乐播传媒 in the News: Aug. 26, 2016
MDI Biological Laboratory researchers win heart-drug patent 鈥� Portland Press Herald
Researcher Voot Yin 鈥�96 and a colleague at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory have won a patent to continue work on a drug that could solve a common and urgent medical problem: helping heart tissue regenerate after a heart attack.
Voot Yin ’96, a researcher at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, holds a bowl of zebrafish, a species that provided clues to MSI-1436’s possible use as a heart drug. (Photograph by MDI Biological Laboratory)
The notes that the 鈥減atent award represents a major step forward in moving the molecule MSI-1436 toward clinical trials in humans.鈥�
The stakes are high. 鈥淭here are currently no approved treatments to stimulate regeneration of heart muscle in humans,鈥� writes reporter Dennis Hoey.
Yin’s partner is Kevin Strange, president of MDIBL, and they’re collaborating with
Yin鈥檚 work with zebrafish, who have a 70 percent match with human genetics, offered the first clues to MSI-1436’s possible use as a heart drug.
Unlike the human heart, the zebrafish heart 鈥渞obustly regenerates missing or damaged tissue in as little as 30 to 60 days,” Yin explains. When he and his colleagues introduced MSI-1436 into zebrafish, the regeneration accelerated.
鈥淭he scientists believe the molecule could activate similar genes in humans,鈥� writes Hoey.
Encouraging results have been found in mice, too. 鈥淚f MSI-1436 shows similar results in humans, it will be a game-changer for patients who suffer a heart attack and/or are living with heart problems,鈥� Yin says.
High finance, horse racing, and a “special” horse named Flipcup 鈥� Thoroughbred Daily News
As thoroughbred racing’s spotlight shifted to Saratoga Springs in August, the turf media called on Shirl Penney ’99, who shared his story of growing up in Eastport, Maine, with 乐播传媒 Magazine in 2005.
Since then, Penney founded , a firm that supports wealth-management advisers with what Forbes calls 鈥渁 game-changing integrated platform of technology and services.鈥�
Thoroughbred Daily News writer Joe Bianca, in his story “” described Penney’s life this way:
He has essentially lived two dichotomous, massively eventful lives in those 39 years, overcoming extreme poverty and immense odds as a child to establish himself in adulthood as a power player on Wall Street and a thriving presence in the thoroughbred industry.
Penney’s 5-year-old mare Flipcup “is special to us because she’s a member of our family,” Penney tells Thoroughbred Daily News. (Michael Burns Photography)
Meanwhile, WRGB-TV in Albany enlisted聽 Penney and his wife, Mary Ann, for a whimsical story on . (She’s sired by Milwaukee Brew, so the name does indeed reflect a certain drinking game.)
Beyond that angle, Flipcup “is special to us because she’s a member of our family,” Penney says.
“We have two daughters…they hang out with her every morning. We named her, we bred her, we’ve been around her ever since she’s been a baby. Any chance you get to go out and watch a member of your family compete, it makes it extra special.”
Penney was recently named a of the prestigious Aspen Institute.
Higher-education policy and its relevance for the future of our economy and democracy 鈥� Harvard Magazine
Against the backdrop of public discourse that’s 鈥渄efined increasingly by 鈥榩ost-factual鈥� and policy-annihilating debate,鈥� a new book by higher-education experts William Bowen and Michael McPherson is a satisfying read, writes President Clayton Spencer in a .
President Spencer reviews Lesson Plan in Harvard Magazine. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
Bowen and McPherson’s聽Lesson Plan offers readers a 鈥渟hort, yet disarmingly rich and precise, primer on higher-education policy and its compelling relevance for the future of our economy and democracy.鈥�
The authors, Spencer writes, believe that any course correction in higher-education policy 鈥渞equires moving beyond our current preoccupation with 鈥榓ccess and affordability鈥� 鈥� maximizing the number of people who begin college.”
Instead, policy should look at “what we need to do to increase the number of people who complete a degree.鈥�
The experience of transitioning revealed male privilege 鈥� Lewiston Sun Journal
The Lewiston Sun Journal’s feature “Transgender in Maine” profiled several transgender Mainers, including Jenna Ginsberg ’94, who transitioned to a woman about a decade ago.
Jenna Ginsberg ’94 profiled by the Lewiston Sun Journal for its story “Transgender in Maine” (Andree Kehn / Lewiston Sun Journal)
Reporter , who was working for a Maine ski resort at the time of her transition, the experience revealed the “privilege” that she’d had as a man in that workplace.
