Life Sciences Commons^™

Progress Presentation On The Proposed Function Of Protein 4diu Through Bioinformatics Analyses, Melissa Hoff

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Presentations

The BASIL project is a scientific inquiry project that aims to determine the function of a protein from its structure. Biochemistry students completed wet lab work, while structural biology students worked in silico. The purpose of this study was to determine the function of the protein with PDB ID: 4DIU. Bioinformatics analyses were completed using several databases: BLAST, Dali, Pfam, and Moltimate, and imaging of the protein was completed using PyMOL software. The BLAST database aligned the primary sequence with known protein sequences. The Dali database compared protein structure with known structures through global alignment. The Pfam database matched our …

The Classification Of An Unknown Protein 3h04, Britney Dyszel

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Presentations

An unclassified protein in the Protein Data Bank, 3H04, was selected as a protein of interest. Research was performed in silico to gain key information on the structure, sequence, and homology of protein 3H04. This research was guided using the BASIL Project’s protocols on in silico research. Several databases were utilized to study protein 3H04. Based on the data gathered, unclassified protein 3H04 is an aminopeptidase that cleaves prolyl-dipeptidyl peptide bonds through alpha beta hydrolase function.

Great Bay Estuary Subtidal Seaweed And Seagrass Sampling Photographs 2019, David M. Burdick, Gregg Moore

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Led by Dr. Gregg Moore, cover of sub-tidal seaweed and eelgrass was sampled using remote video. Nine images were clipped for each of three sample areas (replicates) for four locations around Great Bay and herein is a record of the photographs.

Great Bay Estuary Intertidal Seaweed Plot Photographs 2019, David M. Burdick

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Records of photographs of intertidal seaweed sampling plots for cover (50 by 50 cm) and biomass (25 by 25 cm) collected by Jackson Estuarine Laboratory staff and volunteers in June, August and October 2019. Many of the photos were taken by Coastal Research Volunteers, a SeaGrant Extension project led by Wells Costello.

Constructing A Series Of Informative Videos And Building Social Media Platforms For Save One Soul Animal Rescue League, Cassandra Munroe

Senior Honors Projects

Approximately six million animals enter shelters each year. Of those six million animals, about two million are killed each year. Due to the lack of spaying and neutering and overcrowding, especially in the southern states of the U.S., the population of animals in high-kill shelters is alarming. Save One Soul Animal Rescue League (SOSARL) is a volunteer-driven non-profit dog rescue founded and based in Rhode Island. The mission of SOSARL is to permanently rehome homeless, neglected, abandoned, and at-risk dogs. The majority of the dogs rehomed by SOSARL are transported from overcrowded high-kill shelters in the Southern U.S. or from …

Germination And Early Seedling Growth Of Vegetables Under Various Salinity Stresses, Waqas Ahmad, Muhammad Haider Ali, Iin P. Handayani Dr., Brian Parr Dr.

Scholars Week

Vegetables are an important part of our daily diet. As salinity levels in soil and irrigation water have increased, biomass production of horticultural crops has been reduced during the past few years. The main objective of this study was to check the effect of different salinity levels (0mM, 25mM, 50mM, 100mM, 200mM NaCl) on the germination percentage and the growth rate of young seedlings of vegetables (tomato, turnip, onion, fenugreek and cauliflower) comprehensively. This experiment was designed through Factorial under Completely Randomize Design (CRD) and the results were analyzed through all Pair-wise comparison of means using Tukey test (P ≤ …

Pornography: Adolescent Brain Development & Addiction, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.

Predictors Of Testosterone In Male African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana), Kaitlyn Campbell

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Male African elephant (Loxodonta africana) populations in zoos suffer from a range of reproductive complications. In particular, insufficient testosterone production can have a detrimental effect on spermatogenesis and fertility. Few studies have explored the potential social, environmental, physiological and physical factors that influence bull testosterone levels in a zoo environment. The present study will collect endocrine and metabolic information from weekly fecal and blood serum samples taken over the course of the six-month study period. Social and environmental data will be collected in a survey provided to the institutions. Results will highlight the key factors contributing to fluctuations in testosterone …

Combined Berry Extract And Bromelain Supplement Improves Blood Pressure, Endothelial Function, And Skeletal Muscle Oxygenation Status In Healthy Young Adults, Tesean K. Wooden

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is associated with the manifestation of increased levels of oxidative stress and inflammation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production may cause damage to the vasculature that can lead to diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerosis. Anthocyanins are the largest class of flavonoid that are found in vegetables and fruit. Therefore, the combination of anthocyanins and bromelain may be an ideal intervention for improving or maintaining cardiovascular health. We sought to examine the effects of this combination of powerful antioxidants within healthy young adults.

