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Tree Damage Patterning In Alaskan Forests, Emma Barton, Richard Gill, Haden Penrod

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

• Tree defoliation (from insect parasites) is not abnormal in the densely forested areas of Alaska, but large outbreak events in recent years have led to cause for alarm.

• To better understand the factors affecting defoliation, we used remote sensing and GIS (geospatial information system) technologies to look at mortality spatial patterns across Hemlock and Spruce forests in southeast Alaska.

• Elevation and proximity to water as well as other factors were considered in determining the impacts of outbreak events due to evidence that changes in landscape can alter parasitism behaviors (Roland & Taylor, 1997).

Theranostic Approaches To Treat Synovial Sarcoma, Machenzie Burr, Jared Barrott, Jeffrey Okojie, Delaney Anderson, Peyton Worley, Jack Davis, Bridger Kearns, Melanie I'Anson-Holton

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Synovial sarcomas (SS) are rare soft tissue cancers that are found beside bone in children and adolescents. Currently, the prognosis for these diseases are low, as diagnostic and treatment options are limited due to the rarity of the disease. With high rates of metastasis, treatment options for these diseases become further limited to primarily radiation and chemotherapies. These therapies have limited specificity in their mechanisms, causing severe side effects in patients. This work examined alternative options for synovial sarcoma theranostic approaches, specifically using immunoconjugates for Oncostatin M Receptors (OSMR). This receptor was chosen due to the high rate of expression …

Staying Hydrated: A Comparative Analysis Of Humectants In Human Tissue, Rachel Prince, Jason Adams, Joseph Monsen

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

3rd Place Poster Design

Humectants are an important class of compounds that attract and retain water within a cell. When mixed with water to create wetting solutions, humectants can prevent desiccation of cadaveric specimens1. Recognizing a relative scarcity of comparative studies analyzing the effects of various wetting solutions on post-preservation cadaveric maintenance, we utilized wet-dry analysis in order to compare the effects of four common humectants on water retention in human cadaveric tissue including brain, cardiac muscle, liver, lung, skeletal muscle, and skin. We created a concentration gradient for each humectant to identify the optimal concentrations of each compound for …

Neural Epigenetic Changes In Response To Morphine: A Peek Into The Science Of Addiction, Timothy Smartt, Jeffrey Edwards, Addison Smartt

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Introduction

Since the 1990's, the United States has experienced a crisis of opioid addiction and overdose. The effects of opioids on the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the reward center of the brain, are a primary cause of opioid dependence.

Effects Of Methamphetamine On Microglia Through Reactive Oxygen Species, Chase Seiter, Jordan Yorgason, Nathan Sheets, James Blood, Lydia Hawley, Erin Taylor, Eliza White, Hillary Wadsworth, Jason Hansen

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

▪ Dopamine release in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) underlies motivational behavior for methamphetamine (METH) reward.

▪ ATP is a chemoattractant to microglia and is METH on ATP release and clearance are unknown.

▪ Furthermore, METH is known to produce reactive dopamine terminal function, microglia morphology and METH interactions are unknown.

Chasing The Rainbow: Systematics Of New Guinean Rainbow Skinks, Taylor Probst, Alison Whiting

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Oral Presentation Honorable Mention

• Carlia are known as the “Rainbow skinks” due to their iridescent scales (see Figure 1).

• Carlia are found across Oceania (see figure 2), however only relationships among the Australian species are known.

• New Guinean Carlia are divided into three species groups based on size, distribution, and morphology.

• Species within the Carlia fusca complex have primarily been delineated based on regional color patterns (see Figure 4).

• New Guinea is known for extreme lizard diversity, specifically within skinks.

• Research has shown that many lizard groups underwent a rapid diversification within New Guinea, …

A Rare Plant In Peril: Conservation Concerns For An Endemic Alpine Plant, Ipomopsis Spicata Ssp Tridactyla, Kainoa Bolinder, Loreen Allphin, Madison Huie, Steven Flinders

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Ipomopsis spicata ssp. tridactyla, (I. tridactyla or IPTR; Fig. 2 & 12), is a rare alpine plant species endemic to the Tushar Mountains and Markagunt Plateau of southern Utah. There is limited knowledge available about population dynamics and community composition. Due to difficult abiotic conditions, alpine environments are more vulnerable to lasting damage from disturbance (Scherrer & Pickering, 2005). Ipomopsis tridactyla is listed as high-priority for conservation (Alexander, 2016). As conservation concerns for alpine plant communities increase due to climate change (Kopp & Cleland, 2013), so does the need for long-term monitoring of plant populations. Thus, we set …

