Researchers tune thermal conductivity of materials ‘on the fly’ for more energy-efficient devices

Record-setting discovery could lower energy consumption and improve heat management in electronic devices

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

 

IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITIES MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PH.D. STUDENTS YINGYING ZHANG AND CHI ZHANG CONDUCT MEASUREMENTS USING A HOME-BUILT SYSTEM INVOLVING ULTRAFAST LASER PULSES TO STUDY THE LANTHANUM STRONTIUM COBALTITE DEVICES. view more 

CREDIT: DINGBIN HUANG, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities scientists and engineers discovered a new method for tuning the thermal conductivity of materials to control heat flow ”on the fly.” Their tuning range is the highest ever recorded among one-step processes in the field, and will open a door to developing more energy-efficient and durable electronic devices.

The researchers’ paper is published in Nature Communications, a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the natural sciences.

Just as electrical conductivity determines how well a material can transport electricity, thermal conductivity describes how well a material can transport heat. For example, many metals used to make frying pans have a high thermal conductivity so that they can transport heat efficiently to cook food. 

Typically, the thermal conductivity of a material is a constant, unchanging value. However, the University of Minnesota team has discovered a simple process to “tune” this value in lanthanum strontium cobaltite, a material often used in fuel cells. Similar to the way a switch controls the flow of electricity to a light bulb, the researchers’ method provides a way to turn heat flow on and off in devices.

“Controlling how well a material can transfer heat is of great importance in daily life and in industry,” said Xiaojia Wang, co-corresponding author of the study and an associate professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Mechanical Engineering. “With this research, we have achieved a record-high tuning of thermal conductivity, showing promise for effective thermal management and energy consumption in the electronic devices people use every day. A well-designed and functioning thermal management system would enable better user experience and make devices more durable.”

Wang’s team worked in tandem with University of Minnesota Distinguished McKnight University Professor Chris Leighton, whose lab specializes in materials synthesis. 

Leighton’s team fabricated the lanthanum strontium cobaltite devices using a process called electrolyte gating, in which ions (molecules with an electrical charge) are driven to the surface of the material. This allowed Wang and her research team to manipulate the material by applying a low voltage to it.

“Electrolyte gating is a tremendously powerful technique for controlling the properties of materials, and is well established for voltage-control of electronic, magnetic, and optical behavior,” said Leighton, co-corresponding author of the study and a faculty member in the University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. “This new work applies this approach in the realm of thermal properties, where voltage-control of physical behavior is less explored. Our results establish low-power, continuously tunable thermal conductivity over an impressive range, opening up some pretty exciting potential device applications.”

“Although it was challenging to measure the thermal conductivity of lanthanum strontium cobaltite films because they are so ultrathin, it was quite exciting when we finally got the experiments to work,” said Yingying Zhang, first author of the paper and a University of Minnesota mechanical engineering Ph.D. alumnus. “This project not only provides a promising example of tuning materials’ thermal conductivity but also demonstrates the powerful approaches we use in our lab to push the experimental limit for challenging measurements.”

This research was funded primarily by the National Science Foundation through the University of Minnesota’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). Parts of the research were carried out at the University’s Characterization Facility and the Minnesota Nano Center.

In addition to Wang, Leighton, and Zhang, the research team included University of Minnesota Department of Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. student Chi Zhang; University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science researchers William Postiglione, Vipul Chaturvedi, and Kei Heltemes; University of Utah, Salt Lake City researchers Rui Xie, Hao Zhou, and Tianli Feng; and Argonne National Laboratory physicist Hua Zhou. 

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-38312-z 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

ARTICLE TITLE

Wide-range continuous tuning of the thermal conductivity of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ films via room-temperature ion-gel gating

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

Connecting the dots: Leveraging information to improve America’s public health

National experts identify public health infrastructure’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

Peer-Reviewed Publication

REGENSTRIEF INSTITUTE

INDIANAPOLIS – The pandemic has placed a spotlight on public health -- its workforce, infrastructure and underlying information systems designed to collect, analyze and manage public health data. 

