Stander Symposium: College of Arts and Sciences

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  Identifying the molecular and behavioral basis of cerebellar dysfunction in TcMAC-21 and Dp16 mouse models of Down Syndrome

  Ayesha Sheikh

  Down Syndrome (DS), a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder, is caused by the triplication of chromosome 21. This genetic anomaly leads to distinct cognitive and motor impairments, often linked to cerebellar dysfunction. Prior studies have reported cerebellar hypoplasia and a reduction in both Purkinje cells (PCs) and granule cells (GCs) in humans and mouse models of DS. Given the cerebellum’s crucial role in motor coordination, its abnormal development likely contributes to the motor deficits observed in individuals with DS. However, the extent to which altered synaptic input to PCs impacts motor deficits remains unclear.This study aimed to investigate cerebellar cytoarchitecture and locomotor function using TcMAC-21 and Dp16 mouse models of DS, compared to euploid controls. TcMAC-21 mice carry a cloned human chromosome 21, while Dp16 mice possess a duplication of the orthologous region on mouse chromosome 16. To assess cerebellar structure, we performed immunohistochemistry (IHC) on sagittal brain sections, specifically focusing on lobules 3 and 9 in both mouse models, using markers for the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate (VGLUT1 and VGLUT2) and cell-specific markers like GABRA6 to label GCs. Locomotor function was evaluated using the Erasmus Ladder, a task designed to measure gait and adaptive learning.Our findings revealed no motor or adaptive learning deficits in the TcMAC-21 mice, whereas Dp16 mice exhibited significant motor impairments. Moreover, TcMAC-21 mice exhibited a notably reduced thickness in the granule cell layer (GCL) when compared with euploids. Whereas Dp16 mice displayed a differential effect on various regions of the GCL, compared to euploids. These results suggest that different DS models may present distinct neurodevelopmental profiles, offering valuable insight into the variability of motor phenotypes associated with DS. By exploring the molecular and functional alterations in the cerebellum, this study enhances our understanding of DS-related motor deficits and lays the foundation for potential therapeutic interventions.

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  Illuminating the expression of PLN in different mouse brain cell types

  Hayden Ott, Morgan Roach

  Calcium (Ca2+) is a versatile intracellular signaling molecule which participates in a variety of cellular processes throughout the cell life cycle. In neurons, Ca2+ signaling is crucial to neurotransmitter release and the development of dendritic spines. The sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA) pump is a channel protein which facilitates Ca2+ reuptake into the sarco-/endoplasmic reticulum (SR/ER). SERCA-dependent dysregulation of Ca2+ has been implicated in numerous disorders which affect cognition, such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Darier’s disease. Phospholamban (PLN) is a potent SERCA regulator, as reversible binding of PLN reduces SERCA’s affinity for Ca2+, thereby reducing SERCA-facilitated Ca2+ sequestration into the SR/ER. While the role of PLN as a SERCA-regulator has been well-defined in cardiac muscle, our lab has identified PLN expression selectively in the γ-aminobutyric (GABA)-ergic neurons of the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). In the context of this honors thesis, we used a Percoll density gradient-based isolation protocol as well as fluorescent immunocytochemical staining processes to assess the putative expression of PLN protein in other cell types, including glial cells.

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  Impact of Family Communication on Political Engagement

  Zeakia Jordan, Hayden Parsons

  The contemporary political environment is tumultuous. With a growing divide between the main two parties, communication about politics is often a delicate subject. In the last decade, there appears to be an increase in political engagement on social media with debates, videos, and reposting of political information. The recent re-election of President Trump, international wars, the economy, and human rights have led to increased political reporting in news and social media. When examining the current political environment, a question about family political communication and future political engagement arose. With hostility and division on the rise, it is important to understand what shapes a person’s political beliefs and engagements. Understanding how family discussions about politics, early exposure to political issues, and communication environments can provide insight into how polarization emerges.

