Poster Session I

The research described here seeks to understand GM3 synthase by expressing and purifying a recombinant form of the cytosolic domain of the human enzyme. The brain is an organ of astonishing complexity, with billions of neurons and trillions of cell-to-cell contacts. These contacts are mediated by molecules at the surface of cells, mostly proteins, sugars, lipids and their various hybrids. Gangliosides are one class of molecule that is critical for cell-to-cell recognition. These complex sugar-lipid hybrids are synthesized by a sizable family of enzymes. A rare inability to express one of these enzymes, GM3 synthase, affects the Old Order Amish population. The symptoms of affected children include dystonia, deafness, blindness, seizures, and early death (Bowser, Inamori). In order to better characterize this enzyme, both through its activity and via biochemical and biophysical methods, we are trying to express a recombinant version of its cytosolic domain. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Gabriel Brandt, Department of Chemistry

Rotenone is a potent piscicide that is utilized to remove invasive fish species from lakes and reservoirs. This chemical is nonselective and acts by inhibiting cellular respiration in mitochondria of aquatic organisms. Despite the positive results rotenone has accomplished against the proliferation of invasive species, the effects of this chemical on nontarget species are poorly understood. Previous studies indicate that crustacean zooplankton, a critical component of the aquatic food web, are sensitive to rotenone exposure in both the mature species and their egg banks. Zooplankton egg banks are hypothesized to be permeable to lipophilic chemicals thus inhibiting their emergence post rotenone exposure. The loss of hatching drastically impacts recovery rates of zooplankton, thus hindering their ability to survive rotenone exposure. After four months, the diapausing eggs have not hatched despite an egg density comparable to literature values of 74,000 eggs per square meter.  This project was supported by funding from F&M's Hackman Summer Scholar Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Janet Fischer, Department of Biology

The Amish suffer from unique genetic diseases caused by the founder effect, one of which is GM3-Synthase deficiency. GM3 is a ganglioside, large biomolecules that serve an important role in cell growth and differentiation, critical for neurological development. GM3 replacement therapy has been proposed as a treatment for GM3-Synthase deficiency syndrome. A cost effective and high yield synthesis of GM3 is the long-term aim of this research, while the short-term goal is to focus on a reaction early in the synthesis by investigating new ways to form a cyclic sulfate intermediate using fewer toxic compounds. Synthesis of precursor compounds to continue these experiments were met with success, but with lower yields than anticipated and with some impurities. Future research looks to continue experimentation to find a successful pathway to the cyclic sulfate intermediate and increase yields of intermediate compounds leading up to that step. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Eyler Fund. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Ken Hess, Department of Chemistry

This study explores the beliefs, attitudes, and practices of Mongolian young adults pertaining to environmental issues such as water shortage, air pollution, desertification, and garbage pollution in an effort to examine the current adaptive capacities of Mongolian local communities to climate change. Data was gathered in Mongolian through a physical survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews. All data collection was conducted in Mongolian and translated to English. Data analysis consisted of inductive coding of the qualitative interviews. A total of 36 participants were recruited at local Mongolian universities: 18 female and 18 male, 18 residing in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, and 18 residing in Arkhangai, a countryside province of Mongolia. The participants shared their lived experiences of adapting to environmental issues, concerns about the anthropocene and human well-being, opinions on collective action and responsibility, and future planning among other topics. This study sought to contribute to the growing field of environmental psychology. The findings of this study has potential implications for local environmental education, mobilization of collective action, and public policy implementation. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program and the Psychology Departmental Shand Fund.

Project Mentor:  Professor Elena Cuffari, Department of Psychology

Understanding how people interact with green space is central to holistic urban planning. The purpose of my research is to examine the use of urban green spaces in Lancaster. The benefits of the research include determining what the residents of Lancaster desire from green spaces and how effectively the planning of Lancaster is providing the desired needs. Through the use of an online survey, I surveyed residents in Lancaster regarding their perceptions and degree of use of parks and recreational spaces in Lancaster, including reasons why they might not visit green spaces as often as they would like. The data will be used to identify the ways in which green spaces are not meeting the needs of the community and can be utilized to make adjustments with the goal of increasing the use of urban green spaces. The presentation at the research fair will include an opportunity for people to participate in the survey during the fair. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Daniel Ardia, Department of Biology

