Life Sciences Commons^™

Bridge To Neuroscience Workshop: An Effective Educational Tool To Introduce Principles Of Neuroscience To Hispanics Students, Alexandra Colon-Rodriguez, Chelsea T. Tiernan, Eileen S. Rodriguez-Tapia, William D. Atchison

Peer Reviewed Articles

Neuroscience as a discipline is rarely covered in educational institutions in Puerto Rico. In an effort to overcome this deficit we developed the Bridge to Neuroscience Workshop (BNW), a full-day hands-on workshop in neuroscience education. BNW was conceived as an auxiliary component of a parent recruitment program called Bridge to the PhD in Neuroscience Program (BPNP). The objectives of BNW are to identify promising students for BPNP, and to increase awareness of neuroscience as a discipline and a career option. BNW introduces basic concepts in neuroscience using a variety of educational techniques, including mini-lectures, interactive discussions, case studies, experimentation, and …

Snowshoe Hare (Lepus Americanus) Abundance In Relation To Habitat And Predator Assemblage Across The Apostle Islands, Jarod Reibel

Masters Theses

Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) are a climate sensitive species that have a southern range boundary moving northward. Snowshoe hares are found on the Apostle Islands, Wisconsin which are near their southern boundary and differ by island in vegetative and carnivore communities. The archipelago serves as a natural laboratory to assess how top-down and bottomup forces interact and impact snowshoe hare populations. The objectives of this study were to determine the influence of vegetative characteristics, specifically visual obstruction, and the presence of predators on snowshoe hare abundances across the Apostle Islands. We conducted fecal pellet surveys to estimate hare abundance, measured …

Surveying Eastern Hemlocks In The Northwestern Portion Of Port Sheldon Natural Area For Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Murielle A. Garbarino

Honors Projects

Hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae, HWA) is an insect native to Asia that feeds on the starches of hemlock trees (Tsuga spp.). HWA is invasive to the Eastern United States and can kill Eastern hemlock trees (Tsuga canadensis). Eastern hemlock is the only hemlock species native to Michigan. As of 2019, the invasion of HWA in Michigan is concentrated in the western portion of the lower peninsula. Monitoring is important to determine the extent of HWA within the state and to establish infested areas in need of treatment. This purpose of this project was to do a 100 percent survey …

Impacts Of Shoreline Restoration And Source Of Nutrient Enrichment On Macrophytes And Epiphytic Algal Communities, Paige Marie Kleindl

Masters Theses

Macrophytes and their epiphytic algal communities are integral for optimizing littoral ecosystem functioning in lakes. Epiphytic algae’s placement on the plant’s surface can reduce light and nutrient availability (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus) for the host macrophyte. Macrophyte and epiphytic algal proximity complicates these primary producer group interactions and responses to bioavailable nutrients in the water column or porewater. For example, epiphytic algae may have a competitive advantage over surface water nutrients compared to macrophytes, which may have a competitive advantage over porewater nutrients via root systems.

Muskegon Lake’s industrial history and designation as an Area of Concern prompted shoreline restoration, …

The Implementation Of Qpcr Beach Monitoring Methods: Analysis Of A Multi-Lab Validation Study And The Role Of Environmental Parameters On A Comparison Of Colilert And Qpcr Methods, Molly J. Lane

Masters Theses

Public beaches are routinely tested for potentially pathogenic bacteria to protect beachgoers from possible illness. An EPA approved method, Colilert™, used for testing E. coli in recreational water requires 18 – 22 hours before a result is reported but, recreators have already contacted unsafe water before the beach is closed. My study focused on a U.S. EPA proposed qPCR method (Draft Method C) to quantify E. coli in recreational waters that can provide same-day results. In Chapter 2, I examined the calibration procedure used to validate Draft Method C and compared standard curve intercept and slope estimates calculated with a …

Habitat Use Of The Climate-Sensitive Snowshoe Hare (Lepus Americanus) In The Manistee National Forest In Michigan’S Lower Peninsula, Spencer D. West

