UCLA researcher awarded Sjöberg Prize for pioneering targeted breast cancer treatment

A UCLA researcher won an award for his efforts to target and treat breast cancer.

Dennis Slamon, director of the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program, won the Sjöberg Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Sweden’s Sjöberg Foundation. The prize aims to recognize advancements in cancer research and divides $1 million between the recipients, which includes $900,000 for future research, according to a university press release.

Slamon will receive $500,000, after dividing the prize with Brian Druker, a researcher at Oregon Health & Science University.

Slamon was an early researcher of targeted cancer treatments who began by identifying and treating specific genetic mutations that occur in cancer cells. His work has provided the foundation for many other targeted cancer treatments.

Slamon discovered HER2-positive, an aggressive subtype of breast cancer, in the early 1980s. In 1987, he identified the correlation between mutations in the HER2-positive gene and occurrences of the HER2-positive cancer subtype.

Later, he proved researchers could develop treatments to target the cancer directly if they find the genetic differences between normal cells and cancerous cells.

In 1998, Slamon developed trastuzumab, a breast cancer treatment drug known commercially as Herceptin, which targets a specific genetic mutation in cancer cells. Among women diagnosed with breast cancer, about 20 percent have the HER2-positive subtype. Herceptin allows patients with HER2-positive to live about 50 percent longer post-diagnosis. In the last 20 years, approximately three million women worldwide have received the drug.

RAs, programming offices comment on scarce student turnout at Hill events

Resident assistants and programming offices on the Hill said they struggle to boost turnout at events on the Hill due to students’ varied interests and schedules.

Attendance tends to fluctuate at events on the Hill, depending on the years of the residents and the appeal of the planned activity, said Sean Fontaine, an RA and third-year communication student. However, he said he has always had at least eight to 20 people show up to his events.

“As has happened in both of my years as an RA, there is usually a group of residents that show up to a lot of events, and a large group of residents that do not show up to any at all,” Fontaine said. “When it comes to some of the more important educational events, it sometimes feels as though those who could benefit most aren’t there.”

The UCLA Scholarship Resource Center reaches a lot of students but has trouble keeping them interested in the center’s programming, said the center’s Student Affairs Advisor Mac Harris. The center, located on the Hill at Covel Commons, offers resources for students seeking scholarship opportunities.

“We definitely have plenty of instances where students schedule an appointment and don’t show up or come once and don’t come back,” Harris said. “We really only work closely with maybe 5 percent of the students that we meet with.”

Harris said the SRC is always trying to attract more students despite time and budget restrictions. The center has previously partnered with Residential Life to put on workshops and events for new students living on the Hill. He said the center uses bulletin board listings, flyers around campus and a table on Bruin Walk to promote events.

“The amount of staff we have who can devote time to advertising and the budget we can spend on advertising varies from year to year depending on how well-funded we are,” Harris said.

Iven Chen-Van Dyk, a first-year chemical engineering student, said most people only attend events on the Hill if they have a group of people to go with. He said he likes activities he can attend with friends.

“I attended some down in Carnesale (Commons) because they seemed like they would be fun and others because I like to chat with the resident assistants,” Chen-Van Dyk said. “I think the creative events are quite good, like when we painted pumpkins or made a gingerbread house.”

Fontaine and Trey Crossley, a resident assistant and third-year computer engineering student, said they have the freedom to come up with their own ideas for floor events. RAs tend to work together to plan bigger events for the whole building, Fontaine said.

“I usually try to gauge what the building would enjoy as well as the situational needs as people are stressing through a number of things in the quarter system,” Fontaine said. “My co-resident assistant and I usually discuss our programs after we’ve come up with them already, although occasionally we’ll band together to work on a bigger program if we’re really excited about it.”

Crossley said he and his co-resident assistants learned how to manage their quarterly budget of $150 per floor by hosting a mix of smaller events that cost less and larger, more expensive ones. He said one of his floor’s biggest events of the quarter will cost around $50, a third of their quarterly allowance. He added he thinks the student make-up of residential floors can affect turnout.

“My floor is primarily freshmen, so I’m sure that factors into it,” Crossley said. “But especially the social ones, like the karaoke nights – basically half of our floor comes to them.”

