2014 Summer Research Poster Session Booklet

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2014 Summer Research Poster Session Friday, September 26, 2014 at 1-4 pm Trayes Hall, Douglass Campus Center

Presented by The Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science, and Engineering

“We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing.”

-Maria Mitchell, Astronomer (1818-1889)

“But science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. Science, for me, gives a partial explanation for life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience and experiment.”

-Rosalind Franklin, Biophysicist and Physical Chemist (1920-1958)

!The Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science, and Engineering Encouraging women in the STEM fields Established in 1986, the Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science & Engineering is an award-winning program that provides support and encouragement for undergraduate women pursuing degrees and careers in, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The original goals of the program included developing a network of support for undergraduate women students who were interested in math and science at Rutgers-New Brunswick and developing co-curricular programs to increase confidence of these students. Specific programs were organized where students could meet other young women interested in math and science majors and see that they were not alone in their endeavors.

Over 25 years later, the Douglass Project continues to offer signature programs of support for women in science throughout Rutgers University. Each year the Douglass Project holds over 30 events and workshops that assist participants in enhancing their academic, career/professional and personal development. We also provide individualized advising with both graduate students and full-time staff specific to the needs of undergraduate women in STEM.

A Network of Support Programs:

Bunting-Cobb Residence Hall for Women in Science (the first of its kind in the nation)

Project SUPER (Science for Undergraduates a Program for Excellence in Research)

Douglass Engineering Living-Learning Community for first year women

The STEM Ambassadors leadership program

An industry mentoring program for woman in science in collaboration

Outreach program with Rutgers DIMACS for women in computing

Health Sciences Research Symposium planning committee

We invite you to connect with us on Facebook (/DouglassProject) and Twitter (@DouglassProject). You can also find us online at douglass.rutgers.edu/about-douglass-project.

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Project SUPER Project SUPER (Science for Undergraduates: A Program for Excellence in Research) is an enrichment program offered by the Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science and Engineering that provides programming and opportunities for undergraduate women pursuing research in the sciences.

Project SUPER offers students

undergraduate research experiences in the sciences, math, engineering and technology

an orientation designed to introduce students to the options and opportunities for studying science at Rutgers University

peer and faculty mentoring opportunities

an undergraduate credit-bearing course: Introduction to Scientific Research

programs and workshops designed to help students find success in the sciences

!!STEM Summer Stipend The STEM Summer Stipend provides Douglass students conducting scientific research with the opportunity to receive funding for their work during the summer as well as professional development workshops. Students work over 300 hours with a faculty advisor on a scientific topic of interest to them. In addition to presenting at this poster session, they also write a paper on their findings. We would like to thank the faculty, post-docs, and graduate students who hosted and mentored our students during the 2014 summer.

All Douglass students interested in participating in the STEM Summer Stipend should apply during the spring semester prior to their summer of work.

The Douglass Project expresses great gratitude to the generous contributors who support our mission. We extend great gratitude to Regina Best Heldrich '42, in memoriam, for generously creating the Regina Best Heldrich Science Endowment for Douglass students, which assists Project SUPER students in their research endeavors. We would also like to thank Wendy Cai-Lee, Carol Gershaw Myers, Barbara Rodkin and the Rodkin Family Foundation, and the Colgate-Palmolive Corporation for their continued financial support of our students.

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!2014 Poster Session Participants

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Name Page Name Page

Cilgy Abraham 4 Katherine Lau 27

Nimah Ahmed 5 Pinky Liau 28

Suwaiba Asghar 6 Sarah Libring 29

Muzdalifa Ayub 7 Win Lin 30

Jessica Beck 8 Brittany MacTaggart 31

Victoria Bowers 9 Kaitlyn Mazzilli 32

Aneesha Cheedalla 10 Brooke McClarren 33

Stamatiki Clapsis 11 Julianne McLaughlin 34

Jennifer Coulter 12 Fayrouz Merhom 35

Caroline Davis 13 Tara Nietzold 36

Elizabeth Davis 14 Dhara Patel 37

Hannah Delos Reyes 15 Jenifar Patel 38

Puneet Dhillon 16 Vipa Patel 39

Kayla Fowler 17 Isabel Perez 40

Ashtyn Greenstein 18 Ameena Rana 41

Ankita Gupta 19 Nicole Reynoso 42

Dara Ifaturoti 20 Sruchika Sabu 43

Oluwatoyosi Ipaye 21 Marina Shimarova 44

Karishma Jaggernauth 22 Chau Minh Tran 45

Caitlin Jones 23 Reshma Vohra 46

Vaishnavi Kannan 24 Riasat Zaman 47

Megan Kelly 25 Ameema Zubairi 48

Tiffany Kingsley 26

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Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science, and Engineering

Cilgy Abraham | Advisor: Dr. Pamela de Cordova California’s Mandated Nurse-to-Patient Legislation and Patient Outcomes: A Systematic Review of the Literature !Inadequate staffing of nurses in healthcare facilities in the United States and abroad is a significant problem. The growing body of evidence suggests that high nurse-to-patient ratios may worsen selected patient outcomes and quality of care while contributing to the epidemic nurse shortage. In an effort to improve patient outcomes, California became the first state, in 1999, to pass Assembly Bill 394 which mandated minimum ratios in several units such as medical/surgical, step-down, specialty, and telemetry units at all times. This current systematic review examined the evidence revealing any changes in specific patient outcomes in California healthcare facilities after the implementation of the mandated ratios. Furthermore, the researchers evaluated the entire sample of selected articles for study quality. Ten out of the twelve articles had strong methodological rigor. A crucial finding from this systematic review is that the mandated ratios increased the number of nurse hours per patient day. Another finding is a decrease in the use of restraints and a drastic decrease in the time, from 103 to 62 minutes, from the written order to the administration of antibiotics for patients with pneumonia. While some patient and quality outcomes have improved post-regulation, others have not, making the findings from a majority of these studies mixed and inconclusive.

!Cilgy Abraham is a junior of the Rutgers, School of Nursing Honors Program. Cilgy is interested in global health, quality of healthcare services and patient outcomes, nurse staffing, and access to healthcare in underprivileged communities. In addition to researching this summer, Cilgy worked with and monitored individuals with mental health issues and from that experience she has learned the importance of advocating with local, state, and federal authorities to improve the access to healthcare services for those living in underserved communities. Cilgy is also highly passionate about changing societal stereotypes concerning the nursing profession and hopes that her involvement in summer research will help others realize that nursing is a respectable profession that uses science, evidence-based practices, theory-guided practices, and of course research to improve the quality of patient care. Working with and being mentored by Dr. Pamela de Cordova has inspired Cilgy to someday pursue a doctorate in nursing.

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2014 Summer Research Poster Session

Nimah Ahmed | Advisor: Dr. Nicole Fahrenfeld Reactive Transport Modeling of the Explosive TNT !Transport simulation has become an increasingly important tool for environmental scientists and engineers due to growing interest in groundwater quality as well as the rapid development of computer technology. However, few solute transport models account for complicated branched degradation pathways associated with many organic pollutants. The objective of this work was to develop a 1D reactive transport model to accurately simulate TNT transport and biodegradation. A finite difference approximation approach was used along with the assumption of a linear isotherm. The model was also applied to TNT’s daughter products ADNT and DANT as well the intermediate products HADNTs. The model was validated using previously published data from a column biodegradation study. Accuracy was evaluated using R2 values to approximate fit. Good results were achieved for TNT and the two ADNT products, with moderate results for the DANTs.

Nimah Ahmed is a senior in the Rutgers School of Engineering. She is majoring in civil engineering with a focus in environmental and is involved with Engineers Without Borders. Her future career goal is to work in environmental consultation.

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Suwaiba Asghar | Advisor: Dr. Huaye Zhang The Screening of Putative Proteins that affect APP Trafficking and Processing !Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by deposits of amyloid beta (Aβ) in senile and neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of paired helical filaments of hyperphosphorylated tau. Various studies indicate that overproduction and aggregation of Aβ in the brain is the primary cause of AD and inhibition of Aβ generation has become a popular topic in AD research. Aβ is generated through β- and γ-secretase cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP). Alternatively, APP can be cleaved by α-secretase within the Aβ domain to release soluble APPα and preclude Aβ generation. Hence, understanding the processing of APP is crucial for AD therapeutics. In Dr. Zhang’s lab, we previously screened for putative proteins that may play important roles in APP trafficking and processing and identified RhoA as a very likely candidate for the CTFα fragment that follows the non-amyloidogenic pathway. Now we used confocal microscopy to examine the effects of RhoA on APP trafficking. Results suggest that RhoA might influence APP through its cytoskeletal interaction, shifting the APP distribution from the Trans-golgi-network to the recycling endosomes. Understanding the role of RhoA in APP trafficking and processing can elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the disease, which serves as great potential towards therapeutic advancement of AD.

!Suwaiba Asghar is double majoring in Neuroscience and Cell Biology and Psychology at Rutgers University. She has taken her interest of neuroscience to a higher level by working in Dr. Huaye Zhang’s laboratory over at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. After working in Dr. Zhang’s lab for about three years, she has been working on her own project on Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and is currently a research mentor for other students in the lab. Suwaiba also enjoys tutoring Organic Chemistry at the Rutgers University Learning Center and also is a TA for Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Suwaiba is a Fellow for RUWINS, Rutgers University Women in Neuroscience, and enjoys inviting prominent women neuroscientists from around the world and helping other students connect with them. She is also treasurer of CBN Society of Rutgers University. Suwaiba also enjoys her non-science hobbies of doing henna and hanging out with her four younger siblings. Suwaiba plans to apply to dual MD-PhD programs so she can continue to do research and also treat patients, hopefully here at RWJUH.

