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Undergraduate Instruction In Plant Pathology: In-Class Group Activities Improve Teamwork Skills In Semester-Long Projects, Teddy Garcia-Aroca

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

PLPT 210: Plant Pathogens and Disease is an introductory-level undergraduate course offered by the Department of Plant Pathology at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The course covers the basic principles of plant pathology, fundamental aspects of pathogen biology, and common management strategies. The course is offered every spring, and the enrollment is ~40 students per semester. Most students enrolled in the course are sophomores, juniors, to a lesser extent seniors from the Agronomy and Horticulture majors, Plant and Landscapes Systems, and Environmental Sciences. The course consists of lectures and in-class activities, and students are evaluated through quizzes, individual and in-group homework assignments, …

Exploration Of The Mental Health Impacts Of Drought On Rural Nebraskans Via Remembered Perceptions, Grace Schleining

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Drought is a sociological phenomenon. It is a well-known occurrence across the midwestern United States; the drying out of the soil, the failing of crops, and the constant dryness and heat… this is all drought. Inspired by my earliest memory of this climate phenomenon I sought to determine whether we can identify evidence of negative mental health impacts and/or well-being in rural Nebraskans due to drought, thus my research question: Can we identify negative effects of drought on rural Nebraskan mental health and/or wellbeing? In this study, rural Nebraska community members, who are involved with the agricultural sector, were interviewed. …

Identity-Driven Targeted Violence: Attending To Identity, Emotion, And Personality-Related Predictors Of Attitudinal And Behavioral Prejudice, Patrick Timothy Mcgonigal

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Identity-driven targeted violence driven by gender identity, sexuality, race, and religion overwhelmingly impacts marginalized groups of individuals. Existing evidence suggests that acts of bias on college campuses are often unreported by students, leaving those who engage in these behaviors to continue without proper redress. A great wealth of data illustrates the deleterious impacts of identity-driven behavior on student victims, including heightened psychological distress, poorer academic performance, and lower retention. In contrast, limited research has examined relevant underpinnings of perpetrating identity-driven harassment. The current dissertation developed and disseminated a large survey to undergraduate students spanning three years of data collection. The …

Amethod To Estimate Climate Drivers Ofmaize Yield Predictability Leveraging Genetic-By-Environment Interactions In The Us And Canada, Parisa Sarzaeim, Francisco Munoz-Arriola

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Throughout history, the pursuit of diagnosing and predicting crop yields has evidenced genetics, environment, and management practices intertwined in achieving food security. However, the sensitivity of crop phenotypes and genetic responses to climate still hampers the identification of the underlying abilities of plants to adapt to climate change. We hypothesize that the PiAnosi and WagNer (PAWN) global sensitivity analysis (GSA) coupled with a genetic by environment (GxE) model built of environmental covariance and genetic markers structures, can evidence the contributions of climate on the predictability of maize yields in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada. The GSA-GxE framework estimates the relative …

Long-Term Soil Change In The Us Great Plains: An Evaluation Of The Haas Soil Archive, Mark A. Liebig, Francisco J. Calderon, Andrea K. Clemensen, Lisa Durso, Jessica L. Duttenhefner, Jed O. Eberly, Jonathan J. Halvorson, Virginia L. Jin, Kyle Mankin, Andrew J. Margenot, Catherine E. Stewart, Scott Van Pelt, Merle F. Vigil

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Diverse patterns of climate and edaphic factors challenge detection of soil property change in the US Great Plains. Because detectable soil change can take decades, insights into the trajectory of soil properties frequently require long-term site monitoring and, where available, associated soil archives to enable comparisons with initial or baseline states. Unfortunately, few multi-decadal soil change investigations have been conducted in this region. Here, we document effects of dryland cropping on a suite of soil properties by comparing matched historic (1947) and contemporary (2018) soil samples from the Haas Soil Archive at three sites in the US Great Plains: Moccasin, …

Undergraduate Biology Lecture Courses Predominantly Test Facts About Science Rather Than Scientific Practices, Crystal Uminski, Sara M. Burbach, Brian A. Couch

