Ramaz Breakthrough Fall Edition

The Ramaz Science Publication Fall Edition / November 2023

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Table of Contents Galactic Waves Discovered on Distant Star Avi Flatto-Katz ’25 Pg. 3 Antibiotic That Can Kill “Superbugs” Jordan Kalker ’25 Pg. 5 New Universal Flu Vaccine Keren Teichner ’25 Pg. 7 Jonas Salk, the History of the Polio Vaccine Keren Teichner ’25 Pg. 10 The Groundbreaking New Blood Test for Alzheimer’s Disease Noa Essner ’25 Pg. 13 The New Butterfly Vivarium at the Museum of Natural History Sarah Silverman ’24 Pg. 16

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Galactic Waves Discovered On Distant Star 166,000 light-years away from Earth, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, there exists a star system called MACHO 80.7443.1718. The system consists of two stars; one that is visible and is 35 times the mass of the sun, and one that is 10 times the mass of the sun. These two stars orbit each other in an oval shape, and accordingly are called ‘heartbeat stars’. Researchers have recently discovered plasmic tidal waves on the bigger star that can reach 3.3 million km tall, or 2.7 million miles. This height is roughly equivalent to three suns stacked on top of each other. Additionally, every time these waves crash, the amount of energy released could disintegrate the entire Earth.

Cause and Discovery of the Tides About once a month, the stars pass close enough to each other that the gravitational forces of one star cause tides on the other. This is similar to how the moon’s gravitational pull affects the tides on Earth, albeit on a much larger scale. Astronomers cannot actually see the stars and their tidal waves through a telescope. Instead, they discovered this phenomenon by measuring the brighter star’s light changes over time. After observing the MACHO 80.7443.1718 star system for a while, scientists noticed that its brightness uctuated at a rate 200 times greater than that of typical heartbeat stars.

Since “most heartbeat stars vary in brightness only by about 0.1%, but MACHO 80.7443.1718 jumped out to astronomers because of its unprecedentedly dramatic brightness swings, up and down by 20%.”

To understand why this system had such drastic changes in brightness, researchers developed a computer model (pictured below) to nd out what could be causing it. The model showed the astronomers that the changes in brightness were caused by enormous tidal waves on the bigger star. The energy released when the waves crashed caused the star's surface to accelerate and launch stellar gas outward. This stellar gas then formed a luminous atmosphere around the star, which is why the brightness of the star appeared to signi cantly increase. Scientists believe that the energy released by the tidal waves could also cause the stars’ orbit to shrink, meaning that they could eventually collide and maybe even merge.

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Although the tidal waves on MACHO 80.7443.1718 are unlike anything ever seen before, astronomers believe that it is not the only star system with this phenomenon. They have already begun looking for more.

Avi Flatto-Katz ’25

References Carter, Jamie. “Tidal Waves on a ‘Heartbeat Star’ Is the Craziest Story You’ll Read Today.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 16 Aug. 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2023/08/15/tidalwaves-on-a-heartbeat-star-is-the-craziest-story-you-will-read-today/?sh=254e84607c3e.

Dixit, Mrigakshi. “Astronomers Find Extreme Star System with Huge Tidal Waves.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 11 Aug. 2023, interestingengineering.com/science/ extreme-star-system-with-huge-tidal-waves.

Kruesi, Liz. “This Extreme Star Might Have Huge Tidal Waves.” Science News, 22 Aug. 2023, www.sciencenews.org/article/extreme-star-tidal-waves-astronomy.

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Antibiotic That Can Kill “Superbugs” “Kills 99.99% of germs”. You’ve probably seen this on a hand sanitizer bottle before and wondered “What happens to the .01%?” That .01% is the bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotics put in the hand sanitizer. This is called a “superbug”. It’s a bacteria with a gene that makes it resistant to an antibiotic (a medicine that is supposed to kill bacteria). Superbugs can be dangerous because even though only .01% of bacteria might be surviving, that .01% will all have offspring that have that resistance gene too; the resistance will only grow stronger, and it could possibly become too resistant, and killing that potentially harmful bacteria will only become harder to kill. In fact, superbugs have become a leading mortality factor worldwide.

