As the demographics of age shift towards supporting an older population, age-based discrimination needs to be addressed due to its impact on not only physical, but mental health as well. There are many factors that need to be considered to assess the ageism and overall attitudes that undergraduate students have for aging, the aging process, […]
B35: Power and Privilege: Cultural Ideologies Embedded in Medical Practice that Might Make Intercultural Dialogue More Difficult
Physicians possess a position of power over their patients that can be deepened when factors like race, socioeconomic status, and gender come into play. I’ll be drawing from my immersion experience for global health that I completed this past winter after shadowing surgeons at the Lakewood Regional Medical Center in Long Beach, California. During my […]
B36: “Straight From the Horse’s Mouth”: Building Credibility for the Use of Equine-Assisted Services (EAS) as an Effective Health Intervention
In 2019, over 3 million children in the United States reported experiencing one or more disability. This is particularly significant as individuals with a disability are more likely to have lower health outcomes across almost all health indicators when compared to individuals without. Researchers, clinicians, and parents alike have worked to identify complementary and alternative […]
B37: Physical Inactivity as Hindlimb Unloading in Early Postnatal Mice Negatively Impacts Grip Strength but Not Muscle Size or Myofiber Area in Adult Mice: pilot study results
Background: Physical inactivity has many detrimental effects on health, yet the impact of physical inactivity in early life on muscle health in adulthood remains unknown. Early postnatal malnutrition has prolonged effects into adulthood and we propose that early postnatal physical inactivity would have similar effects. Methods: To test this hypothesis we exposed postnatal mice (~P28, […]
B38: Investigating the Role of NKX6-1 in Lens Development
The lens consists of two cell types: 1) proliferative lens epithelial cells and 2) terminally differentiated lens fiber cells that arise from lens epithelial cells. Transcription factors (TFs) direct gene expression. TFs drive development by dictating which genes are expressed in particular cell types. PAX6 and NKX6-1 are TFs found in lens epithelial cells and […]
B39: Expression of MicroRNA in Mice Lens Epithelial Cells
MicroRNAs are short strands of RNA that bind to mRNA to prevent them from being translated into proteins. This project involved looking at expression levels of specific microRNAs to identify their functions in mouse lens cells of the eye. These miRNA expression values were compiled in 3 different trials for the 2 different cell types […]
B40: Genome Wide Identification of Active Promoters in Neonatal Mouse Lens Chromatin
Gene expression is controlled and maintained by a variety of regulatory elements, including histones, which are what was researched for this study. Trimethylation of lysine 4 of histone 3 (H3K4me3) is a characteristic of the promoter regions of actively expressed genes. This means that wherever H3K4me3 is expressed highly, it indicates a portion of the […]
B41: Comparing ATAC-seq and RNA-seq Data to Understand How Chromatin Accessibility and Gene Expression Correlate in Differentiating Lens Epithelial Cells
This project focuses on lens cells by analyzing the genetic changes that happen as lens epithelial cells differentiate into lens fiber cells and how these changes correlate to gene expression. The main question I am asking in this project is how does the accessibility of chromatin relate to the expression of genes in differentiating lens […]
B43: A 3D Printable Microscope With Dynamic Patterned Illumination
Our research project is focused on the field of optics, our goal is to reduce the costs and increase efficiency in using filters in microscopy. We explored the utility of a video projector as the source of dynamic pattern illumination for a 3D printable microscope in conjunction with lenses and a Raspberry Pi module and […]
B44: Characteristics of Teacher Signing in a School-Based Setting for Children with Apraxia of Speech
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder impacting the ability to plan the motor movements necessary for speech production. CAS affects 0.1-0.2% of all children and often those with CAS receive intervention consisting of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). AAC involves the use of speech generating devices or manual signs as a […]