Fruit fly brain cells offer potential insight on human synapse formation

UCLA researchers discovered a pattern in fruit fly brain cells that might help explain how human brains make connections between their brain cells.

Orkun Akin, an assistant professor of neurobiology, and Bryce Bajar, a graduate student and first author on the paper, found developing fruit flies exhibited activity in their innermost eye cells before they were able to open their eyes.

This type of cell activity is fundamental to making connections in a developing brain in humans and other animals, said Lawrence Zipursky, a distinguished professor of biological chemistry and an author of the study. However, before this study, researchers thought this type of retinal activity only occurred in mammals, Akin said.

Researchers are still unsure what role this activity plays in the formation of neural connections, or synapses, during brain development because it is difficult to observe the neural activity of animals that develop within the uterus. However, this study will allow researchers to gain a clearer picture of brain cell development by observing species whose brain develops outside of a uterus.

Using technology Akin had previously developed to observe the development of live fruit fly brain cells, the researchers were able to study fruit fly brains while the flies were in the pupal stage of development, the stage during which a larva transitions to an adult.

Bajar said the researchers used GCaMP, a protein that lights up when there is activity in a cell, to detect this pattern of retinal activity.

The researchers then inserted GCaMP into different kinds of brain cells in the fly’s visual system. They observed the cells would light up together at the beginning of the pupal stage. However, several hours later, some of the cells would light up while others did not.

The researchers noticed the cells that exhibited the same activity pattern formed synapses in the adult brain, which could give them an idea about the role of innermost eye cells activity in adult synapse formation.

Akin said because they have the tools study this development in flies, they can begin to figure out which particular genes have a role in the formation of synapses.

The genes that control how the nervous system develops in a fly are the same genes that control neural development in the human brain, Zipursky said. By observing simpler organisms like flies, researchers can potentially discover how brain cells form connections in the human brain and the role these processes play in human brain development, he said.

“We may have a stepping stone to answering these questions and that turns out to be a fruit fly,” Akin said.

Women’s conference offers attendees exposure to professional fields

Student government officials hosted an all-day women’s conference to encourage women to pursue leadership positions in the professional world.

The LEAN IN UC: UC Women’s Leadership Conference 2019 featured 65 speakers, including Amy Ziering, an Emmy Award-winning documentarian, and Cleo Wade, an artist, poet and author. Speakers addressed how the #MeToo movement has impacted the workplace, how women in leadership positions face difficulties and how to create change.

The event was hosted Sunday by the Undergraduate Students Association Council Office of the President and the USAC Campus Events Commission. Claire Fieldman, USAC president, said by the end of the day, they expected 300 students total to attend.

Fieldman said she wanted the event to help attendees connect with women in leadership roles.

“(I hope attendees leave with) the knowledge that there is a community of femme-identifying leaders at UCLA, across the UCs and the LA area that are invested in their success and … find someone who really resonates with them and will connect them with an opportunity,” Fieldman said.

Fieldman added she worked to expand the event from previous years after she was the only female presidential candidate out of eight candidates in the 2018 USAC election.

“The LEAN IN platform was born between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. the night that I found out I was running for USAC against seven men,” Fieldman said. “I really felt that I had not only the ability but the responsibility to use my platform to talk about what it means to be a woman running for a position of leadership.”

Vivianna Gerges, a fourth-year history student who attended the event, said her favorite part of the event were the “breakout” sections, which grouped speakers and attendees into areas of interest such as politics, business, and the arts and film. Speakers for each group spoke about their role in the field, their individual career paths and discrimination they may have faced along the way.

“I thought this was actually a really good event because there aren’t that many (events geared toward specific industries) on campus,” Gerges said. “The breakout sections were really cool because they were catered to whatever careers you want to go into.”

Victoria Rocha, a third-year education sciences student from UC Irvine, said she attended the breakout session for nonprofits and thought it provided a good environment to learn from others.

“I love it, the speakers are really inspiring, and the breakout sessions were nice too because it’s good to get in a space with a smaller group and be able to ask questions and network,” Rocha said.

She added that about 40 students from UC Irvine attended the event and said she attended to get inspiration for her career path and see how people network.

