Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Comparing The Microbiomes Of Dental Plaques In 19th Century Ancestral Remains, Ananya Udyaver

Undergraduate Research Posters

During the construction of VCU’s Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building in April 1994, nineteenth century ancestral remains were found in an abandoned well on the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) campus. This well, now known as the East Marshall Street Well (EMSW), is thought to have been used as a disposal location for cadaver dissection for surgical and other medical waste in the past. VCU is now seeking to use DNA sequencing technology to match and assemble bones from each individual for a proper burial, uncover the cultural and historical context in which these people lived, and bring a …

Proposing An Rna Interference (Rnai)-Based Treatment For Human Immunodeficiency Virus (Hiv) By Analyzing The Post-Transcriptional Gene Targeting Of Sars-Cov-2, Hepatitis C Virus, And A549 Lung Cancer Cells, Arjun Jagdeesh

Undergraduate Research Posters

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that infects CD4+ T cell lymphocytes in humans, leading to the development of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if left untreated. While current treatment methods, including antiretroviral combination treatments, effectively limit HIV replication, HIV can evade these treatments due to its high mutation rate. Long-term antiretroviral treatment can also be toxic to patients, meaning patients would benefit from a new mechanism of HIV treatment. RNA interference (RNAi) is an antiviral pathway found in mammals, plants, and insects that involves a small-interfering RNA that is incorporated into a protein complex called the RNA-induced Silencing Complex …

A Patient-Derived Ipsc Model To Study Glutamate Deficiency By Shank-3 Mutation In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tiffany Berry, Courtney Caccia

Biology Student Scholarship

Tiffany Berry ’22, Majors: Biology and Psychology

Courtney Caccia ’22, Majors: Biology and Psychology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Charles Toth, Biology

The use of human stem cell lines derived from persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) provides a unique opportunity to model brain growth and potential to regain brain activity for treatment. Our lab has previously used stem cells to derive 3D cardiomyocytes to examine cardiovascular disease as well as kidney organoids and macrophages to study kidney disease. Using techniques our lab has learned using these stem cell models have prepared us to examine cell communication in mutated neurons. We will …

Modified Ysk12-Mend-Sirna In Dendritic Cells For Cancer Immunotherapy, Syed S. Alam

Undergraduate Research Posters

Tumors may induce tolerogenesis through signaling dendritic cells to produce tolerogenic molecules, such as indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1). Tumor-associated immunosuppression is associated with higher mortality in patients. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) has been shown to silence specific target genes in the target cell. The siRNA associated with these genes could support a gene knockdown of these immunosuppressors and reduce mortality. Delivery of these therapeutic nucleic acids is difficult in vivo because siRNA is easily broken down inside the cell and the bloodstream through present nucleases. Use of liposome polymers has been reviewed extensively in literature. YSK12-C4, a lipid nanoparticle …

Microbial Influence On Alzheimer's Disease, Ashley N. Hamby

The Cardinal Edge

No abstract provided.

Black And White Health Disparities: Racial Bias In American Healthcare, Yasmeen Almomani

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

This paper explores the historical implications of race in American society that have led to implicit racism in the healthcare system. Racial bias in healthcare against Black people is a factor in the health disparities between Black and white people in America, such as the gap in life expectancy, infant death, and maternal mortality. Black people are more likely to report racial discrimination from healthcare providers, which is a reason for the decreased quality of care received. The past justifications of slavery, the Tuskegee syphilis study, and the medical experimentations on Black women are horrifying but were considered acceptable in …

Investigation Of A Novel Mitophagy Regulatory Pathway And Chemical Inducer, Jane E. Craig

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Mitochondria are vital organelles that coordinate cellular energy homeostasis and also have important roles in cell death. Therefore, the removal of damaged or excessive mitochondria through autophagy, a process called mitophagy, is critical for maintaining proper cellular function. Much of the research elucidating the mechanism and regulation of autophagy was performed in yeast cells, so there is still a lot of mystery surrounding how mitophagy is promoted and regulated in mammals in general and in different tissues. The most well understood mechanism involved in mitophagy is the PINK1-PARKN pathway. However, studies often rely on severe mitochondrial damage using CCCP that …

Meaning In Architecture: Affordances, Atmosphere And Mood, Bob Condia, Michael Arbib, Colin Ellard, Brent Chamberlain, Kevin Rooney

