FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Bill Wellock, University Communications

Florida State University

(850) 645-1504; wwellock@fsu.edu

@FSUResearch

Andrew J. Skerritt, Assistant Director, Media Relations

Florida A&M University

andrew.skerritt@famu.edu

(850) 561-2499

June 2020

FAMU AND FSU RESEARCHERS LAND $500K NSF GRANT FOR BIO-ADHESIVE STUDY 

Grant Provides Additional Educational Opportunities for Engineering Students 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida A&M and Florida State Universities are leveraging their unique partnership through the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering to create more learning opportunities for underrepresented students in engineering while also making improvements to existing medical applications.

Researchers from the college, in collaboration with the FSU College of Medicine, have received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop new drug-loadable bio-adhesives, while also creating a new summer research program for engineering undergraduates at the college and local K-12 students in the Tallahassee area.

“This is a perfect example of not only interdisciplinary, collaborative research but also the incredible value of the singular collaboration between Florida A&M University and Florida State University — a partnership embedded in the DNA of the joint college of engineering,” said Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Studies Farrukh Alvi. “The faculty and students in our College of Engineering are catalysts for promoting collaborative discovery in interdisciplinary teams that leverage assets, expertise and opportunities available to both institutions.”

The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is a joint institution between Florida A&M University and Florida State University, providing students and faculty with the unique benefits of both an HBCU and a Research 1 university. It is the only joint College of Engineering in the country.

Ho Yong Chung, an assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, is the principal investigator and will work with  Choogon Lee, associate professor of the FSU College of Medicine, on the NSF study.

Chung’s group will oversee the development of drug-loadable, fully degradable bio-adhesives for internal organs, and Lee’s group will test the biomedical effectiveness and toxicity of the bio-adhesives.

In preliminary work, these adhesives have shown drug delivery capabilities and improved biocompatibility and are superior to other adhesives currently in use.

Biomedical adhesives are an important new biomaterial, which stably bind two tissue surfaces to replace and enhance surgical suturing. The new adhesives are needed because existing biomedical adhesives have significant limitations like having poor wet adhesion and complex application methods. There are also safety concerns regarding some of the materials that are used.

The newly proposed biomedical adhesives are designed to overcome these problems with bottlebrush polymer architectures that are biodegradable. The multifunctional biomaterial can deliver antibiotics and anticancer drugs to a localized area of the internal organ.

“We are hoping this could reduce high mortality rates associated with difficult surgeries, such as intestinal anastomosis,” Lee said.

Anastomosis usually involves a surgical connection between tubular structures such as blood vessels or intestines. When a section of the intestine is removed, the remaining ends usually are sewn or stapled together. Bacterial infections can contribute to anastomotic leakage and delay wound healing.

The proposed drug-loaded biomedical adhesive will prevent physical leakage from the site and deliver antibiotics to control the bacteria population near the surgery site. In addition, localized anticancer drug delivery to prevent cancer reoccurrence can be beneficial after cancerous anastomosis surgery.

Bottlebrush polymers look somewhat like a bottle brush used to clean a test tube. Compared to conventional linear polymers, bottlebrush polymers have unique super-soft elastomer features that enable efficient adhesion to internal organs in a wet living environment. The super-soft elastomer is stable and flexible and has unique features that have not previously been used in biomedical adhesives.

“We believe that the new proposed drug-loaded biomedical adhesives can be used to treat diseases and cancers that need the delivery of small molecule drugs,” Chung said. “Because the drug can stay in a specific area or internal organ, many side effects can be prevented.”

Researchers say the unique relationship between FAMU and FSU in the joint college is a boon to the project.

The funding for this project is part of NSF’s HBCU-EIR program, which is designed to enhance research programs at HBCUs. The grant will fund a new summer research program for FAMU engineering undergraduates at the college and local underrepresented K-12 students in the Tallahassee area. The project specifically supports three FAMU undergraduate students for work in Chung’s lab each year for the next three years. In addition, the joint research grant will support FAMU doctoral students.

“The project will give underrepresented students exposure to cutting-edge polymer research occurring at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, which we hope will motivate them to careers in biomedical research,” Chung said.

