Multidisciplinary program 

prompts examination of 

college experience

By CARLY NOAH
Daily Staff Reporter

An interdisciplinary course at the University 

is offering students the chance to rethink higher 
education.

Titled “Education by Design,” the class 

centers on the idea of the “Campus of the 
Future” and aims to allow students the chance 
to reinvent the university experience through 
real-world solutions.

Materials Science Prof. Joanna Mirecki 

Millunchick, 
who 
co-directs 
the 
course 

alongside Political Science Prof. Mika LaVaque-
Manty, said now is an exciting time for learning 
at a university. She noted both emerging 
technologies, along with increased accessibility.

“Historically, universities were the keepers 

of knowledge, but now information is readily 
available,” Millunchick said. “College used 

2 — Friday, April 10, 2015
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Class asks 
students to 

rethink higher ed.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Political Science Prof. Mike LaVague-Manty works with students in the three semester course on higher education that 
he co-teaches with Materials Science Prof. Joanna Mirecki Millunchick. The course aims to allow students to reinvent 
the university experiences. 

With Buenos Aires 

team, ‘U’ shows 
DNA in brain 
controls obesity

By KATIE PENROD

Daily Staff Reporter

New research conducted by a 

University team in tandem with 
the University of Buenos Aires 
has revealed the influence certain 
segments of DNA in the brain have 
on the regulation of appetite and 
weight, in addition to influencing 
obesity.

According to a University press 

release, this study is the first to 
document exactly how a brain cell 
gene is involved in weight regulation 
functions.

The team was led by Malcolm 

Low, professor of molecular and 
integrative physiology, and Marcelo 
Rubinstein, professor of physiology 
and biology at the University of 
Buenos Aires.

The research focused on genetic 

triggers inside a specific type 
of neuron in the brain called a 
proopiomelanocortin, or POMC, 
located 
in 
the 
hypothalamus. 

Previous studies of the role of POMC 
neurons in regulating sensations like 
fullness or hunger have shown that 
neurons without POMC can cause 
obesity in both animals and humans.

However, according to the new 

research, obesity can also result 

when certain genetic triggers are 
missing from the POMC neurons — 
even if the neurons themselves are 
present. Low and Rubinstein’s study 
focused on these triggers and their 
impacts on regulating weight.

The study identified the genetic 

triggers as enhancers named nPE1 
and nPE2, which are attached to 
a transcription factor called Islet 1 
that is then attached to the POMC 
neuron.

Low 
said 
enhancers 
help 

distinguish different cells in the 
body from each other.

“Every cell in the body has 

the same DNA, but they’re all 
very different. And the way that 
comes about is the little DNA 
sequences 
called 
enhancers,” 

Low said. “They’re responsible 
for determining the expressions 
of genes in certain cells. The ones 
we’ve discovered are very specific 
for turning on this POMC gene.”

The study was conducted on mice 

in two parts and published in two 
separate papers. Low said in the first 
paper, published in Proceedings of 
the National Academy of Sciences, 
they removed the enhancers nPE1 
and nPE2 in the mice. In the second 
paper, published in PLoS Genetics, 
they removed only the transcription 
factor, Islet 1. Both times, mice 
became obese.

Low said the findings showed 

that nPE1 and nPE2, as well as 
Islet 1, are necessary for a fully 
functioning POMC gene and the 
healthy regulation of weight and 
appetite.

“The transcription factor is a 

protein and it recognizes the letters 
of the DNA sequence and binds to 
it very specifically,” he said. “The 
one factor can bind to both of the 
enhancers. So they probably act as 
a unit when all of them are bound.”

Though the study was not 

conducted on humans, Low said he 
was confident there is a significant 
link to human obesity. He noted that 
scientists already know that when 
children have mutated POMC genes 
they can become dangerously obese, 
which suggests that the likelihood 
of specifically enhancer mutations 
causing similar issues is high.

“We have every reason to believe 

that would be true because we’ve 
compared the sequence of these 
enhancers 
and 
they’re 
almost 

identical in every mammal,” Low 
said.

