Newsletter, December 2019
An article published by Kent State University researchers in a high-impact journal may help to develop more effective drug treatments for one type of invasive breast cancer.
Breast cancer affects nearly 250,000 Americans every year, killing more than 41,000, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some cancer cells are more aggressive and prone to metastasize. A type of cancer called HER2-positive breast cancer is one of them.
HER2-positive breast cancer represents approximately 20 percent of cases. For this type of breast cancer, the gold standard treatment is an anti-HER2 therapy, which includes the use of a drug such as Lapatinib (Tykerb) and Trastuzumab (Herceptin). While anti-HER2 therapy remains popular, one of the biggest concerns is development of drug resistance. Indeed, many of the patients eventually develop resistance to anti-HER2 therapy.
Dr. Manabu Kurokawa, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences, and his research team recently published a paper in Cell Reports, "," which shows how cancer cells develop this resistance and how researchers and oncologists might combat it.
“We found that when breast cancer cells acquire resistance to HER2 inhibitors, they switch their lipid metabolism and prefer eating fat (lipids) rather than making it,” he said. Compared to normal healthy cells, cancer cells need an excessive amount of lipids, presumably to support fast proliferation, Kurokawa says. It is known that, in general, cancer cells like to produce lipids internally for their own use. “There is a channel called CD36 whereby cells can acquire external fat, and during anti-HER2 treatment, breast cancer cells start expressing a lot of CD36, which allows cells to take up more external fat. Interestingly, if you break that mechanism, then they die.”
While studying how breast cancer cells develop that resistance, Kurokawa’s team discovered the cells’ increased appetite for external fat. By exposing naïve drug-sensitive breast cancer cells to low, but steadily increasing, doses of Lapatinib, the team showed they built a resistance. “This method mimics clinical setting where patients take lapatinib daily and develop resistance,” Kurokawa explained.
“Then when we analyzed any difference in gene expression patterns between drug-sensitive and resistant cells, we saw the genes that regulate lipid metabolism were highly upregulated in the resistant cells,” he said. Up-regulation of CD36 was further validated in breast cancer patients’ cohorts as well as in mouse studies.
“The next question is where does the fat go? In other words, why do cancer cells need exogenous lipids to overcome anti-HER2 therapy? We don’t know,” he said. “Resistant cells may be using the fat as an energy source, for example. If that is the case, the next question would be: can we come up with a diet-based strategy to prevent drug resistance?”
Media Contact
Dan Pompili: 330-672-0731, dpompili@kent.edu
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Ohio, like many states, suffers from a teacher shortage, especially in early childhood education and special education. The Buckeye State also is in need of more school psychologists, analysts say.
It’s fortunate, then, that the Office of Special Education Programs just awarded a million-dollar grant to two Kent State University researchers to train teachers and school psychologists in those fields.
Dr. Ching-I Chen and Dr. Kizzy Albritton, assistant professors in the School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services, received a five-year, $1.13 million grant for their project, “Interdisciplinary Preparation in Early Education Professions (Project INPREP), to train education professionals who can not only fill those gaps, but also collaborate in a way that bridges the gaps between those fields in the schools.
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“This personnel preparation grant is for the Special Education and School Psychology programs to collaborate with each other so we can train our master’s level students together,” Chen said. “The project scholars enrolled under the Special Education program will be individuals who have an existing teaching license in early childhood education or in K-12 special education, and they’re interested in working in preschool inclusive settings.”
After two years, Chen’s students will receive a master’s degree in special education as well as an endorsement in preschool special education.
“For the School Psychology program, we have a three-year master’s/specialist-level program,” Albritton said. “For the ensuing years, they’ll be part of the training grant, and in the third year, students in our program go to a full-year paid internship.” That internship is funded through the State of Ohio Department of Education.
Chen and Albritton said many preschool special education teachers often only have a general understanding of school psychologists’ roles.
Many preschool special education teachers only know you can use the school psychologist when conducting assessments, and when evaluating whether children are eligible for preschool special education services,” Chen said. “They don’t know school psychologists are also great resources for providing developmental, academic, and social emotional supports as well. So, when they are in their training period, why not teach them how to work with school psychologists, then when they’re in the field they’ve had the experience of teaming up, and it’ll be easier transitioning to the real world.
Albritton said both of them have been waiting on an opportunity like this one.
“A lot of our coursework in the field of school psychology focuses on K-12 populations,” she said. “So, as a faculty member and researcher, my goal has been to move the field to focus more on early childhood, because if we’re going to do early intervention, it doesn’t get much earlier than preschool.
Chen said the project scholars will work in the classroom at least one day each week with general educators in early childhood education, learning to support all children while also providing individual support for children who need it. They will also work closely with a school psychologist at the preschool level.
Project scholars will take shared courses in consultation models and theories, typical and atypical childhood development, and also interventions for culturally diverse students. They will also complete action research projects with a collaborating field professional and a focus child, which will enhance their practicum experiences.
Kent state will work with the on the project.
