In This Issue

Meet CSU's Faculty

Jingqi Yan, Biology, Geology, and Environmental Sciences

Dr. Jingqi Yan is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, Geology, and Environmental Sciences (BGES) and a member of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD). His research is focused on roles of autophagy and exosomes in the pathophysiology of autism and metabolic diseases. He is using behavioral tests, imaging, brain surgeries, and chemogenetic methods with rodent models to identify novel therapeutic targets for diabetes and Fragile X syndrome, the leading genetic cause of autism.

Dr. Yan joins CSU with a new NIH R21 research award. In 2019, he was awarded the NARSAD Young Investigator Award on autism research from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. His postdoctoral research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine included how brain neuroinflammation and exosomes control metabolism and aging (Nature Medicine 2014 and Nature 2017) and how autophagy regulates cognitive deficits in autism (PNAS 2018).

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Featured Research Resource

Virtual MakerSpace

A new immersive virtual reality system has now been installed in the Dan T. Moore MakerSpace, located in Washkewicz Annex building. The Visbox M4 system is intended for use in curriculum development, digital design for engineering and the arts, and for training in the smart manufacturing and smart health care sectors. VR applications from other fields are welcome – contact Ben Ward to discuss your interest or application.

To schedule an appointment for a brief demonstration of the VR CAVE or two recently-acquired Microsoft Hololens 2 augmented reailty devices, please contact Matthew Johnson, manager of the Dan T. Moore MakerSpace.

Research Funding Agency News

NIH Updates Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research

NIH has released its updated Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research, which applies NIH-wide. The updated strategic plan highlights progress made in the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines, along with developing strategies on how to effectively provide these resources. It also directs NIH-supported research into:

• Investigating and treating the long-term health consequences of COVID-19;
• Understanding and responding to new SARS-CoV-2 variants;
• Understanding and engaging disproportionately impacted populations.

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Inspired Creativity

Richard Sherman and Anita Gabrosek: Franklin Manor

Franklin Manor

Richard Sherman and Anita Gabrosek, an associate professor and an assistant professor of practice in post-production, respectively, in the School of Film & Media Arts, created the feature documentary Franklin Manor about the lack of low-income housing, that is currently making the festival rounds. Richard shot and directed the film and Anita wrote and edited it.

Franklin Manor documents the lives of the residents of a deteriorating mobile home park over a six-year period after they were evicted so the site could be razed for commercial redevelopment.

The film already has received multiple accolades, including:

• Winner, Best Film Made in PA, Centre Film Festival
• Bronze Award Winner, Spotlight Documentary Film Awards
• Official Selection, Kansas City FilmFest International

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News from the Technology Transfer Office

Utility Patent: Dr. Honxing Ye

The U.S. provisional patent application filed on behalf of Hongxing Ye, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), titled "Privacy Preserving Approach to Peak Load Management" has been converted to a formal utility patent application. The application was filed May 21, 2021 and was given US Application Serial No. 17/326,796.

The invention provides a novel privacy-preserving framework to manage the peak load of an energy system or grid. Without having the detailed user profiles, the technology can still efficiently manage the peak load using a novel algorithm. The speed of the management technology significantly outperforms the state-of-art commercial optimization solvers. Contact Jack Kraszewski for assistance with a disclosure to begin the process of protecting your invention or intellectual property.

Commercialization Seminar

Leading an Innovative Medical Device Company: Rich Mueller, COO, Life Spine, Inc.

Join an interesting speaker seminar on June 23 at 12 p.m. ET via Zoom for a Roundtable Discussion with Rich Mueller, COO of Life Spine, Inc. He will discuss his career in leading innovative medical device companies. The program is promoted by JumpStart and is a part of the CWRU Entrepreneurship Series.

Mueller is the founder and CEO of ION VISION, an ophthalmic medical device company. He is also the COO of both Life Spine, an innovative spinal implant company, and Centric Medical, Life Spine's foot and ankle organization. Previously, Mueller was at TransEnterix, Inc. where he was CTO and then COO until 2014. Registration is free and can be found here.

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Scholarship of Note

CLE Teaching Collaborative Receives 2022 Divergent Award

The Cleveland Teaching Collaborative (CTC), founded by Dr. Molly Buckley-Marudas, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education, and Dr. Shelley E. Rose, an associate professor in the Department of History, has received a 2022 Divergent Award for Excellence in Implementation of Literacy in a Digital Age by the Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age. The CTC was created in response to the emergency shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and is a dynamic professional learning community that supports and extends educators’ digital literacies and digital pedagogies to improve teaching, learning, and student success during the pandemic and beyond.

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