Digital Commons Network^™

Ready, Set, Network! Research Speed Networking For Clinicians, Scientists And Engineers, Pamela M. Dillon, Karen H. Gau

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Objectives: A 2013 Institute of Medicine report urged researchers to “engage in additional substantive and productive collaborations” to address important clinical/translational science questions. To encourage team science among our researchers, Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences and Center for Clinical and Translational Research hosted a speed networking event, specifically targeting engineers, clinicians, and basic scientists; an analysis of the event is below.

Methods: Invitations were distributed to clinicians, engineers, and basic scientists. To maximize interactions without increasing time spent at the event, researchers were divided into three groups. The event was planned such that each group would meet everyone from …

Professor Studies Invasive Species In Africa, Nicole Nelson

The Scope

James Vonesh, an associate professor of biology at VCU, recently returned from South Africa, where he focused on an invasive species of frog. His research question: Why do certain species flourish in a new environment while others do not?

Songbird’S Winter Grounds Face Environmental Threats, Kirby Farineau

The Scope

VCU graduate biology student Jessica Reese has documented the environmental threats facing the prothonotary warbler. Development has depleted the mangrove forests of Panama and Colombia where these gray and yellow songbirds spend the winter months.

An Investigation Of The Efficacy Of Curcumin For Treatment Of Alzheimer's Disease, Parantap Patel

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Curcumin is the primary curcuminoid found in the rhizome of the turmeric plant (Curcuma longa), responsible for the spice’s distinctive yellow color. Research conducted within the past two decades suggests that the compound may be an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, the most prevalent form of dementia affecting nearly 5.2 million Americans. This paper investigates the efficacy of curcumin as treatment for the pathogenesis and symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Research was conducted pertaining to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s, the in vitro applications of curcumin, the chemical properties of curcumin, and the in vivo clinical applications of curcumin. The pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s …

Using Platelet-Rich Plasma To Reverse The Effects Of Tendinopathy And Prevent Tendon Re-Rupture After Surgery In Athletes: The Search For A Standardized Protocol, Shiv Patel

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

30-50% of all lesions amateur and professional sports players will experience during activity are related to the tendon. Moreover, the incidence of tendinopathy, a precursor to tendon rupture, is much higher in both of these groups due to excessive loading of tendons during physical activity, insufficient rest afterwards and certain antibiotic use. The tendon anatomically has both a low blood supply and a low cell turnover rate, which contribute to the relative ease by which an athlete can develop tendinopathy. Chronic tendinopathy has very few high-success treatments but in recent years, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), a treatment in which platelets are …

The Effect Of Hawaii’S Vast Diversity On Racial And Social Prejudices, Alexandra Frigerio

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Food is the universal language of the world, and Hawaiians speak SPAM. Hawaii is the largest consumer of SPAM in the world, with their own signature recipe, as well as an annual SPAM party which over 20,000 people attend. Hawaiian locals cannot get enough of the stuff, consuming more than 5 million pounds year. SPAM is just one of many beloved foods in Hawaii, all of which are from different cultures. Residents have access to Chinese rice and stir fry, Korean kimchi and marinated meats, Japanese sashimi and bento boxes, Portuguese tomatoes and chili peppers, Puerto Rican casseroles and pasteles, …

Aftermath Of The Hobby Lobby Decision: Implications For Women In The Workforce, Hirsh Shah

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Hobby Lobby is a chain of 640 arts and crafts stores owned by the Green family, based in Oklahoma City. This company is required to follow the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which mandates that larger employers—those with more than 50 employees—have to include coverage for the full range of preventative care, including contraceptives, in their female employees’ health insurance plans. However, the Green family holds deeply religious views and did not want to include four of the twenty contraceptives covered by the ACA, including long acting reversible contraception and emergency contraception, in their female employee coverage. The family believed that …

Bacterial Forensics: Revolutionizing Biochemical Analysis, Caitlin Cain

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Eva Childrey is a junior forensic science and chemistry double major working in Dr. Eh- rhardt’s research laboratory at VCU. The main goal of the research conducted in this laboratory is to explore the lipid profiles of different bacterial species.

Meditation On A Cat Picture And A Flamingo Statue, Lucas Alexander

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

I am a very visual person. As a student studying cinema, I’m interested in creating stories that can be woven together into a film. Even when something isn’t “supposed to” contain elements of narrative and fiction as defined by its medium, I do my very best to put them in there anyway. I want to make my own unique stories, in pictures and in words. Optimally, they end up being amusing.

