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Abstract or Project Description

Abstract or Project Description

A dance performance that asks how women’s beds hold what is messy, tragic and grueling. Responding to the question, “How is your Bed an Antidote?” the project features site-specific dances and a visual art exhibit by incarcerated women artists, organized in collaboration with Rahsaan Thomas of Empowerment Avenue and the Museum of African Diaspora.

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 IBS. 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 IBS.

Abstract or Project Description

To lift up Ohlone language restoration, culture and identity, sculptures will be created in Peralta Hacienda that represent the words for Sun (Gismen), Moon (Kormey) and Water (Sii), in Chochenyo. These sculptures will be bordered by sedge, ferns and willow plantings in the creek area to later harvest for Ohlone basketry. Over two years leading up to the unveiling of the art works, Calpulli Coatlicue and Friends of Negro Spirituals will hold eleven cultural festivals to engage community participation in Ohlone language revival, foodways, craft and storytelling.

Abstract or Project Description

To provide general support, in memory of Brian Igoe.

Abstract or Project Description

To support strategic planning and collaboration with citywide literacy partners.

Abstract or Project Description

They aim to codify the eight demands of their administrative petition with Oakland Unified School District in order to increase the number of students reading proficiently, on time, and to facilitate detection of dyslexia and other reading challenges.

Abstract or Project Description

To provide clinical services for children at the shelter.

Abstract or Project Description

A predevelopment grant for Galer’a de la Raza.

Abstract or Project Description

The mission of Give One Dollar a Day is to help ease the financial burden of children and families affected by illness, poverty or isolation through ongoing community giving.

Abstract or Project Description

To conduct a 2022-2023 Oakland Unified School District I-Ready study and facilitate celebrations for sites with promising growth.

Abstract or Project Description

Support for at risk youth students to receive free Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Guardian East Bay.

Abstract or Project Description

Besides the brain, the gastrointestinal tract has the highest number of neurons in the entire body. The enteric nervous system (ENS) is often referred to as the second brain as it commands all manner of intestinal function, from nutrient absorption to defecation control. In patients suffering from IBD, the ENS undergoes major disruption resulting in many debilitating complications impacting the quality of life. We have recently uncovered that the ENS also controls intestinal inflammation and regulates the balance of “good” vs. “bad” bacteria in the gut. As the ENS has the unique capacity to rapidly relay signals from the gut directly to the brain and, by extension, to all other organs, we hypothesized that ENS might act as front-line sensors of gut inflammation to warn the body of impending infections. Our preliminary data indicate that when intestinal neurons are activated, they can trigger inflammation in other organs to protect against bacterial invasion. This novel protective mechanism has never been reported before and in this project, we aim to elucidate this unknown pathway of inflammation. Going forward, we will further explore if this axis is aberrantly activated during chronic intestinal inflammation and if it directly contributes to non-intestinal inflammatory complications exhibited in patients with IBD to aid in novel therapeutic design.

Abstract or Project Description

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is characterized by non-resolving pathological inflammation leading to erosion of the colon tissue. Recent studies analyzing gene expression signatures in UC patients highlighted specific colonic fibroblast populations that may contribute to inflammation and disease progression. While these studies emphasize the proinflammatory function of activated intestinal fibroblasts, it is unknown whether subsets of intestinal fibroblasts may fulfill protective regulatory functions required to limit intestinal inflammation. Our studies leverage a novel spatial transcriptomics method (MERFISH) to generate a detailed cellular and molecular atlas of the colon, with an emphasis on elucidating the function of fibroblasts in mouse and human colitis. We discovered a new population of regulatory fibroblasts (Fregs) that differentiate during colitis and suppress intestinal inflammation. In particular, we found that Fregs appear in non-inflammatory regions and promote the differentiation of regulatory B cells (Bregs) and tolerogenic dendritic cells (tolDCs). The goal of this project is to define the molecular framework governing Freg, Breg and tolDC interactions during colitis, and establish the nature of these interactions in human UC. These studies will demonstrate how Fregs orchestrate immune tolerance to colitis and whether failure of this mechanism may contribute to tolerance breakdown in UC.

Abstract or Project Description

Pain is a major component of inflammatory bowel diseases, increasing the suffering of patients and decreasing their quality of life. However, the underlying cellular basis for pain in IBD and the role of pain-mediating neurons in driving gut dysfunction are not well known. Our goal is to characterize the role of neurons that mediate pain in IBD, and to determine whether inhibiting or activating these neurons leads to changes in the gut that can treat pain and inflammation.

Abstract or Project Description

For general support, including the design of the Arts public space regranting program.

Abstract or Project Description

To support the production of “Vivien’s Wild Ride (working title).”

Abstract or Project Description

A year-long collaboration among dance artist-activists Cherie Hill, Hope Mohr and Karla Quintero that explores shared leadership through dance to develop practices for sharing choreographic power resulting in performance, dialogue and installation.

Abstract or Project Description

Up to 15% of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) will require surgery, the most common of which is the total proctocolectomy (TPC) with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA). Since 1980, the ‘J’ pouch has revolutionized the lives of thousands of patients, providing restoration of intestinal continuity and avoidance of a permanent end ileostomy. Unfortunately, pouchitis is common after surgery with cumulative incidence rates of 50% at two years. Patients with pouchitis experience increased bowel movement frequency, urgency, pelvic pain, rectal bleeding and/or incontinence – symptoms that are reminiscent of their disease before surgery. Antibiotics are the mainstay of acute pouchitis treatment, however approximately 20% of patients develop chronic pouchitis and require long-term antibiotic therapy or immunosuppressive therapy. The risk of surgical pouch removal and transition to a permanent end ileostomy is 5-10% in patients with chronic pouchitis. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been successfully used in the treatment of recurrent Clostridiodes difficile infection and has shown benefit in the treatment of UC in clinical trials. The success of FMT in these patients is because of the reconstitution of the recipient’s unhealthy microbiome with the donor’s healthy microbiome. A number of studies have evaluated FMT in patients with chronic pouchitis, but have proven unsuccessful. This is likely because these studies have used stool from patients with a colon and transplanted it into patients with a pouch. This is problematic because the microbiome of the colon and pouch are not similar, and putting healthy stool from a colon may not reconstitute a healthy pouch microbiome. The specific purpose of this project is to transplant stool from patients with a healthy pouch to patients with an inflamed pouch. We hypothesize that the stool from patients with a healthy pouch is well suited to reconstitute the microbiome of patients with an inflamed pouch.