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Researcher seeks to understand delays in language development
LAWRENCE — A tool that University of Kansas researcher Nancy Brady and colleagues pioneered over a decade ago to measure the growth of infants’ pre-speech communication skills has been translated into several languages and referenced in more than 100 research papers, including a new one published in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. For the first time, the tool was used to compare communication complexity among infants with three different syndromes — Down, Angelman and Fragile X.
Research shows human gene could be novel target for viral diseases or immune-mediated disorders
LAWRENCE — Researchers at the University of Kansas have discovered a human gene, the protein PARP14, plays a role in regulating interferon, part of the body’s innate immune system. Their study, appearing in journal mBio, could guide development of antiviral therapies for several groups of viral infection.
Conference to explore strengthening institutions for tribes
LAWRENCE — American Indian law scholars and advocates will gather at the University of Kansas this month to discuss “Strengthening Institutions for Tribes during Trump 2.0” during the 2025 Tribal Law & Government Conference. Hosted by the University of Kansas School of Law, the conference will take place Nov. 14. Panelists will include leaders from the National American Indian Court Judges Association, Haskell Indian Nations University and Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.
University Dance Company Fall Concert builds to an out-of-this-world finale
LAWRENCE — The University Dance Company, in collaboration with the University of Kansas Department of Theatre & Dance, will present its Fall Concert Nov. 14-16. The concert finale is a work by Choreographic Fellow Jessica Chen, investigating space exploration and weightlessness through contemporary dance style. Performers include students from Chanute, Iola, Kansas City, Lawrence, Leavenworth, Lebanon, Topeka and Wichita, and from Kansas City and Raymore, Missouri.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected]
Researcher seeks to understand delays in language development
LAWRENCE — A tool that University of Kansas researcher Nancy Brady and colleagues pioneered over a decade ago to measure the growth of infants’ pre-speech communication skills has been translated into several languages and referenced in more than 100 research papers, including a new one published in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
Brady, a professor in the University of Kansas Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences & Disorders, and her former graduate student Olivia Boorom were among the co-authors of a new paper titled “Prelinguistic Communication Complexity of Children With Neurogenetic Syndromes.”
For the first time, Brady said, researchers used the tool to compare communication complexity among infants with three different syndromes — Down, Angelman and Fragile X — as well as a low-risk control group.
Brady said that “the feedback loop that leads to spoken language and more symbolic language” begins in infancy with behaviors like babbling and reaching.
“When they combine that with a look right at you, it’s really clear that they are communicating with you, versus if they’re just sort of playing with their toys and babbling,” she said. “So on our scale, they get different credit for how and when they add those different components. If they are combining vocalization and a gesture and a look, they get the highest grade on the pre-linguistic part of the scale.”
Brady said the new research made use of an innovation pioneered during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: shipping a video-recording kit with instructions to families and asking them to undertake the roughly 50-minute-long experiment in their own homes. Seventy-two families participated: a control group of 19 plus 53 with the various syndromes — (24 Down, 16 Angelman, 13 Fragile X). The researchers then watched the videos and encoded the interactions according to the scale.
The developmental differences seen among the three groups may offer clues to better understanding of and treatment for the conditions, Brady said. This work is one of many research initiatives at KU that seek to improve brain health.
“If they’re limited to using lower levels of complexity, maybe that’s a warning sign that we need to start doing a lot more interventions and really focus on getting more communication interactions going,” Brady said. “I have another study ongoing right now with toddlers with autism. We’re really trying to figure out where kids are getting stuck, if you will, on that developmental path towards language so we can intervene earlier and more effectively.”
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A study by global analytics firm Lightcast quantifies
KU’s annual statewide impact at $7.8 billion.
https://economicdevelopment.ku.edu/impact
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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected]
Research shows human gene PARP14 could be novel target for viral diseases or immune-mediated disorders
LAWRENCE — Researchers at the University of Kansas have discovered a human gene, the protein PARP14, plays a role in regulating interferon, part of the body’s innate immune system. Their study, appearing in journal mBio, could guide development of antiviral therapies for several groups of viral infection.
