Undergraduate Research Day Projects
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Organized by the University of Houston Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards, Undergraduate Research Day is an annual event showcasing exceptional scholarship undertaken by the UH undergraduate community.
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Browsing Undergraduate Research Day Projects by Subject "Biology"
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Item CHW-Community Partnered Health Fairs to Increase Healthcare Access for Residents of 77031 ZIP Code(2023-04-13) Ba, Lucinda; Kazim, Mariyah; Ukachi-Nwata, Nmesomachukwu; Tran, OliviaWithin the 77031 ZIP code, the community members are disproportionately affected by lack of access to healthcare due to barriers such as no health insurance (45.2% of adults and 18.0% of children), high unemployment rates (8.1% of residents ages 16 and older), low socioeconomic status (21.4% residents living <100% below the federal poverty level; 39.8% living <200% below FPL), and language barriers (50.7% of households are non-English-speaking). As a result, 36.3% of residents lack access to a primary care provider and have a higher prevalence of chronic illness and mental distress. Community members should be aware of their options regarding methods of care and health care services available to them, and they should be able to discern information given to them to make the best decision for their well being. This project aims to gather bilingual CHWs and partner with local community centers to hand out translated brochures and CHW contact information, raise awareness on free and low-cost clinics and hospitals, and help community members with registration for existing resources and programs (i.e. Medicaid and Medicare).Item Confirming the Impact of Iron Limitation on Acinetobacter baumannii Growth(2023-04-13) Zughaibi, NoorBackground: The CDC and WHO have labeled A. baumannii as the highest threat level in their ranking system for antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Due to its ability to develop resistant properties, A. baumanni has caused 8,500 hospitalizations and approximately 700 deaths in 2017. Currently, no optimal treatments for resistant A. baumannii infections exist; however, iron limitation by an iron chelator has shown to create growth inhibition.ï¾ Methods: Deferiprone is used to create growth inhibition at a standard concentration for all isolates. To confirm iron availability as the reason for inhibition iron was supplemented into each isolate in a concentration gradient. The BacterioScan 216Dx was utilized to collect data for each isolate. Data was then process and graphical representations were created. Results: An increase in concentration of iron caused an increase in growth in the presence of deferiprone resulting in an inverse relationship between growth and iron supplementation of all isolates tested. Conclusions: Our data verifies that iron depletion by deferiprone caused the observed growth inhibition. Manipulation of iron concentration has the potential to be used to treat ntimicrobial resistant A. baumannii infections.Item Differential Neurovascular Plexus Innervation in the Spleen(2023-04-13) Changalpet, Alexia; Lowe, Deja; Semier, Ashley; Lloyd, DavidThe spleen functions as the main lymph organ in the body. The spleen is responsible for filtering and storing blood, making white blood cells, and fighting infections. The spleen has not been researched heavily and only recently found four splenic nerve branches (SN) present different electrophysiological activity in a study done on rats (Gonzalez-Gonzalez et al., 2021). The hypothesis that the four SNs have different patterns of innervations was based in this previous research. Viral tract tracers tagged with soluble GFP and mCherry were respectively injected into SN1 and SN3 and put through double enzymatic chromogenic staining to visualize the signals received. Results showed that differences between innervations on SN1 and SN3 can explain the results gathered from the previous study.Item Dissecting the Transcriptional Regulation of the Tumor Antioxidant Response(2023-04-13) Caballero Montes, RaulTumors rely on hyperactive metabolism to maintain their proliferation rates, which generates ROS and results in lipid peroxidation. Excessive accumulation of lipid peroxides leads to ferroptosis, a newly discovered mechanism of cell death. Recent evidence suggests that lipid peroxides accumulate during radio- and immunotherapy, and are generated in cancer cells that colonize distant organs. Hence, understanding anti-ferroptotic pathways in cancer and sensitizing tumors to ferroptosis has emerged as a major opportunity for cancer treatment. Building upon this, we aim to identify master transcriptional regulators involved in cancer anti-ferroptotic response. To identify these