Looking back at the Big Bend’s
best high school sports stories
MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2019 ❚ TALLAHASSEE.COM
Florida A&M University biology student Paul Dinh holds a 3D printed cornea on the tip of his finger after creating it last
week in a Cellini Bio X printer in the Dyson Pharmacy building at FAMU. PHOTOS BY TORI SCHNEIDER/TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
FAMU team’s breakthrough a giant step for eye research
Byron Dobson
Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA
Research led by Florida A&M Univer-
sity Pharmaceutics professor Mandip
Sachdeva has resulted in the creation of
the first high throughput printing of hu-
man cells in a 3D print of the cornea in
the U.S.
The scientific breakthrough — creat-
ed in two research laboratories in the
Dyson Pharmacy Building on campus —
could lead to far-reaching advance-
ments in the medical field, from trans-
plants to testing of new cornea-relief
products to cornea wound treatment.
Sachdeva, along with Shallu Kutleh-
ria, a graduate assistant in the College of
Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sci-
ences, and research assistant Paul
Dinh, are completing a white paper to be
submitted later this month for journal
publication.
The cornea advancement is an out-
growth of research Sachdeva has been
engaged in with the help of a grant in
2017 from the National Science Founda-
tion to Florida A&M and the FAMU-FSU
College of Engineering.
The grant was awarded to Sachdeva
and two FAMU-FSU College of Engi-
neering professors to assist in advanced
research in applications for bio printing,
aerospace materials and energy.
The Centers of Research Excellence
in Science and Technology grant is dis-
tributed over five years.
History teacher travels back to WWII via research
Letters provide clues to
final days of local soldier
T’Nerra Butler
Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA
After a day’s worth of war was
fought, and he had time to himself, 1st
Lt. William “Howard” Shelfer would
pour his heart into letters that were
stamped and sealed from North African
and European battlegrounds and sent
back home to his family in Havana.
The handwritten accounts are what
drew a total stranger, Leon High School
Congressional Democrats to renew
post-Mueller report investigation of
Trump this week. 8A
SPORTS, 1B
3D bio print
of human
cornea created
Dinh sets up the printer, which can be used on biological applications. “The
ultimate goal of my research is to alleviate human suffering,” he said.
The scientific breakthrough
could lead to far-reaching
advancements in the
medical field, from
transplants to testing of
new cornea-relief products
to cornea wound treatment.
teacher Jeannine Meis, into the tale of
the World War II soldier.
She has spent the last few months
piecing together the final days of Shel-
fer’s life for the National History Day
“Understanding Sacrifice” program. She
will present her findings at the end of
summer in France.
Meis, who applied to the program in
2018, was the only person selected from
Florida.
She wants to know what happened to
Shelfer when he served in the U.S. Army
from 1940 to 1944 and saw combat in
North Africa, Sicily and Western
Europe.
Promoting democracy since 1905
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The focus for Sachdeva — who has
taught at FAMU for 26 years and been
awarded $25 million in research fund-
ing over the years — was in developing
materials/devices for biological appli-
cations, such as a 3D-printed tumor
bio system on a chip.
“I was also doing ocular research,”
Sachdeva said from his Dyson office.
He was aware that scientists at New-
See RESEARCH, Page 5A
A personal stake for Meis
For her, the project is personal: Meis’
grandfather, Eugene Carcreff, was a
French naval resistance World War II
veteran. When Meis was young, her
grandfather never wanted to talk about
the war.
But as he got older, he began to open
up.
“What he talked about was watching
everyone die, and the kamikazes. It was
horrible,” Meis said. “He never regretted
joining the war, but what he did regret
was that he didn’t get to do D-Day. He
wanted to liberate his country and his
family.”
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Ethics
Board
considers
new rule
Proposal could add
higher complaint hurdle
Jeff Burlew
Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA
Tallahassee’s Independent Ethics
Board is considering a rule requiring
complaints against city officials to be
based on personal knowledge of the
allegations in question — a more strin-
gent standard than what’s in place
now.
The rule would require ethics com-
plaints to “be based substantially
upon the personal knowledge of the
complainant.” If the complaint didn’t
meet that test, it would be deemed le-
gally insufficient and tossed out. How-
ever, the proposal is in early talks and
ultimately could be scrapped.
The proposal prompted criticism
from Citizens for Ethics Reform, the
group that successfully backed a 2014
city referendum that led to creation of
the Ethics Board and an ethics code.
The Ethics Board went over proposed
bylaws and procedures last month and
plans to have a more in-depth discus-
sion in June.
The back story:
Peter Butzin, a member of the citi-
zens group and Common Cause, point-
ed out that the Ethics Board already re-
quires complaints to be sworn rather
than anonymously filed. He said the
rule would discourage workers who
want to report wrongdoing and pre-
clude complaints based on media re-
ports.
“Too often, the only person who has
personal knowledge of an infraction is
its perpetrator,” Butzin said. “We be-
lieve this would be a big step back-
See ETHICS, Page 4A
Citizens for Ethics Reform members,
from left, Marilyn Wills, Ben Wilcox,
Catherine Baer and Peter Butzin, in
April. JEFF BURLEW/TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
Humble beginnings in Havana
Shelfer was raised on a tobacco farm
in the middle of Havana. He registered
for the draft on Oct. 16, 1940, and earned
his first Purple Heart after being shot in
the thigh during Operation Torch in
North Africa.
In his last letter to his family dated
July 5, 1944, Shelfer wrote: “Once again
we have counted our dead and gone into
a rest area. We will be here only for a
short time, but that is alright because
we are not getting any rest anyway.”
Shelfer ended the note: “P.S. I am be-
See SHELFER, Page 4A
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