THIRD ANNUALÂ SYMPOSIUM
FRONTIERS
OF
INNOVATION SCHOLARS PROGRAM
October 31, 2017 Sponsored by Office of the Chancellor Office of Research Affairs Student Affairs
I
2017 UC San Diego Frontiers of Innovation Scholars Program Third Annual Symposium Welcome to the UC San Diego Frontiers of Innovation Scholars Program (FISP) Third Annual Symposium, a celebration of next generation, multidisciplinary research at UC San Diego. This year's Symposium features more than 150 participants who have conducted faculty-mentored research in a wide variety of fields over the last year. The presenters include undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars from UC San Diego; also included are students from institutions across the state who performed mentored research at UC San Diego during the summer of 2017. We hope you will enjoy the Symposium and the scholars’ presentations. We gratefully recognize the critical contributions our faculty moderators, and, particularly, mentors make to the Symposium and the research program. We express our equal appreciation for the leadership of Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, Vice Chancellor of Research, Sandra Brown, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Juan González, and Graduate Division Dean, Kit Pogliano, in establishing FISP as a vital center of research at UC San Diego. This Symposium was made possible by generous funding from the Office of the Chancellor and the Office of Research Affairs. Additional support for this symposium has come from the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, the Dean of the Graduate Division, the Student Retention & Success Unit, and the Academic Senate. The UC San Diego FISP Symposium is planned and coordinated by Academic Enrichment Programs (AEP), a unit of the Student Affairs’ Student Retention and Success team. Thank you to all of the AEP staff and Symposium volunteers. Special thanks to Dr. Sophia Tsai and Dr. Kirsten Kung who helped organize the panels and to create this program; to Dr. David Artis and Veronica Bejar for their guidance in shaping this event; to Heather Murphy for logistics planning; and to Carrie Keck and Mark Kinsey of the Price Center.
FISP SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE Tuesday, October 31, 2017
8:00 am REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST Price Center East Ballroom
8:20 am OPENING REMARKS Price Center East Ballroom Welcome: Dr. David Artis, Dean of Undergraduate Research Advancement Dr. Jeff Orgera, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Student Retention & Success Dr. Mark Lawson, Director of Training and Education Keynote Speaker: Dr. Bradley Voytek, Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science Additional Remarks: Dr. Kirsten Kung, FISP Symposium Lead Coordinator
9:00 am – 12:00 pm ORAL PRESENTATIONS MORNING SESSION CONVENES Price Center Conference Rooms 12:00 pm LUNCH Price Center East Ballroom 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm POSTER SESSION A CONVENES Price Center West Ballroom A 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm ORAL PRESENTATIONS AFTERNOON SESSION CONVENES Price Center Conference Rooms 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm POSTER SESSION B CONVENES Price Center West Ballroom A
Chancellor Pradeep Khosla Pradeep K. Khosla, an internationally renowned electrical and
computer engineer, is the eighth Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, and a Distinguished Professor. Khosla initiated and led UC San Diego’s first-ever Strategic Plan, and recently launched the public phase of the Campaign for UC San Diego—an ambitious and bold $2 billion endeavor—aimed at transforming the university, physically and intellectually. Khosla has expanded college access and affordability for underserved populations, initiated interdisciplinary research initiatives to foster collaboration and solve societal challenges, and strengthened university and community relationships and partnerships. Before his current appointment, Khosla served as Dean of the College of Engineering and Philip and Marsha Dowd University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. There, he set the strategic direction for undergraduate and graduate education and research, and initiated undergraduate curriculum reform, successful diversity efforts, multidisciplinary research centers and graduate offerings, and international programs. Khosla received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur in 1980, and his MS and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering in 1984 and 1986 at Carnegie Mellon.
Vice Chancellor Sandra A. Brown Sandra A. Brown, Ph.D. is Vice Chancellor for Research and a Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at UC San Diego. Dr. Brown is internationally recognized for her developmentally focused alcohol and drug research. Her research yielded pioneering information on adolescent addiction, relapse among youth, and long term outcomes of youth who have experienced alcohol and drug problems. She is the past President of Division 50 (Addictions) of the American Psychological Association, is on the executive board of numerous scientific organizations, and has over 35 grants and 350 publications. She is involved in addiction prevention and intervention at the regional, state, and national levels and helped lead NIAAA’s effort to establish national screening and early intervention guidelines for youth. She currently directs the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) and investigates the effectiveness of novel approaches to intervention with youth.
Vice Chancellor Juan C. González Juan C. González serves as the Vice Chancellor – Student Affairs at UC San Diego. His responsibilities include the development, assessment and improvement of services that meet and support the needs of students and the university’s mission. In addition, his responsibilities include creating a student experience that fosters the intellectual, social, ethical and personal development of students, preparing them to become engaged and constructive members of a diverse, dynamic and global society. González has served as vice president for Student Affairs at a number of prestigious universities over a 22-year period; most recently, he held the position at the University of Texas at Austin, which has a student population of more than 50,000. Prior to that, he served as Vice President for Student Affairs at Arizona State University; Georgetown University; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; and California State University, San Bernardino. González received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his master’s degree in Bilingual-Bicultural Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio and his bachelor’s degree in Latin-American Studies from Texas Tech University.
