Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Elimination Of Acoustical Noise For Stm Examination Of Pentacene Crystallization On Si (001), William Myers, Mark Bowling

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Organic electronics are used in traditional solar cells and also in flexible electronics. Unfortunately, the conductivities of organic semiconductors are significantly lower than their inorganic counterparts. This project examines crystallization by directed selfassembly of the organic molecules via a surface reconstruction as a method to increase conductivity. The crystallization is characterized by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). In order to achieve optimal STM images, this work examined: (1) noise isolation, (2) etching sharp STM tips and (3) achieving reconstructed Si surface. The STM is housed in a glovebox to keep the surface reconstructions and organic molecules from degrading. However, acoustical noise …

Synchronization Of Cell Growth Makes Capture Of G2 Phase Cells Possible, Maryam Assar, Noopur Joshi

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

During meiosis, homologous chromosomes, one set maternal and the other set paternal, pair with one another. Pairing is a prerequisite for crossing over, where allelic regions on homologs break and recombine with the corresponding homolog. This crossing over results in recombinant chromosomes that in turn increase genetic diversity. What causes the homologs to pair at specific sites is unknown. We are investigating whether specific DNA sequences are involved in pairing. Our first step to identify pairing sites involves mitotic cells of budding yeast in order to isolate pairing regions in sister chromatids. Mitotic cells are used instead of meiotic cells …

Identification Of Factors That Mediate Strand Exchange During Early Meiosis At Low Double Strand Break Levels, Isaac Kuragayla, Rima Sandhu

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Genetic recombination is essential in order to create diversity amongst all of the genetic information. Crossovers also contribute to segregation of homologous chromosomes to opposite spindle poles during the first meiotic division. Meiotic strand exchange in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, budding yeast, aims to diversify genetic information in the resulting gametes which in budding yeast are called spores. While Dmc1 and Rad51 are two proteins that are known to play a role in double strand break (DSB) repair, the exact function of Rad51 is still unclear. It is known that Rad51 is responsible for strand exchange in mitosis, but it is still …

Biostatistical Analysis On The Effects Of The Circadian Clock & Glucose Genes On Different Feeding Regimens, Rana Faraj, Nikkhil Velingkaar

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Circadian clocks are internal biological systems that control many physiological processes. The circadian clock is considered to be the master regulator of metabolism in mammals. The molecular metabolism is not very well known. The circadian clock regulated expression in metabolic enzymes and in turn, diet also regulates circadian clock on a molecular level. To better understand the interaction between circadian clock and metabolism, mice were subjected to different feeding regimens and metabolic tissue, such as liver and skeletal muscles, have been collected across the circadian cycle. Expression of genes have been analyzed in the liver using RT-QPCR. Large set of …

Understanding The Expression And Trafficking Of Plasmodium Falciparum Maurer’S Clefts Proteins, Sophia Degeorgia, Katharine Komisarz, Ashka Patel, Raghavendra Yadavalli

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Malaria is a potentially fatal disease caused by parasites in the genus Plasmodium. Of the five species that cause human malaria, P. falciparum causes an estimated 1 million deaths annually, particularly in young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Plasmodium falciparum is most commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. After invasion into human red blood cells, parasite induced transport structures known as Maurer's clefts, are formed within red cells. In previous studies, two Maurer's clefts proteins were identified; an approximately 130 kDa peripheral membrane protein and a 20-kDa integral membrane protein. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy identified both proteins …

Effect Of Calorie Restriction On Circadian Rhythms Of Glycolytic Enzymes In Mice, Enas A. Muhammad, Artem Astafev, Kuldeep Makwana

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Multicellular and unicellular organisms have all proven to exhibit circadian rhythms which persist over approximately 24 hours. This internal time keeping system is responsible for regulating the body's biological functions. It has been known that calorie restriction effects circadian rhythms by causing a response in clock gene expression. These clock genes react to food intake and become either upregulated or downregulated accordingly. With glycolysis being a biological pathway that occurs in most organisms, measuring glycolytic gene expression in the liver tissue of young male mice becomes of interest. More specifically, hexokinase, PFK-1, and pyruvate kinase are the enzymes of interest. …