Masters Theses

Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) are a wide-ranging lagomorph that are important forest herbivores and a popular game species throughout their range. Across the southern boundary of their geographic range, snowshoe hares are experiencing population declines and possible extirpation due to increased predation pressure driven by climate change induced camouflage mismatch, competition for forage, degraded and fragmented habitat. One method of reversing the negative trends in snowshoe hare distribution is to increase and improve available hare habitat. A specific habitat analysis for local regions will most effectively advise managers how to target habitat management. I radio-collared 11 snowshoe hares in the …

Alternative Reproductive Tactics In Lake Michigan Populations Of Invasive Round Goby (Neogobius Melanostomus): How Fish Increase Fitness By Doing Less, Alex Florian, Steve Smit

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

Understanding the reproductive biology of invasive species is an important step in managing populations. Yet, little is known about the reproductive strategies of invasive round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) in Lake Michigan. For round goby, fertilization occurs externally in nests guarded by large “paternal” males. However, some males pursue alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), where males sneak into a larger male’s nest and fertilize a portion of the eggs, these males are called “sneakers”. We investigated if the proportion of ARTs varies between sites and how that affects population dynamics of round goby. We caught 264 fish from 4 lakes along Eastern …

Optimal Control Applied To Cancer Vaccine Protocols, Brady Fritz

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

This article is written to document the research conducted by student Brady Fritz and mentor Dr. Norma Ortiz-Robinson during the 2019 Student Summer Scholars Program at Grand Valley State University. The mathematical model used was developed by Dr. Ami Radunskaya and Dr. Sarah Hook, and it describes the population of certain groups of cells over time after administration of a certain cancer vaccine. The model was programmed into specialized software that evaluates the optimal control of the vaccine given specified control parameters. The output was then analyzed to properly describe the solution obtained.

Analysis Of Connectivity In Emg Signals To Examine Neural Correlations In Muscular Activation Of Lower Leg Muscles For Postural Stability, Diana Mccrumb

Masters Theses

In quiet standing the central nervous systems implements a pre-programmed ankle strategy of postural control to maintain upright balance and stability. This strategy is comprised of a synchronized common neural drive being delivered to synergistically grouped muscles. In this study connectivity between EMG signals of unilateral and bilateral homologous muscle pairs, of the lower legs, during various standing balance conditions was evaluated using magnitude squared coherence (MSC) and mutual information (MI). The leg muscles of interest were the tibialis anterior (TA), medial gastrocnemius (MG), and the soleus (S) of both legs. MSC is a linear measure of the phase relation …

Analyzing The Role Of A Protein Downregulated After Induction Of Filamentous Growth In Candida Albicans, Jazmine Vasquez, Ian Cleary, Derek P. Thomas

McNair Scholars Manuscripts

Candida albicans is a commensal fungus, normally living with its human host, however, it has the ability to cause invasive infection. Candida albicans is the fourth most frequent nosocomial infection affecting a vulnerable immunocompromised population. Candida albicans exhibits different morphologies including yeast, pseudohyphae, and hyphae. The varying morphological potential of this organism is a virulence trait. Because of this, research has focused on what drives activation of hyphal formation as well as what impedes it. During a filamentation assay, a novel observation pertaining to a subgroup of proteins being downregulated early after germination, was made. In this study, we constructed …

Reconstructing Birth In Australopithecus Sediba, Natalie M. Laudicina, Frankee Rodriguez, Jeremy M. Desilva

Peer Reviewed Articles

Hominin birth mechanics have been examined and debated from limited and often fragmentary fossil pelvic material. Some have proposed that birth in the early hominin genus Australopithecus was relatively easy and ape-like, while others have argued for a more complex, human-like birth mechanism in australopiths. Still others have hypothesized a unique birth mechanism, with no known modern equivalent. Preliminary work on the pelvis of the recently discovered 1.98 million-year-old hominin Australopithecus sediba found it to possess a unique combination of Homo and Australopithecus-like features. Here, we create a composite pelvis of Australopithecus sediba to reconstruct the birth process in …

Defective Transcriptional Programming Of Effector Cd8 T Cells In Aged Mice Is Cell-Extrinsic And Can Be Corrected By Administration Of Il-12 And Il-18, Mladen Jergovic, Heather L. Thompson, Kristin R. Renkema, Megan J. Smithey, Janko Nikolich-Zugich

