Real Housewives of Dallas Star LeeAnne Locken Speaks Out to Save Lives

/
LeeAnne Locken Before After.JPG

“This disease almost killed me.”

by LeeAnne Locken

On the screen, Real Housewives of Dallas charity queen LeeAnne Locken is known for opening up about her past struggles, celebrating her triumphs, and being deeply committed to charity work. While she recently welcomed viewers into her wedding to longtime love Rich Emberlin, this week, she is bravely revisiting a terrifying medical journey with a bacterial infection that was eating her alive and could have taken her life during filming. We are incredibly grateful to share her story as her powerful voice helps shed light on the fundamental importance of antibiotics to save lives.

While filming in 2016, I contracted an infection during our cast trip to Mexico. I had recently undergone cosmetic surgery on my breasts, and I overworked my body. I don’t know if, in my weakened state, I contracted it from the ocean or the shower water. However, the night I arrived home from the trip, when I went to change my bandages, I could tell something was wrong.

Unknown-1.jpeg

I felt completely defeated and scared…I even witnessed the disease eat through a surgical stitch in a matter of hours.

I took pictures and sent them to my surgeon. He immediately wanted to see me in his office at 7am the next morning. Once he examined me, he started cleaning my surgical area right away and had me take oral antibiotics. He also applied topical antibiotics to the infected area. He sent out a sample to get cultured and find out what I had. When he called me back two days later, he told me the diagnosis. It was necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria!

I felt completely defeated and scared. I was angry that I had not taken better care of myself in Mexico, and I worried that if I checked into a hospital, news of my disease would leak out. I was worried that would upset Bravo. I just kept thinking, “I don’t have time for this,” when I should have been more concerned with my actual health.

The battle to get better was EXHAUSTING! I was completely void of energy, and the smallest task, like walking to the bathroom, would do me in. I had to shower twice a day, each time using a fresh clean towel to dry off. That was to make sure I wasn’t re-infecting myself. After I dried off, I had to use a magnifying mirror on the counter, which I leaned against because I was so weak. Using a sterile Q-tip, I applied a topical antibiotic to the clean wounds. I could see holes in my tissue, and I could actually stick the entire head of the Q-tip into some of the holes. I even witnessed the disease eat through a surgical stitch in a matter of hours. This was utterly terrifying, and I was scared that I wouldn’t get better. What if the fast-spreading disease could not be killed in time to save my breasts?

Unknown.jpeg

I just kept thinking, “I don’t have time for this,” when I should have been more concerned with my actual health.

But all I did was sleep. I slept 14 hours a day if not more in the beginning. Only waking up to eat, shower, and change my bandages. Sadly, I was so sick during the holiday season that Rich had to order Chinese food on Christmas Day. We only had three weeks off, and by the time production was back up filming, I was still so weak that I asked to have a Myers’ Cocktail delivered to me by a nurse. An intravenous formula of vitamins and minerals, this cocktail has to be administered via a drip bag into a vein. The sweet nurse was shocked that the first four veins she tried collapsed when she attempted to start the drip. She finally found a smaller vein deeper in my skin that was still strong enough to accept the fluids. My body took three bags, and it barely gave me the strength to attend an all-cast party that night.

I slowly rehydrated my body over the next few weeks until I got my strength back. However, it took a full three months to actually stop the bacteria from eating my skin and at least six months for most of my organs to get back to normal working condition. After I was completely healed, I required another surgery to make sure my implants weren’t falling due the bacteria eating all of the stitches. I still need to have one more cosmetic surgery, but I have honestly just been too afraid to go through it again. 

I wish I had been better informed, and I want to share what I learned from this experience to spread the word of caution to everyone:

  • Antibiotics save lives! If there had not been comprehensive antibiotics to treat my infection, I would have died. It is important that we have a strong arsenal of antibiotics to treat infections.

  • Don’t have surgery and travel! If you undergo surgery, make sure you ask your doctor how to reduce your risk of infection. Get informed of all the bad things that can happen so you can stay aware of what is happening to your body. I can tell you, I will never have surgery on camera again!

  • Seek appropriate medical help! I wish that I had gone to the hospital. Everyone I know who has survived this disease has been hospitalized for a minimum of three months. I believe I would have recovered sooner if I had just gone to the hospital.

I admire organizations that use their knowledge to help and protect others! Finding new antibiotics is a huge advantage for our population. The Small World Initiative is encouraging and inspiring the next generation of scientists to hunt for new solutions. Without new antibiotics, our population will suffer. I thank the Small World Initiative for looking out for an uninformed population, and I encourage you to support their work and do something about this pressing public health crisis!

This story is part of our series: Superbugs – Real People, Real Stories.

About Superbugs – Real People, Real Stories: This series is part of the Small World Initiative's public health campaign to raise the alarm about the severity of the growing global antibiotic crisis and share what people can do to protect themselves and their loved ones from antibiotic-resistant infections (commonly referred to as “superbugs”). The series shares the powerful stories of real people who understand the true consequences of antibiotic resistance and want you to learn before it is too late. Recounting journeys filled with enormous fear, heartbreaking loss, and extraordinary triumph, we hope these stories engender a strong sense of urgency and compel readers to act.

If you have a story to share, please email info@smallworldinitiative.org.

Just A Bump

/
Andrew and his dad at the 2nd hospital. I hated having to put gloves, masks and those covers on all the time..jpg

MRSA Nearly Took His Life—Just One Week After It Started…

What one brave mother wants you to know.

by Erika Kurt

Dallas mom recounts harrowing battle to save her son’s life. Kathryn Librizzi’s son Andrew was born healthy but early and placed in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU). Six days later, he started showing symptoms that doctors later discovered was the superbug MRSA and believed entered through the IV placed in his foot just after being born. Even though doctors knew that other newborns in the NICU had been infected with MRSA, they never suspected that baby Andrew’s symptoms indicated MRSA and were quick to dismiss the early warning signs. Kathryn had never heard of MRSA and had no idea that other babies in the hospital had been infected. Kathryn is sharing her powerful story to warn others so that they can recognize the signs of MRSA sooner.

Kathryn with her son Andrew in NICU just days after being born and before. The bandage on the heel is where the IV had been inserted and through which doctors believe MRSA entered. The foot already appears reddish. Photo credit: Kathryn Librizzi, 2005.

At nearly 32 weeks pregnant, on January 12, 2005, Kathryn went in for a regular prenatal check up. Suddenly, her doctor informed her that she would have to deliver her baby via c-section that day. Kathryn was suffering from preeclampsia, and her blood pressure was dangerously high at 175/125.

Just a few hours later, Kathryn and her husband Andy welcomed baby Andrew into this world, weighing in at 3.5lbs and measuring 19 inches long. Although he was born healthy and all of his organs were fully developed, as a premature baby, he was placed in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and given an IV in his foot.

As an observant mother, Kathryn recalls that hospital staff interacting with her son were going from one baby to the next without washing hands or changing gloves, wearing outdoor clothes, and allowing young children to visit. She found this alarming in the NICU. About six days after being born, Andrew suddenly started having apnea (trouble breathing) and bradycardia (a slower than expected heart rate) and began screaming at diaper changes. Kathryn alerted staff, but they were quick to dismiss these issues as normal and gave her baby caffeine.

Over the coming days, Andrew’s breathing got progressively worse, and he began to have swelling in his hip and foot. Staff propped his leg up on a gel pad to reduce the swelling and took an x-ray. Nothing showed up. Then, they did a sonogram. Still nothing.

Andrew’s breathing continued to deteriorate, and he was put on a CPAP machine. This is a machine that delivers air to help with breathing. As he got worse, he was put on a ventilator for a couple of days. About a week after the symptoms started appearing, hospital staff still had no idea what was happening. Not knowing terrified Kathryn and Andy.

Then, Kathryn recalls, a chickpea-sized bump appeared on Andrew’s chest, and she alerted hospital staff. At first, a nurse reassured her that the bump was normal and probably part of his rib cage. However, the nurse then called in other hospital staff to look at it. They did not know what it was but decided to surgically remove it and put Andrew on three antibiotics. When the culture came back, Kathryn and Andy finally had their answer.

The bump was Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). While Kathryn had heard of staph infections before, she had never heard of MRSA.

MRSA is a Gram-positive bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body. It is tough to treat because it is resistant to many commonly used antibiotics. In 2017, the CDC found MRSA responsible for more than 323,700 hospitalizations, 10,600 deaths, and $1.7 billion healthcare costs that year in the US.

Anyone can get MRSA. Yet, people involved in activities or places that involve crowding, including athletes, students, military personnel, prisoners, and hospital and nursing home patients, are at increased risk. Non-intact skin, like an abrasion or incision, is often the site of a MRSA infection. MRSA used to be known as a hospital-associated infection but is now passed in the community and even spread from livestock.

Image Credit: CDC. Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2019.

Following the surgery, Andrew’s health declined. His hip and foot continued to have problems, and he turned ash gray and listless. Andrew’s immune system was trying to fight off the infection, and he developed sepsis. With chemicals poisoning his blood, he was given two blood transfusions. Another MRSA infection site was removed from Andrew’s thigh.

After another week passed, a different doctor finally suspected that Andrew’s hip and foot issue could also be MRSA and did an MRI. He determined that Andrew needed to have surgery immediately, and Kathryn found a surgeon that could do it that same day. The new surgeon refused to do the procedure at the same hospital as he was concerned about MRSA and moved them to another hospital.

Fighting to breathe. Photo credit: Kathryn Librizzi, 2005.

andrew at the second hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and acquired a secondary infection, klesiella. Photo credit: Kathryn Librizzi, 2005.

Andrew sleeping at 3 Months. While out of the full body brace, he had to wear a leg brace for the next two years. Photo credit: Kathryn Librizzi, 2005/

At just three weeks old, Andrew had a major surgery to clean out the infection in his leg. Following the procedure, he was placed in a full body brace and had a PICC line inserted to deliver three antibiotics. When the catheter that delivered these vital drugs kept falling out, Kathryn grew concerned about the risk of another infection. Right when Andrew was nearly finished with his rounds of antibiotics, he acquired a secondary infection. This time, it was Klebsiella, a Gram-negative bacteria that likes to hide in all of that medical tubing and catheters. After more antibiotics and prayer, the next test was thankfully negative!

Finally, at two months old and 8lbs, Andrew was able to go home with his parents. For the next two years, he had to wear a leg brace due to the lasting impact of the infection.

Andrew Librizzi Side by Side.JPG

Today, Andrew is a healthy and active teenager in the 9th grade. Without antibiotics, he would not have survived. Looking at him now, you would never know that MRSA nearly took his life…except for the few scars on his hands from all of the IVs and the surgical scars on his leg.

According to Andrew’s doctor, the theory is that he got MRSA from the IV that was put in his foot just after being born. Kathryn later found out that the hospital where her son was born was having an issue with MRSA in the NICU prior to her son’s infection. She was not told about this, and she wonders why staff did not suspect or test for MRSA sooner. In retrospect, she feels that staff were not candid about what was happening and suspects they were primarily afraid of being sued and receiving bad press.

The Dallas Mom Today. Photo Credit: Kathryn Librizzi, 2019.

Kathryn is not sharing the names of the hospitals or staff involved because she believes any faults that occurred are indicative of a bigger problem, and she wants to help understand and fix the problem and not assign blame. Kathryn wishes that there had been more transparency and that doctors and hospital staff had been more informed and aware of the problem with MRSA so that they could have done something sooner. It took over two weeks to find out what her son had, and no one even suspected it even though there were other babies with MRSA in the NICU before her son. Kathryn also wishes that the NICU had been more careful about spreading diseases. What happened to Andrew could happen to anyone, and Kathryn hopes that sharing her story will help other families.

Andrew’s medical journey highlights the problem of hospital-acquired superbug infections, the importance of antibiotics in treating them, and the need for practices that reduce the spread of infection. That is why the new policy approved by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services (CMS) in late September is so important. It requires hospitals to develop and implement infection prevention and control and antibiotic stewardship programs for the surveillance, prevention, and control of hospital-acquired and other infectious diseases to be eligible to bill Medicare and Medicaid. It also helps ensure patients receive the right antibiotic at the right dose for the right duration and reduce rates of antibiotic resistance. These provisions become effective in early 2020.