Dean Kit Pogliano Dean Kit Pogliano received her Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Her research is focused on understanding how bacterial cells are organized during growth, development and antibiotic treatment. She is cofounder of Linnaeus Bioscience (La Jolla, CA), a company that develops cell biological methods for the discovery of new antibiotics. Dean Pogliano joined the UC San Diego faculty in 1996, and is Professor in the Section of Molecular Biology, past Chair of the UC San Diego Academic Senate, the Academic Senate Committee on Diversity and Equity, the Committee on Committees and the Biological Sciences Education Committee. She has served on a variety of national and international scientific advisory groups, including the National Institute of Health, the American Society for Microbiology and the Max Planck Society. Professor Pogliano is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and was a Searle Scholar, a Beckman Young Investigator and a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow.
Assistant Vice Chancellor Jeff Orgera Jeff Orgera was appointed Assistant Vice Chancellor Student Retention and Success at UC San Diego in August 2015. In this role, he leads both Student Affairs and campus-wide collaborative efforts in the development, implementation, and coordination of services and programs that increase student retention and graduation rates. Dr. Orgera's portfolio includes several units that deliver high impact educational practices to undergraduates who may be first in their families to attend college or underrepresented in higher education. AVC Orgera is responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of student success and retention initiatives and works in close partnership with colleagues in Academic Affairs. Previously, Dr. Orgera served as Senior Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at the University of Arizona. He received his M.A. degree in Educational Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Arizona.
Director Mark Lawson Dr. Mark Lawson is a Professor in Residence in the Department of Reproductive Medicine, School of Medicine, at UC San Diego. A molecular biologist by training, Dr. Lawson has spent time in both private industry and academia. He joined the faculty at UC San Diego in 2000 after working in the biotech industry and undertaking postdoctoral studies at the Salk Institute and UC San Diego. He earned his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from UC Irvine, where he worked on the biology of RNA viruses, and a B.S. in Microbiology from San Diego State University. His NIH-funded research has focused on the regulation of reproductive hormone synthesis and infertility. Professor Lawson has worked for many years to engage and promote students from diverse backgrounds into professional careers. He has developed novel career development programs targeting undergraduates through early-career faculty and he has championed diversity issues both within his professional field and in the general academic community. He has twice been awarded the UC San Diego Diversity Award, most recently in 2014 for his efforts in building a broad coalition of partners to increase recruitment of underrepresented minority students to UC San Diego graduate programs. He currently serves as Director of the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and as the Faculty Director of Postdoctoral and Visiting Scholar Training and Education in the Office of Postdoctoral and Visiting Scholar Affairs, within the Office of Research Affairs at UC San Diego.
Keynote speaker: Dr. Bradley Voytek
Dr. Bradley Voytek is an assistant professor in the Department of Cognitive Science, the Neurosciences Graduate Program, and the Halicioglu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego. He is both an Alfred P. Sloan Neuroscience Research Fellow and National Academies Kavli Fellow, as well as a founding faculty member of the UCSD Data Science program and Halicioglu Data Science Institute. Additionally, in 2011, he was the first Data Scientist at Uber. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley in neuroscience and was a post-doctoral fellow at UCSF. His research centers around the computational role that neural oscillations play in coordinating information transfer in the brain. His research program combines large-scale data mining and machine learning techniques with hypothesis-driven experimental research. He is also known for his zombie brain “research� with his friend and fellow neuroscientist Timothy Verstynen, with whom he has published the book Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?, by Princeton University Press. He blogs at Oscillatory Thoughts and is active on twitter as @bradleyvoytek.
