Leonardo Lahijani
The visual cortex is composed of several brain areas that are considered to give rise to different aspects of visual perception, and it is thought that these areas work in conjunction to give rise to the experiential percept of vision. In this project, I will aid in investigating the neurological circuitry in primary and higher visual areas in the mouse visual cortex while they are presented with visual stimuli. I will be conducting research on past experiments regarding feed-forward and feedback circuits in the mouse brain, which govern the processing […]
Alec Ethell
Mammalian cells typically possess two homologous copies of each gene: one paternal and one maternal. Most developmentally regulated genes express both copies, but monoallelic (single copy) gene expression is a pervasive phenomenon. Some mitotically stable examples of this pattern have been described in autosomal genes and are often referred to as random monoallelic expression (RME). However, the molecular mechanisms of RME have been difficult to study in most in vivo contexts–due to limitations in tissue heterogeneity–and remain poorly understood. Natural killer (NK) cell receptor genes are expressed in an RME […]
Aaron Solorio
I intend to produce a comparative study between first-generation, low-income, Latino and African-American males attending continuation high schools and those attending traditional high schools. I will conduct twenty qualitative interviews consisting of ten participants who have attended continuation high school and ten participants who have attended traditional high school- all of whom have attended their respective school within the last ten years. Although there is literature on the school environment and the challenges that students face, I aim to explore the factors that lead students to either continue into higher […]
Noah Cryns
Adolescence is a time of increased risk taking, novelty seeking, and exploration. These behaviors may have an adaptive function to facilitate dispersal from the natal nest but may also have relevance to addiction and morbidity in adolescence. Dopamine(DA) in the striatum is a likely candidate mediating such behavioral changes. However, studies investigating dopamine systems have often focused on adult mice and consummatory behavior. My goal is to design a study to better isolate the role of dopamine in adolescent dispersal behavior. To do this I will study exploratory locomotion in […]
Fernando Trent Diaz
The development of seeds and seedlings represent perhaps the most critical stage of a plants life. Within and on seeds live a multitude of bacteria and microfungi that can either deteriorate (pathogens) or improve (mutualists) seedling health. Seed microbes can be transmitted from both the surrounding environment (horizontal transmission) as well as from their mother plant (vertical transmission). This maternal inheritance gives seed microbes priority in the colonization of plant tissue once germination occurs. This can significantly affect the trajectory for future adult plant microbiome composition and plant health. The […]
Daniel Khuu
Sierra Nevada snowmelt is predicted to occur up to two months earlier by 2080, but we do not know how aquatic food webs will respond. Changes in snowmelt timing could decrease stream insect abundance and biodiversity via increased temperature and duration of low flows. This project seeks to understand how extended low flows alter stream food webs. My graduate student mentor collected samples from nine artificial streams that had different durations of low flow this past summer. I will help sort and identify these samples, which will ultimately result in […]
Amaris Blasgen Morningstar
The world we live in today is shaped by globalism. There is more exchange of ideas, artwork, and technology than ever before. We travel, inspire each other and use symbolism to transcend language and cultural barriers. However, is this really a new phenomena? Archaeological research constantly uncovers more evidence that humanity has been doing this for millennia. The Eastern Mediterranean Basin had an extensive network for the movement of goods, people and ideas between the civilizations of the Near East since before the Bronze Age. My research investigates the affect […]
Anthony Chen
Numerical linear algebra underlies much of the modern world. It is essential to a wide variety situations, and as such, it is of great interest to analyze and optimize the underlying algorithms. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in optimizing algorithms to reduce communication, which is frequently many orders of magnitude slower than performing calculations. The Hlder-Brascamp-Lieb inequality and the Red-Blue Pebbling Game are two powerful approaches to theoretical analysis of communication, and both are used to derive communication optimal lower bounds. Once these bounds have been […]
Meire Mehare
Arsenic is a toxic carcinogen causing multiple forms of cancer and low IQ in children. In California, about 55,000 people are exposed to high levels of arsenic via their community water systems. As current technologies are too costly or complex to implement, the Gadgil lab is developing an affordable and effective technology, called Air Cathode Assisted Iron Electrocoagulation (ACAIE) at community scale. In this project, to test ACAIE outside of the lab, my graduate student mentor and I are working with an elementary school in Central California that is currently […]
Irene Liang
A provisional list of beach flies from Hawaii has been collected over this past summer. Improvement upon the phylogeny across Canacidae can be used as a hypothesis-testing framework on how flies have adapted to multiple ecological niches from saline environments to freshwater ecosystems. While many of these flies are found around the world, one lineage in the Hawaiian Islands has lost the ability to tolerate saline habitats and currently occupies high elevation freshwater streams. Organizing collection information, examining DNA sequences, and developing identification keys to this important group will bring […]