frequented the Palace of Asia restaurant in Cherry Hill. It was there that they discussed their medical malpractice litigation class while feasting on tikka masala, palak paneer, and warm garlic naan at the $12 all-you-can-eat lunch buffet.

Gigio K. Ninan
Kanwar S. Kelley

Ninan CLAW’11, a New York attorney who often represents medical practices and pharmacies, and Kelley CLAW’10, a California physician and entrepreneur, didn’t know at the time that these trips to their favorite buffet would be the genesis of a friendship that would span the years. That connection served as the impetus for the Kanwar S. Kelley and Gigio K. Ninan Endowed Graduate Scholarship, awarded to Camden students at Rutgers Law School interested in pursuing a career in health care. “There was some synergy in doing a health care-related scholarship because of the type of companies I represent and the health care tech and medical space that Kanwar works in,” Ninan says.

John T. Vaughan III NLAW’02 also had an impactful experience at Rutgers Law School in Newark. A native of Wyckoff, New Jersey, Vaughan now lives in Los Angeles. Still, he hasn’t forgotten his Garden State roots or the law school that helped him launch a successful career as a corporate legal officer whose work spans technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and the medical device industry. Vaughan and his spouse, Jeffrey Darna, an anesthesiologist and research scientist, established the Vaughan-Darna Health Sciences Scholarship, an endowed scholarship for Newark students at Rutgers Law School who intend to pursue a career in health law. “I did that because Rutgers gave me a great education that led me to a successful career,” Vaughan says. “I want to make sure others have that chance.”

John T. Vaughan III, at right, and Jeffrey Darna

The two endowed scholarships intended for graduates entering the health sciences and health care fields are unique in being established by younger alumni. Alumni often establish endowed scholarships at or near the end of their careers. At 39 and 36, respectively, Kelley and Ninan are among the youngest alums ever to establish an endowed scholarship at Rutgers University–Camden.

Scholarships that Kelley, Ninan, and Vaughan received as law students are a motivating factor in their gifts to the law school. Vaughan received the Austin Scott Scholarship, established in memory of a former head of the Rutgers College Department of Economics. “This is paying that back with interest,” Vaughan says.

Kelley and Ninan both received scholarships offered to Rutgers Law in Camden students. “It meant a lot to me because without that money, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to connect over buffet with Kanwar,” Ninan says.

A commitment to New Jersey

Vaughan was inspired to establish a scholarship while attending a Rutgers Law reunion. That’s where he bumped into former classmates Kerry Flynn NLAW’03, RBSG’03 and Chris Andrew NLAW ’02, and learned they had established a restricted scholarship in 2015. “That opportunity to reminisce with folks and take stock of how Rutgers has contributed to my success was inspirational,” Vaughan says.

Vaughan sees his scholarship not only as an opportunity to help students financially but also as a way to invest in New Jersey, which is widely known as “the medicine chest of the world” because of its pharmaceutical and health sciences industries. “I’m proud of being born and raised in New Jersey, and I’m proud of my Rutgers education,” he says. “I want to make sure that New Jersey continues to be a life sciences leader and the one way I can do that is to provide this scholarship for health law in the state.”

Friends committed to Rutgers Law

Kelley has established a successful Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also cofounder of Shingle Technologies, which helps physicians start, manage, and grow their private practices, and Side Health, which provides fully integrated, comprehensive care for people with chronic medical conditions. Kelley says he’s proud to make time to support Rutgers Law and encourages fellow alums to do the same. “It’s super important to get involved early and, quite honestly, there’s never a good time to give financially,” Kelley says. “There’s always going to be something competing for your financial interests—whether it’s buying a house, buying a new car, putting your kids through school—but it’s super important at the same time to give back, even if it’s a small dollar amount.”

Ninan, cofounder and partner of Shankar Ninan & Co., a boutique law firm based in New York, also volunteers his time, serving as chancellor of the Rutgers Law School–Camden Alumni Association. Recently he was appointed to the Rutgers Law School Dean Search Committee. Ninan realizes that not all young alumni can afford to endow a scholarship, but he encourages them to volunteer and participate. “Time and alumni engagement are extremely valuable, and volunteering is a surefire way that younger alumni can pay it forward to our future leaders.”