NPP eBooks

Abstract: Meaning in Architecture: Affordances, Atmosphere and Mood, began as a public forum about human awareness of building, specifically speaking to the significance of affordances, embodied simulation theory, atmosphere and mood. It is herewith presented in copy form for broader distribution. An exchange between scientists and architects, this symposium was the inaugural Interface event of ANFA (the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, Salk Institute) held 17 April 2018 in the Regnier Forum of APDesign, Kansas State University. The authors for Meaning in Architecture: Affordances, Atmosphere and Mood will escort you to the intersection of deep brain function, as studied by …

Developmental Neurobiology Neu 201, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Study Of Blood Viscosity With Added Sodium Nitrate And Temperature Variance: A Potential Therapy To Regulate Blood Flow After Induced Hypothermia, Brianna Munnich

Pence-Boyce STEM Student Scholarship

The human body has natural systems for vasodilation which are fueled by nitric oxide production, but in cases of cardiac disfunction and stress nitric oxide can be inhibited. In this study, nitric oxide was studied as a mediator for the blood rush experienced from the warming after induced hypothermia. Nitric oxide (NO) was introduced through sodium nitrate, which was aimed to reduce the speed and turbulence of blood flow through interaction between NO and the active site of hemoglobin. A viscometer was used to examine the rate of blood flow, while the temperature was varied to simulate the conditions of …

A Rapid Viability And Drug‑Susceptibility Assay Utilizing Mycobacteriophage As An Indicator Of Drug Susceptibilities Of Anti‑Tb Drugs Against Mycobacterium Smegmatis Mc2 155, Gillian Catherine Crowley, Jim O'Mahony, Aidan Coffey, Riona G. Sayers, Paul D. Cotter

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Background: A rapid in-house TM4 mycobacteriophage-based assay, to identify multidrug resistance against various anti-tuberculosis drugs, using the fast-growing Mycobacterium smegmatis mc² 155 in a microtiter plate format was evaluated, based on phage viability assays. Methods: A variety of parameters were optimized before the study including the minimum incubation time for the drugs, phage and M. smegmatis mc² 155 to be in contact. An increase in phage numbers over 2 h was indicative that M. smegmatis mc² 155 is resistant to the drugs under investigation, however when phage numbers remained static, M. smegmatis mc² 155 found to …

Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Grant Report, Megan Bestwick

Post-Grant Reports

Mitochondria are essential organelles in most eukaryotic cells because of their role in metabolism and the production of ATP by the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway, as well as other key cellular processes. Metal cofactors, such as copper (Cu) and iron (Fe), are incorporated into OXPHOS protein complexes of yeast located within the inner membrane of the mitochondria. Misincorporation or modulation of these available metals in mitochondrial enzymes leads to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are reactive molecules containing oxygen such as peroxides, superoxide, and hydroxyl radicals. Yeast are a good model for studying aging and the effect …

Histology For Cytotechnologists I, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Hyperthermia On Liver Cell Viability, Jada Grant

The International Student Science Fair 2018

Hyperthermia is a treatment for liver cancer where the tumor is exposed to a relatively high heat temperature. This process is designed to make the tumor more susceptible to chemotherapy. My thought process was that if hyperthermia can kill cancerous cells, then there will be negative long term effects on the noncancerous cells surrounding the tumor. The project experimented on Kidney cells because the Kidney and Liver both go through the process of filtration. This means that the Kidney cells should give similar results that Liver cells would. Kidney cells were heated at 40 degrees Celsius for time amounts of …

Cloning Of An Overexpression Vector For The Rare And Uncharacterized Kras Mutant R164l, Julliane Jeanne Negre

The International Student Science Fair 2018

Mutations in the coding DNA of KRAS, which encodes for an active protein in the Ras signaling pathway regulating cell proliferation and growth, may be critical in the development of lung and colorectal cancer in humans. Clinical tests and therapies for cancer specifically target mutations, some of which may cause erroneous prognosis and prescription of cancer therapy posing more danger for patients with unique mutations. Therefore, characterization of non-hotspot mutations is becoming more important, where, KRAS R164L is an existing uncharacterized mutation identified through the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC). The project aimed to clone a pTarget overexpression …

A Humanized Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Model To Elucidate Molecular Mechanism In Disease Pathology, Ragavi Vijayakumar, Maxine Hong