List of Oral Presentation Panels Morning Panel Discussions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Graduate Student and Postdoc Enriching Human Life and Society I Graduate Student and Postdoc Enriching Human Life and Society II Graduate Student and Postdoc Understanding and Protecting the Planet I Graduate Student and Postdoc Understanding Cultures and Addressing Disparities in Society I Graduate Student and Postdoc Exploring the Basis of Human Knowledge, Learning and Creativity I Undergraduate Enriching Human Life and Society III Undergraduate ALL Themes I
Afternoon Panel Discussions 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
Graduate Student and Postdoc Enriching Human Life and Society IV Graduate Student and Postdoc Understanding and Protecting the Planet II Graduate Student and Postdoc Exploring the Basis of Human Knowledge, Learning and Creativity II Graduate Student and Postdoc Understanding Cultures and Addressing Disparities in Society II Undergraduate Understanding Cultures and Addressing Disparities in Society III Undergraduate ALL Themes II
Location Muir College Room Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Revelle College Room Red Shoe Room Sixth College Room Warren College Room Marshall College Room
Location Muir College Room Revelle College Room Sixth College Room Red Shoe Room Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Marshall College Room
ORAL PANELS Panel #1: Graduate Student and Postdoc Enriching Human Life and Society I Location: Muir College Room Time: Morning
Benjamin Shih ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Mentor(s): Professor Michael Tolley, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Professor Andrea Chiba, Cognitive Science Dr. Deborah Forster, Qualcomm Institute
Custom Soft Robotic Gripper Sensor Skins for Haptic Object Visualization
Jacob Wozniak ~ Biomedical Sciences PhD Program
Mentor(s): Professor David Gonzalez, Pharmacology, School Of Pharmacy Dr. Lance Prince, Pediatrics
Exploring the Hidden World of CA-MRSA Pathogenesis
Jun Xu ~ School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Dong Wang, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Molecular Mechanism of Eukaryotic Transcription-Coupled DNA Repair Initiation
Gladys Ornelas ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Dr. Philip Weissbrod, Otolaryngology Dr. Todd Coleman, Bioengineering
Non-Invasive Throat Electrophysiology Monitoring for the Assessment of Neuromuscular Health
Yasin Torres-Tiji ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Stephen Mayfield, Biological Sciences Dr. John Chang, Medicine
Edible algae therapy for the treatment of gut related diseases
Po-Ya Hsu ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Mentor(s): Dr. Mingxiong Huang, Radiology Dr. Chung-Kuan Cheng, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Dr. Dewleen Baker, Psychiatry
Blast Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Study on Veterans in Chronic Phase by using Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Machine Learning Technique
ORAL PANELS Panel #2: Graduate Student and Postdoc Enriching Human Life and Society II Location: Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Time: Morning
Yi Hong Sim ~ Communication
Mentor(s): Professor Robert Horwitz, Communication Professor Nancy Guy, Music
Artistic Metaphors for Labor: Orchestra and String Quartet Metaphors for Work, Leadership, and Organization in Academic Business Journals, 1946-2015
Cynthia Vazquez ~ Ethnic Studies
Mentor(s): Dr. K. Wayne Yang, Ethnic Studies Professor Christine Hunefeldt, History Professor Olga Vasquez, Communication
Kumeyaay/Kumiai Transborder Education on the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
Chris Golinski ~ Music
Mentor(s): Dr. David Borgo, Music Dr. Karsten Hansen, Rady School of Management
Funding the Arts in the Digital Age: What Voluntary Payments Tell Us About the Future of Creative Economies
Lindsay DePalma ~ Sociology
Mentor(s): Professor John H. Evans, Sociology Professor Wendy Liu, Rady School of Management
Precarious Work: The Effect of the Loss of Stable Career-Paths on the Professional Middle Class
Moran Amit ~ Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Mentor(s): Professor Tse Nga (Tina) Ng, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Dr. Leanne Chukoskie, Institute for Neural Computation
Characterization of Finger Tapping Patterns in Autistic Children with Flexible Wearable Sensors
Dylan Drotman ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Mentor(s): Professor Michael Tolley, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Professor Andrea Chiba, Cognitive Science Dr. Deborah Forster, Qualcomm Institute
Soft Actuator Modules for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
ORAL PANELS Panel #3: Graduate Student and Postdoc Understanding and Protecting the Planet I Location: Revelle College Room Time: Morning
Wesley Neely ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mentor(s): Dr. Adrian Borsa, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Jennifer Burney, School of Global Policy & Strategy
From surface to what lies beneath: monitoring our groundwater resources from space
Till Wagner ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mentor(s): Professor Ian Eisenman, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Pietro Cicotti, San Diego Supercomputer Center
How icebergs traveled from North America to Morocco during the last ice age
Elizabeth Hetherington ~ Biological Sciences Mentor(s): Dr. Carolyn Kurle, Biological Sciences
Impacts of anomalous oceanographic conditions on the California Current food web
Adam Schlenger ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mentor(s): Dr. Lisa Ballance, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Dale Squires, Economics
An Ecosystem-Based Approach to Fisheries Management
Andrew Johnson ~ Marine Biology Research Division
Mentor(s): Dr. Octavio Aburto, Marine Biology Research Division Professor Craig MacIntosh,
RecFish − A fish landings recording application to secure robust catch statistics for fisheries management.