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Scientific practices are the skills used to develop scientific knowledge and are essential for careers in science. Despite calls from education and government agencies to cultivate scientific practices, there remains little evidence of how often students are asked to apply them in undergraduate courses. We analyzed exams from biology courses at 100 institutions across the United States and found that only 7% of exam questions addressed a scientific practice and that 32% of biology exams did not test any scientific practices. The low occurrence of scientific practices on exams signals that undergraduate courses may not be integrating foundational scientific skills …

Corn Rootworm: Biology, Ecology, Behavior, And Integrated Management, Lance J. Meinke, Joseph L. Spencer

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Species of the beetle genus Diabrotica (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are native to North and South America, with their greatest diversity occurring in neotropical areas [1]. Little is known about the biology and ecology of many of the 400 described species, with current knowledge primarily limited to the small number of species that are pests in agricultural systems [1,2]. This Special Issue focuses primarily on key economically important pest species, i.e., D. virgifera virgifera LeConte, D. speciosa (Germar), D. balteata (LeConte), and D. viridula (F.).

Image Filtering To Improve Maize Tassel Detection Accuracy Using Machine Learning Algorithms, Eric Rodene, Gayara Demini Fernando, Ved Piyush, Yufeng Ge, James C. Schnable, Souparno Ghosh, Jinliang Yang

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based imagery has become widely used to collect timeseries agronomic data, which are then incorporated into plant breeding programs to enhance crop improvements. To make efficient analysis possible, in this study, by leveraging an aerial photography dataset for a field trial of 233 different inbred lines from the maize diversity panel, we developed machine learning methods for obtaining automated tassel counts at the plot level. We employed both an object-based counting-by-detection (CBD) approach and a density-based counting-by-regression (CBR) approach. Using an image segmentation method that removes most of the pixels not associated with the plant tassels, the …

Phylogenomics Of Tetraopes Longhorn Beetles Unravels Their Evolutionary History And Biogeographic Origins, Nayeli Gutiérrez‑Trejo, Matthew H. Van Dam, Athena W. Lam, Gonzalo Martínez‑Herrera, Felipe A. Noguera, Thomas J. Weissling, Jessica L. Ware, Víctor H. Toledo‑Hernández, Frederick W. Skillman Jr., Brian D. Farrell, Oscar Pérez‑Flores, Lorenzo Prendini, James M. Carpenter

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Tetraopes longhorn beetles are known for their resistance to milkweed plant toxins and their coevolutionary dynamics with milkweed plants (Asclepias). This association is considered a textbook example of coevolution, in which each species of Tetraopes is specialized to feed on one or a few species of Asclepias. A major challenge to investigating coevolutionary hypotheses and conducting molecular ecology studies lies in the limited understanding of the evolutionary history and biogeographical patterns of Tetraopes. By integrating genomic, morphological, paleontological, and geographical data, we present a robust phylogeny of Tetraopes and their relatives, using three inference methods with …

Genomes Of Multicellular Algal Sisters To Land Plants Illuminate Signaling Network Evolution, Xuehuan Feng, Jinfang Zheng, Iker Irisarri, Huihui Yu, Bo Zheng, Zahin Ali, Sophie De Vries, Jean Keller, Janine M. R. Fürst-Jansen, Armin Dadras, Jaccoline M. S. Zegers, Tim P. Rieseberg, Amra Dhabalia Ashok, Tatyana Darienko, Maaike J. Bierenbroodspot, Lydia Gramzow, Romy Petroll, Fabian B. Haas, Noe Fernandez-Pozo, Orestis Nousias, Tang Li, Elisabeth Fitzek, W. Scott Grayburn, Nina Rittmeier, Charlotte Permann, Florian Rümpler, John M. Archibald, Günter Theißen, Jeffrey P. Mower, Maike Lorenz16, Henrik Buschmann, Klaus Von Schwartzenberg, Lori Boston, Richard D. Hayes, Chris Daum, Kerrie Barry, Igor V. Grigoriev, Xiyin Wang, Fay-Wei Li, Stefan A. Rensing, Julius Ben Ari, Noa Keren, Assaf Mosquna, Andreas Holzinger, Pierre-Marc Delaux, Chi Zhang, Jinling Huang, Marek Mutwil6,, Jan De Vries, Yanbin Yin

