“Management is dead!” declares Mark Addleson, Mason associate professor of public policy and author of “Beyond Management.” In this new book, he explains why the rules, systems and structures favored by management are actually disorganizing and cause breakdowns at work.

“Management is dead because work has changed but management practices have not,” Addleson says. “We can think of management as what we do to organize work to get things done, but most organizations have not adapted to the modern workplace.”

The management systems and structures used today were developed for factories during the industrial era, he says

“The thinking and all the practices around management were designed for a long-gone era,” Addleson says. “We still look at organizations like machines and manage them in highly structured ways. Management is inflexible, top-heavy and outdated.”

He continues: “Manufacturing jobs have all but disappeared. Knowledge workers network, share information, learn from one another, and organize and make decisions collectively. Most workers today have some of these characteristics, whether they are office administrators, restaurant workers, doctors or plumbers.”

In “Beyond Management,” Addleson also details how to replace outdated practices with new ones that empower today’s “knowledge workers.” He also provides strategies that apply to just about any business, nonprofit organization or government entity.

It is widely believed that organizational rules and structures are important to achieving the desired results at work and that someone needs to be in charge. However, Addleson says that knowledge workers are quite capable of organizing themselves, provided there is a shift to responsibility and accountability at work.

“Software developers, for example, need the flexibility to make decisions and manage their own work,” he says. “Adopting agile methods, they tell one another what they’re doing and are engaged in each other’s work without the intervention of management. In many ways, they are archetypes for the modern workplace for knowledge workers.”

A lack of a human element in corporate management has led to a lot of the problems that we saw during the financial crisis over the last few years, Addleson says. “Care and prudence is what we expect from the organizations that handle our money, but most management systems are driven by accounting, and they neither value nor practice the care or accountability that is needed for public trust.”

Undoing cumbersome management takes time, Addleson warns, but he says it is well worth the effort. “Unseating structured management is a tough sell and a long road. There are no easy solutions. What I am trying to do in ‘Beyond Management’ is highlight why organizations are in a mess and what we can do about it.”

Addleson has taught courses on organizations and management and has consulted in the area of organizations and change for more than 30 years. He began his teaching career in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Graduate School of Business, where he headed the school’s general management program and consulted to a variety of organizations.

After joining Mason in 1994, he helped to establish the School of Public Policy’s master’s program in organization development and knowledge management and served as the program’s founding director.

The United States is the best country in the world to start a business, according to the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI), a ranking that is produced in part at Mason and that compares entrepreneurial characteristics of 79 nations and identifies the entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses of their economies.

At the same time, the report notes that the United States has lost ground, and the drivers of entrepreneurship have deteriorated across the globe.

Rounding out the top 10 are Sweden, Australia, Iceland, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium and Norway, with the Netherlands and Taiwan tied for 10th. A summary of the 2012 GEDI can be found online.

The annual index, now in its second edition, is a collaboration between Mason, the University of Pecs in Hungary and the Imperial College Business School in England. This year’s index was produced by Zoltan Acs, professor and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Public Policy in Mason’s School of Public Policy, and László Szerb, associate professor of business and economics at the University of Pecs.

The authors provide this information to help international leaders understand the entrepreneurial climate of their countries’ economies and foster productive entrepreneurship through new policies.

“If governments think that entrepreneurship is important, they promote it through their policies, including supporting education, increasing commercialization and making finance available to start businesses,” Acs says. “The basic question we are trying to answer is: What is the incentive structure in a particular country, and how do the country’s residents respond and behave to those policies?”

To compile the index, researchers survey people around the world and gather information from countries related to 15 separate variables, including quality of the education system; likelihood of corruption; amount of research and development; and government incentives related to starting a business.

Using these variables, the index takes the average of three subindices that measure entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial aspirations. The GEDI uses a scale of 0.0 to 1.0 and takes into account that the lowest scores from the variables may drag down the overall score to more accurately reflect the complexity of entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship is a multidimensional phenomenon. The GEDI combines the variables in a way that considers the factors where the country is weakest,” says Acs. “Unless you fix the weakest link in the chain, the chain breaks. The factors related to entrepreneurship work the same way. Governments must recognize and improve the areas where they are weak in order to foster a culture of innovation in their country.”

The United States, while leading the list, has a long way to go to regain lost ground, according to the report.

“The U.S. is a society in distress, with communities hurting across the country,” Acs says.  “This does not bode well for American entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship does not emerge from sick societies. It emerges from healthy societies.”

On a scale of 0.0 to 1.0, productive entrepreneurship declined to 0.60 from 0.67, or about a 10 percent drop overall. This drop was larger in the developed world than in the developing world, reflecting the deteriorating institutional conditions in wealthy countries. Because of these factors, the potential for productive entrepreneurship has fallen worldwide.

Other findings in the index include:

• While the global economic crisis has hurt entrepreneurship in most countries, including the United States, the effect on individual countries varied greatly.
• Hungary, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay are tied for having the largest gain since last year at 0.06. Australia, Tunisia, Chile, Jamaica, Croatia, Israel and Turkey had the next largest gains.
• The Asian countries of China, India, Korea and Malaysia had large declines in entrepreneurship.
• The United States is the only country in the top three in all three subindices, but does not rank first in any category.
• The top three countries in the entrepreneurial attitudes subindex are Sweden, the United States and Australia.
• The top three countries in the entrepreneurial activity subindex are Australia, the United States and Canada.
• The top three countries in the entrepreneurial aspirations subindex are Israel, Taiwan and the United States.

Len Nichols. Creative Services photo

Virginia’s approach to health reform could provide a path for the rest of the country, say Mason professors who provided key input to a state advisory council’s recent report to the governor and legislature.

“Virginia is very important to the nation’s appraisal of this law,” says Len Nichols, director of Mason’s Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics in the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS). “Virginia is a bellwether state in a lot of ways. People pay attention to what we do.”

Nichols and P.J. Maddox, chair of the Department of Health Administration and Policy in CHHS, lent their know-how to the Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council. The council’s multiple task forces crafted a plan for a health benefit exchange as the Obama administration’s deadline for one approaches. A health benefit exchange could give individuals and small businesses the bargaining power of a large employer so they can land a better health insurance deal.

If Virginia doesn’t have its own health insurance plan in place by January 2013, then it becomes a federal program. “I can assure you that the last thing Virginia wants is to have a federal exchange,” says Nichols, a nationally renowned health policy scholar.

P.J. Maddox. Creative Services photo

Nichols, Maddox and other Mason research-generating team members helped to ensure the advisory board had the facts to make their recommendations. Nichols also paved the way for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund the council with a $124,484 grant.

Nonpartisan Approach ‘Essential’ for Success

Mason is actively supporting the health care debate. “We’re engaged in Richmond in a way we weren’t before,” Nichols says.

A nonpartisan approach is essential for health reform success, Nichols says. “We’re at a place now where the political leaders have to make basic choices of which direction to go,” he says.

While the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the Obama administration’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) this summer, Virginia is one of a handful of states to lay the groundwork for health care reform. It’s a gutsy move by a bold governor, says Maddox.

“Virginia has not been on the sidelines, waiting to see what the federal government and other states are doing to implement health reform,” Maddox says. “Even with the uncertainty of the individual mandate, many aspects of the PPACA are going to be implemented. Virginia is wise to move forward to plan how it will implement health reform. There may be controversy about PPACA, but there is wide agreement that we must do more to control the cost of health care, get more value for what we are spending and expand health insurance coverage for many who do not have it.”

A health benefit exchange could save money in the long run because if people have health insurance, they are more likely to go to a doctor early and often, Maddox says. That prevents unnecessary and pricey emergency room visits, she adds.

Health benefit exchanges are critical to stabilizing private health insurance, Maddox says.

“If health insurance costs continue to rise and become more unaffordable, fewer will have insurance, and there will be more uncompensated care,” she says. “Those who pay end up paying for those who don’t.”

Putting a Health Benefit Exchange into Action

The advisory council tackled the technical details of how to put a health benefit exchange into action.

“This is about reorganizing the health insurance market in Virginia for people who don’t have offers from their employer and for small employers,” Nichols says. “Those are the two markets that don’t work very well.”