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!Muzdalifa Ayub | Advisors: Dr. Wise Young and Dr. Patricia Morton Lumbosacral Spinal Cord Injury Project !Lumbosacral Spinal Cord Injury (LSCI) makes up about 1/3 of all spinal cord injuries in the world and results in damage to the spinal roots at the T11-L1 junction. Damage at this region affects the movement and control of all bodily muscles and functions from the waist down. Even with its paralyzing effects and its rate of occurrence around the world, a treatment for lumbosacral spinal cord injury is barely being researched around the world. At the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, one of the only labs actively researching to find a treatment for LSCI, the project has been divided into two objectives. The first objective is regenerating motor neurons at the site of injury and the second objective is to promote the growth of new nerve connections from those neurons to the atrophied muscles. This past summer, we have worked on the first objective of the project using female GFP rats as our animal model to observe the effects of introducing neurospheres at the site of injury. The project is still ongoing so no conclusive results have yet been found.

Muzdalifa Ayub is a sophomore in the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program, majoring in Cell Biology & Neuroscience. She began her research at the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience under Dr. Wise Young's guidance in January of 2014 with the help of Project SUPER. She continued her research this past summer as a Rodkins Scholar and plans on remaining in this lab to complete her Senior Capstone Honors Thesis. Muzdalifa is also actively involved in the Douglass community as a Red Pine Ambassador, Douglass Summer Orientation Leader, Douglass Orientation Committee Member, and a Douglass Project Mentor. She also volunteers and shadows at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. Her future plans involve attending medical school.

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Jessica Beck | Advisor: Dr. Nina Fefferman Higher Order Analysis of Social Learning in African Elephants !African Elephants (members of the genus Loxodonta) exhibit tiered social networks with fission-fusion dynamics. Knowledge is disseminated through these networks via group social learning. Elephants rely on information flow in order to make decisions when faced with novel challenges, but poaching of matriarchs, who serve as knowledge repositories, has limited the capacity for knowledge transfer. It is therefore important to study how knowledge dissemination changes following the loss of key individuals. Traditionally, computational models created to understand the percolation of information and potential limitations to communication in social networks are simplified by representing all communication in a pairwise manner. However, given the group dynamic of elephants, higher order analysis is necessary to fully understand the limitations of knowledge transfer. A newly developed framework relying on simplicial sets from algebraic topology is being implemented to more efficiently analyze n-way elephant communication and knowledge transfer.

!Jessica Beck is a 3rd year student in Rutger’s School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. She is majoring in Animal Science, minoring in Mathematics and will most likely pursue a PhD in Mathematical Biology after completing her bachelor’s degree. Her research interests include animal communication, closed biospheres and evolutionary changes driven by rapid climate change. Jessica is a member of the SEBS General Honors Program, Rutgers Swing Dancing Team and Voorhees Choir.

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Victoria Bowers | Advisor: Dr. Suzie Chen Preparing Mass20 Melanoma Clones to express Green Fluorescent Protein !Melanocytes are cells that are responsible for eye and skin pigmentation. Melanoma is the abnormal proliferation of melanocytes. An estimated over 76,000 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in 2014 and the 10-year survival rate for patients with metastatic melanoma is less than 10%. Therefore, a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of metastatic melanoma development is necessary to development improved treatment options. Previously, Dr. Suzie Chen’s lab has demonstrated the ectopic expression of a neuronal receptor, metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (Grm1) in melanocytes is sufficient to induce transformed melanocyt in vitro and spontaneous melanoma development in vivo. Grm1, is a member of the seven-transmembrane G-protein coupled receptor family. Grm1 is normally expressed in the central nervous system with glutamate being its natural ligand and involves in learning and memory. Using cultured mouse melanocytes as a model system to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of Grm1-mediated glutamatergic signaling in melanoma metastasis, we set out to construct green or red fluorescence tagged Grm1-transformed mouse melanocytes. We will use these fluorescence-tagged cells to monitor the progression of the implanted transformed melanocytes in vivo by using a small animal imaging system, IVIS.

Victoria Bowers is a third-year student in the School of Arts and Sciences pursuing a major in Genetics with a minor in Spanish. She has been working in Dr. Chen’s lab since January 2014. Victoria is interested in continuing her academic career into graduate school to get a PharmD. She involved both on and off campus, being a certified pharmacy technician at a Walgreens, the administrative manager of Douglass Residential College’s Red Pine Ambassadors, as well as a member of the Rutgers Ultimate Frisbee Team. In her spare time she enjoys reading, volunteering, and snowboarding.

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Aneesha Cheedalla | Advisors: Dr. Janet Alder and Dr. Smita Thakker-Varia Analyzing the effects of VGF on Spine Morphology !VGF (non-acronymic) is a neuropeptide that increases dendritic outgrowth and the number of spines on dendrites when transfected into hippocampal neurons. Molecules that increase the number of spines show higher amounts of filopodia. Therefore, VGF is thought to increase the amount of filopodia in hippocampal neurons along with the previously observed overall increase in dendritic spines. When infected with AAV vectors containing the VGF gene, hippocampal neurons show an increase in dendritic spines and a slight increase in spines of all different morphologies.

!Aneesha Cheedalla is a junior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in Cell Biology and Neuroscience and minoring in Political Science. She is involved in Douglass through Project SUPER, the Douglass Project’s Peer Mentoring program, and Red Pine Ambassadors. Aneesha is also involved with the Institute for Domestic and International Affairs, where she discusses international issues, and RU Campus Coalition Against Trafficking. Aneesha plans to go to graduate school or medical school in the future. In her free time, Aneesha enjoys reading and playing the piano.

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Stamatiki Clapsis | Advisor: Michelle Kennedy, MPH Barriers and facilitators of primary data collection in a larger social science longitudinal study !Intro: This project will focus on discussing the barriers and facilitators of primary data collection of healthy food offerings among corner stores in four urban cities in New Jersey with high rates of childhood obesity and overweight. We will also analyze the role this primary data collection plays as part of a larger social science longitudinal study: the New Jersey Child Health Study (Impact of Environmental Changes on Children’s BMI and Behaviors: A Panel Study).

Approach: We (a) discuss the barriers and facilitators of primary data collection, (b) the unforeseen complications that occur during data collection, and how we maneuvered through such obstacles, (c) why primary data collection is important and (d) what can be discovered during this process that can impact how future data are collected for this longitudinal study.

Conclusion: So far, in Camden we audited 70 stores, in Newark—130, in New Brunswick—22, and in Trenton—8. We are not finished collecting data at this time, but we have learned a lot and have made transformative decisions that will affect the panel study because of this experience.

!Stamatiki Clapsis is a Douglass Residential College senior who is finishing her Bachelor's degree with a major in Psychology and a minor in Criminology. Meanwhile, she has begun working towards her Master's in Public Health with a specialization in Health Education and Behavioral Science. She will become a full-time student at the School of Public Health next Fall. Currently, she is working as a Research Intern on the New Jersey Child Health Study at the Center for State Health Policy. During her time at Rutgers, she has been an involved student leader in academic and cultural organizations. She served as president of Psychological Society, Treasurer of Hellenic Cultural Association, a mentor for Project Super, and was a planning committee member of the Health Science Research Symposium hosted by the Douglass Project. She has extended her service outside of Rutgers by volunteering her time as an assistant coach of the Girls on Track program in Princeton and conducting behavioral interventions in New Brunswick schools through the Collaborative. In the future, Miss Clapsis would like to work on improving Public Health infrastructure and to also work as a Health Educator. But more importantly, she would like to help transform cultured ideas about health and what it means to be healthy.

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Jennifer Coulter | Advisor: Dr. Dunbar Birnie Effect of Gold Nanoisland Coated Substrates on Cuprous Oxide Electrodeposition !Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) has long been studied as a semiconductor, and has more recently shown promise as a material for solar cell fabrication. Gold nanoisland films, commonly used in nanowire growth, have the potential to promote a columnar growth structure in cuprous oxide, possibly altering band gap, and therefore efficiency. In order to determine the most effective way of producing such gold island films, 15nm gold films on FTO coated glass were annealed at three different temperatures. The two most popular cuprous oxide electrodeposition chemistries were tested upon the gold island films annealed at 600 ̊C for 4h over three different deposition times. Then, the FTO/gold/Cu2O samples were compared to cuprous oxide films grown on plain FTO coated glass by SEM, XRD and hot point probe. While XRD results indicated cuprous oxide formation, some copper peaks were present. SEM imaging showed evidence of a change in structure of the grown Cu2O. Though cuprous oxide was successfully deposited, copper formation was also present. Additionally, SEM results showed structural changes in the deposited cuprous oxide when deposited gold island films on FTO vs. plain FTO. Based on these findings, further experimentation to determine the effect of alterations in gold island size, pH, and voltage could reveal more about the use of gold nanoisland coated substrates.

!Jenny Coulter is a sophomore Physics major with an interest in solar materials and renewable energy. She has the pleasure of doing theoretical and experimental work with Dr. Dunbar Birnie and Emma Kennedy of the Materials Science and Engineering department at Rutgers University. In her free time, Jenny enjoys artistic pursuits and running. She hopes to continue to explore her passion for math, physics, and computer science in graduate school, and to pursue a career in academic research.

