North Park University

CARES ACT INSTITUTIONAL EMERGENCY AID

CARES ACT EMERGENCY RELIEF FUNDS

CARES ACT MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTION EMERGENCY RELIEF

LEVERAGING A STEM-FOCUSED URBAN INDUSTRY IMMERSION PROGRAM TO EXPAND PATHWAYS FOR UNDERGRADUATES INTO STEM FIELDS

ADAPTING AND BROADENING THE MEYERHOFF SCHOLARS MODEL TO IMPROVE PERSISTENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT IN STEM -THIS PROJECT AIMS TO IMPLEMENT A FIRST-YEAR STEM ADVISING AND SUCCESS PROGRAM TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES FOR DIVERSE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN STEM BASED ON THE WELL-REGARDED MEYERHOFF MODEL. THIS MODEL IS WIDELY ACKNOWLEDGED FOR REMOVING BARRIERS AND SUPPORTING UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS THROUGH UNDERGRADUATE STEM DEGREES AND INTO PH.D. PROGRAMS. HOWEVER, REPLICATION IS DIFFICULT DUE TO THE PROGRAM?S DURATION, BREADTH, AND THE AMOUNT OF RESOURCES REQUIRED. THIS PROJECT WILL ADAPT PRINCIPLES OF THE MODEL TO BUILD AN INTENSIVE, INCLUSIVE FIRST-YEAR PROGRAM INSTEAD OF A FOUR-YEAR, LIMITED COHORT MODEL TO MAXIMIZE IMPACT WHILE CREATING A FINANCIALLY SUSTAINABLE PROGRAM. MUCH OF THE RESEARCH ON THE MEYERHOFF MODEL FOCUSES ON AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS, WHILE THIS ADAPTATION PROJECT WILL FOCUS HEAVILY ON HISPANIC AND LOW-INCOME STUDENTS AND THE PROGRAM?S IMPACT ON THEIR SCIENCE IDENTITY AND CAREER CHOICES. THIS ADAPTATION OF THE MEYERHOFF PROGRAM WILL SERVE A BROADER POPULATION OF FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AND PROVIDE A MORE FEASIBLE MODEL AT HSIS AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS, CONTRIBUTING TO A BETTER PREPARED AND DIVERSE STEM WORKFORCE. THIS PROJECT?S CORE GOALS ARE TO ADDRESS STUDENTS? NEEDS, TO FOCUS ON IMPROVING OVERALL GRADUATION RATES, AND TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO GRADUATE WITH A PROFESSIONAL PLACEMENT IN A STEM FIELD. SPECIFICALLY, THIS PROJECT WILL PURSUE FIVE OBJECTIVES. FIRST, IS TO CREATE A FIRST-YEAR STEM ADVISING AND SUCCESS PROGRAM INCLUDING A DEDICATED FIRST-YEAR ADVISOR AND FIRST-YEAR STEM READINESS SEMINAR. SECOND, IS TO REDUCE EQUITY GAPS IN GATEWAY STEM COURSES. THE THIRD AND FOURTH OBJECTIVES ARE TO IMPROVE FIRST- TO SECOND-YEAR RETENTION FOR HISPANIC AND LOW-INCOME STUDENTS, AND PROVIDE COMMUNITY-BUILDING ACTIVITIES FOR PARTICIPATING STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. FIFTH, IS TO IMPROVE STUDENT SATISFACTION WITH THE FIRST-YEAR ADVISING EXPERIENCE. PROJECT RESEARCH WILL STUDY HOW THE ADAPTED APPROACH TO THE MEYERHOFF MODEL AFFECTS STUDENT-LEVEL AND INSTITUTIONAL-LEVEL OUTCOMES AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING RESEARCH QUESTION: HOW AND TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE ADAPTED MODEL IMPROVE COURSE SUCCESS RATES IN GATEWAY COURSES, RETENTION FROM FIRST TO SECOND YEAR, GRADUATION RATES, AND PATHS TO STEM PROFESSIONS FOR HISPANIC AND LOW-INCOME STUDENTS? THE PROJECT WILL BE DISSEMINATED EXTERNALLY THROUGH AN OUTWARD FACING WEBPAGE AND PUBLICATIONS IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS. THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE IMPROVING UNDERGRADUATE STEM EDUCATION: HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS PROGRAM WHICH AIMS TO ENHANCE UNDERGRADUATE STEM EDUCATION, BROADEN PARTICIPATION IN STEM, AND INCREASE THE CAPACITY TO ENGAGE IN EFFORTS TO IMPROVE STEM LEARNING AND TEACHING AT HSIS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

HSI IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION PROJECT: ADVANCING THE REACH AND SCOPE OF SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION

