Life Sciences Commons^™

Student Success Of Online Vs. In-Person Biology Courses At Virginia Community Colleges, Jennifer Claire Scott

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Community colleges have a significant role in preparing students for STEM-related careers through certificates, degrees, and transfers to four-year institutions. In addition, online education is a growing mode of higher education, particularly for community college students. However, community college and online students are both at a high risk of attrition and show a lower success rate for degree completion. The purpose of this study was to identify differences in attrition and success between students in online and in-person biology courses at Virginia community colleges. Also, this study addressed downstream effects of online education by examining course completion of second-semester biology …

Alternative Treatments To Koalas With Chlamydia, Kelsey Thornton

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

Koala populations have declined rapidly in the past 2 decades due to many reasons such as disease, vehicle collisions, dog attacks, urbanization and deforestation, and climate-related issues. Chlamydia is one of the leading causes for population declines in koalas. Koalas are difficult to treat for chlamydia because antibiotic treatment kills the specialized gut bacteria they have and need for degrading toxic compounds within eucalyptus leaves, their only source of food. I propose that doxycycline, a drug with a 97% cure rate and reduced dysbiosis, to be administered at higher concentrations less frequently. Additionally, I propose that koalas treated with antibiotics …

Population Dynamics Of Waterfowl Wintering In The Mid-Atlantic Region, Usa, Abigail Harris, Thomas Hoke

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

A recent study (Rosenberg et al. 2019) has shown that bird populations in North America are experiencing major declines except for a few groups including waterfowl. However, this study focused only on the summer breeding populations and did not focus on regional dynamics. We utilized data from 62 Christmas Bird Count (CBC) count circles to evaluate population dynamics of common wintering waterfowl in the coastal Mid-Atlantic region (Delaware=7, Maryland=16, Virginia=18, North Carolina=21) since 1950. We found a 36% decline of wintering waterfowl relative abundance compared to 1950s. American wigeon and Canada goose had major population decreases while Snow goose had …

Adios Adjuvant: Combination Immunotherapy For Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (All) Patients, Arleigh Wood

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

Cancer treatments are shifting from heavy adjuvant therapies to immunological approaches, such as carT cell therapy. By simultaneously administering two known successful treatments for ALL, Blinatumomab and Kymriah, a high rate of remission can be accomplished in pediatric patients with relapsed ALL. Higher rates of remission, prolonged immunity, and less side effects are the projected results based on previously published studies. Combining these two therapies will likely produce more successful results compared to if the drugs were administered independently. This will hopefully translate into a faster return to daily living activities and less chronic effects during such an important developmental …

Combining Treatments For Opioid Addictions, Raquel Perez

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

In 2018 the National Survey of Drug Use and Health reported that 9.9 million people misused prescription pain relievers out of 10.3 million who reported using opioids. Opioid abuse has grown from just being considered a medical dilemma, it has clearly become a social and economic issue (Eaton and Vettese, 2020). This proposal will be investigating the combination of pre-existing pharmacological treatments and support group therapy. This is not a new concept however because of the nature of opioid addictions having severe withdrawal symptoms most treatments are primarily medication base. Drug addictions have been known to carry a negative stigma …

Illegal Killing Of Nongame Wildlife And Recreational Shooting In Conservation Areas, Jay D. Carlisle, Eve C. Thomason, James R. Belthoff, Julie A. Heath, Kristina J. Parker, Heather M. Hayes, Madeline C. Alberg, Sandra M. Amdor, Steven E. Alsup, Stephanie E. Coates

Intermountain Bird Observatory Publications and Presentations

Illegal killing of nongame wildlife is a global yet poorly documented problem. The prevalence and ecological consequences of illegal killing are often underestimated or completely unknown. We review the practice of legal recreational shooting and present data gathered from telemetry, surveys, and observations on its association with illegal killing of wildlife (birds and snakes) within conservation areas in Idaho, USA. In total, 33% of telemetered long‐billed curlews (Numenius americanus) and 59% of other bird carcasses found with known cause of death (or 32% of total) were illegally shot. Analysis of spatial distributions of illegal and legal shooting is …

Inheritability Of Ciprofloxacin-Induced Mitochondrial Mutations From Parental To Offspring Generation Using Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction, Rose Mccoy

