Stander Symposium Projects

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  Increasing Awareness of Intimate Partner Violence on UD’s Campus

  Maria Elizabeth Anderson, Marie Jane Crouchley, Claire Marie Feller

  Many people know that sexual assault is a rising issue on college campuses. However, many do not realize that intimate partner violence (IPV) is also a prevalent issue among college-aged individuals. While the University of Dayton provides many resources on sexual assault, we found there is a need for increased awareness specifically of intimate partner violence. Many students are unaware of the signs of IPV and do not know how to effectively intervene as bystanders of these situations. We examined the impact of existing resources for IPV on UD’s campus and compared them to resources on other college campuses. We determined that there is not enough information readily available for UD students regarding IPV in particular. Our project goal was to create a document that informs UD students of the signs of IPV. Furthermore, our document addresses how friends can support and guide each other in unhealthy relationships. We believe that by providing more information on IPV, UD students will be better equipped to handle these situations and will know where they can get help.

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  Individualized Learning Plans

  Katherine Victoria Evans, Alexa Dehner Passafiume

  The aims of this research is to see how individualized learning plans can benefit the development of well-rounded students in secondary education programs. Specifically we will be focussing on the use of alternative classrooms and alternative scheduling within high schools and the benefits that come with them.Through the use of flipped classrooms and the inclusion/choice of electives, specifically in the arts, one can receive a more well-rounded education that will help them in both the world and in their further education. Going beyond the traditional ways of earning credit in high school can help the students develop a more personalized education, therefore ensuring more of a balance in the education of the whole person. Giving students more choice and flexibility within their schedule will allow them to focus on their passions and become more advanced in their interests. Additionally the integration of arts within a student’s education through both electives and within other classes can lead to benefits in other academic areas, allowing for students to get the most out of their high school experiences. Both alternative classrooms and alternative scheduling provide a more individualized approach to education which allows for students to gain control of the path that they take through their secondary education experiences. By giving students an ability to choose gives them more of a sense of ownership and responsibility when it comes to their education which oftentimes leads to better outcomes in their education as a whole.

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  Inevitable or Avoidable: Assessing the Relationship between Childhood Trauma and Adult Crime and Violence

  Chloe Marie Kisela

  Crime, violence, and childhood trauma are all unfortunate things to speak of, yet they are ever-present in our society. We might have several questions about what factors have a casual influence on these events and how we can prevent them, but for the researcher, one question stood out among others – could all three be connected in some way? In conjunction with that thought, this project uses secondary data analysis to examine whether or not childhood trauma (neglect, abuse, parental death, parental absence, etc.) is related to later adult criminal offending or violent behavior. In addition, specific psychological processes that could possibly connect childhood trauma with adult offending have been researched and described, including learned helplessness, classical conditioning, neurological changes in the brain post-trauma, and the emergence of psychological disorders. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) has been utilized through statistical analysis in pursuit of supporting or refuting the hypothesis, which believes that there is a positive relationship between childhood trauma and adult offending. This is all done with the motive to help reduce childhood trauma and adult offending and violence because, in order to pursue the weighty goals of putting an end to crime as well as childhood suffering, we must first work to better understand them and how they relate to each other.

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  Influenza Vaccine Health Literacy Among UD Intensive English Program Students

  Kaylin Ann Kultgen, Nicole Elise Licher, Leigh Anne Roberts, Aubrey Alexandra Woolford

