{"id":102863,"date":"2016-08-25T14:38:27","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T18:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=102863"},"modified":"2026-01-12T15:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T20:15:51","slug":"bates-in-the-news-aug-26-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2016\/08\/25\/bates-in-the-news-aug-26-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Bates in the News: Aug. 26, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Voot Yin ’96<\/a><\/h3>\n
MDI Biological Laboratory researchers win heart-drug patent \u2014 Portland Press Herald<\/em><\/h5>\n

Researcher Voot Yin \u201996 and a colleague at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory have won a patent to continue work on a drug that could solve a common and urgent medical problem: helping heart tissue regenerate after a heart attack.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Voot Yin ’96, a researcher at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, holds a bowl of zebrafish, a species that provided clues to MSI-1436’s possible use as a heart drug. (Photograph by MDI Biological Laboratory)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Portland Press Herald<\/em> story<\/a> notes that the \u201cpatent award represents a major step forward in moving the molecule MSI-1436 toward clinical trials in humans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stakes are high. \u201cThere are currently no approved treatments to stimulate regeneration of heart muscle in humans,\u201d writes reporter Dennis Hoey.<\/p>\n

Yin’s partner is Kevin Strange, president of MDIBL, and they’re collaborating with Michael Zasloff, M.D.<\/a><\/p>\n

Yin\u2019s work with zebrafish, who have a 70 percent match with human genetics, offered the first clues to MSI-1436’s possible use as a heart drug.<\/p>\n

Unlike the human heart, the zebrafish heart \u201crobustly regenerates missing or damaged tissue in as little as 30 to 60 days,” Yin explains. When he and his colleagues introduced MSI-1436 into zebrafish, the regeneration accelerated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scientists believe the molecule could activate similar genes in humans,\u201d writes Hoey.<\/p>\n

Encouraging results have been found in mice, too. \u201cIf MSI-1436 shows similar results in humans, it will be a game-changer for patients who suffer a heart attack and\/or are living with heart problems,\u201d Yin says.<\/p>\n

\n

Shirl Penney ’99<\/a><\/h3>\n
High finance, horse racing, and a “special” horse named Flipcup \u2014 Thoroughbred Daily News<\/em><\/h5>\n

As thoroughbred racing’s spotlight shifted to Saratoga Springs in August, the turf media called on Shirl Penney ’99, who shared his story of growing up in Eastport, Maine<\/a>, with Bates Magazine<\/em> in 2005.<\/p>\n

Since then, Penney founded Dynasty Financial Partners<\/a>, a firm that supports wealth-management advisers with what Forbes calls \u201ca game-changing integrated platform of technology and services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thoroughbred Daily News<\/em> writer Joe Bianca, in his story “From Last to First,<\/a>” described Penney’s life this way:<\/p>\n

He has essentially lived two dichotomous, massively eventful lives in those 39 years, overcoming extreme poverty and immense odds as a child to establish himself in adulthood as a power player on Wall Street and a thriving presence in the thoroughbred industry.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Penney’s 5-year-old mare Flipcup “is special to us because she’s a member of our family,” Penney tells Thoroughbred Daily News<\/em>. (Michael Burns Photography)<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, WRGB-TV in Albany enlisted\u00a0 Penney and his wife, Mary Ann, for a whimsical story on the naming of their excellent filly, Flipcup<\/a>. (She’s sired by Milwaukee Brew, so the name does indeed reflect a certain drinking game.)<\/p>\n

Beyond that angle, Flipcup “is special to us because she’s a member of our family,” Penney says.<\/p>\n

“We have two daughters…they hang out with her every morning. We named her, we bred her, we’ve been around her ever since she’s been a baby. Any chance you get to go out and watch a member of your family compete, it makes it extra special.”<\/p>\n

Penney was recently named a Finance Leaders Fellow<\/a> of the prestigious Aspen Institute.<\/p>\n

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Clayton Spencer<\/a><\/h3>\n
Higher-education policy and its relevance for the future of our economy and democracy \u2014 Harvard Magazin<\/em>e<\/h5>\n

Against the backdrop of public discourse that’s \u201cdefined increasingly by \u2018post-factual\u2019 and policy-annihilating debate,\u201d a new book by higher-education experts William Bowen and Michael McPherson is a satisfying read, writes President Clayton Spencer in a review published in Harvard Magazine<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>

President Spencer reviews Lesson Plan<\/em> in Harvard Magazine<\/em>. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bowen and McPherson’s\u00a0Lesson Plan<\/em> offers readers a \u201cshort, yet disarmingly rich and precise, primer on higher-education policy and its compelling relevance for the future of our economy and democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors, Spencer writes, believe that any course correction in higher-education policy \u201crequires moving beyond our current preoccupation with \u2018access and affordability\u2019 \u2014 maximizing the number of people who begin<\/em> college.”<\/p>\n

Instead, policy should look at “what we need to do to increase the number of people who complete<\/em> a degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jenna Ginsberg ’94<\/a><\/h3>\n
The experience of transitioning revealed male privilege \u2014 Lewiston Sun Journal
\n<\/em><\/h5>\n