The International Student Science Fair 2018

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), that clinically manifests as an enlarged heart is a highly prevalent cardiac disorder with propensity towards arrhythmia-induced sudden cardiac death. The mechanism of HCM remains poorly defined, necessitating further understanding of the disease for improved therapeutic strategies. As it is challenging to obtain cardiac biopsies from human subjects, using induced pluripotent stem cells technology, we generated cardiomyocytes (CMs) in a dish from HCM patients. These HCM-CMs presented the clinical manifestation in that they were significantly larger in size in comparison to control (healthy)-CMs. Furthermore, gene expression profiling of cardiac ion channels revealed increased transcripts encoding for calcium …

The Effect Of Dna Methylation On Tp73 Expression In Tumorgenesis, Nujuma A. Moussa

Undergraduate Research Posters

Abstract: The Effect of DNA Methylation on TP73 Expression in Tumorgenesis

Nujuma Moussa, Zhixing Yao, Zaki A. Sherif

Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Howard University College of Medicine

TP73 is a member of the TP53 family of proteins that acts as a transcription factor to help regulate cellular distress. This tumor protein may play a dual role as a tumor suppressor and tumor promoter. The TP73 gene is mapped to chromosome 1p36, a frequently deleted region in neuroblastoma and other types of tumors. While mutations in the TP53 gene are commonly known to cause noxious cancers, 30% of cancers …

Biosocial Criminology Versus The Constitution, Karen E. Balter

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The continually emerging field of biosocial criminology provides a basis for productively merging biology with sociological reasonings for criminal behavior. Mainstream research in criminology focuses on environmental factors as the sole reason individuals exhibit antisocial behavior patterns and may ultimately commit crimes. Criminological research has travelled in this direction for decades. The current climate within this community subscribes heavily to the notion that biology has very little to do with why people behave the way they do, and if it did, government control would be the norm. The nature of biocriminology opens a door through which constitutional issues may enter. …

Enduring Chronic Kidney Disease: An Investigation Of Psychosocial Factors And Life Satisfaction In Older Adults Receiving Dialysis Treatment, Bailee Sobotka

Honors Theses

Chronic kidney disease is a condition during which the kidneys begin to shut down and no longer filter blood efficiently. Once the disease has progressed far enough, dialysis treatments are mandatory to sustain life. To further understand how older adults receiving dialysis treatments cope with their disease, psychosocial factors were evaluated to investigate possible correlations with life satisfaction using a Life Satisfaction Index Z (LSI-Z). Expected correlations with life satisfaction were sociability, financial satisfaction, importance of spirituality, and activities of daily living scores. Interviews were conducted with 30 dialysis patients and results were analyzed using various statistical measures. Significant correlations …

The Controversy Of Vaccinations, Nicholas G. Aboreden

The Kabod

Recently vaccination has become a controversial topic. There is a growing number of people who believe that vaccines carry great health risks to patients and therefore refuse to be vaccinated or to vaccinate their children. This ill-informed view of immunizations is beginning to cause serious problems in the United States as growing numbers of disease cases are being seen. A closer look into the science of vaccines and the benefits they have brought, clearly show that not only do vaccines carry very little risk to patients, but they are responsible for the eradication and reduction of multiple debilitating diseases.

The Massasauga Saga: Summary Of The Biology Of Sistrurus Catenatus, M. Dreslik, R. Seigel, Bruce Kingsbury

Bruce A Kingsbury Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

A Quantum Theory Of Consciousness May Require A Paradigm Shift In Biology, Maurice Goodman

Articles

It is often assumed that the known physical laws form a closed system and are complete. It is also assumed that biological theories require no additional principles that are fundamental other than those we already know. Assumptions such as these are acting as a barrier to progress in biological theories and an understanding of consciousness. This paper examines the unexplained inconsistencies among fundamental particles and forces and the fundamental gaps in our knowledge of biology and the cell in particular that may impact on such progress. Also, the laws of quantum mechanics are examined and found to be grossly incomplete. …

Morphometric Analysis Of Left & Right Tonsils In Adult Symptomatic Type 1 Chiari Patients And Healthy Controls, Louis J. Konstan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Historically, CMI has been radiographically defined by cerebellar tonsillar descent below the foramen magnum (FM) more than 5 mm (2). This measurement is typically made with a single sagittal plane T1-or T2-weighted MR image. Studies have obtained additional morphometric measurements to help diagnose CMI, and establish normal values (3,4). These studies were somewhat These studies were somewhat successful in differentiating CMI patients from healthy subjects. However, results from these studies have shown that the standard TD measurement does not necessarily correlate with neurological symptom severity as patients with CMI-like symptoms have been found with a TD of less than 5 …

Development And Evaluation Of A Model For Secondary Evolution Educators’ Professional Development Needs, William L. Romine, Ellen Barnett, Patricia J. Friedrichsen, Aaron J. Sickel

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Professional development (PD) efforts have improved acceptance and pedagogical practice related to the theory of evolution in high school biology teachers. However, these teachers express need for more PD related to evolution. It therefore becomes necessary to understand teachers’ PD needs prior to structuring PD efforts.

