“In the short term, we wouldn’t be
necessarily replacing a mammogram;
we would be trying to provide more
information to the physician so that they
could make better decisions from the
results they would get from both this
imaging and a mammogram,” Thurber
said. “Long term, the idea would be to
completely replace (mammograms)
because there are many challenges
with mammograms that we believe our
approach can help overcome.”
Providing more accurate screening
results is also comforting to patients.
Rackham student Sumit Bhatnagar
assisted with the research for the
project and emphasized the importance
of reducing the overtreatment of breast
cancer.
“When you have a lot of patients
that have to go through chemotherapy
and all these procedures that are not
required, it leads to a loss of quality in life
for a lot of these people,” Bhatnagar said.
“So that’s something that can be avoided
in the screening stage that would be
preferable.”
The pill is taken orally and dissolves
into the bloodstream, just like food,
says Thurber. The carefully-designed
molecules are distributed throughout
the body and bind onto breast cancer
cells. After a few days, a physician looks
for tumors by shining a near-infrared
light on the breasts.
Pharmaceutical sciences professor
David Smith assisted Thurber’s team
with the research. According to Smith,
one of the team’s challenges was assuring
the molecule was correctly absorbed
by the body. The team had to design a
molecule that was soluble enough to be
absorbed into the bloodstream, but also
greasy enough to pass through a tumor
cell’s membrane.
“It has to have the right chemical
structure to have selectivity for cancer
cells and not normal regular cells,”
Smith said. “So you can imagine getting
all those qualities in one molecule is not
so easy.”
According to Bhatnagar, the research
team created a range of different
imaging agents with varying properties
to see which combination of properties
would work best in the body.
“We did cell experiments and plate
experiments to eliminate a few of
these, so based on certain properties we
narrowed it down from the five or six
to about three, which we then tested in
mice to see which one was the one we
could get the highest amount of into the
blood,” Bhatnagar said.
With successful results on mice, the
team is looking to expand the method
for not only other types of cancer, but
other diseases as well.
3
NEWS
Thursday, May 10, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Holocaust survivor shares
her memoir at local library
Retired Public
Health professor
presents book
By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM
Summer Daily News Editor
Author Irene Butter, a retired Pub-
lic Health professor, presented her book
“Shores Beyond Shores, From Holocaust
to Hope: My True Story” at the Ann Arbor
District Library Tuesday evening. Original-
ly from Berlin, Butter is a survivor of Bergen-
Belsen concentration camp. She arrived in
the United States on Dec. 24, 1945.
The Holocaust lasted from 1941 to 1945,
where Jews and other groups were sys-
tematically tortured and exterminated by
the Nazis throughout camps in Europe.
According to the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, approximately 6 mil-
lion Jews, and many others from other
groups, were killed.
Library Director Josie Parker intro-
duced Butter, giving positive reviews of
Butter’s book for its enlightening and mov-
ing content.
“It’s a very different story than many
of you might think of or read in the past
regarding the Holocaust,” Parker said. “It’s
inspiring. It’s moving. It awakens your spirit
in a time when we really that.”
Butter began by explaining how she
came about to write the book with her co-
authors, Kris Holloway and John Bidwell.
Holloway was a former student of Butter’s
and Butter met Bidwell through her. She
explained that their goal was to recapture
childhood memories Butter had at each
stage of her Holocaust experience.
“The guiding principle throughout our
journey was to recapture the (course) of the
child at each stage in this narrative,” Butter
said. “There are many memoirs about the
Holocaust, yet how children lived through
these experiences, what they heard, what
they saw and what they felt has really been
revealed.”
Holloway felt it was important to docu-
ment what life was like for Irene before the
Holocaust began.
“An important part for me of writing the
book was to portray the early years before
all the horror happened,” Holloway said.
Holloway then went on to read a section
of the book detailing Butter’s first experi-
ence seeing a “Jews Forbidden” sign while
biking.
Bidwell then read a section of the book
detailing Butter’s experience in Bergen-
Belsen as the camp became overcrowded
and hunger more prevalent.
“As the food hit my lips, my body wanted
to slurp down every last drop and chew
every last crumb,” Bidwell read. “Maybe,
maybe this is how vampires feel about
blood.”
After working with Detroit and Ann
Arbor students, Butter explained that she
feels students see the importance of toler-
ance and have a desire for stories that bring
hope.
