Story by Elisa Ludwig, CLA ´99 

Illustration by Neil Webb

We know that smoking is bad for us and that we should watch our calories and get exercise. But what if we understood the ways in which unhealthful behavior could affect not only our own lives, but also the biochemical legacy we leave to our grandchildren? Could the toxins to which mothers are exposed before pregnancy make their children more susceptible to developing adult-onset diseases? And might the reverse also be true, that diseases could be prevented by eating well or taking supplements before or during pregnancy?

Researchers in the field of epigenetics are investigating exactly how human DNA is altered over time, both now and transgenerationally. In the School of Medicine´s Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology Director Jean‐Pierre Issa is working on several research projects that explore how our lifestyles affect epigenetics and how epigenetics affects our wellness.

In essence, epigenetics is the normal and natural process by which cells that contain the same DNA are differentiated. “Our body is made of one genetic code, one sequence of DNA,” Issa says. “But within that code are epigenetic marks—a series of tags that can differentiate what type of tissue that DNA will form. If you consider DNA the book of life, you can think of those tags as bookmarks.” The body has more than 200 tissue types, and an epigenetic tag helps the body compartmentalize the DNA and specifies “hair,” “eyes” or “skin.”

Unlike genetics, which involves changes in the DNA sequence, epigenetics is the change related to how genes are expressed. Issa says that some of those tags change DNA through a process called methylation. But they also can act on histones—proteins wrapped in DNA.

“[Epigenetic tags] can hide genes, serving as gatekeepers for the DNA, saying, ‘This one is good and you can use it to make RNA,’ or ‘Move along and don´t look here,’” Issa explains.

Together, those tags are known as the epigenome, and scientists have been mapping it, in the same way they have mapped the human genome, to create a comprehensive framework for epigenetics research. In addition to programming cells for various functions, epigenetic tags are responsible for certain diseases by turning a gene´s “switch” on or off. Their organization can be inherited or accumulated over time, either through simple aging or environmental exposures.

“Biochemical tags need to be reset constantly,” Issa says. “Every time a cell divides, and as it evolves and ages, the tags can potentially be affected.”

Some studies have shown that the food pregnant mice eat can lead to marked epigenetic changes in their offspring. And studies of mothers in Africa show that children born during times of the year when food availability ebbs or flows will have a corresponding epigenetic makeups.

Though we cannot change our DNA sequences, we might be able to control how our bodies turn “on” genes that promote health and turn “off” disease‐promoting genes. Issa says it takes more than casual behavior changes in either direction to make a difference. “Does that mean that eating a hamburger during pregnancy will negatively affect your child´s tags? No,” he says. “But it might if you´ve been eating one every day for years. We already know that exposures to certain substances such as arsenic, tobacco and BPA [a chemical used in making plastics] can alter DNA.”

AGING AND DNA

In the Fels Center, Issa is looking at DNA methylation across a number of studies. In one study, animals subjected to caloric restriction had far less methylation, and their tissues appeared more youthful than those with nonregulated caloric intakes.

Issa and his colleagues also examine chronic inflammation on an epigenetic level. They hypothesize that the regular use of aspirin could slow aging and prevent the onset of inflammatory bowel disease or chronic viral hepatitis because of the drug's effects on the epigenes.

Though his research is in progress, Issa theorizes that our lifestyles might not affect our epigenetic makeup directly but rather the rate of epigenetic change as we age. “I personally believe that exposures and diets and lifestyle choices can change the rate of accumulation of these events, and what could be considered a healthful lifestyle would slow down the process of tag degeneration,” he says.

Though the term itself was first coined in 1942, epigenetics became a serious field of inquiry in the 1970s, when researchers Arthur Riggs and Robin Holliday proposed that chemical modifications of DNA could influence gene expression. In the 1990s, epigenetics gained momentum as scientists began to better understand the mechanisms at work. Today, epigenetics is a dynamic discipline that has advanced genetics, genomics—the study of the genome, or the complete set of DNA within an organism´s cell—and molecular biology, extending beyond medicine to our understanding of human evolution.

