Epigenetic Cost Matrix

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Spring Cullen and Mentor: Dr. Mark Clement, Computer Science: Bioinformatics Project Purpose Epigenetics is of vital importance, comparable to genetics, in predicting the outcome of illnesses. Bisulfite sequencing (BS) provides short DNA fragments that must be mapped in order to discover epigenetic markers. The purpose of this project is to find an optimal cost matrix […]

Role of Reactive Oxygen Species on Chronic Methamphetamine- Induced Dopamine Transmission in the Nucleus Accumbens

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Devin Bradshaw and Scott Steffensen, Psychology Introduction Methamphetamine is a highly addictive substance with many negative effects on the user. These effects include detriments to physical health such as “…extreme weight loss, severe dental problems (“meth mouth”), and skin sores caused by scratching. Methamphetamine use also raises the risk of contracting infectious diseases like HIV […]

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Accelerated Telomere Shortening

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Rebecca Winner and Dr. Brent Nielsen, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology Telomeres are protective deoxyribonucleic acid caps on the ends of chromosomes which help prevent the chromosome itself from shortening during replication. As a person ages, normal telomere shortening occurs due to chromosome replication. However, accelerated telomere shortening is abnormal and has been linked […]

Packet inspection and modification for mobile devices: TrustBase

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Scott Heidbrink and Faculty Mentor: Daniel Zappala, Computer Science Introduction While there is a long tradition of providing protection against attackers for desktop and laptop devices, there has been less work in the mobile space. A common tool used by antivirus software is to inspect all packets entering or leaving a computer, to check for […]

Optimization of the Memory Protocol and Investigation of cAMP Levels in Axenic and Conventional Flies

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Toree Lammel and John Chaston, Plant and Wildlife Sciences Going into this project, it was my intention of complete two separate goals: first, to optimize a learning assay for testing memory and learning in Drosophila melanogaster for future use in the Plant and Wildlife Department laboratory at Brigham Young University, and second, to investigate cyclic […]

Effects of Host Microbiota on Intestinal Fiber Content

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Kyle Olsen and John Chaston, Plant and Wildlife Sciences Introduction As a pseudo-ruminant, the alpaca is highly dependent on the bacteria in its intestinal tract to obtain the nutrients it needs. For example the starch-fermenting bacteria in the compartment 1 (C1) access nutrients from the normally indigestible starches the alpaca consumes. The bacteria release volatile […]

Petrologic Comparison of the Beaver Dam and Mineral Mountains Metamorphic Complexes

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By Scott Zylstra and Jake Voorhees; Dr. Ron Harris, Mentor, Department of Geological Sciences Introduction Utah’s rocks, though incredibly complete in later eons, hold very little information about what was occurring in that area before 700 million years ago. In Southern Utah, only two relatively small exposures of these ancient Precambrian exist, in the west […]

Expanding the Freshwater Aquatic Invertebrate Identification Guide CD

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Sarah Brown and C. Riley Nelson, Department of Biology Introduction The Freshwater Aquatic invertebrate Identification Guide (FAIIG) was a computer program created by the C. Riley Nelson lab in 2006 to help students with the identification process of various aquatic invertebrates throughout Utah. It has been used in Bio 100 classes at Brigham Young University […]

Assembling Benchmark Datasets for Machine Learning Classification

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Parker Hollingsworth and Stephen Piccolo, Biology Introduction Machine learning classification is a type of artificial intelligence that learns from data and makes predictions. There are many different algorithms that can be used to develop predictive models for machine learning. Generally the algorithm looks for patterns in the data and uses those patterns to make predictions […]

Effect of Methamphetamine on Basal and Phasic Dopamine Release in the Striatum

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Krisana Finlay and Scott Steffensen, Psychology Department Introduction The purpose of this experiment was to determine the action mechanism of the psychostimulant methamphetamine (METH) on basal and phasic dopamine (DA) release in the nucleus accumbens. We investigated METH and its method of action. This was done to better understand the detailed mechanism behind METH and […]