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Black Women Faculty Transition Experiences in a Cluster Hire Initiative: A Qualitative Case Study
No full textFaculty from diverse backgrounds benefit the academy through varied perspectives in research, mentoring, community engagement, and in the health professions, patient care. Cluster hiring is one method used to build interdisciplinary research teams and to build diversity in faculty bodies. This study investigated transition (smooth entry and welcome) and orientation experiences and experiences with microaggression of Black women faculty hired in the health sciences through a campus cluster initiative. Research questions included: 1) How do orientation and transition processes impact Cluster faculty feelings of welcome? 2) What acts, activities, or occurrences influence Cluster faculty feelings of welcome either positively or negatively? and 3) How have microaggressions impacted Cluster faculty feelings of welcome? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 Black women faculty. Thematic analysis identified their nuanced experiences, perceptions, and attitudes and led to categorization across seven prominent areas including (1) recruitment and transition, (2) orientation, (3) communication, (4) community, (5) self-advocacy, (6) microaggression and bias, and (7) outside stressors. After the offer and before arrival, few departments engaged faculty beyond administrative tasks. Academic orientation was disorganized, and almost nonexistent for dually appointed faculty. Attention paid to faculty members’ well-being and that of their families garnered goodwill; efforts to get to know faculty generated feelings of being welcomed. Faculty encountered microaggression and bias in departmental spaces. Findings suggest lack of attention to transition is a missed opportunity, disorganized and insufficient orientation impacts faculty entry. Intentionally engaging new faculty in departmental culture and attending to their experiences is critical. Cluster hire programs should establish comprehensive, organized programs of information delivery for each stage of the faculty hire process and monitor progress to be sure needs are met. Future research could compare the transition and onboarding experiences of Cluster faculty vs. other groups. Results may shed light on whether faculty race or Cluster involvement is a factor. There may be implications for an institution-wide reset of orientation and onboarding processes
To Teach Us You Must See Us: The Intersections Between Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Community Cultural Wealth and Its Implications for Youth STEM Identity
No full textThe Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) workforce in the United States lacks racial/ethnic diversity (Fry et al., 2021; U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.-a.). STEM youth development (STEM-YD) programs that serve youth of color can be powerful tools for increasing diversity in the field by exposing them to career opportunities as well as cultivating and supporting the academic and social skills needed to persist over time. STEM-YD programs affiliated with a university can feature a college-going culture and on-campus experiences, which can lead to a perceived ability to persist in a STEM major and eventually in a career field like STEM (Chang et al., 2014; Gibbs Grey, 2022; Hoffman, 2003). In addition, this student population feels best supported when the instructional staff integrates culturally relevant pedagogical practices into instruction, honoring the racial and cultural backgrounds of their students (Ladson-Billings, 1992).
This Dissertation in Practice takes place at a STEM-YD program called the Art Harper Saturday Academy at Stevens Institute of Technology, a university-based STEM-YD program. To better understand our practices at Art Harper Saturday Academy, in Spring 2023, as a result of a survey and focus group conducted, it was found that teachers and support staff likely taught from a colorblind instructional perspective, unsure about the impacts of centering the race and cultures of student participants within their teaching practice. Therefore, teachers and student support staff of the Art Harper Saturday Academy could benefit from learning how to integrate culturally relevant pedagogical practices into their STEM instruction, and this could benefit student participants.
As a result of this research project, it was found that when instructional staff addresses racism in education, thus prompting them to reflect upon and adapt their own teaching methods and teaching approaches, it can foster inclusivity and increase the STEM Identity of student participants. In future research, I propose that teaching Black and Brown youth requires educators to engage in "soul teaching," integrating their personal identities with their teaching selves. This approach could profoundly impact STEM Identity development and warrants further exploration in the future
Cultivating Appalachian Community and Creating Counter Narratives Through Arts-Based Pedagogies
No full textThis dissertation of practice is a case study of an arts-based strategy implemented during the fall semester 2018 in the course Women in Appalachia, a Women’s and Gender Studies course taught in an Appalachian higher education institution. The arts-based strategy was an avenue for
students to create visual counter narratives through art and to illustrate Appalachian community wealth in opposition to the Trump Country narrative circulating in mainstream media outlets at the time.