 

Summer Internship Taught Student How to Advocate for Children

Posted on by Annabelle Arana-David

Before Danna Green started a summer internship at the Camden Redevelopment Agency (CRA), she hadn’t realized the power citizens can have in influencing change in their community.

The Rutgers-Camden senior learned about city government by attending council, planning board and neighborhood stakeholder meetings, and listening for residents’ comments related to CRA’s work of revitalizing neighborhoods. Hearing people speak out inspired her to pursue her own community advocacy.

“I had no idea I could attempt to do something I believe in and make an impact in this city,” said Green, among the first 100 Rutgers students accepted into Rutgers Summer Service Internship Initiative (RSSI). RSSI gives undergraduates experience at nonprofits and government agencies that provide direct services. The program includes a $5,000 stipend to attract participants like Green who could not afford to take an unpaid internship. It also includes a three-credit civic engagement course.

Green said she feels empowered to help Camden parents who, like herself, have children with learning disabilities. The married mother of twins with attention deficit challenges enrolled at Rutgers-Camden to major in childhood studies and psychology because “I wanted to understand what my children were going through,” she said.

“Now, I realize I can make a difference in the Camden school system. So many kids who need supports in the classroom aren’t getting it,” Green said. “I want to educate parents on ADHD and life skills that can help, so that they aren’t afraid to be their child’s best advocate.”

Green was an adult when diagnosed with a learning disability, so she was aware of the challenges her sons would face. She’d struggled through school, logging long hours to compensate for the difficulty she had processing information. To help her 9-year-old boys, she spends much of summer breaks preparing them for the upcoming school year.

“I’m teaching my kids to push forward, even when they feel frustrated or challenged,” she said. Green talks to her children about opportunities that await them. “I want them to have bigger dreams about what they can accomplish in life and not feel limited.”

Green transferred to Rutgers-Camden after completing an associate’s degree at Camden County College, becoming the first in her family to earn a college degree. When she graduates next spring, the 40-year-old intends to pursue a master’s degree and then work in the public school system while also pursuing her passion project of parent advocacy.

“I’ve had so much personal growth, both as a student and for my career path,” Green said about her experience interning 20 hours a week over 10 weeks this summer. “Every day was an excellent opportunity to develop my professional network while sharpening my skills.”

Growing up in North Camden, Green said she and her mother would walk past city hall “and I wondered what the building represented and what actually happened in there.” The internship gave her a front-row seat to how government worked.

Green wrote summaries of public comments made at meetings to provide CRA leadership insight into community sentiment on potential redevelopment. Fluent in Spanish, Green translated agency documents describing how residents begin the process of purchasing CRA properties so they could participate in city development, and spoke with Spanish speakers who came to the agency.

By August, Green was involved in the CRA’s community outreach and communications effort to gather input from residents, anchor institutions and nonprofits in the Bergen Square neighborhood about what redevelopment they want to see there. She created a flyer for residents and a survey to solicit input from community leaders and organizations on neighborhood aspirations for reuse of vacant and underutilized properties

CRA Interim Executive Director Olivette Simpson said she was impressed by Green’s passion to make a difference. “We have so many issues that come up on any given day, and Danna is always willing to take the initiative to research additional information so that we may follow up,” Simpson said.

“It’s empowering for interns to see the impact of their efforts in real time,” Simpson said. Internships with government entities and nonprofits “provide a foundation for inspirational leadership, citizenship and policy implementation that positively impacts the pursuit of equity and fairness in people’s lives through public policy.”

Simpson and Green applauded Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway’s wider call for a mandatory national public service initiative to unify the country and promote citizenship. In a July 2021 guest editorial in the New York Times, Holloway proposed that all young adults be required to complete a year of civic or military service by age 25.

Green said Holloway’s proposal will inspire “a new generation to work toward a world they want to see. You can serve your country by giving back in your own community, making it safer and healthier.”

Story originally appeared in Rutgers Today.

Big Ten’s One Big Week Pushes for Greater College Access

Posted on by Annabelle Arana-David

In the world of higher education, what force is more powerful than a united Rutgers community?

Answer: the movement that takes place when a public research powerhouse like Rutgers joins with Big Ten conference partners to create change.

Supporting talented students has always been central to the mission of each Big Ten Institution. Now, the conference is harnessing its collective energy to reshape access to higher education and build new opportunities for students from all walks of life.

