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All Creatures Great and Small

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Story by Robyn Murray | Video by Lance Schwartz

The National Geographic Photo Ark exhibit at the University of Nebraska State Museum – Morrill Hall features the work of world-renowned wildlife photographer, Nebraska native and University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumnus Joel Sartore. Sartore has traveled the world in his quest to create a photo archive of global biodiversity and raise awareness of at-risk wildlife. The exhibit was made possible by University of Nebraska Foundation Trustees Mary and Del Lienemann, Jr., who first envisioned a permanent display honoring Sartore’s work in his hometown.

Support the Nebraska State Museum

You can support public programs celebrating Joel Sartore’s powerful permanent exhibition at the University of Nebraska State Museum and double your impact. University of Nebraska Foundation Trustee and board member Anne Hubbard, M.D., has made a generous matching challenge gift of $1 million to support the museum.

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Bridging the Drug Discovery Gap

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By Kristen A. Schmitt

When Marsha and Neal Morien of Arizona decided to invest in the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Center for Drug Design and Innovation, they knew it could benefit not only the state of Nebraska, but possibly the world. That’s because the newly opened center has a critical goal: to help shift the paradigm of drug discovery and development.

“We live in an environment where there are many opportunities to give, but instead of making a small impact, we wanted to put our funds toward a larger opportunity that can make a difference,” Marsha Morien said. The Moriens’ gift commitment is being matched by funds available through an estate gift made by College of Pharmacy alumnus Joe Williams and his wife, Millie.

The current system of drug discovery and development is ripe for innovation. Large pharmaceutical companies employ some of the world’s best minds in drug development, but to maintain the complex infrastructure needed to bring a billion-dollar-plus drug through FDA approval, these companies tend to focus on blockbuster drugs. Within that paradigm, it may make little financial sense to develop drugs such as antibiotics, which are designed to be taken for a short period of time, or drugs that are otherwise unlikely to generate significant sales, such as so-called “orphan” drugs. These drugs, however, may be critically needed by hundreds of thousands of people or, in the case of antibiotics, millions.

UNO’s close proximity to the University of Nebraska Medical Center makes it an essential player in tackling this challenge by providing foundational STEM classes and a path to a health professions education.

Keith Olsen, Pharm.D., is the Joseph D. Williams Endowed Dean of UNMC's College of Pharmacy.

This center will be a critical resource for the design of new therapeutics that provide new hope for Nebraskans facing challenging medical diagnoses.

Keith Olsen, Pharm.D.

Corey Hopkins, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the UNMC College of Pharmacy and the center’s inaugural director, said the Moriens’ gift couldn’t have come at a better time.

“It shows that the vision we had for the center is supported,” he said. “We have people behind it and this gift will benefit UNMC, the College of Pharmacy and Nebraska.”

An important first step in drug discovery and development is seed funding for novel research, which the Moriens’ gift will help provide. Seed funding allows researchers to complete their study or conduct another series of experiments to move their projects along  — either closer to translation into treatments or to obtaining a patent.

“The hardest part with grant funding is you first have to have results,”  Hopkins said. “A gift like this one from Marsha and Neal can act as the start of a new project rather than [researchers having to] rely on federal funding. It can help jump-start new and promising ideas.”

Along with allowing more opportunity to obtain federal grants, seed funding also can help the center  — and its researchers  — gain industry interest, which can lead to potential partnerships and funding for additional research.

Keith Olsen, Pharm.D., who serves as the Joseph D. Williams Endowed Dean of UNMC’s College of Pharmacy, said the center not only will lay the foundation for seminal contributions from UNMC’s research faculty as well as the wider University of Nebraska System, but it also will put the university on par with other Big Ten institutions.

“Most importantly,” Olsen said, “this center will be a critical resource for the design of new therapeutics that provide new hope for Nebraskans facing challenging medical diagnoses.”

‘Public Health, It’s Everything’

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Trustee is a Passionate Advocate for the College of Public Health

By Robyn Murray

Katie Weitz holds up a board of colorful graphics. It shows a farm, a neighborhood, a bus line and a hospital, each connected by small arrows. The board is an illustration of the many areas of life that encompass public health. It was created by the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health, for which Weitz is a passionate advocate.

“The College of Public Health, it’s everything,” Weitz said. “It’s how to make the world a better place.”

A University of Nebraska Foundation Trustee, Weitz serves as chair of the Only in Nebraska campaign committee for the College of Public Health, and she uses the illustration to explain to people what public health means. It can be difficult to describe. The American Public Health Association says, “Public health promotes and protects the health of all people and their communities.” A few examples it lists are tracking disease outbreaks and vaccinating communities; addressing the impact of climate change on our health; developing worker safety standards; and working to prevent gun violence.

“The College of Public Health is taking on all the system issues,” Weitz said. “I think public health is the study of the interplay between the systems and the individuals. I really love the spectrum of perspectives that it brings.”

Since becoming a campaign volunteer, Weitz has worked to educate and engage people about public health. She said her goal is to broaden the base of support for the college, which has existed only since 2006 and whose graduates typically earn less than those from other UNMC colleges.

“If I had to group [public health students and faculty] into a category, I’d say these are the change-makers,” Weitz said. “These are people who are making a global difference and a local difference on the individual and social level.”

“If I had to group [public health students and faculty] into a category, I’d say these are the change-makers. These are people who are making a global difference and a local difference on the individual and social level.”

Katie Weitz, University of Nebraska Foundation Trustee

In her role for the campaign, Weitz has thought of fundraising in broader terms — not just about raising money  — and has come up with innovative ways to increase engagement. Not only has she made generous gifts supporting the college and the Trustees Fund for the Future, but she also has connected the foundation with people interested in public health and hosted several events, including film screenings, panel discussions, postcard writing activities, focus groups and even a murder-mystery-style fundraiser, where guests solved clues to find the source of an infectious disease outbreak. The events brought together nonprofit leaders, policymakers and faculty members from the college.

