URSA Scholars Week Spotlight
Last week URSA Scholars week took place, an opportunity for undergraduate researchers to show case their work. Several AED members participated and we wanted to highlight their work and accomplishments in their research.
Trent Rothell
New Member Educator
Major: Business Fellows
Junior
Trent presented a poster about his current project with the Greathouse Lab. His research revolved around the expression of inflammatory genes in colonic epithelial cells in the context of colorectal cancer, the microbiome in our gut, and our diet. Trent explained that “the bacteria in our gut breaks down tryptophan into molecules which are tryptophan metabolites. The metabolites can act as signaling molecules to the cells in our gut lining (our gut epithelium) and we believe that these metabolites may cause inflammation and decrease the cell to cell junctions in our epithelium which can lead to colorectal cancer (CRC). There are 17 different indole metabolites, and in healthy people they can have beneficial effects. However CRC patients have a dysbiosis in their gut in regards to their microbiome. They have more of a certain bacteria that is associated with CRC.” They believe that this specific bacteria may contribute to CRC by producing certain types of indole metabolites that are harmful, this was their hypothesis they were testing. They tested 2 metabolites in particular and tried to characterize their effects. “We think unique indole metabolite species may have different effects on the gut, and the ones produced by this "bad bacteria" may have negative effects on the gut. We looked to see if the genes TLR4 and and IL8 (both of which are associated with inflammation) are upregulated in colon cancer cells after they are treated with the indole metabolites Indole-3-aldehyde (I3A) and Indole-3-carboxylic acid (I3CA). We also looked at genes for E-cadherin which is involved in cell-cell junctions. We found that I3A has protective effects on the gut because it decreases the expression of TLR4 and IL8 and increases the expression of E-cadherin. We found I3CA to be pro-inflammatory but also increase E-cadherin, so it partly can be pro-carcinogenic but also is protective in that it decreased gut permeability. This is important because we are looking at how diet affects the development of colorectal cancer. Specifically, we are attempting to characterize the mechanism by which the microbiome may communicate pro-carcinogenic or anti-carcinogenic signals in your gut. And if we see that these signals are bad for you, then we can alter the diet of cancer patients by telling them to stay away from tryptophan.”
Trent loves the way research is very collaborative, and you can constantly learn from the work done by your peers. If you are wanting to get involved in research Trent’s advice is to be proactive. When you start, you might have to do some boring work, but the more proactive you are with coming up with ideas and doing your own background research on your topic, the more you will get out of the process, this will help you become more independent in your lab and explore your own questions.
Giulia Ishi
General Member
Sophomore
Major: Health Science Studies, Biology minor
Despite different communities’ efforts to take action regarding making people aware of climate change, various communities believe that climate change either impacts them or does not. Giulia’s role in this research project was to take data from a survey in which people classified whether they believe climate change impacted them personally; either not at all or a lot. Additionally, Giulia and her team wanted to see if self-perception of climate change related to the prevalence/rate of cardiorespiratory illnesses such as lung cancer, COPD, etc. Findings from these two data sets were then overlaid and analyzed. it was observed that counties that had more awareness of climate change and a lower disease rate would be the most resilient.
This research was conducted under Dr. McManamay within the department of environmental science. Giulia says one of the harder parts about her project was data management towards the beginning being time consuming but says, “seeing the visual representation and results was very satisfying.” To further pursue this project, Giulia wants to have another data set that takes into account salary income and all these other factors. Additionally, she would like to overlay health and climate data with other sets of data to see any other potential trends.
Jacque Matthews
General Member
Junior
Major: Science Research FelJacque Matthew worked in Dr. Trakselis' DNA replication and repair lab, and the research focuses on helicases in the prokaryotic replisome. Jacque’s task specifically was completing spotting assays to further identify if exogenous DNA damage tolerance and cell survival is dependent on RecA mediated repair pathways. This project determined that exogenous DNA damage had neutral to negative impacts on cell survival. It also suggested that DNA damage tolerance is dependent on RecA filamentation to single-stranded DNA. Jacque hopes to continue studying specific RecA mediated repair pathways in order to bridge the gaps that exist in the understanding of the interactions between single stranded DNA.
Jacque says her favorite part about research is the extensive collaboration between PIs, graduate students, and even undergraduate students, all of which are dedicated to a common goal. Jacque’s advice for anyone going into research would be to learn to communicate and not be afraid to ask questions. Research is a frustrating endeavor as a lack of results is not always attributed to a lack of skill, so be patient and lean on the supportive community around you.
We are so proud of all of our members that participated! Congratulations!
Michelle and Kirti