Health & Care<\/h2>","description":"
From HPV to RNA, URochester leads in preventions and cures by...<\/p>","card_grid_cta":"","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"content-width","cards":[{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"
1. Putting a vaccine into the cancer fight.<\/p>","card_text":"
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections worldwide, causing genital warts and consisting of two strains that cause nearly all cases of more than 70 percent of cervical cancers. In the 1990s, URochester faculty Richard Reichman, William Bonnez, and Robert Rose \u201994M (PhD) contributed to the development of a definitive HPV vaccine<\/a>:<\/strong> the world\u2019s first cancer-preventing inoculation, saving hundreds of thousands of women\u2019s lives.<\/p>\r\n Collaborating at the School of Medicine & Dentistry, the trio discovered that harmless virus-like particles could safely trigger immune protection against HPV. Following FDA approval in 2006, the vaccine was adopted worldwide, leading to dramatic reductions in HPV infections, precancerous lesions, and genital warts. Beyond its direct health impact, the HPV vaccine has become a milestone in cancer prevention. MP<\/em><\/p>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 2. Detecting mental health problems before they start.<\/p>","card_text":"It seems standard now, but the notion of \u201cprevention\u201d barely existed in the vocabulary of the mental health field in 1957. Cue URochester psychologist Emory Cowen, who started a program he dubbed the Primary Mental Health Project<\/a> at Rochester\u2019s School No. 33, a joint enterprise with the Rochester City School District.\r\n\r\nDecades later, the Children\u2019s Institute<\/a> continues to research and support the program\u2014now known as Primary Project\u2014in 92 schools across New York state and more than 40 schools nationally. Using a play-based approach, Primary Project focuses on the power of relationships, builds trust, and develops positive pro-social skills to help students better engage in the classroom.\r\n\r\nNearly 70 years since the program was introduced, it remains an effective and relevant intervention in supporting young children\u2019s adjustment to school. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 3. Recruiting a dog to fight crime.<\/p>","card_text":"Trench coat. Signature voice. Enemy to criminals everywhere. Enter McGruff the Crime Dog<\/a>. URochester alumnus Jack Keil<\/a> \u201944 created and voiced the canine, who debuted in 1980 to teach us all how to \u201ctake a bite out of crime.\u201d\r\n\r\nForty-five (human) years after he was created, McGruff is still the face of the National Crime Prevention Council. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":683032,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"small","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 4. Correcting RNA\u2019s deadly mistakes.<\/p>","card_text":"It may seem like the lesser known of the nucleic acids, but RNA (ribonucleic acid) has been having a moment. Talk of RNA-based treatments and trials has become commonplace, thanks primarily to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines.\r\n\r\nAt URochester, Lynne Maquat, director of the Center for RNA Biology who has been studying RNA since 1972, discovered nonsense-mediated mRNA decay<\/a>\u2014one of the major surveillance systems in the body that protects against innate mistakes in gene expression by targeting and eliminating deleterious mRNAs that could lead to the production of incomplete and potentially toxic proteins that can cause disease.\r\n\r\nKey chapters are still being written by many URochester researchers, and new clinical trials are showing the life-changing promise of this once-obscure research. The University\u2019s expertise in mRNAs will continue to lead to new therapeutics for a wide range of diseases that cannot currently be treated with conventional drugs. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 5. Supporting local children and families.<\/p>","card_text":"Established in 1979, Mt. Hope Family Center<\/strong><\/a> is one of just three NIH-funded national centers specializing in treating children who have suffered trauma and maltreatment. Affiliated with the Department of Psychology, MHFC translates its researchers\u2019 scientific findings into evidence-based therapies and programs\u2014providing intervention and prevention services to thousands of Rochester-area children and families. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 6. Curing acne, pneumonia, and the Black Death.<\/p>","card_text":"While working at Pfizer in the early 1950s, Lloyd Conover<\/a> \u201950 (PhD) invented the first antibiotic arising from chemical modification of a naturally occurring drug. More effective, broader in spectrum, and cheaper to produce, tetracycline<\/strong><\/a> was also a godsend for those who were allergic to penicillin. Granted a patent in 1955, it soon became the most prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotic in the US, treating everything from acne to pneumonia to, yes, the bubonic plague. MP<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"[caption id=\"attachment_682672\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"] 7. Pioneering the nurse practitioner movement.<\/p>","card_text":"Today, being treated by a nurse practitioner (NP) seems almost as common as seeing a physician. The role\u2014now a norm in most healthcare settings\u2014has URochester roots. An early leader in the NP movement, the School of Nursing introduced the first academic program for acute care NPs and became one of the first nursing schools to prepare pediatric NPs to work in primary care throughout the 1970s and \u201980s.\r\n\r\nThe inaugural dean of the school, Loretta Ford<\/a>, originated the NP role and founded the first academic program for NPs at the University of Colorado alongside pediatrician Henry Silver before coming to URochester in 1972. Ford\u2019s bold ideas often faced resistance and skepticism, but she worked tirelessly to advocate for nurses as educators, researchers, and advanced practice providers, garnering greater respect for nursing and transforming the way millions of Americans receive care.