Monthly Archives: August 2012

Research and Markets: Synthetic Biology Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Growth, Share And Forecast, 2012 – 2018

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/swfdjt/synthetic_biology) has announced the addition of the "Synthetic Biology Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Growth, Share And Forecast, 2012 - 2018" report to their offering.

The global market for synthetic biology is estimated to grow to $4.5 billion over the year 2015 owing to the developments in fields like biomedicine, biopharmaceutical synthesis, energy and environment, biosecurity, sustainable chemical segment, and biomaterials. Significant investments by major companies and emergence of new players in the market are also expected to boost the growth of this industry.

Synthetic biology is the fastest growing segment of the biotechnology field having number of applications. Synthetic biology provides significant number of near future commercial opportunities. Despite its emerging status, the list of applications is continuously growing. Some of these major applications include chemicals, enzymes, synthetic genes and other DNA parts, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and chassis microorganisms among others.

Current developments in technologies like DNA synthesis and sequencing, specialty media, and bioinformatics, and the need for renewable feedstock are driving the market for synthetic biology. Rapid developments in this field are creating unique market opportunities and contributing to the growth of this field.

Synthetic biology is gaining tremendous recognition as a transformative technology as it has the ability to address food storage and security issues as well as handle other threats like climate change, energy shortage, and water deficits.

This report highlights the industry with the following points:

- Definition, estimates & forecast of synthetic biology product market from 2010 to 2017

- Analysis of product segments for synthetic biology product market with historical data and forecast

- Trends and forecast for four geographic markets, namely North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the RoW regions based on segments of synthetic biology product market

The rest is here:
Research and Markets: Synthetic Biology Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Growth, Share And Forecast, 2012 - 2018

In the lab: Manipulating molecules for better health

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Alireza "Ray" Rezaie spends his days in a lab manipulating molecules to make some of their functions work better while turning off others that can cause unwanted side effects.

His work could one day help prevent and treat health conditions ranging from heart disease to blood poisoning.

In July, the National Institutes of Health awarded Rezaie, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at St. Louis University, a four-year, $1.52 million grant to study how antithrombin, the key blood-clotting inhibitor produced by the liver, can be improved to prevent premature death from heart disease.

Two years ago, the NIH gave him $1.5 million to study activated Protein C. In its activated form it helps regulate inflammation, blood clotting and cell death. It also helps maintain the permeability of blood vessel walls.

Rezaie has been studying ways to ramp up activated Protein C's ability to prevent organ failure while reducing its anti-clotting activity, to prevent hemorrhaging.

The antithrombin study is still in its infancy, but Rezaie recently discovered that it also blocks inflammation in the blood vessel wall, which can lead to heart disease and acute sepsis. The later is a violent, life-threatening reaction to blood infections.

He's moved from the petri dish stage of the study to looking at its effects in mice. It could be years before a drug is developed for clinical trials and even longer before FDA approval.

Nevertheless, Rezaie is excited about the promising findings.

"What's interesting is antithrombin is involved in normal circulation to prevent clot formation," he says. "After a clot is formed, at the site of a cut or bruise, antithrombin is the molecule that comes and stops the clotting. You have to stop it at one point when it's finished."

Patients with coronary artery disease, embolisms, strokes and heart attacks are typically treated with blood thinners such as Heparin and Coumadin, which inhibit antithrombin and put patients at risk of hemorrhaging. Rezaie's antithrombin could potentially be used in lieu of those drugs.

Originally posted here:
In the lab: Manipulating molecules for better health

Tribune Readers’ Views for Thursday, Aug. 23

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Oak Hill High staff is commended

I would like to commend the staff at Oak Hill High School for the excellent education you provided our children. Our son returned to Marshall University as a senior and graduate with a biochemistry degree, then will move on to graduate or medical school. Our daughter moved in on Aug. 22 with 25 credit hours achieved through the hard work and dedication of those professionals at Oak Hill High School. She will begin her journey towards receiving her biochemistry degree and becoming a pediatric oncologist.

I am writing this article not only to commend educators who strive to make a difference, but also to help young people realize that dreams are not impossible. Sometimes they are hard to achieve because of the dedication and hard work that is needed to accomplish the goal, but if its worth the effort to make Gods world a better place, then do it.