UCLA computer science community to hold town hall seeking coursework changes

Computer science students, frustrated with the department’s lack of practical classes, are asking faculty to create coursework that better prepares them for their careers.

UCLA’s chapter of Association for Computing Machinery, a student-run organization, Upsilon Pi Epsilon and the UCLA computer science department are holding a computer science town hall Feb. 20 to discuss students’ concerns about a lack of practicality in the department’s courses.

Yvonne Chen, a third-year computer science student and president of UCLA ACM, said in a Facebook post promoting the event she thinks the town hall will give students an opportunity to provide input on how to improve the major.

“We have an easy opportunity to change UCLA computer science for the better,” Chen said in the post.

Chen said current courses are mostly focused on the theories underlying computer programming, such as algorithm analysis and design features of programming languages. She said they are often not directly applicable to most recent developments in programming.

ACM sends out an annual survey to computer science students to gauge their satisfaction with the courses offered. Responses from more than 200 undergraduates who study computer science showed that students want more thorough and hands-on projects in courses such as computer vision, machine learning and human-machine interaction, Chen said.

Kevin Tan, a third-year computer science student and president of UCLA ACM Hack, a subsidiary of UCLA ACM, said he also wants to change the department’s curriculum.

“We have a rich theoretical curriculum,” Tan said. “(But) there is nowhere in our curriculum where you can learn practical web development or mobile development.”

This quarter, Tan wanted to teach a class on how to design iPhone apps using iOS software as part of the Undergraduate Student Initiated Education program, through which students can teach seminars to their peers.

However, when he tried to get his faculty advisor’s consent to teach the course, he was told the topic was too practical. Tan and his advisor agreed to offer a more theory-based iOS app design class instead.

Tan said he thinks more practical classes would give students the experience to work on real-world projects, such as app development, that would look better to future employers.

He also said computer science courses often require students to follow the projects’ instructions word-for-word and rarely leave room for creativity.

“Computer science students are not often given a chance to design things of their own,” Tan said. “Hopefully I can give people the perspective of how to design the specification in the first place.”

Richard Korf, the vice chair of undergraduate studies in the computer science department, said he regularly attends the annual computer science town hall. He said he thinks faculty are responsible for keeping the courses up-to-date and that instructors rely on student feedback for course content design.

Korf said faculty is doing their best to include practical courses, but it is difficult to make sure the courses are kept up-to-date with the constantly evolving field of computer science. He said while most of the courses offered are more theory-based, it is important to teach computer science students fundamental concepts to prepare them for the workforce.

“Given that we have four years to teach people to be productive professionals for 40 years, we have to focus on really basic things,” he said.

He added since languages and platforms that are considered more efficient gain and lose popularity quickly, students would benefit more from learning fundamental concepts that are unlikely to change.

Korf said the department teaches students how to think and trains them to be problem solvers.

Chen and Tan said they agree having a theoretical foundation is important, but they think practical and applicable courses are important in preparing students for programming careers.

“It’s all about balance,” Tan said. “It is important to have that foundation, but there should also be encouragements to explore practical skills that are not shoved to student groups.”

Tan said because the computer science department has not offered enough practical classes, many computer science clubs have had to take on the role of providing practical training for students.

He said the computer science department told him the department should not have to make its coursework more practical, since many student organizations already provide opportunities for practical training.

Tan added although students can learn from each other through these clubs, they would benefit more from departmental support.

Student charged with assault with deadly weapon and resisting a police officer

University police arrested a student Monday for assault with a deadly weapon and resisting a police officer with violence on campus.

UCPD Lt. Kevin Kilgore said in an email that Mario Balderrama, a 23-year-old student, was reported to have yelled at staff at the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center and refused to leave a meeting at the center Jan. 31. After UCPD confronted him, Balderrama resisted arrest, causing minor injury to the officer.

Balderrama was arrested and booked for assault with a deadly weapon and resisting a police officer with violence. He was then transported to the Los Angeles County Jail with bail set at $55,000.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Balderrama Feb. 4 for assault with a deadly weapon, resisting a policy officer with violence, hate crimes and vandalism.

This case is still under investigation. Anyone with information about the case can call UCPD detectives at 310-825-1491.

Westwood Forward endorses The Agora citing potential as affordable student housing

A student coalition endorsed a high-rise housing project in Westwood in response to various community organizations that have opposed the development.