Recently however, researchers from Utrecht University, Bonn University (Germany), the German Center for Infection Research, Northeastern University of Boston, and the company NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals (USA) have discovered an antibiotic that can kill superbugs called Clovibactin. Clovibactin is “unculturable”-meaning not able to be grown in a lab-, so using a device called the iChip, Clovibactin was discovered in sandy soil in North Carolina. It was also found to be successful in attacking a bunch of different bacteria and was also successful in treating mice who were

infected with Staphylococcus aureus. The way Clovibactin works is by targeting three different precursor molecules that are essential for the bacterium's cell wall. This multi-target approach that Clovibactin takes makes it incredibly ef cient and effective in killing bacteria. One example of this is lipid II, one of the precursor molecules. Clovibactin stops the lipid II cycle by arranging itself antiparallel to the lipid precursors, which in turn makes the cell unable to maintain a cell wall or shape,

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letting it in, and now the bacteria doesn’t have any resistance. While Clovibactin isn’t perfect, the most important thing is that it avoids the resistance gene, which is something that hasn’t really been done before, and it can also help with the design and development of drug compounds that can hopefully kill superbugs.

Jordan Kalker ’25

References Ellis, Danielle. “New Powerful Antibiotic Isolated from Bacteria Could Combat Multi-Resistant “Superbugs.” News-Medical.net, 22 Aug. 2023, www.news-medical.net/news/20230822/Newpowerful-antibiotic-isolated-from-bacteria-could-combat-multi-resistantsuperbugs.aspx#:~:text=A%20new%20powerful%20antibiotic%2C%20isolated. Accessed 26 Oct. 2023.

LeMieux, Julianna. “New Antibiotic, Clovibactin, Kills Bacteria without Developing Resistance.”

GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, 22 Aug. 2023, www.genengnews.com/topics/infectious-diseases/newantibiotic-clovibactin-kills-bacteria-without-developing-resistance/ #:~:text=Upon%20binding%20the%20target%20molecules. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Mathur, Noha. “Clovibactin - a Game-Changing Novel Antibiotic with No Resistance.” NewsMedical.net, 6 Sept. 2023, www.news-medical.net/news/20230906/Clovibactin-a-gamechanging-novel-antibiotic-with-no-resistance.aspx. Accessed 26 Oct. 2023.

Shukla, Rhythm , et al. “An Antibiotic from an Uncultured Bacterium Binds to an Immutable Target.

Cell, 22 Aug. 2023, https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00853-X.

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New Universal Flu Vaccine 166,000 light-years away from Earth, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, there exists a star system called MACHO 80.7443.1718. The system consists of two stars; one that is visible and 35 times the mass of the sun, and one that is 10 times the mass of the sun. These two stars orbit each other in an oval shape, and accordingly are called ‘heartbeat stars’. Researchers have recently discovered plasmic tidal waves on the bigger star that can reach 3.3 million km tall, or 2.7 million miles. This height is roughly equivalent to three suns stacked on top of each other. Additionally, every time these waves crash, the amount of energy released could disintegrate the entire Earth.

Every year approximately 36,000 Americans die from the u. Despite the fact that the u vaccine has the potential to greatly reduce the spread and severity of the virus, it does not provide complete immunity. The current process for creating the u vaccine requires scientists to predict, prior to the start of the u season, which in uenza strains are going to be the most prominent that year. The three or four strains that are hypothesized to be the most prominent that year will be included in the vaccine. Vaccine manufacturers then produce the vaccine which is later administered to the public. One signi cant problem with this system is that it is dif cult for scientists to predict the strains of u that will be most prominent. Often the scientists are incorrect, which results in the u vaccine not providing proper immunity. Additionally, because of the time needed for the manufacturer to produce the vaccine, the dominant strain can mutate, which can decrease the effectiveness of the vaccine. This is why researchers have been working on a universal u vaccine, one which would provide immunity against all twenty identi ed strains of in uenza.

This new universal vaccine was developed by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The vaccine is currently undergoing clinical trials at Duke University. There are 50 participants in the clinical trial ranging from ages 18-49. The study also contains participants who will receive the regular four-strain u vaccine, in order to compare the results. This new u vaccine works by using a protein, called hemagglutinin from all twenty strains of in uenza. This strategy is now possible with the new mRNA technology (which instructs cells in the body to make speci c proteins) which has previously been used to develop the highly successful Cov-2 and SARS vaccines.