\r\n\r\n\u201cI get a lot of credit for 140,000 nurses, and I don\u2019t deserve it,\u201d Ford said of the growing NP profession in a 2011 acceptance speech when she was inducted into the National Women\u2019s Hall of Fame. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones who fought the good fight. They took the heat and they stood it and they\u2019ve done beautifully.\u201d GD<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":680242,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 8. Eradicating smallpox.<\/p>","card_text":"During the 1960s and \u201970s, Donald Henderson<\/a> \u201954M (MD) directed the World Health Organization team that methodically tracked smallpox infections and immunized others in their circles. In 1980 the WHO declared smallpox eradicated\u2014the only human disease to achieve this status<\/strong> to date. It\u00a0is hailed as one of history\u2019s most profound public health successes. MP<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":683052,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"small","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 9. Paving the way for the Pill.<\/p>","card_text":"Drug-delivery pioneer Alejandro Zaffaroni<\/a> \u201949M (PhD), \u201951M (Pdc), \u201972M (Honorary) became known for making the impossible possible<\/strong>. Among myriad accomplishments and creations, Zaffaroni had a hand in developing the birth control pill, therapeutic corticosteroids, transdermal patches for nicotine, and controlled-release systems for various drugs.\r\n\r\nHe stayed at URochester to complete an NIH Fellowship from 1949 to 1951, where his research led to the \u201cZaffaroni technique\u201d for isolating steroids, which gained international attention. An outright visionary, Zaffaroni received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame at the Smithsonian Institution. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 10. Making chemo tolerable.<\/p>","card_text":"Until the 1980s, many cancer patients quit chemotherapy because of its harsh side effects. Longtime URochester faculty member Gary Morrow \u201988M (MS) transformed this challenge into a new field\u2014known as cancer control<\/strong><\/a>\u2014focused on making life better for patients and survivors. His research helped establish URochester and the Wilmot Cancer Institute as global leaders, with the American Society of Clinical Oncology citing nausea prevention research as one of the top five advances of the past 50 years. LO<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 11. Smacking down diphtheria.<\/p>","card_text":"In 1893, a diphtheria epidemic hit the city of Rochester. Good thing Charles Wright Dodge<\/a> had arrived at URochester three years earlier\u2014toting his own microscope, as the University didn\u2019t have one. Dodge, who founded the Department of Biology, developed the country\u2019s first diphtheria antitoxin<\/strong>, which took control over Rochester\u2019s epidemic. He would go on to serve on the department\u2019s faculty for 40 years. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"[caption id=\"attachment_682482\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"] 12. Modeling air pollution.<\/p>","card_text":"John Seinfeld \u201964 revolutionized the way scientists study pollution. When the atmospheric scientist joined the California Institute of Technology, he took special interest in Los Angeles\u2019s smog levels, which at the time were hitting historic highs. Seinfeld and his research group systematically examined air pollution data and developed the first large-scale urban air pollution model<\/strong><\/a> for the Los Angeles basin. That spurred a new field of scientific research focused on modeling tropospheric pollution, and it laid the foundation for pollution modeling used nationwide by the Environmental Protection Agency. LA<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":682482,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 13. Solving the liver\u2019s deadliest problems.<\/p>","card_text":"As a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health during the 1970s, Harvey Alter \u201956, \u201960M (MD) puzzled over a persistent finding: Many patients were developing chronic hepatitis after receiving blood transfusions, even when tests ruled out hepatitis A and B.\r\n\r\nThrough meticulous studies, Alter demonstrated the existence of a previously unknown infectious agent responsible for most cases of transfusion-associated hepatitis. In 1989, he identified the virus as hepatitis C<\/a>\u2014a breakthrough in public health. Within years, highly sensitive blood tests built around this finding virtually eliminated the risk of transfusion-related hepatitis C in many countries.\r\n\r\nAlter received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work, with the Nobel committee crediting Alter and his partners with \u201cgreatly improving global health.\u201d Alter\u2019s work also laid the foundation for effective antiviral drugs that can now cure the infection, preventing liver failure and cancer while saving millions of lives worldwide. MP<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":686692,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-right","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 14. Finding spinach\u2019s special K.<\/p>","card_text":"Dark green vegetables like kale, spinach, and broccoli are potent sources of vitamin K<\/strong><\/a>, essential to bone health and blood clotting. Danish biochemist Henrik Dam discovered the vitamin in the early 1930s while working in Europe. He was conducting research at the University of Rochester Medical Center in 1943 when he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this discovery.\r\n\r\nPopeye creator E. C. Segar is said to have chosen spinach as his character\u2019s signature food to encourage kids to eat more of the nutrient-rich vegetable. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":683012,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"small","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 15. Making tap water safe.<\/p>","card_text":"We have Martin Tiernan<\/a>, Class of 1906, to thank for the safety of our public drinking water. While working at the Gerard Ozone Process Company in 1913, Tiernan and Charles Frederick Wallace introduced the world\u2019s first chlorinator.