Life Sciences Commons^™

Formulation Of Preservation Solutions For Model Generation With In Vivo Tissue Morphology, Holly Pickett

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Bats And Bridges: What You Need To Know, Rusty Yeager, Jason Dupont

Purdue Road School

Bats’ use of bridges is well documented. With more bat species being added to the endangered species list, this is a significant issue for maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement. From defining bat species using specific bridges to monitoring bat use through in-depth analysis, several techniques can facilitate USFWS coordination and ensure negative impacts to endangered species are avoided or minimized throughout transportation improvements. This session will detail these techniques and approaches and educate transportation planners on best practices.

The Effect Of Fatty Acid Synthase (Fasn) Depletion In Pulmonary Metastatic Formation In Breast Cancer Murine Models, Zilin Xianyu

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Candida Auris: Emergence Of A Multi-Drug Resistant Fungal Pathogen, Garrett Bryak, Brooke Tharp, Rachel Zheng

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

Candida auris is an emerging fungal pathogen that poses a significant public health concern due to the species’ increasing resistance to a vast array of FDA-approved antifungal drugs and high mortality rate. The pathogenic fungus has also proven difficult to identify within a conventional diagnostic laboratory and has been responsible for numerous outbreaks in healthcare settings across the globe, as noted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (source). This research effort aims to provide a comprehensive review detailing the history, origin, and biological characteristics of C. auris with particular emphasis on analyzing the nature of C. auris’s multidrug-resistant …

Characterization Of Landfill Leachate For Enhanced Metal Recovery, Hanna Fulford, Amisha Shah, Inez Hua, Nadezhda Zyaykina, Lori Hoagland, Alejandro Rodriguez Sanchez, Umut Bicim

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

Landfills contain a trove of valuable materials, such as critical, precious, and rare earth metals, that are integral to the United State’s economy and national security. The leachate that filters through landfills picks up these materials, which allows for the possibility of recovery. For this research, samples will be analyzed from landfills throughout the Midwestern United States to provide a baseline on water quality constituents, elements present, and microbial activity. Preliminary data for this study was acquired by analyzing samples of landfill leachate from a landfill in northern Indiana. pH readings indicate that the leachate is slightly basic. It also …

The Biological Problems Of Space Travel, Madilyn R. Reid

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

Colonel Richard Covey is a distinguished former astronaut who has logged over 646 hours of space travel. Over the years, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and research scientists in the aerospace industry have become increasingly concerned about the biological complications of space travel. This article goes in-depth on what is already known about the biological problems of being in space and potential solutions to remedy the complications.

Applying Social Science To Bring Resident Stakeholders Into Pollution Governance: A Rural Environmental Justice Public Health Case Study, Sherrie M. Steiner, Jordan M. Marshall, Atefeh Mohammadpour, Aaron W. Thompson

Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture Faculty Publications

The purpose of this engaged public sociology study was to use social science to bring resident stakeholders into the process of governing pollution production in a rural community. The community has cancer clusters. Residents have concerns about direct exposure to pollution production in their neighborhood by a steel recycling plant that has been cited numerous times for environmental violations. The facility has been under voluntary remediation since 2009, but neighborhood residents were marginalized from the governance process. This case study details how social science was used to bring neighborhood residents’ concerns about direct exposure to toxic air pollution into remediation …

Characterization Of Microbial Populations In Landfill Leachate, Umut M. Bicim, Hanna Fulford, Lori A. Hoagland, Alejandro R. Sanchez, Amisha D. Shah, Inez Hua

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

In the United States, municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills remain a potential mining source of recoverable materials, including but not limited to critical, precious, and rare earth metals found in electronic waste. This is possible due to collectible leachate that filters through MSW landfills, carrying metals, nutrients of value, and microbes—some of which may hold key metal bioleaching properties—within. The purpose of this study is to begin analyzing leachate from MSW landfills in the American Midwest to understand the composition of microbial communities within these landfills. Landfill leachate samples sourced in northern Indiana, representing the landfill process during unique times …

The Effects Of Adolescent Chronic Mild Stress: In Female Wistar-Kyoto Rats, Anna Hallowell