The Westwood Forward student leadership committee endorsed The Agora housing development, a proposed 16-story apartment complex on Hilgard Avenue, at their meeting Jan. 31. The developers filed the plan for the housing project with the city of Los Angeles in November and have since spoken to stakeholders and advisory boards on the project.

Michael Skiles, a leader of Westwood Forward and its student leadership committee, said the committee voted in support of the project because they recognized the need for student housing in Westwood. Skiles said the only way to raise the quality of housing and increase the quantity of affordable housing is through large housing projects like The Agora. Westwood Forward is a coalition of students and stakeholders who aim to revitalize Westwood.

The current tenant of the site The Agora aims to develop, PodShare, has 90 beds and charges residents $840 a month, PodShare Manager Ashley Miniard said. However, the location is only 60 to 70 percent occupied each day. If The Agora’s application is approved by the city, PodShare’s lease would end prematurely to accommodate the new housing development.

Aaron Green, a spokesperson for The Agora, said the development will offer 462 beds for $1,000 to $1,200 a month, with at least 52 beds offered for less than $500 a month in accordance with Measure JJJ, meaning the beds will be priced less than the proposed standard rent range for Westwood.

Skiles said he thinks The Agora would allow more people to benefit from affordable and high-quality housing than PodShare, based on information provided by Green.

In addition, PodShare’s longest rental period is eight months, Skiles said. Miniard confirmed that most people don’t stay at PodShare for more than eight months.

Skiles added PodShare’s housing is more suitable as a temporary residence than as permanent student housing.

Skiles said his coalition’s platform aims to provide student housing in Westwood.

“If we don’t rally behind this single attempt to build student housing, then it will signal to the community that even with Westwood Forward and all the progress we’ve made, there’s no political difference in the reality that it’s impossible to build housing in Westwood,” Skiles said.

The Holmby Westwood Property Owners Association voted in opposition of the project while the UCLA Graduate Students Association endorsed it. The Westwood Neighborhood Council voted against the housing project as well at their January meeting, but now plans to repeal their initial vote.

Lisa Chapman, president of the WWNC, said the council will repeal their vote due to recommendations from the city attorney’s office.

Green said the city attorney’s office instructed the WWNC to not discuss the project in their January meeting because of possible legal violations committed by the neighborhood council.

Green said he received threatening messages from Chapman. The council’s code of conduct requires representatives to maintain professional and respectful manners, Green said.

Green added the council did not follow protocol because they did not allow the project developers to present to WWNC’s Land Use Committee and later to the full board. In addition, the developers were not informed that their project was on the January meeting agenda.

Chapman said the city attorney’s office did not find any conduct violations, allowing the WWNC to discuss the project at their January meeting.

However, Green said the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment recommended the council table the discussion.

Chapman added the council will vote to repeal their initial opposition in their February meeting to be fair to The Agora developers and give them a chance to respond Wednesday.

Green said the developers are under no legal requirement to present to the numerous Westwood advisory boards and stakeholders. However, The Agora developers plan to continue engaging with the community to gather input on the project.

Letter to the editor: Lab school has been transparent while protecting privacy

Dear Editor,

The Daily Bruin published a story Feb. 5 regarding some parents’ concerns about the UCLA Lab School, which enrolls students from pre-K through sixth grade and is operated by the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. The article implies the Lab School leadership has not been transparent with the community.

The piece incorrectly states that a teacher was put on leave without receiving notice of the reasons. In truth, the teacher received notice from me directly. The first time verbally, the second time in writing. Both notices were given in advance of a Feb. 4 meeting with the teacher – a meeting referenced in the article.

The article also incorrectly implies that our students’ education is not continuing due to the absence of one teacher. In fact, our teachers are very adept at team teaching, and I commend them for the continuity and caliber of instruction they have been providing.

The article further states incorrectly that there has been a lack of transparency on my part. In fact, a response letter from Dean Suárez-Orozco was sent to affected parents to answer their questions about the situation. This letter was provided to The Bruin upon its questions to Suárez-Orozco.

Moreover, I have communicated with parents weekly since September. I have also provided regular updates to all of the families affected by the teacher’s leave. In addition, I have met with the affected families as a group and with numerous families individually to share what I am able to respectfully and without breaching any privacy rights.

