THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2017
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 14 NDSUSPECTRUM.COM
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY | FOR THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE
Celebrating the Life of Elizabeth M. Helm Candlelit vigil shines light on Ellie’s life Dan Ukkelberg Staff Writer
Students, friends and sisters gathered to remember the life of Elizabeth Mary Helm. As people began to arrive at the vigil they were handed a candle and a card with the list of speakers, a picture of Ellie and one phrase, “She Shined as Bright as the Sun.” “You may be small, but your heart is so big,” Paige Schwartz said. “We will never forget you.” This theme seemed to be repeated many times throughout the vigil as nearly all of the speakers mentioned how Ellie’s heart and spirit outsized her body. “Community means standing together in celebration and in loss,” Vice Provost of Student Affairs Laura Oster-Aaland said. “I stand with you, your friends, your classmates, your instructors, because we are all a part of this community.” Hundreds of people attended the vigil and stood in solidarity. They stood in silence, sang at times, held candles and released 21 balloons to represent Ellie’s 21 years of life on this Earth. “She had the biggest smile. She had the biggest heart. She had the biggest sense of humor. And the only thing to this day that I will ever see bigger than Ellie’s love for everybody is the love of the community for her,” Interfraternity Council president and friend of Ellie, Alex Stangel said. Stangel also went on to say how Ellie helped him become the person he
LARISA KHANARINA | THE SPECTRUM
The student body gathered for a candlelit vigil in memory of Ellie Helm. is today and how one day, when he is lucky enough to have a daughter, he will contact Holly Helm — Ellie’s mother — to get pointers because he wants his future daughter to be just like Ellie. “I always wanted an older brother growing up. But what I didn’t know, was how much I needed a 21-year-old sister,” Ellie’s cheer partner Roger Dickenson said. “I
“I was the one lifting her up physically, but she lifted me up higher than I could ever imagine.” Roger Dickenson, Ellie’s friend and cheer partner
was the one lifting her up physically, but she lifted me up higher than I could ever imagine.” Dickenson
explained how Elizabeth Mary was also the name of his 15-year-old sister and how he can never begin to
thank God for blessing him with two beautiful sisters with such amazing names. Dickenson was followed by three friends of Ellie’s — her roommate Haley Pacholl, her Kappa Delta “little” Sydney Yingling and sorority sister Molly Berdan — who vowed to live as Ellie lived: strong, loving and selfless. The last speaker of the night was her friend Amy Muller. “I am blessed to
have shared countless fond memories and traditions with Ellie,” Muller said. After Muller spoke, candles were lit, the music played and the balloons were released. When students were told the vigil was over, everyone stood still holding their candles in silence. It was not until minutes later people started to blow out their candles and depart. The vigil took place Oct 9. at 8 p.m.
Medical Application of Spider Silk Spider silk is being researched to be used for medical advancements Phoebe Ellis
Head News Editor
Spider silk is now being considered as a means for advancement in medical applications. Amanda Brooks, assistant professor of pharmaceutical science, is currently researching ways to use a certain type of spider silk to create extended release drugs for medical applications. Spider silk is an interesting option because it’s strong, stretchy and spiders can produce a lot of it. For the purposes of Brooks’ lab-
oratory, the spiders have the specific silk extracted from them every other day for about an hour. The spiders used for these studies, golden silk orb-weaver spiders, have six types of silk they produce, but the researchers only use one. They use a microscope to ensure the extraction of the correct fibers, but the spiders are not hurt in this process. After processing the fiber, it turns into a white powder, but researchers need to find a way to turn it back into silk. There’s a liquid face, and then they spin spider silk. They then turn it
INSIDE
4
“We took a little element and we mixed it into spider silk and now we can create these little bubbles and inside these little bubbles we package a bunch of antibiotics.” - Amanda Brooks, assistant professor in pharmaceutical science
back into a usable fiber. Researchers look at the underlying biology of the fibers and use structure function relationships to create
Former NDSU student Jason Lord and his legacy in a Minard hall bathroom
specific items they can use. They mix and match biological and mechanical functions to create what they see lacking in the medical com-
6
munity. “Like Lego blocks, you can mix and match and make different patterns,” Brooks said. “So spiders have specific Lego blocks that give mechanical function while there are other blocks in nature that give biological function.” The example Brooks used was heparin, a biomolecule that is found in the human body and prevents blood clots and fights infection. Mixed with the super silk background, it can grab that heparin from the bloodstream to help prevent clotting and infection. Because of spider
Origin Story at Memorial Union Gallery tells history of gallery through art
11
silk’s numerous properties, stretchiness, stockiness or elasticity, it’s perfect for a vast amount of applications. One of the larger projects Brooks is working on is an application of the spider silk to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria. The way she sees it, the pharmaceutical companies aren’t doing anything about antibiotic resistant bacteria because it doesn’t affect them, and the development of new and effective antibiotics is expensive and takes many years. SPIDER SILK | PAGE 2
Bison football will face stiff challenge in No. 8 Youngstown State