The conference also featured a panel on intersectionality and equality, during which panelists spoke about the importance of including groups like trans-identifying individuals and women of color in discussions about equality.

Erica Chidi Cohen, an educator and author, said she thinks people from different underrepresented groups can help each other overcome marginalization in the workplace.

“I think we’re all navigating different levels of oppression, but there’s always little bit of elasticity to continue creating spaces for people who need that,” Cohen said.

Fieldman also hosted a Q&A session with Ziering to discuss the impact of her documentaries “The Invisible War” and “The Hunting Ground,” which focused on sexual harassment and assault in the military and universities, respectively.

Alley Madison, Campus Events commissioner, said she was satisfied with the turnout and thought the event ran smoothly.

“I think it’s been great, we’re seeing a lot of student engagement and also a lot of engagement between panelists, speakers and alum, and I just think it’s so exciting to see so many femme-identifying folks just brought together,” Madison said.

Student organization hosts three-day Korean cultural awareness event

Students celebrated a Korean national holiday on campus for the first time Friday to raise awareness of Korean history by performing Korean drumming, masked dances and a re-enacted march.

Hanoolim, a Korean cultural awareness group, hosted a celebration of Samil Day, also known as Independence Movement Day, a Korean holiday that commemorates the protests of the March 1st Movement against Japanese imperialism in 1919. The celebration, which was part of a three-day event that began Wednesday, and included food, performances and a re-enactment of the Samil Day marches. Hanoolim aimed to raise awareness of the holiday and of Japanese imperialism in Korea through the event, said Natalie Lee, a second-year nursing student and member of Hanoolim.

The marches began March 1, 1919, when Koreans took to the streets shouting, “Long live Korea” and “May Korea live 10,000 years,” according to Hanoolim’s Facebook event page. By the end of this year-long protest, over two million Koreans had participated and over 1,500 demonstrations had taken place.

Helena Dukovich, a fourth-year Chinese and Korean languages and cultures student and the cultural committee head of Hanoolim, said the organization aims to host more cultural events because she thinks many Korean organizations on campus are more professionally or socially focused.

“We never had this event before,” Dukovich said. “We are trying really hard to make something we are proud of and have people learn from it.”

Lee said the organization aims to emphasize the importance of Korean history instead of just focusing on modern Korean culture.

“I feel like when we have Korean representation these days it’s more based on pop culture or contemporary stuff,” Lee said. “So, what we want to do is make sure that people not only know about just the cultural aspect of it but also the historical side of it.”

Jervin Mamaid, a third-year sociology student and president of Hanoolim, said he thinks Samil Day does not receive enough attention in Los Angeles, despite there being a large Korean population in the city.

“Samil Day isn’t that represented in the Los Angeles community,” Mamaid said. “The main takeaway is that this is the first time we’ve celebrated Samil Day at UCLA.”

Lyra Kim, a third-year political science student and an event coordinator for Hanoolim, said this event aimed to not only raise awareness of Korean independence but also to show how leaders of Korean independence were connected to the United States.

“The major activists that took part in this movement were U.S. educated. They also stayed in the U.S. and helped direct the movement from here,” Kim said. “They couldn’t travel back because there was a ban.”

Hayoun Kim, a fourth-year sociology student from South Korea and the cultural advisor of Hanoolim, said he thinks the movement in 1919 was unique because students played a primary role in the marches for independence.

“The March 1st Movement was the first one which the students were the main (group),” Hayoun Kim said. “They led the march.”

Dukovich added while the movement did not immediately achieve Korean independence, it initiated the long struggle toward independence from Japan.

“They didn’t succeed that day,” Dukovich said. “It showed the desire to fight for independence.”

Lyra Kim said she thinks it is important to realize that Samil Day is significant for Korean-Americans as well, not just people living in Korea.

“We are also, in a way, representing Korean culture here, like they did back then, and I think that’s something that people forget,” she said.

Freshman, assistant coach duo come out on top at doubles championship in La Jolla

A pair of Bruins emerged doubles champions in a break from ITA play.

