Seventeen research stories from a year of discovery at UB

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The key to detecting deepfake photos may be the light in a person’s eyes. New knowledge about how neurons sense pain could lead to non-opioid painkillers. Also, sea anemones can eat ants. Yes, ants.

These and other UB discoveries from 2021 reminded us of the multitude of wonders that grace the world we all share. In a year that challenged us all, the work of UB scholars highlighted beauty, curiosity and hope. Their findings, writings and art also called attention to the deep problems that modern societies face, and the steps we can take together to move forward in 2022 and after.

As we end another year, here are a few UB stories from 2021 that made headlines in Buffalo and around the world.

In early 2021, UB researchers announced a thrilling discovery: a femur fragment found in a cave in Southeast Alaska belonged to a dog that lived about 10,150 years ago. That made the ancient bone — thought to be a bear’s before its DNA was sequenced — the oldest confirmed remains of a domestic dog in the Americas, according to scientists. The finding offered new insights into the story of how canines — and the people who domesticated them — first came to this part of the world. UB biological sciences researchers Charlotte Lindqvist and Flavio Augusto da Silva Coelho led the work, with a team from UB and the University of South Dakota.

As featured in:

• Science Magazine: Remains of oldest American dog bolster idea that first humans arrived along the coast
• National Geographic: Oldest dog remains in Americas discovered in Alaska
• Smithsonian Magazine: Ancient DNA Reveals the Oldest Domesticated Dog in the Americas
• Nature Research Highlights: An ancient Alaskan dog’s DNA hints at an epic shared journey

UB researchers have developed a tool that identifies deepfake images by analyzing reflections of light on people’s corneas. Typically, in genuine photos and videos, “The two eyes should have very similar reflective patterns” because they’re exposed to the same light sources, says UB computer scientist Siwei Lyu. Deviations can indicate trickery, as deepfakes generated using artificial intelligence fail to consistently reproduce uniform reflections. Lyu created the tool with Shu Hu and Yuezun Li.

As featured in:

• CNET: Deepfakes can be detected by analyzing light reflections in eyes, scientists say
• Futurism: Algorithm detects deepfakes by analyzing reflections in eyes
• BBC: Detecting deepfakes
• WKBW-TV: What are deepfake images and how can you spot them?

With support from community and academic partners, UB’s Center for Urban Studies released a report on inequality in Buffalo over the past three decades, looking at conditions impacting Black residents. Researchers examined metrics like poverty rates, household income, homeownership, employment and education, and concluded that “an entire generation saw little if any improvements in their lives.” Henry-Louis Taylor Jr., lead author and the center’s director, raised awareness about such inequities as Buffalo’s mayoral election captured national attention. “The problems that Buffalo face are the problems that America face,” he told CBS News.

As featured in:

• The Buffalo News: 30 years after landmark study, UB researchers find little progress on Black poverty in Buffalo
• Investigative Post: Report: Conditions worsen for Blacks in Buffalo
• WKBW-TV: UB releases new research about the Black community in Buffalo
• CBS News: What happens if Buffalo elects a socialist mayor?

Bright, lively and born through a very special collaboration, a mural titled “Flight of the Chickadee” graces the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts’ building. This work of public art brought together the ideas and talents of renowned painter Cecily Brown, local artists and storytellers, and students from the academy, part of Buffalo Public Schools. All worked on every stage of the mural, which depicts regional themes including Buffalo’s seasons and plants and animals of significance to the Haudenosaunee. Brown completed her work in Buffalo as a visiting artist with the UB Arts Collaboratory.

As featured in:

• The Buffalo News: Cecily Brown creates mural with local artists, Performing Arts students
• Whitewall: Cecily Brown Creates Collaborative Mural in Buffalo
• Bloomberg: A Mural-Making Spree Lifts Spirits in Buffalo
• Forbes: Cecily Brown Enlivens A High School In Buffalo With A Mural Painted In Collaboration With Local Artists
• WKBW-TV: Collaborative effort among artists brings new mural to Buffalo

Genomic sequencing is a critical global tool in identifying new COVID-19 variants and understanding how the pandemic is evolving. In Western New York, UB biochemist Jennifer Surtees has been leading such surveillance efforts. She and colleagues at the Genomics and Bioinformatics Core at UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences conduct sequencing of regional COVID-19 samples. Their work supports public health efforts, tracking the spread of the Delta variant in the area and identifying the arrival of the Omicron variant, for example.  