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Caroline Davis | Advisor: Dr. George Carman Purification of the Human LIPN3-encoded Phosphatidate Phosphatase !In humans, the LPIN-encoded phosphatidate (PA) phosphatase catalyzes the dephosphorylation of PA to produce diacylglycerol (DAG), which can then be used as a precursor in the synthesis of triacylglycerol (TAG). Additionally, lipids are critical components in cell signaling mechanisms and in the stability of the cell membrane; thus, DAG is involved in lipid signaling and the production of membrane phospholipids phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine as well. Although encoded by the same family of genes- LIPN1, LPIN2, and LPIN3 - in humans, the presence of these lipin proteins in various tissues evokes a need to define the kinetic and functional properties of each enzyme. Previous members in our laboratory have successfully purified and characterized the isoforms of the human LPIN1-encoded PAP. In the current study, we expressed and purified the LPIN3-encoded PA phosphatase. A plasmid construct, containing the cDNA encoding for the expression of the His6-tagged human lipin-3 protein, was cloned in Escherichia coli DH5α cells. After transformation to E. coli Rosetta expression host, cells were induced with isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside and the optimal expression of lipin-3 was achieved after 3 hours after induction. One-step purification with a nickel-affinity chromatography column yielded a protein concentration of 1.4 mg/ml measured by method of the Bradford. Upon further purification with a quaternary ammonium ion-exchange column, the purified sample was contained a protein concentration of 0.093 mg/ml. However, after proteins were visualized on an SDS-PAGE gel, the quantity of lipin-3 present was only a small fraction of the total protein present after purification, indicating that much of the enzyme was lost during the purification process. Supported by NIH grant GM028140.

Caroline is a senior food science student who conducts research in Dr. George M. Carman’s Lipid Biochemistry Laboratory. Here, she examines protein interactions of various Phosphatidate Phosphatases (PAP), key enzymes involved in the lipid metabolism of the model eukaryotic system, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The research that she conducts in this lab is crucial to the food industry because it gives molecular insight in understanding the issue of obesity and other lipid-associated diseases, as obesity is one of the largest health issues currently addressing the United States. Aside from the research she conducts, Caroline is well connected with student life on Cook Campus, as she is the co-president of the Undergraduate Food science Club, a SEBS student ambassador, and a mentor in several programs. After graduation, she plans to pursue a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry or Food Science at the University of Massachusetts.

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Elizabeth Davis | Advisor: Dr. Margaret Quinn Effects of Super Storm Sandy Stressors on Pediatric Population of New Jersey !Natural disasters, including hurricanes, have extensive impacts on the mental health and coping abilities of those affected. Super Storm Sandy devastated the New Jersey coast in October 2012 causing school and road closures while also leaving communities without power, food, and gasoline for several weeks. During the immediate post-disaster period, Facebook and other online media sites were utilized to share updates on recovery resources and information. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects that exposure to this traumatic natural disaster have on affected children. A web-based survey tool was used to explore these storm stressors and their outcomes on the state’s pediatric population. Social medias, including Facebook, in addition to printed flyers and packets were used to recruit participants to the survey and keep them informed of the progress. We hope to find different trends in these stressors and their effects on children so that strategies for guidance and other interventions can be provided for future natural disasters.

!Elizabeth is a senior Honors student in the Rutgers University School of Nursing and a proud Douglass woman. She has had the honor of working with Dr. Quinn on this project since the beginning of junior year and will be continuing on the team this year. Living at the Jersey Shore, this project interested her since the beginning and holds a special place in her heart. She was accepted to present a poster on the use of social media in this project at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans this November. After graduation in May, Elizabeth hopes to begin her nursing career in pediatrics and later plans on returning to school to become a Nurse Practitioner and eventually obtaining a doctorate in nursing. In addition to being a part of the Honors Program, Elizabeth is President of the Rutgers Student Nurses’ Association and is also Fundraising Director of New Jersey Nursing Students, Inc. this year. At Douglass, she is a Red Pine Ambassador, Special Events Chair of the Douglass Orientation Committee, a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council, and was a Douglass Summer Orientation Leader this past summer. Outside of school, Elizabeth loves making jewelry and working per diem at her local hospital. She would like to thank the Douglass Project for this amazing opportunity and looks forward to continuing this project.

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Hannah Delos Reyes | Advisor: Dr. Nicole Fahrenfeld Antibiotic Resistant Genes in Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater Storage Ponds !The process of hydraulic fracturing requires a significant amount of biocides, which may select for antibiotic resistance. The objective of this study was to quantify antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) in a hydraulic fracturing wastewater storage pond and compare to background levels to determine if biocides in wastewater select for antibiotic resistance. Water and stream bed sediment samples were collected by the US Geological Survey in June 2014. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays were performed to quantify the presence of select sulfonamide (sul1), erythromycin (ermF), and tetracycline (tet(W) and tet(G)) resistant genes. All ARGs were found in both sediment and water samples. There was a same order of magnitude between hydraulic fracturing environments and background for the genes analyzed. ARG quantities for selected genes that were in fracking environments are generally lower than observed in WW impacted water, despite biocide use.

Hannah Delos Reyes is a sophomore studying Civil and Environmental Engineering. She developed a strong passion for research when she was a rising junior in high school, working in the Public Health Research Institute. She is continuing undergraduate research with her summer faculty sponsor, Dr. Nicole Fahrenfeld in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Dept. In addition, she participates in work study for Dr. Terri Kinzy’s lab in the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Hannah is a participant of Douglass Project’s Project SUPER and a mentor for the Douglass Project Mentoring Program. She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This semester she plans to be a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and build sustainable houses for those in need of shelter. She is also thrilled to join the concrete canoe team and the steel bridge team run by ASCE.

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Puneet Dhillon | Advisor: Dr. Lie Yu Breeding of OPRM1 A118G Transgenic Mice and Designing a Subsequent Study !The opioid system is responsible for drug addiction, pain relief and the reward system. There are three types of opioid receptors, μ, δ, and κ. The OPRM1 gene, which encodes for μ-opioid receptors, was used to create a germ line transgenic mouse with a human μ-opioid receptor single nucleotide polymorphism. The transgenic strain is less fertile and needs to be bred to conduct further studies. Previously, C57 strain wild-type mice were used to breed pups and practice technique. This summer, we started breeding with the A118G mouse equivalent. We set up a total of ten breeding pairs and after weaning, had two litters. The next steps are to genotype the offspring and identify which ones carry the transgene and continue designing a study that may relate compulsive and/or addictive behaviors to the OPRM1 gene.

!Puneet Dhillon is a junior majoring in Cell Biology and Neuroscience and minoring in Psychology. She started researching in Dr. Yu’s lab during spring 2013. She is a STEM Ambassador and a Douglass Project mentor, along with holding various other positions on campus. She hopes to attend medical school in the future and wants to apply the skills and knowledge she learned to help others have better lives. In her free time, she likes to paint, cook, read, and dance.

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Kayla Fowler | Advisors: Dr. Hilton Kaplan and Dr. Joachim Kohn Improving Implantable Microelectrodes for Neuronal Signal Acquisition: Histologic Assessment of Glial Response to Different Probe Forms !The implantation of neural probes is a major component of brain computer interfaces. Key determinants of neural probe-tissue interaction are both the size and the material stiffness of the probe. If too big and rigid, the probe will cause significant chronic gliosis. Therefore, we propose that smaller and more flexible neural probes will perform better and longer and reduce the tissue scarring response. We have used a tyrosine-derived degradable polymer coating to temporarily stiffen fine flexible neural probes for insertion into the brain, in order to assess tissue scarring from different probe forms histologically.

Kayla Fowler is from Ledyard, Connecticut, and is currently going into her sophomore year here at Rutgers University. She is a Biological Sciences major and International and Global Studies minor, and is in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. In addition to continuing doing research at the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Kayla is very active in the Douglass Residential College community as a Barbara Voorhess Mentor, Douglass Project Mentor, and an intern for the Douglass Social Media and Communication team. After graduation, she wants to take a year off to study abroad to do clinical research and then go to medical school to receive her MD/Ph.D. in radiation medicine or neurology.

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Ashtyn Greenstein | Advisor: Dr. Kristen Brennand (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) Creating Pure Neural Populations through Overexpression of Key Subtype-specific Neuronal Genes !Schizophrenia (SZ) is a detrimental widespread neurological disorder that affects 1% of the world’s population and for which there is no cure. There is strong evidence linking SZ to the abnormal activity of three neuronal populations: cortical glutamatergic neurons, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons, and midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons. Studies currently show that reduced glutamatergic input onto GABAergic neurons may contribute to disease, though it is unknown whether defects in glutamatergic neurons are the causal factor that first contribute to disease initiation. Methods to differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to neurons have been developed, but these methods generate heterogeneous neural populations that produce astrocytes, neural precursors, and non-neural cells alongside neurons. To improve these slow and inefficient methods, we are adapting viral transfection to overexpress key subtype-specific neuronal genes, an approach that appears to accelerate neuronal differentiation and also has the potential to yield pure populations of glutamatergic neurons. By rapidly generating pure populations of glutamatergic neurons from schizophrenia patients and healthy controls, we hope to develop a platform with which to compare the cell autonomous contributions of glutamatergic neurons to this devastating disease, and discover for the first time whether defects in glutamatergic neuron activity are primary to schizophrenia.

!Ashtyn is a sophomore in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Psychology. Ashtyn excelled in the sciences and research in high school, which influenced her to continue it in college. Besides science and research, Ashtyn is very involved in the musical community at Rutgers, participating in many music oriented organizations. She hopes to apply her current and future knowledge of science in hope of one day becoming a physical therapist, pediatrician, or teacher. She cannot wait to continue her research experience inside and outside of the Rutgers community. She thanks the Brennand Lab at Mount Sinai as well as the Douglass Project for helping make this past summer a very effective, productive, and memorable one.