Informatics, health information technology and public health experts from across the nation convened at an American College of Medical Informatics symposium concluded that how information is received and shared by public health agencies is overdue for “a strategically designed, technology-enabled, information infrastructure for delivering day-to-day essential public health services and to respond effectively to public health emergencies.” Their report explores the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats presented by public health information systems.

Among the nine strengths was the yeoman service performed by public health workers and officials who worked with the systems during the pandemic. A total of 22 weaknesses were detected. Additionally, 14 opportunities and 14 threats were also identified.

“We know from the pandemic that there were weaknesses in public health data systems and information technology -- many of which were developed in the 1990s or earlier and are outdated,” said Brian E. Dixon, PhD, MPA, Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health director of public health informatics, who co-chaired the symposium planning committee and is senior author of its report. “We saw that we were still collecting, sharing and managing information using fax machines. Hospitals, laboratories and others were faxing data to public health departments. It comes off the fax machine on paper and then has to be re-entered into a different system by a human being. And that's completely inefficient.

“Public health is nowhere as integrated as, for example, the banking system in this country. You can seamlessly move money from one bank to another or you can easily send money to someone. It's actually harder to send information in public health than it is to send money in our financial system.”

Dr. Dixon notes that while the HITECH, short for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, Act of 2009 provided a more than $30 billion investment in the healthcare system to support adoption of electronic health records, investments have not been made in public health. That type of investment would bring about the same kind of transformation, enabling the U.S. to be better prepared for the next pandemic or even the next measles outbreak in a given state.

He observed, “It's not simple enough to program the computer to do something. We have to develop systems in ways that facilitate human work. The goal of public health is to understand where disease is in the community, trying to engage communities in being healthier and preventing disease, but also connecting people to care when they need it so they can get care when they need it.

“We're at a point as the pandemic wanes where we can now be reflective. We can look back over the last couple of years and see what went well and what didn't. We can learn from that experience, and then feed that knowledge into recommendations on how to prepare, update and scale our systems for the future.”

Additionally, Dr. Dixon notes that in many state and local health departments there are systems that collect information from various sources including hospitals, doctors’ offices, laboratories, the public and even restaurants. Systems collect data on sexually transmitted infections, on communicable diseases, on chronic illnesses, on injuries among people who present at the emergency department, and on foodborne illness. All these systems exist in silos and are not connected. These systems, he says, need updating to be interactive, flexible, scalable, data driven and to support mobile applications.

In the symposium report, the experts present three actionable elements to build upon strengths and opportunities while addressing weaknesses and threats:

• addressing the needs for sustainable funding,
• leveraging existing infrastructure and processes for information exchange and system development that meets public health goals,
• preparing the public health workforce to benefit from available resources.

“Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the nation's public health information systems infrastructure: synthesis of discussions from the 2022 ACMI Symposium” is published in JAMIA.

Authors: Jessica C. Acharya1, Catherine Staes2,3, Katie S. Allen4,5, Joel Hartsell3,6, Theresa A. Cullen5,7, Leslie Lenert8,9, Donald W. Rucker10,11, Harold P. Lehmann12, Brian E. Dixon4,5

Affiliations

• 1Healthy Policy & Management, Informatics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
• 2College of Nursing, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
• 3School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
• 4Department of Health Policy & Management, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, IUPUI, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
• 5Center for Biomedical Informatics, Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
• 6Epi-Vant, LLC., Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
• 7Pima County Public Health Department, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
• 8Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
• 9Health Sciences South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
• 101upHealth, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
• 11Department of Emergency Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
• 12Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

About Brian E. Dixon, PhD, MPA
In addition to his roles as interim director of the Regenstrief Institute’s Clem McDonald Center for Biomedical Informatics and director of public health informatics for Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Brian E. Dixon, PhD, MPA, is a professor of epidemiology at the Fairbanks School of Public Health. He is also an affiliate scientist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Center for Health Information and Communication, Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center.

