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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

High-Throughput Nanoliter Dispensing Device For Biological Applications, Cole Reynolds, Euiwon Bae Dr., J Paul Robinson Dr. Aug 2018

High-Throughput Nanoliter Dispensing Device For Biological Applications, Cole Reynolds, Euiwon Bae Dr., J Paul Robinson Dr.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Pathogen identification is a field that can contribute largely to the prevention of the spreading of illness and disease. In the past, pathogen identification has been a long and arduous process due to the time-consuming processes and steps that requires technician’s time and effort. With new technologies emerging however, screening of bacteria colonies can be done in a quick and high-throughput way. The problem is that using the current methods, bacteria cannot be transferred to petri dishes fast enough to keep up with the new screening methods. The current study focuses on exploring different methods to create an ergonomic device …


Improving Biomanufacturing Production With Novel Elp-Based Transcriptional Regulators, Juya Jeon, Logan R. Readnour, Kevin V. Solomon Aug 2018

Improving Biomanufacturing Production With Novel Elp-Based Transcriptional Regulators, Juya Jeon, Logan R. Readnour, Kevin V. Solomon

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Microbes can be used to produce valuable drugs, chemicals, and biofuels, but their potential has not been fully realized due to low production yields. To improve biomanufacturing processes and yield, we are developing novel, transcriptional regulators using biosynthesis technology in order to improve cellular health and overall production. Our regulator contains elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs), which make ideal sensors since they exhibit a sharp, inverse phase transition to indicators of cell health such as intracellular pH and ionic strength, and external stimuli such as temperature. We hypothesize that ELP can be fused to transcription factors to control expression of target genes. …


Cost-Effective Paper-Based Diagnostic Using Split Proteins To Detect Yeast Infections, Zachary R. Berglund, Kevin V. Solomon, Mohit S. Verma, Moiz Rasheed, Zachary Hartley, Kevin Fitzgerald, Kok Zhi Lee, Janice Chan, Julianne Dejoie, Makayla Schacht, Alex Zavala Aug 2018

Cost-Effective Paper-Based Diagnostic Using Split Proteins To Detect Yeast Infections, Zachary R. Berglund, Kevin V. Solomon, Mohit S. Verma, Moiz Rasheed, Zachary Hartley, Kevin Fitzgerald, Kok Zhi Lee, Janice Chan, Julianne Dejoie, Makayla Schacht, Alex Zavala

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The common yeast infection, vulvovaginal candidiasis, affects three out of four women throughout their lifetime and can be spread to their child in the form of oral candidiasis (thrush). This disease is caused by the fungal pathogen Candida albicans, which is also a major cause of systemic candidiasis, a rarer but deadly disease with up to a 49% lethality rate. Current widely-used diagnostic methods include cell cultures, pH tests, and antibody detection, to assist effective treatment. Despite availability of various diagnostic methods, there is no inexpensive, rapid, and accurate way to detect C. albicans infection. This project aims to …


Targeted Epigenetic Editing Using Optogenetic Tools, Joshua Hahn, Chongli Yuan Aug 2018

Targeted Epigenetic Editing Using Optogenetic Tools, Joshua Hahn, Chongli Yuan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Epigenetics markers, such as DNA methylation and histone post-translational modifications, are modifications to the structure of DNA that impact gene expression without altering the genetic code. Among them, DNA methylation plays a critical role in various biological processes including the differentiation of stem cells, regulation of gene expression, and adaptation to environmental signals. The ability to modify DNA methylation at particular genes in various cell types is thus desirable for engineering specific cell phenotypes. Although technologies exist that can alter DNA methylation at target genes, these techniques lack spatial and temporal resolution and are not able to selectively edit individual …


Neural Coding Of An Auditory Pitch Illusion, Maria Alejandra Barrera, Mark Sayles, Ravinderjit Singh Aug 2018

Neural Coding Of An Auditory Pitch Illusion, Maria Alejandra Barrera, Mark Sayles, Ravinderjit Singh

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Pitch is an important perceptual dimension in audition, supporting auditory object segregation, melody recognition and lexical distinction. Huggins’ pitch, for example, is a phenomenon evoked by two sources of broadband noise presented binaurally with an inter-aural phase shift over a narrow frequency band. Huggins’ pitch and other dichotic pitches have been studied extensively using perceptual experiments. Several models have been proposed to explain and predict the perception of pitch; however, no studies have tried to record in vivo neuron responses to Huggins’ pitch (HP) nor have tried to explain how the HP is coded by neurons. The existence of pitches …