“Having people interested and engaged with the university is just as important as how much money they can give to the campaign or to the college,” Weitz said. “We’re never going to solve these problems with private money. So, their social capital is important  — how they vote, who they talk to, it really matters.”

Weitz serves as president of the Weitz Family Foundation, and her passion for education and volunteerism is rooted in her family. Her parents, Barbara and Wally Weitz, have made transformational gifts to the university, and Barbara Weitz currently serves as a University of Nebraska regent.

“The idea of tithing was a big deal in our family early on,” Katie Weitz said, “not just that 10% of your allowance should go in the little church envelopes, but also service. I was writing letters in protest of injustice in first grade. It was just part of how we talked and what we talked about.”

Weitz, who has two master’s degrees and a doctorate in human development and social policy, began her career as a teacher. Today, she said she is inspired in her philanthropic work by the people on the ground.

“The teachers inspire me; the people who are starting nonprofits or working in nonprofits; the academics,” she said. “They’re so passionate about the work they do. It’s contagious. I think I get energy and hope and find myself committing to things because of the individuals who are doing the work.”

While Weitz has hosted numerous events of various sizes, she encourages trustees looking to advocate for the university to start small.

“Start with your friends,” she said. “Just gathering a few people and a faculty member together, talking about an issue is fabulous. It’s the little mind shifts that happen when you meet new people and learn new things.”

Weitz said education is critical for a thriving democracy, and she encourages other trustees to use their social networks to communicate and advocate for the important work being done at the university.

“Our dollars can go a lot further if we’re able to use these informal networks of messaging, bringing people in and helping them understand the issues,” she said. “I’m sure trustees who have relationships and colleges where their passions are could find those same kinds of passion points. Having more of the community connected to the university benefits the university, our state and democracy.”

UNMC Giving Day succeeds because of big-hearted donors like Jack

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By Connie White

Jack Henry of Omaha knows firsthand what it’s like to lose a loved one to a life-threatening illness. His 10-year-old sister died from a brain tumor in March 1986.

So it was tough to learn in 2021 that his mother, Linda Henry of Logan, Iowa, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, considered to be one of the world’s most lethal cancers. Linda is being treated at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine.

In gratitude for her care, Jack decided to give back as part of the first-ever UNMC Giving Day— For the Greater Good. The March 30-31 event raised $278,229 from 1,542 supporters. The giving event, organized by the University of Nebraska Foundation, lasted 1,869 minutes in honor of UNMC’s founding in 1869.

The inaugural UNMC Giving Day supported more than 70 causes, including student scholarships, UNMC’s colleges and student organizations and Nebraska Medicine, UNMC’s primary clinical partner.  

Jack’s Deconstruct Cancer Challenge was established using personal funds and with financial support from the owners of the company Jack works for, Johnson Deconstruct of Omaha. His efforts resulted in a total of 30 gifts, raising $4,450 for the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence, which seeks to transform the early detection, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

“I feel so lucky having this state-of-the-art medical facility right next door,” Jack said. “It’s such a noble effort, and it’s right here in Nebraska.”

Linda, 72, said she’s proud of her son for organizing the fundraiser and is grateful for the care she’s received at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. “It has meant the world to me. I’ve got a lot to live for.”

She recalls learning she had pancreatic cancer in the emergency room. “I thought there was no hope for anything. I didn’t think anyone got over pancreatic cancer.”

Linda said she was fortunate her pancreatic cancer was detected early, and after six months of chemotherapy and Whipple surgery to remove part of her pancreas, she’s looking to the future with optimism. She treasures time with her three children and five grandchildren and has a message for others with pancreatic cancer.

“There is hope.”

Dad Inspires UNMC Student Taylor Kizer to Become a Donor

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Taylor Kizer has been raising funds to support multiple sclerosis research and education at the University of Nebraska Medical Center since her dad was diagnosed with MS in 2015.

By Connie White

Taylor Kizer wants to start a ripple. “Enough ripples can start a wave,” the 24-year-old says. Taylor’s hope is that a wave of research can someday bring a cure to her dad.

Lance Kizer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2015 at the start of Taylor’s senior year at Overton High School, which is about 25 miles west of Kearney.

On vacation in California with his wife, Lance noticed that his leg began to drag as he tired while walking on the beach. He had experienced other symptoms back home in Nebraska: weakness in his legs and trouble with balance and coordination. Lance went to see an orthopedist and then a neurologist. After undergoing a spinal tap and an MRI, Lance learned his diagnosis.

“None of us was super sure what multiple sclerosis was,” Taylor says, recalling her family’s reaction.

But Taylor knew this: There is no cure.

Taylor set out to learn all she could about the chronic neurological disease while raising funds to benefit the Multiple Sclerosis Research and Education Fund at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Taylor and her best friend Sidney Enochs organized a “Take the Shot for MS” basketball tournament at their high school. The “shot” referred to more than just basketball. At the time, Lance was giving himself three injections a week to treat his symptoms. Nine teams signed up, and Taylor and Sidney netted $4,000 in donations.

Taylor and Sidney weren’t done.

After graduating, the two friends enrolled at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. With the help of family, friends, the community of Overton and the surrounding central Nebraska towns, Taylor and Sidney put on three more basketball tournaments and a sand volleyball tournament. They also hosted a 30-mile bike ride between Overton and Kearney. In 2020, when COVID-19 shut down in-person events, Taylor and Sidney sent out donation packets. Their 2022 fundraiser was another sand volleyball tournament, held July 9 in Kearney. The event brought in nearly $7,000.

In all, more than $39,000 has been donated to the UNMC fund through Taylor and Sidney’s fundraising and other donations sent on behalf of the Kizer family.

Rana Zabad, M.D., chief of the multiple sclerosis/neuroimmunology division in UNMC’s Department of Neurological Sciences, says Taylor’s fundraising is critical to advancing the program’s goals.

