Archive for category: News

By Chrissy Sexton
Earth.com staff writer

It’s that time of the year again, when scientists gather to celebrate the unusual, quirky, and downright weird. This year’s 33rd Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, held virtually on September 14, did not disappoint.

Nostril hair earns an Ig Nobel

Other notable mentions include a team from the University of California, Irvine, who ventured into the unknown territory of counting human nostril hairs.

The goal was to determine whether there are an equal number of hairs in each nostril. “The information we needed was not available in anatomy texts, so we decided to find out on our own,” said team lead Natasha Mesinkovska.

The findings have significant implications for alopecia patients, who often lose nasal hair, which defends against allergens and infections.

Click here to read full article on Earth.com.

The award ceremony features miniature operas, scientific demos, and the 24/7 lectures.

JENNIFER OUELLETTE, ArsTechnica

Curious about why geologists lick rocks or how many nose hairs there are on a human cadaver? Perhaps you’d like a snazzy dead wolf spider to use as a biodegradable robotic gripper? How about a “smart toilet” that analyzes your urine stream and fecal deposits while taking a picture of your anus for good measure? These and other unusual research endeavors were honored tonight in a virtual ceremony to announce the 2022 recipients of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes. Yes, it’s that time of year again, when the serious and the silly converge—for science.

Established in 1991, the Ig Nobels are a good-natured parody of the Nobel Prizes; they honor “achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think.” The unapologetically campy awards ceremony features miniature operas, scientific demos, and the 24/7 lectures whereby experts must explain their work twice: once in 24 seconds and the second in just seven words. Acceptance speeches are limited to 60 seconds. And as the motto implies, the research being honored might seem ridiculous at first glance, but that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of scientific merit.

Medicine

Citation: “Christine Pham, Bobak Hedayati, Kiana Hashemi, Ella Csuka, Tiana Mamaghani, Margit Juhasz, Jamie Wikenheiser, and Natasha Mesinkovska, for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person’s two nostrils.”

This study was triggered by an interest in alopecia areata, a condition marked by hair loss on one’s scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, and nostrils. Pham et al. noted that many people who suffer from this condition are more prone to upper respiratory infections, allergies, and dryness because the condition also depletes the nose hair lining each nostril. And they realized that nobody had actually gotten around to counting the average number of nose hairs in humans, a first step in assessing what effects the lack thereof could have on patients’ quality of life.

So that’s what they did, using 20 cadavers (10 male and 10 female) from the medical school at the University of California, Irvine. Not only were the hairs counted in each nostril, but they used a measuring tape to determine the distance of hair growth at the upper, lateral, and lower nostril. The results: The average nose hair count per nostril is between 120 and 122 hairs, and nose hairs typically grow over a range of 0.81 to 1.035 centimeters. Trot out those statistics next time you’re desperate to make small talk at a cocktail party.

Click here to read the full article on the ArsTechnica website.

When Dr. Anand K. Ganesan started a vitiligo specialty practice in 2018 at the UCI Health Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, it was to find new therapies to reverse the disfiguring skin disorder.

Vitiligo — pronounced vit-ill-EYE-go — causes white patches, often on the face and hands, the result of the immune system destroying the skin’s pigment-producing cells.

“All we had at the time was light therapy and topical steroids, which were minimally effective,” says Ganesan, a UCI Health dermatologist and vitiligo expert who was keenly aware of the emotional and psychological toll the disease had on his patients, many of them vulnerable young children and teens who withdrew from peers rather than risk ridicule or worse.

Today, there has never been more hope for patients with the autoimmune disease, which affects an estimated 70 million people worldwide, at least 25% of them children, says the UCI School of Medicine professor of dermatology and biological chemistry.

New options

A topical cream called ruxolitinib, is the first therapy approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) that restores pigment in vitiligo patients. The FDA also recently gave breakthrough device approval for RECELL®, a one-time therapy using the patient’s healthy cells to stimulate lasting repigmentation in stable vitiligo, the regenerative medicine company Avita Medical announced June 16. Other topical, oral and injectable medications also have shown success at halting progression of the disease in early phase trials.

Ganesan and his team of clinicians and researchers have been directly involved in studying all these therapeutic breakthroughs. In addition, they used genomics and UC Irvine’s powerful microscopy resources for a novel study that reveals how immune cells, pigment-making melanocytes and keratinocytes — cells that give skin its structure — interact to maintain depigmented areas. The study was led by UCI Health dermatologist Dr. Jessica Shiu, who, along with Ganesan, is among a handful of U.S. physician-scientists to conduct National Institutes of Health-funded vitiligo research.