Zmp-Induced Activation Of Ampk Enhances Accumbal Dopamine Function, Isabella Roque, Jordan Yorgason, Rachel Campbell, Serin Baker, Jared Mcfarlane, Oliver Saunders, David Thomson

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Oral Presentation Honorable Mention

• Dopamine terminal function is associated with motivation

• Fasting activates AMPK, a cellular sensor that measures intracellular AMP relative to ATP

• AMPK activation is a target of interest for age related cognitive decline, prevention of muscle wasting, etc.

• ZMP is an endogenous nucleotide AMP mimetic that activates AMPK

• The present study examined the novel precursor ZMP compound called P39 using an ex vivo mouse model

Vulnerabilities Of Gender Non-Conforming Children Within The Abcd Study, Mitchell D. Felix, Erik J. Nelson

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

• In the broad field of childhood health and development, understanding and caring for society’s most vulnerable populations is vital. One such at-risk population is gender non-conforming children, individuals whose gender expression does not conform to conventional societal norms.1

• Gender non-conforming individuals are likely to be subject to increased discrimination and violence,2 with non-conforming youths specifically seeing elevated rates of harassment by peers and childhood abuse.3,4

• The intersection between gender identity and health outcomes is an emerging field with important applications for policy, practice and societal attitudes.

Phylogeny Of Hetaerina (Odonata: Calopterygidae): Settling Taxonomic Issues, Reganne Leigh Hales, Seth M. Bybee, Laura N. Sutherland, Melissa Sanchez Herrera, Samantha Standring

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Recent phylogenetic work within Hetaerininae based on Sanger data highlighted classification issues (e.g., non-monophyly between the genera), however no changes were proposed at that time. We explore the phylogeny of Hetaerininae using a targeted enrichment approach (AHE) of 20KB (18.5KB of nuclear and 1.5 of mitochondrial DNA) in an attempt to resolve any discrepancies.

Invasive Phragmites Effect On Utah Wetlands Soil Composition, Cecilia Steffen, Rachel Wood, Madison L. Brown

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Introduction

• Invasive Phragmites australis (referred to as Phragmites), invaded Utah wetlands in the 1980's. Efforts have been made since then to remove Phragmites through various treatments.

• Phragmites outcompetes other wetland plants, causing it to be the dominant species. This is called a monoculture.

• Utah's wetlands are important for many species migrations, filtration, and nutrient cycling.

• How do Phragmites treatments effect soil nutrients and moisture? How do untreated Phragmites wetlands compare to native dominant wetlands?

Diversity And Community Of Macroinvertebrates In Timpanogos Caves, Utah, Erika Frandsen, C. Riley Nelson

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

The Timpanogos Cave System consists of three caves in American Fork, Utah. In 2003, the National Park Service (NPS) commissioned Dr. Riley Nelson and laboratory students to conduct a survey of the diversity and abundance of terrestrial arthropod species found within the caves. Over the two years they sampled in Timpanogos Caves, they identified 55 species of macroinvertebrates in an unpublished report. In the 20 years since the last sampling, many environmental factors could have changed in these caves, contributing to an overall decrease in both abundance and biodiversity of fauna. Therefore, we repeated the sampling done by the Nelson …

Distinguishing Leukemic Cells Using Fractal Chromatin Patterns And Machine Learning, Abigail Gordhamer, Ryan Cordner, Paul Young

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

One of the most important tests in the clinical laboratory is the Complete Blood Count, which involves identifying the white blood cells in a patient’s blood. The respective counts of the different white blood cell types correlate with various states of health and disease and are critical to diagnosing diseases such as leukemia. Leukemic cells (blasts) are considered especially difficult to distinguish, and it is of the upmost importance that these cells are identified correctly. To aid in the process of leukemic cell identification, we quantified fractal patterns in the chromatin of white blood cells and used the data to …

Achievement Goals And Burnout In Pre-Health Profession Undergraduate Students, Hunter Nelson, Jamie Jensen

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Oral Presentation Honorable

Relevant Background

• STEM majors are saturated with Pre-health students

• There is high demand for academic excellence and high competition

• Medical school programs (Dyrbye, 2016) and health careers (Shanafelt et al., 2022) show a high rate of burnout

• Symptoms of burnout are mental fatigue, less selfsatisfaction, and depression (Koutsimani, 2021).

• Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) may predict burnout (Nadon et al., 2020).

A Survey Of Molecular Diagnostics Education, Kristina Berman, Ryan Cordner, Mary Davis

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) is vital for healthcare, involving the analysis of clinical samples to diagnose and monitor diseases. However, there's a scarcity of courses focused on molecular diagnostics, which could greatly benefit medical laboratory scientists.

The Heteronomy Of Flesh: A Minor Jurisprudence Of The Use Of The Human Dead And Tissues, Joshua David Michael Shaw

PhD Dissertations

The dissertation addresses historical and contemporary legal literatures—generally literatures that have not succeeded in becoming convention (Peter Goodrich)—that assert or rely on the human body’s “jurisgenerativity” (Robert Cover) to evaluate and determine what should be lawfully done with the human dead or tissues. These literatures demonstrate the limits of doctrinal legal methods and conventional jurisprudence which ordinarily deploy concepts of property or personhood. Instead of property or personhood, these literatures require the jurisprudent to attune to the heteronomy of flesh, a law engendered in the materiality of the body decomposing, cut into parts, or as fragments falling away from the …

A Quantum Logic Gate In The Dna Deoxyribose Moiety, F. Matthew Mihelic

Faculty Publications

The deoxyribose moiety of a nucleotide in the DNA molecule can act as a quantumlogic gate, in which the enantiomeric shift between the C2-endo and C3-endo conformations of each nucleotide, occurs within a logically and thermodynamically reversible situation of electron spin qubits, that are coherently held within the topologically insulating DNA crystalline nanostructure, and that are coherently conducted along the delocalized electrons of the pi-stacked nucleotide base pairs. The enantiomeric symmetry between the C2-endo and C3-endo conformations is logically and thermodynamically reversible because it functions as a symmetry-breaking Szilard engine that is effectively built out of the physicality of the …

Emergent Potential Of The Terahertz Cmos Microprocessor, F. Matthew Mihelic

Faculty Publications

The terahertz speed CMOS microprocessor that has been designed by Averoses Incorporated (US11063118B1) utilizes nano-vacuum tube elements with plasma interconnect of those elements, and has the capability to emit, detect, conduct, and analyze electromagnetic signals in the terahertz range. Nano-vacuum tube systems are resistant to ionizing radiation and to high temperatures, and there are emergent potentials of such systems beyond the obvious speed-up of data processing. Such a microprocessor can provide a platform for compact terahertz spectroscopy, especially for organic molecules, and this can also include DNA sequencing and DNA fingerprinting. Another emergent quality of such a system is that, …

Lake Bonneville's Legacy: Genetic Drift And Diversity Loss In Snake Range Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, Tanner Van Orden, Dennis Shiozawa, Peter Searle, Ana Kokkonen, Jonathan Reynolds, R. Paul Evans

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

• Many Bonneville Basin streams have been isolated for 18,000-plus years (Behnke 1976).
• Bonneville cutthroat trout in small streams may have been experiencing genetic drift since the desiccation of Lake Bonneville.
• Small streams in the west desert of Utah and Nevada are at a high risk of genetic drift and diversity loss due to their small size

A Denial Of Personhood: Why Hate Crime Legislation Is Necessary To Assure Proportionality In Punishment, Clare Godfryd

JCLC Online

The term “hate crime” entered the mainstream in the United States during the 1980s, when advocates began to track incidents of bias-motivated violence. Since then, hate crimes have continued to garner significant attention. Advocates and legislators have traditionally justified hate crime law under the “expressive theory,” the idea that the purpose of such laws is to condemn prejudice and express messages of tolerance and equality.

In this Comment, I offer a distinct justification for hate crime legislation. Specifically, I argue that, when a perpetrator targets a victim because of perceived immutable characteristics, the hate crime offender denies the victim’s agency …

The Impact Of Depression Screening On Mental Health Referrals For Pain Patients., Pamela Lynn Irrgang Metz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Diversity In The South Carolina Army National Guard Warrant Officer Corps, Alana Alamon-Scott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Predation On Cognition In Brachyrhaphis Rhabdophora, Elizabeth F. Jenkins, Jerry B. Johnson

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

RESEARCH QUESTION

Does “predation environment” affect the cognitive abilities of the tropical fish Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora?

