UMTC Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

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https://hdl.handle.net/11299/45100

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) supports students interested in research and other creative activities, under the guidance of a University of Minnesota Faculty Mentor. Students pursue research in the arts and humanities, the social sciences, the life sciences, and physical sciences and engineering.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 1997

The 1958 U.S. Trade Mission to Yugoslavia and the United States' "Wedge" Policy: A Technocratic Connection
(2020-05) Smiley, Jacob, A
2018 Undergraduate Research Symposium Presentation on Method for Detection for Protein Aggregation Propensity
(2018) Fransen, Katharina A; Ritter, Seth C; Hackel, Benjamin
Engineered proteins are valuable tools for clinical therapeutics and diagnostics as well as for other biotechnology applications. The physicochemical robustness of a protein is an important factor in its utility. For example, protein solubility is advantageous for production, conjugation, formulation, and use; yet numerous engineered proteins exhibit suboptimal solubility due to the formation of protein aggregates. For the technological aim of identifying superior reagents and the scientific goal of elucidating protein sequence – function relationships, we are developing a method for high-throughput analysis of protein aggregation. The method uses yeast surface display in which the protein of interest (POI) is coupled to the surface of a S. cerevisiae yeast cell via an extended ‘PAS40’ polypeptide linker to the native yeast mating protein Aga2p, which binds to the yeast-bound Aga1 membrane protein. Meanwhile, the DNA encoding the POI is retained inside the yeast thereby creating a phenotype-genotype linkage that enables independent evaluation of millions of POI variants with simple DNA sequencing to reveal the identity of functional variants after aggregation analysis. Aggregation analysis utilizes Foerster resonance energy transfer (FRET) in which an excited donor fluorophore transfers energy to a nearby acceptor fluorophore. The acceptor and donor fluorophores are attached near the N-terminus of the POIs, allowing aggregating POIs to bring the fluorophores within the necessary radius for energy transfer and subsequent acceptor fluorescence. Measurement of the fluorescence of the acceptor protein allows for the aggregation analysis of the POI, which can be performed in high-throughput (100 million per hour) via flow cytometry.
3D Maps of the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
(2010-04-21) Olmschenk, Greg
We studied the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. A supernova remnant is the debris of a supernova – the explosive death of a star in one of the most energetic events in the universe. Studying the supernova remnant gives us insight into the exotic physics of the explosion itself as well as the physics of the material affected by the powerful shock waves. We are especially interested in particle acceleration – the acceleration of particles to near the speed of light by magnetic fields in the shock waves. One eventual goal of our work is to create 3-dimensional density and temperature maps of the supernova debris. This will allow us to compare the debris before and after encountering a shock wave and potentially detect, for the first time, the energy lost to accelerated particles at this type of shock wave.
3D Representations of Cardiac Devices
(2014-09) Richter, Aaron
4-Phenylbutyric Acid Shows Promise in Treating Peroxisomal Biogenesis Disorders
(2023-04) Lawler, Megan
Abiotic Interactions of QAC’s in Minnesotan Water Systems
(2019) Heaps, Annika; Hora, Priya; Arnold, Bill
Absence of Twisted Gastrulation (Twsg1) Limits the Population of Cranial Neural Crest Cells
(2009-04-08) Mittelstaedt, Gina
Craniofacial defects are among the most common birth defects with cranial neural crest cells (NCCs) playing a fundamental role in craniofacial development. The cranial NCCs migrate from dorsal neural folds to populate the branchial arches. Then they differentiate into the cells that form facial structures. For example, the mandible forms from the first branchial arch (BA1). Twisted gastrulation (Twsg1) is a gene that has been found to influence craniofacial development. A mutation in Twsg1 in mice produces a spectrum of craniofacial defects ranging from normal appearance to underdevelopment of the mandible, midline facial defects, and forebrain defects resulting in holoprosencephaly. Previous research has shown that Twsg1 acts as a bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) antagonist and thereby limits apoptosis in BA1, a key destination of cranial NCCs. Apoptosis is increased in BA1 in the absence of Twsg1, leading to a loss of BA1 derivatives. The hypothesis of this work is that the absence of Twsg1 also increases apoptosis in the cranial NCCs and thereby limits the population of NCCs prior to their migration to BA1. This study focused on determining whether the NCC population was depleted in Twsg1 knockout mice and whether the midbrain region itself was affected. We found that the midbrain markers were normal, but the markers specific for NCCs were significantly reduced. This reduction is consistent with a depletion of the NCC population. Future research will directly study proliferation, apoptosis, and BMP signaling in NCC populations in the absence of Twsg1.
