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VOLUME 134: SUMMER 2019

A new ‘junk’-tion in DNA research

PAGE 8,9

Artificial leaves sprout from UIC research

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TECHNOSTAFF Technograph editor Ava Traverso Assistant Technograph editor Natalie Stanowski Editor-in-Chief Abby Paeth Managing editors Pari Apostolakos Tyler Panlillio Kenyon Edmond Designer editors Alanya Nulty Cassidy Brandt Copy chief Hannah Preston Assistant copy chief Brendan McGovern Rachael King Writers Yoav Margalit Shubhangi Joshi Zack Fishman Aristides Theodo Co-publishers Kit Donahue Melissa Pasco Contact (217) 337-8345 technograph@dailyillini.com Technograph 1001 S. Wright Street Champaign, IL 61820 AN ILLINI MEDIA PUBLICATION © 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS A step toward breathing easy PAGE 4,5

Obesity and its link to breast cancer PAGE 6,7

A new “junk”-tion PAGE 8,9

A seed of hope for the future of GM science PAGE 10,11

Artificial leaves PAGE 12,13

The Case of Cosmeceuticals PAGE 15

Breathe easy: University professor aims to help CF patients YOAV MARGALIT | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER

esearchers at the University recently made a breakthrough related to the treatment of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease affecting the respiratory system. According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, there are more than 30,000 diagnosed cases of CF in the U.S. with approximately 1,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. CF is a genetic disorder where the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene has mutated. This gene is responsible for manufacturing the CFTR protein, which acts as a channel for the lung cells. The lack of this protein inhibits the ability of lung cells to properly channel chloride — a component of salt — and bicarbonate — baking soda — into the fluid that coats the lungs. This inhibition has a number of unfortunate consequences. Chloride normally attracts water into the airway surface liquid. Without this, the liquid becomes much thicker than normal, causing it to become a mucus. This mucus captures bacteria more easily than usual, which is where the defective CFTR’s inability to shuttle bicarbonate becomes especially problematic. The lung cells typically rely on bicarbonate to resist bacterial infection. With both the increased chance of attracting infections and the decreased ability to resist them, it becomes especially difficult for people suffering from CF to lead healthy lives. For this reason, the average life span for people with CF who live to adulthood is roughly 37 years, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. While there is some treatment available to those who have partially functional CFTR genes, there is little to no treatment possible for those whose CF creates a completely nonfunctional gene. However, recent research has pointed to a possible source of hope for relief.

“We’re very hopeful and optimistic based on what we’ve seen in preclinical work,” said Martin D. Burke, professor in LAS. His focus has been on the use of an antifungal agent, amphotericin, as an ion channel to replace the defective CFTR protein. “I was thinking about the problem … and I got really excited about whether or not we could find small molecules to act as replacements for this missing protein, almost like a prosthesis on the molecular scale,” Burke said. “This is a natural product that evolved over hundreds of millions of years and has this extraordinary property of being able to self-assemble membranes and form ion channels.” So far, Burke, in collaboration with Dr. Mike Welsh of the University of Iowa, has tested the use of amphotericin as a potential treatment for CF in three separate circumstances. “We’ve been able to test it in primary epithelia — that is, from people with CF who donate their lungs when they get a transplant. We tested it in culture, and then we also tested it in pigs, and it worked in both of those cases,” Burke said. The use of pigs was an especially useful step in ascertaining amphotericin’s viability as a solution. “It turns out that that’s the best animal model we have for the disease in people … Pigs get CF in a very similar way to the way humans get CF in terms of the lung disease, whereas other animal models don’t,” Burke said. Amphotericin is traditionally only deployed as an antifungal agent in emergencies and it is a well-known cause of kidney damage when introduced to the blood. However, there are already studies showing exposure to amphotericin via the lungs — the hypothetical treatment method for CF — carries none of the dangerous side effects associated with amphotericin introduced by blood. “We need to do longer-term studies that show that amphotericin