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Ankita Gupta | Advisor: Dr. Nicholas Bello Taste Sensitivity in Adult Wildtype and Engrailed 2 Knockout Mice !Engrailed 2 (En 2), a transcription factor is critical for neural development and is associated with autism. Engrailed 2 Knockout (KO) mice that lack this transcription factor often display signs of impaired social interaction, repetitive grooming behaviors and developmental alterations. Recent research has demonstrated an increased preference for palatable solutions in rats. This suggests increased orosensory stimulation to sweeter solutions such as sucrose and fructose. To further investigate oral sensitivity in mice, both WT and KO strains were exposed to different palatable solutions and an automated gustometer was used to calculate the animal’s preference for different palatable and non-aversive solutions. Compared to age matched WT mice, KO mice weighed less and both strains showed a main effect of concentration for the sweet, salty and umami tastants. Thus, there was an increased preference for sweeter solutions at higher concentrations and specific concentrations of salty and umami solutions. This observation helps explain why humans have an increased preference for sweeter and palatable meals.

Ankita is a proud Douglass student majoring in Animal Science. At Rutgers, she is a member of the SEBS honors program, STEM Ambassador program, Rutgers Seeing Eye Puppy Club and a Bunting Cobb Peer Academic Leader. Her professional interests include animal welfare, STEM outreach and community service. After graduating, Ankita plans on attending a DVM/PhD veterinary medicine program. She was honored to receive the Douglass Project Summer Stipend and is excited to continue her work over the fall semester!

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Dara Ifaturoti | Advisor: Dr. Suzie Chen Role of GRM1 in Exosome Production and Melanoma Metastasis !Melanoma is a form of skin cancer that begins in the melanin-producing melanocytes. It’s estimated that in 2014, there will be 76,100 new cases of melanoma in the United States. Recent studies have established a link between microvesicles, exosome, production and increased tumor metastasis. In general, tumor cells release these microvesicles more frequently than normal ones. Exosomes may promote communication within the local microenvironment and the primary tumor, and sustain tumor cell dissemination and the early events in metastasis. Aberrant expression of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1, GRM1, in melanocytes led to dysregulated glutamatergic signaling, which has been implicated in melanoma pathogenesis and may influence exosome formation. We introduced exogenous GRM1 into human melanoma cell lines with either modest GRM1 expression level or absence of detectable GRM1 expression, these cells with enhanced GRM1 expression led to upregulated angiogenesis and tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. To determine the relationship between GRM1, its subsequent signal transduction cascades and the production of exosomes, we utilized both cultured cells and melanoma prone transgenic mouse model, TGS. Preliminary results showed that the pharmalogical modulation in GRM1 function or expression resulted in a reduction in exosome levels and increased levels of exosome formation correspond to elevated GRM1 expression levels.

!Dara Ifaturoti is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences. She is majoring in biology and minoring in health and society. Between January 2013 and May 2014, she conducted research in the lab of Dr. Martin Schwander, a professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience. She enjoys cooking international cuisine, playing badminton and learning languages. On campus, she participates in SCREAM Theater, the International Friendship program and the Douglass College Traditional Events committee. She hopes to obtain a graduate degree in bioinformatics or the pharmaceutical sciences.

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Oluwatoyosi Ipaye | Advisor: Dr. Nada Boustany Quantifying Morphological Changes in Neurons Following Injury Based on Two-Dimensional Gabor Filtering !Varicosity formation in dendrites and loss of dendritic spines are early indicators of glutamate induced excitotoxicity. N-methyl-D-aspartate ((NMDA) acts as an agonist for the glutamate receptor. Hence, application of sublethal doses of NMDA to neurons induces the influx of sodium and chloride ions resulting in the formation of varicosities and the retraction of dendritic protrusion along the length of a dendrite. In this study, we utilize an optical scatter imaging method based on Fourier filtering to characterize the orientation changes of subcellular structures within neurons, that arise as a result of NMDA treatment with high sensitivity and objectivity. Using a liquid crystal device(LCD) for Fourier filtering, twenty one Gabor filters were implemented at eight different orientations from 0o to 315o in increments of 45o to give a total of 168 Gabor filters. Scattering signals from the neurons were then filtered at this conjugate Fourier plane and captured on a CCD camera. Analysis using an orientedness parameter, that measures the degree of elongation of cellular objects was then carried out on the Gabor filtered images by finding the ratio of the maximum to the average intensity over all the filter orientations employed. Our results tend to show a decrease in the orientedness values at time points after treatment and this decrease in orientedness values is slightly more apparent along the dendrites than in the cell bodies. Using our optical scatter imaging method, we investigated optical scatter responses from silicone membrane substrates. By conducting this study, we aim to determine the optimum filtering protocol to be employed when studying the mechanical injury response of neurons injured via silicone membrane stretching.

Born a Nigerian, Oluwatoyosi Ipaye spent her growing up years in the cosmopolitan city of Lagos, a fast paced Nigerian city in Africa's most populous black country. She is currently a Douglass woman and a Junior studying Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. In the past years at Rutgers, Oluwatoyosi has seen herself mature intellectually and through the opportunities afforded her by both Rutgers, and the Douglass society, she has gained so much confidence in herself. Whenever, she can, she enjoys writing poems and essays about her experiences and indulging her literary side. She currently serves as a student leader in the residence halls as a resident assistant. She is also part of the NeXXt Scholars initiative, a program aimed at encouraging women to participate in STEM fields. Through her research experience gained over the summer, she is not only considering the prospects of pursuing an MD but also a PhD or maybe even an MD/PhD after her undergraduate degree. She is definitely one young lady to look out for in the years ahead.

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Karishma Jaggernauth | Advisor: Dr. Barth Grant Engineering Tagged Receptors in Caenorhabditis elegans !The introduction of green-fluorescent protein (GFP) into the C. elegans genome, fused to the gene of interest, enables scientists to visualize intracellular trafficking within C. elegans. Plasmid constructs were assembled with GFP fused to the human interleukin IL-2 (hTAC) gene and introduced into the C. elegans genome via microparticle bombardment. Some constructs were designed to modify endogenous genes using the newly discovered CRISPR/Cas9 technique. The receptor/regulator plasmids that were used to GFP-tag the endogenous genes of interest using the CRISPR method were the following: sec-10, ipla-1, sdpn-1, let-23, tgn-38, and sma-6. The hTAC gene was successfully tagged with GFP; two homozygous strains exhibiting GFP expression have been isolated and will be frozen for future analysis. The CRISPR/Cas9 method did not yield GFP tagged genes suggesting that microparticle bombardment may not be optimal for this technique. A different delivery method, microinjection, may improve the delivery of the plasmids to the endogenous loci. CRISPR/Cas9 may prove to be more effective at fluorescent tagging due to its ability to precisely edit the genome, versus the random integration of the GFP gene during microparticle bombardment.

!Karishma Jaggernauth is a sophomore in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in Cell Biology and Neuroscience. She is a proud member of the Douglass Residential College and enjoys dabbling in various dance groups on campus although she is no Beyoncé. She is grateful to have been exposed to research through the Rodkin Summer Scholars program under the assistance of Dr. Barth Grant. In the future she hopes to pursue a career that combines her love of children with the sciences. In her free time she enjoys playing the piano, traveling, and she looks forward to unlimited lobster and shrimp at King Neptune Night every year.

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Caitlin Jones | Advisor: Dr. Paul Breslin A Novel Technique to Study Lingual Fungiform Papillae !Taste is an essential factor in a person’s decision to consume food. The fungiform papillae (FP) on the tongue contain taste buds, which are the main sense organ of taste and help guide a person’s responses to foods. Previous studies have used a live visual or photographic method to count FP to correlate their number with taste responses and with variations in taste genes [1]. Recent literature has suggested that other quantitative measures related to FP such as papillae size, density, and distance among FP could be correlated to taste perception and variation in related genes [2,3]. The goal of this project was to develop a methodology that would create a life-size, high resolution tongue impression that accurately reflects all of the anterior lingual papillae. We have developed a scientific technique to cast the tongue using dental casting stone. This stone model could be used to quantify various measures related to FP. Our future research will focus on validating the tongue impression as an acceptable replica of the tongue.

Caitlin Jones is a sophomore studying Nutrition Sciences with a concentration in Dietetics. During the summer, she did research in fungiform papillae in Dr. Paul Breslin’s lab. Caitlin will continue her research project this school year as an Aresty Research Assistant. Outside of the lab, she is involved in the Nutrition Club Newsletter Committee and the Douglass Project’s STEM Ambassadors. After graduation, she plans on completing a dietetic internship and becoming a Registered Dietitian.

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Vaishnavi Kannan | Advisor: Dr. Michael Lahr Econometric Analysis of Heterogeneous Household Demand System !Wassily Leontief’s input-output model of economics has been recognized as a reliable and accurate model for economic impact analysis since its invention in 1966. The model is a matrix showing the inter-industry interactions between sectors, or the “production recipe” for goods and services, showing the economic ties between the industries in an economy. A variation of this model is used by most governments and the United Nations to analyze the effects of a change on the economy in terms of jobs and revenue created or lost. In the model, household expenditures currently account for only one out of 50-500 sectors. However, consumer unit spending is an important part of the economy and comprises 70 percent of US gross domestic product (GDP). To find out whether the model can be improved by sorting the consumer sector into several different equations, we examined the effects of demographic differences across income, occupation, and age groups on consumer spending patterns. These characteristics have been found to have a strong correlation to unique consumer spending patterns in past studies, and we hope to test the validity of this conclusion in our research specifically for the Northeast region of the US.