As featured in:

• The Buffalo News: First case of Omicron variant identified in Western New York
• The Buffalo News: Delta variant of Covid-19 found in Erie County, UB scientists say
• Nature News: Delta coronavirus variant: scientists brace for impact
• WGRZ-TV: UB researchers find samples locally of 'delta' COVID variant
• WKBW-TV: UB experts reviewing positive COVID samples for latest variant

In 2021, a COVID-19 vaccine candidate under development by UB spinoff POP Biotechnologies and South Korean biotech company EuBiologics moved into human trials in South Korea. The vaccine, a liquid injection, employs specialized liposomes designed by UB biomedical engineer Jonathan Lovell and colleagues. Research is now underway on another useful advance: the possibility of freeze-drying vaccines that leverage the liposomes. Dry doses could be shipped at room temperature and rehydrated at clinics, eliminating refrigeration needs that can slow vaccination campaigns. Lovell’s team reported promising findings on freeze-drying this fall, with UB biomedical engineer Moustafa Mabrouk as first author on a paper in Science Advances.

As featured in:

• Buffalo Business First: Covid-19 vaccine developed by UB, POP Biotechnologies enters human trials
• WBFO: Freeze-dried COVID vaccines? UB is working on it
• Daily Beast: This New Formula Can Help Us Vaccinate Poorer Countries
• Technology Networks: How To Freeze-Dry a Potential COVID-19 Vaccine

The giant plumose anemone is a sea creature. It’s an animal, but it looks like cauliflower. Also, it eats ants. Yes, you read that right: ants. Led by UB geology researcher Christopher Wells, scientists used a method called DNA metabarcoding to identify the gut contents of anemones fixed to floating docks in the Pacific Northwest. Surprising menu items included pale-legged field ants, which may get pushed into the ocean by wind during mating flights.

As featured in:

• National Geographic: Sea anemones sometimes eat … ants. But why?
• Science Magazine: These cauliflower-like anemones snack on ants
• BBC Science Focus: Giant sea anemones eat ants

As death draws near, many people begin experiencing vivid, transformative dreams and visions — ones that resurrect past relationships and reunite the dying with loved ones they’ve lost. In 2020, UB English professor Carine Mardorossian worked with local hospice doctor Christopher Kerr to author a book on these end-of-life experiences, which Kerr had observed through years of caring for patients. This spring, public television stations across the U.S. aired a documentary based on that work, “Death Is But A Dream.” In an essay published in March, Mardorossian reflected on the meaning of these end-of-life experiences in the midst of a global pandemic: “It may help to know that the dying rarely speak of being alone,” she wrote. “They speak of being loved and put back together.”

As featured in:

• The Conversation: As death approaches, our dreams offer comfort, reconciliation
• PBS International: Death Is But a Dream
• Washington Post: How visions, dreams and end-of-life experiences help people prepare for death

How do we sense pain? In the course of exploring this question, UB medical researchers discovered that certain pain-sensing neurons engage in an activity called endocytosis as part of the process to signal inflammatory pain. Blocking endocytosis can lead to relief, according to a study led by pharmacology and toxicology researchers Arin Bhattacharjee and Rasheen Powell. Bhattacharjee has co-founded Channavix Inc., a biotech company that’s leveraging this knowledge to develop non-opioid painkillers.

As featured in:

• The Naked Scientists: New painkiller: local and long-lasting relief
• Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News: Locally Administered Lipidated Peptides Offer Long-Lasting Pain Relief without Opioids
• Forbes: An Opiate-Free, Durable, Non-Addictive Pain Killer For Inflammatory Pain ... in Rats
• Drug Target Review: Peptides: a promising alternative to opioids for chronic pain relief

In 2019, the UB Graduate School of Education launched a program that enables educators to earn initial teacher certification in 15 months through a paid, hands-on residency. Participants co-teach at an urban school alongside a mentor teacher, and engage in coursework, too. Called the UB Teacher Residency Program, the effort is a partnership with Buffalo Public Schools (BPS). It works to increase equity, diversity, justice and inclusion in schools through teacher education. A variety of media have reported on the program in recent years, and in 2021, a team from UB and BPS authored a book that describes the program’s development.

As featured in:

• Niagara Gazette: Preparing teachers to meet today's social challenges
• The Buffalo News: 'Intense' UB teacher residency program tackles diversity, retention in Buffalo schools
• WBFO: New teacher residency program kicks off at UB’s Graduate School of Education
• Insight Into Diversity: UB Graduate School of Education Develops Model for Addressing Teacher Recruitment, Retention at Local Level

How is COVID-19 shaping family life in the U.S.? As school and child care centers closed and other support systems fragmented, UB sociologist Joanna Pepin set out to understand some of the impacts on parents. She co-authored research exploring divisions of household labor and changes in employment during the pandemic, focusing on gender inequality in different-sex couples with kids in the U.S. One study found that while fathers were doing more at home, mothers still reported “retaining primary responsibility” for domestic chores. The other paper highlighted how homeschooling and the loss of child care disproportionately impacted women’s employment. This and other work have made Pepin an important voice in conversations on family policies.