An exchange is designed to boost small employers and regular people into the big leagues. “In essence, an exchange extends the best of our markets to the worst of our markets,” Nichols says.

To do that, some rules have to change.

“You have to sell to everybody, regardless of their health status, and you cannot charge people more just because they’ve had cancer in their lifetime or a heart condition,” Nichols says. “A fundamental shift in the law and the power of government is necessary to make that happen if your goal is to cover all through private insurance.”

Who’s in charge is another issue the council had to address.

A quasi-governmental agency received the nod from the council as the best way to go for an exchange, Nichols says. A health benefit exchange authority would be a governmental entity but with an independent board. Of the 11 states that have created exchanges so far, nine have opted for this approach.

Even if Obama loses the next presidential election, heath care reform may be here to stay, Nichols and Maddox say. “I think it’s highly unlikely this conversation would end with Obama’s defeat,” Nichols says.

Other CHHS team members who helped compile research for the council included health policy fellow Elizabeth Isaacs Flashner, graduate research assistants Suchita Madan and Ekom Etuk and office managers Sandie MacGowan and Caryn Sever.

Anthony Pellegrino. Photo courtesy of Anthony Pellegrino

The pre-Revolutionary tune “Yankee Doodle.” Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.”

What do these songs have in common? They were all written in response to significant events in American history and have the ability to elicit powerful emotions. Perhaps more important, these songs demonstrate how music is an enduring part of our culture and society.

Mason researcher Anthony Pellegrino couldn’t agree more. As a teenager, he remembers how listening to the music of socially and politically active bands such as MC5, Fugazi, Bad Brains and REM helped shape his own opinions about issues in society. Later, when he became an American history teacher, he wondered if music still had the same impact on students.

This thought led to his most recent study titled “Music as a Tool for 21st-Century Civic Education,” which was published in Action in Teacher Education. In the study, Pellegrino, an assistant professor of secondary education in Mason’s College of Education and Human Development, and his colleagues analyzed the intersection of music and civics.

Teaching History Beyond the Textbook

The researchers worked with high school students from around the country to determine the relationship between civically oriented music and students’ civic knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. In addition, the researchers introduced the idea of teaching history beyond the textbook and offered ways in which educators can effectively use music and culture in their history classrooms.

“We already knew that students were listening to all sorts of music genres from pop to rock to country, but we weren’t sure to what extent this music was influencing their perceptions of the world,” says Pellegrino. “By gaining a better understanding of how students are learning about civic issues, educators can use these sources that teens see as being relevant to their lives.”

For the study, Pellegrino and his colleagues surveyed 213 high school students enrolled in social studies classes in public schools in Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina and Utah.

Students were asked to identify the musical artists they listen to on a regular basis. Some of the favorites that emerged were country music artists Brooks & Dunn and Taylor Swift; rappers Jay-Z and Lil’Wayne; and R&B singer Mary J. Blige. Students were also tested on their knowledge of government structure, American history, world geography and social issues.

The study also measured three aspects of students’ civic attitudes: their opinions concerning politics and morality, their willingness to work for a cause and whether they considered voting the responsibility of all citizens. Also measured were two aspects of students’ civic behaviors: whether they were members of civic clubs at school and whether they discussed politics with their friends.

Civically Oriented Music Encourages Learning

For the most part, students scored low on the civic knowledge questions, answering only between six and 14 questions out of 19 correctly. Students also scored low in civic behaviors, with 74 percent indicating that they do not belong to a civic club at school and 55 percent saying they do not talk about politics with their friends.

However, Pellegrino notes that despite the low scores regarding civic knowledge and behavior, 64 percent of students actually had very strong opinions about politics and morality. The researchers also found that 62 percent of students were willing to work for an important cause and believed that voting is the responsibility of every citizen.

“Although students may not actively be participating in civic behaviors, our research shows us that students who listen to civically oriented music are actually encouraged to raise their civic knowledge, initiate conversations among their peers and learn more about their government and society,” says Pellegrino.

Further in-person interviews with some of the students revealed that the more students talk with their friends about civic issues in society, the more likely they are to participate in civic clubs at school.

In the same way, according to Pellegrino, students are more likely to form opinions about issues in society and to work for a cause when they listen to music that informs them of a social or civic issue. In fact, 53 percent of the students agreed that they have learned about a social issue or event from a song or band.

Based on the results of the study, the researchers concluded that while civically oriented music has the potential to arouse intense feelings about social issues among students, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee a complete understanding of these issues, nor does it guarantee students will participate in civic behaviors.

“Many of the students to which we spoke admitted that they tend to believe things without actually looking into them,” says Pellegrino. “This is where the responsibility of the educator comes in to ensure that these attitudes are rooted in civic knowledge and lead to civic behaviors.”

A Tool for Educators

Pellegrino and his colleagues argue that students are detached from civics as it is taught in the classroom; therefore, educators should consider using nontraditional teaching sources such as music and music lyrics to help captivate and inspire students to learn.

“Most social studies educators only use music as a hook in the classroom to get students’ attention,” says Pellegrino. “Instead of focusing solely on sources such as government documents, speeches, photographs or other relics, teachers need to incorporate music into their primary source learning materials.”

Pellegrino and his fellow researchers further expanded on this issue in their forthcoming book titled “Let the Music Play! Harnessing the Power of Music for the Social Studies Classroom.” The book offers recommendations to social studies educators about how to infuse music as part of social studies curriculum and use it as an analytical tool in the classroom to help students better understand historical events.

The book explores how both historical and contemporary songs can be used to educate students about noteworthy themes in American history such as race, labor and class. The researchers identified 30 songs per topic and included detailed lesson plans as a resource for teachers to use music in the classroom.

“As educators and researchers, it is important for us to recognize that an essential element of school is to move students to action,” says Pellegrino. “We owe it to our students to use the most relevant sources available that will encourage them to become knowledgeable, responsible and active members of society.”

The study will look at 12 high schools from around the country, particularly those that attract underrepresented minority students, to develop a database of effective models and practices. Creative Services photo

Last year, President Obama challenged education leaders across the country to create more than 1,000 new schools throughout the next decade that focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) – fields that are proven to be vital in today’s workplace and for America’s future economic growth.

In response to this call to action, researchers from Mason and George Washington University joined forces on a four-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the emerging trend of STEM-focused high schools.

The project will look at12 well-established, inclusive STEM-focused high schools, particularly those that attract underrepresented minority students. The schools will be chosen from around the country.

“The goal of this project is to study the design, implementation and dimensions for a new kind of school that is quietly emerging across the United States,” says Erin Peters Burton, co-principal investigator of the project and assistant professor of science education and educational psychology in Mason’s College of Education and Human Development. “Because this type of study has never been done before, no one really knows what an ‘inclusive STEM-focused school’ looks like and what works.”

She adds, “This project has the exciting potential to develop new sources of STEM talent among underrepresented minority students and provide them with opportunities to succeed in high school and the STEM workforce.”

The researchers will create detailed case studies of the STEM high schools to explore different models of effectiveness in different states. Based on previous research conducted by SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute, the project will explore 10 components that have been found to be crucial to the potential success of students in STEM-focused high schools.

The researchers will compare indicators of success in the STEM-focused schools with those of comprehensive high schools in the same jurisdictions. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Some of these components are course curriculum; use of technology in the classroom; use of qualified teachers with STEM content knowledge and experience; and support from businesses and organizations in the community. The project will also look at the different kinds of support provided to students outside the regular school day, such as internships and mentorships, as well as opportunities for early college enrollment.

During the project, the researchers will employ focus groups, surveys and interviews with students, parents, teachers, school administrators and business partners. In addition, the researchers will visit each school for four days to observe science, technology, mathematics and engineering classes.

The researchers will compare indicators of success in the STEM-focused schools with those of comprehensive high schools in the same jurisdictions.

After the results have been compiled, the researchers will look for best practices and components that are common across all of the schools. From these commonalities, the researchers will develop recommendations for others who want to create STEM-focused schools.

“After the project has been completed, we expect the case studies of each STEM-focused school to provide a rich database of promising and effective models and practices,” says Burton. “We plan to share our findings and recommendations with the larger education community, as well as researchers and policymakers, to be used as a resource to show the effective models that contribute to students’ success in STEM education.”