For more information on the College of Engineering, please visit https://www.eng.famu.fsu.edu/.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jodi Truel, College of Medicine 
(734) 934-4583; jodi.truel@med.fsu.edu  

June 2020

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Twenty-two Immokalee High School seniors completing a college pipeline program with the Florida State University College of Medicine have combined for more than $2 million in college scholarship offers.

“This SSTRIDE Class of 2020 from Immokalee has exemplified what the vision of SSTRIDE was created to achieve,” said Thesla Berne-Anderson, executive director of college and pre-college outreach at the College of Medicine and founder of the SSTRIDE program. “This vision included preparing and developing students for success. For me, success is achieved by taking a dream and making it come true, which is exactly what these students have done by their perseverance, college acceptances, and total scholarships received.”

The college’s SSTRIDE (Science Students Together Reaching Instructional Diversity and Excellence) program works to identify underserved, high-achieving students who have a genuine interest in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, math or medicine (STEMM). The program provides students with the education, experiences and support to succeed in college while fostering their interest in these fields.

The College of Medicine developed the program to increase the number of students from medically underserved communities interested in careers in health care, a mission that’s been successful in Collier County, where the SSTRIDE chapter was established through a gift from the Naples Children & Education Foundation (NCEF), founder of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. The festival has raised more than $212 million for programs supporting the education and welfare of children.

Britney Garcia, one of five SSTRIDE graduates who will attend FSU this fall, plans on majoring in clinical professions and hopes to ultimately pursue a career in pediatrics.

“I also see myself mentoring future first-generation college students in Immokalee,” she said. “Many students here are first-generation students, and I want to become an inspiration to them and motivate them to overcome personal challenges.”

The pipeline program came to Collier County in September 2016 through the work of Elena Reyes, regional director for the College of Medicine in Southwest Florida, and with the help of a multiyear, $500,000 NCEF grant.

Immokalee High School’s SSTRIDE Class of 2020 is the first Collier County class to go through the entire program, starting in eighth grade at Immokalee Middle School. The class is mostly made up of Spanish- or Creole-speaking students who learned English as a second language. Eighteen are Spanish, Hispanic or Latino and four are Haitian.

The program works with students from eighth through 12th grade. All 22 students in the class are moving on to post-secondary education. Twenty-one are going to college, with 20 choosing STEMM majors and one pursuing education. One student is joining the Army with plans to pursue a STEMM-related field.

The majority of the class will be first-generation college students. Some also were the first in their families to attend high school.

“Since working with these students from the eighth grade, I am so proud of how far they have come and what they have accomplished,” said Jodi Truel, SSTRIDE Southern Region program director. “I look forward to seeing how the next part of their journey unfolds as they prepare to pursue medicine or other health care fields and ultimately come back to Immokalee and serve our community.”

Truel credited much of the program’s success in sending its students to college to Collier County SSTRIDE Program Manager Melanie Yurewitch. Yurewitch assists students with the scholarship application process.

“With this senior class, I’ve seen a lot of determination,” Yurewitch said. “Because the program picks students that are already self-motivated, a lot of them are already trying to plan ahead and are always asking me for the next step. They all have that goal in mind, which has been really beneficial for making sure they stay on track with their grades and for getting those scholarships so they can go to school as debt-free as possible.”

The SSTRIDE program works closely with a number of community organizations including the Guadalupe Center, Community Foundation of Collier County and Immokalee Foundation to help students find and apply for scholarships.

Through SSTRIDE and other Immokalee organizations, Ruth Bellevue received more than $380,000 in scholarship offers, including a full ride to Vanderbilt University. Her twin sister, Ruthamar Bellevue, accepted a full scholarship to Emory University. 

Ruth said she hopes to one day attend medical school at Florida State.

“They helped me to keep going and provided me with a support system that I could always count on,” she said.

In addition to Collier County, SSTRIDE has programs in Gadsden, Okaloosa, Orange and Sarasota counties.

The program has helped 2,362 students state-wide as of 2019. Of the SSTRIDE alumni currently being tracked, 97 percent have gone on to college, where 64 percent pursued STEMM majors. Seventeen have gone on to medical school. 

