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Progress Report On The Effect Of Introducing Biological And Environmental Discipline-Themed Problems In Engineering Mechanics Statics On Students’ Self-Efficacy And Perceived Value Of The Course, Yemisi Oyewola Apr 2023

Progress Report On The Effect Of Introducing Biological And Environmental Discipline-Themed Problems In Engineering Mechanics Statics On Students’ Self-Efficacy And Perceived Value Of The Course, Yemisi Oyewola

Student Research Symposium

This study extends the previous research which examined the effect of introducing biological and environmental discipline-themed problems in Engineering Mechanics Statics on students’ Self-Efficacy (SE) and perceived value (PV) of the course. The previous research was carried out using pooled data from 133 participants over 3 semesters. Additional data from 126 participants were collected over the next two semesters making it a total of 262 participants. The result from the previous study showed a statistically significant increase in the perceived value of the students even though their self-efficacy did not significantly change. However, despite an increased sample size, the result …

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Discovery And Characterization Of A Prophage Encoded Anti-Crispr Against The Type Iv-A Crispr System, Andrew Williams Apr 2023

Discovery And Characterization Of A Prophage Encoded Anti-Crispr Against The Type Iv-A Crispr System, Andrew Williams

Student Research Symposium

CRISPR Systems are adaptive immune systems in bacteria used to defend against mobile genetic elements such as bacteriophages, or bacterial viruses, and plasmids. They use a protein complexed with a guide RNA to target the protein to a foreign invader and neutralize it by cleaving its genetic information. In order to survive and keep infecting bacteria, bacteriophages likewise have developed machinery used to inhibit CRISPR immunity in the form of anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins. The type IV-A system is a recently discovered and characterized system by the Jackson lab. It has been shown to defend against plasmids, but further data on …

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Mapping Of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor (Crf) Receptors In The Coyote Brain, Rachel Tong Apr 2023

Mapping Of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor (Crf) Receptors In The Coyote Brain, Rachel Tong

Student Research Symposium

Forming strong social bonds is essential to our everyday life and is part of what makes us human. The loss of a loved one often results in grief, stress, and loneliness, and the stress response system of the body has been implicated in the physiological symptoms associated with grieving. The hormone that initiates the stress response in the body is called corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), which acts via binding to CRF receptors (CRFR). Coyotes are an appropriate animal model to study social bonds and social loss because they display monogamy and pair bonding, which is a trait seen in human …

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The Water To Land Transition: Changes In Frog Skin Across Development, Kayla Hancey Apr 2023

The Water To Land Transition: Changes In Frog Skin Across Development, Kayla Hancey

Student Research Symposium

Amphibians are vulnerable to changes in the environment due to their permeable skin. As the climate changes, the resilience of different species can be illuminated by traits that vary across clades. Skin changes during metamorphosis provide details that may help us anticipate desiccation risk. It is useful to understand histological details in a relatively successful species, such as the American green tree frog (Hyla cinerea) when determining species survivorship. Documentation of skin changes including gland development in H. cinerea has never been done.

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Strawberry Ability To Take Up Nitrogen From Compost, Mark Kindred Apr 2023

Strawberry Ability To Take Up Nitrogen From Compost, Mark Kindred

Student Research Symposium

Strawberries could become a popular crop to grow in the intermountain west. To help promote this crop in organic systems, growers should know what cultivars grow the best on organic fertilizers such as compost. The main nutrient tested was nitrogen. To see how much nitrogen strawberry plants were taking up, we collected the dry weights and chlorophyll measurement at the end of the experiment. In addition, nitrogen content in the plants and in the leachate will be measured.

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Protein Nutrition And Immunity In Male Bumblebees Of Bombus Impatiens, Carson Stoker Apr 2023

Protein Nutrition And Immunity In Male Bumblebees Of Bombus Impatiens, Carson Stoker

Student Research Symposium

Male bumblebees play a vital but undervalued role in their colonies. They are important to colony reproduction and success despite not emerging until the end of the colony's life cycle. Little research has been conducted on the biology and the role of male bumblebees. Further understanding could lead to heightened colony success in agricultural and environmental conditions. The objectives of this study are to 1) understand the effect of protein nutrition on the melanization responses of male bumblebees, 2) measure gene expression of various immune genes after an immune challenge with different diet conditions, and 3) further scientific knowledge about …

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Netosis In Naked Mole-Rats: A Step Towards Cancer Resistance, Thomas Smith Apr 2023

