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Abstract or Project Description

Abstract or Project Description

Support for the Bellforge Arts Center.

Abstract or Project Description

A performance that centers the ancestral dance Son de los Diablos, using Afro-Peruvian rhythms and dances to bring visibility to the African Diaspora in Latinx communities. Son de los Diablos highlights the importance, history, existence and cultural contributions of people of African ancestry in Peru to reclaim and remember a history that is often invisibilized.

Abstract or Project Description

NOD2 was the first and to do date the most frequent gene associated with inflammatory bowel disease. The NOD2 protein functions as a sensor of bacteria by binding molecules (peptidoglycans) shed from the bacterial cell wall. The IBD mutations in NOD2 result in its inactivation or partial loss of function. In 2019 we reported that NOD2 requires the attachment of 2 fatty acids to be functional. This modification termed palmitoylation is mediated by the protein zDHHC5 and is missing from many of the mutant forms of NOD2 associated with Crohn’s disease. Palmitoylation is a reversible modification and while zDHHC5 is the “writer” that adds the modification, the “eraser” that removes it has not been identified. We believe that by blocking the eraser that we can restore function to at least some of the NOD2 mutants. Our unpublished work has identified the relevant acyl thioesterase which removes palmitate and inactivates NOD2. Through the use of chemical inhibitors we are able to rescue the function of several NOD2 mutant proteins. This proposal represents the next logical steps in our goal to characterize the relevant acyl thioesterase and to determine if any FDA approved drugs can restore function to NOD2 by inhibiting this eraser.

Abstract or Project Description

A dance project that will physicalize and synthesize the prayer, divination and offerings of the Ose Tura ritual, creating a movement odyssey spanning physical and ancestral worlds and presented in four chapters at site-specific San Francisco locations.

Abstract or Project Description

This project honors the blocked and soil-filled waterways that once flowed through Mission Dolores and the 5,700 Indigenous ancestors buried in the cemetery. In collaboration and solidarity with local Ohlone culture bearers, Latinx and Indigenous dance artists, and the American Indian Cultural District, sii agua sí is symbolically re-filling the site with water (sii) to bring awareness and healing to a painful history of genocide that seeps beneath the streets of the Mission District. This collaboration will culminate in a street mural project by local muralists and students from Mission High School. Videos of water and the names of the 5,700 native ancestors will be projected onto the front of Mission Dolores.

Abstract or Project Description

A dance that explores intersectional, intergenerational and diverse Latinx identities and politics as lived by the artistic team and found in the lyrics of Chicano singer El Vez’s songs._

Abstract or Project Description

A multimedia dance theater project exploring the seismic changes in our lives due to the global pandemic and ongoing world and national crises. The project is a collaboration choreographer Deborah Slater and culture curator/equity consultant Tammy Johnson in conjunction with five choreographer/dancers, spoken word creators/performers from Youth Speaks and composer Marcus Shelby.

Abstract or Project Description

To support work in environmental literacy education, environmental justice and green workforce development.

Abstract or Project Description

A live site-responsive performance that explores sanctuary spaces and rebuilding from the wreckage caused by the displacement of queer and people of color communities from San Francisco. The project blends devised theater, contemporary dance and drag to create a fully immersive experience.

Abstract or Project Description

To support the Little Steps to College program, which provides early childhood programs at the Hawthorne Family Resource Center. Knowing the importance of social interactions for caregivers and their children, East Bay Agency for Children will be moving back to an in-person model, focusing on activities to develop phonetic awareness and critical social-emotional skills.

Abstract or Project Description

To support collaboration with citywide literacy partners. Gearing up for a strategic refresh, this collaboration will inform their planning.

Abstract or Project Description

$2,500 for the Teacher & Health Wellness Program and $2,500 to support the EAMG Inaugural Graduation class of 2022 activities and expenses.

Abstract or Project Description

A new collaboration between theater company Eye Zen Presents, writer/pastor Marvin K. White and community partner San Francisco Heritage. The project explores the hidden history of queer ancestor, Sylvester, providing an understanding of racial equity within the queer liberation movement in the Haight of the ‘60s and ‘70s against the backdrop of civil rights, anti-war, student uprising, feminism and Gay liberation.

Abstract or Project Description

There is still no medical cure for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and the clinical management is challenging. In particular, differentiating between Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) and predicting the clinical course or the response to therapy is difficult.
In this study, we aim to characterize tissue samples from IBD and control patients with a new diagnostic approach using infrared (IR) light and providing a molecular fingerprint of the disease. It is our goal to identify specific diagnostic fingerprints for CD and UC, for the prediction of the clinical course and the treatment response in patients. Finally, we will use a laser-based technique to obtain areas with specific molecular fingerprints from the tissues. Such material will be analyzed for all expressed genes with so called next-generation sequencing to determine the molecular changes associated with disease-specific fingerprints. Thereby, we hope to identify new diagnostic tools and targets for future therapy.

Abstract or Project Description

To pay for artist fees associated with the world premiere of “Songs for J-town” at the Presidio Theatre.

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.