Daily Lobo new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
thursday November 13, 2014 | Vo l u m e 1 1 9 | Is s u e 6 2
STRIVE team strides onto ASUNM floor By David Lynch Ten senate spots for the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico were up for grabs, and one team had almost all of its candidates elected. Of the nine members of the STRIVE team, eight were elected
to serve as ASUNM senators after 682 Lobos voted Wednesday. One STRIVE member who made the cut was Bryce Matanis, a sophomore political science major. “It shows that the team as a whole actually put forth the effort to get elected,” Matanis said. “The fact that we got eight out of nine is
incredibly, incredibly awesome.” Matanis is among the eight who will serve as senators for the first time, joining Jorge Guerrero, Bisaan Hanouneh, Brianna Mulligan, Caleb Heinz, Ashley Hawney, Bianca Cowboy and Udell Chavez, according to the ASUNM Elections Commission.
Three current senators were up for reelection. Two of them, Mack Follingstad and Frances Attiogbe, will remain senators. The candidates elected into ASUNM on Wednesday will serve one full year, beginning in the spring. They will be introduced at ASUNM’s final meeting of the fall
semester on Nov. 19. STRIVE team member Guerrero, a sophomore mechanical engineering and Spanish major, received 389 — almost 60 percent — of student votes, according to the Elections Commission. Guerrero said he was happy that
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Lab studies the body’s tactics against cancer Cells near tumors may produce remedies without side effects
By Lauren Topper In the face of cancer, the human body is often portrayed as helpless, requiring the aid of countless hours of chemotherapy and, most likely, surgery to defeat it. However, a combination of longstanding evidence and new advances in the field is painting a potentially different story — one suggesting that a lot of what you think you know about cancer is wrong. UNM Assistant Professor Dr. Kristina Trujillo and her lab have reported discovering that in many cases of breast cancer, the cells surrounding the tumors perform potent anti-cancer activities that hint at a potential new treatment method. These cells — specifically ones about 5 centimeters from the tumor — secrete tiny sacks, known as exosomes, which, when administered to cancer cells, causes them to die. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in eight women in the United States, or 12 percent, will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at some point in their lives, making it one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in women, second only to lung cancer. However, longstanding evidence suggests that the true incidence of breast cancer may actually be much higher. A recent review article published in Nature Medicine cites evidence for this argument from
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Diana Cervantes / Daily Lobo / @dee_sea_
Nick Gannon, a biochemistry major, cultures cells in the Biomedical Research Facility on Tuesday afternoon. Gannon, among other researchers, is looking into anti-cancer agents produced naturally by the body.
GPSA funds for graduate research increase By David Lynch
The Graduate and Professional Student Association at UNM has awarded its funding grants for the fall semester, and the sum is higher than it has ever been. According to GPSA Grants Committee’s Fall Summary, $131,632 in funds was awarded this semester — more than GPSA has ever given out. For comparison, $23,140 was awarded over the summer. This fall 245 students applied for the grants, and as of Tuesday 129 have received funding, whereas only 50 students received grants last fall. Awardees were notified on Nov. 3, according to the GPSA’s website. GPSA President Texanna Martin said the number of awards handed out can be accredited to a wealth of campus resources.
“I think this speaks to the outreach that GPSA has on campus, and graduate students being aware of the support that we have available,” Martin said. “We hope that the level of support continues to grow, as there are always more incredible projects underway that could use the support of the community.” The grant money will fund trips and research projects, ranging from attending career development conferences to researching sex differences in chimpanzees in Uganda, said Grants Committee Co-Chair James Foty, a graduate student in community and regional planning. “Our goal is to help fund research, as well as professional and career development,” Foty said. “This money is for people going to awesome conferences and doing amazing research.” The large increase in awarded
grants is a matter of two major factors. First, the Grants Committee was allocated more money from the Student Fee Review Board, a studentrun board that distributes money from student fees, Foty said. The record amount of funding is also largely due to the Grants Committee’s efforts to make the application process as accessible as possible, said Steven Maness, Grants Committee Co-Chair and a graduate student in Latin American studies. “What we are proud of is that the system is set up so that it remains objective,” Maness said. “We want everyone to have equal access, to be on an even playing field.” A variety of things were done to accomplish that goal, according to Maness. One approach was being flexible on times and locations for workshops, where tips are given to
hopeful students on criteria of the application process. In addition, attention was placed on those who scored the applications, called “readers.” The applications were anonymous to them, and Maness said that they strove for diversification of department representation amongst the readers. They also paid close attention to abnormal fluctuations in scoring. “If there was a 20- to 25-percent point spread between the readers, the application gets sent back and (evaluated) again,” Maness said. Maness said that the benefits extend beyond the individuals who receive grant funding. He said there simply aren’t enough instructors at UNM to facilitate some of the goals that graduate students have. “What is nice about these grants is that they serve to fill an educa-
tional gap,” Maness said. “Students are able to go (to conferences or in the field), bring back what they learned, and disseminate that information to other students.” According to the document, the 245 graduate students who applied from Sept. 5 to Oct. 3 did so for one of three primary grant classes: the Student Research Grant, the Professional Development Grant, and the New Mexico Research Grant, according to the Grants Committee. In addition, a need-based Graduate Scholarship Fund was also available. The components of the application included a narrative proposal, a letter from the advisor legitimizing the application and a budget for the activity the funds would help the student accomplish.
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