Take Action Against Superbugs

It is up to all of us to take action on the most pressing global health challenge of our time. If everyone steps up, we can slow the spread of infection, protect existing antibiotics, and find new treatments. Here are some things you can do:

  • Support the Small World Initiative! Get involved in our efforts to tackle the crisis by sharing your superbug story, participating in our programs, staying informed by subscribing to our newsletter, and donating. To share your story or support our efforts to tackle the most pressing public health emergency of our time in another way, please contact us at info@smallworldinitiative.org.

  • Wash your hands! This slows or even stops the spread of infection when done before eating or preparing food and after using the restroom. This seems like a simple step, but even most doctors do not practice good hand hygiene. Be part of the solution!

  • Only buy meats from animals raised without antibiotics! 70-80% of medically important antibiotics are used in agriculture. This is primarily done through animal feed and drinking water for growth promotion (to help the animals put on weight faster) and as a disease prevention strategy to allow animals to live in crowded and unhygienic conditions. Consumer pressure really works! Several major poultry producers and fast food companies, including McDonald’s, Tyson Foods, Subway, Perdue Farms, and Chick-fil-A, announced plans to reduce use of medically important antibiotics. Help apply pressure to keep this trend going!

  • Take antibiotics only when necessary (and exactly as prescribed)! Make sure you are taking the right antibiotic at the right dose in the right duration. Understand that antibiotics only treat bacterial infections and are not always necessary. They do not treat viruses like a cold or flu. Antibiotics are wonderful and save lives when taken and prescribed correctly, but 30-50% of antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary or inappropriate. When this happens, you risk the downsides for no return as antibiotics also kill off good bacteria putting you at risk for diarrhea and yeast infections and cause selection pressure, which can lead to more superbugs.

  • Get appropriate vaccines! For example, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has reduced the rates of antibiotic-resistant invasive pneumococcal infections caused by vaccine strains by 97% among children under five and 60% among adults.

  • Call your elected officials! Support policies that promote infection prevention and control, proper antibiotic usage in humans and animals, and adequate funding to develop and access new diagnostics, antibiotics, and treatments.

  • Prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STIs)! Practice safe sex if you are sexually active. Condoms greatly reduce the risk of getting STIs. The CDC reports that there are more than 550,000 resistant gonorrhea infections each year in the US, twice as many as reported in 2013. They are resistant to all but one remaining class of antibiotics.

  • Use sterile needles! According to the CDC, injection drug users are 16.3 times more likely to develop invasive MRSA infections.

This story is part of our series: Superbugs – Real People, Real Stories.

About Superbugs – Real People, Real Stories: This series is part of the Small World Initiative's public health campaign to raise the alarm about the severity of the growing global antibiotic crisis and share what people can do to protect themselves and their loved ones from antibiotic-resistant infections (commonly referred to as “superbugs”). The series shares the powerful stories of real people who understand the true consequences of antibiotic resistance and want you to learn before it is too late. Recounting journeys filled with enormous fear, heartbreaking loss, and extraordinary triumph, we hope these stories engender a strong sense of urgency and compel readers to act.

If you have a story to share, please email info@smallworldinitiative.org.

Saving Antibiotics: One Mother’s Journey

/
last_photo_of_Simon_April_2004.JPG

Just five years ago, the World Health Organization warned, “A post-antibiotic era—in which common infections and minor injuries can kill—far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is a very real possibility for the 21st century.” This month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that it is already here.

by Everly Macario

One mom fights to save lives. Everly Macario’s son Simon was a happy, healthy baby until, at around 18-months old, he came down with a fever. She took him to the hospital in the evening, and by the following morning, he was gone. Although she holds a PhD in public health from Harvard, she had never heard of the superbug MRSA until the very moment the autopsy results came back. She had not realized the extent of the antibiotic-resistance problem. Everly wants to make the term MRSA as familiar a household term as AIDS and hopes that Simon’s life and death will serve as a catalyst for major and positive change – “I want people to wake up and realize that this isn’t something that just happens to other people.”

Everly holding simon in potomac. Photo credit: everly Macario, 2003.

It happened 15 years ago, and it still haunts me as if it were yesterday. It is Friday, April 16, 2004. The sky is all blue, the sun a crisp yellow. Flowers have sprung everywhere. The temperature is just perfect. You can’t help but take a deep breath in. My husband, Jim, and I wake jarringly to a primal, terrified shriek let out by our 18-month-old son, Simon. We touch Simon’s forehead and feel a slight fever, and my husband decides this is cause enough to take Simon to the emergency room.

When I arrive at the emergency room later, Simon is sleeping on his daddy’s lap looking angelic. The reddish tint from his curly blondish hair glows in such a way that it makes me think there is a halo surrounding his beautiful, cherub-like face. Jim says that the doctors ran a standard battery of tests (chest X-ray, oxygen-level test) only to speculate that Simon may be an asthmatic kid.

We notice Simon’s lips are blue as we walk out of the emergency room doors. The doctors, once again, measure his oxygen level and inform us that Simon is within normal range. On the way home, Simon leans over, points to a flower and for the first time utters the word, “flower.” At his age, his personality was really starting to blossom.

Simon with his sister, elena, and mom, everly. photo credit: Everly Macario, 2003.

That afternoon, Simon’s nostrils are flaring, and he is breathing so heavily his chest is expanding and contracting, in and out. Before I know it, the ambulance arrives; the EMTs apply an oxygen mask to Simon’s face. As soon as Simon is wheeled into the emergency room, doctors hook him up to everything imaginable (oxygen, nebulizer, IVs for medication, pain relievers). “Your child is very, very sick. Your child is very, very sick.” Pediatric emergency room doctors sit me down and tell me that Simon has an infection, but the source is unknown, and they are going to administer a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Doctors keep coming in and out of the room with updates–basically, Simon has gone into septic shock, and his blood pressure is dropping precipitously.

By 10:00 p.m., I knew in my soul Simon was dead. The Attending said that they had to get Simon on ECMO (“extracorporeal membrane oxygenation” or the “heart-lung machine”) as this was “his only chance.” On April 17, 2004, Simon was pronounced dead at 12:45 p.m., without a precise cause of death. Two months later, the autopsy revealed that Simon had contracted an antibiotic-resistant bacterium called “MRSA” or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, specifically a new strain or “superbug” called “community-associated MRSA.” The theory is that Simon touched something and brought his fingers to his mouth, and the bacteria got in his lungs. In the autopsy, his lungs were like Swiss cheese.

Those 24 hours rocked my world forever. I have a doctorate from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and had never heard of MRSA. I have since been telling Simon’s story for documentaries, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and blogs; helped found a MRSA Research Center; visited farms that do not use antibiotics in the raising of food animals; met with departments of health; served on Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) panels; and engaged in legislative advocacy with concerned family members, pediatricians, infectious disease doctors, microbiologists, chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, and ranchers. I most recently joined the Small World Initiative, an innovative and effective platform to continue engaging and spreading the word.

The Sobering Reality

The more we use antibiotics, the less effective they become. Bacteria are constantly mutating and finding new ways to survive the antibiotics used to eliminate them. This happens naturally. However, using antibiotics unnecessarily (when an antibiotic is not called for) and inappropriately (using the wrong antibiotic, at the wrong dose, and for the wrong duration), accelerates this process and drives resistance.

Antibiotic resistance occurs when an antibiotic kills weaker bacteria but leaves stronger bacteria to multiply with the next generation of bacteria experiencing the same process—the weakest bacteria die when faced with antibiotics leaving the stronger bacteria to replicate and become even stronger, evolving into “superbugs.” When bacterial infections are no longer vulnerable to the effects of antibiotics, this is when “antibiotic resistance” occurs—antibiotics become less effective or ineffective altogether.

The painful truth is that Simon’s story was not an isolated incident.

The Sobering Facts

Progress to Date

  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published Guidance for Industry #213 asking drug companies to remove growth promotion as an approved indication for products used in food animals. It is a voluntary policy, but all drug companies have agreed to comply.

    • Guidance #213 also ends the over-the-counter sale of antibiotics used in food animal feed and drinking water.

      • Note, however, #213 ended antibiotics for growth promotion but does not address antibiotic use for disease prevention in food animals.

  • The FDA released draft guidance for voluntarily bringing all medically important antibiotics used in food animals under veterinary oversight.

  • Tyson Foods, McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Subway, and Perdue Farms are all either reducing or eliminating antibiotics used by their meat suppliers.

  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a policy that requires U.S. hospitals to adopt antibiotic stewardship programs to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

The Macario Family on Simon’s SECOND and LAST christmas. photo credit: everly macario, 2003.

More to Do

Antibiotic resistance is a problem we can fix. What can you do?

  1. Support Small World Initiative’s efforts to tackle the crisis by sharing your story, participating in their Do Something About Antibiotics Challenge™ and other programs, and supporting their work.

  2. Tell everyone you know about the antibiotic resistance crisis—this is important for raising awareness.

  3. Next time a doctor prescribes antibiotics, ask if this is really necessary.

  4. If you do take antibiotics, take the full course as prescribed—even if you start to feel better after a couple of days.

  5. Buy poultry, beef, and pork from farms that do not use antibiotics in the raising of food animals.

  6. Talk with your veterinarian about when antibiotics are really needed for your pets (companion animals).

  7. Contact your Congress people to get them to pass legislation to provide financial incentives in the development of brand-new antibiotics.

sibling_love_fall_03.jpg

Your children will thank you for doing your part to save antibiotics!

Remembering and Honoring Simon’s Life

This story is part of our series: Superbugs – Real People, Real Stories.

About Superbugs – Real People, Real Stories: This series is part of the Small World Initiative's public health campaign to raise the alarm about the severity of the growing global antibiotic crisis and share what people can do to protect themselves and their loved ones from antibiotic-resistant infections (commonly referred to as “superbugs”). The series shares the powerful stories of real people who understand the true consequences of antibiotic resistance and want you to learn before it is too late. Recounting journeys filled with enormous fear, heartbreaking loss, and extraordinary triumph, we hope these stories engender a strong sense of urgency and compel readers to act.

If you have a story to share, please email info@smallworldinitiative.org.



New 2019 CDC Report: Antibiotic Resistant Threats in the United States

/

In 2019, the CDC released its second Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report. While progress has been made, the report concluded that the threat continues, and more action is needed. The report shows that antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungi cause more than 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths in the United States each year.

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its updated Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States Report. According to new data, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungi cause more than 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths in the United States each year. That means, someone in the United States gets an antibiotic-resistant infection every 11 seconds, and every 15 minutes, someone dies.

Due to poor surveillance and reporting of superbug infections, some estimate the number of deaths in the US to be more than four-times higher than the new CDC estimate (more than 153,000 deaths) (Kollef).

While the report shows that some progress has been made, the CDC is particularly concerned about antibiotic-resistant infections that are on the rise, including:

  • More than half a million resistant gonorrhea infections, twice as many as reported in 2013. Gonorrhea-causing bacteria have developed resistance to all but one class of antibiotics.

  • Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae are making urinary tract infections harder to treat, especially in women, and could undo progress made in hospitals if allowed to spread there. They are one of the leading causes of death from resistant germs.

  • Erythromycin-resistant group A Streptococcus infections have quadrupled since the 2013 report. If resistance continues to grow, infections and deaths could rise.

  • Antibiotic-resistant germs often found in healthcare, including CRE and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), caused more than 85% of the total deaths calculated in the report.

To read the full report, click here.

PRESS RELEASE: Small World Initiative® Announced as New 100Kin10 Partner Ahead of Network Exceeding Goal of Training 100,000 New STEM Teachers by 2021

/

Small World Initiative® among more than 40 new partners that will become part of the STEM education network 

New York, NY – 100Kin10, a national organization dedicated to solving the STEM teacher shortage by 2021, announced that the Small World Initiative® joins 40 other new programmatic partners in its ranks this year. In addition to the Small World Initiative, new partners include the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Infosys Foundation, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Council of Chief State School Officers, among others.