About Regenstrief Institute
Founded in 1969 in Indianapolis, the Regenstrief Institute is a local, national and global leader dedicated to a world where better information empowers people to end disease and realize true health. A key research partner to Indiana University, Regenstrief and its research scientists are responsible for a growing number of major healthcare innovations and studies. Examples range from the development of global health information technology standards that enable the use and interoperability of electronic health records to improving patient-physician communications, to creating models of care that inform practice and improve the lives of patients around the globe.

Sam Regenstrief, a nationally successful entrepreneur from Connersville, Indiana, founded the institute with the goal of making healthcare more efficient and accessible for everyone. His vision continues to guide the institute’s research mission.

About the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
Located on the IUPUI and Fort Wayne campuses, the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health is committed to advancing the public’s health and well-being through education, innovation, and leadership. The Fairbanks School of Public Health is known for its expertise in biostatistics, epidemiology, cancer research, community health, environmental public health, global health, health policy, and health services administration.

 

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JOURNAL

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association

DOI

10.1093/jamia/ocad059 

ARTICLE TITLE

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the nation's public health information systems infrastructure: synthesis of discussions from the 2022 ACMI Symposium

Improving market design for energy storage

New study finds electricity market design is the key to trade-offs between more affordable energy and lower carbon emissions

Peer-Reviewed Publication

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE

 

IMAGE: POWER LINES view more 

CREDIT: ASHWIN JOHN/FLICKR

New York, NY—June 8, 2023—Energy storage plays a crucial role in our transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. It enables us to store excess energy when it’s available, from renewable sources like wind and solar, and use it when demand is high or supply is limited. This helps stabilize the grid, reduces reliance on fossil fuels, and mitigates the impact of intermittent energy sources.

Balancing consumer demands with power system capacities

In many parts of the U.S., such as New York, California, and Texas, private companies are responsible for owning and operating energy storage systems. These businesses participate in electricity markets, where they buy and sell electricity to maximize their profits. However, it is important for consumers to ensure that companies’ profit-driven motives also align with the broader goal of improving sustainability and improving lives around the world. This means finding a balance between reducing carbon emissions and keeping electricity costs affordable for consumers. It's crucial to align the needs of electricity users with the capabilities of the power system while promoting a greener future.

Electricity markets are intricately linked to physical power systems, making them distinct from other markets. In order to ensure that the market operates smoothly and efficiently, specialized models are used to clear the participating resources. These models take into account the physical characteristics of the resources, such as their generation capacity and availability. The goal of electricity market design is to create and update these models in a way that maximizes the overall benefit for society. 

New model for market participation interactions 

A new study led by Columbia Engineering, published today in Joule, examines how different ways of participating in these markets affect the overall benefits of energy storage for society. The researchers used an agent-based computer framework--a model that simulates individual behaviors within complex systems--to simulate scenarios with renewable and storage capacity and market options. 

“Our main innovation was to model the market participation interactions between storage and the market,” said the study’s lead author Bolun Xu, assistant professor of earth and environmental engineering. “We discovered that not only do we need more renewables and better storage technologies, but that market design to best integrate energy storage to reduce cost and emission for future power systems is also critically important. For that, we need new computational methods and, in the future, AI-assisted analysis.”

The fine balance between economics and emission reductions

The study compared different methods for energy storage to participate in the market and uncovered trade-offs between making energy more affordable for consumers and reducing carbon emissions. The researchers found that participating in day-ahead markets, where electricity is traded a day before it's needed, is more effective in reducing carbon emissions. On the other hand, participating in real-time markets, where electricity is traded in real-time, is more effective in reducing costs. 

 “Our study highlights how market designs can significantly impact the role of energy storage in both the economics of electricity and the journey towards decarbonization, spanning from early to deep decarbonization stages,” Xu said. “Our proposed open-source framework provides a valuable tool for researchers and policymakers to assess emerging technologies and policy incentives.”

Future steps

Xu’s team is currently collaborating with national labs and California ISO, a non-profit organization that manages California’s power grid and electricity market. They are working with projects founded by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundations to explore new market designs and integrate AI to analyze and aid energy storage operations.  

“It’s clear,” Xu added, “that renewable and storage resource deployments must be accompanied by appropriate electricity market designs and policy incentives to balance economics and emission reductions. California has the highest storage capacity in the world, and we are excited to deploy our solutions there.”

