The Gazette by The Johns Hopkins University

o ur 4 1 ST ye ar

H ERE T H EY C O ME

OFF T H EY GO

Covering Homewood, East Baltimore, Peabody,

A first look at the students

A memorable Commencement

SAIS, APL and other campuses throughout the

who might be arriving this fall

Day depends on the help of

Baltimore-Washington area and abroad, since 1971.

at Homewood, page 3

hundreds of volunteers, page 3

April 2, 2012

The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University

Volume 41 No. 28

F I N A N C E S

A D M I N I S T R A T I O N

Undergrad tuitions set for 2012–13

New dean introduced at SAIS

By Dennis O’Shea

University Administration

Continued on page 3

KAVEH SARDARI

uition for full-time liberal arts and engineering undergraduates at Johns Hopkins will increase 3.9 percent this fall, the fourth consecutive increase below 4 percent. The increase, amounting to $1,650, Financial will bring 2012–13 tuition to $43,930 for aid is the more than 5,000 full-time undergraduexpected ates in the univerto grow to sity’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and Whiting School $71.6 mill of Engineering. The four straight increases under 4 percent for those two schools—3.9 percent since 2010–2011 and 3.8 percent for the previous year—are the four smallest in percentage terms in 38 years, since the 1974–75 academic year. While restraining its tuition increases, the university has consistently been building its financial aid budget, allowing students with modest financial resources to pay considerably less than the so-called “sticker price.” University aid to undergraduates in the Krieger and Whiting schools is expected to grow by another 5.9 percent, to $71.6 million, after two straight years of double-digit growth. The average grant from the university for freshmen entering this fall on financial aid—projected to be about 42 percent of the class—is expected to be about $35,000, up from $32,726 this academic year. When that number is subtracted from a total tuition, room and board charge of $60,670, the average total cost of attendance for freshmen on financial aid will be $25,670. That is more than $2,000 less than the cost three years earlier. Room charges for the upcoming year for Krieger and Whiting students will increase 3.5 percent, from $7,408 to $7,668 for a typical residence hall double. The “anytime dining” board plan will escalate 3 percent, from $5,554 to

Vali Nasr, seated here between SAIS Dean Jessica P. Einhorn and Provost Lloyd B. Minor, was introduced on Thursday to the SAIS community in Washington, D.C., by university President Ronald J. Daniels.

Middle East, Islamic scholar Vali Nasr will assume post on July 1 By Dennis O’Shea

University Administration

ali Nasr leads something of a double life. Triple, actually. There is Nasr the academic, a highly regarded teacher and scholar on Iran, the Middle East and the Islamic world. He has written eight books and played a leadership role on the school and university levels. And there is Nasr the counselor, con-

sulted on foreign policy by Democratic and Republican administrations and by Congress, candidates, the military and federal agencies. And then there is Nasr the public intellectual, who tweets to more than 12,000 followers and contributes Continued on page 5

R E S E A R C H

JHU first in R&D expenditures for 32nd year By Lisa De Nike

Homewood

he Johns Hopkins University performed $2 billion in medical, science and engineering research in fiscal 2010, making it the leading U.S. academic institution in total research and development spending for the 32nd year in a row, according to a new National Science Foundation ranking.

In Brief

House hunting in Baltimore; student-art sale; cardiology study; Evergreen artist in residence

The university also once again ranked first on the NSF’s separate list of federally funded research and development, spending $1.73 billion in FY2010 on research supported by NSF, NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. In FY2002, Johns Hopkins became the first university to reach the $1 billion mark on either list, recording $1.14 billion in total research and $1.023 billion in federally sponsored research that year.

The University of Michigan ranked second in R&D spending in FY2010, at $1.18 billion, as well as third in federally financed R&D, at $747 million. At Johns Hopkins, research and development money is underwriting the cost of investigations into everything from the microscopic world of stem cells and strategies to reduce deaths from malaria worldwide to how a mysterious force called “dark energy” Continued on page 4

10 Job Opportunities Global Health Week; Valerie Plame; JHU 10 Notices Film Festival; 25 years of Hopkins-Nanjing 11 Classifieds C A L E N D AR

2 2, 15, 2012 2 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• April August 2011 I N B R I E F

Take a tour, visit houses ... Live Near Your Work

ouse hunting? The Office of Work, Life and Engagement has several upcoming events aimed at helping employees purchase a home close to a Johns Hopkins campus in Baltimore. To get a better sense of the Live Near Your Work program areas, a bus tour will be held on Saturday, April 14. Participants will tour homes and learn about the various neighborhoods from program officials and community association representatives. Those on the tour will also have the opportunity to learn how to qualify for up to $17,000 in grants toward a down payment or closing costs through the university’s LNYW program, and find out about other home-buying incentives available through the Healthy Neighborhoods organization. The first bus will leave from the Johns Hopkins at Eastern upper parking lot at 9 a.m. and the second at 10 a.m. Each tour will last three and a half hours. Later this spring, the Live Near Your Work program will host walking tours of selected neighborhoods and for-sale homes. The first will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 3, in Highlandtown, near Patterson Park. Future tours will take place from June to October. Those who attend the bus tour or upcoming walking tour event can receive an additional $1,000 toward the down payment/ closing costs of a home in the A, B or C target areas. The buyer must settle on or before June 30, 2013. For more information, go to web.jhu.edu/ lnyw.

First Friday Artists Market debuts on Homewood campus

he Levering Hall patio will explode with hues and creativity this Friday as a new monthly student-run event kicks off on the Homewood campus. The First Friday Artists Market provides a venue for student artists to sell their paintings, photography, pottery, sculptures, calligraphy and any other original pieces. The event, sponsored by the Student Government Association, will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 6. In the event of rain, the market will move to Levering’s Great Hall and be held from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Each artist can submit one piece of art to be judged by fellow students for a competition. The first prize is a $100 gift certificate to a local art store. Second place will receive $50 and third place, $25. The market was the brainchild of Alex Dash, a sophomore majoring in international studies. Dash, himself a writer and photographer, wanted to create a venue where students can show off their artistic

Editor Lois Perschetz Writer Greg Rienzi P r od u c t i o n Lynna Bright C op y E d i t o r Ann Stiller Photography Homewood Photography A d v e rt i s i n g The Gazelle Group Business Dianne MacLeod C i r c u l at i o n Lynette Floyd Webmaster Lauren Custer

talents to the rest of the university community. Students who want to sell their work need to pay a $10 registration fee. To register, go to www.facebook.com/FirstFridayArtists MarketJHU. For questions, contact Dash at adash2010@gmail.com.

Evergreen Museum presents Tai Hwa Goh exhibition

ai Hwa Goh, the 10th artist in residence at the university’s Evergreen Museum & Library, has created a three-dimensional, site-specific installation, Lullaby in Evergreen, that’s now on view as part of guided museum tours. “Evergreen’s House Guests artist-in-residence program was created to continue Alice Warder Garrett’s legacy of supporting artists during the first half of the 20th century,” says James Archer Abbott, director and curator of Evergreen, referring to the house’s former owner. “The resulting exhibitions offer visitors new ways to see and understand the historic property through the work of contemporary artists.” Using aquatint and silkscreen printing techniques on a thin paper called Soon-ji, Korean-born Goh has mounted enlarged, cut and reworked hand-waxed prints on architectural elements of Evergreen’s grand entry foyer and staircase, built around 1895. The exhibition’s title is a reference to how the staircase marked the physical progression from ground-floor public spaces to private sleeping quarters upstairs during the Garrett family’s residency. Flowing in rippling waves from the second floor landing balustrade and puddling down to the first floor, the form of the layered installation is suggestive of a waterfall, undulating as visitors walk past. Lullaby in Evergreen is on view through May 27. For museum hours, go to museums .jhu.edu.

Cardiologists’ study named a breakthrough of 2011

avid Kass, a professor of cardiology in the School of Medicine, and his lab have been recognized in the annual Signaling Breakthroughs of 2011, published by the journal Science Signaling, for their groundbreaking 2011 study published in Science Translational Medicine. The Johns Hopkins researchers’ study revealed how a pacemaker therapy for heart failure, known as cardiac resynchronization therapy, works at the biological level, opening the door to drugs or genetic therapies that could mimic the effect of the pacemaker. Their work was recognized as among the most exciting cell signaling research projects to emerge last year.

Contributing Writers Applied Physics Laboratory Michael Buckley, Paulette Campbell Bloomberg School of Public Health Tim Parsons, Natalie Wood-Wright Carey Business School Andrew Blumberg, Patrick Ercolano Homewood Lisa De Nike, Amy Lunday, Dennis O’Shea, Tracey A. Reeves, Phil Sneiderman Johns Hopkins Medicine Christen Brownlee, Stephanie Desmon, Neil A. Grauer, Audrey Huang, John Lazarou, David March, Vanessa McMains, Ekaterina Pesheva, Vanessa Wasta, Maryalice Yakutchik Peabody Institute Richard Selden SAIS Felisa Neuringer Klubes School of Education James Campbell, Theresa Norton School of Nursing Kelly Brooks-Staub University Libraries and Museums Brian Shields, Heather Egan Stalfort

The Gazette is published weekly September through May and biweekly June through August for the Johns Hopkins University community by the Office of Communications, Suite 540, 901 S. Bond St., Baltimore, MD 21231, in cooperation with all university divisions. Subscriptions are $26 per year. Deadline for calendar items, notices and classifieds (free to JHU faculty, staff and students) is noon Monday, one week prior to publication date. Phone: 443-287-9900 Fax: 443-287-9920 General e-mail: gazette@jhu.edu Classifieds e-mail: gazads@jhu.edu On the Web: gazette.jhu.edu Paid advertising, which does not represent any endorsement by the university, is handled by the Gazelle Group at 443275-2687 or gazellegrp@comcast.net.

April 2, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

Scientists reprogram cancer cells with low doses of epigenetic drugs B y V a n e s s a W a s ta

Johns Hopkins Medicine

xperimenting with cells in culture, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have breathed possible new life into two drugs once considered too toxic for human cancer treatment. The drugs, azacitidine (AZA) and decitabine (DAC), are epigenetic-targeted drugs and work to correct cancer-causing alterations that modify DNA. The researchers said that the drugs also were found to take aim at a small but dangerous subpopulation of self-renewing cells, sometimes referred to as cancer stem cells, which evade most cancer drugs and cause recurrence and spread. In a report published in the March 20 issue of Cancer Cell, the Johns Hopkins team said its study provides evidence that low doses of the drugs tested on cell cultures cause anti-tumor responses in breast, lung and colon cancers. Conventional chemotherapy agents work by indiscriminately poisoning and killing rapidly dividing cells, including cancer cells, by damaging cellular machinery and DNA. “In contrast, low doses of AZA and DAC may reactivate genes that stop cancer growth without causing immediate cell-killing or DNA damage,” said Stephen Baylin, the Ludwig Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. According to the researchers, many cancer experts had abandoned AZA and DAC for the treatment of common cancers because

they are toxic to normal cells at standard high doses, and there was little research showing how they might work for cancer in general. Baylin and his colleague Cynthia Zahnow decided to take another look at the drugs after low doses of them showed a benefit in patients with a pre-leukemic disorder called myelodysplastic syndrome. Johns Hopkins investigators also showed the benefit of low doses of the drugs in tests with a small number of advanced lung cancer patients. “This is contrary to the way we usually do things in cancer research,” Baylin said. “Typically, we start in the laboratory and progress to clinical trials; in this case, we saw results in clinical trials that made us go back to the laboratory to figure out how to move the therapy forward.” For the research, Baylin and Zahnow’s team worked with leukemia, breast and other cancer cell lines, and human tumor samples, using the lowest possible doses effective against the cancers. In all, the investigators studied six leukemia cell lines, seven leukemia patient samples, three breast cancer cell lines, seven breast tumor samples (including four samples of tumors that had spread to the lung), one lung cancer tumor sample and one colon cancer tumor sample. The team treated cell lines and tumor cells with lowdose AZA and DAC in culture for three days and allowed the drug-treated cells to rest for a week. Treated cells and tumor samples were then transplanted into mice, where the researchers observed continued anti-tumor responses for up to 20 weeks. This extended response was in line with observations in some myelodysplastic syndrome patients who continued to have anti-cancer effects long after stopping the drug.