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This vaccine has already been tested in mice and ferrets. The vaccinated mice were able to produce antibodies and the antibodies remained in the mice’s systems for months after vaccination.

The mice that were exposed to a similar u strain to the one in the vaccine remained mostly healthy, and all the mice survived. However, the unvaccinated mice did not survive. In order to further test the vaccine, the mice were exposed to a strain that was less similar to the ones in the vaccine. The vaccinated mice got sick, but for the most part, recovered. The unvaccinated mice were not so lucky and none of them survived the exposure. Researchers also tested a two-dose vaccine strategy, like that of COVID-19, in ferrets. After the second dose the ferrets were exposed to a u strain that was very different from the one in the vaccine (they were exposed to a type of bird u). All of the vaccinated ferrets got sick but survived. However, when it came to the unvaccinated ferrets, half of them died, and the ones who did survive took much longer to recover than the vaccinated ferrets. The results of these tests have left scientists with hope that the new universal u vaccine could be very effective. However, the true effectiveness of this vaccine in humans will only be known after the Duke clinical trials.

Keren Teichner ’25

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References “Clinical Trial of MRNA Universal In uenza Vaccine Candidate Begins.” National Institutes of Health (NIH), 15 May 2023, www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/clinical-trial-mrna-universalin uenza-vaccine-candidate-begins. Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

“Duke Health Leads Its First Clinical Trial Testing a New Universal Flu Vaccine.” Duke Health, 15 May 2023, corporate.dukehealth.org/news/duke-health-leads-its- rst-clinical-trial-testing-newuniversal- u-vaccine. Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

Kimball, Spencer. “Universal Flu Vaccine Based on MRNA Tech to Be Tested by National Institutes of Health.” CNBC, 15 May 2023, www.cnbc.com/2023/05/15/nih-will-start-testing-universal- uvaccine-based-on-mrna-technology.html. Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

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Jonas Salk, the History of the Polio Vaccine Poliomyelitis, or polio for short, is an illness caused by the poliovirus. It is an intestinal infection spread through fecal waste. In most cases the symptoms are mild, however, in approximately 1 of every 100 cases, the virus invades the central nervous system and can destroy the motor neurons which allow muscles to contract. In these cases, polio can lead to temporary or permanent paralysis. In the worst cases of polio, a condition known as bulbar polio can occur. This results in the muscles around the lungs becoming immobilized, making breathing dif cult or impossible.

The rst polio outbreak in the USA occurred in 1894, in Rutland County, Vermont, where 18 deaths and 132 cases of permanent paralysis were reported. It was during this time that it was discovered that not all cases of polio resulted in paralysis. However, it was not yet known that the disease was communicable; that would only be discovered in 1905. In 1916 a polio epidemic was announced in Brooklyn, NYC. Over 6000 Americans died and 27,000 people were left paralyzed in 1916 alone. Polio continued to spread at a rapid rate, especially among young children in the 1940s and 1950s. It peaked in 1952 when over 57,000 cases were reported. Something needed to change– America could not continue to lose thousands of lives each year.

Jonas Edward Salk was born on October 28, 1914, in New York City. He was born into a Russian Jewish immigrant family and attended NYU medical school where he researched the in uenza virus. In 1947 Dr. Salk was appointed director of the Virus Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he studied the poliovirus. At the time, a traditional vaccine against viruses was created by isolating a live but weakened virus and administering it to the recipient. This created a low-grade infection that would provide immunity. However, Salk had a different approach. He aimed to use a non-infectious, killed version of the virus in order to provide immunity. Despite being discouraged by many of his peers, he decided to stick with his approach. He eventually caught the

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attention of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, established by former president Franklin D. Roosevelt, widely known as the March of Dimes. He was given a grant to begin his research.

Salk used formaldehyde to kill the polio virus without destroying its antigenic properties. The vaccine's safety was established and Salk administered the vaccines to volunteers, including himself, his wife, and children. In 1954 Salk undertook an even larger testing procedure, in which over one million people participated. In 1955 it was announced that the Salk vaccine was both safe and effective. In 1955 there were almost 30,000 cases of polio in the United States. After mass implementation of the vaccine, by the year 1959, there were less than 6000. The Salk vaccine was later administered in over 90 countries.

