Senior Presentations
Spring 2012
Senior Research
- Lauren McNelly, "The Role of Allele-Specific Histone Modifications in Tissue-Specific Regulation of Genomic Imprinting at Mouse Rasgrf1" (Advisor: Dr. Tamara Davis)
- Rebecca Sheplock and Natalie Mackow, "Investigation of the Redox-Active Transcription Factor SoxR in Streptomyces coelicolor" (Advisor: Dr. Monica Chander)
- Kayla McDaniel and Jeanette Bates, "Differential Methylation at the Dlk1-DMR in 5 day Post-Partum Mouse Lung and Liver Tissue" (Advisor: Dr. Tamara Davis)
- Nima Shrestha and Liz Frontino, "The Investigation of the Terminal Patterning System in Hemipteran Insects using RNAi" (Advisor: Dr. Greg Davis)
- Claire Weichselbaum and Morgan Currie, "Calcium-Dependence of Synaptotagmin-Mediated Neuronal Branching" (Advisor: Dr. Karen Greif)
- Carrie Schoonover, "The Effect of a Calcium Ionophore and Channel Blocker on Synaptotagmin-Mediated Filopodial Growth" (Advisor: Dr. Karen Greif)
- Emily Levine, "Learning Models to Detect Early Onset Parkinson Disease" (Advisor: Dr. Eric Eaton, Computer Science Department)
- Rama Kirloskar, "Oscillator Cell or Not?" (Advisor: Dr. Peter Brodfuehrer)
Senior Seminar in Molecular Genetics (Dr. Tamara Davis)
- Carolyn Cai, "How Expression of Gtl2 Isoforms Regulate Dlk1 Expression"
- Lauren McDonough, "Ftx, a Long Non-coding RNA, in an Activator of Xist, Functioning in the Molecular Pathway of X Inactivation in XX Female Mammals"
- Saba Ashraf, "The Role of COLDAIR in the Flowering Locus C (FLC)-Mediated Vernalization Response in Arabidopsis"
- Nicole Lantz, "Determining the Role of LincRNA-p21 and hnRNP-k in p53-Dependent Transcriptional Control of Noxa and Stat3"
Advanced Evolution (Dr. Stephen Gardiner)
- Aliza Resnick, "Pax-6 and the Evolutionary Origin of Eyes in Metazoans"
Fall 2011
Senior Seminar in Morphology (Dr. Stephen Gardiner)
- Elizabeth Olecki: "Morphological
Phylogenetic Study of Polychaetes"
- Natalie Chrismer: "Analysis
of Relationships between Certain Polychaetes"
- Laura Needham: "Morphological
Analysis of Certain Polychaete Taxa"
Senior Seminar in Science & Society (Dr. Mike Sears)
- Diana Vergara "Sustainable Food Systems"
- Grace Loudon,
"Influence of the Composition of Hormone Deficient Infant Milk on
Obesity through an Evolutionary Lens"
- Ilana Tidus, "Effects of
Various Pollutants on the Increase in Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders
Worldwide"
- Urvi
Mittal, "Providing Family Planning Centers in India"
- Bing Zhang, "A Study
of Breast Cancer and Ethnicity"
- Emma
Condy, "A Comparative Approach to Face-Scanning as an Indicator of Social Relatedness"
- Hanna
Lee, "The Adolescent Brain, In Search of Answers"
- Emily
Takeuchi Miller, "Effects of Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Treating Tendon
Injuries"
Spring 2011
Senior Research
- Camille Petre and Anne George-Hallgren, "Glutamate Receptor 2/3 Immunoreactivity in the Central Nervous System of the Leech" (Advisor: Dr. Peter Brodfuehrer)
- Bailey Baumann, "Isolation and Amplification of AMPA Receptor Subunit in
Hirudo medicinalis" (Advisor: Dr. Peter Brodfuehrer)
- Sandra Gandarez and Nikitha Ashok, "The Effects of Calcium Channel Blocking on the Growth of Filopodia" (Advisor: Dr. Karen Greif)
- Alyssa Gagne and Emily Bergbower, "Acquisition of Differential DNA Methylation at the Gtl2-Dlk1 Locus in Mouse Embryonic and Placental Tissues"
- Sadie Marlow, "An Investigation of Histone Modifications at Rasgrf1 in Mouse" (Advisor: Dr. Tamara Davis)
- Emma Hedman, "Investigating the Role of Juvenile Hormone in the Reproductive
Polyphenism of the Pea Aphid" (Advisor: Dr. Greg Davis)
- Joanna Barkas and Amelie Raz, "Differential Gene Expression within the
Patterning Systems of Sexual vs. Asexual Pea Aphids" (Advisor: Dr. Greg Davis)
- Fatima Quadri, "Changes in Lateral Septal Activity Following Infusion of a Serotonin
Autoreceptor Antagonist into the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus" (Advisor: Dr. Earl Thomas, Psychology)
- Riki Gifford-Ferguson and Clara Wang, "Adjoining Mutations in Glucokinase: So Close, Yet So Far"
Senior Seminar in Biochemical Mechanisms of Disease Progression (Dr.Wilent)
- Nelly Khaselev, "The Biochemical and Immunological Pathology of Henoch – Schönlein
Purpura"
- Emily Ledford, "Resisting Resistance: Targeting Virulence Factors of
Staphylococcus aureus"
- Kelsey Lynch, "Determining the Role of Drug Efflux in Multidrug Resistant
Tuberculosis"
Praxis III
Fall 2010
Senior Seminar in Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Dr. Gregory Davis)
- Erin Miller, “Thermoregulation in Ichthyosaurs”
- Madi Houff, "The role of the genes Pax6 and Rx in the development of the eye
- of Xenopus laevis"
- Joo Park, “Regulation of lifespan by something other than food."
