In case you missed them, here are some recent news items about the College of Medicine and its faculty and students.
 

• In anticipation of Hurricane Florence’s recent landfall on the East Coast, AAMC News reviewed preparedness lessons learned by medical schools and teaching hospitals during last year’s hurricane season. Dean John P. Fogarty talked about making resources available to med students, staff and more.

AAMC News: Braving the storm
 

• College of Medicine Professor Rob Glueckauf and his team have led the African-American Alzheimer’s Caregiver Training and Support Project 2 (ACTS2) for the last four years. The project has brought relief to nearly 100 distressed African-Americans providing care for a loved one with dementia, and is expanding its outreach with the support of a $118,000 grant.

Tallahassee Democrat: Faith-based skills training brings relief to caregivers
 

• In an effort to reduce preterm contractions, College of Medicine Professor James Olcese and his company, KynderMed Inc., developed a light-emitting sleep mask that inhibits the release of melatonin in pregnant women overnight. The technology is beginning a clinical study at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Tampa General Hospital.

Business Insider: KynderMed, Inc. begins important clinical study
 

• Research conducted by College of Medicine Professor Judy Muller-Delp has found that regular static muscle stretching can help people who struggle to walk due to pain or lack of mobility by improving blood flow to lower leg muscles.

Tampa Bay Times: Give ‘active-assisted stretching’ a try
 

• Suzanne Harrison, professor of family medicine and rural health and director of clinical programs at the College of Medicine, was interviewed by the Academy of Women’s Health about human trafficking, its signs and actions physicians can take.

Academy of Women’s Health: Human trafficking and what you can do
 

• The Family Medicine Interest Group at the College of Medicine was recognized by the American Association of Family Physicians for its community service efforts. The student-run organization was one of 18 groups recognized as a 2018 Program of Excellence Award winner.

PR Newswire: AAFP Program of Excellence Awards recognize 18 FMIGs
 

• Associate Professors Angelina Sutin and Antonio Terracciano contributed to research on the potential links between IQ, health and aging. The research was published in the academic journal Intelligence in August and was featured in a British Psychological Society Research Digest article.

BPS Digest: Do people with a high IQ age more slowly?
 

• The M.D. Class of 2022 had its White Coat Ceremony on Aug. 10.

Tallahassee Democrat: FSU medical school holds white coat ceremony

FSU Headlines: Class of 2022 White Coat Ceremony (video)
 

• Eight first-year family medicine residents started seeing patients July 30 at the FSU College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program at Lee Health.

Cape Coral Daily Breeze: Eight new physicians begin training at Lee Health’s family medicine residency program
 

David Meckes, assistant professor of biomedical sciences at the College of Medicine, has received a $376,626 supplemental grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health for a project that has been funded by the NIH since April 2016. The project originally received a $1.7 million grant.

The project, titled "Modulation of Host Cell Exosome Content and Function by EBV LMP1," focuses on how cells are able to communicate with each other. Cells secrete small vesicles packed with proteins and RNA that allows life to flourish when secreted from a healthy cell. However, damaged cells may be sending signals that are a possible source for the spread of cancer and other diseases. The study is specifically looking at a viral protein known as LPM1 that alters the cargo of exosomes released from cells infected with a human tumor virus known as Epstein-Barr.

The study has two aims. The first is to establish how the viral protein LMP1 drives exosome content reorganization, thereby altering the function of exosomes. The second is to determine what effects the modified exosomes have on intracellular communication and cellular transformation.

Click here to read the press release announcing his initial grant.