Journal of Undergraduate Research

Rick Whitehead and Dr. Kim L. O’Neill, Microbiology In 1998, approximately 10 million women reached the age of 50 years, at a rate of 5,000 women per day. Based on the age incidence data for breast cancer, this means that, within the next ten years, 296,000 women will be affected annually with breast cancer. Because […]

Richard Turley and Drs. Richard A. Robison and Gregory F. Burton, Microbiology Due to recent findings that HIV replication can persist even with highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), it has become increasingly necessary to develop new therapies that can be used as adjuncts with HAART, to combat HIV infection. One possible alternative strategy is to […]

Jamey Tolman and Dr. Scott Woodward, Microbiology Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology have allowed us to gain knowledge about the ancient populations of the world. A team of BYU students and faculty has excavated a group of bodies, dating from 200 B.C. to 400 A.D., found in the Fag El Gamous cemetery in Egypt. […]

Elisabeth Tillman and Dr. Richard A. Robison, Microbiology Cervical cancer is the fifth most common cancer in humans as well as the second most common cause of cancer death in women [3]. In developing countries, cervical cancer is actually the most common female disease, constituting 30% of female cancers [1]. In the United States, cervical […]

Jeffery Sivert Tessem and Dr. Byron K. Murray, Microbiology In recent years in both clinical and experimental research the benefits of vitamins as anti-cancer agents have been described. Derivatives of vitamin C have been shown to “diminish the tumor mass in inoperable tumor patients” as well as cause degeneration of hepatocellular carcinoma in rats due […]

Troy Russon and Dr. Ronald Leavitt, Microbiology Introduction It is estimated that at least one-half of all antibiotic use in the United States is inappropriate.1 Physicians often prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics when the disease causing bacterial strain could be targeted specifically. Also, patients are prone to expect prescriptions for antibiotics even when their infections are […]

Jesse Rowley and Dr. Gregory Burton, Microbiology Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS, has eluded successful treatment since its discovery in the early 1980s. HIV is a retrovirus that infects and eventually destroys CD4+ T cells. In HIV infected individuals it is believed that during the longest phase of infection (latency) most viral […]

Shaun Odell and Dr. Scott Woodward, Microbiology In the mid 1980’s archeologists from BYU began excavating a 2000-year-old burial site in Northern Egypt called the Fag-el-Gamous cemetery. This cemetery contains the remains of roughly 350,000 individuals who had been buried there between 200 BC and 400 AD during the Greco-Roman period of Egyptian history. The […]

Jeffrey P. North and Dr. Ron Leavitt, Microbiology In 1928 Alexander Fleming revolutionized the world with the discovery of penicillin. Penicillin and the antibiotics discovered thereafter revolutionized the treatment of infectious diseases. Equipped with these miracle drugs, scientists thought the battle against pathogenic bacteria was won. However, bacteria began to evolve to meet the antibiotic […]

Candace McNaughton and Dr. Gregory Burton, Microbiology HIV infects millions of people worldwide; in the year 2000 alone, more than 3 million people died from AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) as a result of HIV infection1. In countries, such as the United States, where effective treatment is affordable, highly active antiretroiviral therapy (HAART) can reduce viral […]