Author: iharrell

Researchers Continue Algal Bloom Study on Lake Okeechobee

From left, Robert Smith, Viviana Mazzei, and Emily Karwack with the United States Geological Survey, and Lauren Krausfeldt and Jose Lopez with Nova Southeastern University.

Since 2019, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences (HCAS) faculty member Jose Lopez, Ph.D., has been co-leading an Army Corps of Engineers-funded project with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to better understand the blue green (cyanobacterial) algae dynamics. These algae are at the heart of many of these harmful algal blooms (HABs) and microbial communities in the Lake Okeechobee watershed. After a couple of years of relative calm with no massive harmful algal blooms, the blue green algal communities have now made their presence known again in a big way.

Lopez, along with faculty and students from Florida Gulf Coast University, USGS, and the South Florida Water Management District, has continued the project using artificial mesocosms. These controlled outdoor experiments at the Franklin Lock test the effects of adding nitrate, ammonium, urea or phosphorus supplements to an environment. In addition to this work, the group conducts monthly environmental water sampling across Lake Okeechobee.

“The artificial mesocosm experiments are based on taking Caloosahatchee River water and placing it into large replicate cylinders, which essentially creates a closed system for systematic study,” Lopez said. This also allows the team to add various nutrient supplements to the natural river water communities and monitor the effects physiologically and allows the group to see which genes are activated without degrading the surrounding habitats.

Lopez’s laboratory at the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center has been applying deep “-omics” techniques (metagenomics/metatranscriptomics approaches with deep DNA sequencing) to better understand the microbial community dynamics and drivers that could lead to HABs. HCAS assistant researcher Lauren Krausfeldt, Ph.D., has conducted most of the metagenomic analyses for the project. The large cache of genomic data will likely provide important baselines and references, adding richer context for future comparisons and possible HAB predictions.

This research is funded in part by the Army Corps of Engineers to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and NSU via the Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit.

 

University School Students Earn Prestigious Silver Knight Awards

NSU University School is incredibly proud to recognize our THREE 2021 Silver Knight Award winners and EIGHT honorable mentions. Recognized as one of the nation’s most highly regarded student awards programs, the Miami Herald Silver Knight Awards honors students who have excelled academically and contributed significant service to their schools and communities.

The students were celebrated for their extraordinary achievements at a virtual ceremony. We are so very proud of each and every one of our Silver Knight nominees. Congratulations, Sharks!

Silver Knight Winners:

  • Veronica B. – Digital & Interactive Media
  • Hannah K. – Art
  • Henry H. – Business

Honorable Mentions:

  • Ari A. – World Languages
  • Hannah E. – Vocational Technical
  • Duncan J. – General Scholarship
  • Amanda K. – Science
  • Risa P. – Dance & Music
  • Peyton R. – Speech
  • Minnie R. – Athletics
  • Rebecca W. – Math

The Show Cannot Go On Without You: Volunteer to Usher

Join the volunteer team as an usher and meet exciting people who share your passion for live theater, while giving back to the community. For more than 20 years, South Florida residents have proudly served as volunteer ushers at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

A Broward Center volunteer is an individual who chooses to give his or her time and talents as part of a team, with dedication, enthusiasm and flexibility. Ushers are an important part of every performance. You’ll help welcome our audiences, make them feel at home and ensure that everything runs smoothly from lights up to curtains down.

Requirements:

  • Full time year-round South Florida resident
  • Commit to a regular (weekly) shift
  • Attend formal orientation training date as scheduled by the volunteer office
  • Comply with all standards and policies as provided in Volunteer Manual
  • Ability to escort patrons to seats in all levels of the theater: orchestra, mezzanine or balcony
  • Great attitude to serve as needed

For a volunteer application, please contact the Volunteer Services by email or call 954-468-2684.

If you filled out your application more than a year ago, please contact us by email or call 954-468-2684.

Rachel Edrich Receives 2021 Ashley Kaye Hess Scholarship

Rachel Edrich, B.A., 2021 winner of the Make the Most of the Dash and Ashley Kaye Hess Changing Lives Scholarship.

Graduate student Rachel Edrich was awarded the 2021 Make the Most of the Dash and Ashley Kaye Hess Changing Lives Scholarship. The scholarship is named for Hess – a cheerleader, dancer, teacher and Nova Southeastern University speech-language pathology master’s candidate – who was killed in a tragic car accident on May 14, 2016. Hess was 28.

Edrich is currently a graduate student at NSU pursuing her master’s degree in speech-language pathology at the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences and works as a speech-language pathology assistant at a private practice in Davie. She holds the position of treasurer for the SLP student government association. She received her bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders at the University of Alabama. She was a member of the Million Dollar Band Color Guard for five years and captain for two.

Edrich has always had a passion for dancing/performing and wanting to make a difference in the lives of others. She was honored and excited to win the award.

“I will continue to dance and touch other people’s lives with Ashley in my heart!” she said.

Congratulations Rachel!

Contributed by Tambi Braun, SLP.D., CCC/SLP, is an associate professor and NSSLHA mentor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology.

Anti-Defamation League honors NSU’s Holocaust Center

The Holocaust Reflection and Resource Center in the Alvin Sherman Library of Nova Southeastern University was awarded this year’s “No Place for Hate” Community Change Maker Award for Social Justice by the Anti-Defamation League Florida. The center was featured on the Anti-Defamation League Florida’s Facebook page and all of its other social media sites and platforms on Friday, May 14, during “No Place to Hate Day.”

