Recent Stories

Dr. Alex khang publishes in nature communications!

Published by HASR on March 24, 2025

Congratulations to Dr. Alex Khang on publishing his manuscript titled "Automated prediction of fibroblast phenotypes using mathematical descriptors of cellular features" in Nature Communications! Dr. Khang is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Anseth Research Group at the University of Colorado Boulder. Read more about his work toward automating the phenotypic classification of fibroblast cells:

Vue lab publishes in nature communications!

Published by HASR on December 19, 2024

Exciting news! Congratulations to Dr. Tou Yia Vue and his team on their recent publication in Nature Communications. This innovative study, led by Bianca L. Myers, reveals that the dynamic levels and functional interactions of two key neurodevelopmental transcription factors, ASCL1 and OLIG2, drive glioblastoma formation and regulate tumor cell types and migration within the brain. We also extend our congratulations to Dr. Vue on his recent promotion to Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Well done, Dr. Vue and team!

Crafting a competitive stem graduate school application

Published by HASR on October 08, 2024

A panel of experienced STEM admissions committee members shared tips and strategies to help craft a competitive graduate school application that stands out. Please find below the recording of the panel session that was hosted by HASR on September 7th, 2024. 

Volunteering May Help with Cognitive Decline in Older Adults

Published by HASR on January 29, 2024

HASR member, Yi Lor, and his Principal Investigator, Dr. Rachel Whitmer, researched how volunteering was associated with cognitive decline in older adults.

They found that, “volunteering was associated with better baseline scores on tests of executive function and verbal episodic memory in this study group after adjusting for age, sex, education, income, practice effects and interview mode (phone vs. in-person). Volunteering was also associated with a trend toward less cognitive decline over the follow-up time of 1.2 years, but this association did not reach statistical significance. Additionally, those who volunteered several times per week had the highest levels of executive function.”

“Volunteering may be important for better cognition in late life and could serve as a simple intervention in all older adults to protect against risk for Alzheimer’s disease and associated dementias,” Lor said. “Our next steps are to examine whether volunteering is protective against cognitive impairment, and how physical and mental health may impact this relationship.”

Read more by following the UC Davis press release and the article released by the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

non-academic career panel

Published by HASR on June 28, 2024

In case you missed it, we've uploaded HASR's non-academic career panel session below. Enjoy!

Understanding Chronic Loneliness in Youth

Published by HASR on January 26, 2024

A recently published article by HASR member, Sally Hang, documents the rise of chronic loneliness in youth.

Abstract:

Loneliness becomes more prevalent as youth transition from childhood into adolescence. A key underlying process may be the puberty-related increase in biological stress reactivity, which can alter social behavior and elicit conflict or social withdrawal (fight-or-flight behaviors) in some youth, but increase prosocial (tend-and-befriend) responses in others. In this article, we propose an integrative theoretical model that identifies the social, personality, and biological characteristics underlying individual differences in social–behavioral responses to stress. This model posits a vicious cycle whereby youth who respond to stress with fight-or-flight tendencies develop increasing and chronic levels of loneliness across adolescence, whereas youth who display tend-and-befriend behaviors may be buffered from these consequences. Based on research supporting this model, we propose multiple avenues for intervention to curtail the prevalence of loneliness in adolescence by targeting key factors involved in its development: social relationships, personality, and stress-induced behavioral and biological changes.

You can read more about this article, published in Child Development Perspectives, here!

For accessibility reasons, you can also access the PDF version below.

HMONG in STEMM

Published by HASR on January 26, 2024

The Hmong are an ethnic minority group residing mainly in Asia and Southeast Asia. In the 1960s, the US Central Intelligence Agency recruited the Hmong people who mainly lived in the mountains of Laos to fight on behalf of the USA in the Vietnam War. Their involvement in this operation, referred to as the Secret War, eventually led to their persecution and diaspora as political refugees. 

Today, the Hmong remain one of the most under-represented groups in science and research at every level and institution in the USA and elsewhere in the world. Those in the science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) community who identify as Hmong find themselves in a unique position: They are often the trailblazer in their family and the first Hmong scientist in their chosen field of specialization.

In the recent article, published in Trends in Genetics, are the stories and voices of seven Hmong scientists in STEMM, each of whom shares their perspective and experience as they pursued an advanced education and a career in the sciences.

Read more about their stories in the Cell Press published article here!

For accessibility reasons, you can also access the PDF version below.