The Lewiston Sun Journal’<\/em>s feature “Transgender in Maine” profiled several transgender Mainers, including Jenna Ginsberg ’94, who transitioned to a woman about a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jenna Ginsberg ’94 profiled by the Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em> for its story “Transgender in Maine” (Andree Kehn \/ Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Reporter Lindsay Tice writes that for Ginsberg<\/a>, who was working for a Maine ski resort at the time of her transition, the experience revealed the “privilege” that she’d had as a man in that workplace.<\/p>\n

At the resort, Ginsberg says that she had enjoyed “independence and autonomy as a man.” But as a woman, she was “told how to do things and micromanaged.”<\/p>\n

After a dozen years of very positive performance reviews, “all of the sudden I had a negative performance review for the same types of behaviors,” she tells the Sun Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“I literally went from being [called] ambitious….to being told I was pushy.”<\/p>\n

An alpine skier who majored in philosophy and psychology at Bates, Ginsberg now runs her own company, All Sports Events<\/a>, providing support for sports events, including timing, logistics, and scoring.<\/p>\n

\n

Chris Petrella ’06<\/a><\/h3>\n
Why the U.S. is right to move away from private prisons \u2014 The New Yorker<\/em><\/h5>\n
\"Chris<\/a>

Chris Petrella ’06 is a lecturer at Bates who this fall teaches the First-Year Seminar “This American Death,” about U.S. prison executions. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

The news media turned to Chris Petrella \u201906 this week after the Department of Justice announced it would stop using private prisons.<\/p>\n

The New Yorker<\/em><\/a> used Petrella\u2019s insights to explain why people of color are over-represented in private prisons to an even greater degree than in the overall prison system.<\/p>\n

It’s because private prison companies can refuse to incarcerate people whose advanced age or poor health \u2014 factors that \u201cserve as a proxy for race\u201d \u2014 might cost them money.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Petrella tells Business Insider<\/a><\/em> that lobbying efforts used by private prison companies, such as seeking to be restructured as real estate investment trusts, reveal their true nature.<\/p>\n

Behaving like a real estate business is a “major, major problem,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause when we\u2019re talking about incarcerating human bodies, the language of real estate is just so grievously inappropriate.”<\/p>\n

\n

Peter Carlisle ’91<\/a><\/h3>\n
It takes a village, whose citizens include Carlisle, to raise an Olympic champion \u2014 The Ringer<\/em><\/h5>\n

Seeking insights about the marketability of Olympic athletes, the media sought out sports agent Peter Carlisle ’91 early and often during the Rio Games.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>

In 2010, Peter Carlisle ’91 poses in his Portland, Maine, office in front of a poster of Michael Phelps wearing his Athens medals. (Phyllis Graber Jensen \/ Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

Carlisle, who represents household-name Olympians like Simone Biles and Michael Phelps, was dubbed “the visionary agent<\/a>” by The Ringer<\/em> for his work with Phelps.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Carlisle was able to secure “major partnerships that span the four years of an Olympic cycle.” In so doing, he \u201cbrought security to his client while also giving the brands an incentive to continue to promote their investment even during the lull between the Athens and Beijing games.\u201d<\/p>\n

While \u201cthere is no simple equation for Olympic endorsement deals,\u201d according to The Washington Post<\/em>, \u201cthe athletes with the highest profiles\u201d can ink several-year deals over $1 million.<\/p>\n

Citing Carlisle as its source<\/a>, the Post<\/em> says that \u201cswimmers and women\u2019s gymnasts typically have a leg up on other sports because of their prominence and demographic appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Ryan Lochte and two teammates did their dumb deed in Rio, Fortune<\/a> <\/em>turned to Carlisle, whose work with Phelps has included efforts to raise the visibility of U.S. swimming, for context.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cumulative quality and nature of the exposure related to swimming certainly influences the level of interest among brands\u201d in representing Lochte and his teammates.<\/p>\n

Then there are athletes like U.S. shooter Kim Rhode, who won a sixth medal in Rio but won\u2019t gain significant sponsorship.<\/p>\n

Carlisle was quoted by Snopes<\/a> in its story debunking the rumor that Rhode can\u2019t cash in because she supports Donald Trump and the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n

The truth, as he explains, has to do with “limited exposure. If the sport itself doesn\u2019t provide a consistent platform for the athletes to become recognizable and maintain relevance, there\u2019s limited value to a sponsor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Margaret Kendall Buschmann ’72 and Fritz Buschmann ’71<\/a><\/h3>\n
They’re caring for an all-time high of 80 parrots of all sizes, shapes, colors, and dispositions \u2014 Bangor Daily News
\n<\/em><\/h5>\n

“Margaret and her husband, Fritz, are the founders and sole operators of Siesta Sanctuary<\/a>, which the couple describe as ‘assisted living for retired parrots,'” writes Bangor Daily News<\/em><\/a> reporter Aislinn Sarnacki.<\/p>\n