With the One Big Week movement, Rutgers and its Big Ten partners are highlighting an undeniable fact: that talented students exist in every zip code and income bracket, and that no student should be denied opportunities—or be forced to take on crushing loan debt—because of those differences.

For one week, from August 31 to September 7, donors across the nation can make a tremendous impact by supporting access to quality education and student services at their favorite Big Ten school. At Rutgers, the One Big Week movement focuses on the university’s Scarlet Promise Initiative to increase opportunities for Rutgers students and those planning to attend Rutgers.

The Scarlet Promise Initiative gathers together an array of programs and funds dedicated to encouraging students as they prepare for and access a Rutgers education—and to excel both during their student years and beyond. The initiative comprises programs and funds that provide direct need-based financial aid, emergency financial support, academic counseling, food security, career counseling, and more—programs that help find, foster, and support the talent of Rutgers students throughout New Jersey and around the world.

“There is no greater calling for university communities than to make sure our students can pursue an excellent, life-changing education and the extraordinary opportunities that can come with it,” said Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway. The Scarlet Promise Initiative, which grew out of Holloway’s call for greater student support on his first official day in office, is designed to offset the realities of financing a college education today.

What does it look like to face those realities while pursuing a degree? Rutgers students receiving financial aid still have an average unmet need of more than $11,000 each year, totaling almost $400 million annually. Many wrestle with astonishing debt as they complete their degrees, often prolonging their studies well beyond the traditional four years of college. These factors limit career mobility and delay life milestones such as buying a home and starting a family.

That makes the Scarlet Promise all the more urgent. Rutgers can only fulfill this promise with philanthropic support from the full spectrum of the global Rutgers community—and through transformative movements like One Big Week. Only by acting together can the higher education community transcend the forces that historically have prevented many students from realizing their excellence and potential.

Together, the Rutgers community and the Big Ten community can produce a whole far greater than the sum of their parts. This is a hallmark of leadership—the recognition that we create more powerful change through collaboration, and that we owe it to future generations to do so.

 

To learn more and donate to One Big Week, visit support.rutgers.edu/onebigweek.

Exploring New Areas of Nursing

Posted on by Tahjaun Clarke

By Jared Brey

Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden senior Sungao Macauley had doubted herself at first, so she was thrilled to win a spot as one of seven students in the inaugural class of the school’s Undergraduate Nursing Research Fellowship program. She went on to spend six weeks over the summer working with nursing faculty on a variety of research projects that included interviewing residents of an assisted-living facility in Camden and conducting research for a project focused on climate change, health, and environmental justice. “I went to do something that I wasn’t comfortable in, and it opened up my eyes and showed me I could do a lot more than I thought I could,” Macauley says.

Macauley felt particularly inspired after assisting Mei Rosemary Fu, professor of nursing and senior associate dean for research, and Wanda Williams, a clinical associate professor whose research analyzing racial disparities in breast cancer screening in Camden is funded by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant. Williams is a breast cancer survivor, and Macauley found it insightful to work with from someone with lived experience. She also felt motivated by learning from faculty of color who had risen to the heights of the nursing profession. “It’s different when you have somebody who looks like you, and they’ve made it so far,” Macauley says.

Fu, an accomplished nursing scholar who joined the Rutgers–Camden faculty in 2021 after posts at NYU and Boston College, founded the fellowship program to deepen undergraduate student exposure to research. All nursing students at Rutgers–Camden take a research class as part of the core curriculum, but the summer fellowship gives students a chance to dig deeper. Fellows focus on collecting, reading, and analyzing research data, and conducting literature reviews. Fu said with more research studies being conducted by nursing researchers, future fellows will be offered a comprehensive experience that will enable them to conceptualize, complete, and disseminate a study.

Aside from bringing new rigor to their research skills, Fu says, the fellowship also allows students to learn from accomplished scientists and expand their professional networks, opening up new potential avenues in their careers. Opportunities to hone professional skills included making a presentation to the senior vice president and chief nursing executive at Cooper University Health Care.

The ultimate goal of the fellowship, Fu says, is to prepare nurses to play a role in improving the overall quality of health care. “Nursing is a care profession, and you need to develop science and knowledge which are evidence-based,” she says. “That’s the major driver of nursing research—to advance the science and knowledge of patient care.”

