Office of Undergraduate Research

Neil Bahen

During seismic events, bridge columns are subjected to a wide range of motion caused by ground movement. As a result, these bridge columns can become damaged which compromises the structural stability of the column. In many cases, when the columns are deemed salvageable, they are repaired in order to save the time and money that would be required to completely replace the column. My focus will be to determine whether or not repaired columns will react desirably in future seismic events. In order to do this, a damaged column will be repaired and tested under a variable axial load.

Michael Berberoglu

This research focuses on the positioning of axon tracts in the embryonic brain. Longitudinal axons navigate down specific tracts and are influenced by protein signals in the environment. I am interested in the chemorepellent Slit and its receptor, Robo. The role of Slits/Robos in the Dorsal/Ventral (D/V) positioning of axons within the developing brain is not well understood. By misexpression of specific Slit and Robo isoforms in vivo, we expect to see an effect on the D/V positioning of longitudinal axons. A better understanding of these protein cues may lead to improved treatments for nervous system-related diseases.

Maria Calimlim

The proposed research is to find a cost effective method of water disinfection that would easily translate to developing countries. Specifically, this experiment will analyze the effects of two organic acids, lemon juice and vinegar, in combination with solar heating to inactivate of coliform bacteria (i.e Escherichia coli) in water. The variables to be tested will include the type of disinfectant, the solar disinfection time, and the disinfectant concentration. Preliminary research demonstrated that lemon juice did not greatly inactivate E. coli in water at any disinfection time or disinfectant concentration tested. Continuing research will combine the use of organic acids and solar disinfection to inactivate pathogens in water.

Marcin Chmiel

Examining the structure and function of DNA has become increasingly common in biological laboratories that focus on the relationships between populations and species of organisms. Recent advances in molecular biology have allowed researchers to examine the properties of extinct populations and species by examining ancient DNA samples recovered from naturally and artificially preserved specimens. The quality of this preserved DNA is directly influenced by the preservation and storage conditions of the specimens. This study will examine the degradation and deformation of preserved DNA and the quality of intact DNA in relation to preservation time of the specimens using modern molecular biology techniques, including PCR, agarose-gel electrophoresis, spectrophotometry and DNA sequencing methods. This study will examine the specific causes and effects of degradation of DNA over time and the best source materials from which to extract quantifiable and amplifiable (via PCR) fragments of DNA as well as the effects of modified molecular protocols for increasing the success rate of extracticng ancient DNA. This information is espeically important because tissue samples and extracted DNA are often preserved for many years, for biological, biomedical and forensic based research. Limitied research has been done to determine the most effective source materials for both fresh and preserved molecules of DNA and methods of storing tissues and extracted DNA Samples.

Adam Clinton

The goal of proposed project is to develop an innovative, controllable, energy-absorbing material system for vibration damping applications. The proposed material system is a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE). The damping and stiffness of these materials changes in one millisecond, if they are under a magnetic filed. This effort provides an opportunity for basic understanding of a novel MRE material system by synthesis, and characterization (i.e., obtaining their damping and stiffness properties) of MRE materials. The results will be submitted for publications in peer reviewed journals.

Mallary Crowe

Alcoholism is prevalent and adversely affects brain function, producing long-term neurocognitive deficits. However, emotion processing has not been extensively investigated in alcoholism, although it is likely that like cognitive, emotion processing is also disrupted in those with alcoholism. This study examines emotion processing in individuals with alcoholism. Participants will consist of 20 individuals with a diagnosis of lifetime alcohol abuse and 20 normal controls. Participants will be administered a structured interview, personality inventory and a variety of emotion and congnitive processing tasks. Results will be analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance to test the hypothesis and differences will be present between groups.

Christopher Davis

Research will focus on the study of proteins from Human Cytomegalovirus and several strains of Hantavirus. By purifying these proteins, diagnostic research may be performed to improve the speed and ability to identify these viruses in patients. This research will also be able to contribute to a better understanding of Human Cytomegalovirus protein LUNA, a novel latency associated protein first described by our laboratory.

