Division of Natural Sciences

'Your love will be your legacy'

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0000

'Your love will be your legacy' Rachel Sauer Wed, 07/23/2025 - 07:30

Sarah Kuta

Losing her father to pancreatic cancer inspired 色戒成人直播 undergraduate Giovanna Ruffolo to raise money for cancer research and pursue a career in medicine

Giovanna Ruffolo was a senior in high school when her dad died of pancreatic cancer.

While other students were looking forward to prom and graduation, Ruffolo was navigating a web of tangled emotions鈥攕hock, disbelief, sadness, anger, uncertainty.

鈥淟osing a parent is probably the most intense pain someone can feel in their entire life,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a terrible, terrible pain.鈥�

Giovanna Ruffolo (second from right) with her brothers Leo (left, a 2024 色戒成人直播 graduate) and Joey (second from left, a CU Denver student) and their mom, Rosanna. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)

Mostly, though, she just felt numb. Heading off to college so soon after her father鈥檚 death was the last thing she wanted to do. But she knew education was important to her dad, so she pushed through the pain and enrolled at 色戒成人直播.

Now a senior studying integrative physiology and psychology, Ruffolo is preparing for a career in medicine so that, someday, she can help support families just like hers. She hopes to work in pediatric oncology, providing compassionate care to children who are fighting cancer.

As a Buff, Ruffolo is also honoring her father鈥檚 legacy by raising money and awareness for cancer prevention research, an initiative she started just after her father got his diagnosis.

鈥淚 just want people to know they have a support system and a network that hates cancer as much as they do鈥攖hat they鈥檙e not alone,鈥� she says.

Helping others

Life was rolling along for the Ruffolo family when they got the news that would change their lives forever. In 2017, their beloved patriarch, John Ruffolo, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a disease that is often fatal.

鈥淚t hit us like a bus,鈥� says Ruffolo.

Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health. Between 2015 and 2021, the five-year survival rate was just 13.3 percent鈥攎uch lower than other types of cancer. In 2025, the American Cancer Society estimates 67,440 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and 51,980 people will die from the disease.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the cancer that really gives cancer its bad name,鈥� Ruffolo says.

Prospect Ridge Academy High School Students participate in a cancer fundraiser organized by Giovanna Ruffolo in 2019. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)

Ruffolo was just 14 at the time, but she felt compelled to take action. As a sophomore at Prospect Ridge Academy High School, she created TeamRuffolo, a student-led initiative to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

In November 2018, her school hosted a 鈥淧urple Out鈥濃€攁 one-day event in which students were encouraged to wear purple to show their support for the cancer community and donate whatever they could toward prevention research. Students, teachers and administrators raised more than $1,000 for the American Cancer Society that day, and Ruffolo went home feeling inspired and hopeful.

She organized similar fundraisers at her high school in 2019 and 2020 (though the initiative had to go virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

鈥淚t was such a wonderful feeling,鈥� she says. 鈥淎 lot of these people didn鈥檛 even know my dad, but they were still so supportive. Seeing people come together not only for him, but just to say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e not alone,鈥� was tremendous for all of us.鈥�

Balancing act

Meanwhile, despite undergoing various treatments and surgeries, her father鈥檚 cancer continued to progress. Four years after his diagnosis, he succumbed to the disease in January 2021 at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center.

Ruffolo was utterly devastated, but she knew she had to finish high school and get a college degree for her dad. And, wherever she ended up next, she wanted to continue her awareness-raising and fundraising events to support other cancer patients and their families.

色戒成人直播 participants run in the Stronger Together Annual 5K at CU in 2024, the event's most successful year. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)

At 色戒成人直播, Ruffolo has thrown herself into her studies, with an ultimate goal of working in the medical field. From her father鈥檚 experience, Ruffolo learned first-hand that cancer affects more than just the body鈥攊t also influences a patient鈥檚 mind, spirit and emotions. With that in mind, she鈥檚 majoring in integrative physiology and psychology to create her own pre-health pathway.

鈥淢y father had trouble grasping being diagnosed with a terminal disease, as anyone rightfully would,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 want to understand people鈥檚 behaviors and thoughts better, so that when someone is going through a hardship, I can better support them.鈥�

To further build her skill set, Ruffolo also completed CU鈥檚 emergency medical technician (EMT) program, an online, non-credit specialization that prepares students for national registry testing. She has also worked as a research assistant at 色戒成人直播 and Children's Hospital Colorado.

In addition, Ruffolo has taken on a leadership role with the 色戒成人直播 chapter of the American Medical Student Association, spending three years on the executive board before being elected president for the 2025-26 school year. Through the student group, Ruffolo has carried on her TeamRuffolo efforts鈥攏ow called Stronger Together鈥攂y organizing 5-kilometer run/walk events to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

She is also a journey leader with New Student & Family Programs, where she helps incoming freshmen navigate the 色戒成人直播 experience. Balancing her studies with her extracurricular activities鈥攚hile also supporting her family and honoring her father鈥檚 legacy鈥攈as been challenging. But, for Ruffolo, it all comes back to staying true to herself.

鈥淧retty much my tippy-top value is helping others,鈥� she says.

In class, Ruffolo has never been afraid to ask questions and speak up鈥攅ven when that means talking about her father鈥檚 death in a large lecture hall full of hundreds of students. Jennifer Stratford, a 色戒成人直播 teaching associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, says Ruffolo鈥檚 willingness to be vulnerable has opened the door for other students to share their experiences.

John Ruffolo died from pancreatic cancer in 2021. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)

鈥淪he just kind of became an ambassador and a face for students who have lost parents,鈥� says Stratford. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a lot of feedback from students about how much they appreciated her bravery and how much they identified with some of the struggles she鈥檇 been through. It鈥檚 a once-in-a-decade or once-in-a-lifetime experience to see a single student have an impact on so many of her classmates.鈥�

鈥榊our love will be your legacy鈥�

Since high school, Ruffolo estimates she鈥檚 helped raise more than $20,000 for the American Cancer Society. And she鈥檚 not done yet. She hopes the 色戒成人直播 AMSA chapter will continue organizing the 5K run/walk fundraisers, and that she鈥檒l be able to host similar events during the next phase of her educational journey.

For now, Ruffolo is focused on finishing up her studies so she can graduate in the spring of 2026. From there, she hopes to continue her education in the medical field, likely as a doctor or physician assistant specializing in pediatric oncology.

鈥淚 really want to serve that specific community,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e treating little people who have lots of emotions and a little body. They get very scared easily. You really have to be empathetic and treat them and their families with kindness. I love the idea of sitting down with people, holding their hands, talking to them鈥攏ot just giving them a death sentence, walking out the door and saying, 鈥楤est of luck.鈥欌€�

That approach stems directly from her father鈥檚 experiences. As he neared the end of his life, Ruffolo remembers him breaking down and talking about how scared he was. She hopes to be the kind of practitioner who will help people like her dad move forward through their pain and fear, while also treating their underlying illness.

鈥淵our love will be your legacy,鈥� she says. 鈥淚n a world where there鈥檚 no cure for cancer, investing your time in others is the only way you can live forever. And loving other people鈥攇iving them kindness and empathy鈥攊s one of the best ways to help fight any disease.鈥�

Losing her father to pancreatic cancer inspired 色戒成人直播 undergraduate Giovanna Ruffolo to raise money for cancer research and pursue a career in medicine.

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Top image: Giovanna Ruffolo (right) and her late father, John, representing Colorado cancer patients and survivors at Mile High Stadium at an event sponsored by the American Cancer Society in 2019. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)

Who is afraid of the big, bad (dire) wolf?

Kylie Clarke — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:28:17 +0000

Who is afraid of the big, bad (dire) wolf? Kylie Clarke Tue, 07/22/2025 - 09:28

Bradley Worrell

Advancing science may make it possible to bring back extinct species like the dire wolf鈥攂ut should it? 色戒成人直播 environmental studies and philosophy Professor Ben Hale says the answer is complicated

Earlier this year, Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences made headlines when it announced that鈥攖hrough the science of genetic manipulation鈥攊t had successfully re-created three dire wolves, a large wolf species that ranged across North America and South America some 10,000 years ago before going extinct. Some news outlets, including Time magazine, called the development species 鈥渄e-extinction鈥� while others touted it as 鈥渟cientifically seismic.鈥�

Subsequently, other scientists challenged Colossal鈥檚 assertions of having de-extincted the species, arguing that these wolves鈥擱omulus, Remus and Khaleesi鈥攄id not meet the technical definition of dire wolves. That鈥檚 because Colossal did not create the animals from a fully reconstructed dire wolf genome but instead relied on a gray wolf鈥檚 genetic material and made changes to it with ancient DNA recovered from dire wolf specimens.

Meanwhile, Colossal has announced plans to bring back a variety of other extinct species, including the wooly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger (or Thylacine) and most recently the Moa, a giant flightless bird that stood about 12 feet tall and weighed about 500 pounds.

However, seemingly lost amid the claims and counterclaims of whether scientists can bring back dire wolves鈥攐r any other extinct animals鈥攆rom extinction is the deeper philosophical and ethical issue: should they?