“Within the last quarter of a century, the science of multiple sclerosis and similar conditions has gone through unprecedented growth in all scientific aspects of the disease, resulting in an earlier diagnosis of MS and similar conditions,” Zabad says.

The UNMC fund supports training and a fellowship program to prepare the next generation of interested neurologists and psychiatrists to care for people with MS and to conduct research. She says a rise in the prevalence of MS in the United States and worldwide has led to increased demand for neurologists specializing in MS.

And while great strides are being made, treatment and diagnostic gaps exist, including understanding the disease’s “fingerprints” through biomarkers, blood tests or tests of other bodily fluids to allow for earlier diagnosis, managing treatments for long-term safety, reaching MS patients in rural and urban areas, and researching cheaper treatment options.

“With the proven benefit of early treatment and the availability of 23 FDA-approved disease-modifying therapies and counting, there is a pressing need to train more providers with expertise in the accurate diagnosis, earlier treatment and management of treatments’ side effects,” Zabad says.

MS occurs when the immune system attacks the nerve fibers and the myelin, the protective layer insulating healthy nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Each patient reacts differently, with some having minimal to no symptoms, others mildly to moderately impacted, and a third group with significant limitations.

Because of the treatments now available, Zabad says the disease’s effects can be somewhat mitigated. However, MS still impacts the employment, family and social life of a sizeable group of patients.

Lance, a veterinarian in Overton, is among 4,000 patients being actively followed through UNMC’s multiple sclerosis program.

He says his symptoms have progressed as he expected over the past seven years.

He now uses a walking stick and has lost dexterity in his fingers. “One arm is less useful than it was before,” Lance says.

If he gets a fever, like he did when he had COVID-19 last fall, he can barely walk.

He has cut back his work schedule to part time because of the physical demands of working with large animals.

Lance, 54, attends weekly physical therapy sessions and does balance and stretching exercises at home. Under Zabad’s care, he comes to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha every six months to receive infusions. He recently underwent surgery to implant a baclofen pump in his abdomen to deliver medicine to treat painful spasms in his back.

He’s grateful for the care he has received, noting that Zabad is always willing to spend whatever time it takes to answer questions from him or his wife, Sue.

Sue says her family, which also includes two sons, gets through the tough days with the support of family and friends and their faith.

“You do learn to take it one day at a time. One minute, one hour,” she says. “I wish we knew what the future held.”

Lance and Sue Kizer say they are proud of their daughter’s fundraising efforts but say they’re not surprised. Once she gets an idea, Taylor is determined to see it through.

“This is one way she can help me directly,” Lance says.

Tayler says she has been fortunate to meet other families coping with MS through the fundraisers. Donations often are made on behalf of someone with MS. Taylor says she tries to inspire hope because living with a chronic disease like MS can cause people to lose hope.

“We’ve just been able to spread a lot of awareness for multiple sclerosis,” she says.

Zabad calls Taylor a “rising health care advocate.”

“Taylor’s fundraising put Nebraska on the map of MS centers of excellence that offer fellowships,” Zabad says. “I trust that Taylor will continue to partner with us. She and her family have been of great help to their community raising awareness about the disease and encouraging patients to seek a second opinion and care at UNMC. Taylor’s work enables us to think over and over about our priority — patients first.”

Lance’s diagnosis also influenced Taylor’s choice of profession. After earning a degree in health sciences from UNK in 2020, she enrolled in UNMC’s physician assistant program. She will graduate in December and plans to return to Kearney, where she has accepted a position with CHI Health Orthopedics Good Samaritan.

She says she’s looking forward to “practicing amazing medicine in small town Nebraska.”

“Being around my family is always a plus,” Taylor says.

And she plans to keep raising funds to help find a cure for her dad.

To learn more about the multiple sclerosis program at UNMC, click here. 

Turning the Tide on Diabetes

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Diabetes On Track Aims to Turn the Tide on High Diabetes Rates, Especially in Rural Communities

By Connie White

Go anywhere in rural America, and you’re likely to find someone struggling with diabetes. Someone’s friend. Someone’s wife. Someone’s grandpa.

Nebraska is no exception. An estimated 10% of Nebraskans are living with diabetes, and 35% have prediabetes, with much of those numbers concentrated in rural areas. Thanks to a generous private gift, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine recently launched Diabetes On Track.

The initiative seeks to improve diabetes care and prevention by piloting a new approach in two rural Nebraska communities. Launched this fall, the idea is for communities to tailor their own solutions through collaboration among health departments, health clinics, hospitals and community groups.

The program was made possible by a $7 million gift from the Diabetes Care Foundation of Nebraska.

“We are very excited to be involved in the development of such a critical program,” said Cyrus Desouza, MBBS, an endocrinologist and chief of the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism. “The prevalence of diabetes tends to run higher in rural communities along with worse outcomes.”

A model for rural areas

The hope, Desouza said, is to create a rural model for use across the country.

Diabetes is a chronic medical condition that affects how the body metabolizes food and utilizes glucose. When someone has diabetes, the pancreas either doesn’t make enough insulin to push the glucose from the blood vessels into the cells, or the body doesn’t respond as it should to insulin.

The risk of developing Type 2 diabetes increases with age and if a person has a family history of the disease. There is no cure, but a healthy lifestyle can help delay or prevent it.

Desouza is a principal researcher along with David Dzewaltowski, Ph.D. Desouza is also a medical doctor who treats diabetes patients. Dzewaltowski is a public health expert in the UNMC College of Public Health focused on communities and social determinants of nutrition, physical activity and obesity.

Desouza said patients can’t control their diabetes by just taking a pill. They need an understanding of factors affecting glucose and insulin, including exercise, food, stress and illness. Eighty percent of the control is in the patient’s hands. Uncontrolled diabetes can have severe consequences, including heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, amputations and death.

Cyrus Desouza, MBBS, hopes Diabetes On Track will become a model for rural diabetes care that can be replicated across the country.