“They’ve been great partners,” Albritton said. “Our students have completed internships and practicum with them before. We chose them for that reason, and because they also provide preschool services for about 10 school districts. So, with that, hopefully the project scholars will be able to see a wide range of different settings.”
Media Contact
Dan Pompili: 330-672-0731, dpompili@kent.edu
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Traumatic injuries are the third leading cause of death nationally and the first in Americans age 44 and younger, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Level I trauma rooms are intended to stabilize and save the lives of patients with the most severe traumatic injuries.
The has awarded a $2.47 million grant to a Kent State University researcher to help create trauma rooms that support staff in saving patients’ lives. Sara Bayramzadeh, Ph.D., coordinator and Elliot Professor in the Healthcare Design Program at Kent State’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design, will establish a Patient Safety Learning Lab to produce new guidelines for Level I trauma room design.
Bayramzadeh’s project, “Toward a Model of Safety and Care for Trauma Room Design,” will use design as a tool to improve efficient care in Level I trauma rooms. The project brings together a team of researchers from Kent State and Cleveland Clinic Akron General for the next four years. The study is based on the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model mandated by AHRQ’s Patient Safety Learning Labs’ program.
“The SEIPS model’s five components of organization, people, tasks, technology and the physical environment are an explicit example of how cross-disciplinary work is essential to holistically examine the processes that lead to improved safety outcomes,” Bayramzadeh said.
According to the Joint Commission, a national nonprofit that accredits and certifies healthcare organizations and programs, 7-9% of deaths in Level I trauma rooms are due to preventable errors. Bayramzadeh’s project will identify some of the preventable errors related to the physical environment. The project will develop design strategies to integrate technology such that future adaptability is maximized, as new models of care emerge over time.
The project will evolve through five phases as required by the AHRQ. Bayramzadeh’s team will first identify problems associated with trauma rooms. The design and development phases will involve Healthcare Design graduate students to provide innovative design solutions. In the implementation phase, a high-fidelity mock-up of a trauma room will be built, which will facilitate the fifth phase of the project – evaluation – to test the effectiveness of the proposed design strategies through trauma scenario simulations.
The project includes a partnership with ’s Ali F. Mallat, MD, MS, FACS, Executive Medical Director, Acute Care Surgery; Jessica Krizo, Ph.D., Research Faculty, Emergency Medicine and Trauma Surgery; and Steven E. Brooks, MD, FACEP, Chair of Emergency Medicine; Kent State researchers Mary Anthony, Ph.D., RN, associate dean for research in the College of Nursing, and Douglas Delahanty, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences; former Kent State faculty member , Ph.D., who is now an assistant professor at SUNY Canton; as well as graduate students from Kent State’s Healthcare Design Program and honor students from the College of Nursing.
For more information about Kent State’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design, visit www.kent.edu/caed.
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About Sara Bayramzadeh
Sara Bayramzadeh, Ph.D., joined Kent State University as the head of the Healthcare Design program in 2018. She is recognized for research on patient safety in psychiatric units and operating rooms. Her practice-based research experience includes collaborations with HGA Architects and Engineers and BBH Design. Before joining Kent State, she was a research assistant professor in Clemson University’s Architecture + Health program and a member of the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing. She is involved with the American Institute of Architect’s (AIA) Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH), the AAH Foundation, AAH Next Generation Committee and the AIA Cleveland Healthcare. Bayramzadeh holds a Master of Architecture from Miami University of Ohio and a Ph.D. in Design, Construction and Planning with a concentration in Interior Design from the University of Florida (2015).
About the Master of Healthcare Design Program
The Elliot Program for Master of Healthcare Design (MHCD) at Kent State University is a post-professional degree and one of the few programs in the nation that specializes on the design of the healthcare facilities. Kent State’s Healthcare Design program is a member of the American Institute of Architects’ Design & Health Research Consortium. The Master of Healthcare Design program is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills required to design healthcare spaces conducive to safety, satisfaction and efficiency for all end users, including patients, staff and caregivers. The curriculum encompasses design studios, applied research and real-world practice experience. The coursework focuses on understanding healthcare systems, universal design, evidence-based design, systems thinking and human factors, across different facility types and patient populations. Kent State also offers an online graduate certificate in Health Systems and Facilities Design, open to anyone.
Media Contacts:
Dan Pompili, dpompili@kent.edu, 330-672-0731
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595
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A new federal grant will help Kent State University expand an international relationship and provide invaluable opportunities for some graduate students.
The (NSF) recently awarded Kent State a three-year $298,000 International Research Experience for Students (IRES) grant that will allow graduate students to travel to in Japan to study primates and human evolution at the world-renowned . 
The IRES grant is under the direction of Dr. Anthony Tosi, associate professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences, along with his colleagues in the department, Dr. Richard Meindl, professor and graduate coordinator; Dr. Owen Lovejoy, distinguished professor; and Dr. Mary Ann Raghanti, professor and chair.
