Life Sciences Commons^™

Nivolumab Plus Relatlimab For Patients With Relapsed Or Progressed B-Cell Malignancies In Relativity-022, Ajay K Gopal, Philippe Armand, Sattva S Neelapu, Nancy L Bartlett, Stephen E Spurgeon, John Kuruvilla, Kerry J Savage, John P Leonard, Arnold B Gelb, Nasir Ahmed, Shiqi Dong, Sai Praneeth Bathena, Rasika Suryawanshi, Jenny Qun Wu, Sheen Wang, Douglas E Gladstone

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite high response rates, anti-programmed death 1 (anti-PD-1) monotherapy eventually fails in most patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and is ineffective in most other B-cell malignancies. The lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3) cell-surface receptor represents another immune checkpoint that can be targeted to induce remissions in these diseases; dual inhibition of PD-1 and LAG-3 is approved in advanced melanoma. We performed a multicenter phase 1/2a open-label study of the anti-LAG-3 antibody relatlimab (RELATIVITY-022) administered as monotherapy or in combination with nivolumab in patients with R/R B-cell malignancies. We treated 106 patients and no dose-limiting toxicities were observed during …

Extracellular Vesicles In Cancer: From Isolation And Characterization To Metastasis, Drug Resistance, And Clinical Applications, Ancuta Jurj, Doru Paul, George A Calin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cancer progression, along with other hallmarks of cancer, is sustained through bidirectional cell-to-cell communication. This function is primarily facilitated by lipid-rich nanoparticles expelled into the extracellular matrix by stromal and/or malignant cells. These entities, known as extracellular vesicles, contain a vast repertoire of bioactive molecules and hold promise as potential biomarkers and nanovehicles for drug delivery. Intriguingly, the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the functions of extracellular vesicles remain poorly understood. In the present manuscript, we highlight the intracellular and intercellular journey of extracellular vesicles, from their inception to the present day, their implications in various hallmarks of cancer, and …

Food Noise: Definition, Measurement, And Future Research Directions, Emily J Dhurandhar, Kevin C Maki, Nikhil V Dhurandhar, Theodore K Kyle, Sydney Yurkow, Misty A W Hawkins, Jon Agley, Emily H Ho, Lawrence J Cheskin, Thorkild I A Sørensen, Xi Rita Wang, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The term food noise has been recently popularized by individuals managing their weight or adhering to specific diets for health reasons. Anecdotal evidence from patients and clinical observations suggests that food noise involves constant preoccupation with food-related decisions-such as which foods to eat, caloric intake, macronutrient balance, and meal timing-which can become intrusive and unpleasant. Food noise also appears to affect cognitive burden and quality of life, and is being cited as one reason weight-loss attempts fail. The increase in public discourse about food noise has highlighted its potential significance, yet a formal clinical definition and method of measurement of …

