10-13-22 entire issue hi res

Safety Panel Discusses Reform

The Reimagining Public Safety special committee met on Tuesday to discuss recommendations for the Community Police Board, including the possibility of giving the CPB subpoena power.

The Reimagining Public Safety special committee was developed in 2021 by the Tompkins County Legislature to recommend and research police reforms to rebuild trust between law enforcement and community members. The CPB is designed to serve as Ithaca’s community liaison and civilian oversight board for policing within the Ithaca Police Department. CPB duties include fostering positive relationships between Ithacans and the IPD and investigating formal complaints made by citizens against the department or its officers.

The CPB was invited to the committee meeting to discuss how the two bodies can better communicate with each other and establish guidelines that will lead to more effective oversight.

CPB member Michael Simons began the meeting by giving an overview of how the Board conducts its investigations. Each complaint against the IPD must be submitted through a paper complaint form

to the city clerk. Then the CPB appoints at least two commissioners to investigate the complaint, interview witnesses and officers and analyze hours of bodycam footage.

CPB Chair Shirley Kane then addressed reports that the Reimagining Public Safety committee was proposing giving the CPB subpoena power. Kane stated that the CPB operated under a charter and that a charter amendment would take a significant amount of time to enact any drastic changes.

“We prefer the method of resolutions rather than an adversarial model, which imposing a subpoena would be,” Kane said. “It would be additional funding, we have to have an attorney.”

The Reimagining Public Safety report says that subpoena power is recommended in order to build a more trusting relationship between the Ithaca community and the CPB, ensuring that the issues of misconduct are thoroughly and fairly investigated.

Additionally, CPB member Michael Simons asked what the CPB was currently doing wrong, to which Kane added that five former IPD officers are no longer active in the department due to prior CPB reports, so the Board feels it is able to perform effectively.

See SAFETY page 3

VinUniversity Program Development Continues

that was to become the first private non-profit university in Vietnam.”

Construction for the new VinUniversity broke ground in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2018, with Cornell leadership advising and consulting on the project. The first cohort, numbering less than 300 students, arrived at the university in fall 2020. Cornell partnered with Vingroup, a Vietnamese enterprise and property developer, to build the new university, which will be the first private non-profit university in Vietnam.

“VinUniversity is an exciting effort, and one of great academic interest for Cornell faculty and students,” said Prof. Emeritus Max Pfeffer, global development, and director of the CornellVinUniversity project. “It was exciting to learn about a university that was being formed from scratch and

The project also builds on a history of Cornell involvement with foreign universities, including in China with Peking University. VinUniversity expands these ties, and sets the stage for more involvement in Vietnam.

“The ties between Cornell and VinUniversity build on Cornell’s longstanding scholarship in Southeast Asia,” Pfeffer said. “We expect that Cornell will have expanded ties to Vietnam because of the Cornell-VinUniv Project."

Pfeffer joined the program a little over a year ago, but his first visit to VinUniversity was in 2019 while construction was in progress. He is currently in Hanoi with other members of the project team who are visiting the university for its beginning

Ithaca Voter Registration Deadline Approaches on Friday

By JONATHAN MONG

Contributor

It’s an even year, and for Americans, that means election season. This year features a unique convergence of events, including a once-per-decade redistricting following contentious court battles and major primary fights between high-powered veteran Democrats for seats in the House of Representatives. The voter registration deadline is on Friday, Oct. 14.

Voters can register to vote online if they have a New York driver’s license.

New York offers early voting Oct. 29 - Nov. 6. Registered Tompkins County voters can do so at the Ithaca Town Hall.