“We found for the first time that PARP14, a gene encoded by humans and all mammals, had antiviral activity against multiple viruses,” said senior author Anthony Fehr, associate professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Kansas, who led the research. “It also helps boost the immune response, which demonstrates that this protein is fighting viral infections in multiple ways.”
The KU researcher said the protein, PARP14, was a discovery born of the intense research effort in Fehr’s lab to help characterize and fight COVID-19.
“We primarily work with coronaviruses, so that was the first virus where we discovered antiviral activity of PARP14,” Fehr said. “The human body devotes enormous resources to antiviral defense, and the virus is always trying to evade those defenses. It’s an arms race — a back-and-forth between host and virus. PARP14 is one of the host’s tools to kill viruses, and the virus evolves ways to escape. These discoveries can lead to new insights into how to treat innate immune disorders or viral infections.”
Later, working with KU professor of molecular biosciences David Davido, Fehr found PARP14 also targets HSV-1, or herpes simplex virus. “So, we’ve just received a new grant to study PARP14’s role in herpes viruses, in addition to continuing our coronavirus research,” he said.
While PARP14 shows promise for antiviral activity, the protein also can promote certain viruses. Such interactions will be the basis for future study, according to Fehr, with the goal of honing effective drug therapies for humans and animals, potentially spanning different groups of viruses including COVID-19.
“We found PARP14 has what we call ‘proviral activity’ — it enhances the replication of another class of viruses called rhabdoviruses, like rabies virus,” he said. “That indicates there could be a lot of potential translational opportunities with this protein. It could be a target for antivirals for rabies-like viruses, since it’s important for these viruses, and further understanding of how it works could also lead to better antivirals for COVID, coronaviruses or herpes viruses.”
Past that, PARP14 could even show promise for pharmaceutical research aimed at nonviral ailments.
“The big picture for us is its effect on the innate immune response,” Fehr said. “Knowing that this protein is important for boosting innate immunity could affect many diseases related to inflammation. Autoimmunity and diabetes, for instance, can be triggered by overactive immune responses. By inhibiting PARP14, it might be possible to temper or reduce these conditions.”
Indeed, Fehr said the promise of PARP14 has led to new collaborations within KU’s medical-research community.
“This idea is really exciting because it might let my lab eventually expand beyond viruses and work on other diseases,” he said. “I’m currently talking with the chair of microbiology at KUMC, Hubert Tse, who does diabetes research. His group recently found a link between innate immune response and diabetes, and we’re interested to see if PARP14 might play a role.
“Whenever you have a protein that affects the general immune response, there are opportunities to target it for inflammatory diseases.”
At KU, Fehr was joined by Davido; postdoctoral researcher and lead author Srivatsan Parthasarathy; doctoral students Pradtahna Saenjamsai, Hongping Hao, Anna Ferkul and Jessica Pfannenstiel; research technician Nancy Schwarting; and Robin Orozco, assistant professor of molecular biosciences. The KU authors were joined by Daniel Bejan and Michael Cohen of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon; Yating Chen and Christopher Sullivan of the University of Texas at Austin; and Ellen Suder, Elke Mühlberger and Adam Hume of Boston University. They also collaborated with Masanori Aikawa of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The work was funded by an R35 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH. It’s also supported by the Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease COBRE program at KU, administered by Scott Hefty, professor and chair of molecular biosciences.
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Contact: Casey Bacot, School of Law, [email protected]
Conference to explore strengthening institutions for tribes
LAWRENCE — American Indian law scholars and advocates will gather at the University of Kansas this month to discuss “Strengthening Institutions for Tribes during Trump 2.0” during the 2025 Tribal Law & Government Conference.
Hosted by the University of Kansas School of Law, the conference will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 14 in 104 Green Hall. Preview the schedule on the conference website.
