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Variation in Vital Rates Among Least Chub (Iotichthy phlegethontis)
Lauren Applebee, Mark C. Belk, and Nathan St. Andre
Conservation plans for a species often requires knowledge of population trends. These trends can be difficult to acquire, but one piece of information that can be attained from populations is the catch per unit effort (CPUE). We are trying to use CPUE in a new way to determine population demography for populations of Iotichthys phlegethontis, Least Chub.
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The Effect of Percussive Massage on Collagen Gene Expression in Skeletal Muscle
James Bartling, Robert D. Hyldahl, Emma Schaugaard, and Mohadeseh Ahmadi
INTRODUCTION
• Exercise is a critical aspect of healthy living due in part to its effects of muscle adaptation, which are largely regulated by alterations in gene expression
• Sedentary behavior can be required by diverse life circumstances, suggesting a need to reproduce the beneficial effects of exercise by an alternative means
• Like exercise, percussive massage introduces a mechanical strain on the muscle, which could potentially replicate a similar remodeling response of the extracellular matrix (ECM). However, this has not yet been studied
• Collagen 1,3,&4 are major components of the ECM that adapt in response to exercise, and we hypothesized that the Percussive Massage would result in increased muscle mRNA expression compared to the control group
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Tree Damage Patterning in Alaskan Forests
Emma Barton, Richard Gill, and Haden Penrod
• Tree defoliation (from insect parasites) is not abnormal in the densely forested areas of Alaska, but large outbreak events in recent years have led to cause for alarm.
• To better understand the factors affecting defoliation, we used remote sensing and GIS (geospatial information system) technologies to look at mortality spatial patterns across Hemlock and Spruce forests in southeast Alaska.
• Elevation and proximity to water as well as other factors were considered in determining the impacts of outbreak events due to evidence that changes in landscape can alter parasitism behaviors (Roland & Taylor, 1997).
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The Effect of Epicatechin and its Microbial Metabolites on Differing Pathways of Beta-Cell Death in Type I and Type II Diabetes
Aubree Bench and Jeffery S. Tessem
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A Survey of Molecular Diagnostics Education
Kristina Berman, Ryan Cordner, and Mary Davis
Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) is vital for healthcare, involving the analysis of clinical samples to diagnose and monitor diseases. However, there's a scarcity of courses focused on molecular diagnostics, which could greatly benefit medical laboratory scientists.
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A Rare Plant in Peril: Conservation Concerns for an Endemic Alpine Plant, Ipomopsis spicata ssp tridactyla
Kainoa Bolinder, Loreen Allphin, Madison Huie, and Steven Flinders
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Theranostic Approaches to Treat Synovial Sarcoma
Machenzie Burr, Jared Barrott, Jeffrey Okojie, DeLaney Anderson, Peyton Worley, Jack Davis, Bridger Kearns, and Melanie I'anson-Holton
Synovial sarcomas (SS) are rare soft tissue cancers that are found beside bone in children and adolescents. Currently, the prognosis for these diseases are low, as diagnostic and treatment options are limited due to the rarity of the disease. With high rates of metastasis, treatment options for these diseases become further limited to primarily radiation and chemotherapies. These therapies have limited specificity in their mechanisms, causing severe side effects in patients. This work examined alternative options for synovial sarcoma theranostic approaches, specifically using immunoconjugates for Oncostatin M Receptors (OSMR). This receptor was chosen due to the high rate of expression of Oncostatin M in many cancers, including synovial sarcoma. It is involved in cancer proliferation and metastasis, making it a good target for treatment.
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MMAPPR2: An improved bioinformatics approach to find novel genes
Aiden Cardall, Jonathon T. Hill, Kyle Johnsen, Connor Ward, Maliha Tasnim, and Jared Taylor
Introduction
• New genes are commonly found by randomly inducing mutations in model organisms.
• Mapping the mutations to the genome to find novel genes is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.
• We created a bioinformatics program, MMAPPR, to automate this process.
• Here, we introduce a new algorithm, MMAPPR2, which requires little to no bioinformatics knowledge to use.
• MMAPPR2 makes several improvements that allow it to identify genes more rapidly and precisely.
• MMAPPR2 will aid the rapid identification of genes in a wide range of species and developmental systems.
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Cell Death, Inflammation, and Extracellular Vpr in the R77Q Mutation of Vpr in HIV-1
Amanda Carlson, Brad K. Berges, and J. Brandon Lopez
One potential target for therapeutic treatment of HIV-1 is Viral Protein R (Vpr), an accessory protein encoded by the HIV-1 genome. Vpr plays an important role in pathogenesis and replication for HIV and is involved in transcription, the pre-integration complex, cell cycle arrest, and cell death via apoptosis. Mutations in this protein dramatically impact the rate of AIDS progression compared to the wild type (WT) version of Vpr. The Vpr polymorphism R77Q is associated with the Long Term Non Progressor (LTNP) phenotype. Regular AIDS onset is 5-7 years for WT virus and 10 or more years for R77Q. These differences in AIDS progression have been observed in vivo by following people with HIV over time.
