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This page highlights one of my formal undergraduate research projects, supported by the IU Indianapolis UROP program. This project became my main undergraduate research experience because it developed over nearly four years and allowed me to complete a full research cycle from experimental design to written presentation.
During this project, I studied the affinity of vitamin E for membrane lipids through an experimental research process that I carried out independently under faculty guidance. I prepared the samples, performed the measurements, organized and analyzed the data, created the figures, and wrote the final paper.
The progress was documented and presented through three UROP posters, an oral research presentation, and a final paper. The first poster shown here represents the final stage of the research (Spring 2025), while the earlier poster documents an important earlier stage of the project (Summer 2022). The full paper is available through OSF.
Permanent Project Record: https://osf.io/79xm5/files/4czh9
Award: Honorable Mention Poster Presentation
Affinity of Vitamin E for Lipids (UROP)
Student: Janice Hsu
Mentor: Stephen R. Wassall
In the summer of 2022, I started my UROP project under the supervision of Professor Steven R. Wassall in the biophysics lab. The poster we presented at the summer research showcase was awarded "Honorable Mention Poster Presentation."
Vitamin E is an essential micronutrient that protects polyunsaturated membrane lipids against oxidation. This research project investigates the hypothesis that vitamin E preferentially co-localizes with polyunsaturated lipids to optimize protection from oxidation in cell membranes.
A crucial part of this experiment is to create a calibration curve that relates the polarization anisotropy measured for a fluorescent probe incorporated in the donor vesicles to the concentration of vitamin E they contain.
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