The research methods will include cell transformations, protein expression and purification from those cells, and ELISA testing of the purified proteins. Although broad, this project was started with great success last summer.

Julius M. de Leon

Shigella flexneri is a gram negative bacterial pathogen that causes severe dysentery in humans. Although Shigella is not strictly regarded as a water-borne pathogen, in the U.S. alone a significant number of documented shigellosis outbreaks are linked to exposure to contaminated water. After Hurricane Katrina, an outbreak of shigellosis occurred in Biloxi, MI; 20 cases were reported after individuals drank contaminated water. Shigellosis is also prevalent in developing countries that are prone to flooding, although poor personal health and sanitation are said to be the main factors aiding the spread of the disease, the positive correlation between disease incidence and water levels is striking.

Shigella can be cultured from water for 2-3 days after inoculation; however our preliminary data show that Shigella can survive for significantly longer periods. As yet it is unclear whether surviving bacteria remain virulent. The overall goal of this proposal is to determine the public health risks associated with Shigella in water. The work that I propose builds on research that I have started in Dr. Wing’s lab. Funding support will allow me to generate additional data that will strengthen my preliminary findings and prepare my findings for publication. My research will address 2 specific aims.

In my first line of research, I will determine whether Shigella strains that carry the Shigella virulence plasmid are better adapted to survive in water than Shigella strains which have lost the virulence plasmid. These studies will determine whether genes encoded on the virulence plasmid are important for Shigella survival in water. This will lead to a better understanding of the genetic requirements for Shigella survival in water.

In my second line of research, I will determine whether Shigella strains enter a dormant state in water. To do this, I will compare the number of bacteria that remain culturable after a fixed period in water, to the number of bacteria that remain viable after the same period in water. Viable bacteria will be identified by the use of a bacterial dye that differentiates between viable and non-viable bacteria. These studies will determine whether culturing techniques are accurate and satisfactory methods to determine the number of Shigella in water.

Given that Shigella species are genetically very similar to other enteric bacteria (including E. coli and Salmonella), it is possible that my findings will be applicable to other water-borne bacteria too.

Meredith Gibe

The occurrence of Shigella flexneri is often reported to cause bloody diarrhea in developing countries prone to flooding or in areas affected by natural disasters, such as hurricanes. In water, Shigella may become quiescent and remain undetected by current methods. Therefore, understanding how Shigella adapts to water from natural sources may be significant in diagnosis and treatment against this debilitating disease. Support is requested for this proposal to examine survival of Shigella in Lake Mead water, the main water source for Las Vegas in a laboratory setting. I will also examine quiescence in Shigella and its importance in survival.

Marci Haddad

Superconductivity is the phenomenon of zero electrical resistance that is observed in some materials below a critical temperature Tc. This state of zero resistance, besides being an amazing realization of a quantum mechanical effect, has numerous applications that are already used and many others that could be realized in the near future. Recently, a new class of superconductors made of Li, Pd and B was reported [1]. I propose to fabricate and study the ambient and high pressure properties of the Li-Pd-B system to better understand and optimize the superconducting state.

Benjamin Hatchett

Lake Tahoe, a large sub-alpine lake situated on the border of California and Nevada, is world-renowned for its cobalt blue waters. The preservation of water quality is vital to maintaining not only a functional and resilient ecological community, but a strong socioeconomic community as well. To better understand the hydrologic and chemical inputs into Lake Tahoe, the NSF EPSCoR-funded Incline Creek Experimental Watershed was formed. This watershed is unique in that it exhibits a wide range of land-uses, from urban to native (undisturbed). For a snow-dominated system, correct estimations of total water stored as snow, or snow-water equivalent, are vital to understanding the hydrologic and biogeochemical processes of the watershed. The primary goal of this proposal is to improve watershed-scale models of snow water equivalent both spatially and temporally. To accomplish this goal, there are three objectives: develop an improved field snow sampling design; implement the new sample design in the Incline Creek watershed for one snow season; and to use geostatistical methods to spatially distribute the snow water distribution throughout the entire watershed.