Robin Remsburg, director of the School of Nursing. Creative Services photo

College students can be a tough crowd — especially when it comes to persuading them to get a flu shot.

Say too little and they don’t get the message. Say too much and it’s just hype to be ignored.

Mason researchers are working on finding the best formula to appeal to this savvy crowd of 18 to 24 year olds.

To accomplish that task, Mason is working on two fronts. Mason researchers teamed with Fairfax County for the “Community Immunity” program, a countywide flu shot push, and added a research project to find out why so many college-age adults skip their shots.

A mere 30 percent of this group gets their annual flu shot — the lowest rate among the U.S. population, says Robin Remsburg, director of Mason’s School of Nursing in the College of Health and Human Services.

The flu shot “community immunity” message is to think about others, Remsburg says. Other approaches, such as suggestions to ward off the flu for their own health, have had little effect on the college crowd. Remsburg and her team want to find out if a “community immunity” approach gets results.

“Don’t do it for yourself,” Remsburg says. “Even if you think you’re healthy and not susceptible to the flu, [you could infect] your grandparents or babies or people who have chronic illnesses or disabilities. Those folks are particularly vulnerable. Do it for them. We’ll see if that message, which is a new message, resonates with students.”

Rumors and Misinformation

To find out if that message works, researchers asked 400 Mason students if they were going to get a flu shot and what they think about vaccinations. Students were interviewed at the Student Health Services clinic while they were getting shots or providing Mason-required vaccination paperwork for enrollment. The data is now being analyzed. Another survey will follow in January to find out how the program affected student attitudes about the flu shot.

Rumors abound. Health care educators have work to do to get correct information out there. The survey results will help them refine their message to grab the attention of college students.

“Most of the people who I’ve talked to think that the flu shot causes the flu,” says Therese Prats, a Mason public administration graduate student and flu project research assistant who surveyed Mason students. “And they think they’re healthy and can’t catch the flu.”

The flu shot does not cause the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People may have already been exposed to the flu before they receive the shot, so it may appear that the shot gave them the flu. It did not. The shot also doesn’t protect against every strain of flu virus, just the top three that researchers think will be on the flu “hit parade” for that season.

Still, misinformation dies hard. “When you constantly hear about it, you think it might be true,” says Zeina Al Khalaf, a Mason communication major and flu project research assistant who surveyed students.

Communicating the Message

How to get the word out is tricky.

“I’m not trusting the web,” Al Khalaf says. “I don’t know what is true and what is not. Everything online is extreme. I’m pulled from one side to another.”

But sometimes too much information creates a backlash. The flurry of news attention around the H1N1 flu soured many students on the need for a flu shot, Prats says. Students thought the virus was more hype than real, she adds.

“If it’s out there too much, it’s too in your face,” Prats says.  “It needs to be more subtle.”

Flyers and posters could be the best way to get the word out, Prats says. The signs in the bathroom that tell people to wash their hands are a good example, she says. The message becomes ingrained.

Messages on TV have become so much background noise. “Kids don’t really watch television these days,” Prats says.

Flu shots have fallen off the radar because so many diseases no longer plague us, Remsburg says. Past successful vaccination programs have given us a false sense of security, she adds.

“By and large, we’re a victim of how healthy our population is — we don’t see the effects of these communicable diseases like Third World countries that aren’t so well vaccinated,” she says.

And many students don’t realize just how bad the flu can be. “When you get the flu, you feel like you want to die,” Remsburg says, laughing. “It’s not something you necessarily bounce back from.”

Any time is a good time to get a flu shot.

“You can get the vaccine all the way through February and March because the worst of the flu season hits around January, February, March,” Remsburg says. “Right now it’s good to get it because it builds up your immunity.”

At Mason, the College of Health and Human Services, Student Health Services, the Communication Department and the Student Nurses Association are working together, along with the Fairfax County Health Department, to bolster flu shot numbers.

Also, the program has become a teaching tool in the classroom. Nurse practitioners in the classroom are looking at how community health campaigns work and how they can be effective.

Lance Liotta. Creative Services photo

Women with the deadliest and rarest form of breast cancer now have a chance of treatment where once their options were severely limited, thanks to a new discovery by Mason researchers.

This aggressive cancer, called “inflammatory breast cancer,” kills about half the women who have it within five years; patients live on average a mere 18 months after diagnosis. About 10,000 women are diagnosed each year with inflammatory breast cancer, according to U.S. government statistics.

In a recent study, Mason scientists pinpointed a key driver in the cancer that is leading to new ways to treat it. This study is not only a success for cancer patients but for a pioneering research method that discovered the finding as well, says Emanuel “Chip” Petricoin, co-director of Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM) along with Lance Liotta.

Proteomics Leads to Discovery

This summer, doctors at Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Cancer Center under the direction of Massimo Cristofanilli, the center’s chair of medical oncology, began treating inflammatory breast cancer patients with a drug originally developed for non-small cell lung cancer because Mason research revealed a commonality between the two cancers. Prior to the research, these breast cancer patients had limited treatment options, Petricoin says.

Emanuel Petricoin. Creative Services photo

Discovering how the cancer works using proteomics, an approach that looks at the proteins on the genes, was essential to the finding. If researchers had stuck with traditional genome analysis, they would have missed the protein that can be targeted to treat this particularly dangerous form of breast cancer, Petricoin says. The proteins on the genes are the key for successful treatment.

“It is the proteins that the drug targets, not the genes,” he says.

A decade ago, Petricoin and Liotta invented a technology called the reverse phase protein array. It’s a way of physically arranging proteins to reveal how they work on individual cells, such as cancer cells. Mason exclusively licensed the technology to Theranostics Health Inc., a company the two co-founded about five years ago.

“DNA is the information archive, but it is the proteins that do the work,” Petricoin explains.  “Proteins are the software of the cell. They basically direct the cell to die, grow, divide and metastasize. While many think of cancer as a genomic disease, it’s actually a proteomic disease. What is actually deranged in the cancer cells are protein pathways. These protein pathways form a linked network of interaction, talking to each other.”

And not everyone has the same network of activated proteins. If a patient’s cancer doesn’t have a particular protein turned on that the drug targets, then the drug fails.

“Now we know that’s why the one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work,” Petricoin says.

Protein ALK Linked to Breast Cancer

When Petricoin, Liotta and CAPMM researchers Julie Wulfkuhle and Rita Circo began to study the cells from inflammatory breast cancer patients, they were surprised. They used the array platform and found that a protein called anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), which was previously unconnected to breast cancer, is highly activated in nearly all the samples they looked at.

“When we looked at these breast cancer samples, we saw ALK and the entire ALK pathway lit up like a string of lights,” Petricoin says.

The best news is that there’s already a drug on the market for treating patients with activated ALK, and it can be used for inflammatory breast cancer, too, Petricoin says. If the results of their work are validated in further patients, more people stand to benefit because ALK activation appears much more often in inflammatory breast cancer patients than in lung cancer patients.

Petricoin and his team worked with Fredika M. Robertson, a professor in the department of experimental therapeutics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who led the study.

More research is on the way. Working with Robertson, the Mason team plans to find better drugs or a new combination of drugs to treat the cancer as patients build resistance to existing treatments. They’re also searching for new ways to use current drugs that are already in the pipeline or have been cleared by FDA.

“The technology has graduated to the point where we can do this at the bedside, and we hope that through Theranostics Health it can benefit many patients in the future,” Petricoin says.

The Mason team also is applying its know-how to breast cancer in general, colorectal cancer, multiple myeloma and cancers of the prostate, brain, lung and ovaries.

While Petricoin doesn’t expect a complete shift from genomic research, the study boosts the role of proteomics.

“It really highlights that you can’t put all your eggs in one basket,” he says. “You can’t just invest in genomic analysis. At the very least, proteomic analysis should be done simultaneously with the genomic analysis. This finding basically validates the philosophical approach we’re taking and the power that the array platform provides.”

Robertson released the study on Nov. 13 at an American Association for Cancer Research conference in San Francisco. American Airlines/Komen Race for the Cure Promise Grant funded the study titled “Novel Targets for Treatment and Detection of Inflammatory Breast Cancer.”

Eden King. Creative Services photo

“The Science of Diversity at Work,” a presentation by Mason associate professor Eden King, continues the 2011-12 Vision Series at Mason on Monday, Nov. 14.