Erfan Sayyari ~ Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Mentor(s): Dr. Siavash Mirarab, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Professor Greg Rouse, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Cost-effective characterization of biodiversity using novel phylogenomic methods
ORAL PANELS Panel #4: Graduate Student and Postdoc Understanding Cultures and Addressing Disparities in Society I Location: Red Shoe Room Time: Morning
Araceli Lรณpez-Arenas ~ Dept of Family Medicine & Public Health Mentor(s): Dr. Camille Nebeker, Dept of Family Medicine & Public Health Dr. Nadir Weibel, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Building Research Integrity and Capacity: Integrating a Social Media Platform to Reach and Educate Promotores/Community Health Workers (CHWs) involved in Community Evaluation and Research
Suzanne Dunai ~ History
Mentor(s): Dr. Pamela Radcliff, History Dr. Hanna Garth, Anthropology
You are What You Eat: The Politics of Francoist Nutrition
Maria Carreras ~ History
Mentor(s): Dr. Pamela Radcliff, History
Play, Dance, Learn: Socializing Children, Forging Identities, and Rearing Citizens in Modern Spain from the Franco Regime to the Transition
Mirna Wasef ~ History
Mentor(s): Dr. Hasan Kayali, History Dr. Gershon Shafir, Sociology Dr. Babak Rahimi, Literature
Copt Out: American Missionaries, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Questioning of Coptic Dual Loyalties in a Sectarian Egypt
Rawan Arar ~ Sociology
Mentor(s): Dr. David FitzGerald, Sociology Dr. Wael Al-Delaimy, Global Health
Leveraging Sovereignty: Syrian Refugees and the Jordanian State
Yessica Garcia Hernandez ~ Ethnic Studies Mentor(s): Dr. Jillian Hernandez, Ethnic Studies Dr. Julie Burelle, Theatre
Foto-Knowledges of the Borderlands: Autoretrato as a Method to Explore Transnational Latina Girlhoods
ORAL PANELS Panel #5: Graduate Student and Postdoc Exploring the Basis of Human Knowledge, Learning, and Creativity I Location: Sixth College Room Time: Morning
Zheng Zeng ~ Neurosciences
Mentor(s): Professor William Mobley, Neurosciences Professor Alexander Kleschevnikov, Neurosciences
Neuronal Activation Modulates Axonal Transport of BDNF
Laurent Fattet ~ Pharmacology
Mentor(s): Professor Jing Yang, Pharmacology Dr. Adam Engler, Bioengineering
Dissecting the dynamic mechanoregulation of breast cancer metastasis using a newly engineered biomaterial
Erin Giffin ~ Economics
Mentor(s): Dr. Isabel Trevino, Economics Dr. Craig McKenzie, Rady School of Management Dr. Joel Watson, Economics
Memory and Economic Decision Making: Theory and Experiments
Justin Laughlin ~ Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Mentor(s): Professor Padmini Rangamani, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Professor Daniel Tartakovsky, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Using Feedback to Model the Oscillating Vasomotion of Blood Vessels
Jinyoung Kang ~ Nanoengineering
Mentor(s): Professor Michael Sailor, Chemistry & Biochemistry Professor Jesse Jokerst, Nanoengineering
Enhanced Performance of a Molecular Photoacoustic Imaging Agent by Encapsulation in Mesoporous Silicon Nanoparticles
Ali Hariri ~ Nanoengineering
Mentor(s): Professor Jesse V. Jokerst, Nanoengineering Dr. Daniel L. Chao, Ophthalmology
Photoacoustic Ocular Imaging of Retina Oxygen Gradients In Vivo
ORAL PANELS Panel #6: Undergraduate Enriching Human Life and Society III Location: Warren College Room Time: Morning
Erica Heinrich (presenting on behalf of Matea Djokic) ~ Medicine Mentor(s): Dr. Tatum Simonson, Medicine
Cognitive Assessment Following Sleep Apnea Treatments at High Altitude
Jacqueline Nguyen ~
Mentor(s): Dr. Leanne Chukoskie, Institute for Neural Computation Dr. Jeanne Townsend, Neurosciences
Gaze-Contingent Games for Vision Therapy
Andrew Nguyen ~ Mathematics, Physics
Mentor(s): Professor David Meyer, Mathematics
Using light through haze to model air quality using only image data
Hye Jee (Lily) Hahn ~ Revelle College, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Anjan Debnath, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Targeting Mevalonate Pathway for the Treatment of Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis
Khoi Dao ~ Medicine
Mentor(s): Dr. Mohit Jain, Medicine
Quantification of endocannabinoids in human plasma by mass spectrometry.
