Fifty-eight CSU undergraduate students had the opportunity to work on summer research projects with faculty mentors during summer 2012. Fifty proposals were received from five colleges and 31 were funded across 15 departments. A Poster session for the projects was held September 6th in the Student Center. Students, faculty and staff turned-out for the poster session, giving the students the opportunity to discuss their work with the CSU community.
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The Effects of Path Crossover on Spatial Orientation
Jayleen A. Meléndez and Naohide Yamamoto
Prior research has discovered that when an individual’s path has a crossover, there seems to be a significant deterioration in the individual’s spatial orientation.
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Rural Women’s Pathways to Crime: A Grounded Theory Study of Rural Women and their Experiences in Jails and Prisons
Angela Mesenburg
In discussing the lack of research on female offenders there is even less research on women incarcerated from rural areas. Our focus is to initiate a discussion that could eventually be a part of a design of programs to provide much needed assistance for the women in these rural areas.
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Microcontroller Based ECG Amplifier
Berney Montavon
A microprocessor that reads ECG data and detects heart arrhythmias can help keep people safe while working in high-risk environments.
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Steering Adaptation in a Driving Simulator
Brian P. Moran
Steering adaptation in a driving simulator occurs when participants, who possess the skills necessary to control a vehicle, modify their use of the steering controls to successfully interact with a driving simulator. This approach is sensitive to individual driving styles, as it is free of any threshold, criterion, or benchmark value and can be applied to any steering task at any driving speed.
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Analysis of Crossover Interference in Yeast
Hanna Morris
Meiosis is one type of cell division that produces germ cells. In Meiosis I, the DNA in a diploid cell is doubled and homologous chromosomes separate. In Meiosis II, each pair of sister chromatids are separated, resulting in four haploid daughter cells. The nine intervals were analyzed under several conditions and the number, timing, and distribution of crossovers was determined. Results and their compatibility with current models of synaptonemal complex functions will be discussed.
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Obtaining a Pure Protein Using an ELP-Tagged TEV Protease
Teisha L. Mullins
We present here use of GLGVP for tagging and purifying a gadolinium binding protein domain.
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Anti-cancer Drug Screening of Dual Tubulin and Hsp27 Inhibitors with 2D and 3D Lung Cancer Cell Assays
Janine Maria Naim and Rati Lama
Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. The current treatment options available for lung cancer are limited and have drawbacks such as poor bioavailability, numerous side effects, poor efficacy and drug resistance. 3D model serve as a novel approach for drug screening purposes and the evaluation of compounds in the platform can help identify potent compounds for further in vivo xenograft studies.
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Understanding the Structure of High Density Lipoprotein
Dmitriy Parshakov and Kayla T. Tran
The high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the carrier of ‘good cholesterol’, transports cholesterol from periphery cells to liver for catabolism, a process termed reverse cholesterol transport. In this project we focused on obtaining and characterizing HDL particles.
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Synthesis and Characterization of Chain-End Functionalization of Glycosaminoglycans
Nikola Paulic and Jacob J. Weingart
This presentation reports the CSU Summer Undergraduate Research project, which is the synthesis and characterization of chain-end functionalized CS derivatives, which will be used to investigate various bio-orthogonal conjugation reactions in attempt to create a novel CS-rTM conjugate.
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Key Players in Reverse Cholesterol Transport: The Plasma Enzyme LCAT
Christopher J. Pechura
Lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) is a plasma enzyme that remodels nascent high density lipoprotein (HDL) into a mature form called spherical HDL. The model will be used in the future to map the amino acid residues from LCAT and the protein component of nascent HDL (apoA1) involved in mutual interaction, and to identify LCAT residues interacting with the lipid phase of nascent HDL.
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Getting to the Root of Dengidëk: A Preliminary Investigation of Fagara xanthoxyloïdes and Treatment-Seeking Behavior in Dakar, Senegal
Richard T. Powis III
In Senegal, “traditional medicine” typically refers to the syncretism of Wolof or Serer medicine and Islamic beliefs, and includes not only consumables and procedures that fight off physical or mental ailments, but also spiritual acts to fight off sorcery. This is a preliminary investigation of the local and traditional knowledge that surrounds dengidëk, in particular, while assessing a rudimentary model of treatment-seeking behavior.
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Defining and Analyzing a Food Desert
Monique N. Russell and Brian Mikelbank
The purpose of this project is to evaluate the characteristics and GIS methods used to determine an urban food desert. The intention of this research is to implement an improved methodology for determining a food desert and exhibit the value of additional data sources. This should produce a universal GIS method and criteria for profiling a food desert in an urban setting across the United States.
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Comparison of Responses in Proactive vs. Reactive Balance Control
Christina A. Sadowski and Deborah Espy
Even though recent research suggests reactive balance training (unexpected, external perturbations) has more effective, long term results than proactive training (self-initiated actions), the latter is used most often in a clinical setting due to its affordability and convenience. This pilot study sought to develop a safe, affordable, and easily portable perturbation-inducing device to be used for reactive balance training.
