This general research area utilizes the fields of Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science to solve a real-world problem. Ventricular arrhythmias (VA) are abnormal heartbeats oftentimes associated with morbidity, mortality, and impaired quality of life. They can be treated using catheter ablation, where a tube is guided through one’s heart to destroy the small areas of […]
C69: Uncovering Protein Misfolding: Structural changes for UbcH5b mutants to study the complex CHIP-E2-Ub for the ubiquitination pathway
In this research, we delved into the intricate interactions within the CHIP-mediated ubiquitination pathway, focusing on the interplay among E1-ubiquitin-activating enzyme, E2-ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (UbcH5b), and E3-ubiquitin ligase (CHIP) with Ubiquitin. The absence of available structures for CHIP in complexes with an E2~ubiquitin conjugate spurred our investigation, aiming to unravel the mechanistic insights and structure of […]
BI-01: Exploiting the magnetocaloric properties of advanced materials in magnetic refrigeration and hyperthermia cancer treatment
The magnetocaloric effect refers to the heating or cooling of a magnetic material when placed in an external magnetic field. Recent studies showed that this property can be exploited in numerous applications including magnetic refrigeration and hyperthermia cancer treatment. While magnetic refrigeration technology is more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than the gas-based refrigeration systems, […]
C34: Development of a Bacteria Biosensor for Herbicide Detection
Escherichia coli (E. coli) has been used as a biosensor for detection of a wide range of analytes such as TNT, insecticides or lead. Glyphosate is a widely-used herbicide in US agriculture that can pose harms to marine life, mammals and endangered species. Due to the structural similarities between glycine, an amino acid that has […]
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-02: MARIE-C (Merging All-Girls Results in Education and Careers)
Some of Physics Education Research (PER) is targeted on combating physics classroom disparity within a traditionally white male-dominated field to increase accessibility and attainability of physics outcomes for physics students. Historically, the physics field has exhibited a “leaky pipeline” effect in which minority students drop out of the physics curriculum due to lack of support, […]
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 […]
BII-04: Improving Syntax Correctness and Breadth of Design Space Exploration in Functional Analysis
Functional analysis aims to decompose the main functions of a product, which can be large and complex, into more manageable subfunctions. Recently, interest in explicitly considering users during functional modeling has grown to enhance analysis completeness, but how this addresses some commonly reported challenges for novice engineers is not clear. This research proposes and assesses […]
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 […]
BIII-03: Composting On a Large Scale
For our research we wanted to examine the issues with the nitrogen cycle and how that was related to chemical fertilizers. This ended up turning into a closer look at composting and how this can be used to combat both environmental issues and food waste. We conducted our work through some basic field work and […]