Commencement: Off they go, with hundreds of helping hands By Greg Rienzi

The Gazette

ohn Birney, a senior associate director in the Admissions Office at Homewood, has a unique front-row seat to the start and end of many a Johns Hopkins student’s career. In his role in Admissions, Birney talks to constituent groups (guidance counselors, faculty, staff and others) and oversees the university’s largest recruitment territory, New York and Connecticut. For the past six years, Birney has volunteered to work on Commencement Day. He first drove golf carts to shuttle guests from point to point on the Homewood campus, but for the past three years he’s been the lead person for one of the parking facilities. “I’m the guy standing in the middle of the street pointing the cars where they need to go,” Birney says. “I love it. I’m the first point of contact and have a lot of interaction with the parents and family members. For one, they want to know which way are the shuttles to take them to campus.” Each Commencement Day, hundreds of volunteers like Birney are needed to make the event hum along, according to Jill Williams, who is associate director of Special Events at Johns Hopkins and is responsible for the Commencement ceremony, held each May on the Homewood campus. “It takes approximately 200 Johns Hopkins volunteers to pull off such a tremendous and enormous event as Commencement,” Williams says of the event. “The volunteers each year do a great job of keeping people happy and things running smoothly.” The volunteer roles include greeters, ushers, campus guides, golf cart drivers, parking attendants, luncheon reception staff and greeters at the remote-webcast sites (Shriver, Hodson and Bloomberg halls). There’s even an “anything” category, which is as the name implies. “We can accommodate pretty much everyone,” Williams says. “Some can’t be out in

the sun, some can’t stand too long, and some just love to drive the golf carts around.” The volunteers work in tandem with Campus Security, Plant Operations and the Special Events Office. Volunteers typically arrive at 6:30 a.m. and leave at 2:30 p.m. To make sure that visitors can spot them, they even get a uniform, which this year will again be a white polo shirt and a blue cap. Williams says that the campus guides, or “human arrows,” as she calls them, set the tone for the day. Each is assigned to a zone and can point visitors to wherever they need to go, whether it’s to Homewood Field, restrooms or a nearby restaurant. “The feedback we have gotten from parents is so positive,” Williams says. “Whenever they had a question, there was someone nearby who helped them. We have the entire campus covered.” Birney says that volunteering is a rewarding experience. “I really like Commencement. It’s the most celebrated day,” he says. “In my job, I get to see the students coming in, so it’s so nice to watch them leave as graduates and complete their journey.” Longtime employee Henrietta “Hank” Potter says she volunteers as a greeter to get back in touch with the students and the Homewood campus. Potter, who has been at Johns Hopkins for 30 years, currently serves as an administrative supervisor for IT@JH on the Mount Washington campus. “For me, it’s just a fun day to see the students and meet parents who are here to watch their children graduate from college. It’s an emotional day,” Potter says. “You meet so many people in a few hours. I can’t wait to do it again.” The Office of Special Events is currently recruiting employees to participate in Commencement Day activities. To volunteer, go to web.jhu.edu/commencement/volunteerform .html or email commencement@jhu.edu. For more information on the 2012 JHU Commencement, go to www.jhu.edu/commencement.

The low-dose therapy reversed cancer cell gene pathways, including those controlling cell cycle, cell repair, cell maturation, cell differentiation, immune cell interaction and cell death. Effects varied among individual tumor cells, but the scientists generally saw that cancer cells reverted to a more normal state and eventually died. These results were caused, in part, by alteration of the epigenetic, or chemical, environment of DNA. Epigenetic activities turn on certain genes and block others, says Zahnow, an assistant professor of oncology and the Evelyn Grolman Glick Scholar at Johns Hopkins. The research team also tested AZA’s and DAC’s effect on a type of metastatic breast cancer cell thought to drive cancer growth and resist standard therapies. Metastatic cells are difficult to study in standard laboratory tumor models because they tend to break away from the original tumor and float around in blood and lymph fluids. The Johns Hopkins team re-created the metastatic stem cells’ environment, allowing them to grow as floating spheres. “These cells were growing well as spheres in suspension, but when we treated the cells with AZA, both the size and number of spheres were dramatically reduced,” Zahnow said. The precise mechanism of how the drugs work is the focus of ongoing studies by Baylin and his team. “Our findings match evidence from recent clinical trials suggesting that the drugs shrink tumors more slowly over time as they repair altered mechanisms in cells, and genes return to normal function and the cells may eventually die,” Baylin said. The results of clinical trials in lung cancer, led by Johns Hopkins’ Charles Rudin and published late last year in Cancer Discovery, also indicate that the drugs make tumors more responsive to standard anti-cancer drug treatment. This means, the researchers say, that the drugs could become part of a combined treatment approach rather than a

stand-alone therapy, and as part of personalized approaches in patients whose cancers fit specific epigenetic and genetic profiles. Low doses of both drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Clinical trials in breast and lung cancer have begun in patients with advanced disease, and trials in colon cancer are planned. In addition to Baylin and Zahnow, Johns Hopkins investigators participating in this study are Hsing-Chen Tsai, Huili Li, Yi Cai, James J. Shin, Kirsten M. Harbom, Robert Beaty, Emmanouil Pappou, James Harris, Ray-Whay Chiu Yen, Nita Ahuja, Malcolm V. Brock, Vered Stearns, David Feller-Kopman, Lonny B. Yarmus, Il Minn, William Matsui, Yoon-Young Jang and Saul J. Sharkis. The research was funded by a SPORE grant for lung cancer from the National Institutes of Health, Hodson Trust Foundation, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Lee Jeans, Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, Huntsman Cancer Foundation and Cindy Rosencrans Fund for Triple Negative Breast Cancer Research. All the studies have been accelerated by funding from the Stand Up to Cancer project in partnership with the American Association of Cancer Research.

Related websites Clinical trial results of the epigenetics therapy published in ‘Cancer Discovery’:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/ media/releases/combination_ epigenetic_therapy_clinical_trial_ results

H O M E W O O D

Applications hit a record high, admissions a record low B y A m y L u n d ay

Homewood

or the 10th year in a row, a recordbreaking number of people—20,496— applied for undergraduate admission to the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University, a 5 percent increase over last year. At the same time, the university’s admissions rate fell to a record low: Only 17.7 percent of those applying for entry in fall 2012 were admitted. (The previous low was 18.3 percent for entry in fall 2011.) Acceptance emails and envelopes went out to 3,071 high school seniors on March 29. Along with the 557 early-decision admits from the fall, this makes for an admitted class of 3,628. The university is seeking to fill a freshman class totaling 1,275. Of those admitted to the class of 2016, 49.6 percent are women, the closest to an even split between men and women the university has ever had. This is also the

Tuition Continued from page 1 $5,722. The “sticker price” total cost of attendance, $60,670, is a 3.5 percent increase. A 3.9 percent tuition increase will apply to the more than 300 undergraduate musicians studying full time at the university’s Peabody Conservatory. Their 2012–13 tuition will be $38,450, up $1,450 from the current $37,000.

most diverse class in the university’s history: Twenty-four percent (870 students) are underrepresented minorities, including students who are African-American, Hispanic and Native American. The typical admit scored a combined 1447 on the two-part SAT. All 50 states are represented in the admitted class, with the students residing in 65 nations around the world, including 83 students from 18 European countries, 123 from 11 East Asian countries, 34 from Canada, 18 from South Asia, 20 from South America and 12 from Central America and the Caribbean. Thirty-eight percent of admitted students have been offered need-based grant funding, up from 37 percent last year, reflecting the university’s ongoing commitment to make a Johns Hopkins education accessible to students from all financial backgrounds. Students from the United States were evaluated without regard to their ability to pay tuition. Student responses need to be postmarked by May 1.

The School of Nursing, with about 400 full-time undergrads, will increase undergraduate tuition by 2.5 percent. Students in the two-year traditional track will be charged $35,040 for the year, an increase of $864. Tuition for the 13-month accelerated track will be $65,700 for the entire program, an increase of $1,620. Tuition increases for next year in other Johns Hopkins programs vary widely, ranging from no increase to up to 10 percent. For a complete listing of undergraduate and graduate tuition rates, go to tinyurl.com/ JHUtuition. G

4 2, 15, 2012 4 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• April August 2011

Obese white women less likely to seek colon cancer screening Embarrassment and social stigma may discourage use of lifesaving tests By Stephanie Desmon

Johns Hopkins Medicine

new study by Johns Hopkins researchers shows that obese white women may be less likely than normal-weight counterparts and African-Americans of any weight or gender to seek potentially lifesaving colon cancer screening tests. Results of this study follow the same Johns Hopkins group’s previous research suggesting that obese white women also are less likely to arrange for mammograms, which screen for breast cancer, and Pap smears, which search for early signs of cervical cancer. “No group is perfect when it comes to screening, and overall rates of colonoscopy

R&D Continued from page 1 is fueling the expanding universe’s acceleration. Johns Hopkins research is also supported by funding from private sources and from return on investment from past discoveries. In fiscal 2010, Johns Hopkins earned $13.1 million from more than 600 licenses and their associated patents. “Johns Hopkins is proud of the work our investigators do every day. Through their research, Johns Hopkins is leading the way in uncovering the new knowledge and breakthroughs that transform our lives,” said Lloyd

are low, but if you’re obese, female and white, our data show you’re probably even less likely to be screened,” said study leader Nisa M. Maruthur, an assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Maruthur notes that the reluctance to be screened is especially serious in this group because obesity is linked to higher risk for colon cancer and an increased risk of death from the disease. “Being concerned about your weight usually is good, but here it appears to be keeping people from a test we know saves lives,” she said. “Obese white women may avoid screening because they feel stigmatized and embarrassed to disrobe for the tests.” Despite evidence for the value of colonoscopy—a procedure that sends a flexible tube with a camera into the bowel to search for and guide removal of precancerous polyps and other tumors—only 20 percent of women and 24 percent of men over the age of 50 undergo the test, which is recomB. Minor, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins has led the NSF’s research expenditure ranking each year since 1979, when the agency’s methodology changed to include spending by the university’s Applied Physics Laboratory in its totals. Behind the University of Michigan on the FY2010 total research expenditure list is the University of Wisconsin, Madison, at $1.029 billion, followed by the University of Washington, at $1.023 billion. Completing the top five, with $987 million, is Duke University. The total funding ranking includes research support from not only federal agencies but also foundations, corporations and other sources. G The NSF information is available online at www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf12313.