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  Impacts of Social Media Usage on College Students Political Perspectives

  Emily Clemenson, Cara Gfroerer

  In this day and age social media often shapes our perception of the world around us, including political perceptions. Many people have become reliant on social media to provide news on current events, which can be dangerous because there is so much bias and fake news online. Therefore this study aims to explore the relationship between social media and political views, especially when it comes to younger generations that are arguably the most frequent users of social media. It is a secondary study that utilizes data from The Civic Network: A Comparative Study of the Use of Social Media for Enhancing Young People's Political Engagement.

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  Increasing Social and Economic Outcomes of Solar Mini Grids in Kenya

  Isabelle Wolford

  This project finds the most important conditions needed prior to solar mini grid implementation in order to increase its social and economic impact. These conditions are analyzed and optimized to increase impact. Strategizing the social and political approach/implications of gathering support of public institutions for these important conditions is also studied. This study is based in rural Kenyan communities.

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  Indigenous Sustainability: Lessons from Australasia for the World

  Grace Delaney

  Indigenous groups in Australia and New Zealand, including the Māori and the Nairm, have long practiced sustainability through cultural rituals, protected area governance, rotational harvesting, and traditional understanding of the environment. For generations, these practices have guaranteed the longevity of resources, preserved biodiversity, and maintained land restoration. The purpose of this project is to examine how Indigenous sustainability practices in the Australasian region can influence global environmental strategies, specifically in the areas of food security, sustainable development, and the intersection of environmental and cultural resilienceGrounded in my education as an International Studies major with a focus on Global Health and the Environment and a Sustainability minor, this project expands upon my coursework, my study abroad opportunity, and areas of interest in research. By examining former research, case studies, data visualizations, and geographic trends, I aim to show how these practices can be applied more broadly. Incorporating Indigenous environmental knowledge into global sustainability initiatives and providing creative answers to current ecological problems are the long-term objectives of this research.

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  Insights on the role of the Hr4 transcription factor during the development and evolution of a sexually dimorphic fruit fly pigmentation trait

  Victoria Fowler, Devon Seibert, Ashley Williams, Melissa Williams

  Animal morphological traits are patterned by Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs), which include regulatory genes that pattern the expression of the trait-building realizator genes. The first and most well-studied GRNs were found to include dozens or more transcription factor encoding genes. The study of GRNs has moved to “evo-devo” model traits in recent years, for which the identification and function of obvious candidate genes have more or less been resolved. These successes present the next challenge, where the remainder of their GRNs need to be characterized, but the candidate genes have been exhausted. If trait evolution is going to be understood at the scale of GRNs, then more complete GRN characterizations are an essential goal to be reached. One such evo-devo trait is the male-specific pattern of black pigmentation that develops on the posterior abdomen segments of Drosophila melanogaster and which evolved in the Sophophora subgenus of fruit flies. Several novel transcription factors have been identified whose loss-of-function perturbed pigmentation development. Here, we share our findings on the regulation, function, and evolution of the Hormone receptor 4 (Hr4) transcription factor gene. This work highlights the potential and challenges to an expansive understanding of GRNs and their evolution.

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  Interventions to Mitigate Modern Social Problems: UD Social Work Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program

  Megan Clark, Estrella Cuellar, Lauren Hadley, Karoline Harshbarger, Julie Huber, Kennedy Madry, Sophia Murcia-Lang, Destiny Rivera, Melisa Bahena, Olivia Schilder

  Students in the Warren Correctional Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program course have developed program and policy proposals to address a selected social problem. Student groups, composed of both students experiencing incarceration and those who are not, will present their ideas to address problems such as poverty, educational inequality, residential segregation, and mass incarceration.