Netosis In Naked Mole-Rats: A Step Towards Cancer Resistance, Thomas Smith

Student Research Symposium

The purpose of this project is to identify and characterize neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in Naked Mole Rats (NMRs) as a step towards understanding their remarkable cancer resistance. The vision is that in doing so we can translate this understanding to human cancer research in ways that could eventually open new clinical treatment methods. Naked mole-rats are incredibly cancer resistant, and yet they possess immune cell ratios more similar to humans than to mice. Neutrophils are the most abundant immune cell in humans. They release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), a process referred to as NETosis, as part of an immune …

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The Kinematics Of Motor Planning Span, Megan Sparks Apr 2023

The Kinematics Of Motor Planning Span, Megan Sparks

Student Research Symposium

In the Sensory Motor and Behavior Lab, we are developing a new measure of motor planning span. Motor planning is defined as preparing for movement before any movement occurs. This is a critical process that allows us to do any and all physical activity. The ability to do motor planning can be impacted after a traumatic brain injury or in the case of having a neurological disorder such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. Many studies have looked at motor planning span with discrete starting and ending positions, but our study will be analyzing continuous movements. We will collect reaction time, movement …

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Optimizing Treatment Of Cytomegalovirus, Alisa Dabb Apr 2023

Optimizing Treatment Of Cytomegalovirus, Alisa Dabb

Student Research Symposium

The current treatment to Cytomegalovirus, ganciclovir, kills neutrophils, a type of cell in the immune system. In an effort to reduce the concentration of ganciclovir, quercetin and poloxamer 188 have been added in treatment in a cellular and mouse model. This treatment has been successful, but can be further optimized by reworking the ratio of quercetin to poloxamer 188 and by adding vitamin c to prevent oxidation.

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Obstacles To Usu Prehealth Students In Applying To Medical School, Cory Watts Apr 2023

Obstacles To Usu Prehealth Students In Applying To Medical School, Cory Watts

Student Research Symposium

Every year tens of thousands of students apply to medical schools across the nation. Despite successful completion of undergraduate degrees, current matriculation rates range between 40% and 50% each year. Matriculation rates at Utah State University experience some fluctuation, but in the past 5 years matriculation rates have fluctuated around 60% to 75%. Within this larger number though, only 17% to 30% of Utah State applicants are getting accepted to MD programs. As part of a nation wide survey being conduced by Tyra-Lee from the AMSA National Board of Trustees, we sought responses from current students at USU to better …

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Ethical Issues With Schizophrenia Research And Treatment, Chloé Brogdon Apr 2023

Ethical Issues With Schizophrenia Research And Treatment, Chloé Brogdon

Student Research Symposium

Schizophrenia is a complex and debilitating mental disorder that affects millions of individuals worldwide. As researchers and practitioners seek to better understand and treat this condition, it is crucial to consider the ethical implications of research and treatment approaches. This project investigated the nature and scope of schizophrenia as an illness in order to delve into ethical issues with current research and treatment approaches. Ethical issues identified and analyzed include issues with informed consent, stigmatization, and access to treatment.

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Compound Drug Treatment Of Yellow Fever Virus: Evaluation Of Compound X In The Enhancement Of Favipiravir Potency In A Hamster Model Of Yellow Fever Virus Infection, Hunter Stanger Apr 2023

Compound Drug Treatment Of Yellow Fever Virus: Evaluation Of Compound X In The Enhancement Of Favipiravir Potency In A Hamster Model Of Yellow Fever Virus Infection, Hunter Stanger

Student Research Symposium

Yellow fever virus (YFV) has long been a worldwide health concern, and recent outbreaks in South America have resulted in significant mortality. Though there is an effective preventative vaccine, currently there are no antiviral compounds approved to treat those already infected. The nucleoside analog drug favipiravir is shown to significantly improve disease signs but is toxic in effective doses. Compound X has been shown to have synergistic effects with favipiravir by increasing the amounts of active favipiravir (ribosylated favipiravir triphosphate) in cell culture. In this study, we administered suboptimal doses of favipiravir with fixed doses of compound X to determine …

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United Properties Of Single-Origin Chocolates, Joseph Cooney Apr 2023

