Life Sciences Commons^™

Multi-Generational Effect Of Western Diet On Colorectal Cancer And Impact Of Green Tea On Cancer Prevention, Sumira Phatak, Canyon Neal, Kevin Contreras, Tess Armbrust, Daphne Rodriguez, Braden Abercrombie, Katie Pontsler, Deanna Larson, Ashli Hunter, Hector Esquer, Jocelyn Cuthbert, Michael Lefevre, Korry Hintze, Robert Ward, Abby Benninghoff

Student Research Symposium

Diet is widely recognized as an important factor in lifetime cancer risk, yet Americans routinely consume foods that are energy-dense and nutrient-poor. Animal model studies to identify functional foods for cancer prevention generally do not account for typical Western dietary patterns with respect to macro- and micronutrient content. The primary objectives of this study were to determine the impact of ancestral and multi-generational consumption of a Western-style diet in a murine model of inflammation-associated colorectal carcinogenesis. Additionally, we sought to determine the efficacy of green tea for prevention of Western diet-enhanced colon tumorigenesis. Previously, our group developed the Total Western …

Presence Of Wolbachia In Sandfly Populations And Correlation With Pesticide Resistance, Cody Bills, Carol Von Dohlen, Katie Weglarz

Student Research Symposium

Leishmaniasis is a serious skin disease, affecting 12 million people worldwide, caused by a protozoan vectored by sand flies. These flies can harbor the bacterium Wolbachia, a microorganism which blurs the line between symbiont and parasite. On one hand, it skews sex ratios in sand fly populations but, on the other hand, it confers certain benefits, specifically increased insecticide resistance. In closely related flies, specifically the mosquito, pesticide resistance is developed when Wolbachia infection rates increase. The range of impacts of Wolbachia on their hosts may offer a secondary control pathway for sand fly populations where pesticide resistance has developed, …

Development Of Archaeal And Algalytic Bacteria Detection Systems, Andrew Walters

Student Research Symposium

Many methods for the production of methane are being developed in response to the growing energy crisis. One such method is the digestion of wastewater algae in a UASB (Up-Flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) reactor. In this reactor, algae grown in wastewater treatment facilities can be digested by alga-lytic bacteria into its carbon rich substituents and later used by methanogenic archaebacteria to produce methane.

The objective of this project is to design detection systems that employ specific DNA primers that will precisely target two bacterial groups: alga-lytic and archaeal bacteria. If successful, these systems will allow us to identify the bacteria …

Tag-Team Takeover: Usurpation Of Woodpecker Nests By Western Bluebirds, Sammy Cowell, Hannah Domgaard, Phil Fischer, Teresa Lorenz, Sara Lorscheider, Mariah Panoussi, Lindsey Parrish, Taryn Rodman, Kim Sullivan

Student Research Symposium

Woodpeckers provide important ecological services by excavating nesting cavities that are used by many forest birds and animals. Black-backed woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus) have been declining throughout their range and are now a threatened species. The failure of black-backed woodpeckers to reproduce can lead to a decline of nesting cavities, which in turn can lead to a decline in secondary cavity nesters. One of the challenges black-backed woodpeckers face is displacement from their nesting cavities by aggressive secondary cavity nesters.The western bluebird (Sialia Mexicana) is known to usurp nests, even from its own kind. However, the process by which bluebirds take …

Channel Movement, Error Analysis, And Impacts For Neighboring Landowners: A Lower Bear River, Ut Case Study, Russell Babb, Kellie Shawn, Todd Brown, Ayman Alafifi, David Rosenberg

Spring Runoff Conference

The Bear River Fellows program is a unique learning experience for undergraduate students giving hands-on experience in collecting, synthesizing, and analyzing environmental and ecological data. The Bear River is an important resource that provides water to farms, reservoirs, wetlands, wildlife, and hydropower generation. Because of the river’s value, it is important to understand how the Bear River channel moves and how that affects the surrounding landscape, which is a topic of interest for local land owners but especially conservationists in protecting wetlands and river ecology. We collected hydrological, topologic, and vegetative data from three persisting research sites along an 8 …

Seasonal Flow Rates Along The Lower Bear River, Ut, Todd Keniry, Dahlia Curiel, Dylan Anderson, Ayman Alafifi, David E. Rosenberg

Spring Runoff Conference

The goal of this research is to identify how flow on the Bear River in Cache Valley has changed over the last three years and how flow changes seasonally. Identifying flows is important to manage water resources along the Bear River. We collected and processed water pressure data every 30 minutes using HOBO transducers at two sites in Cache Valley (Morton, just downstream of highway 142, and Confluence which is located at the confluence of the Bear and Cub Rivers) south of the Idaho‐Utah border in 2015. We also measured flow and water stage up to three times per year …