transcription factors, a CRISPR/Cas9 screen was performed in a patient-derived lymphoma cell line targeting all putative transcription factors in the human genome. These cells were cultured under a control condition or grown in the presence of a compound that induces ferroptosis. Next-generation sequencing and bioinformatic analysis ranked each gene by its essentiality under ferroptosis, and the top hit of the screen was identified as anti-ferroptosis transcriptional regulator 1 (AFTR1), a two zinc-finger-containing transcription factor. The results of the screen were validated by knocking out AFTR1 in various cancer cell lines and confirming its essentiality in cell viability upon induction of ferroptosis, whereas it was not essential under standard conditions. The high amplification of the AFTR1 gene locus in several cancer types also indicated its potential as a target for cancer therapy. Therefore, these findings offer a promising opportunity to develop novel therapeutic strategies to sensitize cancer cells to ferroptosis and improve the efficacy of current therapies. ***This project was completed with contributions from Javier Garcia Bermudez from the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern.Item Does bounceless Provide an Effective Alternative for Sport-Bras for Women Who Have a Larger Than "C" Cup Size(2023-04-13) Do, Tracy; Gugala, MarcelWomen with larger breast sizes (cup size C+) have been underrepresented in the apparel industry despite numerous variations of sports bras found in the market. Women in this group still experience excessive breast movement, discomfort, and embarrassment due to sports bras which cannot limit breast tissue acceleration. This represents a significant barrier for women and thus are less inclined to workout in public settings. Sadly, the materials and designs utilized by majority of sports bras companies continue to be insufficient for women with bigger breast sizes. This can likely be explained as companies are more inclined to keep prices as low as possible in manufacturing their products. For enhanced breast support while engaging in physical activities, many women with bigger breasts continue to wear a traditional bra or even two sports bras combined. Shefit and Bounceless have recently emerged in the apparel industry to address this specific problem in the market. Shefit, being the larger of the two companies, intends to provide more support than your traditional sports bra. The Shefit Ultimate Sports bra fared similarly to comparable sports bras provided by major manufacturers such as Nike and Underarmour. This can be supported by a recent research article detailing the assessment of women with breast sizes ranging from AA to DD in sports bra performance (Gibson et al. 2019). The bounceless company is being omitted from this kind of testing, yet has been shown to offer more support than the Shefit ultimate bra: additional fabric that extends below the bust.Item Ectopic expression of ovary expressed polo transcripts and duplicates in Drosophila melanogaster testis creates female-biased sex ratios(2023-04-13) Najera, PaolaPolo-like kinases (Plks) play vital roles in mitosis and meiosis. Drosophila melanogaster has a single Plk gene (polo) that is alternatively spliced into two transcripts that differ in their 5'- and 3'-UTR, but not in their coding sequence. Curiously, polo has also been duplicated multiple times within the evolution of the Drosophila genus. In D. pseudoobscura, the ancestral polo gene (Dpse-polo) is found on a neo-X chromosome, and there are two autosomal duplications (Dpse-polo-dup1 and Dpse-polo-dup2) that are predominately testis expressed. The precise roles of the polo transcripts and duplications in male meiosis are unknown. Here, we show that when the D. melanogaster ovary-derived polo mRNA or Dpse-polo mRNA is expressed in D. melanogaster testis, the number of female offspring is greater than the number of male offspring. In contrast, equal numbers of males and females are produced when testis-derived polo mRNA or Dpse-polo-dup1 are expressed in the D. melanogaster male germline. These results suggest that polo duplicates and transcripts are specialized for sex-specific meiotic functions, specifically related to equal inheritance of the X and Y sex chromosomes in the male germline. Consistent with such specialization, we find that Dpse-polo-dup1 has accumulated significantly more amino acid substitutions than Dpse-polo since the duplication event. We hypothesize that the sex-specific specialization of polo duplicates and transcripts may be related to repeated intragenomic conflicts involving segregation distorters that differentially affect spermatogenesis and oogenesis.Item Effects of Hyaluronic Acid on Salivary Glands of Adult and Aged Mice(2023-04-13) Trapp, MorganXerostomia, commonly known as dry mouth, is caused by a decrease in the amount