Cherie Stabler

Scientists at the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) have developed a revolutionary technique to provide critical oxygen to insulin-producing cells after transplantation, assuring their long-term survival and inching closer to a cure for type 1 diabetes.

Published online last month in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study on the new technique, which for the first time successfully employed a biomaterial to deliver oxygen locally to islet cells, represents a major step toward the goal of developing an alternative site for housing transplanted islets. Read the full story

The display of a social media icon such as a Facebook “Like” button or a Twitter symbol on a shopping website increases the likelihood that consumers will buy some products, and reduces the likelihood that they will buy others. That is a key finding of a study conducted by the School of Business Administration, Empirica Research, and StyleCaster Media Group as part of the State of Style Report.

The study found that consumers who saw a social media icon near a product that might embarrass them were significantly less likely to buy that product than those who saw the same product without the icon. On the other hand, consumers who viewed products they would be proud to show off were significantly more likely to buy than those who saw the same product with no such icon.

“Our study finds that the mere presence of social media icons on a web page where we shop appears to cause us to feel as if our purchases are being watched by our social network, and we adjust our buying decisions accordingly,” said Claudia Townsend, an assistant professor of marketing at the School of Business Administration, who conducted the research with Emperica’s David Neal. “Marketers should be aware that the placement of these symbols in their web design strategy could have a major impact on buying behavior.”

For this study, nearly 200 consumers explored products in an online shopping context – some were products people were happy to display in public (e.g., sportswear for women, a desirable fragrance for men) and others were products they might not want publically displayed (e.g., compression underwear for women, acne products for men). Participants were randomly assigned to see product pages that either included small Facebook and Twitter icons or did not. The researchers then measured the intended purchase behavior of the shoppers.

Here are the key findings:

• When the product was one for which public consumption is desirable (e.g., sportswear or a desirable fragrance), the presence of the Facebook and Twitter icons made people 25 percent more likely to purchase. But when the product was more private in nature (e.g., Spanx, Clearasil), the icons suppressed purchase intentions, also by 25 percent.

• The impact on intended buying behavior emerged regardless of whether people had any memory of having seen the social media icons. This suggests that these symbols have penetrated people’s unconscious processes and can influence decisions and behavior in ways that may bypass our awareness and ability to control.

As part of a Distinguished Speaker Series, The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics and the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics will sponsor a special seminar by Jürg Ott, professor emeritus and head of the Laboratory of Statistical Genetics at Rockefeller University. Ott will present “Family-Based Association Studies” from 12 to 1 p.m. on Monday, March 26 in the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium.

A pioneer in the field of genetic linkage and a world-renowned senior scholar, Ott’s scientific accomplishments include identifying genetic links for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, macular degeneration, and retinitis pigmentosa.

For more information, contact Nora Matelis at 305-243-8408 or [email protected].

Faculty and staff who enrolled in a 2011 Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account must file any outstanding claims by March 31. Claims filed after March 31 will not be reimbursed. Reimbursement forms are available online at www.miami.edu/benefits/forms. For more information, please contact a benefits expert at www.miami.edu/benefits/ask.

The University of Miami’s Beta Chapter of Alpha Epsilon Lambda (AEL), an honor society for graduate and professional school students, is now accepting nominations and self-nominations for membership. The deadline is Friday, March 23.

Former officers of the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students founded AEL in 1990 to honor students who exhibit academic excellence and leadership. There are now 30 chapters across the United States. AEL’s mission is to confer distinction for high achievement, promote leadership development, promote scholarship and encourage intellectual development, enrich the intellectual environment of graduate educational institutions, and encourage high standards of ethical behavior.

The Beta Chapter of Alpha Epsilon Lambda at the University of Miami was chartered on April 27, 1992. Members are selected from a pool of nominees, each of whom meet the following criteria:

• is a graduate, law, or medical student, or an alumnus, administrator, faculty or staff member;

• is in the top 35 percent academically in his/her class;

• has completed a minimum of nine credits towards a graduate degree;

• and has shown exemplary leadership and character, including service to the University of Miami graduate student body and service in the public interest at large.

For more information and nomination forms, please click here or email [email protected].