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Zygnematophyceae are the algal sisters of land plants. Here we sequenced four genomes of filamentous Zygnematophyceae, including chromosome-scale assemblies for three strains of Zygnema circumcarinatum. We inferred traits in the ancestor of Zygnematophyceae and land plants that might have ushered in the conquest of land by plants: expanded genes for signaling cascades, environmental response, and multicellular growth. Zygnematophyceae and land plants share all the major enzymes for cell wall synthesis and remodifications, and gene gains shaped this toolkit. Co-expression network analyses uncover gene cohorts that unite environmental signaling with multicellular developmental programs. Our data shed light on a molecular …

Can Machine Learning Models Provide Accurate Fertilizer Recommendations?, Takashi S. T. Tanaka, Gerard B. M. Heuvelink, Taro Mieno, David S. Bullock

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Accurate modeling of site-specific crop yield response is key to providing farmers with accurate site-specific economically optimal input rates (EOIRs) recommendations. Many studies have demonstrated that machine learning models can accurately predict yield. These models have also been used to analyze the effect of fertilizer application rates on yield and derive EOIRs. But models with accurate yield prediction can still provide highly inaccurate input application recommendations. This study quantified the uncertainty generated when using machine learning methods to model the effect of fertilizer application on site-specific crop yield response. The study uses real on-farm precision experimental data to evaluate the …

Adolescent Algorithm Addiction, Canyon Skare

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

There’s no question that online Social Networking Sites have contributed to the sharp decline in mental health among adolescents. This thesis explores a number of Addictive Online Behaviors that have contributed to negative mental health outcomes, namely examining at total screentime, level of engagement, and total number of accounts one has in relation to phone addiction and social media addiction. It was found that total screentime and total number of accounts were more strongly correlated with social media addiction than phone addiction. Additionally, differences in app usage among gender was explored, finding that boys favored YouTube and Discord while Girls …

Juvenile Delinquency As A Contemporary Issue In Nigeria: Understanding The Impacts Of Parenting Styles, Single Parenting, And Marital Discord, Sunkanmi Folorunsho, Oluwakemi Abdulrazaq, Victor Ajayi

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

When addressing juvenile delinquencies in Nigeria, it is important to consider the roles and effects of parenting styles and family structures. Although, there are no universally accepted parenting styles, evidence and studies have pointed to some parenting styles that expose children to delinquent behaviors. We examined different parenting styles comprehensively in this article and how these styles can influence juvenile delinquencies. We also discussed the association between single-parenting and behavioral outcomes; accounting how single-parenting may increase risks of delinquencies. Furthermore, marital discord was discussed and social learning theory by Albert Bandura was adopted to buttress our positions. We concluded that …

Within-Field Soil Moisture Variability And Time-Invariant Spatial Structures Of Agricultural Fields In The Us Midwest, Yi Yang, Bin Peng, Kaiyu Guan, Ming Pan, Trenton E. Franz, Michael H. Cosh, Carl J. Bernacchi

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Understanding soil moisture variability and estimating high-resolution soil moisture at subfield to field scales is critical for agricultural research and applications. However, systematic investigation of subfield scale soil moisture variability over cropland is still lacking from both measurement and satellite remote sensing. In this study, we aim to investigate (1) the characteristics of within-field soilmoisture distribution over typical cropland in the US Midwest and (2) the capabilities of satellite remote sensing in capturing the spatiotemporal variabilities of soil moisture at subfield scale. Specifically, we conducted soil moisture field experiments in three typical commercial agricultural fields (∼85 acres per field) in …

“A Robust And Simple Catheter Connector Assembly For Long-Term Self-Administration Experiments ”, Mauricio Suarez, Sergios Charntikov, Y. Wendy Huynh, Scott T. Barrett, Rick A. Bevins, Ken T. Wakabayashi

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Intravenous self-administration in rats is used widely to study the reinforcing effects of drugs and serves as the gold standard for assessing their use and misuse potential. One challenge that researchers often encounter when scaling up experiments is balancing the cost, time investment to construct, and robustness of each implanted catheter. These catheters include multiple components such as surgical meshing and a variety of entry ports designed to facilitate the connection of the rat to a catheter port tethering system. Other considerations include maintaining the catheters free of blockage during the extent of the drug self-administration experiment. These large-scale studies …