Honors Theses

In all eukaryotes, mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell (Siekevitz, 1957). In plants, however, their mitochondrial genome is especially strange. Plant mitochondrial genomes are extremely large and contain both linear and circular subgenomic DNA fragments. Plant mitochondrial genomes undergo a significant amount of mutations in the form of rearrangements. However, it is not known how often these rearrangements are inherited by the next generation. It is thought that plant cells that are still dividing have higher rates of DNA repair, such as double-strand break repair, to ensure the quality of that plant lineage. As follows, it is …

A Comparison Of Invasive And Native Plants In An Abandoned Limestone Quarry, Diana Borse, Sophia Atkinson, Dana Dudle

Annual Student Research Poster Session

The abandoned limestone quarry in the DePauw Nature Park is a site of interest for research into plant community establishment due to the harsh, heterogenous, and fluctuating environment. Because the limestone floor of the quarry is a novel anthropogenic environment, every plant species in the quarry had to be introduced somehow. Perhaps native species that are able to establish populations in the quarry are more likely to share traits with invasive species. Using information collected from scientific articles, I compared traits of three pairs of plants with similar forms to compare their life history traits to see if any patterns …

Antibiotic Resistance And Variability In The Physiological Profiles Of Streambed Bacterial Communities: Implication Of Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents, Madeline Draper, Amerti Guta, Philips Akinwole

Annual Student Research Poster Session

The effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) include a complex mixture of nutrients and toxic substances, thus, the potential exists for the effluent to significantly impact the biochemical characteristics and bacterial communities of the receiving freshwater ecosystem. Our findings highlight the worrisome impacts of WWTPs on microbial biomass, coliform forming units, bacterial metabolic diversity, and antibiotic resistance patterns on the receiving water. In this study, microbial biomass and coliform forming units were significantly higher at the WWTP outfall compared to the reference site. Furthermore, this report revealed significant differences in the composition of bacterial communities in the context of WWTP …

Lifelines Fall 2020, Southern Adventist University

Lifelines - Biology Department Newsletter

The Fall 2020 issue of Lifelines contains articles on Insights from the Professor, Alumni Highlight, and Department Happenings.

A Preliminary Look Into Regional Primary Succession In The Depauw University Nature Park Quarry, Sophia Atkinson, Diana Borse, Dana Dudle

Annual Student Research Poster Session

Quarries are anthropogenic landscapes that when abandoned, leave a blank slate in the environment for species to come in and repopulate the area. This gives way to primary succession, a process that re-vegetates areas devoid of soil. The goal of this research is to investigate where the abandoned limestone quarry at the DePauw University Nature Park is in terms of its successional phase since extraction stopped in 1977. Throughout the summer of 2020, plant species were identified along with the specific region and sub-habitat, the main sub-habitats being the temporary ponds, quarry spoils, talus slopes, flat limestone areas, and damp …

Hsa-Mir-4520-2-3p: A Potential Modulator Of Covid-Related Ace2, Molly Ruggles, Nipun Chopra

Annual Student Research Poster Session

ACE2 is a transmembrane receptor located in cells in various tissues around the body. Its normal role is the conversion of Angiotensin II to Angiotensin 1-7 leading to vasodilation and a subsequent reduction in blood pressure via the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. ACE2 also plays a pivotal role in the infection of COVID-19 as it determines entry of virus into human cells. SARS-CoV-2 uses one of its four structural proteins, the spike (S) glycoprotein, to bind to the ACE2 receptor. This entry into the cell begins the process of infection and spread of the disease; because of the abundance of ACE2 throughout …

Cardiac Neuroanatomy And Chronotropic Modulation Of The Adult Giant Danio Heart, Alyssa Koch, Emma Nelson, Pascal Lafontant

Annual Student Research Poster Session

Studies in non-mammalian models species have contributed significantly to our understanding of the biology and the nature of innervation in the heart. The giant danio (D. malabaricus) is a teleost fish species closely related to zebrafish, that is also capable of heart regeneration. We previously described the development and maturation of the giant danio (GD) heart. However, little is known about its innervation. We hypothesized that the pattern of innervation in the GD heart is anatomically and physiologically complex, and that the heart is responsive to physiological modulation similar to that seen in cyprinid fish and mammals. Using various neuronal …