As a 色戒成人直播 philosophy professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, Ben Hale鈥檚 primary research focus is on environmental ethics and policy. He has followed the news reports about bringing back dire wolves and other long-gone animals through the lens of ethical issues associated with the extinction and de-extinction of species.

For his part, Ben Hale has no easy answers. A 色戒成人直播 philosophy professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, Hale鈥檚 primary research focus is on environmental ethics and policy. He has followed the news reports about bringing back dire wolves and other long-gone animals through the lens of ethical issues associated with the extinction and de-extinction of species.

Recently, Hale spoke with Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine regarding his thoughts on when it makes sense to attempt to de-extinct a species (and when it doesn鈥檛); what it means to de-extinct a species, ethically speaking; how ethicists in the larger scientific community are responding to the latest scientific breakthroughs; and his thoughts on the ethical implications of de-extincting a T-Rex. His responses have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity and condensed for space.

Question: Setting aside the issue of whether Colossal actually created dire wolves, or just something similar, why would we want to bring back an extinct species of wolf?

Hale: That鈥檚 the question, right? For some (scientists and entrepreneurs), I think there鈥檚 the relatively straightforward scientific challenge of seeing if it can be done鈥攖o de-extinct a species. The dire wolf happens to be a particularly charismatic species in no small part because it鈥檚 a large mammal that has some resemblance to a dog. Popular fantasy shows like Game of Thrones elevated the ecologically real dire wolf species even further, to a kind of magical status, so there鈥檚 an element of fantasy and science fiction that makes the dire wolf intriguing.

Still, that doesn鈥檛 speak to the kind of public-facing rationale offered by Colossal Biosciences or other folks who are engaged in de-extinction efforts. Let鈥檚 call them 鈥榙e-extinction optimists.鈥� It鈥檚 not enough, generally speaking, just to say, 鈥榃e wanted to see if we could do it,鈥� or 鈥榃e did it because we think the species is beautiful or cool.鈥� Using that as a justification starts to look a lot like Jurassic Park, right? And Michael Crichton and Stephen Spielberg and numerous others have warned us about technology unchained with these cautionary tales.

Hale says he believes part of the appeal of de-extincting dire wolves is because they resemble a dog and that popular TV shows such as Game of Thrones have elevated the status of real dire wolves to an almost magical level.

So, the public-facing justification that de-extinction optimists will offer is that we 鈥榦we it to the species,鈥� possibly because we鈥檝e made that species extinct by something we鈥檝e done鈥攕ay, human-caused extinction鈥攐r because extinct animals can serve as important elements or components of the ecological system, given that some ecosystems are not healthy. You can make the case that we can revive those ecosystems by reintroducing apex predators that were playing a valuable regulatory function.

Question: If you bring back a creature from extinction, but the natural habitat for it no longer exists, how much have you accomplished?

Hale: I think this a question that looms large over the matter of de-extinction, particularly in an era of accelerated climate change. It may be the case that we can bring back a species that is genetically similar to a past species, but we may not have done anything to make that species function within the ecosystem. Is it in that case true that we鈥檝e brought back the species? Does it even make sense to speak of a species outside of its ecological context?

One of the stated reasons for de-extincting a species is to revive or rejuvenate deteriorating or degraded ecosystems. If you think the environment has been degraded to such an extent that it needs to have some kind of apex predator that was roaming the earth 10,000 years ago, like the dire wolf, reintroduced into the ecosystem, then it鈥檚 not clear what it means even to say that the species has been brought back. It鈥檚 not back at all. It鈥檚 just isolated somewhere. Keeping it as a specimen in Colossal Biosciences laboratories (as the company has done) doesn鈥檛 actually de-extinct the species, in my opinion.

Now, you could say that genetic replication is just the first step in a proof-of-concept de-extinction effort, and the next step is to create enough of the species that scientists can develop a viable population and then release them into the wild. Then perhaps that鈥檚 the ultimate step to de-extinction.

But if your criterion is that whatever species is brought back derives its status from its function in the system, then it鈥檚 a mistake for them to suggest that they have de-extincted the species鈥攂ecause they haven鈥檛 yet done that.

Question: Generally speaking, how do ethicists within the scientific community think about the idea of de-extincting species? And what is your position on this subject?

Hale: I would argue that most environmental ethicists, as well as most animal ethicists鈥攖hese are two different communities of ethicists who agree on some things but disagree on many others鈥攁re extremely skeptical of these efforts to de-extinct species. I think you鈥檙e going to be hard pressed among the ethics community to find people who are excited about the potential of these de-extinction technologies.

Personally, I tend to be more of a moderate regarding technologies such as these. My view鈥攗nlike some of my other colleagues at other universities鈥攊s that developing technologies like this can help us to address ecological issues in the near term, but that this gets much more complicated as we reach back in history.

With extinction, an animal can either go functionally extinct or ontologically extinct, which are two different things. For instance, the oysters in the Chesapeake Bay are often said to be functionally extinct. There are still oysters living in the Chesapeake Bay, but they鈥檙e not serving the function that they were once serving, which was the cleaning and purification of the bay.

In that context, it would be a much more meaningful outcome for us to revive or to de-extinct oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, say, than to de-extinct the dire wolf. Oysters are important for us, and they were vitally important to many communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. I think we should use technologies to de-extinct functionally extinctorganisms and species.

So, it鈥檚 a balance. We don鈥檛 want to drop the ball on the de-extinction discussion inasmuch as its an important tool for ecologists, but we also don鈥檛 want to introduce Jurassic Park-style scenarios where we fetishize a charismatic species simply because it is genetically related to something that we like. Also, as we get deeper into time and deeper into history, I think it becomes more ridiculous and more problematic, ethically speaking, for us to try to de-extinct a species.

Question: So, bringing back oysters to Chesapeake Bay could fulfill a useful ecological role, but ethically it鈥檚 harder to make the case for bringing back a Tyrannosaurus Rex?

Hale: Is the de-extinction of a T-Rex the best use of our resources? My answer to that question is probably not.

Again, I鈥檓 generally supportive of research into a variety of different technologies that help us better understand how nature works and what we can do to address concerns in our natural environment. And it may well be that some of these gene-splicing technologies do precisely that.

Dire wolves Romulus and Remus, along with their sister, Khaleesi, will spend their entire lives in an animal refuge. Hale says there are ethical questions as to whether a species is really made de-extinct if it鈥檚 natural habitat no longer exists.

I believe it鈥檚 important for us as a society to have robust technologies, maybe even de-extinction ones in cases ofcatastrophe or calamity鈥攎uch like seed banks or insurance policies鈥攂ut we certainly should have security in place in case things go sideways.

Question: Are there any governmental regulations at the international level, or at the national level, governing this kind of scientific work? If not, do you think there should be?

Hale: This is not an area that I tend to work in, but I鈥檓 not aware of any regulations. Personally, I do think that this kind of private sector, entrepreneurial research should be regulated.

What would it mean to regulate more pure scientific research is an interesting question. I think it would mean that you would have some kind of external scrutiny of scientific operations in an open framework that would prevent opportunists from developing a technology that could be either weaponized, which would be unusual in this context, or that would prevent ecological recklessness, as in the case of an accidental or intentional release. Given the potential ecological, environmental, and economic impacts of release, we should be very careful about allowing self-replicating but misfit entities, like a de-extincted species, into the wild. The potential for misuse here is tremendous.

I think there probably are other reasons to regulate it as well. You might be concerned about the harm or suffering that you might cause to any given specimen of that species. For example, if you鈥檙e creating a huge laboratory of failed experiments with de-extinct species鈥攕ay, a bunch of failed versions that die prematurely or live out their short lives in pain鈥擨 think that should also have some oversight.

Question: So, potentially in the pursuit of a scientific good, scientists could, possibly inadvertently, cause harm to the animals?

Hale: This was an issue with the cloning controversy, when Dolly the sheep was cloned. Anytime you鈥檙e experimenting with technologies of this sort, you鈥檙e going to create some mutants or some mistakes during trial runs鈥攁nd there were quite a few of those when Dolly was cloned. Some of the animals had short lives or they were born with mutations and whatnot.

This is one of the key worries for animal ethicists: that the animal will be born with defects that will cause it to suffer, or maybe that it鈥檚 destined to spend its entire life in captivity being poked and prodded. 鈥�

There are a range of different reasons why animal ethicists think that we should be concerned about the well-being of animals. Some of them include their capacity to experience pain and suffering, and some of them are more abstract, likethat they have rights. So, depending upon which sort of camp you fall in in the animal ethics literature, you may object to de-extincting individual entities for different reasons than environmental ethicists, but two sets of concerns鈥攁bout the ecology and about the individuals themselves鈥攕ort of work in tandem with one another.

Question: Do you think there is a risk that, if scientists show they can successfully bring back extinct species, some people will come to believe that conservation efforts are no longer necessary?