“It has to be managed every day,” he said. “The more the patient knows about this, the easier it is.”

Community-driven solutions

Dzewaltowski said that, from a public health perspective, addressing the problem begins with understanding that community characteristics, such as access to healthy food, physical activity and health care, contribute to differences in local prediabetes and diabetes rates.

If those community characteristics are not dealt with through a “whole of community change,” the root causes will never be addressed, he said.

Public health expert David Dzewaltowski, Ph.D., said addressing diabetes begins with the community.

Community solutions involve partnering with local organizations to understand the services available for diabetes prevention, screening and care management. A local coalition can then form to investigate what’s working and design solutions.

Wayne, with nearly 6,000 people in northeast Nebraska, and Hastings, with 25,000 people in central Nebraska, were selected for the two-year pilot project. The initiative will focus on adults in the communities with prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes means a person has a higher-than-normal blood sugar level.

Tools to get on a healthy track

The initiative’s name, Diabetes On Track, reflects the goal: to create communities that help people with diabetes get on a healthy track through food, physical activity, technology and education. 

Tools can include wearable home glucose monitors that can be read via a cell phone or watch, certified diabetes educators to meet with patients, and telehealth services. The initiative also is focused on ensuring that all residents, especially those at risk for diabetes, stay on track to make healthful lifestyle choices and prevent diabetes.

Desouza said the hope is to expand the program to other communities, as additional public and private funding is secured.

The gift provides $5 million for the initial phases and $2 million to create a permanent endowment, the Dr. Timothy Wahl Presidential Chair in Diabetes Education, Care and Research Fund. Tim Wahl, M.D., is a longtime practicing endocrinologist in Omaha who serves on the Diabetes Care Foundation Board of Directors. He also is a University of Nebraska Foundation trustee.

Dzewaltowski said he feels optimistic the initiative will lead to positive health outcomes by bringing local people together to create solutions that work for their Nebraska communities.

“We are really taking this as a community-driven approach, rather than a top-down approach,” he said. “This effort will keep people out of the hospital and lead to a better quality of life.”

Gut Check

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Nebraska Researchers Study the Connections Between Food Production and Human Health

By Geitner Simmons, IANR Media

This story has been adapted from the original for this publication.

We live in a microbial world. From door handles to escalator handrails and even fermented foods, we come into contact with a wide range of bacteria, viruses and fungi on a daily basis. Our bodies are also home to trillions of microbes, particularly in the colon where the numbers of microbes outnumber cells in our bodies by at least a factor of 10.

And their impact is vast. The gut microbiome — a term that encompasses the collection of microbes and their functions in an ecosystem, such as the gut— is primarily impacted by what we eat and affects everything from our digestive health to cardiovascular health, immune health and maybe even our moods. These microbes are so impactful, in fact, that some researchers consider them to be a separate organ, which shapes our metabolism, our susceptibility to allergic and inflammatory diseases and even our responses to medical treatments.

At the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center, scientists are conducting extensive research of the microbiome to find the links from agriculture and food production to human wellness and the prevention of disease.

Located at the Nebraska Innovation Campus, the multidisciplinary Nebraska Food for Health Center brings together strengths in agriculture and medicine from throughout the University of Nebraska System.

The center helps develop hybrid crops and foods to improve the quality of life of those affected by feeding the gut microbes as well as the human host. The approach is aimed at reducing susceptibility to critical diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and inflammatory bowel disease.

Recently, UNL researchers identified specific traits in sorghum that contribute to a healthy gut microbiome. This groundbreaking discovery paves the way for identifying additional traits in sorghum and other food crops that have the potential to improve human health, as well as for the emergence of new crop varieties developed with health of the microbiome and the human host in mind.

The researchers’ findings were published in the journal Nature Communications, a significant milestone for the Nebraska Food for Health Center. The lead investigator was Qinnan Yang, a postdoctoral researcher from NFHC and the UNL Department of Food Science and Technology. Other Husker scientists contributing to the project were Andrew K. Benson, the paper’s corresponding author, and co-authors Mallory Van Haute, Nate Korth, Scott E. Sattler, John Toy, Devin J. Rose and James C. Schnable.

Among their findings, the researchers identified segments on nine sorghum chromosomes where genetic variation produces significant effects on the microbiome’s fermentation activity. On two of the chromosomes, scientists ultimately found an important connection between sorghum genes for seed color, tannin presence in sorghum seed and effects of the tannins on desirable organisms in the microbiome.

Andrew K. Benson, Ph.D. Director, Nebraska Food for Health Center

Identifying seed traits that encourage growth of desirable bacteria is medically significant because these species of microbes are associated with major health benefits, including reduced susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease and certain metabolic diseases.

“Now that we’ve shown plant genes can control changes in the human gut microbiome, we can use our approach to screen hundreds or thousands of samples of different crops,” Yang said. “That makes it possible for plant breeding programs to harness natural genetic variation in crops to breed new crop varieties that improve human health by promoting beneficial bacteria in the human gut.”

For this project, Nebraska Food for Health Center scientists used techniques that duplicated the human body’s digestive and gastrointestinal activity and screened nearly 300 different sorghum lines using a miniaturized, automated methodology called automated in vitro microbiome screening (AiMS). At present, Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources is the only academic institution in the world using the innovative AiMS technology for seed-trait/microbiome analysis.

Qinnan Yang, Nate Korth and Mallory Van Haute work with a machine that will deliver small samples of ground grains into fecal samples. The grains are stored in the modular shelves in the foreground and are ground in the very small quantities needed to widely test a number of fecal samples.

The concept for the AiMS methodology “was nothing more than a pipe dream six years ago. Now, it’s turned into reality,” said Benson, director of the Nebraska Food for Health Center and the Nebraska Food for Health Presidential Chair in the Department of Food Science and Technology.

The AiMS methodology stands out for its versatility. Researchers can study the microbiome activity of healthy human participants and those with health challenges. They can study the gut metabolism of humans and animals, and the seed trait studies can analyze the microbiome effects from any food crop.