Issa first became interested in the field about 25 years ago, when he was at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and the field was fledgling. As a cancer physician and researcher, Issa was struck by the early hypotheses of scientists who found cancer patients´ tags abnormal compared to those in healthy patients.

“At the time, the general dogma was that cancer was caused by genetic damage to the DNA,” he says. “The researchers [at Johns Hopkins] were positing that it wasn't just genetic, but a reshuffling of the tags that was causing cancer cells to grow. That idea was very attractive to me as a new way to understand the disease, and I started working in a laboratory with an investigator who was promoting it.”

All tags degenerate with age, and those researchers came to the conclusion that since cancers such as myeloid leukemia (that of the bone marrow) are more prevalent among older patients, there was an epigenetic cause. (Prostate and cervical cancers are other examples of cancerous growths that can be incited epigenetically.)

Perhaps most importantly, Issa´s work has shown that epigenetic cancers can be reversed with specific therapies: A decade's worth of clinical study has contributed to the development of nontoxic alternatives to chemotherapy and radiation. Those drugs do not kill the cancer cells; they “replenish or rearrange” the epigenetic tags instead. They have served not only to help sick patients, but also as proof of concept that epigenetics is indeed at play in their diseases. Now Issa is working to develop new compounds that might have a similar effect, and he plans to do more clinical research around other epigenetically caused diseases, such as lung cancer.

POSSIBLE PREVENTION

In years to come, the study of epigenetics might affect the wider population, as research findings could empower individuals to make better decisions about their health and wellness. “There are no absolutes, but there are things we can do to prevent disease, and we're trying to learn more,” Issa says. “With the right lifestyle, people who are genetically predisposed to cancer, for example, might be able to avoid it or get a much milder form of it than they might have gotten otherwise.”

With many epigenetic studies in their earliest stages, Issa is careful not to overhype such connections. “There are still many question marks around our lifestyle choices, whether its diet or exercise,” he says. “It should be emphasized that, thus far, our ideas are speculative. However, we do know that ultimately these discoveries could have great implications for our health.”

One of the first professional graphic‐design projects Phil Yarnall, TYL ´90, created was a set of advertisements for HITS magazine. He was hired by Peter Corriston, TYL ´72, then the creative director of Chrysalis Records (and also the designer of iconic album covers such as Led Zeppelin´s Physical Graffiti and the Rolling Stones´ Some Girls). For his work, Yarnall says he was paid a shoe full of money—literally.

“They gave me $1,500 and I went to a bank and cashed that check, and then went limping down the street with this wad of cash jammed into my big, black cowboy boot,” he recalls. “But the whole time, I had this big grin on my face, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I can do this.’”

“This” refers to becoming a renowned graphic designer in the music industry. For the past 20 years, Yarnall has designed products for musical acts ranging from Janis Joplin to Connie Francis to the Velvet Underground. Those products include an AC/DC box set packaged in a working amplifier and a compilation of Hank Williams´ 1951 performances on the Mother's Best Flour radio show packaged in an antique radio that plays Williams´ introduction on that program.

In addition to all that, Yarnall also is the official graphic designer for the Jimi Hendrix estate, designing posters, books, album covers and box sets related to the guitarist´s work. After Hendrix´s family won the rights to his music in the late 1990s, they wanted to re‐release his entire catalog in a polished, high‐quality manner. (Yarnall says the previous owner of the Hendrix catalog had released some of the works, but they were of poor quality and released in a disorganized fashion.)

A representative of the family had seen some of Yarnall´s work for PolyGram Records, his first job after graduating from the Tyler School of Art. The family wanted Yarnall and his business partner at the time, Stan Stanski, TYL ´90, to work both on the re‐release of Hendrix´s music and the cover for the album Hendrix recorded just before his death in 1970.

