L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 www.italoamericano.com 8 Feb. 1, Sun. – Club Paesano's Annual Super Bowl Party, Cedarville Park Lodge, 3800 E. Powell Loop in Gresham. Doors open at 1:00pm. Watch the game on 3 huge screens while enjoying Italian buffet and no host bar; snacks, games, and prizes all day. Contact Marc Battilega to make your reservation, metro- marine@mac.com Feb. 5, Thurs. – Amici d'Italia monthly meeting at 7:30pm, St. Michael's Catholic Church, 424 SW Mill Street in Portland. Presentation by Antimo Cimino and Tyson Smith of VoomaGo. For information, contact Kerry-Lynne Demarinis Brown at difami- glia@aol.com Feb. 8, Sun. – Italian Hour on KBOO 90.7 FM from 9:00 to 10:00am. Contemporary and classic Italian music, featuring news of the local Italian community. Listen online at www.kboo.fm Feb. 10, Tues. – Italian Business Club of Portland monthly mee- ting at 7:00pm, Nicoletta's Table and Marketplace, 333 South State Street in Lake Oswego. For information, contact Guido LaCesa at oaktreelo@aol.com Feb. 12, Thurs. – Vancouver Sons of Italy monthly meeting at Family of Christ Lutheran Church, 3500 NW 129th Street in Vancouver, WA. Dinner at 6:30 p.m. Meeting at 7:30 p.m. For information, call Barbara Blair at (360) 253-7984 Genome Sequencing benefits Gibbons and Cancer Patients Children in Portland Celebrate the Arrival of La Befana Understanding this phenomenon could lead to understanding the changes that cause healthy cells to become diseased cells. Growing up in Bari, Italy, Lucia Carbone was surrounded by science. Her mother is a physicist and her father is a chemist. From the time she was 9, Carbone knew she wanted to study genetics. Encouraged by her family and a mentor, she received her M.S. in Biology in 2001 and her Ph.D. in Genetics and Molecular Evolution in 2004 from the University of Bari. After coming to the States in 2005, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Staff Scientist at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute. Her postdoctoral research focused on evolution in the gibbon species. Carbone came to Oregon Health & Science University in 2010, where she continued her work in sequencing the White- cheeked gibbon's genome. In the Carbone Lab, she and her team used blood samples taken from gibbons during routine check-ups at the Gibbon Conservation Center in California. In September 2014, the Lab's suc- cessful results were published in Nature, a weekly international interdisciplinary science journal. Now Carbone's focus is using the sequencing knowledge to study cancer. Recently, a tumor was removed from a gibbon's foot at the Conservation Center and sent to Carbone for analysis. "Ricky is a beautiful gibbon that developed an aggressive and malignant sarcoma on her foot," explains Carbone. "Tumors in non-human primates are extreme- ly rare; now we had the chance to analyze one in detail and learn What is a genome? Few of us would be able to answer that question. In short, a genome is all of a living thing's genetic material. It is the entire set of hereditary instructions for build- ing, running, and maintaining an organism, and passing life on to the next generation. The genome is divided into chromosomes, chromosomes contain genes, and genes are made of DNA. Each one of earth's species has its own distinctive genome, and each individual in that species has its own unique genome. Unless you are an identical twin, your genome is different from that of every other person on earth, even different from that of every other person who has ever lived. When you know these facts, it becomes obvious why scientists would study the human genome - discovering how it functions may unlock cures for diseases. We also benefit from studying the genomes of related species such as apes, and in particular the gib- bon. On the evolutionary scale, gibbons are very close to humans. "Gibbons are the link between old world apes and the great apes," Dr. Lucia Carbone explains. Gibbons have a remarkable genome. The species has experi- enced an accelerated rate of evo- lutionary chromosomal rearrangement, what Dr. Carbone describes as "chromosomal earth- quakes." "I like to describe the genome as a landscape with mountains," Carbone explains. "Chromosomal rearrangements are like earth- quakes – one event will com- pletely shape the landscape." from it. With our study we hoped to learn more about the genetic basis of sarcoma in order to help her and human patients." With the help of pathologists at OHSU, Ricky's sarcoma was identified as a Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor. Thanks to generous funding from the NW Sarcoma Foundation, the Carbone Lab is now in the process of sequencing the DNA and RNA of the tumor and hope to learn as much as possible about it. Insights gleaned from identi- fying the tumor's genetic makeup could be used to understand the mechanism of chromosomal rearrangement in cancer, and be used in combination with studies on cancer patients. Gibbons are a critically endan- gered species; their natural habi- tat is being destroyed at the alarming rate of 32 acres per minute and poaching also deci- mates their population. Two of the 19 species of gibbons are especially endangered: the Eastern black gibbon is one of the rarest primates in the wild, and the Hainan gibbon is the rarest mammal in the world. Conservators at the Gibbon Conservation Center are using the information from Carbone's study to better care for gibbons, to help in captive breeding pro- grams, and to assist with gibbon rescue programs around the world. Carbone has a special attach- ment to the Conservation Center. She knew the founder, Alan Richard Mootnick, and a white- cheeked gibbon at the Center has been named for Carbone. "Her name is Lucia and she doesn't have a very good temperament," laughs Carbone. "The keepers tell me she is very hard to work with." "Gibbons are such special ani- mals. When I presented at a sem- inar in Hanoi, Vietnam, I learned that 2015 is the year of the Gibbon." Carbone continues to educate others about the significant gib- bon genome sequencing results. She is presenting a Biology Department Seminar at Reed College in Portland on February 6th entitled, "LAVA Flow and Genomic Earthquakes: The Gibbon Has It All!" To learn more, visit www.car- bonelab.com and www.gibbon- center.org Lucia Carbone, Ph.D., Oregon Health & Science University (Photo by MoscaStudios) KERRY-LYNNE DEMARINIS BROWN The P ortland area Italian community is passionate about passing on their Italian customs and traditions to the next genera- tion. La Festa della Befana, sponsored by the Amici d'Italia and the Tuscan Association of Oregon, was held on January 11. The festa welcomed and entertained more than 50 chil- dren, along with their parents and grandparents. The children decorated and ate Befanini cookies, enjoyed illusions of magic with magician Wally Wonder, and listened to Tomie dePaola's Legend of Old Befana, before the gues t of honor, La Befana hers elf, arrived. S he s w ooped into S t. Michael's Catholic Church on her broomstick, proceeded to sweep the floor, and then greeted every child by presenting them with a special gift (a Befana doll filled with chocolate) direct from Milan, Italy. "It is so important to get the next generation excited about Italian heritage and culture," says Theresa Rossetto Berney, who attended w ith her daughter Emma. "Being Italian, we thought here in Oregon it would be diffi- cult for us to maintain certain traditions which are very dear to us ," s hares Lara Carnovali, native Italian and mother of two. "Instead we discovered this very exciting celebration. The kids w ere really glad to meet La Befana, especially because she had been visiting their cousins back in Italy and they were hop- ing she would be able to find them so far from Italy. It was a pleasant surprise for them to meet her in person and then tell the little cous ins , w ho jus t received the candies, but never met the real Befana!" After talking with all of the children, La Befana went on her way to continue her quest in looking for the Holy Child. She promised to come back and visit the children of Portland next year - and they can't wait! TONYA RUSSO HAMILTON La Befana arrived with broom in hand to greet all the children at Festa della Befana

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