Go to the New York State DMV website and log in, or create an account if they don’t have one yet. They should click on “Change My Address” and input their address in Ithaca. This will change their address on file at the DMV, but will not require them to get a new

copy of their license. Once they have received the confirmation email from the DMV saying that their address has changed, they can visit the voter registration webpage and fill out the information required. After they receive the confirmation email from the DMV, go to the voter lookup site, input “Tompkins” for county and their personal information to confirm their registration and polling location. If they do not have a New York driver’s license, or they do not wish to register to vote online, voters can register by printing and filling out the New York State Voter Registration form, then mailing or bringing it to the Tompkins County Board of Elections at 128 E. Buffalo Street in Ithaca by Oct. 14. New York offers early voting from Oct. 29 to Nov. 6. Anyone who is registered as a

Tompkins County voter and wishes to vote early can do so at Ithaca Town Hall, 215 N. Tioga St. or at Crash Fire Rescue, 72 Brown Rd. Check Tompkins County’s early voting webpage for opening hours on each day of early voting, as they vary.

If voters are unable to vote in person, they must confirm on the Tompkins County absentee ballot webpage that they are eligible to apply for an absentee bal lot. Reasons that will qualify include current study abroad or or physical inability to go to their polling location. If they are eligible, voters should fill out the NY State Board of Elections Voter Absentee Ballot Application Request online to apply for an absentee ballot. Voters may

also print and fill out the Tompkins County Absentee Ballot Application form and mail or bring it to the Board of Elections office by Nov. 8. A list of all polling places in Ithaca is available at the Tompkins County BOE lookup webpage. Voters can simply search their address and they will find their polling place as well as a list of all incumbents.

Election Day is on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. If they are in line but have not voted by 9 p.m., they will still be allowed to vote so long as they remain in the line.

See VOTING page 3

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Reimagining Public Safety Committee Meets With CPB

The Reimagining Public Safety committee did not respond to this inquiry, but members implied that the idea of subpoena power would be dropped.

Committee member and Alderperson Cynthia Brock then detailed three recommendations that she has for the CPB. First, Brock recommended changes in the CPB review process.

“I would like to see structural changes that ensure that the Chief of Police and police officers should participate in the CPB review process. It should not come down to personalities of who’s on the Board or who’s Chief of Police,” Brock said. “I would like to see that discretion to participate or not taken out.”

Second, Brock said she would like all CPB members

to receive training and certifications by organizations that provide training to community police boards across the country, like the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement in order to reinforce collaboration and trust with law enforcement.

programming with the local community.

“We want to provide more training, and especially reality-based training, where it’s in the moment and it can be evaluated in real time,” Cowen said.

Third, Brock suggested hiring a third-party organization trained in internal affairs investigations to look into high-profile incidents that have an increased level of public scrutiny and may exceed the resources of CPB, in addition to avoiding any conflicts of interest.

The committee also spoke with IPD Special Investigations Unit Sergeant Matt Cowen about training programs that police officers have attended recently, including training for implicit bias, microaggressions, de-escalation techniques, transgender mindfulness and procedural justice. The committee affirmed that they would like to see more reality-based training and

Cornell and VinUniversity Students Partner for Research

of the year convocation event.

The newly established university includes undergraduate colleges of business, engineering and health sciences, with Cornell consulting for the business and engineering colleges and the University of Pennsylvania consulting for the health sciences college.

Cornell faculty hope for VinUniversity to be internationally recognized as a world-class university and satisfy QS 5-star rating standards, a rating standard that evaluates institutions of higher education.

“Its development takes place in the vibrant emerging market of Vietnam, a phenomenon that many will find intriguing,” Pfeffer said. “Cornell’s engagement with VinUniversity aligns with Cornell’s identity as a land-grant university dedicated to the public good and extends this mission internationally.”

Cornell faculty have been involved in the University’s work in Vietnam as well. Professor Keith Taylor, asian studies, was first approached by the S.C. Johnson College of Business when planning for the project began, and now some of his former students have been hired to teach classes there.

“I hope [VinUniversity students] obtain a good education that will open opportunities for a satis-

fying life,” Taylor said.

Beginning in winter 2021-2022, Cornell students worked with VinUniversity students on an engaged learning project in Vietnam. Pfeffer explained that the project aimed to help a local non-governmental organization develop policies to alleviate the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACE).

