Adequate spawning habitats are crucial for the success and productivity of fish populations. Instream boulders can create favorable spawning sites by creating depressions or riffles where fish can deposit their eggs. Habitat restoration projects are put in place to offset the destruction of spawning grounds and improve habitat functionality. Our research aims to provide insight […]
C67: Documenting Methods of Ageing and Sexing Songbirds Native to the Chocó Region of Northern Ecuador
Bird banding is a popular technique which utilizes the mark-and-recapture method to assess phenological trends and overall health of avian populations. While the database of this practice is abundant with information in locations such as North America and Europe, the high species diversity and unique climate conditions of regions in South America make it harder […]
BIV-04: Acidification of Drinking Water
Presenter(s): Ava Loria, Biology Major El Chetty, Biology Major Gabriela Ford, Biology Major Josie Nchinda, Biology Major
BI-03: Examining the effect of Genetic Manipulation on Nerve Remodeling and Eclosion Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Abdominal nerves of Drosophila are ensheathed by four layers, the acellular neural lamella (NL), and three glial cell layers. During metamorphosis, a four-day event, five of the eight pairs of abdominal nerves fuse to form the terminal nerve trunk (TNT) structure. During the first day of metamorphosis, the NL is completely degraded. The aim of […]
BII-03: The Bright Future of Solar Panel Recycling
Demand for sustainable energy methods, especially solar panels, has been on the rise in recent years as awareness of the depletion and impact of fossil fuels grows. However, these panels are posing a new challenge of their own- finding what to do with the first generation of solar panels that are now reaching the end […]
BIII-02: Characterizing the lens regeneration process in Pleurodeles waltl
Regeneration is an extraordinary process shared across a diverse range of organisms. However, for most organisms, including humans, the range of regenerative capacity is lost after embryonic development and declines as development progresses. The mechanisms responsible behind the decline in regenerative capacity still need to be better understood. Some vertebrates, such as newts, have remarkable […]
CSIV-05: Role of Hypoxia on Chick Retinal Pigment Epithelium Reprogramming
The retina is one of the most important tissues since an injury to the retina can lead to irreparable visual loss. Therefore, studying the process of retinal regeneration is important for understanding how the retina can be healed after an injury. The embryonic chick has been identified as a model for retinal regeneration, as until […]
C05: Evolutionary and Structural Adaptations in the Eye Lens of the Freeze-Tolerant North American Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica)
My general research area is evolutionary biology and bioinformatics. My project is working with the North American wood frog (Rana sylvatica) to study stability and adaptability in lens crystallin proteins. Instability and aggregation of lens crystallins can cause cataracts, which are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. The wood frog is a cold-adapted vertebrate that […]
C17: A Comprehensive Study of Mouse Lens Epithelial Explant Development
The lens is a useful tissue to study development because it is very simple, and self-containing. The lens is made of only two cell types; epithelial cells, and fiber cells. The epithelial cells are cuboidal and aligned in a single row along the anterior edge of the lens and they mature into the long transparent […]
B35: Sedimentation Trends in Acton Lake
Acton Lake is a reservoir in Hueston Woods State Park that was created in 1956 by the damming of Four-Mile Creek. Early on, high levels of erosion and agricultural runoff contributed to high sedimentation rates. In 1992, the USDA began encouraging farmers in the Acton Lake watershed to adopt conservation tillage. The goal of this […]