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january 29, 2014
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A&M researchers burrow into the mind’s paths
THE
BRAIN
TRAIN Huinan Li, biology graduate student, extracts isolated synaptic vesicles in the Harlow Lab.
Homer Segovia
The Battalion ike a subway in New York, transporters in the brain shuffle their passengers along every day, thousands of times per minute, to keep the brain working. These transporters are synaptic vesicles and in Mark Harlow’s lab, researchers navigate through this microscopic traffic to gain insight as to how our brain works. “We see these images in movies of these electrical impulses traveling through the brain, which is certainly true, that neurons use electrical pulses to move information great distances very, very rapidly, but once that information has gotten from one cell to the other cell, most of the communication now transitions from an electrical impulse into a small chemical signal,” said Harlow, assistant professor of biology. “I study those small chemical signals and how they’re packaged and how that package is in release.” This chemical communication is made possible through a system of synapses, synaptic vesicles and chemicals known as neurotransmitters. Synapses can be seen as the “train stations” of neurons, connecting neurons to one another. Continuing with the analogy, synaptic vesicles are the trains, making neurotransmitters the passengers being transported between neurons. Harlow’s lab researches this system, focusing on the structure of the synaptic vesicles and the proteins they contain. Harlow focuses on cholinergic synapses, or synapses that communicate mainly via the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which tells our muscles when to move. Harlow said although these synapses make up only about one percent of the synapses in the brain, that one percent is highly influential.
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See Brain on page 3
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
Students watch President Barack Obama deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday in Rev’s Cafe in the MSC.
state of the union
Obama aims to catalyze Congress P
resident Barack Obama held his annual State of the Union address Tuesday night and touched on topics such as renewable energy, income inequality and equal access to education. Obama also addressed the fatigue of the citizenry toward political partisanship. “There are millions of Americans outside of Washington who are tired of stale political arguments,” Obama said. Meredith Hansen, junior sociology major, said she liked some of Obama’s message, but not all. “I’m starting to think about politics in terms of what I think about, not my friends or family, and so some of the stuff I agreed with was what he said about outsourcing jobs and closing tax loop holes,” Hansen said. “But they talked about climate change a lot and, I don’t know, I don’t really believe that.” Obama closed with the hopes that Congress would work with him on the points he highlighted, but warned he would do everything executively possible if it would not act. Duncan Rankin, special to The Battalion For the full story, go online at thebatt.com
Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
lgbt
Painting illustrates identity on campus Inclusion grant yields colorful project
Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Sophomore guard Alex Caruso leads the SEC in assists and assists per game.
m. basketball
Aggies take three-game skid to South Carolina Conner Darland The Battalion
A
fter three consecutive losses, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team (12-7, 3-3 SEC) looks to bounce back as it matches up against the South Carolina Gamecocks (712, 0-6 SEC) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Columbia, S.C. The Gamecocks head into the game on a six-game losing streak. Wednesday’s matchup marks the third time A&M has faced South Carolina and the
BAT_01-29-14_A1.indd 1
first time the Aggies will play inside Colonial Life Arena. The Aggies hold a 2-0 series lead against the Gamecocks, most recently defeating South Carolina earlier this season 75-67 in Reed Arena. During the last meeting between the two teams on Jan. 15, the Gamecocks fell into a shooting slump, only converting 5-of-18 shots from behind the arc. A&M also forced See South Carolina on page 4
Jennifer Reiley
The Battalion s students tramp from class to class, certain facets of their identity may be proudly displayed while others might be quietly tucked between papers and books in their backpacks. In a celebration of these unique identities, along with the common threads which bind individuals together, the GLBT Resource Center unveiled “Celebrating Shades of Color,” a painting that displays the diversity and intersectionality of members of the LGBT community at Texas A&M on Tuesday. The painting, created by local artist Jill Pankey, was commissioned by the student organization, Shades of Queer. Jude Magaro, presi-
A
Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
Ali Mendha (second from left) and Jude Magoro (right) sit in front of the painting by Jill Pankey. dent of Shades of Queer and senior anthropology major, said the funding for the painting came from the Department of Diversity and the 50 Years of Inclusion grant. “The 50 Years of Inclusion Grant got funded because it’s been 50 years since Texas A&M has allowed both men and women into
the university,” Magoro said. “That was also when the first African-American student was admitted. In the spirit of inclusion, they opened up the grant to all types of diversity, and the significance of having this painting in the Resource Center is that the community has grown and the LGBT See LGBT on page 3
1/28/14 10:42 PM
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Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
Melissa LeRoy, chair of the MSC Visual Arts Committee, says students can “lose sight of the arts” at a campus like Texas A&M.