“It’s really a powerful technology,” Benson said. “The sky’s the limit on this.”

These steps forward are a fulfillment of the vision that has powered the Nebraska Food for Health Center from its beginning, starting with a set of white papers Benson and Robert Hutkins, a fellow professor of food science and technology, drew up in 2006 and 2007.  A new DNA sequencing technology was commercialized in 2006, they wrote, and the university needed to think strategically about how it could use those new sequencing tools to achieve major research contributions.

In subsequent years, IANR faculty and administrators followed up on that vision through strategic discussions, investments in infrastructure and new faculty hires. This ultimately led to launch of the Nebraska Food for Health Center in 2016 and development of AiMS facilities for food trait and microbiome research at Nebraska Innovation Campus. NFHC was fueled by key philanthropic and Husker investments, which expanded ongoing transdisciplinary collaboration.

The Nature Communications paper is the start of a new stage of discovery at the Nebraska Food for Health Center.

The paper “is sort of at the front end,” Benson said. “The joy now is to see how what we discover translates to the rest of the center … and the great thing is that we have the collaborative researchers who are there to do it.”

“They’re just waiting,” Benson said, to carry on important follow-up projects and analysis.

All these developments, he said, “resonate back to 2006 and 2007, when we said, ‘Gee, what if …’ Now, here we are, actually trying to do it.”

Serenity on Campus

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Nationally Relevant Research Positions UNO to Meet Surging Demand for Health Counseling

By Robyn Murray

Abby Bjornsen-Ramig, Ph.D., runs her hand along the shiny surface of a laminate reception desk. Her fingers land on a cream-colored ceramic container filled with mints. Those are for clients — and like everything in this softly lit space, they were carefully chosen. The comfortable couches, the culturally inclusive artwork on the walls, HGTV playing softly in the waiting area and the faint aroma of cinnamon coffee in the air have all been designed to create a serene, inviting setting where clients feel relaxed and welcome.

Bjornsen-Ramig, associate professor and clinical training director in the counseling department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is giving a tour of the newly renovated Community Counseling Clinic on the first floor of Roskens Hall. The thoughtfully decorated space represents how far the program has come. Students and community members can visit the office and receive counseling services from advanced graduate students in one of the comfortably furnished private therapy rooms, which are fully equipped with subtle audio and video recording equipment for supervisory purposes.

Some of the people who have made this progress possible are part of the tour Bjornsen-Ramig is leading: Marti Rosen-Atherton and John Atherton, two counseling icons in Omaha; and Jack and Stephanie Koraleski, UNO alumni and longtime friends and colleagues of the Athertons.

Abby Bjornsen-Ramig, Ph.D., researches career development and the impact of work on personal and professional wellness.

“When we were here, we had to hold counseling sessions in big classrooms, working off those rickety wooden desks,” Rosen-Atherton said. “This is so much better.”

A living legacy of service

The Athertons dedicated much of their careers to counseling at UNO. They taught in the counseling department for nearly three decades after receiving their degrees at the university; and Rosen-Atherton served as director of what is now UNO Counseling and Psychological Services from 2003 to 2012. Stephanie Koraleski studied under Rosen-Atherton as a graduate assistant at UNO before serving the community as a licensed psychologist.

First founded in 1977, UNO’s Community Counseling Clinic has evolved tremendously since those early days. But in recent years, the clinic and overall department have progressed even more rapidly. The growth is partly due to an accelerating demand for counseling services brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and an easing of the stigma around mental health. But it is also due to the department’s rising-star faculty and the national attention they’ve garnered from their research. The rise has been so pronounced that UNO is currently able to admit only 60% of the applicants qualified to study in the counseling department.

“I’ve seen it go in a really great direction in terms of student interest, program rigor, clinic expansion, community partnerships, faculty research and applications for external and internal funding,” said Bjornsen-Ramig, who began her faculty career at UNO in 2012. She received the Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award in 2021, has published numerous articles and book chapters and presents her research annually at local, regional and national professional conferences.

“I think we are more on the map of the college and of the university than we were previously, so it’s been a really exciting time to be part of this team,” she said.

Elevating the department through research that matters
Abby Bjornsen-Ramig, Ph.D., (center) joined by Jack and Stephanie Koraleski (left), who provided a lead gift to establish the Marti & John Atherton Clinical Mental Health Counseling Professorship, and Marti Rosen-Atherton and John Atherton (right). “It was incredible affirmation of everything that we have done,” Rosen-Atherton said. “What this means to me and to all of the students and colleagues and this place that held me up and gave me opportunities — and to have it made possible by the dearest friends we could ever have is the frosting on the cake.”

Bjornsen-Ramig says elevating the reputation — and ultimately the footprint — of the counseling department is aided tremendously by faculty who conduct nationally relevant research. Bjornsen-Ramig’s research focuses on career development and the impact of work on personal and professional wellness. During the pandemic, as the traditional workplace was upended, Bjornsen-Ramig became a regular feature in local media.

“I am passionate about that area of study because of its centrality in everyone’s life,” Bjornsen-Ramig said. “Everybody either works or they’re looking for work. They don’t like their job, they’re underemployed or unemployed, they’re being bullied at work. I think it’s a really important area of study, and it intersects beautifully with wellness and counseling.”

While Bjornsen-Ramig represents the future of UNO counseling, her professorship was made possible by the living legacies of the past. 

Bjornsen-Ramig holds the Marti & John Atherton Clinical Mental Health Counseling Professorship, which was provided in honor of the Athertons through generous gifts from the Koraleskis as well as numerous friends and colleagues who were impacted by the Athertons’ work in counseling. The gift represents a line of investment and continuity from community stakeholders who care deeply about counseling at UNO, the people it helps — and the future it must rise to meet.

“I really want to do them proud and to be able to make great strides in their honor,” Bjornsen-Ramig said. “We’re in a really good place now as a faculty to kind of explode out of the gates.”