  In the United States, it is estimated that only 12 percent of adults have proficient health literacy. According to Zarcadoolas in Advancing Health Literacy, health literacy is defined as “the wide range of skills and competencies that people develop over their lifetimes to seek out, comprehend, evaluate, and use health information and concepts to make informed choices, reduce health risks, and increase quality of life.” For this project, our group was tasked with finding an original healthcare document in an area of interest or concern for UD’s Intensive English Program (IEP) students. The original document, a vaccine fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control, was analyzed for readability using the SMOG test and Microsoft Word assessment, identifying the Flesch-Kincaid reading grade level. We also performed a Health Literacy Load Analysis. The original document was then revised to enhance the readability to the IEP students. The first revision was presented to IEP students to gain critical feedback. Though our original document was a more broad outline of how vaccines work, our team chose to focus on the influenza vaccine. This decision was made based on the questions and feedback IEP students provided us, specifically their interest in why some vaccines must be given multiple times. The students’ feedback was used to create a second and final revision of the original document aimed at making information about influenza vaccinations easier to read and understand. We were able to reduce the reading level of the original document to be more understandable and usable for IEP students.

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  Inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Growth using TMP preventative treatment on Steel and Polyethylene substrata

  Erin Elise Pellot

  Within recent years there have been a growing number of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. Many of these strains produce biofilms, which are sturdy layers of bacteria on a surface. These biofilms are highly antibiotic resistant and have multiple defense mechanisms. Biofilms have been known to form layers on metal implants after surgery and dialysis tubing which can prevent typical antibiotic treatment methods from being effective. In order to prevent biofilms from forming on steel and polyethylene coupons the porphyrin Tetramesitylporphyrin (TMP) was tested as a pre-treatment for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of the six ESKAPE bacterial pathogens responsible for most deadly opportunistic infections in the United States. In this experiment steel and polyethylene coupons were placed in a 225 µM TMP and a 100 µM TMP solution for time periods of three and five hours. After this presoak period the coupons were submerged in a PAO1 liquid culture for an 18-hour period. Once a biofilm was formed the coupons were removed and vortexed in sterile water to resuspend the biofilm. A serial dilution and plating was then carried out and the plates were placed in the 37°C incubator overnight. A Colony forming unit (CFU) count was taken the next day to asses the log reduction created by TMP pretreatment. Results showed a roughly .5 log reduction in the 100 µM TMP and 225 µM TMP treatment trials.

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  Insectile Neurochemistry: Developing a novel HPLC-based method to assess neurotransmitters in the grasshopper brain

  Benjamin Klocke

  Grasshoppers (Order Orthoptera) are critical members of grassland ecosystems; as herbivores they serve an important role in many ecosystem services. They can also cause very costly destruction of crops and are seen as pests in agriculture. Therefore, understanding grasshopper behavior is critical to fully understand their impact on the environment. Many chemical pesticides and fertilizers used in agriculture affect the balance of micronutrients such as sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca). Similar micronutrient shifts have recently been correlated to an alteration in grasshopper activity. It is currently hypothesized that changes in neurotransmitter systems in the grasshopper CNS underly this response. Therefore, understanding the neurochemical mechanisms underlying these observed behavioral changes is necessary to fully understand the impact of chemicals used in agriculture. However, only a few studies have assessed neurotransmitters have not been quantitatively assessed in insects. Thus, the purpose of this project was to develop a novel HPLC-based method to assess neurotransmitters in the grasshopper brain. This method will be used in collaborative projects by the Prather and the Pitychoutis labs here at the UD to conduct studies exploring grasshopper neurotransmission dynamics following micronutrient shifts in the ecosystem.

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  Inspecting the role for the trans-regulatory landscape to the origin, diversification, and loss of a sexually dimorphic fruit fly pigmentation trait

