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Laterality has an important correlation to behavior and genetic disorders. Behavior can be observed through the brain hemispheres, and certain disorders have a unique pattern of laterality. Using the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans, gives more insight into human laterality. C. elegans laterality is observed through gut laterality that is established in the embryonic cell rotation. During early embryonic development, the direction of the rotation between the ABar, ABal, ABpr, ABpl cells shows laterality. The presence of certain genes have an impact on the rotation and gut laterality. More specifically, this project will focus on the embryonic rotations in TBB-1. TBB-1 is an important component of the microtubule, which forms the mitotic spindle. The mitotic spindle is known for its importance in chromatid separation. The absence of TBB-1 could lead to reverse gut laterality. Observing the embryonic cell rotation in C. elegans, gives more insight into its human ortholog and disease. C. elegans gut laterality can provide an understanding of the mechanisms of human laterality, which can impact behavioral studies.

DSU Summer Research Symposium 2021

Role of Schizophernia Associated Gene in Laterality Development

This annual event showcases and celebrates the neuroscience research in Delaware.  Posters and talks highlight neuroscience research carried out by graduate students, undergraduate students, and research staff at all of Delaware’s research and education institutions. The Lounge section of the symposium allows real-time interactions and networking among attendees.  New this year is an expo of research core facilities in Delaware.  Check them out in the Research Cores section of our poster session, or see the logos below.

Delaware Neuroscience Symposium 2021

poster

Welcome to Delaware State University’s Annual Summer Research Symposium, and thank you for attending! Our symposium represents the culmination of students’ summer experiences in research at Delaware State University. This event showcases the work of college students working on faculty-led research projects, as well as middle and high school students experiencing research for the first time working in research groups. Whatever the case, this summer has been a unique experience for the students, and we hope a transformative one. Even for students who are not planning a career in scientific research, their summer experience has given them skills they will draw on for years to come. 
 Please join us on the mainstage and in Gather for the live event, and visit the recorded poster presentations any time.
 The student participants and organizers of the various summer programs at DSU would like to thank all of the research mentors who guided our summer program participants. There were many DSU faculty, graduate students, and other research and program staff who gave their time and energy to help our students have a fun and educational summer experience. Without their generosity and patience these summer programs would not be possible.
 For the research participants, we hope that you will maintain contact with your research mentors and colleagues. Science is a relatively small community made up of disciplinary “neighborhoods”. If you continue to work in a discipline, the other folks in that discipline will be like your neighbors that you run into regularly. Staying in contact with them will help you keep up with the news of the neighborhood, and open doors to educational and career opportunities. Whether you continue in science or take a different career path, for this summer you have been part of the world of research, and you will benefit from that perspective for the rest of your life.

Please register for the DSU Summer Research Symposium 2021 to be able to access the content.  
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Welcome to Delaware State University’s Annual Summer Research Symposium, and thank you for attending!

Jasmine Sanchez Abstract Title: Genetic interaction between endu-2 and rnh-2 reveals their roles in neurogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans RNase H2 is a ribonuclease/DNA repair factor that removes ribonucleotide leftovers from DNA. RNase H2 is essential for neurogenesis in animals. Mutations in the human RNase H2 genes cause Aicardi-Goutières syndrome, a severe and fatal neurological disorder. Dr. Ii’s research group found that mutations of C. elegans rnh-2 gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of RNase H2, cause neuronal defects and behavioral changes. Endoribonuclease ENDU-2 plays a role in neurogenesis in nematodes and negatively regulates cold tolerance via apoptotic genes and the ADL neurons in C. elegans. Both endu-2 and rnh-2 are important for developing healthy neurons, but the relationship between these two genes is entirely unknown. C. elegans is a model organism widely used in Biomedical Research. A hermaphrodite has only 302 neurons and all of which corresponding behaviors have been identified. The power of C. elegans genetics has held the key to deciphering essential concepts in neuroscience and biomedicine for many years. In Aim 1, I performed 2 genetic crosses between the endu-2 mutant and the two rnh-2 mutants to isolate two different double mutants. Despite neither single mutant display sickness, we found synthetic lethal interactions between the mutations of these genes. Based on the results, the mechanism of the synthetic lethality appears to be due to accumulation of partial pathway defects in the same pathway. In Aim 2, I conducted “gene knockdown” using RNAi technique. We found that endu-2 gene knockdown moderately impaired the worm’s development, whereas rnh2 gene knockdown severely impaired the development and significantly increased its death rate. Surprisingly, an additional endu-2 knockdown reduced the severe defects of the rnh-2 single knockdown. This implies that endu-2 gene knockdown partially suppressed the defects caused by rnh-2 knockdown, suggesting endu-2 and rnh-2 function in the same pathway for neurogenesis.