mended by the United States Preventative Services Task Force for everyone between the ages of 50 and 75 on a periodic basis. Another suggested test, fecal occult blood testing, which searches the stool for hidden blood that can be another sign of colon cancer, is also underused, with just 12 percent of American men and women using it. Preventive care researchers have long tried to better understand barriers to colon cancer screening. Preparatory laxatives, anesthesia, fear of discomfort and embarrassment are known to discourage many people. In the new study, described in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, the Johns Hopkins researchers added evidence that for white women, obesity appears to have a negative impact on screening rates. There was a hint in the data that the same may be true for obese white men, but Maruthur says that research is needed to verify the suggestion. Negative body image among obese white people may explain this association, which seems to be fostered particularly in white women, where the pressure to be thin appears to be more intense, Maruthur says. For example, in an unrelated study that she cited, white and African-American women rated magazine images of “thin, averageweight and large” African-American and white women; white women rated large white women lower in interpersonal and career domains, while African-American women did not stigmatize large AfricanAmerican women in this way. Maruthur says that if further studies confirm the negative relationship between obesity and screening in white women, outreach and education programs can be shaped to overcome it. Another barrier to screening among obese people, Maruthur says, may be their tendency to have higher rates of pressing health concerns, leading physicians to delay or put off discussions of preventive

screening. However, the rates of those medical conditions are not likely higher for obese whites. In the new study, Maruthur and her colleagues reviewed the medical literature and delved into data from 23 published studies that included information on body mass index and colon cancer screening rates. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal weight, between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight, and 30 or greater is considered obese. While overall the researchers found no link between higher BMI and lower rates of colon cancer screening, they did find the association in a subgroup of white women with a BMI between 30 and 34.9. Those women were 13 percent less likely to be screened when compared with normalweight counterparts. Women who were the most obese—with a BMI of 40 or higher— were 27 percent less likely to be screened. Researchers involved in this study are supported by grants from the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health; the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Scholars Program; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; and the Health Resources and Service Administration. Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved with the study are Kimberly Gudzune, Frederick L. Brancati and Jeanne M. Clark.

Related website Nisa Maruthur:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/gim/ clinical/gss/maruthur.html

April 2, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

Report: Brain cancer blood vessels not substantially tumor-derived Study refutes claims that question use of vesseltargeting anti-cancer drugs B y V a n e s s a W a s ta

Johns Hopkins Medicine

ohns Hopkins scientists have published laboratory data refuting studies that suggest blood vessels that form within brain cancers are largely made up of cancer cells. The theory of cancer-based blood vessels calls into question the use and value of anticancer drugs that target these blood vessels, including bevacizumab (Avastin). “We don’t question whether brain cancer cells have the potential to express blood vessel markers and may occasionally find their way into blood vessels, but we do question the extent to which this happens,” said Charles Eberhart, chief of Neuropathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “In general, we find no evidence in our study that these vessels contain substantial amounts of cancer cells.” Eberhart, a professor of pathology, ophthalmology and oncology, said that he first encountered claims about the cancerous nature of tumor blood vessels about a year ago, when he was invited to join students at a journal club meeting, a forum for discussing studies published in medical journals. “My first reaction to this research was, ‘How

SAIS Continued from page 1 to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs. He has appeared on CNN, NBC, NPR and PBS. He has been on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. Nasr, named last week as the eighth dean of the university’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, calls SAIS a triple threat, too. “The main challenge is to be able to bring knowledge of academic research to practitioners and the American public,” he says, “to enrich the discussion of energy policy, the Middle East, China and the global economy. To make available to those who make critical decisions the knowledge they need to make those decisions. “Some of this,” he adds, “we do in the classroom and some through reaching out to policymakers and the broader public. SAIS—given its location, history, mission and faculty—is very well-positioned to perform just this kind of service.” Nasr, 51, will join SAIS on July 1, succeeding Jessica P. Einhorn, who is retiring after a decade in the post. He has been a professor of international politics at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy since 2007 and is a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. He sits on the State Department’s Foreign Policy Advisory Board. For two years, while on a partial leave from Tufts, he was special adviser to the president’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. SAIS, too, has that sort of “foot-in-bothworlds” stance, and that’s part of what makes a SAIS education so valuable to students, at both the master’s and doctoral levels, he says. The school was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1943 to prepare students for major responsibility in the postwar world. It became a part of Johns Hopkins in 1950 and now has nearly 1,000 students in Washington and at campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. “SAIS is unique in that its academic mission straddles the boundaries of intellectual discourse and the professional world,” Nasr says. “It’s the bridge that connects knowledge at a theoretical level in economics, foreign policy and regional studies to the

could this be true?’” Eberhart said. “Our clinical experience examining tissue from brain cancers does not support it.” Studies have long demonstrated that malignant brain tumors contain large numbers of blood vessels to feed their growing demand for nutrients. The blood vessels are formed when tumors pump out growth factors that increase vessel production. Such studies opened the door to treatment strategies that specifically targeted blood-vessel growth and the vessel cells themselves. More recently, scientists in Italy and at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York published results of studies suggesting that these tumor blood vessels are made by primitive types of brain cancer cells that are a form of stem cells. In their studies, they found tumor markers on blood vessel cells in 20 to 90 percent of their brain cancer samples. The research teams said that their findings also suggested that the cancerlike blood vessels were more prone to drug resistance, potentially explaining why drugs such as bevacizumab yield tumor-shrinking responses, but only for short periods. Bevacizumab is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in patients with colorectal, lung, kidney and brain cancers. Eberhart said that pathologists, including those who work on brain tissue, use certain tissue-based techniques to distinguish cancer cells from normal ones. When evaluating specimens of brain tissue removed during surgery for suspected cancer, he said, most pathologists agree that blood vessel cells

in these specimens consistently lack the molecular changes associated with cancer cells. In fact, he said, the pathologists often use these blood vessel cells as “normal controls” to compare with potentially cancerous ones. After the journal club experience, Eberhart teamed up with fellow Johns Hopkins neuropathologist Fausto Rodriguez and colleagues at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston to look more closely at the molecular features of blood vessel cells in brain cancer samples. They tested more than 100 samples from patients at Johns Hopkins and Dana-Farber for EGFR and IDH1 markers, two common genes altered in brain cancer. “We also used a marker called CD34 to differentiate vascular [blood vessel] cells from other types of cells,” said Rodriguez, an assistant professor of pathology. The researchers found no more than 10 percent of their samples contained vascular cells with EGFR or IDH1 cancer markers, and in those rare tumor samples, only a few cells exhibited those markers. The team tested all parts of the vessel walls for presence of the cancer markers. Results of the team’s laboratory experiments were published in the online journal Oncotarget in January. Although the two groups used different markers to identify vessel cells, Rodriguez said that “there is no marker that is absolute for each cell.” Eberhart and Rodriguez noted that the

U.S./Italian research teams focused mainly on cell-by-cell research techniques in dissociated specimens to evaluate cancer markers, losing associations that can be made by looking at a cell’s shape and physical relationship within clusters of cells. The Johns Hopkins and Dana-Farber researchers conducted studies examining cells in intact tissue. “Pathologists with extensive experience in examining cells become accustomed to quickly identifying a blood vessel cell from a normal cell, and we can gain a lot of information when we look at how cells connect with other cells in real-life examples,” noted Rodriguez, who said that his team’s findings could potentially apply to any cancer thought to contain stem cells. In addition to Eberhart and Rodriguez, the research team included Brent Orr, of Johns Hopkins; and Keith Ligon, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Funding for the study was provided by a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship to Orr and a grant to Eberhart.

practical work of the people who make policy and manage world issues. SAIS students get both theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. And SAIS equips them with the tools to use both and use them well.” University President Ronald J. Daniels, who recommended Nasr’s appointment to the executive committee of the board of trustees, says that he has been “as impressed with Vali’s warmth and humility as with his intellect, vision and accomplishments.” Lloyd B. Minor, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, agreed. “Vali has a keen appreciation for the pressing issues facing graduate education in international studies today—and what a SAIS education brings to bear on the complex world in which we live,” said Minor, who chaired the search. “No one is better suited to position SAIS to meet the opportunities and seize the opportunities that lay ahead.” Nasr’s two most recent books, The Shia Revival and Forces of Fortune, foresaw, respectively, postwar sectarian violence in Iraq and the uprisings that have become known as the Arab Spring. The books contributed to U.S. policy formulated in response to those events. “This is an important and turbulent time in global affairs,” Nasr says. “The nature and focus of education in international affairs are changing as global challenges require

innovative approaches, greater attention to technology and addressing new demands in the job market. SAIS has a very important leadership role to play in shaping the future of education in international affairs.” At Tufts, Nasr has been associate director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies and has worked closely with the president and provost on universitywide initiatives and on the university’s global presence. He also has collaborated with Fletcher School leaders on strategic vision, academic programs and fundraising. He is serving now as chair of a universitywide committee to identify Tufts’ next provost. “Vali has been a valued member of the Fletcher and Tufts community, first as a student and then as part of our faculty,” says Stephen W. Bosworth, dean of the Fletcher School. “He is an admired and prolific scholar and spokesperson on matters of public policy. He is also a truly excellent teacher. We will miss him, but we will take pride in his ongoing success.” The Tehran-born Nasr is a 2011 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He also has been a Carnegie Scholar and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a 1983 summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Tufts and received a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School the following year. He

earned a doctorate in political science from MIT in 1991. Nasr is married to Darya Nasr, a technology executive, and has three children, sons Amir and Hossein, and daughter Donia. G

Related website ‘Oncotarget’:

www.impactjournals.com/ oncotarget/index.php?journal= oncotarget&page=article&op= view&path%5B%5D=427

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6 2, 15, 2012 6 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• April August 2011

April 2, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

R E S E A R C H

Early warning system for seizures could lead to fewer false alarms By Phil Sneiderman

Homewood

will kirk / homewoodphoto.jhu.edu

pilepsy affects 50 million people worldwide, and in a third of these cases, medication cannot keep seizures from occurring. One solution is to shoot a short pulse of electricity to the brain to stamp out the seizure just as it begins to erupt. But brain implants designed to do this have run into a stubborn problem: too many false alarms, triggering unneeded treatment. To solve this, a Johns Hopkins biomedical engineer has devised new seizure detection software that, in early testing, significantly cuts the number of unneeded pulses of current that an epilepsy patient would receive. Sridevi V. Sarma, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is leading this effort to improve anti-seizure technology that sends small amounts of current into the brain to control seizures. “These devices use algorithms—a series of mathematical steps—to figure out when to administer the treatment,” Sarma said. “They’re very good at detecting when a seizure is about to happen, but [existing systems] also produce lots of false positives, sometimes hundreds in one day. If you introduce electric current to the brain too often, we don’t know what the health impacts might be. Also, too many false alarms can shorten the life of the battery that powers the device, which must be replaced surgically.” Her new software was tested on real-time brain activity recordings collected from four drug-resistant epilepsy patients who experienced seizures while being monitored. In a study published recently in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior, Sarma’s team reported that its system yielded superior results, including flawless detection of actual seizures and up to 80 percent fewer alarms when a seizure was not occurring. Although the testing was