This project aims to understand how fire affects the appearance of butchery marks (cut and percussion marks) on bone. Deer bones were experimentally cut-marked or percussed and then burned for different durations of time. There were two experimental tracks; cut marked bones were either placed directly into a fire, or first percussed with a stone anvil and hammer to simulate marrow extraction prior to being burned. The temperature of the fire was taken every five minutes to identify trends in bone fractures at the heat at which fractures occur. The burned bones were examined using a Dino-lite microscope at 35X magnification to identify taphonomic trends in breakage patterns. This work is important because it looks at how fire affects the preservation of cut marked bones, which can help interpret archaeological indicators of butchery practices. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Scott Smith, Department of Anthropology

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is an important stressor in aquatic ecosystems. For organisms across a wide taxonomic range, a key mechanism of UVR tolerance is the repair of DNA damage via photoenzymatic repair (PER), which utilizes photolyase to reverse DNA damage. Currently, little is known about factors that influence photolyase expression. I used laboratory exposure experiments and mRNA assays on Physella acuta to evaluate potential sources of variation in photolyase expression. I predict survival and expression of photolyase to be higher for P. acuta in the presence of repair radiation (PRR). I hypothesize that genes relevant to the DNA repair pathway (rad20, rad50, apoptosis, ect) will be upregulated in the presence of PRR. This is an important molecular mechanism to understand since PER may be more efficient in specific taxonomies, habitats, and stages of development. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Mark Olson, Department of Biology

This study examined attitudes toward disability, neurodiversity, and accommodations, and how these varying identities and experiences may influence a college student’s sense of belonging in higher education. Institutions of higher education have historically been exclusionary to people with disabilities and as a result colleges and universities are built upon practices that favor those who do not have disabilities and/or are neurotypical. Additionally, there are many stigmas, stereotypes, and prejudices that people hold toward individuals with disabilities. As a result, based on previous literature, this study was designed in order to see if a student’s identity of having a disability, being neurodiverse, or using accommodations may impact one’s perceptions of disability, neurodiversity, accommodations, and one’s sense of belonging. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Christina Abbott, Department of Psychology

Phenology, the timing and sequencing of biological events and development, is strongly influenced by environmental variables. As climate change progresses, phenological phenomena are predicted to change as well. Within alpine biomes, global warming has had a stronger impact on seasonal transitions and growing seasons, compared to lower-altitude systems. The copepod Hesperodiaptomus arcticus resides in alpine lakes within the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The normal H. arcticus phenological cycle creates a biennial oscillation from year-to-year. During the summer maturation season, H. arcticus hatch from eggs and mature into adulthood through a six-stage metamorphosis. The biennial pattern indicates a shift in the mean developmental stage in mid-summer, oscillating between early juvenile stages one year and mature adults the following year. Previously, student researchers hypothesized that the oscillation was created by zooplankton cannibalistic behavior. My research focuses on understanding this phenological phenomenon and associated environmental factors related to zooplankton development.  This project was supported by funding from F&M's Hackman Summer Scholar Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Janet Fischer, Department of Biology

Individuals with autism are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with a mental health disorder than are individuals without developmental disabilities (Hsieh et al., 2020). The rising prevalence of anxiety in the autistic population suggests a need to better understand the possible factors contributing to the onset of anxiety symptomatology. Thus, in the current study, we explored whether parent and family adjustment acted as a predictor of anxiety in autistic children between the ages of 5-21 years. Additionally, we assessed the ways in which parent and family dynamics, and treatment strategies change after an autism diagnosis and/or comorbid anxiety diagnosis. To do this, we used a cross-sectional design with mixed methods, and consisted of an online questionnaire and semi-structured interview. Results of the study are not yet available, but we predict there will be a significant relationship between parental and family adjustment factors and anxiety.  This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Christina Abbott, Department of Psychology

Adaptation, as the process and outcome of selection increasing fitness, is essential in enabling wildlife to utilize dynamic environments, especially in the context of expanding urban development. Understanding different levels of urban habitat dynamics like biodiversity, habitat types, and habitat use, is therefore crucial in conservation and habitat management. Birds, due to their high mobility and wide range of habitat, are a common abundant taxon in urban environments. I looked into potential correlations between avian species abundance and population size, habitat types, quality, gradient of human activity, and spatial and temporal patterns in a reclaimed habitat patch within Lancaster city, and I seek to investigate how these findings can give insight into avian adaptation in an anthropogenic world. This project was supported by funding from F&M's John Marshall Fellows Program and F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Dan Ardia, Department of Biology

