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Rattlesnakes fighting cancer? Researcher combing Utah mountains to study snake venom

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Rattlesnakes fighting cancer? Researcher combing Utah mountains to study snake venom


COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah — Hiking up a hillside in Cottonwood Heights Thursday, Eric Januszkiewicz embarked on a hunt, hoping for a good find.

“It’s tricky, tricky finding them,” he explained, as he looked around and probed under rock crevices and into bushes, using a metal pole with a hook on the end.

He said timing is everything when it comes to finding rattlesnakes. So is the weather.

“That’s just lucky if you come across one,” he said.

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Most people wouldn’t use the word “luck” when it comes to seeing the specific rattlesnake species he was searching for.

“I’m here trying to catch Great Basin rattlesnakes. That’s a particular species that I’m studying,” Januszkiewicz explained.

That Ph.D. student from Colorado has been making his way from southern Utah up to the Salt Lake Valley to look for Great Basin rattlesnakes. Januszkiewicz, who drove out from Greeley, Colorado, started his trip near St. George. After searching the southern part of the state, he made a stop in central Utah.

Eric Januszkiewicz searches for Great Basin Rattlesnakes on a hillside in Cottonwood Heights (KSL TV)

Januszkiewicz got lucky and caught a young Great Basin rattlesnake near Kanosh. He brought her out of a special snake-holding bucket.

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Relatively small for a rattlesnake, she slithered as Januszkiewicz gently lifted her with his hooked metal pole to keep her from wandering too far.

“This one is really calm,” he said. “It knows we’re no threat to it.”

It helps that he loves to work with the creatures.

“I’ve always kind of been fascinated and I got the opportunity to work with them in my undergrad,” he explained. He studied a fungal disease in timber rattlesnakes. “And so that just kind of got me hooked.”

And now Eric is hooked on what snake venom could potentially be used for in the worlds of science and medicine — including potential uses in fighting cancer. He’ll bring the snakes he collects in Utah back to the Mackessy Venom Analysis Lab at the University of Northern Colorado, where they’ll milk the venom from the snake. They take good care of the snakes, he said, and the milking process is painless and easy.

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The Great Basin Rattlesnake Eric Januszkiewicz caught in Kanosh (KSL TV)

Januszkiewicz will then analyze and study the venom.

“So, looking at all the toxins that are within their venom, that make up their venom, and looking at geographic variation,” he explained. “A lot of species will show a pretty large degree of variation within their venom.”

He’ll see what makes the toxins he studies in the venom of the Great Basin Rattlesnakes found in Utah unique. Januszkiewicz explained that it can help in finding effective ways to treat snakebites.

As for the cancer-fighting component, he explained how they’re finding toxins that could potentially target certain cancers in the body.

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“All these toxins, the way they work, they’ll target certain proteins in the body, various tissues. And so, you can actually utilize that for good,” he explained.

Januszkiewicz said a toxin can target a certain protein type that is potentially overexpressed in cancer cells.

“So, a very specific part of the venom, you could conjugate potentially an anti-cancer drug to it and target certain cancer types,” he said. “So there’s a lot of utility pharmacologically with these venoms.”

There’s a lot more research that still needs to be done, he said, and it’s still in its infancy.

But he explained how rattlesnakes in Utah are super useful to science and could be used in the medical field down the road.

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“Venom is just very fascinating once you really get into it,” he said.

Januszkiewicz plans to finish his weeklong Utah Great Basin Rattlesnake-collecting trip in Spanish Fork Canyon Friday, before heading back to Colorado.

Eric Januszkiewicz holds a Great Basin Rattlesnake he’ll use for venom research (KSL TV)



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Utah

Utah Volleyball Adds Langley Griffin to Roster – University of Utah Athletics

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Utah Volleyball Adds Langley Griffin to Roster – University of Utah Athletics


SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Volleyball has added a familiar face in former beach volleyball standout Langley Griffin starting fall of 2025.

Griffin will join Beth Launiere and crew as the Utes prepare to pick up where they left off last season making their 19th NCAA appearance, and finishing the year ranked No. 17 in the country. Griffin spent the past two seasons with Utah’s beach volleyball program before making the move to indoor.

“We’re so excited to have Langley join the Utah Volleyball Indoor program,” said Launiere. “She is a tremendous athlete and competitor which allowed her to be one of the best beach players in the country. These attributes, as well as her over skill set gained from playing beach will transfer well back into the indoor game, where she began playing the sport of volleyball.”