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  Investigating Key Features of Multifocal and Multicentric Breast Cancer via Model-On-A-Chip

  Anh Nguyen, Anna Marie Schmitz

  Multifocal (MF) and multicentric (MC) breast cancers are defined as synchronous, ipsilateral breast cancers that are more aggressive than their unifocal counterparts, and are known for having lower survival rates, higher recurrence, and lymph node metastasis. Previously, researchers have focused on distinct biological features of MF/MC breast cancers, including genetic alterations and clonality. Yet, the mechanisms dictating occurrence and tumor transformation of MF/MC breast cancer is not fully understood. Our lab has identified the gene signatures of MF/MC breast cancer via analyzing published datasets and developed a 3D lab-on-chip model to simulate the MF/MC breast cancers microenvironment for further experimental studies. This research poster explores MF/MC breast cancer through spheroid responses (sprouting cells and spheroid movements) in chessboard-like PDMS on-chip models. We have successfully generated a 3D MF/MC breast cancer model that evaluates the potential of multi-spheroid studies. In the future, we aim to generate spheroids with different breast cancer cell lines to represent heterozygous MF/MC breast cancer tumors.

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  Investigating macrophage interactions with Listeria monocytogenes grown at different temperatures with or without propionate

  Patrick Hurst

  Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive, intracellular pathogen responsible for the deadly foodborne illness listeriosis. L. monocytogenes expresses different virulence factors in response to different environmental factors, influencing how L. monocytogenes interacts with the host immune system. One of the first immune defenses that L. monocytogenes encounters in the body is the phagocytic macrophage. Macrophages can exhibit different shapes or antimicrobial functions depending on the activation state (M1 vs M2). It is currently unclear how the environment in which L. monocytogenes is grown affects the functions of infected macrophage. We hypothesize that macrophage can distinguish between L. monocytogenes grown in 0 degrees C conditions and 37 degrees C conditions, with and without the presence of the short-chain fatty acid propionate, and respond accordingly. This hypothesis was tested by exposing naïve or M1-activated macrophages to L. monocytogenes grown under these different conditions, and quantifying outputs indicative of macrophage activity. Macrophage outputs that were measured included nitric oxide (NO) production using a standard colorimetric assay and cell morphology using an image analysis software (Image J). Propionate pre-treatment or different growth temperatures in L. monocytogenes did not cause a significant difference in NO production by the infected macrophages. However, NO productions were significantly higher in activated macrophages infected by L. monocytogenes grown at 0C with propionate and 37C without propionate, compared to infected native macrophages. Circularity values of infected macrophages at 24 hours post infection were also compared. These results showed that while temperature and propionate independently did not impact macrophage responses, they could have a synergistic effect when combined. Further investigations are needed to dissect the specific mechanisms.

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  Investigating PTPRZ1-PTN Inhibition Effects on Glioblastoma Multiforme Migration

  Janna Azzam, Benjamin Franz

  Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive and highly invasive brain cancer, characterized by having high cell proliferation and a strong resistance to treatments. One of the most common forms of treatment is surgical resection, this can have detrimental effects on the patient's prognosis as well as be a very invasive treatment. Additionally, the brain microenvironment is strongly impacted by the secretion of certain cytokines and proteins such as pleiotrophin (PTN). Surgical resection has been found to trigger PTN overexpression. Secretion of PTN contributes to angiogenesis and increases tumor invasion. The mechanism takes place by receptor PTPRZ1 promoting PTN- PTPRZ1 paracrine signaling. Receptor PTPRZ1 is specifically expressed in glioma cells and they are a strong indicator of a poor GBM prognosis making it a target of interest to scientists. PTN is an independent prognostic factor when assessing patient prognosis suggesting the importance of research. Studies have found that by blocking PTN-PTPRZ1 signaling, GBM tumor growth was suppressed and a better prognosis was found as well. Our research focuses on how the tumor microenvironment impacts GBM migration patterns using PTN as a biomarker for invasion patterns. To assess migration patterns, we have generated a microfluidic PDMS device consisting of matrigel and microfluidic channels to study two established phenotypes. The non-invasive phenotype is placed far away from the channels in the chamber. The invasive phenotype is placed right against the channels. In our study we will assess the presence of PTN in cell culture using immunofluorescence. Then, to assess the variation in GBM invasion patterns, we will use an anti-PTPRZ1 antibody to disrupt the PTN-PTPRZ1 receptor pathway. It’s expected that in the invasive phenotype, the migration pattern will be much less aggressive with the antibody than without. We hypothesize that the non-invasive and invasive phenotypes will be similar in migration patterns.