A Place of Hope and Healing

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By Connie White

Two giant tapestries hang just inside the front doors of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. In 15 languages, two words are woven into the tapestries. One piece says “Healing.” The other says “Hope.” The artwork, created by Nebraska artist Mary Zicafoose, acts as a powerful message for patients from all over the world who come to the cancer center for treatment.

This is a place of hope.

Everything about the sprawling $323 million facility is dedicated to caring for patients, from the inspirational artwork in the world-class Healing Arts Program, to the computer tablets by hospital beds so patients can review their medical records or message their doctor, to the “bench to bedside” treatment approach that rapidly moves new therapies from the research lab to patient treatments.

Five years of changing and saving lives

The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center opened its doors to patients June 5, 2017.

To mark the cancer center’s five-year anniversary, director Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., talked recently about what led to the center’s creation and its focus on cancer research and treatment.

“There’s no other cancer center built like this in the world,” he said in an interview. “We do have patients arriving from across our region, across our state, across the Midwest, across our country, and sometimes even from foreign countries coming here for special therapies.”

The cancer center — a partnership between the University of Nebraska Medical Center and its clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine — is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Nebraska.

The center was made possible by philanthropic donors, as well as funding from the State of Nebraska, City of Omaha and Douglas County.

Over the last five years, 15,306 people have received care in the 108-patient C.L. Werner Cancer Hospital, and 44,812 patients have been treated in the center’s outpatient clinics.

The facility has seen a 114% increase in the number of patients who have taken part in cancer clinical trials in the past five years. Fifty-six new physicians and scientists have joined the cancer center or will soon. Cancer researchers have been awarded more than $185 million in new grant funding, and a Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence has been established.

Cowan drew inspiration for the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center from the 21 years he spent at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, prior to coming to UNMC in 1999 to serve as the director of the Eppley Cancer Center, which preceded the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.

At the National Cancer Institute, Cowan oversaw laboratory researchers and clinical staff working together in Building 10, the largest clinical research hospital in the world.

Cowan wanted to create a space like it at UNMC, where researchers in the lab and clinicians who treat patients work side by side. He wanted the researchers, clinicians and patients all to come in the same front doors and ride the same elevators.

“One-stop shopping” for patients

So UNMC set out to create a facility to do that. On a recent tour, the soaring lobby of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center was bustling, with patients checking in at the front desk or relaxing in comfy chairs near the entrance as staff in green scrubs walked to meetings in the conference room or stopped for lunch at the coffee shop.

Before the facility opened, UNMC’s cancer research labs were spread among eight buildings. Today, most cancer research is housed in the 10-story Suzanne and Walter Scott Cancer Research Tower, which has 98 laboratories and is connected to the C.L. Werner Cancer Hospital.

UNMC’s cancer clinicians previously were located in six buildings; now, the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center provides “one-stop shopping” for patients, Cowan said.

Before a patient comes in for their first appointment, oncologists, pathologists, radiologists and other specialists meet for a “tumor board” to discuss the patient’s case and recommend a treatment plan. Researchers are encouraged to attend, so they can hear directly from the clinicians and report on the future of research and therapies.

Cowan said the new facility provides exceptional care because staff are specially trained to understand the needs of cancer patients, who can be severely immunocompromised.

“When you work in this building, you’re taking care of only cancer patients, and whether you’re a nurse, pharmacist or environmental services person cleaning rooms, you know that these patients have very special problems, whether it’s pain, infection or their cancer,” Cowan said.

The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center is built around a “pod” design, with each area housing offices and labs focused on one kind of cancer. During the tour, Cowan stopped on the eighth floor outside the hospital wing. The offices for surgical oncologists specializing in pancreatic cancer were just across the hall, with the pancreatic cancer research labs steps away.

Common break rooms are located on each floor to encourage researchers and clinicians to eat lunch or grab a cup of coffee together. “If form follows function as architects always tell us,” Cowan said, “our goal is to create better opportunities for collaboration between clinicians and researchers.”

Targeting cancer with precision medicine

Cowan said cancer research today focuses on “precision medicine” by examining the disease at the molecular level to determine what genetic changes are causing cancer cells to grow.

He described chemotherapy and radiation as “toxic therapies” that kill cancer cells but have side effects for normal cells. The future of cancer treatment is targeted therapies, such as drugs that zero in on the abnormal cancer genes or turn on the patient’s own immune system to attack cancer cells.

“We want to be at the cutting edge of developing new ways of diagnosing cancer, treating cancer, preventing cancer and finding ways to improve survivorship after your diagnosis to get you back to normal life as quickly as possible,” he said.

Dr. Ken Cowan poses in lab
Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center

At the same time, the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center aims to help patients and their families cope with a cancer diagnosis. The center’s Healing Arts Program is intended to provide hope to patients and wellness for staff.

Cowan describes the program, which includes art displays, live music performances and poetry written by cancer survivors, as “truly world class and a first of its kind.” Its centerpiece is the two-story Chihuly Sanctuary, a light-filled meditation space designed by artist Dale Chihuly.

“For every patient who hears the words ‘you have cancer,’ when they’re given that diagnosis, it changes their lives forever,” Cowan said. “It does help to provide hope. It does help to provide comfort.”

He credits private donors with making the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center possible.

The cancer center was named in recognition of a gift from Pamela Buffett through her foundation, the Rebecca Susan Buffett Foundation. Pamela Buffett’s husband, Fred “Fritz” Buffett, died in 1997 after fighting kidney cancer. He was the first cousin of Omaha investor Warren Buffett. Other founding benefactors include the Suzanne & Walter Scott Foundation and CL and Rachel Werner.

“Donor gifts are critically important to the success of this building. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed,” Cowan said.