of saliva (hyposalivation) that the body produces, that results from damaged or senescing salivary glands. Unfortunately, there is yet to be a definitive cure for xerostomia. Hyaluronan (HA) is a macromolecule that is abundantly expressed during salivary gland organogenesis. HA is synthesized by HA synthases (HASs), of which three isoforms exists, HAS1, HAS2, and HAS3. In this current study, we investigated the effects HA has on the salivary gland using Has1ï¾–/ï¾–; Has3ï¾–/ï¾– and wild-type (wt) adult and aged mice. Salivary glands (SGs) were stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and Alcian Blue. For immunohistochemistry, slides were stained with biotinylated binding protein (HABP), anti-K14, and DAPI. RNA was extracted from the SGs of all mice for RT-PCR. Both H&E and Alcian Blue stains showed morphological differences in adult and aged wt and Has1-/-;Has3-/- mice. Immunostaining revealed that in the SG, HA is expressed at high levels within the capsules and septae, and forms a surrounding structure at each acini and collecting duct. Has1-/-;Has3-/- adult mice presented a decrease in HA throughout the SG compared to the wt mice. RT-PCR revealed a significant decrease in the expression of AQP5 and ?-amylase adult Has1-/-;Has3-/- compared to wt mice, however, in the aged samples, Has1-/-;Has3-/- mice presented an increase in ?-amylase compared to wt mice. Has1-/-;Has3-/- mice are possibly more effective in preserving SG stem cells which could prevent the loss of mucous acini as mice age.Item Effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) on Cancer Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis(2023-04-13) Bui, Amy; Chandran, SrinandhiniMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), also known as medicinal signaling cells are known for being multi-potent. They are among the most frequently used cell types for regenerative medicine and can be found in every organ and exhibit multilineage differentiation into cell type. Due to their anticancer properties, MSCs have attracted interest in the development of anticancer therapies. Many studies have shown the beneficial effects of MSC-based therapies and its therapeutic potential in radiation oncology is a growing domain of cell therapy. Interestingly, it has also been found that MSCs can serve as vehicles for delivering targeted therapy to tumors and metastatic diseases due to their tumor-trophic properties. This study aims to further elucidate the effects of MSCs on tumor suppression and its potential in stem cell therapy.Item Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Aspire Program for Improving Student SAT Scores Before, During, and After COVID-19(2023-04-13) Dinh, Kristin; Joshi, Neha; Nguyen, Ngoc-Trang Adrienne; Vinod, VeenaAspire is a Houston-based educational project provided by the University of Houston Honors College Bonner Leaders Program in a partnership with Stephen F. Austin High School, which is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Aspire provides SAT exam and college readiness mentorship to low-income high school students in order to expand their educational opportunities, promoting confidence through personalized guidance and empowering them to pursue post-secondary education. By using College Board's practice SAT tests, Aspire executives design a curriculum to be used throughout the academic year. The program structure consists of in-person tutoring with high school seniors in the fall semester and high school juniors in the spring semester. Student success is measured by their performance on the SAT. Improving by at least 100 points on the SAT from their initial test scores prior to the program indicates mastery of the skills necessary to solve SAT questions. Based on changes in students' SAT scores, mentor evaluation forms, and pre- and post-program student feedback forms, Aspire is able to assess the program's effectiveness with respect to both student and mentor performance. The purpose of this study is to examine students' SAT scores after program completion from pre-COVID-19, Fall 2019, to post-COVID-19, Fall 2021. Our findings show that student SAT scores increased after the program relative to their pre-program SAT scores.Item Fabrication and Characterization of GelMA Filled Nanoliposomes for Delivery Applications(2023-04-13) Pourmotamed, AryanaNano-scale liposomes have been studied for years as carriers for drug delivery. They include phospholipid bilayers that can protect encapsulated drugs inside against certain outside factors. Research on liposomes has focused on different aspects of these carriers, ranging from the ability of nanoliposomes for encapsulating different substances to their biodistribution and cargo release. Recently, encapsulation of polymers such as hydrogels inside nanoliposomes have been explored as a strategy to improve their stability and cargo release