Towards Fair Decentralized Benchmarking Of Healthcare Ai Algorithms With The Federated Tumor Segmentation (Fets) Challenge, Maximilian Zenk, Ujjwal Baid, Sarthak Pati, Akis Linardos, Brandon Edwards, Micah Sheller, Patrick Foley, Alejandro Aristizabal, David Zimmerer, Alexey Gruzdev, Jason Martin, Russell T Shinohara, Annika Reinke, Fabian Isensee, Santhosh Parampottupadam, Kaushal Parekh, Ralf Floca, Hasan Kassem, Bhakti Baheti, Siddhesh Thakur, Verena Chung, Kaisar Kushibar, Karim Lekadir, Meirui Jiang, Youtan Yin, Hongzheng Yang, Quande Liu, Cheng Chen, Qi Dou, Pheng-Ann Heng, Xiaofan Zhang, Shaoting Zhang, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Ayyaz Azeem, Mojtaba Jafaritadi, Esa Alhoniemi, Elina Kontio, Suleiman A Khan, Leon Mächler, Ivan Ezhov, Florian Kofler, Suprosanna Shit, Johannes C Paetzold, Timo Loehr, Benedikt Wiestler, Himashi Peiris, Kamlesh Pawar, Shenjun Zhong, Zhaolin Chen, Munawar Hayat, Gary Egan, Mehrtash Harandi, Ece Isik Polat, Gorkem Polat, Altan Kocyigit, Alptekin Temizel, Anup Tuladhar, Lakshay Tyagi, Raissa Souza, Nils D Forkert, Pauline Mouches, Matthias Wilms, Vishruth Shambhat, Akansh Maurya, Shubham Subhas Danannavar, Rohit Kalla, Vikas Kumar Anand, Ganapathy Krishnamurthi, Sahil Nalawade, Chandan Ganesh, Ben Wagner, Divya Reddy, Yudhajit Das, Fang F Yu, Baowei Fei, Ananth J Madhuranthakam, Joseph Maldjian, Gaurav Singh, Jianxun Ren, Wei Zhang, Ning An, Qingyu Hu, Youjia Zhang, Ying Zhou, Vasilis Siomos, Giacomo Tarroni, Jonathan Passerrat-Palmbach, Ambrish Rawat, Giulio Zizzo, Swanand Ravindra Kadhe, Jonathan P Epperlein, Stefano Braghin, Yuan Wang, Renuga Kanagavelu, Qingsong Wei, Yechao Yang, Yong Liu, Krzysztof Kotowski, Szymon Adamski, Bartosz Machura, Wojciech Malara, Lukasz Zarudzki, Jakub Nalepa, Yaying Shi, Hongjian Gao, Salman Avestimehr, Yonghong Yan, Agus S Akbar, Ekaterina Kondrateva, Hua Yang, Zhaopei Li, Hung-Yu Wu, Johannes Roth, Camillo Saueressig, Alexandre Milesi, Quoc D Nguyen, Nathan J Gruenhagen, Tsung-Ming Huang, Jun Ma, Har Shwinder H Singh, Nai-Yu Pan, Dingwen Zhang, Ramy A Zeineldin, Michal Futrega, Yading Yuan, Gian Marco Conte, Xue Feng, Quan D Pham, Yong Xia, Zhifan Jiang, Huan Minh Luu, Mariia Dobko, Alexandre Carré, Bair Tuchinov, Hassan Mohy-Ud-Din, Saruar Alam, Anup Singh, Nameeta Shah, Weichung Wang, Chiharu Sako, Michel Bilello, Satyam Ghodasara, Suyash Mohan, Christos Davatzikos, Evan Calabrese, Jeffrey Rudie, Javier Villanueva-Meyer, Soonmee Cha, Christopher Hess, John Mongan, Madhura Ingalhalikar, Manali Jadhav, Umang Pandey, Jitender Saini, Raymond Y Huang, Ken Chang, Minh-Son To, Sargam Bhardwaj, Chee Chong, Marc Agzarian, Michal Kozubek, Filip Lux, Jan Michálek, Petr Matula, Miloš Ker Kovský, Tereza Kopr Ivová, Marek Dostál, Václav Vybíhal, Marco C Pinho, James Holcomb, Marie Metz, Rajan Jain, Matthew D Lee, Yvonne W Lui, Pallavi Tiwari, Ruchika Verma, Rohan Bareja, Ipsa Yadav, Jonathan Chen, Neeraj Kumar, Yuriy Gusev, Krithika Bhuvaneshwar, Anousheh Sayah, Camelia Bencheqroun, Anas Belouali, Subha Madhavan, Rivka R Colen, Aikaterini Kotrotsou, Philipp Vollmuth, Gianluca Brugnara, Chandrakanth J Preetha, Felix Sahm, Martin Bendszus, Wolfgang Wick, Abhishek Mahajan, Carmen Balaña, Jaume Capellades, Josep Puig, Yoon Seong Choi, Seung-Koo Lee, Jong Hee Chang, Sung Soo Ahn, Hassan F Shaykh, Alejandro Herrera-Trujillo, Maria Trujillo, William Escobar, Ana Abello, Jose Bernal, Jhon Gómez, Pamela Lamontagne, Daniel S Marcus, Mikhail Milchenko, Arash Nazeri, Bennett Landman, Karthik Ramadass, Kaiwen Xu, Silky Chotai, Lola B Chambless, Akshitkumar Mistry, Reid C Thompson, Ashok Srinivasan, J Rajiv Bapuraj, Arvind Rao, Nicholas Wang, Ota Yoshiaki, Toshio Moritani, Sevcan Turk, Joonsang Lee, Snehal Prabhudesai, John Garrett, Matthew Larson, Robert Jeraj, Hongwei Li, Tobias Weiss, Michael Weller, Andrea Bink, Bertrand Pouymayou, Sonam Sharma, Tzu-Chi Tseng, Saba Adabi, Alexandre Xavier Falcão, Samuel B Martins, Bernardo C A Teixeira, Flávia Sprenger, David Menotti, Diego R Lucio, Simone P Niclou, Olivier Keunen, Ann-Christin Hau, Enrique Pelaez, Heydy Franco-Maldonado, Francis Loayza, Sebastian Quevedo, Richard Mckinley, Johannes Slotboom, Piotr Radojewski, Raphael Meier, Roland Wiest, Johannes Trenkler, Josef Pichler, Georg Necker, Andreas Haunschmidt, Stephan Meckel, Pamela Guevara, Esteban Torche, Cristobal Mendoza, Franco Vera, Elvis Ríos, Eduardo López, Sergio A Velastin, Joseph Choi, Stephen Baek, Yusung Kim, Heba Ismael, Bryan Allen, John M Buatti, Peter Zampakis, Vasileios Panagiotopoulos, Panagiotis Tsiganos, Sotiris Alexiou, Ilias Haliassos, Evangelia I Zacharaki, Konstantinos Moustakas, Christina Kalogeropoulou, Dimitrios M Kardamakis, Bing Luo, Laila M Poisson, Ning Wen, Martin Vallières, Mahdi Ait Lhaj Loutfi, David Fortin, Martin Lepage, Fanny Morón, Jacob Mandel, Gaurav Shukla, Spencer Liem, Gregory S Alexandre, Joseph Lombardo, Joshua D Palmer, Adam E Flanders, Adam P Dicker, Godwin Ogbole, Dotun Oyekunle, Olubunmi Odafe-Oyibotha, Babatunde Osobu, Mustapha Shu'aibu Hikima, Mayowa Soneye, Farouk Dako, Adeleye Dorcas, Derrick Murcia, Eric Fu, Rourke Haas, John A Thompson, David Ryan Ormond, Stuart Currie, Kavi Fatania, Russell Frood, Amber L Simpson, Jacob J Peoples, Ricky Hu, Danielle Cutler, Fabio Y Moraes, Anh Tran, Mohammad Hamghalam, Michael A Boss, James Gimpel, Deepak Kattil Veettil, Kendall Schmidt, Lisa Cimino, Cynthia Price, Brian Bialecki, Sailaja Marella, Charles Apgar, Andras Jakab, Marc-André Weber, Errol Colak, Jens Kleesiek, John B Freymann, Justin S Kirby, Lena Maier-Hein, Jake Albrecht, Peter Mattson, Alexandros Karargyris, Prashant Shah, Bjoern Menze, Klaus Maier-Hein, Spyridon Bakas