Jeffrey Ding ~ Biological Sciences, Medicine
Mentor(s): Professor Mohit Jain, Biological Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacology Professor Aitor Aguirre, Medicine
GPX4 Lipid Signaling in Cancer
Stephanie Dong ~ Medicine
Mentor(s): Dr. Michael Matthias, Medicine
Survival of the Water-Borne Human Pathogen, Leptospira interrogans, in Cultured Acanthamoeba Species
Yutong Qiu ~ Computer Science w/Specialization in Bioinformatics Mentor(s): Dr. Alon Goren, Medicine Dr. Melissa Gymrek, Medicine
Characterizing histone modifications restoration dynamics along S-phase
ORAL PANELS Panel #7: Undergraduate ALL Themes I
Location: Marshall College Room Time: Morning
Valerie Saiag ~ Visual Arts
Mentor(s): Professor Christine Hunefeldt, History
Re-reading Chronicler Guaman Poma de Ayala through Art and History
Tevon Hodge ~ Communication
Mentor(s): Dr. Angela Booker, Communication
Democracy Lab
Fatima Alcantara Valadao ~ Urban Studies & Planning Mentor(s): Dr. Keith Pezzoli, Urban Studies & Planning
Clean Soils, Healthy Communities: Testing Soil and Plants in Community Gardens for Heavy Metals in San Diego
Sara Lucero ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Mission for Nutrition: A Community Collaboration on Nutrition and Sustainability Curriculum in San Ysidro
Ifunanyachukwu Okwuosa ~ Public Health
Mentor(s): Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Clinic and Community Garden
Cynthia Frausto ~ Biological Sciences, Public Health Mentor(s): Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Transportation Justice
Aya Rosenfeld ~ Chemistry & Biochemistry & Warren Yee ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentor(s): Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: EPIC (Electric Program Investment Charge)
Mayra Gutierrez ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Camille Nebeker, Dept of Family Medicine & Public Health
Building Research Integrity and Capacity: Integrating a Social Media Platform to Reach and Educate Promotores/Community Health Workers (CHWs) involved in Community Evaluation and Research
ORAL PANELS Panel #8: Graduate Student and Postdoc Enriching Human Life and Society IV Location: Muir College Room Time: Afternoon
Steven Ceto ~ Biomedical Sciences PhD Program Mentor(s): Dr. Mark Tuszynski, Neurosciences Dr. Axel Nimmerjahn, Salk Institute
Synaptic connectivity between host and neural progenitor cell graft-derived neurons after spinal cord injury
Lili Zhang ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Taras Nazarko, Biological Sciences Professor Yury Miller, Medicine
Deciphering the role of macrophage lipophagy in preventing atherosclerosis using zebrafish
Matthew Denholtz ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Cornelis Murre, Biological Sciences Professor Paul Insel, Pharmacology
Neutrophil chromatin organization and NETosis
Michael Getz ~ Nanoengineering
Mentor(s): Professor Padmini Rangamani, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Professor Pradipta Ghosh, Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Guanine-nucleotide Exchange Modulator, GIV/Girdin, Serves as a Tunable Valve for Growth Factor-Stimulated Cyclic AMP Signals
Alison Sanchez ~ Psychiatry
Mentor(s): Professor Lisa Eyler, Psychiatry Professor Todd Coleman, Bioengineering Professor Colin Depp, Psychiatry
Neuroeconomics and Psychiatry: Modeling Information Search and Decision Processes in Bipolar and Healthy Patients
Jaclyn Einstein ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Dr. Gene Yeo, Cellular & Molecular Medicine Dr. Prashant Mali, Bioengineering
Identification of RNA-binding proteins that control Myc-dependent survival in cancer.
ORAL PANELS Panel #9: Graduate Student and Postdoc Understanding and Protecting the Planet II Location: Revelle College Room Time: Afternoon
Jingbo Zhang (presenting on behalf of Tamar Azoulay-Shemer) ~ Biological Sciences Mentor(s): Professor Julian Schroeder, Biological Sciences Professor Mohit Jain, School Of Pharmacy Dr. Wouter-Jan Rappel, Physics
Regulation of plant water loss in the face of climate change: An interdisciplinary study focusing on CO2-regulation of stomatal conductance.
Brian Stock ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mentor(s): Dr. Brice Semmens, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Nuno Vasconcelos, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Dr. Jules Jaffe, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mapping fine-scale processes in the ocean with a novel plankton imaging system: dispersal and survival of eggs and larvae from an endangered reef fish spawning aggregation
Lillian McCormick ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentor(s): Dr. Lisa Levin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Nicholas Oesch, Psychology
Oxygen dependence of visual physiology in marine larvae
Alyssa Finlay ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mentor(s): Dr. Andreas Andersson, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Vicki Grassian, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Identifying Factors that Control the Dissolution of Biogenic Carbonate Sediments
Maya deVries ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) & Matthew Suiter ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Mentor(s): Professor Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Professor Michael Tolley, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Turning the coral reef inside out: exploration using soft robotics
Joseph Waterton ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Elsa Cleland, Biological Sciences Dr. Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Germination timing and dormancy across an aridity gradient in California
ORAL PANELS Panel #10: Graduate Student and Postdoc Exploring the Basis of Human Knowledge, Learning, and Creativity II Location: Sixth College Room Time: Afternoon
Richard Gao ~ Cognitive Science