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Exhibit delves in darkness of human condition Goya, Castellon paired for similar artistic concerns Jordan Cooley
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thebattalion THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT VOICE OF TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893
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THE BATTALION is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in Student Media, a unit within the Division of Student Affairs. Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: http://www.thebatt.com. Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising, call 979-845-2687. For classified advertising, call 979-8450569. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Email: battads@thebatt.com. Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. First copy free, additional copies $1.
T
he darker side of the human condition has fascinated artists for centuries, leaving their audiences to question what truly lies in the deepest recesses of their minds. The exhibit, “Fear and Folly,” in Reynolds Gallery in the MSC, presents art from Francisco Goya and Federico Castellon. Eric Clausen, MSC Visual Arts Committee program coordinator, said even though Goya and Castellon are separated by about 150 years, they are exhibited together because of stylistic similarities. “This exhibit was put together by the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts for several reasons,” Clausen said. “Firstly, both are well known Spanish artists with similar styles. Secondly, they both display extreme interest in the human body and the dark side of human nature while also expressing the humor in each situation.”
Goya, who lived from 1746-1826, commented on the human condition and unconscious mind by etching “dark and mysterious creations into his pieces,” said Sairah Zia, MSC Visual Arts Committee art resource executive and senior chemistry major. “Goya was interested in much more than the physical horrors,” Zia said. “He was fascinated by the mental horrors, horrors of the human mind, our nightmares and fears.” While Goya’s art is “morbid and daunting,” Clausen said the art still has a delicateness that makes the pieces inviting and pleasant to look at. Zia said Castellon’s etchings, “There Were Sharp Pains” and “Sudden Dizziness” best depict his interest in the usually “invisible” effects of disease. “Instead of drawing the physical aspects of the disease, Castellon shows us the mental toll of the disease,” Zia said. “He illustrates the isolation and loneliness that comes with disease.” At the suggestion of his publisher to illustrate a work of fiction, Zia said Castellon chose to illustrate Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” The
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MSC Visual Arts Committee has placed copies of the story along with an informational pamphlet to accompany the exhibit. The MSC Visual Arts Committee hoped to reach the students of A&M through Goya and Castellon, said Melissa LeRoy, chair of the MSC Visual Arts Committee and senior petroleum engineering major. “Being on a campus that is so heavily science and math dense, students can lose sight of the arts,” LeRoy said. Clausen said even though he is the professional staff member, the committee is a student-run organization, and the gallery is meant to provide not only student enjoyment, but a relief from academics. “The students plan the exhibits,” Clausen said. “I’m here for advice on the art and to help with handling the art.” “Fear and Folly,” will be in the Reynolds Gallery in the MSC until March 15. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and is closed on Mondays.
How did you feel when you woke up and school wasn’t cancelled?
“It was difficult to get places, but we are here to get an education and we’re not going to get that money back if we don’t go.”
“I stayed in bed for an extra 30 minutes waiting for the Code Maroon, and it never did. I’m still waiting for that Code Maroon.”