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Computational competitions are the standard for benchmarking medical image analysis algorithms, but they typically use small curated test datasets acquired at a few centers, leaving a gap to the reality of diverse multicentric patient data. To this end, the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) Challenge represents the paradigm for real-world algorithmic performance evaluation. The FeTS challenge is a competition to benchmark (i) federated learning aggregation algorithms and (ii) state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms, across multiple international sites. Weight aggregation and client selection techniques were compared using a multicentric brain tumor dataset in realistic federated learning simulations, yielding benefits for adaptive weight aggregation, and …

Modulation Of Redox-Sensitive Cardiac Ion Channels, Rawan S. Orfali, Al Hassan Gamal El-Din, Varnika Karthik, Elisanjer Lamis, Vanna Xiao, Alena Ramanishka, Abdullah Alwatban, Osama Alkhamees, Ali Alaseem, Young-Woo Nam, Miao Zhang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Redox regulation is crucial for the cardiac action potential, coordinating the sodium-driven depolarization, calcium-mediated plateau formation, and potassium-dependent repolarization processes required for proper heart function. Under physiological conditions, low-level reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated by mitochondria and membrane oxidases, adjust ion channel function and support excitation–contraction coupling. However, when ROS accumulate, they modify a variety of important channel proteins in cardiomyocytes, which commonly results in reducing potassium currents, enhancing sodium and calcium influx, and enhancing intracellular calcium release. These redox-driven alterations disrupt the cardiac rhythm, promote after-depolarizations, impair contractile force, and accelerate the development of heart diseases. Experimental models demonstrate …

Dr Kinase: Predicting The Drug-Resistance Hotspots Of Protein Kinases, Shaofeng Lin, Chao Tu, Ruifeng Hu, Haiji Wang, Zongcheng Dong, Hui Luo, Lan Kuang, Tao Wang, Liming Wang, Zhongming Zhao, Zhihong Li, Haodong Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Protein kinases (PKs) regulate various cellular functions, and are targeted by small-molecule kinase inhibitors (KIs) in cancers and other diseases. However, drug resistance (DR) of KIs occurs through critical mutations in four types of representative hotspots, including gatekeeper, G-loop, αC-helix, and A-loop. KI DR has become a common clinical complication affecting multiple cancers, targeted kinases, and drugs. To tackle this challenge, we report an upgraded web server, namely Dr. Kinase, for predicting the loci of four DR hotspots and assessing effects of mutations on DR hotspots for PKs in our previous studies, by utilizing multimodal features and deep hybrid learning. …

