Grayce Yang

Autophagy is a crucial cellular mechanism that maintains homeostasis by forming an organelle known as an autophagosome. This double-membraned structure, originating from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), encapsulates and degrades cellular components, facilitating cellular survival under stress conditions such as organelle dysfunction and protein aggregation. Impairments in this process are associated with neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.This project aims to explore the role of the ATG13/101 subcomplex in initiating autophagy, with a particular focus on its membrane-binding function, which is critical for autophagosome formation.Through detailed analysis, we seek to understand […]

Megan Yao

As the world is awash with a global wave of women’s rights crises, it has become more crucial than ever for us modern-day feminists to retrospect upon our predecessors’ endeavors, among whom are the First Wave Feminists. When studying the First Wave, textual materials are the most integral of any intellectual discussions. However, current research is largely limited to the individual literary works, while the feminist journals – the main medium through which the most active feminists collectively worded their activism – is profusely under-studied. My project seeks to answer […]

Kevin Yao

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is one of the most common diseases among American adults. As one of the essential organs to maintain life, deprived renal functions lead to disruptions of homeostasis and fatal failures of the body. The prevalence of CKD is associated closely with the lack of renal regeneration capacity in the adult human body. However, recent study has shown that this inability of regeneration is not innate but an acquired process in mammals like humans. Many newborn mammals are reported to have full renal regeneration capacity while such […]

Roger Yu

Secular chaos has been identified as a factor destabilizing celestial bodies such as Mercury, and the creation of hot Jupiters in extrasolar systems. “Secular” refers to the orbit-averaged motion of a planet – we study the motions of bodies not as point masses, but as interactions between massive elliptical wires. Secular theory dates back to the 18th century, but only in the modern era has it been realized that it can lead to chaos. This project aims to investigate secular chaos within an N-body planetary system. While 2-planet systems have […]

Urmila Vudali

With over 39 million people living with HIV, it is one of the world’s foremost health challenges. While Antiretroviral Therapy has reduced HIV-related mortalities by suppressing viral replication, it fails to eradicate the virus, leaving a latent viral reservoir. Thus, identifying a marker of latently infected cells is the focus of many researchers. CD30, a transmembrane protein, is primarily found in tumor cells, such as Hodgkin and other lymphomas. It is found on a small percentage of healthy lymphocytes. However, the Henrich Lab has found enhanced CD30 in HIV infected […]

Yijin Wang

This project aims to enhance the performance of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) in simulating fluid dynamics, specifically addressing the challenge of spectral bias which can skew simulation accuracy. Our approach involves developing adaptive training strategies that empower PINNs to more precisely model a diverse range of fluid behaviors, from steady, predictable patterns to dynamic, turbulent flows. By integrating principles from the neural tangent kernel theory, we are meticulously fine-tuning the training processes of these networks. This involves recalibrating how PINNs learn from data, focusing on a balanced assimilation of both […]

Reyansh Sathishkumar

A major goal of neuroscience is understanding how the anatomical structures of the brain support and affect function, and how these structures have evolved over time and influence cognition. The cerebral cortex is organized into complex folding patterns of sulci (grooves) and gyri (ridges), which can pinpoint functional areas. For many years, researchers have been manually labelling sulci and gyri. However, as more evolutionarily new and variable sulci are defined, there are higher chances of inconsistencies in labelling criteria and labels between labs. Manual labelling of sulci is also tedious […]

Ailani Sato-Lim

Buddhism has occupied the popular imagination in American society since the late 1800s. Yet in the crossover to the West, the discourse on Buddhist thought has been molded to suit modern US audiences, manifesting in a depiction of Buddhism as scientific, rational, and atheistic. Further, many metaphors from Christianity, Western science, and Romanticism were imposed onto English-language interpretations of Buddhist works. My project will use cognitive linguistics to examine the interaction of conceptual metaphors between Buddhist and Western discourse that occurred in the assimilation of Buddhism in the US. How […]

Claire Sawyer

Why do communities use traditional medicine? My research will investigate whether high rates of Traditional Medicine (TM) in Oceania, specifically Fiji, are due to lack of trust in modern healthcare or lack of education. Colonial and imperial histories have long contributed to hesitancy to receive healthcare, which I hypothesize catalyzes communities to shift to traditional healthcare as a reactionary measure. The study includes field research in Suva, Fiji, a postcolonial nation, where I’ll survey patients at a variety of STI Clinics and analyze their responses in order to provide a […]

Merut Shankar

1 in 36 children are born with autism (ASD), characterized by challenges in social communication, mental cognition, and behavioral aspects. ASD is recognized to have a neurodevelopmental cause, making it crucial to study during early fetal brain development. Early ASD development remains misunderstood due to lack of a standard model. A critical transient region of early brain development is the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE), which produces most cortical interneurons (INs) that refine circuitry. My research aims to develop MGE organoids modeling in-vivo IN development of ASD, with the goal of […]