Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating The Environmental Determinants Of Tadpole Mouthpart Deformities, Nicholas J. Canfield

Research from the Berry Summer Thesis Institute, 2025

Amphibians are among the most threatened group of animals on the planet, with over 40% of living species facing an extinction risk. These organisms are highly sensitive to environmental change due to their highly permeable skin and complex life cycle that exposes them to stressors in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Amphibian populations that are closely monitored can serve as valuable bioindicators of environmental health because they typically respond rapidly to habitat degradation, decreased water quality, and changes in climate. Tadpoles in particular may act as a “canary in a coal mine” for aquatic ecosystems because they easily develop anatomical …

A Mini Review On Rodent Models Of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd), Rachel Zeller

Research from the Berry Summer Thesis Institute, 2025

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically diagnosed at a young age. ASD symptoms include deficits in social behavior, repetitive and restrictive behaviors, anxiety, as well as alterations in sensory gating and sensitivity, learning, memory, and attention performance. Since ASD emerges from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, clinical treatment of these conditions presents with challenges. Being able to model behavioral and neurobiological aspects of this disorder at the preclinical level using rodents allows for further investigation of the pathophysiological basis of this disorder. This mini review will focus on selected genetic and pharmacological rodent models of …

Does Green Stem Photosynthesis Affect Plant Drought Tolerance And Recovery In Avocado?, Nadia A. Valverdi, Paula Guzmán-Delgado, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Eleinis Ávila-Lovera

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Woody plants with green stems may have advantages over non-green-stemmed plants in that extra photosynthetic carbon gain has the potential to improve plant drought tolerance and aid drought recovery. However, most studies relating to green stem photosynthesis and drought tolerance have been conducted on non-horticultural plants under natural growing conditions. We investigated whether avocado green stem photosynthesis enhances drought tolerance and recovery. We applied light exclusion and drought treatments to 3-year-old potted trees of cultivars ‘Hass’ and ‘Fuerte’. Measurements of soil moisture, midday stem water potential, stem photosynthesis, bark chlorophyll concentration, concentration of sugars + starch and stem hydraulic conductivity …

Enhancing Cataract Surgery Outcomes: Optimal Use Of Pre- And Post-Operative Eye Drops, Keith Skolnick M.D., Anu Valiaveedu

Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal

Many preoperative and postoperative cataract patients struggle with comprehending the use of prescription medication as directed. Language barriers and low health literacy levels are major factors contributing to improper use of prescriptions. To increase patients comprehension, the Fort Lauderdale Eye Institute employed an educational intervention consisting of a live presentation and an instructional video. Results found that 44% of patients were hesitant to ask questions to clinical staff, 32% felt overwhelmed, and nearly 70% lacked confidence in using their prescribed eye drops. Following the intervention, 91% of patients reported increased confidence in their medications, and most indicated that the video …

In Silico Investigation Of The Anticancer Activity Of Natural Isoquinoline Alkaloids Targeting The Monoamine Oxidase A Enzyme, Reham A. Al-Anssari, Anwar H. Ali, Ola Adel Al-Saad, Shaker A.N. Al-Jadaan

AUIQ Complementary Biological System

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) has recently been identified as a candidate for cancer therapy due to its roles in tumor development and growth. Conventional approaches for the discovery of MAO-A inhibitors are both costly and time-consuming. The objective of this work was to apply in silico methods to predict natural isoquinoline alkaloids capable of acting as potent MAO-A inhibitors, and to establish this class of compounds as potential sources of a cost-effective anticancer therapy. Twenty-one natural isoquinoline alkaloids were subjected to a multistep computer-aided drug discovery protocol. The compounds were initially screened for pharmacokinetic (ADME), toxicity, and drug-likeliness properties by …

Statistical Analysis Of Multi-Endpoint Phenotypic Screening Increases Sensitivity Of Planarian Neurotoxicity Testing, Danielle Ireland, L. J. Word, Eva-Maria S. Collins