United Properties Of Single-Origin Chocolates, Joseph Cooney

Student Research Symposium

In small production facilities, such as those used to manufacture single origin chocolate, cocoa nibs are ground to reduce the particle size to levels below 20 microns. This is a very important step during chocolate production, since chocolates with particles greater than 20 microns will have a grainy texture and unacceptable mouthfeel. The objective of this research was to evaluate changes in viscosity during chocolate grinding as affected by chocolate formulation. Three different types of chocolates were evaluated: 70% dark, 50% milk, and a Swiss-style milk chocolate. Chocolates were processed in a stone grinder and samples were taken as a …

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Social Network Analysis Shows Equal Numbers Of Public, Educators, And Scientists Within An Online Social World, Man Zhang Apr 2023

Social Network Analysis Shows Equal Numbers Of Public, Educators, And Scientists Within An Online Social World, Man Zhang

Student Research Symposium

Characterizing who participates in and contributes to conversations with online social worlds can help extend our understanding of the science education ecosystem, including giving insight into what kinds of communication works for whom and under what conditions. We describe methods for characterizing an online, scientific affinity space using three science-based hashtags: #ScienceTwitter, #AcademicTwitter, and #SciComm. Researchers applied an established framework to describe a subset of users who interacted with these hashtags (n = 1000) and analyzed the structure of the network during a one-month period. Social network analysis showed a highly dispersed network, but equal numbers of scientists, members of …

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Differences In Pathogenesis-Related Protein Expression And Polyphenolic Compound Accumulation Reveal Insights Into Tomato-Pythium Aphanidermatum Interaction, Seham A. Soliman, Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar, Sherien Sobhy, Marwa A. Samy, Esraa Hamdy, Omaima A. Sharaf, Yiming Su, Said I. Behiry, Ahmed Abdelkhalek Apr 2023

Differences In Pathogenesis-Related Protein Expression And Polyphenolic Compound Accumulation Reveal Insights Into Tomato-Pythium Aphanidermatum Interaction, Seham A. Soliman, Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar, Sherien Sobhy, Marwa A. Samy, Esraa Hamdy, Omaima A. Sharaf, Yiming Su, Said I. Behiry, Ahmed Abdelkhalek

Publications

Plant diseases significantly reduce crop yields, threatening food security and agricultural sustainability. Fungi are the most destructive type of phytopathogen, and they are responsible for major yield losses in some of the most crucial crops grown across the world. In this study, a fungus isolate was detected from infected tomato plants and molecularly identified as Pythium aphanidermatum (GenBank accession number MW725032). This fungus caused damping-off disease and was shown to be pathogenic. Moreover, the expression of five pathogenesis-related genes, namely PR-1, PR-2, PR-3, PR-4, and PR-5, was quantitatively evaluated under the inoculation of tomato with …

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Social Isolation And Third Place, Katelyn Bauer Apr 2023

Social Isolation And Third Place, Katelyn Bauer

Student Research Symposium

Social isolation and human connection are key to human quality of life. This research was undertaken to understand what spaces could help to foster social interaction and connection. Third places, the place between home and work, were found to have significant positive impact on both individuals and communities. The presentation discusses the criteria of third place, examples, benefits, and some causes of loss of third place in modern society.

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Quantifying And Managing Anthropogenic And Drought Influences On Instream Temperatures, Abbygael Johnson Apr 2023

Quantifying And Managing Anthropogenic And Drought Influences On Instream Temperatures, Abbygael Johnson

Student Research Symposium

The western US is currently experiencing effects of one of the worst droughts in 1200 years. These effects are evident in our rivers, as shown by broad scale reductions in baseflow. This lack of runoff combined with growing demands has resulted in the overallocation of the water contained within our rivers and reservoirs. Water temperature is the key factor in many biological, chemical, and physical processes, making it critical to the health of ecosystems . River temperatures are a function of many factors including weather and tree canopy, but also instream flow volumes and water residence time. When instream flows …

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Oxytocin Receptor Binding In The Substantia Nigra In Schizophrenia, Ariel Snowden Apr 2023

Oxytocin Receptor Binding In The Substantia Nigra In Schizophrenia, Ariel Snowden

Student Research Symposium

Schizophrenia is a chronic, psychiatric disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, cognitive deficits, and social cognitive impairments. Although antipsychotic drugs are typically effective in treating psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia, the social cognitive symptoms often persist. As social cognitive functioning is predictive of successful life outcomes in schizophrenia, there is a critical need to determine the biological basis of social cognitive impairments. Due to its ability to affect social behaviors in animals and humans, the oxytocin (OXT) system has become a therapeutic target of interest for schizophrenia. Although several studies examine the OXT system in schizophrenia in the periphery, it is currently …

