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Cleveland State University

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

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Acoustic Objective And Subjective Measurements Of Noise Levels In Various Places Of Worship And The Potential Consequences On The Auditory System, Celeste Thomas Jan 2015

Acoustic Objective And Subjective Measurements Of Noise Levels In Various Places Of Worship And The Potential Consequences On The Auditory System, Celeste Thomas

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

The purpose of this study is to record the objective and subjective measurements of noise levels in ten religious institutions of various faiths: Apostolic/Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic, Muslim, Non-Denominational, and Seven-Day Adventist places of worship within the greater Cleveland area; in conjunction with the assessing the hearing sensitivity of the ministerial staff members who are most susceptible to prolonged noise exposure. The objective is to generate a statistical analysis of the objective acoustical measurements of primary church services of all participating religious institutions determine if the noise levels are loud enough to cause potential harm to the auditory system. The researcher …


Distribution Of Sphaeriid Clams In Lake Erie Twenty-Five Years After Invasion Of Dreissena, Michael Keller Jan 2015

Distribution Of Sphaeriid Clams In Lake Erie Twenty-Five Years After Invasion Of Dreissena, Michael Keller

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Clams in the family Sphaeriidae are widespread native mollusk species that are often overlooked. The distribution of these organisms in Lake Erie has not been examined in the 25 years since the initial invasion of the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha. Carr and Hiltunen identified 10 species of Sphaeriidae in Western Lake Erie in 1961, of which Pisidium casertanum, P. compressum, P. nitidum, Sphaerium corneum, and S. striatinum and Musculium transversum, contributed 89.7% of all fingernail and pea clams sampled and were considered common. Four other species were reported as rare. Our research examines whether the distribution of Sphaeriid clams in …


Investigating Rhoptry Gene Conservation Between Plasmodium Yoelii And Plasmodium Falciparum Using The Polymerase Chain Reaction For Dna Amplification, Brooke Burkhalter Jan 2015

Investigating Rhoptry Gene Conservation Between Plasmodium Yoelii And Plasmodium Falciparum Using The Polymerase Chain Reaction For Dna Amplification, Brooke Burkhalter

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

In order to obtain a tangible basis for vaccine targets, it is crucial to understand the role of proteins at the site of invasion. In previous study, 27 novel rhoptry proteins were identified by MudPIT analysis and immunoelectron microscopy. In this investigation, the conservation of rhoptry genes between Plasmodium yoelii and Plasmodium falciparum was assessed. From the previously identified rhoptry genes, 14 were investigated with the orthologues/paralogues of the Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium yoelii, Plasmodium chabaudi, and Plasmodium berghei. Also, primers designed for the 14 Plasmodium yoelli rhoptry genes were used to test DNA amplification with the PCR. Amplification of Plasmodium …


Can We Increase The Intensity Of Pro-Active Balance Exercises?, Joshua Lilly, Elizabeth Antonik Jan 2015

Can We Increase The Intensity Of Pro-Active Balance Exercises?, Joshua Lilly, Elizabeth Antonik

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Balance training has been shown to be effective in preventing or lessening the severity of falls among older adults. This training can be proactive or reactive; however, the relative effectiveness of each and the necessary dosages are not known. The purpose of this research was to adapt an existing protocol for slip testing (reactive training) and video-game balance training (proactive) to better accommodate the abilities of older adults. We tested iteratively the initial protocols, set-ups, and equipment with a group of adults age 55 years and older and devised new protocols and equipment for each. After observing the subjects’ participation …


Invasive Species Facilitation In Bioswales And Rain Gardens In Greater Cleveland, Brittany Dalton Jan 2015

Invasive Species Facilitation In Bioswales And Rain Gardens In Greater Cleveland, Brittany Dalton

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Stormwater management features such as bioretention systems and rain gardens provide valuable ecosystem services. They are ecologically engineered to counteract surrounding urban land use practices. However, new stormwater management features may also create an environment for invasive plant species. Invasive plants can affect ecosystem services, and have devastating economic impacts. This study was conducted to determine connections between surrounding land use and maintenance practices in stormwater management features throughout Greater Cleveland and the presence of invasive plant species. Initial site visits were conducted for 164 bioretention systems and rain gardens in Greater Cleveland. They were analyzed for physical characteristics, surrounding …