Sridevi Sarma of BME leads an effort to improve anti-seizure technology.

not conducted on patients in a clinical setting, the results were promising. “We’re making great progress in developing software that is sensitive enough to detect imminent seizures without setting off a large number of false alarms,” she said. Further fine-tuning is under way, using brain recordings from more than 100 epilepsy patients at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where several epilepsy physicians have joined in the research. Sarma said that within two to four years she hopes to see her system incorporated into a brain implant that can be tested on people with drugresistant epilepsy. “There is growing interest in applying responsive, or closed-loop, therapy for the treatment of epileptic seizures,” said Gregory K. Bergey, professor of neurology and director of the Johns Hopkins Epilepsy Center. “Devices to do this have been tested in humans, but for this therapy to be useful for the patient with epilepsy requires early

detection of abnormal brain activity that is destined to become a seizure. Detection has to be within seconds of seizure onset, before the seizure spreads to cause disabling symptoms such as alteration of consciousness.” He added, “Developing detection methods that can both provide this early detection and yet not be triggered by brain activity that will not become a clinical seizure has been a real challenge. Dr. Sarma’s group appreciates how important this is. The application of its detection algorithms has produced promising preliminary results that warrant further study of more seizures in more patients.” In trying to solve the seizure false-alarm problem, Sarma drew on her training in electrical engineering, particularly a discipline called control theory. “We decided to start with the origin of the signal in the brain,” she said. Sarma’s team compared electrical data from the brains of epilepsy patients before, during and after seizures. The researchers looked at how this activity changed over time, particularly when a seizure began. “We wanted to figure out when would be the optimal time to step in with treatment to stop the seizure,” she said. The team members “trained” their system to look for that moment without setting off false alarms. Ideally, Sarma would someday like to see her software embedded in a microchip that would continually check electrical activity in the brain and launch electrical stimulation whenever a seizure is just beginning to form. The device would operate as a closed loop system, resembling a thermostat that keeps a room’s temperature at a constant, comfortable level. Sarma’s interest in brain disorders developed relatively late in her education. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in electrical engineering, then a doctorate in electrical engineering and com-

puter science at MIT. During her doctoral studies, she pursued a minor in neuroscience. For a class, she conducted a case study of her aunt, who had developed Parkinson’s disease at age 29 and had trouble managing it with medication. Watching her aunt’s condition was an emotionally draining experience, Sarma said, and she wondered if anything in her own training could help. “I really wanted to understand the neurobiological circuitry of this disease,” she said. That desire led Sarma to learn more about deep brain stimulation—the use of electric pulses to treat brain disorders such as Parkinson’s and epilepsy. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in MIT’s Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department and became a neuroscience research associate affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In 2009, Sarma joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins’ Department of Biomedical Engineering, which is shared by the School of Medicine and the Whiting School of Engineering. She also is a core faculty member in the university’s Institute for Computational Medicine. In 2011, Sarma was named a recipient of a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation. Her team’s new system for seizure detection with reduced false alarms is protected by a patent obtained through the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer Office. Lead author of the Epilepsy & Behavior journal article was Sabato Santaniello, a postdoctoral fellow in Sarma’s lab. Along with Sarma, co-authors were Samuel P. Burns, of the Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering; Alexandra J. Golby, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston; Jedediah M. Singer, of Children’s Hospital Boston; and William S. Anderson, of the Johns Hopkins Department of Neurosurgery.

8 2, 15, 2012 8 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• April August 2011

Dengue virus turns on mosquito genes that make them hungrier By Tim Parsons

Bloomberg School of Public Health

MATTHEW KIM PHOTOGRAPHY

R Stephanie McGuire brings her solo operatic theater piece to Baltimore.

JHU artist in residence to perform at BMA B y A m y L u n d ay

Homewood

ezzo-soprano Stephanie McGuire will present a free performance of her solo operatic theater piece, Mezzo Laid Bare, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 5, in the auditorium of the Baltimore Museum of Art. McGuire is visiting The Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus this spring as the 2012 artist in residence with the Krieger School’s Center for Africana Studies. In addition to this performance, on April 2 McGuire will offer a free master’s class to students and staff on the Homewood campus. Joining McGuire at the BMA will be pianist Noby Ishida and theater director Tamilla Woodard to present Mezzo Laid Bare, which has been described as an unorthodox and uncensored look into the world of classical performance and the struggle between an artist’s public and private selves. The show, a mash-up of classical recital and downtown theater, weaves traditional recital repertoire, operatic arias and monologue into an intimate solo performance. (Language not suitable for children younger than 13.) McGuire is a lyric mezzo-soprano who per-

forms in a diverse range of venues that have included Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Birdland and B.B. King Blues Club & Grill. She has performed with the New York City Opera and the Boston Pops, Boston Classical and Key West Symphony orchestras. Highlights of her 2011–12 season have included appearing as Ruggiero in Alcina with Satori Opera, Bradamante in Alcina with New York Lyric Opera Theater and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflote with The Muses Project. McGuire holds a doctorate in psychoacoustics, which directly relates the physics of sound to the perception of that sound, from the University of Oxford. McGuire is the Center for Africana Studies’ fourth artist in residence; previous visitors were visual artist Renee Stout, photographer and multimedia artist Hank Willis Thomas and the American Studio Orchestra. The residencies came out of a 2006 gathering of Africana Studies faculty drawn from throughout the Krieger School. The idea was to bring to campus nationally known artists who could address the representation of race through imagery. Seating for Mezzo Laid Bare begins at 6:30 p.m. The performance will be followed by a Q&A. To RSVP, contact Katie Cook at 410516-5581 or kcook16@jhu.edu.

Peabody at Homewood concert series kicks off April 10 B y H e at h e r E g a n S ta l f o rt

Johns Hopkins University Museums

ohns Hopkins’ Homewood Museum announces the 12th edition of its Peabody at Homewood spring concert series, which showcases some of the top young talents from the university’s Peabody Institute. The performances are presented amid the splendid Federal-era architecture and furnishings of Homewood. This season, the concerts will be held at 5 p.m. on five consecutive Tuesdays: April 10, 17 and 24 and May 1 and 8. Guests are invited to meet the musicians at receptions following the performances. The first two concerts feature students in Peabody’s Bachelor of Music Program in Jazz Performance. Guitarists Kevin B. Clark and Michael Benjamin will open the series on April 10. On April 17, Clark returns, with Hannah Elson on vocals and Jon Guo on bass. The Janos Quartet performs on April 24. The ensemble—violinists Colin Sorgi and Michelle Skinner, violist Jaclyn Dorr and cellist Mia Barcia-Colombo—formed under the guidance of cellist and chamber musician Michael Kannen and has been named the Conservatory’s graduate honors string quartet. Its program includes Beethoven’s String Quartet in B flat, op. 18, no. 6 and Bartok’s String Quartet no. 4.

The May 1 concert features Croatianborn classical guitarist and composer Branimir Krstic. Krstic, unaffiliated with Peabody, graduated from the Cologne University of Music in Germany, where he worked with Ansgar Krause and Johannes Fritsch. His compositions have been performed across the United States and Europe by the Ensemble Hebrides, James Clarke, Andrew Haveron and other distinguished musicians. His crossover program includes music by Senleches, Schumann, Bach and LennonMcCartney. The final concert, on May 8, is by the Kubrick Quartet, composed of Peabody violinists Orin Laursen and Songeun Jeong, violist Dian Zhang and cellist Javier Martin Iglesias. Formed only in 2011 under the guidance of Kannen, the ensemble has already displayed a high level of performance, earning the 2011–12 Peabody Conservatory Honors Ensemble award. The quartet performs Bartok’s String Quartet no. 2 and Mozart’s String Quartet in C major, K. 465, Dissonance. The concerts will be held in the reception hall of the museum. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10 for the general public and $5 for students. Due to the intimacy of the space, seats are limited to 40, and advance reservations are strongly recommended; call 410-516-5589 or go to museums.jhu.edu.

esearchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have, for the first time, shown that infection with dengue virus turns on mosquito genes that make them hungrier and better feeders, and therefore possibly more likely to spread the disease to humans. Specifically, they found that dengue virus infection of the mosquito’s salivary gland triggered a response that involved genes related to the insect’s immune system, feeding behavior and ability to sense odors. The researchers’ findings are published in the March 29 edition of PLoS Pathogens. Dengue virus is spread to people primarily by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. More than 2.5 billion people live in areas where dengue fever is endemic, and the World Health Organization estimates that between 50 million and 100 million dengue infections occur each year. “Our study shows that the dengue virus infects mosquito organs, the salivary glands and antennae that are essential for finding and feeding on a human host. This infection induces odorant-binding protein genes, which enable the mosquito to sense odors. The virus may, therefore, facilitate the mosquito’s host-seeking ability and could—at

least theoretically—increase transmission efficiency, although we don’t fully understand the relationships between feeding efficiency and virus transmission,” said George Dimopoulos, senior author of the study and a professor in the Bloomberg School’s Malaria Research Institute. “In other words, a hungrier mosquito with a better ability to sense food is more likely to spread dengue virus.” For the study, researchers performed a genomewide microarray gene expression analysis of dengue-infected mosquitoes. Infection regulated 147 genes with predicted functions in various processes including virus transmission, immunity, blood feeding and host seeking. Further analysis of infected mosquitoes showed that silencing, or “switching off,” two odorant-binding protein genes resulted in an overall reduction in the mosquito’s blood-acquisition capacity from a single host by increasing the time it took the mosquito to probe for a meal. “We have, for the first time, shown that a human pathogen can modulate feedingrelated genes and behavior of its vector mosquito, and the impact of this on transmission of disease could be significant,” Dimopoulos said. The study was written by Shuzhen Sim, Jose L. Ramirez and Dimopoulos. Funding for the research was provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Hospitals with no cardiac surgery can perform nonemergency angioplasty B y E ll e n B e t h L e v i t t