My question to all of the wonderful students I have been blessed by is simply this: Why did God create you and what is your purpose in life? If you cant answer this question, then our world has no future.

Cathy Broughman

Oak Hill

Avoid buying puppies from roadside peddlers

If you have been to the Fayette Town Center more than a few times, you have surely seen people in the median selling pure-bred or designer breed puppies from their vehicles with a handmade sign. I would like to encourage readers not to walk, but run away from these people.

The plaza tried to solve the problem with signage, but the signs soon disappeared and the puppy peddlers returned. A puppy mill or a backyard breeder is an extremely common business that often operates underground, and right here in Fayette County.

The operator chooses a breed of the current fad (often a toy breed) and forces dogs of that breed or breeds to reproduce at an unhealthy frequency in deplorable conditions. The mothers do not receive adequate care, socialization, recreation or affection in order to keep operating costs at a minimum. Some spend most of their lives in a cage the size of your dishwasher.

Continued here:
Tribune Readers’ Views for Thursday, Aug. 23

Histone-modifying proteins, not histones, remain associated with DNA through replication

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Public release date: 23-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Steve Graff stephen.graff@jefferson.edu 215-955-5291 Thomas Jefferson University

PHILADELPHIAIt's widely accepted that molecular mechanisms mediating epigenetics include DNA methylation and histone modifications, but a team from Thomas Jefferson University has evidence to the contrary regarding the role of histone modifications.

A study of Drosophila embryos from Jefferson's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology published ahead of print in Cell August 23 found that parental methylated histones are not transferred to daughter DNA. Rather, after DNA replication, new nucleosomes are assembled from newly synthesized unmodified histones.

"Essentially, all histones are going away during DNA replication and new histones, which are not modified, are coming in," said Alexander M. Mazo, Ph.D., professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Jefferson, and a member of Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center. "In other words, what we found is that histone modifying proteins are hiding on the way over replicating DNA, instead of histones 'jumping' over as currently thought."

"What this paper tells us," he continues, "is that these histone modifying proteins somehow are able to withstand the passage of the DNA replication machinery. They remained seated on their responsive binding sites, and in all likelihood they will re-establish histone modification and finalize the chromatin structure that allows either activation or repression of the target gene."

The team suggests that since it appears these histone modifying proteinsthe Trithorax-group (TrxG), which maintain gene expression, and the Polycomb-group (PcG), which plays a role in epigenetic silencing of genesre-establish the histone code on newly assembled unmethylated histones, they may act as epigenetic marks.

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Epigenetic marks have become an important focus in recent years because they are thought to have the potential to explain mechanisms of aging, human development, and the origins of diseases, like cancer, heart disease, and mental illness.

According to widely-accepted models applied today, the tails of methylated histones turn genes in DNA "on" or "off" by loosening or tightening nucleosome structure, thus changing the accessibility of transcription factors and other proteins to DNA.

"People believe that everything gets worked off of DNA during the replication process and that these methylated histones act as epigenetic marks, since they are believed to rapidly jump from parental to daughter DNA" said Dr. Mazo. "But there is no experimental evidence to back this up."

Read this article:
Histone-modifying proteins, not histones, remain associated with DNA through replication

R. Duncan Luce dies at 87; UC Irvine mathematical psychologist

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R. Duncan Luce, a UC Irvine mathematical psychologist who received the National Medal of Science in 2005 for his pioneering scholarship in behavioral sciences, died Aug. 11 at his home in Irvine after a brief illness, the university announced. He was 87.

In 1988, Luce founded and became director of UC Irvine's Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences. He was later named distinguished research professor in cognitive sciences and economics.

His work, according to the university, combined formal math models with psychological experiments to try to understand and predict human behavior, including how individuals and groups make decisions. His studies of decision making and game theory have been applied to the fields of economics, social sciences, psychology and other disciplines.

Luce explained that in his studies he assigned numerical values to psychological experiences and sensory events to allow researchers to accurately measure and compare the occurrences to one another.

For example, light perception can be described in varying degrees from dim to brilliant, with each stage receiving its own numerical figure. Other human experiences could be treated similarly.

"When you can represent these numerically, then you can start writing equations and using the kind of mathematics the physical sciences have generated," Luce said in a 1989 interview with the Orange County Register.

