New partnership to make contraception accessible on campus

By Jessica McLaren Assistant News Editor

Four months ago, UTSA Wellbeing Services partnered up with Project Ruby to make contraceptive services more convenient and ac cessible for students at UTSA. Project Ruby (PRJKTRUBY) is an online platform where individuals can obtain affordable contraceptive services without sacrificing their rights to privacy and confidentiality.

Through PRJKTRUBY’s easy-to-use website, users can sched ule a same-day telehealth consultation with a doctor and receive a three-month supply of birth control in just a few days.

Regardless of your insurance status, their service offers three months of birth control for $20 per month and emergency contraception for $50, shipped in discreet packaging directly to your house for no extra cost. Users can also use the promo code “MYCHOICE2022” to get $10 off of their first purchase.

“I read an article [this past summer] about how some women were choosing which colleges to attend based on whether abortion is prohibited in that state,” Chloe Rotonda, a 10thgrade student in New York who reached out to UTSA regarding PRJKTRUBY’s services, explained. “I started in states that have the strictest abortion laws, and I identified [UTSA] as a campus with at least 30,000 students, so I wrote [to] the president, Dr. Taylor Eighmy, and he connected me with [UTSA Wellbeing Services].”

Working alongside Wellbeing Education Coordinator Jamie Singh, Chloe was able to spread the word about PRJKTRUBY to students at UTSA, providing at least 85 students with monthly contraceptive packages thus far.

By Gauri Raje News Editor

On Monday, Jan. 30, UTSAPD responded to reports of “several vehicles [being] damaged during attempted motor vehicle thefts” on the Main Campus.

The police department’s daily crime log shows that the first incident, categorized as a “Burglary of a Vehicle,” occurred in Resident Lot 3 and was reported at 1:44 p.m. on Monday.

Three other incidents with the same description occurred at Barshop Blvd. Lot 1, Resident Lot 3 and Brackenridge Ave. Lot 2 and were reported at 3:45 p.m., 4:14 p.m. and 4:24 p.m., respectively.

Students were notified of the incidents last Monday night through the university’s alert system.

“These incidents focused on specific vehicle types — Chevrolet pickup trucks and Dodge

Chargers. Two of each model were targeted. We have a very active investigation underway including reviewing camera footage that could help us track down leads and identify suspects,” UTSAPD Chief of Police Stephanie Schoenborn said in a statement to The Paisano.

To report any additional information about the incidents or suspicious activity related to them on campus, you can reach UTSAPD at (210) 458-4911.

UTSA hosts State of the University address

By Mason Hickok Editor-in-Chief

As UTSA begins another academic year, President Taylor Eighmy hosted a State of the University address, followed by a panel discussion with faculty, staff and senior Public Health major Erica McFarland. On Monday, Jan. 30, Eighmy addressed an audience of leadership, faculty, students and staff in-person and online about the university’s trajectory.

Much of the address was centered around UTSA’s three strategic destinations. Eighmy took time at the beginning of the conversation to recognize where the university is today while looking toward the future, returning to the belief that “great cities need great universities.”

“The concept of our great city of San Antonio needing us to be a great university is a powerful driver for where we have been going, where we are today and where we will go,” Eighmy said.

At the beginning of the Fall

2022 semester, UTSA launched its Bold Scholar Program, bringing in about 220 first-year students to live on campus for their first year of college.

Eighmy acknowledged the changing landscape of higher education and UTSA’s place within that.

“One big feature … especially for public higher education is that we will be measured now not by the exclusiveness of our admissions policies, but by our inclu siveness; about who we let in and who we ad vance,” Eighmy said.

In speaking about this, there was a graphic displaying some of UTSA’s rankings around economic & social mobil- ity. For example, the graphic included data from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, which lists UTSA in the top 18% of the nation for long-term return on investment.

“We’re crushing it in how well we do around advancing economic mobility,” Eighmy said.

Eighmy took time to recognize the partnership with UT Health San Antonio.

“We’re grateful for that,” Eighmy said. “The fact that we could work to bring forward a joint school of public health for San Antonio is immensely powerful.”

