Laboratory and Basic Science Research Commons^™

Efficient Method For Transfer Of Microinjected Eggs To Mouse Ampulla For Generating Transgenic Mice, Guang Wen, Jin Di, Qian Li, Jianling Chen, Ling Jin, Cheng Wang, Sanqing Xu

Publications and Research

Background: The new method described here is highly efficient in transferring microinjected mouse eggs (MEs) through the bursa membrane of a surrogate mother mouse to the ampulla of the oviduct without damaging the blood vessels on the bursa membrane.

Results: This method causes no loss of blood, and it produces newborn pups/founders from approximately 70% of the transferred MEs, because only a small hole is made on the blood vessel–free area of the bursa membrane and ampulla of the surrogate mother mouse. The infundibulum remains intact. The small hole on the bursa membrane/ ampulla may already heal up before the …

Examining The Combined Effects Of Dissolved Oxygen, Temperature, And Body Size On The Physiological Responses Of A Model Macrobenthic Polychaete Species, Capitella Teleta, Kelsey Burns Gillam

Dissertations

While the scientific community is in consensus that coastal systems are threatened by climate change, few climate change studies test the effects of more than one variable directly related to climate change. The dissolved oxygen (DO) levels of the ocean are currently subject to both global warming and eutrophication; 94% of all hypoxia zones are expected to experience >2°C increase by 2035. This dissertation aims to examine how a model organism responds to simultaneous thermal and DO stress involving four levels of DO (100%, 70%, 50%, and 20%) saturation and three temperatures (15°C, 20°C, and 25°C).

The polychaete, Capitella teleta …

Guidelines To Avoid Typical Difficulties According To The Rubric For Experimental Design (Red), Annwesa Dasgupta, Nancy Pelaez

PIBERG Publications

Experimental design is an important component of undergraduate biology education as it generates knowledge of biology. Despite its importance, there is limited information about what students actually learn from designing experiments. Dasgupta et al (2014) reported on the development and validation of a Rubric for Experimental Design (RED), informed by a literature review and empirical analysis of thousands of undergraduate biology students’ responses to three published assessments. The RED is a useful probe for five major areas of experimental design abilities: the variable properties of an experimental subject; the manipulated variables; measurement of outcomes; accounting for variability; and the scope …

The Scripps Research Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Ezana Assefa

Trick to the Treat of Internships and Research

This program is a 10-week internship designed for undergraduates interested in the scientific field to engage in current research. Students have the option of requesting to work under three mentors, one of which they will be paired. Students will work in the lab with the principal investigator and other members of the lab. Along with working in the lab, students in the program will also attend bi-weekly talks/lectures from researchers, grad students, and professionals at TSRI as well as participating in two presentations and a final poster or oral presentation.

Comprehensive Topological, Geometric, And Hemodynamic Analysis Of The Rat Gluteus Maximus Arteriolar Networks, Mohammed K. Al Tarhuni

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The objective of this thesis was to measure the geometric and topological properties of complete arteriolar networks within skeletal muscle, and to use these data as ideal inputs in a computational blood flow model in order to analyze the corresponding hemodynamic properties. Specifically, we sought to measure the levels of structural and hemodynamic heterogeneity exhibited within and between arteriolar networks. Intravital videomicroscopy was used to image and construct photomontages of complete arteriolar networks of the rat gluteus maximus muscle under baseline conditions. Arteriolar diameters, lengths, and inter-connections were analyzed and grouped according to a centrifugal ordering scheme. For all networks …

Influencing Pathways That Cause Metastasis And Stemness In Epithelial Ovarian Cancer, Alyse Lynn Huisken-Hill

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 35 and 74. With 22 thousand new cases and 15 thousand deaths annually ovarian cancer is among the most deadly cancers with a death to incidence ratio of 68%. With 70% of cases High Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma (HGSOC) is the most common type of ovarian cancer and causes 90% of ovarian cancer deaths. 80% of patients have reoccurrence within five years and only 15-30% of patients with recurrent metastatic ovarian cancer respond to current therapies, chemotherapy and surgery. One reason for the high …

Rescuing Perishable Neuroanatomical Information From A Threatened Biodiversity Hotspot: Remote Field Methods For Brain Tissue Preservation Validated By Cytoarchitectonic Analysis, Immunohistochemistry, And X-Ray Microcomputed Tomography, Daniel F. Hughes, Ellen M. Walker, Paul M. Gignac, Anais Martinez, Kenichiro Negishi, Carl S. Lieb, Eli Greenbaum, Arshad M. Khan

Arshad M. Khan, Ph.D.

The Effects Of The Environmental Estrogens Cadmium And Arsenite On Phosphorylation Of Erk1/2 Via Gpr30 In Human Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells, Katarzyna Krauss

Undergraduate Theses

Nanomolar concentrations of both cadmium and arsenite, two environmental estrogens present in cigarette smoke, have been documented in rapidly phosphorylating ERK1/2, a type of MAPK, in the human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) line NHI-1793 in a manner similar to that of estrogen. Pretreatment of cells with a general, nonspecific estrogen receptor antagonist reduced the levels of phosphorylated MAPK, indicating that this phosphorylation event is achieved through use of an estrogen signaling pathway. The specific estrogen receptor involved in this process, however, is currently unknown. To determine whether GPR30, one of the three types of estrogen receptors, is necessary for …

Ocean Acidification And Predator-Prey Relations: Correlating Disruption Of Predator Avoidance With Chemosensory Deficits, Alexandra Fw Sidun, William G. Wright

