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Abstract or Project Description

Abstract or Project Description

Funding supported the Accelerating Literacy Leadership (ALL) grant, which supports Oakland schools in dramatically improving K–2 students’ reading outcomes by improving conditions for educators, students and families.

Abstract or Project Description

“The Power of Our Differences” is a new 40-minute multi-generational contemporary dance work commissioned by AXIS, choreographed by Artistic Director Nadia Adame with composer Paul Shapera, dramaturg Mark Swetz and the AXIS ensemble. Drawing from Adame’s lived experience as a disabled artist, the piece moves from solo introspection into collective motion, centering disability as a generative aesthetic force that expands contemporary dance vocabulary through asymmetry, adaptation and interdependence.

Abstract or Project Description

We currently lack cures for chronic intestinal diseases. Despite incredible advances in understanding and targeting inflammation that promotes diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, many patients develop resistance to treatment, suggesting alternative disease drivers beyond immune cells and the inflammatory molecules they produce. While the gut has remarkable regenerative capacity due to specialized stem cells that can rapidly generate all mature epithelial cells, diseases may impact underlying structural cells called fibroblasts which typically guide epithelial cell regeneration.

Our research vision is to identify the root causes of inflammatory diseases in the human gut. Our work suggests that fibroblasts play a central role, and our experiments to date have developed a unique and simple way to test how fibroblasts work closely with inflammatory immune cells. The specific internal cellular wiring diagrams and external cellular communication systems responsible for the identity and variety of fibroblasts that exist in the gut remains elusive. Our project aims to realize an integrative research plan that bridges careful human observation, computation and mechanistic experimental models. Our group is fundamentally interested in determining whether and how fibroblasts store and propagate disease in intestinal tissues to develop cures for IBD.

Abstract or Project Description

The composition and activity of the gut microbiota is a key modulator of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). Importantly, the bacteria that reside within the gut are organized within distinct biogeographical niches, and niche occupancy can be a major contributor to IBD. Unfortunately, the biogeography of the gut microbiota, its modulation during intestinal inflammation and the specific gene expression programs that license niche occupancy remain largely unclear. The sheer complexity of this system poses a major challenge to addressing these questions: hundreds of bacterial species collectively express hundreds of thousands of genes, which, in turn, shape interactions with many gut cell types. Genome-scale sequencing methods have been the historic solution to this complexity, yet these methods naturally discard the spatial organization of this system and, thus, have provided limited insight into microbial biogeography. Here we address this limitation with new “genome-scale microscopy” methods. Our methods allow us to image and identify thousands of different RNA molecules within intact gut samples, and we will leverage our tools to map the microbial biogeography, gene expression and host response in a murine IBD model with three defined microbiota. Collectively, these measurements promise new insights into the role of microbial biogeography in gut inflammation. 

Abstract or Project Description

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) are a devastating group of heterogenous inflammatory diseases that share the fact that the host immune system attacks the intestinal tissue disrupting gut functionality. All therapies currently available, such as biologics, target immune mediators that support damage and inflammation. Although these therapies ameliorated the life of many IBD patients, they not always work or stop to work overtime, highlighting the urgent need to develop new therapeutic approaches. Here, we propose to complement therapeutic interventions aimed at decreasing immune attack and intestinal damage by identifying new strategies that can be utilized to favor gut repair. In particular, we identified a new transcriptional program in intestinal epithelial cells that can be harnessed to facilitate intestinal healing. In our application we propose multiple studies based on: i) mouse models of colitis to test new therapeutic approaches; ii) human and mouse organoids to mimic intestinal epithelial cell damage and repair; and iii) use of biopsies from IBD patients and analysis of large human datasets to translate our findings to IBD patients. Our studies will reveal new therapeutic targets and strategies aimed at fostering tissue repair. These new interventions can be utilized in conjunction with current anti-inflammatory therapies to facilitate gut healing, thus ameliorating the quality of life of IBD patients.

Abstract or Project Description

“GATHERING OF FLOWERS: Stories of Solidarity Across Latinx & AAPI Diaspora” is a new play by Kat Evasco and Liliana Herrera, created with Latinx and AAPI community members driven by a clear artistic vision: to create a polyvocal theatrical work that refuses the single protagonist’s arc and instead holds multiple voices, languages and truths on stage while inviting audiences not only to witness these communities, but to see the deep connections between them.