“This experience has inspired me to seek more global and cross-cultural collaborations in research related to public health, medicine, and the social sciences,” said Sara Baaser ’23, a student at Cornell. Baaser said she hopes to use the skills, knowledge and experiences gained by conducting international research to guide her into becoming a learner and supporter of research in community engagement projects.

The student teams that Baaser was part of, called ACE Pathfinders, presented their research during a meeting in January 2022 attended by leaders from Cornell and VinUniversity, Vietnamese government policymakers and non-governmental organizations. Yamada Homi, a student in the College of Health and Sciences at VinUniveristy, said the places and families the teams visited had a significant impact on her.

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Ally Fertig can be reached at afterig@cornell.edu.

Everything You Need to Know About Voting This Election Season

VOTING Continued from page 1

If they have fewer than four consecutive non-working hours in which they can vote, voters may take up to two paid hours off of work and as many unpaid hours as needed to vote, so long as they give between two and ten work days’ notice to their employer.

All voters have the right to vote in secrecy for whom they please, without coercion or intimidation by a poll worker or anyone else. Furthermore, if they should require assistance to vote due to disability or instruction in how to operate the voting machines, they are entitled to it.

New York State has several major races this election cycle, including for governor, Senate, and the House of Representatives.

Tompkins County was trans-

ferred into the New York 19th Congressional District in the most recent redistricting cycle. This year’s race pits Democrat Josh Riley against Republican Marc Molinaro. Riley is a private practice attorney and former congressional staffer. He espouses traditional liberal view-

A list of all polling places in Ithaca is available at the Tompkins County BOE lookup webpage. SAFETY Continued from page 1

points, such as a woman’s right to choose, gun control and climate justice, in addition to some more uncommon views such as the expansion of “environmental cops on the beat to stop polluters.”

On the other side, Molinaro focuses on mental health, the

To conclude the public portion of the meeting, members discussed ongoing research projects they have been working on, studying unarmed response teams and their implementation in police departments across the country, the expansion of whistle-blower protections and different approaches to traffic enforcement.

“Innovation doesn’t have to be us reinventing the wheel,” Alderperson Robert Cantelmo said. “If there’s stuff out there that we have underexplored in the past, we would be happy to support that.”

Sofa Rubinson can be reached at srubinson@cornellsun.com.

University to Deliver Flu Shots on Campus

By MARIAN CABALLO

As flu season approaches, Cornell has decided to continue its annual partnership with Wegman’s Pharmacy to encourage community members to get vaccinated in order to reduce flu rates on campus.

Cornellians can participate in flu vaccination clinics at Cornell Health on Ho Plaza from now until November 15.

Though the clinics are open to all, only students, staff, faculty and retirees can participate for free. View the clinic schedule and sign up for a clinic timeslot here.

opioid crisis and protection for those with physical and mental disabilities, largely avoiding (or declining to state) his opinion on hot-button issues such as abortion and gun control. However, he has appeared at campaign events with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-21), who is known for her outspoken farright views and comments, such as her support of the Second Amendment and the effort to reverse the 2020 election by former president Donald J. Trump (R-FL).

Statewide, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is up for re-election against Joe Pinion (R), while Governor Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) is up for re-election against Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-1).

Jonathan Mong can be reached at jcm482@cornell.edu.

“We strongly recommend that students get their flu shot every year because of how quickly and easily influenza can spread on a college campus and in shared living environments,” said Dr. Jada Hamilton, Medical Director and Interim Chief of Clinical Operations and Services at Cornell Health.

The CDC recommends that the public, especially college students, receive their flu vaccinations before the end of October. Though the flu circulates year round, flu activity increases in September and October, with expected peaks throughout the winter.

The availability of the vaccine on campus has been especially convenient for students amid exam season.

Stacey Roy ’25 believes that access to vaccine clinics on campus has increased the likelihood of student inoculation due to its accessibility.

