Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating The Protein Corona Of Novel Nanovehicles In Model Biological Fluids, Amal Cheema

Honors Thesis Collection

Although the behavior of nanomedicines is well characterized, understanding of the difference between the synthetic and biological identity of nanoparticles (NPs) is limited. To expand our knowledge base, we probe the stability of NPs and protein corona formation in increasingly in vivo-like conditions. The protein corona consists of various proteins at different relative abundances, rapidly forming when NPs are exposed to protein-rich environments. We begin our investigation through the synthesis and conjugation of 11.2 nm, citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Coating AuNPs with low fouling polymers, such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or poly-EK (PEK), increases the biocompatibility, biodistribution, and physiological …

Children Of Rose Rock, Amandine M. Fromont

Honors Thesis Collection

This project gathers a collection of short stories interconnected around the fictive town of Rose Rock, Maine. The various characters’ intertwining stories serve to create a growing image of the town, its colonial history, and rich tradition. In particular, each story includes a character who grew up in this town, and how this influences the character’s decisions and behavior.

The Effect Of Access To Prenatal Genetic Testing On Test Utilization And Birth Outcomes: Evidence From Down Syndrome, Leah Plachinski

Honors Thesis Collection

Recent scientific advancements have greatly improved prenatal genetic testing technologies, which can now detect a wide array of genetic disorders at a high degree of accuracy. Down syndrome provides a unique context through which to analyze the effect of women’s access to prenatal genetic tests on test utilization and birth outcomes. In particular, typically only women of Advanced Maternal Age (AMA)—that is, women aged 35 and older—have qualified for an amniocentesis, the most common prenatal diagnostic test for Down syndrome. Using Vital Statistics live birth data from 1989 to 2002, I exploit the arbitrary nature of this AMA amniocentesis eligibility …

Dissecting The Drivers Of Resting State Functional Connectivity, Jiyoung Jean Lee

Honors Thesis Collection

Resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) is a phenomenon where blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal correlation is observed between brain regions when an animal is at rest. As an occurrence observed and conserved across species, variations and abnormalities in RSFC can indicate underlying neurological diseases and thus provide diagnostic potential. However, despite its importance, not much is known about the drivers of RSFC. Here we examine the drivers of RSFC in the rat brain with respect to the well-defined primary somatosensory cortex and provide support for the hypothesis that thalamic input contributes to primary somatosensory cortex (S1) RSFC. Using fluorescent muscimol, …

Patellin1/2 Interact With Cvl1 And Cvp2 To Regulate Vascular Development In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Anna Hakes

Honors Thesis Collection

Unidirectional flow of the phytohormone auxin through files of cells occurs due to polar localization of PIN1 and is responsible for vascular development in Arabidopsis thaliana. The endosomal recycling pathway that establishes and maintains proper PIN1 localization is coordinated by phosphoinositide species within the cell’s membranes. In order to determine if the Sec14-like proteins PATELLIN1/2 and the related PATLELLIN6 are involved in regulating these phosphoinositide pools during vascular development, PATELLIN1/2 and other known vascular genes in this pathway or PATELLIN6 were knocked out and analyzed for evidence of genetic interactions. Analysis of the cotyledon venation of these higher order …

T-0632 Amine Analogs As Agonists For Glp-1 Receptor, Christina Lepore

Honors Thesis Collection

The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) is implicated in the pancreatic signaling pathway responsible for insulin secretion. Due to its seven transmembrane domains, a nuanced model of the GLP-1R structure cannot be elucidated through X-ray crystallography. We intend to improve current understanding of GLP-1R structure and binding mechanisms by chemically modifying T-0632, one of its non-peptide small molecule antagonists, in order to alter its interactions with the GLP-1R active site. To accomplish this, we will produce an analog of T-0632 in which an amine group is inserted at the standard carboxylic acid locus. In doing so, we will disrupt charged interactions …

Developing A Dual Fluorescence-Atomic Force Microscopy Method For Investigating Delivery And Function Of Cell Wall Synthases In S. Pombe, Kathryn Barth

