Brett Garabedian
Plant biomass represents the most abundant collection of polymers on this planet. As a dominant carbon sequestration system, an upwards of 150 billion tons of biomass is produced worldwide each year, but humans currently utilize only 2% of this resource. Thus, there is a large margin to accommodate recent interests in lignocellulosic plant biomass as feedstock for biofuels and other commodity chemicals. A major bottleneck in the generation of commercially competitive biofuels from lignocellulosic plant biomass is the presence of acetate throughout the plant cell wall as this chemical hinders […]
Alexander Giuffrida
The majority of matter in the universe is dark matter which does not interactwith light. In several physical models dark matter includes a dark photon (A’) which plays a similar role to that of the photon in the normal sector. In addition,recent experiments at CERN have confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson, a particle which mediates the Higgs field that gives other particles mass. Now physicists are proposing theories beyond the Standard Model which introduce additional Higgs states, with one of them (A0), having a lower mass than the […]
Zeerek Ahmad
Current robotic designs have limited movement because they involve rigid bodies and links that are connected through restrictive joints. Conventional actuation of these joints is usually achieved through motor and hydraulic control. In contrast, many macroscopic biological systems have evolved to produce locomotion through the actuation of tensile links to control their rigid counterparts. This allows for lighter and better dynamic systems that are capable of safer and more efficient motion. These biological systems can be modeled with a principle known as tensegrity, a combination of tension and integrity. A […]
Apurva Govande
A virus can have two distinct life cycles: lytic, which produces new virus, and latent, in which the virus remains silently integrated into the DNA of the host. The ultimate goal of a latent virus like Kaposis sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is to get its viral genes integrated into the host genome, and eventually produce viral proteins in order to generate more virus. These viral proteins interact with the host cell organelles and proteins in order to hijack host machinery for viral use. A KSHV viral protein, ORF68, interacts with and […]
Amit Akula
Using acquisition data from Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DT-MRI), an MRI variant that can map the diffusion of water, medical researchers have been able to image neural bundles in the brain, known as white matter tracts. Fiber tractography has been used extensively for clinical diagnosis of many neurological disorders and is used by neurosurgeons for surgical planning. Dipy, an open source project, provides a rich suite of fiber tracking algorithms accessible to any medical center in the world. Computing the fiber tracks using its probabilistic models, however, are computationally […]
Nicole Greene
By understanding how physiology, behavior and the environment all contribute to animal multifunctionality, we can better understand animal motion and translate these discoveries into new technologies in the fields of robotics, prosthetics and rehabilitation. Ghost crab (ocypode quadrata) burrowing is particularly valuable for understanding multifunctional appendage design. To access burrowing data (like forces produced by the crabs legs, the effect of the crabs motion and the importance of the crabs anatomical features) and systematically vary them, I am constructing a robotic model based on actual ghost crab appendages. Robotic models […]
Lucas Brenes
Regeneration is an organisms ability to regrow and compensate for damage to specific cell lineages, and the extent to which it can occur varies greatly among species. My research focuses on the germline, which is the cell lineage entrusted with producing and maintaining gametes that contribute to the creation of offspring. The ability to regenerate the germline is predominately observed in species that can undergo total body plan regeneration such as flatworms and sponges. Parhyale hawaiensis however, is an amphipod crustacean that has been shown to regenerate its germline post-hatching […]
Sandon Griffin
Understanding the neurophysiology of sensation in mammals has been a major topic of research for over a century. My project aims to shed light on the neural circuitry underlying the sensory perception of body position, known as proprioception, by investigating its role in object localization. Our ability to proprioceive is mostly subconscious and facilitates several skills including typing on a keyboard without looking. As with other senses, specific sensory receptors that mediate proprioception, termed proprioceptors, have been identified. Research using whisking behavior in rats and mice as a model has […]
Ellison Chen
Injuries to the ACL are very common in the young and active population, and this can often lead to posttraumatic osteoarthritis (OA), sometimes as early as in their third decade of life. Like idiopathic OA seen in older individuals, posttraumatic OA causes pain, impaired function, and overall decreased quality of life, but occurs at a much younger age after injury. ACL injuries are commonly treated with surgical reconstruction of the ligament, replacing the torn ACL with a graft. However, surgical reconstruction does not perfectly correct for tibiofemoral joint kinematics. Moreover, […]
Aryan Haratian
Four serotypes of the dengue virus (DENV1-4) circulate globally, causing more human illness than any other mosquito-borne virus. DENV infections can be both asymptomatic and symptomatic, resulting in dengue fever or the more severe and life-threatening forms of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic shock/dengue shock syndrome. DENV infections confer life-long immunity against re-infection with the same serotype; however, they may either protect against or enhance a subsequent infection with a different serotype. An important step in assessing this topic is the determination of the amount of anti-DENV antibodies produced by the […]