Case Transition Format And Lexical Decision Performance: Does Spacing Reduce The Benefit Of Orthographic Regularity?, Kristyn Oravec, Maryam Assar, Hannah Princic Jan 2015

Case Transition Format And Lexical Decision Performance: Does Spacing Reduce The Benefit Of Orthographic Regularity?, Kristyn Oravec, Maryam Assar, Hannah Princic

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Some models of visual word identification propose that identification is analytic— mediated exclusively by letter identification. However, some studies have shown that there are phenomena that suggest a route to word identification involves holistic stimulus properties. In previous research, using a lexical decision task, in which participants are asked to determine whether letter strings are words or nonwords, we have found that response times to orthographically regular words (i.e., lowercase, uppercase, and initial uppercase formats) are faster than those to orthographically irregular words (i.e., words that include a case transition other than initial uppercase to lowercase). In this experiment, we …


Regulation Of Sister Chromatid Cohesion By Eco-1 And Wapl-1 During Meiosis And Mitosis, Kyle T. Schroeder Jan 2015

Regulation Of Sister Chromatid Cohesion By Eco-1 And Wapl-1 During Meiosis And Mitosis, Kyle T. Schroeder

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Cohesin is a widely conserved, tetrameric protein complex that tethers replicated sister chromatids during meiosis and mitosis. Two cohesin subunits, SMC-1 and SMC-3, and a third subunit, the α-kleisin, form a ring proposed to encircle sister chromatids. Different kleisins associate with cohesin during mitosis and meiosis. SCC-1 is the mitotic kleisin. Meiotic cohesin can associate with either REC-8 or COH-3/4. REC-8 and COH-3/4 cohesins differ greatly in their functional properties, indicating that the kleisin determines meiotic cohesin function. Early in meiosis, REC-8 and COH-3/4 cohesins are triggered to become cohesive at different times and by different mechanisms. Later in meiosis, …


Preliminary Investigation Of The Role Of Open Bigrams In Word Perception: Is There A Benefit To Having Flankers That Consist Of Letters In The Word?, Maryam Assar, Kristyn Oravec, Hannah Princic, Amy Palinski Jan 2015

Preliminary Investigation Of The Role Of Open Bigrams In Word Perception: Is There A Benefit To Having Flankers That Consist Of Letters In The Word?, Maryam Assar, Kristyn Oravec, Hannah Princic, Amy Palinski

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Most investigators of word identification agree that information is processed through a hierarchical system in which units at progressively higher levels respond to features, letters, letter combinations (e.g., pairs, or bigrams), and possibly words. Grainger et al. (2014) found support for the role of adjacent-letter bigrams in an experiment in which participants saw target strings flanked by bigrams, such as BI BIRD RD and CE BIVS NT, and judged whether the targets were words. They found, for words, that flanking bigrams facilitated performance when the flanking bigrams contained letters from the target, and that the order of bigrams relative to …


Tmco1 Mediates Cancer Cell Migration Through Regulating Microtubule Assembling, Pau Romaguera Llacer, Qiaoxia Zheng, Qiaoyun Zheng Jan 2015

Tmco1 Mediates Cancer Cell Migration Through Regulating Microtubule Assembling, Pau Romaguera Llacer, Qiaoxia Zheng, Qiaoyun Zheng

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Transmembrane and coiled-coil domains 1 (TMCO1) is highly conserved in amino acid sequence among species and ubiquitously expressed in all human tissues. Homozygous frameshift mutation in TMCO1 causes distinctive craniofacial dysmorphism, skeletal anomalies, and mental retardation. However, its physiological functions, particularly in cancer biology, are largely unknown. In this study, we have found that knock down of TMCO1 in HeLa cells, a human cervical cancer cell line, and U2OS cells, an osteosarcoma cell line, remarkably inhibited their migratory capability; TMCO1 was highly expressed in the cells of the invasive front of high grade lung cancer and metastatic cancer cells in …


Stormwater Management And Residents Perceptions, Mark Gatesman Jan 2015

Stormwater Management And Residents Perceptions, Mark Gatesman

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Stormwater runoff is a major problem in many residential municipalities. Rain water washes pollutants and chemicals off of streets, driveways and lawns. Stormwater management practices help filter out harmful particles before they enter into our water ways. The goal of this project was to assess green infrastructure stormwater practices throughout Cuyahoga County. We assessed 165 sites in over 10 cities in Cuyahoga County. We examined bioswales, bioretention basins, and rain gardens. Sites were visited in late May through early June and revisited in mid-July to early August. We compared spring condition of plants and gardens and recorded resident’s perceptions whether …