Using Chimeric Autoantigen Receptor (Caar) T Cells To Eliminate Autoreactive B Cells In Autoimmune Diseases, Abigail Cheever, Chloe Kang, Hunter Lindsey, Mackenzie Hansen, Kim O'Neill, Scott Weber

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

• Graves’ disease (GD) is an antibody-mediated autoimmune disease affecting the thyroid and causes hyperthyroidism
• 4th most common autoimmune disease in the US
• Autoreactive B cells produce anti-TSHR antibodies (TRAbs) which mimic thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and chronically stimulate thyroid cells causing hyperthyroidism
• There currently is no treatment which addresses the root cause of the disease

The Role Of Sirt7 In Beta Cell Function And Insulin Secretion, Trevor C. Kendrick, Jeffrey S. Tessem, Connor Littlefield

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by an inability of beta cells to produce or secrete insulin due to decreasing beta cell mass, a condition induced by beta cell death or overuse. Current treatment consists of daily administration of insulin to diabetic individuals. We have shown that Sirtuin 7 (Sirt7), a deacetylase located in the nucleus, directly interacts with Nkx6.1, a transcription factor essential for beta cell function and proliferation. We have shown that one of the post translational modifications that impinges on Nkx6.1 activity is acetylation. Given Sirt7’s role as a deacetylase, and published reports demonstrating its impact …

Microbial Thiamine And Riboflavin Influence Drosophila Melanogaster Dietary Preference For Yeast, Dean B. Peterson, John M. Chaston

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Naturally prefer a yeast restricted diet over a full yeast diet

• Restricted – 50g yeast and 100g glucose (50g Y:100g G)
• Full – 100g yeast and 100g glucose per (100g Y:100g G)
• Microbes affect this dietary preference for yeast (DPY) through an unknown mechanism
• Common microbes studied with flies are acetic acid bacteria (AAB) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB)

Tardigrade Niche Partitioning, Samantha Hougaard, Byron Adams

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

The two types of Tardigrade (also known as Tardigrade), Ramazzottius and Echiniscus, coexist in the same environment. It could be assumed that they partition their resources by food type to avoid competition. To test this theory, I limited the two tardigrade groups to one food source.

Effects Of Post-Translational Histone Modifications On Transcription Rate, Jacob Hunter, Steven Johnson, Aaron Bohn, Sarah Ricks, Sarah Hodson, David Bates, Steven M. Johnson

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

DNA structure and organization in eukaryotic cells significantly impacts the regulation of geneexpression, cellular properties and overall behavior. At the most fundamental unit of this organization,~147 bp of DNA wraps 1.7 times around a histone octamer core, forming a collective unit called thenucleosome. Positioning and occupancy of nucleosomes around promoter elements of genes is knownto be a strong regulator of transcription in eukaryotic nuclei. Post-translational modifications (PTM’s) tothe protruding N-terminal tails of histone proteins are known to influence chromatin structure and thusgene expression; however, relatively little is known about the residual effect of histone PTM’s ontranscription rate.

Variation In Vital Rates Among Least Chub (Iotichthy Phlegethontis), Lauren Applebee, Mark C. Belk, Nathan St. Andre

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Conservation plans for a species often requires knowledge of population trends. These trends can be difficult to acquire, but one piece of information that can be attained from populations is the catch per unit effort (CPUE). We are trying to use CPUE in a new way to determine population demography for populations of Iotichthys phlegethontis, Least Chub.

Targeting Hsp90: A Novel Approach To Combat Synovial Sarcomas, Peyton Worley, Jared Barrott, Matt Kirkham, Drake Heithoff

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

Synovial sarcomas are rare muscle cancers that have very few targeted therapies. HSP90 is a protein upregulated in this form of cancer and many others. A screening of this cancer was done in vitro, using FDA-approved drugs, showing that HSP90 could be a promising treatment option. A novel HSP90 inhibitor was applied to human and mouse synovial sarcoma cell lines and was analyzed after receiving a drug treatment for HSP90.