  Jesse Taylor Hughes

  A major goal for evolutionary-developmental biology research is to identify the genetic changes underlying the origins, diversification, and loss of morphological traits. Such traits are built by the spatial and temporal regulation of gene expression, and thus the evolution of gene expression is often involved in their evolutionary histories. Gene expression is under the control of a network of transcription factors (trans-landscape) that ultimately impinge on the cis-regulatory elements (CREs) of differentiation genes whose encoded proteins produce particular traits. Transcription factor genes are often highly pleiotropic, as they can regulate the expression of multiple genes for multiple traits. Thus, it seems reasonable to expect that evolutionary changes in gene expression more frequently occurred by mutations altering the CREs for differentiation genes than changes to the trans-landscape. Our research aims to test whether this expectation for a conserved trans-landscape applies to the origin, diversification, and loss of a well-studied fruit fly pigmentation trait in the Sophophora subgenus. The origin of a male-specific pattern of abdominal tergite pigmentation involved the gain of CREs controlling the expressions of pigmentation enzyme genes responsive to the prevailing trans-landscape of body plan patterning and sexual dimorphism transcription factors. Here, we share our results from tests of these CREs in transgenic hosts that represent the ancestral sexually monomorphic trait, diverse forms of the derived dimorphic trait, and a secondary loss of the dimorphic trait. The outcomes from these tests will reveal the extent to which this particular trans-landscape has remained conserved while the pigmentation phenotype has widely evolved.

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  Intelligence and Interpersonal Functioning in Youth and Young Adults with Varying Levels of Psychopathic and Callous-Unemotional Traits

  Marie Hermine Feyche

  The current study examined 30 youth and young adults ages 12-21 who were receiving therapy services at South Community, Inc. The intelligence and interpersonal functioning of individuals with varying levels of psychopathic and callous-unemotional (CU) traits was studied. Although there are a variety of conceptualizations of psychopathy, this study used the Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (TriPM), which defines the three factors of psychopathy as boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. CU traits are a downward extension of psychopathy, overlapping with the meanness factor, and are embodied by an absence of guilt, remorse, and the expression of superficial emotion. “Successful” psychopathy is a term applied to individuals who have psychopathic traits but are non-antisocial and function at a comparable level to individuals lacking psychopathic traits. Interpersonal functioning refers to one’s ability to interact with others; a significant distinction between successful and unsuccessful psychopathy involves interpersonal skills. Both verbal and abstract intelligence were assessed. Participants completed the Triarchic Personality Measure (TriPM), the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and the Shipley Institute of Living Scale-Second Edition (Shipley-2) in order to assess their levels of psychopathy, CU traits, interpersonal functioning, and intelligence. It was hypothesized that individuals with high levels of CU traits, psychopathy, and intelligence would have higher levels of interpersonal functioning than individuals with high levels of CU traits and psychopathy but low levels of intelligence. It was also hypothesized that this relation will be particularly true for abstract intelligence. This is supported by previous research suggesting low intelligence is present in psychopathic individuals who exhibit antisocial and violent behavior and may correlate with the predisposition to callous-unemotional behavior in youth.

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  Intensive English Program: Skills For Academic Success

  Abbass A A A Almarza, Ahmad J M KH J K Alqallaf, Abdullah Mohammed A Alshahrani, Khalil Ibrahim D Alsulami

  The presenters are students from the Intensive English Program. The posters they have created are representative of an end of term project for the level 3 Special Topics course that focuses on the elements and needed skill for Academic Success. Academic Success is an intermediate class for English language learning students at the intermediate proficiency level. The goal of this assignment is to give students an introduction to research and an opportunity to improve their speaking and presentation skills all while learning how to be a successful student in university setting.

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  Interaction between axial patterning gene (dve) and Dpp signaling during eye development in Drosophila