“Going to Wegman’s or Walgreens was simply too

far for me to venture out to during my busy day,” Roy said.

The flu vaccine remains one of the most effective ways to protect against the four most common influenza viruses expected to make their rounds this season. According to Dr. Hamilton, it will play a key role in keeping students inside their classes and activities. However, those who get the vaccine should also take other preventative measures such as washing their hands, getting enough sleep and eating a healthy diet.

Cornell Health currently offers three types of flu vaccinations: the regular dose, a dose for seniors aged 65 and above and thimerosal-free flu shots for pregnant women or those allergic to the thimerosal ingredient.

Students who already received a vaccine at a Cornell clinic reported smooth experiences with the process.

“The person administering the flu shot was very attentive because needles make me squeamish, and they sensed my discomfort and kept me calm with conversation about classes,” Roy said.

To receive a vaccine, Cornellians must sign up for a timeslot and fill out two copies of Wegman Pharmacy’s informed consent form. Those 18 and under will need a parent or guardian’s signature.

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Marian Caballo can be reached at mcc284@cornell.edu.

Ph.D. Fuel

What Faculty-Athletes Eat in a Day

By KYLE ROTH Sun Contributor

Busy lifestyles are not uncommon among each member of Cornell’s pop ulation: a precarious everyday balance of classes, extracurricu lars, social life and a structured sleep routine that can be chal lenging, stressful and time-con suming takes up the lives of many. On top of this, getting plenty of exercise on a reg ular basis and eating bal anced, nutritious meals can be even harder.

But how do our faculty — who teach thousands, lead mind-stimulating classes and are on the forefront of innovative research — fuel their bodies and minds amid their many responsibilities and professional careers? We will take a closer look at three regular gym-goers at Cornell who prioritize the integration of eating well and being physically active into their Ph.D. lifestyles.

Prof. Hector Aguilar-Carre no regularly works out in the gym six days per week in the early morning before work as a Professor of Virology in the College of Veterinary Medicine and has been pushing his body and mind in the weight room for 34 years.

in vegetables, raw salads, fruits, nuts and Greek yogurt.

I was also curious how Aguilar-Carreno brings his food to work. “I

with how someone chooses what they eat, especially with the transition from his undergraduate years. “Oh it’s way better

could find. Now my metabolism has slowed down so I don’t need to eat as much so it’s easier to meal prep.”

Upon being asked about his diet Aguilar-Carreno responded, “I do try to eat healthy [with ] … probably more protein than an average diet” that is abundant

batches of food for four people in the family. I cook usually three different protein dishes, [such as]a big salmon filet [or] something with chicken or pork. We try not to eat too much red meat … and maybe I’ll do something with carbs like rice or some potatoes.”

A lot can change in 34 years

Way healthier … because as an undergrad, I was eating about three times what I eat now I had a huge appetite” Aguilar-Carreno added. “And there wasn’t enough healthy food around to quench my appetite so I ended up eating a lot of whatever I

Olympic-weightlifter Prof. Kyle Harms is a lecturer in Cornell’s Information Science department. His four day workout routine consists of snatches, clean-and-jerks, squats, bench press and much more that he has been following since the first year of his Ph.D. program.

“I’m pretty big on eating all of my own food — I very rarely eat out. I also have some digestive issues which means that just cooking for yourself works better. So twice a week, I end up going to the Ithaca Farmers Market and that’s the majority of the produce I eat,” Harms told me.

Following a mostly vegetarian diet and also meal prepping enough food to feed him for every hour and a half, Harms pointed out, “I have to eat or else I’ll be hangry.” He finds making big batches of food during dinnertime and then spreading that food out over the next few days works best for his schedule.

Finally, second-year physics Ph.D. student Darren Pereira has frequented the gym Monday through Friday since beginning his Master’s program. To ac-

commodate his lifestyle and lack of both fridge space and containers, Pereira cooks two days worth of food at a time.