On The Connection Between Sport And Morality: Does Russell’S ‘Continuity Thesis’ Hold Water?, Cesar R. Torres, Francisco Javier López Frías

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

The connection between sport and morality is a key focus of J. S. Russell’s scholarly work. He rejects the ‘separation thesis’, which claims that sport has a significant degree of autonomy and thus its own set of values separate from those of society. Instead, he supports the ‘continuity thesis,’ which suggests that the moral values at the heart of sport reflect more basic moral values found outside its boundaries. Therefore, for Russell, individuals involved in sport do not leave ordinary morality to enter a separate sporting one. Rather, they engage in a social practice whose core moral principles are extensions …

Aspen Impedes Wildfire Spread In Southwestern United States Landscapes, Matthew P. Harris, Jonathan D. Coop, Jared A. Balik, Jessika R. Mcfarland, Sean A. Parks, Camille S. Stevens-Rumann

Aspen Bibliography

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests are generally thought to impede fire spread, yet the extent of this effect is not well quantified in relation to other vegetation types. We examined the influence of aspen cover on interpolated daily fire spread rates, the relative abundance of aspen at fire perimeters versus burn interiors, and whether these relationships shifted under more fire-conducive atmospheric conditions. Our study incorporated 314 fires occurring between 2001 and 2020 in the southwestern United States and a suite of gridded vegetation, topography, and fire weather predictor variables. We found that aspen slows fire progression: as aspen cover …

Complete Genome Sequence Of Vaginal Swab Isolate Enterococcus Faecalis Umb6935b, Including Two Complete Plasmids, Olive Kolar, Helen Appleberry, Alan J. Wolfe, Alex Kula, Catherine Putonti

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Enterococcus faecalis has been identified as a member of the vaginal community of healthy females, in addition to its association with vaginitis and urinary tract infections. Here we present the hybrid assembly of an E. faecalis strain, UMB6935B, isolated from a vaginal swab from a female with overactive bladder symptoms.

An Integrative Genomics Approach For The Discovery Of Potential Clinically Actionable Diagnostic And Prognostic Biomarkers In Colorectal Cancer, Mark Fertel, Duaa Mohammad Alawad, Chindo Hicks

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Background: Despite remarkable progress in clinical management of patients and intensified screening, colorectal cancer remains the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the United States. The recent surge of next generation sequencing has enabled genomic analysis of colorectal cancer genomes. However, to date, there is little information about leveraging gene expression data and integrating it with somatic mutation information to discover potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Here, we integrated gene expression data with somatic mutation information to discover potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and molecular drivers of colorectal cancer. Methods: We used publicly available gene expression and somatic …

Low Premorbid Iq May Exacerbate The Cognitive Effects Of Apolipoprotein Ε4 (Apoe Ε4): A Multi-Ethnic Cross-Sectional Study From Habs-Hd, Lubnaa B. Abdullah, Zhengyang Zhou, Ney Alex Alliey, Robert Barber, James Hall, Sid O’Bryant

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Introduction: Apolipoprotein allele 4 (APOE ε4) is associated with lower IQ scores during childhood and adolescence, but the influence of APOE ε4 and low IQ on late-life cognition is unknown. This study examines the association between APOE ε4 and cognitive outcomes based on premorbid intellectual ability (pIQ) and ethnic background.

Methods: Participants were drawn from the Health & Aging Brain Study–Health Disparities (HABS-HD), categorized by low (z ≤ −2.00) or average (z = 0.00 ± 1.00) pIQ based on word reading scores. Statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate whether APOE ε4 was associated with the cognitive domains of …

Convergent Reduction Of Olfactory Genes And Olfactory Bulb Size In Mammalian Species At Altitude, Allie M Graham, Elysia Saputra, Bogdan Kirilenko, Jason S Presnell, Arianna Harrington, Chad Huff, Michael Hiller, Nathan Clark

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The invasion of specialized ecological niches can cause drastic changes to selection regimes, resulting in genomic and phenotypic transformation.

Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer In Glycemically Defined New-Onset Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study, Suresh T Chari, Bechien Wu, Camden Lopez, Eva Lustigova, Qiaoling Chen, Stephen K Van Den Eeden, Amethyst D Leimpeter, William Fisher, Amy Wood, Ashley S Alexander, John Valenta, Santhi Swaroop Vege, Erin E Carlson, Kari G Rabe, Phil A Hart, Lu Qian, Ying-Qi Zhao, Nadia Yosuf, Lynn Matrisian, Barbara Kenner, Jo Ann Rinaudo, Anirban Maitra, Ziding Feng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background & aims: The increased 3-year incidence of pancreatic cancer after new-onset diabetes observed in retrospective studies needs prospective validation. It is unknown whether incidence varies by race and ethnicity.