  Neha Gogia, Katie Marie Perry, Akanksha Raj

  An interesting question in developmental biology is how any three dimensional organ develops from a single monolayer sheet of cells. Organogenesis in multicellular organisms requires an important process of axial patterning which marks the development of Antero-Posterior (AP), Dorso-Ventral (DV) and Proximo-Distal (PD) axes. Out of these axes, Dorso-Ventral (DV) patterning marks first lineage restriction event and any disturbance during these axes development leads to defective organ/s formation. In our research we have studied how cell signaling mechanisms interacts with cell fate specification genes and forms eye as an organ. We have used, Drosophila melanogaster (a.k.a fruit fly) as our model organism and Drosophila eye as our model organ (as the genetic machinery is conserved between fruit flies to humans, and any insights generated here can be extrapolated to humans). Previous data from our lab confirms defective proventriculus (dve-a Homeobox gene), an ortholog of SATB homeobox 1 (special AT-rich sequence binding protein 1, in humans), acts as a new member of DV patterning gene hierarchy. In this research, we present that, DV patterning gene (dve), interacts with Dpp signaling. Our results using Gain-of-function (GOF) studies confirms that upregulation of the levels of Dpp signaling by misexpression of decapentaplegic (dpp) and mother against dpp (mad) in dve expression domain results in downregulation of wingless and dramatic eye enlargements. In contrast, downregulation of Dpp signaling by misexpression of brinker ( brk), an antagonist of Dpp signaling in Drosophila, in dve expression domain leads to ectopic induction of wingless in posterior domain of eye and eye suppression or reduced eye phenotypes. In future, we will test if these eye phenotypes are a result of the change of cell fate or due to induction of developmental cell death. To address this, we will test what happens to retinal determination and cell death markers in this background. This study may have a significant bearing on growth, signaling and patterning defects and helps to understand the etiology behind genetic birth defects in the eye.

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  Interaction between JAK STAT pathway and axial patterning genes in Drosophila eye development

  Neha Gogia, Akanksha Raj

  Axial patterning is the fundamental process of organogenesis, which entails delineation of three distinct axes: Antero-Posterior (AP), Dorso-Ventral (DV) and Proximo-Distal (PD) axes. Any impairment in the axis formation may lead to developmental birth defects in humans and therefore, getting insight of the mechanism of axis determination is crucial for better understanding of organogenesis. In Drosophila eye model, DV patterning is the primary lineage restriction event. A new member of DV patterning gene, defective proventriculus (dve, a Homeobox gene), an ortholog of SATB homeobox 1 (special AT-rich sequence binding protein 1) has been identified which acts downstream of a GATA-1 transcription factor pannier (pnr), and upstream of wingless (wg) in the dorsal gene hierarchy. Unpaired (Upd), a long range secreted ligand for JAK STAT pathway, is known to promote eye development by negatively regulating Wg expression. Here we present that Upd interacts with dve, to regulate the patterning and growth of the developing Drosophila eye. We found that activation of JAK STAT pathway in dve expression domain results in dorsal eye enlargement and downregulation of Wg expression whereas its inactivation in Dve domain results in eye suppression phenotype and upregulating Wg expression. Our data strongly imply that Upd plays a crucial role in defining the functional domain of Dve during DV axis formation of developing eye. We will present the complex interactions between these two highly conserved pathways, viz., JAK-STAT and dorsal eye fate selectors in growth and patterning of the eye.

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  Interaction Between Peracetic Acid and Common Stormwater Constituents

  Maggie Margaret Anderson

  Currently, chlorine is the standard chemical used for the disinfection process in storm and wastewater treatment. Due to environmental complications involved in chlorine usage, peracetic acid (PAA) has been proposed as an alternative. Properties such as a faster decay rate and lack of toxic byproducts allows for the chemical removal step to be eliminated, saving time and resources. The goal of this study is to perform baseline testing to quantify loss of PAA under varying conditions. Different types of sands/soils as well as filtration processes could interfere with the efficacy of PAA and must be considered when calculating proper input rates of the chemical for large scale treatment plants. In the end, water mixtures with higher nutrient demands and organic content led to a higher PAA demands, resulting in less PAA availability for disinfection. By standardizing PAA requirements based on the physical and chemical properties of stormwater influent, this alternative to chlorine could be implemented in combined sewer systems.