“I tend to go with a somewhat high-protein, high-carb diet depending on whether I am cutting or bulking. I have certain calories calculated and certain macros to hit and I try to use whole foods as much as possible” Pereira explained .

In our conversation, Pereira also wisely mentioned the saying that “Bodies are not made in the gym. They’re made in the kitchen” as a philosophy he follows with his food choices. “I’m very intentional about everything that I’m eating because I’ve gotten a sense about what is good for my health in a number of different ways,” Pereira elaborated as our conversation on eating habits and food choices was coming to a close.

The big takeaway from this dietary snapshot of athletic and busy individuals: plan ahead and be aware of what you consume on a daily basis. The responses of Hector Aguilar-Carreno, Kyle Harms and Darren Pereria highlight practical ways to balance eating right and exercising plenty in conjunction with academic, professional and social responsibilities. The next time you may be struggling with hitting your gym or dietary goals, it may not be a bad idea to look towards faculty for some inspiration on fortified habits and long-lived motivation.

Kyle Roth is a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology. He can be reached at ksr73@cornell.edu.

Social Media: Te Tief of Joy

Aaron Friedman is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at adf75@cornell.edu. Honest AF runs every other Tursday this semester.

If comparison is the thief of joy, social media is the thief of happiness. Trough the invasive spread of these apps into our lives, comparison has become a daily fact of life for most students.

Within Cornell’s warped social structure, LinkedIn and Instagram are almost equivalent. Bizarrely, at Cornell, a LinkedIn stalk may even provide more “value” than an Instagram search. Either way, neither Instagram nor LinkedIn provide a semblance of signifcant value to anyone — nothing deeper than a cursory glance at someone’s past and present involvements and surroundings. I think most people have realized this by now, as old high school acquaintances fade into the background and into irrelevance.

Coming into college, we are conditioned to curate our profles to provide a solid frst impression to the friends we make in the frst weeks. However, as the months pass and the rest of our lives come into focus, those old memories are replaced with new ones, and the only thing that actually seems to matter becomes our core relationships and times spent with others — not superfcial perceptions.

Also, as times change, a sense of awkwardness develops. As I was writing this column, I talked to James Kelly ’25, who was working on a user experience project redesigning Instagram a few rooms over from me. After

noticing the similarities between my column and the project, Kelly explained that “as I’ve graduated high school and been in college, [Instagram has] become a weird mix of who I follow and it almost feels obsolete.” “Instagram can be altered in some ways because it’s very artifcial, but no matter what, people immediately have access to everyone you know,” he said. “It makes things in the past more permanent. Your history is augmentable but it is still there.”

Tis lingering feeling that the past and present are unchangeable — that no matter how and why people change they will always be moored down by their past — might read as a narrow critique. Unfortunately, this is not just some irrelevant perspective. Considering the of-the-charts rates of anxiety, depression and hopelessness among youth, social media is defnitely a signifcant factor when it comes to mental health (spawned in part by the COVID-19 pandemic).

Humanity is biologically and mentally conditioned to compare, but this newest strain of online comparison afects us in an innately unnatural and devastating manner. Kat Martin ’25, who deleted Instagram after amassing 3,000 followers, remarks that she used to be a “teenage girl Instagram prototype.” Years later, she noted that “to me, integral widened a gap between my self-perception and my self-presentation, causing a lot of dissonance over who I felt I wanted to be. I felt like I had constraints on my identity.”

A beautiful sunset after a walk to class is derailed when a brief check of an app shows us a random acquaintance on a French beach during their semester abroad. A miracle of human achievement – a beautiful campus with priceless limestone architecture, sharp, highly educated and achieving peers, and brilliant professors – all erased from a quick glance at the phone.

I am just as fallible to this as we all are. But through my experiences abroad and a deep-seated understanding of what is important, I have learned to tune out the noise.