- Amelie Raz, “The Role of Juvenile Hormone in the Evolutionary Loss of Sexual
- Plasticity in Aphids”
- Kristen Magnusen, “Short-term Evolutionary Responses to Endocrine Disruptors”
- Madison Schaeffer, “The Parallel Evolution of Herding Behavior in Sheepdogs”
Senior Seminar in Science in Society (Dr. Paul Grobstein)
- Riki Gifford-Ferguson, “The Human Genome Project and Determining Who We Are”
- Anne Dowton, “The Vaccination Debate: A Case Study in Scientific Communication”
- Hope Fillingim, “A History of People, Whales, and Complex Interactions”
- Dakota Fisher-Vance, “The Science of Science Education”
- Leah Bonnell, “The Commercialization of Clinical Research: An Examination
- of Resulting Ethical Issues”
- Crystal Leonard, “Scientific miscommunication: an examination of the divide
- between the scientific community and the public”
- Moira Hodges, “Redefining Mental Health”
- Sarah Maley, “Medical Information and the Internet”
- Kendra Norrell, “Destruction by an Iconic Symbol: The Harms of Vehicle Exhaust”
- Naa Kwarley Quartey, “Science in Society: exploring the power of science to shape legal policy using abortion as an example”
- Colette Young, “Lessons from the History of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual”
Spring 2010
Senior Seminar in Evolutionary Biology (Dr. Stephen Gardiner)
Senior Research
- Sasha DeWitt, The Lateral Septum's Role in Anxiolysis (Advisor: Dr. Earl Thomas, Psychology)
- Claire Ceriani, The Language Spiral: How Society Evolved Language (Advisor: Dr. Paul Grobstein)
- Elizabeth Ver Hoeve, Re-Thinking the Role of Cell 208 in the Leech Oscillatory Swim Network (Advisor: Dr. Peter Brodfuehrer)
- Isabelle Winer, Isolation and Amplification of the Leech GluR2 subunit of the AMPA receptor (Advisor: Dr. Peter Brodfuehrer)
- Caitlin Jeschke, Eileen Downs, Nafisa Misawa and Hillary Cleveland, Reproductive Polyphenism in the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Advisor: Dr. Gregory Davis)
- Evan Raskin, Differential effects of climate change on lizard activity time in varying topographic environments (Advisor: Dr. Michael Sears)
- Jane Morris, Histone Modifications as Imprinting Control at Rasgrf1 in Neonatal Tissue
- Mahvish Qureshi, Analysis of the Methylation Pattern on Complementary DNA strands at exon 5 of Mouse Dlk1 Gene
- Rica Ann Sablan Dela Cruz, Penumetcha,Sahitya Penumetcha, and Yang Gao, Understand the Function of SoxR in Streptomyces coelicolor
Fall 2009
Senior Seminar in Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Dr. Gregory Davis)
- Anisha Chirmule, The Development of Mammalian Molars
- Michelle Crepeau, A Role for Embryonic Turtle β-globin Gene Orthology
in the Evolution of Endothermy in the Theropod-Bird Lineage
- Kate Sheridan, Preparing for takeoff: helical growth as a step towards flight in feather evolution
- Kathy Dilliplane, Sticking Your Neck Out: A Developmental Basis for Variation in Cervical Vertebrae Number in Birds
- Lisa Lamprou, A Genetic Basis for Variance in Vertebrate Vocalization
- Andrea Caruana, Are changes in FOXP2 protein responsible for the evolutionary loss of GRIK1 expression in the human brain?