Biology Faculty Works

There is an urgent need for high-throughput screening (HTS) models to replace, refine, and/or reduce (“3Rs”) vertebrate toxicity testing. Replacing in vivo animal studies is challenging for neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity (DNT), where the functional relevancy of adverse outcomes needs to be assessed on the whole organism. We previously screened the NTP 87-compound library (NTP87), consisting of known and suspected developmental neurotoxicants, and showed that planarian HTS can identify known (developmental) neurotoxicants. Because analysis methods can impact screening results, and our original analysis used the lowest-observed-effect-level (LOEL) only, we hypothesized that the use of state-of-the-art statistical analysis would increase the …

Exposure To Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Reveals A Death Resistance Mechanism In Dictyostelium Discoideum, Zoya Nadeem Faruqui

Theses and Dissertations

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are very versatile due to their multifunctional properties including unique physicochemical and antimicrobial characteristics. They are widely utilized across various fields such as biomedical, industrial fields, environmental remediation, and agriculture. Therefore, their cytotoxic effects on biological systems necessitate a deeper understanding of the cellular responses to nanoparticle exposure. This project primarily investigates the impact of ZnO NPs on the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum AX4 (social amoeba) which has not been examined before unlike a vast variety of organisms in the literature. The cytotoxic effects of ZnO NPs on Dictyostelium discoideum AX4 cells are compared with …

Plant-Microbe Interactions Across Scales: Diversity, Disease, And Stress In Herbaceous Plant Communities, Philippa Tanford

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Plants interact consequentially with microbes spanning mutualism to pathogenicity, with broader effects on large-scale plant community structure. These plant communties, in turn, shape below and aboveground microbial communities through a variety of mechanisms. However, plant diversity-microbial diversity relationships remain broadly inconsistent across environments and among different plant and microbial assemblages. In my dissertation, I work to bridge some of these gaps in plant-microbial ecology in three experimental chapters assessing relationships between plant diversity and microbial diversity, including the influence of belowground-aboveground microbiome interactions, the influence of drought stress, and incorporating different spatial and experimental scales. First, I explore the microbial …

Mechanism Of Unconventional Il-33 Release In Airway Disease, Omar Osorio

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The alarmin cytokine IL-33 is a strong inducer of type two inflammation and has been implicated in various chronic lung diseases. Although much work has been done to understand the inflammatory effects of extracellular IL-33, there is still a knowledge gap in understanding how this cytokine is secreted by airway epithelial cells in steady-state conditions. In the work laid out in this document, a COPD-disease associated isoform of IL-33, that has exons 3 and 4 (IL-3334) spliced out and is tonically secreted at baseline conditions. This IL-33 isoform is secreted from airway epithelial cells alongside, or as part of, extracellular …

Evaluating The Toxicity Of Electronic Cigarette Aerosols For Firsthand And Secondhand Exposure Under Different Device Operating Conditions, Kashala Fabrice Kapiamba, Hsin Yin Chuang, Weixing Hao, Ta Chun Lin, Lung Chi Chen, Yue-Wern Huang, Yang Wang

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

The rapid proliferation of electronic cigarettes (ECs) has raised significant concerns about their potential health effects on both users and bystanders. This study systematically investigates the impact of EC aerosol exposure on human alveolar epithelial cells (A549), considering variations in device parameters, nicotine concentration, and exposure type. Using a gravity-based air–liquid interface exposure system, we assessed cytotoxicity and epithelial barrier integrity by measuring cell viability and transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER). Our results indicate that EC aerosol exposure significantly reduces cell viability and disrupts monolayer integrity in a dose- and device-dependent manner. Notably, VUSE (pod-type) exposure led to a 16% decrease …

Two Decapod Crustaceans, Panopeus Herbstii And Petrolisthes Armatus, Stabilize Their Gaze Using Achromatic Visual Cues, But Not The Angle Of Linearly Polarized Light, M. Janakis, S. Guirges, A. C. Grant, I. Paris, E. F. Lopresti, Daniel Isaac Speiser

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dominant Tree Species As A Driver Of Forest Herb Community Assembly: The Peculiar Case Of Pawpaw (Asimina Triloba), Anna Wassel

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the drivers of community assembly is a key goal in ecology and conservation. One way to better understand community assembly is to understand how the presence or absence of dominant species– highly abundant species with a proportionally large effect on the ecosystem–affects assembly. This approach allows for a more generalized understanding of community assembly based on the presence or abundance of one species rather than pairwise interactions among all species in a community. In forests, studies on dominant tree species have focused on how they affect patterns of species diversity. In contrast, surprisingly little is known about how dominant …

