The Magic Theatre presents the world premiere of “A Rashomon” by Ashley Smiley (Playwright) and Joan Osato (Project Creator & Video Designer). Using elements of environmental and theatrical design, contemporary and ritual dance, a multi-layered soundscape and puppetry, Smiley and Osato adapt Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 masterpiece to current-day Bayview Hunters’ Point.
The creation and world-premiere of plays written and performed by the Returned Citizens Theatre Troupe, actors who have survived incarceration and who tell stories of importance through theatre that build understanding and compassion and inspires social change.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a long‑lasting chronic condition in which the intestine becomes damaged and inflamed. A healthy intestine relies on a tight barrier of cells that keeps harmful microbes out. When this barrier fails, bacteria leak in and drive more inflammation. A type of immune cell called a Th17 cell is central to […]
Abdominal pain is the main presenting symptom of patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). However, the neural circuits that mediate gut inflammation-induced abdominal pain remain poorly understood, and thus we lack targeted therapies to treat IBD-associated pain. Sensory neurons connect the gut to the brain to mediate pain responses, but which sensory neurons mediate IBD-associated […]
Autoimmune diseases, including many Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), reflect a breakdown in immunological tolerance. The immune system is designed to respond to foreign molecules (nonself-antigens) while ignoring an organism’s own constituents (self-antigens). For T cells, much of this self-tolerance is learned during their maturation in the thymus, through either elimination of potentially self-reactive cells or […]
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which includes conditions like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, affects millions of people and causes painful gut inflammation. Recent research suggests that abundant gut bacteria from the group Bacteroides play a complicated role in IBD. These bacteria help us use dietary carbohydrates but can also damage the protective mucus lining of the […]
Abdominal pain is a debilitating and often persistent symptom for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), even when inflammation is successfully treated. Current pain medications frequently lack effectiveness or cause significant side effects. Our project proposes a novel solution: harnessing the gut microbiome to treat pain at its source. We have identified that the gut […]
The immune system plays a major role in chronic Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, yet not much is understood about the early events that lead to the exacerbated inflammation that increases the risk of developing them. This project explores the idea that past infections influence long-term intestinal responses to stress or injury. The intestine is densely innervated […]
For patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), finding the right treatment is often a painful game of trial-and-error. Advanced therapies are expensive and fail in up to 40% of patients, delaying effective care. We propose a solution: a precision medicine test that predicts which drug will work before treatment begins. Unlike current research that simply counts immune […]
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) affects more than three million people in the United States and can cause lifelong pain, fatigue and digestive problems. Although scientists know that gut bacteria play an important role in IBD, most research has focused on which microbes are present rather than on the chemical signals they produce during IBD. Bacteria […]