As featured in:

• The New York Times: Which of These 4 Family Policies Deserves Top Priority?
• Harvard Business Review: To Keep Women in the Workforce, Men Need to Do More at Home
• MarketWatch: For the first time, most U.S. moms will likely be the family breadwinner within their child’s first 18 years
• The 19th: The women’s recession isn’t over — especially for moms

A machine dips into a vat of translucent yellow goo. Out comes a life-sized model of a hand. This takes just 19 minutes using a 3D printing method called stereolithography and jelly-like materials called hydrogels. And it’s not just fun to watch: Developed further, this tech could save lives. “Large size cell-laden hydrogel models hold great promise for tissue repair and organ transplantation,” according to a study on fast stereolithography led by UB industrial and systems engineering researchers Chi Zhou, Hang Ye and Zipeng Guo, and UB biomedical engineering researchers Ruogang Zhao and Nanditha Anandakrishnan.

As featured in:

• Mashable: Researchers got a step closer to 3D printed organs and human tissue
• Gizmodo: This Rapid 3D-Printing Method Could Be the Secret to Developing 3D-Printed Organs
• Engadget: New 3D printing technique could make lab-grown organs more practical,
• Interesting Engineering: High-Speed 3D Printing Method Takes Us One Step Closer to Printing Organs

Researchers have harnessed the wonders of biology and chemistry to turn sugar into hydrocarbons. Co-led by UB biological sciences faculty member Zhen Q. Wang, the project involved genetically engineering bacteria to convert glucose — the microbes’ food — into fatty acids. Then, a catalyst was used to remove portions of the fatty acids and generate the final product: the hydrocarbons, called olefins. Olefins are found in gasoline and employed in materials manufacturing. A commentary in Nature Chemistry reflected that the research “moves us closer to making commonplace petroleum-based materials, such as wire and cable coatings, from renewable sources.”

As featured in:

• Nature Chemistry: Two steps to sustainable polymers
• UPI: Feeding sugar to bacteria may lead to less harmful fuel for cars, trucks
• SYFY Wire: Biofuels made by microbes
• National Geographic (Spain): From sugar to gasoline

How will climate change impact Earth’s ice sheets in the 21st century? And how much will sea levels rise as a result? It depends on how quickly we act, says UB geology researcher Sophie Nowicki. A renowned glaciologist, she co-led a major modeling study showing how deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions could still dramatically slow the process of sea level rise this century. That research helped inform the latest assessment report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which tapped Nowicki to be a lead author of a chapter on ocean, cryosphere and sea level change.

As featured in:

• Bloomberg: Sea-Level Rise From Melting Land Ice May Double If Paris Pact Fails
• CNN: Antarctica's ice sheet is critical to the fate of coastal cities. How much it will melt remains a big question
• Carbon Brief: Limiting warming to 1.5C would ‘halve’ land-ice contribution to sea level rise by 2100

Looking for a job? Striking a power pose can make an impression on hiring managers, says UB School of Management researcher Min-Hsuan Tu, who led a study highlighting the importance of nonverbal cues in interviews. The project was motivated by decades of research suggesting that when people are considered to be attractive, it can benefit their careers. In an op-ed in Fast Company, Tu and her co-authors shared their findings, while emphasizing that — more importantly — society needs to address attractiveness bias to “ensure that people are consistently evaluated based on the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for their jobs.”

As featured in:

• Fast Company: This 5-minute trick can help you get the job
• Forbes: Attractive People Have A Big Advantage In The Job Interview
• WIVB-TV: When it comes to careers, attractiveness pays off – but there’s a trick to unlocking those benefits

Falling can be extremely dangerous for older adults, leading to injuries like hip fractures and head traumas that can be fatal. A UB study found that in 2017, 94% of adults 65 and older were prescribed a drug that increased their risk of falling — up from 57% in 1999. The rate of death caused by falls in older adults more than doubled during this time, the team concluded. UB public health researcher Amy Shaver, who conducted the study with UB pharmacy experts, says she hopes the results will start conversations about the pros and cons of medications prescribed for vulnerable populations.

As featured in:

• The Washington Post: The past 2 decades have seen dramatic rise in elderly taking drugs that can lead to falls
• AARP: Pandemic Poses Another Risk for Older Adults: Falling
• Kaiser Health News: More Elderly People Are Prescribed Drugs That Could Lead To Falls

Mouthwashes. Probiotics. Dietary supplements. Floss. What oral hygiene tools help to prevent gum disease? UB oral biologist Frank Scannapieco led a project to review what existing research says. The effort identified interdental brushes and water picks as proven strategies, among others, for reducing gingivitis. And though few studies have looked at toothbrushing and flossing alone, both are essential, Scannapieco says. UB dental school graduate Eva Volman collaborated as first author alongside UB health sciences librarian Elizabeth Stellrecht as co-author.

As featured in:

• Consumer Affairs: Which oral hygiene products are best at preventing gum disease?
• The Buffalo News: Should you floss? What other steps can really prevent gum disease?
• Dental Tribune: The good, the bad and the unproven: Study examines consumer oral care tools
• Futurity: What works (and what doesn’t) to keep teeth and gums healthy