DECEMBER 17, 2004 TheRecord 5 One to Watch Current Research Pioneering Student Finds Strength in Her Heritage Researchers ID By Sheri M. Whitley and Joan Kane Possible Therapy hen Columbia College soph- tion drives in the weeks leading up to the omore Wendy Francois presidential election and is a member of checks her email, she sifts Double Discovery Student Organization for Spinal W through the spam looking (DDSO), a student group that provides for emails from Jeb Bush. Yes, the real tutors and mentors for the University’s Florida governor,W’s younger brother.The Double Discovery Center. The center pro- Muscular Atrophy two first met when Francois’ hometown vides an academic enrichment program of Naranja, Florida was destroyed by aimed largely at Harlem youth. Program By Alissa Kaplan Michaels Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the gover- participants graduate from high school nor visited the recovery effort, in which and college at a rate significantly higher Francois participated. They met several than the national average. times again at school functions.Never shy, Francois attributes her achievements to Francois forged a relationship with Gov. pride in her Haitian heritage. Although she Bush that continues today,one example of was born in Miami, her parents were born the leadership quality that defines her life. and raised in Haiti; and Creole is the pri- As a student at Homestead High, mary language spoken at home. In an arti- Francois was varsity captain of the soccer cle that she penned for Haïti Progrès—a and volleyball teams.She graduated with a weekly newspaper distributed in New perfect GPA, garnered a National York City; Miami; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Achievement Scholarship and was the “I chose Columbia because I felt Boston; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; class salutatorian. She also found the time Philadelphia; Montreal; Ottawa; Paris; and that the school and the city’s to tutor and mentor third-graders, teach a Haiti—Francois wrote of the need for and Mitchell R. Lunn . Kelley Sunday school class and actively partici- recognition of the legacy of Haitian pate in the Kiwanis Key Club, National diversity [were] what I needed at achievements: “Hope will be absorbed Honor Society and Haitian Culture Club.A into the roots that anchor Haitian youth, weekly radio show that she founded and [that] time in my life.” and dreams will propel them to excel and produced—H.Y.T., or Haitian Youth —Wendy Francois succeed in spite of financial hardship,fam- Time—was broadcast on Radio R.C.H. out ily divisions, cultural isolation and all DiCesare,Tom Brian P of Miami-Dade County. other circumstances.” SLIMS analyzes raw data using algorithms and Awards given in recognition of her Inspiration Awards luncheon. Danticat, She is majoring in political science and generates graphical displays. activism began to stack up: a Presidential who came to the United States from Haiti human rights—a perfect choice for this Freedom Scholarship for community serv- in 1981 when she was 12, is a celebrated natural leader. ice,a Kodak Young Leaders Award for lead- novelist and shares the same Haitian her- Francois arrived on campus with the pinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a fatal pediatric ership and academic achievement and a itage as Francois. intention of studying medicine, but her genetic disease, is the leading genetic killer of Ron Brown scholarship for academic With so much invested in her commu- activism led her in another direction. children younger than 2 in the United States and excellence. nity, it’s perhaps surprising that Francois Children’s issues, particularly education, SWestern Europe. Currently, no treatment exists. Francois also was a participant in The decided to attend college so far away. But have been the focus of her attention. So But by using a newly developed technology, a team of Florida Partnership. Established by The Columbia captured her attention and held much so that when she sees newspaper Columbia researchers has uncovered that indoprofen, a College Board and Gov. Bush, the organi- it. After visiting other colleges, including articles about children in Haiti or in other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) similar in zation aims to promote educational excel- Yale and Cornell,Francois made a decision. parts of the world, she emails her pal Gov. chemical structure to the over-the-counter painkiller lence and equality for Florida middle and “I chose Columbia because I felt that the Bush to advise him.Condoleeza Rice made ibuprofen, may increase the production of survival high school students and prepare them school and the city’s diversity [were] what history recently as the first African motor neuron (SMN) protein,the deficiency of which is for successful college experiences. This I needed at [that] time in my life,”she says. American woman nominated to become believed to cause SMA. year, Francois was selected to introduce The leadership skills Francois honed in Secretary of State. With women like It is the scientists’ hope that the