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  Interaction of key inflammatory pathways in the tumor microenvironment in Drosophila cancer models control tumor progression

  Kirti Snigdha

  The interaction between the tumor cells and the surrounding normal cells constitutes the Tumor microenvironment (TME). The Toll-like Receptor (TLR), Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK), and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) produce inflammatory components in the TME, and are thought to play a critical role in tumor survival and progression. However, the exact nature and mechanism of interactions within the TME remain poorly understood. These core inflammatory pathways are conserved in Drosophila. As 90% of tumors are epithelial in origin, we used a epithelial tumor model in the wing imaginal discs of Drosophila melanogaster to study the interaction of these key inflammatory pathways in the TME. We established a new TME model by creating FLP-out clones of oncogenic forms of Yki or RasV12 in polarity deficient (scribble mutant) cells marked by GFP surrounded by normal cells. These mosaic clones allow us to test changes in intercellular and signaling interactions within the tumor, surrounding its microenvironment and in distant normal cells. We studied the activity of TLR, TNF and JNK pathway using immunohistochemistry. We found that Drosophila IκB Cactus (TLR component) and activated form of JNK (p-JNK) were induced in the tumor cells whereas levels of Drosophila TNF ligand, Eiger were unaffected in both the tumor and the surrounding normal cells. We hypothesized that crosstalk between these key pathways in the TME promotes tumor survival and progression. The genetic epistasis experiments between JNK and TNF revealed that downregulation of the TNF receptors in the tumor does not affect the metastatic abilities of the tumor cells. However, similar experiments between JNK and TLR showed decrease in invasiveness of tumor cells likely due to downregulation of Cactus in the tumor cells. We are currently testing if TLR, TNF and JNK pathways genetically regulate each other or independently affect the TME to control tumor growth. Our research will help to unravel the correlation between inflammatory pathways and tumor progression in an in vivo model.

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  Investigating the Neurobiological Effects of a Novel Calcium-Handling Protein in ADHD

  Aikaterini Britzolaki, Pothitos Pitychoutis, Joey Edward Saurine

  Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an extremely prevalent and debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder that affects people of all ages. ADHD symptoms include persistent inattention, impulsivity and/or hyperactivity, accompanied by significant learning and memory deficits. Abnormal function of calcium-handling machinery has been implicated in the pathophysiology of ADHD in humans and in animal models. Intracellular calcium homeostasis in the brain is critical for cell function and survival. In the nervous system, impaired calcium homeostasis may lead to hyperactivity and learning and memory deficits, key symptoms of ADHD. Exciting preliminary data from our group support that a protein, which plays a major role in regulation of calcium homeostasis in the heart, is also expressed in a specific region of the brain that is implicated in the neurobiology of ADHD. Moreover, we have found that its genetic ablation in mice (i.e., knockout, KO) results in the manifestation of a hyperactive ADHD-relevant behavioral phenotype. In the present study, WT and KO mice were pharmacologically challenged with amphetamine and atomoxetine, two first-line drugs used for the treatment of ADHD in humans, to assess whether they rescue the ADHD-like phenotype caused by ablation of this gene. Additionally, a preliminary neurochemical analysis of striatal and prefrontocortical tissue punches by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed to determine baseline dopamine levels in KO and WT mice. Overall, the results of the proposed studies have shed light on the complex functions of this novel calcium-handling player in the brain suggesting it is involved in the regulation of locomotor behavior.

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  Investigating the Potential Antimicrobial Effects of Soil Isolates from UD’s Campus

  Kaylin Ann Kultgen

  Throughout this past semester, I have been doing research in BIO 411L (Microbiology Lab) using procedures established by the Small World Initiative. The goal of the research is to isolate bacteria that displays anti-microbial effects on known pathogens. This research could potentially be used to help create new antibiotics to fight against human pathogens. A dirt sample was collected from the side of my house in the UD south student neighborhood. Colonies of bacteria formed on TH and TSA plates. Ten colonies were chosen from each of these types of agar plates. The colonies were plated on dishes streaked with the known pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecium, then later Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus. The colonies that formed zones of inhibition were isolated and further testing was done to determine the species and characteristics of the bacteria. Some of these tests included a gram stain, catalase test, and various other biochemical tests to determine characteristics of the antibiotic producing bacteria. Later this semester, I will perform a chemical extraction for the metabolites of the chosen bacteria as well as observe the interaction between the extract and eukaryotic cells.