Genetic interaction between endu-2 and rnh-2 reveals their roles in neurogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

We're investigating short and long term developmental neural deficits that could be caused by Caesarean Delivery in Prairie Vole offsprings. My focus within the experimental studies is to test social communications and behaviors of prairie vole pups during a series of tests to investigate the impact of birth mode (caesarean vs. vaginal) on postnatal thermoregulation.

Developmental Consequences of Caesarean Delivery in Prairie Voles

At the neuromuscular junction, binding of acetylcholine to receptors on the muscle causes an increase in intracellular calcium, leading to muscle contraction. Levamisole is an agonist for acetylcholine receptors (AChR) which effectively produces time-dependent paralysis. A voltage gated calcium channel (egl-19) facilities the movement of calcium into the cell promoting muscle stimulation. This influx of calcium then stimulates the release of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum through unc-68. Calcium is then transported from the cytosol to the extracellular space where it can bind to troponin and myosin. After this, a membrane ATPase (mca-3) works to restore proper intracellular calcium levels. Thus, we would expect that the loss of this calcium-ATPase would cause increased intracellular calcium and faster paralysis than the wild type. However, in the paralysis assay the opposite phenotype is observed. MCA-3 only removes a single calcium ion from the cytoplasm per molecule of ATP. On the other hand, sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium-ATPases (SERCA) work together with membrane ATPases to lower cytoplasmic calcium levels by bringing calcium back to the sarcoplasmic reticulum. SERCAs are much more efficient and are able to transport two calcium ions per ATP molecule used (Ingesi and De Meis 1989). We hypothesize that sca-1 mutants will be levamisole hypersensitive, while mca-3 and unc-68 will be resistant to levamisole compared to controls.

Impact of Calcium-ATPase Activity on Bioenergetic Failure in Hyper-stimulated C. elegans

How biological programs evolved to support human cognition is an enduring question of interest. Yet, we still lack appropriate procedures to align ages across species. We collected 228 time points from abrupt and gradual changes in behavior, neuroanatomy, and transcription in humans and chimpanzees to identify corresponding ages across the two species. We also collected time points (e.g., mortality curves) from diverse populations (e.g., hunter-gatherers) in males and females to account for individual variation in corresponding ages across humans and chimpanzees. Corresponding ages are similar in the two species early in development (shortly after birth) but gradually diverge with age in the two species. The lifespan is extended across diverse human populations relative to chimpanzees, and is concomitant with biological pathways (e.g., brain atrophy) observed in aged humans but not in chimpanzees. The inclusion of time points from diverse populations yields improved estimates in predicting ages in humans and chimpanzees and shows old age as a distinctly human characteristic.

Finding corresponding ages between humans and great apes

Wastewater is used water consisting of many hazardous materials. The wastewater goes through a step by step procedure for treatment and decontamination at a local wastewater facility. Once harmful bacteria is taken out of the water, it is then returned back to the community waterways. The purpose of this research project is to properly analyze and differentiate the many characteristics of the microbiota within both treated and untreated wastewater samples from the Kent County Regional Resource Recovery Facility in Milford, Delaware. We hypothesized that the microbiota will differ in diversity and microbial load among the treated and untreated wastewater samples. We tested our hypothesis using the following tests: streaking samples against Mannitol Salt Agar Plate (MSA) and a MacConkey Agar Plate (MAC) as well as gram staining. We found within the MSA plates that four samples showed no mannitol utilization while two samples were yellow in color proving it utilized mannitol. With the MAC plates all samples except for one sample utilized lactose. You can tell it utilized lactose with the pink color and growth indicating gram negative organisms. For the gram staining, 4 samples were gram negative meaning they appeared pink and also possess a thicker cell wall. 2 samples were gram positive meaning they appeared to be purple in color and possess a thinner cell wall. This data will be useful to improve and scientifically inform the wastewater facility on how well the wastewater is actually being filtered and treated.

Analysis of Treated vs Untreated Water Samples from Kent County Regional Resource Recovery Facility

Wastewater is the community’s used water and it consists of various harmful materials. This water goes through various processes to be treated at a wastewater facility such as the Kent County Regional Resource Recovery Facility. The purpose of this project is to analyze and differentiate the characteristics of the microbiota within both treated and untreated water samples from the Kent County Facility. We hypothesized that the microbiota between the treated and untreated water samples would be non identical. We tested our hypothesis via multiple characteristic tests. Those tests included gram staining, where we used Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus Epidermidis as controls, and streaking samples against a Mannitol Salt Agar Plate as well as a MacConkey Agar Plate. As we continue on to confirm our preliminary data, the treated and untreated water samples will be analyzed further for possible remediation.