Synthesis Of Optimal Polymeric Microgels And Their Characterization With Light Scattering, Christan Gunder, Daria Kulyk Jan 2015

Synthesis Of Optimal Polymeric Microgels And Their Characterization With Light Scattering, Christan Gunder, Daria Kulyk

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Polymeric microgels were synthesized in by chemically crosslinking hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) chains with each other in aqueous solutions of sodium hydroxide at temperatures above the low solution critical temperature (LCST) of HPC. In order to create a narrower size distribution of HPC microgels, surfactant (dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide, DTAB) was added. It was found that, LCST of the solution moved from ~40C up to 80C with an increase in DTAB concentration from 0 to 12 g/l. Formed microgels were be characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS). Microgel solutions synthesized so far resulted in reasonably monodispersed nanoparticles between the sizes of 150-90 nm below …


Characterization Of The Detailed Interaction Interface Between T. Brucei Telomere Proteins Trf And Tif2, Jennifer Kungle, John Sabljic, Tia Nikova Jan 2015

Characterization Of The Detailed Interaction Interface Between T. Brucei Telomere Proteins Trf And Tif2, Jennifer Kungle, John Sabljic, Tia Nikova

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei causes fatal African trypanosomiasis in humans and nagana in cattle. T. brucei switches its variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs) inside the mammalian host, evading the host immune response. VSGs are expressed monoallelically from subtelomeric expression sites, and telomere proteins regulate VSGs. We previously found that telomere protein TbTIF2 interacts with TbTRF (TTAGGG-repeat binding factor) and plays important roles in VSG switching regulation. TbTRF maintains the telomere terminal structure. TbTIF2 is essential for subtelomeric integrity and suppresses VSG switching by inhibiting subtelomeric gene conversion. Depletion of TbTIF2 decreases TbTRF protein level. We hypothesize that TbTRF-TbTIF2 interaction is …


Novel Regulation Of The Pro-Apoptotic Protein Puma In Response To Hypoxia, Mareem Ali, Brianna Boslett Jan 2015

Novel Regulation Of The Pro-Apoptotic Protein Puma In Response To Hypoxia, Mareem Ali, Brianna Boslett

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Ischemic injury in skeletal muscle caused by hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions occurs in response to vascular and musculoskeletal traumas, diseases and following reconstructive surgeries. Hypoxia induces apoptotic cell death. We have reported that the protein PUMA plays a critical role in the apoptosis of myoblasts in response to culture in differentiation media as well as exposure to DNA damaging chemotherapeutic agents. We have also determined that the transcription factor MyoD, known to control the differentiation process, also plays a role in these apoptotic processes by directly increasing the expression of PUMA mRNA. Herein, we report an increase in PUMA protein …


Assaying The Splicing Activity Of Novel Human Disease Variants Of U4atac Snrna, Maitri K. Patel, Rosemary C. Dietrich Jan 2015

Assaying The Splicing Activity Of Novel Human Disease Variants Of U4atac Snrna, Maitri K. Patel, Rosemary C. Dietrich

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

In eukaryotes, pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) splicing is an essential process in gene expression. Splicing is carried out by a dynamic multi-megadalton RNA-protein complex known as the spliceosome. Sequential transesterification reactions catalyzed by the spliceosome convert pre-mRNA to mRNA by removing the intervening sequences (introns) and joining the coding sequences (exons) together. Small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) are essential splicing factors. Biallelic mutations of the human RNU4ATAC gene, which codes for U4atac snRNA, have been identified in patients diagnosed with Microcephalic Osteodysplastic Primordial Dwarfism type I (MOPD I). MOPD I is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by extreme intrauterine growth retardation, multiple …


Dual Stimuli Response Frequency And Stimulus Choice Of The African Clawed Frog, Xenopus Laevis, When Presented With Two Stimuli, Mingo Rolince, Heidi Pignolet, Alexa Hoy Jan 2015

Dual Stimuli Response Frequency And Stimulus Choice Of The African Clawed Frog, Xenopus Laevis, When Presented With Two Stimuli, Mingo Rolince, Heidi Pignolet, Alexa Hoy