No. 23 UCLA men’s tennis (5-4) sent five doubles teams to the Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championship at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club in La Jolla, California. Freshman Govind Nanda and assistant coach Rikus De Villiers teamed up and secured the No. 1 seed in the bottom half of the 128-team bracket.

“(Nanda) certainly stepped up in the big moments and took the pressure off me,” De Villiers said. “I’ve got a good amount of experience, even if I haven’t played in the last couple of years. I got to help him with some of the choices he made.”

The duo advanced past the round of 32 without stepping foot onto the court as their opponents withdrew due to injury. After moving past the round of 16, the Bruins encountered the brother duo of Tanner Smith and Colter Smith, the former being a current player at USC. Nanda and De Villiers claimed the victory, 8-6.

Nanda said that the I-formation – a doubles strategy in which the net player lines up in the middle of the net – was important to the success of the partnership when on serve.

“We don’t have the biggest serves,” Nanda said. “I-formation changes it up a little bit. It gives the returners a bit of a different look. You’ll get a couple free points, here and there, since they have to think about (where to hit the return).”

Nanda and De Villiers encountered the Stanford team of Jack Barber and William Genesen in the semifinal round and dispatched the Cardinal duo by a score of 6-1, 6-0.

The final saw Nanda and De Villiers face USC’s No. 1 doubles team of Brandon Holt and Riley Smith. After winning the first set via a tiebreak, the Bruins lost the second set 6-4. Playing a 10-point tiebreak in lieu of a third set, Nanda and De Villiers defeated the USC duo with a score of 10-4 and claimed the championship.

De Villiers said playing with Nanda this weekend could help him better coach the freshman in the future.

“There’s certain things during a dual match, or during practice, that I can talk about all I like. (But playing with Nanda) helps him see how I would like to see him playing doubles. Hopefully, he can take (that knowledge) and be the leader in whichever partnership he plays in.”

Junior Ben Goldberg and redshirt sophomore Connor Rapp were defeated 8-4 in the round of 16 by California’s Jacob Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi. Brumm and Kikuchi were defeated by UCLA’s No. 1 doubles team on Feb. 8 when they encountered the Bruins in dual-match play.

The only UCLA duo who entered the tournament unseeded was the pair of freshman Max Wild and Roscoe Bellamy. The two were defeated by the USC team of Jake Sands and Jake DeVine by a score of 8-2. Wild and Bellamy rebounded in the consolation bracket of the tournament, reaching the semifinals before bowing out to No. 7 seeds Henry Ji and Logan Smith.

“(In the consolation draw), we were more comfortable being with each other on the court,” Wild said. “There was a backdraw, and there were multiple matches that could have been played. We went out there and did really well. Just because we lost our first round, doesn’t mean we weren’t one of the better teams.”

The No. 8-seeded team of sophomore Bryce Pereira and freshman Patrick Zahraj reached the round of 32 before falling to a duo from Claremont McKenna College, 8-6. The freshman team of Eric Hahn and Mathew Tsolakyan had similar results.

After reaching the round of 32, the team was ousted by the San Diego State pair of Jan Kirchhoff and Ignacio Martinez by a score of 8-5.

The Bruins will take the court again Friday in Salt Lake City as they take on Utah in their Pac-12 conference opener.

Study affirms new cancer treatment as effective, favorable to long-term therapy

UCLA physicians confirmed the efficacy of an unconventional therapy for prostate cancer that significantly reduces the number of required radiotherapy treatments.

In a study published in early February, researchers revealed shorter radiotherapy treatment was just as effective as traditional long-course therapy and created no additional side effects. Researchers pooled data from a large number of individual patients from different institutions who underwent the modified treatment plan.

Amar Kishan, assistant professor of radiation oncology and lead author of the study, said prostate cancer radiotherapy plans typically involve a small daily dose of radiation delivered over eight to nine weeks. The new therapy, which was first pioneered over a decade ago, delivers four to five higher doses of radiation over 10 days.

The shorter-course treatment is highly effective, with more than 95 percent of patients in the study becoming disease-free seven years after treatment, Kishan said. He added there was initial concern the higher doses may lead to more severe side effects, but the study revealed the side effects were indistinguishable from those of the conventional long-course treatment.