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

One of the most destructive effects of global climate change is the increased carbon sequestering and consequential acidification of our world’s oceans. The impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms are still relatively unknown, especially effects on behavioral ecology. Avoiding predation has emerged from recent behavioral ecology literature as a critical feature in the life history of a wide array of animal species; experiments on marine fishes suggest acidic water compromises their predator-avoidance abilities. Recent assays in our lab suggest predator-induced behavior is reduced by weakly acidic water. These experiments do not address the potential factor of generalized malaise caused …

The Role Of Oncogenic Kras In Initiation, Progression And Maintenance Of Pancreatic Cancer, Nirakar Rajbhandari

Theses & Dissertations

Pancreatic cancer is a lethal disease that is almost invariably associated with a KRAS gene mutation. Due to a very high frequency of gain-of-function mutations within the KRAS gene, and its proven role in initiation of pancreatic cancer in animal models, mutant KRAS is considered a rational therapeutic target. To determine the potential role of oncogenic KRAS in pancreatic tumor maintenance in vivo, we generated a mouse model with a Doxycycline regulated expression of oncogenic KRAS (KRAS^G12D) in pancreas. Using this reversible model, we demonstrated that the expression of oncogenic KRAS in a Cdkn2a deficient background was …

Application Of Alternative Nucleic Acid Extraction Protocols To Progastro Sscs Assay For Detection Of Bacterial Enteric Pathogens, Erik Munson, Maureen Napierala, Kimber L. Munson, Dorothy Bilbo, Michael A. Schulte

Clinical Lab Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

As an alternative to automated extraction, fecal specimens were processed by investigational lysis/heating (i.e., manual) and by chromatography/centrifugation (i.e., column) methods. ProGastro SSC and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (i.e., STEC) indeterminate rates for 101 specimens were 1.0% to 3.0% for automated, 11.9% for manual, and 24.8% to 37.6% for column methods. Following freeze-thaw of 247 specimens, indeterminate rates were 1.6% to 2.4% for manual and 0.8 to 5.3% for column methods. Mean processing times for manual and column methods were 30.5 and 69.2 min, respectively. Concordance of investigational methods with automated extraction was ≥98.8%.

Rheb1 Expression In Embryonic And Postnatal Mouse, Qi Tian, James L. Smart, Joachim H. Clement, Yingming Wang, Alex Derkatch, Harald Schubert, Michael V. Danilchik, Daniel L. Marks, Lev M. Federov

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

Ras homolog enriched in brain (RHEB1) is a member within the superfamily of GTP-binding proteins encoded by the RAS oncogenes. RHEB1 is located at the crossroad of several important pathways including the insulin-signaling pathways and thus plays an important role in different physiological processes. To understand better the physiological relevance of RHEB1 protein, the expres-sion pattern of RHEB1 was analyzed in both embryonic (at E3.5–E16.5) and adult (1-month old) mice. RHEB1 immu-nostaining and X-gal staining were used for wild-type and Rheb1 gene trap mutant mice, respectively. These inde-pendent methods revealed similar RHEB1 expression pat-terns during both embryonic and postnatal developments. …

Sources Of Ecologically Important Trait Variation In Mosquitofish (Gambusia Affinis And Gambusia Holbrooki), Heather Ann Arnett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of contemporary evolution and eco-evolutionary dynamics is classically defined in terms of genetic evolution, but the actual suite of processes driving contemporary trait change is likely much more complex than often credited. This dissertation considers additional mechanisms of trait change that might be important to an emerging model system for study of contemporary evolution and eco-evolutionary dynamics. Specifically, the research focuses on phenotypically plastic and demographic trait variation in Eastern and Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis and G. holbrooki) facing the major ecological gradient of predation risk. Plasticity experiments employed a common-garden rearing design to manipulate fish …

Isolation And Characterization Of Microbial Community Associated With Diadumene Lineata, The Orange-Striped Sea Anemone, Tiffany Lin, Andrew Weir

Student and Faculty Research Days

The orange-striped sea anemone, Diadumene lineata, is a marine invertebrate that can be found in the Northern Hemisphere. Distribution of Diadumene lineata ranges from Japan to the Gulf of Argentina. This invasive anemone originated from the Pacific Coast of Asia and serves as a host for a diverse microbial community including a photosynthetic alga. The epiphytic bacteria adhere to the outer surface as well as to the gastrovascular cavity of the host. The microbial community associated with Diadumene lineata is relatively unknown. This study attempted to isolate and identify bacteria commonly associated with this invasive marine invertebrate. Diadumene lineata was …

Pedagogy For The Pedosphere, Loren B. Byrne, Rachel K. Thiet, V Bala Chaudhary

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Identification And Quantification Of Zooplankton In Ne Ohio Drinking Water Reservoirs, Michael Vigorito

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, are present in most freshwater ecosystems and are usually harmless. When these algae swell in numbers, they release harmful toxins that can be detrimental to animal and human health, and can destroy ecosystems. For this reason, many scientists and engineers have studied these harmful algal blooms in an attempt to predict, prevent, or control them to keep people and ecosystems safe. One of the variables in this investigation is the presence and quantity of zooplankton. These animals could play an important role in the prevalence of cyanobacteria, but more information is needed to determine what that …

Black Soldier Fly Larvae Manual, Haeree H. Park

Student Showcase

This manual is a resource for fisheries, hatcheries, and farms of all types that wish to exercise a sustainable management system utilizing black soldier fly larvae through the minimization of waste. Although black soldier fly larvae can be fed to small livestock such as chickens and rodents, this project and manual are tailored specifically to freshwater fish in hopes of closing the significant gap and inefficiencies of fish management and subsequent waste throughout the New England coastal area. There is an evident opportunity to harness black soldier fly larvae’s extraordinary bioconversion of organic matter that can lead to not only …