4 I TUESDAY; AUG. 31, 2010
Nittany Lion fans attempt to distract Hoosiers players during a game last season. Some basketball fans are
upset that the games against Purdue University and Michigan State University will occur over winter break.
Schedule raises concern
By Paul McMullen
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
The Penn State men's basket
ball team will continue its Big Ten
conference season against long
time rivals at the Bryce Jordan
Center in early January.
But when the Nittanv Lions
compete against Purdue
University and Michigan State
University on the hardwood, stu
dents will be on winter break.
which puts supporters in a diffi
cult situation.
"If you take the students out of
the equation, the energy level in
the BJC drops by 100 percent,"
Nittany Nation Vice President
Cassandra Leighton (senior-soci
ology) said. "It is hard to convince
students to come back when
some of them don't have a place
to stay"
Though classes begin for stu
dents on Jan. 11. Purdue visits
University Park on Jan. 5 and
Michigan State on Jan. 8.
"There is a lot of student buzz
and complaints surrounding this
conflict," said Brian Siegrist,
Professor creates
By Brendan McNally
COLLEGIAN STAFF k
Penn State professor Song Tan
has created the first ever-image of
a special protein that he said acts
as the cell's "GPS" a discovery
Tan said could help researchers
better understand genetic dis
eases.
Tan said the imaged protein,
RCCI, is like a cell's GPS -- or
what he calls a - Genetic
Positioning System...
Much like a GPS in a car, the
protein tells the cell exactly where
DNA is located in the nucleus,
helping the cell make copies of
DNA and properly move
those copies into two separate
assistant director of athletic com
munications. "Although there is
no doubt that it presents a chal
lenge, we need our students to
show up, and I believe they will."
Penn State has played these
two big games while students
were on campus five of the past
seven years, he said. The games
were scheduled based on venue
availability Lady Lions games
and the number of continuous
away games, he said.
"Work hard and fans will show
up. We have the best fans in
every sport, and there is no rea
son why we can't get students to
show up to these games," Nittany
Nation Marketing Chairman Alex
Cohen (senior-marketing) said.
"With hard work, the team will get
to a premier level which will
attract a crowd."
Cohen said it will be easier to
fill the BJC during the winter
break if the team works hard and
shows strength during their non
conference slate.
But hard work is only one part
of the equation, Nittany Nation
founder and Penn State alumnus
cells during cell division.
Frank Pugh, professor and
director of the Penn State Center
for Eukaryotic Gene Regulation,
said Tan's research could help sci
entists create better drugs for
genetic diseases in the future.
But in the short term, he said
the discovery will enable
researchers to better understand
how DNA works, which is critical
to understanding the human body.
"[Tan's research] is about
understanding how chromosomes
work," Pugh said. "Chromosome
function is basic to all of human
health. When they don't work
right, you get disease and aging."
But taking a picture of the pro
tein isn't as easy as it sounds, Tan
LOCAL
Justin Casavant said. If students
show up to the big games, the
energy could have a positive
effect on the outcome of the
games, he said.
"Penn State students love to
boast how they are the No. 1 stu
dent fans in the country. If they
truly mean what they say, they
will turn those words into actions
and pack the [BJCI this winter in
support of Penn State basket
ball," he said.
"The Big Ten has challenged
them, now let the Nittany Nation
answer the call."
But Nittany Nation President
Katie Huber said students need
to turn out for more than just
Taylor Battle, who is attempting
to break Penn State's all-time
scoring record, which was set 55
years ago by Jesse Arnelle.
"Penn State has been rated the
No. 1 student section for football
and students need to apply that
same energy and passion after
the football season," Huber (sen
ior-public relations) said.
To e-mail reporter: phmso3o@psu.edu
first-ever image of protein
said. The proteins and DNA are
simply too small to see even with
the best microscopes.
"The nucleus is 10 micrometers
wide about 1/10 the width of a
human hair," Tan said. "And in this
tiny little space there is six feet of
DNA in every cell."
To understand such a tiny
structure, Tan used a process
called X-ray crystallography to
replicate RCCI and crystallize the
protein, creating a tiny crystal
about 1/10 of a millimeter wide.
Tan said the process has been
used for decades, but for it to work
in this case, researchers had to
create an extraordinarily high
quality crystal.