The case study participants were college-aged students who had self-selected the course and identified as Appalachian women. The students, wanting a tangible way to counter negative Appalachian narratives through art and community building, suggested and co-created with the instructor, the arts-based assignment. The study is anchored by three research questions: (1) How does the arts-based strategy improve the sense of community within the classrooms? (2) How does the arts-based strategy change students’ connections and my connections with West Virginia and
Appalachia? (3) How does the arts-based strategy amplify student voices through its multimedia/modal approach?
Through autoethnographic qualitative inquiry, I explore the application of Tara Yosso’s community cultural wealth (2005) and Tarra Yosso and David G. Solórzano’s counter storytelling (2002) theoretical framework to an Appalachian context of identity and culture. Using principles of autoethnography, arts-based practices, and curation, I collect data from autoethnographic vignettes, artifacts of student visual artwork and written artist statements, and participant observation. The findings illustrate that counter narratives did engage aspects of community
cultural wealth-- specifically those of resistance capital and familial capital--particularly the roles of mothers in fostering Appalachian familial capital. The findings also support that the arts-based strategies did improve sense of community within the classroom, evoked an emotional connection to the land and people of West Virginia, and amplified student voice. Student voice was amplified
by centering the participant agency in the assignment proposal, process, and product. Providing art as an alternative means of communicating knowledge instead of relying on written or oral communication alone also served to amplify student voice
Characteristics of Culturally Grounded Harm Reduction Approaches for Indigenous Canadians: A Critical Review
No full textBackground: Indigenous Canadians experience a disproportionate burden of substance-related harms compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. Public health data indicates that First Nation, Métis, and Inuit people are overrepresented in the number of overdose deaths and experience markedly higher rates of HCV and HIV infection. Mainstream harm reduction initiatives have been insufficient at reducing health inequities despite efforts to bolster the accessibility of services in Indigenous communities. Closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health outcomes requires an indigenized approach to harm reduction that interrogates and redresses the socio-cultural, economic, and political realities of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit people that drive intergenerational problematic substance use.
Purpose: The purpose of this critical literature review is to identify and describe the key characteristics of Indigenous harm reduction in Canada. The findings will contribute to a growing body of literature on the topic, which is essential for informing future best-practice Indigenous harm reduction models. This review also aims to clarify key concepts in extant academic literature and identify and analyze persistent knowledge gaps.
Methods: A single author scoping review was conducted to inform this critical literature
synthesis. A search strategy was developed to explore two online databases, Medline® (Ovid) and APA PsycINFO (Ovid), for relevant extant literature on Indigenous harm reduction methodologies in Canada.
Results: Six articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Thematic analysis of the articles identified five key characteristics of Indigenous harm reduction: culture, trauma-informed, cultural safety, Indigenous led, and integrative.
Conclusion: Indigenous harm reduction is a culturally integrative, decolonizing approach to harm reduction that holds immense promise for redressing inequities in the distribution and severity of substance-related harms experienced by Indigenous Canadians. Indigenous harm reduction characteristics should not be siloed, but rather broadly adopted across harm reduction initiatives in Canada to close the gap in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians
Assessing the Carcinogenic Potential of Ethylene Oxide: A Comprehensive Health Impact Analysis
No full textEthylene oxide (EtO) is a critical chemical extensively used in industrial applications such as the production of ethylene glycol and the sterilization of medical equipment. Despite its widespread utility, EtO is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, posing significant health risks including lymphoid cancer and breast cancer. This document explores the various contexts in which EtO is utilized, its associated health and environmental risks, and the regulatory measures in place to mitigate these risks. Significant attention is given to the historical context of EtO usage, detailing major incidents and regulatory responses that have shaped current safety standards. The analysis covers occupational and environmental exposures, with specific examples illustrating the challenges of managing EtO risks in different settings. The document also highlights ongoing research and advancements in exposure monitoring and risk assessment, underscoring the importance of continuous improvement in safety practices and technologies. Recommendations are proposed for both industrial and medical sectors, focusing on reducing EtO exposure through automation, substitution, improved equipment design, and alternative sterilization technologies. The need for enhanced education and collaboration among stakeholders is emphasized to ensure effective management of EtO risks and the protection of public health
Sex and Reproductive Fitness Impacts Immunity and Healthspan
No full textCrosstalk between reproductive and somatic signaling pathways influences aging across multiple species. In women, a longer reproductive span correlates with an extended lifespan and health span, and this benefit extends to male relatives of women with extended reproductive health span. However, the molecular genetic mechanisms linking reproductive health and longevity remain poorly understood.