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The Grieving Brain: Effect Of Pairmate Loss On Coyote Oxytocin Receptor Densities, Kaleb Keller Apr 2023

The Grieving Brain: Effect Of Pairmate Loss On Coyote Oxytocin Receptor Densities, Kaleb Keller

Student Research Symposium

Complicated grief is a severe mental health disorder that can have detrimental effects on individuals who have lost a loved one. Understanding the biological underpinnings of grief is essential in being able to help develop effective treatments and therapies. Oxytocin is heavily implicated in studies about grief and pairmate loss due to its importance in modulating social behavior such as pair bond formation. Previous research has primarily focused on rodents and non-human primates as model organisms of social attachment and studies have shown that monogamous prairie voles showed a decrease in oxytocin receptor (OXTR) binding in the nucleus accumbens after …

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Natural Product Biosynthesis Through Biotechnological And Fermentation Approaches, Hassan Sher Apr 2023

Natural Product Biosynthesis Through Biotechnological And Fermentation Approaches, Hassan Sher

Student Research Symposium

Natural products as a source of medicine have long been attractive due to the huge structural diversity and promising biological activities such as antimicrobial, anticancer, antitumor, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitic as well as antioxidant properties. Discovery of novel and modified natural products is the need of this modern era. To expand the chemical diversity in natural products and to increase the production titers of natural products, researchers have come up with various solutions: heterologous expression, cocultivation, fermentation engineering, isolation of new species, and strain engineering/improvement. o-Coumaric acid and p-coumaric acid are phenolic antioxidants found in various plant sources. These also serve …

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Mapping Vasopressin Receptors In Deep Structures Of The Coyote Brain, Maggie Zentner Apr 2023

Mapping Vasopressin Receptors In Deep Structures Of The Coyote Brain, Maggie Zentner

Student Research Symposium

Vasopressin is a hormone that is integral in memory, social behaviour, aggression, and bonding. Coyotes are monogamous animals with complex societal structure. Thus, it can be assumed that vasopressin is incredibly important in the function of the coyote brain. We looked at the deep structures of the coyote brain using 25 μm slices and mapped the areas of vasopressin binding using 125I-LVA. We found that the most dense areas of binding were in areas of the brain that play a role in learning, memory, cervical and head muscles, and odour discrimination, among others. These functions are largely integral in forming …

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Autism, Light, And Rna - A Story In Three Parts, Ethan Dayley Apr 2023

Autism, Light, And Rna - A Story In Three Parts, Ethan Dayley

Student Research Symposium

Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference present in about 1 in 36 people. Autistics tend to have differences in social communication, interests, and the ways they process the world around them. Autism is an important research area because many autistics suffer from poor mental health and can have difficulties with obtaining education and maintaining employment. By better understanding how autism works at every level we may be able to help autistics have better outcomes in future. This research is a follow-up to a study published by Freeman et al. in 2018. That study demonstrated differences in oxytocin receptor binding in the …

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Understanding The Role Of A Putative Type I Polyketide Synthase In Chlorflavonin Biosynthesis, Ammar Mussaji Apr 2023

Understanding The Role Of A Putative Type I Polyketide Synthase In Chlorflavonin Biosynthesis, Ammar Mussaji

Student Research Symposium

Flavonoids are an important class of plant secondary metabolites with a variety of biological functions in the development processes of hosts. These molecules have also shown health-benefiting properties such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. As such, they are commonly used as pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. In plants, flavonoids are assembled through a type III polyketide synthase (PKS) and associated tailoring enzymes such as hydroxylase and glycosyltransferase. Some filamentous fungi also produce flavonoids, such as chlorflavonin from Aspergillus candidus. Chlorflavonin is a novel halogenated flavonoid found in nature reported to possess antifungal and anti-tuberculosis activity. Unlike plants, the biosynthetic process of flavonoids …

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Masculine Women, Feminine Men, And Androgyny: Gender Expression In Ancient Rome, Samuel Cash Apr 2023

Masculine Women, Feminine Men, And Androgyny: Gender Expression In Ancient Rome, Samuel Cash

Student Research Symposium

Transgender individuals are erased from the historical narrative due to little definitive evidence of their existence in language, literature, or the archaeological record. Items like clothing, textiles, and wigs, which distinguished them from cisgender people, are largely lost to time. However, one way that we can view gender nonconformity is through art. Recently, historians recognized that homosexuality in antiquity was common. It took several centuries to come to the consensus that queer individuals existed. Gender identity and the complexity of gender expression in the ancient world is still debated among historians. While historians tend to negate the existence of transgender …

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Sunrise Mental Health Clinic, Kassie Kunzler Apr 2023

Sunrise Mental Health Clinic, Kassie Kunzler

Student Research Symposium

How color affects our mental health and how we can apply it in interiors to help in the healing process.