Nathan Bomba, sophomore mechanical engineering major
Vielka Fajardo, freshman business major
Photo feature by David Cohen — THE BATTALION
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BAT_01-29-14_A2.indd 1
1/28/14 9:07 PM
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page 3 wednesday 1.29.2014
thebattalion
LGBT Continued from page 1
Huinan Li, biology graduate student, says his research could impact understanding of such diseases as Alzheimer’s.
community is a part of the Aggie family and that there is as much diversity within the LGBT community as there is in the rest of campus.” Ali Mendha, treasurer of Shades of Queer and senior anthropology major, said the painting is meant to signify the diversity within the LGBT community. “The significance, we feel, is it’s a different way to educate the general community that LGBT community is not so single-faceted,” Mendha said. “It is not always what is portrayed, not all LGBT gay men are white, gay men that are blonde and pretty, not all lesbians are wearing plaid and have the hats turned back.” Mendha said college students can relate to the painting and the message of intersectionality that Shades of Queer promotes because of the diverse identities each person may claim. “Problems that we have
Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
Continued from page 1
“These neurons are very, very important for regulating learning and memory and attention,” Harlow said. Cholinergic neurons should be of particular interest to the average person, Harlow said, because those neurons usually die off in Alzheimer’s patients. This is part of the reason learning and memory functions are diminished in those with Alzheimer’s. The difficulty of isolating and observing cholinergic neurons in the human brain made neurobiologists such as Harlow turn to a fish known as Torpedo californica, or the electric ray. “Going back all the way to the beginning of mankind, we’ve known that there was really something unique about the electric rays,” Harlow said. “The Egyptians have hieroglyphs that called them thunder fish. They had made the connection that these fish had the same type of power as lightning. They didn’t know what electricity was, but they knew that these fish would produce something that would shock you.” Harlow said because the organ used by electric rays to produce electricity is basically a giant synapse, it contains cholinergic vesicles large enough to isolate and observe. Despite this, the vesicles are still so small that biology graduate student and member of Harlow’s lab, Huinan Li, must use techniques such as electron microscopy and electron tomography to view them. At 100 nanometers in diameter, these tiny transporters are almost four times smaller than the shortest visible light wave. Li said he remains captivated by re-
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searching synaptic vesicles, what he called “the most specific part of the nervous system.” “The reason why I feel it’s very fascinating research is you can relate the mechanism for synaptic vesicle transmission to a lot of neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, drug addiction, even alcoholism,” Li said. “All of these will at some point be connected with modern disease and medical research.” While Li focuses on the structure of the vesicles, neuroscience graduate student Maria Stavrianakou researches the proteins found in the vesicles of the electric ray. “Eventually we want to understand the structure of these proteins on the vesicle,” Stavrianakou said. “Everything happens because of proteins in biology. Understanding, for example, what kind of vesicular transporters we have will tell us which neurotransmitters get loaded on the vesicle, which neurotransmitters we should expect to find in vesicular release.” Harlow said although the research in his lab is not likely to directly result in a cure for neurodegenerative diseases, understanding how a neuron communicates will lead to a better understanding of how to keep that communication healthy. “The studies that we’re doing in the lab help broaden the understanding of the chemical transmission that’s occurring there and hopefully may provide a window into how to make the synapses healthier, even after some types of injury, like Alzheimer’s,” Harlow said. “If we make sure that, and this is science communities in general, we’re doing really good basic science, eventually we will get to the point that we will have the ability to deal with a lot of diseases.”
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BAT_01_29_14_A3.indd 1
not officially connected, Magaro said both organizations play a role in the LGBT community. “We are not officially connected, but like in any community there are several parts,” Magaro said. “So the GLBT Resource Center and Shades of Queer are both part of a larger LGBT community on campus and in the Bryan-College Station area.” Magaro said he is proud of the LGBT students at A&M who have worked hard to make campus a more welcoming environment. “I am quite proud of having been a student leader for some time, ever since I was a freshman at A&M,” Magaro said. “I am proud that things have changed this much and that the community is more open. People recognize the LGBT community more as a part of the Aggie family because we are.” The painting will remain permanently on display at the Resource Center, and prints will be distributed to offices around campus in the future.
