Undergraduate Presentations
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This collection hosts presentations by undergraduate students at conferences, departmental symposia/research days, and classes both within and beyond Virginia Tech. It includes VT-sponsored undergraduate research conferences held in the spring and summer (and their abstract books). Presentation materials may include slides, posters, installation designs/photographs, audio, and video. Please see the Office of Undergraduate Research for research opportunities and assistance.
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Browsing Undergraduate Presentations by Content Type "Poster"
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- 2019 Virginia Tech Office for GIS and Remote Sensing Research Symposium(Office for GIS and Remote Sensing Research, 2019-04-26)Student poster and web map app showcase abstracts from the symposium held on April 26, 2019, in Newman Library.
- Biocomplexity Institute Research Symposium 2016(Biocomplexity Institute. Virginia Tech, 2016-11-01)An abstract book of student poster presentations from the symposium held on November 1, 2016.
- Bioinformatic Analysis of Uncultivated Microbial Dark Matter: A Closer Look at MarinimicrobiaTodd, Meagan (Virginia Tech, 2018-07-26)The majority of biodiversity of life on Earth consists of poorly-understood groups of “microbial dark matter” (MDM) that play important roles in regulating the climate and influencing the physiology of multicellular organisms (Rinke et al, Nature, 2012). Understanding ecosystem processes and global biogeochemical cycles requires a deeper knowledge of these organisms within their natural environments; however, their cryptic metabolisms make them difficult and at times impossible to study in the laboratory. In this project, we are using transcriptomic sequencing to analyze mRNA transcripts produced by members of the Marinimicrobia, an abundant group of MDM that lives in ocean waters around the globe and plays important roles in biogeochemical cycling (Hawley et al, Nat. Comm, 2017). We focus on monitoring gene expression of Marinimicrobia in both coastal and open ocean environments and analyzing the correlation between species within the phylum and how their interactions affect their surrounding ecosystems. On a global spectrum, it is vital that the mechanisms of microbial communities within the oceans are understood to know how the systems will react to climate change caused by human activities. Given the importance of MDM, this project will help advance our understanding of the role that the Marinimicrobia play in regulating these key global biogeochemical cycles. Thus far, I have analyzed mRNA transcripts from various time points sampled in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre and found that there were transcripts present from 13 genomes which belong to 3 distinct clades of Marinimicrobia.
- EngelNovitt Summer Research Program 2017(Virginia Tech, 2017)The EngelNovitt Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Neuroscience program is a paid summer internship that gives students the opportunity to work within a neuroscience laboratory affiliated with the Virginia Tech School of Neuroscience. Students devote 40 hours per week immersed in a research environment assisting with an ongoing project. The program provides students with a real-world neuroscience research experience and bench skills that can help them as they progress in their research and/or medical careers. This booklet contains abstracts from student projects.
- High Resolution Respirometry of Heart Mitochondria in Healthy and Stressed StatesWilson, Zachary T.; Perry, Justin B.; Brown, David A. (Virginia Tech, 2018-08)Heart disease remains the leading cause of death globally, claiming the lives of nearly 10 million people in 2016. Current standard-of-care therapies for heart disease patients reduce energy demands on the heart but do not treat underlying deficits in cellular energy production. Cardiac mitochondria are primarily responsible for the production of energy in the heart, and targeting dysfunctional mitochondria represents a promising solution to improving the prognosis of heart disease patients. Increased production of reactive oxygen species in heart disease damages mitochondrial function, ultimately decreasing cardiac energy supply. Isolated mitochondria exposed to hydrogen peroxide serves as a heart disease model where the reactive oxygen species damage the respiratory chain, a series of complexes responsible for the actual production of energy. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a drug precursor to glutathione, an endogenous antioxidant which reduces reactive oxygen species. In this project, isolated mitochondria are treated with hydrogen peroxide with or without NAC. If NAC is capable of rescuing the respiratory rate, that would suggest that NAC restores mitochondrial energy production in pathological states. If successful, these data would be the first step in determining if incorporation of NAC into heart disease treatment plans could begin to better treat the number of one cause of morbidity/mortality on the planet.
- Physalis angulata pollination after herbivory: the effects of herbivore damage on pollinator preferenceXu, Freddie M.; Whitehead, Susan R. (Virginia Tech, 2018-07-26)Pollination is the pinnacle of a plant’s life cycle. Progeny carry on paternal traits for higher fitness and survival while also maintaining genetic diversity among populations. While some species such as Physalis angulata can undergo self-pollination (“selfing”), outcrossing with other plants via pollinators still yields higher quality and number of seeds. Thus, the selection/avoidance of pollinators for certain plants is crucial in determining the health of future generations. This study examines pollinator preferences for plant flowers following herbivory. We created two groups of P. angulata, exposing one to Manduca sexta (a specialist herbivore for the Solanaceae family) and keeping the other as a control. Following substantial damage, the plants were introduced to the generalist pollinator Bombus impatiens, and interaction data were recorded for both groups. Analysis indicates a significant effect of herbivory on time elapsed until plants were first visited by pollinators. However, no impact of herbivory was seen on flower production or on pollinator preference regarding number of flowers visited, number of unique bumblebee visitors, and average visit duration per flower. We therefore conclude that herbivory by M. sexta on P. angulata does generate a significant effect on pollination as mediated by B. impatiens due to the increased time needed by pollinators to locate plants and flowers following herbivore damage. Expanding upon previously observed ecological relationships between herbivory and plant reproductive success, the novel mechanism of time to first visitation has potential applications for agricultural outputs as protection against pests could yield higher pollination rates during finite growing seasons.