Mentor(s): Professor Bradley Voytek, Cognitive Science Professor Alysson Muotri, Pediatrics
Network oscillations spontaneously emerge in human iPSC-derived cerebral organoids
Ritvik Vasan ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Mentor(s): Professor Padmini Rangamani, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
The role of traction in membrane curvature generation
Tin Ki Tsang ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Chih-Ying Su, Biological Sciences Professor Mark Ellisman, Medicine, Neurosciences
Beyond the Connectome: How Non-Synaptic Neuronal Mechanisms Modulate Circuits
Min Tang (presenting on behalf of Peter Chung) ~ Nanoengineering Mentor(s): Professor Shaochen Chen, Nanoengineering Dr. Alysson Muotri, Pediatrics
A Multi-Modal 3D Neural “Disease-In-a-Dish� Platform
Lucas de Abreu Maia ~ Political Science
Mentor(s): Professor James Fowler, Political Science Professor Abraham Palmer, Medical Genetics, Division of Dr. Murray Stein, Neurosciences
A Matter of Morality: Evidence that ideological labels generate more polarized social attachments than other group identities
ORAL PANELS Panel #11: Graduate Student and Postdoc Understanding Cultures and Addressing Disparities in Society II Location: Red Shoe Room Time: Afternoon
Damon Crockett ~
Mentor(s): Dr. Lev Manovich, California Institute for Telecomm & Information Techology (Cal-(IT)2) Dr. Jonathan Cohen, Philosophy Dr. Edward Vul, Psychology
Crowd Culture: Analyzing Massive Social Media Image Data
Mikael Fauvelle ~ Anthropology
Mentor(s): Professor Guillermo Algaze, Anthropology Professor Dominique Rissolo, California Institute for Telecomm & Information Techology (Cal-(IT)2) Professor Elizabeth Newsome, Visual Arts
Exploring the Origins of Global Inequalities: Art, Archaeology, and Digital Heritage at Fracciรณn Mujular
Erica Bender ~ Sociology
Mentor(s): Dr. Amy Binder, Sociology
'Thank You For Your Service: The Rise of the Veteran Nonprofit Sector'
Johanna Peterson ~ History
Mentor(s): Dr. Michael Provence, History Dr. Gershon Shafir, Sociology
'A Measure of All Nations': Citizen, Nation, and Education in Lebanese Girls' Schools, 1919-1951
Anvita Dixit (presenting on behalf of Dr. Lotus McDougal) ~ Medicine Mentor(s): Dr. Anita Raj, Medicine Dr. Prashant Bharadwaj, Economics
Association of unintended pregnancy with infant deaths among women in Nigeria DHS 2013.
ORAL PANELS Panel #12: Undergraduate Understanding Cultures and Addressing Disparities in Society III Location: Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Time: Afternoon
Anika Ullah ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Impacts of the U.S-Mexico Border on Air Pollution and Community Health in A Border Town
Nabta Laz ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Gerald Mackie, Political Science Dr. Holly Shakya,
Assessing the Role of Social Norms in Child Marriage: Cameroon
Francisco Duran ~ Political Science
Mentor(s): Dr. Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Urban Green Spaces Network
Subhankar Panda ~ Mathematics & Aditya Sampath ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Qualcomm Institute Mentor(s): Professor Thomas Levy, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute Sowparnika Balaswaminathan, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute Margie Burton, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute
Crafting Narratives: Experimentations in Ethnographic Storytelling and Ethnoarchaeological Analogy
Tokio Shimamura ~ Environmental Systems
Mentor(s): Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
Raising Awareness of Sustainable Waste Management Plans in Tijuana's Informal Communities
Kara Lu ~ Education Studies, Environmental Studies Program, Literature, Revelle College Mentor(s): Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: STEM Thinking Outside the Classroom @ EarthLab
Lauryn Johnson ~ Political Science
Mentor(s): Dr. Thad Kousser, Political Science
All the President’s Tweets: Studying the Big Data of Twitter Political Communication with a Small Data Approach
ORAL PANELS Panel #13: Undergraduate ALL Themes II
Location: Marshall College Room Time: Afternoon
John Yin ~ Mathematics-Computer Science
Mentor(s): Dr. Siavash Mirarab, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Implementing CPU/GPU Parallelization on ASTRAL
McKenna Sinkovich ~ Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Mentor(s): Dr. Erica Schoeller, Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Dr. Pamela Mellon, Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility
Pheromone Production in Circadian Mutant Mice
Abdolhakim Mohamed ~ School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences Mentor(s): Dr. Anjan Debnath, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Effect of NLRP3 Inhibitor on the Growth of Entamoeba histolytica and the Parasite’s Capability of Infecting Macrophage Host Cells
Oliver Huang ~ Mathematics
Mentor(s): Professor Falko Kuester, California Institute for Telecomm & Information Techology (Cal-(IT)2)
Immersive Exploration on Lost Remains
Aman Azad ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentor(s): Dr. Marta Jankowska, Qualcomm Institute
Reviewing Methodologies for Analysis of GPS-Based Human Movement Tracking
Megulo Abebe ~ Sixth College, Structural Engineering
Mentor(s): Dr. Falko Kuester, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Structural Engineering
Crack Detection and Recognition a Deep Learning approach
Shreyas Kamat ~ Aerospace Engineering
Mentor(s): Dr. Falko Kuester, Structural Engineering
Towards Autonomous Marine Vehicle Systems
Dominique Meyer (presenting on behalf of Dimitri Schreiber) ~ California Institute for Telecomm & Information Techology (Cal-(IT)2) Mentor(s): Dr. Curt Schurgers, California Institute for Telecomm & Information Techology (Cal-(IT)2)
Designing a Remote Controlled Paraglider to Aid Wildlife Conservation.