“In a time of instability and uncertainty for tribes, KU Law is proud to contribute to educating the legal field and broader society on how to best help strengthen institutions for all of our tribal nations,” said Shawn Watts, lecturer of law and director of the Tribal Judicial Support Clinic.
The event will feature four panels that will discuss the strengthening of tribal courts, tribal environmental stewardship, local tribes and tribal education.
Panelists include:
Nikki Borchardt Campbell, executive director, National American Indian Court Judges Association
Mark Carter, staff attorney, Native American Rights Fund
Layatalati Hill, board of directors, National American Indian Court Judges Association
Larry Innes, partner, Olthuis, Kleer, Townshend LLP
Charissa Miijessepe-Wilson, co-director, Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition
Mackie Moore, interim president, Haskell Indian Nations University
Darren Root, tribal attorney, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, chairperson, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.
The event is open to the public, but registration is required. Lunch will be provided.
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Each of Kansas’ 105 counties receives KU Medical Center outreach.
https://ku.edu/distinction
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Contact: Lisa Coble-Krings, Department of Theatre & Dance, 785-864-5685, [email protected]
University Dance Company Fall Concert builds to an out-of-this-world finale
LAWRENCE — The University Dance Company, in collaboration with the Department of Theatre & Dance, will present its Fall Concert Nov. 14-16. A major highlight for both University of Kansas dancers and community members is the connection between dance and science through sound, costumes and a series of postures, spins and eye-grabbing traveling lifts, according to concert producer Maya Tillman-Rayton, KU lecturer in dance.
A spinoff of her existing AAPI Heroes series, “WONDER” by Choreographic Fellow Jessica Chen investigates space exploration and weightlessness through contemporary dance style. Serving as the concert’s finale, her piece for 15 dancers is inspired by stories of astronauts Sunita Lyn Williams and Kalpana Chawla, among others. A New York-based choreographer, dancer and educator, Chen is also artistic director of J CHEN PROJECT, a contemporary dance company with a mission to create works that emphasize identity and belonging.
Faculty choreographers Shannon Stewart, Ashley Brittingham, Marisa Plasencia and Justin Harbaugh also present work in tap, ballet, modern/contemporary and flamenco style:
Stewart’s work “Upstream” is an interdisciplinary dance theatre work made in collaboration with her cast of five undergraduate and two graduate students featuring live projections designed by Rhea Penny, graduate student, and set design by Rana Esfandiary, associate professor of theatre.
As part of an annual feature in its sixth year, Brittingham has created physically demanding choreography for ballet dancers on pointe moving to cello-based contemporary classical music in “Temporal Motion.”
Plasencia’s work, “Sobre madera (Fandangos de Huelva),” is rooted in the flamenco song form and inspired by dance practices of flamenco bailaoras that perform in tablaos in Seville, Spain, with traditional music created for this concert. She will also perform in the work.
Harbaugh’s choreography brings the beat as he presents “ART*IFICE,” a commentary on artificial intelligence, set to music by Matthew Kurniawan, a composition student in the KU School of Music. Harbaugh is also restaging the mesmerizing rhythm tap routine “#53” by the late dancer and educator Leon Collins.
Performances are at 7 p.m. Nov. 14-15 and 2 p.m. Nov. 16 in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre at Murphy Hall, with a livestream available on select showtimes. Tickets can be purchased via the show’s web page, in person noon-5 p.m. at the box office in Murphy Hall, or by calling 785-864-3982.
“The University Dance Concert show is so special. The audience gets to witness the creativity of our choreographers, grace and athleticism from the dancers, and the behind-the-scene talents of dozens of students and faculty members working to make this show what it is. It is a testament to the collaboration between theatre and dance,” Tillman-Rayton said.
The creative team is rounded out by KU theatre design faculty member Kelly Vogel as scenic designer; Joey Albano, a senior in theatre design from Kansas City, Kansas, as costume designer; August Rowse, a senior in theatre design from Kansas City, Missouri, as lighting designer; and Jenna Link, production manager and lecturer in the department, as production stage manager.