- Self-Assembly of Artificial Actin FilamentsCheng, Shengfeng; Grosenick, C. Ryan; Dayal, Shreya (Virginia Tech, 2018)Actin filaments (F-actins) are long, double-stranded, helical biopolymers that make up the cytoskeleton along with microtubules and intermediate filaments. In order to better understand the self-assembly process of actin filaments, a coarse-grained model to recreate their geometry was developed, which was motivated by the wedge model of microtubule self-assembly. The model monomer has the shape of a bent, twisted rod with binding sites on its lateral and top/bottom surfaces. The longitudinal binding through the binding sites on the top/bottom surfaces of the rod allows the formation of strands, while the lateral binding between the rods enables the strands to adhere laterally to form double-stranded helical filaments. Such a design captures the assembly behavior of G-actins into F-actins. With molecular dynamics simulations, we explored the self-assembly of these bent-rod monomers. A variety of assembled phases were observed when the strengths of the binding interactions between monomers were varied. Our simulations indicate that only a narrow range of binding strengths yields double-stranded helical filaments resembling F-actins. Furthermore, the structure of the assembled filaments is much more robust and resistant to fluctuations and defects when the strength of the longitudinal binding interaction is stronger than that of the lateral binding between monomers. Finally, double-stranded filaments are found to be much more stable structurally than single-stranded ones. Our results reveal fresh insights into the fact that actin filaments are predominantly double-stranded.
- Shakespeare's Garden - Virtual Reality: An Immersive Virtual Sound StrollMiller, Chris; Cutaiar, Dillon M. (2018-07-26)While educational, professional, and gaming environments in virtual reality are common, little has been done to explore virtual reality’s potential application in theatre and performance art. Shakespeare's Garden - Virtual Reality (SG-VR) is an immersive audio-visual experience based on a previously exhibited physical installation called Shakespeare’s Garden. It is an attempt to replicate, augment, and further develop the original experience. Virtual reality allows the artists’ original intent and new visions to shine through in interesting ways that are not possible in a physical space. Using a VR headset, the user is immersed in a spatialized ambient audio soundscape of natural sounds, surrounded by visual projections of sonnet texts, and encouraged to explore the space, occasionally wandering into target areas where they are able to hear selected Shakespeare sonnets and dramatic scenes recited by recorded actors. SG-VR represents an inquiry into the question, “Can we create an aesthetic, artistic, and meaningful experience in VR?” Based on user feedback and the opinions of the original artists, the answer is ‘yes’.
- Vascular Amyloid in an Alzheimer's Mouse ModelStublen, Andrew; Mills, William; Sontheimer, Harald; Kimbrough, Ian F. (2018-08)Alzheimer disease accounts for ~80% of dementia cases worldwide. Traditionally, one of the pathological hallmarks of this disease is Amyloid beta (A ) plaques. A is a 36-43 amino acid peptide formed from improperly cleaved amyloid precursor protein (APP). When APP is cleaved incorrectly in the brain, it forms sticky monomers. These monomers can usually be cleared from the brain and do not pose any hazards to normal brain functioning. However, in cases of disease these monomers can clump together to form A oligomers, or plaques. In addition to plaques, incorrectly cleaved A can also aggregate on vessels in the brain. Previous research has shown that these amyloid aggregates can displace astrocytic endfeet from blood vessels. This can cause the blood brain barrier to leak and prevent proper regulation of the diameter of vessels in the brain. This regulatory ability of the vessels in the brain is called functional hyperemia, and it enables precise control of where nutrient- lled blood is directed. When vascular amyloid surrounds the vessel and displaces astrocytic endfeet, it has been shown to cause a loss of this ability. This inhibits the brain’s ability to direct nutrients to areas of need and could be a major contributor to the cognitive decline seen in patients with Alzheimer Disease. In addition, any leakage of the blood brain barrier is very unhealthy for the surrounding tissue, as the blood brain barrier exists for the purpose of keeping toxins separate from the brain parenchyma. We do not currently understand how exactly these vascular amyloid plaques cause blood brain barrier failure. However, we have found that areas of the vasculature laden with vascular amyloid do demonstrate a downregulation in expression of the tight junction proteins ZO1 and Claudin 5. These tight junction proteins are responsible for holding the endothelial cells of the vasculature together to seal the blood brain barrier. To demonstrate that this decreased expression of tight junction proteins was not just a failure of the antibodies to penetrate through the vascular amyloid, the tissue was also stained for vinculin, a component of the cytoskeleton found directly beside these tight junctions. There was no di erence in vinculin labeling between areas with and without an amyloid burden, indicating that the amyloid is not preventing antibody penetration and that there is a true loss of tight junction protein expression. Addionally, we studied whether these damaging vascular amyloid plaques display a preference for certain kinds of vessels in the brain, based either on vessel size or vessel type. We showed that vascular amyloid does have a preference for arterioles and venules over capillaries, arteries, and veins. However, we were unable to distinguish with certainty whether amyloid displayed a preference for either arterioles or venules due to shortcomings in our DIC imaging.