Neha Simha
The precise connections between gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) in the fruit fly brain is not understood. My research seeks to better understand the connection between GRNs identified as water-sensing and GRNs identified as sugar-sensing. The relationship can be characterized on a behavioral basis with optogenetic activation or knockout experiments measuring the frequency of response to water and sugar stimuli. It can also be visualized by imaging fluorescently labeled dissected brains. This summer, I hope to continue collecting data with these approaches and explore other ways to fully understand the connection […]
Anoop Bains
In light of COVID-19, the unhoused community has been rocked but this situation has also presented the unique opportunity to assess how pandemics affect the community. This summer research project will be specifically assessing the needs of unhoused youth in reaction to the difficulties COVID-19 has led to (loss of jobs, closing of resource centers, lack of support for the homeless, etc). I will be working on dissemination of a report regarding computer provider needs compiled during the spring, then putting together a crowd-sourcing survey to assess how unhoused youth […]
Lila Englander
This research project will investigate the economic, environmental, and policy trade-offs associated with the deployment of low-carbon resources in the electricity sector. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can result in significant reductions of other “co-pollutants” (e.g., particulate matter pollution). In recent years, the health benefits associated with reductions in co-pollutants (co-benefits) have accounted for a remarkably large share of estimated benefits from climate change policies- and other major environmental regulations. This research project investigates the “co-benefits” of this deployment.
Ashish Ramesh
Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a post-transcriptional regulatory pathway that degrades transcripts containing premature termination codons. The pathway plays an important role in eukaryotic gene regulation, with hundreds to thousands of transcript targets across diverse species, including important regulators of developmental and stress response pathways. Over the past year, I have worked under the supervision of postdoctoral researcher Zhiqiang Hu to develop methods for using genomic data, including RNA-sequencing data previously collected by the lab and publicly-available sequencing data from ENCODE, in order to identify novel regulatory proteins involved in […]
Alice Mo
Current methods of disease detection and diagnostics offer certain features, such as point-of-care and high sensitivity. However, they are often expensive, not customizable, or inconvenient. The premise of the project is that we can create highly sensitive customizable microfluidic sensor arrays for mass production, by identifying electrochemical signal variation based on the fluid’s composition. With microfabrication technologies and theoretical models, we can produce a device to effectively detect multiple and specific biomarkers for monitoring health.
Maya Malaviya
Our motor system has an impressive ability to adapt to changes in our environment, even without the involvement of our awareness. For example, we can step from a slippery floor onto a carpet and adjust the way we walk, all without conscious planning. Recent results indicate that people adapt to a different degree when they re-experience a previously encountered environmental change. In my project, I plan to study factors that might affect these motor adjustments. Specifically, during a remote behavioral study, I will vary the amount of participants’ initial experience […]
Alice Wang
This summer I will be researching the effects of using kilohertz transcranial magnetic perturbation (kTMP) to stimulate the brain at sub threshold firing rates. My mentor and I intend to analyze kTMP’s effects on cortical excitability and motor output. Our ultimate goal is to see if kTMP induces changes that can prime or inhibit brain activity.
Paula Nordstrom Miranda
The VOICE Project stands for “Voting for Our Health, Interests, and Communities Everywhere.” While running a voter registration and information booth alongside MLK Jr. Freedom Youth Center volunteers, we collect quantitive data from families in the waiting rooms of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Primary Care pediatric clinic and teen clinic to survey who we are reaching and engaging. We also recruit youth aged 16-24 for interviews about voting, civic engagement, barriers youth face, and how health relates to voting. This summer, I will be assisting in transcribing interviews, coding interviews, […]
Ellen Thompson
For the past 2 semesters, I have been working with observations of accreting compact objects (such as binary systems containing a speculated black hole) made by the NuSTAR X-ray telescope. My work focuses on stray light, the result of photons bypassing the instrument’s optics and landing directly on the detector array. I have written a python program that takes in observation event files and outputs region files highlighting areas that contain stray light. This summer, I will be refining this program as well as applying it to the process of […]
Sarah Bakir
This summer, I will be assisting Dr. Haar on one of her projects that analyzes the impacts of violence against healthcare in Syria. I will be recruiting participants, assisting in conducting key informant interviews and focus groups discussions, and analyzing qualitative data.