Fundraising for year two

Fu began organizing the summer fellowship program soon after she arrived at Rutgers–Camden, raising $10,000 to support the program. That included a substantial donation of her own and significant donations from interim university Provost Donna Nickitas, formerly dean of the School of Nursing, and interim Dean of the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden Marie O’Toole. In all, 25 donors pitched in, which allowed the school to offer each student participating a $600 stipend and free summer tuition. (Fellows earn one hour of course credit for the program.)

Fu is currently seeking donors at all levels to help expand the fellowship and is hoping that it can be offered for cohorts of up to 40 students per year in a few years. She says the program will build research capacity at the school and deepen collaborations with Rutgers and health care systems and communities, as well as prepare a new generation of nurses to provide better care. “Training students from the undergraduate level and providing opportunities for them to observe successful researchers are important for their career development,” Fu says.

Camden Nursing School
Seated, from left: Nancy Cresse, clinical assistant professor; Margaret Avallone, associate dean and clinical associate professor; Donna M. Nickitas, interim provost; Marie O’Toole, interim dean; and Daniel Fidalgo Tomé, coordinator, Engaged Civic Learning Program. Standing, from left: fellows Rachael Merrick, Skyla Mateo, and Narjis Jaffry; Mei Rosemary Fu, senior associate dean and professor; fellows Manpreet Rayjma, Samantha Lafferty, and George Gandour; and Kate Brennan, senior director for development.

How research benefits nursing

Samantha Lafferty, a junior, decided to enter the health care field partly because of her experience growing up with a grandfather who had Alzheimer’s. A project she did on genetics as a high school senior sparked her interest in the research side of the profession. She says that helping to analyze and verify data for real research projects led by Fu and others inside and outside the university was an enlightening experience. She saw it as a way to get exposure to many more patients’ perspectives than she would just by doing bedside care. “There’s always a new, better, more efficient way of doing things,” Lafferty says. “I think doing research to find out what those ways are, using evidence-based practice, really can change the way that health care is done.”

Rachael Merrick, a recent graduate who completed the fellowship, says while nursing experience makes you a better researcher, the reverse is also true—having familiarity with research and data can make you a better nurse. “I think it gives you a different edge, a different mindset,” Merrick says. “It makes you a more well-rounded nurse. You bring a different aspect to your care and working with your patients.”

Stirring the Pot

Posted on by Annabelle Arana-David

The New Jersey State Policy Lab at Rutgers has released a report about the effects of marijuana use on health, education, and law enforcement. The report measures the impact of legalization and identifies disparities among different communities. “This analysis is critical to New Jersey, setting a model similar to other states in recognizing that all people in the state are not the same, and by legalizing cannabis, its impact on different communities is going to vary,” says Charles Menifield, the study’s principal investigator and dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration. The study uses secondary data to provide a snapshot of present-day usage and law enforcement measures across age, race, and gender lines. It also gauges youth attitudes about marijuana as well as medical and behavioral health factors that could be affected by legalization.

 

Story originally appeared in Rutgers Magazine.

Beyond the Reef

Posted on by Annabelle Arana-David

A popular coral restoration technique is unlikely to protect coral reefs from climate change and is based on the assumption that local threats to reefs are managed effectively, according to a study co-authored by Rutgers, Coral Research Alliance and researchers at other institutions.

The research, published in the journal Ecological Applications, explored the response of coral reefs to restoration projects that propagate corals and outplant them into the wild. Additionally, researchers evaluated the effects of outplanting corals genetically adapted to warmer temperatures, sometimes called “super corals,” to reefs experiencing climate change as a way to build resilience to warming.

The study found neither approach was successful at preventing a decline in coral coverage in the next several hundred years because of climate change and that selectively breeding corals to be more heat tolerant only will lead to benefits if conducted at a very large scale over the course of centuries.

Even then, the researchers said, the benefits won’t be realized for 200 years.

Restoring areas with corals that haven’t been selected to be more heat tolerant was ineffective at helping corals survive climate change except at the largest supplementation levels.

“Our previous research shows that corals have the best chance of adapting to the effects of climate change, like warming ocean temperatures, if there is high genetic diversity and if habitat is protected from other local stressors.” said Lisa McManus, who co-led the research and conducted the work as a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University and is now faculty at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. “Repopulating a coral reef with corals that have similar genetic makeups could reduce an area’s natural genetic diversity, and therefore make it harder for all corals to adapt to climate change.”