<\/strong> JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 16. Detecting the hazards in transmission lines.<\/p>","card_text":"Edwin Carstensen, a professor of electrical engineering for nearly 50 years, made pioneering contributions to the understanding and development of ultrasound. Working with a committee established by the National Institutes of Health, he helped set the worldwide standards for ultrasound exposure.<\/strong> His landmark book, Biological Effects of Transmission Line Fields<\/em> (1987), was widely influential in legal and government actions aimed at reducing exposure to electromagnetic fields. In 1986, he became the founding director of the Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound<\/a>, with one of the largest groups of MD and PhD researchers active in medical ultrasound. LA<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 17. Battling eating disorders.<\/p>","card_text":"Suffering and recovering from an eating disorder can be a lonely journey but not for those fortunate to be treated at the School of Nursing\u2019s Western New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders<\/a>,<\/strong> one of only three comprehensive care centers in the state. Longtime director and professor of clinical nursing Mary Tantillo \u201986N (MS) is widely hailed for her innovative multifamily therapy group approach for young adults with anorexia nervosa, known as Reconnecting for Recovery (R4R). TML<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 18. Bringing science to full bloom.<\/p>","card_text":"In 1952, URochester chemistry professor Marshall Gates achieved the first total synthesis of morphine<\/a>.<\/strong> Previously obtainable only by extracting it from opium poppies\u2014think of the fields lulling Dorothy to sleep in Oz\u2014the potent pain reliever could now be built entirely in the laboratory from a starter kit of chemicals.\r\n\r\nIn more than 30 methodical steps, Gates and his team created a new source for a stable and controlled supply of morphine independent of crop yields and supply chain challenges. Though the process yielded only minute quantities of morphine, it proved that chemists could replicate nature\u2019s most complex compounds. It also went on to fuel the design of other synthetic painkillers and anesthetics. MP<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":686662,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-right","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 19. Tackling the problems of prenatal alcohol exposure.<\/p>","card_text":"Caused by exposure to alcohol during pregnancy, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) cause behavioral, learning, and physical problems in 1 to 5 percent of Americans. New treatments, developed by URochester psychologists, focus on strength-based interventions and improving people\u2019s quality of life. The FASD Diagnostic and Evaluation Clinic<\/a>,<\/strong> a partnership between the Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Golisano Children\u2019s Hospital and Mt. Hope Family Center, is one of just two specialty clinics in the state that regularly diagnose FASD. Next up is a documentary that seeks to decrease stigma and increase awareness. SK<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 20. Delivering healthy smiles.<\/p>","card_text":"Since 1967, the Eastman Institute for Oral Health\u2019s SMILEmobile<\/strong><\/a> program has provided dental care to underserved children and adults in Rochester and the surrounding area. The state-of-the-art dental offices on wheels bring services directly to schools, group homes, and nursing homes\u2014reducing barriers like transportation and insurance and helping boost patients\u2019 academic performance.\r\n\r\nSMILEmobile was a New York first in creating dental offices on wheels. Some 39,000 kids have been served by the program. TML<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":682722,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 21. Improving cancer treatment for over-60s.<\/p>","card_text":"URochester is a trailblazer in geriatric oncology<\/strong>. Our research has improved cancer treatment in adults aged 60 and up\u2014with geriatric assessments of the whole person, functional ability, and other illnesses and health conditions. URochester was among the first in the nation to open a dedicated Geriatric Oncology Clinic<\/a>, founded by Supriya Mohile, a professor of medicine and of surgery. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 22. Eliminating bacterial meningitis in kids.<\/p>","card_text":"Pediatric researchers David Smith \u201958M (MD), \u201992 (Honorary), Porter Anderson, and Richard Insel transformed child health worldwide by developing the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine<\/a>, virtually eliminating a leading cause of bacterial meningitis\u2014a previously often fatal illness\u2014in preschoolers. Since the vaccine became universally recommended for infants in 1990, cases among children under five have dropped by as much as 99 percent. The URochester team\u2019s breakthrough not only subdued Hib but also inspired new vaccines using the same template. One notable product of this approach is Prevnar, the vaccine that protects against pneumococcal infections. MP<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"[caption id=\"attachment_682742\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"] 23. Discovering AIDS.<\/p>","card_text":"Michael Gottlieb<\/a> \u201973M (MD), \u201974M (Res), \u201977M (Res) made medical history as the first physician to identify and describe the disease that soon after became known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. The date of Gottlieb\u2019s report\u2014June 5, 1981\u2014marks the official start of the AIDS epidemic. Since cofounding the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985, Gottlieb has been a leading advocate for AIDS research and treatment.\r\n\r\nURochester is also home to the AIDS Education Collection<\/a>, housed in the River Campus Libraries\u2019 Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation. A gift from the late physician and medical historian Edward Atwater \u201950, it\u2019s one of the world\u2019s largest collections of HIV\/AIDS posters and visual resources.