Our lab utilizes the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans to study these genetic mechanisms. We focus on the conserved pro-fertility, pro-longevity gene tcer-1 in C. elegans, which encodes a transcription elongation and splicing factor essential for regulating gene expression. TCER-1 is involved in transcriptional elongation and splicing, processes necessary for producing properly processed mature mRNAs, thus enabling accurate gene expression, particularly in somatic tissues.
In C. elegans, removing the proliferating germline extends lifespan. Our lab has shown that tcer-1 is necessary for this longevity. Loss of tcer-1 impairs fertility and various aspects of reproductive health, but tcer-1 mutant hermaphrodites live longer than wild-type counterparts under multiple stressors, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. Given the marked differences in lifespan and disease susceptibilities between women and men, we investigated how gender influences pathogen resistance and whether tcer-1 mutant males also show increased immunity against the human opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PA14.
To assess the impact of germline integrity on longevity and health, we also use C. elegans meiosis mutants. Our lab previously found that mutations in genes functioning at multiple stages of meiosis a germline-restricted, conserved process shorten lifespan, impair health span, and destabilize protein homeostasis. RNAseq analysis revealed that the transcriptional profiles of young meiosis mutants closely resemble those of old wild-type animals. These data identified genes involved in the Wingless signaling (Wnt) pathway among the differentially expressed genes in key, short-lived meiotic mutants. The Wnt pathway, conserved from hydra to humans, regulates crucial developmental aspects. We employed in vivo molecular genetic analyses to investigate how Wnt signaling is activated in response to meiosis dysfunction, the Wnt pathway elements involved in signaling meiosis dysfunction to somatic tissues, and the systemic dispersal of these signals
Using a SARS-CoV-2 Pseudotyped Lentivirus to Determine the Tropism in Human Lung Cell Suspensions
No full textSevere Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the novel, positive-sense RNA coronavirus was discovered in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China. This virus causes COVID-19 and was responsible for a global pandemic. There have been over 775 million cases reported worldwide, and over 7 million deaths worldwide. COVID-19 symptoms vary from person to person usually depending on age, sex, and pre-existing illnesses. Symptoms could range anywhere from a mild cold to severe pneumonia and death. The surface SARS-CoV-2 is covered with a structural spike glycoprotein, which binds to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) to infect susceptible cells. Most infection from SARS-CoV-2 takes place in epithelial cells in respiratory tract, with the main target being alveolar type II epithelial cells. While ACE2 is expressed on alveolar type II cells in the lungs, it is also expressed in the heart, kidneys, intestines, and other tissue.
Due to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein’s ability to bind to ACE2, spike is a main target for vaccine development. However, new variants are constantly circulating, which can render current vaccines and treatments less effective. SARS-CoV-2 is currently a biosafety level three pathogen, so access to work with the virus is limited and comes with a certain level of risk associated with it. My project aims to develop a SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped lentivirus that contains the spike glycoprotein from the Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2 and identify which cells in human lung cell suspensions are infected using microscopic fluorescent imaging and flow cytometry. We have observed that developing a pseudotyped lentivirus with the Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is possible, but efficiency of the virus varies between cell lines and between different donors. Future steps will be needed to improve the efficiency of the pseudotyped virus
Catalyst-Controlled Asymmetric Rh(I)-Catalyzed Pauson-Khand Reaction
No full textThe asymmetric Pauson-Khand reaction (PKR) represents a powerful approach for synthesizing 5,5 and 5,6-ring systems, which are prevalent in natural products and bioactive compounds. Despite considerable efforts towards understanding the asymmetric PKR, the scope of this transformation is still quite limited. Herein, we present a systematic study aimed at identifying key reaction parameters governing the reactivity and selectivity of the asymmetric Rh(I)-catalyzed PKR using 1,6-enyne precursors featuring a 2,2-disubstituted alkene and chiral bisphosphine ligands. This transformation leads to the formation of ring-fused cyclopentenones containing an all-carbon quaternary stereogenic center, which are challenging synthetic motifs. We compared experimental enantioselectivity, ln(er) data, for two enyne substrates with 181 computed descriptors of a chiral bisphosphine Pd(II)Cl2 complex, and established high correlations between an energy of Pd lone pair orbital or aryl-P-aryl angle depending on the enyne tether. Our findings also revealed that solvent properties, such as dipole moment (D) and Abraham’s hydrogen bond basicity (β), correlate well with PKR ln(er). Notably, a precatalyst featuring low ion pairing (e.g. OTf-) is advantageous for enynes featuring an N-tosyl and ether tether, whereas a precatalyst with high ion pairing (e.g. BF4-) gives better overall results for enynes with a carbon tether. Additionally, the calculated dipole moment of the enyne precursor influences solvent selection, and the calculated IR C≡C wavenumber (cm-1) indicates reactivity.