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About the Study

Journal: Joule

The study is titled “The Role of Electricity Market Design for Energy Storage in Cost-Efficient Decarbonization.”

Authors are: Xin Qin1, Bolun Xu*2, Ioannis Lestas1, Ye Guo3, and Hongbin Sun4,5

1. University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering, Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, UK
2. Columbia University, Earth and Environmental Engineering, New York, NY 10027, USA
3. Tsinghua University, Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Shenzhen, 518055, China
4. Tsinghua University, Department of Electrical Engineering, Beijing, 100084, China
5. Taiyuan University of Technology, College of Electrical and Power Engineering, Taiyuan, 030024, China

B. Xu was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation under grant ECCS-2239046. Y. Guo

was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant 51977115. H.

Sun was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant U22A6007.

B. Xu is a technical advisor to Storylitcs, a company working on simulation modeling of grid-scale energy storage, and Sensai Analytics, a company working on data analytics and machine learning solutions for grid-interactive batteries. 

Media contact:
Holly Evarts, Director of Strategic Communications and Media Relations
347-453-7408 (c) | 212-854-3206 (o) | holly.evarts@columbia.edu

 

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JOURNAL

Joule

DOI

10.1016/j.joule.2023.05.014 

ARTICLE TITLE

The Role of Electricity Market Design for Energy Storage in Cost-Efficient Decarbonization

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Jun-2023

COI STATEMENT

B. Xu is a technical advisor to Storylitcs, a company working on simulation modeling of grid-scale energy storage, and Sensai Analytics, a company working on data analytics and machine learning solutions for grid-interactive batteries.

Employers should think twice before implementing peer recognition programs

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

In fast-paced and often rapidly changing work environments, employers continue to seek new and improved ways to recognize employees in the workplace. However, new research from the University of Waterloo suggests that public peer recognition may backfire by enabling comparisons among employees, and these comparisons may make some employees feel unfairly treated.  

“Employers have sought out various peer recognition systems in an effort to promote employee helping behaviour,” said Pei Wang, PhD candidate in accounting at Waterloo. “When employees feel that they deserve recognition from their peers but do not receive it, employees can conclude that they are unfairly treated, and this makes employees less willing to help other co-workers, not only the co-worker they feel treated them unfairly,”.   

In practice, this type of treatment an employee interprets as unfair can occur when an individual disagrees regarding what type of behaviour should and should not be recognized during public peer recognition. In addition, some employees may only provide recognition to those close to them. 

Using a three-employee setting composed of the recognizer, the helper and the worker, the researcher tests whether peer information disclosed by peer recognition systems affects employees’ subsequent willingness to help. During this study, both the helper and the worker assist the recognizer, however, only the helper receives recognition by the recognizer. The worker exhibits less willingness to assist the recognizer and the helper when the worker perceives that their initial assistance exceeds the helper’s than when the worker perceives that their initial assistance is less than that of the helper’s. The worker’s lower level of willingness to assist the helper is a spillover from the reciprocal reaction to the recognizer’s non-recognition. 

These findings provide the first empirical evidence of the negative impact that peer recognition systems have on helping behaviour. This research can inform how employers utilize peer recognition in the workplace. Peer recognition is often advertised as a tool to make employees more willing to help others. The study results show that managers may want to be mindful of the potential downside of enacting peer recognition. 

“My research provides a first step in cautioning managers about a potential unintended consequence of using public peer recognition, and that is the perceived unfairness that reduces helping behaviour,” Wang said. It may be helpful for managers to communicate with their employees and come up with some agreed-upon guidelines on what should be recognized via public peer recognition and what does not need to be recognized via public peer recognition.”

The study, When peer recognition backfires: the impact of peer information on subsequent helping behaviour, appears in the journal Accounting Perspectives. 

