School of Medicine researchers Elizabeth Norton and Dr. Jay Kolls have developed a nasal spray vaccine to thwart antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, a leading cause of bacterial pneumonia. They were awarded a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases contract worth up to $16 million to bring a nasal spray pneumonia vaccine to Phase 1 clinical trial.

Hundreds of middle and high school students participated in the Greater New Orleans Science and Engineering Fair, held on the uptown campus in the spring. Promising students in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes were nominated to participate by their schools. Judges included faculty and students from the School of Science and Engineering.

A study led by Yixue Shao, health policy and management researcher at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, examined data from nearly 45,000 female Medicaid beneficiaries in Louisiana and found that breast cancer screening rates decreased to nearly zero in April 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rates fully recovered by mid-2021.

The School of Medicine has honored six alumni as Tulane Trailblazers for their achievements in the medical field with a visual display along the walls of Hutchinson Auditorium on the downtown campus. The Trailblazers are Dr. Michael DeBakey, Dr. Anna Cherrie Epps, Dr. Alberto G. Garcia, Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, Dr. Rachel Levine and Dr. Clyde Yancy.

Denys Bondar and Matthew Escarra, faculty members in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics at the School of Science and Engineering, sent solar cell samples, a solar power meter, thermal imaging camera and other electronics equipment to support colleagues at the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute in Ukraine after a Russian missile destroyed their research labs.

The Green Wave football team and Head Coach Willie Fritz were invited to the Louisiana Capitol to be recognized by Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana House of Representatives, as a special honor after the team’s historic Cotton Bowl win in January.

Tulane researchers at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and the Tulane National Primate Research Center have developed a Chagas vaccine that safely protects heart function in nonhuman primates. The development is a critical step toward human clinical trials. There is currently no available vaccine for Chagas.

The School of Liberal Arts and the Folger Shakespeare Library co-sponsored a scholarly conference and workshop, “Rac(e)ing the Shakespearean Archive: Antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction New Orleans,” which examined the role of race and modern interpretations in William Shakespeare’s work. Held in February, the conference featured Othello performances with actors of different ethnicities and genders.

“Look at any map or satellite image of New Orleans, and you will still readily see the imprint of this old, French surveying system from centuries ago.”

Getting sick often may impact how quickly the brain ages and increase the risk of dementia or other forms of cognitive decline, according to a study led by Elizabeth Engler-Chiurazzi, assistant professor of neurosurgery and behavioral neuroscientist at the School of Medicine. The study found that repeated, intermittent experiences with moderate inflammation, such as that caused by the flu or a common cold, caused impaired cognition.