\r\n\r\nAnd there\u2019s more: The Medical Center was one of the first research sites in the country to conduct both HIV treatment and HIV vaccine studies. In 1986, URochester was one of the first 10 sites funded by the NIH\u2019s ACTG (formerly referred to as the AIDS Clinical Trials Group) to search for treatments for HIV, and our Rochester Victory Alliance<\/a>, established in 1988, is one of the first five clinics in the world focused on HIV vaccine research. In addition, the Medical Center is the region\u2019s largest provider for people living with HIV. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 24. Revealing the gene that launched Celebrex.<\/p>","card_text":"Warning: The ending to this story is bittersweet. In 1990, URochester scientists led by Donald Young helped discover the gene responsible for the COX-2 enzyme<\/strong><\/a>\u2014paving the way for new and more powerful anti-inflammatory drugs and sparking a global pharmaceutical race to identify drugs that would inhibit the action of the enzyme.\r\n\r\nWhen URochester received patents\u2014eight years after the initial filing\u2014for Young\u2019s inventions, Pfizer had already begun marketing the COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex. A patent infringement lawsuit ensued, but, in 2003, federal courts<\/a> declared URochester\u2019s patents invalid and denied an appeal. US Supreme Court justices claimed we failed to offer details on specific compounds that would inhibit the enzyme. So, while we discovered the gene, we missed out on the drug. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 25. Preventing RSV in seniors.<\/p>","card_text":"In May and June 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first vaccines to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in older adults<\/a>.<\/strong> Medical Center experts were involved in testing two of the three vaccines and Professor of Medicine Edward Walsh served as the national lead investigator for the trials testing Pfizer\u2019s vaccine, Abrysvo. Walsh and Professor of Medicine Ann Falsey have worked with Pfizer for nearly 20 years developing and testing RSV vaccines for adults. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 26. Proving we need to get the lead out.<\/p>","card_text":"The dangers of lead exposure have been well documented: everything from developmental delays in children to reproductive issues in adults. But it was Deborah Cory-Slechta, a professor of environmental medicine, who demonstrated in 2003 that even very low levels of the metal damaged the brains of young children. She became cochair of a 2012 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel that recommended slashing by half the level of lead that should be considered as the point for intervention by physicians and public health authorities<\/a>.<\/strong> Her ongoing research has led to similar influential advisory roles for plastics, pesticides, air pollution, and various volatile chemicals. TML<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 27. Telling you what to expect from surgery.<\/p>","card_text":"Imagine going in for surgery with no idea of what to expect, during either the procedure or the recovery period afterward. Thanks to Jean Johnson, a professor at the nursing school and director for nursing oncology at the Wilmot Cancer Institute from 1979 to 1993, you don\u2019t have to. Her groundbreaking research on information sharing and self-regulation theory<\/strong><\/a> revolutionized the way healthcare is provided, giving doctors and nurses the tools to help patients cope with illness and the impact of its treatment. When it comes to healing, knowledge truly is power. TML<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 28. Healing through music.<\/p>","card_text":"What happens when the resources of an acclaimed music school meet those of a top-tier academic medical center? Corridors turn into concert halls, patients find healing in creative arts therapy, and artists receive care attuned to their craft. Jointly run by the Eastman School of Music and the Medical Center and the region\u2019s only center of its kind, Eastman Performing Arts Medicine<\/strong><\/a> furthers these initiatives while studying music\u2019s rich potential to promote healing, from live lullabies in the NICU to the optimal playlist in the OR. MP<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":686652,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 29. Raising hope for Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma patients.<\/p>","card_text":"In a landmark study led by Wilmot Cancer Institute Director Jonathan Friedberg and published in 2024, a new treatment combining the immunotherapy drug nivolumab and chemotherapy raised the survival rate for advanced Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma patients to 92 percent<\/a>,<\/strong> suggesting a new standard therapy for the disease. Friedberg predicts that within a few decades we\u2019ll see many fewer breast cancers in Hodgkin\u2019s patients, as well as \u201cless infertility, less heart disease.\u201d JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 30. Improving the lives of moms and babies.<\/p>","card_text":"Over more than four decades, research consistently has proven that the Nurse-Family Partnership<\/strong><\/a> succeeds at its most important goals: keeping children healthy and safe and improving the lives of moms and babies. At the forefront of this research was Harriet Kitzman \u201961W (MS), \u201984N (PhD), whose development of a nurse home visitation program became the basis for the initiative. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"[caption id=\"attachment_682752\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"] 31. Turning science into safety.<\/p>","card_text":"Racetracks may seem odd settings for an epiphany, but John States \u201946, a professor at the medical school from 1976 to 1990, noticed that race-car drivers in high-speed collisions fared better than his patients on ordinary roads, thanks to their safety harness. His research and advocacy made New York the first state to require seatbelts<\/a><\/strong>, in 1984, and earned him the nickname \u201cDr. Seatbelt.\u201d MP<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 32. Giving liver its due.