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

This preliminary study examines responses of African Clawed Frogs to simultaneous presentation of two stimuli. Frogs were tested in a round arena with water 4 cm deep. Four stimulus rods driven via computer-controlled stepper motors were concealed in a screen suspended above the water. These rods could present a lateral line stimulus, a visual stimulus, or a combination of both. Overall, reactions and no reactions were evenly distributed--51.1% and 48.9%, respectively. Frogs responded more frequently to rostral than caudal stimuli (chi-squared 20.8, df=11, p < 0.04). Frogs reacted more to stimuli between -90° and 90°. Turn angle depended linearly on stimulus angle (e.g., Turn angle = 0.44 + 0.64 x Stimulus angle; pslope < 0.0001; R2adj = 69.5%). (The distributions of stimulus angles appear slightly skewed as often the same stimulus rod was retested after the frog responded and partially oriented towards it, prompting a second test with smaller angles.) Two stimuli did not elicit more responses than one stimuli (P=0.25). The frogs’ choice of stimulus depended primarily on stimulus proximity and angle, not stimulus type. When presented with two stimuli, the frog chose the nearer stimulus and the more rostral stimulus (p < 0.0001). The largest factor in predicting the frog’s choice of stimuli seems to be the linear distance from the stimuli to the frog.


Control Of Meiotic Cell Divisions In Presence Of Unrepaired Chromosome Breaks, Francisco Monge, Jesus Monge, Andrew Reville, Rima Sandhu Jan 2015

Control Of Meiotic Cell Divisions In Presence Of Unrepaired Chromosome Breaks, Francisco Monge, Jesus Monge, Andrew Reville, Rima Sandhu

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Chromosome miss-segregation during meiosis is a major factor contributing to birth defects as well as many genetic anomalies through the formation of aneuploid gametes, i.e. gametes with a deficit or surplus of one or several chromosomes. The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a major protein structure assembled with the synapsis of homologous chromosomes and is conserved from unicellular yeast to humans. One of its major roles during prophase I in meiosis is providing a structural framework for the maintenance of synapsis to facilitate the completion of reciprocal crossover events. Failure to form an effective SC or to experience crossover events leads …


Role In Recombination Of Genes That Control Meiotic Cell Divisions, Francisco Monge, Jesus Monge, Andrew Reville, Rima Sandhu Jan 2015

Role In Recombination Of Genes That Control Meiotic Cell Divisions, Francisco Monge, Jesus Monge, Andrew Reville, Rima Sandhu

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

The production of gametes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae via meiosis is under strict regulatory control where proper segregation of homologous chromosomes into gametes requires physical linkage via crossovers. Cells that initiate meiotic recombination but do not process programmed double strand breaks into crossovers enter meiotic arrest. The main goal of the current project was whether overexpression of gene Y is sufficient to bypass the meiotic arrest in prophase I exhibited by dmc1 deletion and a zip1 mutant that carries an internal deletion. DMC1 is a recombinase that promotes homologous recombination. ZIP1 is a transverse filament protein of the synaptonemal complex (the …


Lead Optimization Of Tubulin Inhibitor For Cancer Treatment, Morgan Ashcraft Jan 2015

Lead Optimization Of Tubulin Inhibitor For Cancer Treatment, Morgan Ashcraft

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Tubulin-containing structures are important for many important cellular functions, including chromosome segregation during cell division, development and maintenance of cell shape, cell motility, and distribution of molecules on cell membranes. The rapid growth of cancer cells makes them very sensitive to the disruption of tubulin polymerization/depolymerization. Taxol (paclitaxel), a tubulin inhibitor approved by the FDA in 1992 for cancer treatment, is one of the most powerful chemotherapeutic agents. However, the low water solubility and drug resistance limits its clinical application. Various effort in drug discovery field focuses on more water soluble smaller molecular tubulin inhibitors. Our previous study led to …


Optimizing The Design And Potency Of Diterpenic Acid Derivatives To Improve Cell Membrane Permeability And Hsp27 Targeting Characteristics, Aicha Quamine Jan 2015

Optimizing The Design And Potency Of Diterpenic Acid Derivatives To Improve Cell Membrane Permeability And Hsp27 Targeting Characteristics, Aicha Quamine

