Chagas Movie

Hey everybody!!! Take a look in this interesting video that is talking about research in Chagas desease!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2vQZxi64A

This video was created by Rafaela Miranda and Blenda Sousa, and it is also showing about their experiences in the laboratory at Loyola University New Orleans.

Explanation about Brazil Science Without Borders by Gabriel Bretz

Hey Everybody,

This post is talking about our program - Brazil Science Without Borders. It was produced by Gabriel Pissolati, also an exchange student of Loyola University. Hope that it helps a better understanding about our program and y'all enjoy it. 

Science without Borders is a large scale nationwide scholarship program primarily funded by the Brazilian federal government. The program seeks to strengthen and expand the initiatives of science and technology, innovation and competitiveness through international mobility of undergraduate and graduate students and researchers.

Total de Bolsas Implementadas: 71.478

Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Singapore, South Korea, Denmark, USA, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.

The main goal of the program is to promote the consolidation and expansion of science, technology and innovation in Brazil by means of international exchange and mobility.

(a) increase the presence of students, scientists and industry personnel from Brazil in international institutions of excellence, negotiating the existende of support from the private sector for the payment of the fees involved or the exemption of these fees with Universities or local governments,

(b) encourage young talents and highly qualified researchers from abroad to work with local investigators in joint projects, contributing to the capacitation of human resources and promoting the return of Brazilian scientists working overseas

(c) induce the internationalization of universities and research centers in Brazil by encouraging the establishment of international partnerships and a meaningful review of their internal procedures in order to make the interaction with foreign partners feasible.

Fields of interest

·        The fields of interest are mostly STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), as detailed:

Engineering; Physical Sciences: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geosciences; Clinical, Pré-clinical and Health Sciences; Computing and Information Technology; Aerospace Technology; Pharmaceuticals; Sustainable Agricultural Production; Oil, Gas and Coal; Renewable Energy; Minerals Technology; Biotechnology; Nanotechnology and New Materials; Technologies for Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Disasters; Bioprospecting and Biodiversity; Marine Sciences; Creative Industry; New Technologies Construction Engineering; Pratical Technologists;

Types of Scholarships:

·        Undergraduate Study Abroad;

·        PhD Internships Abroad;

·        Full-Time PhD;

·        Postdoc;

·        Professional Education;

·        Visiting Researchers/Scholars.

 Benefits

The fellowship will cover the period from 12 to 36 months and the benefits are:

·        R$ 14,000.00 (fourteen thousand reais, about seven thousand five hundred US dollars) per month for living expenses;

·        Research grants in maximum amount of R$ 50,000.00 (fifty thousand reais, about twenty eigth thousand US dollars) per year;

·        Flight tickets;

Additional scholarships can be obtained: post-doctoral scholarships in Brazil for the maintenance of the research during the absence of the visiting researcher and PhD scholarships (sandwich) abroad to Brazilian researchers to follow the visiting researcher in his country. These scholarships should be provided in the research project and requested on the application form.

How long the undergraduate students will take up the courses?
The period of the scholarship is up to 12 months. This is a one year non-degree program, as students will return to complete their degrees in Brazil.  It is hoped they will also engage in a summer internship.

Plant Eco-physiology Lab - Loyola University New Orleans

Plant Eco-physiology Lab

Hey Everybody,

               My name is Talita and I’m one of the exchange students at Loyola University. My field of interesting is botanic and here I had an opportunity to join Dr. Paul Barnes laboratory which I’ve been enjoying so much because of the topic of study related with environmental changes and the new lab experiences that I’m going through.

               In this lab, I’m studying about epidermal UV transmittance in Arabidopsis thaliana. For my study, I grew up 40 plants in the chamber with best and controlled conditions for the plants (temperature, humidity and light) and in addition, during the growth they were not exposure to UV radiations. After one month and a half, when the plants got an ideal development, I exposed them to five different treatments and started measuring the UV transmittance by an instrument known as UV-A-PAM. It’s a non-invasive technique which takes measurements of epidermal UV transmittance on intact leaves and it provides these indirect estimates of epidermal UV-A transmittance by measuring the fluorescence yield of chlorophyll induced by UV-A and blue radiation.  