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Despite years of research to understand under-lying mechanisms and develop more effective treatment approaches for mood disorders, numerous challenges exist. Many chronic stress models are used to study mood disorders, how-ever the majority have been established with adult males. This is problematic considering that affective disorders are more common in women, and generally develop during late adolescence. Studies have indicated fundamental behavioral, physiological, and neural differences between males and females in response to the same external stressors, furthering a need to develop sex-specific paradigms to accurately model the etiology of mood disorders in females. The Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat strain is …

Increased Aggression And Reduced Aversive Learning In Honey Bees Exposed To Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, Sebastian Shepherd, George Hollands, Victoria C. Godley, Suleiman M. Sharkh, Chris W. Jackson, Philip L. Newland

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

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Abstract

Honey bees, Apis mellifera, are a globally significant pollinator species and are currently in decline, with losses attributed to an array of interacting environmental stressors. Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF EMFs) are a lesser-known abiotic environmental factor that are emitted from a variety of anthropogenic sources, including power lines, and have recently been shown to have a significant impact on the cognitive abilities and behaviour of honey bees. Here we have investigated the effects of …

Implementing And Evaluating A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (Cure) At A Hispanic-Serving Institution, Michele I. Shuster Phd, Jennifer Curtiss, Timothy F. Wright, Camilla Champion, Maryam Sharifi, Judith Bosland

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

We are examining the impact of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) at a land-grant, Hispanic-serving institution in the southwestern United States. Students in our CURE completed one or two extended research projects over a single semester. Our CURE enrolled a high proportion of underrepresented minority students (70.3%), including 60.2% Hispanic students. One year after CURE completion, 31.5% of CURE students had graduated with a STEM degree, and 54.3% were enrolled in a STEM major. Pre- and postcourse surveys of indicators of persistence including scientific self-efficacy, scientific identity, valuing scientific community objectives, and intention to persist showed positive shifts. Impacts …

Cryo-Em Structures Of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus Reveal Mechanisms Of Virus Disassembly And Antibody Neutralization, Saif Hasan, Chengqun Sun, Arthur S. Kim, Yasunori Watanabe, Chun-Liang Chen, Thomas Klose, Geeta Buda, Max Crispin, Michael S. Diamond, William B. Klimstra, Michael G. Rossmann

Department of Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Alphaviruses are enveloped pathogens that cause arthritis and encephalitis. Here, we report a 4.4-Å cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), an alphavirus that causes fatal encephalitis in humans. Our analysis provides insights into viral entry into host cells. The envelope protein E2 showed a binding site for the cellular attachment factor heparan sulfate. The presence of a cryptic E2 glycan suggests how EEEV escapes surveillance by lectin-expressing myeloid lineage cells, which are sentinels of the immune system. A mechanism for nucleocapsid core release and disassembly upon viral entry was inferred based on pH changes and capsid …

Community-Scale Water Treatment Systems In The Dominican Republic, Jonathan Racey, Annabelle Papai, Elise Fischer, Becca Johnson

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

Engagement and Service-Learning Summit: Reciprocal and Sustainable Partnerships

De Novo Sequence And Copy Number Variants Are Strongly Associated With Tourette Disorder And Implicate Cell Polarity In Pathogenesis, Sheng Wang, Jeffrey D. Mandell, Yogesh Kumar, Nawei Sun, Montana T. Morris, Juan Arbelaez, Cara Nasello, Shan Dong, Clif Duhn, Xin Zhao, Zhiyu Yang, Shanmukha S. Padmanabhuni, Dongmei Yu, Robert A. King, Andrea Dietrich, Najah Khalifa, Niklas Dahl, Alden Y. Huang, Benjamin M. Neale, Giovanni Coppola, Carol A. Mathews, Jeremiah M. Scharf, Tourette International Collaborative Genetics Study (Tic Genetics), Tourette Syndrome Genetics Southern And Eastern Europe Initiative (Tsgenesee), Tourette Association Of America International Consortium For Genetics (Taaicg), Thomas V. Fernandez, Joseph D. Buxbaum, Silvia De Rubeus, Dorothy E. Grice, Jinchuan Xing, Gary A. Heiman, Jay A. Tischfield, Peristera Paschou, A Jeremy Wilsey, Matthew W. State