Coral reef restoration techniques are widely applied throughout the world as a way to repopulate degraded coral reef areas. Although the practice has some benefits, such as engaging and educating communities about reef ecosystems or replenishing a coral reef population after an area has been hit by a storm or suffered direct physical damage, more scientists are speaking up about the limitations of conservation approaches that focus solely on restoration.

The authors said focusing solely on coral restoration and genetically engineering corals to be more tolerant of high temperatures is risky. Understanding of the genes that determine heat resistance remains limited and focusing on reproducing just one single trait could undermine a coral’s resilience to other stressors or its natural ability to adapt, they said.

Restoration practices also carry a hefty price tag and require a lot of resources. The median cost of restoring just one hectare (or about 2.5 acres) of coral reef has been estimated at more than $350,000, which doesn’t factor in high mortality rates that often come with such projects and the cost of genetically modifying corals.

“Coral restoration can be an important tool for conserving coral reefs, but restoration is expensive and hard. We can’t use restoration to replace the basics, like improving water quality, avoiding overfishing, and addressing climate change,” said Malin Pinsky, an associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.

The study was co-authored by Rutgers professor Malin Pinsky, and researchers from Coral Reef Alliance, University of Washington, Stanford University, University of Queensland, University of Hawai’i and The Nature Conservancy. The research was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.

Story originally appeared in Rutgers Today.

Investing in Student Potential at Rutgers University–Newark

Posted on by Annabelle Arana-David

At Newark’s Weequahic High School more than 70 years ago, Sandy Jaffe preferred comic books to homework and graduated near the bottom of his class. But Jaffe, the son of Eastern European immigrants, thrived at Rutgers University–Newark, attending night school and working days, and went on to graduate from Harvard Law School. “I was what they call a ‘late learner,’’’ he says. Jaffe recently teamed up with alumna Linda Stamato to invest in a program that values student potential and life experience over GPAs: the Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC), their latest gesture of commitment to Rutgers–Newark.

Jaffe NCAS’54 and Stamato DC’62, GSNB’77 have funded the creation of a research fellowship that could help replicate the HLLC program nationally. It’s based on an intergenerational group of students working together at the new HLLC learning and residential facility at Rutgers-Newark. Although many have been academically successful, others weren’t in a position to realize their potential as students earlier in life. A key admissions factor at HLLC is a commitment to social justice and community building. The program acclimates them to college life and hones their skills to become top scholars. More than half are from the city, and many are children of immigrants and the first in their families to attend college.

“Honors students should be chosen based on grit and promise, not solely on academic standing or test scores,’’ says Stamato. Born in Newark, to which she frequently returned while being raised in Essex County, she earlier demonstrated her dedication to the university during her 12 years serving on the Rutgers Board of Governors. In 1985, the year after completing three years serving as its chair, she gave the commencement address at Rutgers–Newark, a moving experience for her. A year later, Stamato, along with Jaffe, cofounded the Rutgers Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Rutgers–Newark, which has since moved to the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, where the two are policy fellows. Her position is one of many prominent ones that she has held since arriving at Rutgers in 1971, among them trustee, dean, and chair of search committees for presidents and deans.

To again assist a Rutgers cause—this time with a gift to HLLC—was a natural for Stamato. As for Jaffe, Rutgers opened the doors to everything for him: “At Rutgers–Newark back then, all that was required was to fill out an application and show up,” he says. “Having the chance to go to school at night nearby enabled me to begin the process of learning how to learn.’’

Story originally appeared in Rutgers Magazine.

Unlocking the Secrets of Neurodegeneration

Posted on by Annabelle Arana-David

With an estimated 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s, researchers at Rutgers University–Camden are investigating what causes the cellular impairment that prompts disease, both in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. Biologist Maria Solesio is studying mitochondria, the power centers of neurons in the brain. “We are trying to understand why mitochondria fail in neurodegeneration,” says Solesio, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology. “Mitochondria can get damaged at different levels in active diseases.” By describing mechanisms that damage mitochondria, Solesio and her team, working with grants totaling $1 million, could help researchers trained in drug discovery find pathways to counteract the damage, resulting in life-changing treatments.

Story originally appeared in Rutgers Magazine. For more Alzheimer’s research, check out Rutgers Research.