Cellular metabolism represents all the series of reactions in a cell that take place in order for the cell to survive. Tissue-like environments simulate a shared network of cells by introducing different forms of turbid media to a cell solution to simulate a real-life environment. Autofluorescence is a method for analyzing metabolic response in biological […]
A06: Perceived Effectiveness of Peer Interaction in Physics Courses
Physics remains an area of STEM with lower amounts of diversity among the student population, therefore it becomes important to consider how classroom culture may contribute to a lack of belonging for students in underrepresented groups. This study aimed to determine how students in physics courses at Miami University perceived peer interactions in their courses […]
A10: Presence and Location of Twin Arginine Transport System in Cyanobacteria PCC 6803
The Twin Arginine Translocase system (TAT) is a translocase present both on bacteria plasma membranes and in thylakoid membranes of chloroplast-containing eukaryotes. Cyanobacteria contain both a plasma membrane and a thylakoid membrane but only one set of genes for the TAT system components. This study attempts to identify to which membrane or membranes the products […]
A12: Building a Better Protein: Site-Directed Mutagenesis of cpTatC-Hcf106 using PCR
This research was conducted within the Miami University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and specifically looked at using common biochemical techniques to modify a protein for ease of study. Proteins are the workhorses of all cells. In order to do their job, proteins need to reach a specific site of activity within the cell, and […]
A14: Understanding Retinal Regeneration through the Analysis of Integrated Pathways of the Embryonic Chick
There is a substantial segment of the human population that suffers from visual impairments due to common retinal ailments such as macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and visual decline with age. However, humans lack the ability to regenerate damaged retinal tissue; therefore, research exploring gene regulation in regenerative animals can provide important insight to combat retinal […]
A15: Eye of Newt: The Role of Macrophages in Lens Regeneration
Regeneration is a fascinating injury response that can be found widely across the animal kingdom. Previous studies have shown that macrophages are required for successful regeneration in a variety of different species and tissues. We wanted to investigate if macrophages have a role to play in lens regeneration in the Spanish newt. To do this, […]
A18: Documenting How Mechanical Engineering Students Understand Shear and Moment in Statics
Problem solving is integral to the engineering field. A significant piece of building strong problem-solving skills is having the correct understanding of fundamental engineering concepts. However, students may struggle to make the correct connections between different concepts when first learning material. Additionally, faculty may fail to identify which parts of the material students are not […]
A27: How Plants Adapt to Different Soils: A Phytochemical Comparison of Chamerion
The purpose of this study is to compare the chemical compositions of two plants in the genus Chamerion, and to relate their compositions to how they adapted to such different soils – river beauty preferring wet, mineral rich soil, such as around glacier streams, and fireweed preferring dry, organic rich soils, like areas that recently […]
A28: Do Plant Polyphenols Slow Climate Change?Total Phenolics Quantification using the Folin Assay
Wetlands are established as an extremely important part of the global carbon cycle. Despite covering only 2-3% of the land surface, wetlands store about ⅓ of global soil carbon, giving them a cooling effect on the climate. However, in recent years this effect has gradually decreased. Because of how much of the global soil carbon […]
A37: Investigating A Novel Family Of Proteins in Ancient Cyanobacteria
We investigate a family of proteins called pentapeptide repeat proteins in attempt to solve their structures and functions within cyanobacteria. We attempt to solve protein structures through protein X-ray crystallography and attempt to solve the function of our proteins through various methods including generating growth curves, filament length distributions, monitoring heterocyst formation frequencies and patterns, […]