“To have someone come and ask you to work on something iconic like that, you wonder, ‘Can I do this?’” Yarnall says. “We just jumped right in, and started this connection with the Hendrix family that´s lasted almost 20 years now.”

Yarnall´s story of success, and of being able to do what he loves, is one of many emerging from the Department of Graphic and Interactive Design in Tyler. Beyond the historically traditional ad‐agency jobs like those portrayed on Mad Men, these graduates have parlayed their degrees into interesting and quirky careers in movies, television, music and even food.

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL

The high‐end food retailer Williams‐ Sonoma is best known for its lines of gourmet food and its professional cookware, but

Solvita Marriott, TYL ´07, says the company´s attention to product packaging also sets it apart from its competitors.

“There´s a certain look [the company] has that customers expect,” says Marriott, a senior packaging designer for Williams‐ Sonoma.“The projects I work on are really aren't many companies that design the packaging so nicely.”

This past winter, Marriott worked on the packaging for a line of seasonings for that retailer—small glass jars with vintage‐looking labels and polished silver lids.

She also worked on a line of holiday candies and a collection of gourmet chocolate bars. Marriott designed the envelopes in which the bars are wrapped and labels and gift tags.

Though Marriott did not set out to design specifically for the culinary world, her work for Williams‐Sonoma is not her first foray into food‐packaging design. In a freelance capacity, she also has created brand identities for a restaurant and a startup company specializing in artisanal food, both in her home country of Latvia. Prior to joining Williams‐Sonoma, she designed labels, advertisements, store displays and promotional items for E. & J. Gallo Winery´s Apothic line of wines.

For that winemaker´s spring 2011 advertising campaign, Marriott designed two versions of an in‐store ad. One featured a bottle of Apothic´s white wine, backlit and surrounded by glowing white moths. In the second, a bottle of red wine was lit from above, a snake coiled around it.

“Traditionally, the design for wine is quite serious,” she says. “You have your images of grapes and cheeses, but Apothic is edgier. It’s geared toward younger people. I worked on different concepts for how to show the wine and how to combine images in an appealing display.”

LEADING IN LETTERING

Jessica Hische, TYL ´06, also has designed for the food industry. Her antique‐inspired, looped lettering has appeared in advertisements for Dove Chocolate, Special K cereal and Bertolli pasta. She has even created typefaces named after foods: Brioche, a modern take on a 19th‐century font, and Buttermilk, a bold cursive. Hische draws heavily on antique samples to create her typography—a technique she learned through Louise Fili, a New York‐based graphic designer whom Hische deems “a legend.”

“She´s pretty well‐known for having a vintage style,” Hische says. “I worked with her for more than two years, and during that time I was exposed to all different kinds of type. I had no idea lettering existed as an industry.”

Indeed, when Hische was a student at Tyler, typography was not at the forefront of her career goals. “I was totally into all the classes I took,” she says. “So when I was doing photography, I loved photography. When I took painting, I loved painting.” But when she finally took graphic design, she felt she had found her niche.

“It was freeing,” she explains. “Once my teachers saw my work and how hard I was working, they let me be more experimental. I always loved to draw, and I began to incorporate a lot of lettering into my designs. I ended up falling in love with drawing again.”

While Hische worked with Fili, she also worked to get her own business off the ground. During the day she worked for Fili and on freelance projects at night. “There´s no shame in having a day job while you're building a freelance career,” she says. “It can take a while to get paid for a job and diving in without a reserve can be stressful.”

Since embarking on a full‐time freelance career in 2009, Hische has become something of a design icon herself. In 2011, she was included in Forbes magazine´s “30 Under 30” list for art and design. One of her biggest projects thus far was titling Wes Anderson´s 2012 film,Moonrise Kingdom.

Hische worked directly with Anderson to create a modified version of Edwardian Script for the film's opening and closing credits and for promotional posters. “I was amazed at how involved in the process he was,” she says.

