Michael Reeves

Human Cytomegalovirus Virus (HCMV) may go unnoticed in people with healthy immune systems; however, this opportunistic pathogen can be life threatening to immunodeficient individuals including AIDS patients, newborns, and transplant patients. Nucleic acid molecules such as ribozymes are promising gene – interfering agents. This enzymatic RNA accomplishes gene-interference by targeting and cleaving a specific region of mRNA e.g., viral mRNA. In my research I will take advantage of the ability of Salmonella bacteria to enter human cells and transfer genetic material to host cells, leading to efficient expression of the […]

Jenkang Tao

Drugs of addiction use and “hijack” the neuronal systems normally used in reward learning, which makes finding a treatment specific for addiction highly problematic. Several biological markers of addiction have been identified and are potential treatment targets, but their relationship and role in addictive behavior remains unknown. One such marker is the cocaine and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptide that has been found to be upregulated in select groups of neurons in the brain following systemic injections of cocaine in animals. Although previous studies have characterized the CART peptide as a […]

Minyu Feng

Dark photon is a hypothesized gauge boson which behaves like a standard photon. It is called dark because it interacts very weakly with normal particles like electrons and protons, but instead interacts more strongly with dark matter. This makes dark photons escape previous detections easily. However, some unexpected radiation from the center of our galaxy implies the existence of dark photon. Therefore, we plan to produce dark photon by annihilation of a pair of particle and anti-particle with enough center-of-mass energy. We can look at the decay products of the […]

Io Kleiser

Several newly discovered supernovae, or stellar explosions, are unusually faint and fast-evolving and defy our usual classification schemes. Their light curves (brightness over time) in particular show how quickly they rise to maximum brightness and then decline. They are also unlike any previously known supernovaeand unlike each otherin their electromagnetic spectra. Several attempts have been made to identify the properties of these supernovae and their progenitor stars based on their spectra and light curves, such as the energy of the explosion, the amount of mass ejected, and the elemental composition; […]

Alex Yang Lu

My research this summer focuses on battling Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), the most common and malignant type of brain tumor. Despite invasive surgical resection and pharmaceutical therapy, patients with GBM have a mean survival time of 12-15 months following diagnosis, making GBM among the most aggressive of human cancers. Tumors growth is dependent upon vascularization through the formation of new capillaries from pre-existing blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis. Numerous cytokines and growth factors have been shown to regulate angiogenesis while modulating cell invasion, growth and differentiation; however, these mechanisms remain […]

Nicole Wong Meng Lai

My research project involves investigating a cytoskeletal protein named WHAMM- WASP homolog associated with actin, membranes, and microtubules. The cytoskeleton is a crucial component of the cell that facilitates protein transportation, structural support, and ultimately the movement and division of cells. It does so through actin polymerization, which is the formation of filaments using actin molecules. An important stimulator of actin polymerization is the Arp 2/3 complex. It is regulated by nucleation-promoting factors, one such example being WHAMM. My project focuses primarily on the WMD domain of WHAMM, which is […]

Alyssa Tao

The immune system is the bodys way of responding to invading disease-causing microbes and mutation-induced tumor cells, which have the potential to become cancer. Thus, the immune response protects against both infectious disease and cancer, and its regulation and activation are extremely important for maintaining health. T-cells play a central role in the immune response both in recognition and in downstream pathways that lead to microbe or tumor destruction. A protein that is essential in the signaling cascade of the T-cell is ZAP-70 (Zeta-chain-associated protein kinase 70). I will be […]

Adam Krause

Recent evidence suggests that sleep and sleep loss have profound effects on emotional brain reactivity, especially for positive emotional experiences. As a consequence, sleep disruption may lead to detrimental risk taking and reward seeking. However, it remains unclear exactly what type of sleep helps reset the brains ability to appropriately react to rewarding experiences. I propose to test the hypothesis that a specific type of sleeprapid-eye movement (REM) sleep, and its associated electrical brain activityrestores the optimal next-day reactivity to rewarding, motivating experiences. I will therefore investigate whether the quantity […]

Eric Lu

Many eye diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and macular edema, are caused by the abnormal development of retinal vasculature. My project aims to better understand the signaling network that regulates this process by examining the function of two key molecules: Very LowDensity Lipoprotein Receptor (VLDLR) and Low Density Lipoprotein Related Protein 5 (LRP5). Previous studies have demonstrated that VLDLR promotes vessel growth while LRP5 inhibits it. Additional studies done by the Gong lab suggest that LRP5 plays a more dominant role in this process. In order to […]

Alina Boltunova

Emmetropization is a normal developmental process in which the eyes growth is regulated to achieve a match between eye length and its refractive power. It results in the reduction of refractive errors present at birth and has been observed in all animal species, including humans, studied thus far. The guinea pig is increasingly used to model myopia (near-sightedness), but there appear to be differences between guinea pig strains in their susceptibility to myopia-inducing stimuli. To understand the origin of these differences, I plan to compare the emmetropization of different strains […]