               The treatments were chamber, greenhouse, shade, plastic film protector and open environment, show in the pictures below. The goal of these treatment was to understand better Arabidopsis’ acclimation in different environments and their UV transmittance. We had an expected results about their patterns of UV transmittance and now, in the next semester, I’m going to do the same experiments but with Arabidopsis mutants of UVR8.

Green house

Open environment; Plastic film Protector; Shade

Chamber

This post is open to comments and discussions.

Thank you!!

If you’re interested about more researches that we have at Loyola University, check out some recent research and projects here - http://chn.loyno.edu/biology/research

Loyola University – Research with Louisiana Wetlands

Hello y’all! My name is Julia L. Henke and I am one of the Brazilians that are studying biology at Loyola University New Orleans. You have no idea how happy I am to be here! It is awesome! 

Last month I had the opportunity to learn about the loss of Louisiana wetlands in a seminar presented by Dr. Robert A. Thomas. I got really interested about the topic and in his research. 

The state of Louisiana contains more than 40% of the United States’ wetlands, with 2.5 million acres of marshes and 637,400 acres of forested wetlands. Because of its characteristics and functions, wetlands have wide influence on nation’s economic, social and ecological wellness. First, the Louisiana wetlands provide habitat for a variety of mammals, fishes, amphibians and migratory waterfowl. For example, it is the habitat for six federally listed threatened and endangered species, including the bald eagle and the brown pelican. In addition, it helps to conserve Louisiana’s water. During rains, floods and storms, wetlands catch and slowly distribute surface water into aquifers, streams and bayous. Marshes, forested wetlands and barrier islands also reduce storm and erosion damage because it absorbs immense quantity of wave energy. As wetlands and barrier islands disappear, the damage will be worst. Besides, the characteristics of water, wildlife and soil contribute to business, recreation and tourism in Louisiana. These values are the basis of Louisiana’s economy, and about 25 percent of the nation’s total fishery production and 40 percent of the nation’s wild fur harvests come from Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. It is clear those wetlands’ environmental services or ecological functions result in economic, cultural and social benefits, which make it irreplaceable.

 Although, these extreme vital lands are at huge risk. No other place on earth is disappearing as rapidly as the Mississippi River delta, where a football field of land turns into open water every 1 hour. Since 1930, the rate of vegetative wetlands loss in Louisiana is about 25 square miles per year, a lost land area larger than the state of Delaware. In part, this has been a result of natural evolutionary processes, but human activities has a large part of the responsibility for marsh habitat alteration and destruction. For example, dredging wetlands for canals or draining and filling for agriculture, grazing, or development are factors that contributes to intensify and accelerate the process of loss. Therefore, a combination of human activities and natural changes can cause wetland loss. These include subsidence, wave erosion, saltwater intrusion, sea level rise, tropical storms and hurricanes, agricultural conversions, freshwater flow restrictions, and canal and levee construction.  

Dr. Thomas and I have been developing our project about the wetland loss. We are discussing about make a documentary and investigate the complex question in which these lands are inserted. We would go in the habitats and make interviews with fisherman and others to understand better how they feel about it. Therefore, I will develop my critical thinking and explore this issue that has social, scientific, economic, politic, cultural and environmental implications.  It is a good example of trade-offs between humans and their environment, which can be applied to other parts of the world as my home country. I will also learn about the process of filming and editing a documentary, which is amazing!

If you have any questions or comments, I would be pleased to receive your email at julialhenke@gmail.com

Loyola University - Study of Bat Behavior

Hello! I’m Marcelle Daoud, an exchange student from Brazil! Now I’m studying Biology in the U.S. at Loyola University New Orleans. I and more 9 Brazilian students are studying Biology and Biomedical Science here in the U.S. through the program Science Without Borders and we are experiencing great and different opportunities each day.

Here at Loyola I have been working with the professor Dr. Craig Hood in studies about the species of bats from New Orleans. We have been studying about their behavior and habits in the different seasons. For now I am just studying about the species and analyzing some data from other studies. After this we will start collecting new data from Jean-Lafitte National Park to analyze and study.

Jean-Lafitte National Park

The data that has been acquired is collected with an interesting instrument called Bat Detector. We need to use this instrument because bats have a very high frequency sound, it is so high that humans cannot hear. Thus, the Bat Detector can capture the sound of the bats and transform in an audible frequency for humans.