“Students recognize that all of us are
responsible for each other regardless of our
color, religion or race,” Butter said. “We are
all hungry for stories of hope and triumph
over tragedy.”
Butter explained the impact of a mar-
riage between her Jewish daughter and a
Palestinian man.
“My granddaughters were born in
Israel to a Jewish mother, my daughter,
and a Palestinian father,” Butter said. “This
has not always been easy for them. But I’ve
learned that the surest path to peace may be
when the other becomes your own.”
In a question and answer portion, But-
ter answered a question regarding what
“Never Again,” a phrase dedicated to geno-
cide awareness, means to her.
“‘Never Again’ is a wish,” Butter said.
“So far, I would say it has been an unfulfilled
promise. Just seeing it doesn’t make it hap-
pen. I think a lot more has to go on before
‘Never Again’ can become a reality.”
Butter then reflected upon her relation-
ship with Anne Frank. Although she did
not know her well, Butter lived near Frank
when in Amsterdam, and eventually ended
up at Bergen-Belsen with her. Butter was
friends with Frank’s close friend Hanneli
Goslar, and the two threw clothes to Frank
when she did not have any in Bergen-
Belsen.
“One day she (Hanneli) found out that
Anne was in a joining (camp) separated by
barbed wire,” Butter said. “She found out
her sister (Margot) was too sick to come to
the fence and she didn’t have any clothing,
only a grey blanket wrapped around her, so
Hanneli said she would try and find some
clothing and come back the next night.”
Butter explained that the next day some-
one else picked up the clothing bundle they
threw over the fence, but the pair tried again
with another bundle and Frank received it.
Ann Arbor resident Helen Aminoff‘s
family came to the United States from
England at the beginning of World War II
without any trouble. At the event, Aminoff
explained she felt fortunate that her fam-
ily could come to the US before the borders
closed.
“We were very fortunate,” Aminoff said.
“We did not have anyone who died in the
Holocaust. I have so many friends who lost
family members. I usually get very annoyed
with people who deny the Holocaust and
say it didn’t happen. It’s not true. Check your
facts.”
LAWSUIT
From Page 1
RESEARCH
From Page 1
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
“A bias incident is conduct
that discriminates, stereotypes,
excludes,
harasses
or
harms
anyone
in
our
community
based on their identity (such as
race, color, ethnicity, national
origin, sex, gender identity or
expression, sexual orientation,
disability, age or religion),” the
website states.
Ultimately, the lawsuit filed by
Speech First questions whether
the opportunity to report bias
incidents and mete out justice
stifles the atmosphere at the
University. Speech First also
challenges the legitimacy of the
bias reports filed and focuses on
the vague terminology on the
Bias Response Team website.
The University’s Bias Response
website explains a bias incident
can
be
anything
inciting
uncomfortable “feelings.”
“Bias comes in many forms.
It can be a hurtful action based
on who someone is as a person,”
the website states. “The most
important indication of bias is
your own feelings.”
The
Bias
Response
Team
allows students to file complaints
and follows up the reports by
investigating the incidents and
the students involved. The Bias
Response Team reacts to incidents
such as the blackface Snapchat
mocking
#BlackLivesMatter
during the spring term and the
racial slurs written on dorm door
name tags during the fall term, by
investigating the incidents and
using a detailed log to explain
the steps taken to respond to the
racist incidents.
While
the
Bias
Response
Team seeks to eliminate hateful
and harmful speech, Speech
First seeks to protect all student
voices, even if they might be
unpopular.
“In
recent
years,
colleges
have adopted various policies
— including speech codes, ‘safe
spaces,’ and ‘free speech zones’
— with the goal of shutting
down unwanted speech,” the
Speech First website states. “The
message is clear: Students with
unconventional
ideas
should
shut up and keep their opinions
to themselves. Censoring speech
infringes the rights of students to
express their opinions on campus.
Just as important, it harms the
rights of other students to listen
to the speech — to challenge,
debate, and learn from the views
of their fellow students.”
The University is one of several
universities in the nation with
a bias response team, but the
first to receive a federal lawsuit.
University
spokeswoman
Kim Broekhuizen declined to
comment regarding the lawsuit.
“We haven’t been served a
copy of the lawsuit and have
no
comment
at
this
time,”
Broekhuizen wrote.
Visit MichiganDaily.com for more content
The website
explains a bias
incident can be
anything inciting
uncomfortable
“feelings.”