<\/p>","card_text":"While most of us know to start scarfing down beef liver at the first sign of anemia, it took two URochester researchers and 40 Dalmatian-English bulldogs to lead to this 1934 Nobel Prize\u2013winning discovery. By showing that certain foods\u2014especially liver\u2014stimulated rapid regeneration of hemoglobin and red blood cells<\/strong><\/a> in the anemia-induced dogs, the medical school\u2019s founding dean, George Whipple, and his assistant, Frieda Robscheit-Robbins, laid the groundwork for the successful treatment of humans with pernicious anemia. TML<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"media_text_new","anchor":"","class":"","overline":"","title":" URochester researchers and alumni have boldly gone...<\/p>","card_grid_cta":"","background_color":"#f4f4f4","width":"content-width","cards":[{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 34. To future discovery of alien life.<\/p>","card_text":"When we eventually find life on another planet, Wolf Vishniac deserves some credit. Funded in 1959 by NASA\u2019s first exobiology research award, the \u201cWolf Trap\u201d<\/strong><\/a> was the first working prototype of an instrument that could remotely detect extraterrestrial biota. Astronomer Carl Sagan named a crater on Mars for the URochester biology professor after he died on an expedition to Antarctica. You\u2019ll find the Vishniac Crater in the Giant Footprint, at the exact longitude and latitude of the professor\u2019s demise on Earth. MC<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 35. To a star named for guess what.<\/p>","card_text":"Morton Kaplon<\/a> \u201951 (PhD) codiscovered the R-Star (R for Rochester) while he was a graduate student. Kaplon, who later became a physics professor and department chair at URochester, used a balloon to lift Kodak photographic plates to 100,000 feet to capture a specific particle collision that was theorized to occur in the upper atmosphere. The pattern of star-like images left on the plates (hence \u201cR-Star\u201d<\/strong>) provided evidence for a new particle called the neutral pi-meson (now called the neutral pion). Kaplon was also the first to measure the life of a neutral meson, which was the shortest of any elementary nuclear particle observed at the time. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 36. To the language used by famous blue aliens.<\/p>","card_text":"Linguist Paul Frommer \u201965 built Na\u2019vi<\/strong>, the language spoken by the natives of Pandora in the film Avatar<\/em>. Na\u2019vi now stands among Klingon, Elvish, and Dothraki as popular fictional languages that are actually learnable. (You can master Na\u2019vi for yourself by going to learnnavi.org<\/a>.) Ayoel ayngati kameie n\u00ecwotx!<\/em> We see you all! MC<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":682812,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 37. To exoplanets and their inner workings.<\/p>","card_text":"Hosted at URochester, the Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures<\/strong><\/a> is an NSF-designated Physics Frontiers Center that brings together scientists from around the country to explore new worlds, stars, and revolutionary states of matter. Their work involves not only researching the thousands of exoplanets outside our solar system but also replicating the extreme conditions found in the interiors of those planets within a laboratory setting. The findings could have monumental implications for life as we know it on Earth. TML<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":686622,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-right","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 38. To dazzling observations of our universe.<\/p>","card_text":"When NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, the project seemed on the verge of failure: The first pictures came back foggy. Duncan Moore, then the director of the Institute of Optics, stepped up to lead a panel investigating the problem. A year later, they announced a solution: The main mirror had not been ground perfectly, creating a slight distortion. A series of repair missions<\/a> then brought the Hubble back to life and enabled it to deliver the images that continue to change our fundamental understanding of the universe. Rochester scientists also contributed to Hubble\u2019s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. Optics professor James Fienup and his PhD students developed the phase retrieval algorithms<\/a> that tune the primary telescope\u2019s 18 hexagonal mirrors, allowing it to capture accurate data from as far back in time as 13 billion years.\r\n\r\nLeft:<\/strong> An image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope shows newborn stars forming in a region called Pismis 24, giving scientists rare insight into the properties of hot young stars and how they evolve. LA<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":682832,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 39. Deep into the final frontier.<\/p>","card_text":"Physics professor Nicholas Bigelow helped develop quantum-based experiments for NASA\u2019s Cold Atom Lab<\/strong><\/a> aboard the International Space Station. Broadscale, it could help solve mysteries of the universe and deepen our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature. In the short term, the knowledge gained will be essential in developing new space-based quantum technologies.\r\n\r\nKevin Righter, an earth and environmental sciences professor, served as the curation lead on the NASA mission OSIRIS-Rex<\/a>. Righter helped keep space rocks collected from the Bennu asteroid free of contaminants, allowing scientists on Earth to determine what was truly extraterrestrial.\r\n\r\nEdward Gibson \u201959, \u201974 (Honorary), James Pawelczyk \u201982, and Josh Cassada \u201900 (PhD) have all ventured into the great unknown. Gibson was part of a record-setting 84-day stint aboard Skylab 3. Pawelczyk served as Columbia\u2019s payload specialist on a 16-day mission. And Cassada spent 157 days as part of the NASA SpaceX Crew-5 mission on the ISS. MC<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":682842,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-right","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 40. To the matter of dark matter.