This is the seventh and final cohort of partners for 100Kin10 during its first 10 years. The organization launched in 2011 as an answer to President Obama’s call during his 2011 State of the Union address to train 100,000 new STEM teachers in a decade. 100Kin10 is on track to exceed their goal of training 100,000 teachers by 2021, with more than 68,000 teachers currently trained.

“We are so thrilled to join this group of incredible partners working to end the STEM teacher shortage. We believe that solving the most pressing challenges in STEM education requires robust collaboration and look forward to advancing bold solutions together,” said Erika Kurt, Small World Initiative’s President and CEO.

The final round of growth specifically focuses on 100Kin10’s latest project: tackling what they’ve identified as the root causes of the STEM teacher shortage. If solved, these ‘catalysts’ – which include bonuses, scholarships or loan forgiveness for STEM teachers, increasing professional development and state tracking of STEM teacher supply and demand – would more sustainably end the teacher shortage.

“This final group, including the Small World Initiative, is a welcome addition as we enter our final push in achieving our goal and look toward the future in solving systemic issues around the teacher shortage in America,” said Talia Milgrom-Elcott, 100Kin10’s executive director. “Each organization is doing incredible, inspiring work to build the movement for better, bolder, and more accessible STEM education. We’re thrilled to have them as our newest partners in collaboration, learning and continuous improvement to creatively solve the STEM teacher crisis.”

Existing partners and an expert panel vetted and selected the 41 new partners, who will join a network of more than 280 current partners that includes the nation’s top academic institutions, nonprofits, foundations, companies, and government agencies. All partners register their commitments to ending the STEM teacher shortage through 100Kin10 and support one another to achieve those commitments by exchanging expertise, learning, and resources.

In addition to the 41 accepted programmatic organizations, 100Kin10 is inviting 16 other organizations to join as “allies” of the network. This is a new opportunity to connect with and share in the learning life of the network to reach its goal.

###

The Small World Initiative® (SWI) is an innovative nonprofit dedicated to transforming STEM education while solving pressing real-world health challenges. Each year, SWI trains educators to replace traditional courses with discovery-based courses. Initiated at Yale University in 2012, SWI's primary program engages students in the hunt to find new antibiotics to tackle the growing global health challenge of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, commonly known as “superbugs.” To date, SWI has trained educators at more than 300 schools in 45 states and 15 countries. More information is available at www.smallworldinitiative.org.  

100Kin10 is network of best-in-class organizations collectively responding to the moonshot call to put 100,000 new, excellent STEM teachers in America’s classrooms by 2021. Through their pioneering networked impact approach, 100Kin10 encourages multi-sector collaboration and provides the vision and resources to help nonprofits, foundations, academic institutions, and businesses meet their ambitious commitments to educate the next generation of innovators and problem solvers. More information is available at www.100kin10.org.

Newsletter@2x.png

SWI@Spain, A Timeline: Spreading Passion for Discovery

/

by Victor J. Cid, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Dr. Victor J. Cid leads SWI@Spain, the Small World Initiative's efforts in Spain. Dr. Cid joined the Small World Initiative two years ago and attended the June 2016 training held at the University of Connecticut. Since then, he has been rapidly growing the program in Spain and has already impact 42 postsecondary institutions and high schools across the country. His team at the Universidad de Complutense de Madrid has been working to translate the Small World Initiative: Student Research Guide and Research Protocols into Spanish. In this post, Dr. Cid shares his experiences starting and growing SWI@Spain.   

June 2016, SWIPI Training Course, University of Connecticut, USA

Great ice cream on Campus and a great bunch of people sums up the SWIPIs training experience. We were taught by the safe and steady hands of Nichole and Debra. Everything works, everything seems easy. This is America, a land of opportunities. Trump for President? Ha, ha, who buys that joke! The Small World Initiative is as contagious as it is exciting. A Spaniard among the trainees. Well, that’s me. Back home a small grant from Madrid University is waiting for a pioneering SWI experience through the 2016-17 course. My friend Caroline Jérôme had told me all about service-learning before flying to the States. We thought that only by adapting SWI to service-learning we would be able to meet the aim of waking up STEM vocations in Spain, where the decision of jumping on the science path is made during high school, well before college. We planned to have teams of university students become SWI Teaching Assistants (SWITAs) in charge of coordinating SWI at high schools. An ambitious plan. Cool, though.

October 2016, SWI Faculty Training, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Spain

Time to plan out SWI@Spain. Nineteen Faculty Members from Pharmacy, Veterinary and Biological Sciences are taking a short training workshop and debating on how to deal with the challenge. Professors, Senior Researchers and younger Postdoc fellows: everyone is so excited about the project! They must contact high schools and recruit SWITAs among their third year university students. Will anyone be interested after all? Hectic days: launching our Facebook, blog and webpage, spending all our budget in culture media, disposable gloves and labcoats, cycloheximide, Petri dishes and toothpicks, to name a few shopping items.

November 2016, SWITAs Training Courses, Faculties of Pharmacy and Biology, UCM, Madrid, Spain

Overwhelmed by success among our students: 120 SWITAs have enrolled. Third year pharmacy and veterinary students, second year biologists and biochemists, even some master in microbiology students. They are already undergoing training courses in the lab, extra microbiology lab classes: digging for samples around the campus, making dilutions, recognizing different colonies, dealing with isolates and making the antibiosis assays on two ESKAPE dummies: one gram-negative and one gram-positive. That is as far as we can reach. They must master the techniques as they will be responsible for teaching much younger SWI students. The environment is great, and it is antibiotic awareness week! The world famous “They won’t survive” videoclip was shot by Belen Patiño’s students in these training sessions. The response from high schools is no less encouraging. Dozens of schools have applied. We decide to work with 22 of them. It is crazy, I know, we are taking as much as we can afford and that is the absolute maximum.

December 2016, High School “Margarita Salas”, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain

Professor Covadonga Vázquez and her SWITAs are pioneering the experience in a public high school in a Madrid suburb. They are science students from an excellent program. Samples are taken form soil all over Spain. So much to do in just five two-hour sessions in the high school labs! The SWI team is busy carrying material, pipettes, cultures, and all kind of gear from the university to the high school and back. The rest of SWI@Spain team members are following their experience closely. After Christmas, the other 21 High Schools will be hosting SWI at some point.

February 2017, High School Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid, Spain

It is our fifth visit, and we are bringing the smelly antibiosis assays from the university incubators in a biosafety-marked container in the trunk of my car. SWITAs are struck by waking up so early, but the kids are in eureka mood: Look! I have a producer! It beautifully inhibits Staphylococcus. That’s nothing! I have three! Excitement is in the air, although some of the kids are down because they got nothing. That’s how science works! These students don’t know yet that two months later they will win their school prize in sciences for their presentation on their SWI experience. Back at the University, we have quite a mess sharing common materials as some visits to high schools by different SWI teams overlap in time. At some point, we were working with 6 different high schools during the same week. I had to make a schedule to make sure that the automatic pipettes, vortex, alcohol sprays, etc., etc., were available for everyone. Please bring back the pipettes before noon or I am doomed!

March 2017, High School Carpetania, Yepes, Toledo, Spain

This is the farthest spot SWI is reaching! We were in El Escorial, Aranjuez. We are now bringing the cultures and material from the Complutense campus in Central Madrid to a small town outside the Madrid region. Only the most devoted SWITAs accepted to work that far. But there is a surprise: Julia and her team are with us. They are senior journalism students and producing a professional documentary movie on antimicrobial resistance for their graduation thesis. The SWI students here are equally attracted by audiovisual production and antibiotic discovery. Julia and her team are undoubtedly contributing to communicating our effort and our message and hold a successful premiére in November!

April 2017, Auditorium, Faculty of Pharmacy, UCM, Madrid

It is time to celebrate. Prizes and certificates are ready. Everyone is here for the SWI closing ceremony. And we have a lot to celebrate: we have implemented the most ambitious service-learning innovation project at our university ever, we have visited 22 High Schools where 500 SWI young researchers analyzed over 250 samples of soil. We have collected their surveys, and we can conclude that SWI has indeed fulfilled its goal of involving them in real science. They also understand the AMR topic much better, and they are taking the message home. Moreover, active service-learning did work too. Our 120 SWITAs are also happy with the experience. The bravest among them presented a total of 8 SWI communications and posters at the Undergrad Research Congress the week before, and they and were awarded two prizes. We have now found several dozens of antibiotic-producing candidate bacteria from diverse Spanish soils in our fridges. We have no budget yet to properly identify them, and our star keynote speaker, Fernando Peláez, thinks that finding a new antibiotic in the soil “is like finding a particular needle in a box with millions of needles.” But still, the human value of our experience in building this national branch of the SWI community makes it all worthwhile today. Fernando was in the team that developed echinocandins from a fungus isolated in the Lozoya valley, near Madrid. His talk is highly motivating. If I was a 30-year-younger fellow in this audience, I would want to become a scientist overnight. Moreover, coordinating SWI@Spain makes me proud of having taken that decision, whatever my inspiration was at the time.

May 2017, Reflections, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid

What now? Feeling like a victorious soldier after the battle, I guess. Proud of my fellow SWIPIs and my little army of SWITAs. Such heroic fighters all of them! But is the war won?? Nope! Neither the one against our politicians' blindness towards science nor the one against superbugs, sadly. So we should be standing for the next battle. We will be at the Scientific Weekend at the National Science and Technology Museum (MUNCYT) later this month. We will also be present at education service-learning oriented meetings. And, more importantly, we will share our experience with European colleagues at the Education Symposium at the FEMS Congress in Valencia next July (thanks Dr. Nichole Broderick for accepting our invitation to the carry the SWI flag at this meeting). But our next strategic plan is to conquer the Iberian Peninsula. Exciting. Now I know how Napoleon felt. I just hope we will be luckier than he was in this enterprise. The plan is to hold a SWIPI training workshop in Madrid parallel to the one at the University of Connecticut. SWIPIs-to-be have applied from Catalonia, Navarra, Aragon, the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia, both Castilias, Extremadura, Andalusia and Valencia. Merck, Sharp & Dome Spain has offered sponsorship for the workshop, Biomerieux will provide some culture media for free, and if the National Strategic Programme for Antibiotic Resistance is sensitive enough, they should cooperate too. Daydreaming maybe, nothing final. Hold on for a report on the next battle. Pipettes are loaded.

Microbial Crafts: A Small World Initiative Success Story at McGill – by Paul-Enguerrand "Pablo" Fady, McGill University

/

MICROBIAL CRAFTS TEAM AMBASSADORS. PHOTO CREDIT: AMIT SINGER.

by Paul-Enguerrand "Pablo" Fady

In November 2016, the Small World Initiative (SWI, pronounced “swee”) teamed up with The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and launched “The Do Something About Antibiotics Challenge.” This was part of an effort to encourage students to act in response to one of the most pressing global health challenges of our time — the antibiotic crisis. The challenge was in recognition of the CDC’s 9th Annual “Get Smart About Antibiotics Week,” which ran from November 14th-20th 2016. A group of students at McGill University in Montréal, Canada had an original artistic take on the challenge, which led to the judges awarding the team’s project second place.

CROSS-STITCHED "ESKAPE" KEYCHAINS TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT PATHOGENS. PHOTO CREDIT: ASHLEY CAMPBELL.

The challenge, aimed at undergraduate-level students, yielded an impressive number of responses from all over the globe. The projects submitted ranged in kind and scale, running the gamut from a museum symposium (North Carolina State University), through a 3-hour hands-on outreach event (Baton Rouge Community College), to a parody of the classic pop song, “I Will Survive” (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). The outcome of the challenge was remarkable not only because of the breadth of the material covered in the submissions, but also because of the diverse types of projects undertaken by students.

One submission highlighted by the CDC judges was the “Microbial Crafts” project undertaken by students at McGill University. A group of student artists designed and created a broad range of microbe-related items and accessories. They then sold these “Microbial Crafts” to other members of the McGill community by setting up stalls around campus, and they set up online sales platforms to reach a wider audience.