Abstract or Project Description

“Going Out of Business” is a three-part series of site-specific, immersive Drag installations by lead artists Mama Celeste and KaiKai Bee Michaels. It invokes the historical legacy of queer community organizing during times of economic turmoil and political upheaval.

Abstract or Project Description

Glucocorticoids are the mainstay treatment to quell acute flare events in the context of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. These steroids are taken systemically and have broad and long-lasting side effects. As a result, alternative, safer approaches are sought. We have recently discovered that proteins made by the gut microbiota found predominantly in healthy individuals trigger the same receptors. This suggests that these proteins may have therapeutic benefit. The proposed research aims to further our understanding of these interactions. We aim to test whether these proteins, when amended to the gut microbiome of mice with colitis, are sufficient to reduce inflammation. Our ultimate goal is to develop therapeutics for patients with IBD that perform the role of glucocorticoids and act locally on inflamed tissue in the gut.

Abstract or Project Description

“What We Carry” is a multidisciplinary, immersive performance exploring the intersecting experiences of US veterans and refugees impacted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, developed through a long-term community-driven process. It premieres in spring 2027.

Abstract or Project Description

“AFTERLANDS” is a site-responsive, three-act theatrical experiment that reimagines the “Great American Play” through a queer, collaborative and process-driven lens.

Abstract or Project Description

“Land and Us–Future Ritual” is a full-length dance and performance art piece exploring land-human connections in Asian mythologies and the complex hope of seeking refuge in a new place.

Abstract or Project Description

“Blue Gold” is an interdisciplinary dance and music work by Duniya Dance and Drum Company and co-choreographers Joti Singh and Kara Mack, exploring indigo’s global histories—connecting colonization, slavery, resistance and climate justice.

Abstract or Project Description

Funding supported the Accelerating Literacy Leadership (ALL) grant, which supports Oakland schools in dramatically improving K–2 students’ reading outcomes by improving conditions for educators, students and families.

Abstract or Project Description

Funding supported the new Early Literacy Director search.

Abstract or Project Description

Funding supported the Accelerating Literacy Leadership (ALL) grant, which supports Oakland schools in dramatically improving K–2 students’ reading outcomes by improving conditions for educators, students and families.

Abstract or Project Description

Colonization of the infant gut by commensal bacteria profoundly influences immune development and can thus have significant long-term consequences: promoting durable tolerance to environmental antigens or driving IBD. Despite the importance of this process for health, how immune responses to the microbiota are regulated during early life remain a significant gap in our knowledge. We discovered that antibodies targeting gut bacteria are transmitted from mother to offspring via breastfeeding where they restrain neonatal immune responses to beneficial gut bacteria. Antibodies are specialized immune proteins that bind to foreign particles, including harmful and helpful microbes. Healthy humans and mice produce distinct flavors, or “isotypes,” of antibodies that serve different functions in immunity. We revealed that the maternal antibody isotype required to restrain neonatal inflammatory responses is IgG, an isotype that has only recently been identified to participate in gut health. Human breastmilk also contains IgG, and a key role for maternal antibodies in dampening gut inflammatory responses has been described in breastfed humans. Here, we will combine new mouse models with cutting-edge approaches to define the mechanisms by which breastmilk antibodies instruct the neonate to avoid harmful responses to beneficial gut bacteria. This work will advance our ability to manipulate immune responses to gut bacteria and thus aid in the development of therapies to effectively curb the development or severity of IBD.

Abstract or Project Description

The intestine exerts the vital function of maximizing nutrient uptake from the diet we ingest, being constantly exposed to external stimulation by food components. Alterations in the timing of food intake and diet composition have been associated with the development of immune-related intestinal dysfunctions, including IBD. However, despite its profound biological and clinical relevance, there is a major gap in our understanding of how intestinal immune health is affected by diet. Recently, we uncovered that gut neurons are activated by the diet, and they can control intestinal immune responses. The long-term goal of this proposal is to determine how the diet is sensed by these neurons that have immune regulatory properties. Our studies are expected to uncover dietary and neuronal therapeutic targets to gut disturbances associated with a dysregulation in local immune responses, including IBD.