King, a member of the Psychology Department and recipient of the 2011 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, will give her talk in the Center for the Arts on the Fairfax Campus at 7 p.m. The event is free and no tickets are required.

King will explore in her lecture a deceptively simple question: What happens when people from two different backgrounds have to work together? New social science findings propose unique opportunities for diverse employees, and employers can capitalize on the many benefits of diversity, King says.

King’s presentation will illustrate research on the modern workplace experiences of workers from a wide range of ethnic, religious, age and gender groups. Strategies for enhancing interaction between diverse individuals will also be discussed.

King earned a PhD in industrial-organizational psychology from Rice University, and she joined Mason’s faculty in 2006. Read more about King and her work in this article, which originally appeared in the Mason Spirit.

The lecture will be followed by an informal reception with refreshments.

Zobair Younossi, co-director of the George Mason University−Inova Health System Translational Research Institute.

Coffee gives more than a morning pick-me-up — about two cups daily could help sufferers of liver disease, according to a new joint study by Mason and Inova Health Systems.

“No one really knows how caffeine works on (fatty liver disease),” says Zobair Younossi, who led the study and is co-director of the George Mason University−Inova Health System Translational Research Institute. Perhaps there is a component in caffeine that reduces inflammation in the liver, he suggests. “Also, caffeine could have an antioxidant effect.”

Dubbed Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), this type of ailment is mainly caused by fat, and not by drinking alcohol. And it’s a growing problem.

“As the rate of obesity is going up in this country, especially among children, the problems of NAFLD will continue to rise,” says Younossi, who is chairman of the Department of Medicine at Inova Fairfax Hospital as well as vice president for research for Inova Health System. “This is becoming a major cause of liver disease.”

About 25 percent of the U.S. population has fatty liver disease, he says. From that number, about 2 to 3 percent could progress to cirrhosis, which is scarring on the liver that can lead to liver cancer.

Fatty liver disease frequently comes with type 2 diabetes, says Younossi, who has researched liver disease for 16 years. Obesity and poor diet are underlying factors.

The Coffee Effect

Lisa Pawloski, chair of Mason's Department of Nutrition Studies. Creative Services photo

Younossi, Inova’s Maria Stepanova and Mason’s Lisa Pawloski and Aybike Birerdinc looked at four continuous cycles of the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2001 to 2008. Approximately 19,000 respondents were asked about 62 different dietary habits, including their intake of water, sodium, fiber, cholesterol, calcium and alcohol.

The surveys from 2007-08 revealed that 32.2 percent of American men and 35.5 percent of women are obese. If those rates continue, then 45 to 50 percent of American adults will be obese by 2025, according to the study, meaning that more than 25 million Americans could develop fatty liver disease.

Out of all the survey data about diet, only caffeine appeared to have any protective value, Younossi says.

“I was actually surprised,” says Pawloski of the “coffee effect.”  “But there are other studies that support it. To me, it’s exciting that this study follows what others have done.”

Caffeine is showing some benefit for such diseases as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and type 2 diabetes, says Pawloski, who is chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies in Mason’s College of Health and Human Services.

“It used to be people would say they’re cutting back on caffeine,” Pawloski continues. “There is a change in the attitudes about coffee and caffeine consumption. I think this study is another piece to show that it’s not necessarily a bad thing to include in your diet.”

How Much to Consume?

How much coffee is enough is debatable, Younossi says. Don’t start drinking coffee tomorrow if you don’t already do so. “In fact, if you drink too much, you could do some harm,” he says.

There is some evidence that high caffeine intake can adversely affect bone density, Pawloski adds. Those with iron deficiency should be careful with caffeine because tannins contained in tea as well as in wine inhibit iron absorption.

Also, don’t take caffeine pills — go for the real thing, Pawloski advises. Coffee and tea contribute fluids as well as antioxidants, she says. And milk added to the drink provides beneficial calcium.

“I would encourage coffee and tea drinking, but I would not make a definite recommendation to start doing it to prevent liver disease,” Pawloski says.

And watch how many calories you pack into your caffeine perk, Pawloski adds. “Some people, like me, like to load it up with cream and sugar.”

Patients with liver disease can reverse the trajectory of the disease through diet and weight loss, Younossi says. They need to keep accurate dietary records and watch what they eat and drink, he says. Even though fatty liver disease isn’t caused by drinking alcohol, libations don’t help because processing alcohol is tough on the liver.

“Even social drinking can be harmful,” Younossi adds.

There’s no current evidence that caffeine could reverse scarring on the liver, but Younossi suspects it could have a beneficial effect. More studies are on the way, he says.

Pawloski currently is working on a study with Inova and Mason’s Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science to track the number and proximity of fast-food outlets in neighborhoods with high levels of obesity and poverty.

“This study, combined with other studies, may impact advice to people with liver disease,” Pawloski says.

Lisa Lindley. Creative Services photo

Bisexual women are more likely than their male counterparts to suffer from depression and stress and to binge-drink, according to a new national study led by Mason researcher Lisa Lindley.

“Why?” Lindley wonders. “That’s what we keep asking.”

She has some theories. “Bisexuals are often invisible,” she says. “There’s a lot of prejudice against them. They’re told ‘You’re confused — pick one.’ There tends to be this expectation or standard that a person picks one sexual identity and sticks with it. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about bisexuals. I think their risk has a lot more to do with stigma.”

Bisexual women are also more likely to smoke and be victimized, adds Lindley, an associate professor in Mason’s Department of Global and Community Health within the College of Health and Human Services.

Identity, Behavior, Attraction Linked to Health Outcomes

The national study, published Oct. 24 in the American Journal of Public Health’s “First Look,”  is the first to use three different dimensions of sexuality — identity, behavior and attraction — and link them to a variety of health outcomes, Lindley says.

Sexual identity is how someone labels their sexual orientation: gay, straight, bisexual, mostly gay or mostly straight. Who someone’s sexual partners are refers to their sexual behavior — had sex with males only, females only or both males and females. Then there’s which gender they’re attracted to — exclusively men or women or mostly men or women. Attraction doesn’t have to match up with behavior or identity.

Looking closely at the survey data, Lindley notes, both bisexual girls and boys were more likely to be high-risk for depression, stress and alcohol abuse when they were teenagers, but the odds dropped for men as they aged, according to research conducted with the same population, she says. Not so for women.

In addition, women who were strictly identified as straight or gay didn’t have the same risk factors that bisexual women had, Lindley says. More studies are needed to understand what is going on with these young women, she adds.

Lindley’s research builds on new information. Until now, few national studies have asked about sexual attraction, behavior and identity, Lindley says. Some think bisexuals are increasing the risk level reported among the overall lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, she adds.  Researchers need to learn more about the individual communities.

“They’re not all troubled,” she says of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. “They’re not all high risk.”

No Community for Bisexual Women?

Discordance could be at the heart of the issue for bisexual women, Lindley says. “They’re saying, ‘I identify one way, but I behave in a different way and am attracted in another way,’ ” she says.

They may be more isolated and may not feel as if they have someone to talk with who understands what they are going through, she adds.

More young women than men reported that they were attracted to both sexes and that they were “mostly” straight or bisexual.

“Women are more likely to have sexual identities that fluctuate over time,” Lindley says. “Whereas with men, it tends to be either ‘I’m straight’ or ‘I’m gay.’”

Men didn’t report feeling as depressed or stressed as women did. They also didn’t binge-drink or smoke as much as bisexual women.

So why are men better off?

“I don’t know is the honest answer,” Lindley says. “Perhaps it’s because men, if gay or straight, have a stronger connection to their community. Bisexual women may not feel as if there is a community for them.”

Lindley and her co-authors Katrina M. Walsemann and Jarvis W. Carter Jr. of the University of South Carolina used a nationally representative sample of 14,412 people — 7,696 women and 6,716 men — in the survey. The survey first was given in 1994-95 when the respondents were enrolled in grades 7-12 and given again in 2007-08 when they were 24 to 32 years old.

Those surveyed were primarily white (68.1 percent) and married (43.9 percent). The mean age was 28.8, and about 43 percent had some college or vocational training.

Respondents could say they’re “mostly gay” or “mostly straight,” along with straight, bisexual, gay or no sexual identity.