Personally, I am somewhat active on Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn. However, I have either deleted or deactivated every other major platform. Twitter is a nozzle for endless nonsense, especially in political circles, and the gossip of washed-up pundits and commentators has almost zero correlation to actual political developments. TikTok is a mass distraction to an entire generation and should be kept far, far away from the impressionable minds of the youth, in

my opinion.

LinkedIn can be useful for getting updates about new job postings or checking on the journeys of old friends. Instagram has some limited use for sharing big updates or cool trips. Once all is said and done, especially at a big school like Cornell, Instagram has little social relevance outside of small circles (outside of someone asking: “let me see a picture of them?”).

Many people equate good photos with good social media posts. This perception could not be further from the truth.

Photos are important — to relive old memories, to share years later, or to remember forgotten details. However, many people equate good photos with good social media posts. Tis perception could not be further from the truth. Te best photos are the ones that have a signifcant personal meaning and are kept private from the public’s prying eyes.

Some of the most meaningful pictures are not even aesthetic or cool; they invoke a bygone era or a special, un f t-to-print (or publish) moment with longtime friends.

I had a friend tell me “college is the time to establish our life’s work.” I do not think this means shutting down and reading books from sunrise to sunset. All it means is discovering some purpose and true passion in life, whether it is professional, academic or personal. To me, it means meeting real friends and establishing a strong connection with them. Making stupid memories is part of that, as are the more “sophisticated” nights out.

No matter what – the best nights (and days) are the ones with such complicated and elaborate stories that no single photo or even video will ever do justice. As long as I have a strong circle of cool people around me — no evidence on social media required — that will last through the tough times and the massive breakthroughs, I’ll be a happy man.

Do More for Admitted Students

Adin Choung is a freshman in the College of Human Ecology. She can be reached at ac2522@cornell.edu. A Dinner is Served runs every other Tursday this semester.

As a recent survivor of the college admissions process, I have witnessed frst hand the battle scars that the entire process leaves behind on you. Even to this day, tingles of anxiety run down my back when I see notifcations from colleges scouting for new applicants: Loyola Admissions, Explore your future in New Orleans; Long Island University, $100 Million in Scholarships & Grants. Tese emails are just one of many lost in the depths of my junk folder.

Our job is now done; we have successfully convinced the admissions committee that we are a valuable asset to the university — now it is their turn to convince us to become

a part of their student body. Te college experience is more than the degree you earn: it is about the relationships you build here, the mistakes you encounter and the lessons you learn from them, as well as a general sense of belonging with campus culture.

Other colleges approach this remarkably well. Yale recognizes that it is their turn to convince students to choose them and hosts Bulldog Days for admitted students to explore campus and experience the Yale experience frsthand. Participating in these events is a great opportunity for admitted students to meet their future classmates and to build a community before stepping foot on campus in the fall.

While Cornell does host an admitted students day, it was only available to students admitted in the regular decision round this year due to limited space capacity. Cornell Days were flled with campus tours for admitted students, student panels and meet-and-greets, but many wondered if it was worth the complications and fnancial burdens that students face when traveling to Cornell. COVID has also further complicated matters and made it difcult for students to experience campus as it was pre-pandemic.

Yet, focusing their interest on regular decision admits is also harmful for students who were accepted through early decision; their early commitment to Cornell should not deny them opportunities to attend events that were created to make connections between admitted students.

Colleges don’t necessarily have to invest a lot of resources into marketing for admitted students. Sometimes, smaller and more

thoughtful actions are better appreciated. Schools like Duke University send out commitment packages flled with various cheesy goods like water bottles and school fags. Despite the cheesiness, this afrms the stu-

Although some alumni host send off parties for committed students, there were no opportunities for admitted students to connect with each other in the spring.

dent’s choice to attend that particular university because they feel appreciated. It is an exciting feeling to build school pride before coming onto campus.

