Horizons Fall 2014

22 HORIZONS Jean Latimer, Ph.D., and her team—which includes Stephen Grant, Ph.D., and graduate students Manasi Pimpley, Omar Ibrahim, and Homood As Sobeai—study how and when breast cancer develops and especially its relation to certain environmental agents. Her laboratory has developed non- diseased breast cultures to use as a model system for environ- mental chemical assessment. “Since we can create the plumbing system of the human breast in culture, we can find out what might disrupt this system,” said Latimer. “Breast cancer and other cancers have been looked at as the medical community ‘dealing’ with the cancer after it has developed. Our research is driven by defeat- ing it, and part of defeating it is to find out the causes and how to prevent it.” Coordinating with other NSU researchers has enhanced Latimer and her team’s work. “When you can work with people in different disciplines, it opens up so much possibil- ity,” she said. Latimer has been working with Oceanographic Center scientists, such as Jose Lopez, Ph.D., regarding data he’s gathered from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and with researchers in the Health Professions Division who are study- ing DNA repair. “We’re generating cultures from South Florida women, too,” which includes looking at the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and some of the chemicals that have been identified in fish. “That work is ongoing,” said Latimer. (See profile on Jose Lopez on page 24.) Latimer’s studies involve looking at varied ethnicities and the environment. “In this way, we can start to address epide- miology and how chemicals affect breasts among different ethnic groups,” she said. A tree grows The College of Pharmacy also contributes to the environ- mental quality of campus life through its Healing and Medic- inal Garden. In 2010, Carsten Evans, Ph.D., executive director of continuing education at the Health Professions Division, redeveloped the garden, which was inaugurated in 1998. The garden, just west of the Alvin Sherman Library, has tropical plants from around the world that contain medicinal properties. Evans enlisted Davie garden designer Jesse Durko to create the landscape that incorporated integrative medicine attributes. Durko called the garden “an oasis within the university complex.” Likewise, at the University School, students have their own garden where they help to grow seedlings that are even- tually sent to Haiti. The project began as part of the upper school’s WIND (World in Dis- tress) Club, but has now expanded to include all grades. Last April, students planted 200 Moringa seeds in collaboration with Bio Planet International for the Trees for Haiti Project. The students tended to their seedlings. After they sprouted, they were sent to Haiti. Kevin Dibert, WIND Club teacher sponsor and Upper School mathematics teacher at University School, said “there is a plaque in Haiti right by our very own University School Mor- inga Forest, behind the Jarden Tap Tap School in Cite Soleil, Haiti. Not many schools have their own forest in another coun- try, so this is something of which our students are very proud.” The forest is in Haiti’s largest urban garden and will provide an additional source of nutri- tional benefits, and hopefully income, for the community. The Moringa is called a “miracle tree” because its leaves contain very high concentrations of vitamins, iron, and other nutritional com- pounds. “This project continues to grow each year, and we hope it will continue for many years to come,” said Dibert. At the Gold Circle Lake, near the Law Center, on the Davie campus, another tree symbolizes NSU’s contribution to Earth Day 2014. Sanne Siska, a business administration major in the Undergraduate Honors Program, helped spear- head Earth Day activities on campus that she said grew to be a community event in a quick three weeks. “Since the start of my freshman year, I knew my role on campus was to involve the community and get them in closer contact with nature,” said Siska. She became “the student sustainability representative at NSU” after speaking with many faculty members and gaining the sup- port of Dean Rosenblum.