Mechanisms Of Ssdna Gap Resection In Brca1-Proficient And -Deficient Cells, Isabelle Seppa

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Single-stranded (ss) DNA gaps are potentially genome-destabilizing structures that require prompt repair (or filling) to prevent DNA breakage and genome instability. We previously showed that gap repair is defective in cancer cells with deficiencies in the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1. These findings explain why ssDNA gaps accumulate in BRCA1-deficient cells in response to therapies that target DNA, such as platinum-based compounds, or therapies that inhibit specific repair pathways, such as PARP inhibitors (PARPi). We also discovered that gap repair can be restored in BRCA1-deficient cells by inhibiting MRE11 nuclease activity, indicating that nuclease processing plays a central role in …

3d Bioprinting On Electrospun Nanofibrous Scaffolds To Fabricate Myocardial Patches, Muthu Parkkavi S

Theses and Dissertations

Tissue-engineered three-dimensional (3D) myocardial patches offer superior and innovative treatment strategy for myocardial infarction (MI). Among the various scaffold fabrication techniques, electrospinning and 3D bioprinting have received great attention due to their ability to recreate native cardiac tissue mimetic characteristics. Despite several advantages, electrospun nanofibers have limitations in cell delivery due to random cell seeding, while bioprinting faces challenges in creating hydrogel constructs with ideal mechanical properties capable of supporting cardiac contraction/relaxation cycle. Hence in this work, hybrid myocardial patches were developed by converging electrospinning and bioprinting techniques.

Electrospinning of PLCL:PEOz (B73, 7:3 blend of poly-L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone (PLCL) and polyethyl oxazoline …

Effect Of Osmolytes On The Interplay Of Water Protein And Dna In Ecori Dna Recognition Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Aathithya D

Theses and Dissertations

EcoRI is a type II restriction endonuclease that has been widely used as a model system to study protein-DNA interaction owing to its high degree of specificity. This enzyme does not recognize even a single basepair change in its recognition sequence, (GAATTC)2, under normal conditions. However, in the presence of osmolytes, such as glycerol and DMSO, the specificity of EcoRI is slightly relaxed and recognizes sequences that differ from its cognate sequence in the first basepair position. This relaxed specificity has been attributed to the dehydration of the EcoRI-DNA which presumably results in tighter complex formation and subsequent catalysis. However, …

Using Vegetation Communities To Compare Natural And Constructed Wetlands In The Red River Basin In Texas And Louisiana, Kennedi K. Davis

Biology Theses

Wetland vegetation provides an abundance of ecosystem services such as water quality regulation, flood control, and it provides habitat space for fish, amphibians, and macroinvertebrates. Not only that, but these plants also act as excellent indicators of wetland conditions as dominant vegetation types are often used as biological criteria for classifying wetlands and other habitats (Cowardin and Golet, 1995). This project will assess the structure of vegetation communities to determine how they differ in constructed and natural wetlands within the Red River drainage basin to see if Agricultural Conservation Easement Program – Wetland Reserve Easement (ACEP-WRE) constructed wetlands are effective …

Variation In Phenotype, Genotype, And Somatic Diversity Among Asexual Schmidtea Mediterranea Planarians, S. Kershenbaum, Danielle Ireland, Ziad Sabry , '20, Christina Rabeler, Vir Shetty , '22, A. Aboobaker, Eva-Maria S. Collins

Biology Faculty Works

Most multicellular life reproduces sexually, utilizing a single-celled stage that acts as a genetic bottleneck. This bottleneck limits the evolution of selfish cell adaptations by ensuring all cells descend from a single progenitor. We investigated an obligately asexual strain of Schmidtea mediterranea planarians that reproduces by self-bisection and lacks a single-cell bottleneck. Using 2.5 yearlong data on planarian reproductive behavior combined with genotyping, we revealed two previously undescribed genetically distinct substrains within the CIW4 strain. One substrain showed reduced fitness, which correlated with substantial losses of heterozygosity and increased somatic diversity. By genotyping consecutive head offspring over multiple generations, we …

Nueva Metodología De Análisis Para Determinar El Delito Ambiental De Ecocidio Por Glifosato En Cultivos Permanentes De Coca En Colombia, Rosalina González Forero, Jerry H. Kavouras, Érika González Ruiz