Finding Solutions Beyond The Classroom

by

By Molly C. Nance

UNL Students Develop New Ag Technologies

Finding solutions to complex problems is like finding a needle in a haystack — or maybe finding something more useful, like answers about crop health from infrared satellite imagery or ways to use robots that keep farmers out of dangerous grain bins or methods to move cattle between pastures without fencing. These futuristic technologies are in development right now through entrepreneurial startups at a business incubator partnership in Nebraska called The Combine.

 

THE COMBINE

Launched in October 2019, The Combine is a partnership with the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Invest Nebraska, a nonprofit venture development organization that advises and invests in companies and early-stage business ideas in Nebraska.

Several private businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations are also involved, creating a powerful public-private partnership to foster innovation. The Combine works to provide capital, connections and curricula to help early-stage agriculture technology and food entrepreneurs from the Sandhills to the banks of the Missouri River.

A key to The Combine’s success is its connection with IANR, said Matt Foley, The Combine’s program director.

“Most important is IANR’s knowledge base, expertise and workforce development potential,” he said. “We’ve had out-of-state companies interested in partnering with us because they know we have brilliant professors and students focused on the future of agriculture and food production.”

Michael Boehm, University of Nebraska System vice president and Harlan Vice Chancellor for IANR said, “Building The Combine and, in the process, a bridge between Nebraska’s researchers and entrepreneurs makes all the sense in the world.

“UNL has a worldwide reputation as a leader in agricultural innovation, and Nebraskans are famous for their work ethic, ingenuity and systems thinking. … Throw in some long-standing and incredibly productive partnerships with industry, state and federal agencies, commodity groups and venture capital, and you have the perfect hub for all things ag- and food-tech. I can’t imagine a place better suited for this kind of collaboration and growth than Nebraska.”

Located in the Rise Building on Nebraska Innovation Campus, The Combine has a physical incubation space where undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff can work alongside other motivated, like-minded entrepreneurs. The organization provides educational programming, access to capital investment, networking opportunities and business resources to support the development and scale of new ag-tech companies.

 

SENTINEL FERTIGATION

One of those promising startups is Sentinel Fertigation, which uses drone- and satellite-collected imagery to predict when a corn crop needs fertilization.

“When I came to Nebraska as a master’s student, I knew I wanted to work on the nitrogen dilemma — nitrogen management for farmers,” said Jackson Stansell, CEO and founder of Sentinel Fertigation and a UNL doctoral candidate. “It’s a significant problem throughout the country, but especially in Nebraska because of groundwater contamination. It’s also a profitability issue because nitrogen is an expensive resource.”

A Harvard graduate and Alabama native, Stansell said Nebraska is also unique in the prevalence of irrigation. “We have the most irrigated acres of any state in the United States,” he said. “Fertigation is the process of applying fertilizer through irrigation, most commonly through pivots, and the technology hasn’t advanced much. Our team at UNL saw an opportunity to improve this and better manage fertigation.”

Stansell’s approach involves multispectral imaging and a unique algorithm he helped develop to evaluate crop plant health.

“Basically, we’re providing farmers with information about whether or not they need to apply fertilizer in a given week,” he said. “We help them manage their fertigation better and do it in a way that helps protect the environment and human health by reducing excessive nitrogen applications.”

Sentinel Fertigation uses patent-pending technology that analyzes plant nitrogen sufficiency using light reflectance off the crop canopy.

“Our indicator block framework gives us a week lead time, so we can provide predictive recommendations that allow the farmer to get ahead of nitrogen stress,” Stansell said. “The farmer can then apply fertilizer just before stress happens and preserve the yield potential of the crop.”

Importantly, this improved efficiency also adds to profitability.

“In 96% of our test cases, this system has resulted in higher yield per unit of nitrogen applied versus what farmers were doing previously,” he said. “Across those fields, we’ve saved an average of 22 pounds of nitrogen per acre, which is a significant amount considering farmers use an average of 200 to 250 pounds of nitrogen per acre.”

For reference, Nebraska is home to 5.2 million acres of irrigated corn crops.

Sentinel Fertigation has the potential to enable more value for growers, while also reducing nitrogen load in soil and groundwater.

“With ecosystem services markets that are coming online now, and with consumer-packaged goods, sustainability is important,” Stansell said. “We can be one of the companies that can verify sustainable, environmentally sound practices were used.”

Stansell said the system is geared toward larger farm operations and most likely will be used by agronomic advisers. “Farmers and consultants have been excited to learn about the system. They want to see a finished product,” he said. “We’re working on getting this to a seamless web application that’s easy for users to learn and implement, with recommendations delivered in a straightforward way.”

Farmers aren’t the only ones excited about Sentinel Fertigation. Stansell has received a $100,000 prototype grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development; a $25,000 strategic investment and development partnership with Agri-Inject Inc. of Yuma, Colorado; and a $25,000 investment from the Husker Venture Fund, a UNL College of Business program supported by private gifts from alumni and friends.

Stansell also was named Outstanding Graduate Student Inventor of the Year by NUtech Ventures, a nonprofit technology commercialization affiliate of the University of Nebraska, serving the Lincoln and Kearney campuses.

In addition, he received student support from the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska. Stansell is quick to share credit for his success with his University of Nebraska faculty, graduate students and extension educators.

“I’ve been blessed with university resources and connections here in Nebraska that I don’t think I would have found anywhere else,” Stansell said.

“The Combine has helped us get off to a strong start. Now, if we can gain additional funding, we can get a precision agronomist and some software developers on board and also grow our executive management team to really take Sentinel Fertigation to the next level.”

What does the future possibly hold for this high-tech startup?

“Honestly, I hope Sentinel Fertigation does not exist as a standalone app five to 10 years down the road,” he said. “Farmers and agronomists don’t want another app. I’d like to see this technology integrated into irrigation management systems to increase efficiency so farmers can manage everything about their irrigation and fertilization needs in one place.”

 

GRAIN WEEVIL

Grain Weevil is another prospering member of The Combine, born from a farmer’s request that he and his kids never have to enter a grain bin again.