5 can be tolerated longer-term, but there’s been studies showing for months that you can give amphotericin to the lungs and the patients seem to tolerate it very well,” Burke said. “The toxicity of the amphotericin seems to not be true if it’s inhaled.” This is promising news. While further research is needed, treatments of amphotericin could have manageable side effects. If a treatment of amphotericin could be introduced in the form of an inhaler much like those carried by people with asthma, there could potentially be a real solution to living with a cystic fibrosis diagnosis on the horizon. While only now coming to fruition, this project has been in the making for some time. Burke recounts meeting a young student with CF while in medical school. “We were describing CF and talking, and she stopped me in the conversation and said ‘Look, it sounds like you know exactly what’s wrong: why can’t you fix it?’” Burke recalls. “It was a life-changing conversation for me … We’ve been working on this project for 14 years since my lab started, but we’ve been thinking about it for 20 years since that day.” With the chemical research providing conclusive findings, the proposed amphotericin-based CF treatment can now move to clinical trials; but the research process is anything but over. “We’re excited, but at the same time, honestly, we wanted to help people,” Burke said. “At this point, we’re just very committed to finding out: Can this approach translate into the clinic and help people?” yoavm2@readtechno.com

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Obesity heightens breast cancer risk SHUBHANGR JOSHI | CONTRIBUTING TECHNOGRAPH WRITER

ccording to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer patients who reside in low-income areas have lower five-year survival rates than those in higher-income areas at every stage of diagnosis. Those who live in low-income areas are more susceptible to food insecurity, which can make healthy and low-fat food options more difficult to come by. Individuals with lower income levels are also disproportionately more likely to be obese, according to the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, professor in ACES, has formed a research group at the University that has found obesity can increase aggressiveness of estrogen receptor positive — or ER+ — breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Obesity is characterized by an increase in adipocytes, or fat cells in the human body, that can release free fatty acids into the bloodstream. A section of the study, coordinated with the help of Rebecca L. Smith, professor in Veterinary Medicine, focused on 37 non-obese and 63 obese postmenopausal women from the Baltimore area. Blood samples and BMIs were taken every year for approximately seven years to study the effects of obesity on breast cancer proliferation, or the spreading of the disease. In the blood samples, 300 proteins and metabolites were tracked over time. The proteins selected are associated with cancer, inflammation and cardiological disease and were chosen based on prior studies. These proteins were tracked over time and are thought to be indicative of a connection between obesity and cancer. Women who had higher breast cancer aggressivity were found to have

higher levels of free fatty acids and glycogens in their blood. The study concluded with findings suggesting women in the study who were obese had a higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who were non-obese. However, a number of women who were considered to be obese at the start of the study lost weight over the duration of it and were considered nonobese by the end of their research. “The free fatty acids that were present in these women when they were obese were not present when they lost weight,” Smith said. “Therefore, life choices can affect your risk for different types of breast cancer.” Due to the fact that the study only followed these women for seven years, Smith said it was unknown whether some women developed breast cancer after the research had concluded. It could only be hypothesized there was a decrease in risk for aggressive breast cancer in the women who had lost weight. After a correlation was found between obesity and breast cancer cell proliferation, a causation had to be explored as well. Investigation into the possible mechanisms that could connect free fatty acids to cancer found free fatty acids can trigger carcinogenic-signaling pathways, such as the mTOR pathway. These pathways were shown to increase proliferation and aggressivity of breast cancer cells. The mTOR pathway is an enzyme pathway that regulates growth and survival in metastatic cells, or cancer cells that have spread to other parts of the body. For ER+ breast cancer, the estrogen receptor was generally thought to be the

7 main driver that regulates gene expression in the presence of estrogen. It is a protein that binds to estrogen and regulates reproductive and nonreproductive function. Approximately 70% of all breast cancer diagnoses are ER+ breast cancer, which is characterized by overexpression of the estrogen receptor. Therefore, many of the current therapies used to treat breast cancer aim to target this specific receptor. “Normally you would expect that estrogen receptor would operate regardless of hormone activity, but we have seen that estrogen receptor can now be affected by (other) molecules in the blood,” Madak-Erdogan said. Ultimately, the study showed how expression of cancer varies from person to person based on physical factors. The results of this study suggested women could make conscious choices to decrease their risk of breast cancer. These findings empower women who have the resources to educate themselves about potential risks to their health. “We need to start considering breast cancer to be a very wide range of cancers,” Smith said. “Breast cancer treatments also need to take into account various factors relating to the patient herself, such as obesity.” Findings like these will help redirect funding toward research where the questions are the most important. With research like this, the future of healthcare looks bright. sjoshi32@ readtechno. com