Honors Thesis Collection

Cytokinesis is the process by which cells separate during mitosis. It consists of two linked processes, contraction of an actomyosin ring and formation of a septum through cell wall synthesis. The cell wall is synthesized by a- and b-glucan synthases, Ags1p, Bgs1p, and Bgs4p, that are transported to the plasma membrane through the secretory pathway. The exocyst complex is a tethering complex that is hypothesized to be responsible for tethering vesicles containing these synthases to the plasma membrane prior to fusion. In this study, the inactivation of these synthases is characterized using an atomic force microscope to quantify the strength …

Aristotelian Dualities In Quattrocento Florentine Painting: Woman On The Left-Hand Side Of Man, Hannah Augst

Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Purification And Characterization Of An Anti-Staphylococcal Compound Produced By Dolosigranulum Pigrum, Sara Eslami

Honors Thesis Collection

As antibiotic resistance becomes increasingly prevalent, developing methods for prevention of and intervention in bacterial infection, specifically due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has become critical. This research focuses on the purification of an extractable inhibitory compound from bacterial culture via flash column chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) via bioassay-guided fractionation. NMR spectroscopy has also allowed for preliminary characterization of the inhibitor through analysis of 1H NMR spectra.

Ventral Veins Lacking Regulates Hormone Biosynthesis During Reproduction And Embryogenesis In Oncopeltus Fasciatus, Isabella Mcdonald

Honors Thesis Collection

The POU domain transcription factor Ventral veins lacking (Vvl) has recently been shown to play a critical role in ecdysone biosynthesis, which influences the molting of the hemimetabolous milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus. In this study, the role of vvl on endocrine regulation during reproduction and embryogenesis was examined to determine whether its function is conserved across the insect’s life cycle. Given my results, I propose that the mechanisms of vertebrate and insect neuroendocrine regulation during these processes may share deep homology. A POU transcription factor similar to Vvl may, therefore, have played critical roles regulating endocrine gland development and …

Kinetic Effects Of The Spiroiminodihydantoin Lesion On Nucleosome Assembly, Margaret Klureza

Honors Thesis Collection

DNA constantly endures oxidative damage from a variety of sources, including ultraviolet radiation, heavy metal exposure, and reactive oxygen species that escape from the mitochondria during cellular respiration. The latter cause is particularly pernicious, as its endogenous nature makes it unavoidable. Consequently, oxidative lesions continually form within DNA and must be repaired to prevent mutagenesis. Guanine is the most commonly oxidized base, due to its low redox potential, and forms the 8oxoguanine (8oxoG) lesion. 8oxoG has an even lower redox potential than guanine itself and so may be further oxidized to form a variety of secondary products, including the spiroiminodihydantoin …

The Role Of Neurogenesis In The Behavioral Flexibility Of Sequentially Tutored Juvenile Zebra Finches, Rebecca Jennings

Honors Thesis Collection

In humans, the left-hemisphere is dominant for language production and perception in monolinguals. However it is unclear how learning more than one language affects the hemispheric dominance in language-related brain regions. Songbirds, such as zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), have often been used as a model system to study speech acquisition. Similarly to humans, zebra finches that have been exposed to one song tutor during development show activity in the left hemisphere in response to tutor song. When zebra finches are first exposed to one tutor early in development and a second tutor later on in development, they are …

In Vitro Probing Of Drug Interactions In Combination Anti-Cancer Agent Treatments With Dcm-Mj-I-21 Targeting Pancreatic Cancer, Jennifer Chang

Honors Thesis Collection

A coumarin derivative, DCM-MJ-I-21 has shown promising antineoplastic effects against human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells, PANC-1, with higher cytotoxicity and nutrient-deprived selectivity. Commercially available chemotherapeutic drugs used in the treatment for pancreatic cancer patients include gemcitabine (GEM) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), both DNA synthesis inhibitors. With the increasing resistance to chemotherapy drugs and the nature of pancreatic cancer growth, promising studies have shown more effective treatments with combination chemotherapy where drugs are taken simultaneously in a regimen. The research presented herein includes both ongoing monotherapy and combination therapy studies against PANC-1 monolayer cells on the cytotoxicity of a chemotherapeutic treatment when commercially …

Estradiol Alters The Gut Microbiota Response To High-Fat Diet, Manjot Kaur Nagyal

