Subsequent Primary Malignancies in Survivors of Childhood Cancer

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Emily Matson and Dr. Ray Merrill, Department of Health Science INTRODUCTION Although cancer is often considered a disease of old age, it kills more children ages 1 to 14 years in the United States than any other cause, except unintentional injuries [1]. Through advances in diagnosing and treating cancer, child survival of cancer has improved […]

Protein Signaling Effects on Embryonic Limb Formation

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Derrick Crawford and Dr. Jeffery Barrow, Developmental Biology Introduction: Congenital limb malformations occur in approximately 1 in 500 live births. These defects are due largely because of genetic and developmental causes. In my experiments, I have researched the source of these defects to understand how cell to cell signaling affects digit and limb formation. I […]

Determining Gene Expression Levels in Healthy and Degraded Alpaca Spinal Discs

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Loyd Christensen and Dr. Laura C. Bridgewater, Micro and Molecular Biology Introduction Intervertebral Disc Degeneration (IDD) is a disease estimated to affect between 60 and 90 percent of the total population at some point in life. Evidence of spinal disc degeneration has been shown in 30 percent of individuals under 40 years old, with earliest […]

Consequences of Browsing on Quaking Aspen’s Ability to Cope with Drought

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Ivy Chatwin and Dr. Sam St. Clair, Plant and Wildlife Sciences Introduction Quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides, is a keystone species in forest ecosystems and is the most widely distributed tree in North America (St. Clair, Guyon, and Donaldson, 2010). Although it covers less than 10% of the forested landscape, aspen contributes disproportionately to water yield […]

Using Agricultural Byproducts in the Effort to Restore Haiti’s Forests: Composted Sugarcane Bagasse as a Soil Amendment in Haitian Silviculture

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David Alexander Carroll II and Dr. Bryan Hopkins, Plant and Wildlife Sciences In Haiti, widespread deforestation in mountainous and hilly areas has led to a diverse array of environmental problems, including biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation, sedimentation of rivers, severe soil erosion and lower water content in mountain soils, flooding in coastal areas, bleaching and death […]

Soil Resources of the Maya at Uci and Ucanha, Yucatan, Mexico

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Tayte Campbell and Dr. Richard Terry, Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences Introduction The ancient Maya were one of the largest civilizations in Mesoamerica and were spread over a large geographic area. A large population of ancient Maya lived in the northern lowlands in an area now known as the Yucatan Peninsula. Soil resources in […]

Factors Influencing the Optimal Germination Rates of Conifer-aspen Seeds

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Christian Boekweg, Rachel Nettles, and Dr. Samuel St. Clair, Plant and Wildlife Science In the aspen forests on the mountains of Utah, a shift is occurring in the ecological community. The aspen stands have, over time, been invaded by multiple conifer species. The composition of these forests is shifting from a pure aspen stand to […]

Histological Validation of Alzheimer’s Disease and Cerebrovascular Disease Imaging Biomarkers

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Brigham Barzee, Brett Gardiner, and Dr. Jon Wisco, Department of Physiology and Development Biology Introduction The purpose of this study is to analyze spatial co-localizations between amyloid beta (Aβ), tau, and iron in postmortem brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) patients. Iron is readily visible in T2* magnetic resonance images (MRI), and […]

Understanding the IRF5 Gene through Characterization of its Four Promoters

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Lissenya Argueta and Dr. Brian Poole, Microbiology & Molecular Biology Introduction Interferon Regulatory Factor 5 (IRF5) is a transcription factor involved with the innate antiviral immune response and primarily expressed in immune cells1. This protein is responsible for the regulation of interferon activity and cytokine signaling, namely that of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These processes play major […]

Biodiversity and Distribution of Entomophilic Nematodes in Utah’s Mojave Region

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Westen Archibald and Dr. Byron Adams, Biology To better understand the diversity and distribution of entomophilic nematodes in Utah’s Mojave region, I have begun a project that’s purpose is to develop phylogenetic maps of 55 nematode species that I have already extracted from the soils of the Beaver Dam wash ecotone. This project involves both […]