<\/p>","card_text":"URochester researchers are contributing to the world\u2019s most sensitive dark matter detector. Located nearly a mile underground in South Dakota, the LUX-ZEPLIN<\/strong><\/a> collaboration leads the hunt for weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. Scientists believe these hypothetical particles make up the dark matter that holds together galaxies. The URochester team developed the data acquisition electronics and firmware used in the detector, supporting efforts to uncover the nature of the invisible matter shaping our universe. LV<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 41. To the reason the universe exists.<\/p>","card_text":"Carl Richard Hagen<\/a>, a professor emeritus of physics who joined the URochester faculty in 1962, played a key role in the 1964 discovery of the Higgs mechanism<\/strong> and the prediction of a new particle\u2014the Higgs boson\u2014that scientists would spend the next half-century chasing. In a landmark paper now referred to as \u201cGHK,\u201d Hagen and coauthors Gerald Guralnik and Tom Kibble provided the most complete theoretical proof of how particles gain mass and, by extension, an explanation of why the universe as we know it exists. TML<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"[caption id=\"attachment_682862\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"] 42. To the stars among us.<\/p>","card_text":"It seems impossible, but there was a time when George Clooney wasn\u2019t<\/em> famous. John Levey \u201969, as vice president of casting and talent for Warner Bros. Television, cast Clooney in ER<\/em>\u2014the role that skyrocketed him to fame<\/strong><\/a> and ultimately gave us Ocean\u2019s Eleven<\/em>, Batman & Robin<\/em>, Syriana<\/em>, and, yes, Gravity<\/em>. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 43. To the formation of stars and galaxies.<\/p>","card_text":"Long before the James Webb Space Telescope made headlines, URochester professor Judith Pipher was making it possible to peer through clouds of cosmic gas and dust to uncover the formations of stars and galaxies. Widely considered the \u201cmother of infrared astronomy,\u201d<\/strong><\/a> Pipher led the development of ultrasensitive detectors that use infrared light to reveal celestial objects invisible at other wavelengths. Her groundbreaking work, used on missions like NASA\u2019s Spitzer Space Telescope, opened a hidden window into the universe. LV<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 44. To mysterious ghost particles.<\/p>","card_text":"Our modern understanding of the building blocks of matter would be incomplete without Masatoshi Koshiba \u201955 (PhD), who received a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for detecting and measuring cosmic neutrinos<\/strong><\/a>\u2014tiny subatomic particles often called \u201cghost particles\u201d because they rarely interact with matter. In the 1980s, Koshiba led the development of a massive underground facility built within the Kamioka mine in Japan that catches neutrinos as they are emitted from the sun. LV<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 45. To the rocks beneath us.<\/p>","card_text":"Herman LeRoy Fairchild, a professor of geology and natural history at URochester from 1888 until his retirement in 1920, cofounded the Geological Society of America<\/strong><\/a>. He devoted much of his life to studying the geology of the Finger Lakes, taking countless photographs that he then projected in his classroom. He is said to have used the same lantern slide projector for his entire 32-year career, modifying the source of light as technology advanced. (In 1934, Fairchild also weighed in on the centuries-old \u201cSeneca Drums\u201d mystery\u2014 which you should Google immediately.) JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 46. To humanity\u2019s understanding of science.<\/p>","card_text":"As a self-described \u201cscience evangelist,\u201d URochester astrophysicist Adam Frank<\/strong><\/a> isn\u2019t afraid to broach a wide variety of subjects\u2014from intelligent life forms in the universe to climate change to high-energy-density physics to the importance of science and its funding. A regular on NPR\u2019s All Things Considered<\/em> and a frequent contributor to The New York Times<\/em>, Frank combines passion with deep authority\u2014all while conducting computational astrophysics research into how stars form. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"[caption id=\"attachment_682872\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"] 47. To the starship Enterprise<\/em>.<\/p>","card_text":"URochester faculty and alumni created music and sound, penned episodes, and otherwise expanded the cultural reach of a show that boldly went where no show had gone before<\/strong><\/a>.\r\n\r\nThe second pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series<\/em>, marked the first time audiences heard the iconic theme music. That arresting fanfare was composed by Alexander Courage \u201941E. It wasn\u2019t his only gift to the show.\r\n\r\nThe Original Series crew struggled to produce the proper sound effect for the USS Enterprise<\/em> flying across the screen during the opening credits. Courage, using only his voice, produced the whoosh sound that became an indelible part of the show\u2019s history.\r\n\r\nAnother URochesterian, English Professor Sarah Higley, created the character of Lieutenant Reginald Endicott Barclay III in Star Trek: The Next Generation<\/em>. Writing under the pseudonym \u201cSally Caves,\u201d Higley wrote the episode \u201cHollow Pursuits\u201d in which Barclay is introduced as a character. She went on to cowrite another episode, \u201cBabel,\u201d for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine<\/em>.\r\n\r\nThomas Perry \u201974 (PhD) also wrote for The Next Generation<\/em>. His episode, \u201cReunion,\u201d has Worf, the Klingon captain of the Enterprise, meeting his son and tragically losing his would-be wife.