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) acts as a protective protein allowing it to play an integral role in aiding cancer cell resistance. Stress-induced Hsp 27 overexpression aids in the stabilization of partially denatured proteins to establish protein refolding resulting in thermotolerance, inhibition of apoptosis, cytoprotection, etc. As a result of rapid proliferation and general instability, cancer cells exhibit increased dependency on the support of Hsp 27 and it’s chaperone proteins, therefore generating an ideal target for anticancer therapy. Copalic acid, a clerodane diterpenoid, has already been confirmed in effective chaperone inhibition and antiproliferative synergistic effect. We hypothesize that by optimizing …


Mechanism Of Action By Which 5-Nidr Acts As A Therapeutic Agent Against Brain Cancer, Seol Kim, Jung-Suk Choi Jan 2015

Mechanism Of Action By Which 5-Nidr Acts As A Therapeutic Agent Against Brain Cancer, Seol Kim, Jung-Suk Choi

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Approximately 10,000 people in the United States are diagnosed annually with a brain tumor. In addition, the prognosis for brain cancer patients is poor as these cancers have low survival rates of less than 10%. One important chemotherapeutic agent used to treat brain cancer is temozolomide, an alkylating agent that causes cell death by damaging DNA. In this project, we tested the ability of a specific non-natural nucleoside developed in our lab, designated 5-NIdR, to increase the efficacy of temozolomide against brain cancer. Animal studies using xenograft mice were performed to evaluate the in vivo efficacy of this drug combination …


Nitrosylation Of S100a8/ A9 Protein Complex By Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase, Kia Smith Jan 2015

Nitrosylation Of S100a8/ A9 Protein Complex By Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase, Kia Smith

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

How does the body fight infection? What causes inflammation? These are only a few questions that have been asked by many doctors across the globe. One thing that is known for certain about infection is that there is a particular sub-group of enzymes called NOS’s (eNOS, nNOS and iNOS) that produce Nitric Oxide (NO), a molecule radical capable of oxidizing proteins and alter their function. In our study we focus on inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS). NOS’s are comprised of oxidase and reductase domains liked by Camodulin (CAM), a polypeptide linker. According to prior studies and SEM photographs, inducible Nitric …


Cell Surface Sialylation Status Of Monocytes And Macrophages, Henry Wang, Dan Wang Jan 2015

Cell Surface Sialylation Status Of Monocytes And Macrophages, Henry Wang, Dan Wang

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Sialic acids (SAs), a family of 9-carbon containing acidic monosaccharides, often terminate the glycan structures of cell surface glycoconjugates such as glycoproteins and glycolipids. The levels and linkages of sialic acids named as sialylation status vary as cell environment changes related to both physiological and pathological processes. Changes in sialylation of cell surface modulate cellular activity. SAs are highly involved in the immune system, however, the sialylation status related to individual immune cells and their activation state and functions are still unknown. In this study, we used a newly developed LC-MS/MS method to examine the cellular SA content during THP-1 …


Development Of A Gc-Ms Method For Investigation Mouse Plasma Amino Acid Levels And Their Significance To The Circadian Clock, Kylin Emhoff Jan 2015

Development Of A Gc-Ms Method For Investigation Mouse Plasma Amino Acid Levels And Their Significance To The Circadian Clock, Kylin Emhoff

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

An extraction procedure and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was developed for quantitation of plasma amino acids. The experimental workflow included extraction of amino acids from plasma, followed by derivatization protocol for GC-MS compatibility. Automated Mass spectral Deconvolution and Identification System (AMDIS) and laboratory developed library was used for compound identification. Levels of plasma amino acids were calculated based on one point calibration with non-physiological amino acid L-norvaline as internal standard. The assay was applied to obtain and monitor levels of plasma amino acids to study the effect of feeding restriction on the circadian clock in mice. The circadian …


Balance Training Application Of A Systematic Framework For Clinical Decision Making In Therapeutic Gaming For Older Adults, Brian Boccieri Jan 2015

Balance Training Application Of A Systematic Framework For Clinical Decision Making In Therapeutic Gaming For Older Adults, Brian Boccieri

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Falling is a major health concern for older adults. Balance is crucial in order to prevent falls. For balance to be functional an individual must be able to maintain balance while focusing on other tasks. For example, an individual must focus on more than just staying upright during walking while drinking a mug of coffee, or during standing while washing dishes. There are a countless number of daily activities that challenge balance. One of the problems with current clinical balance rehabilitation is that the training is often completed using isolated exercises that do not include the various other cognitive and …


Safe Movement Practices By Stnas For Residents In Nursing Homes, Christine Fortuna Jan 2015