behavior. Dr. Majdï¾’s group is currently investigating how encapsulation of different hydrogels in liposomes can affect their properties as delivery carriers. As part of this effort, and a continuation of my previous work in her lab, my project focused on preparation and characterization of nanoliposomes loaded with Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel. I came up with the optimal protocol to encapsulate GelMA in nanoliposomes during the course of SURF and tested a couple of their properties. These included characterizing the gel-loaded liposomes for size distribution and zeta potential using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and laser Doppler electrophoresis, as well as their size distribution after adding triton X.Item Gaseous Compounds: Measuring the Composition of Trace Gasses in Earth's Atmosphere(2023-04-13) Guerrero, Matthieu; Nguyen, Minh; Saidy, CelineThe composition of the Earth's atmosphere is integral to the state of our planet. The general composition of the atmosphere has been recorded and verified multiple times, and it is well known that the most abundant gasses in the atmosphere are elemental Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Argon, followed by Carbon Dioxide. However, the atmosphere also contains trace amounts of various other compounds, as well. The purpose of this experiment is to measure the presence of trace gasses in the atmosphere. Over the past few decades, human activity has had a worrisome effect on Earth's atmospheric composition. As a result, there is an increasing need to study the changes in the atmosphere. In a previous iteration of the project, collecting data on the presence of trace gasses was attempted; however, an error in one sensor meant that it was left incomplete. In this iteration of the experiment, a payload consisting of various sensors will be launched into the atmosphere via a balloon-borne payload. These sensors will be used to measure the abundance of NO, NO2, SO2, SH2, CO, and O3. A vacuum pump will be used to bring air into the payload, upon which the sensors will analyze its composition. Through this experiment, we hope to obtain a proper reading on the presence of various important trace gasses, so that we can analyze it in comparison to known trends and determine where we currently stand regarding the health of our planet's atmosphere.Item Gender Disparities in the Association between Food Insecurity and Psychological Distress among US Adults(2023-04-13) Dinh, Kristin; Thomas, RonaldIntroduction: Women are more likely to experience food insecurity (13.2% vs. 12.3% men) and more likely to report higher levels of psychological distress than men. Limited research has examined gender disparities in association between food insecurity and psychological distress among U.S. adults. Methods: We used cross-sectional 2014-2018 National Health Interview Survey data on 41,122 participants 18-59 years old with household income ?299% federal poverty level (FPL). 10-item USDA Food Security Scale measured food security levels (food secure: 0-2 items; food insecure: 3-10 items). Kessler-6 scale was used to measure the level of psychological distress and classify participants as having no psychological distress (more than 6 items), moderate psychological distress (6-12 items), and serious psychological distress (SPD; less than or equal to 13 items). Multinomial logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between food insecurity and psychological distress by gender. All models were adjusted for age, ethnicity, education, insurance coverage, employment status, marital status, and FPL. Results: In adjusted models, compared with food secure men, those that were food insecure were significantly more likely to report MPD (OR: 2.37, 95% CI: 2.08-2.70) and SPD (OR: 4.20, 95% CI: 3.47-5.09). Compared with food-secure women, those that were food insecure were also more likely to report MPD (OR: 2.67, 95% CI: 2.42-2.95) and SPD (OR: 5.27, 95% CI: 4.58-6.06). Conclusion: Findings highlight the continued need for community programs focused on providing resources to men and women experiencing food insecurity and psychological distress.Item GPX-2 Protein Synthesis Using Recombinant E. Coli(2023-04-13) Zaman, AmeerChemotherapeutic treatments for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), though sometimes unsuccessful, cause high levels of oxidative stress in cancer cells. Chemotherapy provides a selection pressure that forces cancer cells to alter their metabolism and upregulate certain processes to continue to replicate under these new stressors.1 GPX-2, or glutathione peroxidase 2, is part of a family of antioxidants. Under chemotherapeutic pressures, a significant overexpression of the GPX-2 system that is involved with fatty acid oxidation, oxidative stress, and protein processing is observed. 