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JOURNAL

Accounting Perspectives

DOI

10.1111/1911-3838.12335 

Comparing doctors to peers doesn’t make them hate their jobs and may improve quality of care, new USC Schaeffer study finds

Interventions aimed at improving performance can be designed to protect clinician job satisfaction and improve quality of care

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

June 8, 2023 — Showing people how their behavior compares to their peers is a commonly used method to improve behavior. But in the wake of a global pandemic that exacerbated health care providers’ job dissatisfaction and burnout, questions remain about the potentially negative effects of peer comparison on the well-being of clinicians.

A new study from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics reveals fresh insights into the relationship between peer comparison and job satisfaction among clinicians. Published in JAMA Network Open, the study challenges prior findings that such feedback increases job dissatisfaction and burnout.  

Researchers found that behavioral interventions aimed at improving performance can be designed to protect clinician job satisfaction and improve quality of care. To avoid negative impact, the research team discovered it is important for clinicians to have control over the behavior being evaluated or encouraged, such as ordering tests or whether to prescribe medication.

“Our research demonstrates that peer comparison aimed at improving performance can be designed in a manner that safeguards clinician job satisfaction,” said lead author Jason Doctor, co-director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the USC Schaeffer Center and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. “Prior findings to the contrary don’t appear tied to peer comparison, but rather clinicians being measured for things they don't have full control over.”

The Importance of Methodology in Peer Comparison

Performance feedback using peer comparison is a widely used approach in healthcare to change behavior. Study authors emphasize the importance of methodology when conducting peer comparison intervention. They note the present study gave clinicians full agency over the outcome, kept performance private, did not restrict the number of top performers, and was successful in improving clinician behavior without lowering job satisfaction.

Doctor and his team evaluated data from their previously published research that assessed the impact of three interventions — Suggested Alternatives, Accountable Justification, and Peer Comparison — to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. In this study, they looked specifically at the data on peer comparison, where clinicians received an email informing them of their ranking, from highest to lowest, for inappropriate prescriptions compared to their peers.

The findings contribute to the ongoing dialogue surrounding healthcare quality improvement and clinician well-being.

“By better understanding behavioral interventions and developing more effective strategies, healthcare organizations can foster a sense of ownership and agency, leading to improved job satisfaction and decreased burnout rates,” said Doctor.

Additional study authors included Noah J. Goldstein, Craig R. Fox, Jeffrey A. Linder, Stephen D. Persell, Emily P. Stewart, Tara K. Knight, and Daniella Meeker. This study was supported by the National Institute on Aging grants R21-AG057395-01, R33-AG057395, P30AG024968, and RC4AG039115 (awarded as part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009) (Dr. Doctor, principal investigator).

About the USC Schaeffer Center

The mission of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics at the University of Southern California is to measurably improve value in health through evidence-based policy solutions, research excellence, and private and public sector engagement. The USC Schaeffer Center is the result of a unique collaboration between the USC Price School of Public Policy and the USC Mann School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.17379 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Clinician Job Satisfaction After Peer Comparison Feedback: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Jun-2023

COI STATEMENT

Dr Persell reported receiving research support and speaking honoraria from Omron Healthcare Co Ltd outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

‘Revolutionary’ research discovers new cause of cancer coming from inside us

Australian researchers link circular RNAs to DNA mutations

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: HUSBAND AND WIFE PROFESSOR SIMON CONN AND DR VANESSA CONN’S TEAM AT THE FLINDERS CENTRE FOR INNOVATION IN CANCER HAS BEEN RESEARCHING THE ROLE OF CIRCULAR RNAS IN DNA DAMAGE AND FORMING CANCER GENES. view more 

CREDIT: COURTESY FLINDERS FOUNDATION

Australian cancer researchers have made an important new connection between a person’s cancer risk and the functions of circular RNAs, a recently discovered family of genetic fragments present within our cells. 

A new Flinders University-led study published in Cancer Cell, one of the world’s top cancer journals, finds that specific circular RNAs within many of us can stick to the DNA in our cells and cause DNA mutations which result in cancer. 

“While environmental and genetic factors have long been believed the major contributors to cancer, this revolutionary finding – which we call ‘ER3D’ (from ‘endogenous RNA directed DNA damage’) – ushers in an entirely new area of medical and molecular biology research,” says Flinders University Professor Simon Conn, who leads the Circular RNAs in Cancer Laboratory at the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute. 