Peer Reviewed Articles

In response to infection with intracellular microorganisms, old mice mobilize decreased numbers of antigen-specific CD8 T cells with reduced expression of effector molecules and impaired cytolytic activity. Molecular mechanisms behind these defects and the cell-intrinsic (affecting naïve CD8 T cells themselves) vs. extrinsic, microenvironmental origin of such defects remain unclear. Using reciprocal transfer experiments of highly purified naïve T cells from adult and old transgenic OT-1 mice, we decisively show that the dominant effect is cell-extrinsic. Naïve adult OT-1 T cells failed to expand and terminally differentiate in the old organism infected with Listeria-OVA. This defect was preceded by …

Untargeted Safety Pharmacology Screen Of Blood-Activating And Stasis-Removing Patent Chinese Herbal Medicines Identified Nonherbal Ingredients As A Cause Of Organ Damage In Experimental Models, Xinyan Liu, Rui Shao, Xinyue Yang, Guangxu Xiao, Shuang He, Benjamin Feng, Yan Zhu

Peer Reviewed Articles

Blood activation and stasis removal from circulation is a central principle for treatment of syndromes related to cerebral and cardiovascular diseases in Chinese herbal medicine. However, blood-activating and stasis-removing patent Chinese herbal medicine (BASR-pCHM) widely used with or without prescription in China and elsewhere are highly variable in composition and manufacture standard, making their safety assessment a challenging task. We proposed that an integrated evaluation of multiple toxicity parameters of BASR-pCHM would provide critical reference and guidelines for their safe clinical application. Examination of standardized extracts from 58 compound BASR-pCHM in vivo in VEGFR2-luc mice and in vitro in cardiac, …

Measuring Streambank Erosion: A Comparison Of Erosion Pins, Total Station, And Terrestrial Laser Scanner, Daniel T. L. Myers, Richard R. Rediske, James N. Mcnair

Funded Articles

Streambank erosion is diffcult to quantify; models and field methods are needed to assess this important sediment source to streams. Our objectives were to (1) evaluate and compare three techniques for quantifying streambank erosion: erosion pins, total station, and laser scanning, (2) spatially assess streambank erosion rates in the Indian Mill Creek watershed of Michigan, USA, and (3) relate results with modeling of nonpoint source pollution. We found large absolute and relative errors between the different measurement techniques. However, we were unable to determine any statistically significant differences between techniques and only observed a correlation between total station and laser …

Astragaloside Iii Enhances Anti-Tumor Response Of Nk Cells By Elevating Nkg2d And Ifn-Γ, Xingmeng Chen, Xi Chen, Junxiao Gao, Han Yang, Yue Duan, Benjamin Feng, Xin He, Xiaoqun Gong, Hanjie Wang, Xiaoli Wu, Jin Chang

Peer Reviewed Articles

Natural killer (NK) cells play an irreplaceable role in the development of colon cancer, in which antitumor function of NK cells was impaired. Astragaloside III is a natural compound from Astragalus that has been shown to have immunomodulatory effects in various systems. However, few studies have evaluated the antitumor effects of Astragaloside III through stimulating systemic immunity and regulating NK cells. In this study, flow cytometry, immunohistochemical analysis, and immunofunctional assays were performed to elucidate the functions of Astragaloside III in restoring antitumor function of NK cells. We demonstrated that Astragaloside III significantly elevated the expression of natural killer group …

Dynamic Carbon Cycling In Muskegon Lake – A Great Lakes Estuary, Katie Lynn Knapp

Masters Theses

Ecosystem metabolism is the coupling of carbon and oxygen through photosynthesis and respiration. Gross primary production (GPP) is the carbon fixation by photosynthesis, ecosystem respiration (R) is carbon remineralization by bacterial and plankton respiration, and net ecosystem production (NEP) is the balance. Metabolism estimates determine if ecosystem is a sink or source of carbon to the atmosphere. When a lake has a positive NEP, or the GPP:R ratio is greater than 1, it is considered autotrophic and less carbon is being lost to the atmosphere than taken in, whereas if NEP is negative (GPP:R-1d^-1, respectively and the BOD …

Habitat Use And Tributary Occupancy Of The Threatened River Redhorse (Moxostoma Carinatum) In The Grand River, Mi, Usa., Nicholas Michael Preville