Expression Of Recombinant Proteins In Bacteria For Antibody Production, John Sabljic, Anton Denisyuk, Hallie Schmolz, Olivera Prica

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei causes fatal African trypanosomiasis in humans and nagana in cattle. Transmitted by the tsetse fly, T. brucei proliferates in the bloodstream of its mammalian host and evades the host's immune response by regularly switching its major surface antigen, VSG, which forms a thick coat on its cell membrane. VSGs are exclusively expressed from sub-telomeric regions of the T. brucei genome in a strictly monoallelic fashion. Telomeres, DNA-protein complexes located at chromosome ends, help maintain chromosome stability and integrity. We have also found that telomere proteins are important for regulating VSG expression and switching. We are …

The Identification Of Anti-Cancer Molecular Targets Of Cox-2 Inhibitor Nimesulide, Yuridia Olivera Ortiz, Nethrie D. Idippily

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs which were primarily used for the treatment inflammation and pain have also shown anti-cancer activity in many studies. The mechanism of action of NSAIDs in cancer may involve cyclooxygenase (COX) dependent or independent pathways. According to studies, COX-2 is overexpressed in several cancers such as prostate, breast, nonsmall-cell lung, colon, and pancreas. Nimesulide is an NSAID with COX-2 inhibitory activity and investigations show that it could induce apoptosis in cancer. Previously, a library of compounds was synthesized using Nimesulide as a lead compound. However, they displayed different molecular targets: tubulin and heat shock protein 27 (HSP27). …

Light Scattering Characterization Of Elastin-Like Polypeptide Trimer Micelles, Ilona Tsuper, Daniel Terrano, Adam Maraschky

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Elastin-Like Polypeptides (ELP) can be used to form thermo-reversible vehicles for drug delivery systems. The ELP nanoparticles are composed of three-armed star polypeptides. Each of the three arms extending from the negatively charged foldon domain includes 20 repeats of the (GVGVP) amino acid sequence. The ELP polymer chains are soluble at room temperature and become insoluble at the transition temperature (close to 50 oC), forming micelles. The size and shape of the micelle is dependent on the temperature and the pH of solution, along with the concentration of the Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) solvent. The technique of Depolarized Dynamic Light …

Variation Of Bone Microarchitecture Within And Among Contemporaneous Species Of Fossil Horses: Feasibility, Emily A. Edwards

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Mesohippus, Miohippus, and Merychippus are extinct horse species that date back fifteen to thirty million years ago, which spanned over three time periods in North America. Each of the horses habituated different terrains from wet to dry. The third metacarpal became the prominent one-toe of horse evolution and is the specimen of this study. The aim is to determine if reorientation, segmentation, correcting size differences, and isolation are feasible. Horse fossils are extensive, documented, and are used as an analogous fossil lineage to humans for this study. Imaging of the third metacarpal was accomplished by micro-CT scanning with a focus …

Elimination Of Acoustic Noise In Stm Analysis Of Polymer Crystallization On Au (111), Mark Bowling, William Myers

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Organic molecules offer a potentially cheap and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional silicon based electronics. The main limitation is that they are not as conductive as their inorganic counter parts. By crystalizing organic molecules, it is possible to increase the conductivity so that they can be more competitive with silicon electronics. This project examines the crystallization of polymers through selfassembly on the Au(111) surface reconstruction. The success of the crystallization is characterized with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In order to achieve high resolution STM images, we examined acoustic isolation by enclosing the microscope within a rubber-coated box, which was not …

Which Clouds Are Important: Variation Of Cloud Size Distribution Functions In Large Eddy Simulations, Dorothy Pharis, Nicholas Barron