HOLLYWOOD AND DESIGN

Not only do the titles and credits in movies need to be designed; so do the props actors use on camera. Erica Wernick, TYL ´08, had no idea that designers could be employed in that manner until she saw one listed in the credits of a film.

While an undergraduate theater major at Penn State, she thought such a position would be an ideal way to combine her love of both acting and art. “I started making flyers and posters for shows I would perform in,” she says.

Wernick transferred to Temple, and after graduating, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a Hollywood graphic designer. Within a few weeks of relocating, she got her first job, designing sets and props for the TV show Trust Me. Since then, she has done work for other TV series, including The Middle, Brothers & Sisters, The Office and Glee.

“Glee is fun,” she says. “The graphics are always quirky or different, and you never know what you'll be working on.” For that show, Wernick has designed certificates that hang in faculty members´ offices, posters that adorn the walls of the fictional high school in which the show is set and a concession‐stand sign for the school´s football stadium.

Though enjoyable, Wernick says that designing for a TV show can be hectic. “An episode films about every eight days,” she explains. “As soon as I get the script, I read through it to see what graphics are needed, and I start working as quickly as possible. I design something, and we print it up in just a few hours.”

Wernick—who last year designed and wrote LA Bound, a guidebook for moving to Los Angeles—also has designed for movies including The Five‐Year Engagement and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. For the latter, she designed a manual for a toy called the Hippity Hop. “I learned how to make books at Tyler,” she notes.

Her goal is to have people recognize her graphics from the shows and movies in which they appear. “I worked on a couple of episodes of Entourage, and a friend of mine designed the movie poster in that show for [main character] Vinnie Chase´s movie Aquaman,” she says, adding that she has since seen the poster in friends´ houses. “It´s cool to design things that stick with people.”

AN ICONIC MAKEOVER

Lance Rusoff, TYL ´96, is behind the redesign of one of the best‐known brands that sticks with people: MTV. In 2010, Rusoff—who is design director of off‐air creative—helped give the network a face‐lift. That included bolder fonts and cleaner, simpler graphic layouts. He also oversees design and branding for the network´s two biggest properties: the MTV Video Music Awards and the MTV Movie Awards.

“That has been one of the highlights of my career—updating such an iconic brand,” he says. “I´m proud of the MTV logo.” But he also admits it was a little intimidating. “We had to keep the essence of the brand and maintain what makes it unique,” he says.

As a part of his job, he does a little bit of everything. “I´m like a mad scientist when I work,” says Rusoff, who was nominated for a 2013 Daytime Emmy Award for his work as design director on the MTV series I´m Positive. “I'm all over the place. I like being connected to the work, picking the type settings, art‐directing the photo shoots—things like that.”

Rusoff says a background in graphic design lends itself to working in TV. “I love typography, I love photography, and I love art, and this job combines all those things,” he explains. “‘Graphic design´ doesn't only apply to print. Today, it´s all interactive—on your phone, your television, your computer. It´s everywhere you are.”

‘THE TYLER CONCEPT’

Since 2005, Evan Dennis, TYL ´02, has directed commercials, short films and music videos for clients including Mountain Dew, Guinness, Cartoon Network and Scion, and also for the university´s Temple Made campaign in 2012. (Also see: Temple, fall 2013, “Temple Made Originators,” p. 48.)

“In filmmaking, graphic design definitely comes into play,” Dennis says. “It´s very visual; you blend images with effects and music. I love how they all coalesce.”

One of Dennis´ favorite projects was N.Y. Adorned, a short film he directed for a New York‐based tattoo shop and piercing parlor. “It was only the second project I did that was live action,” he says. “But it was something I was passionate about. [Tattoo culture] is thriving in New York—there are a lot of artists and shops—and it had never been represented in this way. I was a young filmmaker who could offer an authentic take on the culture.”

Dennis—whose ultimate goal is to direct feature films—says that in all his work, he strives to create something that will evoke an emotional response from viewers. “It can't be anything forced or fake,” he says. That philosophy echoes what Phil Yarnall calls “the Tyler concept.” That is, Tyler faculty taught him that everything he makes needs a reason for being.

