Welcome to the blog of Rochester's Science Cafe! Science Cafes are interactive events involving face-to-face conversations with leading scientists about relevant current topics. Ours meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month in the Community Room on the second Floor of the Pittsford Plaza Barnes and Noble.
Hyperspectral Imaging: Observing the World in Hundreds of Colors
Dr. David Messinger
Associate Research Professor
Director, Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory
Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science
Rochester Institute of Technology
Multiple risk factors compromise the ability of children to attain their maximal potential, including their cognitive abilities. Among such risk factors is iron deficiency, the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Iron deficiency is particularly frequent during pregnancy and afflicts 50% of pregnant women. Contrary to common perception, iron deficiency - especially during pregnancy - is caused not just by inadequate or delayed iron supplementation but is often a result of impaired iron absorption. Many factors interfere with iron absorption, including diabetes, obesity, celiac and Crohn’s diseases, exposure to polyphenols and pthalates found in tea and coffee, high levels of calcium and exposure to environmental lead.
Iron deficiency during pregnancy is often only noticed because it compromises the overall well being of the pregnant mother. However, its major and far more dangerous impact is on the developing fetus with the serious consequence of impairing fetal brain maturation. This impaired maturation can result in altered behavior, emotional disturbances and learning disability and low IQ. While these impairments are now appreciated and well documented in both humans and animal models iron supplementation of both the mother (which normally does not occur until the third trimester) and the/or the offspring remain ineffective in preventing these neuronal impairments.
Our work has been dedicated over the last decade to understanding how maternal iron deficiency impacts the neurological development of children and why current therapeutic strategies have such a low success rate. In light of a new population based study on over 2000 children and adolescents that showed a clear association between psychiatric disorders and iron deficiency, there is a great urgency in providing information and awareness of the problem and in providing new insights of how to effectively stop the burden of iron deficiency on future generations.
Preble's group, R.I.T NanophotonicsGroup, is developing ultrasmall--------------------------------------
devices that leverage the high bandwidths, low powers, low latencies
and sensitivities that are possible with light. The devices and
systems we are developing will revolutionize future microprocessor,
communication, and sensing systems. These nanophotonic devices are
primarily integrated on a silicon CMOS platform in order to leverage
the mature fabrication techniques that are used in the
microelectronics industry. This integration will enable unprecedented
electro-optical information systems that one day will be able to
process hundreds of terabits of information on a low cost chip.
Abstract: The human genome is enormous in size and complexity, yet contains the blueprints for a surprisingly small number of genes. The bulk of our genome appears to be populated with remnants of virus-like elements, suggesting a surprisingly dynamic and intriguing evolutionary history. Is this abundance of DNA part of a fine-tuned machine that we do not yet understand or an indication of massive inefficiency? Either explanation presents a considerable obstacle to the goal of predicting the future health of individuals from their DNA sequence.http://blogs.rochester.edu/EickbushLab/