POSTERS ~ Session A
Poster Session A 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Price Center West Ballroom A
Poster #: 1
Hamanda Badona Cavalheri ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Jonathan Shurin, Biological Sciences Professor Ronald Burton, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Molecular mechanisms underlying the evolutionary potential of Daphnia response to warming
Poster #: 2
Yumeng Gu ~ Rady School of Management
Mentor(s): Dr. Christopher Oveis, Rady School of Management Dr. Charlie Taylor, Psychiatry
A Potential Intervention for Improving Relationships and Reducing Social Anxiety's Negative Impact on Social Connection, Creativity, and Performance in Teams
Poster #: 3
Nelson Ho (presenting on behalf of Michael Barrow) ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentor(s): Professor Ryan Kastner, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Dr. Sonia Ramamoorthy, Surgery (Thornton)
A ground truth 3D video dataset for Augmented Reality Robotic MIS algorithms
Poster #: 4
Christopher Priestley-Milianta ~ Biological Sciences, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Geoffrey Chang, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences Dr. Kathy Barbeau, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Koustav Maity, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Characterization of Fe(III) solute binding protein in marine bacteria
Poster #: 5
Sunayan Ray ~ Ophthalmology
Mentor(s): Dr. Karl Wahlin, Ophthalmology Dr. Alysson Muotri, Pediatrics
Molecular studies on the pathogenic effects of Zika virus on early retinal development using pluripotent stem cells derived 3D retinas.
POSTERS ~ Session A
Poster #: 6
Thomas Bartholow ~ Chemistry & Biochemistry
Mentor(s): Dr. Mike Burkart, Chemistry & Biochemistry Dr. Larissa Podust, School of Pharmacy
Engineering the synthetic systems of Fatty Acid Biosynthesis for increased biofuel production
Poster #: 7
Maegen Cravotta ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Dr. Robert Sah, Bioengineering Dr. Koichi Masuda, Orthopaedic Surgery
The measurement of iron concentration in synovial fluid and articular cartilage
Poster #: 8
Celene Gonzalez ~ Psychology, California State University, San Bernardino Mentor(s): Dr. Viola Stรถrmer, Psychology
The Speed of Visual Attention
Poster #: 9
Ghanim Hableel ~ Nanoengineering & Eric Zhao ~ Nanoengineering
Mentor(s): Professor Jesse Jokerst, Nanoengineering Fang Chen, Materials Science Program
A multi-purpose silica and iron oxide hybrid nanoparticle for ultrasound-guided cardiac stem cell therapy
Poster #: 10
Andre Amador ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mentor(s): Dr. Geno Pawlak, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Dr. Falk Feddersen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Sarah Giddings, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Observations of Inner Shelf Turbulence and Boundary Layer Flow Structure
Poster #: 11
Yehuda Bock (presenting on behalf of Dara Goldberg) ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentor(s): Dr. Yehuda Bock, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Professor Tara Hutchinson, Jacobs School of Engineering Professor Falko Kuester, Qualcomm Institute
Digital Surrogates of Structures for Improved Disaster Resilience: Integration of Complementary Sensors
POSTERS ~ Session A
Poster #: 12
Macy Castaneda ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) & Da Peng ~ Bioengineering Mentor(s): Professor Shu Chien, Bioengineering
Effects of Apelin-APJ on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived-cardiomyocyte Contractility and Electrophysiology
Poster #: 13
Geoffrey Chang ~ School of Pharmacy
Mentor(s): Professor Geoffrey Chang, School of Pharmacy
Real time sensors for monitoring global marine pollutants
Poster #: 14
Melody Chen
Mentor(s): Dr. Christopher Oveis, Rady School of Management Dr. Charles Taylor, Psychiatry
How Gratitude Expression Influences the Emotions, Relationship Quality, and Stress Levels Of Socially Anxious Individuals Under Social Stress
Poster #: 15
Austin Chin ~ Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility
Mentor(s): Dr. Hanne Hoffmann, Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Professor Binhai Zheng
Determine the role of the transcription factor VAX1 in establishing the neuronal circuit regulating pubertal onset and fertility
Poster #: 16
Erica Gacasan ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Dr. Robert Sah, Bioengineering Dr. Koichi Masuda, Orthopaedic Surgery
Chondrogenesis of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Poster #: 17
Alex Georges ~ Physics
Mentor(s): Professor David Meyer, Mathematics Professor Thad Kousser, Political Science
Stratification and Voting Behavior in Congress
POSTERS ~ Session A
Poster #: 18
Aziz Hashi ~ Hillcrest-UCSD Medical Center
Mentor(s): Dr. Samuel Pan, Antiviral Research Center (AVRC)
Vital Sign Measurements using Maxim Integrated Mobile Phone-embedded BioSensor are Accurate and Comparable to Standard-of-Care Monitor in Clinical Settings
Poster #: 19
Alexander Johnson ~ Cognitive Science
Mentor(s): Professor Douglas Nitz, Cognitive Science Dr. James Connor