Masters Theses

The resiliency of our aquatic ecosystems hinges on our ability to protect the native species that reside within them. The river redhorse (Moxostoma carinatum) is one such example and populations have become low enough to warrant listing by the State of Michigan. Causes of decline include overfishing, habitat alteration, and lack of knowledge of basic life-history attributes including their use of non-spawning habitat and spawning locations. In order to understand the river redhorse’s habitat use we implanted 15 individuals with radio transmitters and tracked their locations over the course of a summer. Tagged river redhorse were found to …

Protein Structure Analysis, Agnieszka Szarecka, Chris Dobson

Peer Reviewed Articles

We describe a series of engaging exercises in which students emulate the process that researchers use to efficiently develop new pharmaceutical drugs, that of rational drug design. The activities are taken from a three- to four-hour workshop regularly conducted with first-year college students and presented here to take place over three to four class periods. Although targeted at college students, these activities may be appropriate at the high school level as well, particularly in an AP Biology course. The exercises introduce students to the topics of bioinformatics and computer modeling, in the context of rational drug design, using free online …

An Assessment Of Periphyton Communities In Five Upper Peninsula Streams, Mi, Aaron Jeffrey Christiansen

Masters Theses

This project quantified lotic periphyton community change from May 2018-October 2018 in five, first and second-order Lake Superior tributary streams. Using periphyton communities, land use, geology, and abiotic factors pertinent to stream ecosystems we evaluated periphyton community succession. Using periphytometers, periphyton communities were collected and identified monthly to quantify community succession. Total phosphorus and total Kjeldahl nitrogen were measured monthly during the study. Depth, velocity, specific conductivity, and canopy cover were measured to quantify some of the physical factors within the streams. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis indicated that the periphyton communities were similar between streams (ADONIS p-value =0.73) but was …

Phylogenetic Analysis Of Palisota (Commelinaceae) Using Chloroplast And Nuclear Regions, Alexandra H. Crum

Masters Theses

Palisota (Commelinaceae) differs from other Commelinaceae genera in androecial and pollen characters, a fleshy berry-type fruit, and anatomical characters. Palisota has been divided into two sections based on uniseriate vs. biseriate seed arrangement. Molecular phylogenetic analyses in Commelinaceae have placed Palisota near the base within the family, although its precise position is unclear. We sequenced chloroplast (matK, rbcL, rps16, and trnL-trnF, psbI-psbK, atpB-rbcL, atpF-atpH and psbA-trnH intergenic spacers) and nuclear (AT103) regions in 15 of approximately 26 species of Palisota and 15 outgroup species. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods, with the …

Using Landscape Genetics To Understand Connectivity Of An Island Population Of Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes (Sistrurus Catenatus), Nathan Kudla

Masters Theses

Populations that experience low levels of gene flow commonly display increased levels of inbreeding, lower genetic diversity, and reduced adaptive potential. Landscape genetics allows for spatial and genetic information to be analyzed simultaneously to better understand how the landscape influences gene flow. The eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) is a federally threatened viper found in wetlands throughout the Great Lakes region. Many remaining populations are small and isolated due primarily to habitat loss. Atypical from a range-wide perspective, eastern massasaugas on Bois Blanc Island (BBI), Michigan live in a relatively undisturbed landscape with a potential for high connectivity …

The Association Between Dietary Niche Variation In Rodents And Climate Change Across The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Hannah K. Vermeer

Masters Theses

Mammalian teeth play a crucial role in food acquisition and breakdown and are therefore closely tied to dietary niche. This study reconstructed the diet of early Paleogene paramyid rodents across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) climatic event in an effort to understand the role of climate in mammalian dietary niche change. Dietary niches were quantified using three dental topographic measures: Dirichlet normal energy, relief index, and orientation patch count rotated. A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted over eight time periods to determine if each of the dental topographic measures (i.e., diet) varied over time. Regression analysis of these measures with climatic …

Evaluating Remote Site Incubators To Support Restoration Of Arctic Grayling In Michigan, Alan J. Mock