AC Magnetic Susceptibility of a Permalloy Thin Film
(2014-05) Gray, Isaiah
Measurements of noise in magnetic thin films have variously reported $1/f$ noise, white noise, and random telegraph noise. The $1/f$ noise experiments claim magnetic noise by relating the magnetic noise to the susceptibility with use of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. However, neither the linearity of the susceptibility necessary for application of fluctuation-dissipation nor the frequency dependence of susceptibility was explored. To investigate more fully the frequency dependence and linearity of the magnetic susceptibility of a magnetic film, we measured the AC susceptibility of a 100 nm thick film of permalloy as a function of the magnitude $H_{AC}$ and frequency $f$ of an applied AC magnetic field over the full hysteresis loop of the films, i.e., the measurements were performed while slowly varying an applied DC magnetic field, $H_{DC}$. The AC frequency range was from 20 Hz to 5 kHz while the AC field range was between 0.2 G and 1 G. At $H_{DC} = 0$ the response of the system was measured as a function of $H_{AC}$ at 200 Hz. It was found to be nonlinear but became reasonably close to linear for $H_{AC} < 1 G$ - the coercive field was approximately 15 G. The in-phase and out-of-phase components approximately follow power laws with frequency, with exponents 0.69 and -0.2. The behavior of the out-of-phase component is roughly consistent with previously measured white magnetic noise and a simple harmonic oscillator model, but the in-phase component does not follow the prediction of this model.
Accelerating a Simulation of Type-I X-ray Bursts from Accreting Neutron Stars
(2012-04-18) Mackey, Mark
The goal of my project was to develop an optimized linear system solver to shorten the runtime of a computer simulation. The simulation was created to study the thermonuclear burning of Type I X-ray Bursts in low-mass X-ray binary star systems (LMXBs). To study these systems, thousands of X-ray bursts need to be simulated. Currently, the simulation can complete around one X-ray burst per day. I worked on accelerating the main bottleneck of the simulation by using very powerful graphics cards (GPUs) instead of the central processing unit (CPU) to perform the necessary calculations. I made steady progress over the summer towards this goal and eventually developed a solution that was four to five times faster than the original code.
Access to fused nitrogen heterocycles via Diels- Alder reactions of pyrrole with maleimide
(2014-04-16) Epplin, Matthew
Nitrogen heterocyclic chemistry is attractive because of its potential impact in the form of both natural and synthetic products. Fused pyrrole rings in particular have shown the potential for anti-cancerous activity upon placement in the human body. Recently, many have been interested in increasing the efficiency of this family of reactions in order to not only create molecules with biological activity, but create them with high yield for potential industrial use. Herein, we report the synthesis of a fused pyrrole diene for further cyclization with maleimide with the intention of forming a biologically active Diels-Alder adduct in high yield. Decarboxylation with sodium hydroxide to form the fused ketone has been performed in good yield. This scheme can be applied generally to form useful diene products from cheap and plentiful starting materials that have the potential to create a positive medical effect. Future efforts will be focused on fused rings of varying size as well as the addition of substituted maleimide derivatives using a similar methodology described.
Access to Healthcare in Rural United States: Obstetric Health Outcomes for Women
(2018) Erkens, Julia
The Accumulation of Phosphate in Mucor
(2013-04-20) Wang, Yuchuan
Accuracy of UAV Pitot-Static System
(2012-04-18) Carlson, Ryan
Though they are unnecessary for the structural integrity of the aircraft, an error in the pitot-static system can cause inaccuracies in flight and eventually lead to aircraft failure. Through a series of tests, the University of Minnesota’s UAV pitot-static system error was calculated and graphed. This allows the pressure sensors built into the pitot-static system to be calibrated for error, which prevents harm to the aircraft and operators.
Acetylation in Stable Microtubules
(2017-05) Parmar, Sneha; Coombes, Courtney E; Gardner, Melissa
Microtubules are an essential part of the cytoskeleton and assist in multiple cellular processes like intracellular transport and cell division. Acetylation in microtubules is a prominent post-translational modification in neurons and it is also a well-known marker of stable microtubules. However, it is not known why stable microtubules are more acetylated than dynamic microtubules. There are two models to explain this phenomenon. The first is that stable microtubules are preferably acetylated and the second is that both are acetylated equally, but dynamic microtubules are destabilized by acetylation. Previous research has shown that dynamic microtubules may in fact be preferentially acetylated, supporting the second model. We have found that at physiological salt concentrations, short dynamic microtubules are more acetylated but no correlation was found between length and extent of acetylation in stable microtubules. We are currently studying how acetylation varies in stable and dynamic microtubules by measuring the rate of change of lengths of acetylated microtubules.