Robert Duncan Luce was born May 16, 1925, in Scranton, Pa., and majored in aeronautical engineering while enrolled in the Navy's accelerated V-12 training program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After World War II, he returned to MIT and switched to mathematics for his doctorate.

"I remember telling my parents I decided to go to graduate school in mathematics," Luce said in the 1989 interview. "My father shook his head and reminded me of the PhDs who were selling apples on the street during the Depression. He thought it was very ill-advised and not a good way to make money. Later on, things turned out reasonably well and he changed his view."

Luce did research at MIT, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton before joining UC Irvine's social sciences department in 1972. A few years later he left for Harvard University, where he became chairman of the psychology department. Irvine lured him back in 1988.

Among his academic publications are "Individual Choice Behavior," widely used as a college textbook, and "Games and Decisions," a 1957 study of game theory written with Howard Raiffa.

Read more from the original source:
R. Duncan Luce dies at 87; UC Irvine mathematical psychologist

Gibbons and Opera Singers Use the Same Voice Tools

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Its an old party tricksucking helium from balloons so you can sing like a Wizard of Oz munchkin. When gibbons inhale this non-toxic gas, researchers can detect much more sophisticated impersonations. It turns out that gibbon vocalization techniques mirror those of highly trained soprano opera singers.

Weve shown how the gibbons distinctive song uses the same vocal mechanics as soprano singers, revealing a fundamental similarity with humans, explains Takeshi Nishimura, an associate professor with the Primate Research Institute at Japans Kyoto University.

Scientists had previously believed that human speech was possible, in part, due to suspected evolutionary changes in the larynx, tongue, and vocal tract. But Nishimuras new findings suggest that humans may not have vocal anatomy and ability as unique as previously thought.

Listen to a gibbon call:

And to a gibbon on helium:

We share voice-box physiology with gibbons, and likely other primates, but we also share the way we manipulate sound, Nishimura explains. With both humans and gibbons, the origin of the soundthe larynxis independent from the vocal tools (or training) used to tailor audible messages.

(Related: Humming Fish Reveal Ancient Origin of Vocalization.)

Nishimura and his colleagues studied a young female white-handed gibbon at the Fukuchiyama City Zoo in Kyoto, where they exposed her to helium-rich air. Helium, which shifts gibbon sounds to a resonance that is easier to assess with acoustic equipment, is common in animal vocalization research.

This graceful primate normally makes intense, pure-toneor single-frequencycalls that can travel more than a mile through dense tropical forests in their native Southeast Asia.

It was probably the need to communicate with distant neighbors in such bustling habitats that produced the unique gibbon song. Such ecological and social requirements forced gibbons, using a soprano technique, to produce their pure-tone and loud voices, Nishimura said.

Read the original:
Gibbons and Opera Singers Use the Same Voice Tools

Study: Obesity May Speed Up Cognitive Decline

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A study published in the journalNeurologyfinds that obesity (in the setting of other health problems) is associated with hastened cognitive decline.

PROBLEM: Obesity has been linked to a variety of metabolic problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. Less is known, however, about the relationship among these conditions, obesity, and the brain.

METHODOLOGY: French researchers surveyed 6,401 adults ranging in age from 31 to 63 in the early 1990s. The study participants reported their body mass index as well as metabolic risk factors such as blood pressure, high glucose levels, high triglycerides, and low HDL cholesterol. Just over half of participants were of a normal weight; 38 percent were overweight; and 9 percent were obese. Of all participants, 31 percent had two or more of the four aforementioned metabolic abnormalities. After the baseline survey, participants were subjected to three rounds of cognitive tests over the next decade and a half to examine brain performance.

RESULTS: Cognitive decline progressed fastest in those who were both obese and metabolically abnormal. Participants who were obese but did not have one of the measured metabolic abnormalities (which is rare), though, showed no increase in cognitive decline.

CONCLUSION: Among people with hypertension, elevated blood glucose (diabetes/pre-diabetes), high triglycerides, and/or low HDL, obesity was associated with significant hastening of cognitive decline.

IMPLICATION: Obesity -- and more crucially, the metabolic syndromes that often accompany it -- may be a risk factor for early-onset dementia and other cognitive diseases. In addition to the known myriad benefits of weight management, it may also yield indirect benefits for the brain.

