Journal of Undergraduate Research

Calvin Quigley and Dr. Richard Gill, Biology Introduction- Coral reefs represent an invaluable natural, providing $30 billion dollars of fishing and recreational profits worldwide, and housing nearly a quarter of the oceans species [1, 2]. However, threats such as climate change, ocean acidification, coastal development and overharvesting have destroyed more than a fifth of the […]

Madison Lallatin, Seth Bybee, Biology Department Introduction Vanuatu is a string of active volcanic islands in Micronesia near Fiji and Australia. The islands undergo regular submersion and emersion from the ocean, and the most recent emergence was 2 million years ago (Hamilton et al. 2010). As a result, all organisms on the islands of Vanuatu have […]

Erik S. Johnson, Jerald Johnson, Department of Biology Over the past year I accomplished almost everything I outlined in my ORCA proposal. My project focused on why organisms display handedness and how this this maintained in wild populations over time. I address this question in a tropical livebearing fish species that shows a unique form […]

Samantha Jensen, Stephen Piccolo, Biology Precision medicine is a growing movement toward utilizing molecular diagnostics to guide medical decisions. It is particularly useful when applied to cancer treatment, as knowing details about cancer stage, genetic pathology, and tumor type can inform life-saving decisions. Increasingly, physicians may use genetic, proteomic, epigenetic, and expression data to determine treatment […]

Zachariah Jaramillo, Dr. Leigh Johnson, Biology Department Introduction The genus Gilia has historically been difficult to work with because identification of the genus via a dichotomous key relies heavily on the absence of characteristics instead of the presence of unique characteristics (Johnson et al., 2004). This has caused Gilia to become a polyphyletic group that […]

Meganne Ferrel and Dr. John S. K. Kauwe, Biology Introduction Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is identified as a proteopathic disease that results from an extensive accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. Several researchers have discovered that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) contains biomarkers for AD such as Amyloid-beta and tau. Neuritic plaques in AD […]

Gage Black and John S. K. Kauwe, Biology Introduction Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and affects millions of people worldwide. It is the 6th leading cause of death in the United states and the only disease in the top 10 causes of death that does not have a disease altering […]

Kaitlyn Beard Golden and Jerald B. Johnson, Biology Introduction Alfaro cultratus is a freshwater fish native to Costa Rica.1 The common name for Alfaro cultratus is ‘the knife edge livebearer’. It is named after its sharply keeled ventral surface which allows for movement through river currents with speed and agility. Yet this species is a […]

Taylor Avei and Dr. John Kauwe, Biology Introduction: The neuropathology of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is well-known as a degradation of neural connections in the brain caused by multiple deposits of Amyloid-beta peptide plaques as well as neurofibrillary tangles of tau proteins [1]. Because of this and successful research, both Amyloid-beta 42 and tau protein levels […]

Emily Brown and Dr. Dennis Shiozawa, Biology Department Introduction Since the 1800s, biologists have studied cutthroat trout native to Western North America. Their early work and classification were based on the standards of the day: meristics, the observation and counting of physical features, and morphology. Further improvements came through later studies that added geographic distribution […]