Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Crispr Genetic Editing: Paths For Christian Acceptance And Analysis Of In Vivo And In Vitro Efficiency, Mandeep Sandhu

Scripps Senior Theses

With advancements in CRISPR-cas9 broadening the potential paths for clinical usage of genetic editing, conversations about genetic editing have grown to outside simply scientific communities and into mainstream conversations. This study focuses specifically on Christian discourse of genetic editing and locates four major tensions for many Christians when they think about genetic editing: beginning of life, Creator-human relationship, imago Dei, and stewardship. With these major concerns in mind, I identify epigenetics, somatic cell genetic editing, and in vivo genetic editing research as important research paths to pursue as they can potentially produce techniques that more Christian individuals would feel comfortable …

2018 Annual Report, Christopher C. Witt

Annual Reports

In 2018, the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) has continued to improve its profile and impacts, both on the University of New Mexico campus and in the international scientific community. Its collections serve as scientific infrastructure that enhances research, teaching, community service, and public outreach. The MSB is part of the UNM Department of Biology, and the missions of the MSB and the Department are synergistic. MSB houses extensive and rapidly growing collections representing biodiversity of world, primarily from the last halfcentury. MSB has outstanding collections from New Mexico and western North America, but it also has substantial holdings from …

Science, Between The Lines: Rosalind Franklin, Rachael Renzi

Senior Honors Projects

The purpose of this paper is to contrast scientific rhetoric with creative biographical writing style. Both forms of communication rely on specific syntax and styles to describe research findings to the appropriate audiences, but the often passive format of scientific literature excludes the passionate reasonings of the researcher. In order to understand why the scientist is kept separate from his or her published findings, I am going to experiment with the two contrasting forms. Throughout the paper, each form will be tested and used at varying levels. Both scientific and creative writing will be mixed. To emphasize the technically dense …

Human-Nonhuman Chimeras, Ontology, And Dignity: A Constructivist Approach To The Ethics Of Conducting Research On Cross-Species Hybrids, Jonathan M. Vajda

The Hilltop Review

Developments in biological technology in the last few decades highlight the surprising and ever-expanding practical benefits of stem cells. With this progress, the possibility of combining human and nonhuman organisms is a reality, with ethical boundaries that are not readily obvious. These inter-species hybrids are of a larger class of biological entities called “chimeras.” As the concept of a human-nonhuman creature is conjured in our minds, either incredulous wonder or grotesque horror is likely to follow. This paper seeks to mitigate those worries and demotivate reasonable concerns raised against chimera research, all the while pressing current ethical positions toward their …

Differential Methylation Between Ethnic Sub-Groups Reflects The Effect Of Genetic Ancestry And Environmental Exposures, Joshua M. Galanter, Christopher R. Gignoux, Sam S. Oh, Dara Torgerson, Maria Pino-Yanes, Neeta Thakur, Celeste Eng, Donglei Hu, Scott Huntsman, Harold J. Farber, Pedro C. Avila, Emerita Brigino-Buenaventura, Michael A. Lenoir, Kelly Meade, Denise Serebrisky, William Rodriguez-Cintron, Rajesh Kumar, Jose R. Rodrıguez-Cintron, Max A. Seibold, Luisa N. Borrell, Esteban G. Burchard, Noah Zaitlen

Publications and Research

Populations are often divided categorically into distinct racial/ethnic groups based on social rather than biological constructs. Genetic ancestry has been suggested as an alternative to this categorization. Herein, we typed over 450,000 CpG sites in whole blood of 573 individuals of diverse Hispanic origin who also had high-density genotype data. We found that both self- identified ethnicity and genetically determined ancestry were each significantly associated with methylation levels at 916 and 194 CpGs, respectively, and that shared genomic ancestry accounted for a median of 75.7% (IQR 45.8% to 92%) of the variance in methylation associated with ethnicity. There was a …

Between Lake Baikal And The Baltic Sea: Genomic History Of The Gateway To Europe, Petr Triska, Nikolay Chekanov, Vadim Stepanov, Edward J. Vajda, Elza K. Khusnutdinova, Ganesh Prasad Arun Kumar, Belyaev Conference, 2017

Modern & Classical Languages

Background: The history of human populations occupying the plains and mountain ridges separating Europe from Asia has been eventful, as these natural obstacles were crossed westward by multiple waves of Turkic and Uralic speaking migrants as well as eastward by Europeans. Unfortunately, the material records of history of this region are not dense enough to reconstruct details of population history. These considerations stimulate growing interest to obtain a genetic picture of the demographic history of migrations and admixture in Northern Eurasia.