Department of Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We previously established the contribution of de novo damaging sequence variants to Tourette disorder (TD) through whole-exome sequencing of 511 trios. Here, we sequence an additional 291 TD trios and analyze the combined set of 802 trios. We observe an overrepresentation of de novo damaging variants in simplex, but not multiplex, families; we identify a high-confidence TD risk gene, CELSR3 (cadherin EGF LAG seven-pass G-type receptor 3); we find that the genes mutated in TD patients are enriched for those related to cell polarity, suggesting a common pathway underlying pathobiology; and we confirm a statistically significant excess of de novo …

Structural Analysis Of The Bama-B Complex In Acinetobacter Baumannii, Abigael Gichaba, Nicholas Noinaj, Robert E. Stephenson

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

There are 2 types of bacteria, gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Gram-negative bacteria have both a plasma membrane and an outer membrane, while gram-positive only have a plasma membrane. The outer membranes of gram-negative bacteria have outer membrane proteins which are essential for the bacteria’s survival. Also located within the outer membrane is a multicomponent protein complex named the beta-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) complex. BAM is responsible for folding and inserting outer membrane proteins into the outer membrane. This protein complex serves an essential role but not much is understood about its function. In this study, two subunits of the BAM …

Expression Of Carbohydrates Biosynthetic Genes In Developing Soybean Seeds, Jayden Rosen, Karen A. Hudson

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

An essential part of livestock diets is soybean meal, which is a major source of protein, but which also consists of antinutritional carbohydrates. Antinutritional carbohydrates such as raffinose and stachyose lead to irritation to the gut for monogastric livestock as well as unhealthy weight gain. A major objective of soybean genetics is to reduce these antinutritional carbohydrates within the seed and increase the levels of good carbohydrates. This will lead to healthier livestock and better meat quality. To select genes potentially responsible for variation in carbohydrate levels in seeds, the expression of genes encoding several biosynthetic enzymes was measured during …

Targeting Pro-Inflammatory Function Of Microglia Using Small Molecules To Combat Neurodegeneration, Gabrielle C. Williams, Priya Prakash, Gaurav Chopra

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Microglia are the brain’s resident immune cells that are responsible for maintaining homeostasis in healthy conditions. During injury or infection, resting microglia get activated and produce pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1b, IL-1a, IL-6, etc. along with reactive oxygen species like nitric oxide (NO) to combat neuroinflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Inflammation is characterized by the activation of resident-immune cells in the brain called microglia that respond to the eat-me signals released by the toxic amyloid beta peptides as well as the dying neurons in the microenvironment. Recent studies have shown that activated microglia induce neuronal death by secreting …

Zika Virus Can Strongly Infect And Disrupt Secondary Organizers In The Ventricular Zone Of The Embryonic Chicken Brain, Ankita Thawani, Devika Sirohi, Richard J. Kuhn, Donna Fekete

Department of Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV) is associated with severe neurodeve- lopmental impairments in human fetuses, including microencephaly. Previous reports examining neural progenitor tropism of ZIKV in organoid and animal models did not address whether the virus infects all neural progenitors uniformly. To explore this, ZIKV was injected into the neural tube of 2-day-old chicken embryos, resulting in nonuniform periventricular infec- tion 3 days later. Recurrent foci of intense infection were present at specific signaling centers that influ- ence neuroepithelial patterning at a distance through secretion of morphogens. ZIKV infection reduced transcript levels for 3 morphogens, SHH, BMP7, and FGF8 expressed at the …

Microrna-223 Suppresses The Canonical Nf-Kb Pathway In Basal Keratinocytes To Dampen Neutrophilic Inflammation, Wenqing Zhou, Arpita S. Pal, Alan Yi-Hui Hsu, Theodore Gurol, Xiaoguang Zhu, Sara E. Wirbisk-Hershberger, Jennifer L. Freeman, Andrea L. Kasinski, Qing Deng

Department of Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

MicroRNA-223 is known as a myeloid-enriched anti-inflammatory microRNA that is dysregulated in numerous inflammatory conditions. Here, we report that neutrophilic inflammation (wound response) is augmented in miR-223-deficient zebrafish, due pri- marily to elevated activation of the canonical nuclear factor kB (NF-kB) pathway. NF-kB over-activation is restricted to the basal layer of the surface epithelium, although miR-223 is detected throughout the epithe- lium and in phagocytes. Not only phagocytes but also epithelial cells are involved in miR-223-medi- ated regulation of neutrophils’ wound response and NF-kB activation. Cul1a/b, Traf6, and Tab1 are iden- tified as direct targets of miR-223, and their levels …