HIGHER EDUCATION DISASTER RELIEF PROGRAM

INSTALLATION OF AN AERONET SENSOR AT NORTH PARK UNIVERSITY CHICAGO TO INCREASE MINORITY ENGAGEMENT IN STEM

MECHANISMS OF LYMPHOMA CELL DISSEMINATION TO THE BRAIN - PROJECT SUMMARY THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER (BBB) PRESENTS UNIQUE CHALLENGES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CANCER THERAPEUTICS DUE TO ITS ABILITY TO PREVENT THE ENTRY OF MOST MOLECULES AND CELLS INTO THE BRAIN PARENCHYMA. THE LOW PENETRABILITY OF THE BBB TO THERAPEUTIC AGENTS MAY PARTLY EXPLAIN THE MARKEDLY POORER PROGNOSIS OF PATIENTS WITH CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM LYMPHOMA (CNSL) COMPARED TO PATIENTS WITH PERIPHERAL LYMPHOMA. THEREFORE, UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANISMS BY WHICH LYMPHOMA CELLS DISSEMINATE TO THE CNS ARE IMPORTANT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROPHYLACTIC STRATEGIES FOR PREVENTING CNSL. THE OVERALL AIM OF THE CURRENT WORK IS TO IDENTIFY THE SPECIFIC CHEMOKINE AND OTHER SIGNALING NETWORKS THAT ALLOW LYMPHOMA CELLS TO EXTRAVASATE ACROSS THE BRAIN ENDOTHELIUM. BASED ON PREVIOUS WORK, WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE CXCL12/CXCR4 CHEMOKINE SIGNALING AXIS IS REQUIRED FOR EFFICIENT EXTRAVASATION OF LYMPHOMA CELLS ACROSS THE BRAIN ENDOTHELIUM, POSSIBLY VIA CXCL12-MEDIATED “ACTIVATION” OF INTEGRINS ON THE SURFACE OF LYMPHOMA CELLS. ONCE LYMPHOMA CELLS HAVE TRAVERSED THE BRAIN ENDOTHELIUM AND ENTERED THE BRAIN PARENCHYMA, THEY APPEAR TO TRIGGER CCL21 EXPRESSION IN ASTROCYTES, WHICH WE HYPOTHESIZE MAY FUNCTION AS AN INNATE TUMOR DEFENSE MECHANISM IN THE BRAIN DESIGNED TO RECRUIT T-CELLS. TO TEST THESE HYPOTHESES, WE HAVE DEVELOPED THREE AIMS. IN THE FIRST AIM, WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN IN VITRO MODEL OF THE INTERFACE BETWEEN THE BBB AND LYMPHOMA CELLS. THE MODEL WILL CONSIST OF A TRANSWELL SYSTEM WITH LYMPHOMA CELLS, BRAIN MICROVASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL CELLS (BMECS), AND ASTROCYTES. THIS IN VITRO MODEL WILL THEN BE USED TO INVESTIGATE THE SPECIFIC CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS THAT OCCUR BETWEEN THESE DIFFERENT CELL TYPES DURING LYMPHOMA CELL EXTRAVASATION. IN AIM 2, WE PROPOSE TO IDENTIFY THE CELLULAR ORIGIN AND DYNAMICS OF CXCL12 IN VITRO, CONFIRM THAT CXCL12 BINDS TO AND FUNCTIONALLY INTERACTS WITH CXCR4 ON LYMPHOMA CELLS, AND DETERMINE WHETHER CXCR4 INFLUENCES THE BINDING AFFINITY OF LYMPHOMA CELLS FOR BMECS. WE WILL ALSO PERFORM FACS EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE WHETHER CXCL12 ACTIVATES INTEGRINS ON LYMPHOMA CELLS AND TRANSMIGRATION EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE CXCL12/CXCR4 SIGNALING AXIS HAS ANY INFLUENCE ON THE ABILITY OF LYMPHOMA CELLS TO EXTRAVASATE ACROSS BMECS IN VITRO. IN AIM 3, WE WILL DETERMINE WHETHER LYMPHOMA CELLS INCUBATED WITH ASTROCYTES CAN DIRECTLY UPREGULATE ASTROCYTIC CCL21 EXPRESSION AND IDENTIFY THE SIGNALING MECHANISMS INVOLVED USING BOTH BIASED AND UNBIASED SCREENING METHODS. FINALLY, WE WILL USE OUR TRANSWELL ASSAY TO DETERMINE WHETHER LYMPHOMA CELL-INDUCED ASTROCYTIC CCL21 EXPRESSION CAN INFLUENCE T-CELL RECRUITMENT. TO OBTAIN PRIMARY CELLS FOR THE IN VITRO EXPERIMENTS AND TO VALIDATE OUR TRANSWELL FINDINGS IN VIVO, MICE WILL BE ADMINISTERED LYMPHOMA CELLS INTRAVENOUSLY, AND THE EXTENT OF LYMPHOMA CELL EXTRAVASATION INTO THE BRAIN PARENCHYMA WILL BE ASSESSED USING CO-IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY WITH ENDOTHELIAL AND B-CELL MARKERS. COMPLETION OF THESE AIMS WILL ENHANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LYMPHOMA CELL INTERACTIONS AT THE BBB AND POSSIBLY IDENTIFY NOVEL TUMOR SURVEILLANCE MECHANISMS IN THE BRAIN.

PRESERVING THE SWEDISH-AMERICAN IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

PD CHANGES