Teanna
Anthony
Biological Seminars
Easter Black Walnut Extract as a stain for the Epithelial and Connective Tissues
One of the speakers at the scholarship day symposium was about using Black walnut extract as a stain for epithelial and connective tissues. For most stain, dyes such as crystal violet, safrin, or methyl blue. Although these dyes are very useful for methods of staining, they are not always environmental friendly or cost efficient. The objective of this experiment was to determine if the Black walnut extract is effective source for dyes that could be used for methods of staining. The walnuts were obtained from the local University trees, peeled, and pulped. The pulp was taken out of the walnut and spun in a centrifuge. Once the pulp was filtered, it was used to stain different samples of tissues. The results showed that the pulp from the walnut produced a grayish black stain that stained most of the epithelial cells, spermatids, and connective tissues. Although the walnut extract dye was unable to stain all of the tissues, it served to be a good dye that was cost efficient, eco friendly, and had no toxic effects.
Assessment of student outcomes in animal behavior themed liberal learning seminar
The main focus on this research was to create a seminar class for freshman non major students in which they would study animal behavior such as optimal foraging, mate choice, and group movement. The purpose of this course is to build, enhance, and developments more skills in critical thinking, reading, and oral communication for the students. The course was set up in five parts, where the students would engage in introductory activities, reading, computer modeling, presentations, and assessments. In the activities, the students participated in hands on activities that introduces them into concepts about animal behaviors like playing foraging games, participating in a bird mating hunt and a predator prey game. This allowed them to not only learn the material, but cat out in ways that the animals would, which helped them comprehend the information. In the reading portion of the course, the students would read and annotate articles to help enhance their critical reading skills. For the computer modeling unit of the course, the students would use computer simulations to generate and test questions about the material. Once this was complete, the students would create and orally recite presentations of their findings. Lastly, their levels of critical reading, thinking, and oral communication skills were evaluated based on the WSSU assessment rubrics for each area using the activities. They displayed their results using bar graphs that showed the development of the students form the spring of 2016 compared to the fall of 2016 for each area they tested. In the critical reading area, student’s skills were high in the spring and the fall when students were able to do the assignments in groups. In the fall 2016 examination, the students were able to choose their own articles, which could have led to the results being high in the individual learning as well. For the critical thinking area, the results showed that the students improved form the spring semester to the fall semester, which a variation of scores toward the end of the fall semester. In the oral communications section, the students stayed consistent throughout the spring semester but gradually improved in their delivery throughout the fall semester. Based on the data from the experiment course, the researchers conclude that critical thinking, reading, and oral communication skills were improved and the highest improvements were in those students that spent more time and effort on their assignments, data, and presentations.
Analysis of Tf1 insertion events in Schizosaccharomyces pombe
The purpose of this research was to analyze TF1 insertion events in schizosaccharomyce pombe. Retroviruses are viruses that copy their RNA genome using reverse transcriptions and insert their complementary DNA into a hosts genetic information. Once these viruses are inserted into the host, they can cause damage within the hosts genome causing mutations, leading to health disease like shingles or HIV. Tf1 retrotransposon is a virus that has a long terminal repeat retrotransposon life cycle that is similar to HIV. The purpose of this research is to locate the chromosomal ;location of the insertion location within Tf1 using S. pombe. It was hypothesized that the bacterial sequence impacts the Tf1 ability to insert itself into heterochromatic areas. To conduct this experiment, they used a series of Southern blot hybridization and concluded that the 38 G418 colony was sensitive, implying that these insertions are in the heterochromatic area of the genome
TPP induces adipogenesis in hMSCs via PPAR
The Exploration of Functional Respiration Capacity and It's Association with Diet and Lifestyle Habits
The purpose of this talk is to explain the possible effects of flame retardants such as TPP inducing adipogenesis in hMSCs using PPAR lambda and well as showing an increased development of obesity people. Triphenyl Phosphate or TPP is a flame retardant that can be found on household items such as a couch. TPP has been shown to activate PPAR lambda in murine models, causing a regulation of gene expression. It was hypothesized that TPP binds to PPAR lambda causing adipogeneis effects to be induced in human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs). To test the hypothesis, differentiated media with different quantities of TPP with and without the presence of the PPAR lambda inhibitor were stained. The results allowed the conclusion that TPP actively binds to PPAR lambda, which can potentially promote obesity.
Dr. Chakraborty is an assistant professor at the University of Delhi. During her talk, she expressed her perspective about being a woman in the science field and her thoughts on research. Dr. Chakraborty explained that the university she teaches at is very competitive, cost efficient, and has an excellent science program. Surprisingly, the University of Delhi had a lot of things in common with Winston Salem State University. Before switching to the semester system, the University of Delhi had class all year long. Dr. Chakraborty explained her dislikes about switching to the semester system like how our universities operates. She expressed that by having the classes all year long, the students were able to absorb and learn more of the information being taught instead of just rushing through the semester trying to pass the class or to just make a good grade. Along with having classes all year long, the courses were very specific during this time, as opposed to now, in which they offer more room to explore different classes. Being a woman in science, she feels as if she, along with other women, are treated very equally with men. She explained that wages within the school system are very equally distributed, unless in cases of seniority. Dr. Chakraborty stated that their research area is not as large as it is here in the states, however it is expanding. Her recent research revolves around respiratory function in relation to diet. In her research, she focuses on the types of diet that a variety of people, such as vegetarians, no vegetarians, smokers, nonsmokers, alcoholics, non-alcoholics, obesity, and activity, consume. The age group that she targeted was from 18-25, in which most were volunteer students from the university. She concluded that most of the students were nonsmokers and non-alcoholics. In her experiment she, tested the respiratory volume of the volunteers using spirometry. The results showed that the worse the diet, the more alcohol consumed, the more the person smoked, and the less people exercised, the lower their respiratory function was. Overall, the better the diet and overall health of a person, the better their respiratory function will be.