Results: We genotyped and analyzed 1076 individuals from 30 populations with geographical coverage spanning from Baltic Sea to Baikal …

Perseverance: Psychospiritual And Genetic Perspectives, Tony N. Jelsma, Arielle Johnston, Bruce Vermeer

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Perseverance constitutes a quality that motivates humankind to press onward usually in the face of significant adversity and resistance. Perseverance is also important in the Christian life. The apostle Paul, using athletic training metaphors, frequently urges his readers to persevere in the faith, even describing his own life as a fight and a race (2 Tim.4:7). Yet, certain groups of people seem to possess a greater measure of perseverance than others have. We are therefore led to ask, “Can our ability to persevere be, in God’s providence, at least partly genetically influenced?”

Turn Me On Or Off: A Study On Epigenetics And Merleau-Ponty In Angela Carter’S “The Lady Of The House Of Love”, Solsiree Lynn Skarlinsky

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to trace points of intersection between the too often divorced disciplines of literature, continental philosophy, and the hard sciences in Angela Carter’s “The Lady of the House of Love.” In short, this thesis will not only explore how such conversations surface within the short story, but will also serve as an explication of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of body and space, and the theory of epigenetics. Through these explications, the thesis itself will also gear one discipline towards the other as both theories intimately bind the environment with the body, and the body with the environment. Thus, …

Playing God, Jeff Ploegstra

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Technically speaking, animals and plants that we have selectively bred are genetically modified organisms (GMOs)."

Posting about the benefits and dangers of genetic modification from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/playing-god/

Origins Of An Unmarked Georgia Cemetery Using Ancient Dna Analysis, Andrew T. Ozga, Raúl Y. Tito, Brian M. Kemp, Hugh Matternes, Alexandra Obregon-Tito, Leslie Neal, Cecil M. Lewis, Jr.

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Determining the origins of those buried within undocumented cemeteries is of incredible importance to historical archaeologists and in many cases, the nearby communities. In the case of Avondale Burial Place, a cemetery in Bibb County, Georgia, in use from 1820 to 1950, all written documentation of those interred within it has been lost. Osteological and archaeological evidence alone could not describe, with confidence, the ancestral origins of the 101 individuals buried there. In the present study, we utilize ancient DNA extraction methods to investigate the origins of Avondale Burial Place through the use of well-preserved skeletal fragments from 20 individuals …

Erika Dyck. Facing Eugenics: Reproduction, Sterilization, And The Politics Of Choice, Garland E. Allen

Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations

[Book review of Erika Dyck. Facing Eugenics: Reproduction, Sterilization, and the Politics of Choice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013.]

2015 Oklahoma Research Day Full Program, Northeastern State University

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

This document contains all abstracts from the 2015 Oklahoma Research Day held at Northeastern State University.

Connecting Through Consilience: Ecology, Society, Culture And Technology, Ruth Mirams, Alexander Hayes

Alexander Hayes Mr.

Amongst linguistic, cultural and geographic diversity, humanity is characterised by inquisitiveness, communication and a deep desire to connect with each other. Despite our advanced intelligence and technological capacity, we are creatures of nature - a species which occupies a habitat, depends on consumable resources and fragile in many ways. As a species, we currently face challenges including overpopulation, diminishing resources and habitat degradation. In essence, we are exhausting the resources we depend on. [1] Resource depletion, disruption, famine, growth and sustainability are all observable in other species and natural systems. Human societies and systems can be described through the same …

Mitochondrial Dna Variability Among Six South-American Amerindian Villages From The Pano Linguistic Group, Celso T. Mendes-Junior, Aguinaldo L. Simoes

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Although scattered throughout a large geographic area, the members of the Pano linguistic group present strong ethnic, linguistic and cultural homogeneity, a feature that causes them to be considered as components of a same “Pano” tribe. Nevertheless, the genetic homogeneity between Pano villages has not been examined before. To study the genetic structure of the Pano linguistic group, four major Native American mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) founder haplogroups were analyzed in 77 Amerindians from six villages of four Pano tribes (Katukina, Kaxináwa, Marúbo, and Yaminawa) located in the Brazilian Amazon. The central position of these tribes in the continent makes them …