discovery will lead keynote speaker Edwidge Danticat,BC’90, high school are very much in evidence at Francois in the pipeline, she certainly to additional developments and even a treatment for at the College Board Forum’s third annual Columbia. She worked on voter registra- won’t be the last. SMA.The disease is marked by progressive degeneration of motor neurons that originate in the spinal cord and occurs in different severities with an incidence of one in 6,000 live births. Although the location of the gene mutation believed responsible for the disease has been known for years, researchers have yet to uncover the The Reality of Reality Television connection between the deficiency of SMN protein and the onset of the disease. By Hayley Miller “Indoprofen is now both a chemical tool that researchers can use to study this disease and also a ther- he Business School Media has increased the potential for liability. tremendous embarrassment for certain apeutic candidate for these children,” said Brent R. Management Association and the Additionally,executives expressed con- shows, particularly Fox’s wildly popular Stockwell, assistant professor in biological sciences and Law School Kernochan Center for cerns over failed background checks. American Idol, where a contestant was chemistry. This latest research was conducted at Law, Media and the Arts wel- While some contestants’ past indiscre- eliminated after it surfaced that he was Stockwell’s lab and is published in the November issue T of the journal Chemistry & Biology in two separate arti- comed reality television’s leading execu- tions are overlooked in the hopes that, if arrested the year before for assaulting his tives in November for a panel titled “Reality discovered, they may generate publicity, sister and another was asked to leave for cles, “Indoprofen Upregulates the Survival Motor Check: The Legal, Business, Financial and other contestants with troublesome pasts posing topless on a Web site that adver- Neuron Protein through a Cyclooxygenase- Creative Aspects of Reality TV.” slip through the cracks despite intensive tised pictures of underage girls. Independent Mechanism” and “A Flexible Data Analysis The panel explored the challenges that Tool for Chemical Genetic Screens.” reality television—the fastest-growing Mitchell R. Lunn, senior research staff assistant and genre of television programming—has lead researcher on the study on indoprofen,said the next placed on traditional business models. step would be experiments to understand its mechanism Unlike traditional sitcoms, shows such as of action,to deliver the drug to the spinal cord and to test The Apprentice and The Bachelor have lim- the toxicity of related drug molecules.A clinical trial for ited syndication potential. Once Donald its effectiveness in treating SMA could follow. Trump barks,“You’re hired,”on the finale of Despite the structural similarity of indoprofen and The Apprentice, the suspense is gone—and ibuprofen, researchers found that ibuprofen and other consequently,so is the desire to rerun such NSAIDs had no effect on increasing the production of shows in syndication, a major source of SMN. However, researchers uncovered the potential for income with traditional business models. indoprofen to increase the amount of SMN, by testing The panelists, who included prominent more than 47,000 compounds using a high-throughput executives and consultants from NBC,MTV chemical genetics approach—a batch process that per- and FOX, indicated that programmers are forms a large number of experiments in a short period Dustin Ross therefore becoming more reliant on prod- of time. The data were studied with a robust analysis uct placement opportunities as an alter- From left to right: Margo Crespin, assistant director, Kernochan Center for Law, Media tool developed in the Stockwell Lab.This new software nate source of revenue. and the Arts; Lee Straus, vice president of business affairs, NBC Universal Television technology, known as Small Laboratory Information Executives also lamented the liability Network and Cable Group and adjunct professor of law, Loyola Law School; Bill Rancic, Management System (SLIMS), is freely available for aca- concerns of reality television. In an effort first-season winner of The Apprentice; Marci Wiseman, president, Wiseman & Associates demic use at http://slims.sourceforge.net. to protect themselves, networks require and business affairs consultant, NBC Universal Television Group; and Bob Kusbit, execu- “Our software package, SLIMS, enables researchers extensive testing of prospective subjects. tive producer of MTV’s Made, Boiling Points and Camp Jim and NBC’s Home Intervention to analyze rapidly the mountains of data that result from Panelist Bill Rancic, the first-season win- and The One That Got Away. chemical genetic screens,”Stockwell said. For example, ner of Donald Trump and Mark Burnett’s SLIMS is capable of organizing and “normalizing” raw The Apprentice, said he was subjected to data, meaning that it can “correct” for laboratory condi- “every test imaginable,short of a full body background searches.