“The theme here is that we’re using non-human primates as models for human evolutionary history,” Tosi said. “Under this umbrella, we’ve allowed for several smaller projects, yet to be created, to be done by 18 graduate students — six students each summer for the next three years.”ċċċċċċċċċċċċċ
Tosi said the students will come from anthropology and biological sciences, and they will conduct studies focused on morphology, genetics, neuroscience, and primate behavior.
“Ideally, these might be master's and doctoral students, who would plug this in as a chapter in their final project, as one component that will somehow dovetail with what they already do,” Raghanti said.
The team said Kyoto gives students access to a broad array of opportunities. ċċċċċċċċċċċċċ
“It’s not just the great faculty and the location, but the amount of resources they have for us fills a hole that we just can’t fill here,” Meindl said. “In addition to resources, they provide expertise that is first-rate. They are true scholars, international scholars at Kyoto.”
The Primate Research Institute (PRI) is home to more than 40 faculty and welcomes students from all over the world. Tosi said the institute houses 12 different species of primates, more than 10,000 skeleton specimens of more than 100 different species, and a bio-materials library with samples unavailable anywhere in the United States. The PRI also boasts fossil sites and field stations in Africa, where students can observe chimpanzees, gorillas, and other species in the wild.
Tosi said Kent State has already sent six students over the past five years, including two this year through fellowships from the — the Japanese equivalent of the NSF.
He said the experience is invaluable for students who participate.
“They can build an international network of relationships with researchers very early in their careers, they develop new scientific expertise while in Japan, they have access to all these resources, they gain a sense of how science is conducted in a foreign culture, and all that will open up more job opportunities,” he said.
Tosi said the students come back with a new air of confidence and experience that makes Kent State’s labs better places for all to learn.
“They come back and they just have more presence in my lab meetings, they’re not afraid to ask more questions or direct the discussion down different avenues, and they’re very helpful to their lab-mates,” he said.
Tosi said the relationship with Kyoto University has been developing steadily and he is hopeful that a two-way exchange program might be on the horizon.
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MEDIA CONTACTS
Dan Pompili: 330-672-0731, dpompili@kent.edu
Emily Vincent: 330-672-8595, evincen2@kent.edu
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Kent State Biologist Lands NIH Grant to Research Cannabinoids’ Effect on Sleep Cycles
There are two cycles most people can’t avoid — sleep and the news. And If you’re awake, you can’t help hearing the news reporting about cannabinoids. A Kent State researcher may soon have news about how these substances affect our body’s natural clock.
Dr. Eric Mintz, Professor of Biological Sciences and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, studies the human body’s circadian rhythms, which affect the sleeping-waking cycle.
Not as well-known is how the brain’s other systems work in concert with that clock or what happens to it when we interfere with them.
The at the U.S. recently awarded Mintz a three-year, $446,000 grant to study the effect of the cannabinoid system on circadian rhythms.
People mostly acquire cannabinoids externally either from THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in marijuana, or cannabidiol (CBD) oil manufactured from hemp.
“Inside our brains, we make our own cannabinoids” Mintz said. “They’re something else, and part of the normal function of the brain’s systems.”
The cannabinoid system works in tandem with many others, like the nervous system (sensation, pain) and the limbic system (emotions, learning, memory), and the hypothalamus (metabolism and body temperature) and cannabinoids are known to stimulate these, often bringing relief from pain or anxiety, and stimulating the appetite. The cannabinoid system also affects our circadian rhythms, but we’re uncertain how.
“So the first part of this question is: If we stop the system from working, if we block it in some way, does that alter how the clock works?” he said. “The primary the focus of the grant is to look at the system’s normal function so we can ultimately understand, if we mess with it, what are we messing with.”
After that, Mintz said, the study will analyze how introducing external cannabinoids like THC or CBD may affect circadian rhythms. Mintz said literature on cannabinoids is limited because they don’t affect study subjects the same as other drugs do, which makes the research more complicated to carry out and more difficult to analyze.
“Most research on drugs, and how they affect the brain, is done on drugs where the major issue is addiction, and the drugs may have all kinds of physiological effects,” he said. “The focus here isn’t on addiction and withdrawal, the focus here is on what does it actually do. Are there consequences? There could be positive consequences too, we just don’t really know.”
Mintz said that despite starting from a small base of knowledge, he’s hopeful the project will yield a better understanding about the relationship, and even provide a foundation for cannabinoid dosing studies.
“If you live in Colorado, and you’ve gotten into the habit of having a hard day of work, coming home and taking some THC, and you do so the same time every day, how does that affect your sleep?” he said. “Do you get better sleep, more sleep, less? We have no idea. All we have is people’s anecdotes, but those are notoriously unreliable, because people may like how the drug makes them feel, and report that they’re sleeping better when maybe they’re not.”
MEDIA CONTACT
Dan Pompili: 330-672-0731, dpompili@kent.edu
Return to December 2019 Newsletter
Kent State Researchers Find a Way to Potentially Conquer Cancer Drug Resistance
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