All Abstracts

Shiga toxins (STX) are produced by certain Escherichia coli strains that cause “hamburger disease”. The toxins contain three different sites that bind to a glycolipid, the cell surface receptor globotriaosylceramide (Gb3). Roles for Gb3 in normal cell functions are largely unknown. However, the ...

This study examines the spatial distribution of ozone trends in India over the decade 2004-2016. Tropospheric ozone is an indicator of environmental health as a major air pollutant; long-time exposure and air quality deterioration threaten public health. As more manufacturing, power plants and trans...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and depression are major health concerns in the United States (U.S.). Studies have shown that women who receive help for IPV have a rate of depression that ranges from 17% to 72% (Warshaw, Barnes, 2003). Additionally, research findings suggest that IPV is more prevale...

Depression is the fourth leading cause of disability and the leading cause of non-fatal disease burden in the United States. Several studies have indicated that African Americans are significantly more likely to report depression compared to European Americans. Although the literature has examined c...

Antibiotics are produced by microbes in the soil and can slow the growth of plants. For example, kanamycin, which is an aminoglycoside, affects cells by binding to ribosomes and inhibiting translocation. Atwbc19 is a gene in Arabidopsis plants that has been known to mitigate the effects of antibioti...

Baylis-Hillman reactions are described as the addition of an acrylate to an aldehyde catalyzed by an amine. This reaction is atom economical, but for our reaction of benzaldehyde and methyl vinyl ketone it produced low yields and the reaction rates were slow. To increase the reaction rates and yield...

Acid Sensing Ion Channels (ASICs) are proton-gated cation channels belonging to the degenerin/epithelial Na+ channel (DEG/ENaC) superfamily. There are at least four genes that encode six alternatively spliced transcripts: ASIC1a, ASIC1b, ASIC2a, ASIC2b, ASIC3 and ASIC4. ASIC1a, a primary subunit exp...

Organochlorides are a component of pesticides. Previous studies have shown that individuals with >100ng/mL of 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)-ethylene (p,p-DDE) in their blood exhibited altered methylation of the genes DIO3, TERT, and HCK; any of which could have implications in cancer prog...

Pharmaceuticals are not currently tested for trans-generational and epigenetic side effects. Therefore, research and data in that area are limited. Recently, invertebrates such as insects have been suggested for this purpose as more ethically acceptable. We used the red flour beetle, Tribolium casta...

Sexual reproduction is a tool used to increase genetic diversity amongst species. Previous studies of small eukaryotic microbe life cycles, including Amoebozoa, have assumed these organisms to reproduce asexually. Interestingly, studying the lifecycle of Cochliopodium, a genus of amoeba, and ot...

There is limited research about HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among African-American (AA) college students. If students become aware of their HIV status, they may consider HIV testing services and treatments. Participants (n = 212) were surveyed to study whether health literacy...

Influenza is one of the deadliest of all airborne and upper-respiratory infections. On average, 22,000 deaths and over 3 million hospitalizations in USA are attributed to influenza each year. In the United States, influenza activity has been increasing since the beginning of November of 2017, with I...

While prior research has explored cortical connectivity and reliability of response using fMRI, there has been far less research on these topics using other neuroimaging technologies, such as fNIRS. The purpose of this study is to investigate how different cortical regions are connected, as well as ...

Prostate cancer is a multifocal disease, with varying sensitivity to hormone therapy or androgen deprivation therapy. It is initially responsive to therapies that inhibit androgen receptor (AR) signaling, but the disease eventually advances to an androgen-independent state. Investigators have demons...

Epigenetic changes modify genes in ways that do not change the DNA sequence but changes their level of gene expression. CpG islands regulate the expression of nearby genes; however, transcriptional complexes involved in gene expression can be repelled or attracted by methyl groups modified through e...

Plants mine the soil to obtain essential nutrients and in so doing, they can take up several antibiotics produced in the soil by certain microorganisms. One such antibiotic is kanamycin. Plants are sensitive to antibiotics and appear to have developed different mechanisms of resistance. For example,...

The symptoms of Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colerectal Cancer (HNPCC) are caused by inherited defects in the DNA Mismatch Repair Mechanism (MMR), a mechanism responsible for fixing the mutations that occur during DNA replication. Components of MMR, MSH2 and MSH6 form complexes to recognize the mutations...

Research suggests that eating disorders can pose a threat to young adult women's health and adjustment because they are associated with negative health outcomes such as infertility and high rates of suicide. More specifically, several studies have examined behavioral symptoms of eating disorders in ...

Cysteine cathepsins are potent collagenases and elastases that regulate tissue maintenance and contribute to tissue degeneration. Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling by cathepsins is linked to a number of diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis and tendinopathy. Our lab has shown that cathepsin K (c...

I performed a comprehensive analysis of spatial and temporal vulnerability to tornadoes using data from the national weather service during the period 1950-2016. I recorded monthly reports and hypothesized a correlation between severe tornado occurrences and the time of year, the origin of a tornado...

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. The poor prognosis of GBM is associated with the tumor's highly malignant nature and the inability of some treatment modalities to transport due to the blood-brain barrier. Immunotherapy has been recognized as a promising therape...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to any form of physical, psychological, and/or sexual harm committed by a current or former partner (CDC, 2003). In heterosexual partnerships, 34.6% of European American women report experiencing IPV, and this rate is even higher for African American women of w...

The ant, fungal cultivar, and Escovopsis system is one of mutualism and parasitism. Attine ants grow fungal cultivars that they feed and in turn use for food. Escovopsis is a parasitic fungus that uses the cultivated fungus as a host. However, studies have shown that Escovopsis is often but not alwa...

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a synthetic polymer that is popular in orthopedic medicine due to its high water compatibility and other chemical resistance. Some common uses for PVA are  solutions for contact lens, tissue adhesion barriers, and artificial knee cartilage (Baker et al. 2012; Spiller ...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men worldwide. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism used to control gene expression. To understand the correlation between this epigenetic mechanism and cancer, single nucleotide polymorphism from the human genomic matrix are analyzed using R...

Plants take up essential nutrients from the soil through their roots, and in the process absorb substances released by soil microorganisms such as antibiotics. Plants appear to have developed resistance mechanisms. One example of this phenomenon is observed in Arabidopsis thaliana plants, which poss...

The purpose of this study is to assess the benefits of an academic after-school enrichment program. This study is of interest as it focuses on students from low SES neighborhoods. This study uses survey and interview methods to understand student experiences in the afterschool program. This study wi...

Fracture healing is critical to restoring physical and mechanical properties of bone. However, various co-morbidities result in approximately 10% of fracture non-unions, a major clinical and economic concern. Approximately 100,000 fractures result in non-union each year in the United States. Drug de...

Iron plays an important role for plant growth and development. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the Ferric Chelate Reductase Defective 3 (FRD3) gene plays an essential role in the uptake of iron. FRD3 transports citrate into the xylem, which form a complex with iron and enable its transport over long distan...

Spelman College is an all-women’s Historically Black College which prides itself on the academic and professional successes of its students. However, the students attending the institution may feel stressed when attempting to meet the school’s academic standards, such as achieving a high GPA, ho...