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in our lives are not simple,” Mendha said. “There are many aspects of an issue we’re looking at, whether it be in our research, in the people we know, or anything in our work. People are complex.” A group from Shades of Queer were in downtown Bryan during a First Friday, Magaro said, and fell in love with Pankey’s work when they went into her studio. “Jill [Pankey] is very supportive of diversity initiatives as well as the LGBT community,” Magaro said. “She’s a wonderful ally and when we approached her about the project, she was very excited.” In a statement from Pankey, she said the painting is about the celebration of uniqueness among Aggies. “When thinking about honoring this group of multicultural students, I knew I wanted to focus on the notion of celebrating a diverse group of young people that wanted to share their common experience,” Pankey said. While the GLBT Resource Center and Shades of Queer are
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Special to The Battalion hey can be seen all across campus — maroon clad tour guides leading groups of prospective Aggies around to the sights and smells of A&M — but much more goes into Aggie orientation than meets the eye. Sitting in their third floor Cain Hall office, this group of Aggies is preparing for this year’s class of new and returning orientation leaders. It’s quiet, but the mood is one of excitement. Each year ushers in more new students than the last, so the Aggie Orientation Leader Program has more to do, but also more to enjoy. Since 1981, this student-led organization has made its primary mission to welcome in and ease the transition for new students and their families. With an initial class of 250 peer advisors, Bobby Hartmann, co-director of AOLP and senior finance major, said the ranks haven’t been quite as full, with only 110 orientation leaders being selected from 200 applications last year. With increased enrollment
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of freshmen, the hopes are high for even more applications this year. Samantha Mott, co-director, said getting around 300 applications would be ideal with the target of 150 orientation leaders. When asked for the ideal applicant, Mott said AOLP is looking for an assortment of people with leadership qualities. “We want to be accepting to all so we really need and want all kinds of people,” Mott said, “but mainly those that have the ability to grow as leaders and want to seize that opportunity.” Hartmann said AOLP was looking for people seeking to grow as leaders and who want to develop their interpersonal skills. Hartmann said the application process is rigorous, beginning with a written application that provokes soul-searching questions. Then there is a group interview designed to move applicants out of their comfort zone, and finally a one-on-one interview. Hartman said the process is not impossible by any means, but the program is certainly not for those just looking to build a resume. Once an orientation leader has been accepted, a thorough preparation begins. Over the course of the spring semester,
South Carolina Continued from page 1
Aggies come-from-behind victory. In the win, junior guard Jamal Jones scored a team-high 22 points. Although he scored only three points in the last meeting, sophomore guard Alex Caruso is leading the SEC in assists (91) and assists per game (4.8). On the defensive side of the ball, he
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eight general meetings, a retreat and a two-day mock new student conference help to season them for the summer ahead. Whitney Pearson, co-director of public relations, said one of the most important things for her was the training on mingling and getting new students to open up. “You would think it would be really simple, but it can be difficult when you have new students,” Pearson said. “They typically are more reluctant to come out of their shells to ask questions and having training on getting them out was really helpful.” AOLP promotes socialization among its orientation leaders with weekly socials outside of events and random weekend gatherings. Hartmann said AOLP is a great program to get involved in at A&M. “If you’re looking for your niche, your little pond in the big sea, then AOLP is a great way to do it,” Hartmann said. “It’s a great way not only to find what you’re passionate about, but to fuel that passion with a love for A&M.” Applications for new and returning orientation leaders are due Wednesday.
ranks fourth in the SEC in steals per game (2.2). South Carolina head coach Frank Martin faced the Aggies seven times during his tenure as the head coach at Kansas State, and holds a 5-4 all-time record against the Aggies. The game will not be televised, but will be streamed online through ESPN3. It will also be aired on the Texas A&M Radio Network. The Aggies road trip will resume as they travel to take on the No. 3 Florida Gators at 3 p.m. Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.
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