Finding the right data for your research can be a daunting task given the number of datasets available online. In this workshop, librarian Sarah Hughes offers practical tips and strategies for locating both data and statistical resources. Topics will include: the difference between data and statistics, where to locate data by topic using library and web resources, and thinking critically about the reliability and validity of data and statistical resources.

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BIOMED PhD Thesis Defense

Title: 
Transcriptomic Analysis of Circadian Rhythm Disruption and Intercellular Desynchrony in the Human Brain with Alzheimer's Disease

Speaker:
Henry Hollis, PhD Candidate
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Drexel University

Advisors:
Ron Anafi, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania

Andres Kriete, PhD
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Teaching Professor
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Drexel University 

Details:
Disrupted behavioral circadian rhythms are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but transcriptional rhythms in AD subjects have not been well studied. To address this, we informatically ordered post-mortem human brains with and without AD to reconstruct molecular rhythms in control (CTL) and AD samples. We found that while core clock rhythms remained largely intact, critical metabolic output pathways, specifically ribosome and oxidative phosphorylation, were severely dampened. 

Our experimental validation in mice mirrored these transcriptomic findings. A fundamental ambiguity in circadian biology is whether this type of tissue-level dampening stems from a loss of individual cellular amplitude or an increase in intercellular phase dispersion (cells drifting out of sync). To resolve this, we developed a novel computational framework: ORPHEUS. Applying this tool revealed that phase dispersion, rather than strictly weakened individual cellular rhythms, drives the dampened metabolic rhythms observed in AD. Ultimately, this work provides a detailed understanding of circadian disruption in neurodegeneration and introduces a powerful computational tool for analyzing complex tissue rhythms.

Health Management and Policy Department Dissertation Defense

Pennoni will be visiting Drexel University’s campus to host an information session focused on civil engineering and the firm’s work in Philadelphia. This event will provide insight into Pennoni’s projects, company culture, and opportunities for students interested in civil engineering.

Join us for another edition of the UHC's Invited Speaker Series with Rebekah Israel Cross, Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences at The University of Chicago!

   Drop in for resume reviews with Steinbright partners! You'll get 1:1 feedback in a 15-minute session. Bring a hard copy or a laptop. These are in-person drop-in sessions that will be held at the Rush Building.

Register on Handshake:
https://drexel.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1936702

Guest speakers Dr. Jessica Varner, assistant professor of history in the Department of Landscape at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Mara Frielich, assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, will discuss “Why Multidisciplinary Climate Modeling Matters, Mara Freilich and Jessica Varner on Climate Changed.”

Abstract:
How do disparate climate and climate-related models come together to help us understand the climate crisis? Climate Changed (published by Columbia University Press last fall) considers this question by bringing together contributors from across disciplines, including atmospheric science, history, planning, hazard research, building science, and more—underscore the necessity of combining locally situated and transdisciplinary knowledge with climate science to navigate current and future cataclysmic changes. In this talk, co-editors Mara Freilich and Jessica Varner reflect on their relationship to climate work and the inspiration behind the volume.

Bios:
Dr. Mara Freilich is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) at Brown University. She studies the ways that physical oceanographic processes, including fronts and eddies, affect ocean microbial ecology, carbon cycling, and nutrient distributions. In addition, she works with community groups to mobilize climate science for environmental justice. Freilich uses a range of methods from numerical ocean models and theory to observational work at sea (including remote sensing and microbial genomics).

Dr. Jessica Varner is an Assistant Professor of History in the Department of Landscape at the University of Pennsylvania. She studies the intersections between synthetic chemicals, environmental governance, and chemical landscapes' histories. Her current book project, Chemical Desires, with the University of Chicago Press, uncovers the ties between corporate chemical firms and construction materials firms in the 20th century. Varner charts the legal and structural frameworks that put synthetic chemicals in buildings and made them indispensable to undergird the chemical industry's success in the U.S., Germany, and increasingly in international markets. She also tracks the resulting ecological catastrophe, as building products confronted a new molecular reality in synthetic chemicals, still at play today. She also works collectively with two non-profit organizations, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) (A People’s EPA (APE) co-lead and steering committee member since 2019) and Coming Clean (since 2022), to turn research into action, centering justice in toxics histories and futures.