Aphid-Ant Relationships: The Role Of Cuticular Hydrocarbons And Different Chemical Stimuli In Triggeringmutualistic Behavior, Amged El-Harairy, Ahmed El-Harairy, Alaa Mahfouz

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

In ant-aphid interactions, various aphid species offer honeydew to the ant partner and increase their density by ant attendance, whilst others never attend ant species, in which case ants tend to treat them as prey. In this regard, ants should have the ability to distinguish myrmecophile aphid species from non-mutualistic species, so that mutualistic aphids will be accepted as partners rather than prey. Although ant-aphid interactions are now the focus of chemical ecology studies, the role of the different chemical stimuli in determining mutualistic interactions has not been completely clarified. Therefore, we have investigated the cuticular hydrocarbon profile of four …

Lepocreadiidae (Trematoda) Associated With Gelatinous Zooplankton (Cnidaria And Ctenophora) And Fishes In Australian And Japanese Waters, Thomas H. Cribb, Scott C. Cutmore, Nicholas Q.-X. Wee, Joanna G. Browne, Pablo Diaz Morales, Kylie A. Pitt

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

We examined gelatinous zooplankton from off eastern Australia for lepocreadiid trematode metacercariae. From 221 specimens of 17 species of cnidarian medusae and 218 specimens of four species of ctenophores, infections were found in seven cnidarian and two ctenophore species. Metacercariae were distinguished using cox1 mtDNA, ITS2 rDNA and morphology. We identified three species of Prodistomum Linton, 1910 [P. keyam Bray & Cribb, 1996, P. orientale (Layman, 1930), and Prodistomum Type 3], two species of Opechona Looss, 1907 [O. kahawai Bray & Cribb, 2003 and O. cf. olssoni], and Cephalolepidapedon saba Yamaguti, 1970. Two species were found in cnidarians …

Potential Metabolite Biomarkers Of Multiple Sclerosis From Multiple Biofluids, Fatema Bhinderwala, Heidi E. Roth, Mary Filipi, Samantha Jack, Robert Powers

Robert Powers Publications

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and progressive neurological disorder without a cure, but early intervention can slow disease progression and improve the quality of life for MS patients. Obtaining an accurate diagnosis for MS is an arduous and error-prone task that requires a combination of a detailed medical history, a comprehensive neurological exam, clinical tests such as magnetic resonance imaging, and the exclusion of other possible diseases. A simple and definitive biofluid test for MS does not exist but is highly desirable. To address this need, we have employed NMR-based metabolomics to identify potentially unique metabolite biomarkers of MS …

Imitating The “Breeder’S Eye”: Predicting Grain Yield From Measurements Of Non-Yield Traits, Hongyu Jin, Michael C. Tross, Ruijuan Tan, Linsey Newton, Ravi V. Mural, Jinliang Yang, Addie M. Thompson, James C. Schnable

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Plant breeding relies on information gathered from field trials to select promising new crop varieties for release to farmers and to develop genomic prediction models that can enhance the efficiency of genetic improvement in future breeding cycles. However, generating the genetic marker data required to apply genomic prediction at the early stages of a breeding program remains costly for many public-sector breeding programs as well as for many plant breeders operating in developing countries. As the pace of climate change intensifies, the time lag of developing and deploying new crop varieties requires plant breeders to make selection decisions without knowing …

Pollen-Mediated Gene Flow From Herbicide-Resistant Yellow Corn To Non-Genetically Engineered Food-Grade White Corn, Mandeep Singh, Vipan Kumar, Stevan Z. Knezevic, John L. Lindquist, Suat Irmak, Santosh Pitla, Amit J. Jhala

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Nebraska is the number one producer of food-grade white corn in the United States. Pollen-mediated gene flow (PMGF) from genetically engineered high alpha-amylase corn, known as Enogen corn, to food-grade white corn can have undesirable outcomes. Alpha-amylase can convert starch in white corn to sugar during or after its processing, degrading the quality of processed products. Thus, proximity to Enogen corn puts white corn production at risk. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the PMGF from herbicide-resistant yellow corn to food-grade white corn and assess the significance of wind speed and direction. Field experiments were set up using …

Describing Undergraduate Students’ Reasoning And Use Of Evidence During Argumentation About Socioscientific Issues Systems, P. Citlally Jimenez, Ashley R. Alred, Jenny M. Dauer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Introduction: We conducted research in a post-secondary, large-enrollment science literacy course that asks students to apply multidisciplinary scientific evidence when providing an argument about the potential social and ecological consequences of policy solutions to socioscientific issues (SSI).

