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David Ruskin Awarded $380K NIH Grant for Research into Ketogenic Diet

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David Ruskin with Trinity students working in his lab: (back row) Ariana Adamski ’17, Hannah Reichert ’18, (front row) Livia Wyss ’16, Subrina Bisnauth ’15, and Lizzy Foley ’17.

The ketogenic diet has been around for over 100 years as a treatment for epilepsy. Susan Masino, Vernon Roosa Professor of Applied Science, recently published an article finding that the diet’s effectiveness comes from increasing levels of adenosine. Building on that research and existing theories of neuroscience, David Ruskin, research assistant professor, is testing the proposition that the ketogenic diet can also be used to relieve pain. For that work, Ruskin was recently awarded a grant of over $380,000 from the National Institute of Health.

​Masino’s research, backed by a $1.7 million grant from the NIH, supports the theory that the ketogenic diet – a low-carbohydrate diet that treats epilepsy – works by increasing levels of adenosine, and other researchers have found that adenosine relieves pain. So it stands to reason that the ketogenic diet holds the potential to be successful in relieving pain. That proposition is what Ruskin and a group of Trinity undergraduate students are exploring in their research.

The six undergraduates are involved at every step of the research, including running tests and collecting data. Their work, if it confirms their hypothesis, could have tremendous implications: this natural treatment for inflammatory pain would be welcomed by those who, for a variety of reasons, cannot use traditional pain relievers.

It is likely to be at least a year before Ruskin and the students have preliminary results, but their work is under way. This research is made possible by one of the hallmarks of a Trinity education: faculty members and undergraduate students collaborating on cutting-edge research.

“It’s been a great seven years at Trinity,” said Ruskin, who joined the faculty in 2008. “Working with students and other faculty members is very enjoyable.”

Ruskin’s colleagues are equally enthusiastic about his work at Trinity.

“Dave is an amazing collaborator, and I can’t overstate how valuable he is to the laboratory,” said Masino. “Besides being a great scientist, he is a great writer and a great mentor to the students. Students who work with him are really lucky because his time is devoted almost 100 percent to the research and they get a lot of one-on-one attention from a highly trained scientist.”

category: Grant Awards, Research + Scholarship
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Terri Williams has research published in Nature Communications

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L-R: Sara Khalil ’15, Savvas Constantinou ’12, Professor Terri Williams, and William Blaine ’15. Photo by John Atashian

Research into the process of segmentation during the embryonic development of arthropods by Trinity College Research Associate Professor Terri Williams, working in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Arizona, has been published in Nature Communications, the prestigious online journal. Titled “Changing cell behaviors during beetle embryogenesis correlates with slowing of segmentation,” the article was published April 10.

Arthropods are a large and diverse group of animals whose bodies consist mainly of repeated segments. With her students at Trinity, Williams explores the embryonic development of segments in order to better understand how development is modified during the course of evolution in the natural world.

Williams said that the collaborative research team found two surprising results that point to a very dynamic model of cell behavior during beetle embryogenesis. “First, beetles don’t add their segments in the regular, clocklike fashion that would be predicted from segmentation clocks in other animals,” she said. “Instead, they slow down in the middle of segmentation, then add segments quite rapidly.”

“Secondly, we labeled cells in the posterior of the embryo in a region called the ‘growth zone,’” said Williams. “What we found was the first direct demonstration that cells in the posterior of an insect embryo do not undergo a lot of cell division, but move quite extensively to elongate the embryo during segmentation.”

“Interestingly, cells marked in the anterior embryo undergo much less cell movement and this switch in cell behavior of the anterior versus posterior clones occurs right after the slow-down in segmentation, suggesting that the two processes might be causally related,” she said.

Joining Williams as Trinity co-authors of the research article were Trinity senior biology major William Blaine ’15; Austin Tewksbury, a 2013 Trinity graduate; and Savvas Constantinou, a 2012 Trinity alumnus and Biology Department research technician.