Activation of the Inferior Olive
(2011-04-13) Walter, Camille
The inferior olive (IO) is a group of nuclei in the brainstem and is the sole origin of climbing fibers to the cerebellar cortex. While complete functions of the IO are unknown, it is believed to contribute to temporal processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown activation of the inferior olive by unexpected sensory stimuli. In this study, we tested the IO’s sensitivity to stimulus timing change to determine the time-change that is most efficient in activating the IO. We scanned normal human subjects while viewing sequences of visual stimuli and recognizing stimuli that deviated from isochronous stimuli by fifty to eight hundred milliseconds. The behavioral results showed that the subjects’ performance increased with timing change. The fMRI data were analyzed using event-related statistical parametric mapping of the hemodynamic responses; then we could see the activation of the inferior olive during all of the different stimulus timing changes. The 300 millisecond stimulus timing change produced the most activation of the IO, with time-changes of 200 to 600 (but not 50, 100, 700 or 800 ms) producing significant but less robust activation than 300 ms. These results were consistent with classical conditioning animal studies and indicate that reliable and robust activation of the inferior olive can be achieved in humans; they also can potentially be used to study diseases in which the IO is implicated.
Activity of Titanium Imidos in [2+2+1] Synthesis of Pyrrole
(2016-04) Wheeler, Thomas Alexander
Activity patterns in the Globus Pallidus, Thalamus and Sub-thalamic Nucleus in Akinetic-Rigid and Tremor Predominant Parkinsonian Patients
(2013-04-20) Nebeck, Shane
Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by a loss of dopamine producing cells in a brainstem nucleus called the substantia nigra pars compacta. The loss of these cells impacts the function of several brain regions, especially the basal ganglia structures, which are intimately involved in voluntary movement control as well as cognition and other functions. Tremor in the extremities, stiffness of joints, gait and balance problems are some of the cardinal motor symptoms of PD. However, the exact combination of symptoms (both motor and non-motor) expressed in a patient and its severity varies from person to person. Imaging studies have shown differences in the dopamine uptake patterns in the basal ganglia nuclei between the various parkinsonian phenotypes. Objective: This study aims to quantify the physiological changes in the activity patterns of neurons in the globus pallidus and subthalamic nucleus and to contrast the changes between various PD phenotypes. The STN and pallidum are of specific interest because deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy or lesioning in these structures has shown to be effective in minimizing many of the motor symptoms of PD. Methods: Patient’s enrolled for DBS or lesion surgery to alleviate parkinsonian symptoms were identified from a movement disorders database. Patients for whom both the complete OFF medication unified Parkinson's disease rating score (UPDRS) and electrophysiology data from the globus pallidus or STN were available where included in this study. Patients were sorted into the tremor dominant or akinetic rigid group based on their UPDR score. The average scores relating to tremor symptoms were divided by the average rigidity and posture scores to create a ratio. Patients were then put into groups according to their ratio score. The times of occurrence of action potentials from single neurons were identified from the electrophysiology records. These timestamps were used to calculate the average discharge rate of the cell and to identify and quantify the presence of bursting and oscillatory activity. Results: A total of 61 patients have been identified from the database. 23% (n=14) patients were characterized as tremor-dominant and 77% (n=47) as akinetic-rigid. A total of 40 electrophysiology recordings from the pallidum and 27 from the subthalamic nucleus (STN) are available for the tremor- dominant group. For the akinetic-rigid group 305 and 145 cells are available from the pallidum and STN respectively. We are currently in the process of quantifying and comparing the neuronal activity patterns. Discussion: The Underlying mechanisms that result in PD are still unclear. It is also unknown why deep brain stimulation has the therapeutic effect that it does. An understanding of the changes in basal ganglia structures during PD and specifically the differences between the different subsets of PD will enable us to further our understanding of how PD develops. Measuring the different firing patterns may also help us understand the physiological mechanism behind DBS benefits and help physicians target the best structures to maximize the therapeutic effects of DBS.
Activity Recipes for High Sleep Efficiency using Wearable Device Data
(2019) Goel, Saksham
Actuator Modeling for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(2016-04) Badithela, Apurva
Adap%ng Western Medicine for Chinese Culture: An Analysis of Benjamin Hobson
(2022-04) Gulik, Jasmine