Life Sciences Commons^™

Amphisbaenian Head Movement And Burrowing Forces In Damp Granular Media, Jacob Newell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Damp granular media is a difficult environment to study because it is both practically complex and it lacks equations which fully describe its behavior. In this study, an oscillatory lateral head movement and its effects while penetrating damp granular media were tested using a robophysical model. This experimental research was inspired by the burrowing behavior of the clade Amphisbaenia, a group of usually limbless squamates that employ a variety of different burrowing behaviors, but it can apply to a wide range of burrowers. This research could help with both human burrowing technologies and the further investigation of animal behaviors.

Sustainability And Biomimicry, Tabitha Cooper

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Standardization of business management systems is a vital part of the economic climate, as it allows for fair play between all competitors and encourages growth. The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) independently provides hundreds of standards ranging through dozens of different fields, providing standards applying to topics from quality management to material composition. Not much is readily available on the topics of ISO 9001, which outlines quality management systems (QMS) ISO 14001, which details environmental management systems (EMS), and their relation to ISO 18457, which explains what composes a biomimetic material or product. A literature review was conducted to gather …

Bite Force And Stress Content Of Varying Tooth Morphology And Jaw Alignment, Emily Newenhisen

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Biting is one of the primary physical actions against a food substrate involved in the process of mastication and consumption. Different shapes of solidified tissue (e.g., teeth, mandibles) are developed based on dietary preferences of the organism to improve mechanical function. Models of various geometric shapes were used to loosely replicate several common biological tooth structures. As there is little research conducted on tooth penetration force in relation to tooth shape, collection of such data was the main focus of the research. Molariform teeth found in herbivores were represented by the ball model, carnivorous needle-like teeth by cone model, cutting …

Immunohistochemistry Of The Zebrafish Retina, Alison Ruf

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The retina is made up of many different essential parts that work together to allow for vision of many different species. Some of these crucial cells and proteins include ganglion cells, bipolar cells, photoreceptors, synaptic markers, such as VGLUT, and receptors that bind glutamate. The basis of this project is to use immunohistochemistry to identify these important aspects of the retina in zebrafish via monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. The goal being to compare specific cells in a control group retina to an experimental group of zebrafish.

Non-Invasive Method For Leptin Supplementation In Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Regan Mcnamara

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

I tested the hypothesis that recombinant leptin protein can be introduced to zebrafish in vivo through non-invasive soaking in a solution containing the protein. One way to study various molecules’ effects in vivo is through intraperitoneal or intracerebroventricular injections during the embryonic or larval stage, which is invasive, difficult to administer, and can have a high mortality rate. 48 hours post fertilization (hpf) zebrafish were soaked in a His-tagged recombinant leptin protein solution at 10 nM and 100 nM concentrations (produced by Genscript). After soaking, zebrafish larvae were washed extensively to remove all recombinant protein on their exterior before homogenization. …

Claw Morphology Impacts Clinging Performance On Rough Substrates, Alexandra Pamfilie

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The digits of anoles and geckos have been extensively investigated for their adhesive pads, which allow them to adhere effectively to smooth surfaces. Many pad-bearing lizards also possess claws, which have been posited as the principal contributor to clinging on rough surfaces. Previous studies have found correlations between habitat use and claw morphology, but whether variation in claw morphology impacts function or not has remained relatively understudied. In addition, it is reasonable to suggest that abrasive wear of the claws may impact clinging ability. I examined both natural and induced variation in the claw morphology of Cuban knight anoles ( …

Effect Of Vaping And Estrogen/Progesterone On Coagulation Of Blood In Danio Rerio: A Literature Review, Kristen Mccausland

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With an increase in popularity among young adults using vaping devices (electronic cigarettes) instead of cigarettes, the effects of these vapors combined with other substances, such as oral contraceptives, is not widely studied. Women who smoke traditional cigarettes while taking oral contraceptives have a greater risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and thromboembolism. Due to similarities between cigarettes and e-cigarettes, further studies need to examine the effects of e-cigarettes while taking oral contraceptives. This literature review discusses the hypotheses associated with the combined use of vaping devices while taking oral contraceptives. Proposed experimentation includes zebrafish as the model organism. The fish …

