Page 9 - CEMS News Winter 2023

DEI UPDATE
Diversity, equity, and inclusion continued from page 8
complements CEMS’ current group activities that are offered by “Science for All” and “Minds Matter.”
This academic year, “Science for All” consists of 50 University of Minnesota graduate student mentors delivering monthly, hands-on science lessons to nearly 100 students across Andersen United Middle School, Murray Middle School, and Heritage STEM Academy in the Twin Cities.
CEMS outreach activities are gaining visibility in the community in other ways as well. In September, several members of SOAR staffed a table at the 16th annual kickoff event for the Louis Stokes North Star STEM Alliance. The Alliance supports underrepresented minority students throughout Minnesota in applying to STEM baccalaureate programs, networking, academic excellence, and
professional development. SOAR members shared information on CEMS undergraduate programs curricula, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) opportunities through the MRSEC, and principal CEMS research foci for students interested in applying to graduate school.
Inclusive Teaching
The “Gopher Equity Project” is a DEI module that is now required for all undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota. The DEI Working Group provided access to this module for all CEMS instructors and teaching assistants.
Thanks to these contributors from the Working Group: Marisa Bazzi, Spencer Bingham, Daniel Krajovic, Alon McCormick, Dave Morse.
Paulina Eberts wins top prizes continued from page 3
Alzheimer’s research
Eberts’ conviction to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease has a personal connection. Her grandfather, Julius, was afflicted with the disease. It is likely that small, subtle changes in his brain occurred over time allowing his disease to progress to dementia.
Some of the earliest changes that occur in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients center around the blood-brain barrier, which could be considered the “gateway” to the brain. It carefully controls what enters and exits the brain, keeping brain cells happy and healthy. However, at the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease, the gateway “breaks down” which can cause some real damage. Eberts seeks to find the root cause of why that occurs and how to prevent that degradation.
As Eberts explained in her presentation, there’s no single cause of Alzheimer’s; it’s a combination of an individual’s genetic and non-genetic risk factors that come together to determine the person’s likelihood of developing the disease. Still, no one knows how those factors affect the
early blood-brain barrier changes, and Eberts’ research aims to address that unknown.
In the laboratory, Eberts creates miniature blood-brain barrier models that are formed from the stem cells of healthy individuals and Alzheimer’s patients. She makes the barriers, tests their functions, and uses this information to determine how certain genes contribute to reduced barrier function. She’s also moving toward introducing non-genetic factors (like inflammatory molecules) into
the system, so she can examine the interplay between the genetic and non-genetic factors. She intends to use this information to identify which combinations of factors are the most damaging, and which changes in the blood- brain barrier should be targeted for early intervention. Ultimately, this information could be used to develop drug targets that can be used to modify the disease in its early stages.
Watch Paulina’s winning presentation online: z.umn.edu/ peberts
CEMSnews Winter 2023 9