They were asked how often, in the past seven days, they felt depressed, had the blues, had trouble keeping their mind on what they were doing, felt people disliked them, enjoyed life or felt sad.

Smoking and drinking also were measured but not number of sexual partners or hard drug use. In addition, they were asked if someone pulled a knife or a gun on them, if they were shot or stabbed, if they were slapped, hit, kicked or choked or if they were beaten.

The current study is a springboard to Lindley’s next one. She’s planning to assemble focus groups and conduct interviews with bisexually active women to better understand their experiences and how they handle them.

She’s also investigating sexually transmitted infections among African American women who are bisexual or lesbian.

Gabriella Petrick. Creative Services photo

It’s tough for Mason food historian Gabriella Petrick to pick a favorite.

“I like a good steak as much as I love trying something I’ve never tried before,” says the new associate professor in Mason’s College of Health and Human Services (CHHS).

She’s dined on a Japanese preparation of chitlins, or pig intestines, but passed on the giant chewy grubs favored by Australia’s aborigines.

Petrick grew up outside of Pittsburgh, where her dad had a garden and chicken gizzards were part of the dinner menu.

When in doubt, keep it simple. “There’s nothing like a good birthday cake,” she says.

Petrick brings her love of food, as well as her educational background, to the research she’s doing for two books she plans to publish by 2013. Petrick earned a PhD in history from the University of Delaware, a master’s degree in history from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s of management in hospitality from Cornell University.

“We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Petrick join CHSS as one of the founding faculty members in our new Department of Nutrition and Food Studies,” says Shirley Travis, CHHS dean. “Her background in food studies complements those of the other founding members and brings an important dimension to the programs they are creating for the new department.”

New Tastes Could Be Discovered

Petrick studies how tastes evolve, how culture affects food and how large-scale industrialization has changed the way we eat.

Taste is more than just sweet, salty, bitter, sour and, more recently, umami, says Petrick, who’s appeared on the Food Network to discuss snack foods and competition among coffeehouse chains. It’s shaped by the culture of a time and place, she explains, “I’m really trying to look at how our taste is historically based,” she says of her upcoming book.

Take, for example, how the sour, vinegary taste of the medieval era is reflected in the overall culture, including its treatment of women. “If you had a drunk woman, you could smell her sourness,” Petrick says. “At the time, wine was quite sour. She drinks this and becomes undesirable.”

In contrast, the Enlightenment brought salt, which spurred the creation of modern cuisine. Food moved away from being heavily spiced to having more simple ingredients. Salt helps the essence of food shine, Petrick says.

Salt also is about the advent of science. During the Enlightenment, diners began thinking about what they were putting into their bodies from a scientific perspective. Salt not only makes food taste better — it’s an element on the periodic table.

At this time, “People are thinking about food in a more robust way,” Petrick says. “They’re having more complex ideas about food and science.”

It took 100 years before scientists agreed that umami, which was first described in Japan in the early 1900s, actually exists. This complicated taste comes from glutamic acid and is found primarily in Asian cuisine, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, soy sauce, seaweed and French foods.

“The Western culture’s acceptance of Asian cuisines has everything to do with the acceptance of umami,” Petrick says. “This acceptance was unthinkable in the 1950s.”

More new tastes could be out there. But it could take a while to uncover them because taste is understudied. “Taste is the Rodney Dangerfield of the senses,” Petrick jokes.

The End of American Cooking?

Petrick also is researching how food processing changed the American diet. A hundred years ago, fruits and vegetables weren’t on the daily menu. Immigrants brought their favorite dishes with them to the United States. Bread and potatoes fed Irish and German immigrants. Italians favored pasta.

“We have this stereotype of the Irish eating potatoes, but that’s what they could afford,” Petrick says.

Even alcohol was a major part of some diets, especially German. Beer does have vitamin B. “The problem in the early 1900s was that people were not getting the calories they needed,” Petrick says. “Drinking alcohol was one way to get calories in little packets.”

Improved transportation brought better calories to the people by the 1910s. Trains hauled fresh fruits and vegetables further afield from the farm. Then, in the 1930s, factories started churning out canned food.

“This is the beginning of the end of American cooking, some argue,” says Petrick, adding that she doesn’t agree. “Cooking was, and still is, an arduous task.”

Industrial food has had its rough patches. It took until the 1970s before the food industry got the freezing process right. Freeze-dried food never took off and probably never will, Petrick adds. Another industrial food failure was New Coke. The other losers have faded away.

Successes are a bit easier to track: Heinz ketchup, Hellmann’s mayo, Campbell’s soup. “If you want to look at the successes, just walk down any grocery aisle,” she says.

Despite how commonplace industrial foods appear to be, regular munching on them didn’t take off until the 1980s. And it’s not all bad.

“There’s nothing wrong with frozen peas, and that’s an industrial food,” she says. “What’s wrong with pancake mix? And, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to boil down my own maple syrup.”

What’s next on our industrial food plate is anyone’s guess. However, Petrick says, “There’s this constant search for better and fresher.”

Changwoo Ahn, professor in the Department of Environmental Sience and Policy, at the wetlands area he created on Mason's Fairfax Campus. Creative Services photo

If you drive behind the intramural fields on Mason’s Fairfax Campus, you may notice a fenced-in grassy area with numerous big black tubs planted with various kinds of wetland vegetation.

The scientific experiments being done in this outdoor facility are the products of Mason ecological engineer Changwoo Ahn and his students.

An associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Ahn studies human-created wetlands that mimic the benefits of ecosystem services of natural wetlands.

As more and more natural wetlands and habitats are destroyed due to human development and construction, it is vital for ecological engineers like Ahn to determine the best way to recreate these habitats to maintain diverse, healthy and productive wetlands, thus minimizing the impact of climate change and other environmental hazards.

The Ahn Wetland Ecosystem Laboratory compound on Mason’s campus is just the beginning of what Ahn hopes to accomplish here. As a graduate student at Ohio State University, Ahn helped in the creation of the Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, a long-term, large-scale wetland research facility in Columbus, Ohio. With that experience under his belt, he hopes to continue to build and expand upon the outdoor research possibilities at Mason.

“My intention is really to maximize the use of this facility for students and allow them to have this amazing outdoor experience,” says Ahn.

Ahn's mentoring student, James Jang from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, records water levels. Creative Services photo

The wetlands complex has been fully functional for two years and not only provides valuable opportunities for students to learn, but also allows for externally funded scientific research. The facility focuses on the type of wetlands found in Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay area.

“What if a coastal area is flooded with a hurricane or storm? What if we receive an extreme drought for a longer period of time than we expected — how would that affect communities in coastal areas or near wetlands? We can do that kind of experiment here in the compound with confidence,” says Ahn, who is the associate editor and book review editor for Ecological Engineering: The Journal of Ecosystem Restoration.

A mentor and a teacher as much as a researcher, Ahn is committed to bringing scientific experiences to students. He participates in Mason’s research apprenticeship program for undergraduates and has been a mentor for Project SEED at the American Chemical Society. Through these mentorships and internships he provides voluntarily at the wetlands lab, he is able to bring high school students to Mason to work directly with wetlands research projects and gain valuable hands-on learning experiences.

His students monitor and record water levels, help plant and harvest the various mesocosms in the facility and work closely with him to interpret results. This spring, Ahn will teach a new undergraduate course, Ecological Sustainability (EVPP 378/BIOL 379), that will utilize the resources of the outdoor compound. The course has already been designated as a Green Leaf course by Mason’s Sustainability Office.

Ahn and his team of students are currently conducting a biodiversity study that looks at how the diversity of plants affects the productivity of a human-created wetland.

“There is a question in ecology: Is productivity better or diversity better?” says Ahn. “If we restore a wetland, is it better to have just one single plant that does really well reintroducing carbon back into the soil and fights against global warming, or is it better to have another system that has a bit less productivity but a higher diversity of species and therefore provides more diverse habitats for a variety of organisms?”

As financial experts weigh whether to diversify their portfolio or invest all their money in one single stock, the ecological engineer has to determine if it would be more beneficial to add variety to a human-created wetland or put all their resources into one species of plant. Both are beneficial — though neither one compares to a natural wetland that has been working in harmony for 100 years.

