An important step in the nitrogen cycle is the process called nitrification, which is performed by ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOM): ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), and complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox). The question being researched was “when AOA and comammox are placed in direct competition for ammonium, who outcompetes who?” Comammox were only discovered in 2015, […]
A26-P: Community Health Needs Gap Analysis: Patient Survey Study
The purpose of this study was to gather information about the needs of the underserved patients of the Oxford community. This study aimed to learn about the health needs of the permanent residents of Oxford, and the extent to which the Oxford Free Clinic and other healthcare providers currently meet those needs. The findings will […]
A05-P: Going Viral: Using Viral Genes to Sensitize Human Cancer Cells to Medical Intervention
This investigation aims to gather foundational knowledge for harnessing viral genes to combat cancer cell resistance to traditional cancer therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy. Our study asks if it is possible to improve the cancer-killing capacity of drugs like etoposide by inactivating cellular proteins that cause resistance to chemotherapy through activation of DNA repair. […]
A04-P: Evaluating How Adenovirus Proteins Regulate DNA-PK
Adenovirus (Ad) infection can lead to the activation of DNA damage response (DDR) pathways such as non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) if unchecked. To avert DDR interference, Ad encodes several proteins in early region 4 (E4) that regulate the DDR to promote viral replication. Specifically, E4 11kDa and 34kDa have been shown to interact with DNA-dependent […]
C28-P: Microbial Stress Resistance in Antarctic Lake Communities
The microbial communities of Antarctic lakes have evolved to thrive under the extreme conditions present in their niche habitats. Ranging from low temperatures to high salinity, a number of obstacles are present which these communities must overcome to survive. We exposed enrichment cultures isolated from two different Antarctic lakes, Lake Bonney, and Lake Fryxell, as […]
C34-P: MBI 223/224: Writing pages about phages: A genomic analysis of novel bacteriophages of Microbacterium foliorum and Mycobacterium smegmatis
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a smaller than usual Miami University Microbiology 223/224 class of 2020-2021 set out to culture, characterize, and annotate genomes of bacteriophages from Ohio and Pennsylvania soil and leaf samples capable of infecting the soil bacterium Microbacterium foliorum strain NRRL B-24224. In the fall semester of 2020, six lytic bacteriophages were isolated […]