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Research News

Brink Bites: Finding Love Online and Preserving Black American Sign Language

Other research news, stories, and tidbits from around BU, including navigating dating apps, expanding sign language research, and awards from Time and the White House

The Brink’s latest collection of news nuggets, short stories, and other thought-provoking snippets from the world of Boston University research—including awards from Time and the White House, answers to the public’s online dating questions, preserving a dwindling language, and a study of lesbian, gay, and bisexual veterans’ heart health.

Skin Cancer Device Using BU Technology Is a Time Invention of the Year

Time magazine has named a skin cancer detection device that uses BU-developed technology—and that was covered by The Brink—as one of its inventions of the year. The DermaSensor assesses skin lesions using light and is underpinned by a sensing technology developed and refined by Irving J. Bigio, a College of Engineering professor of biomedical engineering and of electrical and computer engineering. Time says it picks winners based on their “originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact.” Check out The Brink’s original story on the DermaSensor to learn how it works—and how the tech behind it could power advances in other health fields.

Finding Love Online

Looking for love? Then you’ve probably tried a dating site or app: 3 in 10 American adults admit to giving one a shot (or swipe), according to the Pew Research Center. But what impact do those and other social-focused apps have on in-person interactions, emotional insecurity, long-distance relationships, and teen online safety? BU communications researcher Kathryn D. Coduto tackled those and other issues during a recent Reddit Ask Me Anything event on navigating online connections—romantic or otherwise. She’s an expert on dating apps and the author of Technology, Privacy, and Sexting: Mediated Sex (Lexington Books, 2023).

“To me, a key takeaway from all of my work is carefully managing just how much we use any social platform and what we expect to get from it,” said Coduto, a College of Communication assistant professor of media science, in response to a question on what motivates online dating and sexting. “I think if someone is looking to reduce feelings of isolation, that’s great, but maybe dating apps aren’t the only way to mitigate those feelings. Are there other technology options, or options beyond technology, that can help? Sometimes, I think we expect too much from technology, and that leads to disappointment.” You can read other highlights from the Reddit event on the BU Experts Medium page.

White House Announces BU Researcher to Join Cancer Moonshot Scholars

One of Joe Biden’s signature White House initiatives, as both president and vice president, has been the Cancer Moonshot, an effort to drastically reduce the disease’s impact and mortality rate. In October, his administration announced BU’s Dennis Jones would be one of 11 early career researchers or teams to join the latest cohort of Cancer Moonshot Scholars. Together, they’ll share $6 million in funding through the National Cancer Institute. Jones, a Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, will “improve anti-tumor immunity in advanced breast cancer by targeting solid stress, the compression of blood vessels in tumors,” according to a White House statement. Jones’ study of breast cancer will use samples from BU’s Black Women’s Health Study. “If successful, our study could lead to repurposing losartan, an FDA-approved drug, to improve breast cancer treatment by enhancing T cell activity when combined with immunotherapy,” Jones told the medical school’s news team.

Preserving Black American Sign Language

Every year, fewer people use Black American Sign Language (BASL)—and BU Deaf studies researcher Franklin Jones, Jr., is on a mission to document its history and significance, as well as the stories of those who use it. A lecturer at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, Jones is an expert on BASL—and one of its signers. A feature on his work is the cover story of the new BU Wheelock magazine. “It’s really critical to interview and take the opportunity to look at the experiences and history of the Black folks that are left [who use BASL], because many of them are dying,” Jones tells the magazine. “So can we pull together those last bits of information that are still in our history from these senior members of our community, and ask about different sign production and what that looks like, before it’s too late?”

Heart Disease Risk Higher for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Veterans

A new BU-led study has found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) veterans have a 1.24 times greater risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease compared to their peers. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Using Veterans Health Administration data from more than one million former service members—including 170,861 who identified as LGB—the researchers said they also found “sexual minority men and women had a higher prevalence of current smoking than their heterosexual peers.”

“These findings underscore that efforts to reduce tobacco use and aid cessation efforts remain a much-needed intervention for sexual minority persons to improve their health and well-being,” Carl G. Streed, the paper’s lead author and a BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine associate professor of medicine, said in a press release. “Similarly, diagnoses of alcohol use disorders were higher among sexual minority males and females compared with their heterosexual peers.”

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