Costas Lyssiotis, a molecular
and
integrative
physiology
professor and Ph.D. adviser,
runs a lab that studies cancer
cells in order to form targeted
therapies
to
improve
the
immune system. Many of these
experiments
take
multiple
months
and
involve
mice
that need to be periodically
monitored. Some of his lab
members have set up a Google
Calendar and take turns going
into the lab in order to keep
collecting data from the mice.
“In addition to the time
and financial burden, we’re
cognizant that these animals
give their life for research
and you want to treat them as
fairly as possible, and so to just
sack an experiment when the
results were looking positive,”
Lyssiotis said. “We deem that
to be too extreme.”
Lyssiotis said he has been
overwhelmed throughout the
COVID-19 outbreak and the
governor’s stay-at-home order,
with his two kids occupying a
lot of his time, but he knows
the same isn’t true for others.
“I know some of my grad
students are starting to exhibit
signs of boredom — getting
silly on Twitter, for example,”
Lyssiotis said.
Daniel Kremer is a Rackham
graduate student in Lyssiotis’s
lab, hoping to graduate in
May. He has a paper in the
revision
process,
where
experts in his field suggest he
conduct certain experiments
before publishing the paper.
However, being unable to go
into the lab pushes back his
tentative graduation date to
the end of the summer.
“It was kind of like ‘You’re
almost done. You’re almost
free, almost across the finish
line, but then yeah,’” Kremer
said.
Rackham student Christa
Ventresca is in the middle of
lab rotations, where graduate
students spend several months
in
different
labs
before
deciding on one at the end of
the year. She said her program
in Biomedical Sciences had
made it easy for students,
allowing them to join a lab they
wanted without completing all
the rotations. However, for
Ventresca, spending time in
the physical lab space was an
important part of making a
decision.
“(This situation) makes it
really hard to pick a lab when
you’re not physically in the
lab,” she said.
Rackham student Zachary
Reese is involved in social
psychological
research
where he performs studies
on participants from the LSA
Psychology Subject Pools. With
the cancellation of all human
studies, the focus in his lab has
shifted from data collection
to data analysis. He said the
Psychology Department has
been supportive and is letting
students work at their own
pace,
so
fulfilling
degree
requirements was not a major
concern.
However,
finding
a job is a pressing challenge
for Reese, especially with the
current state of the economy.
“When looking at 2008 and
the big recession, we know
(those who graduated that
year)
had
trouble
finding
jobs,” Reese said. “But when
they did find one, they were
much more grateful and happy
with what they had ... I think
finding a silver lining in all of
this is important.”
Reporter Varsha Vedapudi
can be reached at varshakv@
umich.edu.
Thursday, April 9, 2020 — 3
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
According to Hilkert, kare,
which is being launched as a
mobile app, is his response to a
stigma he noticed surrounding
the
use
of
University
of
Michigan’s resources, as well as
frustration with Counseling and
Psychology Services’ long wait
times.
“A lot of times it might be you
didn’t do as well as you wanted
to on an exam, or you had a
breakup but maybe you’re not in
a dire mental need,” Hilkert said.
“We felt like maybe professional
therapists weren’t needed there
as much as peers, so we did a
lot of research into peer-to-peer
support.”
Hilkert
began
work
on
the project in fall 2019 with
co-founders
Business
and
Engineering
junior
Stephanie
Shoo and Engineering senior
Rodney Shibu.
“We felt that a lot of students
maybe needed problem-solving
and stress relief more than they
needed actual therapy,” Hilkert
said. “So, we decided to create
sort of a mobile application
community,
or
an
online
community, that would allow
students to connect and talk
with each other anonymously,
and hopefully make people feel a
little better.”
Hilkert said he based his
idea off of Wolverine Support
Network and their peer-to-peer
support system.
“I thought (Wolverine Support
Network)
is
a
really
good
resource,” Hilkert said. “But the
limitation there is that it’s once
a week for an hour rather than
being a live resource where you
can chat at any time.”
The community feature of the
kare app works through threads,
where students can make groups
about anything they want to chat
about.