Senior Seminar in Science in Society (Dr. Paul Grobstein)
- Julia Lewis, Parsing Cancer Metaphors
- Rachel Brady, Deconstructing the Dichotomy in Biological Sex
- Trihn Truong, The Effects of Human-Induced Ecological Changes On Infectious Diseases
- Julianne Rieders, Pandemics and Prevention
- Lias Betz, Marketing Breast Cancer in Corporate America: Health Activism and Commercialism
- Anna Dela Cruz, Brain=Perception: Research Implications
Spring 2009
Senior Seminar in Biochemistry (Dr. Monica Chander)
- Katie Weng, Optimizing antibiotic production in Streptomyces coelicolor and exploring the mechanism of the development of antibiotic resistance
- Christina Harview, Exploring the effect of exogenous paraoxonase addition to Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonies in vitro and in vivo
Senior Seminar in Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Dr. Greg Davis)
- Jeam Chung, The Symbiotic Relationship of V. fischeri and E. scolopes-A focus on the Initiation Stage
- Benjamin Pyenson, The Evolution of Genetic Sex Determination in Turtles
- Rina Mehta, The Origin and Ontogenesis of Male Dimorphic Vocalization in the Midshipman Fish
- Madina Ghazanfar, The Role of Ultraconserved Genes in Placental Mammals
- Caroline Feldman, Tandem Repeats and the Evolution of Craniofacial Morphology in Dogs
- Jenn Wong, Regenerating Vestigial Organs: The evolutionary effects of sonic hedgehog gene expression on the blind cavefish
- Megan Gallagher, The Novel Anableps Eye
Senior Seminar in Molecular Genetics (Dr. Tamara Davis)
- Katie Kent, Investigating the Importance of Location for the Expression of Air and its Non-coding RNA Function
- Francesca Marangell, Imprinted X-inactivation: A Comparison between Marsupials and Eutherians
- Andrea, R. Zambetti, Investigation of Epigenetic Alterations in Osteoarthritic Chondrocytes through S-Adenosyl Methionine Supplementation
- Sarah Allard, Nutritional and Environmental Influences on the Epigenome: The Dose-Dependent Effects of Bisphenol A
- Kristen, Jusewicz-Haidle, Sub-fertile Males: A Cautionary Tale
- Alexa Yim, Dnmt3L Protein and the Role of its Sex-Specific Transcripts
- Molly Pieri, Artificially Induced Monoallelic Expression of the GABRB3 Gene in Mice: Implications for Autism
- Lauren Poon, A highly conserved activator sequence influences Prader-Willi Syndrome, imprinted genes
- Penn Trong, Mest expression in hypothalamus of mice may play a role in maternal behavior
- Heather Fetting, The role of polycomb proteins in tissue-specific imprinting of Grb10
Senior Research
- Nicolette Belletier, The Reproductive Polyphenism in Acyrthosiphon pisum: Patterning of the Sexual and Asexual Oocytes (Advisor - Dr. Greg Davis)
- Rebecca Pisciotta, Understanding Free Will: How our model of the universe informs our conception of human free will (Advisor - Dr. Paul Grobstein)
- Shikha Prashad, Object Detection & Tracking Using Neural Networks (Advisors Drs. Paul Grobstein and Doug Blank (Computer Science))
- Nana Asabere, Synaptotagmin-1's Role in Neurite Outgrowth and Patterning (Advisor - Dr. Karen Greif)
- Dominique McKeever & Sarah Powers, Persistent Excitation in the Leech (Advisor - Dr. Peter Brodfuehrer)
- Eva Bastianon, The organization of the duo-gland feeding system in the palps of Magelona (Polychaeta) (Advisor - Dr. Stephen Gardiner)
Student Research - Summer 2008
- Gao, Yang ('10), Dr. Chander, "Understanding the Function of SoxR in Streptomyces coelicolor by Mutational Analysis"
- Harview, Christina L. ('09), Dr. T. Davis, "Tissue specific expression and differential methylation at the imprinted gene Rasgrf1 in BL6/CAST mice"
- McKeever, Dominique ('09), Dr. Brodfuehrer, "Exploration of the role of glutamate (non-NMDA) receptors in sustaining leech swimming"
- Qureshi, Mahvish ('09), Dr. T. Davis, "Analysis of Methylation in the e1 region of the Mouse Gene Gtl2"
- Weng, Katie ('10), Dr. Chander, "Analyzing the regulation of Streptomyces coelicolor SoxR by actinorhodin"