Biology Department Faculty Articles

El crimen organizado transnacional ha sido nefasto para el territorio colombiano, en especial el asociado a la producción de coca en la última década, lo que ha generado impactos económicos y sociales debido al aumento del conflicto e inseguridad en las zonas de influencia del cultivo. Esto se debe a que en el 2023 se tenían 230 000 hectáreas sembradas, lo que representa el 20 % de la superficie del país, con un impacto ambiental no cuantificado en términos penales. Este requiere de acciones de entidades estatales, así como de cooperación internacional, para adaptar estrategias y poder judicializar estos delitos …

Diverse Cell Types Establish A Pathogenic Immune Environment In Peripheral Neuropathy, Julie Choi

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Neuroinflammation plays a complex and context-dependent role in many neurodegenerative diseases. We identified a key pathogenic function of macrophages in a mouse model of a rare human congenital neuropathy in which SARM1, the central executioner of axon degeneration, is activated by hypomorphic mutations in the axon survival factor NMNAT2. Macrophage depletion blocked and reversed neuropathic phenotypes in this sarmopathy model, revealing SARM1-dependent neuroimmune mechanisms as key drivers of disease pathogenesis. In this study, we investigated the impact of chronic subacute SARM1 activation on the peripheral nerve milieu using single cell/nucleus RNA-sequencing (sc/snRNA-seq). Our analyses reveal an expansion of immune cells …

Structure And Function Of Type 1 Pilus Assembly Machinery In Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli, Ryan Bitter

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Gram-negative bacteria produce chaperone-usher pathway (CUP) pili, which are extracellular adhesive protein fibers critical for host-pathogen interactions. An outer-membrane usher protein, together with a periplasmic chaperone, assembles thousands of pilin subunits into a pilus fiber. Each pilus is tipped by an adhesin that mediates host and tissue tropisms by binding to receptors with stereochemical specificity. Type 1 pili expressed by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) are essential virulence factors in urinary tract infections (UTIs) and facilitate attachment to mannosylated glycoproteins on bladder epithelial cells. Although type 1 pili have been extensively studied, critical gaps remain in our understanding of the molecular …

Rna’S Symphony: Harmonizing Splice Junctions And Exon Counts For A Novel Approach To Differential Splicing Analysis, Jelard Aquino

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Alternative Splicing (AS) plays a critical role in transcriptome complexity and cell-type-specific gene regulation, yet its analysis remains methodologically fragmented, especially in the context of noisy and sparse single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. This dissertation addresses key computational challenges in AS detection by evaluating existing tools, developing integrative frameworks, and proposing new strategies for improving analysis accuracy in both bulk and single-cell contexts. In chapter 1, I present a comprehensive literature review of computational tools designed for detecting and quantifying AS from bulk and scRNA-seq data. This review outlines major methodological paradigms, including exon-based and splice junction-based approaches, and evaluates …

Morphological And Transcriptional Responses Of Mammalian Cells To Glucose Stress, Cassandra Burke

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Organismal cells encounter varying conditions, including daily and potentially seasonal fluctuations in available glucose. While some species tightly regulate circulating glucose levels, others tolerate extreme fluctuations, such as frugivorous bats experiencing post-prandial hyperglycemia and hibernating mammals maintaining stable glucose through torpor and hibernation. To investigate how these species-specific strategies influence cellular responses to glucose perturbation, primary dermal fibroblasts from nine mammals – humans, rats, Egyptian fruit bats, brown bear, 13-lined ground squirrel, little brown bat, gelada, honey badger, and Bactrian camel – were exposed to hypoglycemic (2.5mM), baseline (8mM), or hyperglycemic (30mM) treatment. Cell morphology was evaluated using Cell Painting, …

An Analysis Of The Influence Of Human Disease Pathogens On Core Behaviors Of The Black-Legged Tick, Emily F. Marinko

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ixodes scapularis, the black-legged or deer tick, is a vector for several different disease-causing microbes, including the causative agent of Lyme disease. As such, it is a major health concern for people living within its range in the eastern half of the United States, a habitation area that is increasing due to climate change. Despite its medical relevance as a disease vector, there is still much to learn about the basic behavior of these arachnids in the wild. Thus, the major hypothesis of this thesis is that ticks that are infected with specific human disease-causing microbes behave differently than those …