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  Investigating the Causes and Effects of Growing Authoritarianism Around the World

  Emma Basinski, Samantha Croft, Stephen Danek, Veronica Drake, Alexis Frenkel, Brian Hart, Julia Moser, Yasmin Nassar, Harvey Pierce, Camryn Surratt, Edward Vrdolyak, Ann Ward

  Decades following the robust "Third Wave of Democratization" in the 1980s and 1990s, authoritarian regimes around the world have been growing, with some democracies slipping back toward autocratic tendencies. After years of democratic expansion, what factors have contributed to this trend? What does it mean for people living under autocratic regimes and those who are experiencing a contraction of their rights and liberties? The projects presented here touch on different aspects of the question of "creeping authoritarianism" from international organizations, to corruption, to women's rights and the representation of minorities.

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  Investigating the development expression pattern of PLN in the mouse brain.

  Marc Nya, Hayden Ott

  As a crucial ionic and chemical messenger essential for a variety of cellular processes, calcium (Ca2+) signaling regulatory processes are of immense significance. Dysfunction of these regulatory mechanisms have been associated with the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and attention deficit hyper-activity disorder (ADHD). An important Ca2+ signaling regulator involved in intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis is the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum ATPase2 (SERCA2) that works by facilitating the sequestration of Ca2+ into the cells endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Recent Research in our Neuroscience Lab has shown that Phospholamban (PLN), a critical regulator of the SERCA2, is expressed at the protein level within the thalamus of the mouse brain, and that ablation of this gene is linked to a hyperactive behavioral phenotype in adult mice. Such findings suggest a critical role for the PLN/SERCA2 pathway in the development of the brain’s thalamic neural circuits which regulate locomotor activity. In the context of this BSTI fellowship project we utilized immunohistochemistry protocols and confocal microscopy to explore the developmental expression pattern of this molecular player in the mouse brain.

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  Investigating the Impact of School Engagement on Juvenile Fighting Behavior

  Chante Tarver

  This study examines the relationship between school engagement and involvement in school fights using data from the Pathways to Desistance (PTD) dataset. The primary objective is to determine whether factors such as extracurricular participation, school attendance, and school engagement reduce the likelihood of involvement in school fights. The dependent variable is school fight involvement, independent variables include participation in extracurricular activities, school attendance rate, and high school engagement. Controlled variables such as age, gender, substance abuse history, gang involvement, truancy, parental monitoring, parental knowledge, peer influence, and family structure are included to account for potential confounding factors.

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  Investigating the Role of SATB1 in Eye Development and Craniofacial Disorders

  Achyut Katti

  Eye development is a highly regulated process that relies on axial patterning involving three primary axes: Antero-Posterior (AP), Dorso-Ventral (DV), and Proximo-Distal (PD). Among these, DV axis formation is the first lineage restriction event in eye development, and any disruption in DV patterning can lead to craniofacial developmental disorders like Den Hoed-de Boer-Voisin (DHDBV) syndrome and Developmental delay with Dysmorphic Facies and Dental Anomalies (DEFDA) in humans. In Drosophila, defective proventriculus (Dve), a K-50 homeodomain transcription factor (Drosophila ortholog of human SATB1) serves as a dorsal fate selector gene essential for DV patterning. Loss of function of Dve results in dorsal eye enlargement, while its gain of function causes complete eye suppression. Through structure-function analysis, our lab has identified the specific domains of the Dve protein responsible for these effects. We aim to extend these findings to humans by investigating the functional conservation between Dve and special AT-rich sequence binding protein 1 (SATB1), as mutations in SATB1 have been associated with craniofacial developmental disorders. To explore this, we have developed genetically engineered flies with mutated domains or combinations of these domains to understand their roles in eye development. This study will have a significant bearing on developmental mechanisms, growth and patterning and understanding the etiology of early developmental birth disorders.