Methods: Coding schemes were developed to describe students’ levels of proficiency in constructing arguments about the nature of SSI systems and were created through inductive coding of student arguments about SSI systems embedded within a structured decision-making process.

Results: The coding schemes included student practices in 1) providing reasoning about the potential consequences of multiple solutions for an SSI, 2) …

A Multi-Omics Investigation Into The Mechanism Of Action Of An Anti-Tubercular Fatty Acid Analog, Isin T. Sakallioglu, Amith S. Maroli, Aline De Lima Leite, Darrell D. Marshall, Boone W. Evans, Denise K. Zinniel, Patrick H. Dussault, Raul G. Barletta, Robert Powers

Patrick Dussault Publications

The mechanism of action (MoA) of a clickable fatty acid analogue 8-(2-Cyclobuten-1-yl)octanoic acid (DA-CB) has been investigated for the first time. Proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics were combined with a network analysis to investigate the MoA of DA-CB against Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msm). The metabolomics results showed that DA-CB has a general MoA related to that of ethionamide, a mycolic acid inhibitor that targets enoyl-ACP reductase (InhA), but DA-CB likely inhibits a step downstream from InhA. Our combined multi-omics approach showed that DA-CB appears to disrupt the pathway leading to the biosynthesis of mycolic acids, an essential mycobacterial fatty acid …

Combining Multi-View Uav Photogrammetry, Thermal Imaging, And Computer Vision Can Derive Cost-Effective Ecological Indicators For Habitat Assessment, Qiao Hu, Ligang Zhang, Jeff Drahota, Wayne Woldt, Dana Varner, Andy Bishop, Ted Lagrange, Christopher M. U. Neale, Zhenghong Tang

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Recent developments in Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs), thermal imaging, and Automachine learning (AutoML) have shown high potential for precise wildlife surveys but have rarely been studied for habitat assessment. Here, we propose a framework that leverages these advanced techniques to achieve cost-effective habitat quality assessment from the perspective of actual wildlife community usage. The framework exploits vision intelligence hidden in the UAV thermal images and AutoML methods to achieve cost-effective wildlife distribution mapping, and then derives wildlife use indicators to imply habitat quality variance. We conducted UAV-based thermal wildlife surveys at three wetlands in the Rainwater Basin, Nebraska. Experiments were …

Leveraging The Hmbc To Facilitate Metabolite Identification, Fatema Bhinderwala, Thao Vu, Thomas G. Smith, Julian Kosacki, Darrell D. Marshall, Yuhang Xu, Martha D. Morton, Robert Powers

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

The accuracy and ease of metabolite assignments from a complex mixture are expected to be facilitated by employing a multi-spectral approach. The 2D ¹H-¹³C HSQC and 2D ¹H-¹H-TOCSY are the experiments commonly used for metabolite assignments. The 2D ¹H-¹³C HSQC-TOCSY and 2D ¹H-¹³C HMBC are routinely used by natural products chemists but have seen minimal usage in metabolomics despite the unique information, the nearly complete ¹H-¹H and ¹H-¹³C and spin systems provided by these experiments that may improve the accuracy and reliability …

Leveraging Digital Agriculture For On-Farm Testing Of Technologies, Laila A. Puntel, Laura J. Thompson, Taro Mieno

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The Precision Nitrogen Project (PNP) worked with more than 80 corn and winter wheat producers to inexpensively design and implement randomized, replicated field strip trials on whole commercial farm fields, and to provide site-specific testing of current nitrogen (N) technologies. This article proposes a conceptual framework and detailed procedure to select the N technology to be tested; design and implement field trials; generate, process, and manage field trial data; and automatically analyze, report, and share benefits from precision N technology. The selection of the N technology was farmer-driven to ensure a good fit and to increase the likelihood of future …