“We have made a lot of progress, but there is still a lot more work to be done,” says Ganesan, who recently was honored by the American Skin Association for his pioneering research on vitiligo.  “While many of these new therapies work for patients with disease on the face, they don’t work well on other parts of the body, especially the hands, which is equally distressing for patients.”

Raising awareness and support

As international experts, patients and prominent advocates for improved vitiligo care converge in Atlanta this week for a three-day conference to mark the 13^th annual World Vitiligo Day on June 25, Ganesan and his team have launched a campaign to raise awareness about the disease, fund a dedicated dermatology fellowship and provide patients with additional resources to cope with their condition.

Learn how to support vitiligo care and research at UCI Health ›

Ganesan first began treating vitiligo patients as a dermatology resident at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas under the guidance of internationally regarded vitiligo expert Dr. Amit Pandya. Armed with a PhD in microbiology and molecular genetics as well as a medical degree, the young resident was already interested in melanocytes, cells found in skin and hair that produce pigment.

“Vitiligo is unique,” he says. “In other skin diseases like psoriasis or eczema, you treat the autoimmune component to stop the body from attacking the cells and the disease resolves itself. I was struck by this disconnect. Patients with vitiligo had melanocytes but they weren’t working to repigment the white patches.”

More than a skin disorder

Equally distressing is the disease’s effect on emotional and mental health. “When patients first come to me, many of them are down, dejected because they’ve been told no effective treatments exist for their disease,” he says. “This is why advocacy is so important. Both physicians and patients need to know that viable therapies are available.”

An estimated 30% to 50% of vitiligo patients suffer from depression, which in rare cases may even result in suicide attempts. It’s one of the reasons Ganesan helped launch a UCI Health vitiligo support group, to provide a safe space for patients to share treatment experiences and discuss coping strategies for daily living, such as makeup and clothing tips. To understand the impact of the disease, he recommends viewing the 2016 video “Vitiligo: Truth Hope and Change,” which was filmed in part in Orange County with support from UCI.

“When people actually start getting better, their perspective changes,” he says of his patients, a number of whom participated in the vitiligo trials and have seen improvement, “It’s the most rewarding thing for me, to see that spark come back in their eyes.”

Hand spots harder to treat

The new topical treatment restores pigment on the face in about 60% of patients, although it isn’t as successful for the rest of the body. “Hands in particular don’t seem to respond to any of the newer therapies, which is very distressing to the patient,” he says.

New oral therapies also show promise in stopping disease progression. These treatments, which target the Janus kinase signaling pathway, suppress the body’s T-cell defense systems and may result in long-term side effects.

“It’s not perfect,” he says of the new oral therapies. “But it’s a start and hopefully we can improve on them with more research.”

Great strides also have been made in skin-grafting techniques and light therapy to stimulate repigmentation. The RECELL treatment involves harvesting the patient’s healthy melanocytes from a small amount of skin, which is processed to create a solution of skin cells that are applied to white patches of skin prepped by laser ablation. The treated area is then covered with a dressing that allows the solution to “stick” to the grafted site.

Studies showed that more than a third of RECELL participants saw greater than 80% repigmentation 24 weeks after treatment, while over half of patients saw greater than 50% repigmentation over the same period.

Making treatment more accessible

The hope is that RECELL will become a procedure any dermatologist could perform with very limited training, Ganesan says. “It does require a laser to ablate the skin, but it’s a laser that most dermatologists already have in their office.”

Light therapy, too, has become more accessible. Treatments that required intensive daily or weekly office visits now can be done at home. “We give patients a light box and teach them how to use it,” he says. “Light therapy treatments are really hard on children because you have to go into the box two or three times a week.

“One patient I’ve been treating since she was about 8 years old is a teenager now. Being able to do the treatment at home has been a godsend!”

With the white patches gone from her face and about 60% to 70% of her body, he says she is now an outgoing student who participates in school and extracurricular activities with confidence.

Ganesan has a lot to share at the next quarterly vitiligo support group meeting, which went on hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.“We want to let our community know about the exciting new treatments available, about our research and how we are expanding our research team,” he says.

“One of the most fulfilling things we do is work with our patients to learn how they are affected by the disease. We use that information to design better treatments for them.”

Anand K. Ganesan, MD, PhD, is a board-certified UCI Health dermatologist who specializes in skin cancer and skin pigmentation disorders, including vitiligo, melasma and albinism.

