Life Sciences Commons^™

Ros And Sfk Signaling Is Required For Development Of Hematopoietic Stem Cells In Zebrafish, Bradley Williams, Erich Damm

Undergraduate Research Posters

ROS and SFK signaling is required for development of hematopoietic stem cells in zebrafish

Bradley Williams and Erich Damm

Background

Hematopoiesis is the process in which the myriad of mature blood cell types, including erythrocytes and leukocytes, develop from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) throughout the life of an organism. In vertebrates, HSCs originate from endothelial cells lining the floor of the dorsal aorta. This process is referred to as the endothelial to hematopoietic transition and is likely controlled in part by molecular signals from neighboring cells. Investigation into the molecular signaling mechanisms controlling the development of HSCs is critical to …

Glyphosate And Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity: Herbicide Impacts On Parkinson's Disease Development, Lojy Hozyen

Undergraduate Research Posters

Nearly one million individuals in the United States are living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In the past two decades, the death rate from PD has risen by about 63 percent in the United States. Major findings have been made in the past five years about the potential impact of glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine) exposure on the onset of PD symptoms. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to provide a compiled update on the chemical and biological alterations that glyphosate imposes on the human brain. A meta-analysis was conducted to create a quantitative estimate of the connection between PD and glyphosate. Findings …

The Collaboration Between Art And Botany, Hee So, Sierra Beecher

Undergraduate Research Posters

Using past research from my work study with Dr. Beecher where a team of students focused on quantitative and diagnostic anatomies of salt marsh and beach grasses on the Atlantic coasts, I used the research collected and created vector-based diagrams that were easily readable for Biology students at VCU. These illustrations were used in a manuscript we have been preparing, which has been accepted by the “Castanea” scientific journal. During the research fellowship, I was able to design a poster that portrayed the benefits of collaboration between art and botany, and Dr. Beecher presented the poster at the ASPB conference …

Comparing The Microbiomes Of Dental Plaques In 19th Century Ancestral Remains, Ananya Udyaver

Undergraduate Research Posters

During the construction of VCU’s Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building in April 1994, nineteenth century ancestral remains were found in an abandoned well on the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) campus. This well, now known as the East Marshall Street Well (EMSW), is thought to have been used as a disposal location for cadaver dissection for surgical and other medical waste in the past. VCU is now seeking to use DNA sequencing technology to match and assemble bones from each individual for a proper burial, uncover the cultural and historical context in which these people lived, and bring a …

Structural Analysis Of Predicted Proteins Using Alphafold, Brydon P. Wall

Undergraduate Research Posters

The function of around 67% of predicted proteins from genes in Mycobacteriophage CheetoDust can not be confidently predicted using traditional techniques and can only be functionally labeled “hypothetical proteins”. However, a new approach using AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence tool to generate a structural prediction from a sequence, can take advantage of structurally conserved regions that were previously obfuscated to gain new insights and visualize data in new ways.

Since amino acid sequences are more conserved than its corresponding DNA sequence, amino acid sequences are used when predicting the function of the corresponding translated protein. Until recently, predicting structure from an …

Cellular Glycosphingolipid Imbalance Modulates Emt In Cancer Cells, Laura E. Clark, Amanda Dickinson, Santiago Lima

Undergraduate Research Posters

Sphingolipids are key components of the plasma membrane and are regulators of complex biological processes often altered in cancer cells. In human tumors, genes of key enzymes that regulate levels of glucosylceramide and lactosylceramide are often amplified. However, it is unknown why these traits are positively selected in transformed cells. In this work, we used CRISPR-Cas9 to knockout two key enzymes amplified in tumors in HeLa and H1703 tumor-derived cell-lines. As expected, the knockout lines had dramatic accumulation of GlcCer and LacCer. However, unexpectedly, they showed significantly decreased in-vitro wound-healing capacity and an almost complete loss of in-vitro extra-cellular matrix …

Proposing An Rna Interference (Rnai)-Based Treatment For Human Immunodeficiency Virus (Hiv) By Analyzing The Post-Transcriptional Gene Targeting Of Sars-Cov-2, Hepatitis C Virus, And A549 Lung Cancer Cells, Arjun Jagdeesh

Undergraduate Research Posters

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that infects CD4+ T cell lymphocytes in humans, leading to the development of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if left untreated. While current treatment methods, including antiretroviral combination treatments, effectively limit HIV replication, HIV can evade these treatments due to its high mutation rate. Long-term antiretroviral treatment can also be toxic to patients, meaning patients would benefit from a new mechanism of HIV treatment. RNA interference (RNAi) is an antiviral pathway found in mammals, plants, and insects that involves a small-interfering RNA that is incorporated into a protein complex called the RNA-induced Silencing Complex …

Respire: A Technological Tool To Navigate Mechanical Ventilation In Patient Care And Educational Settings, Swara Chokshi

Undergraduate Research Posters

Around the world, more than 20 million patients rely on mechanical ventilators annually; however, not enough individuals understand how to operate ventilators, posing a risk to the health of many. Moreover, it is increasingly difficult to determine optimal mechanical ventilator settings in a timely fashion, especially in low-resource countries and critical care areas. Respire is a mobile application that bridges this gap in a twofold manner: it is designed to assist healthcare workers around the world navigate and use mechanical ventilators effectively as well as educate the general public about mechanical ventilation. Respire offers a user-friendly yet educational interface that …

Gestational Vulnerability To Ozone Air Pollution - A Placental Story, Vishnupriya Alavala, Sarah Brent, Russell Hunter, Matthew J. Campen, Andrew Ottens

Undergraduate Research Posters

About 99% of the global population resides in areas with air pollution surpassing World Health Organization standards. Air pollution is associated with adverse neonatal health outcomes such as low fetal birth weight and an increased risk for maternal pre-eclampsia. A particularly reactive air pollutant is ozone, which forms reactive oxygen species that induce cellular damage. Research exists on the dispersion of reactive oxygen species through the bloodstream leading to fetal vulnerability during pregnancy, specifically via the placenta. Yet, placental and fetal development is a temporal process with varied susceptibility to negative gestational outcomes.

To addressing this gap, our laboratory utilized …