“If someone asks you why you did something, you should be able to tell them,” Yarnall says. For example, he once used octopus tentacles as the font for a poster he designed for the 2001 New York Underground Film Festival. “It´s underwater, it´s underground,” he explains. “The movies are weird and freaky; octopus tentacles are weird and freaky.

“I can answer those ‘why’ questions now,” he continues. “I couldn't when I was a freshman and a sophomore. That ability has always been really key to what I do.”

Richard Glover, SSW ’81, stands in the middle of a brightly painted common room in a North Philadelphia facility* for approximately 185 homeless women and children and holds court during a weekly community meeting. About 20 women, some with children, are seated in a circle in the room, which also is crammed with tables and chairs arranged for breakfast. The walls are adorned with nutritional posters, and an illustration of First Lady Michelle Obama encourages residents to “Eat smart!”

The women look tired—a combination of the meeting's early start time and getting little sleep the night before.

Glover, the director of this location for the past three years, holds weekly meetings to inform residents of operational issues, such as mealtimes and food allotment; allow them to voice their concerns, such as problems with heating or plumbing in their rooms; and to provide the women with financial, legal and educational resources to help them get out of the shelter and into their own homes.

Glover starts the meetings in the same way each week, by addressing each woman in the circle individually. “Tell me your name, how you're feeling and what your goal is for today.”

The women are generally soft‐spoken, and most respond with “I'm okay,” “I'm fine,” “I could be better.” Some of the women say their goal is to get more sleep. Others have more specific objectives in mind: “I need to enroll my son in daycare,” or “I need to call Social Security and get some things straightened out with my check.”

The group of women includes Temple nursing students, outfitted in maroon shirts and khaki pants, who come to the site once a week each semester. They educate the women on all manners of health issues: weight management, healthful eating, birth control. The visits, which are part of the students´ clinical curriculum, are designed to help them better understand North Philadelphia´s public‐health issues. Today, they focus on stress management.

“How many of you feel tired at the end of the day?” asks Maria Tieng, Class of 2014. Several hands go up. “Angry?” More hands. “Under pressure?” Even more hands. “Those are all results of stress,” Tieng explains. The students launch a discussion about what stress is and how it can affect one's health and well‐being. A debate ensues over the definitions of good and bad stress.

“There's nothing good about stress!” Alice** exclaims. “I don't like that terminology. You can't just say something’s good when it affects you badly.”

“I think what the students are saying is that stress can be either good or bad,” explains Terri Kelly, clinical instructor for community health and liaison between Temple and the center. “It depends on how you let it affect you.”

That steers the discussion toward stress‐management techniques, and the students lead the women in a meditation exercise. Kerri Lewis, Class of 2016, plays relaxing music while Tieng instructs the residents to close their eyes and directs them on how to breathe. For five minutes, the women look tranquil and at peace. Traces of worry vanish from their faces.

“So, how do you feel?” Tieng asks the group after the exercise.

“That meditation stuff was off the hook,” Alice says. “I don´t usually get to stop after running all over and looking after him”—she looks at her son—“to just take a minute.”

‘WE'RE NOT LAZY’

Temple's nursing students have been visiting this particular facility for three years. In addition to providing the residents with health education, they also conduct blood‐pressure screenings, take BMI (body mass index) measurements and assist with childcare.

The Department of Nursing requires its students to participate in a clinical component, through which students regularly visit various sites, such as schools, clinics and shelters. Those visits enable students to acclimate to working in real‐life settings long before graduation and apply what they have learned in the classroom in a meaningful way.

"Having nursing students here is a mutually beneficial arrangement,” Glover says.

“The residents love having them here, they talk about a number of health issues, and the students have the opportunity to learn from the residents.”

One thing the students have learned is that the women who live there are not so different from the nursing students themselves. Some are college educated, and many are around the same ages as the students.