Johns Hopkins Medicine

atients who have nonemergency angioplasty to open blocked heart vessels have no greater risk of death or complications when they have the procedure at hospitals without cardiac surgery backup. That is the conclusion of a national study to assess the safety and effectiveness of such procedures at community hospitals. Results of the study, called the Cardiovascular Patient Outcomes Research Team Elective (C-PORT-E) Angioplasty Study, were presented March 25 at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in Chicago. The study also was published online by the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the ACC presentation. The study, led by Johns Hopkins cardiologist Thomas Aversano, evaluated the ninemonth outcomes of 18,867 patients who were randomly assigned to have elective heart artery–opening angioplasty or stenting at hospitals with or without cardiac surgery capability. “Our composite endpoints in the study— death, heart attack and blockage again in the vessel that was opened with angioplasty—showed similar results at nine months whether the procedure was performed at a hospital with or without cardiac surgery backup,” said Aversano, who is an associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. There was, he says, a small difference between the two groups regarding the need for revascularization, a second procedure to open the same vessel. “We found that more patients treated at community hospitals without surgery backup required a repeat procedure within nine months. The size of the difference in repeat procedure rates between hospitals with and without on-site cardiac surgery is small, between 11 and 17 additional procedures for every 1,000 treated patients.” He said that “the reason for the difference is not clear, except that it may reflect a more conservative approach to treating the blockage among interventional cardi-

ologists at hospitals without cardiac surgery capability.” The study included 60 hospitals in 10 states without cardiac surgery backup. In order to participate in the study, those hospitals had to perform a minimum of 200 angioplasty procedures each year and create a formal angioplasty development program to prepare their staff and establish protocols and policies. Emergency angioplasty is performed during a heart attack, when a vessel needs to be opened right away to restore blood flow in the heart. Nonemergency procedures are offered to patients with blockages that may be causing chest pain. During angioplasty, a tiny balloon is inflated within a coronary artery to push away plaque that is causing a blockage in the vessel. Stents, which act like tiny scaffolds, also can be put in place to keep the artery open. In rare cases, the procedure can cause a tear in the vessel or closing of the artery, requiring open-heart surgery to repair the problem. Until a recent change in guidelines by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, nonemergency angioplasty was not recommended at community hospitals without cardiac surgery backup in case complications required emergency surgery. Aversano says that results of the study support the change in the guidelines. The researchers say they do not believe that every hospital should be performing angioplasty. Rather, they wanted to know if hospitals that already offer emergency angioplasty to open blocked coronary arteries in heart attack patients can also safely and effectively perform elective angioplasty. About 850,000 angioplasties are performed in the United States each year. “The goal of our study,” Aversano said, “is to give health care planners the best possible information on which to base their decisions about the allocation of resources, so that patients can have access to the highest quality of care.” The C-PORT study centers, which include Johns Hopkins, Duke University and Clinical Trials and Surveys Corp. (formerly the Maryland Medical Research Institute), are funded by the hospitals participating in the study.

April 2, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

Newly discovered foot points to new kid on the hominin block By Lisa De Nike

Homewood

t seems that “Lucy” was not the only hominin on the block in northern Africa about 3 million years ago. A team of researchers that included Johns Hopkins University geologist Naomi Levin has announced the discovery of a partial foot skeleton with characteristics (such as an opposable big toe bone) that don’t match those of Lucy, the human ancestor (or hominin) known to inhabit that region and considered by many to be the ancestor of all modern humans. The discovery is important because it provides first-ever evidence that at least two pre-human ancestors lived between 3 million and 4 million years ago in the Afar region of Ethiopia, and that they had different ways of moving around the landscape.

“The foot belonged to a hominin species—not yet named—that overlaps in age with Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis). Although it was found in a neighboring project area that is relatively close to the Lucy fossil site, it does not look like an A. afarensis foot,” explains Levin, an assistant professor in the Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. A paper in the March 29 issue of Nature describes this foot, which is similar in some ways to the remains of another hominin fossil, called Ardipithecus ramidus, but which has different features. Its discovery could shed light on how our ancestors learned to walk upright, according to Levin. “What is clear is that the foot of the Burtele hominin was able to grasp items much better than its contemporary, A. afarensis, A P R I L

would have been able to do, which suggests that it was adept at moving around in trees,” says Levin, who was part of the team led by Yohannes Haile-Selassie of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and included researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the Berkeley Geochronology Center. The finding is important, Levin says, because it shows that there is much more to learn about the role of locomotion in human evolution. “This fossil makes the story of locomotion more complex, and it shows that we have a lot more to learn about how humans transitioned from moving around in trees to moving around on the ground—on two legs. This fossil shows that some hominins may have been capable of doing both,” she says. The fossil, dated to approximately 3.4 million years ago, was discovered in 2009 2

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Kitchloo, KSAS. Sponsored by Mathematics. 308 Krieger. HW “Poly(ADPribose) Regulates Post-Transcriptional Processes in the Cytoplasm,” a Biological Chemistry seminar with Anthony Leung, SPH. 612 Physiology. EB

Tues., April 3, noon.

“The Science of Man and the Invention of Usable Traditions,” a Political and Moral Thought seminar with Eric Schliesser, University of Ghent, Belgium. Sponsored by Philosophy. 288 Gilman. HW

Tues., April 3, 4:15 p.m.

“Negatively Curved Finsler Metric and Kobayashi Hyperbolicity of Moduli Spaces of Canonically Polarized Algebraic Manifolds,” an Algebraic Geometry and Number Theory seminar with Sai-Kee Yeung, Purdue University. 300 Krieger. HW

Tues., April 3, 4:30 p.m.

Wed., April 4, 8:30 a.m. “NonInferiority and Other Regulatory Issues,” a Center for Clinical Trials seminar with Mary Foulkes, George Washington University. W2030 SPH. EB

“Optogenetic Manipulation of Cardiomyocytes,” a Cellular and Molecular Medicine Graduate Program thesis defense seminar with Sarah Park. 709 Traylor. EB

Wed., April 4, 11 a.m.

Wed.,

April

12:15

p.m.

Mental Health Noon Seminar— “Conditioning and Expectancy Factors in Substance Use” with Paul Harrell, SPH. B14B Hampton House. EB “The Anti-Poverty Impacts of Medicaid and Medicare,” a Population, Family and Reproductive Health seminar with Robert Moffitt, KSAS. W1020 SPH. EB Wed., April 4, 12:15 p.m.

“New Regulation and New Roles for SREBPS in Physiology and MetabThurs., April 5, noon.

olism,” a Cell Biology seminar with Timothy Osborne, Sanford/Burnham Medical Research Institute. Suite 2-200, 1830 Bldg. EB “Trypanosoma cruzi: Mechanisms of Flagellar Biogenesis and Pathogenesis of Chagas Disease,” a Molecular Microbiology and Immunology/ Infectious Diseases seminar with David Engman, Northwestern University. W1020 SPH. EB Thurs., April 5, noon.

The Bromery Seminar—“The Great Dying: The Global Extinction 250 Million Years Ago, and Parallels With Today” with Linda Elkins-Tanton, Carnegie Institution for Science. Sponsored by Earth and Planetary Sciences. Olin Auditorium. HW Thurs.,

April

noon.

Thurs., April 5, noon. “Helping Patients Decide: Physicians’ Role in Stopping Cancer Screening,” a LunchLearnLink seminar with Craig Pollack, SoM. Sponsored by Health Policy and Management. W1214 SPH. EB

nar with Christine Jelinek, SoM. 303 WBSB. EB “Temporal Dynamics and Genetic Control of Transcription in the Human Prefrontal Cortex,” a Biology seminar with Carlo Colantuoni, Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Developmental Neurobiology and Functional Genomics. 100 Mudd. HW Thurs., April 5, 4 p.m.

Fri., April 6, 10 a.m. “The Beauty of a Social Problem,” a Humanities Center seminar with Walter Benn Michaels, University of Illinois at Chicago. 208 Gilman. HW Fri., April 6, 11 a.m. “The Emergence of Pattern in Stably Stratified Turbulence,” a CEAFM seminar with Geoffrey Spedding, University of Southern California. 50 Gilman. HW

Thurs., April 5, 1 p.m.

Fri., April 6, noon. “In the Beginning Was the Familiar Voice,” a Center for Language and Speech Processing seminar with Diana Sidtis, NYU. B17 Hackerman. HW

Thurs.,

Fri., April 6, 1 p.m. “Huntington’s Disease: Upside Down and Backward,” a Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology seminar with Russell Margolis, SoM. Turner West Room, BRB. EB

“Reinforcement Learning: Beyond Reinforcement,” a Neuroscience research seminar with Nathanial Daw, NYU. West Lecture Hall (ground floor), WBSB. EB April

1:30

p.m.

“Nonconvex, Nonsmooth Optimization by Gradient Sampling,” an Applied Mathematics and Statistics seminar with Frank Curtis, Lehigh University. 304 Whitehead. HW Thurs., April 5, 3 p.m. “Design, Fabrication and Control of Biologically Inspired At-Scale Flapping-Wing Robots,” a Mechanical Engineering seminar with Nestor Perez-Arancibia, Harvard University. 210 Hodson. HW

“Characterizing the Post-Translational Modifications of Human Serum Albumin as They Correlate to Cardiac Ischemia,” a Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences semiThurs., April 5, 4 p.m.

Related website Naomi Levin:

eps.jhu.edu/bios/naomi-levin/ index.html

Calendar Continued from page 12

in sediments along the Burtele drainage in the Afar region of Ethiopia that is now very hot and dry but which the researchers view as having been wetter and more wooded when the Burtele hominin lived, based on its deltaic sedimentary context, results from isotopic studies and the range of fossil animals found near the site. “We’re just at the beginning of understanding the environmental context for this important fossil. It will be a critical part of understanding this hominin, its habitat and the role that the environment played in its evolution,” she says.

“Parental Depression as a Determinant of Children’s Health Care Expenditures: Exploring the Dimensions of Parental Gender and Timing of Depressive Symptoms,” a Health Policy and Management thesis defense seminar with Isadora Gil. 339 Hampton House. EB

Mon., April 9, 9 a.m.

“The Risk of Violence Among Individuals With Severe Mental Illness: Implications for Public Policy,” a Graduate Seminar in Injury Research and Policy with Jeffrey Swanson, Duke University School of Medicine. Sponsored by the Center for Injury Research and Policy. 250 Hampton House. EB

Mon., April 9, 4 p.m. “Mitochondria and NAD Metabolism in Acute Neurodegenerative Disease,” a Molecular Microbiology and Immunology seminar with Tibor Kristian, University of Maryland School of Medicine. Suite 2-200, 1830 Bldg. EB

•

Thurs., April 5

Noon. “Global Health Challenges in Haiti: From Infantile Diarrhea, AIDS, Disaster Response and Cholera,” an address by Bill Pape of Cornell University and founder and director of GHESKIO, followed by the presentation of the Faculty Excellence in Global Health Advising Awards. E2014 SPH.

1:30 p.m. Viewing of student posters and pizza reception. E2030 SPH.

4 p.m. Hors d’oeuvres reception, student oral presentations, poster awards, photo contest awards and poster viewing. E2030 SPH.

5:30

SPECIAL EVENTS

Global Health Week 2012 , sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health. EB

•

Mon., April 2

Noon. “An Afternoon in Africa” a School of Public Health “Triple A” talk where students and faculty share experiences and public health perspectives on work and life on the African continent. Co-sponsored by the Africa Public Health Network. W2030 SPH.

•

4 p.m. Screening of the documentary Life Before Death, which explores the issues of palliative care and lack of access to essential pain medicines. Co-sponsored by SoN. 140 Pinkard Bldg. Tues., April 3

SWEET Seminar with current MPH students Faraz Siddiqui and Francesca Monn who will discuss their experiences living and working in the Middle East. Co-sponsored by the Anna Baetjer Society. W2030 SPH.

12:15 p.m.