Characterizing The Behavior Of Mutated Proteins With Emcap: The Energy Minimization Curve Analysis Pipeline, Matthew Lee, Bodi Van Roy, Filip Jagodzinski

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Studies of protein mutants in wet laboratory experiments are expensive and time consuming. Computational experiments that simulate the motions of protein with amino acid substitutions can complement wet lab experiments for studying the effects of mutations. In this work we present a computational pipeline that performs exhaustive single-point amino acid substitutions in silico. We perform energy minimization as part of molecular dynamics (MD) of our generated mutant proteins, and the wild type, and log the energy potentials for each step of the simulations. We motivate several metrics that rely on the energy minimization curves of the wild type and mutant, …

Sensory Ecology Bio 522, Michael Cerbo

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Fundamentals Of Biology Bio 110, Michael Cerbo

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Support For Science-Related Educational Training And Trauma-Informed Work In Somaliland, David Varner

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Multiphasic 3d-Bioplotted Scaffolds For Site-Specific Chondrogenic And Osteogenic Differentiation Of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells For Osteochondral Tissue Engineering Applications, Julia T. Oxford

Biomolecular Research Center Publications and Presentations

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that limits mobility of the affected joint due to the degradation of articular cartilage and subchondral bone. The limited regenerative capacity of cartilage presents significant challenges when attempting to repair or reverse the effects of cartilage degradation. Tissue engineered medical products are a promising alternative to treat osteochondral degeneration due to their potential to integrate into the patient's existing tissue. The goal of this study was to create a scaffold that would induce site-specific osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASC) to generate a full osteochondral implant. Scaffolds were fabricated using …

Velvet Longhorned Beetle (Trichoferus Campestris (Faldermann), Taryn M. Rodman, Lori R. Spears, Diane G. Alston, Cami Cannon, Kristopher Watson, Joey Caputo

All Current Publications

The velvet longhorned beetle is an invasive wood-boring pest that is native to Asia and Russia. It infests fruit, forest, and ornamental trees, as well as green and dry wood, such as timber and lumber. This fact sheet provides a description, and information on life history, plant hosts, injury symptoms, monitoring, and management.

A Review Of Plant-Soil Feedbacks And Their Importance For Palouse Prairie Restoration And Management, Rachael Sv Pentico

2020 Symposium Posters

A plant-soil feedback (PSF) is the process in which plants alter both the biotic and abiotic characteristics of the soil they grow in. These changes in the soil composition alter which plants can grow and survive there in the future. Negative PSFs occur when plants struggle to grow in soil that was previously inhabited, due to a buildup of soil pathogens. Positive PSFs, however, provide benefits to the plants due to an abundance of soil microbes, such as AMF. Understanding the effects that PSFs have on plant communities and dynamics could be vital for restoring damaged ecosystems, like the Palouse …

Seminar In Biological Sciences Bio 228, Michael Cerbo

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Temporary Membrane Permeabilization Via The Pore-Forming Toxin Lysenin, Nisha Shrestha, Christopher A. Thomas, Devon Richtsmeier, Andrew Bogard, Rebecca Hermann, Malyk Walker, Gamid Abatchev, Raquel J. Brown, Daniel Fologea

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Pore-forming toxins are alluring tools for delivering biologically-active, impermeable cargoes to intracellular environments by introducing large conductance pathways into cell membranes. However, the lack of regulation often leads to the dissipation of electrical and chemical gradients, which might significantly affect the viability of cells under scrutiny. To mitigate these problems, we explored the use of lysenin channels to reversibly control the barrier function of natural and artificial lipid membrane systems by controlling the lysenin’s transport properties. We employed artificial membranes and electrophysiology measurements in order to identify the influence of labels and media on the lysenin channel’s conductance. Two cell …

In Vitro Assessment Of Acute Neuro-Inflammation In A Model Of The Blood Brain Barrier, Cassandra Phillips, Dak Ojuka, Ramon G. Ortega-Alvarez, Anne-Deyssa Victor, Kathryn Fama