SOURCE: The full study, "Obesity Phenotypes in Midlife and Cognition in Early Old Age," is published in the journal Neurology.

The rest is here:
Study: Obesity May Speed Up Cognitive Decline

See why future doctors are stocking pantry shelves and tying knots in balloon strings

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Five days before they don white coats and officially begin their medical school education, the future doctors in Michigan State Universitys College of Human Medicine put in a day of volunteer work Tuesday.

In Grand Rapids and Lansing, the 200 first-year medical students stocked food pantries, helped with childrens and senior activities, sanitized toys and did outdoor maintenance at community service organizations.

Its a great way to kick off the year because it helps keep the focus on why students are in medical school, even as they begin a period of intense academic study, said student Ricky Rodriguez.

Its good to try to come out here and try to make a difference, said Rodriguez, who was stocking food for the pantry at Salvation Armys Booth Family Services in Grand Rapids. Getting involved in the community is important to a medical school education, said the Miami resident, who is new to West Michigan

I think its a good way to get out there and be part of the Grand Rapids community and see what kinds of volunteer opportunities are out there, said Matthew Thomas, of Bloomfield Hills.

Its a good way to embody what our school represents, added Jeffrey Sweers, of Jenison.

Community service is an integral part of the medical school. Dean Marsha Rappley has said it is critical to know the community and its needs to effectively deliver health care.

While some students stocked the Salvation Army pantry, a group in a nearby room tied slipknots in strings that will be used for balloons in an ArtPrize campaign by the Manessah Project. The organization, part of Wedgewood Christian Services, works to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The students officially kick off the school year Sunday with the White Coat and Matriculation Ceremony.

Other Grand Rapids agencies served by the student are: Mel Trotter Ministries, Catherines Health Care, Porter Hills Village, Heartland Health Care, American Cancer Society, Clark Retirement, Baxter Community Center and Spectrum Health Care.

Read more:
See why future doctors are stocking pantry shelves and tying knots in balloon strings

Tribune Readers’ Views for Thursday, Aug. 23

Posted on by

Oak Hill High staff is commended

I would like to commend the staff at Oak Hill High School for the excellent education you provided our children. Our son returned to Marshall University as a senior and graduate with a biochemistry degree, then will move on to graduate or medical school. Our daughter moved in on Aug. 22 with 25 credit hours achieved through the hard work and dedication of those professionals at Oak Hill High School. She will begin her journey towards receiving her biochemistry degree and becoming a pediatric oncologist.

I am writing this article not only to commend educators who strive to make a difference, but also to help young people realize that dreams are not impossible. Sometimes they are hard to achieve because of the dedication and hard work that is needed to accomplish the goal, but if its worth the effort to make Gods world a better place, then do it.

My question to all of the wonderful students I have been blessed by is simply this: Why did God create you and what is your purpose in life? If you cant answer this question, then our world has no future.

Cathy Broughman

Oak Hill

Avoid buying puppies from roadside peddlers

If you have been to the Fayette Town Center more than a few times, you have surely seen people in the median selling pure-bred or designer breed puppies from their vehicles with a handmade sign. I would like to encourage readers not to walk, but run away from these people.

The plaza tried to solve the problem with signage, but the signs soon disappeared and the puppy peddlers returned. A puppy mill or a backyard breeder is an extremely common business that often operates underground, and right here in Fayette County.

The operator chooses a breed of the current fad (often a toy breed) and forces dogs of that breed or breeds to reproduce at an unhealthy frequency in deplorable conditions. The mothers do not receive adequate care, socialization, recreation or affection in order to keep operating costs at a minimum. Some spend most of their lives in a cage the size of your dishwasher.

View post:
Tribune Readers’ Views for Thursday, Aug. 23

Histone-modifying proteins, not histones, remain associated with DNA through replication

Posted on by

Public release date: 23-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Steve Graff stephen.graff@jefferson.edu 215-955-5291 Thomas Jefferson University

PHILADELPHIAIt's widely accepted that molecular mechanisms mediating epigenetics include DNA methylation and histone modifications, but a team from Thomas Jefferson University has evidence to the contrary regarding the role of histone modifications.

