Journal of Undergraduate Research

Benjamin Van Leeuwen and Dr. Allen Buskirk, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Dr. Buskirk discontinued my previous project on discovering novel ribosomal stalling sequences shortly after the start of the semester because of its lack of relevance to more current ribosomal research trends. While there are still an unknown number of stalling sequences that have […]

Joseph Mosley and Dr. Jaron Hansen, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry The effects of water vapor on the kinetics and product branching ratio of the reaction of organic peroxy radicals (RO2) with nitrous oxide are under investigation. Hyrdrocarbon combustion produces organic peroxy radicals which then react with NO to form NO2 or organic nitrates (RONO2). […]

Matthew McDowell and Dr. Allen Buskirk, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Abstract Ribosomes are large complexes made up of ribosomal RNA and proteins and are the site of protein synthesis. However, ribosomes occasionally run into problems during this process and will stall during translation. Fortunately, two molecules known as tmRNA and SmpB are made by […]

Jacob Hedelius and Dr. David Dearden, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Mathematical modeling is both common and increasingly expected in scientific research, to both predict and to explain results. Models are used in many disciplines, from describing cellular process in biology, weather patterns in planetary science, to galaxies in physics. As part of my studies […]

Joshua Browning and Dr. Allen Buskirk, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry The TAT two hybrid system for discovering novel stalling peptides met with some immediate challenges that ultimately resulted in the abandonment of this project. The feasibility for using this method to discover new peptide sequences that would cause the stalling of translation within an elongating ribosome became […]

Andrew Broadbent and Dr. Daniel Simmons, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry The laboratory of Dr. Daniel L. Simmons, my mentor, studies the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme. Dr. Simmons is one of the world’s foremost authorities on COX, he having discovered one of its two known types, COX-2. The COX enzyme, which exists in many organisms, including humans, is responsible […]

Neil Anderson and Dr. Adam Woolley, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Biomarkers have a tremendous capacity for use in screening for various diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and bacterial infections. Existing immunoassay methods can detect a broad spectrum of biomarkers. However, they are costly to perform for small numbers of samples and require bulky, expensive instrumentation, making these methods unfit […]

Curtis Allred and Dr. Merritt Andrus, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry My project has been to synthesize smaller, simpler analogs of a molecule that is effective against renal cancer, called englerin-A. This is accomplished by computer aided modeling of simple analogs, synthesis of those models, and assays to determine activity. I am participating in this project in Dr. […]