!Vaishnavi Kannan is a junior in the School of Arts and Sciences, pursuing a degree in Statistics-Mathematics with a minor in Economics. She has participated in research with Professor Zurlo through the Aresty program. She continued her research endeavors under Dr. Lahr over the summer as a Rodkins Scholar. Vaishnavi is actively involved in the Douglass community and has recently taken on the role of STEM Ambassador. She is also a volunteer for her Temple and participates in charity work for the community.

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Megan Kelly | Advisor: Dr. Jason Grabosky The Effect of Drought on Northern Maple Trees !As the global climate changes, it is important to understand how this will affect people's everyday lives. This study was conducted to observe variations in the responses of a group of maple species to drought, a commonly predicted result of global climate change. Several trees were exposed to drought conditions, and their masses and photosynthetic levels were measured. Variations were found between the different species and populations, but further research will be required to determine exactly what role various factors, such as genetics and the environment, play in a tree's ability to tolerate drought.

Megan Kelly is a sophomore in the School of Arts and Sciences. She is a Biological Sciences major and French minor. Her interests include plant science, biochemistry, and ecology. Outside of class, she is a member of Project SUPER and the STEM Ambassadors. In her spare time, Megan enjoys reading and gardening. She plans to someday have a career in the sciences.

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Tiffany Kingsley | Advisor: Dr. Daniel Choo (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center) Use of Wideband Reflectance to Measure C-levels in Pediatric Cochlear Implant Patients !This study was generated in order to determine the success of utilizing Wideband Reflectance (WBR) to measure the stapedial reflex threshold when evoked electrically (eSRT) to more objectively set C-levels when mapping cochlear implants. 10 subjects who currently have benefit from cochlear implants will be assessed after undergoing non-invasive tests to obtain data from three main channels (apical-most, basal-most, and one medial). Data will be obtained and analyzed based on psychophysical measurement of the C-levels, eSRT using 226 Hz probe tone, and eSRT in conjunction with WBR. If successfully accomplished, this correlation between WBR and the setting of C-levels will have a direct effect on and aid clinical audiologists in the future.

!Tiffany Kingsley is a junior in Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University. She active in the Rutgers community through the Society of Women Engineers, the Douglass Engineering Living-Learning Community, the Dean’s Advisory Council, and even the Rutgers Rock-Climbing Team. After completing the research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital this past summer, she found her passion for cochlear implants and hopes to pursue a career related to creating or working with implants.

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Katherine Lau | Advisor: Dr. Brendon O’Toole (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) Hailey’s Robohand !The problem with modern day prosthetics is their expense. Prosthetics are an unrealistic cost ($5,000 to $20,000 each) for a growing child that will need many prosthetic sizes. The Robohand is a low cost, non – electric, 3-D printed prosthetic that allows hand disabled people to perform everyday tasks. This project’s objective was to build a Robohand for Hailey, a 4 yr. old with Poland syndrome. Missing and nonfunctioning fingers can be a safety hazard for such a young person. We compared pre-existing Robohand designs with Hailey’s hand shape to create a new hand prosthetic using computer aided design programs (CAD), 3D modeling and printing, and open source part files. The further innovation of Robohand will help other people with physical disabilities obtain and learn about low cost prosthetics.

Katherine Lau is a junior in Biomedical Engineering from Las Vegas, Nevada. She loves learning about the human body and how it functions and how she can improve the lives of others through Biomedical Engineering. After graduation, Katherine plans on furthering her education in graduate school to obtain her PhD. She plans on continuing research by becoming a professor, to share her knowledge with the younger generations or to work at companies such as Merck and Stryker in their Research and Development departments.

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Pinky Liau | Advisors: Dr. Diana Cheng and Dr. Ilya Raskin Examination of the Phytochemicals of Moringa oleifera Lam. and Their Bioaccessibility Using the TNO Gastrointestinal Model !A large number of traditional medicines used for centuries in the past across multiple cultures have been derived from plants and herbs. Moringa oleifera Lam. of the Moringaceae family, under the Brassicales order, have been used to treat illnesses in African and Asian countries for decades. Moringa exhibits anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects due to its array of phytochemicals including polyphenols and isothiocyanates (ITCs). The species contains a compound called glucomoringin, an unique glucosinolate, which can be enzymatically converted to ITCs by the enzyme, myrosinase. Moringa ITCs (MICs) are isolated and purified with high-performance liquid chromatography as well as analyzed with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry while utilizing both leaf and seed concentrates. The bioaccessibility of moringa was examined with a computer-controlled TNO gastrointestinal model (TIM-1) that mimics the in vivo conditions of a human upper digestive tract including the stomach and the small intestine with duodenum, jejunum, and ileum compartments. Each TIM runs processed for a total of four hours with collection of excreted samples from jejunum, ileum, and ileal efflux compartments every one hour. The potential of absorption exhibited by moringa was investigated with chloroform partitioning and analyzed by LCMS. Results showed low recovery rates of MIC-1, however, efforts are in progress for further quantification and investigation.

!Pinky Liau is currently a second-year SEBS student majoring in Environmental Science. She is an active member of the Douglass Project in which she participates in conducting research in the Plant Biology and Pathology Department. Pinky has a great passion for the research field and has been working in Dr. Raskin’s lab since spring of her freshman year. She is currently the Peer Academic Leader for the SEBS Environmental House where she advises first-year students with any academic-related questions. Besides from academics, Pinky is a soprano in Mason Gross’s Kirkpatrick Choir, a volunteer for Rutgers University Programming Association, and a member of Rutgers’ Student for Environmental Awareness Club. In future years, Pinky hopes to continue researching as she plans to attend graduate school in order to obtain new knowledge and skills require to bring about improved environmental protection and sustainability.

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Sarah Libring | Advisor: Dr. Meenakshi Dutt Simulating Self-Aggregation of the Cowpea Mosaic Virus when Tethered with Polyethylene Glycol—Polylactic Acid (PEG-PLA) !By attaching polymers to virus capsids and allowing the system's energy to equilibrate, self-aggregation was studied through simulation, using MATLAB and LAMMPS (Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator) software. In this portion of the project, one diblock copolymer of polyethylene glycol—polylactic acid (PEG-PLA) was attached to each cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) capsid. Utilizing a highly coarse-grained system, two hundred and sixteen capsids were analyzed over five different volume fractions, ranging from 0.01 to 0.05. PEG-PLA was studied partially because it is amphiphilic, containing both a hydrophilic and hydrophobic head, and because it has a breadth of experimental data available for reference. This data includes extensive research on its use as a drug delivery carrier in the form of hydrogels, nanoparticles, and micelles. The results of the study are in qualitative agreement with these previously-recorded studies, with PLA-centered micelles being formed in all volume fractions. It was found that this self-aggregation occurred for all volume fractions within 30,000 tau—in which one tau is ~0.1997 nanoseconds; however, more dense systems appear to have equilibrated to a lower energy level and formed larger clusters. These patterns will be numerically defined using various analysis codes, and then be compared to systems with more PEG-PLA chains per capsid and to systems in which the CPMV capsid is tethered solely with PEG.

Sarah Libring is a sophomore in the School of Engineering. Through her passion for research, she is majoring biomedical engineering with a potential minor in mathematics. After undergraduate, Sarah plans to pursue her PhD, ultimately researching within the field of regenerative medicine. In addition to researching in the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department with principal investigator, Dr. Meenakshi Dutt; mentor, Leebyn Chong, doctoral candidate, CBE ; and colleague, Vyshnavi Karra, CBE, class of 2016, Sarah currently participates in work study at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center and is a member of Theta Tau—the professional co-ed engineering fraternity. She is grateful for all of the opportunities that the Douglass Residential College has given her, including being a member, and now mentor for, the Douglass Engineering Living Learning Community, participating in Project SUPER, and having received the Douglass STEM Summer Stipend.

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Win Lin | Advisor: Dr. Ron Gilman The Effect of Point Target Assumption to Solid Angle in Muonic Scattering Experiment !To determine the radius of a proton, physicists take advantage of electron scattering and muon scattering. However, the experimental results from recent electron scattering and muon scattering experiments did not agree with each other. In this part of the research project, the group investigated whether there is an effect of point target assumption, which had been used in previous solid angle calculations to simplify the problem in muonic experiments. Solid angle values are important to know for estimating the time needed to run the scattering experiment. Since in the real world the target being hit by muonic signals is a three-dimensional object, the group studied the change of solid angles when the target is extended in x, y and z direction. Comparing the behavior of each kind of extended target with a point target for different kinds of targets allowed observation of the differences made in extending the target in the axial directions. However, the overall effect of the extended targets are cancelled out when averaging the result of all the points on the targets. At the end, significant numbers of random points are generated using ROOT, a programming language created at CERN, to simulate the overall solid angle result from the extended target. From their study in the past three months, no differences were found between the point target and the extended target.

!Win Lin is currently a third year undergraduate student double majoring in Physics and Mathematics at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She plans to enroll in graduate school to pursue a PhD and eventually become a Physicist after her undergraduate studies. At present, Lin is interesting in particle Physics and is working on the Proton Radius Puzzle with Professor Ronald Gilman in the Physics department at Rutgers University. Her major work in the research project is to analyze experimental data and confirm the results of various calculations. In addition to Science and Mathematics, Win also enjoys traveling. For this reason, she would like to travel around the world alongside her career path.