\r\n\r\nHeading into dangerously nerdy depths now with one of the earliest networked computer games, the Star Trek\u2013inspired Alto Trek<\/em>. Codeveloped by Gene Ball \u201983 (PhD) and Rick Rashid \u201980 (PhD), \u201915 (Honorary) in 1978, Alto Trek, designed for the Xerox Alto, gave players the option of controlling a starship as a Klingon, Romulan, or Terran (all races taken from the show). MC<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 48. To the planet we stand on.<\/p>","card_text":"A native Rochesterian, Grove Karl Gilbert, Class of 1862, helped launch the US Geological Survey<\/strong><\/a> to advance the study of geomorphology and planetary science. He served as chief geologist under renowned explorer John Wesley Powell. In addition to three peaks on Earth, craters on the moon and Mars are named in his honor. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 49. To the affairs of our world.<\/p>","card_text":"Vera Micheles Dean, an authority on international affairs who taught at URochester from 1954 to 1961, got America talking about the world. During her tenure, she maintained her longtime role as editor and research director at the Foreign Policy Association and launched the organization\u2019s Great Decisions<\/strong><\/a> program. It remains the broadest public engagement initiative on world affairs in the country. DA<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 50. To the math behind quantum physics.<\/p>","card_text":"One of the earliest faculty members of the Institute of Optics<\/a> was an expert in the emerging discipline of quantum mechanics<\/strong>. Appointed by President Rush Rhees, Jane Dewey joined the institute in 1929, its founding year. She went on to author landmark papers and to develop several important scientific equations and concepts\u2014including the Slade-Dewey equation in ballistic science and the Dewey-McKenzie estimate in materials science. LA<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 51. To the behavior of atoms while they hold still.<\/p>","card_text":"Steven Chu \u201970, \u201998 (Honorary) may be known to Americans as Secretary of Energy under President Barack Obama. But physicists laud him for developing a technique to cool and trap atoms using laser light<\/strong><\/a>. This revolutionary method slowed atoms to nearly absolute zero, allowing scientists to study atomic behavior with unprecedented accuracy. The invention opened new doors in quantum mechanics and quantum computing and won Chu\u2014along with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Phillips\u2014the Nobel Prize. LV<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":686632,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 52. To the very heaviest quark.<\/p>","card_text":"In 1995, physicists confirmed the existence of the top quark<\/strong><\/a>\u2014the heaviest of the six known types of quarks, which are the building blocks of matter\u2014by identifying its telltale decay patterns during high-energy collisions at Fermilab. URochester researchers helped design and operate the detectors that caught the top quark\u2019s fleeting \u201cfootprints\u201d and analyzed the data leading to its big reveal. LV<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#ffffff","card_hover_color":"#ffffff","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"media_text_new","anchor":"","class":"","overline":"","title":" 53. To the first confirmed black hole.<\/p>","content":"In 1971, British astronomer Paul Murdin \u201971 (PhD), along with Australian astronomer Louise Webster at England\u2019s Royal Greenwich Observatory, made the first clear identification of a black hole. Cygnus X-1<\/a>, discovered using the Isaac Newton Telescope, remains among the most studied astronomical objects in its class. Murdin was also on the team that observed the Vela pulsar from Australia\u2019s Siding Spring Observatory in 1977, the faintest star ever measured at the time. TML<\/em>","cta":"","bg":"#ffc70a","type":"image","image":682882,"embed":"","video":"","layout":"left","animation":"animation-false"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid_new","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":" As a center for music, optics, and artistry, URochester presents \u2026<\/p>","card_grid_cta":"","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"content-width","cards":[{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 54. A better, brighter picture.<\/p>","card_text":"Thank Professor Emeritus Ching Tang for helping develop the thin-film, light-emitting technology now widely used in computers, smartphones, and televisions. While working at Eastman Kodak, Tang and his colleague, Steven Van Slyke, created the first practical OLEDs<\/strong><\/a>.\r\n\r\nUnlike liquid-crystal displays that rely on a backlight, organic light-emitting diode screens use luminescent organic materials to make their own light. The result: more efficient use of power, longer battery life, and improved display quality. OLEDs are thinner and lighter, provide superior brightness and color, and offer ultrafast response time for refreshing and on-off switching.\r\n\r\nTang is also credited with several key innovations leading to the commercialization of the new technology. The first OLED product appeared in 1997, and the first television featuring an OLED display, produced by Sony, entered the market in 2008. By 2023, the global OLED market was valued at $50.8 billion.\r\n\r\nTang joined the URochester faculty in 2006 and has since earned numerous honors, including the Kyoto Prize. LA<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"","card_image_placement_full":"","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 55. America\u2019s top pop conductor.<\/p>","card_text":"Mitch Miller<\/strong><\/a> \u201932E\u2014renowned bandleader, record producer, and host of the hugely popular Sing Along with Mitch<\/em>\u2014knew a hit and how to make one. His 1955 recording of \u201cThe Yellow Rose of Texas\u201d sat at number one on the Billboard retail chart for six weeks. It\u2019s still the most popular version of the roughly 175-year-old song. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":686682,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-right","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":" 56. The very best Ol\u2019 Man River.