Masters Theses

Remote site incubators (RSIs) have been used to rear salmonid fish eggs along streams in the Pacific Northwest since the 1980s. Recently, the successful use of RSIs for Arctic Grayling Thymallus arcticus restoration in Montana has sparked a renewed interest to reestablish the species in Michigan. To support future reintroduction efforts of Arctic Grayling in Michigan, I evaluated RSIs in three Michigan streams during 2018 and 2019 using Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss eggs (as surrogates for Arctic Grayling). My objectives were to: (1) compare hatching success between two different RSI designs (19-L vs. 265-L RSIs), and (2) test whether the …

Biological Invasions On A Large Scale: Investigating The Spread Of Baby’S Breath (Gypsophila Paniculata) Across North America, Sarah K. Lamar

Masters Theses

Invasive species are a serious threat to biodiversity worldwide. While the impacts of invasive species increase annually, many gaps in our understanding of how these species invade, adapt, and thrive in the novel ecosystems into which they are introduced remain. This thesis aimed to add to our knowledge of invasion science, using the perennial forb Gypsophila paniculata as a study system. Gypsophila paniculata is a shrub native to the Eurasian steppe that was introduced into North America in the late 1800’s. After introduction, G. paniculata quickly spread and now occupies diverse ecosystems across N. America. In chapter II of this …

Disruption Of Valosin-Containing Protein Activity Causes Cardiomyopathy And Reveals Pleiotropic Functions In Cardiac Homeostasis, Matthew J. Brody, Davy Vanhoutte, Chinmay V. Bakshi, Ruijie Liu, Robert N. Correll, Michelle A. Sargent, Jeffery D. Molkentin

Peer Reviewed Articles

Valosin-containing protein (VCP), also known as p97, is an ATPase with diverse cellular functions, although the most highly characterized is targeting of misfolded or aggregated proteins to degradation pathways, including the endoplasmic reticulum–associated degradation (ERAD) pathway. However, how VCP functions in the heart has not been carefully examined despite the fact that human mutations in VCP cause Paget disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia, an autosomal dominant multisystem proteinopathy that includes disease in the heart, skeletal muscle, brain, and bone. Here we generated heart-specific transgenic mice overexpressing WT VCP or a VCP^K524A mutant with deficient ATPase activity. Transgenic mice …

Dental Topographic Analysis Of Maxillary And Mandibular Phyllostomid Bat Dentitions: Implications For Dietary Prediction In The Fossil Record, Colin Pellegrom

Masters Theses

Mammalian dental anatomy has evolved in accordance with the physical properties of its diet, and multiple features on each tooth have specific functions related to the breakdown of food during mastication and ingestion. Tooth structure is under tight genetic control and much of the anatomical variation in dentition across species is related to adaptation to a specific dietary regime. This diet-dentition relationship can be exploited to reconstruct mammalian diets from fossil specimens through calculation of dental topographic metrics. To date, most studies of dietary reconstruction using dental topography have focused on mandibular molars; thus, this study seeks to test whether …

A Simplified Led-Driven Switch For Fast-Scan Controlled-Adsorption Voltammetry Instrumentation, Rhiannon Robke, Parastoo Hashemi, Eric Ramsson

Peer Reviewed Articles

Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) is an analytical tool used to probe neurochemical processes in real-time. A major drawback for specialized applications of FSCV is that instrumentation must be constructed or modified in-house by those with expertise in electronics. One such specialized application is the newly developed fast-scan controlled-adsorption voltammetry (FSCAV) that measures basal (tonic) in vivo dopamine and serotonin concentrations. FSCAV requires additional software and equipment (an operational amplifier coupled to a transistor-transistor logic) allowing the system to switch between applying a FSCV waveform and a constant potential to the working electrode. Herein we describe a novel, simplified switching component …

Development Of A Breadfruit Flour Pasta Product, Carmen L. Nochera, Diane Ragone

Peer Reviewed Articles

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is grown throughout the tropics. Processing the perishable starchy fruit into flour provides a means to expand the use of the fruit. The flour can be used to develop new value-added products for local use and potential export. The purpose of this investigation was to develop a pasta product using breadfruit flour, test the sensory qualities of the breadfruit pasta product by sensory evaluation, and evaluate the nutritional composition. ‘Ma’afala’, a popular and widely distributed Polynesian cultivar was used for the study. Nutritional labeling shows that the breadfruit pasta product is high in carbohydrates (73.3%/100 …