Honors Thesis Collection

Post-menopausal women have an increased risk of developing metabolic disorders, such as obesity and type-two diabetes. Estradiol, a type of estrogen, which is primarily produced by ovaries and declines in postmenopausal women, protects against diet-induced obesity in women and female mice. However, the mechanisms by which estradiol prevents diet-induced obesity are not completely understood. Host diet has been shown to shift the compositional pattern of the gut microbiota­, and both diet and the gut microbiome have been linked to weight gain and obesity. We hypothesized that one mechanism by which estradiol-treated mice resist diet-induced weight gain is through the gut …

Characterizing The Localization Inter-Dependence Of Blt1p And Gef2p By Fluorescence Microscopy, Alexis Crayton

Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Estradiol Modulates The Gut Microbiome In Leptin-Deficient Female Mice On A High Fat Diet, Xing Gao

Honors Thesis Collection

The steroid hormone, 17b-Estradiol (E2), mediates a variety of functions including reproduction and metabolism. For example, due to lower levels of circulating estrogens, postmenopausal women tend to gain fat weight, which increases their risk for diseases such as heart disease and Type II diabetes. Ovariectomized mice, whose endogenous source of E2 are removed, become obese when fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Our lab and others have shown that E­2 treatment prevents this HFD-induced obesity in female mice. The protein hormone leptin, which is encoded by the ob gene and released from adipocytes, is also involved in metabolism and regulates appetite …

Elucidating The Protein-Protein Interactions Between Cytokinesis Regulatory Proteins Blt1p And Gef2p And The Protein Kinase Complex Sid2p/Mob1p In S. Pombe, Ruby Ye

Honors Thesis Collection

Cytokinesis, the final stage in cell division, is the process in which one cell is separated in two through the constriction of a contractile ring and membrane fission. Defects in this process can lead to diseases such as neurological disorders, diabetes, and cancer. The regulatory proteins Blt1p and Gef2p have been identified as spatial and temporal regulators of cytokinesis, as both localize to the contractile ring in dividing cells and are implicated in recruitment of the Sid2p/Mob1p protein kinase complex involved in triggering cytokinesis. However, the nature of these interactions is poorly understood.

To characterize protein-protein interactions involving Blt1p and …

Adding A New Dimension To The Development Of Anti-Pancreatic Cancer Agent Dcm-Mj-I-21: 3d Cell Culture Studies, Milica Markovic

Honors Thesis Collection

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and lethal solid malignancies with more than 50,000 patients in 2016 and <5% 5-year survival rate. It owes aggressiveness in part to the unusual ability of cells to survive under nutrient deprivation for prolonged periods of time. The mechanisms underlying this property have recently become valuable biochemical targets for the potential treatment of pancreatic cancer. Angelmarin (isolated from a medicinal plant, Angelica pubescens) exhibits preferential cytotoxicity to pancreatic cancer cells under nutrient deprivation. Our lab has synthesized multiple coumarin-based derivatives of Angelmarin, identifying DCM-MJ-I-21 as the current lead, with LC₅₀ value of 4μM under nutrient deprivation and no activity in the presence of nutrients. This compound has been well characterized in 2D cell culture in vitro assays, however, these data may not be predictive of its behavior in vivo due to multiple differences between the 3D in vivo environment, …

Characterization Of Cpclec, A Cryptosporidium C-Type Lectin That Mediates Infection In Vivo, Katherine Yanes

Honors Thesis Collection

The intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium causes the diarrheal disease, cryptosporidiosis worldwide. Previous work done with Cryptosporidium parvum in the Ward lab showed that a C-type lectin glycoprotein known as CpClec is expressed on the surface of sporozoites and merozoites, the life cycle stages of Cryptosporidium which invades host epithelial cells in the human intestine. CpClec was also been found to be important for attachment and infection of host cells by binding to host expressed glycosaminoglycans. Loss or reduction of these glycosaminoglycans not only inhibited attachment but also infection. In order to further determine the function of CpClec, Jacob Ludington in the …

Body Size As A Result Of Larval Nutrition Affects Foraging Rate And Behavioral Flexibility In Adult Bumblebees (Bombus Impatiens), Anne Shen

Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Treatment Of Cultured Immature Immune Cells With Accessory Lobe Homogenate Enhances Their Attraction To The Neurogenic Niche In Vitro, Kara Banson