The 6-foot talent proved to be a commodity early in her beach volleyball career as a freshman, tallying 18 wins for an overall record of 18-16 with her partner Katie McAlister. Throughout the 2024 season, Griffin helped the potent pair post win streaks of six, five, and four through various matches. She also aided in giving the Utes their first top-20 win in program history over No. 19 Arizona going 19-21, 21-16, and 15-13 against the Wildcats.

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Griffin’s dominance continued in her sophomore year, helping Utah to their best season in program history, winning 35 of her matches for a 23-11-1 final record that included an eight-match win streak with partner Bella Vezzani and 3-0 victory over Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament to move on to the semifinal round.

Before coming to Utah, Griffin was a standout athlete at Peninsula High School in Tacoma, Washington where she excelled as an outside hitter/opposite hitter for her indoor volleyball team, lettering all four years of her high school career. Additionally, Griffin earned league MVP and first team all-state honors in both her senior and junior years in 2022 and 2021.

Griffin was also a standout on her track and field team as a three-time letter winner in the high jump, pole vault, and the 4×200 meter race, and placed third in her district for the 4×200 and high jump.

Griffin is slated to join the Utes as a pin attacker in 2025.
 



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Another Trader Joe’s apparently is coming to Utah. Here’s where.

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Another Trader Joe’s apparently is coming to Utah. Here’s where.


The company historically doesn’t confirm new stores until they’re about to open.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The new Trader Joe’s in Sugar House, on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Another store, the seventh in Utah, is apparently in the works.

Another Trader Joe’s grocery store likely is coming to Utah.

Utah’s liquor commission, in its monthly meeting Thursday, approved an off-premises beer retailer license for a Trader Joe’s in Holladay.

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The new store will be located at 1895 E. Rodeo Walk Drive, according to its liquor license application, said Michelle Schmitt, spokesperson for the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services.

The location is part of a development being built on the site of the former Cottonwood Mall, which was demolished in 2008.

What’s not known is when the new store will open. The company historically does not confirm or deny rumors of new store locations, and only announces openings shortly before they happen.

Nakia Rohde, a spokesperson for Trader Joe’s, said in a statement that “at this time, we do not have a location confirmed in Holladay.”

Rohde’s statement said that the company is “actively looking at hundreds of neighborhoods across the country as we hope to open more new neighborhood stores each year.”

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The statement is nearly identical to one Rohde issued in December, after the mayor of Riverdale announced that a Trader Joe’s store was coming to that Weber County town this summer. The opening date for that store is not listed yet on the company’s website.

The last Trader Joe’s store to open in Utah was in Sugar House last October. The grocery chain also has stores in Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Orem and near downtown Salt Lake City. The Riverdale and Holladay locations would bring the total of the company’s Utah stores to seven.



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New University of Utah study shows how outdoor pollution affects indoor air quality

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New University of Utah study shows how outdoor pollution affects indoor air quality


SALT LAKE CITY — Ever heard of an air economizer? It’s something some HVAC systems have, and a recent study The University of Utah found in certain conditions these systems could impact indoor air quality.

“We get different kinds of pollution events here, especially wildfire smoke, winter time inversions and dust,” said Kerry Kelly, Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering At The University Of Utah

The College of Engineering teamed up with facilities management to put their research into action throughout Salt Lake City’s campus. “We spend about 80% of our time indoors, we find that wildfire smoke has the biggest impact on indoor air quality,” said Kelly.

Kelly explained that one of the key takeaways was the type of HVAC system that impacts indoor air quality. “Something called an air economizer we found that under certain conditions those can really dry in a lot of wildfire smoke,” said Kelly.

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She explained what an air economizer does: “It’s more common on commercial buildings and it’s a really good strategy that can be really efficient. So, for example, you know it’s kind of hot here in the summer but at 3 o’clock in the morning the temperature is beautiful so at 3 o’clock in the morning, it can pull in more outdoor air because you spent a lot less energy conditioning.”

She explained it’s a good way to save energy, but not so great if it’s bringing in pollution.

So, what can you do then? “Particular matter sensors are pretty good. I mean it gives you a relative indication of what your indoor air quality,” said Kelly.

She also uses portable air filters, which you can find just about anywhere. “They can be really effective but if you decide to do one of these portable air filters, make sure that you only get air filtration. You just want a simple filtration device,” said Kelly.





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