“Through work we’ve been doing, we’ve seen there is an age trajectory in wetlands. Meaning that older restored wetlands behave more like natural wetlands in terms of organic materials, soil processes, etc., that are important in delivering ecosystem services,” says Ahn. “However, younger created wetlands are still very different from natural wetlands. Time is certainly necessary to this, but we want to facilitate and speed up that process — and these types of studies help to give us more information.”

Next year, Ahn plans to participate in the Fourth International EcoSummit, which will focus on restoring Earth’s ecosystem services.

Liping Di, director of Mason's Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems.

When agricultural decision makers or big businesses need to know information about the amount and type of crops being grown in the United States, they turn to CropScape, an online geospatial program produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and George Mason University.

Mason researchers at the Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems (CSISS) have partnered with the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to develop a tool that not only provides vital, accurate information, but also allows the public to easily and efficiently access a massive amount of information online.

The program, which uses information from NASS’s Cropland Data Layer and the GeoBrain geospatial information system designed by Mason, allows users to examine any area of the United States for a breakdown of crops. The system is searchable by region, state or county, and is updated annually. Archives date back to 1997.

The site was launched in January 2011, and CropScape recently won a Secretary’s Honor Award from USDA for an exceptional contribution that supports the USDA’s overall mission and goals.
According to Liping Di, director of CSISS, the information is used by a wide variety of people — from policymakers to business owners.

“Environmental researchers also use our data to assess how certain types of crops may have an environmental impact on areas,” he says. “With a recent grant from NASA, we are also looking to add more information about the condition and progress of the crops.”

The CropScape tool allows users to examine the crop breakdown in any given area of the United States, as in the above data chart for Fairfax, Virginia.

This information can be used for addressing issues related to agricultural sustainability, climate change, health research and crop acreage and yield estimation. The service also offers advanced tools such as interactive visualization, web-based data dissemination and geospatial queries and automated data delivery to systems such as Google Earth.

“This is a really popular application — people like it very much,” says Zhenwei Yang, a NASS IT specialist and a CropScape team member. Yang says the site also has international appeal and has been viewed by people in more than 83 countries.

Mason’s GeoBrain Technology is the foundation of the project. GeoBrain is an open, web-based, three-tier geospatial information system that makes large amounts of computing resources — as well as data and information resources at large organizations and distributed locations — all linked together and easily accessible, available and usable online. NASA funded the system, which has been used in multiple projects from government agencies such as NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey.

“With the help of George Mason University, we have been able to disseminate this data to the public in a way that was not possible before,” says Yang. “Before this technology, you would not have been able to access this amount of information over the Internet — you would have had to load it onto a CD or DVD, and then use special software to open and look at it. This is a very good model of collaboration between a university and a government agency.”

Mason’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) wrapped up its fifth year in August with final presentations highlighting all of the original research projects completed through the program.

ASSIP provides hands-on research experience to high school juniors, seniors and college undergraduates interested in exploring science and medicine.

This summer, the 48 students put in eight 40-hour weeks at Mason’s Prince William and Fairfax Campuses as they worked benchside with their dedicated Mason faculty mentors ― 33 in all ― from disciplines such as chemistry, biochemistry, proteomics, genomics, neuroscience, biodefense, bioinformatics, computer science, nanotechnology, physics and environmental science.

Through regularly scheduled meetings with their mentors, as well as program-wide lab safety training, career workshops and guest speaker seminars, students received exposure to levels of science that many aspiring researchers will not see until they enter the workforce.

Research projects this summer included investigations into such health challenges as cancer, HIV, tuberculosis, Alzheimer’s disease and illnesses resulting from biothreat agents.
 

Making ‘Significant Advancements’

Following their final presentations, where students explained their research findings to an audience of interested Mason faculty and staff members, students and community members, Amy VanMeter, director of ASSIP, spoke of the powerful work these students have completed.

“Every year, I am moved to tears by something these students have accomplished,” VanMeter says. “One of the students said to me, ‘We are finding the pieces of the puzzle to cure disease.’ And that’s what each and every one of these students is doing ― they’re making significant advancements in their areas of science, and I’m so very proud of them.”

Lance Liotta, co-director of Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine and one of the founders of ASSIP, urged those present to “remember the names of all of these students” since audience members would see those same names in print as award finalists, as authors of publications, as holders of patents and, eventually, as famous researchers and CEOs of biotechnology companies.

“We have high hopes that discoveries from this summer will end up as new treatment strategies for infectious disease or cancer ― or will provide new clues for developmental biology or how the brain works,” Liotta said.

Liotta’s hopes are well-founded. ASSIP alumni have had their findings published in academic journals, and one former student even has a license pending for a first-of-its-kind, noninvasive diagnostic test for Lyme disease.

Boosting Confidence and Skills

Preparing the next generation of science leaders is a key goal of this program. Take Trish Ike, a two-time ASSIP alumna and graduate of Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas, Va., who is now attending Duke University. She credits the program with boosting her confidence and skills.

“I think one of the most important things I have learned is to definitely take the initiative,” says Ike, who researched alcoholic liver disease using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis with Mason faculty mentor and assistant biochemistry professor Robin Couch.

“Because of this program, I’m more confident in my science classes when approaching new ideas and topics because I know the right questions to ask and the right techniques to uncover the answers,” Ike says.

Other aspiring scientists and their projects this summer include:

• Chandler King, a junior at Osbourn Park High School in Manassas, Va., and the Governor’s School @ Innovation Park, located on the Prince William Campus, who spent his summer identifying protein biomarkers for lung cancer in order to locate lung cancer cells in the early stages. His mentor was proteomics researcher and faculty member Claudia Fredolini in the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine.
• Annalise Schoonmaker, a sophomore at Cornell University and a three-time participant in ASSIP, who studied a gene that could potentially inhibit replication of the Rift Valley Fever Virus, an emerging infectious disease that affects both livestock and humans. Her mentor was Kylene Kehn-Hall, assistant professor in Mason’s National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases.
• Alex Chen, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., who worked with Jason Kinser, associate professor in the School of Systems Biology, to design a new process to combine queries of many different types of data simultaneously. This tool was used to combine speech and facial recognition. Alex will be presenting his work at the Applied Imagery Pattern Recognition Workshop in Washington, D.C., in October.

ASSIP is funded by corporate and personal donations. The 2011 ASSIP was supported by donations from Micron Foundation, Lockheed Martin, Prince William County Economic Development, Fisher Scientific, CellSignaling Technology, Corning, SCHOTT, Invitrogen, Applied Biosystems, Eppendorf, Aushon Biosystems, McGraw Hill, Dako, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Applied Scientific, USA Scientific and Northern Virginia residents.

For more information on the program, visit the ASSIP website.

Alessandra Luchini. Creative Services photo

Mason researcher Alessandra Luchini is brilliant. No, really — it’s been confirmed by one of the country’s largest science magazines, Popular Science.

In its October issue, the magazine names the top scientists under the age of 40, which they dub the “Brilliant 10.” Luchini learned this summer that she had been selected for her work with Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine.

In 2008, Luchini and a team of CAPMM researchers introduced a unique technology that looks at specific protein biomarkers in blood or urine in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases.

This nanoparticle captures, concentrates and preserves cancer and other disease markers in a single step. The nanoparticles are added to blood or urine in order to catch these disease biomarkers, similar to how a lobster trap catches lobsters.

Luchini’s breakthrough technology, which is still in the research and development phase, has been used in several different clinical tests over the past few years, and the results are promising.

“Dr. Luchini’s nanoparticles have revolutionary potential to improve the diagnosis of early-stage cancer and infectious disease,” says Lance Liotta, co-director of CAPMM who nominated Luchini for the award. “This could reduce suffering and death for millions.”

Discovering New Biomarkers

Luchini in the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine. Creative Services photo

Luchini originally came to Mason with a fellowship sponsored by the Istituto Superiore di Sanita’ (the Italian equivalent of the National Institutes of Health), which continues to support her research to date. The nanoparticle projects are funded by NIH’s National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

Luchini’s discovery is licensed under the name Nanotrap through Ceres Nanoscience, a Mason spin-off company launched to promote university-based inventions. Luchini, as co-director of science at Ceres, has overseen the use of this technology by several other research facilities as a way to discover molecules in body fluids.