2. Because of its role in mobilizing a response to chemotherapeutic agents and potentially affecting cancer cell resistance, it is a promising target for small molecule inhibition. In our research, we show the synthesis of this integral protein using a three-plasmid system in an E. Coli model.Item Health impact of native and non-native invasive mosquitoes: the case of Aedes aegypti(2023-04-13) Quaid, SakinaMosquitoes are among the most hazardous animals on Earth due to their capacity to spread illnesses. Some mosquitoes have colonized new areas far from their native range. It is expected that non-native species would have greater consequences because, in part, to lack of coevolutionary history with the local population. This might also apply to the impact of disease carrying mosquitoes. Of the approximately 3500 mosquito species, around 22 species transmit diseases. One of them, Aedes aegypti, poses the greatest threat to human health. Native to Africa, A. aegypti is an invasive non-native species in Asia and the Americas, and it is the principal carrier of Dengue and Chikungunya. We analyzed the impact on human health of A. aegypti in both its native and exotic range. For Dengue, the tropical areas of the Americas and Asia are the ones with the highest distribution of infections. For example, in 2022 the majority of dengue cases reported were in Brazil (>2 million), Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. During 2022 most of the countries in Africa did not have reported cases of dengue, and the ones that had reported cases, the numbers were much lower than in the Americas and Asia. A similar pattern is found for Chikungunya where much less cases are reported in Africa. Our preliminary results suggest that for A. aegypti, the impact is much higher when it is non-native. It would be important to see if this pattern also holds for the other mosquitoes that carry diseases.Item High-throughput tuning of methacrylic-acid-based hydrogels with calcium and chitosan as secondary ionic cross-linkers(2023-04-13) Allen, Natalie; Rabago, Leonardo; Valdez, Lizbet; Wallaert, SamuelCovalent hydrogel networks predominantly derived from methacrylic acid were developed as a platform for the exploration of atomic (in the form of calcium) and biopolymer polyelectrolyte (in the form of chitosan) secondary ionic cross-linkers. Well-defined chitosan was prepared from chitin and incorporated at various loadings in hydrogel precursor solutions, resulting in template polymerizations. Resultant hydrogels were soaked in various concentrations of aqueous calcium chloride and characterized by compression testing.Item HR-ASD Infants' Social Attention and Neural Activity during Parent-Child Play(2023-04-13) Mathew, Gisela; Perkovich, ElizabethAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with persistent challenges in social communication that is proposed to be neurobiological in origin. Assessing symptom domains associated with ASD, such as attention, may reveal specific patterns of neural activity associated with this disorder. Infants at high-risk for autism (HR-ASD; infants with at least one nuclear family member diagnosed with ASD) have different attention behaviors compared to infants at low-risk for autism (LR-ASD; infants without a nuclear family member diagnosed with ASD). HR-ASD infants have a higher likelihood of being confirmed with a diagnosis of ASD than LR-ASD infants. This is due to the variabilities in attention patterns as part of social deficits. We know little about the neural correspondences of early attention for HR-ASD infants, especially under social circumstances. Investigating the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying social development among HR-ASD populations is an urgent matter for improving early ASD screening and diagnosis procedures. Though current eye-tracking studies have begun to study HR-ASD infants, we propose a holistic approach to characterize social attention by assessing the dynamics of brain oscillation through the combination of head-mounted eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG) methods. This study aims to examine possible associations between infant social attention and neural activity in the frontal region of the brain within a social context. The infant's behaviors were assessed by an innovative approach of combining a head-mounted eye-tracker and EEG cap.Item Impact of SUMO Post-translational Modification on Breast Cancer Development(2023-04-13) Babajide, Funmi; Karami, Samaneh; Waiters, Kacie; Peidl, AnthonyProteins are subject to post-translational modifications (PTM) that ensure the plethora of unique cellular functions. SUMO-PTM allows proteins to maintain cellular homeostasis and respond to abnormal stressors. SUMO-PTM of proteins is a dynamic reversible process important to cellular biology and normal human physiology. Consistently an imbalance of SUMO-modified proteins (or