The aim was twofold: to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance by engaging with the local community and to raise funds for the Small World Initiative. No other submission sought to raise funds for SWI as part of the challenge entry.

STREPTOCOCCUS PLUSH: JENNIFER HITTI. PHOTO CREDIT: JOY TSENG.

STREPTOCOCCUS PLUSH: JENNIFER HITTI. PHOTO CREDIT: JOY TSENG.

The project was inspired by microbe plushies knit by Catherine Caldwell, then a McGill neuroscience student. Catherine liked to knit, and she created these plushies to give to her mother as Christmas presents as her mother had completed her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at McGill. As such, the “Microbial Crafts” initially consisted mostly of hand-knit or cross-stitched plushies in the shape of well-known microbes. However, the project grew to encompass laptop stickers, buttons, keychains, and more.

PIN DESIGN: ELENA LIN. PHOTO CREDIT: PHIL ZHANG.

PIN DESIGN: ELENA LIN. PHOTO CREDIT: PHIL ZHANG.

SWI Partner Instructor Dr. Samantha Gruenheid, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at McGill, also participated in the “Microbial Crafts” project, knitting a number of plushies by herself and in collaboration with her daughter.

The McGill “Microbial Crafts” team had success in multiple areas: considering the project holistically, Microbiology & Immunology students were able to successfully combine their artistic talents with their drive for academic success, research advancement and community involvement.

PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA. PLUSHIE CREDIT: BUSHRA KHAN. PHOTO CREDIT: JOY TSENG.

PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA. PLUSHIE CREDIT: BUSHRA KHAN. PHOTO CREDIT: JOY TSENG.

As regards the financial aspect of the project, the team was delighted to raise 500 USD over the two-week period of “The Do Something About Antibiotics Challenge.” As Joy Tseng, the organizer of the project acknowledges, “At the global level […] 500 USD was a small contribution for a vast problem like antibiotic resistance.” However, she adds, “it was a significant step towards encouraging more schools and students to join the collective effort of discovering new antibiotic sources.” Indeed, the funds will go to SWI, helping with the costs to bring in under resourced schools. This allows SWI to spread, contributing to its mission of “crowdsourcing antibiotic discovery” by engaging students in “real-world applicable laboratory and field research in introductory courses.”

P.S. Did you know that the Small World Initiative’s 4th Annual Symposium 2017 will be on June 1st in New Orleans, Louisiana during ASM Microbe? Six students from McGill’s Microbiology and Immunology department will be in attendance, presenting their research and delivering Microbial Crafts to the SWI community. Hope to see you there!

FORCES AVENIR WHOLE TEAM PORTRAIT COLLAGE. CREDIT: JOY TSENG.

PRESS RELEASE: With Global Leaders at UN Committing to Act on Antimicrobial Resistance, the Small World Initiative Challenges Others to Join Us in Taking Action

/

We are on the precipice of entering a post-antibiotic era, when a scraped knee or common infection may prove deadly for an otherwise healthy individual. Because of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), common and life-threatening infections are increasingly becoming untreatable. This proliferation of superbugs is being seen worldwide. There is a silent epidemic of multidrug-resistant typhoid raging across Africa and Asia, killing 200,000 each year; multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has been identified in 105 countries; and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that more than 800,000 Americans may soon be at risk of acquiring untreatable gonorrhea each year.

With the growing problem of AMR, even routine medical procedures could prove too risky to undergo. While you reminisce of days when you could take a weeklong course of antibiotics to cure an infection, you may soon find yourself lucky if you are prescribed a treatment with a 50% cure rate that takes two years, hundreds of injections, and 14,000 pills, which is already the case for more than 500,000 suffering from MDR-TB. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Margaret Chan, “Doctors facing patients will have to say, ‘I am sorry. There is nothing I can do for you.’”

AMR and the resulting diminishing supply of effective antibiotics are two of the biggest threats to global health today. This is no surprise. Even Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, the world’s first antibiotic, warned of the danger of resistance. Yet, while existing antibiotics are losing efficacy due to widespread resistance, pharmaceutical companies have shifted away from developing new antibiotics in favor of more lucrative opportunities. Each year in the US alone, there are more than 2 million AMR illnesses, 23,000 deaths, and $35 billion in economic losses. Globally, there are more than 700,000 AMR deaths annually. According to an often-cited analysis from the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, if no action is taken between now and 2050, the true cost of AMR will be 300 million premature deaths and $100 trillion in terms of global gross domestic product.

SWI PRESIDENT & CEO, ERIKA KURT, AT THE UNITED NATIONS.

On September 21st, Small World Initiative President and CEO, Erika Kurt, joined international leaders, experts, and stakeholders for the United Nations (UN) High-Level Meeting on AMR. This marks only the fourth time in history that the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has addressed a health issue – the others being HIV, noncommunicable diseases, and Ebola. This was a welcome first step for many stakeholders who recognize the UN as the only institution that can summon the necessary resources and global commitments to action necessary to combat AMR. The resulting political declaration reflects the commitment of nations to address the crisis in a unified manner.

The declaration, which calls AMR “the greatest and most urgent global health risk,” seeks to spur leaders to action and focuses on recognizing the problem, acknowledging the real causes, and calling for a One Health solution. Countries confirmed their commitment to develop national AMR action plans based on WHO’s Global Action Plan.

Throughout the meeting, the seriousness and urgency of the problem was voiced over and over again:

“[AMR is] a very present reality in all parts of the world [that poses] a fundamental, long-term threat to human health, sustainable food production, and development.” – UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon
“[AMR] threatens the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and requires a global response. […] No one country, sector or organization can address this issue alone.” – UNGA President, Peter Thomson
“We are running out of options. AMR is a public health failure and emergency, and we need to get our mind into this mode." – Médecins Sans Frontières International President, Joanne Liu
“We are late to the game on the public health emergency of our time.” – Consumer Reports President and CEO, Marta Tellado
“We are running out of time!” – Chan

In a welcome move, there was also a real acknowledgment of the primary cause of AMR – the mass-scale inappropriate use of antibiotics in agriculture (including farmed fish) and humans. While this is commonly understood among experts, it has often been carefully left out of policy.

The call for a One Health solution focused on proper antibiotic use, prevention and control of infections, and research and development for new antibiotics, alternative therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics. Prevention and control directives included immunization, safe water and sanitation, and good hygiene in hospitals and animal husbandry. Leaders from Europe continually stressed the need for global controls of antibiotic use in agriculture similar to the European Union model. European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, contended that a global ban on antibiotics as growth promoters was necessary. Norway’s Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, shared her country’s insights on how to accomplish this without compromising the agricultural industry in describing how Norway was able to reduce antibiotic use in the salmon industry by 99% through an innovative smelt vaccination program.

The existing market failures were also widely recognized by those present as simultaneously encouraging improper antibiotic use, limiting access to essential medicines, and not encouraging the development of innovative solutions and therapies. This culminated in a call for investment in research and development of new, effective, and affordable medicines and therapies as well as rapid diagnostic tests that take into account the needs of all countries. With 13 leading pharmaceutical companies committing to a road map for reducing the overuse of antibiotics by 2020 just ahead of the meeting, there was renewed hope that private industry would take additional steps. In the effort to discover new medicines, during the panel discussion, GlaxoSmithKline CEO, Sir Andrew Witty, recognized that, “There has not been enough fundamental biological discovery. We need to pilot new collaborative systems."

Leaders will report back in two years on their progress.

As Manica Balasegaram, Director of Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative’s Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership, asserted, “What we have now, it is on a piece of paper. It is good. It is important, but it is just the first step. […] It is a declaration, as far I am concerned, of intent. We have to see that it is translated into something more concrete [and see] how it will work at the international and national level, how different sectors are going to work together, how financing and funding for things will be done and [if they will be] sufficient.”

There were many calls for action throughout the week, and as voiced by CDC Director, Dr. Tom Frieden, "It is not too late if we respond effectively with global collaboration."

What’s next?

While the issuance of this declaration is a major accomplishment and draws attention to this important issue, we must now take action. The Small World Initiative is engaging students, science educators, and the general public to use antibiotics correctly, change other behaviors related to AMR, and help us discover new antibiotics. Our introductory microbiology course focused on hunting for new medically-relevant microbes in soil is now in 167 undergraduate and high school institutions in 35 US states, Puerto Rico, and 12 countries, and we aim to establish a high-throughput screening lab to determine if student discoveries may be medically relevant and move forward into the antibiotic pipeline. Our program provides a way of conducting mass-scale fundamental biological discovery through a collaborative model. We are calling on others to help us multiply our efforts to increase awareness, change behaviors, and crowdsource antibiotic discovery. While AMR has significant global consequences, we understand the key causes and many of the possible solutions to stemming this problem…if we can only act.

While local, national, and global action are required to solve this problem, even individuals can take impactful action. Consider simple actions like changing what sorts of companies you support, getting vaccinated, washing your hands, and not demanding antibiotics when you have a viral infection like a cold or flu. In the US, consumer demand led to nine of the largest food chains adopting new sourcing policies that require antibiotic-free meat, which will push changes in agricultural practices. It is important for individuals to understand their power as consumers. As Chan emphasized, “You have a very important role to play.”

If you would like to join or support the Small World Initiative’s efforts to take action on AMR, please click here.

The University of Connecticut Hosts 4th Annual Small World Initiative Training Workshop – by Debra Davis, Wingate University

/

2016 COHORT OF NEW SWI PARTNER INSTRUCTORS AT THE TRAINING WORKSHOP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT IN JUNE. PHOTO CREDIT: NICHOLE BRODERICK.

by Debra Davis

On the heels of another successful and well-attended Small World Initiative (SWI) Annual Symposium at ASM Microbe, the 4th Annual SWI Training Workshop welcomed 23 new SWI Partner Instructors (SWIPIs) at the University of Connecticut (UConn) in Storrs, Connecticut. New partners hailed from India, Spain, and across the United States, representing Texas, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, Maryland, Louisiana, North Carolina, Florida, and multiple northeastern states. The six-day workshop began on the afternoon of Tuesday June 21st and ended at noon on Sunday the 26th and was hosted by Nichole Broderick, SWI Program Director, and Debra Davis, SWI Training Committee Chair. Workshop participants were gracefully received and welcomed by any one of a trio of Nichole Broderick’s graduate students – Danielle Lesperance, Rose Dziedzic, and Beth Ann Bolte. These young ladies were on hand for all experiences throughout the week, providing support for all aspects of the workshop. 

Workshop activities kicked off with an informative welcome from our President and CEO, Erika Kurt. Afterwards, Science Committee Co-Chair Kristen Butela swiftly got down to business with a presentation on biosafety. Then, the hunt began! New SWIPIs ventured across UConn’s campus to select prime locations to collect their soil samples in search of antibiotic producers. The week of training included interactive presentations on pedagogical topics from previously established SWIPIs, followed by group discussions on how to incorporate newly introduced (for some) pedagogical methods into SWI courses. Participants were placed in working groups based on the similarity of the courses in which they planned to implement SWI; this allowed for meaningful discussions, constructive recommendations, and critique between participants. 

There were many highlights. Barbara Murdoch (2013 cohort) joined us at UConn and led an engaging session on Backward Design, Bloom’s Taxonomy, and Assessment. In presenting these well-known topics, Barbara stressed the necessity for these methods to be employed when implementing SWI courses. Following the training, she produced a collection of participants' questions and answers for reference. Kristen Butela rejoined us to start a necessary conversation as we evaluate the effectiveness of SWI on our students – the use of Institutional Review Boards. She also delivered a quick lesson in Bioethics. 

A Q&A session with established SWIPIs via videoconference raised lots of ‘how did you?’ questions, which were expertly answered. Our high school pilot instructor Barbara Fishel (The Hockaday School; 2015 high school pilot), along with SWIPIs from different cohorts – Neil Enis (2013 cohort), Theresa Rogers (2015 cohort), and Elizabeth Roberts (2014 cohort), provided perspectives from the various institutions from which they hail. We were especially grateful for the participation of Barbara Fishel, as 25% of the workshop participants represented high schools; they were encouraged and energized by her testimony of the positive impact of SWI on her students. 

