THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT SINCE 1896 • VOLUME CXXVII, NO. 92 • dailycampus.com Monday, March 8, 2021 CONFIRMED 2021 COVID-19 Current Residential Cases Cumulative Cumulative Cumulative CASES AT UCONN STORRS (positive/symptomatic) 186 Residential Cases* 209 Commuter Cases* 180 Staff Cases* as of 6:15 p.m. on March 7 *positive test results 71 Mason Holland, Ethan Werstler win USG presidential election ticket “When we got the call, all I could think was how grate- ful I was to the more than a thousand students who trusted us with their vote. From the beginning, this elec- by Dan Drainville tion was about the student body, not us, but we certainly CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT [email protected] feel blessed to be the president and vice president-elect of the student body,” Holland said. On Friday night, University Werstler, a sixth-semester political science and com- of Connecticut’s Undergraduate munication double major and the vice president-elect, Student Government announced said he is excited to work together with Holland to ad- the winners of their 2021 election. vocate for students and fulfill their campaign promises. Among them, Mason Holland and “You are in good hands. Mason and I say what we Ethan Werstler were elected as mean and mean what we say. Our administration is go- president and vice president, re- ing to fight like hell to push the platform we won on and spectively, of the student-run orga- to remind this campus that there is always more that nization. unites us than sets us apart,” Werstler said. Holland and Werstler’s tick- Other victories on the night included Christopher et racked up over half of the total Bergen, who was elected as USG’s comptroller (running votes, collecting 1,086 of the 2,142 unopposed), and B Diaz- Vazquez, who was elected as total student votes. USG’s chief diversity officer (in a vote of 1,631 to 364). After the results were an- Bergen, a fourth-semester mechanical engineering ma- nounced, president-elect Holland, jor, said he was incredibly thankful for the opportunity a fourth-semester political science to serve undergraduate students as their comptroller. major, expressed a feeling of relief. “I’m grateful for all the support I’ve received, the as- Three months of strenuous plan- sistance from the current comptroller during this tran- ning and long nights working on sition, and the trust put in me by the student body,” Ber- the campaign “paid off in the best gen said. way imaginable,” Holland said. Diaz-Vazquez could not be reached for comment. Mason Holland and Ethan Werstler, UConn’s next student body president and vice president, cite the tangible changes they have made while at UConn as the reason they are most fit to run USG. PHOTO COURTESY OF \ ETHAN WERSTLER UConn grad founds Health Beat dating app Picme HIGH-PROFILE BRAIN TUMOR THERAPY CHOOSES UCONN HEALTH by Tommy Alvarez yourself, and you could get to STAFF WRITER know someone on your own tumors remain unresponsive to such [email protected] time and gradually build a treatments. connection with them before PVSRIPO works to address these Niko Diakogiannis, a 2012 meeting them in-person.” limitations through a potentially saf- University of Connecticut Diakogiannis said other er approach to eliciting an immune computer science graduate dating apps at the time were response that is durable and sustain- and founder of Picme, spoke not optimized for usage in able, even in diffi cult to treat tumors, about his dating app, his the modern day. He compared according to the website. goals and tips for students them to older dating websites “Emerging clinical data are giving aiming for similar goals. that moved onto smartphones us confi dence that PVSRIPO can safe- Diakogiannis founded Pic- with no major changes. ly, combined with anti-PD-1/L1 im- me seven months ago, an app “All of these dating apps munotherapies, increase or rekindle which focuses on connecting today are like an early-2000s an antitumor immune response,” the people who may not be able dating website, just in your website said. to meet in-person. Through pocket. They aren’t optimized Neuro-oncology, or the study of the pictures shared between us- to improve on dating with the complex nature of tumors of the brain ers within 24 hours of match- added features mobile phones and spine, is still a relatively new fi eld, ing with each other, he said brought to being able to com- and was not in place at UConn Health he hopes to establish deeper municate with people,” Dia- until the arrival of Dr. Kevin Becker connections between users. kogiannis said. “I wanted to in the summer of 2019, according to a “I’m targeting anyone who mix dating with