Honors Thesis Collection

Adult neurogenesis, the production of new neurons in the adult brain, is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that occurs in vertebrates and invertebrates. In the Beltz lab, we study the phenomenon in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii because they provide a relatively simple and accessible system that produces the new neurons. Recent work in our lab has demonstrated that the neural stem cells housed in the neurogenic niche are not self-renewing and that an outside source is replenishing the stem cell population. In vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that cells derived from the immune system are capable of becoming neural precursor …

Breakfast Of Unsung Heroes: Black Women's Forgotten Crusade For Survival In The Free Breakfast For Children, Meredith Wade

Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Exploring Anaerobic Microbial Communities Capable Of Oxidizing Manganese, Sophia Rowland

Honors Thesis Collection

The metabolic pathway of oxygenic photosynthesis is fueled by sunlight and the oxidation of water; oxygen is produced as a waste product. Before the rise of oxygenic phototrophs 2.3 billion years ago, microbes utilized anoxygenic photosynthesis to form organic carbon compounds using electron donors such as iron [Fe(II)] and reduced sulfur compounds. Anoxygenic phototrophs can be found in modern environments like meromictic lakes. We studied enrichment cultures of microorganisms driven by anoxygenic photosynthesis to determine whether and how they use another possible electron donor, manganese [Mn(II)]. Cultures reduced with sulfide [H₂S] and enriched with Mn(II) as a potential …

Characterizing And Improving A Semiportable Mass Spectrometer System For Measurements Of Noble Gas Ratios, Alice Zhou

Honors Thesis Collection

The five stable noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) are useful tracers of physical processes in the environment, as they are biologically and chemically inert and respond solely to physical forcing. Most instrumental systems used for measurements of the suite of noble gases are expensive, low-throughput, and require laboratory support. Here we describe the development and optimization of a low-cost, high-throughput quadrupole mass spectrometer system for the measurement of noble gas ratios in water samples. This system is based around a Hiden 201 RC residual gas analyzer, which is coupled with a Bay Instruments membrane inlet for continuous gas …

Rnai Of Ast1 And Chf: A Molecular Approach To Exploring The Connection Between The Innate Immune System And Adult Neurogenesis In Procambarid Crayfish, Megan Mcneil

Honors Thesis Collection

Adult neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are born and integrate into distinct regions of the adult brain, occurs across a phylogenetically vast array of species. In mammals, new neurons arise from self-renewing neural stem cells housed in neurogenic niches, but the neural precursors in the freshwater crayfish Procambarus clarkii do not undergo these self-renewing divisions. Despite the persistence of neurogenesis throughout their relatively long (~20 year) lives, these organisms never experience a depletion of neurogenic niche cells; their neural precursor cells therefore must be provided by a source extrinsic to the brain. Immune tissue-produced semi-granular hemocyte cells exhibit …

Coming To Terms With Death: Considering Lucretius’S Symmetry Argument, Adele Watkins

Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Subjective Social Status In Minority Children: How It Is Understood And How It Affects Their Development, Michelle Momo Wang

Honors Thesis Collection

Most previous research on social status in children has solely focused on examining correlations between objective socioeconomic status (SES) and child developmental outcomes. However, no research to-date has examined how minority children understand and experience social status and how subjective social status (SSS) in middle childhood affects children’s socioemotional development and well-being. Given these gaps in the current literature, this study aimed to research 1) how children understand and experience SSS, and 2) associations between SSS and socioemotional development. Specifically, it examined how children assess and determine SSS, describe and perceive others of high/low social status, explain wealth/poverty, and choose …

Analysis Of The Effects Of First Year Advisors And First Year Mentors On A Wellesley Student’S Choice Of Stem Vs. Non Stem Major, Kelly Kung

Honors Thesis Collection

This thesis focuses on the effects of a Wellesley student’s First Year Mentor’s major and First Year advisor’s department on the student’s choice of major. The Rubin Causal framework was used to draw causal inferences instead of just correlation. Doing so, it is possible to attribute any effect to the type of First Year Mentor or First Year advisor assigned to the student. In the mentoring component, the data was analyzed using Fisher’s Test and the Separate Regressions Method. Each method gave some statistically significant results; however they were not practically significant due to their small effect sizes. Our approach …

Ernest And Elizabeth, Edith Sharon

Honors Thesis Collection

This thesis deals with connections between the work of Ernest Hemingway (primarily A Farewell to Arms) and Queen Elizabeth I.

Touching Base: Isolation And Community On Maine’S Islands, Ruth Weschler

Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.