Jackson Free Press

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently issued the University of Mississippi a fourth patent for a product that the university says could prevent itching and rashes from exposure to poison ivy, oak and sumac plants. The American Skin Association says that 85 percent of the United States population experiences allergic reactions to the plants.

Hapten Sciences, a Memphis-based pharmaceutical company that specializes in products extracted from biological sources, conducted the research on the compound in the UM School of Pharmacy and at ElSohly Laboratories Inc. in Oxford. UM granted Hapten a worldwide, exclusive license for the technology the company used to develop the compound in 2010. The three previous patents covered the compound's active ingredient and other aspects of its development.

A release from UM says that the compound acts like a vaccine for the skin to prevent itching and rash after exposure to the oily sap the plants produce. Hapten completed an initial safety study on the compound in 2017 and a second clinical study to evaluate the safety of the product and reactions from subjects exposed to the plants in 2018. Hapten expects results from the study to release in the second half of 2019, the release says.

MSU AP Physics Pilot Program

On Wednesday, June 19, Mississippi State University completed a week-long Advanced Placement Access Pilot Program designed to help 50 high-school students from 13 rural schools in Mississippi prepare for an AP physics course in fall 2019.

The Mississippi Public School Consortium for Educational Access conducted the AP program in partnership with the Global Teaching Project, an organization that promotes education in rural and low-income communities. MSU has hosted the AP physics preparatory program every year since it launched in 2016.

Participating schools included Aberdeen High School; Clarkdale High School; Coahoma Early College High School; Holmes County Central High School; Houston High School; Humphreys County High School; Lake High School; Madison S. Palmer High School; North Pontotoc High School; Northeast Lauderdale High School; Northside High School; Philadelphia High School; and Scott Central High School.

Meg Urry, a physicist at Yale University, served as lead instructor for the program via asynchronous video, a live video streaming format that allows interaction between two locations with a roughly 20-to-30-second delay. Students also held video conferences with college science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, majors at universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Virginia and Clemson University.

Students worked with faculty and tutors to develop stronger study skills, a release from MSU says. When they begin their next academic year, they will study AP physics in a "blended" format that includes traditional and AP instruction, the release says.

The AP Access Pilot Program is free for students, schools and school districts to take part in. Funding comes from private donors, including the Jack Kent Cooke, Chisholm and Phil Hardin foundations, and philanthropist Don Barrett of Lexington.

For more information on the Global Teaching Project, visit globalteachingproject.com.

UMMC Resident Training Partnership with Capital Ortho

The University of Mississippi Medical Center recently announced that its department of orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation will partner with Capital Ortho (104 Burney Drive, Flowood) to offer private-practice-based training for UMMC graduates undergoing their residencies.

Matthew Graves, a professor of orthopedic surgery at UMMC, will serve as director of the residency program. The hospital will send residents to Capital Ortho to train in surgery and clinic operations, as well as specialized trauma care.

Residents will each perform a 10-week rotation at Capital Ortho that will include clinic visits and outpatient surgical cases, a release from UMMC says.

The hospital also has a similar resident-training partnership with Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center (1325 E. Fortification St.) in Jackson, the release says.