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  Is this Painting Forged or Not? Use Differential Equations to Decide

  Morgan Battig, Zachary Henderson

  This project explores the fundamental concepts of differential equations and their practical applications in various fields. This project covers its connection to forensic science, specifically the case of Han van Meegeren, a renowned art forger. The project discusses how mathematical models, including differential equations, can be applied to the analysis of aging and degradation processes in paintings. Additionally, forensic methods such as X-ray imaging, pigment analysis, and chemical aging detection are explored, illustrating the intersection between mathematics and scientific investigation. The study highlights the versatility of differential equations in modeling real-world phenomena, from natural decay processes to forensic authentication techniques. The artist, Han van Meegeren claimed that he forged a famous artwork. Differential equations were used to measure the half-life radioactivity of the paint and materials in the picture to see if it was truly a fake. The investigators decided to focus on the small amount of uranium found in every ore that was subsequently used to make paint from the time. As such they studied the half-life of the uranium and measured how much lead-210 and radium were present in the picture. These elements come from uranium as it breaks down and tries to become neutral. The investigators then took samples of ore from around the world to get a baseline for how fast radium disintegrated per minute. Investigators also wanted to see if the painting had more radioactivity from the radium or lead 210. The result of using differential equations found that the painting in question was undoubtedly a fake and thus math can be a very helpful tool for finding out the truth in the murkiness that is the world.

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  J. D. Salinger and the Cold War: A Case Study in American Cold War Fatalism

  Abbey Sullivan

  President Eisenhower’s 1953 UN speech, “Atoms for Peace,” proudly declares the mounting concerns of the atomic age. He demands that the global community accept the “significant facts” of their midcentury existence: the dominating threat of global, nuclear annihilation. This pervasive anxiety, reinforced by early Cold War political maneuverings like the US containment policy, struck the American people with “Cold War fatalism,” or a prevailing sense of alienation and submission in the earliest years of the Cold War, wrought by the new atomic age. The midcentury literary scene embodied such fatalism, as well, creating a sect of nuclear first responders who grappled with new cultural questions and worries. High among them is J. D. Salinger, author of the 1951 classic The Catcher in the Rye, whose later works captured the necessary acceptance of fate in order to survive in the new, dichotomous, nuclear world. My paper follows Salinger’s character, Seymour Glass, and his appearances across three different works – “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” (1948) Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction (1959), and Franny and Zooey (1961). Seymour is the eldest sibling of the cerebral Glass family, both a brilliant poet and highly spiritual, and commits suicide while on vacation with his wife. I argue that, through Seymour, Salinger displays the consequences of failing to adhere to Cold War fatalism; by embodying themes like artistic and spiritual purity, Seymour was incompatible with his historical moment and took his own life. By reading Seymour Glass as inextricably bound to the Cold War era, Salinger takes part in a larger Cold War literature conversation, illuminating other avenues of literary study while decentering The Catcher in the Rye and its excessive critical attention.

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  Joseph and the Abrahamic Worldview: A Comparison of the Story of Joseph in the Holy Bible and the Qur'an through the Lens of Setbacks to Human Flourishing

  Susie Lotfian

  There seems to be a common perception that Christianity shares a closer relationship with Judaism than with Islam. This presentation aims to challenge that notion by exploring the story of Joseph. One of the most beloved of the Abrahamic patriarchs, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam pull lessons from the setbacks and flourishing experienced by Joseph in ways that reflect the unique expressions of belief in a shared God. To that end, I will conduct a comparative analysis of the Biblical and Qur’anic texts—Genesis 37-50 and the Surah Al-Yusuf—in the hope that this sort of exegesis will foster a deeper understanding, particularly between Christians and Muslims. Ultimately, I hope to encourage Christians to reflect on how a lack of knowledge about one another can lead to unnecessary fear and resentment. Perhaps just by simply learning about shared beliefs and practices, we might figure out how to cultivate a spirit of acceptance that will allow us to embrace Muslims as brethren, welcoming them finally into the fold.

