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Study reveals key details about bacterium that increases risk for stomach cancer

More than half of the people in the world host colonies of a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori in their stomachs.

Although it’s harmless to many, H. pylori can cause stomach cancer as well as ulcers and other gastric conditions. Doctors tend to prescribe multiple antibiotics to defeat the microbe, but that strategy can lead to antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Now, a finding by UCLA scientists may lead to a better approach. The researchers have determined the molecular structure of a protein that enables H. pylori to stay alive in the stomach, and elucidated the mechanism by which that protein works.

Z. Hong Zhou, the study’s corresponding author and a UCLA professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, said the findings answer questions that have been sought ever since 2005, when two Australian scientists won a Nobel Prize for their discovery of H. pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.

Congrats to Jessica Ramella-Roman for Being Elected as a 2019 SPIE Fellow

Each year, SPIE promotes Members as new Fellows of the Society. SPIE will honor 88 new Fellows of the Society this year. Fellows are Members of distinction who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging. They are honored for their technical achievement and for their service to the general optics community and to SPIE in particular. More than 1,400 SPIE members have become Fellows since the Society’s inception in 1955. Dr. Jessica Ramella-Roman, Florida International University, United States was elected for achievements in spectro-polarimetric techniques for diagnostic applications.

Congrats to Jose Rodriguez for Being Selected as One of C&EN’s Talented Twelve

Welcome to the fourth annual Talented 12 issue. We’ve spent months searching high and low for these bright, young scientific minds and are excited to finally introduce you to them. Here, you’ll meet a dozen chemists pushing the boundaries in their fields. To say they are tackling life’s great mysteries would be an understatement. The interests of these distinguished researchers include deciphering the chemistry that enabled life on Earth, exploring molecules in far-flung parts of our solar system, designing out-of-this-world materials that can store energy or mimic human organs, and developing technology to precisely alter the code of life.

Margaret Murnane Presented Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad

JILA Fellow Margaret Murnane was one of 10 recipients of the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney announced the names of the award winners on the 28th of November 2018. These awards, established in 2012, are meant to recognize the contributions of members of the Irish diaspora.

Each of the awards is for contributions to a specific category. Murnane received the science, technology and innovation award for her work as “one of the leading optical physicists of her generation”, according The Irish Times.

The awards were presented on Thursday, November 29th, 2018, by Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgens.

Other recipients of the award include Novelist Edna O’Brien and Irish-American Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Kennedy.

Congrats to Kasra Nowrouzi for Receiving the Spot Award from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

Spot Award Purpose: The purpose of the Spot Recognition Award program is to acknowledge and reward outstanding individual and/or team workplace contributions that occur on a day-to-day basis. (For safety-related recognition, please see the Safety Spot Award Program Guidelines). Contributions should impact the quality, cost, service, safety, or resource utilization of an organizational unit, team, or department.

Congrats to Margaret Murnane for Receiving the Presidential Distinguished Service Award

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Simon Coveney, T.D., today announced the names of the recipients of the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad for 2018.

The Presidential Distinguished Service Award was established by the Government following the 2011 Global Irish Economic Forum as a means to recognise the contribution of members of the Irish diaspora, and the first awards were made in 2012.

Announcing the recipients of the award, the Tánaiste said:

“I am delighted to have the opportunity once again this year to formally recognise the achievements of some of the finest members of our global family, our diaspora.”

“The diverse contributions of these individuals extends across six different categories. Through their work, they contribute to building an invaluably positive image of Ireland and Irish people around the world.”

“This is the seventh year in which recipients have received this Award, and the ceremony remains a very important opportunity to acknowledge those who have contributed to realising Ireland’s place as an island at the centre of the world.”

Novelists Edna O’Brien and William Kennedy among winners of award for Irish abroad

Limerick-born Prof Margaret Murnane will be given the award for the science, technology and innovation award, which will be presented to her in the US. Prof Murnane is regarded as being one of the leading optical physicists of her generation. She is Director of the National Science Foundation STROBE Science and Technology Center on functional nano-imaging, a fellow at JILA and Distinguished Professor at the Department of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado.

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