SUMOylation) can lead to breast cancer development and support onset of metastatic disease. Hence, the long-term objective of our studies is to understand and develop appropriate therapeutics to restore SUMO-PTM balance in breast cancer. At a molecular level, the Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) molecule forms a covalent bond with lysine residues on target proteins with the work of SUMO-specific family of conjugating enzymes including SUMO E3 ligases. Inversely, SUMO-specific protease or deSUMOylase hydrolyze the bond between SUMO and the target protein to maintain the unmodified form of the substrate. Here, we examine protein interactions between novel SUMO E3 ligase and its target protein in breast cancer cells stressed with conventional anti-cancer therapy. Concurrently, we test how excessive SUMO-PTM impacts breast cancer development using a novel genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM). These results can aid in the further understanding of protein function and cellular homeostasis in context of breast cancer development and resistance to conventional anti-cancer therapy.Item Infant Sustained Attention During Parental Gesture(2023-04-13) Nguyen, KimUnable to gather information and interact with their surrounding environment, young infants depend on their parent's hands to bring objects into view (Amano et al., 2004). Recent works have examined parental hand inputs as referential cues to objects for infants during play and suggested their effectiveness in shaping infants' visual experiences. However, these studies typically focus on object-handling behavior and we do not know how much of this effect is due to the object being handled or the hand action itself. Our study aims to (1) distinguish between object handling or the hand action itself to clarify the effects of hand action shaping infant visual experience and (2) examine which hand actions specifically illicit longer sustained attention (>1000ms). The obtained results show no significant differences between parental gesture and object handling in infants ages 4-12 months. However, when comparing average SA durations across age groups, a significant age effect on SA duration was found for parental object handling and symbolic gesture but not deictic gesture. This may suggest developmental differences in the ability of different age groups to fix attention in response to parental hand gestures. These findings may further develop into classroom-based and family-based interventions that effectively use specific hand gestures as tools to support early learning in children.Item Integrating Social Care in Healthcare Approaches - A Scoping Review and Cost-Benefit Analysis(2023-04-13) Kambala, SrijithThe primary goal of this research is to conduct a scoping review of the literature focusing on the cost-benefit of “upstream” social care interventions designed to prevent “downstream” disease and healthcare costs. Social care interventions integrate health-related social risk factors with healthcare and are not currently considered traditional medical care. By reviewing the literature, we aim to determine if financing these interventions through the healthcare system is a sound fiscal decision. Specifically, the research question which will be answered is "How does the integration of social care-based into medical care impact downstream healthcare costs?" The results of this study could have a significant impact on how care is managed by health systems. The first part of this research is creating a search strategy to ensure the appropriate articles are reviewed so that an appropriate conclusion can be made. Our team has decided to review the research databases EconLit, WebofScience, and PubMed as these are the most likely to have relevant publications. The search strategy has been constructed by developing three concepts that are related to the research question - "Social Care-Based Interventions"; "Health Care" and "Reducing Medical Costs". Each of these concepts is then broken down into many specific search terms, which are used to run the searches. Currently, test searches have been run on all of the databases, and a preliminary number of 17,837 articles have been found. These articles will be filtered for duplicates, relevancy, and content, and finally, the remaining articles will be analyzed.Item Investigating Cellular Patterning of Breast Cancer Cells with ADGRF1 Overexpression or Activation on Novel Micropatterned Substrates(2023-04-13) Vu, AlysonIn this study, our lab developed a simple, efficient, reproducible and reliable method to fabricate lipophilic small molecule drug-loaded polymeric microneedles. These microneedles have the potential to not just encapsulate a lipophilic drug but also pierce through porcine skin, hence showing the potential to deliver the drug through skin.
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