Phosphorylation Deficient Inducible Camp Early Repressor (Icer) Modulates Tumorigenesis And Survival In A Transgenic Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) Model Of Melanoma, Justin Wheelan, Melissa Rose Spigelman, Angelo Cirinelli, James Reilly, Carlos A. Molina

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, is commonly associated with mutations in the BRAF gene, particularly BRAF^V600E, which drives tumor proliferation via the ERK1/2 signaling cascade. While BRAF inhibitors initially demonstrate efficacy, therapeutic resistance remains a significant challenge. Emerging evidence implicates the cAMP signaling pathway, particularly the cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and its repressor, inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER), in melanoma progression and drug resistance. ICER, a transcriptional repressor regulated via Ras/MAPK-mediated phosphorylation and ubiquitination, is degraded in melanoma, undermining its tumor-suppressive role. In a braf^V600E; p53 (loss of function) transgenic zebrafish ( …

Protocol For Vibratome Sectioning, Immunofluorescence, And S-Phase Labeling Of Inner Ear Organoids, Jiayi Wu, Stefan Heller, Maggie S. Matern

Biology Faculty Publications

Inner ear organoids represent a potentially inexhaustible source of otic tissues, including sensory hair cells and supporting cells, for in vitro manipulation. Here, we present a protocol for labeling S-phase entry of cells in inner ear organoids using 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU), followed by fixation and vibratome sectioning. Nuclear EdU is then detected alongside protein markers of interest via immunofluorescence. This workflow enables the visualization of cell and tissue morphologies within developing organoids and assessment of how different manipulations affect cell proliferation.

Male Mating Preference For Larger Females Does Not Vary Among Age Classes In The Long-Lived Beetle Bolitotherus Cornutus, G. M. Jiron, C. A. Greene, E. D. Brodie Iii, Vincent A. Formica

Biology Faculty Works

Theory and past experimental work suggest that as males age, the strength of their mate preference should decrease. However, the empirical work investigating this question has primarily been conducted in insects that have very short life spans and often live for just a single mating season. This leaves a gap in our understanding of the relationship between male mate preference and age across taxa, as age can conflate with other ecological changes in a single mating season. In this study, we ask how the strength of preference for large female body size changes as males age in a long-lived insect, …

Expanding Functionalities Of Immune Receptors Through Simultaneous Transfer Of Sensor And Helper Nlrs, Dongjiao Wang, Qibin Wu, Daowen Wang, Youxiong Que, Zheng Qing Fu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Predation By The Brown Vine Snake, Oxybelis Koehleri, On The Autotomized Tail Of An Escaping Common Anole, Anolis Humilis, Jose M. Mora, Myzell Kenneth Amaro

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

During a natural history hike at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, we observed a Brown Vine Snake, Oxybelis koehleri, consuming the autotomized tail of a Common Humble Anole, Anolis humilis, which had escaped predation. This event represents a rare documented instance of a vine snake feeding exclusively on a detached lizard tail. Tail autotomy is a widespread anti-predator strategy among lizards, with the shed tail continuing to writhe post-detachment, potentially attracting predators. Lizard tails are lipid-rich and offer a convenient energy source, especially in resource-scarce environments. Although such behavior has been noted in other reptiles, it is seldom …

Expanding Functionalities Of Immune Receptors Through Simultaneous Transfer Of Sensor And Helper Nlrs, Dongjiao Wang, Qibin Wu, Daowen Wang, Youxiong Que, Zheng Qing Fu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bclaf1 Is A Novel Regulator Of Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Stephanie Crowley

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) maintain both a self-renewal capacity to persist throughout life and an ability to differentiate into mature cell lineages. HSC self-renewal programs are often ectopically activated in leukemia cells to sustain developmental arrest and neoplastic proliferation. Recently, the transcriptional regulator Bclaf1 (Bcl2 associated transcription factor 1) was shown to support proliferation and block differentiation of AML blasts. Bclaf1 is ubiquitously expressed in hematopoietic cells but its function in normal hematopoiesis has not been elucidated. Our data demonstrate that BCLAF1 promotes HSC development and function. To study the role of BCLAF1 in normal HSCs, we used murine models …