Despite the clear success of the vaccine, shortly after mass vaccination began in the US, some vaccinated people developed paralysis in the limb in which the vaccine was administered. In a few cases vaccinated people were fully paralyzed or died. This was investigated and it was discovered that when preparing the vaccine, Cutter Laboratories and Wyeth Laboratories had not properly killed the virus, releasing the live polio virus into one hundred thousand people. It is for this reason that the Salk vaccine lost the trust of many. As a result of the doubts about the Salk vaccine, Dr. Albert Sabin’s vaccine, an oral vaccine, was administered in many different countries, primarily in the Soviet Union.

Nevertheless, the US committed to the Salk vaccine which remains the primary Polio vaccine in the US to this day.

In 1965, Salk moved to La Jolla, California where he established the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Salk later died in 1995 from heart failure, but his legacy lives on. The Salk Institute remains one of the most prestigious scienti c institutes in the world and his vaccine continues to be administered in the United States and many other countries. The once most feared virus has now been eradicated from the United States.

Keren Teichner ’25

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References “Breaking the Back of Polio.” Medicine.yale.edu, 2005, medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicinemagazine/article/breaking-the-back-of-polio/#:~:text=Braces%20and%20the%20iron%20lung.

Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

Beaubien, Jason. “Wiping out Polio: How the U.S. Snuffed out a Killer.” NPR.org, 15 Oct. 2012, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/10/16/162670836/wiping-out-polio-how-the-u-ssnuffed-out-a-killer. Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

“History of Polio: Outbreaks and Vaccine Timeline.” Mayo Clinic, www.mayoclinic.org/diseasesconditions/history-disease-outbreaks-vaccine-timeline/polio. Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

Karsh, Yousuf. “Jonas Salk, the People’s Scientist.” Yousuf Karsh, Oct. 2018, karsh.org/jonas-salk-thepeoples-scientist/. Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

Mayo Clinic. “Polio - Symptoms and Causes.” Mayo Clinic, 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseasesconditions/polio/symptoms-causes/syc-20376512. Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

“Polio.” Cpp-Hov.netlify.app, 2022, historyofvaccines.org/history/polio/timeline. Accessed 10 Sept.

2023.

“Salk House.” University of Michigan Medical School, 12 Dec. 2016, medicine.umich.edu/medschool/ education/md-program/m-home/our-houses/salk-house. Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

Salk Institute for Biological Studies. “About Jonas Salk - Salk Institute for Biological Studies.” Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 2015, www.salk.edu/about/history-of-salk/jonas-salk/.

Accessed 10 Sept. 2023.

Tan, SY, and N Ponstein. “Jonas Salk (1914–1995): A Vaccine against Polio.” Singapore Medical Journal, vol. 60, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 9–10, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC6351694/, https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2019002.

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The Groundbreaking New Blood Test for Alzheimer’s Disease Scientists have recently developed a new blood biomarker - phospho-tau217 - that can help patients receive more accurate screenings for Alzheimer’s disease. When used in blood tests, phosphotau217 has successfully distinguished Alzheimer’s disease from other diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. The blood test operates at roughly 96% accuracy, making it the most effective and accurate screening method to date, surpassing other blood tests and even MRIs. Additionally, compared to other tests for Alzheimer’s, the phospho-tau217 provides simple, to-the-point results, making the test easier to understand and more useful for patients in terms of determining whether or not they are at high risk for Alzheimer’s and creating treatment plans.

Alzheimer’s is a disease that leads to cognitive decline and memory loss. The disease is caused by several proteins, namely the Tau protein, building up plaque around brain cells, inhibiting them from functioning properly. This blood marker is more prevalently found in people even in the “early stages” of cognitive decline, and less so in everyone else. The new blood test for Alzheimer’s is a twostep process. The rst stage is to pinpoint patients who - due to their possession of the p-tau217 biomarker, their age, and the APOE e4 gene (often an indicator of a genetic propensity to Alzheimer’s) - might be at risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Patients with inconclusive results receive the new Alzheimer’s screening, where a blood test indicates with a yes or no whether or not they have - or are at high risk for - Alzheimer’s disease.

This groundbreaking blood test has several implications that will ultimately bene t consumers.

