Impact: Research at Brown

2019 IMPACTRESEARCH AT BROWN BRIGHT SPOT ON OPIOIDS RESEARCH PAGE 16 BRAINSTORMS PAGE 20 SKY’s THE LIMIT FOR STUDENTS PAGE 26 SLAVERY’s TRUTH TELLING PAGE 34 BandwidthBR EAKING THE DATA LOGJAM P AGE 38 Boom STARTING OFF T ABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome to the second an- Stephen Robert Hall, an expansion designed to fuel an expand- nual issue of Impact: Research ing community of scholars working on global policy issues. Research at Brown, and to the many sto- The latest research hub is at 164 Angell Street, the state- ries of outstanding work by of-the-art collaborative home of the Data Science Initiative, the 16 Brown faculty and students. Center for Computational Molecular Biology, the Carney Institute Briefs We are building on many fronts for Brain Science, and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. 2 Rare Genetic Disorder Confronting in our research, in bricks-and- In this year’s Impact, you’ll read about research made pos- 3 Political Polarization mortar structures and even sible by these Brown investments and by funding from federal 4 Alumni: Ellen Stofan Opioids more in relationships, and there agencies and foundations. The Carney Institute, newly named 4 Robotic Pets Brown researchers are at the is much exciting news to share. by an extraordinarily generous gift, is on the leading edge of ad- 5 Health Decoders forefront of finding new ways to Let’s start in downtown vancing research in brain science toward cures and treatments 6 Mindfulness reduce the toll of a national Providence, where Brown is investing in a newly thriving entre- for ALS, Parkinson’s, and other neurological disorders and dis- 7 Innovate with Industry health epidemic. preneurial and research-intensive ecosystem that is supporting eases. Continuing a proud tradition of excellence in particle 7 Alumni: Lynn Nottage BY MAURA SULLIVAN HILL the University’s ambitions in translational medical research, forg- physics, Brown researchers continue to make discoveries con- 8 What Babies Can Do ing new industry partnerships, and much more. tributing to our understanding of the universe, and play leading 8 Alumni: Ayanna Howard It is home to the Warren Alpert Medical School, flourishing roles in the multinational upgrade of the particle collider in Europe. 9 On the Horizon medical/biology labs, the School of Public Health, the Institute The Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice marks its fifth 10 Alumni: David De Luca for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, year with an ambitious agenda. And our undergraduates are Assessing Architecture 20 10 and, most recently, the South Street Landing building, which is engaging in remarkable research projects, including creating 11 Research Honors Eureka inspiring collaboration between my office and hundreds of other EQUiSat, a small satellite deployed in July by astronauts on the 11 Brown Arts Initiative key administrative staff consolidated there. Later this year, our International Space Station. 11 Rising Funds growing School of Professional Studies will join the Jewelry I hope that you enjoy this year’s selection of stories and this 12 Rare Jewish Books Moments District’s new Innovation Center in a building developed by glimpse of the depth and breadth of research and scholarship 14 Sickle Cell The rapidly growing Carney Wexford Science & Technology. at Brown. Y 14 Concept to Clinic Institute for Brain Science is On College Hill, we dedicated the Engineering Research 15 Controlling Asthma driven by discoveries. Center last May. This three-story, 80,000-square-foot structure BY NOEL RUBINTOn ’77 universit has specialized research laboratories and collaborative spaces N W for biomedical engineering, advanced materials, environmental O Jill Pipher R engineering, and other programs. In December, the Watson In- Vice President for Research , B O stitute for International and Public Affairs opened the doors to Elisha Benjamin Andrews Professor of Mathematics Focus NTAMAR 26 E 38 Breaking a Data K D C I Logjam Sky’s the Limit ; N The Real Costs of War F rom satellites to immunology to R 40 E K Unpacking animation, and more, undergraduates are C 42 Connect O Vice President for Research Mathematics engaged in a wide range of research deeply cr [email protected] 43 Adding Diversity to connected to educational experiences RESEARCH AT BROWN 401-863-7408 Research and aspirations. EPHEN IMPACT T Brown University New Way to Store Data ; S 44 BY SARAH C. BALDWIn ’87 E DITOR B Box 1937 A 46 Universe Explorers Noel Rubinton L 350 Eddy Street RNEA Providence, R.I. 02912 A D ESIGNER ; B Min O. Design N Office of Industry Engagement and O 34 Impact: Research at Brown is published annually Commercial Venturing by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the [email protected] Brown The Power Office of University Communications Office of Research Development administrati [email protected] N