Questioning The “Melting Pot”: Analysis Of Alu Inserts In Three Population Samples From Uruguay, Pedro C. Hidalgo, Patricia Mut, Elizabeth Ackermann, Gonzalo Figueiro, Monica Sans

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

The way that immigrants integrate to recipient societies has been discussed for decades, mainly from the perspective of the social sciences. Uruguay, as other American countries, received different waves of European immigrants, although the details of the process of assimilation, when occurred, are unclear. In this paper, we use genetic markers to understand the process experienced by the Basques, one of the major migration waves that populated Uruguay, and its relation to other immigrants as well as to Native American and African descendants. For this purpose, we analyze the allele frequencies of ten ALU loci (A25, ACE, APOA1, B65, F13B, …

Did Pre-Clovis People Inhabit The Paisley Caves (And Why Does It Matter)?, Stuart J. Fiedel

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

The date and processes of initial human colonization of the Americas are crucial issues for the understanding of human biological and cultural development. For example, Soares et al. (2009) cited the American archaeological record to validate their proposed revision of the human mitochondrial molecular clock. Their suggested mutation rate puts the date of rapid expansion of Native American clades at around 13,500–15,000 cal BP. Similarly, Poznik et al. (2013) have used the “high-confidence archaeological dating” of the initial peopling of the Americas to calibrate the rates of both Y-chromosome and mtDNA mutation and thereby to reconcile the ages of the …

Science Fiction And The Myth Of Trajectory Evolution, Jocelyn D. Pickreign

The Macalester Review

Stephen Jay Gould first proposed the idea of “iconographies of progress.” Today, one of the most prominent forms of progress iconography is the science fiction story. Science fiction as a genre frequently portrays evolution as a linear trajectory of increasing complexity, and in doing so, furthers a worldview that is not unlike the pre-Darwin understanding of human beings as both the center and the pinnacle of the natural world.

Staffan Müller-Wille And Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, A Cultural History Of Heredity, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Brain In A Jar: Writing About Alzheimer's Disease, Nancy Stearns Bercaw

UVM Libraries Conference Day

Living with, and writing about, Alzheimer's disease.

Following The Trail Of Ants: An Examination Of The Work Of E.O. Wilson, Samantha Kee

Writing Across the Curriculum

No abstract provided.

Consuming Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Tests: The Role Of Genetic Literacy And Knowledge Calibration, Yvette E. Pearson, Yuping Liu-Thompkins

Philosophy Faculty Publications

As direct-to-consumer marketing of medical genetic tests grows in popularity, there is an increasing need to better understand the ethical and public policy implications of such products. The complexity of genetic tests raises serious concerns about whether consumers possess the knowledge to make sound decisions about their use. This research examines the effects of educational intervention and feedback on consumers' genetic literacy and calibration -- the gap between consumers' actual knowledge and how much they think they know. The authors find that consumers' genetic knowledge was generally low and that people tended to underestimate their knowledge level. Furthermore, consumers' perceived …

Comparative Developmental Transcriptomics Of Echinoderms, Roy Vaughn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The gastrula stage represents the point in development at which the three primary germ layers diverge. At this point the gene regulatory networks that specify the germ layers are established and the genes that define the differentiated states of the tissues have begun to be activated. These networks have been well characterized in sea urchins, but not in other echinoderms. Embryos of the brittle star Ophiocoma wendtii share a number of developmental features with sea urchin embryos, including the ingression of mesenchyme cells that give rise to an embryonic skeleton. Notable differences are that no micromeres are formed during cleavage …

Native And European Haplotypes Of Phragmites Australis (Common Reed) In The Central Platte River, Nebraska, Diane L. Larson, Susan M. Galatowitsch, Jennifer L. Larson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Phragmites australis (common reed) is known to have occurred along the Platte River historically, but recent rapid increases in both distribution and density have begun to impact habitat for migrating sandhill cranes and nesting piping plovers and least terns. Invasiveness in Phragmites has been associated with the incursion of a European genotype (haplotype M) in other areas; determining the genotype of Phragmites along the central Platte River has implications for proper management of the river system. In 2008 we sampled Phragmites patches along the central Platte River from Lexington to Chapman, NE, stratified by bridge segments, to determine the current …