Hale: I think we should be thinking hard about the problem of extinction. The reason I鈥檓 interested in de-extinction is not just because I think it鈥檚 cool, but because I think it provides a good reason for us to try to prevent extinction in the first place. That鈥檚 my real objective in exploring the question of de-extinction.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough, generally speaking, just to say, 鈥榃e wanted to see if we could do it,鈥� or 鈥榃e did it (de-extincted a species) because we think the species is beautiful or cool.鈥� Using that as a justification starts to look a lot like Jurassic Park, right?鈥�
Ben Hale, 色戒成人直播 philosophy professor in the Department of Environmental Studies

I think we have good reasons to try to prevent extinction and that de-extinction alone is not going to be a solution to the problem of extinction. Potentially, it just introduces more problems. So, we should try where we can to prevent the extinction of animals or the extinction of a species.

In fact, in a lot of my work I discuss different kinds of reversal scenarios, from air pollution to geoengineering to remediation. Thinking about repair and restoration helps us see better that many of our most basic intuitions regarding environmental wrongdoing aren鈥檛, strictly speaking, about the harm that we鈥檙e doing to the environment. For instance, those who think that a company can pollute a river, say, and then right their wrong by cleaning up the pollution using remediation technologies, have a pretty limited sense of what an environmental wrong is. Environmental wrongs also happen in part because people are trespassed upon, their rights are violated, or there are other offenses to them and the world. Those kinds of cases are not properly related to de-extinction, but all of them are an effort to try to repair past harms or restore lost value, just as de-extinction is an effort to return something that is lost.

In many cases鈥攎aybe even in most cases鈥擨 think we should essentially operate under the assumption that interventions like de-extinctions are cases of last resort. And this goes for many different kinds of environmental interventions like the ones I mention above: We need to try to avoid circumstances in which we need to take drastic action to repair things that we鈥檝e done that are damaging or wrong.

Question: Do you expect that, moving forward, companies like Colossal Biosciences will continue to pursue efforts to bring back extinct species?

Hale: I do. Again, I鈥檇 like to see scientists and governments deal with this globally, to set up some kind of commission to create some kind of oversight or monitoring that nudges private companies away from technologies that could be used recklessly, such that they threaten existing ecosystems. This is part of the reason that I think we should be cautious about de-extinction intervention overall. We just don鈥檛 know what the downstream impacts of our actions are going to be.

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Photos courtesy of Colossal Biosciences

Baker brings delicious sustainability to the table

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0000

Baker brings delicious sustainability to the table Rachel Sauer Tue, 07/15/2025 - 07:30

Cody DeBos

Gregor MacGregor, assistant teaching professor of environmental studies, focuses on local economies and environmental justice in his Vulcan Mine Bakery

On a quiet street in Lafayette, Colorado, the smell of rosemary and fresh bread often drifts from a solar-powered oven just before dawn. It鈥檚 where you鈥檒l find Gregor MacGregor, a 色戒成人直播 assistant teaching professor with the Masters of the Environment Graduate Program in the Department of Environmental Studies, conducting a carefully orchestrated dance of timers, dough balls and donut boxes.

His micro-bakery is a far cry from the courtroom or a university lecture hall, where he also spends his time. But to MacGregor, there鈥檚 a through line to it all: caring for the planet and the people in his community.

Gregor MacGregor, a 色戒成人直播 assistant teaching professor of environmental studies and a water attorney, began baking bread with his daughters during COVID lockdowns and eventually opened Vulcan Mine Bakery. (Photo: Gregor MacGregor)

鈥淒uring the COVID lockdown, I was looking for activities to do with my daughters. As my wife characterizes it, we baked a loaf of bread and a dozen donuts, then decided to open a bakery,鈥� he says.

That spontaneous project eventually became Vulcan Mine Bakery. The name, a nod to the former coal mine near his home, reflects MacGregor鈥檚 dedication to environmental awareness.

Sustainability you can taste

MacGregor brings his experience as a water attorney and former U.S. Army officer to the bakery in many ways. Having extensively researched circular economies, he built Vulcan Mine Bakery as a truly local operation.

鈥淢y milk comes from a dairy in Longmont, I use duck eggs from a farm in Lafayette, I purchase Colorado sugar beet sugar and my grain comes from a farm in Hugo that I mill in house,鈥� he says.

Even the energy source is intentional. Vulcan Mine鈥檚 singular oven is powered by rooftop solar panels. MacGregor sees these choices as essential not just for sustainability, but for flavor鈥攁nd education.

He says, 鈥淭he public imagination hasn鈥檛 quite adopted the fresh food, farm-to-table movement for baked goods yet. That changes when you let someone take in a breath of freshly milled flour.鈥�

Operating under Colorado鈥檚 Cottage Foods Act (CFA) helps MacGregor keep his overhead low and his connections local.

鈥淭he CFA unlocks opportunities for entrepreneurs to experiment, grow their chops and see if moving on to a food truck or brick-and-mortar store makes sense for them,鈥� he says.

MacGregor adds, 鈥淲e should explore every avenue to help locals succeed so we all have options to spend and keep money in our communities, with people we care about, and with people who care where our food comes from.鈥�

In summer 2025, Gregor MacGregor spent about two weeks in Ukraine baking bread with Kharkiv鈥檚 Hell鈥檚 Kitchen organization, supplying about 900 meals and 1200 rolls a day to hospitals, refugees and other groups. (Photo: Gregor MacGregor)

Flour and fellowship

For MacGregor, food is also a tool for justice.

鈥淔ood justice is absolutely a part of environmental justice鈥攈aving the basic necessities to survive at the low end and having the opportunity to participate in the system in a culturally and economically significant way at the high end,鈥� he says.

MacGregor embraces the opportunity to live out this philosophy through Vulcan Mine Bakery and regularly donates baked goods to those in need.

In 2021, MacGregor created a special menu of Afghan and American treats for newly arriving families of Afghan refugees.

鈥淚 got to visit some of the families with their sponsors to share food and stories. It was an incredible way to meet our new neighbors and help them feel welcome,鈥� he says.

MacGregor鈥檚 service work also extends far beyond Colorado鈥檚 borders.

鈥淟ast summer, I spent about two weeks in Ukraine baking bread with Kharkiv鈥檚鈥楬ell鈥檚 Kitchen鈥� organization. We supplied about 900 meals and 1200 rolls a day to hospitals, refugees and other groups. We also drove and delivered food, medicine and clothing out into the countryside to villages in need,鈥� he says.

As someone who has spent years working in environmental law and teaching policy, MacGregor is acutely aware of the systems that shape equity and resilience. Baking has given him a new way to get involved.

鈥淰ery few people smile when you show up as an attorney, but almost everyone smiles when you show up as a baker,鈥� he says.

A taste of history

MacGregor鈥檚 loaves do more than just nourish. Thanks to his interest in holiday baking, they also spark curiosity and conversations about heritage.

Inspired by an old cookbook titled Celebration Breads, MacGregor often bakes traditional and seasonal recipes that let customers taste the intersection of history, culture and community.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a recipe for the boozy Hartford Election Cake, which I have not seen baked anywhere else, but which used to be a vital part of early-American democracy,鈥� he explains.

鈥淟ike many of our other celebratory breads, it contains a great amount of cultural history within it that relates to the why and when of our consumption.鈥�

Lessons from a loaf

Though Vulcan Mine Bakery is now a part of MacGregor鈥檚 daily life, it hasn鈥檛 replaced his identity as a champion of the environment. It鈥檚 only strengthened his desire to have an impact.

鈥淚 love baking because I get to work with my hands, chat with people and see how much they appreciate my bread. I think that last bit, the connection with others and serving them, is what really makes it worthwhile,鈥� he says.

MacGregor sees his bakery as an extension of his environmental teaching, a chance to live out sustainability and connection in a tangible way. He also encourages others to look for similar opportunities in their own lives.

鈥淚f you already have a skill, you can probably put it to good use for yourself and others,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here is great need in the world, but you don鈥檛 need great means to have an impact.鈥�

In 2021, Gregor MacGregor created a special menu of Afghan and American treats (shown here) for newly arriving families of Afghan refugees.

For Gregor MacGregor (left, making donuts with his wife, Kelly, and daughter Madeleine), baking is a family affair. He and his daughters began making bread during COVID lockdowns, which eventually led to opening Vulcan Mine Bakery.

Inspired by an old cookbook titled 鈥淐elebration Breads,鈥� Gregor MacGregor often bakes traditional and seasonal recipes that let customers taste the intersection of history, culture and community.

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Gregor MacGregor, an assistant teaching professor of environmental studies, focuses on local economies and environmental justice in his Vulcan Mine Bakery.

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What rats can tell us about the opioid crisis

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0000

What rats can tell us about the opioid crisis Rachel Sauer Mon, 07/14/2025 - 07:30

Blake Puscher

色戒成人直播 scientists estimate the heritability of opioid use disorder with a rodent study

Opioid use disorder is an ongoing global health crisis. In the United States alone, almost 108,000 people died from drug overdose in 2022, and about 75% of those deaths involved opioids.

Although many factors contribute to this crisis鈥攁nd there are many approaches to addressing it as a result鈥攐ne important line of research is into the genetic factors that increase people鈥檚 risk for developing an opioid use disorder (OUD). Once these risk factors are known, doctors may be able to prescribe opioids more strategically to people at higher risk of OUD, and such individuals could make more informed choices.