A prolific physician-scientist, Ganesan explores how melanocytes respond to environmental cues, such as ultraviolet radiation and inflammation, to maintain normal homeostasis and how that homeostasis is disrupted by diseases processes, including melanoma and vitiligo. His work spans the spectrum from basic laboratory studies to clinical trials as he seeks to develop novel approaches to diagnosing and treating disease.

He is a professor of dermatology and biological chemistry at the UCI School of Medicine, where he serves as associate dean for physician-scientist development. He also co-directs the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center’s programs in Biotechnology, Imaging and Drug Development and Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics. He is the author or co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed publications, including the recent https://www.ucihealth.org/news/2022/04/uci-researchers-discover-promising-new-molecule-for-cancer-therapy” discovery of a new class of drugs to potentially treat melanoma and other cancers.

Click here to view the full UCI Health “Live Well” article.

2022 Grant Awardee Announcement
28 cancer-related pilot projects and early phase clinical trials

This year, the number of funded projects has more than doubled compared to the previous year, resulting in an impressive total of 100 UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge funded projects since 2017. This remarkable achievement is a testament to the unwavering dedication of the UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge community, who raised a record-breaking $1,066,000 in 2022.

Every dollar you raise directly supports promising initiatives that aim to provide new insights into cancer prevention, treatment and cures. By spreading the news among your friends and family and emphasizing the impact of their donations, we can make an even greater difference.

2022 AWARDEES

Track 1: Pilot Projects

“Image-guided Precision Radiotherapy” Team Science Seed Grant
Investigators:
Liangzhong Xiang, PhD, Department of Radiological Sciences, UCI School of Medicine
Charles Limoli, PhD, (Co-Principal Investigator), Department of Radiation Oncology, UCI School of Medicine
Zhongping Chen, PhD, (Co-Principal Investigator), Department of Biomedical Engineering, UCI School of Engineering
Thomas Milner, PhD, (Co-Principal Investigator), Department of Surgery, UCI School of Medicine
Vahid Yaghmai, MD, (Co-Principal Investigator), Department of Radiological Sciences, UCI School of Medicine
When treating cancer with radiation therapy, imaging is crucial to help plan and deliver the treatment effectively. However, with the emergence of a new type of radiation therapy called FLASH, which has potential benefits but also poses risks, new imaging techniques are needed to account for daily changes during treatment. Researchers are working on a new imaging modality called radiation-induced acoustic imaging, which will provide real-time 3D dose verification for FLASH therapy. This new technology will help ensure that the treatment is delivered precisely and accurately to the tumor and healthy tissues. This breakthrough can lead to a paradigm shift in using FLASH-RT for cancer treatment, which can benefit patients who may suffer from radiation-induced toxicities.

Flexible Fiber-Based Laser Micro-Biopsy Platform for Minimally-Invasive Tissue Collection and Processing During Cancer Surgery
Investigators:
Oliver Eng, MD, Department of Surgery, UCI School of Medicine
Thomas Milner, PhD (Co-Principal Investigator), Department of Surgery, UCI School of Medicine
Ryan O’Connell, MD (Co-Principal Investigator), Department of Pathology, UCI School of Medicine
Nitesh Katta, PhD (Co-Investigator), Beckman Laser Institute, University of California, Irvine
Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and, in particular, accounts for a significant portion of patients who present to UCI for treatment. The management of colon cancer when it has spread or metastasized often requires biopsies to obtain tissue, which helps guide individualized treatment. Biopsy techniques and tissue processing have limitations and can be improved upon; therefore, we propose a novel platform which could potentially affect millions of patients annually.

Click here to read about all of the awardees on the UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge website.  Click here to join the Institute’s “BLI Photons in Motion” UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge team.

BY PETER J. BRENNAN, Orange County Business Journal

Patrick Johnson says his medical device company’s product to reduce wrinkles through low-level light therapy has three distinct advantages over aesthetics industry competitors that supply neurotoxins like Botox. “It’s nontoxic, noninvasive, natural—we’re just reminding the body how to heal itself,” Johnson, co-founder and chief executive of Tustin-based BioPhotas Inc., told the Business Journal during a tour of the company’s new facility. “It takes a little longer to see results as opposed to a neurotoxin, but you got the results naturally. The skin doesn’t become rigid.”

BioPhotas, which he founded along with Kathleen Buchanan in 2011, is gaining traction, with sales to consumers and medical professionals approaching $25 million annually and nearing 50 employees.

The company on June 19 is inaugurating its new headquarters on Red Hill Avenue in Tustin. Its 25,000-square-foot facility, which is on a five-year lease, is at an office complex that sits across the street from the Tustin Legacy development. The new facility is double the size of its prior facility in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle.