A study of Drosophila embryos from Jefferson's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology published ahead of print in Cell August 23 found that parental methylated histones are not transferred to daughter DNA. Rather, after DNA replication, new nucleosomes are assembled from newly synthesized unmodified histones.

"Essentially, all histones are going away during DNA replication and new histones, which are not modified, are coming in," said Alexander M. Mazo, Ph.D., professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Jefferson, and a member of Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center. "In other words, what we found is that histone modifying proteins are hiding on the way over replicating DNA, instead of histones 'jumping' over as currently thought."

"What this paper tells us," he continues, "is that these histone modifying proteins somehow are able to withstand the passage of the DNA replication machinery. They remained seated on their responsive binding sites, and in all likelihood they will re-establish histone modification and finalize the chromatin structure that allows either activation or repression of the target gene."

The team suggests that since it appears these histone modifying proteinsthe Trithorax-group (TrxG), which maintain gene expression, and the Polycomb-group (PcG), which plays a role in epigenetic silencing of genesre-establish the histone code on newly assembled unmethylated histones, they may act as epigenetic marks.

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Epigenetic marks have become an important focus in recent years because they are thought to have the potential to explain mechanisms of aging, human development, and the origins of diseases, like cancer, heart disease, and mental illness.

According to widely-accepted models applied today, the tails of methylated histones turn genes in DNA "on" or "off" by loosening or tightening nucleosome structure, thus changing the accessibility of transcription factors and other proteins to DNA.

"People believe that everything gets worked off of DNA during the replication process and that these methylated histones act as epigenetic marks, since they are believed to rapidly jump from parental to daughter DNA" said Dr. Mazo. "But there is no experimental evidence to back this up."

See the article here:
Histone-modifying proteins, not histones, remain associated with DNA through replication

Gibbons and Opera Singers Use the Same Voice Tools

Posted on by

Its an old party tricksucking helium from balloons so you can sing like a Wizard of Oz munchkin. When gibbons inhale this non-toxic gas, researchers can detect much more sophisticated impersonations. It turns out that gibbon vocalization techniques mirror those of highly trained soprano opera singers.

Weve shown how the gibbons distinctive song uses the same vocal mechanics as soprano singers, revealing a fundamental similarity with humans, explains Takeshi Nishimura, an associate professor with the Primate Research Institute at Japans Kyoto University.

Scientists had previously believed that human speech was possible, in part, due to suspected evolutionary changes in the larynx, tongue, and vocal tract. But Nishimuras new findings suggest that humans may not have vocal anatomy and ability as unique as previously thought.

Listen to a gibbon call:

And to a gibbon on helium:

We share voice-box physiology with gibbons, and likely other primates, but we also share the way we manipulate sound, Nishimura explains. With both humans and gibbons, the origin of the soundthe larynxis independent from the vocal tools (or training) used to tailor audible messages.

(Related: Humming Fish Reveal Ancient Origin of Vocalization.)

Nishimura and his colleagues studied a young female white-handed gibbon at the Fukuchiyama City Zoo in Kyoto, where they exposed her to helium-rich air. Helium, which shifts gibbon sounds to a resonance that is easier to assess with acoustic equipment, is common in animal vocalization research.

This graceful primate normally makes intense, pure-toneor single-frequencycalls that can travel more than a mile through dense tropical forests in their native Southeast Asia.

It was probably the need to communicate with distant neighbors in such bustling habitats that produced the unique gibbon song. Such ecological and social requirements forced gibbons, using a soprano technique, to produce their pure-tone and loud voices, Nishimura said.

See more here:
Gibbons and Opera Singers Use the Same Voice Tools

Prestigious Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene journals join Oxford University Press

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Public release date: 23-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lizzie Shannon-Little lizzie.shannonlittle@oup.com 44-018-653-53043 Oxford University Press

The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's two prestigious journals will join the Oxford University Press (OUP) collection in a new partnership announced between the organizations.

The journals, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and International Health, seek to promote and advance the study, control, and prevention of diseases in humans and other animals in the tropics and sub-tropics. The Society plays a leading role in increasing awareness of tropical medicine and international health issues throughout the world.