In recently published research, scientists from the 色戒成人直播鈥攊ncluding Eamonn Duffy, Jack Ward, Luanne Hale, Kyle Brown and Ryan Bachtell of the Bachtell Laboratory, and Andrew Kwilasz, Erika Mehrhoff, Laura Saba and Marissa Ehringer鈥攖ested the influence of genetics on opioid-related behaviors, which include OUD. Specifically, they looked at its heritability by conducting an experiment in which rats were given the ability to self-administer oxycodone, a semi-synthetic opioid that is used medically to treat pain.

色戒成人直播 researchers tested the influence of genetics on opioid-related behaviors, specifically looking at its heritability by conducting an experiment in which rats were given the ability to self-administer oxycodone, a semi-synthetic opioid that is used medically to treat pain. (Photo: Jon Anders Wiken/Dreamstime.com)

Experimental design

More than 260 inbred rats from 15 strains were used for the study. In this case, an inbred strain is defined as a population produced by 20 or more generations of brother-sister mating. This was important for the study because the rats within inbred strain are isogenic: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e almost like clones; their genomes are identical, except for the X and Y chromosomes between males and females,鈥� Duffy explains.

Like the use of identical-twin research involving humans, this makes the results more reliable. In a twin study, most differences between twins are caused by their environment, so researchers can determine the genetic influence on a trait by how much it varies. Similarly, within an inbred strain, most individual differences are caused by sex differences, and this provides insight into the importance of biological sex to a given trait. Between inbred strains, differences are attributable to either the strains鈥� different genes, sex differences, or a combination of the two.

The animals in the study could self-administer the oxycodone using levers, so their behaviors could be measured. There were two retractable levers in the testing chamber: one active, which would give the rats a dose of oxycodone after being pulled, and one inactive, which would do nothing.

After the active lever was pulled, there was a cooldown period of 20 seconds, during which time pulling the lever would not dispense another dose. Regardless of whether pulling a lever had an effect, it would be recorded. This allowed researchers to measure two substance-use behaviors in addition to the total amount of oxycodone consumed. These variables were referred to as 鈥渢imeout responding鈥� and 鈥渓ever discrimination.鈥�

Timeout responses were pulls on the active lever that happened during the cooldown period. Lever discrimination was a measure of how often rats pulled the inactive lever. Both essentially tracked the rats鈥� ability to self-administer substances in a regulated manner, although lever discrimination could have other associations. Attempting to get more oxycodone very quickly (timeout responding) and attempting to get it in an illogical way (low lever discrimination, especially once the animals had time to learn how the levers worked) are signs of dysregulated drug use.

These measures are important in addition to total dosage because the rats naturally consumed more oxycodone as they developed a tolerance to the drug, making it difficult to characterize their drug use on that basis alone. 鈥淲ith addiction,鈥� Duffy says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a complicated story. They鈥檙e developing tolerance, and they鈥檙e showing dysregulated use.鈥�

Push the lever, get the oxycodone

The tests were split into two phases: acquisition and escalation. Although the number of daily doses the rats received generally increased over time, especially between the two phases, their self-administration behaviors varied significantly by strain.

For example, in the escalation phase, the females of one strain pushed the lever for a total oxycodone dose of less than 100 mg/kg, whereas rats of another strain took a total of about 300. There was also variation between males and females within a strain, though not always: In some strains, males and females consumed a similar amount of oxycodone, while in others, consumption was notably divergent, with males consuming around 200 mg/kg more oxycodone overall.

Once the genetic factors that increase people's risk for developing an opioid use disorder (OUD) are known, doctors may be able to prescribe opioids more strategically to people at higher risk of OUD, and such individuals could make more informed choices. (Photo illustration: iStock)

This is evidence for a strain-sex interaction, meaning that the rats鈥� substance-use behaviors were determined by a combination of genetic background and biological sex, not either alone, according to the researchers. Although the obvious explanation for this would be different genes encoded on the sex chromosomes of the various strains, this isn鈥檛 necessarily the case.

鈥淪ome of our collaborators in San Diego have performed several genetic mapping studies,鈥� Duffy says, 鈥渁nd they found that the Y chromosome didn鈥檛 appear to play much of a role in regulating behavioral traits.鈥�

It is possible that X-chromosome genes are a greater factor. However, the biggest influence would probably be sex hormones or related differences, Duffy adds. For example, according a separate study, the sex hormone estradiol can increase oxycodone metabolism indirectly by raising the concentration of a protein in the brain.

Moreover, Duffy says, 鈥渢here could be developmental aspects to the sex difference, so seeing if they鈥檙e exposed to testosterone versus estrogen as they鈥檙e growing up, that may affect how their brain is wired.鈥�

Several other strains showed notably divergent behaviors. Some strains were fairly stable in their use, while others increased their oxycodone intake rapidly during the acquisition phase. Lever discrimination also varied by strain, with one strain increasing its lever discrimination quickly, for example, while another failed to increase its lever discrimination much over time.

The biggest discovery that emerged from the research was the discovery of how heritable several behaviors related to opioid use are.

The influence of genetics

Heritability is a measure of what part of the variation in a group is due to genetic or heritable characteristics.

鈥淲ith heritability,鈥� Duffy explains, 鈥渨hen you鈥檙e looking at everything that goes into some kind of trait, like opioid use disorder, the average genetic component will be your heritability. You also have environmental influences, which could be things such as diet.鈥�

Taking OUC as an example, variation might be understood qualitatively in terms of how destructive the effects of drug use are on individuals, from having minimal effect on people鈥檚 lives to potentially causing overdoses and death, Duffy adds.

If the heritability of OUD were 0, the fact that some people use the drug safely and others die because of it would be explained entirely by non-genetic factors. If the heritability of OUD were 1, this fact would be explained entirely by genetics. However, as with most traits, OUD appears to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

According to the study, measures of oxycodone intake ranged between 0.26 and 0.54 heritability. The high end of this range is total oxycodone intake over the course of the experiment, while the low end is change in intake (increase in intake over the acquisition phase). The other behavioral phenotypes had heritability scores of 0.25 to 0.42, with timeout responding being more heritable than lever discrimination.

鈥淎bout half of that variability is due to genetic background,鈥� Duffy says, referring to total intake. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really strong heritability.鈥� However, because these data come from rats, the heritability of these behavioral phenotypes may be different in humans. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to capture everything about OUD in a rat model, but we can capture specific aspects and use that to put together a bigger picture.

鈥淥UD is hard to study in humans because there aren鈥檛 as many people using opioids as alcohol or nicotine, and of that smaller population, we also have people using several types of drugs, so it鈥檚 harder to calculate these heritability values, but I believe ours do fall within the range for opioid dependence and opioid use disorder in humans.鈥�

鈥淲ith addiction, it鈥檚 a complicated story. They鈥檙e developing tolerance, and they鈥檙e showing dysregulated use.鈥�

It's also important to recognize that heritability is a population-level statistic. This means that it does not represent the chance for any individual to develop a trait, even if that trait could be inherited from the individual鈥檚 parents. However, a higher heritability of some trait would correspond to a greater resemblance between parents and offspring in that respect throughout the population, Duffy says.

What genes contribute to OUD?

While it is useful to know how heritable opioid use disorder is, meaningfully assessing the risk for individuals requires knowing what genes contribute to it. This study doesn鈥檛 identify these genes, but progress has already been made to this end.

鈥淭here鈥檝e been a number of studies in humans that have found that these SNPs, or single nucleotide polymorphisms, are associated with your risk of developing conditions like opioid dependence or opioid use disorder,鈥� Duffy says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 another group that is performing some genetic mapping in outbred rats, and that鈥檚 going to be the next stage of this project for us as well.鈥�

One potential gene influencing OUD in mice is an SNP in the Oprm1 gene, which is explained in the study to affect the brain鈥檚 response to reward-related behavior generally and analgesics like oxycodone specifically. Common Oprm1 SNPs have also been associated with dysregulated use of an opioid in humans, specifically heroin.

Once relevant SNPs are identified, however, the situation remains complex. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to be a simple answer,鈥� Duffy says. 鈥淟ike, you have this one SNP in Oprm1 and that鈥檚 going to increase or influence your risk for OUD. It鈥檚 probably going to be a multitude of SNPs, and those additive effects are going to influence the risk for this disorder.鈥�

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色戒成人直播 scientists estimate the heritability of opioid use disorder with a rodent study.

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How deep is that snow? Machine learning helps us know

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0000

How deep is that snow? Machine learning helps us know Rachel Sauer Thu, 07/10/2025 - 07:30

Blake Puscher

色戒成人直播 researchers apply machine learning to snow hydrology in Colorado mountain drainage basins, finding a new way to accurately predict the availability of water

Determining how much water is contained as snow in mountain drainage basins is very important for water management, because measuring it is a necessary part of predicting the availability of water鈥攅specially in places that rely on snowmelt for their water supply, like Colorado and other western states.