The reason for the move is simple.

“It’s the growth that we’ve been experiencing and the growth that we’re planning,” he said. “We bit off more than we can chew when we picked this facility. We think we can triple our size in this facility.”

Like Hydration

Johnson has a deep background in medical devices, having worked as CEO of Pro-Dex Inc., a maker of powered surgical products, and as divisional general manager at Sybron Dental Specialties, a one-stop shop for endodontists.

He was initially skeptical about light therapy, which was developed at NASA (see story, this page).

Before Johnson began the company, he did a three-month deep dive into the industry, becoming impressed with the clinical research done at some of the world’s most prestigious research centers. The company’s worked with wound healing researchers at UCI Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, among others.

“Light therapy is the functional equivalent of hydration. It’s good for everything,” Johnson said. “As we age, our bodies lose the ability to heal themselves the way they were originally designed. The fundamental benefit of light therapy is getting the body back to repairing itself the way it was originally designed.”

He also found why other companies failed at this new technology.

“It seemed the people who tried to commercialize this technology came and went very quickly,” he said. “My diagnosis was they were trying to be cosmetic companies. They weren’t trying to be high road medical device companies. That’s the approach we took. We’re going to do the heavy regulatory lifting to bring products to market.”

BioPhotas also went through Octane’s Launchpad accelerator for business and life sciences companies.

Orthopedics Background

Because of Johnson’s background in orthopedics, he knew how the industry employed bendable thermal devices to manage pain and accelerate healing. When he started BioPhotas, he saw competitors use rigid flat panels that hung over the patients.

“Intuitively, it struck me that if you could wrap the area of treatment, it would be more effective,” he said. “The key differentiator to our product is that it’s flexible in the area of treatment.”

He was able to reduce the costs from as much as $15,000 charged by competitors down to $1,200 by using fewer lights and less energy.

“If you can get light emissions closer to the skin, the light doesn’t have to be as powerful. By decreasing the power of the device, you take a lot of cost out of it.”

Celluma

Nowadays, BioPhotas’ key product line, called Celluma, has received Food and Drug Administration approval to treat acne, wrinkles, arthritis and muscle and joint aches.

Celluma delivers a combination of blue, red and near-infrared light energy that can switch its technology to treat specific conditions at various layers in the skin.

The company’s website lists Celluma products ranging from $299 to treat skin conditions, to $1,645 for its flagship product to remove wrinkles, to $15,000 for a full body case.

Johnson says hair restoration will become a bigger part of the company’s business, noting that besides men becoming balder, about 40% of women over 40 report hair loss.

For now, aesthetics such as removing wrinkles or acne is the key growth driver.

“People want to retain a youthful look and light therapy is really good for that,” he said. “The beauty market has huge growth drivers, even in a down economy.”

The light therapy isn’t the same as sitting in the sun because it doesn’t have UV lights, Johnson said.

Debt-Free, Profitable

The company, which was initially funded by high-net-worth individuals, is debt-free and has been profitable for the past five years, he said.

“As an operator, your job is to make money. When we founded BioPhotas, I brought that approach to it. It wasn’t about building sales as quickly as possible and losing a lot of money that some subsequent round of investors would have to pay for it,” Johnson said.

“I see this company as my professional dissertation. Throughout my professional career, I always made notes to myself about when I own my own company, it’s going to be different. To a great degree, BioPhotas is the company that I always wanted to work for.”

The ‘Hyper-Aging’ Effects of Space Travel

BioPhotas Inc.’s principal product, Celluma, got a development push thanks to NASA.

The U.S. space agency, which was worried about the effect of gravity on astronauts during long-term space missions, developed light emitting diode therapy and in 2000, it issued a press release discussing the “healing power of light.”

“Using powerful light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, originally designed for commercial plant growth research in space, scientists have found a way to help patients here on Earth,” NASA said.

In 2015, NASA conducted a double-blind study on Scott Kelly, who was in space for a year, and his twin brother Mark Kelly, also an astronaut who spent the year on Earth mimicking exercises by his brother.

“Scott came back significantly more aged and, in less health, than Mark who stayed on Earth,” BioPhotas CEO Patrick Johnson said.

“NASA was looking for a way to counteract that effect on deep space exploration, particularly when you’re thinking of sending astronauts to Mars, where the fast track is a couple of years,” he said. “There are a whole bunch of implications on retaining good cellular functions here on Earth.

“It turns out that cellular functions rely on gravity. In the absence of that gravity, bad things start to happen,” Johnson said. “Essentially the body enters a state of hyper aging.”

Click here to read the Orange County Business Journal article.