When making anything, I tend to hack a jagged path through the whole mess as fast as possible, and have something technically defined as a finished product as soon …

Homo Heidelbergensis: The Tool To Our Success, Alexander Burkard

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Homo heidelbergensis, a physiological variant of the species Homo sapien, is an extinct species that existed in both Europe and parts of Asia from 700,000 years ago to roughly 300,000 years ago (carbon dating). This “subspecies” of Homo sapiens, as it is formally classified, is a direct ancestor of anatomically modern humans, and is understood to have many of the same physiological characteristics as those of anatomically modern humans while still expressing many of the same physiological attributes of Homo erectus, an earlier human ancestor. Since Homo heidelbergensis represents attributes of both species, it has therefore earned the classification as …

Prenatal Nicotine Exposure As A Teratogen In Neurological Pathways, Monica Grover

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most heritable and commonly diagnosed childhood psychiatric disorder with 4% of all children being diagnosed with this disorder. Prenatal smoking has been found to be a risk factor for ADHD, a disorder that has been believed to be linked to the fluctuation of dopamine levels. Prenatal nicotine exposure in the second trimester influences dopaminergic neurological pathways by altering dopamine release levels. The altered dopamine levels make the fetus brain more sensitive to the nicotine, causing the nicotine exposure to be more dangerous in causing ADHD symptoms. Prenatal nicotine exposure alters the neurological pathway of the …

Rnaseq Analyses Identify Tumor Necrosis Factor-Mediated Inflammation As A Major Abnormality In Als Spinal Cord, David G. Brohawn, Laura C. O'Brien, James P. Bennett Jr.

Physiology and Biophysics Publications and Presentations

ALS is a rapidly progressive, devastating neurodegenerative illness of adults that produces disabling weakness and spasticity arising from death of lower and upper motor neurons. No meaningful therapies exist to slow ALS progression, and molecular insights into pathogenesis and progression are sorely needed. In that context, we used high-depth, next generation RNA sequencing (RNAseq, Illumina) to define gene network abnormalities in RNA samples depleted of rRNA and isolated from cervical spinal cord sections of 7 ALS and 8 CTL samples. We aligned >50 million 2X150 bp paired-end sequences/sample to the hg19 human genome and applied three different algorithms (Cuffdiff2, DEseq2, …

Exploring Pharmacological And Behavioral Mechanisms Involved In Alcohol Dependence During Adolescence, Rabha Mousa Younis

Theses and Dissertations

Alcoholism is a serious illness that is marked by uncontrollable drinking and physical dependence to alcohol. Long-term alcoholism has been linked to many health concerns such as cirrhosis of the liver and cardiovascular disease. Alcohol is one of the most commonly used drugs among adolescent populations. Given that adolescence is a unique developmental stage during which alcohol has long-term effects on future drug-taking behavior; it is essential to understand how early exposure to alcohol during adolescence may affect the abuse liability of the drug later in life. Indeed, most alcohol users start during adolescence suggesting that exposure to alcohol during …

Deployment Resilience Among U.S. Airmen: A Secondary Analysis Of Risk And Protective Factors Using The 2013 Community Assessment Survey, Mark A. Dixon

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Since September 11, 2001 military personnel have experienced a pattern of frequent deployment and reintegration, known as the deployment cycle. Deployments present unique challenges and opportunities to military personnel with lasting effects. This study examines group differences based on risk and protective factors, which were grouped into four domains (physical, mental, social, and spiritual) according to the Comprehensive Airman Fitness model in use by the U.S. Air Force to teach and increase resilience. The groups represent various levels of exposure to deployment dangers, up to and including combat, and time, recent deployment within two years and past deployment more …

A Mechanistic Study Of An Ipsc Model For Leigh’S Disease Caused By Mtdna Mutataion (8993 T>G), John P. Galdun

Theses and Dissertations

Mitochondrial diseases encompass a broad range of devastating disorders that typically affect tissues with high-energy requirements. These disorders have been difficult to diagnose and research because of the complexity of mitochondrial genetics, and the large variability seen among patient populations. We have devised and carried out a mechanistic study to generate a cell based model for Leigh’s disease caused by mitochondrial DNA mutation 8993 T>G. Leigh’s disease is a multi-organ system disorder that depends heavily on the mutation burden seen within various tissues. Using new reprogramming and sequencing technologies, we were able to show that Leigh’s disease patient fibroblasts …

Potential Treatments For Malformation Associated Epilepsy, Olivia M. Bowles

Theses and Dissertations

Epilepsy has been previously attributed to either increased excitation or decreased inhibition. With this closed frame of mind, modern medicine has been unable to develop a permanent treatment against the mechanisms of epilepsy. In order to treat patients with intractable seizures, especially those caused by developmental malformations, it is essential to understand the entirety of mechanisms that could possibly play a role in the abnormal cortical function. One such developmental malformation is known as polymicrogyria. Epileptogenesis occurs in an area laterally adjacent to this malformation known as the paramicrogyral region (PMR). Past studies have narrowed down the potential cause of …

Sense Of Belonging Of Black Students In Stem Majors: A Mixed Methods Study, Lisa Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine Black STEM students’ sense of belonging. The researcher also sought to understand what factors most contributed to students’ sense of belonging and whether the involvement in a living learning community or summer bridge program had an effect. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used. Participants (N = 89) were administered a revised Psychological Sense of School Membership survey, then were purposively selected to participate in follow-up interviews (N = 8). A principal component analysis, an independent t-test, and a multiple regression analysis were conducted.