Water Supply In Developing Countries: Student Experiences In The Dominican Republic, Albert Alwang, Margaret Busse, Audrey Caprio, Marieke Fenton, Jason Hawes, Andrew Kanach, Autumn Mcelfresh-Sutton

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

In 2010, the United Nations established access to safe drinking water as a basic human right; however, many areas around the globe still lack access. The interdisciplinary service-learning course “Water Supply in Developing Countries” was established at Purdue in 2012 to address the complex issue of water insecurity around the world. Over the past five years, the course has produced teams involving students from nursing, engineering, agricultural economics, biology, and food science working together to develop sustainable, community-scale drinking water treatment systems. In partnership with Aqua Clara International, the student team in 2017 established a drinking water treatment system at …

Performing A Genetic Screen To Identify Factors That Promote Lncrna-Dependent Gene Repression, Chrishan Fernando, Cecilia Yiu, Sara Cloutier, Siwen Wang, Elizabeth Tran

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were once thought not to have useful functions in organisms but rather to be products of aberrant transcription. However, roles are being found for lncRNAs in beneficial processes such as controlling gene expression. In some of these cases, lncRNAs form R-loops in vivo. R-loops are nucleic acid structures consisting of hybridized strands of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) as well as the displaced strand of ssDNA. Formation of these R-loops is important for gene regulation by the lncRNAs. However, factors that promote formation of lncRNA R-loops are not known. The gene PHO84 is being …

Assessing The Influence Of Socials Calls On Bat Mist-Netting Success In North America, Karly A. Rushmore, Laura E. D'Acunto, Cheyenne L. Gerdes, Patrick A. Zollner, Joy M. O'Keefe

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Since the introduction of the fungal disease White-Nose Syndrome in 2006, millions of North American bats have perished. For many species, the disease has caused over a 90 percent decline in abundance. With populations fluctuating as the pathogen spreads, biologists require improved methods of estimating bat demographics and abundance. Previous research indicates that mist netting success may be improved with the use of acoustic lures at mist-netting locations. Our research investigates which type of social calls improve the capture rates of North American bats, including the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). Social call types used include antagonistic buzzes, distress calls, …

A Model Of The Use Of Evolutionary Trees (Muet) To Inform K-14 Biology Education, Yi Kong, Ankita Thawani, Trevor R. Anderson, Nancy Pelaez

PIBERG Publications

Evolutionary trees are powerful tools used in modern biological research, and also commonly used in textbooks and classroom instruction. Studies have shown that K-14 students have difficulties interpreting evolutionary trees. To improve student learning about this topic, it is essential to teach them how to understand and use trees like professional biologists. Unfortunately, few currently used teaching frameworks for evolution instruction are designed for this purpose. In this study we developed the Model of the Use of Evolutionary Trees (MUET), a conceptual model that characterizes how evolutionary trees were used by professional biologists as represented in their research publications. The …

Loss Of Myod Promotes Fate Transdifferentiation Of Myoblasts Into Brown Adipocytes, Chao Wang, Weiyi Liu, Yaohui Nie, Mulan Qaher, Hannah Elizabeth Horton, Feng Yue, Atsushi Asakura, Shihuan Kuang

Department of Animal Sciences Faculty Publications

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) represents a promising agent to ameliorate obesity and other metabolic disorders. How- ever, the abundance of BAT decreases with age and BAT paucity is a common feature of obese subjects. As brown adipocytes and myoblasts share a common Myf5 lineage origin, elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the fate choices of brown adipocytes versus myoblasts may lead to novel approaches to expand BAT mass. Here we identify MyoD as a key negative regulator of brown adipocyte development. CRISPR/CAS9-mediated deletion of MyoD in C2C12 myoblasts facilitates their adipogenic transdifferentiation. MyoD knockout downregulates miR- 133 and upregulates the miR-133 …

