School of Biology Undergraduate Research Option Theses
The Research Option offers students majoring in biology the opportunity for a substantial, in-depth research experience. Students are strongly encouraged at the end of their experience to work with their faculty mentor to develop a journal publication or conference presentation on the research in addition to the actual thesis.
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Recent Submissions
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Characterization of Primary Rat Astrocytes: a Step Towards Optic Nerve Head on a Chip
The mechanism by which elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) increases risk of glaucoma remains unknown. A proposed pathway suggests astrocytes sense optic nerve head (ONH) deformation due to increased IOP, triggering their ... -
Competition Dynamics between Ancestral Unicellular and Laboratory-Evolved Multicellular Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Life on Earth as humanity comprehends it would be unthinkable without multicellular organisms. Despite the pervasiveness of multicellularity, the mechanisms of its evolutionary origin remain largely a mystery. Fortunately, ... -
Variation in Coral Microbiome Composition and Transcriptional Activity of Three Corals over Diel Cycles
Understanding the dynamics of coral microbiome composition and function is important because microbiomes play important roles in coral health and metabolism. While numerous long-term studies have investigated changes in ... -
Investigating Biomarkers for Antidepressant Efficacy via Cognitive Behavioral Assessment and fMRI
Although many treatment options have been developed to treat Major Depressive Disorder, the efficacy of these treatment options remain limited. Past studies on antidepressant efficacy have identified a range of cognitive ... -
Development of an Assay for Sphingomyelinase D Products in Venom from Loxosceles reclusa and Other Spiders
The venoms of Loxosceles reclusa, the brown recluse spider, and some other Loxosceles species cause dermonecrotic lesions—a dying of the flesh—and in severe cases, systemic injury and death. Since this type of injury results ... -
Testing how methods impact the results of interspecific competition research
There are currently two methods that can be used to measure interspecific competition, pairwise and mutual invasion. Both can be used to generate niche difference (ND) and relative fitness difference (RFD) values, as well ... -
Using Polymorphic Microsatellites to Determine the Population Genetics of Vespula maculifrons
Social insects have an interesting genetic history and are studied in order to discern how their social behaviors affects their genetic makeup. The eastern yellowjacket Vespula maculifrons is one such species whose altruistic ... -
Expanding test methods for marine ecotoxicology testing using Proales similis
This study is the first inquiry into the suitability of the rotifer Proales similis as a test animal for researchers studying marine pollution. It also introduces a novel toxicity test based on inhibition of hatching ... -
Analysis of metastatic-repressing microRNAs and determining ZEB1 as a gene candidate for siRNA knockout in mesenchymal-like ovarian and prostate cancer cell lines
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play a significant role in cancer progression and metastasis through their regulation of gene expression to activate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Understanding the genetic ... -
Uncovering the peatland root microbiome: Environmental factors shaping microbial community structure
This study examines the effects of simulated whole-ecosystem warming and elevated levels of carbon dioxide on the microbial communities within the root-soil microbiomes of vascular plants in peatlands. Root samples ... -
Quasi-Periodic Patterns of Resting-State Brain Activity in Individuals with Idiopathic Hypersomnia and Narcolepsy
The brain’s overall organization of its networks is often studied through its functional connectivity, defined as the spatiotemporal dependency of neuronal activity in anatomically separated regions. Altered functional ... -
Single Cell Analysis of Patients with Perianal Chron’s Disease
Perianal Chron’s Disease is a debilitating form of Chron’s Disease that often involves rectal tissue in its manifestation in the body. There is a greater need for understanding of the role of the epithelial tissue in the ... -
Effect of Hydrodynamic Regime on Snowflake Yeast Evolution
Experimental evolution of S. cerevisiae has unlocked new avenues in the study of the transition from uni- to multicellularity and how selection moves from the level of the individual cell to the multicellular-level. Selection ... -
Evolution of Cross-Feeding in a Simple Bacterial Community: Genetic Determinants
Syntrophic interactions, like cross-feeding, are ubiquitous in the microbial world and occur between different species and between different ecotypes of the same species. We seek to understand the conditions that favor ... -
The Relation Between Spatial Navigation and Associative Memory in the Older Adult Population
Navigation strategy and spatial navigation aim to explain how humans engage with the world around them. They are also both a way to understand cognitive differences between age populations. Associative memory is the ability ... -
Neural Activation During Dual-task Processing with Simultaneous Stimulus Presentation
Despite extensive literature regarding response time cost in dual-task processing, the predominant procedures do not isolate task-processing from stimulus processing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the neural ... -
Developing appropriate methodology for assessing anti-pathogen properties of mucus-enriched water from corals
Global coral reef health is in rapid decline. A major contributor to this trend is warming ocean temperatures. As ocean temperature increases, corals become more susceptible to diseases that lead to bleaching and tissue ... -
Glucose protects E. coli from death by the Vibrio cholerae type VI secretion system
Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of the intestinal disease cholera, interacts with other bacteria in dense multispecies communities within both host and environmental settings. Using the harpoon-like type VI secretion ... -
Determining the effect of SSB on [LSB+] prion-based stress memory
Prions are self-perpetuating protein isoforms, that are usually based on ordered fibrous protein aggregates (amyloids), cause disease in humans and control non-Mendelian heritable traits in yeast. Formation and loss of ... -
Whole-Brain Gray Matter Volume as an Anatomical Predisposition for Cognitive Ability
The human brain is the topic of much interest in recent years, and due to the advent and rising popularity of imaging techniques such as functional MRI, we are able to understand the brain with greater detail than ever ...
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