Research of Truth A simulation of radiation emerging from a ic The Center for the Study of Slavery On the Cover: Office of Foundation Relations K CEMENT dentamar terahertz multiplexer. Terahertz is high-frequency radiation that [email protected] R and Justice is changing how the world O F Index could enable the next generation of ultra-high-bandwidth s Book learns about legacies of slavery and en 48 networks to handle more data. (Mittleman lab/Brown For ongoing news about Brown research, G 51 Selected Faculty the global slave trade. R O University/Ducournau Lab/CNRS/University of Lille) follow us on Twitter @BrownUResearch. D U Honors BY GILLIAN KILEY IMPACT 2019 2019 IMPACT 1 RESEARCHAPN COM E DIUM OFB RECENTR HIGHLIGHEFSTS OF BROWN RESEARCH For Leslie Gordon ’98 MD PhD, a professor of pediatrics Leslie Gordon ’98 MD PhD at Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School and Hasbro Chil- with her son, Sam Berns, in dren’s Hospital, medicine is especially personal. Don’t Blame 2005, when he was 8. He Before he was two years old, her son, Sam Berns, was died in 2014. diagnosed with progeria, an extremely rare genetic disorder the Web that causes premature aging and death. Sam, whose optimism in the face of the condition was chronicled in an HBO Growth of political polarization documentary, died at age 17 in 2014. is largest for groups least likely to After Sam’s diagnosis, Gordon shifted her work as a physician-scientist to focus on the disease, which affects ap- use Internet. proximately one in every 6 million infants born. Children with the condition currently live an average of 14.5 years and gen- Political polarization in the United States? Don’t just erally die due to rapid progression of heart disease. But in blame the web, says Brown economics professor Jesse 2018, there was significant progress. Shapiro. Gordon was the lead author of a Journal of the American A popular narrative has developed that online news Medical Association article suggesting an experimental drug sources and social media circles create “echo-chambers” of therapy to extend the lives of children with progeria. Re- like-minded individuals who paint the opposition as perpe- search showed that children with progeria who were treated trators of outrages and close off opportunities for conversa- with lonafarnib, a drug originally developed to treat cancer, tion. were more likely to survive over the course of the study, But Shapiro—along with two colleagues, Levi Boxell and compared with children with progeria who did not receive Matthew Gentzkow of Stanford University—showed through the drug. The results suggested a promising avenue for data-driven research in an article published in the Proceed- treating a condition for which there are currently no ap- ings of the National Academy of Sciences that growth in po- proved therapies. litical polarization is actually largest for the demographic groups in which individuals are least likely to use the In- “T hese results provide new ternet and social media. In addition, their analy- promise and optimism.” sis of web use among Re- —Leslie Gordon publican voters in the 2016 presidential election re- vealed that Donald trump In addition, the nonprofit Progeria Research Foundation performed especially well announced a collaboration and supply agreement with a among those least likely to pharmaceutical company to test the drug—the first therapy get political information submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for online. that finding, published in the journal PLOS ONE, treatment of progeria. Gordon and her husband and fellow challenges claims that the web and social media drove the physician, Scott Berns, started the foundation and she is presidential election in favor of Trump. medical director. “these findings don’t prove that online campaign efforts le A “This study provides supporting evidence that we can be- and other aspects of digital media had no impact on the h fas gin to put the brakes on the rapid aging process for children election,” Shapiro said. “But they do pose a challenge for t with progeria,” Gordon said. “These results provide new some conventional narratives that put those factors front en promise and optimism to the progeria community.” and center.” Age was a major predictor of Internet and social media use, according to the research. Some 30 percent of those aged 65 and older used social media in 2016, in contrast to 88 percent of those 18 to 39 years old. Yet Shapiro and his collaborators found that, for seven of eight individual mea- sures, polarization increased more for the older demographic than for younger Americans. “The main culprits in explaining the rapid rise in polarization probably have to do with forces broader and deeper PersonalA professor makes progress on a rare disease that claimed Medicineher son’s life. than the digitization of the news,” Shapiro said.

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