Caldanaerobacter subterraneus heme-nitric oxide and/or oxygen binding domain (Cs H-NOX) is a thermophilic heme protein that binds to gas molecules including oxygen, nitric oxide, and carbon monoxide. Here, non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) were utilized to probe the local solvation environments in the protein and modify the functionality of the protein. Previously, the ncAA vibrational reporter 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine (pCNPhe) was site-specifically incorporated into the protein at a number of sites using the Amber codon suppression methodology. Additionally, tyrosine analogs were incorporated at site 140, which is a tyrosine in the native protein structure. Y140 is involved in a hydrogen bonding interaction with oxygen bound to the heme iron. Thus, modulation of the pKa of the phenolic hydrogen is predicted to impact the strength of this interaction and thus the affinity of the protein to oxygen binding. Results from probing local protein environments with ncAAs and modulating oxygen affinity will be presented. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Christine Piro, Department of Chemistry

This study was used to confirm the positive mutant identification of lines of the M2 generation of Arabidopsis thaliana that were found to be segregating definite mutants. A. thaliana is a model organism used to study seed development. In specific, this study focused on the second stage of embryogenesis which is characterized by the accumulation of seed storage products within the developing embryo. To find positive mutants, the expression pattern of At2S3:GFP expression was investigated and compared to that of wild type embryos. At2S3 is chosen to observe as it is one of the four known genes that encodes for 2S albumin SSPs. Irregular expression patterns included patchy and reduced GFP expression within the different stages of embryogenesis from globular to bent cotyledon. Of the 21 plant lines studied, 12 were found to be positive mutants and will be studied in the M3 generation to confirm that the phenotype is reproducible and therefore a positive mutant. These mutants are due to a novel gene mutation as their observed phenotypes do not correspond with known mutations to transcription factors that play a role in SSP accumulation. This study, coupled with in-situ hybridization in the future, will lead to the identification of additional transcription factors that may play a role in the expression dynamics of SSPs. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Pablo Jenik, Department of Biology

“Nightmare in Love '' is a short film, dramatizing a failed queer relationship from the perspective of a young woman with a mental health disorder. This presentation will explain (with a breakdown of short scenes, how elements of planning and design, beginning with multiple rewrites and proceeding through casting, production design, scene direction, lighting, and cinematography) are intended to help shape the impact of the piece. The presentation will also address the question of how to approach sensitive topics in a public medium, including sexuality and mental illness, in a sensitive way. The film in its entirety, “Nightmare in Love,” will premiere at the Senior Film Showcase on April 24th at 7:30pm in Susan and Benjamin Winter Visual Arts Center (WVAC) Cinema.  This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program and the Nolt Film Award.

Project Mentor:  Professor Dirk Eitzen, Department of Art, Art History and Film

This project focuses on investigating the water source for a culturally and environmentally sensitive karst spring. “The Bubble,” one of the largest springs in PA, is located in Boiling Springs, Cumberland County. My recent research builds upon previous findings suggesting that the water source may be located 40 km southwest of The Bubble, in or near Pigeon Hills, York County. This is an unusually long distance. Deploying hand-built rainwater collectors for oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses, placed throughout the region, will determine where precipitation correlates with discharge from The Bubble which provides a test of F&M's previous hydrogeologic model. In addition, hydrographic analyses of USGS stream gages provide evidence for whether stream valleys are gaining (discharging) water from or losing (recharging) water to the subsurface. Such exhaustive groundwater monitoring is necessary for protecting the water quality of The Bubble, especially when the likely water source is so far away. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentors:  Professors Timothy Bechtel and Robert Walter, Department of Earth and Environment