Methods: In a prospective, observational study using active real-time surveillance of electronic health records, we identified 18,838 adults 50 years or older with glycemically defined new-onset diabetes (GNOD). In this interim analysis, we report 3-year Kaplan-Meier estimates of the proportion diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after GNOD (absolute incidence [95% CI]) and associated standardized incidence ratio (SIR) by race and ethnicity, overall 3-year incidence of pancreatic cancer adjusting for racial distribution …

Accounting For Competing Risks In The Assessment Of Prognostic Biomarkers' Discriminative Accuracy, Xinran Huang, Xinyang Jiang, Ruosha Li, Jing Ning

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The discriminative performance of biomarkers often changes over time and exhibits heterogeneity across subgroups defined by patient characteristics. Assessing how this performance varies with these factors is crucial for a comprehensive evaluation of biomarkers and to identify areas for improvement in sub-populations with poor performance. Additionally, the presence of competing risks complicates the assessment of discriminative performance. Ignoring competing risks can lead to misleading conclusions, as the biomarker's performance for the event of interest, such as disease onset, may be confounded by its performance for competing events, such as death. To address these challenges, we develop a regression model to …

Sex-Specific Effects Of Early-Life Unpredictability On Hippocampal And Amygdala Responses To Novelty In Adolescents, Elysia Poggi Davis, Bianca T. Leonard, Robert J. Jirsaraie, David B. Keator, Steven L. Small, Curt A. Sandman, Victoria B. Risbrough, Hal S. Stern, Laura M. Glynn, Michael A. Yassa, Tallie Z. Baram, Jerod M. Rasmussen

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Unpredictable childhood experiences are an understudied form of early-life adversity that impact neurodevelopment. The neurobiological processes by which exposure to early-life unpredictability impact development and vulnerability to psychopathology remain poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated the sex-specific consequences of early-life unpredictability on the limbic network, focusing on the hippocampus and the amygdala.

Methods

Participants included 150 youths (54% female). Early-life unpredictability was assessed using the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC). Participants engaged in 1 or more task–functional magnetic resonance imaging scans between the ages of 8 and 17 (223 total observations) measuring blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) …

Examining The Performance Of An Insect Generalist Reared On Unused Host Plants In Colorado, Maxwell J. Meyer, Kanshita Dam, Kailey G. Hicks, Emma J. Sellers, Mykaela M. Tanino-Springsteen, Jd Reigrut, Dhaval K. Vyas, Shannon M. Murphy

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Dietary generalist insects are important to ecological communities because they are commonly found in many environments and play important roles in ecosystem services like pollination and decomposition. Although dietary generalist herbivores eat a broad range of plant species, regional populations of these species may have significantly narrower or specialized diet breadths. Fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea, hereafter FW) is a dietary generalist at the species level, but we do not know if there is dietary generalism at the population level or how generalism varies across populations. In Colorado, FW larvae feed on only a few plant species, but many plant species …

Investigating The Regulation Of The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Interrenal Axis In Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser Oxyrinchus) Following An Acute Stressor, Liam Doherty, Ciarán A. Shaughnessy, Robert M. Dores

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

This study investigated the response to acute stress in Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) and HPI axis regulation of glucocorticoid production during stress by examining the expression of key genes―corticotropin-releasing hormone (crh), corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor (crhr), proopiomelanocortin (pomca/pomcb), melanocortin 2 receptor (mc2r), and steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (star)―that are associated with hypothalamus/pituitary/interrenal (HPI) axis of bony fishes. Additionally, tyrosine hydrogenase (th1 and th2) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (pepck), found in catecholamine-producing cells in the head kidney of the sturgeon, were investigated as …