Snow water equivalent is the amount of water in a mass of snow or snowpack. The depth of this water is a fraction of the snow depth, and this fraction is obtained by multiplying the depth by the snow density, which is expressed as a percentage of the density of water. If there are 10 inches of snow with a density of 10%, the snow water equivalent is 1 inch.

A persistent challenge is that snow water content is calculated from both snow depth and snow density, yet it remains unfeasible to directly measure snow density over a large area. Traditionally, this issue has been addressed with remote sensing, which allows for consistent and relatively large-scale measurements. However, remote sensing methods have their own limitations, which has prompted the search for an alternative in machine-learning technology.

色戒成人直播 researchers Jordan Herbert (left), a PhD candidate, and Eric Small, a professor of geological sciences, developed a model that can estimate the snow density at times when and in places where it has not been observed or sensed.

In their study on the subject, 色戒成人直播 Ph.D. candidate Jordan Herbert and Professor Eric Small of the Department of Geological Sciences developed a model that can estimate the snow density at times when and in places where it has not been observed or sensed. This model is split into different scenarios, each trained on a different subset of the data, and while performance varied, all scenarios were more accurate than extrapolation from remote sensing methods, according to Herbert and Small.

Model performance analyses also demonstrated that information from Airborne light detection and ranging (LIDAR) can be transferred to different times and places within the region it was collected.

LIDAR and SNOTEL data

LIDAR surveys are an important tool in snow hydrology, as they provide detailed information about snow properties, specifically through their detection of snow depth.

鈥淵ou fly the plane twice,鈥� Small says, 鈥渙nce when there鈥檚 no snow, once when there is snow. The laser reflects off the surface, and if you know where the plane is and the distance to the surface, then you know the height of the snow relative to the ground surface.鈥� This is called differential LIDAR altimetry.

While LIDAR is very useful in snow hydrology, it does have some limitations. The first is that it only measures snow depth, but snow density (either measured or modeled) is also needed to determine snow water equivalent. This isn鈥檛 a unique limitation, however, because snow density cannot be surveyed in the same way as snow depth.

鈥淢easuring snow density in the field reveals just how variable the snowpack is,鈥� Herbert explains. 鈥淒epending on if you dig a snow pit under a tree or on a north versus south facing aspect, you can get a completely different answer.鈥�

This is a major limitation of on-site observations. Density also varies with depth, and remote sensing signals will be affected by the amount of liquid water content in snow, which makes measuring snow density remotely or over a broad scale impossible for the foreseeable future.

The second and more easily addressed issue with LIDAR surveys is the logistical issues associated with necessary plane flights.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 fly a plane all the time,鈥� Small says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 too expensive, and we don鈥檛 have enough planes to fly everywhere.鈥� Planes also cannot be flown when the weather is bad, and surveys only provide a snapshot of snow depth, which can change rapidly as snow falls or melts.

鈥淢easuring snow density in the field reveals just how variable the snowpack is. Depending on if you dig a snow pit under a tree or on a north versus south facing aspect, you can get a completely different answer,鈥� says 色戒成人直播 researcher Jordan Herbert. (Photo: Pixabay)

These limitations can be worked around by using the LIDAR data to train computer models. 鈥淏ased on that,鈥� Small says, 鈥測ou can use the LIDAR information to make predictions in the absence of LIDAR at another time or date or location. So, you鈥檙e leveraging the scientific information from LIDAR to improve your knowledge generally.鈥�

Snow telemetry (SNOTEL) is an automated system of snow and climate sensors run by the National Resource Conservation Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are about a thousand SNOTEL sites across the western United States鈥攕mall wilderness areas filled with sensing equipment that measures precipitation, snow mass and snow depth.

鈥淎ll snow hydrology is based on data from these stations,鈥� Small says. 鈥淭he problem is that they only cover a small area. If you take all the SNOTEL stations in the western U.S. and put them next to each other, they鈥檇 be about the size of a football field, so they鈥檙e vastly under sampling. That鈥檚 why people want to use LIDAR to fill in all the spaces around them.鈥�

The random forest model

Linear regression makes quantitative predictions based on one or more variables, but it becomes difficult to perform when many of these variables interact with each other in complex ways. In this case, some examples are elevation, solar radiation, slope, tree cover and so on. The difficulty of working with all these variables can be minimized by a modeling tool called a regression tree.

鈥淎 binary regression tree splits your sample into two groups, and it splits that sample to figure out which variable has the most effect on the thing you're trying to predict,鈥� Small explains. The branching structure created by these splits gives the model its name and is designed to minimize errors. Each branching point is a condition like true/false or yes/no, the answer to which determines the path taken.

Regression trees are useful in that they fit the data better than multiple linear regression models, which are the other option when it comes to using linear regression when there are many variables involved. The better a model fits the observed data, the better it will be at predicting data that have not been observed, Small says.

However, regression trees have their own limitations.

鈥淭he downside of a binary regression tree is that it only gives you categorized values,鈥� Small says. 鈥淔or example, snow depth could be 70 centimeters, 92 centimeters or 123 centimeters. You end up with a map that just has these particular values.鈥� This issue can be solved by combining multiple regression trees into a random forest model.

鈥淲hat a random forest does,鈥� Small explains, 鈥渋s take a bunch of these binary regression trees and samples them randomly to give you continuous distributions of the variable that you care about. So instead of it being in these categories, it's more like how we think about snow depth.鈥�

鈥淎ll snow hydrology is based on data from (SNOTEL) stations. The problem is that they only cover a small area. If you take all the SNOTEL stations in the western U.S. and put them next to each other, they鈥檇 be about the size of a football field, so they鈥檙e vastly under sampling," says 色戒成人直播 Professor Eric Small. (Photo: Ruvin Miksanskiy/Pexels)

Machine learning

While using binary regression trees allows the predictive model discussed in this study to fit the data better, there are other things to consider, Small says. 鈥淚n machine learning and other statistics, there鈥檚 this trade-off between how well a model can fit the information you give it and how generalizable it is. If I keep adding training data, training the model and tuning the parameters, I can have it fit the data pretty well, but then it becomes fixated on those very specific data, and it鈥檚 not going to make good predictions elsewhere.鈥�

This is called 鈥渙verfitting,鈥� and it can be described simply as the model becoming too used to patterns in the data it was trained on. In anticipating these patterns, the model will make incorrect predictions that would have been right in the same place or under the same circumstances as the training data were collected, but aren鈥檛 otherwise.

This explains the different performance of the three different versions of the model: the site-specific model, the regional model and the site-specific and regional (SS+Reg) model. The site-specific model makes predictions about a given basin using LIDAR data from the same basin that was collected at other dates, whereas the regional model makes predictions about a basin using data from other basins and at other dates. The SS+Reg model was trained using all available data.

The SS+Reg model was the most accurate, but all models were generally accurate, both compared to models from prior studies and remote sensing methods. Because models of the sort used in this study output on the 50-meter scale, this scale was used to compare this study鈥檚 models to existing ones, and the former were more accurate. The models鈥� outputs were at a scale of 50 meters, but these were upscaled to 1- and 4-kilometer scales as well.

The 1- and 4-kilometer scales are more typically used in water management applications, and all three models became more accurate when applied to these scales, outperforming SNOTEL. This means that the models were more accurate than extrapolation from observation data. The success of both the SS+Reg and regional models indicates that information gained from LIDAR is transferable to different times and locations within the Rocky Mountain Region.

Besides fitting the data well and being adaptable to different scales between the three model scenarios, this approach is also beneficial because it does not rely on modeling physical processes (like snow formation, accumulation and melt) or on uncertain weather data. This makes it so that, once a model is trained, it doesn鈥檛 take long to make predictions. 鈥淭he big gain is that it's much more computationally efficient and it just takes a fraction of the time,鈥� Small says. 鈥淚t's about 100 times faster.鈥�

Herbert says 鈥渕achine learning has been a huge benefit to my research, with the results to back it up. It鈥檚 freed up my time in the winter to put skis on and dig more snow pits to get the density data we desperately need.鈥�

鈥淔or whatever reason, all our physically based models and our knowledge of science just gets in our way of making predictions,鈥� Small explains, 鈥渂ecause we've tried to boil it down to these simple equations, but it's not simple.鈥�

"Machine learning has been a huge benefit to my research, with the results to back it up. It鈥檚 freed up my time in the winter to put skis on and dig more snow pits to get the density data we desperately need."

Expanding to other regions

The primary limitation of the snow density-measuring framework that the researchers created for this study was its reliance on on-site and LIDAR data for snow depth measurements. Small says that this could be addressed by bringing in other data sets, which would provide a more independent test of success than models鈥� ability to predict snow density in regions they were not trained on.

One of these data sets, the fractional snow-covered area (how much of the ground is covered by snow), could be measured using LIDAR equipment mounted to a satellite rather than relying on airplanes. While LIDAR has been used with satellite technology, this doesn鈥檛 address the limitations of plane-mounted LIDAR, because as Small says, 鈥渢he (satellite) overpass interval is very slow. It鈥檚 about 90 days before it comes back to the place you鈥檙e looking at. So, you get a snapshot very infrequently, but it鈥檚 everywhere on the planet.鈥�

The next step of developing this kind of model is to apply it to other regions, and it remains to be seen how easily that translation can be made, Herbert says.