“If it’s equally effective and safe, (the shorter-course treatment) should become the standard,” Kishan said. “We’re talking 40 treatments versus four or five – it’s a big difference in the burden on patients.”

Michael Steinberg, professor and chair of radiation oncology and an author on the paper, said the shorter-course treatment was not only more convenient for patients, but also less expensive.

“We actually did something very unusual in medicine, which is to decrease the cost of care,” Steinberg said. “Usually, the cost goes up the more the technology develops.”

He said the new treatment was initially met with resistance from insurance companies that didn’t realize the costs would be lower and refused to cover the costs, as well as from private practices that stood to make less money from the shortened treatment plan.

“Back when the trial was first started in 2009, this (new treatment) was considered not just cutting-edge but way out there,” Steinberg said.

Steinberg added despite the initial pushback, patients greatly preferred the new therapy to conventional treatment, which drove the popularization of the treatment. He said the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a cancer center consortium that dictates treatment options for cancer, now includes the shortened treatment in their guidelines, and more physicians nationwide are being trained on the new technique.

Christopher King, associate professor of radiation oncology and urology and lead senior author of the paper, said despite the new treatment’s popularization, it still faces some resistance from insurers.

“Ironically, the new treatment is less expensive but many insurers still decline it,” King said. “When insurance companies make policy decisions and they have someone checking their checklist not looking at the downstream consequences, they end up declining (to cover treatments) left and right even though not realizing they’ll be paying two times more.”

He added while more physicians are becoming familiarized with the technique, many institutions and centers still do not have the proper technology and training to perform it. However, like Steinberg, he said he thinks patient demand is driving the increasing popularization of the treatment and publications like these that give credence to the treatment’s long-term efficacy and safety.

“Publishing on (the new treatment) gives confidence that there’s long-term follow-up, and patients are becoming aware of this through publications, support groups and talking to their friends,” King said. “This is no longer that new, but for many practitioners, it’s still considered something they’re not comfortable or familiar with … but the word is getting out.”

Swim and dive places sixth in Pac-12 championships with first-place diving finishes

The Bruins have begun the postseason.

No. 25 UCLA swim and dive (8-3, 4-3 Pac-12) traveled to Federal Way, Washington, to compete in the four-daylong Pac-12 championships.

“We learned so much, both good and bad,” said coach Cyndi Gallagher. “But we had to blow through the bad and focus on the good things to keep our spirits up.”

UCLA walked away from the first day of the tournament with top-seven finishes in the 200-yard medley and 800-yard freestyle events.

The Bruins received a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard medley, swam by freshman Claire Grover, juniors Amy Okada and Maisie Jameson and senior Emma Schanz. They finished with a time of 1 minute, 38.24 seconds, which was an improvement of almost one second from their previous season-best.

On day two of the championships, redshirt senior Maria Polyakova became the 1-meter diving champion. Polyakova’s title marks the third of her career, having previously won the 1-meter in 2016 and the 3-meter in 2017.

“I didn’t set any goals for myself going into it,” Polyakova said. “But I’m not just going to give up. ‘I’m going to fight for it’ was my mentality.”

Grover received a spot on the podium in third place for her finish in the 50-yard freestyle to set a freshman school record of 21.98.

“To end up on the podium was really exciting,” Grover said. “I’ve been trying to go 21 for a really long time, so that was a huge goal for me to accomplish.”

With Grover’s help in the 200-yard freestyle relay, UCLA’s A Team received third place with a season-best time of 1:28.88. The relay team was Grover, Okada, Jameson and junior Kenisha Liu.

On day three of the championship, Polyakova continued her reign by being crowned Pac-12 champion for the second day in a row for the 3-meter. Polyakova snagged the title by less than five points over the second-place finisher, Carolina Sculti of Stanford.

“1-meter is a bit easier for me, so I was trying to think of it as a halfway point,” Polyakova said. “I was thinking that I can’t celebrate yet – tomorrow is the day that matters and I’m going to fight for it.”

Grover broke the one-minute mark in the 100-yard breaststroke. In the A Final, she finished fourth with a time of 59.50.

Okada received her best time Friday, taking 13th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 52.97. Schanz placed eight in the 100-yard backstroke to give the Bruins top-10 finish.