Stigma, language barriers, and cultural values, all contribute to the decision of Latinx(e) youth ages 18-25 to seek mental health services – such as therapy, medications, and diagnosis. Previous research has focused on how these factors influence Latinx(e) youth’s perceptions of mental illness (MI). This descriptive analysis explores Latinx(e) youth and parent perceptions of mental health and how this impacts Latinx(e) youth’s mental health perceptions and their likelihood to actively reach out for professional psychological resources. The authors surveyed 33 Latinx(e) youth and 8 parents to analyze the hypothesis that Latinx(e) parents with a lower mental health stigma score would be associated with youth who are more likely to seek mental health help and vice versa. The authors were unable to test their hypothesis due to a lack of sufficient participant responses, but a descriptive analysis of the available data is included in this report. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Michael Penn, Department of Psychology

Recently, the International Organization for Migration estimated that over 100,000 Malagasy people yearly migrate from rural to urban areas, especially to the capital of Antananarivo, where over half of the country's urban population lives. My research aims to comprehend the needs and desires of residents of rural/coastal communities in Madagascar with regards to internal migration and socio-economic advancement. I interviewed 15 individuals from two different coastal areas, attempting to diversify the sample in terms of age, occupation, gender and economic class. Interestingly, all my interviewees want to remain in their hometown, citing factors such as better quality of life, cultural ties, and family connections as reasons. They acknowledged they would move if necessary or if a good opportunity arises, but claimed they did not want to. Although this was a small-scale study, the significant discrepancy between migration rates and migration attitudes is noteworthy, and merits further research. This project was supported by funding by F&M's John Marshall Fellows Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Annalisa Crannell, Department of Mathematics

Non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) containing vibrational reporters such as nitrile and azide groups have proven to be effective, site-specific reporters of local protein environments. In particular, the vibrational reporter ncAA 4-cyano-L-phenylalanine (pCNF) is advantageous due to the sensitivity, position, and extinction coefficient of the nitrile symmetric stretching frequency in addition to not typically suffering from accidental Fermi resonance as compared to 4-azido-L-phenylalanine. Here, pCNF was site-specifically incorporated into Adenylate Kinase (AK) individually at a number of sites predicted to have a range of local protein environments using the Amber codon suppression methodology. These protein constructs were then interrogated with temperature-dependent IR spectroscopy to measure the temperature dependence of the nitrile symmetric stretching frequency of pCNF at each site of the protein in the open conformation of the protein. These temperature dependencies were then used to determine the local solvation environment of the nitrile group in each of these constructs. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program, National Science Foundation Career grant and the National Institute of Health.

Project Mentor:  Professor Christine Piro, Department of Chemistry

Through the comparison of various stills and screenplay excerpts, this presentation will examine how I reworked and remade a short film that I made in high school. The result, my senior thesis film called Support Group for Fictional Characters, will premiere at the Senior Film Showcase on April 24, 2023 at 7:30 in the Winter Visual Arts Center Cinema. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program and the Nolt Film Award.

Project Mentor:  Professor Dirk Eitzen, Department of Art, Art History and Film

Exploring Buddhism in South Korea, where modern buildings surround ancient temples. Over the summer of 2022, I took a look at what Buddhism looked like in different regions of Korea and what potential impact it had on politics, social movements, and on people's everyday life.   This project was supported by funding from F&M's John Marshall Fellows Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor David McMahan, Department of Religious Studies

Generation of hydrogen gas can be achieved by catalysts of the form Cp*Rh(bpy) (Cp*: pentamethylcyclopentadienyl, bpy: 2,2′- bipyridine). However, these catalysts require a very negative potential, and therefore excess energy, to operate. We have developed a strategy to leverage redox-inactive metals to tune the reduction potential of [Cp*Rh] fragments, which are known to. To enable this, we employed ligands similar to the bpy platform that also featured a 2nd binding site: bppz [2,5-di(pyridin-2-yl)pyrazine] and bppm [4,6-bis(2-pyridyl)pyrimidine]. Four complexes were synthesized successfully: [Cp*Rh(bppz)Cl]+, [Cp*(Rh)2(bppz)Cl]2+, [Cp*Rh(bppm)Cl]+ and [Cp*(Rh)2(bppm)Cl]2+, and their spectroscopic properties and electron transfer profiles were studied. On the bppm framework, the reduction potentials were modulated successfully by using the redox-inactive metals, supporting the validity of our approach. The electrochemical behavior of these complexes will be discussed, along with the results of parallel chemical work to study the individual steps involved in H2 evolution. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Hackman Summer Scholars Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Davide Lionetti, Department of Chemistry