At the resort, Ginsberg says that she had enjoyed “independence and autonomy as a man.” But as a woman, she was “told how to do things and micromanaged.”
After a dozen years of very positive performance reviews, “all of the sudden I had a negative performance review for the same types of behaviors,” she tells the Sun Journal.
“I literally went from being [called] ambitious….to being told I was pushy.”
An alpine skier who majored in philosophy and psychology at 乐播传媒, Ginsberg now runs her own company, All Sports Events, providing support for sports events, including timing, logistics, and scoring.
Why the U.S. is right to move away from private prisons 鈥� The New Yorker
Chris Petrella ’06 is a lecturer at 乐播传媒 who this fall teaches the First-Year Seminar “This American Death,” about U.S. prison executions. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
The news media turned to Chris Petrella 鈥�06 this week after the Department of Justice announced it would stop using private prisons.
used Petrella鈥檚 insights to explain why people of color are over-represented in private prisons to an even greater degree than in the overall prison system.
It’s because private prison companies can refuse to incarcerate people whose advanced age or poor health 鈥� factors that 鈥渟erve as a proxy for race鈥� 鈥� might cost them money.
Meanwhile, Petrella tells that lobbying efforts used by private prison companies, such as seeking to be restructured as real estate investment trusts, reveal their true nature.
Behaving like a real estate business is a “major, major problem,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ecause when we鈥檙e talking about incarcerating human bodies, the language of real estate is just so grievously inappropriate.”
It takes a village, whose citizens include Carlisle, to raise an Olympic champion 鈥� The Ringer
Seeking insights about the marketability of Olympic athletes, the media sought out sports agent Peter Carlisle ’91 early and often during the Rio Games.
In 2010, Peter Carlisle ’91 poses in his Portland, Maine, office in front of a poster of Michael Phelps wearing his Athens medals. (Phyllis Graber Jensen / 乐播传媒 College)
Carlisle, who represents household-name Olympians like Simone Biles and Michael Phelps, was dubbed “” by The Ringer for his work with Phelps.
Specifically, Carlisle was able to secure “major partnerships that span the four years of an Olympic cycle.” In so doing, he 鈥渂rought security to his client while also giving the brands an incentive to continue to promote their investment even during the lull between the Athens and Beijing games.鈥�
While 鈥渢here is no simple equation for Olympic endorsement deals,鈥� according to The Washington Post, 鈥渢he athletes with the highest profiles鈥� can ink several-year deals over $1 million.
, the Post says that 鈥渟wimmers and women鈥檚 gymnasts typically have a leg up on other sports because of their prominence and demographic appeal.鈥�
After Ryan Lochte and two teammates did their dumb deed in Rio, turned to Carlisle, whose work with Phelps has included efforts to raise the visibility of U.S. swimming, for context.
鈥淭he cumulative quality and nature of the exposure related to swimming certainly influences the level of interest among brands鈥� in representing Lochte and his teammates.
Then there are athletes like U.S. shooter Kim Rhode, who won a sixth medal in Rio but won鈥檛 gain significant sponsorship.
Carlisle was quoted by in its story debunking the rumor that Rhode can鈥檛 cash in because she supports Donald Trump and the Second Amendment.
The truth, as he explains, has to do with “limited exposure. If the sport itself doesn鈥檛 provide a consistent platform for the athletes to become recognizable and maintain relevance, there鈥檚 limited value to a sponsor.鈥�
They’re caring for an all-time high of 80 parrots of all sizes, shapes, colors, and dispositions 鈥� Bangor Daily News
“Margaret and her husband, Fritz, are the founders and sole operators of , which the couple describe as ‘assisted living for retired parrots,'” reporter Aislinn Sarnacki.
“For more than a decade,” the story continues, “they have been taking in rescued and displaced parrots and giving them a permanent home at the sanctuary, which is connected to the Buschmann house in Harmony,” about 35 miles north of Waterville.
Parrots can live for decades, which explains why the Buschmanns take in many of their birds. It’s because “people鈥檚 lives change,鈥� Margaret says.
鈥淭he biggest source of parrots for us is older people, who have had a beloved pet for 30 years and now have to go into a nursing home or a condo that doesn鈥檛 allow birds, and they鈥檙e just beside themselves on what they鈥檙e going to do with their birds.鈥�
Margaret and Fritz, who is the son of the late German professor August Buschmann, were married in October 1972 and moved to Harmony to raise animals on 50 acres of farmland. He’s a surveyor, and she’s a diabetes educator.
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