Protecting the privacy rights of employees and students is one of my most important responsibilities as a supervisor and a principal, and it is one I take seriously. I understand uncertainty can be frustrating for some, but it cannot get in the way of honoring the rights of others.

Sincerely,

Georgia Ann Lazo

Lazo is the principal of the UCLA Lab School.

Collaborative concert to reinterpret, give voice to female figures in Torah

Old books can learn new tricks. At least that’s what Rabbi Ruth H. Sohn is trying to prove as she draws messages of gender equality from the Torah.

These messages will be highlighted in “Bible Women: The Concert – Voices of our Mothers” which takes a traditionally male-dominated narrative and spins it by giving female figures of the Torah a voice, Sohn said. The concert, hosted by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the Lowell Milken Fund for American Jewish Music, will take place at Schoenberg Hall on Sunday. Before the concert, Sohn will lead a discussion about women featured in the Torah, such as Eve and Miriam. The concert offers a modern interpretation of their stories through close readings of the Torah paired with contemporary music styles like musical theater, gospel and jazz.

“I hope that people will … have their interest in the richness of the Bible and particularly women of the Bible really awakened, have more curiosity and be ready to look more closely at these narratives again, many of which we feel like we already know, but to look at them fresh for fresh inspiration, challenge and to learn from them,” Sohn said.

The first act will feature an abbreviated version of Elizabeth Swados’ oratorio “Bible Women,” sung by cantors and accompanied by a six-piece jazz ensemble. The Jewish tradition of midrash – making contemporary interpretations that elaborate on unanswered questions – was the basis for most of the stories, as most women in the Torah are spoken for by men rather than by themselves. Thus, personal emotions exhibited by the characters in “Bible Women” are drawn more from midrash rather than directly from the Torah, Cantor Lizzie Weiss said.

When interpreting a patriarchal text in a feminist manner, Sohn said she tries to separate the text from any pre-existing explanations. For example, Sohn said most people understand Eve to have been created from Adam’s rib, implying that woman was created from man. However, Sohn said the original Hebrew word used in the Torah, “sela,” means both “rib” and “side.” As a result, Sohn said Eve can be considered one counterpart of Adam rather than simply a derivative, subservient figure created from him.

“There’s a … Rabbinic view that the first human being was not male but was androgynous, both male and female, and that God split that being and took one side and made woman and took one side and made man,” Sohn said.

UCLA alumna and Cantor Lisa Peicott, who will be singing the voice of Eve, said Swado’s composition incorporates more than just the typical liturgical music of the Jewish synagogue, using gospel and upbeat ’50s doo-wop to offer more genres and contemporary language. The interpretations of the stories through modern genres make the music more accessible and refreshing to contemporary audiences who might be tired of classical liturgical music, Weiss said.

The concert features two songs from Eve’s perspective in order to modernize and add more dimension to her relationship with Adam, Peicott said. One song presents Adam as both Eve’s lover and friend, exploring their relationship after Eden. The song physicalizes Adam, describing his wavy hair and dove-like eyes, creating a more passionate portrayal of their relationship, presenting its humanity within the narrative, she said.

“Elizabeth Swados creates a love story between Adam and Eve in that even though they were banished she had found the man that she wanted to be with and that she was the first wife and that she’s content with that,” Peicott said. “All of a sudden we hear from Eve and what she thought of the whole situation and how she felt about Adam.”

Weiss will portray Esther, a biblical character who tricks the king into not killing Jewish people. In “Bible Women: The Concert – Voices of our Mothers” Weiss sings a song titled “Esther the Invincible,” using jazz influences with an intense, staccato quality. The music emphasizes her tenacity through its sharp beats, Weiss said. For Weiss, the most empowering part of the process has been to give Esther a voice as a modern hero who stands up for the rights of her people by putting her life on the line through her act of deception.

Ultimately, the aim of the concert is to allow marginalized communities to represent themselves as most female figures in the Torah do not have autonomy, Weiss said. As more and more cantors have incorporated their individual vocal training styles in their religious practices, she hopes the event will get people inspired to reexamine voices in the Torah.

“I just hope (the concert) wakes people up (and) gets people to really look deeper into people’s stories and … (is) able … to continue to give voices to people who are underrepresented or disenfranchised,” Weiss said.