5 p.m. Bhangra class and South Asian Food Festival. Hosted by the South Asian Graduate Association. E2030 SPH.

•

Wed., April 4

Noon. Journal Club discussion of the work of Thomas Pogge and the Health Impact Fund. Co-sponsored by the Global Health Interest Group. 420 Armstrong Bldg.

4 p.m. Screening of Bol, an Urdu-language social drama directed by Shoaib Mansoor. W2030 SPH.

Mon., April 9, 12:10 p.m.

5 p.m. “Human Rights Advocacy as a Non-Activist: Insights From Dr. H. Jack Geiger,” a seminar with Geiger, George Washington University Medical Center. W1214 SPH.

p.m. “The Health Impact Fund: Boosting Innovation Without Obstructing Free Access,” a seminar with Thomas Pogge, Yale University. W1214 SPH.

Tues., April 3, 8 p.m. The 2012 Foreign Affairs Symposium— The Paradox of Progress: Chasing Advancement Amidst Global Crisis—presents Valerie Plame, author and former covert CIA operations officer. Shriver Hall. HW Thurs., April 5, 7 p.m. The JHU Center for Africana Studies presents its artist in residence, mezzo-soprano Stephanie McGuire, in performance of a solo operatic theater piece Mezzo Laid Bare. (See story, p. 8.) Q&A session will follow the performance. Seating begins at 6:30 p.m. Auditorium, Baltimore Museum of Art. HW

Reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, with an address by Hong Yinxing, chancellor of Nanjing University in China. For information or to RSVP, email ctownsley@jhu.edu. Kenney Auditorium, Nitze Bldg.

Mon., April 9, 4 p.m.

SAIS

S P OR T S Thurs., April 5, 7 p.m. Men’s Lacrosse, vs. Albany. Homewood Field. HW

Women’s Lacrosse, vs. Florida. Homewood Field. HW

Sat., April 7, 1 p.m.

10 2, 15, 2012 10 THE THE GAZETTE GAZETTE •• April August 2011 B U L L E T I N

Notices The Earth Week Clothing Freecycle

will be held from noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17, on Levering Quad. Clean clothes are wanted, in bags (no need to fold), and they should be dropped off by 4

B O A R D

p.m. on Monday, April 16, in 313 Ames. Any clothing that remains after the giveaway will be donated to JHU-Turn. The event is sponsored by the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Green Campus Reps and the Office of Sustainability. For more information, contact Adena Rojas, dogee@jhu.edu.

Genetic risk, stressful infancy join to increase schizophrenia risk By Vanessa McMains

Johns Hopkins Medicine

orking with genetically engineered mice and the genomes of thousands of people with schizophrenia, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they now better understand how both nature and nurture can affect one’s risks for schizophrenia and abnormal brain development in general. The researchers reported in the March 2 issue of Cell that defects in schizophreniarisk genes and environmental stress right after birth together can lead to abnormal brain development and raise the likelihood of developing schizophrenia by nearly one and a half times. “Our study suggests that if people have a single genetic risk factor alone, or a traumatic environment in very early childhood alone, they may not develop mental disorders like schizophrenia,” said Guo-li Ming, a professor of neurology and a member of the

Related websites Hongjun Song:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ institute_cell_engineering/experts/ hongjun_song.html Guo-li Ming:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ institute_cell_engineering/experts/ guo_ming.html Institute for Cell Engineering:

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ institute_cell_engineering Institute for Cell Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “But the findings also suggest that someone who carries the genetic risk factor and experiences certain kinds of stress early in life may be more likely to develop the disease.” Pinpointing the cause or causes of schizophrenia has been notoriously difficult, owing to the likely interplay of multiple genes and environmental triggers, Ming says. Searching for clues at the molecular level, the Johns Hopkins team focused on the interaction of two factors long implicated in the disease: disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 protein, which is important for brain development, and GABA, a brain chemical needed for normal brain function. To find how these factors impact brain development and disease susceptibility, the researchers first engineered mice to have reduced levels of DISC1 protein in one type of neuron in the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in learning, memory and mood regulation. Through a microscope, they saw that newborn mouse brain cells with reduced levels of DISC1 protein had neurons of a size and shape similar to those from mice

To purchase boxed display ad space in The Gazette, contact

The Gazelle Group 443-275-2687

with normal levels of DISC1 protein. To change the function of the chemical messenger GABA, the researchers engineered the same neurons in mice to have more effective GABA. Those brain cells looked much different from normal neurons, with longer appendages or projections. Newborn mice engineered with both the more effective GABA and reduced levels of DISC1 showed the longest projections, suggesting, Ming says, that defects in both DISC1 and GABA together could change the physiology of developing neurons for the worse. Meanwhile, researchers at University of Calgary and at the National Institute of Physiological Sciences in Japan had shown in newborn mice that changes in environment and routine stress can impede GABA from working properly during development. In the next set of experiments, the investigators wanted to see if reduced DISC1 levels paired with stress would also lead to developmental defects. To stress the mice, the team separated newborns from their mothers for three hours a day for 10 days, then examined neurons from the stressed newborns and saw no differences in their size, shape and organization compared with neurons from unstressed mice. But when they similarly stressed newborn mice with reduced DISC1 levels, the neurons they saw were larger and more disorganized and had more projections than the unstressed mouse neurons. The projections, in fact, went to the wrong places in the brain. Next, to see if their results in mice correlated to suspected human schizophrenia risk factors, the researchers compared the genetic sequences of 2,961 schizophrenia patients and healthy people from Scotland, Germany and the United States. Specifically, they determined if certain variations of DNA letters found in two genes, DISC1 and a gene for another protein, NKCC1, which controls the effect of GABA, were more likely to be found in schizophrenia patients than in healthy individuals. They paired 36 DNA “letter” changes in DISC1 and two DNA letter variations in NKCC1—one DNA letter change per gene—in all possible combinations. Results showed that if a person’s genome contained one specific combination of single DNA letter changes, that person is 1.4 times more likely than someone without these DNA changes to develop schizophrenia. Having these single DNA letter changes in either one of these genes alone did not increase risk. “Now that we have identified the precise genetic risks, we can rationally search for drugs that correct these defects,” said coauthor Hongjun Song, a professor of neurology and director of the Stem Cell Program at the Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins. Other authors of the paper from Johns Hopkins are Ju Young Kim, Cindy Y. Liu, Fengyu Zhang, Xin Duan, Zhexing Wen, Juan Song, Kimberly Christian and Daniel R. Weinberger. Emer Feighery, Bai Lu and Joseph H. Callicott, all of the National Institute of Mental Health; Dan Rujescu, of Ludwig-Maximilians-University; and David St. Clair, of the University of Aberdeen Royal Cornhill Hospital, are additional authors. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Maryland Stem Cell Research Foundation, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and the International Mental Health Research Organization.

H U M A N

R E S O U R C E S

Hot Jobs Listed below are some of the university’s newest openings for in-demand jobs that we most urgently need to fill. In addition to considering these opportunities, candidates are invited to search a complete listing of openings and apply for positions online at jobs.jhu.edu.

Homewood Office of Human Resources Wyman Park Building, Suite W600 410-516-7196 The Reporting Specialist and Special Projects position is located within Human Resources/ Payroll Shared Services and will serve as the SAP reporting expert responsible for supporting the functional SAP processes and procedures as related to HR/Payroll Shared Services, which is a high-volume call center. The candidate for this position must be team-oriented and have the ability to multitask and meet deadlines on a consistent basis. For more information and to apply, go to jobs.jhu.edu. 51823

Reporting and Special Projects Specialist

The Accounts Receivable Service Center provides one point of contact for SAP-generated invoices. Functions of the department include sponsored and nonsponsored billings and receivables. The Billing Accountant will be responsible for compiling financial information into a billing format, processing journal entries, reconciling reports and financial data, understanding the laws and regulations that apply to sponsored funds and maintaining open communication with sponsors and Johns Hopkins departments and affiliates. The candidate needs to be knowledgeable about the policies and procedures that apply to sponsored funds to ensure compliance with applicable regulations, and possess knowledge of Johns Hopkins financial accounting systems. For more information and to apply, go to jobs.jhu.edu. 51839

Billing Accountant

The primary role of the Organization Development Consultant is to be a strategic partner/ player in leading change to achieve organizational, team and leadership/employee effectiveness. Major responsibilities include planning, developing, implementing and administering Organization Development, Change Management and Talent Management programs for faculty and staff. This position is responsible for the development and integration of HR programs and associated multiple projects to achieve strategic business goals and operational objectives, and will emphasize the design and delivery of talent management initiatives and organization development solutions. The candidate should have experience developing strategy and driving process improvements that not only help clients achieve their goals and objectives but also help to support/maintain an inclusive, diverse work environment. For more information and to apply, go to jobs.jhu.edu. 51757

Organization Development Consultant

School of Medicine Office of Human Resources 98 N. Broadway, Suite 300 410-955-2990 The Department of Emergency Medicine is seeking experienced applicants for the position of Programmer Analyst, who serves as the data and project analyst and supports the Information Systems and Technology Administrator. This position provides data analysis support for the entire department and project support to the administrative team engaged in information systems/IT-related projects, and serves the data and project needs of five hospitals’ emergency departments. A bachelor’s degree in business, accounting, finance or a related field, and a minimum of one year related experience, is required. For a detailed job description and to apply, go to jobs.jhu.edu. 51786

Programmer Analyst

Schools of Public Health and Nursing Office of Human Resources 2021 E. Monument St. 410-955-3006 The Bloomberg School of Public Health is offering several opportunities for individuals who possess strong analytical, organizational and communication skills. For detailed job descriptions and to apply, go to jobs.jhu.edu. 51120 51690 50518 49102

Senior Biostatistician Research Technologist Senior Programmer Analyst Programmer Analyst

Johns Hopkins University is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, other legally protected characteristics or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria.