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Brittany MacTaggart | Advisors: Dr. Sarah Hitchcock-DeGregori and Dr. Susanne Cranz-Mileva Characterization of the mutation cdc8 E104A in S. pombe !The actin cytoskeleton must be spatially and temporally dynamic to perform its complex and diverse functions in the cell. This is accomplished by a host of actin-binding proteins. Tropomyosin (Cdc8p in fission yeast) is one such protein, responsible for altering the stability of actin filaments and their interactions with other proteins. The present work focuses on characterizing cdc8 E104A, a gene replacement strain with a mutation in a conserved surface residue, in order to understand the functions of this residue. Previously, 104 cells have been shown to have abnormal actin structures. Relative to wildtype, the mutant cells contain few cables, poorly polarized patches, and loose contractile rings. Here, the poor patch polarization of 104 is more closely analyzed by using tagged actin (LifeAct-GFP) and tagged actin-binding proteins (Myo52-3xGFP and Crn1-GFP) to look at patch polarity. Time-lapse microscopy using these tagged proteins was performed to compare the rate of patch movement in wildtype and 104 cells. All of the tagged proteins showed a decrease in the number of monopolar cells and an increase in asymmetric bipolar cells, and coronin showed a decreased rate of patch movement. The mutated tropomyosin residue, 104, is crucial for the proper formation of the actin cytoskeleton and plays a role in both patch polarity and motility.

Brittany MacTaggart is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences, majoring in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. For the past two summers, she has been working in Dr. Hitchcock-DeGregori’s lab at RWJMS. She is currently working on her MBB Honors Thesis. After graduating, she hopes to do a two-year post baccalaureate and then to continue on to graduate school.

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Kaitlyn Mazzilli | Advisor: Michelle Kenney, MPH Looking at Obesity from Corner Stores and Public Records: A Study of Children’s Food and Physical Activity Environments !Background: Relationships between food and physical activity (PA) environments and weight status among children have mostly been studied in cross sectional analysis and typically in isolation. The New Jersey Child Health Study is a 5-year study that will evaluate the impact of changes in the food and physical activity (PA) environments on childhood obesity and related behaviors in five New Jersey cities. The current work discusses the development of a protocol to document enhanced opportunities for PA (e.g. new playground equipment, renovations to public pools, bike lanes, upgraded sidewalks). Additional work was conducted to document enhanced features in the food environment.

Methods: Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests were submitted and web searches were conducted for each city regarding changes to streetscapes, public playgrounds, physical activity outlets, and parks for the years 2010-2014. A protocol was drafted to outline the process of extracting data from the documents that were obtained in an efficient, uniform manner which could be replicated over time.

Observations: Responses from the OPRA requests varied by each city. Documents acquired included but are not limited to contracts, construction maps, and budgets. Additional follow-up is needed to confirm changes that have been presented in the documents.

Discussion: The protocol will provide an organized, precise way of collecting data in the future for other team members and will generate essential data for researchers to advance knowledge of obesity prevention.

!Kaitlyn Mazzilli is a second year student majoring in public health and nutrition. She is especially interested in childhood obesity as well as disease prevention. She is applying to the 5-year BS/MPH (Master of Public Health) program offered through Rutgers. This summer, Kaitlyn worked at the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy on a five year childhood obesity study with Michelle Kennedy. She plans on continuing to do research throughout her career. Outside of the research world, Kaitlyn enjoys exercising, going to the beach, and spending time with her family and friends.

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Brooke McClarren | Advisor: Dr. Ronke Olabisi Mesenchymal Stem Cell Response to Mechanical Stretching !Mesencyhaml stem cells (MSCs) differentiation is affected by mechanical cues such as scaffold stiffiness and the tension the cells experience. Polyetheney glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) is a synthetic scaffold that can be polymerized into a hydrogel scaffold suitable for biomedical applications. Using PEGDA as a synthetic scaffold to investigate cyclic uniaxial tension with entrapped MSCs can elucidate MSC behavior without the confounding influences of the latent material properties of natural materials. In this study, we analyzed the effect of static and cyclic tension on MSCs entrapped in 10kDA PEGDA hydrogel sheets. This preliminary study, the encapsulation and testing process has been demonstrated to not adversely effect the entrapped MSCs. In future studies, entrapped sheets will be evaluated for differentiation at future time points.

Brooke McClarren is a junior of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University. She is interested in designing prosthetic devices such as bionic arms and cochlear implants. She is very active at Rutgers through Douglass organizations such as the Douglass Project, First Year Mentoring Experience, and STEM Ambassadors. She has done research throughout her college experience. She is currently conducting research for Dr. Ronke Olabisi.

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Julianne McLaughlin | Advisor: Dr. Karl Kjer A Rhyacophili-Tree For Rhyacophilidae !DNA sequences for the ribosomal large subunit, the 28S, were obtained from specifically chosen caddisflies belonging to the family Rhyacophilidae. A phylogenetic tree was generated from the ribosomal and mitochondrial data of these caddisflies, among other Rhyacophilids. This tree confirmed the placement of the genus Fansipangana within Rhyacophilidae.

!Julianne McLaughlin is an aspiring Molecular Biology and Biochemistry major, with a declared minor in Spanish. Although she highly enjoyed working in insect phylogenetics over the summer, she wants to study mosquito-borne diseases as a career. She is extremely grateful to the Douglass Project and to Dr. Karl Kjer for facilitating her goals in research. Outside of science, Julianne loves writing songs and poems, and making bad puns.

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Fayrouz Merhom | Advisors: Dr. Diana Cheng and Dr. Ilya Raskin Anti-Diabetic Effects of High-Polyphenol Rutgers Scarlet Lettuce !Diabetes mellitus has caught increasing attention among physicians, dietitians, and at-risk patients because its prevalence in American society is increasing staggeringly; the disease has become one of the top causes of death in America. For Type 2 diabetes patients, changes in diets can help ameliorate the effects of diabetes. Plants with a high content of polyphenols have shown anti-diabetic effects. Rutgers Scarlet Lettuce (RSL) ranks as one of the highest polyphenol-comprising plant, and has previously shown to increase insulin tolerance and glucose metabolism in diet-induced obese mice. In this preventative study, 60 mice were given one of 4 diets: a very-high-fat-diet, a low-fat-diet, a high-fat-diet with 5% RSL extract, and a high-fat-diet with 5% green lettuce extract. The objective of the study was to determine whether the polyphenol content in RSL can potentially fight the effects of diabetes. Results show that RSL increased glucose metabolism to an extent, but it did not affect the weight or fat mass gain of the mice.

Fayrouz Merhom is a second-year, pre-professional pharmacy student in the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. She is hoping to one day use her experiences and learning to travel overseas with a medical team and administer drugs to communities in need. Fayrouz prizes the practical application of concepts she learns in the classroom, so research has especially impacted her studies. Outside of the classroom, Fayrouz enjoys singing, writing, crafting, and most recently, cooking. One of her life goals is to learn how to cook something other than pasta.

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Tara Nietzold | Advisors: Dr. Simone Bernardini and Dr. Mariana Bertoni (Arizona State University) Aluminum oxide for surface passivation in photovoltaics !In order to study the influence of chemical cleaning processes and surface passivation from aluminum oxide on p- and n-type silicon wafers, wafers were etched and deposited with aluminum oxide thin films using atomic layer deposition. The minority carrier lifetime in each instance was then measured using a quasi-steady state photoconductance lifetime tester, both before and after annealing the samples. These results can be used to better understand surface recombination velocity and its influence on total effective lifetime.

!Tara Nietzold is a senior in the School of Engineering. She will be graduating this spring with a degree in Materials Science Engineering and minors in Economics and Italian. She plans to attend graduate school in the fall to begin working towards a PhD in materials science. Her research interests involve alternative energy, sustainability, and in particular, photovoltaics. In her free time, she enjoys baking, practicing guitar, and learning new languages.

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Dhara Patel | Advisor: Dr. Karen Schindler Reduced numbers of atretic follicles in Aurora C knockout mice suggest a role in apoptosis !Aurora C kinase (AURKC) is a germ-cell specific protein that plays a role in egg formation. Loss of AURKC compromises oocyte quality and, as a result, leads to problems in fertility (Schindler, 2012). Prior to ovulation, oocytes grow within multi-cellular complex called the follicle. Interactions between the follicle cells and the oocyte are essential to the formation of healthy eggs. To determine if ovarian physiology in AURKC knockout mice contributes to poor oocyte quality, we conducted histology using hematoxylin and eosin staining on AURKC knockout (-/-) and wild-type (+/+) mice. Our findings show reduced levels of atretic follicles in AURKC knockout mice that are of pubertal age. Therefore, we hypothesize that AURKC plays a role in promoting apoptosis.

Dhara Patel is currently a senior majoring in genetics. She works in Dr. Karen Schindler’s laboratory in the Life Sciences Building on Busch Campus. She began working in Dr. Schindler’s laboratory during her spring semester of sophomore year. She hopes to attend graduate school and obtain her masters in biomedical engineering. Outside of Rutgers, she works as a math instructor at Math Genie. She teaches math to children in an unique way, which involves using the abacus. During her free time, she likes to read, travel, and spend time with her family.