Du Undergraduate Showcase Abstracts: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works, Kabe Aberle, Nadia Kako, Kateri Mcrae, Brooke Agulnek, Sky Palmon, Yasmine Ramirez, Francisca Aguirre Beltran, Ashley Juarez, Bridget Kim, Tessa Appel, Sterling Kerr, Spencer Ingley, Gabe Meyer, Robin Tinghitella, Dale Broder, Lily Baeza, Chloe Beers, Julia Coakley, Whitney Kelsey, Sydney Gainforth, Gabi Wing, Audrey Martin, Aaliyah Amore Berry, Brooke Watley, Kiruthika Venkatesan, Rachel Bienstock, Annabella Brotherston, Madison Bryant, Mia Burgener, Emma P. Lieb, Rachel A. Johnson, Jennifer L. Hoffman, Kania Campbell, Kiena Campbell, Courtney Cassidy, Sage Krzyzkowski, Maddox Jones, Skylar Abookire, Luke Hawkins, Sunnah Yoon, Andrea Chu, Yan Qin, Nyah Cubbison, Brian Gearity, Daniel Mcintosh, Mariely Cruz, Edward Garrido, Grady Dionne, Nicole Doris, Lyndsie Salvagio, Ann-Charlotte Granholm-Bentley, Anna Dymov, Hannah Eckert, Gabrielle Welsh, Erica Larson, Charlie Ernst, Anna Zhou, Sarah Watamura, Larissa Fedorovich-Klein, Georgie Fields, Kimberly A. Guevara, Aven Mccall, Ben Peltier, Feruz Yahia, Patrick Flores, Jadyn Floyd, Sophia Forcier, J. Von R. Monteza, Peter Sokol-Hessner, Gwendolyn Geiger, Scott Nichols, Camryn Gunter, Kendal Hengst, Charlie Bednarz, Issy Garside, Addison Baker, Rachel Mina, Brooke Hermanson, Amanda Klingler, William Highfill, Sydney Jaques, Kerstin Lewey, Allison Grossery, Daniel Linseman, Ethan Lim, Jagger Livengood, Owen Mantelli, Gabby Pappas, Abby Mcdonald, Madeleine Dierking, Eve Miller, Emma Loeber, Anna Marlow, Michael Kerwin, Ella Mathews, Hillary Hamann, Khadija Mohamed, Vivian Nguyen, Gabri Notov, Ifunayachi Ogbonna-Ukuku, Sunil Kumar, Charles Baysah, Sarah Olson, Don Sullivan, Anna Paradiso, Jay Parrish, Mira Pronobis, Alisha Pravasi, Kerstin Haring, Diego Ramirez, Christopher Reardon, Juliana Ramirez, Casey Doherty, Ella Kestner, Teagan Weindel, Cate Billings, Pablo Torre-Walter, Lucy Rand, Samantha Reynolds, Mark Siemens, Khadeeja Rashid, Laine Satterlee, Piper Heilbronner, Lily Pound, Ben Whitehurst, Anna Respet, Lizzie Lesoing, Sydney Hertel, Aya Saad-Masri, Brooke Ballenger, Max Proske, Hannah Rosenberg, Ellia Nakahara, Sophia Espinoza, Ivan Woolhouse, Simon Ruland, Gorkem Er, Timothy Sweeny, Melaku Saketa, Michela Schenk, Maren Lynch, Madi Hamm, Grace Schroeder, Michelle Rozenman, Rana Seif, Jackson Hall, Marisela Simental, Daniel Paredes, Aaron Mena, Preston Spaan, Evelyn Stovin, David Andrew Swartz, Anh Tran, Daniel Pittman, Luke Farchione, Emily Boyer, Ukari Verner, Lacey Conrad, Jonathan Velotta, James Weiner, Jagger Gossett, Noah Sherry, Sam Proud, Ben Block, Avi Narayana, Zoey Weiss, Alyssa Wilson, Gabrielle Walsh, David Zonana, Keely Wright, Kena Riveria, Lillybelle Deer, Jena Doom, Elysia Davis, Isabelle Yaremenko, Caitlyn Young

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Abstracts from the DU Undergraduate Research Showcase.

Small Policy Changes Can Accelerate The Adoption Of Improved On-Farm Storage Among Smallholder Farmers, Michael Brander, Zewdu Abro, Menale Kassie, Wolfgang Mittmann, Lukas Stiefel, Matthias Huss

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Reducing food losses is a significant and often overlooked opportunity to bolster global food security and enhancing the resilience and sustainability of global food systems. Food losses are highest in low-income countries where millions of smallholder farming households remain particularly vulnerable. As yet, smallholders’ adoption of loss-minimizing storage technologies, such as hermetic storage bags, remains low. Here, we study the effects of two types of policy options on the adoption of improved on-farm storage in the case of Ethiopia. Using a randomized controlled trial, we show that a small partial subsidy, which mirrors the current fiscal burden on these technologies, …

Planetary Thinking: Hellbenders As Emissaries Of Appalachia, Tierra R. Curry

Critical Humanities

Hellbenders are prehistoric salamanders that have thrived in cold rivers since before the continents divided. Once found throughout Appalachian watersheds, due to exploitation and habitat degradation only a few dozen healthy populations survive. Monstrous yet fascinating, hellbenders were often reviled historically, but in recent decades they have gained iconic status and are now celebrated as charismatic indicators for clean rivers. Hellbenders are symbols of the wild because of their ancient history, elusive nature, and contribution to ecosystem resilience. The same forces that drove the decline of these amphibian sentinels have sacrificed public health in Appalachia. Their demise echoes the struggle …

Preliminary Investigation Of The Association Between Epigenetic Aging Acceleration And Amyloid Biomarkers In Bipolar Disorder, Gabriel R Fries, Steven De La Garza, Ning O Zhao, Andres W Bass, Camila N C Lima, Nobuhide Kobori, Tatiana Barichello, Gustavo Turecki, Paul E Schulz, Breno S Diniz, Jair C Soares

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: Bipolar disorder (BD) has been associated with an elevated risk of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). We assessed AD biomarkers in BD and tested whether epigenetic aging (EA) acceleration is associated with changes in these markers.