Thanks to our Social Media and Public Relations Committee Chair, Ana Barral, many participants were convinced to quickly join SWI's social media accounts; our twitter followers increased dramatically while she was still giving her presentation! Todd Kelson, SWI Mentor Committee Chair, joined us wearing his ever so spectacular SWI lab coat (We ALL want one!) and explained the purpose of the successful SWI Buddy-Mentor program. During the training, many hours were spent in the laboratory working with newly isolated colonies and plates of colonies previously prepared by our gracious UConn hosts. Training participants were able to go through all steps of the SWI research plan, including chemical extraction of the antibiotics produced and testing to ensure activity against pathogens. The laboratory sessions allowed those seasoned microbiologists to revitalize their skill set, helped those participants who had not touched an agar plate since college (or ever), and provided those who were unsure about certain protocols to get in a trial run before returning to their institutions.

Our UConn hosts treated the participants to a wonderful dinner at Lakeview Restaurant, complete with a fantastic fireworks display (courtesy of a nearby festival) at the end of the night! It was a welcome wind down to a busy, but incredibly informative, and productive week. On Sunday morning, working groups presented their plans for future SWI courses, highlighting any possible challenges they might encounter, as well as giving the opportunity for their newly found colleagues and friends to offer advice and/or critiques to their plans. Overall, the new cohort of SWIPIs left excited, enthusiastic, ready, and confident to implement SWI in their institutions across the nation, and the world! We were pleased to hear workshop participants, including the seasoned microbiologists, repeatedly confirm that they were happy they came. 

A great big THANK YOU to our fabulous UConn hosts for a FUN yet informative and productive workshop, for keeping our bellies filled, and being so accommodating. To our new SWIPIs – welcome to the SWI family!

Debra Davis chairs the Small World Initiative Training Committee and is an Assistant Professor at Wingate University, North Carolina. She is a microbial ecologist, specializing in wetland sediment microbial populations. She has been a SWI Partner Instructor since 2014 and has adapted SWI in several courses for Allied Health, Biology/Environmental Biology, and non-science majors. 

If you are interested in bringing SWI to your school, please click here for information on how to apply.

Our 2016 training participants shared the following:

"This workshop has been one of the very best and most useful workshops I have every attended. This spans over a decade of teaching and attending as many workshops that I was able to get to over this time! Great experience! Great team! Looking forward to start, even if modestly. Proud to be a SWIPI!"

"This was a great experience. I feel incredibly prepared to begin. You are amazing!!!"

"I have not been this excited about a new project for a long time.  Thanks so much for the training and materials and support.  It was great!  I am looking forward to implementing SWI in every way I can."

"I learned so much it is going to take weeks to go through all my notes. The bonds I made at the workshop with people were strong. I am looking forward to communicating with them about our work."

"Excellent experience and very well done. Looking forward to implementing the course and to working with the SWI group this year."

"It was a great experience on many fronts and I am excited about offering this at my institute."

"I was excited about SWI before attending training and am even more excited now. It still feels pretty overwhelming, but I have a lot more information and know-how after attending the training. It was really great to collaborate with other teachers interested in making science real for their students."

"Having representatives at multiple levels and institutions was formative. The materials provided are particularly valuable in being able to bring this back to my institution. My view of implementation and usage changed from the training experience. Very excited to move forward with this and show my department how SWI can work for us. Great to be part of this cohort."

"Excellent workshop and very informative for instilling confidence to bring this course back to my home institution and have it run efficiently."

"SWI is more creative as I thought. The SWI team is open-minded and happy to adopt new ideas, leaving plenty of room to innovate! SWI is flexible: It can be adapted to multiple formats and education levels to get the best advantage of the program in particular environments. The SWI community is really collaborative and helpful, ready to share ideas and experiences anytime! It is not just a project: it is a great human environment. Proud of it!"

"The project is very scalable, and I can accomplish my learning goals. The workshop was excellent with so much help offered."

"This project is authentic research, "doable", and highly supported with all the wonderful materials made available."

"Encouraging to see an organization that is tackling the real-world problem of antibiotic resistance and lack of new antibiotics being discovered. How we as science educators can and need to use teaching techniques such as Blooms, formative and summative assessments to further increase STEM retention."

"SWI is straightforward to implement, the community is very supportive community, and my students will greatly benefit from the program."

(Thanks to Nichole Broderick, Dani Lesperance, Andy Langford, and Deborah Overath for allowing us to share their pictures. Picture 1: Training participants in the laboratory examining their isolates. Picture 2: Nichole Broderick providing guidance in the lab. Picture 3: Dilution and patch plates. Pictures 4: Classroom time. Picture 5: Working group presentations. Picture 6: Participants enjoy watching the sunset at Lakeview Restaurant.)

Inspiring the Next Generation of Scientists – A Conversation with Dr. Susan K. Whoriskey – by Erika Kurt, Small World Initiative

/

DR. SUSAN K. WHORISKEY (CENTER) WITH DR. NICHOLE BRODERICK (LEFT) – ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT – AND ERIKA KURT (RIGHT) – SMALL WORLD INITIATIVE PRESIDENT & CEO – AT SWI'S ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM AT ASM MICROBE IN BOSTON IN JUNE. (MEAGAN MOORE PHOTO)

by Erika Kurt

On Saturday, June 18th, Erika Kurt, President and CEO of the Small World Initiative (SWI), sat down with biotechnology entrepreneur Dr. Susan K. Whoriskey, PhD, a leader in the biotech industry, at SWI’s 3rd Annual Symposium held at ASM Microbe in Boston. Whoriskey was a member of the Founding Executive Teams of four Boston biotechs: Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Momenta, Moderna, and PNA Innovations. At Cubist, Whoriskey was a member of the team that was instrumental in developing and bringing to the market Cubicin (daptomycin), a lipopeptide antibiotic active against drug-resistant bacteria, in 2003. Whoriskey shared some tales from the lab bench, the boardroom, and her inspirational scientific career.

DR. SUSAN K. WHORISKEY

On July 18th, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Susan K. Whoriskey to share her inspiring story with Small World Initiative students and faculty. Throughout her career, Whoriskey has been creating companies that pioneer scientific breakthroughs to save lives and improve healthcare costs as a member of the founding Executive Teams of three of Massachusetts top successful biotech companies and a recently started fourth venture. In her roles, she has been instrumental in helping bring three lifesaving drugs to the market as well as others that are currently in clinic trials. Of particular note, she shared in detail her involvement with the antibiotic Cubicin (daptomycin), one of the first new chemical classes of antibiotics approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in over 50 years. Whoriskey has been a Research Fellow in Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School with 2009 Nobel Prize recipient Dr. Jack Szostak, a consultant to venture capital firm Polaris Venture Partners, and an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Molecular Biology Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

 

The Power of Science

whoriskey's father, Dr. Frederick Whoriskey, with a Patient at Kennedy Memorial Hospital (1959 press photo)

As a very young girl, Whoriskey was drawn to science. Her mother passed away from cancer when she was just seven, and she intimately learned how dramatically ill health could have a lasting impact on a family and a life. Yet, she also saw how science could change that through medicine. Whoriskey’s father was a naval surgeon during World War II and later practiced as a pediatrician. During his medical career, his practice transformed from providing palliative care to dying patients to saving patients lives thanks to the “miracle drugs” of antibiotics and the polio vaccine. According to Whoriskey, “The way my father talked about how his medical practice transformed in his lifetime deeply impacted me and elucidated the power of science and the hopefulness that it brings to the world.”

Whoriskey decided that she wanted to be a part of that story, in some way big or small.

 

The Impact of Engaging Science Courses

However, due to gender stereotypes, the scientific community almost missed out on Whoriskey’s contributions. When Whoriskey got to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, she initially thought that science “would be too hard” and “was for the guys.” She declared a major in journalism having been inspired by Bob Woodward and Carl Berstein’s All the President’s Men. Luckily, her school had mandatory distribution requirements. After having delayed taking her science requirement until the second semester of her junior year, she took a science course for non-science majors, The Microbiology of Cancer, taught by an engaging and communicative genetics professor. This professor exuded the joy and adventure of science, and Whoriskey tapped into something in herself “that had been percolating” and did an about-face. With this new motivation and drive, Whoriskey was able to complete all of her microbiology requirements during her senior year.

 

The Choice

After graduating from college in 1981 with a degree in microbiology, Whoriskey entered the job market during a recession. Following weeks of radio silence on her job applications, she finally landed two interviews on the same day. One job was with a professor working in a clinical microbiology lab and required repeating the same test every day following a standardized testing protocol, and the second job involved working with a professor at Harvard doing exploratory research on cholera to understand the mechanism of action of the toxin agent causing the disease.

These opposing opportunities gave Whoriskey the chance to evaluate her own interests, and in considering the job choice, she discovered she was an entrepreneur at the end of the day. She went for the research position, fraught with ambiguity and uncertainty but none the less invigorated by the challenge, even though it paid less than the other option. She worked there for two years and published her first paper on making monoclonal antibodies specific for cholera toxin. The lab was at Harvard University and had researchers at all different levels – MDs, postdocs, masters, bachelors degree – providing many educational opportunities for her. She was inspired by the work and seeing the MDs come back with pictures from their trips to India and with clinical isolates of cholera for research. So, after having graduated from college without knowing what she wanted to do, just two years later, she knew that she wanted a PhD.

 

The Implications of Basic Research

After earning her PhD from UCLA, Whoriskey contacted Dr. Jack Szostak, a professor at Harvard, to seek a post-doctoral position in his lab as she was interested in his work. Szostak was researching how the DNA sequences at the tips of chromosomes, known as telemeres, are properly replicated. This is a fundamental mechanism in the cell. It turns out that this basic research ended up showing that telemeres are highly predictive of aging and cancer, and there is now an entire field of research studying this. From this endeavor, Whoriskey saw first hand how basic research has the potential to make a huge impact on human health. In fact, Szostak won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this work in 2009. After this breakthrough, more people entered the field and began conducting additional research that stood on Szostak’s shoulders. This shows how science is advanced over time through the successive efforts of many. As Whoriskey puts it, “Many more researchers come after us and build on our accomplishments.”

 

The Ability to Switch Careers

Even though it is not unheard of, there is a strong sense that someone is committing career suicide if he/she chooses to switch careers or fields too late in life, and this sentiment can often leave someone feeling trapped. Whoriskey, however, was freed from that restriction on her career. Shortly after she arrived at the Szostak lab, he shifted the focus of his research to studying the role of self-replicating genetic polymers and the transition from chemical evolution to biological evolution, and she began working on that project. Now, he has emerged as a leader in this field as well. According to Whoriskey, “It takes a certain attitude to start in a new field even though there might be pressure not to. A lot of people, especially students, feel pigeon holed. There are certainly barriers to entry, but it is possible to change fields if you are properly motivated and if you have the drive, interest, and support to switch fields.“

 

Serious Scientists & Academia

After finishing her postdoc, Whoriskey felt a lot of pressure to go into academia. At that time, as she puts it, “Serious scientists did not go into the private sector.” However, she was more interested in applying science to drug development. Although she did not feel that being a professor aligned with her goals, she believed that people would be disappointed in her if she went into the private sector. She had to get comfortable with the idea of disappointing others and choosing the path that was right for her. Further, as Whoriskey explains, “There are norms out there that we often feel we can’t go against. These are norms not rules. You don’t have to go with the crowd. Your own inner voice is a powerful voice. Respect it.”

