Lochan Shah
The protein Cbl is a key component of receptor tyrosine kinase transduction, acting both as an E3 ligase and as an adaptor in the ubiquitination pathway. In fact, overexpression of Cbl has been found to inhibit tumor growth; therefore, understanding Cbls specificity will be key to the development of relevant therapeutic drugs. Interestingly, Cbl is known to ubiquitylate over one dozen targets, and its specificity for tyrosine kinases is achieved by its unique activation mechanism. Recent work has found that Cbl recognizes multiple lysine residues from the same substrate and […]
Ila Shimabuku
In Situ Chemical Oxidation – A Close Look at Peroxide and Persulfate Benzene is an organic compound that causes birth defects, cancer, a decrease in red blood cells and many other health impediments upon inhalation. Benzene is just one of many toxic chemicals flowing through our groundwater. Pumping out contaminated water to treat harmful chemicals is ineffective because it is too inefficient and slow, which is why in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) is necessary. ISCO degrades harmful compounds in the soil, removing both the cost of pumping and injecting groundwater […]
Billal Ahmed
Natural Killer (NK) cells are an important part of the Innate Immune System, surveying the body to recognize and eliminate cells determined to be abnormal. NK Cells can be activated through ligands that bind to excitatory receptors on the cell. The most well-studied excitatory ligands have been the NKG2D family of ligands, which bind to NKG2D receptors on NK Cells. Im using MCMV, Mouse Cytomegalovirus, as a model to study NKG2D ligand regulation in cells infected by viruses. M18, a protein in MCMV, by itself is necessary and sufficient for […]
Eliel Anttila
A worldwide abundance of glacially deposited sediments in early Neoproterozoic strata suggests the onset of a great global cooling event that began approximately 720 million years ago. Sometimes referred to as the Snowball Earth Hypothesis, this period of massive climactic change resulted in the propagation of glaciers at very low latitudes, and potentially covered the entire surface of the planet with ice. Determining the geographical, climatological, and biological changes that happened prior to the onset of this event can allow us to better understand the processes that led to such […]
Travis Bartley
According to the 20th century theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, the distinguishing feature of the novel lies in its ability to incorporate multiple dialects and forms of language into itself and better mirror the diversity of language that naturally occurs in reality. In his argument for this theory, Bakhtin relies on a cultural analysis of the genres development and ignores the impact of technological innovation in media that may have crucially affected the development of the genre. My project seeks to analyze Bakhtins theory in relation to similar studies that incorporate the […]
Rosella Bearden
In Spring of 2011, prisoners inside Pelican Bay State Prison contacted prisoner-rights and anti-prison activist organizations announcing prisoners would be beginning a rolling hunger strike and that they needed support making sure their voices and demands were heard and acted on outside prison walls. The Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition (PHSS)- originating in the Bay Area and made up of grassroots organizations, family members, formerly incarcerated people, lawyers, and individuals- to amplify the voices of CA prisoners on hunger strike was formed. Though the hunger strike has ended, the demands […]
Marina Blum
Measles was once a nearly ubiquitous childhood plague, a rite of passage with sometimes deadly outcomes. However, the disease has all but disappeared in the vaccination era – few people cross paths with the measles, few know anyone who has been infected. The veritable erasure of the disease from public life stems from widespread use of the measles vaccine, whose success effectively revolutionized societys relationship with measles from one of grudging resignation, to a near ignorance. It is the nature and details of this change in perception that I will […]
Zhengzheng Hu
The Game of Chomp (also called Northeast) is a two-player game on a rectangular chocolate bar consisting of m-by-n squares. Players take turns eating chocolate squares on the board. If a player eats a square, they must eat all squares lying above (north) and to the right (east) of that piece. Whichever player eats the lowest left corner chocolate square (poisoned) loses (Gale). For my project, I am trying to apply Sprague-Grundy value from Game Theory and Young diagrams from Algebra to characterize winning strategies for Chomp or provide evidence […]
Kathryn Boden
Over the past two decades Tibetan Buddhism and modern Science have been seriously engaging each other in topics of consciousness, origins, and happiness. The excitement of the possible convergence between science and spirituality in a conversation that has been historically polarized between secular and religious values has overshadowed investigative research that aims to understand the quality and impact of the interaction. To start this process, I will look at the lasting effects of two programs; Science For Monks (SFM) and the Emory Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI) on Tibetan Buddhist communities […]
Denny Cha
Ubiquitin is a protein that serves as a molecular tag for either degradation of its targets by the 26S proteasomes or for a wide variety of other functions such as DNA repair, transcription, endocytosis, membrane transport, or protein localization in a proteasome independent manner by covalently attaching to its target proteins. Deubiquitinases (DUBs) are proteins that mediate ubiquitin removal and processing to play regulatory roles in multiple cellular processes. The deubiquitinase (DUB) Usp44 is a critical regulator of cell division that acts as a tumor suppressor by preventing premature anaphase […]