Is A Dyadic Stressor Experienced As Equally Distressing By Both Partners? The Case Of Perceived Fertility Problems, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Anna Rybińska, Stacy Tiemeyer, Karina M. Shreffler, Colleen Warner Colaner

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using data from a population survey, this article explores whether perceptions of having a fertility problem among 926 U.S. couples in heterosexual relationships (women aged 25–45 and male partners) are associated with distress. Most couples did not perceive a fertility problem (58%). In almost a third (30%) of the couples, only women perceived a fertility problem; in 4%, only the men; and in nearly a fifth (19%), both perceived a problem. Adjusted for characteristics associated with fertility problems and depressive symptoms, those who perceived a problem exhibited significantly more depressive symptoms than those who did not. Fertility problems are sometimes …

New Hard Tick (Acari: Ixodidae) Reports And Detection Of Rickettsia In Ticks From Sierra Nevada De Santa Marta, Colombia, Ángel Oviedo, Miguel M. Rodríguez, Fernando S. Flores, Lyda R. Castro

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM), located in northern Colombia, is considered a geographical island with high levels of biodiversity and endemism. However, little is known about tick species and their associated microorganisms at the SNSM. In this study we sampled host-seeking ticks in areas of the town of Minca within the SNSM. We collected 47 ticks identified as Amblyomma pacae, Amblyomma longirostre, Amblyomma ovale, Amblyomma mixtum, Haemaphysalis juxtakochi, Ixodes sp. cf. Ixodes affinis and Ixodes sp. Of these ticks, we tested for Rickettsia spp. by amplifying the gltA, SCA1, and 16S rRNA genes via PCR. Rickettsia amblyommatis …

Recent Progress On Gene-Deleted Liveattenuated African Swine Fever Virus Vaccines, Hiep L.X. Vu, David Scott Mcvey

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly lethal viral disease in swine, with mortality rates approaching 100%. The disease has spread to many swine-producing countries, leading to significant economic losses and adversely impacting global food security. Extensive efforts have been directed toward developing effective ASF vaccines. Among the vaccinology approaches tested to date, liveattenuated virus (LAV) vaccines produced by rational deleting virulence genes from virulent African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) strains have demonstrated promising safety and efficacy in experimental and field conditions. Many gene-deleted LAV vaccine candidates have been generated in recent years. The virulence genes targeted for deletion from …

Recent Progress On Gene-Deleted Liveattenuated African Swine Fever Virus Vaccines, Hiep Vu, David Scott Mcvey

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly lethal viral disease in swine, with mortality rates approaching 100%. The disease has spread to many swine-producing countries, leading to significant economic losses and adversely impacting global food security. Extensive efforts have been directed toward developing effective ASF vaccines. Among the vaccinology approaches tested to date, liveattenuated virus (LAV) vaccines produced by rational deleting virulence genes from virulent African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) strains have demonstrated promising safety and efficacy in experimental and field conditions. Many gene-deleted LAV vaccine candidates have been generated in recent years. The virulence genes targeted for deletion from …

Viral Epitope Scanning Reveals Correlation Between Seasonal Hcovs And Sars-Cov-2 Antibody Responses Among Cancer And Non-Cancer Patients, Salum J. Lidenge, Dicle Yalcin, Sydney J. Bennett, Owen Ngalamika, Brenda B. Kweyamba, Chacha J. Mwita, For Yue Tso, Julius Mwaiselage, John T. West, Charles Wood

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Seasonal coronaviruses (HCoVs) are known to contribute to cross-reactive antibody (Ab) responses against SARS-CoV-2. While these responses are predictable due to the high homology between SARS-CoV-2 and other CoVs, the impact of these responses on susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection in cancer patients is unclear. To investigate the influence of prior HCoV infection on anti- SARS-CoV-2 Ab responses among COVID-19 asymptomatic individuals with cancer and controls without cancers, we utilized the VirScan technology in which phage immunoprecipitation and sequencing (PhIP-seq) of longitudinal plasma samples was performed to investigate high-resolution (i.e., epitope level) humoral CoV responses. Despite testing positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 Ab …