A new teaching and performance space for visual arts is currently in the pre-design phase, according to Steve Campbell, director of Dartmouth Planning and Design. The building will house the film and television and studio art departments. The proposed location is on Lebanon Street at a site that is currently occupied by Brewster Hall and Clement Hall. Campbell said that because the project is still in the pre-design stage, a project schedule including the beginning and end of construction has not yet been determined. He did say, however, that decisions on what features will be included in the building will likely be made by late May, at which point architects will begin to design the building, a process that is expected to take a year.
Film and Television Department Chair Mary Desjardins said that the department is very excited about moving into their new space because faculty members are currently dispersed among three buildings: Wilson Hall, Clement Hall and North Fairbanks Hall. She said that she is also excited to be working in the same space as the studio art department because it will give the departments a chance to work together and expose one another to new, creative ideas. The center will include an auditorium space comparable to the Loew Auditorium in the Hopkins Center, which seats approximately 200 people, in addition to a smaller 50-seat auditorium that will be used for smaller screenings and as a classroom. Desjardins hopes the space will attract new students and that new technology will allow the department to enlarge its curricular offering.
A team of biochemists from Dartmouth Medical School and Weill Cornell Medical College has identified a protein, Rab10, as an aid to the insulin-mediated uptake of glucose by cells. Published in the April edition of the scientific journal "Cell Metabolism," the research could lead to treatments for type 2 diabetes, a disease that afflicts 20 million Americans. Insulin helps to maintain a consistent amount of glucose in the body's blood supply. Type 2 diabetes occurs when cells in the body no longer respond as they should to insulin, a defect known as "insulin insensitivity." The new report found that when the protein Rab10 is switched off, cells in the body become less sensitive to insulin.