This invention has enabled the discovery of a plethora of new biomarkers, which were not detectable before because of their low concentration and unstable nature.

“The nanoparticles that Dr. Luchini developed both solve and overcome many of the technical barriers that have prohibited biomarker discovery,” explains Emanuel Petricoin III, who directs  CAPMM with Liotta. “Now, armed with this technology, we can envision the next five years being one of explosive growth for the discovery of new biomarkers for early detection of diseases.”

Mason scientists have used the nanoparticles to discover diagnostic markers for breast cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma and ovarian cancer. And while this technology was originally intended to diagnose cancer biomarkers, it has countless other uses in diagnostic and treatment settings.

Currently, this technology, also referred to as “smart hydrogel nanoparticles,” is in clinical testing for two very diverse uses: testing urine for the presence of human growth hormone (HGH), which will have wide impact on the world of sports, and testing blood or urine for Lyme disease, an early-detection and noninvasive option to the current diagnostic test.

A Better, Quicker, Easier Way to Diagnose Lyme Disease

One possible use for Luchini’s hydrogel nanoparticle currently being investigated is a new way to test for Lyme disease, the inflammatory disorder that is contracted through infected ticks. A clinical trial testing this possibility began this summer.

The number of people in the United States afflicted by Lyme disease is growing steadily — from 10,000 reported cases in 1992 to 30,000 in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The good news is that if it’s caught early, the disease usually causes only mild symptoms and can be treated easily with antibiotics.

But the current diagnostic test for Lyme disease leaves much to be desired. Luchini says it is diagnosed either through clinical evaluation or serological testing. Both methods can be inaccurate and take a long time — sometimes months — to diagnose. Lyme disease, if left untreated, can cause severe pain, fatigue, arthritis, neurological problems and other serious health issues.

“If successful, this new test will be a huge advancement in the diagnosis of Lyme disease, which is now a somewhat controversial field,” Luchini says.

Clinical testing is now under way, and her hope is that this test — which promises to return more accurate results more quickly — will eventually find its way to the marketplace with the aid of Ceres.

No ‘I’ in Team

The ways in which these nanoparticles can be used to better diagnose and treat diseases is nearly limitless. But Luchini is quick to point out that she developed this technology as part of a team, with colleagues at CAPMM led by Liotta and Petricoin. The technology has already been the basis of fruitful collaborations with other Mason faculty such as Barney Bishop, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Charles Bailey and the scientists in the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases.

In fact, the idea for the Lyme disease diagnostic test actually came from a high school student, Temple Douglas, whom Luchini mentored through the Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program.

“This is just one example of how a student can really give new input into the direction of the research we do,” says Luchini.

At 34, Luchini is considered by Popular Science — and many in her field — a young scientist. Still, Luchini enjoys working with those even younger to help propel her work forward.

“Mentoring is very important to me because you really get to exchange concepts and knowledge  to those who bring their own fresh ideas, enthusiasm and new points of view,” says Luchini. “It’s really been a great experience for me.”

And for the dozen or so students she’s mentored over her years at Mason? Considering her ‘brilliant’ moniker, the feeling must be mutual.

Catherine Gallagher, associate professor in Mason’s Department of Criminology, Law and Society, will direct the Cochrane Policy College at Mason. Photo by Alexis Glenn

Mason and the Cochrane Collaboration announce the formation of the Cochrane Collaboration College for Policy beginning this month in Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit focused on providing unbiased, evidence-based health care research to policymakers, members of the media and the general public.

Through the Cochrane Library, scientists and researchers disseminate summaries, called Cochrane Reviews, of different health care topics, from whether zinc shortens the duration of the common cold to the best treatment interventions for Type II diabetes.

“Cochrane people care deeply that patients should receive the right high-quality health care at the right time and in the right way,” says Nick Royle, CEO of the Cochrane Collaboration. “To achieve this, we need to work closely with health care policymakers, as well as practitioners and patients. We are therefore particularly pleased to be able to partner with Mason in this innovative new initiative.”

Working in conjunction with the U.S. Cochrane Center at Johns Hopkins University, Mason’s Cochrane College will be tailoring the collaboration’s existing resources with an eye on the current health care landscape in the United States. In particular, the new college aims to make available Cochrane-reviewed evidence on patient-centered outcomes to policymakers as they address emerging health care and social policy questions.  The Cochrane College will also collaborate with Mason’s College of Health and Human Services and the School of Public Policy.

“I’d like to welcome the Cochrane Collaboration to Mason,” says Jack Censer, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “Research has been a priority at Mason since we began offering doctoral programs in 1979, and over the past two decades Cochrane has become an independent and authoritative source on health and social policy topics. Together, we look forward to harnessing our strengths to aid in smart decision-making here in the United States.”

Cochrane Policy College staff includes, from left, Jack Chirieleison, director of web and information systems; Joel Censer, research associate; Sheri Van Vranken, business manager; and Adam Dobrin, assistant director. Photo by Alexis Glenn

Catherine Gallagher, director of the Cochrane College at Mason, adds, “This union unites the rigor and independence of Cochrane evidence with Mason’s unmatched commitment to produce and disseminate research that is relevant to public policy.”

Gallagher, who is also an associate professor in Mason’s Department of Criminology, Law and Society, was previously appointed to an advisory committee set up by Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which evaluated the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

“By inserting evidence-based research into the policy dialogue in this country, the Cochrane College hopes to provide the public with information about policies and programs that are safe, effective and cost efficient,” Gallagher says.

Key activities of the newly established Cochrane College will include:

• Reaching out to elected officials with customized briefings tailored to the issues facing their constituencies.
• Engaging members of the media to disseminate relevant public health and social policy information.
• Researching and compiling Cochrane Reviews that respond to the needs of the current U.S. health and social policy landscape.
• Providing resources to congressional research agencies and member offices, as well as to the general public.

“At Mason, we have always believed in the importance of cross-disciplinary research endeavors,” says associate provost Michelle Marks, who oversees graduate education at Mason. “We’re very excited that this new collaboration will offer our social science, public policy and health care researchers opportunities to synthesize and promote their very important work. From an academic standpoint, it will also afford our graduate students the chance to contribute their own research to the health policy discussion in Washington, D.C., and beyond.”

For more information on the Cochrane College at Mason, visit its website at cochrane.gmu.edu.

By Leah Kerkman Fogarty and Julie Brown

Kathryn Jacobsen. Creative Services photo

Each October, the color pink marks the arrival of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Media coverage, product promotions and even the football gridirons showcase the national effort to promote screenings and early detection of the cancer that 200,000 American women are diagnosed with each year. And a recent study shows that the awareness campaign has worked.

New research from Mason and the University of Oregon examined more than 30 years of cancer registry data to determine if October events related to National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) lead to increases in breast cancer diagnoses in the following month of November.

The study, co-authored by Mason epidemiologist Kathryn Jacobsen, and Grant Jacobsen, an economist, found that NBCAM events were effective at increasing November diagnoses during the mid-1990s when the awareness movement was expanding across the United States. This was also the time when October was officially recognized by the federal government as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

According to Kathryn Jacobsen, associate professor in the Department of Global and Community Health in the College of Health and Human Services, breast cancer awareness was a rich subject for the study because it is one of the oldest and most well-established awareness campaigns in the United States.

“So much has changed from 1987 when only 30 percent of women in target age groups reported having had a mammogram in the previous two years,” she says. “Communities came together — women and men — to talk about breast cancer, and screenings among the target group increased to 70 percent by 1999.”

The study, which was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Health Economics, found that before NBCAM was well established in the early 1990s, there were large fluctuations in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Most notable to the researchers were significant spikes in 1974 and 1987 coinciding with announcements by first ladies Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan disclosing their breast cancer diagnosis.

“Our findings indicate that during the period before NBCAM, when breast cancer was rarely talked about, celebrity diagnoses reminded women of the risk of breast cancer and led some to seek out screening, and consequently resulted in increases in diagnoses,” says Kathryn Jacobsen.

In recent years, the researchers found little evidence of an increase in November diagnoses following October NBCAM events. According to researchers, this could actually be a good sign.

