and evaluation experts — to
determine whether the current
course evaluation instrument
is in line with best practices. If
it is not, the committee will be
charged with recommending a
new instrument.
According
to
Weineck,
University
Provost
Martha
Pollack wants the issue of how
and when to release course
evaluation data to be decided
by faculty and students.
“(Pollack)
seemed
very,
very open to having students
and faculty hash this out and
not get involved, which I
think is wonderful,” Weineck
said.
In an October interview
with The Michigan Daily,
Pollack confirmed this desire
for
students
and
faculty
to work together to find a
solution.
SACUA
members
also
discussed
the
faculty
governance conference the
University is scheduled to host
in March. The conference will
be open to faculty governance
at other Big Ten schools,
the University of Virginia,
the
University
of
North
Carolina, the University of
California, Los Angeles and
the University of California,
Berkeley.
Though still in the planning
stages, SACUA members hope
to facilitate panel discussions
about the purview of faculty
governance
and
academic
freedom, among other issues.
This is the first time the
University will host such a
conference.
SACUA
From Page 1
2 — Tuesday, November 3, 2015
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
THREE THINGS YOU
SHOULD KNOW TODAY
The Michigan men’s
basketball
team
opened practice to
fans for an hour ahead of
Friday’s exhibition against
Le Moyne at 7 p.m. at
Crisler Center.
2
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
The Russian airline
Kogalymavia has
blamed an “external
influence” for the plane
crash in the Sinai Peninsula
of
Egypt
last
Saturday.
According to BBC News, 224
people were killed.
1
According to federal
authorities, students
who
identify
as
transgender
are
allowed
to
use
school
locker room facilities in
accordance
with
their
gender identity, The New
York
Times
reported.
3
420 Maynard St.
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are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must
be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.
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TUESDAY:
Campus Voices
THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk
FRIDAY:
Photos of the Week
WEDNESDAY:
In Other Ivory Towers
MONDAY:
This Week in History
Career session
on staffing
WHAT: Students who
are interested in the
staffing industry can
attend this event to get
a look into the lives of
recruiters.
WHO: The Career Center
WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
WHERE: Michigan
Union, Pond Room
Mid-autumn
harvest dinner
WHAT: East Quad din-
ing hall will be featur-
ing a special fall menu,
including local harvested
vegetables and produce.
WHO: Michigan Dining
WHEN: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
WHERE: East Quad
Dining Hall
Bill Staines
performance
WHAT: Bill Staines
is a performer and folk
artist and has been
performing for six years.
WHO: Michigan
Union Ticket Office
WHEN: 8 p.m.
WHERE: Off Campus
Location, The Ark
Please report any
error in the Daily
to corrections@
michigandaily.com.
Major & minor
meetup session
WHAT: LSA students that
are interested in exploring
different majors and minors.
This event will showcase the
many different fields of study
that the LSA offers.
WHO: The Career Center
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WHERE: Hatcher
Graduate Library
Residency
interview info
WHAT: Students who are
interviewing to become
student staff positions
in residence education
can attend this event.
This will help them learn
how to do well in their
interview.
WHO: Career Center
WHEN: 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
WHERE: Couzens Hall
‘Dust in the
wind’ film
WHAT: “Dust in the
Wind,” a movie directed
by Hou Hsiao-hsien will
be screened. The movie
is a love story following
a young couple.
WHO: Lieberthal-Rogel
Center for Chinese Studies
WHEN: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
WHERE: Michigan
Theater
Alzheimer’s research links gene
groups to disease progression
At Bernard W.
Agranoff Lecture,
lecture shows
promise for a cure
By KATIE PENROD
Daily Staff Reporter
Alzheimer’s
has
historically
been a disease researchers have
struggled to find an effective
treatment or cure for — however,
Stanford University Prof. Carla
Shatz hopes to change that.
Shatz’s work at the forefront of
Alzheimer’s research was featured
Monday during the Bernard W.
Agranoff Lecture, an annual talk
honoring the neuroscience pioneer
who retired from his teaching
position at the University in 2003.
Shatz was the first woman
to earn tenure in the basic
sciences at Stanford, where she
is currently a professor of biology
and neurobiology. Her research
focuses on synaptic plasticity, or
the ability of the gaps between
nerve cells to strengthen or
weaken over time, in relation to
Alzheimer’s disease.
Throughout her lecture, Shatz
emphasized the importance of
a type of gene — MHC class I —
specifically the MHC gene PirB.
Her research teams throughout
the years have focused on studying
the visual cortex in the brain to
uncover whether that particular
gene is involved in regulating
synaptic plasticity.