Young healthy adults (n=18) volunteered to participate in this study. Participants were randomly assigned …

High-Throughput Sequencing Pipeline Tool Analysis - Staphylococcus Aureus, Justin Fay

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

In this project, I compared the tools used at each step of the high-throughput sequencing pipeline used to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP’s). There are 11 sequences I utilized from my mentor, Dr. Kate Cooper, on this project (pertaining to Staphylococcus aureus) and I used those in the sequencing pipeline. I evaluated different tools by using different ones at different steps of the pipeline. By doing this, I was able to see how close or far the outputs are by only changing one factor. It is also important to note that, with each online tool comes its own sets of parameters. …

Juvenile Hormone Mediation In An Insect With Parental Care Behavior, Jessica M. Rodino

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Juvenile hormone (JH) is a well-known catalyst for hormonal processes in insects. However, the role of JH in insects that exhibit parental behavior is unknown. We investigated the influence of JH on parental behavior in the burying beetle (Nicrophorus orbicollis). In the first experiment, we manipulated the JH production of females via the administration of varying doses of fluvastatin sodium immediately following oviposition. We found that with increasing fluvastatin dosage, the total mass of offspring and number of offspring decreased while at the same time less of the food source was consumed. These results suggest a link between …

The Effect Of Sensory Input On The Temporal Structure Of Center Of Pressure In Stroke Survivors, Samantha Chong

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Stroke is the leading cause of disability that affects 17 million people worldwide. Patients post-stroke suffer from maintaining balance because the brain may not be able to receive or process visual, vestibular and proprioceptive sensory information: all of which contribute towards maintaining stability. Information provided by vision is important for spatial orientation, as it develops an environmental perspective. Proprioception is detected through the stretching of tendons and surrounding tissue and is able to help the brain determine spatial location. The vestibular system provides a sense of balance detecting rotations and linear accelerations through the vestibulo-ocular reflex. The vestibular system is …

Expanding Your Customer Base To Low-Income Populations: Snap Basics & Marketing, Regan Emmons, Kelsey Hall, Roslynn Brain Mccann

Applied Sciences, Technology and Education Faculty Publications

Full representation of a community shopping at farmers markets, farm stands or belonging to a community supported agriculture (CSA) program entails reaching low-income community members. Farmers markets, farm stands, and CSA models that accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and offer SNAP incentive programs, such as Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB), are emerging to help low-income individuals access local products. They also connect growers with new customers. This workshop will provide research-based information on 1. strengthening your marketing techniques, 2. benefits of accepting SNAP and incentives, like DUFB, and 3. how market managers, farm stands, and CSA growers might …

Everyone Loves Gummi Bears! Removing The Intimidation Factor From Research Data Management With Yummy Fun., Dawn N. Cannon-Rech, Jeffrey M. Mortimore

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

How do you get students excited about research data management and attract over 70 participants to a voluntary workshop? How do you get Librarians excited about teaching a research data management workshop to undergraduates? With the promise of Gummi Bears and hands-on fun! During this workshop session, presenters will break down their experience overhauling a faculty workshop into an active learning session to expose students of all experience levels to basic research data management concepts and techniques. Presenters will walk participants through their design process from inception to delivery, highlighting how Gummi Bears lessened students’ intimidation with this complex topic …

The Ethical Implications Of Bioengineering Advancements, Mainstream Media Coverage Of Those Developments, And The Future Of Motherhood, Aliff Abad, Katherine Gregory

Publications and Research

How do the media interpret reproductive interventions that involve genetic testing? When a scientist performed the first known genetic editing on twins, Lulu and Nana, he ignored ethical considerations of CRISPR use. This project provides a content analysis based on a review of popular science and newspaper articles. Our interpretation of these articles suggest that there is a lack of critical understanding of this unethical procedure and a similar attitude towards future genetic developments. While the public is curious about the repercussions of genetic editing, not enough focus is applied to the ethics of conducting such a procedure.