Williams said that one of the most satisfying parts of her work is being able to create opportunities for students to be connected in collaborative working relationships with colleagues at other institutions of higher education. William Blaine ’15, who has focused on the computer modeling aspects of Williams’s research lab, has worked closely with a research team member at the University of Arizona, regularly comparing notes through online meetings. Sara Khalil ’15, who is currently working on her senior thesis with Williams, spent the summer of her sophomore year working on the arthropod research at the University of Arizona.

​“Throughout the academic year, we have various mechanisms here on campus for students to present research,” said Williams. “I also work with students through Trinity’s Summer Science Research Program. I love that students can have that broader research experience here at a small liberal arts college like Trinity,” said Williams. “It’s like a mini graduate school experience.”

The research on segmentation in arthropods discussed in the Nature Communications article was made possible through a $494,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that Williams was awarded in 2010. More recently, she was awarded a three-year, $488,000 NSF grant to continue her research. This latest grant includes collaboration again with the University of Arizona’s Lisa Nagy, professor, molecular and cellular biology, as well as with Ariel Chipman, associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Earlier this semester, Chipman visited Trinity to give a Biology Department talk.

This second NSF grant also includes collaborative work between Trinity’s Biology Department and its Computer Science Department, noted Williams. Trinity Professor of Computer Science Ralph Morelli is a key contributor working with the research team, she said.

A member of the Trinity College faculty since 2010, Williams holds a B.S. from Duke University and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

Nature Communications is an online journal publishing high-quality research from all areas of the natural sciences. Papers published by the journal represent important advances of significance to specialists within each field.

category: Publications
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Paul Assaiante Shares Lessons from Coaching Champions at Annual Business Luncheon

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Paul Assaiante addresses the crowd at the Hartford Club. Photo by Tom Hurlbut

Paul Assaiante, Trinity College’s men’s squash and tennis coach, author, and motivational speaker, was the featured speaker at the annual Bradley, Foster & Sargent luncheon at the Hartford Club on May 7.

This was the sixth year that Hartford-based investment advisory firm Bradley, Foster & Sargent has sponsored an annual luncheon and lecture in partnership with Trinity College and the University of Connecticut School of Business. Each year, a featured speaker addresses a topic of interest to the local business and finance community, and the audience includes students from Trinity and the UConn School of Business who have participated in Bradley, Foster & Sargent’s internship program. This year’s luncheon was attended by a crowd of more than 200.

In his talk, “Coaching to Overcome Fear,” Assaiante shared lessons from his years of building and coaching teams of champions at Trinity − lessons that pertain equally well for leaders striving to encourage daily effort and focus under pressure with teams in the business realm. He also let the crowd in on the news that his book, Run to the Roar: Coaching to Overcome Fear, will be made into a movie, though casting has not yet taken place.

Assaiante, who has been the coach of the U.S. national squash team as well as the U.S. Olympic Coach of the Year, talked about his infectious passion for squash, his successful coaching philosophy (face your fears head-on), and how he recruits talented young men from around the world, molds them into a team, and drives them to achieve unparalleled success.

As head coach of Trinity’s men’s squash team, Assaiante led the team to its 19th consecutive College Squash Association National Championship this year, where they won their 15th national title. The team holds the longest winning streak of any college team in any sport in history under Assaiante’s leadership: 13 consecutive NCAA national titles and 252 consecutive match victories. His men’s tennis teams have consistently been ranked both regionally and nationally.

Because the business environment can be as unpredictable as the squash court, Assaiante said, preparation, mentoring, and teamwork are important factors in both realms. “I’ve come to believe in the importance of preparation – and in my case, that means practice,” he said. “I also encourage our young men to live every day as if it’s your last. Whether they’re preparing for a chemistry lab, practice, or dinner at Mather Hall, I tell them to make it the best lab, practice, or meal ever.”
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Assaiante said he is concerned about the new millennials. “We’re not letting our kids fail enough, not giving them enough ownership over their journey.” But he said that workplace internships, such as the ones students in the audience have participated in with Bradley, Foster & Sargent, go a long way toward providing college students with the real life lessons they need to experience.

