2 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 superhero movement draws heavily from John Williams’ Superman scores. The composition presents unique challenges. While film composers like Williams can write demanding parts for professional union musicians, Wernke must balance his artistic vision with the capabilities of undergraduate students and community members. “John Williams can write all these incredibly high trumpet parts and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t do that,’” he says. “So, I’m making my way through the piece, and thinking ‘Can they do it?’ And if the answer is no, they can’t do it, then I think, how can I preserve this musical moment while also making it attainable for young musicians?” Sometimes the fix is simple, like dropping a note down an octave. Other times it requires reworking entire harmonic structures. Wernke’s path to this project wasn’t direct. Between his bachelor’s and master’s work at Butler University, he applied to USC’s prestigious film scoring program but was denied for lacking technological skills. A doctorate from the University of Hartford-Hartt School followed, but his passion for film music never faded. After seven years teaching in Missouri, Wernke found the right ensemble at Lehigh. “When I came here, it was very clear that yes, they can handle this idea.” As the Philharmonic prepares for its premiere, Wernke sees the project as a bridge between generations of listeners, weaving cinematic influences into the concert hall. MUSIC MUSIC FOR IMAGINARY MOVIES For most composers, the period between childhood ambition and professional achievement spans years of refinement and compromise. For music professor Kyle Wernke, it’s taken decades to finally realize a vision that first sparked when he was just 16 years old. Wernke, who leads the Lehigh University Philharmonic, is composing an ambitious multi-movement orchestral work that reads like an ode to film music. Each movement represents a different part of a movie script, from main titles to plot twists, all unified by a single musical theme that weaves through various cinematic genres. The Philharmonic will premiere the work April 24 in Zoellner Arts Center’s Baker Hall. For Wernke, it represents both the fulfillment of a decades-old dream and a bridge between the classical tradition and the cinematic language that first inspired him to become a composer. “Music for Imaginary Movies” draws inspiration from some of film’s finest scores. Wernke, assistant professor of music, draws inspiration from specific works that have moved him: the Western movement channels “High Noon” and “Silverado,” while another movement takes cues from 1962’s “Mutiny on the Bounty.” A CHEMISTRY BEATING CANCER’S DRUG RESISTANCE Every day, the DNA in each of our cells suffers thousands of attacks. Air pollution, cigarette smoke, background radiation, and even routine cell division can damage the genetic code that keeps us alive. Fortunately, our cells are equipped with sophisticated repair machinery, a suite of enzymes that detect and fix DNA damage before it leads to mutations or cell death. Sometimes this protective system goes awry. Some of the most important cancer therapies work by damaging DNA. Cancer cells will therefore hijack DNA repair machinery to fix the therapy-induced damage and resist frontline treatments. Developing innovative tools to understand exactly how cancer cells exploit DNA repair and how to turn that knowledge into better treatments is the focus of work underway by biochemist Daniel Laverty. Laverty’s research creates functional assays, molecular tools that measure specific DNA repair pathways in living cells. These assays address a fundamental challenge in cancer research. DNA can be damaged in myriad ways, making it difficult to pinpoint which repair pathways are most important in any given tumor. “If you just treat cells with radiation, you’re actually making 100 different types of DNA damage,” says Laverty, assistant professor of chemistry. “So, then it becomes really challenging. Let’s say you have one tumor that was killed by radiation and one that was resistant. Which one of those 100 DNA lesions killed this tumor, but not that tumor?” His solution is elegant. His lab creates circular DNA molecules called plasmids that encode for fluorescent or luminescent proteins. Then they introduce a specific type of DNA damage, and transfer the plasmid into human cells, where they exist separately from the cell’s CHRISTINE KRESCHOLLEK THE HBURMIEAFNSITIES Kyle Wernke
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