a social app UConn Health article. doesn’t have time to meet peo- where you can share parts of “This is a tremendous example of ple in-person but still wants your life with someone in or- Dr. Kevin Becker, UConn Health’s neuro-oncologist, reviews a brain the innovative trials we envision as we something similar to the ex- der to introduce them to who image. Becker is UConn Health’s principal investigator for a national build our neuro-oncology program at clinical trial of a brain tumor therapy. PHOTO COURTESY OF UCONN.TODAY.EDU perience of getting to know you are as a person.” UConn. We are extremely honored to someone in-person,” Diakogi- Diakogiannis said people be able to generate a powerful and spe- be one of only a few selected sites for by Dan Drainville annis said. “I want to appeal who are looking to provide cifi c anti-tumor response in patients the LUMINOS-101 trial. This is truly a feedback can go through the CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT to people who are tired of the [email protected] with an aggressive and often fatal landmark trial for patients with recur- surface-level connections of avenues of App Store ratings kind of tumor, known as a recurrent rent glioblastomas,” Dr. Kevin Becker, other apps and want to build or comments on the app’s UConn Health has been selected as malignant glioblastoma, according to director of neuro-oncology and UCo- more personal connections.” Facebook page. He said the one of a few locations in the United UConn Today. nn Health’s primary investigator for When Diakogiannis was reviews have been positive so States to begin off ering a promising Istari Oncology, Inc., the North Car- the trial, said in the article. studying to attend medical far. new brain-tumor therapy as it is fur- olina-based biotechnology company “To be selected as one of a handful school, he said he found it dif- “Users are welcome to try ther evaluated for safety and effi cacy, sponsoring the research, has selected of sites in the world for this trial is tru- ficult to meet people in-per- the app out and give us a rat- according to UConn Today. UConn Health as a site for this phase ly a tribute to Dr. Becker’s leadership, son. He used dating apps ing on the App Store. We also The experimental therapy, which is of the trial for this therapy, which they and it is also a tribute to the great mul- during this time, and this was welcome any personal feed- currently in its second phase of clini- have dubbed the LUMINOS-101 trial, tidisciplinary team that has been cre- what spurred his idea for Pic- back on our Facebook page,” cal trials, combines what researchers according to UConn Today. ated through the Carole and Ray Neag me. Diakogiannis said. “So far, call PVSRIPO, a viral immunother- The company’s website claims that Comprehensive Cancer Center and “I was studying to go to the feedback has been very apy based on the polio vaccine, with the need for this new kind of thera- our Brain and Spine Institute,” Dr Ke- medical school and noticed positive. People love being pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy py is based on many shortcomings in tain Bulsara, chief of UConn Health’s that a big issue for me was able to express themselves drug shown to be eff ective in treating current immunotherapy approaches, Division of Neurosurgery, told UConn that it was hard to go out and more than they can on other many other types of cancers, market- including primary (not responding Today. “UConn Health’s involvement meet people due to time con- apps.” ed under the brand name Keytruda, to treatment) and secondary (re- in this very promising trial affi rms straints,” Diakogiannis said. according to UConn Today. sponding to treatment initially before our standing as a world-class institu- “I had used dating apps my- Investigators believe this du- developing a resistance) resistance tion for clinical care and research in self, but I wanted to create See PICME, p. 2 al-pronged approach of therapies may and safety concerns. As such, many neuro-oncology.” a place where you could be For more... dailycampus.com The_DailyCampus The_DailyCampus The Daily Campus Tweet of the Day Jake Catanese CULTURE SHOCK | PAGE 7 RACISM IN EDUCATION | PAGE 5 WOMEN’S SOCCER | PAGE 9 @JCatanese43 UConn’s miguided battle for PATH event highlights BIPOC Recap: Huskies draw to Paraphrasing a text from my dad: “Nova free speech experiences in academia Villanova no longer getting tripled up, #FireGeno” 02 Monday, March 8, 2021 • DailyCampus.com News Picme dating app by UConn grad PICME, cont. from p. 1 Diakogiannis said any stu- dents interested in pursuing similar goals should be ready to The Picme dating app, give their all to their projects.