Safe Movement Practices By Stnas For Residents In Nursing Homes, Christine Fortuna

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Previous research reports that with compliance, safe movement programs and policies play a large roll in reducing worker injury and safe patient handling. The purpose for our research is to better understand the daily safe movement practices of State Tested Nursing Assistants as it relates to the safe handling and transferring of patients. We used Qualtric software to electronically survey 14 STNAs from Jenning’s Center for Older Adults Upper Level Neighborhood. The survey consisted of 7 forced choice questions and 19 open ended or follow up questions. The scope of our research covers the complexities of the daily tasks of …


Statistical Analysis Of Dasi Questionnaire And Modeling The Prediction Of Heart Failure Risk In Patients, Christian Negron Jan 2015

Statistical Analysis Of Dasi Questionnaire And Modeling The Prediction Of Heart Failure Risk In Patients, Christian Negron

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

9,880 patients were asked to complete the DASI questionnaire along with other questions to assess the predictability of heart failure risk. In this paper we attempt to reduce the amount of questions asked by hierarchical clustering of the question responses to determine if there is a change in the predictability of heart failure risk in patients. The data was modeled using Cox hazards multiple regression and validated through ROC and AUC. Our validation models show there is no difference between the usage of 12 and 6 DASI questions, therefore improving the simplicity of the questionnaire. Abbreviations: DASI, Duke Activity Status …


Dynamics Of An Optically Trapped Particle, Flaherty Justin Jan 2015

Dynamics Of An Optically Trapped Particle, Flaherty Justin

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Particles trapped in a laser experience a linear restoring force that keeps them centered in the trap and will undergo restricted Brownian motion. The Brownian motion causes a change in the scattered laser light. The scattered light is projected onto a Quadrant Photodiode and can be used to obtain the Mean Squared Displacement of the particle, as well as the linear spring constant of the laser trap. The spring constant can be used to obtain the force applied by the laser trap, which is in the realm of piconewtons.


Ciliary Mechanosensation In Mdck Cells, Muhammad Tayeh Jan 2015

Ciliary Mechanosensation In Mdck Cells, Muhammad Tayeh

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Cilia are microscopic structures that extend from the surface of mammalian cells. Cilia can be categorized into two groups, primary cilia (non-motile) and motile cilia. Cilia are composed of tubulin subunits (microtubules) and covered by a plasma membrane. The physiological role of motile cilia has been very well documented, but the function of primary cilia remains largely unknown. It has been shown that primary cilia allow cells to sense and respond to mechanical stimuli. The ability for a cell to respond to mechanical stimuli is crucial for maintaining processes such as homeostasis. It has also been shown that defects in …


Developing Affordable Wet-Sample Electron Microscopy Integrated With A Temperature Controlled Sample Holder, Dan Terrano Jan 2015

Developing Affordable Wet-Sample Electron Microscopy Integrated With A Temperature Controlled Sample Holder, Dan Terrano

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is widely used to analyze the size, shape and composition of material systems. However, using this tool for analyzing systems such as particles suspended in solution, requires drastic sample alterations, such as precipitation and fixation. Besides altering their environment, this exposes the particles to the harsh conditions within an electron microscope, such as high vacuum and electron beam exposure. To this end, the first goal of this study was to develop methodologies for imaging wet samples using electron microscopy. This is realized by creating a sandwich structure containing the solution of interest between a partially electron …


Deducing Shape Of Anisotropic Particles In Solution From Light Scattering: Spindles And Nanorods, Ilona Tsuper, Dan Terrano Jan 2015

Deducing Shape Of Anisotropic Particles In Solution From Light Scattering: Spindles And Nanorods, Ilona Tsuper, Dan Terrano

Undergraduate Research Posters 2015

Depolarized Dynamic light scattering (DDLS) enables to measure in situ rotational and translational diffusion of nanoparticles suspended in solution. Their size, shape, diffusion, and intermolecular interactions can be interred then from DDLS data using various models of diffusion. Incorporating DDLS to analyze the dimensions of easily imaged elongated particles, such as Iron (III) oxyhydroxide Spindles (FeOOH) and gold coated Nanorods, will allow a deeper understanding between rotational/translational diffusion and size distribution of hard-to-image anisotropic wet systems such as micelles, microgels, and protein complexes. The emphasis of this study was to look at the aged FeOOH Spindle sample, and explore the …