“This is the first example of a genetic molecule present within many of us which has the capacity to mutate our very own DNA and drive cancer from inside.  

“This opens the door to use these molecules as new therapeutic targets and markers of disease at a very early stage, when the likelihood of curing cancers is much higher.”  

The research compared the neonatal blood tests or Guthrie cards of babies who went on to develop acute leukemia as infants with children without any blood disorders. This found that one specific circular RNA was present at much higher levels at birth, prior to onset of the symptoms of leukemia. 

The findings suggest it is the abundance of the circular RNA molecules within certain individuals’ cells which is a major determinant for why they develop these specific cancer-causing genes or oncogenes and other do not.  

“Circular RNAs can bind to DNA at many different locations across a range of cells. By binding to the DNA at specific sites, these circular RNAs cause a number of changes culminating in the breakage of the DNA which the cell must repair in order to survive,” says Professor Conn.  

“This repair is not always perfect and this can result in small mutations, like a misspelt word within a book, or worse, very, very large and devastating mutations. 

“With the circular RNAs also able to alter the physical location of the broken DNA within the cell nucleus, two distinct regions of the DNA can be stuck together during the repair process – like the ripping of two different books and sticking them together.” 

Lead author Dr Vanessa Conn says multiple circular RNAs appear to act in partnership causing breaks at multiple sites in the DNA.  

“This process, called chromosomal translocation, is a major problem for the cell as it results in gene fusions which can actually convert the cell from a normal cell into a cancerous cell,” she says. 

“This was demonstrated in two different cell types and it was found that this drove the rapid onset of aggressive leukemia.” 

The gene fusions arising from the action of these circular RNAs are at well-known ‘hotspots’ of mutation in the blood cancer leukemia. This is an important consideration in Australia which has the highest incidence of leukemia in the world, with around 35,000 Australians currently living with this disease.  

These gene fusions have been used by doctors around the world for many years in guiding treatment options as they are known to worsen the prognosis for the patient who carries them, the researchers say.  

However, until now it was unknown how these mutations arose, even though more than 100 known fusions were found in patients. 

“Not surprisingly, it is not only leukemia where the process of ER3D occurs,” says Dr Conn.  

“We now have evidence that ER3D is not restricted to leukemia but to other cancers and human diseases,” she says.  

The Flinders University research team is continuing the study to investigate circular RNAs’ role in cancer and other diseases.   

The article, Circular RNAs drive oncogenic chromosomal translocations within the MLL recombinome in leukemia (2023) by VM Conn, M Gabryelska, J Toubia, K Kirk, L Gantley, JA Powell, G Cildir, S Marri, R Liu, BW Stringer, S Townley, ST Webb, H Lin, SE Samaraweera, S Bailey, AS Moore, M Maybury, D Liu, AD Colella, T Chataway, CT Wallington-Gates, L Walters, J Sibbons, LA Selth, V Tergaonkar, RJ D’Andrea, SM Pitson, GJ Goodall and SJ Conn has been published in Cancer Cell DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2023.05.002 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2023.05.002 

This study involved research groups from Flinders University, the University of South Australia, University of Adelaide, SA Pathology, University of Queensland, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service and A*STAR (Singapore). 

 

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JOURNAL

Cancer Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.ccell.2023.05.002 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Circular RNAs drive oncogenic chromosomal translocations within the MLL recombinome in leukemia (

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Jun-2023

Projected health outcomes associated with US Supreme Court decisions in 2022 on COVID-19 workplace protections, handgun-carry restrictions, and abortion rights

JAMA Network Open

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA NETWORK

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that outcomes from Supreme Court decisions in 2022 that invalidated COVID-19 workplace protections, voided state laws on handgun-carry restrictions, and revoked the constitutional right to abortion could lead to substantial harms to public health, including nearly 3,000 excess deaths (and possibly many more) over a decade.

Authors: Adam Gaffney, M.D., M.P.H., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the corresponding author. 

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ 

doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.15578

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open