With these data captured by the Bat Detector we can analyze the time of appearance of each species, we can analyze what the bats are doing (just passing, feeding, interacting to each other), and with this we can understand better their behavior and help in their conservation.

Here are some pictures about the sound frequency captured by the Bat Detector and projected in the computer.

Evening Bat

Mexican Free-Tailed

Each species has a different frequency, and because of this we can identify which bat was detected by the Bat Detector.

There are 12 species that we can find in Louisiana State. They are: Lasiurus borealis (Red Bat), Lasiurus intermedius (Yellow Bat), Lasiurus cinereus (Hoary Bat), Lasionycteris noctivagans (Silver-haired Bat), Corynorthinus rafinesquii (Rafinesque’s Big Eared Bat), Epitesicus fuscus (Big Brown Bat), Tadarida brasilienses (Mexican Free-Tailed Bat), Nycticeius humeralis (Evening Bat), Perimyotis subflavus (Tri-colored Bat), Myotis austroriparius (Southeastern myotis), Myotis septentrionalis (Northern Long-Earred Bat), and Lasiurus seminolus (Seminole bat).

Tri-Colored Bat

Evening Bat

The most common bats detected in New Orleans are Tri-Colored Bat and Evening Bat.

Here in Louisina these bats have different behavior compared to other states that are cooler, and this happens because of the weather that is not so strict during the Winter. Their behavior is different because during this time of the year bats usually hibernate or migrate to another area that is not so cold, however here these bats remain in the same area and do not stop their activities during the night. 

 Any question comment here in the post or send me an email at marcelle.daoud@gmail.com.

Video about the Program Science Without Borders

Hey everybody! Take a look in this video that is explaining about the program Science Without Borders and showing a little about our experiences at Loyola University New Orleans.

                                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIE5YkhxD5k

This video was created by our friends Grazielli Melo Pena and Gabriel Pissolati Mattos Bretz who are also studying Biology and Biomedical Science through the program. 

Tulane University - Research with Stem Cells and Stroke

I’m Gustavo B. Vallim, exchange student from Brazil. I’m Biomedical Science student at Federal University of Alfenas - Brazil and in March I left my country to continue my studies at Loyola University New Orleans. I have worked with Dr. Jean-Pyo Lee in the Center for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine at Tulane University since last September. 

            Stem Cells research always drew my attention and I had the great opportunity to join to this group. These cells can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions. There are embryonic stem cells and "somatic" or "adult" stem cells. Moreover, there is a new type: induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that are some specialized adult cells "reprogrammed" genetically to assume a stem cell-like state. In my research we transplant human neural stem cell (hNSC) into the brain of mice after an induced ischemic stroke.

Stroke is the second leading cause of death and a major cause of disability in the world. A stroke occurs when the brain is deprived of the oxygen it needs due to an interruption of its blood supply. Without oxygen brain cells die. The oxygen deprived area of brain tissue is called an infarct. Depending on what area of the brain has been affected, a stroke can cause problems with speech, behavior, thought patterns and memory, and may result in permanent brain damage, disability or death. 

            There are some ways to treat the stroke, but sometimes the treatments are not successful. For example, the use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) as a thrombolytic treatment in ischemic stroke is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but it has a narrow therapeutic window. tPA dissolves the blood clot that is blocking the artery and restores the blood flow to the brain. However, if it is used after 3 hours of the onset of stroke, tPA can increase the incidence of intracerebral hemorrhage, a severe complication of stroke that is associated with high mortality. We believe that stem cells can be a new treatment and/or be used to extend the therapeutic window for tPA therapy. 

So, how we induce the mice to stroke? In summary, with a support of a microscope we do a surgery in the anesthetized mice called Middle Coronary Artery Occlusion (MCAO). As the name says, we block this artery that supplies blood to a specific area in the brain causing infarct in this territory. We open the ventral region of neck in the mice and we find the External Carotid Artery (ECA) where a monofilament is introduced until blocks the MCA in the brain. After one hour the blood flow is restored and, in the next day, we do a transplantation of stem cell into the brain. 

References:

·       National Institutes of Health (NIH). http://stemcells.nih.gov/

·       Lawrence Lab. http://sitemaker.umich.edu/lawrence.lab

·       Mayfield Clinic. http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/