“In addition to showing a diminishing effect from NBCAM, the data indicate that the distribution of diagnoses over the calendar year has become more uniform,” says Grant Jacobsen, a professor in the University of Oregon’s Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management. “Both of these findings suggest that women are now getting diagnosed as a result of routine screenings, as opposed to event-driven screenings.

“This is a good thing, since routine screening is likely to lead to earlier diagnoses,” he explains.

“Our study is actually good news for breast cancer advocacy,” he continues. “It suggests that breast cancer advocacy efforts have increased awareness of the need for regular screening among American women. There are other associated benefits beyond initial screenings that should perhaps be expanded now that the awareness campaign is mature.”

Kim Avrama Blackwell. Photo by Evan Cantwell

“Dopamine, Parkinson’s Disease and Habit Learning,” a presentation by Mason neuroscientist Kim Avrama Blackwell, kicks off the 2011-12 Vision Series at Mason on Monday, Sept. 19.

Blackwell, a professor who heads the Computational and Experimental Neuroplasticity Laboratory at Mason’s Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, will give her talk at 7 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall. The lecture is free and no tickets are required.

What do Parkinson’s disease, addiction and habit learning have in common? Blackwell asks. The answer is dopamine, a molecule produced by the brain in response to reward.

Just as the repeated reward of particular actions leads to habits in behavior, dopamine reinforces the response of brain cells to environmental stimuli. Drugs of abuse strongly activate dopamine production; thus, addiction represents a very strong habit.

In contrast, a lack of dopamine causes Parkinson’s. Individual brain cells learn habits as an activity-dependent strengthening or weakening of pathways between brain cells, Blackwell explains. Furthermore, understanding how dopamine modifies brain cells’ response can illuminate normal habit learning, addiction pathology and Parkinson’s.

In her talk, Blackwell will discuss the role of dopamine in Parkinson’s, addiction and memory storage in the brain. She will also explain how experiments and computer simulations advance our understanding of dopamine, with the potential benefits of developing novel treatments for Parkinson’s and addiction.

Read more about Blackwell and her work in this article, which originally appeared in Mason Research.

The lecture will be followed by an informal reception with refreshments.

John Farina, associate professor of religious studies. Photo by James Greif

After Sept. 11, 2001, John Farina was asked to compile a book that reflected what America and the world were thinking in the days following the attack.

“In the ’80s and ’90s I had worked in book publishing in New York City, specifically focusing on religious publications,” says Farina, now associate professor of religious studies at Mason. “About five days following Sept. 11, the New York-based book publisher Crossroad approached me about putting a book together to immediately capture the mood following the attack. Smoke still hung over the city, yet there was a determination to do something positive, right away, in response to the attacks.”

The result was “Beauty for Ashes: Spiritual Reflections on the Attack on America.” As editor of the book, Farina pulled together original and previously published writings, including an essay from Peter Ferrara, former associate professor of law at Mason, which begins the book. Farina also contributed an essay, “Nailed to the Nexus of the Universe,” and translated another piece from Latin.

Other contributors include author Salman Rushdie, author and columnist Andrew Sullivan, boxer Muhammad Ali, President George W. Bush, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Pope John Paul II and evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

“I also approached people I knew who were writers and thinkers, as well as people I met while walking around Manhattan with the goal of capturing the immediacy of the event.”

The 300-page collection hit shelves in November 2001, just weeks after the worst attack on American soil. All proceeds of the book were donated to the American Red Cross’ Liberty Disaster Fund for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The contributions in the book are organized by Farina as an extended meditation on the Lord’s Prayer, because he believed it resonated with all of the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Each of the book’s seven chapters is titled after a line of the prayer, beginning with “Our Father Who Art in Heaven… Solidarity in Times of Suffering,” and ending with “For Thine Is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory… Healing and Hope.”

“We were still dealing with the era of dial-up Internet,” Farina says, “but we were still able to find some great reflections on the event. Nobody charged us for any of the material we used. I don’t know if we would have been able to do a book like this today. Right after the attack, everyone just wanted to cooperate.”

In this spirit, the book includes an editorial that was translated and reprinted from the French newspaper Le Monde with the title “Nous sommes tous Américains” (“We are all Americans”). Farina notes that this universal solidarity would soon fade with time, as opposition to the war in Iraq and other differences in policies and political choices developed.

“Beauty for Ashes” went on to win the Catholic Press Association award for Best Book in Spirituality for 2001.

The need for reflection is an important part of human reaction during a tragedy, according to Farina, and he cites this as a key reason the book was created. “The reality of suffering and tragedy can often lead to an epiphany. Religions of the world recognize this. There is a spiritual element to human reflection, regardless of religious beliefs, and I believe everyone is affected by that.”

Farina believes that there is a much greater awareness of the intersection of religion and politics now than before 9/11. “Prior to this event, many had trouble seeing the connection between religion and politics in the international sphere. The public dimension of religion is much more widely acknowledged,” he says.

While many books were published following 9/11, in “Beauty for Ashes,” Farina attempted to tell both sides of every story in the moments after the event.

“I think I did capture the range of responses immediately after the attack,” he says. “If one were to write a book today, the author would have to have a particular take or angle. This book is a snapshot of the moments following Sept. 11 and reflects the suffering and destruction. This is my photograph.”

At Mason, Farina specializes in the areas of religion and society, law and religion, American religious history and the history of Western spirituality. Prior to joining Mason and during the publication of “Beauty for Ashes,” he was a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and directed their Catholicism and Civic Renewal program.

What if we had accurately predicted the events on Sept. 11, 2001, or the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II? It’s a question often considered by the intelligence community as they work to predict and prevent the next global crisis. The accuracy of their predictions has the potential to save lives and even change the course of history.

To help improve the accuracy of these predictions, Mason is leading a multi-institution research team on a project called Decomposition-Based Aggregative (DAGGRE). The team was awarded a $2.2 million contract from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the research branch of the intelligence community, to participate in a nationwide, multiyear research project called the Aggregative Contingent Estimation (ACE) Program. The contract has a value of nearly $8.2 million if fully funded over a four-year period.

The DAGGRE project aims to improve the accuracy of intelligence analysts in predicting future events. The researchers are recruiting a diverse group of participants to discover whether certain types of people are better than others at making accurate predictions. Participants will be asked to provide predictions about events and trends in areas such as politics, the military, economics, business and science and technology.

Participants’ forecasts will help the researchers gain more knowledge about new methods that can be used for collecting and combining the opinions of many people to provide more accurate forecasts, as well as to improve the communication of these results.

“The results from the DAGGRE project could change the way we forecast global events and thereby enable decision makers to make more informed choices,” says Charles Twardy, principal investigator on the project and research assistant professor in Mason’s Center for Command, Control, Communications, Computing and Intelligence (C4I).

“The goal is to demonstrate the effectiveness of combining the knowledge of many individuals in a unique way that improves accuracy beyond what any one person or expert could provide,” he adds.

Twardy explains that forecasting methods will range from using bias-reducing questions to advanced artificial intelligence methods that determine individual strengths or notice “bandwagon effects” where everyone reacts to the same piece of news.

“The core of the system is a new method for combining different forecasts from many analysts,” he says.

Hundreds of research questions will be developed and housed on an interactive website. Participants will log in to the website, choose statements about specific events of interest to them, and then estimate how likely these events are to happen. Deadlines for each forecasting statement will be determined by the researchers. Participants may change and update their answers at any time. Eventually, participants will also be able to interact with other forecasters through online social media.

“The research we are doing on the DAGGRE project is extremely important because it can help the intelligence community to reduce its chances of being surprised by events that it should have seen coming,” says Kathryn Laskey, co-principal investigator and professor of systems engineering and operations research and associate director of the C4I Center.

“If our research helps analysts make more accurate predictions, it has the potential to improve our lives in many ways,” she says.

Other universities and organizations that are working with Mason on the DAGGRE project are the Australian Center for Excellence and Risk Analysis at the University of Melbourne, James Madison University, Mercyhurst College, Defence Research and Development Canada at Toronto, nemoSibi Ltd. and KaDSCi LLC.

Mason’s C4I Center is the nation’s first and only civilian university-based entity offering a comprehensive academic and research program in military applications of information technology. The center performs research in areas such as communication and signal processing, command support and intelligent systems, and information systems.

More information about the DAGGRE project can be found on the website.