Results of the principal …

Understanding And Targeting The C-Terminal Binding Protein (Ctbp) Substrate-Binding Domain For Cancer Therapeutic Development, Benjamin L. Morris

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer involves the dysregulated proliferation and growth of cells throughout the body. C-terminal binding proteins (CtBP) 1 and 2 are transcriptional co-regulators upregulated in several cancers, including breast, colorectal, and ovarian tumors. CtBPs drive oncogenic properties, including migration, invasion, proliferation, and survival, in part through repression of tumor suppressor genes. CtBPs encode an intrinsic dehydrogenase activity, utilizing intracellular NADH concentrations and the substrate 4-methylthio-2-oxobutyric acid (MTOB), to regulate the recruitment of transcriptional regulatory complexes. High levels of MTOB inhibit CtBP dehydrogenase function and induce cytotoxicity among cancer cells in a CtBP-dependent manner. While encouraging, a good therapeutic would utilize >100-fold …

Effects Of Olfactory Cues On The Movement Behavior Of The Predatory Beetle Calosoma Wilcoxi, Kennesha Myrick-Bragg

Theses and Dissertations

Arthropod predators often use prey and conspecific cues to make foraging decisions. Calosoma wilcoxi (Leconte) is a voracious predatory beetle that specializes on lepidopteran larvae often found in the forest canopy, including the fall cankerworm. This study tested the hypothesis that C. wilcoxi uses olfactory cues to detect prey and conspecifics. A Y-tube olfactometer was used to test attractiveness to larvae, larval frass, conspecific cues, and volatiles from herbivore-damaged white oak leaves. C. wilcoxi did not preferentially choose the treatment in any of the experiments. There was no difference in mean time spent in the treatment or control arm for …

Testing A Low-Intensity And Accessible Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Insomnia (Cbt-I) Intervention In Individuals Newly Diagnosed With Cancer, Amma Agyemang

Theses and Dissertations

Insomnia is defined as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or nonrestorative sleep that lasts for at least one month and is accompanied by significant impairment in daytime functioning including fatigue, irritability, and/or difficulty concentrating. It is one of the most common complaints reported by individuals with cancer, especially around the time of cancer diagnosis and treatment. Yet it is often unrecognized and untreated, leading to adverse health consequences and increased healthcare costs. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) has been recommended as the gold standard for treating insomnia among individuals with cancer. Multiple studies have tested and proven the efficacy …

Development And Characterization Of Lung Derived Extracellular Matrix Hydrogels, Robert A. Pouliot

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) including emphysema is a devastating condition, increasing in prevalence in the US and worldwide. There remains no cure for COPD, rather only symptomatic treatments. Due to unique challenges of the lung, translation of therapies for acute lung injury to target chronic lung diseases like COPD has not been successful. We have been investigating lung derived extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogels as a novel approach for delivery of cellular therapies to the pulmonary system.

During the course of this work we have developed and characterized a lug derived ECM hydrogel that exhibits “injectability,” allowing cells or dugs …

An Injectable Stem Cell Delivery System For Treatment Of Musculoskeletal Defects, Shirae Leslie

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to develop a system of injectable hydrogels to deliver stem cells to musculoskeletal defects, thereby allowing cells to remain at the treatment site and secrete soluble factors that will facilitate tissue regeneration. First, production parameters for encapsulating cells in microbeads were determined. This involved investigating the effects of osmolytes on alginate microbead properties, and the effects of alginate microbead cell density, alginate microbead density, and effects of osteogenic media on microencapsulated cells. Although cells remained viable in the microbeads, alginate does not readily degrade in vivo for six months. Therefore, a method to incorporate …

Stains Induce Apoptosis And Autophagy In Primary And Transformed Mast Cells, Patrick A. Paez

Theses and Dissertations

Statin drugs are widely employed in the clinic to reduce serum low density lipoproteins (LDLs) in patients with hypocholesteremia. In addition to their cholesterol-lowering effects through HMG CoA reductase antagonism, isoprenyl lipids necessary for membrane anchorage and signaling of small G-proteins are abrogated. We previously found that statins suppress mast cell activation in murine and human cells, suggesting these drugs might be useful in treating allergic disease. While mast cell function is critical to allergic inflammation, mast cell hyperplasia and survival also impact these diseases, and were not studied in our previous work. In this study, we describe Fluvastatin-mediated apoptosis …

Power Analysis In Applied Linear Regression For Cell Type-Specific Differential Expression Detection, Edmund Glass