Most colleges host events for admitted students in various large cities so students have the opportunity to meet each other and learn more about the university without having to travel to the university itself. It is an easier way to build connections with current students that doesn’t require additional travel costs, especially for students who live far away from Cornell. It is also a rewarding

experience to see the fruits of your labor after the arduous college application process. Attending these events with the realization that you have accomplished your goal is a gratifying feeling. Yet, Cornell barely puts in any efort in engaging admitted students with these events. Although some alumni host send of parties for committed students, there were no opportunities for admitted students to connect with each other in the spring. It is frustrating to feel that the school you dedicated the past couple of months to barely appreciates their students and doesn’t put in any efort in creating school pride.

Cornell is foremost a community: students from all over the world travel to be educated in this beautiful institution and invest a lot of their time and resources to hopefully receive an acceptance letter. Tey come here not just for the academics or the resources but for the people. Cornell could take the frst step to foster this community by creating a welcoming atmosphere for all admitted students, whether they were admitted through early or regular decision. Tey could host welcome receptions for admitted students in April and help build the Cornell community in its early stages.

As a new member of Cornell’s community, I would have appreciated these opportunities to build connections with my classmates before arriving on campus. As we ease into a new application cycle post-pandemic, Cornell should take a step back and prioritize both rounds of admitted students and ofer plenty of opportunities to discover all that Cornell has to ofer. Trough this, we can create a stronger Cornell community for years to come.

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name. (Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sudoku)

I Am Going to Be Small

SC I ENCE Researchers Find Cell Chemo Resistance Mechanism

By KAITLIN CHUNG Sun Contributor

The Smolka Lab, led by Prof. Marcus Smolka, molecular biology and genetics, recently published a study shedding light on a novel pathway that explains how cancer cells can become resistant to chemotherapy and offering a promising mechanism to prevent chemo-resistance — the process by which cancer cells become tolerant to chemotherapeutic drugs.

Researchers found that chemo-resistance originates from the process of DNA replication. During replication, DNA separates into individual strands so that each strand can be copied to create two new double helices. The region where the separation and copying of DNA occurs is called a replication fork.

Chemotherapeutic drugs work by creating blocks on the DNA of cells as they replicate. Cells can avoid collisions with these blocks and protect their DNA by slowing down replication forks.

“Slowing down the fork gives time to remove the obstacles so the cell can replicate. As a fork moves forward, it senses that there is an obstacle and reverts back,” Smolka said. “Not much is known about how cancer cells can actually acquire this capacity to slow down forks. That’s where our work gets into trying to understand the early signals that mediate fork reversal.”

The Smolka Lab was uniquely positioned to study the early processes of fork reversal with over two decades of experience studying kinases — proteins that regulate pathways of cellular response. For this study, the researchers focused on a specific kinase involved in protecting the integrity of the genome: DNA-PKcs.

“For the past 20 years, most of the work around DNA-PKcs has been about how it is involved in the repair of DNA double strand breaks,” said Shannon Marshall, a graduate student in the Smolka Lab. “DNA-PKcs, typically thought to only be recruited to sites of DNA breaks, is also present at ongoing replication forks. We see this as normal replication is occurring, indicating the DNA-PKcs is moving along with replication forks. That made us wonder if this protein is somehow involved in regulating responses to replication stress.”

To test their hypothesis, the researchers used DNA fiber assays with fluorescent colors to detect the movement of replication forks under active and inactive DNA-PKcs. They confirmed that active DNA-PKcs promotes fork reversal. In fork reversal, replication forks switch their direction of movement upon encountering stress.

“We found that DNA-PKcs regulates the speed of the replication fork. If you inhibit this kinase, the forks cannot slow down anymore,” Smolka said.

The researchers applied these findings in a model of BRCA2 deficient breast cancer to better understand the translational implications for cancer therapeutics. Currently, inhibitors of DNA-PKcs are used in clinical trials in tandem with radiotherapy to induce DNA damage that destroys cancer cells. The team’s discovery offers an entirely different mechanism to more effectively target treatment-resistant cells.