Charles Darwin: Evolutionary Theory & The Theatre, Katrina Tarson

Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Population Genetics Of Amphiuma Means And Siren Lacertina In Central Florida, Anna C. Deyle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Population structure can be defined as a difference in the frequencies of alleles among populations, and it is often caused by barriers to dispersal. I used mitochondrial DNA sequences to examine the population structure of two large, aquatic salamanders, Amphiuma means (the Two-Toed Amphiuma) and Siren lacertina (the Greater Siren), at two spatial scales in peninsular Florida. Both species appear to have similar life histories, including poor dry land dispersal capabilities, and I hypothesized that they would exhibit significant population structure at both broad and fine scales. Wetland loss and landscape fragmentation are certain to have caused decreases in abundance …

Identifying Modular Function Via Edge Annotation In Gene Correlation Networks Using Gene Ontology Search, Kathryn Dempsey Cooper, Ishwor Thapa, Dhundy Raj Bastola, Hesham Ali

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Correlation networks provide a powerful tool for analyzing large sets of biological information. This method of high-throughput data modeling has important implications in uncovering novel knowledge of cellular function. Previous studies on other types of network modeling (protein-protein interaction networks, metabolomes, etc.) have demonstrated the presence of relationships between network structures and organization of cellular function. Studies with correlation network further confirm the existence of such network structure and biological function relationship. However, correlation networks are typically noisy and the identified network structures, such as clusters, must be further investigated to verify actual cellular function. This is traditionally done using …

A Novel Correlation Networks Approach For The Identification Of Gene Targets, Kathryn Dempsey Cooper, Stephen Bonasera, Dhundy Raj Bastola, Hesham Ali

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Correlation networks are emerging as a powerful tool for modeling temporal mechanisms within the cell. Particularly useful in examining coexpression within microarray data, studies have determined that correlation networks follow a power law degree distribution and thus manifest properties such as the existence of “hub” nodes and semicliques that potentially correspond to critical cellular structures. Difficulty lies in filtering coincidental relationships from causative structures in these large, noise-heavy networks. As such, computational expenses and algorithm availability limit accurate comparison, making it difficult to identify changes between networks. In this vein, we present our work identifying temporal relationships from microarray data …

From Dna To Protein: A Study Of Genomic Instability Candidate Genes During Zebrafish Development, Kristine Griffett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The zebrafish, Danio rerio, is a type of freshwater minnow often used to model human diseases including cancer, anxiety and aging diseases. The overall biology of zebrafish is strikingly similar to that of humans, allowing these fish to be used for drug discovery and toxicology studies for preclinical trials. In this study, zebrafish embryos were used to identify and characterize several candidate genes within two known regions of genomic instability on chromosome 18 and chromosome 4. This fish that were used in this study had been previously classified as genomic instability (gin) mutants due to increased incidence of somatic mutation …

Genetic Variation In Past And Current Landscapes: Conservation Implications Based On Six Endemic Florida Scrub Plants, Eric S. Menges, Rebecca W. Dolan, Robert Pickert, Rebecca Yahr, Doria R. Gordon

Rebecca W. Dolan

If genetic variation is often positively correlated with population sizes and the presence of nearby populations and suitable habitats, landscape proxies could inform conservation decisions without genetic analyses. For six Florida scrub endemic plants (Dicerandra frutescens, Eryngium cuneifolium, Hypericum cumulicola, Liatris ohlingerae, Nolina brittoniana, and Warea carteri), we relate two measures of genetic variation, expected heterozygosity and alleles per polymorphic locus (APL), to population size and landscape variables. Presettlement areas were estimated based on soil preferences and GIS soils maps. Four species showed no genetic patterns related to population or landscape factors. The other two species showed significant but inconsistent …

When Old-Order Amish Meet New Order Science: Genetic Maladies And The Amish Dilemma, Kelley Downey

Undergraduate Research Conference

The Old World Amish, an Anabaptist Christian domination in the United States and Canada are know for their plain dress, avoidance of modern technology, and separation from the mainstream society.

A traditional agricultural religious group, the Old World Amish maintains isolation from the rest of the community. Financially well-off, they are homogeneous on education, occupation by gender, age at marriage, religion/ethnicity, and health care.

Although the Amish strongly discourage marriage between close cousins, the Lancaster Amish genealogy is described as mutational - inbreeding from multiple, remote connections rather than close consanguinity (first-cousin marriages).

Amish settlements have been identified with certain …