All Abstracts

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 ...

Spring of 2011 brought the ban of the burqa (face covering-veil) in public spaces in France. The French government stressed that the law was implemented for security purposes, to help combat terrorism and promote homogenous attire for people in France. Others interpreted the ban as an attack against...

Misinformation, or information initially accepted as fact until later corrected or retracted, can persist in memory and influence subsequent inferences and judgments. This phenomenon of continued reliance on false information is known as the continued influence effect (CIE). Previous research has in...

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...

In the United States, household debt is often examined in relation to household spending, with minimal consideration for how other factors contribute to the likelihood of individuals incurring debt over their lifetime. Through an OLS regression analysis of cross-sectional data from the Panel Study o...

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...

It is essential to explore barriers that inhibit African American college women in seeking mental health services. The purpose of this study is to examine how attitudes toward mental health services, mental health stigma, and racial centrality influence African-American college women’s intentions ...

Dibenzoylmethane (DBM) is a minor constituent of licorice root, a common ingredient in many sunscreens, and a known neoplasia inhibitor. Although DBM has exhibited anti-neoplastic activity in many studies, no reports offer definitive mechanisms of action for DBM on tumor growth inhibition. Our labor...

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...

Pathogenic Neisseria, N. meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae that respectively cause meningitis and gonorrhea, form biofilms in vivo, and while in these structures, display increased resistance to antibiotics, compromising treatment. Biofilm formations (BF) are aggregates of microorganisms encased in an...

Previous research indicates that executive functioning, the ability to manipulate information through the use of focused attention, is an important predictor of math achievement. Some studies report that the direct effects of executive functioning seem especially strong for mathematics. The present ...

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...

Ruby Hurley's moral agency in the NAACP consisted of advocacy for civil rights, increasing the orgainzation's membership, public speaking on race issues, and investigating racial incidents. As a Black woman serving as the Southeastern Regional Director for the NAACP from 1951 until 1978, Ruby Hurley...

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...

For decades HIV and AIDS have remained a public health problem for the United States and many other countries. While great progress has been made in preventing and treating HIV, there is still much to do. Considering that the HIV virus can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if not tr...

This study examines whether Eastern subterranean termites (Reticulitermes sp.) use swarm intelligence as a way to increase foraging efficacy. We hypothesized that termites would use the shortest trail in each maze configuration as a result of swarm intelligence. Groups of 20 termites were deprived o...

This research examines the impact of race, income, age, education level, and sexual activity on the likelihood of teenage pregnancy. The hypothesis presented was that teenagers from African American communities and low socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to have teenage pregnancies than Caucas...

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...

When sexual assaults occur, individuals who learn of the event may develop victim-blaming attitudes in which they attribute more guilt to the survivor than the perpetrator (Kelley, 1967). Previous research shows that complex factors like race, attitudes about rape, and endorsement of sexual stereoty...

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...

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...

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...

According to the Center of Disease Control, there were over 1,500,00 cases of chlamydia reported in the United States in 2016. Is this figure in line with the recent past or does it represent a rise on the incidence chlamydia? This project's aim is to look at the trend of chlamydia rates within the ...

Many children of color in low-income communities lack extracurricular exposure to education in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Due to this disparity, African-American and Hispanic or Latino students have lower performance scores on standardized tests deterrin...

Tetrahydrobenzoxepines are seven-membered heterocyclic rings that are found in a variety of natural products and biologically active substances such as Forbaglin, a potent anticancer agent derivative. This project targets the synthesis of tetrahydrobenzoxepines from donor acceptor nitrocyclopropanes...

Intermediate filaments include a group of proteins primarily involved in structural support as opposed to other cytoskeletal proteins that have specialized functions. Intermediate filaments are organized into different classes due to their variety. Intermediate filaments are found in most Opisthokon...