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Accurately measuring and modeling clouds is an important factor in improving weather and climate prediction. One way of measuring the most important cloud size in a cloud field is a cloud size distribution (CSD) function, or the number of clouds per cloud size within the field. The information from a cloud size distribution can then be used to determine which cloud sizes contribute the most to cloud cover. This research focuses on creating and comparing cloud size distributions for a variety of cumulus cloud fields generated by Large Eddy Simulations (LES), a high resolution computer model. Our work found that …

How Dry Is The Lower Atmosphere: Finding Relations Between Various Moments In The Atmospheric Boundary Layer, Vladimir Sworski

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

The Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL), consisting of the bottom few kilometers of the troposphere, is a highly turbulent region with strong mixing of moisture and winds. This region's activity is driven by thermals, which rise to the top of the boundary layer and thicken it through entrainment of warm air from above. To better predict the behavior of the ABL, a good understanding of the distribution of heat, moisture and momentum is important. In this study, we use a high resolution computer model (LES) to determine those distributions. We were able to reproduce observations when using a temporal averaging that …

Optimizing Dynamic Light Scattering For The Analysis Of Anisotropic Nanoparticles In Solution, Tony Dobrila

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

To further understanding of light scattering on solution of anisotropic hard-to-image soft particles such as elastin-like polypeptide micelles the light scattering characterization of anisotropic easy-to-image inorganic gold nanoparticles was undertaken. We used Depolarized Dynamic Light Scattering (DDLS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to study commercial gold nanoparticles: nanospheres, nanorods with aspect-ratio=3, and nanorods with aspect ratio=7. According to SEM particles appeared to be larger than manufacturer specs, namely 2R=18.9±1.3nm, (26.1±4.1)x(65.5±9.5)nm, and (16.3±2.2)x(103.6±16.7)nm, respectively. DDLS on nanospheres showed no rotational diffusion (VH) signal, q dependence of decay rate consistent with that of spherical particles, no concentration dependence of translational diffusion coef- …

Effects Of Flanking Bigrams On Decision Performance In Selective And Divided Attention Tasks, Nicole Russo, Jamie Rodman

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

In previous research, lexical decision performance for word targets flanked by pairs of letters was better when flankers consisted of letters in the target (e.g., BI BIRD RD; RD BIRD BI; IB BIRD DR; DR BIRD IB) than of non-target letters (e.g., CE BIRD NT). Also, performance was better when flankers contained letters ordered as in the target (e.g., BI BIRD RD; RD BIRD BI) than switched (e.g., IB BIRD DR; DR BIRD IB), but flanker order relative to the target did not affect performance. That flankers affect lexical decision performance indicates that participants do not attend selectively to the …

How Does Educational Opportunities Influence Decisions For Nigerian Girls And The Society?, Shalonda Swanson

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

This paper raises questions about educational opportunities for Nigerian girls to understand if traditional Islamic or Western education influence the girls on various factors; including, their religious connections, optimism for their future, and the value in Islamic education compared to Western education. To discuss the current status of the country the paper discusses the historical underlying factors that influenced Nigeria's policies for educational opportunities for girls. Nigeria has struggled with gender disparities that disproportionately provided educational opportunities for boys at an increased rate compared to girls. This research reports the traditional values that restricted girls' access to education and the …

Effect Of Parental Communication On Adjustment Of Typically Developing Children With An Atypically Developing Sibling, Christina Adkins, Meghan Murray

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Disorders comprised of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as a group are comprised of autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, and various genetic conditions that stunt the intellectual and functional development of an individual. These disorders affect roughly 14% of families in the US (Boyle et al., 2011), which approximates to seven million households in the US. The presence of IDD in a child is often associated with increased stress for the parents, given that IDD is often accompanied by behavioral problems in the affected child. Surprisingly, relatively little work has been done on the effects of IDD on typically developing …

Design And Fabrication Of A Microfluidic Device Using A 3d Printer, Aaron Smith

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

The goal of this work was to design and implement a microfluidic mixer-based chemical reactor using a 3-D printer. Microfluidic devices are very useful for processes that use expensive reactants or require a high level of control, and we hypothesize that the ability to develop a prototype using a 3-D printer would lower their costs and help overcome some of the limitations of soft-lithography based devices. One-level and two-level designs were made using SolidWorks® software, and various stages of the model were printed on Objet® and FDM® printers. The Objet printer offers the advantage of printing a prototype using a …