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of many human disease-oriented studies is to detect molecular mechanisms different between healthy controls and patients. Yet, commonly used gene expression measurements from any tissues suffer from variability of cell composition. This variability hinders the detection of differentially expressed genes and is often ignored. However, this variability may actually be advantageous, as heterogeneous gene expression measurements coupled with cell counts may provide deeper insights into the gene expression differences on the cell type-specific level. Published computational methods use linear regression to estimate cell type-specific differential expression. Yet, they do not consider many artifacts hidden in high-dimensional gene expression …

Genomic Comparisons And Genome Architecture Of Divergent Trypanosoma Species, Katie Bradwell

Theses and Dissertations

Virulent Trypanosoma cruzi, and the non-pathogenic Trypanosoma conorhini and Trypanosoma rangeli are protozoan parasites with divergent lifestyles. T. cruzi and T. rangeli are endemic to Latin America, whereas T. conorhini is tropicopolitan. Reduviid bug vectors spread these parasites to mammalian hosts, within which T. rangeli and T. conorhini replicate extracellularly, while T. cruzi has intracellular stages. Firstly, this work compares the genomes of these parasites to understand their differing phenotypes. Secondly, genome architecture of T. cruzi is examined to address the effect of a complex hybridization history, polycistronic transcription, and genome plasticity on this organism, and study its highly …

Reciprocal Relations Between Traumatic Stress And Physical Aggression During Middle School, Erin L. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

There is convincing evidence that demonstrates traumatic stress and aggressive behavior are highly related among adolescents. The evidence is less clear regarding the direction of this relation. The purpose of this study was to examine the reciprocal longitudinal relations between physical aggression and traumatic stress among a predominantly African American sample of middle school students. Support was found for traumatic stress predicting increased levels of physical aggression across the winter to the spring of the sixth grade for boys and across all waves from the fall of the seventh grade to the fall of the eighth grade for both boys …

Depth And Development Of The Sonic System In Deep-Sea Macrourid Fishes On The Continental Slope, Jonothan Wrenn

Theses and Dissertations

Work on sound production of deep-sea fishes has been limited to anatomy, and no sounds from identified species have been recorded on the continental slope. Here I examined the sonic muscles of six species in the family Macrouridae by depth (Coelorhincus carminatus, Nezumia bairdii, Coryphaenoides rupestris, Nezumia equalis, Coryphaenoides armatus, Coryphaenoides carapinus,). Due to increasingly limited food with depth, I hypothesized that sonic muscle development would decrease with depth. Sonic muscles were intrinsic and occurred in males and females. Swimbladder and sonic muscle dimensions increased linearly with fish size, but there were no clear differences with depth suggesting …

Pathways Linking Sleep Timing To Obesity In Midlife Women, Dana R. Schreiber

Theses and Dissertations

Midlife women are vulnerable to developing obesity. Both sleep timing and negative emotion are risk factors, yet limited research has explored their role on weight outcomes in this population. The current investigation explored the association of sleep timing (i.e., mean sleep time, sleep time variability) and obesity (i.e., BMI, waist circumference) in midlife women, considering emotional pathways (i.e., depressive symptoms, anger) that might mediate this association. PROCESS parallel mediation models assessed direct and indirect pathways. In follow-up analyses, sleep duration was explored as an indirect pathway linking sleep timing to obesity. Results demonstrated that sleep timing does not directly predict …

Longitudinal Relations Between Parental And Peer Support For Violent And Nonviolent Responses To Conflict And Early Adolescent Dating Aggression, Rachel C. Garthe

Theses and Dissertations

High prevalence and the negative legal, health, and psychological consequences of adolescent dating aggression underscore the need to identify risk and protective processes associated with this type of aggression. Studying dating aggression in early adolescence is important, as this is the developmental time frame when most youth are establishing attitudes, beliefs, and norms for dating behaviors. The current study investigated longitudinal associations between perceived parental and peer support for violent and nonviolent responses to conflict and dating aggression perpetration among middle school students. Participants included 1,399 adolescents (52% female) in the sixth (n = 466), seventh (n = …

The Effects Of Amixicile, A Pyruvate Ferredoxin Oxidoreductase Inhibitor, On Oral Treponemes, Lucas A. Reed

Theses and Dissertations

Periodontal disease (PD) is a polymicrobial infection characterized by inflammation of the gingiva, alveolar bone resorption, and tooth loss (edentulism). Treponema denticola along with Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia are among the “Red Complex” and are main etiological agents in PD. Treponemes are a member of the Spirochaeta phylum and are obligate anaerobes, that express pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFOR). The enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA and reduced ferredoxin. Amixicile is a novel bacteriostatic derivative of nitazoxanide and an inhibitor of PFOR. In light of the fact that Treponemes express PFOR, this study was conducted to investigate the …