Read the full article at https://paisano-online.com

Professor part of brain health treatment study

By Kylar Royer Staff Photographer

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive, fastgrowing brain cancer with a high mortality rate. Most patients do not live more than one year after their diagnosis, and only 12% live for five years.

A team of scientists from UTSA and UT Health San Antonio is working to find a viable treatment option for GBM patients. Their research aims to develop a compound to reduce GBM tumor size, thereby decreasing the symptoms patients may experience and adding another treatment modality to existing cancer therapies.

Dr. Stanton McHardy, a chemistry professor at UTSA, became involved with the project due to two of his collaborators — Ratna K. Valdlamudi, a professor in the OB-GYN department at UT Health San Antonio, and Andrew Brenner, M.D., Ph.D., from the Mays Cancer Center.

“They came to me and talked to me about this program, and it was perfect for me because it combined two of the things that I am passionate about — neuroscience research and cancer,” McHardy said.

Most of McHardy’s time is consumed by research dedicated to developing preclinical drug candidates as the Center for Innovative Drug Discovery (CIDD) director. The CIDD is funded by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT); grant’s from the institute have allowed the generation of preliminary data on fundamental projects at the CIDD and paved the way for funding granted by the National Cancer Institute.

“The team recently was awarded $3 million by the National Cancer Institute (NCI)”, an article from UTSA Today reads. “The grant, which began on January 1, 2023, follows previous NCI funding of $2 million that supported laboratory studies yielding fundamental understandings needed to progress to drug development.”

A primary focus of McHardy’s research is on “developing novel small molecules for therapies.”

“We think of ourselves as molecular architects,” McHardy said. “So, the heart and soul of what we do is designing new molecules for improved biological activity.”

McHardy explains that it is “an incredibly large challenge to develop a small molecule that could kill the GBM tumor because in order to kill the GBM tumor, it has to get past the blood-brain barrier.”

The blood-brain barrier is a crucial part of the CNS. It surrounds the brain, protecting it from harmful substances. The barrier is like a gated neighborhood; it only lets in the residents who keep the community running while preventing unwanted guests that could disrupt their environment.

Utsa

Two faculty members from the UTSA College of Sciences, Audrey Lamb and Anthony Chronopoulos, have been elected as 2022 Fellows for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Lamb is a professor of chemistry as well as the department chair. She is being honored for her scientific contributions related to X-ray crystallography and her advancements in understanding reactions involved in natural product biosynthesis. Dr. Chronopoulos, a professor emeritus in the Computer Science department, is being recognized for his involvement with science computing.

Texas

Approximately 265,000 homes and businesses in Austin — around half of all Austin Energy customers — found themselves without power at some point during the freezing rain, ice and sleet that swept Texas and neighboring states last week. As of Saturday evening, more than 57,000 customers remained without power, marking four days since the storm caused widespread outages.

U.S.

Last Friday, ex-officer Preston Hemphill was fired from the Memphis Police Department in response to the violent arrest and consequent death of Tyre Nichols. His termination occurred after internal investigations revealed that he violated several department policies, including rules about the use of a stun gun. So far, Hemphill is the sixth officer to have been let go of due to his actions during the incident.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

Tom Vilsack recently announced a proposal to update nutrition standards that would limit the amounts of sugar and sodium allowed in school lunches. If approved, the proposal would gradually reduce sodium levels by 30% by fall 2029 in alignment with federal guidelines. It would also require that sugars account for no more than 10% of the total calories per week in school breakfast and lunch. The earliest changes would take place during the 20252026 school year and would limit high-sugar foods like cereal, yogurt and flavored milk. A public comment period on the matter will be open from Feb. 7 to April 7.

World

On Jan. 28, the Biden administration identified a large Chinese balloon floating over Alaska. The balloon passed through Canada, traveling through Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri and North Carolina before being shot down along the coast of South Carolina Saturday afternoon. Chinese authorities, who insist that the balloon was a civilian aircraft that had gone off-path, have condemned the response as an overreaction; however, similar balloons have been identified during the Trump administration, the beginning of the Biden administration and in Latin America.