Certain techniques have been
BLUE & WHITE SOCIETY • THE ULTIMATE PENN STATE EXPERIENCE
UPUA gives 'S Book'
to new PSU students
By Kathleen Loughran
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Freshmen received more than
just flyers in their mailboxes
Monday.
"The 'S' Book"
the student
handbook creat-
ed by the
University Park
Undergraduate
Association
(UPUA) was
delivered by the Pelliciotta
Penn State
Multimedia and Print Centerto
all freshmen mailboxes in East
Halls, Pollock Halls and South
Halls, UPUA Assembly
Chairwoman Jessica Pelliciotta
said.
"That was just the best way to
make sure every freshman gets
them in their hands, so we're not
asking every freshman to come
find us," Pelliciotta (senior-politi
cal science) said. "It was the best
way to do it with the timing
issue."
Since the handbook could not
be delivered to the mailboxes of
freshmen living in North Halls or
West Halls, Pelliciotta said UPUA
is working on setting up tables in
the commons area of both loca
tions.
A date for the distribution is yet
to be determined because it's
currently a "busy time of the
year," she added.
Lion Ambassadors President
David Frankenfield, who also
helped with the creation of "The ,
`S' Book," said being able to deliv
er the handbook to freshmen
"feels great."
"I think it's going to help them
navigate the university in the first
couple weeks, but it's also a keep
sake that they can treasure in
years to come," Frankenfield
(senior-economics) said.
Though UPUA passed out
many of the handbooks at the
Commonwealth Campus change
of-campus orientation held on
last Sunday, Pelliciotta said
UPUA hopes to set up hours
developed in the past decade that
allowed researchers to create
higher quality crystals, which Tan
said his lab built upon and
improved.
After creating the crystal,
researchers shot X-rays through
it, and based on the patterns cre
ated by X-rays reflecting or
detracting, as Tan said in the
crystal, researchers were able to
get a clear picture of the protein's
structure.
"What we get is a complicated
defraction pattern," Tan said.
"And hopefully based on that pat
tern you have enough information
to work back the structure of the
protein."
Joseph England, now a medical
TODAY I 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Hintz Family Alumni Center
(gardens between Willard and Hammond)
• Free pizza and Clem's BBQ, and
Berkey Creamery Ice Cream
• Pick up your membership T-shirt
• Music
• Sign up for the Blue & White Society
HIS
Sill
BLUE & WHITE SOCIETY
Don't Miss it!
-
-4•110 Penn State
L a J Alumni Association
• in
,„ , .
www.alumni.psu:edu
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
"It's also a
keepsake they can
treasure in years to
come."
David Frankenfleld
Lion Ambassadors President
when transfer and change-of
campus students can come pick
up the handbook in both the
UPUA and the Council of
Commonwealth Student
Governments offices.
Pelliciotta said she has gotten
positive reactions from those
who have received the handbook
already.
"They think it turned out well,
and a couple upperclassmen said
they wish they'd got it when they
first started," she said. "I think it
was pretty successful, but we're
looking to improve it for next
year"
One of the things Pelliciotta
said she learned from creating
the handbooks is to begin produc
tion earlier.
Originally UPUA planned to
distribute the handbooks during
the First-Year Testing,
Consulting and Advising
Program (FTCAP), but missed
the deadline.
She said UPUA is already
working on next year's handbook
so that it will be completed in
time for FTCAP
"I think it would be beneficial to
have them at FTCAP because
students have a lot of questions
when they first arrive at Penn
State," Pelliciotta said. "This way
they'll have a couple weeks to a
couple months to look over the
information and maybe make
decisions off of that book."
Starting earlier will also give
UPUA the opportunity to reach
out to every person and organiza
tion that the student government
wishes to include in the hand
book, she said.
To e-mail reporter: krlslo6@psu.edu
student at Temple University,
worked on the project with Tan
while he was an undergraduate at
Penn State. England's job was to
make tiny changes or mutations to
the structure of the RCCI protein.
Researchers then compared the
images of the mutated protein
with images of the original to
make sure the X-ray crystallogra
phy was consistent and accurate.
England said he was excited to
hear the project reached his goal
a goal he said Tan had been
working to accomplish for nearly a
decade. But Tan said his work isn't
done yet. "We really hope that this
is just the beginning," Tan said.
To e-mail reporter: bwmsl47@psu.edu