Anastasia Henry

Bark beetles are among the most economically important forest pests in the United States. Trees killed by these insects add significant fuel for forest fwes, a
significant threat to property and life. Bark beetles produce sex pheromones that coordinate host colonization and mating. The goal of this research is to develop more effective pest management tactics that target pheromone production. The effects of feeding and JHIII treatment will be studied in two key regulatory enzymes in the mevalonate pathway. We will also determine the influence of a brain factor on the activity of a third enzyme in the pathway.

Alia Jabali

Heterozygote Advantage is an evolutionary selection in which heterozygotes present higher relative fitness over homozygotes. We have discovered a spontaneous mutation in the fruit fly, which might portray this selection mechanism. Individuals homozygous for this mutation die as old larvae, whereas heterozygotes appear larger in body size and survive to adulthood. In Drosophila larger body size indicates an increase in fecundity and higher survival in stressful conditions. Our studies focus on the relative size and fecundity differences between heterozygous mutants and the progenitor stock. We are also investigating the characteristics of the mutant gene by locating it on the chromosome.

Alexander Kolosovich

The New Zealand Mud Snail is a relatively new invader in the United States that regulates ecosystem processes (biodiversity, fish production and nutrient cycling). This study aims to determine how susceptible the Tahoe-Truckee-Pyramid system would be to an invasion by measuring survivorship and growth rates in laboratory controlled experiments. Furthermore, it seeks to quantify the potential changes (e.g. nutrient cycling) which could result from an invasion by the snails. The total project cost will be $8,987 and $4,840 is being requested.

Whitney Law

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women in America. Malignant tumors have the ability to spread (metastasize) which explains the high mortality rates. Improvements have been made in treating the initial tumor, but there are still problems with preventing spread of cancer. Metastasis demands a blood supply and angiogenesis is the process of new blood vessel formation and is a promising therapeutic target for stopping cancer growth and subsequent formation of metastatic tumors. Our research goal is to describe a mechanism by which a factor secreted from breast cancer supports tumor angiogenesis and metastasis and eventually develop pharmacophores to prevent this process.

Jeffrey Leong

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) kill cells by releasing granules containing perforin and granzymes. CTL activation to acquire granules requires signals from the T cell receptor (TCR), as well as the adhesion molecules CD2 and LFA-1. Degranulation and subsequent killing of cells requires only sufficient antigen for TCR engagement. However, stimulation of CD2 and LFA-1 will degranulate in vitro. Tumor cells often present too few surface antigens for TCR stimulation. We propose that weak TCR engagement can be offset by concurrent stimulation of CD2 and LFA-1, to provide sufficient signal for granule release and to kill tumors.

Justin Luria

A Bose Einstein condensate is a gaseous superfluid form of matter created by super cooling a collection of atoms to a temperature a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero. Within the last few months it has been discovered that Bose-Einstein condensates of certain atoms have large magnetic dipole moments [4]. Such BECs are important because they are expected to offer insights to high-temperature superconductivity. I propose a line of research that focuses on deriving the characteristic properties of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which governs novel dipolar BEC behavior. This project will model BEC properties such as the ground state and associated energy by using numerical methods. The model will be programmed in FORTRAN coding and computed by the UNR Physics Department’s NEON processor.

Lauren Mattingly

This project will study the effects of combined PS341 and anti-CD40 antibody (SGN 40) treatment on human Burkitt’s lymphoma cells. Individually, these drugs act to decrease the malignancy and augmentation of lymphoma cells in humans. I hypothesize that combined bortezomib and SGN40 treatment will have an additive anti-tumor effect on human Burkitt lymphoma cells. To test this hypothesis, I will determine the direct effects of combined bortezomib and SGN40 treatment on the rate of tumor cell survival and proliferation in vitro and in vivo.