Biology Student Scholarship

Cassandra Phillips ’20
Major: Biology and Psychology

Dak Ojuka '20
Major: Biology Minor: Business and Innovation

Anne-Deyssa Victor '21
Major: Biology

Ramon G. Ortega-Alvarez ’20
Major: Biology

Kathryn Fama ’21
Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Charles Toth, Biology

The purpose of this experiment was to develop an in vitro model of the blood brain barrier that incorporated brain endothelial microvascular cells (BMEC) and co-cultures composed of neurons, astrocytes, and macrophages. All cell types were derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. A transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) assay and immunofluorescence were used to evaluate barrier function. In addition, the model was …

Investigating Metabolic Reprogramming In Neurodegenerative Disease, Sidney Mackinnon, Samantha Nicodemus

Biology Student Scholarship

Sidney MacKinnon ’21
Major: Biology

Samantha Nicodemus ’20
Major: Biology and Psychology, Neuroscience Certificate

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Marla Tipping, Biology

There’S A New Species Of Thief Ant Hiding In The Pine Barrens Of Rhode Island, Justin Andries

Biology Student Scholarship

Major: Biology and Sociology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. James Waters, Biology

Ants are often missed underfoot and overlooked, but they are among the most ecologically dominant groups of animals on the planet. There are more than 200 species of ants which have been scientifically recorded in New England but samples from Rhode Island represent less than a percent of the overall survey of our regional taxa. To discover the species that are found in Rhode Island, we are engaged in a multi-year and multi-location effort to systematically trap and accurately identify the ant species found in diverse rural and urban habitats …

Distribution Of The Cold Water Coral Astrangia In The Waters Of Narrangansett Bay, Jared Getgano, Sarah Ramsaran, Victoria Hartley, Noah Mina

Biology Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

39 And Me: The Evolution Of Dogs Through The Study Of Genomics, Lauren Flynn, Kathleen Kuhl, Jordan Pagliuca, Megan Russel

Biology Student Scholarship

Lauren Flynn ’21
Major: Biology and Mathematics

Jordan Pagliuca ’21
Major: Biology

Kathleen Kuhl ’22
Major: Biology

Megan Russell ’20
Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elisabeth Arévalo, Biology

Our lab is interested in utilizing the dog model to explore the relationship between genes, evolution, and physical traits. The human selection and manipulation of different desirable traits in dogs has led to mutations that create the unique traits and diversity of breeds. Our lab uses different molecular methods to assess genetic mutations and different inheritable traits ranging from physical characteristics to disease in a variety of dog breeds. Statistical analysis and …

Studying Cardiovascular Disease Using Human Stem Cell-Derived 3d Cardiomyocytes, Nicholas Dash, Veronica Bohl

Biology Student Scholarship

Veronica Bohl ’20
Major: Biology and Psychology, Neuroscience Certificate Program

Nicholas Dash ’20
Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Charles Toth, Biology

This experiment provides insight on how using metabolites derived naturally from the microbiome can influence cardiac inflammation.3D cardiomyocytes were derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells through the utilization of small molecules and growth factors. Quantitative PCR was performed to verify that the organoids expressed genes associated with cardiomyocyte cells. Primers for the genes FOXa2, TNNT2, MYH7, AHR, CACNA1, and KCNH2 were used for the qPCR, as these genes are expressed more prominently in cardiomyocyte cells than the undifferentiated …

Yeast Bxi1p/Ybh3p Is A Ph-Sensitive Calcium Channel In Escherichia Coli., Amanda Raffa, John Kalhorn

Biology Student Scholarship

Amanda Raffa ’21
Major: Biology

John Kalhorn ’21
Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, Biology

Autophagy And Lipid Metabolism In C.Elegans, Cristina De Corral, Samantha Otalvaro

Biology Student Scholarship

Cristina de Corral ’22
Major: Biology

Samantha Otalvaro ’22
Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Melissa Silvestrini, Biology

The synthesis, storage, delivery and breakdown of lipids in the cell is crucial for organismal homeostasis. Dysfunction in lipid metabolism can lead to a variety of pathologies including diabetes, heart disease, and even neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s. One common link between these metabolic diseases is the cellular recycling process of autophagy. Autophagy plays a complex role in lipid metabolism as it is required for both lipid storage and breakdown. In C. elegans, loss of autophagy during development impairs production of neutral lipids. …