To close the meet, Polyakova was crowned the Diver of the Meet – the third straight year a Bruin has received that distinction at the Pac-12 championships.

Before the meet, Polyakova twisted her ankle and was out of practice for three weeks.

“I just had to focus on what my body remembered before the injury,” Polyakova said. “So I’m really excited with how it turned out.”

Senior Eloise Belanger – the reigning Pac-12 Diver of the Year – finished second in the preliminaries, allowing her to qualify for the finals of the platform championships.

Senior Sandra Soe swam the mile, finishing with a time of 16:12.90 – her second best time of the season.

Freshman Mara Newman received sixth place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:53.73, making her the highest finisher for UCLA on Saturday.

The Bruins ended the Pac-12 championships in sixth place with a score of 835.

“Having great competition only makes you better,” Gallagher said. “That’s what they signed up for when they came to UCLA and that’s what they saw at the Pac-12s.”

Beach volleyball sinks sixth ranked opponent, sweeps three teams to stay undefeated

The Bruins were perfect this weekend.

No. 1 UCLA beach volleyball (9-0) left Bear Down Beach, Arizona, with three sweeps over Arizona State (3-3), Washington (0-3) and No. 11 California (4-1). The Bruins dropped just two sets on the weekend and the win marked UCLA’s third consecutive sweep of the Pac-12 South Tournament.

“I was really happy with our performance (Saturday), I thought we played well – we played to our standard,” said coach Stein Metzger. “It’s hard, when you have a team that is this talented and has so much depth, to always play to a high standard and (Sunday) I thought we faltered.”

UCLA premiered two new pairs, with sophomore transfer Lea Monkhouse joining junior Savvy Simo on court four and freshman Lindsey Sparks playing alongside senior Izzy Carey on court five.

Metzger said he wants to try out different lineups so the team will be prepared in case of an injury.

“We’ve gone through some illnesses where we’ve been forced to play people, but in this situation, we opted to make these changes because we want to be ready in any situation as the season progresses,” Metzger said.

Both first-time partnerships dropped the first set in extended rallies to the Golden Bears on Sunday – with Monkhouse and Simo falling 23-21 on court four and Sparks and Carey falling 26-24 on five – but both pairs rallied to complete the Bruins’ third sweep of the weekend.

Sparks was moved from the right side to the left side after the first set. The freshman said she is more comfortable receiving on the right, but can be more aggressive from the left.

“Normally, I’m a right-side player,” Sparks said. “But we realized it was more about confidence, so we stuck to our guns and I went back to the left to get me more confident in my attacking.”

Abby Van Winkle is the only other freshman who has made a debut for UCLA, playing in all nine matches on courts two, three and four. She has been paired with senior Zana Muno for eight of those matches.

Muno played with Simo last year, making for a short team with both players standing at 5-foot-10. Muno said playing with 6-foot-2 Van Winkle at the net has freed her up to focus on defense.

“It’s definitely a different style of play since I’m used to split blocking with (Simo),” Muno said. “But it’s super fun because eventually when I go on I wanted to be just a defender, so this is preparing me for that.”

The pairing ran its record to 8-0 with three two-set wins this weekend.

Seniors Nicole and Megan McNamara on court one and senior Sarah Sponcil and junior Lily Justine on court two also won all three matches in two sets.

Sponcil and Justine – the reigning Pac-12 Pair of the Week – outscored their court two opponents 126-61 on the weekend.

“There’s a chance of (Sponcil and Justine playing on court one) – they are playing exceptionally well,” Metzger said. “Last year they battled some inconsistency, but they really seem to be hitting their stride right now and I think they’ve completely bought into our style of play, which is playing fast and running play sets – and they can do it because they’ve become so proficient at hand setting.”

The Bruins are 6-0 against ranked opponents and have won seven of their first nine matches without dropping a match.

But Metzger said there is room for improvement despite the results.

“In my mind, (Sunday) was a loss for us and a wake up call for our team to continue to improve themselves in practice and continue to get better,” Metzger said.

UCLA will face No. 3 Pepperdine in Malibu on Wednesday.