YU Students and Faculty Take Part in Writing Centers Conference

Six students and four administrators representing two undergraduate writing centers at Yeshiva University led an interactive session about the roles of writing centers at the International Writing Centers Association and National Conference on Peer Tutors of Writing joint conference on Thursday November 4. The joint conference, held in Baltimore, MD, brought together more than 900 peer, graduate and faculty tutors with directors of writing centers around the country to collaborate and share ideas and programs. The conference’s theme, “Safe Harbors or Open Seas” prompted presenters to situate writing center work in nautical terms.

The YU workshop, called “Something to Give in Return,” grew out of a joint meeting between the Wilf Campus Writing Center and the Stern College for Women Writing Center on March 7. Exploring the reciprocal relationships between writing centers and their institutions, the presentation encouraged participants to think about the influence and influencing of writing centers from the perspective of students, faculty, tutors and writing itself.

The undergraduate tutors – Simeon Botwinick, Jason Miller and Jonathan Schwab of Yeshiva College and Lauren Burstein, Miriam Gofine and Nicole Grubner of Stern College for Women – attended other sessions on peer tutoring in addition to running their own. “It was fascinating to explore all the ways that tutors operate in schools across the nation,” said Schwab. “It definitely added to the way I think about my own tutoring.”

The Yeshiva peer tutors were joined by Dr. Lauren Fitzgerald, director of the Wilf Campus Writing Center, Professor Lane Anderson, assistant director of the Wilf Campus Writing Center, Professor Andrea Efthymiou, assistant director of the Stern College Writing Center, and Professor Adina Kay-Gross, a faculty tutor at the Stern College Writing Center.

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Einstein’s Longevity Gene Project Launches Web Site to Spotlight Aging Research

YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine has launched SuperAgers.com, a new Web site that features the latest information on more than a decade of aging research at Einstein.

The website highlights the work of Nir Barzilai, M.D., director of the Institute for Aging Research and a team of researchers, coordinators and volunteers who, in 1998, began a study of healthy elderly between the ages of 95 and 112 years old. The group was enrolled in a study called the Longevity Genes Project. That research has grown into the LonGenity research study, which focuses on examining the genes of the very old. To date, the LonGenity research team has enrolled more than 500 centenarians and near-centenarians, and more than 700 of their children.

SuperAgers.com features video profiles of remarkable centenarians and near-centenarians who are taking part in the study, including: 96-year-old Lilly Port, who continues to travel the world; 104-year-old Irving Kahn, who works every day managing assets at his $700 million investment firm; 103-year-old Irma Daniel, who exercises and maintains an active social life; and 98-year-old Harold Laufman, a talented artist, musician and retired surgeon.

“The goal of the Longevity Genes Project is to understand how centenarians live so long,” said Dr. Barzilai. “What is it in their genetic makeup that allows them to get to this age and remain healthy?”

The research is beginning to unlock the genetic code for longevity and identify the unique genotypes and phenotypes that protect against age-related diseases.  Among the findings to date:

• the identification of at least three genes thought to promote longevity;
• evidence that longevity is highly likely to be inherited from generation to generation; and
• the finding that those with exceptional longevity are more likely to have significantly elevated levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol.

The combination of these factors is believed to play a key role in the ability of these “super agers” to avoid cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and high blood pressure.

As the study continues, Einstein researchers are hoping to better understand how protective or harmful genes are activated, or “turned on” or “turned off.”  This could lead to drug therapies that regulate gene expression and help people live longer, healthier lives by mimicking the beneficial effects of longevity genes.

Visit SuperAgers.com for more information on the Longevity Genes Project, profiles of the “super agers,” the latest updates on advances in aging-related research at Einstein and links to additional resources and research information.

The website is a project of the Einstein Department of Communications and Public Affairs and the EinsteinInstitute for Aging Research led by endocrinologist Dr. Nir Barzilai, who is director of the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging and the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair of Aging Research at Einstein.

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