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Jenifar Patel | Advisor: Dr. Tamar Barkay Effect of Mercury on the Growth of Soil Fungi !In this experiment, effect of mercury as mercuric chloride on growth of four fungal culture – M4, M5, M6, and M8 was studied. The cylindrical agar plugs of these fungi were placed on malt extract media containing different concentration of mercuric chloride 0, 10, 25, and 30 µM of Hg. Four randomly chosen radial measurement of these fungal hyphae were taken once per each day for ten days. The hypothesis of this experiment was that radial hyphae growth of fungi isolates decreases with increase in concentration of mercuric chloride in media. The growth of M4 at 20, 25, 30 µM Hg was found to be 14.24%, 23.46% and 28.28% less respectively than at 0µM Hg concentration; the growth of M5 at 20, 25, 30 µM Hg was found to be 14.26% , 25.3% and 30.29% less respectively than at 0µM Hg; the growth of M6 at 20, 25, and 30 the growth was 16.26%, 26.15% and 31.63% less respectively than at 0µM Hg; the growth of M8 at 20, 25, and 30 µM Hg was 19.89%, 35.09% and 38.89% less respectively than at 0µM Hg. The difference in growth of hyphae at 0µM Hg plate and 10µM Hg plate was not found very significant. However, the overall effect of mercury on M4 (F4,20 = 42.25, p<0.001); M5 (F4,20 40.16, p<0.001 ), M6 (F4,20 = 80.69, p<0.0001) and M8 (F4,16 = 112.54, p<0.0001 ) was found significant. Mercury was found to affect the growth of these fungi culture and the hypothesis of this experiment was proved.

Jenifar Patel is a Microbiology major. She is a senior at Rutgers University in School of Art and Science. She soon plans to go to graduate school to pursue research. She is interested in microbial life, various diverse microbial metabolic process, and evolution and ecology of microbes.

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Vipa Patel | Advisor: Dr. Troy Roepke Methoxychlor alters gene expression in the arcuate nucleus of male mice !Methoxychlor (MXC) is a pesticide that was previously used to replace DDT because of the harmful effects it had on wildlife and human populations. MXC is an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDCs) and an environmental estrogen, which is a compound that can bind to estrogen receptors and mimics estrogen’s effects. When exposed to MXC, it affects the reproductive system and the endocrine system of the body in both males and females. For this study, we specifically looked at male wild type mice to see how MXC affects gene expression in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, the area of the brain that controls reproduction and energy balance. The three treatments that were given were MXC low dose (MXC LD: 1 mg/kg/d), MXC high dose (MXC HD: 10 mg/kg/d) and oil. The genes that were analyzed were POMC, CART, AgRP, and NPY. However, the only gene that had significant data was POMC. For the POMC gene, there was a higher gene expression in MXC LD and MXC HD than in the oil. When the mice were exposed to MXC, POMC gene expression increased presumably due to activation of estrogen receptors (ER) in the neuron.

!Vipa Patel is second year majoring in Animal Science on the Lab Animal Science track at the School of Environmental and Biological Science (SEBS). Currently, she does research with Dr. Troy Roepke at the Department of Animal Science at Bartlett Hall on Cook Campus. She is an active member of the Rutgers University Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club and is a participate of the Douglass mentoring program and Project Super. During her free time, she enjoys watching movies and TV shows of all different genres and likes to go shopping for sweaters. In the future, she wishes to attend Graduate School to get her Ph.D and work in the Pharmaceutical industry doing research.

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Isabel Perez | Advisor: Dr. Joseph Freeman Electrodeposition Mineralization !There are approximately 500,000 bone grafting procedures performed annually in the United States. Autografts (patient’s own donated tissue) and allografts (tissue donated from cadavers) are the most common bone grafting procedures, however, autografts requires two painful surgeries and allografts can lead to an adverse immunologic response. Therefore, tissue engineered grafts are a promising alternative with limited drawbacks. Tissue engineered bone scaffolds require an adequate amount of calcium phosphate, the inorganic component of bone, in order for bone tissue to repair and regenerate properly. However, current methods used to mineralize scaffolds, such as static mineralization and flow mineralization, are time consuming and do not provide uniform mineralization throughout scaffolds. Electrodeposition mineralization is a method that can provide an ideal amount of mineralized scaffolds in a shorter period of time, by utilizing an electric field to actively force mineral ions throughout a tissue engineered scaffold. Electrospun poly(d,l-lactide) (PDLA)/poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) with 10% gelatin scaffolds were created with sodium chloride (NaCl) crystals leached pores. The scaffolds were then mineralized in a simulated body fluid (SBF) solution for 2 hours via electrodeposition mineralization (5V, 10V, and 15V) and static mineralization for the control samples. Static mineralized scaffolds were submerged in SBF solution and in a static state for 2 hours. Alizarin red staining and ash weight analysis were performed in order to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the content amount of mineral deposited onto the scaffold by each mineralization method. Alizarin red forms a complex with calcium deposits which can be qualitatively observed and then quantitatively through an absorbance reading. The electrodeposition mineralized scaffolds were bright red, while the static mineralized scaffolds were a light pink, indicating that electrodeposition mineralized scaffolds had more calcium phosphate. The percent mineralization values were also obtained from the ash weight analysis for scaffolds mineralized at 5V, 10V, 15V and static Electrodepostion mineralization at 5V yielded the highest percent mineralization at 8.51±4.20% followed by10V, 15V,and static conditions at 4.37±2.15%, 7.63±1.60%, and 2.91±1.54%, respectively. The results of this study conclude, electrodeposition mineralization has a promising future in bone tissue engineering as a mineralization method that provides high calcium phosphate content with uniform deposition in a relatively short period of time. Future work will include scanning electron microscopy images of mineral throughout scaffolds and mineralization of scaffolds with different thickness for different periods of time to evaluate the effect the scaffold thickness on mineral deposition and view the rate of mineralization changes over time.

Isabel Perez is a junior at Rutgers University School of Engineering. She is a Biomedical Engineering major with a concentration in Tissue Engineering and Molecular Bioengineering and with a minor in Mathematics. She currently works for the Engineering Computing Services in the Design, Simulation, and Visualization Lab and also tutors engineering students through the Office of Student Development. After she graduates from Rutgers University, she plans on going to graduate school to obtain a PhD in Biomedical Engineering.

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Ameena Rana | Advisors: Dr. Wise Young and Dr. Patricia Morton Lumbosacral Spinal Cord Injury Project !Lumbosacral Spinal Cord Injury (LSCI) makes up about 1/3 of all spinal cord injuries in the world and results in damage to the spinal roots at the T11-L1 junction. Damage at this region affects the movement and control of all bodily muscles and functions from the waist down. Even with its paralyzing effects and its rate of occurrence around the world, a treatment for lumbosacral spinal cord injury is barely being researched around the world. At the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, one of the only labs actively researching to find a treatment for LSCI, the project has been divided into two objectives. The first objective is regenerating motor neurons at the site of injury and the second objective is to promote the growth of new nerve connections from those neurons to the atrophied muscles. This past summer, we have worked on the first objective of the project using female GFP rats as our animal model to observe the effects of introducing neurospheres at the site of injury. The project is still ongoing so no conclusive results have yet been found.

!Ameena Rana is a third-year student majoring in Cell Biology and Neuroscience and minoring in Psychology at the School of Arts and Sciences. She has been working on the Lumbosacral Spinal Cord Injury project at the W.M. Keck Center of Collaborative Neuroscience under the mentorship of Dr. Wise Young since January and hopes to continue throughout her time at Rutgers. Ameena is the president of the Ashley Lauren Foundation of Rutgers University, secretary of the Rutgers chapter of Oxfam, and public relations chair of Rutgers Bioethics Society. She is also a member of the Douglass Project's Annual Health Science Research Symposium committee and the Event Planning team for the Rutgers Muslim Student Association for which she helps plan and execute major events. Ameena is very passionate about equality for all and hopes to attend medical school so she can use her knowledge and experience to provide medical treatments for those around the world that do not have access to adequate healthcare.

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Nicole Reynoso | Advisor: Dr. David Crockett Histone Deacetylaces May Play an Important Role In the Gliotic and Inflammatory Response Of Traumatic Brain Injury !Histone deacetylases (HDACs) belong to a family of enzymes that function in inhibiting transcription and as a result repressing gene expression. While HDACs are commonly found in the nucleus of neurons, in vivo studies have shown that HDAC1, class I HDAC, may play a role in axonal pathology following traumatic brain injury. Using Controlled Cortical Impact (CCI) as a traumatic brain injury model, our lab is focused in investing the role that various types of HDACs may play post traumatic brain injury. We have been able to observe increased expression of HDAC1 near the injury site prior to the beading of the axons following trauma. This supports previous studies suggesting the role of HDACs in axonal pathology, morphology and also its role in cell death. In addition we have been able to provide evidence for the expression of HDAC7, a class II HDAC, in activated microglia and astrocytes on the ipsilesional side of injury, compared to no observed expression on the contralesional side of injury. Our findings suggest that both class I and class II HDACs may be important targets for future therapies in which the inflammatory gliotic response is manipulated.

Nicole Reynoso is a fourth year student majoring in Biology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Following her undergraduate career she would like to attend medical school so that one day she can become a physician. Nicole is interested in working with children in under-served communities. She is currently a research assistant at a Cell Biology and Neuroscience Lab at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and a medical interpreter at the Eric B. Chandler Health Center. Outside of school she enjoys painting and playing soccer.

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Sruchika Sabu | Advisors: Dr. Long-Jun Wu and Dr. Ukpong Eyo Morphology of Microglia Through Development in P2Y12 Het and P2Y12 KO Mice !Microglia are the main immune macrophages in the CNS. Microglia depend on P2Y12 receptors to communicate with neurons. Previous lab work explores the consequences of induced seizures on mice with and without this receptor (Het/WT and KO). However, no work has been done on P2Y12

mice neither in native conditions nor developmentally. This project explores the differences in microglial density between P2Y12 KO and Het mice of various ages in two regions of the brain.

!Sruchika Sabu is a sophomore studying Cell Biology & Neuroscience at Rutgers University. She intends to double minor in Computer Science and Cognitive Science. This summer, Sruchika had her first experience in a lab, quickly moving from PCR to working with mice, for which she considers herself very lucky. This semester, Sruchika is continuing to work in the Wu lab to further her summer project.