The MHC family of genes is
complex and because the team
pinpointed the family as important
in diseases like Alzheimer’s, there
may be more need to focus on their
specific functions.
Shatz focused heavily on what
she
called
“critical
periods,”
during which learning occurs,
in the mice she studied. She said
the genes that enable this type of
learning remain present in elderly
people or those with Alzheimer’s,
but are repressed.
Shatz also said her team found
that the PirB gene inhibits the
ability of synapses to strengthen
and weaken over time in response
to increases or decreases in
their activity. This may in turn
contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
“PirB downstream signaling
opposes cascades that are required
for synaptic plasticity,” she said.
“Especially, more interesting a
question for me as I get older is: Is
this enough? We know that there’s
a co-regulation between synaptic
weakening and synaptic pruning
and the PirB loss of function.”
The goal, Shatz said, is to find
a way to inhibit PirB in humans,
which contributes the loss of
synapses in a process called
“pruning.”
“One of the ways we investigated
this question was simply to take an
Alzheimer mouse model and cross
it with germline PirB knocked out
mice and to ask whether in the
absence of the PirB receptor, these
mice might be protected from
memory loss,” she said.
Employing basic memory tests,
Shatz’s team found that when PirB
receptors were blocked in mice
that modeled Alzheimer’s, they
performed on par with normal
mice.
“What we discovered was in
the absence of the PirB receptor
they were performing memory
discrimination at the same level as
model-type mice,” she said.
Shatz ended her lecture on
a hopeful note, saying the need
for a pill to block PirB function
could be on the forefront of her
research. Though she said that
kind of development takes time,
the advances so far are promising.
Neuroscience
post-
baccalaureate
student
Sharena
Rice said she learned a lot from
Shatz’s lecture and was especially
fascinated by the way in which she
conducted her research by using
the visual cortex as a method of
discovering PirB functions.
“This opened my eyes to visual
neuroplasticity,” Rice said. “It
brings up more questions and we
need questions to identify more
answers.”
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
SACUA member Angela Fagerlin, associate professor of internal medicine, discusses a student proposal for the
formation of a clean energy committee and the preparation for the March Faculty Governance Conference in the Fleming
Administration Building on Monday.
NIA ULFERS
App combines social platforms
Whether puppies on the
Diag, an a cappella concert or
the view from a new favorite
study spot, it can be difficult to
include everything in a mass
e-mail or a single Yik Yak post.
The new app Speakiesy
aims to combine the benefits
of Twitter, Instagram and Yik
Yak into one social media plat-
form to inform students what is
occurring on campus.
LSA sophomore Nia Ulfers
is the campus representative
for the app and said she has
gained invaluable marketing
experience through the experi-
ence.
What exactly is Speakiesy?
Well, the best way to
describe the app is a social
media site almost like Twit-
ter, Yik Yak and Instagram all
rolled into one, but with the
exclusivity of being purely for
University of Michigan stu-
dents, so you have a to use a
University of Michigan e-mail
to be able to sign up for the
app.
What is the purpose of
Speakiesy?
The purpose of the app
is to let people know what
is going on around cam-
pus. You could also use it
for purely fun purposes as
well: like posting a picture
of you and your dog or how
nice the Diag looks on a
certain day.
Why did you want to
become a representative
for Speakiesy?
I’m looking to get into mar-
keting and advertising. There
is no major (for that) here so
I’m currently pursuing an
Organizational Studies major,
but I think that through this
experience I will learn valu-
able real life skills: I get to
experience building some-
thing from the ground up, and
how difficult it is to spread
word on a huge campus like
this, let alone a bigger city or
bigger publication.
—REBECCA SOLBERG
Meet with Masha
Gessen
WHAT: There will be a
special meet & greet with a
Wallenberg medalist, Masha
Gessen. She is an acclaimed
journalist, author and critic.
WHO: Spectrum Center
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
WHERE: Michigan Union-
Specrum Center
CLAIRE ABDO/Daily
Music, Theatre & Dance sophomore Isabel Signoret performs
at the Voice Department Recital Monday evening at the School
of Music, Theatre & Dance.
DO RE MI
Outdoors
workshop
WHAT: The Outdoor
Adventure staff is teaching
a workshop to introduce
students to a variety of skills
to help hone your outdoor
leadership abilities.
WHO: Michigan Outdoor
Leadership Semester
WHEN: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
WHERE: 36 Hill St. Ann
Arbor, Mich.
STORY
SLAM
Friday, November 20
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
420 Maynard St.
Send entries to Sam Gringlas at gringlas@umich.edu by Nov. 13.
Pieces should be limited to three minutes in length.