“We were able to use a model for BRCA2 deficient cancer cells that use this fork reversal process as a mechanism for chemo-resistance. In these cells, we showed that inhibiting the kinase DNA-PKcs actually

re-sensitizes them to the chemotherapeutic drug,” Marshall said. “This mechanism is a way through which we can re-sensitize cancer cells and address chemo-resistance.”

From a research perspective, this work opens the door to new directions in understanding the mechanisms of how DNA-PKcs exerts its effects.

“We have developed technologies that we can screen for targets of this kinase, and we are testing a new target now that could explain how DNA-PKcs slows down the forks.”

For Marshall, this research is inspiring and meaningful because of its potential clin-

ical impact.

Reflecting back on his own career and research process, Smolka encourages students to enjoy their studies and nurture a genuine curiosity in science.

“This [research] highlights the importance of basic science as the conduit to allow all of this research to happen and eventually lead to discoveries that can be applied,” Smolka said. “A major driver of these discoveries is really the curiosity in fundamental biology and the pursuit of basic questions.”

Kaitlin Chung can be reached at khc73@cornell.edu.

Prof Explains Significance of New NIH Stem Cell Study

By TIFFANY ADJEI-OPONG Sun Contributor

In August, National Institutes of Health researchers from the University of Cambridge successfully created a synthetic mouse embryo model using cultured stem cells. The project was aimed at using stem cells to express specific genes that would lead to the development of these mouse stem cells into embryos.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that develop into specialized

cells with specific functions. Prof. John Schimenti, biomedical sciences, explained the processes involved in this project as well as its implications for the future of scientific research.

“There are many different types of stem cells and the relevant type for these experiments are called embryonic stem cells,” Schimenti said.

“These are totally undifferentiated and in the right context, could make all cells in the body by giving

rise to more differentiated cells.”

The stem cells are placed in a culture medium, which optimizes their growth by stimulating cell-to-cell communication. This system of cell communication is necessary since cells use signaling during embryonic development, with a similar process taking place in natural embryonic development in mammalian pregnancies such as humans.

During fertilization, the fertilized egg’s cells divide into an embryo as it implants into the uterus.

The researchers applied this knowledge by taking embryonic stem cells extracted in the lab and combining them with these early embryos. They were then placed in the uterus of a mouse subject and the resulting fetus contained cells that were partly, if not entirely, from the stem cells.

While the fetus develops, the mother starts to grow a new organ called the placenta, which supplies the fetus with the necessary nutrients as well as oxygen and glucose.

The placenta guides the development of organs, acts as an immunological barrier to protect the fetus against infections, and synthesizes fatty acids and cholesterol, among other critical functions.

However, scientists found it challenging to mimic this natural environment in a petri dish because there was no placenta, which would have normally supplied the right balance of nutrients to the developing embryo.

To direct the development of the synthetic embryo, the researchers in this project started with embryonic stem cells that were completely undifferentiated. They then differentiated some of them into two different cell types by adding the corresponding developed cells.

The first group of differentiated cells would ultimately form the placenta and the other would become the yolk sac, a membranous structure attached to an embryo where the embryo’s first blood cells are made.

“There are three different types

of cells present: the unadulterated embryonic stem cells and the two partially differentiated helper tissues. They are mixed together after doing experiments to figure out the right ratios of factors like gas and nutrient levels,” Schimenti said.

The project, starting in 2012, culminated in a synthetic embryo with a semi-functioning brain and heart. The organs were semi functioning because while they did function per their intended purpose, they were not enough to independently sustain life.

This outcome significantly adds to the understanding of not only stem cells but the science of embryonic development because it allows scientists to experiment with embryonic development in real time.

The University provides a unique opportunity to engage more with these concepts through its initiatives for stem cell research such as the Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics and the later established Cornell Stem Cell Program.

Moving forward with this breakthrough, researchers at the University continue to refine the different aspects of stem cell research by pushing development further and improving the efficiency of the organs being developed.

Despite this scientific breakthrough, there is still more to contribute to the study of the relationship between stem cells and regenerative medicine.