A member of the Trinity College faculty since 1994, Assaiante’s early career included coaching squash and tennis at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Princeton Club of New York. He is a graduate of Springfield College with a master’s degree from Long Island University.

category: Lectures and Panels
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McMahon and Elukin Deliver Remarks at United States, Connecticut Supreme Courts

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Justice Antonin Scalia presents Kevin McMahon with the Griswold Prize.

Recently, two faculty members at Trinity delivered addresses to the United States and Connecticut Supreme Courts. Though their talks were just one day apart, the topics they discussed spanned almost eight centuries.
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In Washington, D.C., on April 30, Kevin McMahon, John R. Reitemeyer Professor of Political Science, accepted the Griswold Prize for his 2011 book, Nixon’s Court: His Challenge to Judicial Liberalism and Its Political Consequences. After an introduction by Justice Antonin Scalia, McMahon spoke on that same topic.

The next day in Hartford, Jonathan Elukin, associate professor of history, was invited to address the justices and guests of the Connecticut Supreme Court for Law Day. His keynote address on the Magna Carta, the theme of 2015’s Law Day, marked that document’s 800th anniversary. The program was broadcast on CT-N.

McMahon’s book was selected for the Griswold Prize in October 2014, the first time since 2009 that a book merited the prestigious award. Many scholars have held that President Richard Nixon failed in his efforts to challenge the liberal approach of the Warren court. In Nixon’s Court, McMahon maintains that Nixon’s strategy was in fact a success from both a legal and political perspective. He argues that Nixon was able to earn the Supreme Court’s endorsement of his highest priorities while simultaneously laying the foundation of an electoral alliance that would dominate presidential politics for a generation. His remarks at the Supreme Court were featured by the high-profile SCOTUSblog.

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Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Richard A. Robinson looks on as Jonathan Elukin delivers a keynote address on the Magna Carta.

​Connecticut Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers introduced Elukin and spoke of the importance of increasing access to justice. She called the Magna Carta a foundational document that shaped many of today’s legal principles. In his remarks, Elukin discussed how that came to be, originating as a relatively narrow agreement and evolving into a timeless contribution to legal and political thought.

Elukin discussed the history of the Magna Carta – or “Great Charter” – as well as its relevance today. The document originated as a 1215 peace agreement between King John of England and the barons who opposed him, but was reissued by subsequent monarchs and took on added meaning. It established that even the King himself was not above the law and put in place protections from the government for its subjects. When other kings tried to expand the power of the crown, parliament resisted, invoking the Magna Carta as a cry for liberty. The Magna Carta was elevated to such prominence by Sir Edward Coke, a former chief justice who said that the document “defends the common law of England.”

Elukin focused not only on the history of the Magna Carta, but also its relevance today, echoing remarks by Chief Justice Rogers.

“We should not be content just to celebrate this mythic Magna Carta,” Elukin said, acknowledging the document’s role in establishing the rule of law and individual liberty. “We should not be complacent. We need to be ready to defend those hard-won rights.”

category: Honors + Awards, Lectures and Panels
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Trinity Professor and Alumnus Capture Photo of Light as Both a Particle and Wave

Scientists have known for generations that light behaves as both a particle and a wave. Photographs have shown light behaving as one or the other, but never both simultaneously. That changed with a groundbreaking study by Brett Barwick, assistant professor of physics, and Erik Quiñonez ’14, in collaboration with researchers from Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

Barwick and Quiñonez, who contributed to the research as an undergraduate student, collaborated both remotely and in person with their counterparts in Switzerland, led by Fabrizio Carbone, a former colleague of Barwick’s at the California Institute of Technology. A Faculty Research Committee grant made it possible for the pair to go to the EPFL for portions of their research. Their paper, “Simultaneous observation of the quantization and the interference pattern of a plasmonic near-field,” was published by Nature Communications this month.