 

The Daptomycin Story

Antibiotic Resistance

whoriskey was aware of and concerned about the significant issue of antibiotic resistance. this graphic shows how quickly antibiotic resistance bacteria is identified following discovery of new antibiotics. (source: http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/antibiotic-resistance/)

In the early 1990s, Whoriskey met with a chemistry professor and a biology professor at MIT. They were forming a company to test some small molecules developed by the chemist against assays developed by the biologist to look for antibacterial activity. This company would become Cubist Pharmaceuticals. As Whoriskey explains, they had to overcome some really big barriers to entry as a company. At the time, all of the big drug companies were moving away from antibiotic development programs to work on more lucrative drug development opportunities. Yet, the problem of increased hospital-acquired drug-resistant infections was already emerging and the trend was going in the wrong direction. Infectious disease was on the rise, and new antibiotics would be needed to treat it. Within two years of starting the company, a number of companies thought about getting back into antibiotic development due to the increase in drug-resistant pathogens.

ACCORDING TO THE REVIEW ON ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE CHAIRED BY JIM O'NEILL, IF NO ACTION IS TAKEN BETWEEN NOW AND 2050, THIS CRISIS WILL COST $100 TRILLION AND LEAD TO 300 MILLION PREMATURE DEATHS. (SOURCE: REVIEW ON ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE 2014)

 

Listening to the Science

Although Whoriskey’s team was working with good small molecule inhibitors of enzymes in vitro, they were never able to identify a molecule that could pass the outer membrane of the bacterial cells in order to kill the cell. The science worked in that it gave them data they could base decisions upon, but the data was telling her team something important. They needed a molecule that could pass through the bacterial membrane. They decided to listen to the science, stop what they were doing, and try something else.

In the hunt for a molecule that could pass through the bacterial membrane, Whoriskey and a team of Cubist experts talked to companies that had stopped antibiotic research to see if there was anything they had stopped working on worthy of further development. That was pivotal.

mount ararat in turkey – the source of the daptomycin soil sample (Source: Wikimedia commons, the free media repository, www.andrewsevag.com)

Eli Lilly had run a program where employees brought back soil samples from their vacations, which was legal at the time. (Now, it is necessary to follow rules and regulations protecting plant, animal, and human health and potential soil ownership rights.) Eli Lilly had conducted assays to see what natural product extracts and molecules kill whole cells and had a molecule that fit Cubist’s criteria. The team identified daptomycin, which came from a soil sample from Mount Ararat in Turkey.

 

Out-of-the-Box Business Strategies

(source: Asm clinical microbiology reviews)

In preclinical studies, Eli Lilly thought that it had seen some muscle toxicity that would prevent additional development and was focused on other projects at the time, so the molecule was shelved. Whoriskey managed a due diligence team that evaluated the Eli Lilly data. They decided to evaluate whether they could achieve a dosing regimen that killed the pathogen but did not cause the same toxicity and signed an agreement with Eli Lilly to pay a royalty on drug sales. This was a paradigm-shifting business strategy at the time as Cubist, a small biotech, successfully licensed IP from Big Pharma versus the other way around. According to Whoriskey, “Chance here truly favored the prepared mind. Cubist experts knew what they needed, and they went for it.”

The drug turned out to be extremely successful and is capable of treating multi-drug resistant Staph aureus bacterial infections (MRSA). Cubicin was one of the first new chemical classes of antibiotics to be approved by the FDA in over 50 years. The drug has been used to treat more than one million patients, and Merck purchased the company for $9.5B in 2014.

 

The Profit Motive & Curbing Antibiotic Resistance

Under current market dynamics, pharmaceutical companies wish to sell as much product as possible to rake in as much profit as possible. However, excessive antibiotic usage, including unnecessary prescriptions and usage of antibiotics in animal feed to speed up growth or prophylactically, accelerates the emergence and prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. With this is mind, antibiotics should be treated as precious resources and preserved for cases when they are necessary. It is challenging to square the motives of a for-profit company with the need to treat antibiotics as precious resources.

For Cubicin, Whoriskey's team focused its market on the proper use of the antibiotic to treat sick patients for indications approved by the FDA and it succeeded. According to Whoriskey, “To me it’s simple: Number 1: Do the right thing. Number 2: It will always be possible to do well by doing good. You don’t have to over prescribe drugs or gauge drug prices to receive profit necessary to remain a sustainable business. I believe that making drugs that people need is a sufficient and viable business strategy.”

 

Business Edge – Understanding the Science

Throughout her career, Whoriskey has worked not only in academia and on the science side but also on the business side. She has led scientific and financial due diligence teams and collaborations in the drug development process and managed intellectual property estates and patent litigations, including cases that have reached the Supreme Court. To be good in a biotech business deal, Whoriskey finds that, “You really have to understand the science. In this sector, understanding the scientific objectives when you are working on the business side gives you an edge and helps you look at something in a new and different way.”

Whoriskey possesses that true entrepreneurial spirit. Instead of identifying barriers and saying stop, she is always looking at how to get around them. This ability to think differently and align with supporters has allowed her to successfully navigate obstacles that have stopped others.

 

Other Successful Ventures – Momenta & Moderna

Following Cubist, Whoriskey became a member of the founding Executive Teams of two additional top successful biotech companies in Massachusetts – Momenta and Moderna – and she is now working on a fourth one – PNA Innovations.

Whoriskey led Corporate Development for Momenta Pharmaceuticals with the goal of expanding access to high quality, more affordable medicines. At the time, there was no regulatory process at the FDA in place to approve a generic version of highly priced recombinant protein drugs or complex mixture drugs made from biological source material. There were only the following routes available: NDA (new drug application), ANDA (amended NDA), and BLA (biological license application), and a 1984 generic drug regulation only applied to single small molecule treatments. Yet, there was a need in the marketplace for generic versions of drugs derived from biological sources, and Momenta had the technology to prove to the FDA that they could make products that were chemically identical to the brand product. By showing chemical identity, the possibility existed that they could skip clinical trials and therefore bring the generic drug to market at a lower development cost and also price the drug lower than the brand.

Thanks to foresight and some out-of-the-box thinking, Momenta essentially pioneered the field of biogenerics and achieved the first FDA approval for a complex mixture generic drug, Enoxaparin, to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis and acute coronary symptoms. It was the most successful generic drug launch ever in the US and saved the US healthcare system hundreds of millions of dollars. Momenta also received FDA approval for Glatopa, a complex generic version of Copaxone (complex mix of peptides), the leading product to treat multiple sclerosis. Now, the company employs more than 300 people and is valued at more than $1B.

Subsequently, Whoriskey was senior vice president of technology strategy on the Founding Executive Team of Moderna. Moderna is pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics, a novel technology to develop therapies faster and at lower cost to treat a variety of diseases, including cancer and infectious disease. She helped develop a science and business strategy that raised $450M in investment funding, the largest biotech venture financing on record. Currently, Moderna employs more than 300 people.

Onto her latest adventure, Whoriskey is now back working on her fourth biotech venture, PNA Innovations (PNAi). The company has pioneered the invention of novel peptide nucleic acids with potential uses in diagnostics and therapeutics. She is working with the team to apply the technology to human health.

Combining her scientific mindset with her entrepreneurial spirit, Whoriskey has worked on every aspect of the drug discovery process starting with the big science idea and seed venture capital to scientific proof of concept and initial public offering all the way through to follow-on financings and FDA drug approvals.

 

Women in Science

whoriskey (second from right) with small world initiative high school researchers from the hockaday school at swi's 3rd annual symposium at asm microbe in boston.

While often the only woman on the executive team, Whoriskey has been fortunate to work in very ethnically diverse environments with men who were supportive of her career and her contributions. Interestingly enough, Whoriskey notes that Szostak has observed that most of his postdoc inquiries are from men, and she wonders if she would have had the guts to write him and request a position as she had done if he had already won the Nobel Prize. She suspects that may have intimidated her and held her back, unnecessarily so. Recognizing the challenges many women face, Whoriskey advises women, “I believe I can always be kind, but in making tough decisions, I can’t always be nice and please everyone. So stop worrying about wanting everyone to like you, and focus on doing the right thing. It’s liberating.”

She also hopes more males step up to be involved in the conversation of equal treatment of women and share proper behaviors. She has worked with so many capable women in her career that she sees no credible reason why there are not more women in executive roles. She is hopeful that discussions about this are ongoing in society and that in her lifetime she will see these trends reverse.

 

The Future of Antibiotic Discovery

whoriskey (second from left) with small world initiative student researchers from the university of pittsburgh at swi's 3rd annual symposium at asm microbe in boston.

Whoriskey contends that, “Antibiotic resistance should be seen as a public health priority. It is a problem with the potential to cause significant human harm to men, women, and children alike, and it is not going way. All available resources should be brought to bear on the problem. This includes immediately implementing policies to further incentivize research in this area. Groups like the Small World Initiative are invaluable in educating, incentivizing, and inspiring great students to go into the field just as I was encouraged to do when I was in college.”

Whoriskey adds, “No one has a monopoly on who will discover the next antibiotic, and furthermore, the more bright minds involved, the better outcome for humanity. Drug discovery is an amazing thing to do with your life. It takes curiosity, passion, training, persistence, persistence, and persistence!”

Taking the Small World Initiative to the Middle East – by Todd Kelson, Brigham Young University

/

TODD KELSON – BIOLOGY PROFESSOR AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY – AND SIMON HERNANDEZ WITH FIRST MIDDLE EAST CLASS OF NEW SWI INSTRUCTORS IN IRBID, JORDAN.

by Todd Kelson

In June 2015, Simon Hernandez and I traveled to the Jordan University of Science and Technology in Irbid and spent 5 days training 7 professors from 6 different universities in Iraq on how to implement the Small World Initiative at their universities. Funding was provided by a Biosecurity Engagement grant to the American Society for Microbiology. The training was much like what we are doing in the USA: all mornings were spent in lecture as we learned about this program and how to design a curriculum around it. The afternoons were spent in lab working through each of the procedures. By the end of the week, most had found antibiotic producers in the local soil and were excited to take SWI back to their country.

Since this initial training, many of the professors have been able to implement at their own institutions, and science undergraduate students in Iraq are now searching for antibiotic producers in their native soil.

Sometimes, I complain about the lack of equipment in my own lab, but it wasn't until I heard of the dire circumstances under which Iraqi faculty are forced to work that I began to appreciate what I really have. Some have had to postpone teaching SWI at their schools due to budgetary concerns or lack of proper equipment; others have had to purchase their chemicals and PCR primers out of their own pocket money. Yet, despite all of these challenges, the students in Iraq who have gone through the SWI experience are enthusiastic about science and had a great experience in lab. They have even contributed to the vast amount of data that is being collected by undergraduate students around the world.

We are all part of a global network of scientists who are addressing a global threat in antibiotic resistance. Our efforts are far reaching both in space and in time. Bravo to all of you students who are making the world a safer place to live in!

FIRST MIDDLE EAST SWI TRAINING IN IRBID, JORDAN.

NEW SWI INSTRUCTORS GIVE THE THUMBS UP.

Small World Initiative Biology Students to Present Antibiotic Research at U.S. Capitol – by Joe Musante, Southern Connecticut State University

/
BETSY ROBERTS (LEFT) – ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY – WITH STUDENT LAETICIA IBOKI. IBOKI AND A FORMER CLASSMATE WILL PRESENT THEIR RESEARCH ON A NEW ANTIBIOTIC THIS SPRING ON CAPITOL HILL.

BETSY ROBERTS (LEFT) – ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY – WITH STUDENT LAETICIA IBOKI. IBOKI AND A FORMER CLASSMATE WILL PRESENT THEIR RESEARCH ON A NEW ANTIBIOTIC THIS SPRING ON CAPITOL HILL.

by Joe Musante

A pair of Southern biology students have been selected to present on Capitol Hill their discovery of a type of bacteria that may have valuable antibiotic properties.

The students will participate in the Posters on the Hill program, sponsored by the national Council of Undergraduate Research. It features 60 student research projects from more than 300 applicants across the nation. The program will be held on April 19 and 20, when students will offer poster presentations of their work to members of Congress, Congressional aides, and representatives of federal agencies.

Jacqueline Mary Desrosier, a Guilford resident who just graduated from SCSU, found the bacteria during an advanced microbiology course last spring. The course, part of a nationwide program called the Small World Initiative, enabled students to isolate soil bacteria in the hopes of finding new antibiotics. During the course, she found this type of bacteria inhibited several pathogenic bacteria.