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Professors prove ‘junk’ DNA has a purpose AVA TRAVERSO | TECHNOGRAPH EDITOR

he science behind evolution has an interesting history, to say the least. Ever since the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On The Origin of Species” in 1859, famous for citing the “survival of the fittest” ideology, evolution has been continuously refined in recent years. Because of this, many recent discoveries work to advance science and strengthen our knowledge. These discoveries serve to educate us as a society as well as change our thinking on concepts we previously perceived as fact. One of these such discoveries was recently publicized, and the findings have the potential to reshape our perception of genetics. A widely accepted notion up until recent years in the genetics and biology community is the concept of “junk” DNA. No, the DNA is not actually garbage or trash. The colloquial name, “junk,” is actually used to describe DNA that is noncoding, with this term first being coined in 1972. DNA is considered to be non-coding when it does not contain genes or does not produce proteins. Scientists had previously considered this DNA useless and did not study it for years. However, a recent study subjects this preconceived notion to intense questions. Christina Cheng, professor in LAS, in collaboration with Art DeVries, professor emeritus in LAS, have published a study showing evidence of “junk” DNA not being junk at all. Their research began decades prior, first in the research of antifreeze proteins within fish. DeVries speaks on how he be-

gan working with the antifreeze proteins in the mid-‘60s and how monumental the original findings had been. “These antifreeze (genes) work by a different mechanism,” DeVries said. “So what they do is they absorb to ice crystals. Think about it like covering an ice crystal with a hair net to prevent it from growing. This was very unusual. It had never been heard of before.” The new study revolves around research of arctic fish populations and the origin of an antifreeze gene within their DNA. The study was vital because the antifreeze gene was found in fish populations of both the Antarctic and the Arctic Circle, but up until recently, there was no plausible explanation as to how both of these populations developed the same gene. “These two groups of fishes are not related, meaning that they would not have shared a recent common ancestor that would have given both of them this antifreeze gene,” Cheng said. “The difference between how these versions evolved is that the first — the Antarctic version — came from a pre-existing ancestor … it evolved from partially junk DNA.” The much more difficult question to answer was how the gene was present in cod, which was the arctic fish DeVries and Cheng had been researching. There was not any clear evidence of an ancestral linkage, whereas in the antarctic population, there was, Cheng said. This led to the antarctic antifreeze gene being explained much earlier in time. “The cod version … there’s nothing out there like it. The usual way to figure out where a new gene comes from is using a sequence and searching the universe of gene sequences,” Cheng said. “If you use your new gene to query … and it hits on something that is statistically similar, then you know that the genes are related.” This was the sequencing method used for both fish genes. When the cod turned up blank but the antarctic fish hit a match, it was perplexing to say the least. Due to the lack of an ancestral link between the antifreeze gene and the cod’s DNA, it began raising questions on where exactly the gene came from and what it could mean for the science of genetics. “This is very odd because how do you invent something so useful ... that performs a very important, life-saving function where there is absolutely no ancestor to give rise to it?” Cheng said. “That spawned the idea that it might have come from junk DNA, which is why it wouldn’t come from an ancestor.” Finding backing for their hypothesis was a harrowing task, with DeVries and Cheng having to travel all over the world for decades to test different fish populations for this specific gene. The years of work paid off tenfold when the magnitude of their discovery came into the light.

Even though the current findings have raised many questions about what we had previously thought about genetics, the future of science remains even more mysterious in the wake of these discoveries. “It also revolutionized the idea that you don’t necessarily need a protein gene that is already there to change it to give you a new gene with a new protein function,” Cheng said. “What is impactful is that we know the function. It's very clear ... It actually came from very simple DNA sequences, something that was viewed as not useful. The contribution is that it solidifies the idea that you could evolve a very important function from a very simple stretch of sequence that we previously thought to be ‘junk.’” avat2@readtechno.com

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Study plants seed of hope for genetically modified science NATALIE STANOWSKI | ASSISTANT TECHNOGRAPH EDITOR

hether it’s a scientific study being broadcast on the evening news or rows of fresh vegetables at the supermarket, genetically modified foods have been popping up everywhere. While the merits, or lack thereof, of GM foods have been debated around the globe, it has become especially important to Florida’s citrus industry. According to the Florida Department of Citrus, Florida produces more than 70% of the U.S.’s citrus supply, but due to the harmful effects of a bug called the Asian Citrus Psyllid, Florida’s citrus trees have begun contracting citrus greening disease, an incurable illness that results in infected trees dying within about five years of contracting it. One of the proposed solutions for combating it is introducing genetically modified trees resistant to the disease, but due to the debate on the safety of GM foods, researchers need to be sure consumers would still be willing to purchase the fruit, knowing it has been genetically modified.