Read The Gazette online gazette.jhu.edu

April 2, 2012 • THE GAZETTE

Classifieds APARTMENTS/HOUSES FOR RENT Bolton Hill, honestly fabulous 2BR, 1BA apt, 1,275 sq ft, incredible kitchen, priv deck, gorgeous shared courtyd, a must-see. $2,150/mo. 410-299-6607 or gbaranoski@covad.net. Brewers Hill, 2BR, 2.5BA rehab, gourmet kitchen, fin’d bsmt, deck, no pets. $1,850/mo. 410-303-1214 or hudsonstreetrental@hotmail .com. Canton, upscale 2BR, 2BA condo on the water, 2-car garage, gym and pool membership. $3,000/mo. 443-615-9750. Canton, 2BR, 2BA RH in the heart of Canton, custom closets, hdwd flrs, W/D, fin’d bsmt, avail mid-June. $2,000/mo. 410-9080463. Charles Village, 3BR, 2BA apt, 1,500 sq ft, completely refurbished, laundry, prkng. 410383-2876 or atoll4u@gmail.com. Deep Creek Lake/Wisp, cozy 2BR cabin w/full kitchen; call for wkly/wknd rentals. 410-6389417 or jzpics@yahoo.com (for pics). Homewood, fully furn’d 1BR apt avail for sublet, June-Aug, AC, TV, dw, queen bed, sofabed, W/D in house, suitable for 1 or 2. tirolerlukas@gmail.com or http://tinyurl.com/ d598mrm. Lutherville/Timonium, 3BR, 2.5BA TH, 1,628 sq ft, new paint/crpt, laminate flr, dw, refrigerator, bsmt, deck, yd, conv access to 695/83, no pets. 410-828-4583 or moqiu@ comcast.net. Lutherville/Mays Chapel, 4BR TH w/3 full BAs and 1 half-BA, gourmet kitchen, hdwd flrs in living rm/dining rm, fp, deck, patio, great school district, nr lt rail, conv to JHMI/ downtown, avail April 20. $1,950/mo. 410790-6288 or michelle41212@yahoo.com. Mt Vernon (St Paul at Chase/Biddle), fully renov’d 1BR, 1.5BA apt, CAC, W/D, granite countertops. gnixon7@gmail.com. Mt Vernon (1101 St Paul St), 1BR, 1BA apt, grand living w/20th flr view, 24-hr front desk. Susan, 443-604-7310. Original Northwood, lovely 3BR, 1.5BA RH in quiet, safe and friendly neighborhood, hdwd flrs, ceiling fans in all rms, window units avail, garage, NWF-certified bird- and butterflyfriendly gardens front and back, conv to universities, pets negotiable. $1,200/mo. 410435-5095. HICKORY HEIGHTS A lovely hilltop setting on Hickory Avenue

Rehoboth Beach, 3BR TH, 15-min in Hampden! 2 BD units fromwalk $760 to with Balcony - $790 Shown by appointment

410.764.7776 Historic GreekTown - Opp. Bayview

www.brooksmanagementcompany.com Close to Brewers Hill/Canton. EOG -

2BR/2BA . 1,400sqft bright living area, newly renovated, granite, new appl + laundry, lg. rooms, high ceilings. $165,000. View full listing on MLS#BA7800667-Contact 410-935-8060.

Luxury Elevator Building in Charles Village! Spacious 2BD, 2BA, full size W/D. Free off street pkg. All new appliances! $1300 - $1425.00!

Shown by appointment

410.764.7776

www.brooksmanagementcompany.com

M A R K E T P L A C E

beach, dog-friendly, weekly rentals, JHU discounts for summer 2012. galeeena@yahoo .com. Towson, charming, fully renov’d 3BR, 2BA rancher, beautiful wooded lot backs up to Loch Raven Reservoir, easy access to beltway/95/ downtown, 1-yr lease, lawn service incl’d, avail July 1. $2,100/mo + utils. 970-471-2492.

Share 3BR home 10 mins from E Baltimore campus in Belair/Edison community, W/D. $600/mo incl utils, wireless Internet. 443-2266497 or expoblk@yahoo.com. Shared office space at the Castle on Keswick in Hampden, furn’d cubicles, priv kitchen, BA, free prkng. Mike, 410-215-6717 or mpararas@earthlink.net.

CARS FOR SALE ’02 Toyota Celica, silver, automatic, in great cond, passed MD inspection, 80K mi. $7,500. graciechen924@gmail.com. ’00 Toyota Sienna XLE, fully loaded w/leather, power seats/windows, tires almost new, no problems, car kept and used w/care, in great cond, 127K mi. 301-814-4892.

3811 Kimble Rd, 3BR RH in historic neighborhood, 1 mi to Homewood campus. $1,100/ mo. 443-625-8325.

’04 Acura TL w/navigation, 1 owner, garagekept, all records incl’d, 105K mi. $12,000. edrotman@yahoo.com.

Summer sublet: Fully furn’d 1BR, avail June to August. http://dL.dropbox.com/u/18216546/ Linkwood_1BR_summer_sublease.pdf.

’05 Lexus RX330, silver, luxury pkg, 5-disc CD player, in excel cond, 101K mi (highway). $19,400/best offer. 410-227-9049 or yikuailiao@gmail.com.

HOUSES FOR SALE Fells Point, 3-story RH in historic district, lg private yd, 4 blks to JHH. 443-750-7750. Gardenville, 3BR, 1.25BA RH in a quiet neighborhood, 15 mins to JHH, new kitchen and BA, CAC, hdwd flrs, fenced, maintenance-free yd w/carport, club bsmt w/cedar closet. $120,000. 443-610-0236 or tziporachai@juno.com. Harborview, 2BR, 1BA house w/lg fenced yd, new driveway, new Elow windows, views of the city from hilltop retreat. $150,000. lexisweetheart@yahoo.com. Middle River, 3BR, 2BA waterfront custom brick home, 2,658+ sq ft, fp, AC, 2-car garage, deep pier and boat lifts. $644,000. 443-955-9449. Parkville, spacious 3BR, 1.5BA TH, move-in ready, breakfast bar, separate dining rm, new roof, HWH, fin’d bsmt w/wet bar, deck, shed, 6 mi to JHH. $164,900. 410-296-2523 or jclsu99@hotmail.com. 3BR, 1.5BA RH, wheelchair-accessible, fin’d bsmt, w/w crpt, deck, move-in ready or turn key. $70,000. 443-374-7163.

ROOMMATES WANTED Two people wanted for 3BR RH in Federal Hill, each BR has own BA, spacious living rm, stainless steel appls, 2-car garage w/additional prkng spots, beautiful tree-lined street, quiet, family-oriented, nr park and harbor. $750/mo or $900/mo. kan.leslie@gmail.com. F nonsmoker bedspacer wanted to share condo in Washington Hill w/grad student, adjacent to Church Professional Bldg (98 N Broadway), walk to JHH/shuttle. $450/mo + utils. retzcare@yahoo.com. Spacious rm w/BA avail in TH, walking distance to JHH shuttle/SoN/SPH. 443-977-0840 or office230@hotmail.com. Fully furn’d, bright and spacious (700 sq ft) BR in 3BR house in Cedonia owned by young F prof’l, modern kitchen w/convection oven, vaulted ceilings, built-in shelving, walk-in closet, landscaped yd, lg deck, free prkng, public transportation to JHU, wireless Internet incl’d. $550/mo + utils. 410-493-2435 or aprede1@yahoo.com.

HICKORY HEIGHTS A lovely hilltop setting on Hickory Avenue in Hampden! 2 BD units from $760

with Balcony - $790 Shown by appointment

410.764.7776

www.brooksmanagementcompany.com

Full-sized futon, solid oak w/regular full-sized mattress, must be picked up by April 10. $55/ best offer. katie.elder45@gmail.com.

SERVICES/ITEMS OFFERED OR WANTED

Tuscany-Canterbury, 3BR, 2BA condo nr JHU, charming and spacious. $2,100/mo + utils. 443-838-3341 or theincredibleindia@ att.net.

Spacious, renov’d 4BR, 3.5BA house, custom remodeled kitchen, CAC, working fps, easy access to public transportation/metro. $2,600/ mo. marycox@cavtel.net.

Alps Mountaineering Zephyr 2 lightweight backpacking tent, like new, used only once. $95. 216-367-2374 or eriki@chello.at.

’04 Landrover Discovery SE7, silver w/black leather interior, in great condition, 109K mi, transferable extended warranty. $9,500. 410446-1252. ’98 Honda Accord LX coupe, 2-dr, dk green w/ tan cloth interior, power locks/windows, runs extremely well, 138.5K mi. $4,500/best offer. 443-942-0857 or 240-753-4954.

ITEMS FOR SALE Oriental wool rugs, 8x10, navy blue w/Asian pattern and ivory w/rose-colored florals, $25/ ea or best offer; Bombay Butler walnut coffee table, in good cond, $20; antique wood cradle, $35. 410-377-7354. Gold’s Gym elliptical trainer, in excel cond, $150; GE 10,000 BTU air conditioner, in excel cond, $100. 301-814-4892. Ceramic electric fence insulators, vintage water skis, exterior French doors, full-length Dior silver fox coat, vintage MD maps, music cassette tapes, fitness chair, 21" TV, 35mm cameras, office supplies, Playboy mags (19652007); items sold as lot or separately. 443824-2198 or saleschick2011@hotmail.com. Epson Stylus 760 color printer, portable canvas patio chair, digital piano, 100W amp, keyboard case, sand beach chairs (2), oilfilled heaters (3), ergonomic kneeling posture chair. 410-455-5858 or iricse.its@verizon.net. Apex 24" TV, in good condition. $20. janejw_ 99@yahoo.com. Kimball upright piano w/matching padded bench, in good cond, buyer responsible for moving. $600/best offer. jiangniaid@yahoo .com. Electric guitar, 2011 PRS SE custom 24, triburst color, in mint condition, padded gig bag/ tremolo bar/cable incl’d; pics available. $450. 410-533-4788 or cuavergas@gmail.com. Singer sewing machines (2) in cabinets, in working order, $100/ea; Fender acoustic guitar, $150; corner oak entertainment center, $350/ best offer. Chris, 443-326-7717. Acoustic guitar, Jasmine from Takamine, barely used. leech.biomed@gmail.com.

Experienced, full- or part-time nanny available immediately, has own car, will do lt housework, excel refs. Ann, 410-902-1687. Medical student, taking a research elective for 3 mos, looking for a rm nr Bayview, $250$300/mo. nabiha.khalil@gmail.com. Patient, responsible, compassionate and experienced babysitter w/bachelor’s degree available, nonsmoker, comfortable w/pets. angelina930@ gmail.com. For every purchase made on the Flower Power fundraising site, 50% will go to the Maas Family and Friends Greater Chapter Maryland Alzheimer’s Association. www .flowerpowerfundraising.com/i/t/252460/ 8RkvtE6Lvc6P. Weekend sapling and shrub planting in Reisterstown, I can provide transportation. $10/hr. 443-471-6121 or jchris1@umbc.edu. Piano lessons w/experienced teacher, Peabody doctorate, patient instruction. 410-662-7951. Certified personal and career coach committed to helping young professionals achieve their potential. 410-375-4042 or www .thinkpowerfullynow.com. Guilford multi-family yard sale, 8am-2pm, Sat, April 21, at 3406 St Paul (between University Pkwy and 34th St), next to Hopkins Inn; rain date: Sun, April 22. Editing of biomedical journal articles offered by PhD biomedical scientist and certified editor in the life sciences. 443-600-2264 or michellejones@jonesbiomediting.com. Masterpiece Landscaping provides knowledgable on-site consultation, transplanting, bed prep, installation, sm tree/shrub shaping, licensed. Terry, 410-652-3446. Tai chi beginners classes starting April 16 in Charles Village and April 17 nr Towson. 410296-4944 or www.baltimoretaichi.com. Two experienced movers w/30-ft enclosed box truck available, local/long distance, flat rate. John, 443-858-7264. Hauling/junk removal, next-day pick up, free phone estimate ($40 and up), 15% discount all Hopkins. 410-419-3902. Tutor available for Spanish classes in exchange for basic level tutoring in Portuguese. 443823-3477. “Move Forward Now”: Life coach, practical, compassionate motivation to help you reach your life and career goals. 410-456-4747 or dangalley@verizon.net. Can your writing use a good editor? Highly experienced copy editor can help, student/prof’l work welcome, reasonable rates. Michael, 410-802-6111 or maaron1201@ gmail.com. Nanny w/over 3 yrs experience caring for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, responsible, loving, patient, good swimmer, loves sports, speaks both English (basic) and Mandarin (fluent). 443-838-0918 or wjfj@hotmail.com.