Student cast members from Kansas and the Greater Kansas City area are Maren Benz, a sophomore in dance and sports media from Raymore, Missouri; Christian Boudreaux, a graduate student and KU lecturer in theatre; Rhubarb Brubacher, a freshman in dance and journalism from Lawrence; Sofia Dunkelberger, a junior in dance from Wichita; Mia Godinez, a senior in digital marketing communications from Chanute; Penelope Guezuraga, a sophomore in human biology and dance from Kansas City, Missouri; Sophia Harrison; a senior in dance from Topeka; Aidan Hill, a sophomore in dance from Raymore, Missouri; Keaja Hodge, a sophomore in psychology from Wichita; Jillian Housh; a sophomore in English and dance from Kansas City, Missouri; Jadyn Kaufman, a junior in business management and leadership from Iola; Alexandria Lefler, a sophomore in architectural engineering from Lebanon; Ella Nadeau, a sophomore pre-nursing student from Topeka; Mallory Price, a senior in journalism and dance from Leavenworth; Linnaea Radley, a junior in history from Lawrence; Madi Seelye, a senior in dance from Lawrence; Sydney Thomann, a freshman in criminal justice and dance from Topeka; Elizabeth Wellman, a senior in dance from Lawrence; and Stephanie Wirth, a senior in dance from Topeka. See a full cast list in this press release online.
About the choreographers
Jessica Chen
Jessica Chen is a Chinese American dancer, choreographer and director based in New York City. Her credits include choreographing “Almost Famous” at A.C.T. of Connecticut, “Cabaret” at CenterREP, “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” at GEVA and Syracuse Stage, as well as performance works at New York Fashion Week, Lincoln Center, MACY’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the World Expo/Shanghai. She is the founder and artistic director of J CHEN Project, a 501c3 nonprofit contemporary dance company with a mission to create dance works that emphasize identity, cultural diversity and belonging. She was a 2023 Bessie Award nominee for outstanding choreographer/creator and a Broadway World Regional Productions Best Choreography Nominee in 2024.
Shannon Stewart
Shannon Stewart is an assistant professor of theatre & dance. Her work has been presented in the U.S. and Europe on stages, screens, poetry publications and galleries. Stewart’s current research exploring ecological entanglements between humans and forests has received a New Faculty Research and Development award and is a finalist for Creative Capital and the State of the Art Prize. Stewart’s previous solo, “river, river, river” and accompanying hybrid manuscript, has been supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project, National Performance Network, Foundation for Contemporary Art and multiple residencies. Learn more about Stewart on the department website.
Ashley Brittingham
Brittingham is a full-time lecturer in the department. As a professional dancer with the Tulsa Ballet, she has performed a wide variety of classical and contemporary principal roles by the world’s leading choreographers. Read more about Brittingham on the department website.
Marisa Plasencia
Marisa Plasencia is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Theatre & Dance. Prior to arriving at KU, she held visiting positions in dance at Tufts University and Reed College. In collaboration with her twin sister, she has presented work at the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers and the Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance. With an interest in transnational spaces and bilingualism in dance composition, Plasencia is currently developing choreographic projects and research in flamenco and cumbia. Her research has been supported by Mellon/ACLS and the Fulbright Program.
Justin Harbaugh
Justin Harbaugh is a multidisciplinary performing artist and a lecturer in dance with the Department of Theatre & Dance. He graduated from KU in 2019 with a doctorate in clarinet performance and has taught clarinet at KU, Missouri Western State University and Emporia State University. Harbaugh is the director of performing arts at the Lawrence Arts Center where he teaches tap, social dance and musical theatre workshop classes as well as directs and choreographs multiple shows each year.
About the University Dance Company
The University Dance Company is a production wing of the Department of Theatre & Dance, offering public productions during the academic year. Established in 1923, the Department of Theatre merged with the Department of Dance in 2018. The University Dance Company is funded in part by Student Senate fees.
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