In a separate study, chiral phosphoramidite ligands with bulky amine groups, such as dibenzazepine, induce chirality inversion, relative to a dimethylamine group. A morpholine group speeds up the reaction significantly and gives PKR product in higher %ee. We demonstrated the application of these findings by desymmetrizing a prochiral dienyne to give the PKR product in high yield, high %ee and high dr
Asymmetric Allenic Pauson−Khand Reaction to Access Thapsigargin: Influence of a Remote Stereocenter on Stereodifferentiation
No full textThapsigargin is a potent histamine liberator, a subnanomolar inhibitor of sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase, and a potent inhibitor of major human respiratory viruses including RSV, OC43, SARS-COV-2, and influenza A virus. G202, G115, MAD, and JQ- FT are prodrugs of thapsigargin with anticancer and antileukemic properties. Among more than a hundred synthesized thapsigargin analogs, there are only two reports on a stereochemical change which puts a limit on the SAR studies. To fill this gap, herein we report an asymmetric synthesis of thapsigarin analogs with the potential of accessing different stereoisomers. We initiated the synthesis of thapsigargin using an achiral starting material, 3-furaldehyde, which is a key feature of our approach compared to the three previous total synthesis reports. We synthesized the 5,7,5- ring system of thapsigargin through an asymmetric catalysis approach giving access to a stereochemical array of thapsigargin analogs. The C8 stereocenter was set via an organocatalyzed asymmetric aldol reaction of a heteroarenyl aldehyde and acetone. The C2 stereocenter was set via an asymmetric allenic Pauson–Khand reaction through a catalyst-controlled stereodifferentiative dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation process. The molecular configuration for all stereoisomers was assigned using VCD and 13C NMR. DFT computed transition state structures were predictive of enantioselectivity and aligned with the stereochemical assignments
Machine learning on medical and biological images to support clinical applications
No full textArtificial intelligence (AI) has achieved remarkable success in biomedical-related applications. The overall goal of this dissertation is to develop novel AI and machine learning techniques for three biomedical use cases to enhance clinical workflows, provide valuable insights into complex medical conditions, and facilitate the biological manufacturing process. First, in breast cancer diagnosis, the high rate of false-positive biopsy findings is a pressing issue. This leads to unnecessary invasive procedures, increased patient anxiety, and financial costs. We developed AI models to aid radiologists in precise diagnosis towards reducing unnecessary biopsies, enhancing workflow efficiency, and alleviating patient stress. Specifically, we investigated two different breast imaging modalities, digital mammography, and contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM), to develop quantitative characterization, radiomics, and deep learning methods. Second, in post-cardiac arrest brain injury, accurately assessing neurological prognosis for comatose survivors is challenging in critical care practice. We developed deep learning models to investigate the relationship between early brain Computed Tomography (CT) images and Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, towards identifying patients at risk of developing highly malignant finding to make informed decisions about post-cardiac arrest treatment. We also customized interpretable AI models to identify clinically relevant CT image patterns to facilitate a better visual understating of brain injury post-cardiac arrest, enhancing the trust of critical care physicians in AI model’s output. Third, towards fast manufacturing of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC)-derived organoids, we developed machine learning models to facilitate cell/organoid selection through staining-free imaging. This innovative approach allows for non-invasive monitoring of morphological characteristics at different stages of cell development, eliminating the need for destructive staining. AI-enabled cell/organoid fast manufacturing can benefit disease modeling and drug development, as it enables real-time feedback on the state of cell/organoid, especially in high-throughput drug testing. In the three biomedical scenarios, we developed and evaluated multiple machine/deep learning models, along with technical innovation, to address unmet needs and advance biomedical-driven AI for clinical/translational applications