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Nitrogen Use Efficiency And Soil Health Indicators In Corn Silage Production In A Semi-Arid Environment, Phearen Miller Apr 2023

Nitrogen Use Efficiency And Soil Health Indicators In Corn Silage Production In A Semi-Arid Environment, Phearen Miller

Student Research Symposium

The world faces the challenge of increasing food production while reducing the impact of excess reactive nitrogen (N) in the environment. A field study was conducted at USU Greenville farm in northern Utah since 2012 to examine the effects of different N sources in corn silage under semi-arid conditions. The study used a randomized complete block design with four blocks and four treatments: control (no nitrogen) (denoted as Control), low ammonium sulfate (AS 112 kg N/ha) (denoted as AS100), high ammonium sulfate (AS 224 kg N/ha) (denoted as AS200), and steer manure compost (224 kg total N/ha) (denoted as Compost). …

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Glycosylation Of Anti-Tb Agent Chlorflavonin For Combating Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Jie Ren Apr 2023

Glycosylation Of Anti-Tb Agent Chlorflavonin For Combating Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Jie Ren

Student Research Symposium

More than two billion people were infected by the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in 2020. However, during the past 50 years, the first-line (isoniazid, delamanid, and rifampicin) and second-line (capreomycin, streptomycin, and cycloserine) therapies have remained unchanged with disadvantages such as long treatment periods and severe side effects. The slow development of anti-TB drugs cannot combat the fast development of drug resistant M. tuberculosis strains from multidrug-resistant (MDR) into extensively drug resistant (XDR), which further hinders the World Health Organization’s goal to end the global TB pandemic by the year 2035. Flavonoids are a type of natural product with …

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Cycloaddition Of Aryldiazoacetates With Terminal Alkynes And Nitriles Via A Bioinspired Cobalt Complex, Liming Tan Apr 2023

Cycloaddition Of Aryldiazoacetates With Terminal Alkynes And Nitriles Via A Bioinspired Cobalt Complex, Liming Tan

Student Research Symposium

In this study, we present a novel method for the efficient cycloaddition of aryl diazoacetates with both terminal alkynes and nitriles, employing a bioinspired cobalt complex as a catalyst. Our findings indicate that terminal alkynes react with aryl diazoacetates to yield a cyclopropenation product through a 2+1 cycloaddition reaction. Meanwhile, nitriles react with aryl diazoacetates to produce an oxazole product via a 2+3 cycloaddition reaction. These results have significant implications for the development of new synthetic routes towards cyclopropenation and oxazole compounds.

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Catchment Protections Enhance River Resilience To Water Quality Perturbations, Allyson Marrs Apr 2023

Catchment Protections Enhance River Resilience To Water Quality Perturbations, Allyson Marrs

Student Research Symposium

Around 40% of rivers in the United States have been increasing in salinity in recent decades. This salinization is caused by natural and anthropogenic processes, such as applying salts to roads for deicing purposes. Rapid increases in salinity in freshwater streams can have negative impacts on drinking water, infrastructure, and biodiversity. However, catchment protections may offer resilience to water quality degradation. Using a weighted regression on time, discharge, and season, we analyzed long-term trends in specific conductance in the Yellowstone River at Corwin Springs. The majority of the Yellowstone River upstream of this site lies on federally protected lands with …

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Does Diet Effect The Brain?, Janna Hart Apr 2023

Does Diet Effect The Brain?, Janna Hart

Student Research Symposium

Short-chain fatty acids are biomolecules produced from bacterial fermentation of dietary fiber in the gut. Short-chain fatty acids are used in the gut to supply energy and reduce inflammation but are also believed to have effects on the brain. While we do not know how short-chain fatty acids affect the brain and behavior, recent research has led to the idea of using dietary changes as a treatment for mental health disorders. In my research, we aimed to visualize where short-chain fatty acids act in the brain with a particular focus on neural immune cells called microglia and the neurons that …

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