During the summer and fall, she and Laeticia Iboki, a resident of Stratford, performed experiments with this “good bacteria,” and showed that it not only killed harmful bacteria, but also helped tomato plants grow larger and withstand heat stress.

“Both young women have worked extremely hard on this project,” said Elizabeth "Betsy" Lewis Roberts, an SCSU assistant professor of biology who teaches the microbiology course. “Jackie came in to work with me on the project over the summer when she wasn’t getting any course credit, and Laeticia did the same last fall. The project is significant because we’ve found another example where bacteria — best known for causing disease — are creating a product that can control other disease causing microbes and can help plants survive harsh environmental conditions.”

Patricia Zibluk, director of the SCSU Sponsored Programs and Research (SPAR) program, said she was elated to learn that the students’ application was accepted in a very competitive environment. SPAR coordinated the application process.

“It is a testament to Southern’s growing emphasis on giving our students genuine research experiences that foster their intellectual growth and creativity,” Zibluk said.

The Small World Initiative – which is independent of the Posters on the Hill program — is an international undergraduate research collaborative designed to help address the diminishing supply of effective antibiotics through the discovery of antibiotics from soil bacteria. Last spring, more than five dozen colleges and universities – including SCSU — participated in the program. SCSU is taking part again this semester.

[For the original post in Southern Connecticut News, please click here.]

Want to Win This iPad Air – Enter the Small World Initiative Meme Contest

/
IPAD AIR

IPAD AIR

Sometimes it takes humor to shed light on a serious subject. Use your creativity to create an original SWI-related meme and increase our presence on social media. You must be a current/former SWI student, instructor, or staff member to enter.

Awards

1st Place Winner: iPad Air

*Should a student win first place, that student’s SWI instructor will also win a matching award.

Deadline

Friday, March 11th (midnight Pacific Time)

How to Enter

1) You must be a current or former SWI student, SWI instructor, or SWI staff member to be eligible.

2) You must follow @Team_SWI on Twitter, like SWI on Facebook, join SWI’s Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/240023149455464), and/or follow us on Instagram to be eligible for points on that platform.

3) Create an original meme related to SWI (e.g., antibiotic resistance, lab safety, etc.). Be funny and creative! You may add a funny phrase on your favorite internet meme or create your own from scratch. (You can make memes using PowerPoint or Photoshop or through one of the online meme generators: memedad.com, imgflip.com/memegenerator, makeameme.org, memegenerator.net, livememe.com.)

4) Post your original meme(s) on Twitter, Instagram, or SWI’s Facebook group page. Include your full name and school/institution and the following hashtags: #smallworldinitiative #SWImemecontest #sciencememe.

5) Get people to like and comment on your entries.

How Scores are Calculated

On each platform where you are eligible, the total number of likes and comments will be added together for all of your entries to get your total score. Any personal likes/comments will be excluded from the tally. The Social Media/PR Committee, Recognition Committee, SWI’s President, and Partner Lead will then review the top 10 entrants with the most points to select the final winner.

Restrictions

Don’t be offensive! While we understand that there is sometimes a fine line between what one person considers funny and another person considers offensive, SWI leadership will make final determinations on what is offensive. Any offensive entries should be immediately taken down upon request.

Meme Usage

By submitting an entry, entrants agree that the Small World Initiative may use, repost, and publish entries. Meme creators will be credited if/when their entries are used.

 

Students Search the Soil for New Antibiotics – by Kim Krieger, UConn Communications

/
NICHOLE BRODERICK – ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY – GIVES INSTRUCTIONS TO SWI STUDENTS IN A MICROBIOLOGY LAB AT THE TORREY LIFE SCIENCES BUILDING ON NOVEMBER 10, 2015.

NICHOLE BRODERICK – ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY – GIVES INSTRUCTIONS TO SWI STUDENTS IN A MICROBIOLOGY LAB AT THE TORREY LIFE SCIENCES BUILDING ON NOVEMBER 10, 2015.

by Kim Krieger

We’re running out of effective antibiotics, and people are starting to die as a result. The problem is so acute that the World Health Organization has declared this week, Nov. 16-22, Antibiotics Awareness Week – but antibiotic discovery is still lagging.

It’s a big challenge, but UConn students are taking a grass-roots approach to solving it. In some cases, literally.

“I wanted to know what people come into contact with every day. So I took a sample right from under a girl sitting on the grass,” says Sabrina Yum-Chan, a psychology major in a first-year seminar, “Microbe Hunting: Crowdsourcing the Discovery of New Antibiotics,” taught by molecular and cell biology faculty members Nichole Broderick and Patricia Rossi. The seven students in the class, all freshmen, collected soil samples, grew out the bacteria they found, and are now testing them for antibiotic activity.

Although it sounds novel, soil mining for antibiotics is a traditional approach. Penicillin was first discovered in mold that had contaminated some lab samples. It quickly became known as a miracle drug. It saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of wounded soldiers during World World II, and millions of people since, and sparked a hunt through molds and soil bacteria that turned up dozens more drugs that were equally effective – for a time.

But eventually bacteria became resistant to penicillin. So new antibiotics were developed, but bacteria evolved resistance to these new drugs in turn, requiring a steady stream of new antibiotics to keep sickness-causing bacteria at bay. And since the mid-’80s, new antibiotic discovery has plummeted. Pharmaceutical companies don’t find antibiotics a profitable line of research, as it can take a decade to find and test a single drug to the FDA’s satisfaction, but just months for resistance to appear.

KATHERINE BELL '19 (CLAS), LEFT, AND NICHOLE BRODERICK – ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY – LOOK AT VIALS OF COLLECTED BACTERIA. (PETER MORENUS/UCONN PHOTO)

KATHERINE BELL '19 (CLAS), LEFT, AND NICHOLE BRODERICK – ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY – LOOK AT VIALS OF COLLECTED BACTERIA. (PETER MORENUS/UCONN PHOTO)

Now researchers and students around the world are picking up the slack. The Microbe Hunting class at UConn is part of a global collaboration between students and microbiologists at 109 schools in 32 U.S. states plus Puerto Rico, and eight other countries, including Belize, Canada, Iraq, Jordan, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, and the U.K. It’s called the Small World Initiative.

“The grand goal is to find new antibiotics,” Broderick says. She began teaching the class when she worked at Yale University and brought it to UConn as an Honors seminar when she accepted a position here this year.

The students take it because it’s a mini-foray into real research that gives them the opportunity to make their own choices and test the results. The first choice was where to sample. Many students took bits of soil from around campus, but others went a little farther afield. Kristin Burnham took a sample from Farm Creek, an estuary in Norwalk, Conn., where her family lives.

NINE OF KRISTEN BURNHAM'S PETRI DISHES. THE TWO DISHES ON THE RIGHT ARE COVERED IN A DEEP RED GROWTH OF V. RUBER. THE DISH ON THE UPPER LEFT IS DIVIDED INTO QUADRANTS TO TEST FOUR DIFFERENT TYPES OF BACTERIA FOR ANTIBIOTIC ACTIVITY. THE FUZZY HAZE C…

NINE OF KRISTEN BURNHAM'S PETRI DISHES. THE TWO DISHES ON THE RIGHT ARE COVERED IN A DEEP RED GROWTH OF V. RUBER. THE DISH ON THE UPPER LEFT IS DIVIDED INTO QUADRANTS TO TEST FOUR DIFFERENT TYPES OF BACTERIA FOR ANTIBIOTIC ACTIVITY. THE FUZZY HAZE COVERING MOST OF THE DISH IS B. SUBTILLIS, A REFERENCE SPECIES. V. RUBER, ON THE LOWER RIGHT QUADRANT OF THIS DISH, IS SURROUNDED BY A CLEAR AREA WHERE NO B. SUBTILIS WILL GROW, EVIDENCE OF V. RUBER'S ANTIBIOTIC POWERS. (KIM KRIEGER/UCONN PHOTO)

The bacteria from Farm Creek grew lustrous, deep red colonies in the lab. Genetic testing showed it to be closely related to Vibrio ruber, a relatively unknown bacteria recently identified in Vietnam. And when Burnham dropped a bit of V. ruber into a plate covered with another type of bacteria, she found it easily cleared space for itself to grow – an indication it was making antibiotics that repelled or killed the other bacteria surrounding it.

Every student in the class is now working on extracting the compounds that show antibiotic activity from the soil bacteria they grew.

And Broderick doesn’t want their work to go to waste. She is collaborating with the Small World Initiative to develop a chemical hub, a place to send the extracts and bacteria discovered by the students so others can follow up and investigate promising compounds.

“For the students to just identify the bacteria [with antibiotic activity] is a good project. But to characterize and test the active compounds can take two or three years,” says Amy Anderson, a UConn professor of medicinal chemistry who specializes in developing new types of antibiotics. That’s why the chemical hub Broderick and other Small World Initiative members are working on is important.

“To make those bacteria available to someone else who wants to take that on is really valuable,” Anderson says. She noted that a single genus of soil bacteria, Streptomyces, has in the past led researchers to three different types of antibiotics.

Broderick is working with pharmacology faculty in the School of Pharmacy to develop a new course that would allow interested students to follow up on the fall course results. The fall class already takes students through a startling array of chemical and biological lab techniques.

And it operates like a real lab. At one point David Knecht, a professor of molecular and cell biology down the hall, wanders through and starts consulting with Broderick and first-year student Jenna Dickinson about different potential assays Dickinson could run on her bacterial samples.

As another of the students commented as she walked by carrying a beaker of bright magenta bacterial extract, “It feels like we’re doing actual, relevant science.”

NICHOLE BRODERICK (RIGHT) CONSULTS WITH DAVID KNECHT (CENTER) ON DIFFERENT POTENTIAL ASSAYS FOR JENNA DICKINSON'S (LEFT) WORK. (KIM KRIEGER/UCONN PHOTO)

NICHOLE BRODERICK (RIGHT) CONSULTS WITH DAVID KNECHT (CENTER) ON DIFFERENT POTENTIAL ASSAYS FOR JENNA DICKINSON'S (LEFT) WORK. (KIM KRIEGER/UCONN PHOTO)

[For the original post in UConn Today, please click here.]

The Antimicrobial Resistance Crisis: Is There a Global Solution? – by Laura Bowater, Norwich Medical School

/

by Laura Bowater

The serendipitous discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1929 positively transformed modern medicine. Fleming’s decision to spend his summer holiday in East Anglia and his casual approach to laboratory housekeeping was an auspicious combination. After his return to the laboratory he observed that an uncovered culture plate of Staphyloccocus bacteria had been contaminated with a fungus Penicillium notatum. Fleming’s decision not to discard this plate but to study the phenomenon further was the start of a new era of modern medicine.

The therapeutic potential of Penicillin to successfully treat infections that had previously killed patients was soon apparent. In 1941 the microbiologist Selman Waksman (who subsequently went on to discover more than 20 antibiotics himself) used the term ‘antibiotic’ for the first time. Antibiotics are small molecules that inhibit the growth of microbes and can be used clinically to treat a plethora of bacterial and fungal infections. The Golden Age of drug discovery had arrived and from the 1940s to the 1960s new drugs were discovered and developed. But as early as December 1945 Fleming’s sounded a note of warning in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

“It is not difficult to make microbes resistant to penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill them […]. The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops. Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.”