Students Win Awards at Microbiology Conference

In March 2021, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences biology faculty member Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D. co-organized the 2021 Florida and Southeastern Branches of the American Society for Microbiology Joint Virtual Meeting. This meeting was well attended by microbiology researchers from across the southeastern region of the United States.  Garcia and fellow biology faculty member Robert Smith, Ph.D. attended the virtual conference to support their research students who gave presentations.

Garcia mentored Chloe Barreto-Massad, a ninth grade student at the American Heritage School, in her research project entitled, “Using antiSMASH to Compare Antimicrobial Genes of Commensal E. coli (Normal Flora) to Pathogenic E. coli” who was awarded second place for Outstanding Undergraduate Oral Presentation. Garcia also mentored NSU undergraduate biology major, Sukriti Prashar, who was awarded third place for Outstanding Undergraduate Oral Presentation for her presentation entitled, “Characterizing the mechanism of inhibition displayed by imidocarb dipropionate on Yersinia pestis.”

Smith mentored graduate students Laura Garcia-Dieguez who gave an oral presentation entitled, “Periodic spatial disturbance of biofilms modulates expression of quorum sensing virulence genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa” and Ivana Barraza who gave an oral presentation entitled, “Increasing the frequency of periodic spatial disturbance decreases surface attachment protein expression in Staphylococcus aureus.” Smith also mentored undergraduate students Camryn Pajon, Taniya Mariah and Brandon Toscan in their research poster presentation entitled, “Periodically disturbing the spatial structure of a microbial community composed of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus affects its composition” and undergraduate students Estefania Marin Meneses and Gabriela Diaz Tang who won second place for their poster presentation entitled, “Growth efficiency as a determinant of the inoculum effect.”

This year’s meeting included a Microbiology Art Contest with the theme “Microbes Shape our World”.  NSU graduate student in the Masters in Biological Sciences program, Laura Garcia-Dieguez, won First Runner Up for her artwork entitled, “Our World.”

Faculty Members Hold Discussion on Healthcare Management

Ben Mulvey, Ph.D.

Mark Jaffe, M.D.

With the COVID-19 pandemic showcasing disparities in our health care delivery system, a timely discussion titled “Who Should Manage Healthcare? A Conversation with
a Philosopher, a Clinician, and You” was presented on May 5, 2021 via Zoom to the members of the Lifelong Learning Institute by two Halmos College of Arts and Sciences Faculty.

Ben Mulvey, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics who has been a member of the NSU faculty since 1988, and Mark Jaffe, M.D. associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, who has been a member of the NSU faculty since 2004, presented their respective viewpoints and members of the audience weighed in with their own perspectives as the pair tackled the cost, quality and access of health care in the U.S. today.

NSU’s Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) was founded in 1977 and serves lifelong learning passions of retired adults. The LLI, a center within the College of Osteopathic Medicine, is located on NSU’s Fort Lauderdale East Campus. older-adult learning.

NSU College of Dental Medicine Partners with Care Resource

Under the leadership of the new Assistant Dean of Community Programs and Public Health, Mark Schweizer, DDS MPH, the College of Dental Medicine is joining forces with Care Resource. Senior student dentists will provide oral health care to underserved populations in Broward County through the collaboration.

In addition to providing dental care, students will experience in an interprofessional health care environment, including working alongside case managers and physicians providing care to their patients.

Care Resource is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization and a Federally Qualified Health Center with four locations: Midtown Miami, Little Havana, Miami Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. It provides comprehensive health and support services to address the full health care needs of pediatric, adolescent, and adult populations.

Care Resource’s mission is to spread their mission through education, prevention, research, care and treatment, and support services. It serves more 125,000 clients yearly.

NSF Grant Funds Dental Research Project

Project CHOMPER principal investigators Cecil Lewis (top left) and Tanvi Honap (top right), with co-investigators (below from left) Cara Monroe, Marc Levine, Anne Stone, Brenda Baker, Andrew Ozga, and Keith Prufer.

Andrew Ozga, Ph.D., a Halmos College of Arts and Sciences faculty member, and project leading University of Oklahoma researchers Drs. Cecil Lewis and Tanvi Honap were awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant or their project “CHOMPER: Calculus and Hominid Oral Metagenomes for Pathogen Evolution Research.”

Oral diseases, such as dental caries and periodontitis, affect nearly 3.5 billion people worldwide, and are often referred to as the “silent epidemic.” These diseases are caused by bacteria found in the normal oral cavity and can cause disease in an opportunistic manner. The core aims of the CHOMPER project are to study how the genomes of these oral disease-causing bacteria differ depending on host species, geographic location, and dietary lifestyle, as well as how these genomes have evolved over time.

The CHOMPER team has collected dental calculus (calcified dental plaque) samples from nonhuman primates, such as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, housed in museums in the U.S., and from archaeological human remains from archaeological sites in the Americas and Africa. These ancient human populations span a period of nearly 10,000 years and encompass the transition of humans from a forager to agricultural lifestyle. Using cutting-edge ancient DNA techniques, the team will reconstruct the genomes of oral pathogens from the dental calculus samples to answer questions regarding strain diversity, biogeography, genome structure, and the presence of genes associated with virulence and antibiotic resistance.

The CHOMPER team also includes researchers Drs. Cara Monroe and Marc Levine (University of Oklahoma), Drs. Anne Stone and Brenda Baker (Arizona State University), and Keith Prufer, Ph.D., (University of New Mexico). The CHOMPER project aims to encourage positive oral health outcomes through public presentations focused on the impact of oral disease and the role of the microbiome in oral health.

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