In its present form and function, the socio-political institution of American education does not properly serve citizens of African descent. What is now recognized as higher education geared towards meeting the special needs of black students is commonly labeled Black Studies. It is submitted here that Black Studies programs, in the main, are nothing more than reactions to the oppression that obtains within the institutional system of higher education. Unquestionably, the majority of these programs differ little in concept or approach from academic programs in the Euro-American tradition.

When one thinks of the vast scholarship in the Christian world that has developed during the last four hundred years in the field of Semitic languages and culture, one may feel that it is highly proper to speak of a Hebrew Renaissance along with the Latin and Greek Renaissance. This term may not be taken to imply a very sudden awakening of interest and establishment of critical apparatus; it is nearer to the Latin revival than to the Greek, since Hebrew—though not so much on the surface as Latin—had been known to Christian scholars and studied by them, even if not in a formal grammatical sense, throughout the preceding centuries. Now however, men will work on the biblical and Hebrew materials with the objective freedom of intellectual inquiry and with an historical and philological exactitude hitherto unknown.

The OSU-FEI Electron Microscopy Collaboratory multiplies the number of individuals who can experience hands-on advanced microscopy techniques. The microscopy classroom allows up to 33 attendees to operate, individually and in real time, electron microscopes as if they were sitting in front of the actual instruments. The communications link, a fast backbone augmented by Internet2, allows various microscopes to be operated from the classroom or by collaborators in another city. This system transforms the training of new users from a one-person-at-a-time session with an expert operator to a group collaborative activity that can include users from around the world.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Glioblastoma (GBM) carries a prognosis of 14.6 months mean survival despite maximal surgical, chemotherapeutic, and radiation therapy. The pericyte is a recently characterized cell shown to be a critical component of cerebral vessel physiology and pathology. Importantly, alterations in pericyte densities have shown resulting changes in breast and lung tumor growth. We leverage transgenic pericyte-deficient mouse models to evaluate resulting behavior of implanted patient-derived GBM. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Patient-derived, green fluorescent protein labeled, GBM will be implanted in right frontal bregma of both 6-month old pericyte-deficient (PDGFR+/−) mice and age-matched wild-type littermate controls (IACUC 20755, IRB 16-00929), which are immunosuppressed via daily intraperitoneal cyclosporine injection. In total, 30 mice of both genders are included in tumor and control cohorts. Fixed cortical sections following 3-week period will be stained for pericytes (NG2), endothelium (CD31), hypoxia (piminidazole), and tumor size. One-way ANOVA with will used to compare groups using SAS software (Cary, NC). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Feasibility studies show robust in vitro growth of patient-derived GBM cells, showing continued growth over 10 cellular division passages. Lentivirally transduced GFP reveals reliable tumor tracking both in vitro and in vivo. Transgenic mice at 6 months display reproducibly decreased pericyte and microvascular density in triplicate. Wild-type mice tolerate tumor injection up to three weeks with visible tumor growth, peritumoral hypervascularity, and no evidence of mouse neural dysfunction. With current cohorts recently implanted with tumor, we anticipate a significant decrease in tumor size with Cohen’s d effect size of 0.5 in GBM implanted in pericyte-deficient mice when compared to control. Effect sizes are based moderate to large (effect size 0.5–0.8) reductions of in vitro GBM growth in vascular gene (TGF-β knockdown studies). In addition, tagged tumor-derived pericytes should comprise a greater proportion of new vasculature in pericyte-knockdown mice to overcome host pericyte depletion. Finally, tumors in transgenic mice should show increased hypoxia from limitations in angiogenesis. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Feasibility studies show successful tracking of fluorescently tagged-patient derived GBM samples in transgenic mice with decreased vasculature. GBM grafts show no evidence of immunogenic response with cyclosporine protocol. Successful limitation of tumor size with reduced pericyte density will provide support to increasing study of blood-brain barrier, stem cell activity and inflammatory activity of pericyte microenvironments altering GBM behavior. Furthermore, implementation of known pericyte targeted therapies, such as imantinib, can be evaluated for GBM patient treatment efficacy. Studies with assembled clinical translational research scholar mentorship team will allow the principal investigator to develop an independent career with laboratory focused on contributing to improved patient outcomes, translating successful pericyte-targeted results to patient trials.

This work aims at providing guidance through systematic experimental characterization for the design of 3D-printed scaffolds for potential orthopedic applications, focusing on fused deposition modeling with a composite of clinically available polycaprolactone (PCL) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP). First, we studied the effect of the chemical composition (0–60% β-TCP/PCL) on the scaffold’s properties. We showed that surface roughness and contact angle were, respectively, proportional and inversely proportional to the amount of β-TCP and that degradation rate increased with the amount of ceramic. Biologically, the addition of β-TCP enhanced proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of C3H10. Second, we systematically investigated the effect of the composition and the porosity on the 3D-printed scaffold mechanical properties. Both an increasing amount of β-TCP and a decreasing porosity augmented the apparent Young’s modulus of the 3D-printed scaffolds. Third, as a proof of concept, a novel multimaterial biomimetic implant was designed and fabricated for potential disc replacement.

This review will outline the role of visiting cardiac surgical teams in low- and middle-income countries drawing on the collective experience of the authors in a wide range of locations. Requests for assistance can emerge from local programmes at a beginner or advanced stage. However, in all circumstances, careful pre-trip planning is necessary in conjunction with clinical and non-clinical local partners. The clinical evaluation, surgical procedures, and postoperative care all serve as a template for collaboration and education between the visiting and local teams in every aspect of care. Education focusses on both common and patient-specific issues. Case selection must appropriately balance the clinical priorities, safety, and educational objectives within the time constraints of trip duration. Considerable communication and practical challenges will present, and clinicians may need to make significant adjustments to their usual practice in order to function effectively in a resource-limited, unfamiliar, and multilingual environment. The effectiveness of visiting trips should be measured and constantly evaluated. Local and visiting teams should use data-driven evaluations of measurable outcomes and critical qualitative evaluation to repeatedly re-assess their interim goals. Progress invariably takes several years to achieve the final goal: an autonomous self-governing, self-financed, cardiac programme capable of providing care for children with complex CHD. This outcome is consistent with redundancy for the visiting trips model at the site, although fraternal, professional, and academic links will invariably remain for many years.