Analysis of Treated vs Untreated Water Samples From Kent County Regional Resource Recovery Facility

Abstract Eliana McCray, Dr. Latia Scott, and Dr. Anthea Aikins Department of Biological Sciences, Delaware State University, 1200 North Dupont Hwy, Dover, DE 19734 The different stages of decay and the insects that appear during those stages can be important to identifying time of death. Decomposition generally begins in the natural opening like the Eyes, Nose and Mouth. In this study, we isolated bacterial samples from decaying pigs in the active stage of decay. There are five common stages of decomposition, Fresh, Bloating, Active and Dry decomposition stage. In this project, we studied the microbial load on swabbed samples from two natural openings (Anus- A and Eyes- E) of carions exposed to the sun and shade. We hypothesized that there will be more microbial load in the sun compared to the shade. To test our hypothesis, we streaked the cotton swab on Tryptic Soy Agar plates and randomly selected six isolates for further studies. We determined the gram type via Gram Stain, which was confirmed by growth on Selective media plates. Isolates were grown on Differential plates to determine the metabolic preference of the isolates. Plates used included MacConkey agar plate, Mannitol Salt Agar and Blood Agar plates. Next, DNA was extracted for PCR (amplification of 16S region) and subsequently DNA sequencing. Research Advisors: · Dr. Anthea Aikins: Department of Biological Sciences · Dr. Latia Scott: Department of Biological Sciences

Charactization of microbial load during active decay in Summer.

There are many different types of bacteria that play a role throughout the active stage of decomposition. The purpose of this research was to study the influence of environmental factors on these microbial loads in the natural openings during the Active decomposition stage during the winter season. More specifically we focused on samples taken from the ears (E) and the anus (A) of a decomposing pig. Knowing the unique microbial load during the different stages of decomposition and how environmental factors influence it can be insightful in a forensic investigation. We hypothesized that there will be lesser microbial load in the winter than in the summer and that the microbial load in the sun will be greater than what is found in the shade. We used selective/differential media to gather information about the identity of the randomly selected organisms. Additionally, we isolated DNA from the isolates and used PCR to amplify the 16s region of the isolates to confirm the organism's identity via sequencing. Most of the isolates are Gram-positive cocci, according to our findings. More studies will be conducted to characterize as many organisms as possible.

Characterization of Microbial Loads During the Winter

Oscillatory synchrony between the hippocampus (HC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a potential therapeutic target to facilitate HC-mPFC dependent decision-making. In rats, HC-mPFC local-field potential (LFP) coherence in the 4-12Hz (theta) range is strongly correlated with successful decision-making on SWM tasks. While several studies have reported on the relationship between HC-mPFC theta coherence and choice-accuracy on spatial alternation tasks, it is unknown if HC-mPFC theta coherence is causal to successful SWM choices. To this end, we aimed to either enhance or impair SWM decision-making based on the initiation of delayed-alternation (DA) task trials at points of either high or low HC-mPFC theta coherence. We predict that trials initiated at points of high coherence will result in higher choice accuracy in SWM-dependent DA tasks. Conversely, trials initiated at points of low coherence will be more likely to result in incorrect choices due to impaired SWM. We implanted rats with electrodes that targeted the dorsal hippocampus and the mPFC to record LFP. Rats were trained to perform a DA task with a variable delay at the choice-point. Using closed-loop technology developed in MATLAB, theta coherence was estimated in ½ second windows before rats were presented with choices on an automated T-maze. To ensure the presence of theta-states in the HC, rats ran on a treadmill located at the choice-point. Using rat-derived thresholds for “low” and “high” coherence, rats were only presented with a choice when coherence was sustained for two consecutive ½ second windows. Each day, rats experienced a 20-minute experimental session (‘low’ or ‘high’ coherence triggered trials), and a yoked-control session. During the yoked-control session, rats were presented with trials based solely on the duration of the delays in the previous high or low coherence session. This control session guarantees that any effects observed during the experimental trials are not an artifact of delay-duration. Here, we will present pilot data from an example rat.

Next from DSU Summer Research Symposium 2021

Genetic interaction between endu-2 and rnh-2 reveals their roles in neurogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

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