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Marina Shimarova | Advisor: Dr. Michael Lahr Econometric Analysis of Heterogeneous Household Demand System !Wassily Leontief’s input-output model of economics has been recognized as a reliable and accurate model for economic impact analysis since its invention in 1966. The model is a matrix showing the inter-industry interactions between sectors, or the “production recipe” for goods and services, showing the economic ties between the industries in an economy. A variation of this model is used by most governments and the United Nations to analyze the effects of a change on the economy in terms of jobs and revenue created or lost. In the model, household expenditures currently account for only one out of 50-500 sectors. However, consumer unit spending is an important part of the economy and comprises 70 percent of US gross domestic product (GDP). To find out whether the model can be improved by sorting the consumer sector into several different equations, we examined the effects of demographic differences across income, occupation, and age groups on consumer spending patterns. These characteristics have been found to have a strong correlation to unique consumer spending patterns in past studies, and we hope to test the validity of this conclusion in our research specifically for the Northeast region of the US.

!Marina Shimarova is a sophomore in the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program. She is still deciding on a major, but has taken coursework in Mathematics, Economics, and Statistics. She began her first research experience second semester of her freshman year under the guidance of Dr. Michael Lahr at the Center for Urban Policy Research at the Bloustien School of Planning and Public Policy. Her work involved conducting statistical work on large data sets. This summer, she continued to do research under Dr. Lahr on the same project, which examined the expenditure differences between Americans of different income and age classifications. She also did some work on a projects concerning the economic impact of historical preservation in Texas, and clean energy businesses in New Jersey. At Douglass she is Secretary of the Douglass Governing Council, and a recipient of two AADC scholarships. She hopes to eventually attend graduate school or law school, and work in anti-poverty or environmental advocacy.

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Chau Minh Tran | Advisor: Dr. Lisa Klein Effect of Temperature on the Hardness and Scratch Resistance of Melting Gels !Melting gels are the hybrid organic – inorganic silica derived from sol – gel process at room temperature. Its distinctive behaviors, which can be softened when heated and stiffened when cooled, are due to the incomplete crosslinkings between inorganic portions in the gels. To acknowledge further about the durability of this hybrid material, the study of temperature effect and time effect on their hardness are carried out. The microhardness is measured on different samples by using Leco Hardness tester. Heat treatment is provided from 60oC to 120oC varying from 1 to 5 hours. The scratch resistance is tested by using metal spatula and observed by optical microscopy. Typical indent of melting gels that are synthesized by different chemical compositions are collected. Time effect is much less significant than temperature effect. The hardness values for melting gels for all compositions varies from 5 to 15 for 1 kg load. With the melting gels which are synthesized by phenyl group, for 1 mole of phenyltriethoxysilane (PhTEOS), the gels with less than 0.2 mole of diphenyldiethoxysilane (Ph2DEOS) get harder at 100oC and get softer at 120oC, while gels composed of 0.2 mole of Ph2TEOS get harder with the increase of temperature. With the methoxy-based sol-gel silica that are composed by methyl (- CH3) substitution group, the best temperature for the greatest hardness decreases with the increase of dimethyldimethoxysilane ratios (DMDMS).

!Chau Minh Tran is a Chemical Engineering junior and pursuing in Certificate of Packaging Engineering at Rutgers University. She is an international students from Vietnam and pursued an Associate Degree in Science at Green River Community College, WA. She has been a Matlab tutor for RLC at Rutgers. She enjoys running, watching shows at her free time. As a participant of Douglass Project programs, Chau has been fortunate to spend the summer in Dr. Klein’s lab in the Department of Material Science and Engineering. Thanks to Dr. Klein, and the rest of lab members, she has had an enriching summer and developed her skills.

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Reshma Vohra | Advisor: Dr. Chris Rongo Neurite Regulation in C. elegans !Neurons are responsible for communication within the nervous system. They exchange information via synaptic connections and therefore allow nerve cells to interact. The outputs are then transmitted through a long, thin, membranous extension of the cell, the axon, which receives input from branched membranous extensions of the cell called dendrites. Through this network of axons and dendrites, a single neuron is able to receive input from many presynaptic cells. Neurobiologists wonder why how neurons find their specific synaptic partners, about the specialized machinery that creates these structures, and much more regarding the process of axon guidance. The Rongo lab is studying axon guidance using the genetic model system C. elegans. In C. elegans, command interneurons are neurons with cell bodies in the head of the worm that send out single fibers (neurites) along the ventral midline. In a previous study, they found that the E3 ubiquitin ligase RPM-1 inhibits excessive neurite overgrowth of the command interneuron AVG by repressing the activity of p38 MAP Kinase (MAPK) signaling. In addition, they found that JNK Kinase signaling also inhibits excessive AVG neurite outgrowth. Finally, they found a role for the WNT signaling pathway in promoting AVG neurite outgrowth. We currently do not know how these different pathways interact with each other. Our research experiments served to examine the interaction between these pathways by generating double mutants and quantifying their neurite outgrowth phenotype.

Reshma Vohra is a sophomore in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in Cell Biology and Neuroscience and minoring in Chemistry and Middle Eastern Studies. She plans to attend Medical School in the future so she can become a Pediatrician. Reshma researched in the lab of Dr. Chris Rongo at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology and hopes to continue to do so during the rest of her time at Rutgers.

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Riasat Zaman | Advisor: Dr. William Belden Homologous Gene Targeting of per1a in Zebrafish !Gene targeting is widely used to study the functional importance of specific genes through the creation of a gene "knockout". These knockouts serve as useful tools for developing models of human genetic diseases in other organisms. This study focuses on establishing a method of knocking out genes in the model organism Danio reiro, commonly known as zebrafish. Components for the assembly of a Homologous Gene Targeting plasmid (pZHGT) were amplified by PCR or prepared through restriction enzyme digests. Yeast transformation was performed with the components for efficient homologous recombination, while bacteria transformation was performed for efficient recovery of the plasmid itself. Once the colonies containing the plasmids were recovered, the correct assembly of the cloning vector was verified through colony PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The cloning vector for the gene of interest per1a, a circadian clock gene, was successfully constructed and substantiated through this method with a 12.5% efficiency rate.

!Riasat Zaman is a junior majoring in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. She has worked in Dr. William J. Belden's lab for over two years and is interested in how cellular and molecular mechanisms of biological processes are regulated and maintained. She is a co-chairwoman for the Douglass Project STEM Ambassadors, a peer instructor for the Aresty Research Program and an LSAMP scholar. Her other interests include graphic design, where she is the layout editor for the Rutgers Science Review. In the future, she hopes to attend graduate school and pursue a PhD in the field of Molecular Biology or Biotechnology.

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Ameema Zubairi | Advisor: Dr. Ruth Steward The Analysis of the Genes Tet and DNMT in Drosophila melanogaster !Methylation and hydroxymethylation at CpG dinucleotides in genomic DNA are two epigenetic modifications central to gene silencing and mammalian development. These epigenetic marks serve as regulators for embryogenesis and stem-cell differentiation in the germ line. DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) are enzymes that transfer a methyl group from the cofactor S-adenosyl-L-methionine onto the 5-carbon position of a cytosine residue. Ten eleven translocation proteins (TET) use the 5-methyl cytosine (5-mC) as a substrate and change it to 5-hydroxymethyl cytosine (5-hmC), which constitutes the first step in demethylation. Although in vertebrates, 5-mC is a small percent of all cytosine residues in the genome, in invertebrates like Drosophila melanogaster, the level of methylation on DNA is orders of magnitude lower and often undetectable. In order to study the role of 5-mC and 5-hmC in Drosophila, we induced expression of the mouse de novo DNMT3A gene using the Gal4 system. Both Gal4 lines tested, daughterless-Gal4 and heatshock-Gal4, resulted invariably in pupal lethality. The elevated level of methylation was confirmed by immunostaining and detection of 5-mC on salivary gland polytene chromosomes. The loss in viability as a consequence of the transgene’s expression implies that the high amount of methylation is not native to Drosophila. Because flies have an enzyme similar to DNMT2 and in wild type flies there is virtually no methylation detectable on DNA, it is unlikely that DNMT2 is a DNA methyltransferase and instead may function as an RNA methyltransferase. Additionally, to gain more perspective on the interaction between TET and DNMT in Drosophila, we performed a developmental Western blot. Blotting revealed presence of Drosophila TET in larval brains, 4-8 hour embryos, and 8-12 hour embryos.

Ameema Zubairi is a sophomore majoring in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry with a minor in Mathematics in the School of Arts and Sciences. She is a part of the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program and serves as an Honors Ambassador and an Advisory Council member to the deans of the program. She is extremely thankful for all of the opportunities that the Douglass Residential College community has provided her, including the opportunity to get involved with the Douglass Project Peer Mentoring program, Project SUPER, and STEM Ambassadors. After receiving her undergraduate degree, Ameema plans on attending dental school to continue her exploration of the human body and hopes to pursue dental research. In her free time, Ameema enjoys baking with chocolate, doing henna, and reading.

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Douglass College developed the Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science, and Engineering in 1986 to better support women at Rutgers pursuing the STEM disciplines,

This award-winning program enhances the educational experience by:

• providing academic development and leadership opportunities

• encouraging students to recognize their abilities and attain their educational goals

• providing support systems that foster a general competence in mathematics, science, engineering and technology.

!Contact Us

50 Bishop Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

(848) 932-9197

douglass.rutgers.edu/douglass-project-programs

!Elaine Zundl - [email protected]

Laura Stiltz - [email protected]

Beth Bors - [email protected]


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