鈥淲e鈥檝e just begun running the model in California to see if the model works in regions with different climates,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e want to see how transferable data from one region is to another, and California is an ideal test site since it has more LIDAR than anywhere else in the world.鈥�

The presence of LIDAR is important because these data were the most useful when it came to statistical model validation, or making sure that the models were accurate and reliable, compared to data limited by the small-area reporting of SNOTEL and the variability of on-the-ground snow density measurements. Without data to judge models鈥� predictions against, it is impossible to determine how well they do, because the actual snow depth is unknown.

Also, because LIDAR isn鈥檛 available everywhere, it is important to continue developing other methods of validation, the researchers say. Small says reducing reliance on LIDAR will help the innovative modeling framework apply to many parts of the country.

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色戒成人直播 researchers apply machine learning to snow hydrology in Colorado mountain drainage basins, finding a new way to accurately predict the availability of water.

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That lightbulb represents more than just a good idea

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 18:39:18 +0000

That lightbulb represents more than just a good idea Rachel Sauer Tue, 07/08/2025 - 12:39

Rachel Sauer

In research recently published in Science, 色戒成人直播 scientists detail how light鈥�rather than energy-intensive heat鈥�can efficiently and sustainably catalyze chemical transformations

For many people, the role that manufactured chemicals plays in their lives鈥攚hether they鈥檙e aware of it or not鈥攎ay begin first thing in the morning. That paint on the bedroom walls? It contains manufactured chemicals.

From there, manufactured chemicals may show up in prescription medicine, in the bowls containing breakfast, in the key fob that unlocks the car, in the road they take to work. These products are so ubiquitous that it鈥檚 hard to envision life without them.

Professor Niels Damrauer and his 色戒成人直播 and CSU research colleagues were inspired by photosynthesis in designing a system using LED lights to catalyze transformations commonly used in chemical manufacturing.

The process of transforming base materials into these desired products, however, has long come at significant environmental cost. Historically, catalyzing transformations in industrial processes has frequently used extreme heat to create the necessary energy.

Now, continuing to build on a growing body of research and discovery, 色戒成人直播 scientists are many steps closer to using light instead of heat to catalyze transformations in industrial processes.

In a study recently published in Science, Niels Damrauer, a 色戒成人直播 professor of chemistry and Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute fellow, and his research colleagues at 色戒成人直播 and Colorado State University found that a system using LED lights can catalyze transformations commonly used in chemical manufacturing. And it鈥檚 entirely possible, Damrauer says, that sunlight could ultimately be the light source in this system.

鈥淲ith many transformations, the economics are, 鈥榃ell, I need this product and I鈥檓 going to sell it at this price, so my energy costs can鈥檛 be larger than this amount to make a profit鈥�,鈥� Damrauer says. 鈥淏ut when you start to think about climate change and start to think about trying to create more efficient ways to make things, you need different approaches.

鈥淵ou can do that chemistry with very harsh conditions, but those harsh conditions demand energy use. The particular chemistry we are able to do in this paper suggests we鈥檝e figured out a way to do these transformations under mild conditions.鈥�

Inspired by plants

Damrauer and his colleagues鈥攊ncluding first authors Arindam Sau, a 色戒成人直播 PhD candidate in chemistry, and Amreen Bains, a postdoctoral scholar in chemistry at Colorado State University in the group of Professor Garret Miyake鈥攚ork in a branch of chemistry called photoredox catalysis, 鈥渨here 鈥榩hoto鈥� means light and 鈥榬edox鈥� means reduction and oxidation,鈥� Damrauer explains. 鈥淭his type of chemistry is fundamentally inspired by photosynthesis. A lot of chemistry鈥攏ot all of chemistry, but a huge fraction of chemistry鈥攊nvolves the movement of electrons out of things and into other things to make transformations. That happens in plants, and it happens in photoredox catalysis as well.

鈥淚n photosynthesis, there鈥檚 a beautiful control over not only the motion of electrons but the motion of protons. It鈥檚 in the coupling of those two motions that a plant derives functions it鈥檚 able to achieve in taking electrons out of something like water and storing it in CO2 as something like sugar.鈥�

Further inspired by photosynthesis and a plant鈥檚 use of chlorophyl to collect sunlight, the research team used an organic dye molecule as a sort of 鈥減re-catalyst鈥� that absorbs light and transforms into a catalyst molecule, which also absorbs light and accelerates chemical reactions. And because the four LED lights surrounding the reactor are only slightly brighter than a regular home LED lightbulb, the transformation process happens at room temperature rather than extreme heat.

The molecule is also able to 鈥渞eset鈥� itself afterward and harvest more light, beginning the process anew.

鈥淲e set out to understand the behavior of a photocatalyst that was inefficient at this process, and my student Arindam discovered there was this fundamental transformation to the molecule occurring while we did the reaction,鈥� Damrauer says, adding that the team discovered there are key motions not just of electrons, which is essential for photoredox, but also of protons.

鈥淚n our mechanism, the motion of the proton occurs in the formation of a water molecule, and that very stable molecule prevents another event that would undermine the storage of energy that we鈥檙e trying to achieve,鈥� Damrauer says. 鈥淲e figured out what the reaction was and, based on that reaction, we started to make simpler molecules.

鈥淭his was a really fortuitous discovery process: We were studying something, saw a change, took the knowledge of what that change was and started to design systems that were even better. This is the best advertisement for basic science鈥攕ometimes you can鈥檛 design it; you鈥檝e got to discover things, you鈥檝e got to have that freedom.鈥�

A sunny future

Damrauer, Sau and their colleagues in the multidisciplinary, multi-institutional Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis Research Center (SuPRCat) are continuing to build on these discoveries, which happen at a small scale now but may have the potential for large-scale commercial use.

In an essay for The Conversation, Sau noted, 鈥淥ur work points toward a future where chemicals are made using light instead of heat. For example, our catalyst can turn benzene鈥攁 simple component of crude oil鈥攊nto a form called cyclohexadienes. This is a key step in making the building blocks for nylon. Improving this part of the process could reduce the carbon footprint of nylon production.

鈥淚magine manufacturers using LED reactors or even sunlight to power the production of essential chemicals. LEDs still use electricity, but they need far less energy compared with the traditional heating methods used in chemical manufacturing. As we scale things up, we鈥檙e also figuring out ways to harness sunlight directly, making the entire process even more sustainable and energy efficient.鈥�

Damrauer adds that he and his colleagues aren鈥檛 trying to change the nature of manufactured chemicals, but the approach to how they鈥檙e made. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not looking at making more stable paint, for example, but we鈥檙e asking if it costs a certain number of joules to make that gallon of paint, how can we reduce that?鈥�

In addition to Niels Damrauer, Arindam Sau and Amreen Bains, Brandon Portela, Kajal Kajal, Alexander Green, Anna Wolff, Ludovic Patin, Robert Paton and Garret Miyake contributed to this research.

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In research recently published in Science, 色戒成人直播 scientists detail how light鈥攔ather than energy-intensive heat鈥攃an efficiently and sustainably catalyze chemical transformations.

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色戒成人直播 biochemist wins prestigious fellowship

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 18:45:06 +0000

色戒成人直播 biochemist wins prestigious fellowship Rachel Sauer Mon, 06/30/2025 - 12:45

Blake Puscher

Postdoctoral researcher Nathan Bullen announced as a 2025 Jane Coffin Childs fellow, supporting his research on how organisms survive when their RNA is under attack

A 色戒成人直播 postdoctoral researcher specializing in biochemistry is one of 29 to be awarded a Jane Coffin Childs fellowship in 2025.

Nathan Bullen, a postdoctoral scholar in the 色戒成人直播 Department of Biochemistry and the Aaron Whiteley Lab, studies how organisms survive when their RNA is under attack. As a Jane Coffin Childs (JCC) fellow, he will receive three years of salary funding to support his research out of the almost $8 million the JCC has committed to its fellows this year.

The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research (JCC Fund) is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious postdoctoral fellowships in the United States. Established in 1937 to honor the memory of Jane Coffin Childs, who died from breast cancer in 1936, and to support cancer research, the JCC Fund has since expanded its mission to include fundamental basic scientific research into the causes and treatment of human disease.

Nathan Bullen, a postdoctoral scholar in the 色戒成人直播 Department of Biochemistry and the Aaron Whiteley Lab, was awarded a 2025 Jane Coffin Childs fellowship.

Each year, the JCC Fund selects between 25 and 30 early-career postdoctoral fellows from a pool of more than 350 applicants and, to date, has helped more than 1,800 researchers to pursue a cure for cancer and other human diseases. Bullen and his Whiteley Lab colleagues are working toward this goal by studying immune systems and infectious diseases to develop next-generation therapeutics.

Supporting early-career scientists

In addition to furthering important biomedical research and improving human health, the JCC also helps its fellows advance their careers. Current JCC Fund fellows attend an annual symposium that includes career-development sessions and other activities intended to improve their scientific, communication and networking skills. Since its inception, the JCC Fund has produced many scientific leaders in their respective fields, including numerous Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators and seven Nobel laureates.