<\/p>","card_text":"If you\u2019ve never listened to a recording of William Warfield<\/strong><\/a> \u201942E, \u201988 (Honorary) singing \u201cOl\u2019 Man River,\u201d please go do so now. We\u2019ll wait. A renowned bass-baritone concert singer, Warfield played the role of \u201cJoe\u201d in the 1951 film Showboat<\/em>, performing what would become his signature song. He would go on to sing the song across the globe, in several languages, for the next four decades. JL<\/em>","card_image_icon":"image","card_image":682902,"card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"small","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"[caption id=\"attachment_682912\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"] 57. The revolutionary wind ensemble.<\/p>","card_text":"On February 8, 1953, the Eastman Wind Ensemble<\/a> debuted in the Eastman School of Music\u2019s Kilbourn Hall, marking a little-noticed but profound shift in the world of music.\r\n\r\nBefore that Sunday afternoon concert, most music for wind instruments was performed by large symphonic bands with two or more players on each part. Frederick Fennell \u201937E, \u201939E (MM), \u201988 (Honorary), then on the faculty at Eastman, envisioned something different: an ensemble modeled after an orchestra\u2019s principle of one player per part.\r\n\r\nThe result was transformative. In Fennell\u2019s ensemble, every instrument had its own voice, every player a distinct responsibility. In effect, he maintained, each musician became \u201cthe soloist his private teacher had taught him to be.\u201d\r\n\r\nEven before the ensemble\u2019s public debut, Fennell wrote to 400 composers requesting suitable compositions. Early responses from Percy Grainger, Paul Hindemith, Vincent Persichetti, and Ralph Vaughan Williams would form the basis for ever more ambitious, large-scale works specifically for wind ensembles, a repertoire that simply didn\u2019t exist before Fennell\u2019s vision.\r\n\r\nBeyond the music itself, the wind ensemble raised the bar for music education. The model spread rapidly through school music programs across North America and far beyond. Today, the Eastman Wind Ensemble remains one of the most respected groups of its kind, while its alumni bring Fennell\u2019s famed precision and artistry to the world\u2019s most prestigious performing organizations. TML<\/em>","card_image_icon":"none","card_image":"","card_icon":"","card_icon_color":"#252525","card_image_size":"large","card_image_placement_full":"image-left","card_image_placement":"","card_background_color":"#f4f4f4","card_hover_color":"#f4f4f4","card_link":"","card_hover_arrow":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"card","card_width":"full","card_overline":"","card_title":"[caption id=\"attachment_682922\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1000\"] 58. Music for a whole community.<\/p>","card_text":"George Eastman intended the music school that bears his name as a resource for all Rochesterians, not only college students. In 1966, Eastman faculty member Milford Fargo established the acclaimed Eastman Children\u2019s Chorus, the first such ensemble at the school. In the 1980s, a newly envisioned Community Education Division began adding more educational opportunities for the community, including a program of preschool music classes developed by faculty member Donna Brink Fox. The Community Education Division has more recently evolved into the Eastman Community Music School<\/a>, which continues to expand upon the vision of offering music to everyone in the community, regardless of age. ![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/007-nurse.jpg\")
For the second year in a row, nurse practitioner has topped the U.S. News & World Report<\/em>\u2019s Best Jobs rankings. (Chris Quillen \/ 糖心传媒 Medical Center Photograph Collection)[\/caption]\r\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/012-air-pollution.jpg\")
John Seinfeld\u2019s research transformed how air quality in Los Angeles (and elsewhere) is studied. (Bettmann for Getty Images)[\/caption]\r\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/023-aids.jpg\")
Featuring more than 8,000 posters, the AIDS Education Collection documents HIV\/AIDS education efforts in more than 130 countries and in more than 75 languages and dialects. (Aids Education Collection \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)[\/caption]\r\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/031-seatbelt.jpg\")
Seatbelts save an estimated 15,000 lives annually in the US, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (Alain Le Bot for Getty Images)[\/caption]\r\n33. The save<\/h3>","content":"This woman\u2019s life depended on a determined doctor, a groundbreaking procedure, and an institution built to support the research behind complex medicine.","cta":{"title":"Read more","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-fall-2025-living-donor-liver-transplant-681232\/","target":""},"bg":"#ffc70a","type":"image","image":682772,"embed":"","video":"","layout":"left","animation":"animation-false"},{"acf_fc_layout":"card_grid_new","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"
Stars & Planets<\/h2>","description":"
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/042-astronaut.jpg\")
Gravity<\/em>, one of three space-related movies George Clooney has starred in, won seven Oscars\u2014including for directing, visual effects, and cinematography\u2014in 2014.[\/caption]\r\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/047-star-trek.jpg\")
With its multiracial cast and one of the first interracial kisses on American TV, Star Trek<\/em>\u2019s influence extended far beyond the small screen. (糖心传媒 photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)[\/caption]\r\nStage & Screen<\/h2>","description":"
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/057-eastman-theatre.jpg\")
The Eastman Wind Ensemble, led by its current conductor, Mark Davis Scatterday, gave a 70th-anniversary concert in Kodak Hall in 2023. It included works by Mozart and Paul Hindemith in a nod to the ensemble\u2019s debut concert repertoire. (糖心传媒 photo \/ John Schlia)[\/caption]\r\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/058-childrens-chorus.jpg\")
The Eastman Community Music School has evolved since 1921 from a preparatory department to a center for enrichment open to everyone. (Sibley Music Library \/ Eastman School of Music)[\/caption]\r\n