“It was really exciting to do an experiment that captures both the wave and particle aspects of light in a single image” said Barwick, “and it was particularly satisfying to see a Trinity undergrad, Erik, work with graduate students and postdocs at the EPFL and have the final results end up in Nature Communications.”

The experiment involved hitting a nanowire with short pulses of a laser light. When the light hits the nanowire it is confined by its very small size and creates a standing wave of a particular form of light called a “surface plasmon polariton.” They then shot a stream of electrons near the wire, which interacted with the light on the nanowire. With a transmission electron microscope, the team was able to observe the behavior of electrons in the near field around the wire, behaving as both a wave and particle. The high speed of the microscope made the elusive photo possible.

The news of the study was picked up by media across the United States and around the world. The New York Times featured the research in its evening briefing, and science and technology publications around the world, including Popular Science, have highlighted the achievement.

Two weeks before the publication in Nature Communication came out, another paper entitled “Creating electron beams with light”, detailing how electron vortex beams can be created with light was published in Optics Express, with Trinity alumnus Jonathan Handali ’13 and current Trinity student Pratistha Shakya ’15 as co-authors with Barwick.

Both articles are Open Access articles and can be downloaded free from the respective publishers.

“Simultaneous observation of the quantization and the interference pattern of a plasmonic near-field” is a collaboration among Trinity College’s Department of Physics, the Laboratory for Ultrafast Microscopy and Electron Scattering of EPFL, and the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

category: Publications, Research + Scholarship
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New Book on Catalan Identity Caps Productive Year for Thomas Harrington

For a scholar of Catalonia and national identity, recent events in Spain have been “the joy of a lifetime,” said Thomas Harrington, associate professor of language and culture studies. As Catalonia has moved toward independence from Spain, Harrington has been a go-to expert for both media and activists in the Catalan region. Meanwhile, he has been a prolific scholar, publishing two books, consulting on a documentary film, and conducting research with colleagues around the world.

Harrington’s latest book, The Alchemy of Identity, explores the formation of national identity on the Iberian Peninsula. Earlier in 2014, he released Livin’ la vida barroca: American Culture in an Age of Imperial Orthodoxies. In it, he applies the lessons of Iberia to discourse about nationalism and imperialism in the United States. While obviously impressive, the publication of two books is just a sliver of Harrington’s 2014 scholarly output.

Harrington was the subject of several interviews and articles in Catalan media, including El Punt Avui, the Catalan News Agency, Vilaweb, Diari de Prada, La Vanguardia, and the national newspaper Ara. He was also interviewed by the Catalan National Assembly, a group of activists working toward the peaceful separation from Spain.

“The Catalan National Assembly is profoundly democratic,” Harrington said. “They are interested to know what the world thinks of them, and I am sometimes asked for the view Americans might have of their movement.”

He has been called upon to provide his views on other subjects as well. At a conference intended to re-envision the field of Galician studies, Harrington delivered the keynote address. He also assisted in the production of a documentary about Valencian Spanish immigrants to the United States.

What is noteworthy about Harrington’s recent work, in addition to its volume, is that it takes place against the backdrop of the Catalan march toward independence. The Alchemy of Identity in particular is a timely release that offers context into a movement that has been under way for centuries but only recently covered by North American media. For Harrington, it has been something of a perfect storm.

“It’s extraordinarily exciting,” he said. “Catalonia is a small place, so I’ve come to know many of the people involved. It has brought together two of my concerns: democracy and the formation of national identities.”

In an October 2014 non-binding referendum, over 80 percent of those Catalans who voted supported Catalonia becoming an independent state. As Catalan activists work toward separation from Spain, Harrington’s work will continue to take on relevance.  With the region’s rich history and exciting present, Harrington’s pace is unlikely to slow.