“It could be, for example,
‘Econ 101 homework help’ or it
could be ‘stressed about grades’
or it could be ‘internship group,’”
Hilkert said. “Then (students)
can all sort of chat anonymously
and create sub-threads within
that, where they’re able to talk
about different things that are
bothering them.”
With the app being completely
anonymous, the kare team has
implemented measures designed
to ensure kare remains a safe
community. Users who make
threatening statements, engage
in cyberbullying or use names
will have their account deleted,
as outlined in the user agreement.
Shoo,
who
is
chief
procurement officer of kare,
was involved with running focus
groups
and
conducting
user
interviews with students about
the product. According to Shoo,
these interviews confirmed the
need in the community for such
a resource, with one student
telling her he does not have
time to wait weeks to talk to a
professional who he feels does
not really understand him.
“It really reaffirmed my time
that I’ve committed to kare
because
that’s
exactly
what
kare does,” Shoo said. “It’s an
instantaneous
platform
that
allows students to overcome that
barrier of being worried that
their issues aren’t big enough.”
With classes moving to an
online
format
and
students
having to social distance, the
team
said
they
decided
to
accelerate work and move up the
launch time to this month rather
than next semester. The app is set
to have an early release on April
17 for the first 1,000 University
students who sign up.
“We really want to be a
resource
for
people
during
this hectic time,” Hilkert said.
“We felt like being able to chat
anonymously, whether it be about
your internship being potentially
canceled or about how you’re
handling
different
grading
policies or different things … (It)
was really important to launch
now.”
They all continue to work on
the project from home through
virtual
meetings
with
their
team, which consists of the three
co-founders, three students in
computer science helping on
the technical side of the app
and several freshmen helping
with development and business
management.
Because the team wants to
launch the app as soon as they
can, kare is currently focused
solely on the community aspect
of the app. There are several
other features the team said
they hope to integrate in later,
such as an active listener feature
where students can connect with
trained peer listeners. These
peers would be represented by
different keywords, such as their
major or their ethnicity, to help
students find individuals able to
relate to their experiences.
Though kare is currently just
open
to
University
students,
Shibu, who is chief technology
officer, said they have plans to
expand to colleges nationwide,
and the universities they have
already
spoken
to
expressed
interest in the app.
“We hope we can get a bunch
of users onto the platform from
a bunch of different universities
because, since it is a community,
it will be the more the merrier,”
Shibu said. “The more people you
have on, the more people can give
their feedback.”
Reporter Iulia Dobrin can be
reached at idobrin@umich.edu.
APP
From Page 1
RESEARCH
From Page 1
MASKS
From Page 2
Once the staff at the Ann
Arbor District Library heard
about the AAPS teachers’ use of
3D printers, they realized they
can use their 3D printers to pitch
in. Rich Retyi, communications
and marketing manager at the
AADL,
said
AADL
involved
coworkers in helping to create
personal protective equipment.
They have access to four large
printers, which can print three
shields at a time, and some
smaller ones that can do one at
a time. On average, the library’s
machines make about 20 shields
per day.
“We’ve gotten great support
from everyone at the library,
which
is
really
important
because they made it really easy
for us to get the things we need
and to just go,” Retyi said. “We’ve
been doing a lot of stuff through
our website. We’ve been putting
out craft videos, entertainment
videos, that kind of thing on our
website, but then to be able to add
in something that’s tangible and
that’s directly related to what’s
going on is important for us to be
able to do.”
Nursing
sophomore
Zoe
Gierlinger
said
the
personal
protective
equipment
being
created
by
the
Ann
Arbor
community
is
important
for
doctors and nurses to have when
treating patients.
“One of the first things that we
learned about is how to properly
put on PPE and the different
types of precautions. It ensures
not only the safety and protection
of the patient but also of the
employees,” Gierlinger said. “For
nurses taking care of someone
with an illness, you want to make
sure that you’re not spreading
anything else to a patient that
is already immunocompromised
and you want to make sure that
the nurse is protected because
the nurses are working with
other patients and coming in
contact with other health care
providers. It basically ensures
the protection of both sides.”
Reporter Brayden Hirsch can be
reached at braydenh@umich.edu.
DESIGN BY CAITLIN MARTENS