Design, setting, participants: Cross-sectional study of n = 58 living individuals with BD and n = 20 age- and sex-matched control participants, as well as analyses of postmortem brain samples (Brodmann area 9/46) from n = 46 individuals with BD.

Measurements: Amyloid beta (Aβ)40, Aβ42, and total Tau levels were measured in plasma from individuals with BD and controls, and Aβ42 levels were measured in …

Emergent Collective Reproduction Via Evolving Neuronal Flocks, Nam H. Le, Michael Levin, Richard A. Watson, Josh Bongard, Christopher L. Buckley

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

This study advances the understanding of evolutionary transitions in individuality (ETIs) through a novel artificial life framework, VitaNova, which integrates self-organization and natural selection to simulate the emergence of complex, reproductive groups. By dynamically modeling individual agents within an environment shaped by predators and spatial constraints, VitaNova reveals mechanisms by which simple agents evolve into cohesive units exhibiting collective reproduction. The findings highlight the synergy between self-organized behaviors and adaptive evolutionary strategies as fundamental drivers of ETIs. This approach deepens our understanding of higher-order biological individuality and offers a new empirical pathway for investigating ETIs, extending current theoretical frameworks.

Positive And Negative Parity States Of 226-236th Isotopes, Ali A. Mezban, Falih H. Al-Khudair

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

The level scheme of the ^226-236Th nuclei is analyzed using the Interacting Boson Model (IBM-1). The ground state band (g. s.-band), beta band (β-band), gamma band (γ-band) have been described in the sd model space. To calculate the negative parity energy levels, the model space is extended to sdf by adding the f-boson (L=3). A sequence of states in energy bands up to 3.5 MeV has been obtained. The decay of negative states below 1 MeV built on an octupole vibration modes is investigated. The transition probabilities in-band and inter-band are calculated using the wave function of the …

Transgenerational Imprints Of Sequential Herbivory Onsoybean Physiology And Fitness Traits, Insha Shaft, Rupesh Kariyat

Entomology and Plant Pathology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sequential herbivory leads to a multitude of effects on plants, influencing processes like growth, physiology, defense, and fitness. However, whether the sequential herbivore attack can elicit any transgenerational consequences is poorly examined. In this study, we show evidence of transgenerational impacts of sequential herbivory by two chewing herbivores, fall armyworm (Spodopterafrugiperda , FAW) and soybean looper (Chrysodeixis includens , SL) on soybean (Glycine max ) progeny. Seeds from the parents subjected to different herbivore sequences (SL-FAW: initial attack by SL followed by FAW and FAW-SL: FAW followed by SL) were used for the transgenerational experiment. Our main hypothesis was that …

Fish Assemblages And Flow Regimes Upstream And Downstream Of Falcon Reservoir, Christopher J. Austin, Christopher Taylor

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

The lower Rio Grande is regulated by Falcon and Amistad dams, as well as series of smaller dams and rock weirs. Several native fish species that rely on a natural flow regime for habitat and spawning are imperiled in the region. We analyzed streamflow discharge above and below Falcon Reservoir to assess potential impacts of dam impoundment on the fishes and flow regime. Fish collections were conducted by seine, and river discharge data was provided by the International Boundaries and Water Commission. We found significant differences in fish assemblages above vs below Falcon Reservoir, and the flow regime was significantly …

Supporting Patients With Advanced Cancer And Their Spouses In Parenting Minor Children: Results Of A Randomized Controlled Trial, Kathrin Milbury, Sujin Ann-Yi, Meagan S Whisenant, Morgan Jones, Yisheng Li, Victoria Necroto, Sania D Yousuf, Mariana Chavez-Macgregor, Larrisa Meyers, Eduardo Bruera

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Patients with advanced cancer and their spousal caregivers who parent minor children report unmet parenting concerns and increased psychological distress. Seeking to address these important supportive care needs, this RCT examined the feasibility, acceptability, and initial evidence for the efficacy of a novel psychosocial intervention.