Farmers often enter the bins to break up clumps or clogs to get the grain to flow out freely — a dangerous practice because of the risk of suffocation in the grain, which can behave like quicksand.

Grain bin accidents account for more than 20 deaths each year and many more injuries caused by augers within the bins that can crush limbs as a farmer attempts to move grain through them.

“Neither my son nor I are farmers,” said Grain Weevil CEO Chad Johnson, who founded the company with his son, Ben, a graduate of the UNL College of Engineering. “But we have always been interested in robots. Ben had an opportunity to develop a robot for a company in Chicago while he was in high school. A family friend saw that robot and asked if Ben could make a robot to keep him and his kids out of the grain bin.”

The pair did their research and found that although there are mechanical spreaders and electrical sensors in grain bin management, there weren’t any robots that could move and manipulate the grain.

“My electrical engineering education at the university helped me gain the knowledge I needed to develop the technology,” said Ben Johnson, Grain Weevil co-founder and chief innovation officer. “The Combine got us off the ground quickly — connecting us with partners and sharing ways to grow this idea into a business model.”

After several test concepts, the Grain Weevil robot progressed to a model that works well on grain using auger-based propulsion. Like a giant grain weevil bug, the device scurries across the grain, breaking clumps or clogs and feeding grain into extraction augers. Multiple robots can work together, manipulating the surface of stored grain and accomplishing different tasks.

 

“We started this as a safety device,” said Chad Johnson. “Farmer well-being is our No. 1 mission. But there are huge efficiencies we’ve discovered along the way. While the Grain Weevil is doing its thing, the farmer can be doing other tasks or watching their kid play baseball. Plus, there’s also improved quality by more effectively monitoring and managing stored grain.”

In addition to moving grain, the robots are collecting a variety of data, such as temperature, grain moisture and 3D imagery within the bin to detect foreign material and survey grain condition — information the farmer can use to quickly address any issues before they become problems and protect grain quality, maximizing their income.

With more than a million grain silos on farms across the U.S., there is massive market potential for the Grain Weevil.

“There are 12 million bushels of grain within a day’s drive of my hometown, Aurora, (Nebraska),” said Chad Johnson. “The Weevil could also work in commercial facilities and with specialty crops, like edible beans and nuts. There are different use cases for both grain and non-grain applications.”

The technology has sparked investment and honors from across the country, including winning the Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge, the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for Collegiate Inventors in the “Eat It!” category and the audience favorite honor at the Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business Virtual Summit on AgTech, along with securing a $1.6 million series seed investment round led by Invest Nebraska.

With additional resources, the Johnson team said they’d like to add talent to their staff and scale up Grain Weevil production.

“Years down the road, we hope to never see ladders attached to grain bins,” said Chad Johnson. “All the tasks can be done by the Grain Weevil with zero accidents and deaths. There’s going to be a robot in every grain bin eventually, and we hope it’s a Grain Weevil.”

 

CORRAL TECHNOLOGIES

Innovative technology is also expanding in the livestock sector. UNL graduate and Kearney, Nebraska, native Jack Keating is putting his mechanical engineering education to work on his family’s cattle ranch in northern Nebraska.

“Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my dad on fencing,” Keating said. “It’s a tough job, and I thought there has to be a better way. My dad said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there was invisible fencing for cattle?’ and that’s what started the idea.”

Effective pasture management is an important part of ranching, both for profitability and sustainability. To avoid overgrazing, livestock need to be rotated through a system of pastures — a manual process that is labor-intensive and hazardous. Studies show that livestock handling causes up to a quarter of all farm injuries, not including injuries involved with fencing, such as cuts, amputations and electrocution.

Keating described how the company’s technology works. “It started out as a collar-and-ear-tag system,” he said. “But to make the batteries last longer, we switched to an all-collar system that emits a small electrical stimulation — about the same level used in electronic fencing collars worn by dogs — to define pasture boundaries.”

The system includes mapping software, which can be used on a phone, computer or tablet, to create new fences across pastures, maximizing pasture grazing for any operation and accelerating cattle weight gain.

“Using Corral Technologies, a rancher knows their cattle are located where they are supposed to be. They can move cattle from one spot to another with the click of a button and create grazing plans to optimize pasture utilization,” Keating said. “These are benefits on top of the time and cost saved from manually managing fence lines, as well as protecting the health and safety of the ranchers.”

Keating credits The Combine with taking his idea from notes and drawings to actual product development and a business plan.

“I just knew what I wanted the system to do, but The Combine helped me understand the business framework and connected me to partners who shared input and saw the potential for this to be more than just a fencing product,” he said.“I’ve heard from ranchers across the country. They are so receptive to the system. So really, the biggest challenge has been on the development side — finding an affordable, effective and reliable mechanism for the collars.”

Last year, Corral Technologies was a grand-prize winner in the UNL College of Business New Venture Competition, an annual business pitch contest funded by private support. Corral received a $25,000 grant. The fledgling company also received $150,000 from the Nebraska Prototype Grant Program and was accepted into phase one of the AgLaunch Accelerator Program.

In the future, Keating said he sees Corral Technologies as a global system. “Our mission is to help ranchers everywhere have more profitable enterprises and safer processes,” he said. “But I see us as being not only a hardware company but also getting more into the software side as well, where we’re a full ranch management platform.”

The opportunities aren’t limited to cattle.

“There are huge opportunities in dairy cattle, backgrounding operations, seedstock operations, goats and sheep,” Keating said. “We can expand out into these other sectors. A lot of people quantify the benefits in dollars, but think about the benefits in terms of improved health and safety when you’re not digging post holes, running fence or working closely with animals weighing over a ton.”

••••

These companies show the impact that can be made through Nebraska-bred ingenuity, education, collaboration and financial support. Locally developed agriculture technology can lead to global solutions — filling dinner plates from Chadron to Cameroon and promoting a better quality of life, while conserving the state’s vital natural resources.

We are stronger
together.

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