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  Investigating the Role of a p53 Mutation in Glioma Progression and Therapy Resistance in Drosophila

  Kaitlyn M Alleman

  Gliomas, which are brain tumors that arise from glial cells, are some of the most aggressive and lethal types of tumors. These brain tumors are difficult to treat because not enough information regarding the mutations present in these tumors exists. This project studies effects of a p53 mutation on Drosophila glioma progression and then will test to see if this results in resistance to current chemotherapy. Drosophila are used as model organisms to mimic these processes. The current genetic crosses that have been created will be studied, and an effective p53 knockdown will be made. In essence, this will effectively mimic a human brain tumor so the treatments tested and the data collected from this model can be applied to the current understanding of human gliomas. In addition to studying just the p53 mutation, additional mutations will be added. This will lead to an even more accurate glioma model because multiple mutations, such as the ones added are present in human tumors as well. These genetic crosses will be treated with Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors, which are currently used to treat brain cancer patients in order to find out whether or not this mutation plays a role in resistance to current therapy. The main goal of this endeavor is to investigate the numerous defects occurring at the cellular and biochemical level in gliomas, which will give insight into why these types of tumors are so difficult to treat. Data gathered from this project will lead to further inquiry into the role of p53 mutations in gliomas and hopefully, to better outcomes for those affected by this type of cancer. Here, we present the data gathered from this project thus far.

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  Investigation of Bacterial Efflux Pump Inhibitors from Edible Plant Sources and Aptamers

  Sarah Patterson Baxter

  Multidrug resistant bacteria have become a great concern in the world of medicine. Antibiotics are not being discovered at a fast enough rate to fight this resistance, leaving many bacterial infections left unable to be treated with the current antibiotics. The efflux of drugs out of cells is one of the mechanisms contributing to this resistance. Transporter proteins called efflux pumps, located in the membranes of bacterial cells, are responsible for this antibiotic exporting activity. In drug resistant bacterial cells, efflux pumps can expel antibiotics out of the cell, making it difficult for the bacteria to receive the intended dose of the drugs. I have investigated the bacterial efflux pumps and their role in conferring multidrug resistance. I sought to identify new efflux pump inhibitors through the screening of extracts made from edible plants and through the development of synthetic nucleic acid aptamers that bind to the efflux pumps and block their activity.

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  Investigation of the Cycloaddition Reactions of Some New Azophosphonates and Azobis(phosphonates): A New Manifestation of the Staudinger Synthesis

  Joshua Killian

  Newly synthesized azo-compounds, with one or two pendant phosphonate groups, have recently been shown to react easily with conjugated dienes, such as 2,3-dimethylbutadiene or cyclopentadiene. In both cases, the ensuing [4+2] cycloaddition reactions have led to the preparation, isolation, and full characterization of a series of products. However, there is no clear evidence in chemical literature on [2+2] cycloaddition reactions with an azo-component. These [2+2] reactions are rare in principle, and have been typically conducted with an alkene and a ketene component. This study investigated the question as to whether azo-compounds can participate in such reactions, in place of the alkene component. Investigation focused on diphenylketene, which was reacted with several azobis(phosphonates) or azophosphonates, at ambient temperature. The 1H-, 13C- and 31P-NMR spectroscopic results confirmed that a ring structure was formed, but the data suggested that instead of a [2+2] cycloaddition, resulting in a four-membered ring, a six-membered ring formed, the product of a formal [2+2+2] cycloaddition. The Staudinger synthesis, used for the preparation of β-lactam rings, provides a possible explanation for the mechanism of formation of the six-membered ring.