PLACING ADS Classified listings are a free service for current, full-time Hopkins faculty, staff and students only. Ads should adhere to these general guidelines: • One ad per person per week. A new request must be submitted for each issue. • Ads are limited to 20 words, including phone, fax and e-mail.

• We cannot use Johns Hopkins business phone numbers or e-mail addresses. • Submissions will be condensed at the editor’s discretion. • Deadline is at noon Monday, one week prior to the edition in which the ad is to be run. • Real estate listings may be offered only by a Hopkins-affiliated seller not by Realtors or Agents.

(Boxed ads in this section are paid advertisements.) Classified ads may be faxed to 443-287-9920; e-mailed in the body of a message (no attachments) to gazads@jhu.edu; or mailed to Gazette Classifieds, Suite 540, 901 S. Bond St., Baltimore, MD 21231. To purchase a boxed display ad, contact the Gazelle Group at 443-275-2687.

12 THE GAZETTE • April 2, 2012 A P R I L

–

Calendar

electronic music composer and performer, and Jimmy Joe Roche, visual artist and filmmaker. •

Ghostbusters, directed by Ivan Reitman.

Sun., April 8, 2 p.m.

Mon., April 9, 5 p.m. Screening of the award-winning film Black Gold by Nick and Marc Francis, a story of Ethiopian coffee growers and the issue of fair trade. W2030 SPH. EB

in G major, D. 887. Goodwin Recital Hall. Peabody REA D I N G S / B OO K T A L K S Tues., April 3, 6:30 p.m. Reading by Charles Martin from his new book Thunder and Rain. Sponsored by the Writing Seminars. Mason Hall. HW

S E M I N AR S

“Learning and Inference as Computational Strategies for Dealing With Uncertainty,” a Cognitve Science faculty search seminar with Vikranth Rao-Bejjanki, University of Rochester. 111 Krieger. HW

Mon., April 2, 9 a.m.

L E C T URE S Mon., April 2, 3 p.m. “Biophotonics Imaging Platforms Toward Translational Application,” a Biomedical Engineering inaugural professorial lecture by Xingde Li, SoM. Tilghman Auditorium, Turner Bldg. EB

Dean’s Research Integrity Lecture— “Research Integrity, the Importance of Mentor/Mentee Relationships” by George Dover, SoM. Hurd Hall. EB

Tues., April 3, 3:30 p.m.

Ivan Reitman’s ‘Ghostbusters’ (above), Federico Fellini’s ‘8½’ and Charles Laughton’s ‘Night of the Hunter’ will be showcased in 35mm prints in the 16th annual Johns Hopkins Film Festival, which celebrates film as a medium and method of artistic expression. See Film/Video.

COLLOQUIA Mon., April 2, 4 p.m. “Marsilio Ficino’s Medicine: Between Tradition and Innovation,” a History of Science, Medicine and Technology colloquium with Teodoro Katinis, KSAS. 388 Gilman. HW

“Regionalties,” an Anthropology colloquium with Kathleen Stewart, University of Texas, Austin. 404 Macaulay. HW Tues., April 3, 4 p.m.

Tues.,

April

4:15

April

3:30

Fri., April 6, 2 p.m. “21stCentury Sustainability, Resilience and National Security,” an Applied Physics Laboratory colloquium with David Orr, Oberlin College. Parsons Auditorium. APL

p.m.

“Development of Re and Ir Complexes as Catalysts for Oxygen Atom Transfer and C-H Activation/Functionalization,” a Chemistry colloquium with Elon Ison, North Carolina State University. 233 Remsen. HW We d . ,

Thurs., April 5, 3 p.m. “The Emergence of a Technostructure: Chinese Architects and Builders in Shanghai, 1927–37,” a History of Science, Medicine and Technology colloquium with Yixian Li, KSAS. 300 Gilman. HW

p.m.

“High Spatial, High Spectral and High Cadence Observations of Young Suns,” an STScI colloquium with Lynne Hillenbrand, Caltech. Bahcall Auditorium, Muller Bldg. HW “Calcium Signaling and Cell Death: From Tsukuba to Rapa Nui,” a Biology colloquium with Kyle Cunningham, KSAS. Mudd Auditorium. HW

Wed., April 4, 4:30 p.m.

“ ‘O my fleeting days’: Jacopo Peri and the Subjectivities of Florentine Solo Song,” a Peabody Musicology DMA colloquium with Tim Carter, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Richard Goldthwaite, KSAS. 308C Conservatory Bldg. Peabody

“TEDxChange: The Big Picture,” a SAIS Gender and Development Club panel discussion with Melinda Gates, co-chair, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Chris Anderson, curator, TED Conference; Jeff Chapin, IDEO; and Sven Giegold of Attac Germany and member of the European Parliament. Videostreamed from Berlin. For information and to RSVP, go to www.ted .com/tedx/events/5141. 812 Rome Bldg. SAIS “The Financial Crisis and Its LongTerm Implications for the International Financial Industry,” a SAIS International Finance Club discussion with John Lipsky, SAIS. For information or to RSVP, email anndoneill@gmail.com. 417 Nitze Bldg. SAIS

Fri., April 6, 12:45 p.m.

C O N FERE N C E S Wed., April 4, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. “The Politics of Economic

Challenges: Assessing the Role of Political Economy in Development Thinking,” a Bernard L. Schwartz Forum on Constructive Capitalism conference with Michael Kremer, Harvard University; Nancy Birsdall, Center for Global Development; Daron Acemoglu, MIT; Brian Levy, SAIS; and Cinnamon Dornsife, SAIS. Co-sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. For a full agenda, go to www.sais-jhu.edu/events/ pdf/2012-04-04_idevconference .pdf. To RSVP, email rbwashington .jhu.edu. Kenney Auditorium, Nitze Bldg. SAIS

Wed., April 4, 5 p.m.

DISCUSSION/ TALKS

“The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies: New Results From New Surveys,” a Physics and Astronomy colloquium with Laura Ferrarese, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics. Schafler Auditorium, Bloomberg Center.

“Politics of Economic Growth and Development,” a Bernard L. Schwartz Forum on Constructive Capitalism discussion with Francis Fukuyama, SAIS, and Olivier Nomellini, Stanford University. For information or to RSVP, email rbwashington@jhu.edu. Co-sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Kenney Auditorium, Nitze Bldg.

SAIS

Thurs., April 5, 3 p.m.

Thurs., April 5, 12:30 p.m.

Tues., April 3, 5 p.m.

F I L M / V I D EO Tues.,

April

5:30

p.m.

Screening of the film Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, followed by a conversation with the director Pamela Yates. Part of a series sponsored by the Program in Latin American Studies. Co-sponsored by the Center for Advanced Media. 110 Hodson. EB

Tues., April 3, 8 p.m. “Growing Galaxies in Supercomputers,” an STScI public lecture by Marcel Haas, STScI. Bahcall Auditorium, Muller Bldg. HW

The 2012 Victor McKusick Lecture—“A Common X-Linked Inborn Error of Carnitine Biosynthesis May Be a Risk Factor for Non-Dysmorphic Autism” by Arthur Beaudet, Baylor College of Medicine. Sponsored by the Institute of Genetic Medicine. Mountcastle Auditorium, PCTB. EB

Wed., April 4, 3 p.m.

The Ernest Cloos Memorial Lecture— “Formation of Habitable Planets: Where Does the Water Come From?” by Linda Elkins-Tanton, Carnegie Institution for Science. Reception follows. Sponsored by Earth and Planetary Sciences. Olin Auditorium. HW

Wed., April 4, 4:30 p.m.

The Tudor and Stuart Lecture— “Kephalaia, Chapters and Alien Syntheses: Narrative and Textual Segmentation From Codex Alexandrinus to Anthony Trollope” by Nicholas Dames, Columbia University. Sponsored by English. 130D Gilman. HW

Thurs., April 5, 4 p.m.

“Formal Feelings: Political Economy and Aesthetic Autonomy,” a Humanities Center lecture by Walter Benn Michaels, University of Illinois at Chicago. 208 Gilman. HW Thurs., April 5, 4 p.m.

“Who Is Afraid of the Woman Warrior? Christian and Pagan Viragos in French and Italian Epics,” a German and Romance Languages and Literatures lecture by Valentina Denzel, Paris VII and KSAS. 479 Gilman. HW

Thurs., April 5, 5:30 p.m. 2012 Johns Hopkins Film Festival , sponsored by the Johns Hop-

kins Film Society. $5 per show general admission, $10 for day passes and $20 for festival passes; free for Hopkins students and affiliates with valid ID. Shriver Hall Auditorium. HW •

Fri., April 6, 7:30 p.m.

Fellini’s 8½.

•

Sat., April 7

7 p.m.

Special screening hosted by Dan Deacon,

Night of the Hunter, directed by Charles Laughton.

9:30 p.m.

MUSIC

The Peabody Brass Ensemble performs. Friedberg Hall. Peabody

Wed., April 4, 7:30 p.m.

Fri., April 6, 12:30 p.m. The Jupiter String Quartet performs Schubert’s String Quartet no. 15

“Injury Surveillance at Major League Baseball,” an Occupational and Environmental Health seminar with Chris Marinak, Major League Baseball. W3008 SPH. EB

Mon., April 2, noon.

“Metal Ions and Misfolding in SODLinked ALS,” a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology seminar with Joan Selverstone Valentine, UCLA. W1020 SPH. EB

Mon., April 2, noon.

Mon.,

April

12:10

p.m.

“The Promise of Brief Alcohol Abuse Interventions to Reduce Violence,” a Graduate Seminar in Injury Research and Policy with Ankia Alvanzo, SPH. Sponsored by the Center for Injury Research and Policy. 250 Hampton House. EB

“Nonlinear Bound States on Manifolds,” an Analysis/PDE seminar with Jeremy Marzuola, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Sponsored by Mathematics. 302 Krieger. HW

Mon., April 2, 4 p.m.

Mon., April 2, 4 p.m. The David Bodian Seminar— “Subjective Contours” with Ken Nakayama, Harvard University. Sponsored by the Krieger Mind/ Brain Institute. 338 Krieger. HW Mon., April 2, 4 p.m. “Queer Uncles: Homosexuality and British Families, 1900–1967,” a History seminar with Deborah Cohen, Northwestern University. 308 Gilman. HW Mon.,

April

4:30

p.m.

“Stable Symplectic Category,” a Topology seminar with Nitu Continued on page 9

(Events are free and Calendar open to the public Key except where indicated.) APL BRB CRB EB HW JHOC

Applied Physics Laboratory Broadway Research Building Cancer Research Building East Baltimore Homewood Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center KSAS Krieger School of Arts and Sciences NEB New Engineering Building PCTB Preclinical Teaching Building SAIS School of Advanced International Studies SoM School of Medicine SoN School of Nursing SPH School of Public Health WBSB Wood Basic Science Building WSE Whiting School of Engineering