“Catalonia is like an infinite onion,” he said. “You pull back a layer, you think you understand it, and you pull back another. Then another. Then another.”

category: Lectures and Panels, Publications, Research + Scholarship
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Stillwagon Presents at Economics Conference in Copenhagen

Assistant Professor of Economics Joshua Stillwagon presented at a conference held at the University of Copenhagen November 27-28, the theme of which was “Cointegration: Theory and Applications.” Stillwagon’s topic was “exchange rate dynamics and forecast errors about persistently changing fundamentals,” aspects of which he has discussed with his Trinity students in recent weeks.

Joshua Stillwagon, with Copenhagen’s famous Nyhavn Canal in the background

“In class we’ve discussed exchange rates and the idea that it is the ‘news’ or forecast errors about fundamentals that cause financial markets to move,” said Stillwagon, explaining (for someone who has not studied economics) that fundamentals are the variables that affect the exchange rate, such as interest rates, inflation, RGDP (Real Gross Domestic Product), etc.

Stillwagon said it was an honor to be invited to speak at the conference, which was held in recognition of the retirement of Katarina Juselius, who was ranked the eighth most cited economist in the world from 1990 to 2000. Several other renowned econometricians presented as well, including Soren Johansen, who has one of the five most cited papers in all of economics.

Stillwagon, who joined the Trinity faculty in 2013, received his B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire. His areas of specialty include macroeconomics, international economics, econometrics, and financial markets.

category: Lectures and Panels
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Ethan Rutherford’s Inaugural Reading Delights Packed House in Mather Hall

For his inaugural Trinity reading on Thursday, November 20, Ethan Rutherford, assistant professor of English, was greeted by a capacity crowd in Mather Hall’s Rittenberg Lounge. The dozens of students, faculty, staff, and visitors were not disappointed. Rutherford read “Camp Winnesaka,” a short story from his award-winning 2013 book, The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories.

“Camp Winnesaka” is told from the perspective of a camp counselor, the Head Eagle, whose summer camp is struggling with low enrollment. After the disappearance of Moosey, a stuffed and mounted moose head that serves as Camp Winnesaka’s unofficial mascot, the Head Eagle tries to boost morale by leading his campers to war with neighboring Camp Chickapony. Essentially, everything that can go wrong does, as Rutherford’s introductory comments suggested.

“I know that I tell you guys to keep the death count low in your stories,” he told the students in the room before he started reading. “But do as I say, not as I do.”

“Camp Winnesaka” is one of eight short stories in The Peripatetic Coffin, Rutherford’s debut book. The anthology was named a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick, a “Best Book of the Summer” by Publishers Weekly, and long-listed for the Frank O’Connor Award. It was also a finalist for the both the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize and the Los Angeles Times’ Art Seidenbaum Award, received an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and won a Minnesota Book Award.

Rutherford’s work has appeared in Ploughshares, One Story, American Short Fiction, and The Best American Short Stories. He is currently working on a novel set in the wilderness of Alaska.

Rutherford’s inaugural reading is available as a Trinity College podcast. The Peripatetic Coffin is available from independent booksellers, the Trinity College bookstore, and Powell’s.

category: Lectures and Panels, Publications
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Christopher Hager Wins 16th Annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize

Of more than 90 books about slavery and abolition, Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition has chosen a “profoundly original” work upon which to bestow the 16th annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize: Word by Word, by Trinity’s Christopher Hager, associate professor of English.

Christopher Hager (right) with filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Christopher Hager was a finalist for the 2014 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize.

In Word by Word: Emancipation and the Act of Writing, Hager studies the various writings of everyday slaves, including letters, diaries, and petitions by freedmen. Through them, he examines the relationship between literacy and freedom. For this research, he was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2009.

“The emancipation of American slaves was not only a social and political revolution but also a singular moment in the history of written expression,” Hager said. “Untold thousands of African Americans who had been deprived of literacy gained unprecedented access to education at the same time they achieved their freedom.”