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  Investigation of the role of OPA1 and Drp1 gene mutations in amyloid-beta 42 mediated neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease

  Elizabeth Ann Borchers, Neha Gogia

  Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with no known cure to-date. This disease is caused by extra-cellular accumulation of amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) plaques, which results in neuronal cell death. As the genetic machinery is conserved between fruit flies and humans, in this study, we have used Drosophila melanogaster (a.k.a fruit fly) as our model organism and Drosophila eye as our model organ. We have developed a transgenic Drosophila model of AD where using GAL4/UAS system, the human Aβ42 peptides are misexpressed specifically in the differentiating photoreceptor neurons of the fly eye, resulting in death of these neurons without affecting the reproductive ability and life span of the flies. One of the hallmarks of AD is the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from mitochondria, which triggers neuronal cell death. We hypothesize that 1. OPA1 (Mitochondrial Dynamin Like GTPase), and 2. Drp1 (dynamin related protein-1), (conserved between flies and humans), regulate mitochondrial fusion and fission respectively, are involved in regulating Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration. A fine balance between mitochondrial fission and fusion events is essential for normal mitochondrial and cellular function and it has been known that mutations of OPA1 (an early stop signal) produce small unstable mitochondrial proteins, which increase ROS levels in the neurons. There is a strong correlation between increased ROS levels and mitochondrial fragmentation with neuronal death. Thus, we investigate the role of both OPA1 and Drp1 in Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration. Results from our preliminary data show that up-regulation of OPA1 in Aβ42 background, significantly rescued Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration only in female flies, and down-regulating OPA1 rescued Aβ42 neurodegeneration only in male flies. In contrast, down-regulating Drp1, rescued Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration only in female flies, while up-regulation of Drp1 did not produce any rescues. Further studies on how mitochondrial maternal inheritance takes place will help us better understand these results.

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  Isolating Antibiotic Producing Bacteria from Soil

  Megan Ashley Marasco

  There are many issues within healthcare, with one of the most concerning being antibiotic resistance. Healthcare providers’ over-prescribing of antibiotics artificially selects for antibiotic resistant populations. Over time, bacteria that are selected for have the ability to become resistant to one or many of the antibiotics that are currently used in healthcare. These types of pathogens that can survive antibiotics are called “super bugs” and those are the type that healthcare providers worry about. These “super bugs” are the type of pathogens that are causing the issues, since there has been no new antibiotic class discovered in the last decade or they are still in the FDA approval process. Thus, the goal of my project is to explore the soil for antibiotic producing bacteria. The soil is home to a diverse set of microbes that are constantly competing for nutrients. Most of today’s antibiotics were discovered in the soil. Some bacteria develop the ability to create antibiotics in order to kill their competition. This characteristic is not only beneficial to their survival, but also to us. After soil isolation, we ran several tests for identification, production of antibiotic compounds, and extraction of the compound. The compound was then tested for effectiveness against known pathogens and safety in eukaryotic cells. This process allows for quicker antibiotic discovery in a teaching lab. With the many people working to discover new antibiotic compounds a major issue in the healthcare field can be corrected before all antibiotics become obsolete when treating bacterial infections.

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  Kinematic Coordination Patterns Change with Task Speed during a Lateral Step Down Task

  Lindsey Renee Weisman

  This study applied vector coding to analyze a lateral step down task at three different speeds, 45 60, and 75 bpm. Vector coding utilizes points on an angle-angle diagram to create an angle between two sequential points. An angle-angle diagram is a plot that has joint angles plotted on the x- and y-axis. For this test, the two angles studied were the knee angle from the sagittal plane and the pelvis angle from the frontal plane. The angle calculated from vector coding is the coupling angle which can be classified into four coordination patterns. Analysis of the coordination patterns determines the overall performance. The study found that subjects tended to compensate with increased pelvis motion at slower speeds; therefore, performance deteriorated with decreased speed.

