“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.”