Gerri McHugh, CEO of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, said: "We are delighted to announce this new partnership with OUP which comes at a critical and hugely exciting time in our growth; we look forward to working with OUP to strategically develop our journals to their fullest potential in terms of their relevance, scope, reach and impact."

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene is a well-established journal, founded in 1907, and is currently ranked sixth in impact factor for the Tropical Medicine category. It is a monthly journal which focuses on clinical tropical medicine and public health research, and presents the results of research that is broadly intelligible to readers from a range of disciplines.

The younger of the Society's journals, International Health, concentrates on health care delivery and analysis in the fields of global medicine and international health. It is committed to advancing health for all people around the world and is an indispensable resource for all those with an interest in international health issues.

These titles offer a comprehensive range of multidisciplinary research and review papers, covering topics ranging from public health and infectious diseases, to health economics and healthcare systems.

Michael Brown, Editorial Director at Oxford University Press said: "We are delighted to be partnering with the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene for the publication of their two journals. The society plays a leading role in increasing awareness throughout the world of tropical medicine and international health issues. We are looking forward to working with the Society in developing the profile of the journals, with the aim of Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene becoming the leader in the field and further growing International Health into a well-known and respected journal in all global regions."

###

Continued here:

Prestigious Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene journals join Oxford University Press

Research and Markets: Companion Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Market Report 2012

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2czp9f/companion_diagnost) has announced the addition of the "Companion Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Market Report 2012" report to their offering.

This is the latest and most up-to-date Market Report from Select Biosciences addressing the companion diagnostics (CDx) and personalized medicine marketplace. Personalized medicine is a broad field with several stakeholders all of which must be aligned in order to capture the immense potential value in targeting therapeutics to the correct patient populationthe field of stratified medicine.

Companion Diagnostics has been rapidly expanding over the past 3 years and in this market report we describe the current state of the marketplace from the following perspectives:

- All the Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers with Potential Clinical Utility are describeda few have already been developed into CDx and we expect growth in this space

- Targeted Therapeutics, Associated Biomarkers, Therapeutic Indications, and Testing Mandates are Described

- Companion Diagnostics Partnerships and Collaborations from 2009 to 2012 are PresentedProvides an Up-to-Date State of the Industry Describing the Disease Areas being Addressed and Types of Biomarkers Being Deployed

- Quantitative Market Metrics

Quantitative Market Forecast: Market Sizing and Growth Rate

Revenue Breakout: Rx versus Dx

See more here:

Research and Markets: Companion Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Market Report 2012

See why future doctors are stocking pantry shelves and tying knots in balloon strings

Posted on by

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Five days before they don white coats and officially begin their medical school education, the future doctors in Michigan State Universitys College of Human Medicine put in a day of volunteer work Tuesday.

In Grand Rapids and Lansing, the 200 first-year medical students stocked food pantries, helped with childrens and senior activities, sanitized toys and did outdoor maintenance at community service organizations.

Its a great way to kick off the year because it helps keep the focus on why students are in medical school, even as they begin a period of intense academic study, said student Ricky Rodriguez.

Its good to try to come out here and try to make a difference, said Rodriguez, who was stocking food for the pantry at Salvation Armys Booth Family Services in Grand Rapids. Getting involved in the community is important to a medical school education, said the Miami resident, who is new to West Michigan

I think its a good way to get out there and be part of the Grand Rapids community and see what kinds of volunteer opportunities are out there, said Matthew Thomas, of Bloomfield Hills.

Its a good way to embody what our school represents, added Jeffrey Sweers, of Jenison.

Community service is an integral part of the medical school. Dean Marsha Rappley has said it is critical to know the community and its needs to effectively deliver health care.

While some students stocked the Salvation Army pantry, a group in a nearby room tied slipknots in strings that will be used for balloons in an ArtPrize campaign by the Manessah Project. The organization, part of Wedgewood Christian Services, works to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The students officially kick off the school year Sunday with the White Coat and Matriculation Ceremony.

Other Grand Rapids agencies served by the student are: Mel Trotter Ministries, Catherines Health Care, Porter Hills Village, Heartland Health Care, American Cancer Society, Clark Retirement, Baxter Community Center and Spectrum Health Care.

Link:

See why future doctors are stocking pantry shelves and tying knots in balloon strings