“I was surprised at how similar I am to many of the women,” says Lewis, a sophomore. “I haven't suffered some of the hardships these women have, but I was surprised to see that they have opinions, thoughts and experiences similar to mine.”

One resident, Jane, was enrolled in the Community College of Philadelphia and held several jobs before a series of factors, including health issues, unemployment and a bad family situation, forced her onto the street with two small children.

“We're not lazy; we're not uneducated,” Jane says. “Homelessness can happen to anyone.”

“When the public thinks of ‘the homeless,’ many picture a bag lady or a drunk lying in the street,” Glover says. “Those situations are extremely rare.” Instead, he notes, the women in his shelter are victims of myriad circumstances working against them, including abject poverty.

According to the Pew Charitable Trusts' 2013 State of the City report, 28 percent of the population of Philadelphia lives below poverty level, ranking the city third highest in rates of poverty behind Detroit and Cleveland. In the neighborhood that houses Glover's site, that rate is 53 percent.

Further, Glover estimates that about 70 percent of his residents are victims of some type of domestic abuse, whether it be physical, verbal, emotional or financial. Those numbers echo a national trend: According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, approximately 63 percent of homeless women have experienced some form of domestic violence in their adult lives.

All those factors contribute to a vicious cycle of homelessness, Glover adds. By providing health education and treatment, and financial and legal counseling, “we do our best to stop that cycle.”

CIRCLE OF LOVE

After the day's presentation on stress management, the last of the fall semester, the nursing students gather with Kelly in a separate room, for what she calls “the circle of love”—a meeting Kelly holds at the end of each visit so students can express their feelings about the day, and Kelly can provide feedback on the students' performance.

“Students do a variation of this in all their clinical settings,” she explains. “In nursing, debriefing is an essential part of the communication process.”

During today´s discussion, Alice's comments about good and bad stress are a hot topic.

“That was a little rough,” Tieng says.“ I wasn't expecting such pushback.”

“Alice is very smart and well‐read,” Kelly responds. “She likes to challenge and ask questions. I thought you guys did a great job with your teaching, by asking so many questions.”

Kelly has worked with nursing students at this center for almost two years.

“Prevention is their focus,” Kelly says.

“The students take the things they learn in a clinical setting and implement them in the community.”

For example, if a patient is diagnosed with high blood pressure, his or her healthcare provider can advise the patient to get more exercise by walking or taking his or her children to the park. But the clinician might have no idea whether the patient's neighborhood is safe or conducive to walking. Kelly says that having the students work at the shelter can help them become more aware of the needs of the community they will serve one day.

“Being here changes the idea of a nurse from someone just doling out medication and treating patients to someone who educates them and prevents health problems from occurring,” says Megan Nardi, Class of 2014. As a part of their clinical requirements, both she and Tieng had rotated through clinics and schools previously, but were unsure what role they would be able to play at a center for homeless women.

“I feel impactful at the shelter,” Tieng says. “It´s hard for these women to find out information about their health, but we can be resources for that. We talk about stress management, healthful eating, relationships, anything. It's helped me see that there is so much more to nursing.”

As the students continue their discussion with Kelly, both Alice and Jane also make appearances in the circle of love. Residents sometimes join in these meetings to talk and share their feelings—their own form of decompression.

Alice talks more about her objection to the term “good stress” and discusses her frustrations in being unable to find a job. Tieng suggests having someone review Alice's résumé. “He or she could tell you what works for employers and what doesn't,” she notes.

Jane talks briefly about starting classes to become a certified nursing assistant and her hope of getting her degree in nursing. Kelly and the students share their excitement for her and their encouragement. Bolstered by their words, Jane brightens before saying goodbye to the students as they complete the semester.

“Goodbye, my nurses, I'm gonna be there with y'all soon,” Jane says with a grin. “R.N.—hello!”

*In the interest of the residents' safety, the name and location of this facility have been withheld.

**The names of residents have been changed.