Green Roof System Integrated Soil Methods, Jude R. Vallon, Ivan L. Guzman

Publications and Research

Large metropolitan areas like NYC are seeking to integrate sustainability into retrofitting buildings for the development of green infrastructure. Among the many environmental issues of urbanization, the UHI (urban heat island) effect and storm water runoff are of particular interest when it comes building structures. Individual buildings can contribute towards mitigating these effects with implementation of vegetative rooftops, i.e. Green Roofs. Commercial buildings are currently receiving government incentives and new constructions are required to include green roof installations. However, if existing buildings are considering the addition of a green roof on an existing roof, they have to factor in the …

Seminole State College Cure Research Program: From The Classroom To Collaboration, Maya Patrice Byfield Phd

Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices in Undergraduate Research

It is believed that if students are taught inductively in their first 2 years, it could induce many of them to seek research experiences later in their academic careers. To do this, we initiated an effort to promote engagement in research topics and faculty development. First, collaboration between one faculty member at SSC and a Principal Investigator at the Sanford-Burnham Institute was developed. This collaboration resulted in the creation of several internships at the Institute for students in the newly developed STEM research class. Second, to increase student engagement, the biology department developed a research focused colloquium series. Each fall …

The Effects Of Erosion Structures On Triplett Creek From The Fall Of 2016, 2017, And 2018, Haylee Winters

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Triplett Creek is a tributary of the Licking River. It runs through Morehead, KY, where we are conducting our research.

The creek was modified in the 1970s but construction was halted before the project was complete. Unfortunately, the result was an increase in overflow and subsequent riverbank erosion. The city installed sediment trap rocks in hopes of slowing down the water and decreasing erosion. We are using drones and photogrammetric software to map the area and compare images of the river to determine erosion rates. The new images will be compared to ones taken in previous years to visualize the …

Wwoofing In Northern Europe: A Cross-Cultural Examination Of Food, Farming, And Community, Seth Brawner

Annual Student Research Poster Session

Industrial agriculture has changed the way Americans eat food. More food is available but many eat without knowing where the food came from, or the additives that were used to grow and preserve it. The implementation of this large-scale food system has caused many health issues among the American population. Large-scale agriculture systems, being primarily monocultures, are also the cause of many environmental problems affecting the United States such as deforestation, soil erosion, and the eutrophication of waterways. Small-scale, organic agriculture has the potential to combat these environmental issues while restoring local, more transparent food systems. This summer I spent …

Spanish Immersion And Soil Research At The Monteverde Institute In Monteverde, Costa Rica, Donna J. Riner

Annual Student Research Poster Session

I traveled to the Monteverde Institute in Costa Rica where I participated in a Spanish immersion program and presented soil research findings to members of the Monteverde community. Presenting my research findings to the community in Spanish helped bridge the language gap between myself and the farmers I worked with.

Synthesis Of Ether Alcohols With Varying Catalysts, Hannah Grady, Frida Li, Jeffrey A. Hansen

Annual Student Research Poster Session

It has previously been found that acids and bases are effective catalysts in the opening of epoxides into ether alcohols. Our first goal for this summer was to determine which of the acids and bases available were the most effective. After figuring out which of the acids and bases are the optimal catalysts, our second goal was producing ether alcohols in the shortest amount of time with higher yields. Our final goal was to see how biologically reactive the ether alcohols we produced were.

Opening Of An Epoxide Ring Using Azide To Form A Triazole, Emily Hufnagel, Jeffrey A. Hansen

Annual Student Research Poster Session

The purpose of this research project is to identify and synthesize biologically active compounds that could potentially aid in pharmaceutical research. Once a compound is correctly identified and purified, the sample can be diluted and added to a Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay in order to determine the toxicity of the compound. This experiment was designed using an epoxide compound to form an azide that would eventually form a triazole. In carrying out this project, two main procedures were used in order to create two different compounds that would eventually create the final result. The triazole was not successful in the …

Impact Of The Degree Of Urbanization On Bird Abundance And Diversity, Gabrielle Doyle, Sheila Garcia, Sophie Kidd, Tra'dayja Smith

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

Bird diversity and abundance in Farmville, Virginia. Sampling twice a day, four days a week.