Jennifer McClanahan

Sea ice diatoms (unicellular algae) produce ice-binding proteins (IBPs) that help them survive freezing conditions. IBPs from two diatom species have been sequenced by Dr. Raymond and colleagues. IBP-like proteins have also been found in archaea, bacteria and fungi. It is possible that the diatom IBPs originated from one of these other organisms, but IBP sequence information from other diatom species is needed to test this hypothesis. In this study we will attempt to obtain the IBP sequences of two additional diatom species. A comparison of all sequences should help to identify the source of the diatom IBPs.

Mark Miller

The proposed project aims at the material characterization of MR grease, as well as design, fabrication and testing of a novel MR grease (MRG) damper. MRG consists of micron-sized ferrous particles suspended in a carrier fluid. The apparent viscosity of MR materials increase 1000 times in 5 milliseconds, when stimulated by a magnetic field. In this study, it is proposed to evaluate the properties of MRG. Also, using a three-dimensional electromagnetic analysis the MRG damper will be designed. This damper will be built and tested for its force controllability. The results will be disseminated through peer reviewed journals.

Maxwell Murphy

The study of fractals is an interesting and relatively new field in mathematics. Basically fractals are curious geometric shapes that have infinite detail to them. The
theory behind fractals is very rich, and draws from many other fields in mathematics, such as topology, measure theory, and complex analysis. It is important to have many diverse examples of fractals to accompany the underlying theory. I am studying the coherence of the underlying examples. What properties do specific fractals share, what properties vary between them? I will also create some fractals, and see how they compare to common examples.

Archana Nelliot

In Dipterans, metamorphosis is characterized by the loss and transformation of larval tissues as the animal prepares for adult life. Of particular interest to us is the larval fat body or adipose tissue, which escapes cell death and is transformed from an intact tissue into a loose association of individual fat cells during metamorphosis. Having characterized this wild-type process of fat-body dissociation, we are now interested in the regulation of this critical event. Proposed here are experiments to elucidate the precise role of the steroid molting hormone, ecdysone, in the regulation of processes occurring in the fat body, particularly, dissociation and the release and consumption of nutrient stores in the whole animal during metamorphosis.

Sandra Saldana

The River Mountains is part of the boundary between the cities of Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada. The River Mountains Fault is part of a larger fault system that has the potential for large magnitude earthquakes. Previous seismic studies have located a fault in the near-surface. However, the resolution of these data was not sufficient to determine if the fault cuts recently deposited material, which would classify it as being active. Therefore, a high-resolution seismic reflection experiment is proposed that will define the subsurface geometry of the River Mountains Fault and determine if this fault is active.

Cyndi Tran

In Drosophila melanogaster, the fat body undergoes tissue dissociation. Upon dissociation the fat body is transformed from sheets of cells to freely floating individual fat cells that populate the pupae. These metabolically active fat cells are thought to fuel metamorphosis. This phenomenon yields insight into processes such as cancer metastasis. We have identified an Insulin/TOR signaling pathway that is necessary for the dissociation of the fat body. This pathway is known to be involved in regulating growth, metabolism, reproduction, and longevity. Here, I propose experiments to identify Insulin/TOR signaling pathway intermediates that are not only involved in regulating fat-body dissociation, but also in pupal survivorship.

Alfred Villaluz

The correct pattern of Hox gene expression along the anterior-posterior axis of the embryo is crucial for normal development in all animals. It has been shown that the expression of the Hox genes is controlled by regulatory regions located between the genes. These intergenic regions have recently been shown to produce non-coding RNAs of unknown function. The primary goal of this project is to characterize these intergenic RNAs at the Hox complexes in mouse and Drosophila (fruit fly) and examine the potential function in relation to the control of Hox gene expression. Knowledge of the mechanisms by which Hox genes are regulated will be critical to our continued understanding of development in animals.

Carrie Ka Lei Wong

Metabolic rates of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, dip dramatically during pupation. This occurrence may be crucial for the conservation of energy in preparation for the demanding event of metamorphosis. Temperature greatly affects metabolic rates of adults, but the effects of temperature on developing pupae are not known. Through my research this school year, I will investigate the possible effects of temperature in relation to energy consumption, and its effects on the ability for the fly to eclose from the pupal case.

University of Nevada, Reno
Maintained by: Karin Saxon