Unfortunately, Fleming’ premonition has been uncannily accurate. Over the last eighty years or so we have seen bacterial pathogens develop resistance to almost all of the antibiotics we have in current, clinical use. Bacteria carry the information required for antibiotic resistance in their DNA and some bacterial species are resistant to certain antibiotics as a direct result of their genetic make-up, metabolism and cellular structure. Other bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics in two different ways. Firstly in large populations of bacterial cells, spontaneous mutation in bacterial DNA can cause an individual bacterium to develop a resistance to an antibiotic. Secondly, bacteria can acquire antibiotic resistance from DNA that is transferred from a resistant bacterium to a non-resistant one. This horizontal transmission of antibiotic resistance can even occur between different species of bacteria. However acquiring antibiotic resistance is not an evolutionary advantage for a bacterium until a selection pressure is applied: the antibiotic. The antibiotic destroys any bacteria that are sensitive to antibiotics (not resistant) but bacteria that have acquired antibiotic resistance survive and multiply ensuring that the antibiotic resistant bacteria become the majority within the bacterial population. The animation below gives a visual explanation of horizontal transmission of antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance are not modern phenomena. Scientists analysed ‘rigorously authenticated ancient bacterial DNA’ recovered from Late Pleistocene permafrost sediments located at a site in the Yukon, Alaska. They identified a plethora of genes encoding resistance to a variety of antibiotics used today. These results revealed that genes encoding antibiotic resistance are found in bacteria from environments that predated humans and our use of antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance has been around for a long time.

Society’s generous adoption of antibiotics as a force for good is understandable and represents the optimistic, utopian view that science will always have the answers. However our reliance on antibiotics has consequences for antibiotic resistance; it is speeding up the process. The more we use antibiotics the more resistant bacteria are becoming. It is less than a hundred years since Fleming ‘discovered’ Penicillin and our reliance on antibiotics to treat life-threatening infections and prevent post surgery infections is at grave risk if we continue to use them inappropriately and with such casual abandon. Antibiotic use in modern agricultural practice and animal husbandry has increased dramatically and an increase in antimicrobial resistance has followed. Antibiotics are not effective against viruses yet antibiotics continue to be prescribed for viral infections and in some countries it is easy to purchase antibiotics without a prescription.

As patients, we continue to misuse antibiotics by demanding them for viral infections, and failing to finish the course of antibiotics when we feel better. The days when bacteria carried resistance to only one or two clinical antibiotics are becoming a thing of the past. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for life-threatening infections such as Tuberculosis and Gonorrhea to be caused by bacteria with extensive antibiotic drug resistance or even pan-drug resistance making them almost untreatable. Unfortunately, Antibiotic Resistance knows no borders. Cheap, easy travel means that resistant strains of bacteria can travel the globe effectively.

Unfortunately the Golden Age of antibiotic discovery is long gone; most commonly found antibiotics have been discovered and the discovery of a novel antimicrobial with a clinical impact is rare. In addition, pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to invest in a drug that is at best prescribed for a short period of time, and at worst kept on a shelf as a ‘reserve antibiotic’ to be used only when no other treatment is available.

Effective education, communication, and engagement lie at the heart of any solution and the good news is that this approach is working. Currently it is not just the medical profession and scientists who are highlighting this issue; society, the media, governments, and policymakers from across the globe now understand the scale of the problem. The result is that resources are being invested in examining the challenges and presenting potential solutions to this crisis and financial and regulatory incentives are being provided to address the lack of new antibiotics that are coming on stream. Concerted efforts are also being made across the agricultural and healthcare industries to improve antibiotic stewardship so that we preserve the usefulness of the antibiotics that we currently have at our disposal. Finally a priority must be to invest effort, expertise, and commitment to create a better-informed public that understands the issue of AMR and feels empowered to be part of the global solution.

Feature image credit: ‘Antibiotics’, by Iqbal Osman. CC-by-2.0 via Flickr.

Video credit: ‘Horizontal Transmission of Antibiotic Resistance’ by Distinct Signal. Video used with permission.

Dr Laura Bowater is a Senior Lecturer at the Norwich Medical School in the University of East Anglia. She is a Microbiologist with a research interest in the growing problem of Antibiotic Resistance and the role of education in addressing this global concern. She has co-authored the article ‘Inspiring STEM undergraduates to tackle the AMR Crisis’, which is included in FEMS Microbiology Letters Thematic Issue on Education, and is freely available to read for a limited time. She has been part of the Small World Initiative since 2014 and has been instrumental in expanding the program in the UK with the Microbiology Society.

[For the original post on the Oxford University Press's blog, please click here.]

Joe Caruso In Memoriam – by Todd Kelson, Brigham Young University

/
JOE CARUSO AND LIANNA ETCHBERGER AT THE 2014 SWI TRAINING

JOE CARUSO AND LIANNA ETCHBERGER AT THE 2014 SWI TRAINING

by Todd Kelson

Florida Atlantic University Senior Instructor Joseph P. Caruso was chosen as one of 14 faculty members to be trained in the Small World Initiative during the summer of 2014. He attended the weeklong training at Yale University where I first met him. As soon as he returned home to Florida after the training, he wrote me to indicate that he had received permission from his Department Chair to collect data using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Indeed, he did collect his own data set and presented his results at the 2015 ASM-CUE poster session. I received a copy of his manuscript that he submitted for publication just a week before I heard of his death.

Joe attended the 2015 ASM-CUE meeting along with 6 undergraduates who were enrolled in the SWI lab at Florida Atlantic University. They presented 3 posters at that meeting.  He volunteered to be one of the trainers assisting Ana Maria Barral and Debra Davis at the 2015 Training Workshop at National University in California. Those who attended will remember him for his insights and lecture on assessments and evaluation. He taught us many things based on the experiences he had in his own lab. He was chosen to be the "buddy" to 2 faculty members at the University of Belize, and he had begun working to help them acquire a PCR machine so that they could fully implement at their institution.

Joe was known by most of the Partner Instructors. He was thoughtful in the questions he asked and the advice he offered. I can summarize his enthusiasm for the SWI by quoting from the application he submitted to Tiffany Tsang to be a faculty implementer. When asked why he was interested in becoming a Partner, he wrote, "I'd like to be able to show non-major students how much fun discovery-based science is and why it's important for everybody."

We will miss his enthusiasm and love for science. Thank you, Joe, for reminding us how much fun science can be.

100 Undergrads Join the Fight Against Superbugs – by Neale McDevitt, McGill Reporter

/
MCGILL PROFESSOR SAMANTHA GRUENHEID'S SWI STUDENTS

MCGILL PROFESSOR SAMANTHA GRUENHEID'S SWI STUDENTS

by Neale McDevitt

The development of antibiotic drugs was one of the 20th century’s greatest achievements, revolutionizing the way doctors care for patients by shifting their approach from a focus on diagnoses without means to intervene, to a treatment-based approach that has saved untold millions of people.

But we’ve reached a critical point in treating infectious diseases. At present, the antibiotic pipeline has slowed to a trickle. The reasons are complex but include the fact that many pharmaceutical companies have shifted toward lucrative drugs for chronic diseases and away from acute infectious disease. This, combined with the natural ability of bacteria to evolve and defend themselves against existing drugs, means that a growing number of our most potent medications are fast becoming all but useless.

How serious is this problem?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, antibiotic-resistant infections are associated with 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses in the U.S. each year and more than 70 percent of bacterial infections acquired in U.S. hospitals can resist at least one of the antibiotics commonly used to treat them.

In its first report on antibiotic resistance, tabled in April 2014, the World Health Organization classified antimicrobial resistance as a “serious threat [that] is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country.”

The Infectious Disease Society of America says “antimicrobial resistance is recognized as one of the greatest threats to human health worldwide.”

In short, the superbugs are coming and our best antibiotics are reaching their expiry date.

But if big pharma won’t save us, who will?

“It’s back in the hands of basic science,” says Samantha Gruenheid, Canada Research Chair in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Or, more specifically, basic scientists and thousands of undergraduate students around the globe, including 100 or so undergrads in Gruenheid’s MIMM212: Laboratory in Microbiology course.

The course is part of the Small World Initiative (SWI), a unique undergraduate research collaborative launched by Yale University in 2013, in which undergraduate students around the world look for new antibiotics in their own backyard. Literally.

“People have looked in the soil for many years for antibiotic-producing microorganisms,” explains Gruenheid. “A lot of antibiotics actually come from bacteria because they are used for bacteria vs. bacteria warfare for the environment. It’s all about competition for niches. Many antibiotics come from microbes. The classic example is penicillin, which comes from a fungus.”

Rather than rely on individual researchers working independently from one another, the idea behind SWI is to crowdsource much of the initial legwork to a global network of undergraduates to speed up the process.

Last semester, the first for Gruenheid’s class in the SWI program, she had more than 100 students collecting and analyzing soil samples. By semester’s end, they had screened almost 2,500 different bacterial isolates – the building block for potential new antibiotics – from the soil. “From that, we had them prioritize – they did tests to see if their isolates had activity against bacteria that are related to the bacteria that are drug resistant in the clinic,” says Gruenheid.

In all, Gruenheid and her class have prioritized about 100 of the most promising isolates. These samples have been frozen for further analysis. “Hopefully, we can get them far enough so that companies will be interested in developing them further,” she says.

The beauty of SWI is twofold. First, it has enlisted the help of thousands of people around the world to help looking for new antibiotics. Second, it gives undergraduate students invaluable authentic research experience in a lab setting.

“Instead of doing cookbook-style experiments – mix A and B and you should expect to see C – where you know what results to expect, students actually have a role in designing experiments and feel ownership. We even did some DNA sequencing so that the students could identify the genus of the bacteria,” says Gruenheid. “They are very excited because they feel like they are actually contributing to a real-world problem.”

“And it’s not just the students,” says Gruenheid. “As a professor, it is one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done.”

MCGILL PROFESSOR SAMANTHA GRUENHEID – CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR IN BACTERIAL PATHOGENESIS & SWI SCIENCE COMMITTEE CO-LEADER

MCGILL PROFESSOR SAMANTHA GRUENHEID – CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR IN BACTERIAL PATHOGENESIS & SWI SCIENCE COMMITTEE CO-LEADER

ANTIBIOTIC-PRODUCING ISOLATES FROM SOIL ON BLOOD AGAR

ANTIBIOTIC-PRODUCING ISOLATES FROM SOIL ON BLOOD AGAR

[For the original post in the McGill Reporter, please click here.]

Implementation at Wingate University – by Debra Davis, Wingate University

/
PROFESSOR DEBRA DAVIS ASSISTING SWI PARTNER INSTRUCTOR INNOCENT NWACHUKWU AT 2015 SWI TRAINING

PROFESSOR DEBRA DAVIS ASSISTING SWI PARTNER INSTRUCTOR INNOCENT NWACHUKWU AT 2015 SWI TRAINING

by Debra Davis

When I decided to implement the Small World Initiative (SWI) on our campus, I had the choice of implementing in an already established course [easily done with all the health profession programs on our campus] or develop and entirely new course.  If I am to be entirely honest, due to my own insecurities, I chose the latter and developed a course for non-science majors because I felt if I messed this up, I would not destroy the curriculum, and at the very least, the non-science majors would still learn something.  In the fall, I used my microbiology course students as “guinea pigs” and unofficially implemented an abbreviated version of SWI in their lab portion.  The students that semester were very excited about doing a research project in class. I never imagined they would be such excited guinea pigs.  One particular student [who is now in his first semester of pharmacy school] declared himself embarking on a future career as an epidemiology pharmacist [is there even such a profession??] and became my lab helper in the spring. 

My experience with SWI in a non-majors course was contrary to my fears. In short – it was quite the challenge, but all in all, it was simply amazing.  I had a cohort of athletes in my small class, particularly football players, mainly because my course “fit their schedule.”  During the course, the students were inspired to learn; they worked hard, and due to their natural competitive streak, when each assessment was returned, they crowned the “smartest football player” the teammate with the highest grade.  At the end of the semester, we had a poster presentation where the students eloquently discussed their findings with invited success coaches, peers, fellow students, and biology faculty.  The feedback I received from my colleagues was incredibly encouraging; they were amazed at the work the students completed and how well they were able to explain themselves.  Their advisors wanted to know when I was going to offer the course again because the student feedback was so positive.  Two of the freshmen students who did very well in my course are now in freshman biology courses because of the confidence they acquired. 

Most of our isolates were common soil bacteria that are already known for their antibiotic production.  Our contribution to the science of SWI was minimal, but…. the student experience was invaluable, and my experience as their instructor was life changing.  I am better prepared to offer this course again next spring. I am excited as I have a full class. The word is out on our campus, and the students have been signing up!  Who knows what this next group will bring!