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Full-Text Articles in Organisms

Exploring Stable Isotope Analysis For The Identification Of Prior Tick Hosts, Kiprian Gernat Jun 2018

Exploring Stable Isotope Analysis For The Identification Of Prior Tick Hosts, Kiprian Gernat

Honors Theses

Lyme disease is a pervasive illness caused by the transmission of the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi from the bite of an infected black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis. Ticks initially obtain the spirochete by feeding on an infected animal host. Ticks feed on a broad range of hosts, but some of these hosts are more competent carriers of Lyme disease and more readily transmit B. burgdorferi to feeding ticks. Thus, knowing what host a tick has fed on could provide valuable information in studying the transmission of Lyme disease. However, studying the relationships between ticks and their hosts has proved to be …


Organics: Exploring The Parallels Between Botany And Human Anatomy Through Sculpture And Watercolor Painting, Allison Borek Jun 2016

Organics: Exploring The Parallels Between Botany And Human Anatomy Through Sculpture And Watercolor Painting, Allison Borek

Honors Theses

Integrating my two passions of the visual arts and science for my senior thesis, I created a collection of paintings that represent human organs and the parallels between plant biology and animal biology. Genetically, plants are just as complex – if not more – than many animals. They have intricate sensory and regulatory systems highly comparable to humans, and on a cellular level, we share many analogous features. In addition, every single carbon atom that makes up the human body was at one time fixed in a plant during photosynthesis. We also rely on photosynthesis to give us the oxygen …


13c Composition In Bryophyte Primary Sugars As An Indicator Of Water Availability, Olivia Hope Williamson Jun 2016

13c Composition In Bryophyte Primary Sugars As An Indicator Of Water Availability, Olivia Hope Williamson

Honors Theses

Bryophytes (mosses and their relatives) are a major carbon sink, and their productivity, is expected to be affected by climate change. Changes in plant productivity caused by changes in the climate can be tracked through stable carbon isotopes. This research aims to find a connection between stable carbon isotope signatures and water availability in bryophytes by examining the composition of 13C in soluble sugars and bulk tissue. Similar to trees, which leave rings of growth every year, mosses build up peat deposits, which can be used to gain information about the weather and water availability of a region. Information on …


Comparison Of Wild And Cultivated Extracts Of Cordyceps Sinensis Apoptotic Potential, Katelyn Staring Jun 2013

Comparison Of Wild And Cultivated Extracts Of Cordyceps Sinensis Apoptotic Potential, Katelyn Staring

Honors Theses

Cordyceps sinensis is a mushroom which contains the compound cordycepin (3’-deoxyadenosine), an analogue of adenosine. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), cordycepin has multipurpose pharmacological uses including purported anti-tumor effects. In the present study, cordycepin was extracted from the wild mushroom as well as from various commercially available cultivated extracts. Previous research in this lab has demonstrated that cultivated extracts contain less cordycepin than the wild mushroom. However, it is unclear if the decrease in cordycepin correlates with decreased activity. To measure anti-tumor activity, extracts were used to treat human breast cancer cells (MCF-7 cells). In other labs, cordycepin has been …


Metacaspase Gene Function In The Mushroom Fungus Schizophyllum Commune, Matthew P. Hanley Jun 2011

Metacaspase Gene Function In The Mushroom Fungus Schizophyllum Commune, Matthew P. Hanley

Honors Theses

The overall goal of this project was to investigate the biological role of a putative metacaspase gene present in the mushroom fungus Schizophyllum commune. For this study, we have utilized a strain of S. commune that is unable to integrate DNA via the non-homologous end joining pathway. This forces transforming DNA to integrate homologously, as is required for the purposes of gene knockout. The gene Scp1 encodes a likely member of the metacaspase protein family, which are suspected to have activity similar to caspases, the latter crucial to programmed cell death. A knockout construct containing a non-functional version of Scp1 …