Plant Hormone Lab Module: Assessing Different Factors To Create The Most Effective Lab, Ahmed El-Kulak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The research project focused on evaluating 3 different factors in creating a plant hormone lab module for Principles of Biology II lab. The main hormone of focus was brassinosteroid. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, brassinosteroids promote cell elongation, cell division, root growth, and seed germination. Three goals were established to create the most efficient lab module possible. First, mutant (bes1,bri1) root length was assessed without addition of brassinolide (BL), a synthetic brassinosteroid. Then, ½ MS and ½ MS + 20% sucrose plates were compared to see which media produced the greatest difference in root growth between the mutant lines. …

Wetland Connectivity And Macroinvertebrate Diversity, Samantha M. Hodgson, Jacob Pollock, Dr. Anne E. Wiley

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Wetlands are important in filtering pollutants from aquatic ecosystems and also serve as habitats for a diverse array of organisms. However, wetland-river networks are often subject to human disturbances such as dyke construction. These decreases in connectivity have the potential to impede movement of organisms and nutrients between habitats.

This study examined how the food web structure and diversity of macroinvertebrate communities differ between wetland sites connected and disconnected to nearby rivers. According to macroinvertebrate surveys in wetlands connected to nearby rivers and dyked wetlands (not connected to nearby rivers), there is an increase in average species richness and diversity …

Measuring Bacterial Growth Using A 3d-Printable Spectrometer, Samuel R. Bunting

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Visible light spectroscopy is a commonly used technique for measuring the growth of bacterial cultures, and growth curves provide broadly important data. However, the equipment and resources required for these experiments has been restricted to higher education and industry due to high cost and sophistication. We have previously reported on an inexpensive, 3D-printable photospectrometer called the SpecPhone. This device utilizes an iPhone as the camera, along with several other, inexpensive additions to make a fully functional spectrometer. Here, the application of the SpecPhone is expanded to the quantification of actively dividing E. coli cultures. Two protocols have been developed; one …

Case Study: Observing The Effects Of Length Of Exposure To Mnv On Mice Colonies, Beau Brown

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Four groups of experimental mice are studied in this experiment following intentional exposure to murine norovirus (MNV). Two groups are exposed to the virus at different points in their lives, and the other two are not infected and studied alongside the other groups as controls.

Past research has indicated that B and T immune cells are not essential to MNV resistance. Additionally, antibody production against MNV has shown to be slow as infection progresses. Thus, the expected results from the experiment are that the mice with longer infections of MNV will have larger quantities of IgG than those more recently …

Factors Affecting Injury History And Their Overall Impact On Athletic Performance In Distance Runners, Trevor Norris

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Distance running is a very precise mechanism of many intricate movements and abilities of the body. The amount of miles that a distance runner must run puts a lot of very intense stresses on one’s body. These stresses often appear at the bone level and lead to many injuries such as stress reactions and stress fractures but also may play important roles in tissue damages such as strains and pulls. In this study, we used division one college distance runners and examined many intricacies between their level of fitness and overall composition. These include looking at imbalances, dominant traits, and …

An Examination Of Mathematical Models For Infectious Disease, David M. Jenkins

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Starting with the original 1926 formulation of the SIR (Susceptible-Infected-Removed) model for infectious diseases, mathematical epidemiology continued to grow. Many extensions such as the SEIR, MSIR, and MSEIR models were developed using SIR as a basis to model diseases in a variety of circumstances. By taking the original SIR model, and reducing the system of three first-order equations to a single first-order equation, analysis shows that the model predicts two possible situations. This analysis is followed by discussion of an alternative use of the SIR model which allows for one to track the amount of sustainable genetic variation in a …

The Effects Of Substrate Roughness In Air And Water On The Gecko Adhesive System, Amanda Palecek

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In an effort to better understand the fascinating gecko adhesive system, scientists have long tested the abilities of the gecko in controlled conditions that mimic the gecko’s native environment. The effects of humidity, environmental temperature, and exposure to water have all been tested. Roughness, however has not been studied in great detail. Surfaces of varying roughnesses are all over the gecko’s natural environment. We tested geckos on hydrophilic silicon carbide sandpapers of varying roughnesses in both air and water to attempt to better study the effects of roughness on gecko adhesion. When tested on the rougher (1 µm) surface, the …