Light Scattering Study Of Mixed Micelles Made From Elastin-Like Polypeptide Linear Chains And Trimers, Ilona Tsuper, Daniel Terrano, Adam Maraschky

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Temperature sensitive nanoparticles (E20F) were generated from a construct of three chains of Elastin- Like Polypeptides (ELP) linked to a negatively charged foldon domain. This ELP system was mixed at different ratios with a single linear chain of ELP (H40L) which was deprived of the foldon domain. The mixed system is soluble at room temperature and at a transition temperature will form swollen micelles with the hydrophobic linear chains hidden inside. This system was studied using Depolarized Dynamic Light Scattering (DDLS) and Static Light Scattering (SLS) to model the size, shape, and internal structure of the mixed micelles. The mixed …

Life Behind Glass: Bioreactor Studies On The Salt-Water Adaptation Of Scenedesmus Dimorphus, Joshua Hartranft, Alex Fedai, Sahar Ataya

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Algae has considerable promise as source for liquid biofuel because of high productivity and because algae farms do not compete with food crops for arable land. Freshwater algae is preferred over saltwater algae because of the higher lipid content in the former. Unfortunately, freshwater algae “farms” would require a vast amount of fresh water, and given the scarcity of fresh water, this is not a viable long-term solution. Therefore, the adaption of a fresh-water species of algae to a salt-water environment is a potential solution. In this study, it was shown that the growth rate of the freshwater algae S. …

Scalable Assembly Of Nanoparticles Onto Templated Substrates, John Juchnowski

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Anisotropic nanoparticles, such as carbon nanotubes and noble metal nanorods, have excellent electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties. This work examined techniques for the nanopatterning of silicon substrates for the subsequent deposition of anisotropic nanoparticles in order to exploit their properties in macroscopic applications. Argon-ion-sputter induced rippling of Si (100) as well as a microparticle mask were examined as methods for templating a silicon substrate. For the ion-sputter

Identifying Patterns Of Stress Through Biological Markers, Kristyn Oravec

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

technique, the angle of incidence of the ion beam was 67° from the surface normal,

African Clawed Toads’ Responses To Visual And Lateral Line Stimuli, Marko Milosavljevic, Kevin Goth

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

The African Clawed Toad, Xenopus laevis, is an aquatic species commonly found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Adults use vision to sense movements and lateral line to sense vibrations in the water. Here, we analyze the effectiveness of the toads' vision and lateral line systems individually and in combination. This study will help us understand how Xenopus utilizes sensory information to capture prey. We tested which sensory system elicits greater responses, how stimulus angle and distance affect the probability of a response, and if the toads respond equally to visual and lateral line stimuli. We found that a combination of both visual …

The Relationship Between Observed And Perceived Measures Of Balance Stability, Lrenzo Bianco, John Demarco, Sarah Gualtier

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Introduction Injurious falls have risen significantly in the past decade, raising concerns about the efficacy of fall prevention programs. The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between perceived and observed balance measures used in a falls prevention program. Methods Subjects (S) were 70 (F), 59 (F), and 73(M). They were taught the Rate of Perceived Stability (RPS), a perceived measure of balance intensity and completed the Berg Balance Test (Berg), Timed up and Go (TUG), and Activities Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC). The Berg and TUG are observed measures and the ABC is a perceived measure. Last, …

How Big Is A Cloud: A Statistical Analysis Of Cloud Size Distributions Derived From Large Eddy Simulations, Dorothy Pharis, Nicholas Barron

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

To accurately represent cumulous clouds in climate and weather models, it is important to understand how large clouds, in certain cloud fields, are. These fields can be described by a cloud size distribution (CSD), the number of clouds of a certain defined size. This study utilized data from a Large Eddy Simulation (LES), a high resolution numerical model describing the atmosphere, to explore what defines the cloud size distribution. First, we have developed a toolkit to illustrate the cloud size distribution by using the slope and deriving an estimate for the scale break. Second, we performed a statistical analysis of …