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  Laudato si! - Praise Be to You: UD Students Engaging in Climate Action to Create a Future of Hope

  Tiffany Hunsinger, Elizabeth Miles-Flynn, Molly Savage

  University of Dayton (UD) signed on to the Laudato si Action Platform (LSAP) and Marianist Family Encounters Project (MFEP) to do our part towards a hope-filled, just and sustainable future. https://udayton.edu/provost/lsg/. Students of all majors have important roles in advancing these US and global movements on campus and in our communities, especially in this Jubilee Year of Hope. Join this interactive session with UD student leaders to learn more and share your ideas on how UD can best engage in climate action through the goals of caring for the earth, aiding the marginalized, ecological education, economics and spirituality, sustainable living, and community empowerment. These seven LSAP goals towards integral ecology integrate the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Catholic Social Teaching in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical - Laudato Si’ - Italian for “Praise be to you”. MFEP goals express our Marianist family spirit and community networks. Session will include: Background on UD-LSAP working group and how student leaders/organizations are already achieving goal aspects; faith-sharing about how participation gives glory to God and lives the gospel commitment to faith, justice and environmental care; exploring areas for future growth and how we each can contribute to LSAP/MFEP goals and build on campus initiatives; sharing successful collaborations and how positive partnerships can build a hope-filled future; envision how student, staff and faculty collaboration on LSAP goals can create greater impact on UD life and relationships with the greater Dayton community as well as Catholic Universities and Marianist institutions networks; inviting students to participative actions including spring events and planning for next year. We’ll go forth empowered as a unifying body to promote a future of hope that involves coordination between students, faculty, and staff in achieving the inspiring, impactful LSAP/MFEP goals throughout campus, Marianist family, church, and world.

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  Learning Audio Programming Through Development of a Dynamic Multiband Compressor

  Thomas Pruett

  This presentation outlines the course of development for my dynamic multiband compressor, a digital plugin which can dynamically split inputted audio into multiple independent frequency bands which can then have their own level of dynamic compression applied. This project was undertaken with two goals in mind. First, to development my coding skills in JUCE, a C++ framework which specializes in audio applications. Second, to increase my auditory capabilities, when working with audio it is paramount that one can discern the nuances in different types of sounds. Through the course of development I was able to overcome varying obstacles, the dynamic element of the compressor by itself offered quiet a bit of challenges. Further challenges were produced just from the sear lack of resources when it comes to audio programing. This was a common theme throughout development, from my research and communication with those in the industry, audio programming is an extremely niche but also an extremely sought after skill set. JUCE splits plugin development into two basic sections, GUI and Processing. The processing component handles the changes to inputted signals such as the dynamic band split and compression applications. The GUI is more centered around the aesthetic components to the plugin such as parameter sliders and the spectrum analyzer. Both are extremely important and foundational functions to audio programming, however through my experience I have found the processing branch JUCE to offer greater difficulty as this is where audio is actually getting worked on and where auditory skills are developed. After much research and application, the final product was a fully functional dynamic compressor, but better than that I was equipped with the skills necessary to thrive at my internship.

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  Leaving the Nest, the Freudian Way: A Psychoanalytic Look at Lady Bird

  Dunia Issa

  Sigmund Freud’s influence on literature and film is clear. He was a revolutionary who conducted multiple studies on the psychology of humans and what motivates us. From the study of dreams, all the way to exploring the sexuality of children’s and adults, Freud’s mark is evident in the media that we consume. One of his many concentrations are family dynamics and the different aspects that influence and modify them. For example, “The Family Romance”, and “A Child is Being Beaten” are two powerful essays by Freud where he explores the role of a child in a family dynamic from two different perspectives. Both theories intersect and demonstrate the need for individuation in the dynamic between the child and the parent. Nevertheless, even though Freud is considered the father of psychology, most of his studies on individuation are centered around males, leaving women high and dry despite it being represented on media extensively. With this research paper, I hope to shine a light on the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters as they grow up and when they reach adolescence. I will be looking at the film “Lady Bird” by Greta Gerwig. In this movie, Gerwig makes the relationship between mother and daughter, and their separation, a pivotal and driving point in the narrative and the development of the characters. I argue that by looking at “Lady Bird” through a Freudian lens, his theories on family dynamics, especially “The Family Romance”, demonstrates evident how necessary it is to understand these texts in order to grasp a rounded understanding of the media and the characters that we consume and relate to.

