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The men’s and women’s track team will compete against Yale tomorrow in Barton Hall. Last season, both Cornell squads emerged victorious in the matchup against Yale, with the men winning 100-36 and the women taking 10-of-15 first place finishes in a 95-50 win. The Red is coming off its most successful weekend, in which both squads easily defeated Harvard and Brown, and the woman produced 15 ECAC qualifiers. Senior Kate Boyles also provisionally qualified for the women’s NCAA championship in the 5000-meter with a time of 16:18.95, the second fastest time in school history. The Cornell men ended their last meet with 11-of-16 first place finishes and a score of 97 points, while Brown posted 43 points and Harvard posted only 27 points. The Red won eight of the ten races, and finished in the top three places in the 400-meter, 500-meter, 800-meter, and 1000-meter runs. Freshmen Jordan Lester and Saidu Ezike continued their dominance in the 60-meter and 60-meter hurdles, respectively. Junior Gordon Hall set a Cornell record in the 800-meter with a time of 1:51.93, and sophomore Brian Mongeon set a personal record with 1:53.57. “We really talked about trying to break the record this year,” said Hall. “There wasn’t … any competition, so we basically ran it [the 800-meter] like a time trial.” After pushing themselves to the limit last weekend, the team is not anticipating a repeat of its dominant display. “The Heps [championships] are three weeks away, and I know our sprinters are beat up, so they will be resting,” Hall said. “The Yale sprinters are a solid group. It should be close, but I think we’ll pull it out.” The women’s squad was even more successful. In the mile, seniors Carrie Richards (4:55.61, 10th best time in Cornell history) and Sarah Coseo (4:56.93), and sophomore Nyam Kagwima (4:59.25) set personal bests and ECAC qualifying times. In the 400-meter, senior Shonda Brown (56.48), junior Linda Trotter (56.55, sixth best all-time), sophomore Cameron Washington (57.20) and senior Kari Steed (57.67) took the top four spots. In the 800-meter, sophomore Morgan Uceny (2:10.62, sixth best all-time) set a personal best, as did seniors Alison Koplar (2:11.54) and Jessica Brown (2:12.16) to beat the ECAC standard time. Junior Emily McCabe’s 9:58.65 qualified her for the ECAC championship in the 3000-meter, while sophomore Stephanie King (8.82) qualified in the 60-meter hurdles. Sophomore Sarah Wilfred qualified for the ECACs with a wining leap of 5-7 in the high jump. Junior Sheeba Ibidunni set a personal record in the weight, throwing 58-6, the second best mark in school history, to win the event. Freshman Joan Casey also vaulted 10-10, fourth best all-time. “We’re doing great. We’re so geared up for Heps [championships],” said Wilfred. “Yale has always good competition. But in the end, I think we’ll be able to come away with a win.” Yale competed in the Boston College Terrier Inviational last weekend. The Bulldogs won only one race, the distance medley, in a time of 11:35.81. The team failed to place any other athletes in the top three, with its next top finisher coming in fourth in the 3,000-meter and. Two Yale runners managed fifth place finishes, in the 200-meter and 800-meter events.Archived article by Josh Perlin Sun Staff Writer
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Prof. Gary Whittaker, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology, and Victor C. Chu grad have discovered a potential vulnerability in the influenza virus. They found a specific receptor that, if targeted, can prevent the virus from infecting new cells, regardless of its strain. “This could lead to what I like to call a universal medication for influenza,” Whittaker said, explaining that antiviral drugs could be designed to specifically target the molecule or co-receptor that allows the virus to enter and infect cells. This medication, he said, would be different from vaccines in that, “With vaccines, we’re always one step behind the virus … we have to wait for it to arrive, then we can make the vaccine … it might be too late by the time we give it to people.” Whittaker proposed that a technique of exclusion called a “ring vaccination” could be applied while using the medication. He explained that once a person is infected, all those in close contact with him would be given the medication in order to prevent an outbreak. Chu added that, although the influenza virus replicates very quickly upon entering a cell, the medication would be capable of preventing the virus from spreading out to infect other cells and other people. Whittaker estimated it would be at least nine years of clinical trials before such a medication could be used as common treatment, drawing a parallel with a similar discovery made in 1996 about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). In that discovery, researchers also found a co-receptor that plays a similar role for HIV infections as this particular molecule does for the influenza virus. Chu noted, “Personally, I think the best way to treat the flu is to develop vaccinations,” adding that they could be used in conjunction with antiviral treatments. Whittaker explained that many assumptions have been made about the influenza virus, and that he and Chu reevaluated these assumptions to arrive at their discovery. Whittaker explained that during their research they considered the two possible targets: the virus itself, or the cell. While the virus itself mutates and changes, Whittaker pointed out that the cell is unlikely to change, and therefore targeting the cell would minimize the chances of the virus becoming resistant to possible antiviral treatments. Through their research, Whittaker and Chu noticed a molecule that they had “never realized was there before.” They suggested that without this surface molecule, known as N-linked glycoprotein, the virus would be able to attach itself to the cell, but not infect it. Chu added that, when it came to targeting receptors, specificity was most important. “The influenza virus is a carbohydrate or a sugar in the most basic sense,” he said. “That’s not specific at all…It would not make a good target.” The significance of their discovery then, Chu concluded, was that they had found a protein base responsible for the infection process, which was far more specific a target than originally imagined. While they have yet to identify the co-receptor responsible for this occurrence, Chu pointed out that the first step of realizing this critical component’s existence is significant in and of itself, and that their work would continue in hopes of identifying the co-receptor in question. Whittaker and Chu’s findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in December.Archived article by Julie GengSun Staff Writer