This summer, the book was named a finalist for the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, along with Camillia Cowling’s Conceiving Freedom: Women of Color, Gender, and the Abolition of Slavery in Havana and Rio de Janeiro and Alan Taylor’s The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772–1832. Word by Word was also a finalist for the 2014 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize.

“Christopher Hager’s Word by Word presents a profoundly original, illuminating approach to reading texts by and about enslaved African Americans,” the jury said of their choice for the prize.

“It’s a great honor to win the Frederick Douglass Prize,” said Hager. “I began working on Word by Word around the time I arrived at Trinity in 2007, and my research generated not only the book but also a class I teach, ‘Literacy & Literature.’ I owe a debt to the Trinity students who have taken that class with me, and to our discussions of some of the material that went into Word by Word.”

The Frederick Douglass Book Prize was jointly established by Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The $25,000 prize will be presented to Hager at a ceremony in New York in January 2015. For more information, visit the Gilder Lehrman Center’s website.

category: Honors + Awards, Publications

John Platoff Gives Common Hour Lecture on Work of Giuseppe Sarti

Today, most people would think of an opera as a fixed piece of work, with musical numbers that don’t change from one performance to the next. In the 18th century, however, that was not the case: when an opera arrived at a new company or in a new city, it was adapted for the performers. One opera with a particularly interesting history was Giuseppe Sarti’s Fra i due litiganti: the subject of a recent Common Hour lecture at Trinity by John Platoff, professor of music.

Fra i due litiganti, as composed by Sarti, premiered in Milan, Italy, in 1782. A year later, it arrived at the Vienna Opera, where Francesco Benucci and Nancy Storace played the roles of Titta and Dorina, as they had in Milan. In an era when the performers were held in higher esteem than the composers or the piece itself, almost half of the arias were replaced for the stars in Vienna. Interestingly, the replacement arias were not composed by Sarti, but by anyone who happened to be available to help. It wasn’t a glamorous responsibility, Platoff said, but instead was considered to be a kind of grunt work.

John Platoff, Professor of Music

John Platoff, Professor of Music

“Operas were routinely altered when they moved to new cities with new performers,” Platoff said during his Common Hour talk.

However, Benucci and Storace were not new to Fra i due litiganti, having originated the roles in Milan. Arias were usually replaced at the request of a new performer, Platoff said, not someone who had previously played the same role. But because the performers were new to Vienna and working to craft their operatic personas, they wanted pieces that better reflected the comedic nature of their characters and the roles they would play throughout their careers.

Titta’s act 1 aria, “Quando saprai,” was replaced with a new song, called “Dunque ascoltate” After a few performances, however, Benucci returned to the original piece. Dorina’s aria, “Non fidarti,” was replaced in Vienna with a new piece by Storace’s brother, composer Stephen Storace. The replacement aria, “Compatite,” was a more comedic piece that better suited the character.

But this is where the opera’s history becomes even more interesting. The process didn’t continue from city to city. Instead, however, the Viennese version became the standard, performed in cities throughout Europe with few, if any, changes.

Platoff credits this phenomenon to the central role that Vienna played in 18th-century Europe. Though few today are familiar with Fra i due litiganti, it was enormously commercially successful. In fact, Mozart quoted one of the hit songs from Fra i due litiganti in his own Don Giovanni, a testament to the opera’s popularity and significance. The Viennese opera was home to Europe’s best singers and became Europe’s most reliable source of musical scores. So, it was likely that other companies would turn to Vienna’s version for their productions. Lacking the resources of Europe’s foremost opera company, they would simply perform the opera as they received it.

This summer, Platoff was invited to discuss the development of Fra i due litiganti and the importance of the Viennese version at a conference called “Giuseppe Sarti: Individual style, aesthetical position reception and dissemination of his works” at Berlin’s Universität der Künste. Additionally, Platoff will be presenting his research at this November’s meeting of the American Musicological Society and submitting a paper to the Journal of the American Musicological Society.

category: Lectures and Panels, Research + Scholarship
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