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  Living Life on the Edge: Why Brown Street is a Hotspot for Crime

  Christina Diaz, Samantha Matheis, Ella Raimondi

  In this class project for SOC 324: Communities & Crime, we worked to identify a crime problem or a plan to promote safety that is pertinent to our own community. We applied relevant social science theories in order to understand the problem of crime on Brown Street. Based on these theoretical explanations, we offer strategies to address the crime problem and to enhance community safety, as well as an action plan to implement our recommended solutions.

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  Mapping PLN immunoreactivity within the thalamic reticular nucleus

  Summer Istenes, Hayden Ott

  Calcium (Ca2+) is a crucial cellular messenger involved in numerous physiological processes, including muscle contraction and synaptic transmission. The sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase 2 (SERCA2) is a key regulator that helps maintain Ca2+ homeostasis in the cell. An inhibitor of SERCA2 is the protein phospholamban, which is encoded by the gene PLN. While SERCA2 and PLN interactions have been extensively studied in the heart, research in the Pitychoutis Neuroscience lab has uncovered a significant role for PLN in the brain, specifically within the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). The TRN regulates the complex interactions between the thalamus and cerebral cortex and has been shown to be anatomically divided into distinct sub-sectors related to different sensory and limbic processing, including: visual motion/attention, visual, visceral, gustatory, somatosensory, and auditory sectors. Disruptions in Ca2+ regulation within the TRN have been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This honors thesis project seeks to map the spatial PLN expression within the specific sectors of the TRN in mice by employing fluorescent immunohistochemical techniques coupled with confocal microscopy. The proposed experiment will allow us to identify the TRN sectors in which PLN is expressed and gain insights into its function in the brain and relation to behavioral processes.

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  Markov Chains

  Jordyn Hurley

  Markov Chains model stochastic processes and are used to predict random events and their outcomes. In Markov Chains, I explored the different techniques found to demonstrate practical uses within real world scenarios. A good reminder for Markov Chains is in each event, the probability depends on the state of the previous event that occurred. Markov Chains can be applied to different theories to help analyze complex ideas. The theories include:- Transition matrices- Multi-step transition probabilities and distribution vectors- Regular Markov Chains- Absorbing Markov Chains

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  Mending a Checkered Past: Reintroduction of the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly into Ohio Wetlands

  Penelope Fisher

  The Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly, Euphydryas phaeton, is a wetland-dwelling butterfly native to the Eastern United States. Its bright orange aposematic coloration indicates its toxicity to its predators as it carries toxins sequestered from its native host plant Chelone glabra, or white turtlehead. This species is unique in that the larvae overwinter during their 4th instar as caterpillars. However, due to this overwintering capability, the species has been proven to be very temperature sensitive, with winter heatwaves proving fatal for many larvae. With the global temperature increasing, many E. phaeton populations have begun to dwindle, and habitat loss has driven many populations into endangerment with the loss of wetlands and their native host plant C. glabra. Despite the declining population size and home range contraction of the species, little to no research has been completed detailing the Baltimore Checkerspot lifecycle. Most research on this butterfly occurred in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, which does not account for how it is being affected by the rapidly changing environments and climates of today. Moreover, this species has complex growth behaviors, as it is both gregarious and an overwintering species, making cultivation in new or restored wetlands difficult. Overall, due to the butterflies’ threatened populations and their complexity in development patterns, it is crucial to research rearing methods in order to reintroduce populations to wetlands so that the endangered status of this species does not turn to extinct. In collaboration with the Five Rivers MetroParks, I will be studying how to successfully rear E. phaeton in order to reintroduce the butterfly to restored wetlands. Reintroducing these butterflies will create more stable wetland habitats and give the species a better chance at survival due to heightened biodiversity.