Testing for the phospho-tau217 biomarker is a much more effective method of screening patients for Alzheimer’s, as it provides more accurate diagnoses, which means more patients whom previous tests might not have labeled as at-risk for Alzheiemer’s can instead get the care or treatment they need. This test is also much more affordable than previous tests, meaning testing for Alzheimer’s is now accessible to a larger number of people. A blood test, as opposed to more complicated screening options, makes testing for Alzheimer’s a less strenuous endeavor with quicker results. The only aw

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with the blood test is that it only indicates to patients whether or not they have Alzheimer’s, which doesn’t help patients who possess the phospho-tau217 biomarker but are not at high enough risk for Alzheimer’s for the test to come out positive. This, however, might be recti ed with future research, which might grant scientists more insight into Alzheimer’s and how it develops, thus enabling them to produce an even more accurate test.

Noa Essner ’25

References Dorman, Aaron. “Alzheimer’s Blood Tests Claim “Very High Accuracy” via Screening Results, Latest Research Shows.” McKnight’s Senior Living, 7 Sept. 2023, www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/ home/news/tech-daily-news/alzheimers-blood-tests-claim-very-high-accuracy-via-screeningresults-latest-research-shows/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2023.

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Lasek, Alicia. “Highly Accurate Alzheimer’s Blood Test a “Breakthrough,” Observers Say.” McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, 29 July 2020, www.mcknights.com/news/clinical-news/ highly-accurate-alzheimers-blood-test-a-breakthrough-observers-say/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.

News, Neuroscience. “Two-Step Blood Test Sharpens Alzheimer’s Diagnosis.” Neuroscience News, 31 Aug. 2023, neurosciencenews.com/two-step-blood-test-sharpens-alzheimers-diagnosis/ #:~:text=A%20new%20blood%20test%20called.

Teunissen, Charlotte E. , et al. “Validate User.” Academic.oup.com, Dec. 2020, academic.oup.com/ brain/article/143/11/3170/6024721.

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The New Butter y Vivarium at the Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History is a landmark New York City Institution. Opened in 1871, young scientists have been exploring its halls ever since, roaming the Herpetology, Ichthyology, and Paleontology sections with wonder. On February 17th, 2023, its nal construction project, The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, brought a permanent butter y vivarium to the museum.

Before the Richard Gilder Center, the museum would install a biannual seasonal butter y exhibit concurrent with the Monarch Butter ies's two-way migration patterns. Monarch Butter ies are the only known butter ies to make two-way migration patterns, an evolutionary behavior commonly found in migratory birds.

Walking into the new Davis Family Butter y Vivarium, the diversity of life shocks the tourists' eye. There are over 160,000 species of Lepidoptera, the taxonomic order made up of butter ies and moths, and their environments can range from the tropic regions of Barbados to the Scandinavian ice sheets. AMNH's vivarium houses 80 different live species, most from tropic regions (the room is kept at an elevated temperature) and over 130 taxidermied ones in an adjacent gallery. Besides being given the opportunity to observe butter ies in a semi-natural habitat, highlights of the exhibit include a pupae incubator, which allows visitors to view chrysalises and witness adult butter ies emerge and a display dedicated to the unique attributes of the Atlas moth, one of the largest insects in the world. For museum-goers interested in live specimens, with the recent renovation also comes the Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium, housing insects ranging from the blue death-feigning beetle to one of the world's largest displays of live leafcutter ants. For future Entomologists, the museum's state-of-theart installations serve as learning and teaching facilities that usher in a new wave in science education.

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Sarah Silverman ‘24

References “Davis Family Butter y Vivarium: AMNH.” American Museum of Natural History, www.amnh.org/ exhibitions/butter ies. Accessed 6 Oct. 2023.

Pace, Lisha. “Where Do Butter ies Live?” AZ Animals, 20 Sept. 2022, a-z-animals.com/blog/wheredo-butter ies-live/.

“Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium: AMNH.” American Museum of Natural History, www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/gilder-center/insectarium. Accessed 6 Oct. 2023.

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"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

The important thing is to not stop questioning." - Albert Einstein

This publication which encourages science research is generously sponsored by The Harriet H. Cohen and Paul Milberg Science Research Program

EDITORS Sarah Silverman ’24 Noa Essner ’25

FACULTY ADVISOR Ms. Lenore Brachot

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