The July Bulletin: See what our scientists are up to this month!

Science for a smarter Nevada and a smarter world.  The DRI Bulletin: July 2019 RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Investigating Microplastic Pollution in Nevada’s Waterways Microplastics are plastic pieces ranging in size from 5mm to microscopic particles, in other words, the size of a pencil’s eraser or smaller, and they've been found everywhere from the air we breathe to the deep ocean. Because microplastics are durable, insoluble, and potentially toxic, they could pose threat to natural ecosystems and human health. To determine the impact of microplastic pollution, researchers must first understand just how much tiny plastic is out there and where it’s coming from. DRI’s Monica Arienzo, Zoe Harrold, Meghan Collins, Xuelian Bai, and University of Nevada, Reno undergraduate Julia Davidson are exploring these questions in two bodies of freshwater in Nevada: Lake Tahoe and the Las Vegas Wash. Funding for this project came from the DRI Foundation’s Innovation Research Program (IRP), which is designed to support DRI faculty and staff as they pursue their very best ideas. Learn more about microplastics research at DRI Alison Murray selected to co-lead NASA’s Network for Ocean Worlds DRI microbial oceanographer and Antarctic researcher Alison Murray, Ph.D., has been selected to co-lead a new NASA initiative to guide the search for life in ocean worlds beyond Earth. Murray is best known for her work discovering the existence of microbial life at −13 °C within the ice-sealed Lake Vida in Antarctica.  The Network for Ocean Worlds (NOW) will foster research to identify ice-covered ocean worlds beyond Earth, characterize those oceans, investigate their habitability, search for life, and ultimately understand any life that is found. Murray will co-lead the network with Chris German at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Alyssa Rhoden at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).    Read the project announcement BEHIND THE SCIENCE Meet Dante Staten, Graduate Student Researcher in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences Dante Staten is a Ph.D. student in environmental science with an emphasis in environmental chemistry. Staten recently graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with his Master's Degree. At DRI, Staten is working with Dr. Andrey Khlystov in the Organic Analytical Laboratory to study human-caused air pollutant emissions and their effects on public health. Get to know Dante DRI IN THE NEWS "2019 Expected To Be Among Top Five Hottest On Record" KUNR • June 25th "NASA Makes Dual Investment in Ocean Worlds Research at WHOI" ECO Magazine • June 25th "Residents encouraged to prepare for monsoon season" Boulder City Review • June 19th "Searching For Life 'Out There'" KUNR • June 12th "Meeting Climate Targets Would Prevent Thousands of U.S. Deaths" Scientific American • June 6th "Hot in here? Research shoes extreme heat is killing Nevadans, and it’s only getting hotter" Reno Gazette-Journal • June 6th Browse more news coverage IMAGES OF THE MONTH A close-up image of cancerous tissue that Parashar and Sund are using in their study. To treat a tumor, doctors deliver chemotherapeutic agents and other drugs through the bloodstream so that they may travel to and treat the cancerous cells. The tissue in solid tumors, however, is deformed, with twisted blood vessels and increased cell variability. This means that drugs traveling through the vessels may not be able to reach all the affected cells, making the treatment ineffective. With IRP funding, Rishi Parashar, Ph.D. (right), and Nicole Sund, Ph.D. (left), are using their expertise in hydrological modeling to better understand the movement of anti-cancer drugs through cancerous tumors. Collaborating with a molecular cancer virologist, Subhash Verma, Ph.D., at University of Nevada, Reno’s School of Medicine, Parashar and Sund hope that the mathematical models they create will allow them to determine the effective concentration of drugs for treatment of solid tumors. Funding for this project came from the DRI Foundation’s Innovation Research Program (IRP), which is designed to support DRI faculty and staff as they pursue their very best ideas. Learn more about the Innovation Research Program Follow @DRIscience to #DiscoverDRI Love what you read in this newsletter? Share it using the gray icons at the bottom of this email, and don't forget to tag @DRIscience in your post so we can say thank you! Explore more at www.DRI.edu.

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