Providing Hands-On Training With Bioinformatics Databases: A Collaboration Between Vcu Libraries & Wright Center For Clinical And Translational Research, Karen H. Gau, Julie A. Arendt, Amy Olex, Aaron R. Wolen

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Background
With the goal of increasing specialized services for researchers, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Libraries sent its basic science librarians to an intensive training on bioinformatics databases, “A Librarian’s Guide to NCBI.” VCU’s Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research (Wright CCTR) was expanding the educational component of its bioinformatics support around the same time. This year, the librarians partnered with the Wright CCTR to offer an introductory bioinformatics database workshop introducing researchers to genetic/genomic databases.

Methods
For one week in June, sessions were conducted introducing up to 30 faculty and staff to The Cancer Genome Atlas and NCBI’s Gene, …

Principal Component Analysis-Based Anatomical Motion Models For Use In Adaptive Radiation Therapy Of Head And Neck Cancer Patients, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chetvertkov

Wayne State University Dissertations

Purpose: To develop standard and regularized principal component analysis (PCA) models of anatomical changes from daily cone beam CTs (CBCTs) of head and neck (H&N) patients, assess their potential use in adaptive radiation therapy (ART), and to extract quantitative information for treatment response assessment.

Methods: Planning CT (pCT) images of H&N patients were artificially deformed to create “digital phantom” images, which modeled systematic anatomical changes during Radiation Therapy (RT). Artificial deformations closely mirrored patients’ actual deformations, and were interpolated to generate 35 synthetic CBCTs, representing evolving anatomy over 35 fractions. Deformation vector fields (DVFs) were acquired between pCT and synthetic …

Effect Of Hypoxic Conditions On Skeletal Myoblasts, Abdo Boumitri, Shuai Zhao

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Ischemic injury in skeletal muscle caused by hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions occurs in response to vascular and musculoskeletal traumas, diseases and following reconstructive surgeries. Thus, a thorough understanding of the effect of hypoxia on skeletal myoblasts is warranted to identify potential therapeutic targets. We have determined that treatment with cobalt chloride (to mimic hypoxic conditions) leads to decreased numbers of viable (attached) skeletal myoblast over time and an increase in the percentage of detached myoblasts. To determine the contribution of apoptosis (cell death) to this increase in detached myoblasts, we assessed PARP cleavage, a well- accepted marker for apoptosis. Consistent …

Phosphorus Concentrations In The Cuyahoga River Watershed Linked To Anthropogenic Inputs, Christopher Kasden

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Twenty-four water samples were taken from twelve sites throughout the Cuyahoga watershed from upstream to downstream within two separate occasions. Twelve samples were taken on May 25th, 2016 with no prior precipitation and the conditions were calm, and twelve samples were taken on July14, 2016 when high precipitation had occurred and water conditions were much more diverse. Using the Automated Discrete Analyzer, the concentrations of phosphorus could be analyzed and differentiated between Total Phosphorus and Soluble Reactive Phosphorus. In comparison to the Environmental Protection Agency whose target concentrations for rivers is .05ppm, in both cases of the experiment the hypothesis …

Defining An Enriched Environment For Pre-Ambulation Training Using A Multi-Directional, Over-Ground Harness System For Young Children With Down Syndrome, Lauren Schuck, Lisa Haecker

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

This theoretical literature review aims to define the components of an enriched environment (EE) while using a multi-directional, over-ground harness system (MOH), for pre-ambulatory children with Down syndrome (DS). While using an EE has not been clearly defined within humans, children with DS may benefit from this combination of interventions to optimize developmental outcomes. Of the 15 articles critiqued, 6 were found to be most relevant to help define an EE with specific activities when using a MOH for pre-ambulation training. As a part of defining an EE within a MOH, activities will be suggested that stimulate the four components …