Tag: NSU Research

For over 20 years, the online community MaleSurvivor has been a support outlet for male sexual and gender minority survivors of sexual abuse/assault. Now, members of that community are collaborating in grant-funded research with faculty from NSU’s College of Psychology and Yale University’s School of Medicine.

“I’m really passionate and interested in working with sexual and gender minorities and noticing that there’s a whole span of issues that are going on and we’re not seeing in therapy,” said Assistant Clinical Professor Amy Ellis, Ph.D., of NSU’s College of Psychology.

Societal stigmas and outdated stereotypes that men cannot be raped or that sexual assault changes sexual orientation create barriers for men seeking treatment. Ellis noted that on average, male survivors take 25 years to disclose sexual abuse.

“You have that stigmatization that leads to shame and guilt and even questioning the reality of your own experiences,” Ellis said. “If the entire world is telling you that something can’t be and wasn’t, then why would you step forward and say that it is?”

Now, peer online motivational interviewing for abuse survivors is the subject of a $1.3 million grant from the nonprofit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI. The principal investigator is Joan Cook, Ph.D., an associate professor at Yale, collaborating with Ellis and MaleSurvivor.

The groundwork for a partnership with MaleSurvivor was already laid due to the fact that the Trauma Resolution Integration Program (TRIP), a clinic at NSU’s Psychology Services Center, answers the help desk emails for MaleSurvivor. In contrast to traditional research, Ellis said the project is taking a community-based participatory approach, where focus groups and an advisory board have informed every aspect of the process. Ellis said this approach creates comfort and trust, compared to the stereotype of researchers in lab coats.

As part of the project, 20 peer leaders from within the MaleSurvivor community received training on leading motivational interview groups with other survivors. The project will recruit 344 survivors who will be divided into 42 groups and participate for three years. Participants will be involved in six session interventions for 90 minutes each.

Full story: https://psychology.nova.edu/news-events/2019/cop-survivors-pcori.html

For months, Florida residents have followed stories about blue-green algae (scientifically known as cyanobacteria) blooms that are severely impacting local communities. Starting in July 2019, Halmos College faculty member Jose Lopez, Ph.D. will co-lead a project to study this ongoing issue by applying his genomics expertise.

Funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, Dr. Lopez will co-lead the project along with Barry Rosen, staff scientist for the USGS Southeastern Region. Halmos biological sciences faculty Robert Smith, Ph.D. will also contribute modeling skills. Halmos master’s student Eric Fortman will assist with the project. Other project researchers are from Florida Gulf Coast University and the USGS Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center.

Halmos College Oceanographic Campus will be the home base for this project. “The time has come for us to research what factors contribute to these blue-green algae blooms, what we can do to mitigate them when they happen and, more importantly, what can we do proactively to stop them from happening or lessen their impact,” said Dr. Lopez.

Dr. Lopez said the research could run up to three years with a focus on how water quality, nutrients and harmful algae blooms interact in Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River, looking at the factors that come into play when these blooms occur.

“There are many species of cyanobacteria, so we need to characterize the diversity and better understand which ones contribute to the blooms and what their normal function is in the ecosystem when there is no harmful algae bloom. This project will have a strong molecular basis [reading DNA and RNA sequences]” said Dr. Lopez.

Left to right Nathan Robinson, Sonke Johnsen, Tracey Sutton, Captain of the Pt Sur- Nick Allen, Edie Widder & Megan McCall gather around to watch squid

Researchers from Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography joined with colleagues from other research institutions to explore the water column in some of the deepest parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

The project – Journey Into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone is ran from June 8 – 22, 2019 and featured Tracey Sutton Ed.D, Tamara Frank, Ph.D. and graduate assistant Ruchao Quian from NSU – they were three of the 10 explorers on this voyage.

The team made some remarkable findings which were featured in multiple media outlets across the country. You can read those stories below:

Giant Squid

• CNN
• USA Today
• The Washington Post
• The New York Times

Giant Shrimp

• The Charlotte Observer
• The Daily Beast
• The Miami Herald

Giant Acanthephyra caught between 1,200 and 1,500 meters (3,937 and 4,921 feet) with the Tucker Trawl

You can learn more about Journey Into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone ONLINE.

This site, created by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, contains a wealth of information about the research expedition, including biographical info on the explorers, a photo gallery of the strange and wonderful sea life found deep in the Gulf of Mexico and more.

Three species of bathypelagic dragonfishes (Stomiidae) displaying the range of shapes and colors of chin barbels. Image courtesy of Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone.

From June 8-22, 2019, a team of NSU researchers was exploring the water column in some of the deepest parts of the Gulf of Mexico to determine what happens to deep-sea animals when a very important constraint is taken away from them – light. The scientists were making observations and collecting samples for further study on the characterization of visual systems, bioluminescence, and fluorescence of organisms living below 1,000 meters (3,280 feet), in the bathypelagic (midnight) zone. Participating in this research are Halmos faculty members Tamara Frank, Ph.D. and Tracey Sutton, Ph.D.