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Jaspine B and the Sea Sponge That Fights Cancer
Jack Davis, Jared Barrott, Adriene Pavek, Farjana Afrin, Sameena Mateen, Brendon Meldrum, Rocio Rojas, Pamela Diaz, Megan Condie, Ali Aghazadeh-Habashi, and Srinath Pashikanti
Jaspine B is a natural marine product, derived from the sea sponge, Jaspis, found in some tropical climates. Jaspine B has been shown to be an effective treatment in some cancers with an upregulation of sphingomyelin synthase. This research aimed to understand the effects of Jaspine B on synovial sarcoma, and investigate its potential to be used as targeted treatment in other cancers that have an upregulation of sphingomyelin synthase
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In search of super-scents for carnivore attraction
Megan Doxey
Find chemical scents that are more effective at alluring North American predators than what is commercially available, then isolate the scent’s chemical structure to create better trapping lures.
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Investigating the Correlations Between Medicaid and SNAP Benefit Levels and Health Outcomes
Will Evans, Michael Barnes, and Richard Evans
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Determining the Role of Noncoding Insertion and Deletion Mutations in Lung Cancer
Zachary Everton and Matthew H. Bailey
Background
● Cancer is a disease in which cells grow and divide at an uncontrolled rate and cause damage to surrounding tissue and is caused by mutations in the cells’ DNA.
● Though some cancer-causing mutations are inherited from parents, most cancer-causing mutations emerge over the course of a person’s life and are localized to the tumor. These localized mutations are also known as somatic mutations.
● The human genome is over 6.27 billion base pairs long and cannot be read from end to end; instead it is read in small pieces that are aligned to best-matching sequences in the human reference genome. Many mutation-calling algorithms will use these alignments to find mutations, but this method is less effective for larger insertion/deletion mutations. Because of complications like this, mid-sized insertion/deletion mutations are often ignored in other studies.
● To detect these mutations, I built a pipeline incorporating three tools (Pindel, ABRA, and Platypus) that use methods designed to capture them. Not only is this pipeline useful in analyzing tumor-normal data, it can also provide a more complete
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Vulnerabilities of Gender Non-Conforming Children Within the ABCD Study
Mitchell D. Felix and Erik J. Nelson
• In the broad field of childhood health and development, understanding and caring for society’s most vulnerable populations is vital. One such at-risk population is gender non-conforming children, individuals whose gender expression does not conform to conventional societal norms.1
• Gender non-conforming individuals are likely to be subject to increased discrimination and violence,2 with non-conforming youths specifically seeing elevated rates of harassment by peers and childhood abuse.3,4
• The intersection between gender identity and health outcomes is an emerging field with important applications for policy, practice and societal attitudes.
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Carbon-infiltrated carbon nanotube surfaces affect Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm development
Jenny Finlinson, Lucy C. Bowden, and Bradford K. Berges
• ~30% of surgical implant failure is caused by infection1
• 10-23% of all implant-associated bone and joint infections are caused by gram-negative bacteria2
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a gram-negative bacterium, forms biofilms (bacterial communities encased in a matrix) that are extremely difficult to treat
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ADHD medication is more potent and effective during ovulation
Laurenf@byu.edu Ford
• Women escalate psychostimulant abuse more quickly than men. Women who are prescribed psychostimulants for ADHD report fluctuations in drug efficacy that correspond to their menstrual cycle.
• In rodents, females acquire psychostimulant addiction more readily and release more dopamine (DA) in the dorsal striatum, an effect mediated by estrogen.
• However, the impact of the estrous cycle in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a core region for learning and addiction in the ventral striatum, is underexplored.
• Here, we examine cocaine, methylphenidate (Ritalin), and methamphetamine (Desoxyn) effects on DA transmission in male and naturally-cycling female mice.
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Diversity and community of macroinvertebrates in Timpanogos Caves, Utah
Erika Frandsen and C. Riley Nelson
The Timpanogos Cave System consists of three caves in American Fork, Utah. In 2003, the National Park Service (NPS) commissioned Dr. Riley Nelson and laboratory students to conduct a survey of the diversity and abundance of terrestrial arthropod species found within the caves. Over the two years they sampled in Timpanogos Caves, they identified 55 species of macroinvertebrates in an unpublished report. In the 20 years since the last sampling, many environmental factors could have changed in these caves, contributing to an overall decrease in both abundance and biodiversity of fauna. Therefore, we repeated the sampling done by the Nelson lab in 2003-2004 for the duration of May 2023-October 2023 to compare the two time periods’ macroinvertebrate communities.