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Spillover Effects of Metro Academic R&D on Non-metro Labor Market Conditions
Pedro J. Sarsama and Subhra Baran Saha
Research regarding spillover effects of academic innovation tends to focus on the effects innovation from metro areas on metro area labor markets. The results suggest that innovation in big cities generates migration to metros from non metros, thereby reducing available labor supply. As a result metro innovation reduces non metro employment but increase earning for people who reside in non metros. We have evidence that higher innovation in metros increase human capital in non metro areas
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Lake Erie Water Assessment Study
Brandon Schaefer, Bill Weber, Buck Depew, and Brett Kuharik
Lake Erie’s water chemistry is ever-changing and depends primarily on the waters that comprise its 58,800 sq. km drainage basin. The Cleveland data is in concert with most river data collected along the Cuyahoga while the other 2 sites are similar to Lake Erie data.
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Biological Evaluation of Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitor Nimesulide Derivatives as Anti-agents
Amandeep Singh and Snigdha Chennamaneni
Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor nimesulide inhibits the proliferation of various types of cancer cells mainly via COX-2 independent mechanisms, which makes it a good lead compound for anti-cancer drug development. A series of new nimesulide analogs were evaluated with cell proliferation assay based on a non-small lung cancer cell line H292. The results showed that several derivatives were very active to against H292 cell growth with IC50s of sub nano mole. These results suggest the possibility of using these nimesulide derivatives as chemo preventive agents.
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Sex Selection and Technology In the United States: Is It Playing GOD?
Roberta M. Steinbacher and Audrianna V. Rodriguez
Preferences for selecting male firstborn children have been well established through research in countries such as India, China, and the Middle East. The effects of this phenomenon have been devastating to these populations’ sex ratios and have led to a number of violent crimes against women. The number of participants who indicated a willingness to use sex selection technology (8%) was too small to calculate any relationship between potential users and firstborn sex preference.
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Simulation and Control of an Intelligent Prosthetic Knee with Biogeography-Based Optimization
George L. Thomas
Traditional, passive leg prostheses for transfemoral amputees require the user to produce unnaturally large actuations in order to walk. The resulting motions can cause joint degeneration and arthritis. To avoid this, a semi-active prosthetic knee using hydraulics to store and release energy has been developed. In our work this summer, we have improved upon a previous simulation model for this leg, and we have developed preliminary valve control results in this simulation software with BBO.
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Extending Newton’s Apsidal Theorem: Effective Angular Momentum
Cameron J. Tuckerman
Apsidal Shift, or the angular displacement of the orbital apses, is an important quantity in the study of the orbits of planets, starts, and other celestial bodies. The apparent lack of shift of our nearby planets is that on which Sir Isaac Newton based his assumption of the inverse-square relationship in Universal Gravity. We are able to find excellent approximations for the Apsidal Shift and use our results to generalize Newton's Apsidal Theorem.
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Size and Shape Characterization of Salt Dependent Thermoreversible Micelles Synthesized from Elastin-Like Polypeptides
Kaitlin W. Vandemark
Environmentally responsive nanoparticles synthesized from Elastin-Like Polypeptides (ELP) present a promising system for applications such as biosensors, drug delivery vehicles, and viscosity modifiers.
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Yeast 2-Hybrid Screen for T. Brucei TIN2- and RAP1- Intracting Proteins
Miao Wang and Fan Wu
Telomeres are DNA-protein complexes located at the ends of linear chromosomes. Acting like a cap, they protect chromosome ends from degradation and rearrangement, maintaining genomic stability. Our lab has identified several T. brucei telomere proteins, including TRF (TTAGGG Repeat-binding Factor), TIN2 (TRF1-interacting Nulcear Protein 2) and RAP1 (Repressor Activator Protein 1) homologs. We are currently verifying the interactions between the new candidates and TbTIN2 or TbRAP1.
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The Fourteenth Century Meets the Twenty-First: An Engaged Learning Experience in Historical Geography
Monica L. Ward
Our goal was to develop an application that would enable students to use the Map Walk to “walk” through world traveler Ibn Battuta’s itinerary of his trips throughout the Muslim world between 1325 and 1354. On the day of the Map Walk, students will be able to use their smart phones to access the blogs and follow Ibn Battuta on his travels around the world.
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Identification of Novel Meiotic Genes Via a Genetic Screen
Steven David Zimmerman and Rima Sandhu
Proper segregation of chromosomes in Meiosis I requires proper function of the Synaptonemal Complex (SC), a zipper-like protein structure that facilitates recombination events and segregation of homologous chromosomes. Candidates which suppress the phenotype show sporulation and fluorescence on media, and have higher spore viabilities compared to our Zip1C1 control.