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  Land Cover Change and Biological Invasion: Chinese Tallow Tree in Eastern Texas

  Emily Elizabeth Jones

  Chinese tallow, Triadica sebifera (L.) Small (Euphorbiaceae), is one of the most pervasive invaders of in the southeastern United States. In various ecosystems, Chinese tallow forms dense monocultures, displacing native species at multiple trophic levels and potentially facilitating the invasion of other non-native species. To mitigate the spread of this species, researchers have attempted to identify areas especially prone to invasion, historically using environmental and climatic data. Recent studies suggest, however, that anthropogenic disturbance may be a powerful driver of this species invasive success. The goal of this study is to determine if Chinese tallow range expansion in eastern Texas is correlated with anthropogenic disturbance, using land cover change as a proxy. To achieve this, Chinese tallow abundance data from multiple Forest Inventory Analysis surveys (2001-2017) will be compared with historical national land cover data (2001, 2006, 2011) from 42 counties in Texas using correlation analysis. Based on existing research, we hypothesized that Chinese tallow abundance will be related to changes in land cover - correlating positively with increases in developed land, agricultural land, and forested land. The findings of this study will inform scientific understanding of the relationship between anthropogenic disturbance and species’ invasions and could assist land managers in identifying areas prone to invasion by this pervasive weed.

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  Late Eocene Onset And Progression Of Extension With Exhumation In Southeastern Humboldt Range Nevada

  Joseph William Jeruc

  The East Humboldt Range (EHR), located in northeastern Nevada, includes metamorphosed rocks surrounded by sedimentary rocks. Transportation of this metamorphic core complex to its present location includes a dimension of vertical uplift, along with regional extension. The metamorphosed rocks of the EHR include minerals capable of recording temperature histories associated with rising from mid-crustal depths. A recently discovered kyanite-bearing schist in the southeastern EHR requires peak pressures and temperatures above 7 kb and 625oC, implying tectonic burial to depths >22 km. This deep-seated metamorphic terrain lies < 500 m beneath a large scale fault system known as the Ruby-EHR detachment fault inferred to have caused its exhumation.To determine timing and progression of uplift beneath this fault, mineral samples collected along a 20 km WNW-trending transect mimic the direction of gradual exhumation from depth. Sampled minerals, including biotite, muscovite, and K-feldspar, are dated using 40Ar/39Ar thermochronometry. These data record cooling through a temperature unique to each mineral known as its closure temperature. In addition, the diffusive loss of argon from K-feldspar allows modeling of cooling histories over a range extending from 450oC to <150oC. The initial phase of cooling beneath the normal fault system and the onset of uplift on the detachment fault occurred from 42 Ma to 35 Ma. Following initial cooling and extension, K-feldspar modeling reveals a reheating event after 28 Ma, and return to cooling signifying renewed extension (See companion presentation by A. Carte). The second cooling event occurs across a range of dates from 26 Ma to 14 Ma from the southeast to northwest. Comparing cooling ages along the transect, records a westward propagating wave of rapid cooling consistent with rotation of the fault to its current angle. Thus it supports the tectonic process of rolling hinge style exhumation.

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  Laundry machines and the environment

  Christina Louise Diersing, Riana Renee Dozier, Justin Blake Smith

  Do you know what your laundry machines are doing to the world around you? We intend to provide information comparing multiple brands of laundry machines in terms of efficiency, electricity used, and water used. After comparing the machines we intend show what kind of environmental impact the machines have in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint.

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  Lights Out - An Exploration of Domination in Graph Theory

  Christian Steven Hemsath

  A graph is a mathematical object that consists of two sets: a set of vertices and a set of edges. An edge joins two vertices and depicts a relationship between those vertices. The following is a project for MTH 466 - Graph Theory and Combinatorics. Consider each vertex in a graph being associated with a light and with a button. Each push of the button will change the state of the light from on to off, or from off to on. Additionally, the state of each vertex joined by an edge to the vertex in question is changed. Given a graph with all vertex lights on, does there exist a set of light buttons which, when pressed, will turn off all vertex lights? An exploration of several examples of this question for different graphs is presented. It will also be proven that, for any connected graph, there exists a sequence of light buttons which when pressed will turn off all vertex lights.