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Collier County SSTRIDE students are listed alphabetically below with their post-secondary plans and scholarship amounts: 

Araceli Marie Anzualda – University of Toledo ($28,250) 

Ruth Bellevue – Vanderbilt University ($383,444; full ride) 

Ruthamar Bellevue – Emory University ($270,672; full ride) 

Meguine Duvert – University of Florida ($102,353) 

Madisyn Ryann Facundo – Tallahassee Community College ($27,208) 

Aida Nineth Garcia – University of Florida ($160,550) 

Britney Garcia – Florida State University ($70,011) 

Marilyn Gijon-Diaz – Florida SouthWestern State College ($27,208) 

Sandra Gregorio-Matias – Florida State University ($30,660) 

Jadah Marie Guerrero – Florida State University ($44,601) 

Alyssa Evarista Iraola – Florida State University ($74,521) 

Cindy Jaimes-Rodriguez – Florida SouthWestern State College ($27,208) 

Jessica Jimenez-Vasquez – Army ($73,250; U.S. GI Bill) 

Maria Lopez – Florida Gulf Coast University ($68,200) 

Camaraelle Milord – North Central University ($243,002; full ride) 

Julissa Montalvo – Florida Gulf Coast University ($27,208)

Gisselle Nava – Florida Gulf Coast University ($140,960) 

Julian Plata – Florida SouthWestern State College ($41,201) 

William Plata – University of Central Florida ($41,201) 

Miffordens Registre – Florida State University ($49,800) 

Rafael Rodriguez – University of Central Florida ($75,200) 

Cindy Velazquez – Florida Gulf Coast University ($62,361)

CONTACT: Doug Carlson, FSU College of Medicine
doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

June 22, 2020

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has not led to an overall increase in loneliness among Americans.

That’s the takeaway from a comprehensive, nationwide study by Florida State University College of Medicine researchers who surveyed more than 2,000 people before and during the enactment of stay-at-home policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study on how loneliness and perceived support has changed from before to during the pandemic is published in American Psychologist.

“There has been a lot of worry that loneliness would increase dramatically because of the social distancing guidelines and restrictions,” said lead author Martina Luchetti, an assistant professor at the College of Medicine. “Contrary to this fear, we found that overall loneliness did not increase. Instead, people felt more supported by others than before the pandemic. Even while physically isolated, the feeling of increased social support and of being in this together may help limit increases in loneliness.”

The paper is part of a larger study College of Medicine researchers are doing on COVID-19 to look at changes in mental health during the COVID-19 crisis and how psychological factors contribute to various aspects of response to the pandemic.

The study involved a nationwide panel of adults ages 18 to 98. Participants first completed a survey in early February unrelated to COVID-19, before the virus was widely known to be a threat to the U.S.

As the threat was being realized, researchers contacted participants again for two more surveys — one in mid-March during the 15-day period to slow the spread based on White House guidelines and another in late April as the guidelines were about to expire. More than 2,000 responses to the surveys were included in the findings.

The study also looked for increased loneliness in specific at-risk groups, finding only modest evidence of a small increase in loneliness among older adults. Older adults reported less loneliness overall compared to younger age groups, despite an increase in loneliness during the acute phase of the outbreak. That increase in feelings of loneliness among older adults was temporary, leveling off after the issuance of stay-at-home orders.

Individuals living alone and those with at least one chronic condition reported feeling lonelier at the outset but did not increase in loneliness after social-distancing measures were implemented.

“Despite a small increase among some individuals, we found overall remarkable resilience in response to COVID-19,” said Angelina Sutin, associate professor of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine and senior author.

Loneliness already was a known health risk before the pandemic, and it has been linked to increased risks of morbidity and mortality. Surveys have found that 35 percent of adults 45 and older report feeling lonely and 43 percent of those over 60 report experiencing loneliness at least some of the time.

Some studies suggest that loneliness is even more pervasive among younger adults.

“In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, it may be particularly difficult to reconnect with others given the restrictions on in-person social gatherings,” Luchetti said. “Even these transient feelings of loneliness can have a negative effect on health, meaning there could be dangerous unintended consequences if loneliness increases in response to the restrictive measures taken as a result of the pandemic.”

Yet from the start of the pandemic, there have been anecdotal reports of people calling their family and friends more often and finding creative ways to stay connected. This outpouring of support may have shielded them from potential increases in loneliness.

The pandemic is also something that everybody is going through.

“Just knowing that you are not alone and that everyone is going through the same restrictions and difficulties may be enough in the short term to keep feelings of loneliness down,” Sutin said.

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