Patients and methods: Patients with a metastatic solid malignancy and their spouses completed self-reported validated assessments of psychological symptoms and cancer-related parenting outcomes and were then randomized to the parent support intervention or a usual care (UC) group. Both groups were reassessed 6 and 12 weeks later. Dyads randomized to the counselor-led intervention attended …

Improving Genetics Equity: Identifying Women Eligible For Genetic Care Services Using Mammography Clinics In Underserved Areas As Screening Hubs, Darya Kizub, Rachel Bluebond, Sierra Green, Jessica Duckworth, Sreejesh Shanker, Autumn Vara, Banu Arun

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Fewer than 20% of underserved individuals undergo guideline-concordant hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) genetic testing (GT). Our study aimed to determine the proportion of women eligible for HBOC GT using a cancer genetics risk assessment (CGRA) tool at breast cancer (BC) screening clinics in underserved communities and to describe the program's impact.

METHODS: Participants were women who presented for BC screening at The Rose clinics, serving low-income underserved communities in southeast Texas, and completed the CGRA. High-risk individuals received bilingual educational materials and a saliva-based GT kit. Those with a pathogenic variant (PV) or a variant of uncertain …

Pan-Cancer Immune And Stromal Deconvolution Predicts Clinical Outcomes And Mutation Profiles, Bhavneet Bhinder, Verena Friedl, Sunantha Sethuraman, Davide Risso, Kami E Chiotti, R Jay Mashl, Kyle P Ellrott, Jordan A Lee, Christopher K Wong, Kofi Gyan, Aditya Deshpande, Marcin Imielinski, Rohan Bareja, Josh Stuart, Myron Peto, Katherine A Hoadley, Alexander J Lazar, Andrew D Cherniack, Jingchun Zhu, Shaolong Cao, Mark Rubin, Wenyi Wang, Oliver F Bathe, Nicolas Robine, Li Ding, Peter W Laird, Wanding Zhou, Hui Shen, Vésteinn Thorsson, Jen Jen Yeh, Matthew H Bailey, Daniel Cui Zhou, Xianlu L Peng, Mary Goldman, Yongsheng Li, Anil Korkut, Nidhi Sahni, D Neil Hayes, Michael K A Mensah, Ina Felau, Anab Kemal, Samantha Caesar-Johnson, John A Demchok, Liming Yang, Martin L Ferguson, Roy Tarnuzzer, Zhining Wang, Jean C Zenklusen, Paul Spellman, Olivier Elemento

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Traditional gene expression deconvolution methods assess a limited number of cell types, therefore do not capture the full complexity of the tumor microenvironment (TME). Here, we integrate nine deconvolution tools to assess 79 TME cell types in 10,592 tumors across 33 different cancer types, creating the most comprehensive analysis of the TME. In total, we found 41 patterns of immune infiltration and stroma profiles, identifying heterogeneous yet unique TME portraits for each cancer and several new findings. Our findings indicate that leukocytes play a major role in distinguishing various tumor types, and that a shared immune-rich TME cluster predicts better …

Structural Brain Correlates Of Childhood Inhibited Temperament: An Enigma-Anxiety Mega-Analysis, Janna Marie Bas-Hoogendam, Rachel Bernstein, Brenda E. Benson, Samuel E. C. Frank, Kristin A. Buss, Koraly Pérez-Edgar, Giovanni A. Salum, Andrea P. Jackowski, Rodrigo A. Bressan, Anderson M. Winkler

Human Genetics Publications

Objective

Childhood inhibited temperament (cIT) is associated with an increased risk for developing internalizing psychopathology. Neurobiological characteristics identified by structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may elucidate the neural substrates for cIT, but studies are scarce and often focus on particular regions of interest. Moreover, current findings lack replication. This preregistered analysis from the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group examined structural brain characteristics associated with cIT using a comprehensive whole-brain approach.

Method

Temperament assessments (behavioral observations, parent/teacher reports or self-reports on cIT before age 13 years) and MRI data (age at scan, 6-25 years) from international research sites (Europe, North America, South America) …

Cortical Functional Organization In Early Childhood, Jiaxin Tu

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The advent of connectivity-based methods, particularly those utilizing spontaneous BOLD signals, has significantly advanced brain mapping and deepened our understanding of the human brain's functional architecture. While prior research has explored functional organization in early childhood, most studies have focused on coarse, group-level distinctions aligned with adult literature, often within narrow age ranges. This dissertation extends these investigations by examining cortical functional organization in greater detail among healthy infants and toddlers aged 1 to 5 years. Chapter 1 employs spontaneous BOLD signals in sleeping infants and toddlers to derive a group-level functional organization at the resolution of areas and networks. …