In 
an 
e-mail 
interview, 

Rubinstein wrote that he also 
believes the translation to humans 
is quite probable due to the similar 
location and roles POMC neurons 
play in mice and humans.

“Mice 
born 
without 
the 

enhancers nPE1 and nPE2 are 
genetically programmed to have an 
impaired satiety circuit and will be 
hyperphagic and obese,” Rubinstein 
wrote. “Since these systems are 
extremely conserved at the genetic, 
anatomical and physiological level it 
is highly likely that humans without 
these enhancers will have the same 
phenotype as mice do.”

First-year 
Medical 
student 

Stephan Diljak, president of the 
University’s chapter of the American 
Medical Student Association, said 
he believes study was important 
because it has the potential to lead 
to a drug that could help people deal 
with obesity.

Additionally, both Low and Diljak 

spoke to the importance of this 
study in proving that though fitness 
and healthy eating are key factors in 
maintaining a healthy weight, genes 
do also play a crucial role in the 
obesity problem facing many people.

Diljak said the study has the 

power 
to 
disprove 
common 

misunderstandings 
people 
have 

about obesity and its causes, as well 
as the methods used to combat it.

“When a lot of people think 

about obesity, they think about 
eating associated with this — stuff 
like McDonald’s — basically not 
exercising and not doing anything 

University researchers find link 
between neurons and weight

to only be available to the elite, 
and now about 65 percent of all 
high school graduates enroll in 
college. Lectures consisted of 
sage professors soliloquizing to a 
group of rapt and silent students. 
But now we know that the best 
kind of learning is interactive and 

loud.”

LaVaque-Manty 
said 
the 

Multidisciplinary 
Design 

Program, housed in the College 
of Engineering, allows students of 
all disciplines to engage with the 
topic. He said this effort allows 
anyone interested in questioning 
the 
purpose 
of 
college 
or 

wanting to shape the future of 
the institution, regardless of a 
student’s academic pursuits.

“It gives the students an 

opportunity 
to 
understand 

better their own experience at 
Michigan,” 
LaVaque-Manty 

said. “They learn what’s unique 
about Michigan, what is not 
unique about Michigan, what 
the challenges facing higher 
education are and what kinds of 
strategies there might be to deal 
with them.”

The course began with a focus 

on the history of the University, 
as well as some common ideas 
about where it might be heading. 
The class later moved into a 
discussion about aspects of the 
college 
experience 
students 

were interested in examining or 
modifying.

Students chose to work on 

projects ranging from increasing 
engaged learning on campus to 
alumni engagement.

LSA 
sophomore 
Lauren 

Shepard 
said 
the 
class 
has 

allowed her to develop concrete 
suggestions 
to 
improve 
the 

undergraduate experience at the 
University.

“I have gotten to critically 

examine 
the 
credit 
system, 

the physical spaces in which 
students learn, and the way that 
the courses are actually taught,” 
Shepard said. “I think that the 
class teaches you to think about 
higher education in a completely 
different light.”

LaVaque-Manty 
said 
the 

purpose of the class is to allow 
students 
to 
think 
critically 

about both current education 
system and their own academic 
experiences.

“Part of our goal in the course 

is to think about the academic 
infrastructure of the University — 
the credit hour economy, grades, 
majors, 
disciplines, 
degrees,” 

LaVaque-Manty said. “Do they 
make sense? Do they still make 
sense?”

LSA junior Eni Kruja, who is 

currently enrolled in the class, 
said she believes the course is 
especially important because of 
its student-centered approach.

“We, the students, are not just 

given a syllabus, the required 
tasks for passing, and period 
instructions — we work with the 
professors to decide the direction 
of the class based on what we 
recognize as our needs for success 
and what the professors see as 
important resources for us to 
use,” Kruja said.

LSA senior Michael Moreno practices slacklining on the Diag on Monday. (David 
Song/Daily)

See LINK, Page 3