鈥淭hese sorts of postdoc fellowship are important for trainees like Nathan because they demonstrate their ability to secure competitive funding,鈥� says Aaron Whiteley, 色戒成人直播 biochemistry assistant professor, head of the Aaron Whiteley Lab and a past JCC postdoctoral fellow. 鈥淭hey are an important step in building the resume required to run your own research group. Fellowships also help the labs that the fellows belong to, as they cover some of the cost of personnel, saving funding for experimentation.鈥�

Bullen鈥檚 work in the Whiteley lab aims to shed new light on highly conserved systems related to RNA repair.

鈥淥ur lab is broadly focused on conserved immune pathways shared between bacteria and eukaryotes (organisms whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus),鈥� Whiteley says. Because bacteria are easy to study, they provide a novel way to gain insight into the way these elements work in the human immune system.

According to Whiteley, the proteins involved in RNA repair are conserved between bacteria and humans. This is similar to how certain immune pathways are conserved, as outlined in a review article he and Hannah Ledvina wrote.

鈥淲hile much of our work centers on immune pathways,鈥� he says, 鈥渨e鈥檝e found that these similarities extend into more fundamental processes.鈥�

One example of this is RNA repair, which is essential because of the vital roles that RNA plays in cells, including helping to produce proteins. Bullen is working in this area, specifically investigating how organisms survive when their RNA is under attack.

This project is still in its early stages, Whiteley says, but 鈥渨e鈥檙e making strong progress and excited about where it is heading.鈥�

Advancing research

The JCC fellowship recognizes not just the proposed research, but who the researcher is as a scientist. According to Whiteley, Bullen has a passion for pursuing interesting and meaningful questions. 鈥淭hat might sound obvious for a scientist, but it鈥檚 honestly not always the case,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 big part of being successful in research is knowing what makes for a good question, and I think Nathan has a well-tuned compass in that regard.

"My goal now is to live up to the opportunity and discover something genuinely cool about how the natural world works."

鈥淗e鈥檒l probably say he鈥檚 very lucky to have been selected as a JCC fellow, which is true, but I鈥檒l also add that Nathan did excellent work during his PhD and has big ideas for his postdoc. He has absolutely earned this opportunity. I鈥檓 very excited about the work he鈥檚 pursuing in the lab and I鈥檓 looking forward to the discoveries he鈥檒l make over the next few years with the support of the JCCF.鈥�

Bullen earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in microbiology from the University of Waterloo and a PhD in biochemistry from McMaster University. He has been working at CU as a postdoctoral fellow since 2024.

鈥淚鈥檓 incredibly honored to have been selected as a Jane Coffin Childs fellow,鈥� Bullen says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to turn your passion into a career. Academia isn鈥檛 an easy road, and it comes with a lot of uncertainty. Awards like the JCCF are more than financial support; they鈥檙e a real vote of confidence in early-career scientists like me.

鈥淭hese types of awards are basically saying: we like your ideas, and we think you can do something great. At this stage, that vote of confidence makes a huge difference. My goal now is to live up to the opportunity and discover something genuinely cool about how the natural world works. I am hopeful that the discoveries I make during my postdoc will serve as the foundation for my own independent research group in the future.鈥�

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Postdoctoral researcher Nathan Bullen announced as a 2025 Jane Coffin Childs fellow, supporting his research on how organisms survive when their RNA is under attack.

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Harnessing the abundant resource of sunlight

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 17:55:24 +0000

Harnessing the abundant resource of sunlight Rachel Sauer Tue, 06/24/2025 - 11:55

Arindam Sau , Amreen Bains and Anna Wolff

Light-powered reactions could make the chemical manufacturing industry more energy-efficient

Manufactured chemicals and materials are necessary for practically every aspect of daily life, from life-saving pharmaceuticals to plastics, fuels and fertilizers. Yet manufacturing these important chemicals comes at a steep energy cost.

Many of these industrial chemicals are derived primarily from fossil fuel-based materials. These compounds are typically very stable, making it difficult to transform them into useful products without applying harsh and energy-demanding reaction conditions.

Arindam Sau, a Ph.D. candidate in the 色戒成人直播 Department of Chemistry, along with Colorado State University research colleagues Amreen Bains and Anna Wolff, have been working on a system that uses light to power reactions commonly used in the chemical manufacturing industry.

As a result, transforming these stubborn materials contributes significantly to the world鈥檚 overall energy use. In 2022, the industrial sector consumed 37% of the world鈥檚 total energy, with the chemical industry responsible for approximately 12% of that demand.

Conventional chemical manufacturing processes use heat to generate the energy needed for reactions that take place at high temperatures and pressures. An approach that uses light instead of heat could lower energy demands and allow reactions to be run under gentler conditions 鈥� like at room temperature instead of extreme heat.

Sunlight represents one of the most abundant yet underutilized energy sources on Earth. In nature, this energy is captured through photosynthesis, where plants convert light into chemical energy. Inspired by this process, our team of chemists at the Center for Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis, a research center funded by the National Science Foundation, has been working on a system that uses light to power reactions commonly used in the chemical manufacturing industry. We published our results in the journal Science in June 2025.

We hope that this method could provide a more economical route for creating industrial chemicals out of fossil fuels. At the same time, since it doesn鈥檛 rely on super-high temperatures or pressures, the process is safer, with fewer chances for accidents.

How does our system work?

The photoredox catalyst system that our team has developed is powered by simple LEDs, and it operates efficiently at room temperature.

At the core of our system is an organic photoredox catalyst: a specialized molecule that we know accelerates chemical reactions when exposed to light, without being consumed in the process.

Much like how plants rely on pigments to harvest sunlight for photosynthesis, our photoredox catalyst absorbs multiple particles of light, called photons, in a sequence.

These photons provide bursts of energy, which the catalyst stores and then uses to kick-start reactions. This 鈥渕ulti-photon鈥� harvesting builds up enough energy to force very stubborn molecules into undergoing reactions that would otherwise need highly reactive metals. Once the reaction is complete, the photocatalyst resets itself, ready to harvest more light and keep the process going without creating extra waste.

Designing molecules that can absorb multiple photons and react with stubborn molecules is tough. One big challenge is that after a molecule absorbs a photon, it only has a tiny window of time before that energy fades away or gets lost. Plus, making sure the molecule uses that energy the right way is not easy. The good news is we鈥檝e found that our catalyst can do this efficiently at room temperature.

Enabling greener chemical manufacturing

CSU chemistry researcher Amreen Bains performs a light-driven photoredox catalyzed reaction. (Photo: John Cline/Colorado State University Photography)

Our work points toward a future where chemicals are made using light instead of heat. For example, our catalyst can turn benzene 鈥� a simple component of crude oil 鈥� into a form called cyclohexadienes. This is a key step in making the building blocks for nylon. Improving this part of the process could reduce the carbon footprint of nylon production.

Imagine manufacturers using LED reactors or even sunlight to power the production of essential chemicals. LEDs still use electricity, but they need far less energy compared with the traditional heating methods used in chemical manufacturing. As we scale things up, we鈥檙e also figuring out ways to harness sunlight directly, making the entire process even more sustainable and energy-efficient.

Right now, we鈥檙e using our photoredox catalysts successfully in small lab experiments 鈥� producing just milligrams at a time. But to move into commercial manufacturing, we鈥檒l need to show that these catalysts can also work efficiently at a much larger scale, making kilograms or even tons of product. Testing them in these bigger reactions will ensure that they鈥檙e reliable and cost-effective enough for real-world chemical manufacturing.

Similarly, scaling up this process would require large-scale reactors that use light efficiently. Building those will first require designing new types of reactors that let light reach deeper inside. They鈥檒l need to be more transparent or built differently so the light can easily get to all parts of the reaction.

Our team plans to keep developing new light-driven techniques inspired by nature鈥檚 efficiency. Sunlight is a plentiful resource, and by finding better ways to tap into it, we hope to make it easier and cleaner to produce the chemicals and materials that modern life depends on.

Arindam Sau is a Ph.D. candidate in the 色戒成人直播 Department of Chemistry; Amreen Bains is a postdoctoral scholar in chemistry at Colorado State University; Anna Wolff is a PhD student in chemistry at Colorado State University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Light-powered reactions could make the chemical manufacturing industry more energy-efficient.

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色戒成人直播 scientist receives $1.25 million award for cancer research

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 17:12:44 +0000

色戒成人直播 scientist receives $1.25 million award for cancer research Rachel Sauer Wed, 06/18/2025 - 11:12

Edward Chuong is one of five researchers nationwide awarded funding to pursue 鈥榙aring, paradigm-shifting research鈥� on cancer immunotherapy treatment

Edward Chuong, a 色戒成人直播 assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and a BioFrontiers Institute scientist, has been awarded $1.25 million by the New York City-based Cancer Research Institute (CRI) to pursue his cancer immunotherapy research.