In an effort to gauge the public’s perception of GM foods and science, a recent survey was conducted with professors from multiple universities across the United States in hopes of shedding some light on the issue. The team was led by Taylor Ruth, professor in ACES. The survey gauged respondent’s attitudes toward GM science as well as how willing they were to share their thoughts about GM science and how they perceived others felt about the topic. The results of the survey found about half of the 1,050 respondents had a positive view toward GM science, 37% felt neutral and 14% had a negative perception of it. Those who responded positively to GM science constituted mostly of white males who were millennials or younger. “Millennials have always lived with genetic technology ... and there’s more information at different tech-

nicality levels available,” said Traci Irani, one of the researches and professors at the University of South Florida. “That’s why millennials are higher in number in terms of acceptance.” In contrast, the group of respondents who reported having a negative perception of genetically modified foods was largely made up of women, baby boomers and older adults. Compared to the positive group, these respondents also tended to be less likely to hold a college degree, with half reporting they had attended at least some college but had not received a degree. Concerning the gap in opinions between the newer and older generation, Irani believes it’s a matter of time before information on GM science becomes more widespread. “With any science and technology that is new, it takes time to really provide enough information and provide enough understanding so that members of the public are aware of and have the resources to learn about any new technologies,” Irani said. “It takes time, and the ability to spread that information around is facilitated by technology, but not everybody follows the same information sources.” GM science as a whole, despite how far we’ve come in our understanding of it, is still a topic that garners a lot of conflicting views from the public. To assist in the process of educating the public on the topic of GM foods, Jason D. Ellis, professor at Kansas State University involved in the study, said “an aspect of being able to

engage society is rooted in a lot of work in science communication and starting with ... an area of common understanding of what we do presently know and to then build (toward) the social aspects that are unknown about the various components of the technology.” To ascertain just what the common understanding looks like, communication between both scientists and the public is key. Studies like these are crucial for researchers to know what issues the public is most concerned about when it comes to that specific technology or field of science. “A lot of my colleagues and myself who work in this area really advocate listening to consumers and trying to ascertain why there (are) positive or negative feelings about any technology, and then trying to close those gaps and address concerns,” Irani said. “So the twoway model of communication I think is one of the best approaches to achieving public understanding and informed decision-making.” As communication between scientists and the public increases, consumers will have a better chance of forming an educated opinion on the topic. The results of the study show us attitudes toward GM science are largely positive, but we still have to bridge the gap between what consumers know and what they need to learn more about to close the gaps in their knowledge.

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Artificial leaves sprout from climate change research ZACK FISHMAN | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER

arbon dioxide, a very small and very stable greenhouse gas, has been voluminously ejected into Earth’s atmosphere during centuries of fossil fuel combustion. It has caused widespread disruption of natural systems via climate change and threatens even worse damage in the near future. To avoid the worst maladies of a heating world, CO2 emissions must fully cease by 2050, according to a report from leading climatologists. Replacing all sources of the greenhouse gas is a tall order. Over 85% of the world’s energy originates from fossil fuels, and budding renewable energy technologies will need to expand aggressively — some say at an impossible rate — to keep up with the energy demand. Instead of fully eliminating fossil fuel use, what if the CO2 produced was removed from the air? Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have been pursuing this question by designing an “artificial leaf,” a constructed device that cleanses the air of CO2 and turns it into carbon-neutral fuel. “Long story short, leaves do two things simultaneously,” said Meenesh Singh, professor in Engineering at UIC. “One is harvesting sunlight, and second is capturing carbon dioxide.” The proposed artificial photosynthesis system, researched

by Singh and UIC graduate student Aditya Prajapati, would be more efficient than actual plants. According to the pair’s paper published in the journal American Chemical Society Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, the artificial leaf is more than 10 times better at absorbing CO2. Despite its name, the artificial leaf hardly resembles its natural green namesake. Rather, Singh described the device as a “balloon” made of a membrane containing both water and a box-shaped system equipped with solar cells. Artificial photosynthesis isn’t new — scientists have been making rapid progress in the technology for the past two decades — but the UIC team’s innovation lies in the membrane and its ability to capture CO2 from ambient air, a challenging feat given the gas’s low concentration and molecular stability. They once again found inspiration in plants. “We look into the architecture of natural leaves, and they have stomata,” Singh said. “The stomata are the holes in the leaves that open and (close) so that whenever leaves need carbon dioxide to make glucose, they function accordingly. We thought, how about we include a similar feature in our artificial leaf?” The ion exchange membrane surrounding the artificial