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Exploring Changes in Micro-Invertebrate Species Composition in Rock Pools of the Colorado Plateau
Hamer Goolsby, Russell Rader, and Sara Schenk
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Distinguishing Leukemic Cells Using Fractal Chromatin Patterns and Machine Learning
Abigail Gordhamer, Ryan Cordner, and Paul Young
One of the most important tests in the clinical laboratory is the Complete Blood Count, which involves identifying the white blood cells in a patient’s blood. The respective counts of the different white blood cell types correlate with various states of health and disease and are critical to diagnosing diseases such as leukemia. Leukemic cells (blasts) are considered especially difficult to distinguish, and it is of the upmost importance that these cells are identified correctly. To aid in the process of leukemic cell identification, we quantified fractal patterns in the chromatin of white blood cells and used the data to identify cells with a random forest algorithm. By distinguishing between cells with the help of a machine learning algorithm, we hope to improve accuracy and efficiency in the clinical laboratory and more easily identify leukemic cells.
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Population Monitoring of Beaver Mountain Groundsel
Autumn Gudmundsen, Loreen Allphin, Madison Huie, and Steve Flinders
2nd Place Poster Design
• Beaver Mountain groundsel, Packera castoreus, is a rare flowering plant, endemic to the Tushar Mountains of Utah (fig.1 & 2).
• P. castoreus has been classified as high priority for monitoring and conservation by the Utah Native Plant Society1.
• The plants in the Tushars are some of the least studied in Utah.
• There have been conservation concerns for rare alpine species recently due to increased threats. Threats to this species include:
• Grazing from large ungulates (mountain goats, deer, & elk)2
• Human impacts, especially hiking1
• Climate change1
• To better understand the impacts of these various threats on P. castoreus, we monitored populations from 2018-2022 and assessed plant morphology, community composition, and population data.
• This research is part of a larger project on rare plant communities in the Tushars and provides analysis of one of the rare plant species of the project’s focus.
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Phylogeny of Hetaerina (Odonata: Calopterygidae): Settling taxonomic issues
Reganne Leigh Hales, Seth M. Bybee, Laura N. Sutherland, Melissa Sanchez Herrera, and Samantha Standring
Recent phylogenetic work within Hetaerininae based on Sanger data highlighted classification issues (e.g., non-monophyly between the genera), however no changes were proposed at that time. We explore the phylogeny of Hetaerininae using a targeted enrichment approach (AHE) of 20KB (18.5KB of nuclear and 1.5 of mitochondrial DNA) in an attempt to resolve any discrepancies.
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The Changing Tumor Microenvironment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Mackenzie Hansen, Kim O'Neill, Qin Zhou, Yoko DeRose, Magdalena Kovacsovics, Benjamin Brintz, Benjamin L. Witt, and Siwen Hu-Lieskovan
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death in the United States, and non-small cell (NSCLC) is the most common type. An increasingly prevalent treatment in the last few years for NSCLC has been immunotherapy. However, for immunotherapy to be the most effective, we need to have a better understanding of how the immune system interacts with cancer in all stages. Specifically, we need to know where the immune cells reside, how they interact with each other, and how these populations change as the disease progresses. To define the tumor microenvironment, we stained 27 whole tumor slides with a panel of 7 markers and identified the spatial distribution of immune cell types around the tumor. We then compared that information across stages to see how it changed over time.
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Exploring Soil Plant Relationships to Inform Seed Selection for Rangeland Restoration
Mallory Hinton, April Hulet, Matt Madsen, Raechel Hunsaker, and Shannon Nelson
Seeding plants post disturbance on rangelands is a challenge due to unique ecological and environmental conditions such as:
• Limited water availability1
• Invasive species2
• Soil health3
• Native seed supplies4
One of the key factors to address these challenges and have a successful seeding is to understand the relationship between soil properties and the plants that grow within them.
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Tardigrade niche partitioning
Samantha Hougaard and Byron Adams
The two types of Tardigrade (also known as Tardigrade), Ramazzottius and Echiniscus, coexist in the same environment. It could be assumed that they partition their resources by food type to avoid competition. To test this theory, I limited the two tardigrade groups to one food source.
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Effects of grass species and soil types on early successional forb species
Raechel Hunsaker, April Hulet, Matthew Madsen, Mallory Hinton, and Derek Tilley
Many early successional plant species have been considered weeds because of their lack of forage value for livestock (Whitson and Burrill, 2009). However, these early successional plant species have the potential to aid rangeland restoration in a variety of ways including:
• Food source for pollinators (Dumroese et al., 2016).
• Soil partitioning for climax communities of native perennials (Tilley et al., 2022).
• Competition against invasive annual species (Leger et al., 2014). To determine which early colonizing (or pioneer) species have the greatest restoration potential, interspecific competitive interactions should be evaluated.
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