A Toolkit For Managing The Ee (Environmental Education) And Esd (Education For Sustainable Development) Continuum, Attiyya Atkins, John J. Pipoly Iii

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) represent extremes of a global continuum. EE stresses awareness of process about, from and for the environment (Vrasidas 2007). ESD is defined as education empowering communities to acquire best management practices engendering human, social, economic and natural sustainability (UNESCO 2012) and developing their resilience despite environmental changes (Fastenrath et al. 2019). ESD is a critical component of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (UN 2012), which grew from the Millennium Development Goals (UN 2000). Each park agency should develop research-based educational programs that address both EE and ESD. The ESD must promote …

Photosynthetic Response Of Pentagramma Triangularis To Summer Desiccation, Brandon R. Grinovich, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

Ferns are thought to have been some of the first vascular plants to develop, perhaps on the order of 390 million years ago. Since then, ferns have speciated and developed innovative methods of survival especially in relation to water stress. Research conducted in 2016 by Helen Holmlund showed that eight California fern species fell into four primary classes of survival strategies, one of those being resurrection. Pentagramma triangularis is one of the resurrection-type ferns and is endemic to the western coast of the United States. As P. triangularis desiccates during the summer it enacts a physiological response by which it …

Effects Of Invasive Species On Post-Fire Ceanothus Spinosus Seedling Establishment, Nina Duchild, Frank W. Ewers, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

This study compared seedling establishment of the native chaparral species Ceanothus spinosus in two different burn sites at Pepperdine University following the Woolsey Fire of November 2018. One site was a low-density fuel site, and experienced a “cool burn,” and the other site was a high-density fuel site and experienced a “hot burn.” In the low-density fuel site, fire type-conversion had occurred, resulting in a dominance of exotic species. The high-density fuel site was populated by many native fire-following species and chaparral shrubs, exemplifying pristine post-fire conditions. Initially, I hypothesized that seedling success in the cool burn site would be …

Seedling And Resprout Survival Of Three Chaparral Species Following Woolsey Wildfire, Karagan L. Smith, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

Fire is a common natural disaster that effects Southern California. Combined with recent chronic drought, there has been an increase in the damage and frequency of these fires in recent years. Three chaparral species are common to the Pepperdine campus: Malosma laurina, Ceanothus spinosus, and Ceanothus megacarpus. The survival of these native species is essential because they are indicators for the changes that are occurring in our local ecosystem and provide further implications of how our ecosystem responds to natural disaster. Seedling recruitment and resprouting are mechanisms these chaparral species use to reestablish postfire. Postfire data have been recorded …

The Impact Of The Woolsey Fire On The Fungus Botryosphaeria Dothidea, Juan Arguijo

Featured Research

Southern California suffered a six-year drought in 2012 through 2018 during which the laurel sumac, Malosma laurina, experienced water stress and the fungus Botryosphaeria dothidea began to kill this plant, causing a massive dieback of this keystone chaparral species in the Santa Monica Mountains. Botryosphaeria is an opportunistic endophytic fungus that invades the xylem of woody type plants and waits till the plant starts to experience stress to proliferate. In November of 2018, the Woolsey fire burned up to 96,000 acres of vegetation. I ran tests at two sites on the Pepperdine University campus, the Baxter Ridge Site which …

Post-Fire Soil Microbiome Recovery And Respiration In A Chaparral Ecosystem, Mari R. Irving, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

This study characterizes post-fire recovery of microbial and fungal populations adjacent to three keystone chaparral plant species affected by varying burn intensities via systematic measurement of soil respiration. The CO₂ released from soil surrounding Ceanothus spinosus, Heteromeles arbutifolia and Malasma laurina affected by mild, severe or no heat during the Woolsey Fire of November 2018 were monitored and used as an indicator of microbial, fungal, and root activity. We hypothesized that soil which experienced less intense heat would exhibit higher rates of respiration based on preliminary data taken in March 2019. However, the opposite was observed from May through …

Implementation Of A Recovery Fueling Station In A Division Ii Athletics Program: Athlete Perception And Participation, Amanda Field

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

No abstract provided.