Methods

We formulated and validated a model to explain secondary teachers’ PD needs using data from a survey of 276 secondary biology teachers who reported teaching evolution.

Results

In addition to reliable subscales, we found that obstacles to teaching evolution, school and community support for evolution instruction, confidence in evolution instruction, and prior …

Structure-Functional Prediction And Analysis Of Cancer Mutation Effects In Protein Kinases, Anshuman Dixit, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

A central goal of cancer research is to discover and characterize the functional effects of mutated genes that contribute to tumorigenesis. In this study, we provide a detailed structural classification and analysis of functional dynamics for members of protein kinase families that are known to harbor cancer mutations. We also present a systematic computational analysis that combines sequence and structure-based prediction models to characterize the effect of cancer mutations in protein kinases. We focus on the differential effects of activating point mutations that increase protein kinase activity and kinase-inactivating mutations that decrease activity. Mapping of cancer mutations onto the conformational …

Encyclopedia Of Animal Behavior, A. Payne, P. Starks, Aviva Liebert

Aviva E Liebert

The Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior has engaged-with great success-the efforts of many of the best behavioral biologists of the 21st century. Section editors drawn from the most accomplished behavioral scientists of their generation have enrolled an international cast of highly respected thinkers and writers-all of whom have taken great care and joy in illuminating every imaginable corner of animal behavior. This comprehensive work covers not only the usual topics such as communication, learning, sexual selection, navigation, and the history of the field, but also emerging topics in cognition, animal welfare, conservation, and applications of animal behavior. The large section on …

The Antibiotic Revolution, Alyssa Olsen

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin, which revolutionized the way infections were treated. This discovery was revolutionary because it impacted the scientific field, the medical field, the pharmaceutical industry, and all of humanity. Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin sparked the development of antibiotics, which has continued to save people’s lives since the revolution. Thomas Kuhn would qualify the discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming as a revolution because it led to a paradigm shift. Prior to the discovery of Penicillin, patients died from trivial injuries and infections. Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin is revolutionary because it changed the worldview of the …

Scopolamine-Induced Dry Eye Model In Female Rats, Ryan Alderson

Masters Theses

The objective of this study will be to establish, validate, and characterize a dry eye model in female rats induced by continuous systemic administration of scopolamine via Alzet® osmotic pumps for 28 days. This study will use female rats as a model for dry eye and will be implanted with osmotic pumps that will continuously distribute scopolamine or saline systemically over 28 days. Scopolamine will be used to induce the dry eye condition and saline will be used as a negative control. The clinical signs of dry eye will be evaluated by tear volume measurements with sterilized phenol-red thread (FCI …

Med5(Nut1) And Med17(Srb4) Are Direct Targets Of Mediator Histone H4 Tail Interactions, Zhongle Liu, Lawrence C. Myers

Dartmouth Scholarship

The Mediator complex transmits activation signals from DNA bound transcription factors to the core transcription machinery. In addition to its canonical role in transcriptional activation, recent studies have demonstrated that S. cerevisiae Mediator can interact directly with nucleosomes, and their histone tails. Mutations in Mediator subunits have shown that Mediator and certain chromatin structures mutually impact each other structurally and functionally in vivo. We have taken a UV photo cross-linking approach to further delineate the molecular basis of Mediator chromatin interactions and help determine whether the impact of certain Mediator mutants on chromatin is direct. Specifically, by using histone …

Teaching Stress Physiology Using Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Michael Cooper, Shree Dhawale, Ahmed Mustafa

Ahmed Mustafa Dr.

A straightforward and inexpensive laboratory experiment is presented that investigates the physiological stress response of zebrafish after a 5 °C increase in water temperature. This experiment is designed for an undergraduate physiology lab and allows students to learn the scientific method and relevant laboratory techniques without causing significant stress to animals. An additional experimental design and a set of additional questions for lab report are also included.