Frank is collecting live animals using 9m2 Tucker Trawl with a carefully designed collecting vessel at the end of the net, called a cod-end. The cod-end is constructed of three-quarter-inch thick PVC pipe and closes via ball valves when the net closes. The net is remotely opened at depth, and while it is fishing, the ball valves at either end of the cod-end are open, and animals are trapped inside in a mesh bag. When a signal is sent to close the net, the ball valves on the cod-end snap shut, trapping animals inside the cod-end in water at their normal ambient temperatures. The thick PVC walls insulate the water against temperature changes on the trip to the surface.

“Animals without air-filled spaces, like fish without swim bladders, crustaceans, and squids, can handle the pressure, but they can’t handle the temperature changes. At their normal depths, the temperature is around 7°C (45°F), while surface waters in the Gulf of Mexico in June can be up to 30°C (86°F). This temperature shock will kill them, so the insulated cod-end is essential to live collections of deep-sea animals”, says Frank.

Sutton is investigating the extraordinary adaptations exhibited by fishes of the midnight zone. “Our goal as ocean exploration researchers is to expand on these discoveries, as well as add much more to our knowledge of the inhabitants of this ‘harshest ecosystem on Earth.’”, says Sutton.

These adaptations help fishes find and eat prey, and find each other, in a permanently sunless habitat. In some cases, the adaptations have driven the radiation of entire fish families in the bathypelagic zone, where in other cases, these adaptations allow individual species of primarily shallower-living fish families (e.g., lanternfishes, hatchetfishes) to survive.  One of the most striking adaptations of predatory fishes of the deep is the astounding variety of bioluminescent “lures” that fishes use to attract prey (rather than swimming and searching, which is energetically expensive). This adaptation largely defines the deep-sea anglerfishes, the most species-rich taxon of primarily bathypelagic fishes.

Representatives from a primarily mesopelagic fish family, the dragonfishes (Stomiidae) are also among the dominant predators of the midnight zone, particularly when they approach maximum size. Dragonfishes do not possess the dorsal luring apparatus of the anglerfishes, but do possess a spectacular variety of chin barbels, some of which are as long as the fish itself and terminate in a chandelier of branches and multi-colored luminescent bulbs.

Both dragonfishes and anglerfishes display another adaptation common to bathypelagic predators – large, sharp, backwards pointing teeth set in a large, terminal mouth. Presumably in an environment where prey is hard to find, once prey are lured, one does not want them to escape capture! These are just a few of the extraordinary adaptations exhibited by fishes of the midnight zone.

The Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone expedition offers a unique opportunity for explorers of all ages to investigate and understand bioluminescence in the deepest portion of the Gulf of Mexico. Lessons, career information, background essays, videos and images can all be found here to help bring this science expedition to life https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/19biolum/

NSU is among the world leaders in the exploration of the world’s least-known ecosystem, the deep sea. Recent expeditions led by faculty in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences (DoMES) have produced a wealth of new information, new species discoveries, and collections of rare specimens that change our view of how animals adapt to Earth’s harshest conditions. For example, a fish specimen collected by Halmos faculty member Tracey Sutton, Ph.D. was featured on the cover of Science, the leading journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This fish, photographed by Dr. Danté Fenolio (Department of Conservation and Research, San Antonio Zoo), was featured in an article that showed that deep-sea fishes, though living in darkness, actually see in color. This finding proves that our traditional views of vertebrate vision have been very limited.

For more information: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6440

During May, Halmos graduate student Michael D. Dressler and Undergraduate student Josue Conde co-authored the research article entitled, “Timing between successive introduction events determines establishment success in bacteria with an Allee effect” in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences with their Halmos Faculty Advisors Robert Smith, Ph.D. and Omar Eldakar, Ph.D.

The research team investigated the important general question of how a new species becomes established. Using cooperating bacteria as a model, they found that if the time between the arrivals of two populations of bacteria is sufficiently short, the bacteria become established. Otherwise, if the time between arrivals is too long, establishment fails. Establishment hinges on the ability of the first population of bacteria to modify the environment enough to allow the second population to grow. These results can help stop the spread of invasive species and infectious diseases, but can also help species reintroduction programs.

For more Information: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.0598#d74193e1

Hui Fang “Angie: Su, Ed.D., Professor, at NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice attended The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) 2019 National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Su represented Florida, as the President of Florida Distance Learning Association (FDLA). She shared the state chapter’s best practices, including the association’s journal and publication. The FDLA journal is an opened source publication which has a world-wide readership. In addition, Su also shared member resources and collaboration opportunities.

The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) 2019 National Conference is the premier event for professionals in the distance learning industry. The 2019 event was held Monday May 20, 2019 – Thursday May 23, 2019 and delivered an action-packed agenda that brought together distance learning practitioners from across the country.