student research issue
Wishing Upon a Star (or Two): Student Research into Binary Star Systems When you look up at the night sky and watch the stars, chances are there’s a lot more going on up there than you think. Mara Zimmerman ’16 has only just begun to scratch the surface of astronomy through her research in binary star systems. Zimmerman, of Los Angeles, Calif., is working on a research project with Matt Beaky, assistant professor of physics, which began in summer 2013. Zimmerman and her research partner Jon Snyder ’13 spent time in the observatory with Beaky over the summer looking at binary star systems. Snyder has since graduated, and now Zimmerman is continuing the research. “A binary system is simply two stars in one system that rotate around each other,” says Zimmerman. “From this distance, it can look like one star, but it’s actually two.” Zimmerman first uses a telescope to take images of the star systems, which she then calibrates so that they are more accurate. She can then measure the light intensity of the stars and from there calculate further information about the star, such as the mass ratio and the distance between the stars. “These stars let us find out a lot about what stars do when they interact with each other,” says Zimmerman. “You can learn a lot about the composition of stars with these systems. If you have just one star out there, it’s difficult to tell what’s going on. But if you have two, you can look at the mass interaction and the life of both stars.” Specifically, Zimmerman is looking at binary star systems that have a delta scuti component, which refers to the type of pulsation that one of the stars has in respect to time. Basically, one of the stars in the system will pulsate brighter and dimmer, while the other star maintains the same level of brightness. “What I find really cool is that the mass between the two stars can transfer over time,” says Zimmerman. “Because they’re so close, the two stars can essentially become one after a long while.” Zimmerman has taken a shine to astronomy. She’s always been interested in stars, so for her it was a no-brainer to do the research when Beaky offered her the opportunity. “I like pretty much everything about it,” says Zimmerman. “I didn’t like all of the spiders in the observatory, but Dr. Beaky helped me get rid of them. Other than that, it’s really cool.”
Juniata
By John Dubensky ’14 36
Of Mice and Men: Studying Human Disease in Mice The great thing about research is that if you knew exactly what was going to happen in every experiment, there would be no need for it. Sometimes things pan out differently than expected, which is what Jennifer Arbella ‘14 has learned through her biochemistry research. Arbella of Miami, Fla., is researching genetic factors for Alzheimer’s Disease using mice as test subjects. Arbella is part of a team that deleted in test mice a specific gene known as nicastrin—which has been linked to inducing Alzheimer’s disease. However, deleting nicastrin in the mice seems to have caused schizophrenia instead of Alzheimer’s. “Nicastrin is part of a protein complex that has been linked to inducing Alzheimer’s disease,” says Arbella. “We wanted to see if nicastrin had an effect on Alzheimer’s, but we’re not seeing that.” Instead, the mice exhibited behavior that might indicate schizophrenia, including hyperactivity and compulsive grooming. Arbella also said that there are some abnormalities with the brain cells of the mice, which could interfere with their learning process and communication. The research is the result of a collaborative effort between the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Juniata College’s Daniel Dries, assistant professor of chemistry. Arbella spent 11 weeks during the 2013 summer at UT Southwestern working on the project.