leaf uses a moisture gradient — wet on the inside, dry on the outside — to grab CO2 from the air and release it inside the balloon. While a real leaf converts sunlight, CO2 and water into sugars, the photosynthesis device creates carbon monoxide and other compounds used to produce gasoline, diesel and other fuels. These fuels, literally created out of thin air, can drive what Prajapati called a “closed carbon cycle,” where no additional CO2 is added to the atmosphere when burning air-derived gasoline. “We capture the carbon dioxide, we convert it to fuel and those fuels can possibly be used for automobiles,” he said. “(Cars) emit CO2 with the result of combustion, and we capture the CO2 again.” Other carbon-capture technologies exist on a larger scale, like “clean coal” power plants and direct air capture facilities, but Singh promotes the artificial leaf’s advantage of integrating every step into one device. While other approaches require storage and transportation to get CO2 from capture point to application, he said artificial leaves avoid these costs by capturing and converting the gas simultaneously.

The work of Singh and Prajapati is catching the attention of researchers like Heinz Frei, senior scientist in Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and an expert in artificial photosynthesis. Frei applauds the membrane-coated artificial leaf for being able to absorb CO2 around the clock, even when the sun is down. The leaf keeps sunlight only to create the fuel ingredients. Although the artificial leaf’s material composition has significant room for improvement — Frei said the leaves are too expensive for wide-scale production. Singh also wants to improve their durability — Frei said he sees promise, if not necessity, in artificial photosynthesis technology in the quest to eliminate fossil fuel use. To him, liquid fuel will be crucial for storing energy even in a future full of renewables. Artificial photosynthesis provides a fuel without adding more CO2 to the air or requiring fertile soil like real plants. “Artificial photosynthesis is really, in my view, so important because it’s the only technology that uses solar energy on non-arable land to make fuel,” he said. zbf2@readtechno.com

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Cosmeceuticals promise anti-aging products, pose health risks ATISTIDES THEODOROPOULOUS | STAFF WRITER

ome, more than others, are coming into contact with cosmetic products purported to exhibit anti-aging effects. These products, now being called cosmeceuticals, can be found all over the internet as well as on store shelves. The term “cosmeceutical” was coined in 1985 and is defined as “cosmetics that contain bioactive ingredients purported to have medical or drug-like benefits.” Companies claim products containing these bioactive ingredients have benefits that extend beyond using the average moisturizer or traditional topical product. Despite these miracle claims, there are no legal regulations in place that require manufacturers to prove the products live up to the benefits that they claim to provide. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “the term cosmeceutical has no meaning under the law.” The main difference between a drug and a cosmetic product is that drugs must be approved by the FDA and cosmetics do not. This disregard has the potential to lead to many problems. If cosmeceuticals are not approved by the FDA, there is no oversight on whether or not these products are actually effective for the consumers’ needs. May Berenbaum, professor and head of the Department of Entomology at the University, has taken it upon herself to teach undergraduates in the biology department. She teaches her students about the ways in which humans utilize phytochemicals — naturally occurring

chemicals — from plants for our own benefit, including cosmeceuticals. Her students are also taught how to critically evaluate primary literature. This is an invaluable skill, especially in a country where there is no regulation on the efficacy of certain products, some of which even claim to exhibit drug-like side effects. In reference to the cosmeceutical world, Berenbaum said “it’s a jungle out there since there is no regulation on cosmeceutical products. Any chemicals can be used that have been approved for another product. In cosmeceuticals, that may be recognized as safe but not necessarily as effective in these cosmeceutical products.” Not only is this a real danger to consumers, these companies may have other tricks up their sleeves. These corporations may, in fact, conduct scientific research on the bioactive ingredients of their products. However, the findings of these specific studies are very much subject to personal interpretation. Because there is no regulation by the FDA (or any other agency) on cosmeceuticals, producers are able to make any claims they feel might benefit their profile This is not to say all cosmeceuticals should be painted as ineffective. However, it seems the free cosmeceutical market is more than capable of taking advantage of consumers who may not have the proper education to decipher whether or not products are as effective as they claim. An even more likely probability is consumers are probably unaware of the lack of regulation that these products are subject to. Berenbaum feels certain companies are taking advantage of uneducated consumers, “especially the anti-aging product consumers who are predisposed to feeling they are aging or have to look younger.” Perhaps you have never come across the term cosmeceuticals before. Nonetheless, someone you know or even yourself may own a product within the category. With these findings, you might find it worthwhile to educate those around you about the limited amount of regulation on such commodities.

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