Prediction Of Local Quality Of Protein Structure Models Considering Spatial Neighbors In Graphical Models., Woong Hee Shin, Xuejiao Kang, Jian Zhang, Daisuke Kihara

Department of Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Protein tertiary structure prediction methods have matured in recent years. However, some proteins defy accurate prediction due to factors such as inadequate template structures. While existing model quality assessment methods predict global model quality relatively well, there is substantial room for improvement in local quality assessment, i.e. assessment of the error at each residue position in a model. Local quality is a very important information for practical applications of structure models such as interpreting/designing site-directed mutagenesis of proteins. We have developed a novel local quality assessment method for protein tertiary structure models. The method, named Graph-based Model Quality assessment method …

Functional And Structural Characterization Of The Mevalonate Diphosphate Decarboxylase And The Isopentenyl Diphosphate Isomerase From Enterococcus Faecalis, Chun-Liang Chen

Open Access Dissertations

Enterococcus faecalis causes a diverse range of nosocomial infections (in wounds, the gastrointestinal tract, the blood stream and the endocardium), and multidrug-resistant strains have become a serious issue across countries. Vancomycin, a FDA-approved drug for the disruption of the bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, has been utilized to treat infectious diseases caused by Enterococci; however, the prevalence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) threatens communities all over the world. We aim at developing novel therapeutic strategies to control bacterial growth of Enterococci, and we focus on targeting two essential enzymes involved in poly-isoprenoid biosynthesis in Enterococcus faecalis; one is the mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase …

Ros Regulation Of Axonal Mitochondrial Transport, Pin-Chao Liao

Open Access Dissertations

Mitochondria perform critical functions including aerobic ATP production and calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis, but are also a major source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. To maintain cellular function and survival in neurons, mitochondria are transported along axons, and accumulate in regions with high demand for their functions. Oxidative stress and abnormal mitochondrial axonal transport are associated with neurodegenerative disorders. However, we know little about the connection between these two. Using primaryDrosophila neuronal cell culture and the third instar larval nervous system as in vitro and in vivo models, respectively, we studied mitochondrial transport under oxidative stress conditions. In vitro …

The Role Of Seed Attributes In Eastern Gray Squirrel Foraging, Mekala Sundaram

Open Access Dissertations

Seed attributes are important predictors of rodent foraging behaviors. I examined the role of seed attributes in eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) foraging behavior from an evolutionary, economic, ecological and biochemical perspective. From an evolutionary perspective (chapter 2), I found that squirrel foraging behaviors are influenced by a combination of phylogenetically conserved and evolutionarily labile seed traits, which supports a diffuse coevolutionary relationship between hardwood trees and squirrels and provides indirect evidence supporting the Janzen-Connell and handling time hypotheses. From an economic perspective (chapter 3), I found that eastern gray squirrels are homogenous with respect to their preferences for seed …

The Relationship Between Protein And Phosphorus Digestion And Retention In Growing Pigs And Broiler Chickens, Pengcheng Xue

Open Access Dissertations

Xue, Pengcheng. Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2016. The Relationship between Protein and Phosphorus Digestion and Retention in Growing Pigs and Broiler Chickens. Major Professor: Dr. Layi Adeola. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between protein and P digestion and retention in growing pigs and broiler chickens. The methodology of determining the digestibility of AA and P and the effect of dietary N and P on the digestion and retention of these two nutrients were investigated.

An experiment was conducted in growing pigs to investigate the additivity of AID or SID of CP and AA in mixed …

Synthesis And Performance Of Novel Supramolecular Tools For Single-Particle Cryogenic Electron Microscopy And Drug And Gene Delivery, Kyle J. Wright

Open Access Dissertations

High-resolution biomacromolecular structure elucidation is fundamentally important to structure-based drug design and basic research into complex biochemical processes. Cryo-EM is an emerging alternative to XRD and NMR that is complementary in many ways relative to XRD and NMR. Materials approaches to cryo-EM are anticipated to greatly facilitate the cryo-EM process, allowing progress toward a more high-throughput application of cryo-EM to address challenges in structural biology. ^ Various affinity-based approaches inspired by approaches previously introduced for 2D crystallization were developed for facilitation of cryo-EM. A library of affinity lipopolymer constructs were synthesized consisting of lipopolymers of various PEG molecular weights conjugated …