Chuong was one of five researchers nationwide who received the unrestricted funding over a five-year period, which CRI said is designed to allow researchers to pursue high-risk, high-reward projects that could redefine cancer treatment. The organization called the researchers 鈥渟cientific leaders poised to reshape cancer immunotherapy through daring, paradigm-shifting research.鈥�

Edward Chuong, a 色戒成人直播 assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and a BioFrontiers Institute scientist, recently was awarded $1.25 million by the Cancer Research Institute to pursue cancer immunotherapy research.

鈥淭hese are people who are hitting their stride scientifically and career-wise, and this is where you really want to put some jet fuel in the tank as they are getting established,鈥� said Dr. E. John Wherry, associate director of CRI鈥檚 Scientific Advisory Council.

Echoing Wherry鈥檚 sentiment, Dr. Alicia Zhou, CRI chief executive officer, added, 鈥淓ach of these researchers brings fearless curiosity and a willingness to challenge assumptions 鈥� the very qualities that drive breakthroughs. They aren鈥檛 just advancing cancer science; they are reinventing it.鈥�

Chuong said he was surprised and honored to receive CRI funding for his research.

鈥淎s someone from an evolutionary biology background, this award means my outsider ideas are being welcomed into the cancer research community. It鈥檚 a huge boost,鈥� he said.

Chuong鈥檚 research focuses on the role that ancient viral fragments in human DNA, called transposons, play in regulating immune cell signaling.

鈥淥ur lab started out exploring the evolution of transposons鈥攂its of DNA derived from genetic parasites鈥攁nd discovered they may function as hidden switches in our immune system,鈥� Chuong said. 鈥淲ith this support, we鈥檒l investigate how cancer cells hijack these switches to escape detection, and use that knowledge to develop new markers and therapies that make immunotherapy work better for more patients. I鈥檓 grateful to the Cancer Research Institute for supporting this unconventional perspective and I鈥檓 incredibly excited to see where it leads.鈥�

Each year, CRI awards funding for scientists to pursue their research through its grant-making program honoring its founding scientific and medical director, Lloyd J. Old. The organization said its Lloyd J. Old STAR program鈥�Scientists TAking Risks鈥攊s designed to provide long-term funding to mid-career scientists, giving them the freedom and flexibility to pursue research 鈥渁t the forefront of discovery and innovation in cancer immunotherapy.鈥�

CRI said its awards are given out based upon its 鈥渆xceptional track record of identifying and supporting people who have had a major impact in immunotherapy.鈥� The organization said its grants are not tied to a specific research project but rather support outstanding researchers based upon the quality and promise of researchers鈥� overall work.

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Edward Chuong is one of five researchers nationwide awarded funding to pursue 鈥榙aring, paradigm-shifting research鈥� on cancer immunotherapy treatment.

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Farm-diversification research wins top international prize

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 16:03:33 +0000

Farm-diversification research wins top international prize Rachel Sauer Tue, 06/17/2025 - 10:03

Clint Talbott

色戒成人直播鈥檚 Zia Mehrabi is one of three researchers named international champions of the Frontiers Planet Prize for research that finds environmental and social benefits of agricultural diversification

Widespread agricultural diversification could improve the health of the world鈥檚 environment and that of its people, a landmark study published last year found.

Zia Mehrabi, assistant professor of environmental studies at the 色戒成人直播, has been named one of three international champions in the Frontiers Planet Prize, the Frontiers Research Foundation announced today. Mehrabi and his team will receive $1 million in funding to advance their research.

The Frontiers Planet Prize celebrates breakthroughs in Earth system and planetary science that 鈥渁ddress these challenges and enable society to stay within the safe boundaries of the planet鈥檚 ecosystem.鈥� The prize puts scientific rigor and ingenuity at its heart, helping researchers worldwide accelerate society toward a green renaissance, the Frontiers Research Foundation says.

Zia Mehrabi, a 色戒成人直播 assistant professor of environmental studies, has been named the U.S. national champion for the Frontiers Planet Prize.

Professor Jean-Claude Burgelman, director of the Frontiers Planet Prize, said the planet faces immense threats that require bold, transformative solutions rooted in evidence and validated by science.

鈥淚nnovative yet scalable solutions are the only way for us to ensure healthy lives on a healthy planet,鈥� Burgelman said. 鈥淏y spotlighting the most groundbreaking research, we are helping scientists bring their work to the international stage and provide the scientific consensus needed to guide our actions and policies.鈥�

Mehrabi, who leads the Better Planet Laboratory, was recognized, alongside his co-authors, for an article published last year in the journal Science titled 鈥�Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture.鈥�

Laura Vang Rasmussen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and Ingo Grass of the University of Hohenheim in Germany were lead authors of the paper, which had 58 co-authors. Claire Kremen of the University of British Columbia was a senior author and co-principal investigator on the study.

The researchers found that diversifying crops and animals and improving habitat, soil and water conservation on individual farms can improve biodiversity while improving or, at a minimum, not coming at a cost to yields. Additionally, diversified farming can yield social benefits and improve food security鈥攕howing improved food access or a reduced number of hungry months, for example, particularly in smallholder systems.

The more diversification measures farms employed, the more benefits accrued, researchers observed. Essentially, the team found evidence to move toward agriculture that more closely reflects natural systems.

鈥淚f you look at how ecosystems operate, it鈥檚 not just plants growing alone. It鈥檚 not just animals or soil,鈥� Mehrabi said last year. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all of these things working together.鈥�

Using data from 2,655 farms across 11 countries and covering five continents, the researchers combined qualitative methods and statistical models to analyze 24 different datasets. Each dataset studied farm sites with varying levels of diversification, including farms without any diversification practices. This allowed the team to assess the effects of applying more diversification strategies.

Diversified farming differs from the dominant model of agriculture: growing single crops or one animal on large tracts of land. That efficient, 鈥渕onoculture鈥� style of farming is a hallmark of agriculture after the Green Revolution, which reduced global famine by focusing on high-yield crops that rely on fertilizers and pesticides.

鈥淭he Green Revolution did many, many great things, but it came with a lot of costs,鈥� Mehrabi says, noting that synthetic fertilizers and pesticides harm the environment.

Also, to increase labor productivity, large farms rely on mechanization, which tends to 鈥渞eplace people with machines.鈥�

鈥淪o, the idea of trying to engineer nature into our agricultural systems is somewhat antithetical to the whole way we think about agricultural development,鈥� Mehrabi says.

Making a case for a different way of doing agriculture is one thing. Implementing it on a widespread basis is something else. The dominant view, fostered by 鈥渂ig ag鈥� (short for agriculture), is that 鈥渋f you want to do ag, you鈥檝e got to do it this way,鈥� Mehrabi says.

鈥淚f you look at how ecosystems operate, it鈥檚 not just plants growing alone. It鈥檚 not just animals or soil. It鈥檚 all of these things working together,鈥� says Zia Mehrabi.

鈥淥ur work challenges that idea, but it鈥檚 a bit of a David-and-Goliath situation,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲e have the stone, but it hasn鈥檛 yet landed.鈥�

But it鈥檚 necessary to confront Goliath, Mehrabi contends, noting that agriculture affects all the things people care about environmentally, including climate change, water security, biodiversity, pollution, land use and habitat destruction.

A third of the Earth鈥檚 land is used for agriculture, and about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions stem from agriculture, he notes. Climate change has reduced agricultural yields by as much as 5% to 10% in the last four decades, research has shown.

鈥淚f we want to do something about environmental issues, agriculture is one of the big buckets that we need to really, really start in.鈥�

Separate from the research published in Science, Mehrabi has done modeling of the future state of agriculture globallyif the world continues business-as-usual farming. He found that in the next century, the number of farms is likely to be cut in half and the average size of farms would likely double.

Given that, along with what scientists know about the loss of natural ecosystems as farm sizes increase, 鈥渢he future looks a little bit bleak,鈥� Mehrabi says. But this new research shows it could be different.

Though he does not suggest that all farms must be small farms, he does advise that agriculture strive to diversify systems that have been 鈥渕assively depleted and massively simplified.鈥�

About the Frontiers Planet Prize, Mehrabi says he and his team are gratified to be recognized as one of three international champions. Additionally, he underscores the importance of the Frontiers Research Foundation鈥檚 financial commitment to this kind of research, calling it a 鈥渟ignal鈥� to other funding entities that might follow suit.

鈥淲e need to really think about innovation in agriculture,鈥� Mehrabi said. 鈥淲e all need food to eat. We really need to innovate, and we should put money behind that. It鈥檚 worth it.鈥�

Launched by the Frontiers Research Foundation on Earth Day 2022, the prize encourages universities worldwide to nominate their top three scientists working on understanding and putting forward pathways to stay within the safe operating space of nine planetary boundaries that are outlined by the Stockholm Resilience Center.

These nominations are then vetted at the national level, and the top scientists face an independent jury of 100鈥攁 group of renowned sustainability and planetary health experts chaired by Professor Johan Rockstr枚m鈥攚ho vote for the National and International Champions.

Read a guest opinion by Zia Mehrabi and co-authors at this link. See a Q&A with Mehrabi about adding carbon-footprint labels on food at this link.

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