Brain Mechanisms for Spatial Insight: The Role of Interactions Among Hippocampal and Cortical Brain Regions in Learning the Hidden Structure of Environmental Paths
Poster #: 20
Kent Kubo ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Professor Susan Hopkins, Medicine Dr. Rebecca Theilmann, Radiology
Endurance Athletes Have Larger Lung Volumes But Similar Lung Structure to Sedentary Control Subjects
Poster #: 21
Ashley Qu ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Mentor(s): Professor Robert Dynes, Physics Professor Mark Ellisman, Medicine, Neurosciences Professor Shane Cybart, Materials Science Program, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Analysis of Amazonian Frog Node of Ranvier using a Superconducting Quantum Inference Device-Based Microscope
Poster #: 22
Jing Tan ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mentor(s): Professor Teevrat Garg, School of Global Policy & Strategy Dr. Greg Mitchell, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Robert Frouin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Atmospheric correction of Sentinel-2 optical imagery for water quality monitoring in the coastal zone
Poster #: 23
Yuya Zhao ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor James Golden, Biological Sciences Dr. Roger Tseng, Biological Sciences
SynEco: A Xenobiotics-derived Co-culture System of S. elongatus and E. coli for Applications in Bioproduction
POSTERS ~ Session A
Poster #: 24
Nathan Hui (presenting on behalf of Proposal 2-U1037) ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), Qualcomm Institute
Mentor(s): Dr. Ryan Kastner, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Dr. Curt Schurgers, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), Qualcomm Institute
Application of Drones for Radio Tracking Sister Islands Rock Iguanas (Cyclura nubila caymanensis)
Poster #: 25
Laura Cui ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Pamela Mellon, Neurosciences Karen Tonsfledt
Temporal regulation of ovulation: Role of suprachiasmatic nucleus vasopressin neurons
Poster #: 26
Noah Kopcho ~ Chemistry & Biochemistry, Pharmacology & Steven Rees ~ Biomedical Sciences PhD Program
Mentor(s): Dr. Geoffrey Chang, Pharmacology & School of Medicine
Characterizing Amyloid Beta Clearance in Alzheimer's Disease
Poster #: 27
Julia Anna Adrian ~ Cognitive Science
Mentor(s): Professor Gedeon Deรกk, Cognitive Science Professor Tzyy-Ping Jung, Bioengineering
Reward processing during dyadic social interaction: An EEG study of parents and young children
Poster #: 28
Alexiss Rivas ~ Cognitive Science, Philosophy
Mentor(s): Dr. I-Wei Shu, Psychiatry, VA Medical Center Dr. Jaime Pineda, Cognitive Science
Using EEG neurofeedback to target PTSD-related brain network abnormalities
Poster #: 29
Joseph Breuer ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Hanne Hoffmann, Reproductive Medicine (Hillcrest) Dr. David Welsh, Psychiatry
Circadian modulation of histamine receptor-mediated synaptic transmission
POSTERS ~ Session A
Poster #: 30
Xin Li ~ Cognitive Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) & Yu Shen ~ Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Mentor(s): Professor Gedeon Deรกk, Cognitive Science Professor Tzyy-Ping Jung, Institute for Neural Computation
Automated Coding of Human Gaze Direction Using Deep Learning Method
Poster #: 31
Zachary Osborn (presenting on behalf of Lucas Thexton)
Mentor(s): Dr. Keith Pezzoli, Communication, Urban Studies & Planning Zachary Osborn, Communication
Automation and Aquaponics
Poster #: 32
Audrey Hope ~ Visual Arts
Mentor(s): Professor Anya Gallaccio, Visual Arts Dr. Sherice Clarke, Education Studies
Artists of Our Own Existence: Developing New Pedagogical Models that Draw upon Art Practice
Poster #: 33
Mandy Nichols ~ School of Global Policy & Strategy
Mentor(s): Professor Jennifer Burney, School of Global Policy & Strategy
Assessing Agricultural Conservation Practices in Zimbabwe with GIS
POSTERS ~ Session B
Poster Session B 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Price Center West Ballroom A
Poster #: 1
Lillie Sanchez (presenting on behalf of Ellen Kozelka) ~ Anthropology Mentor(s): Professor Janis Jenkins, Anthropology, Psychiatry Professor Steffanie Strathdee, Medicine Professor Thomas Csordas, Anthropology
Time Perspective and Treatment Experience in Tijuana's Community-Based Drug Rehabilitation Centers
Poster #: 2
Kaiser Pister ~ California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2), Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Mentor(s): Professor Falko Kuester, California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2)
Preserving World Heritage Billions of Pixels at a Time
Poster #: 3 Adam Li
Mentor(s): Professor Truong Nguyen, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Development of Quantitative Analytics for Parkinson's Disease using RGB-D camera
Poster #: 4
Kevin Cheng ~ Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Mentor(s): Dr. Michael Yip, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Screw Propelled Endoscopic Robot
Poster #: 5
Subhasis Dasgupta ~ San Diego Supercomputer Center
Mentor(s): Dr. Gupta Amarnath, San Diego Supercomputer Center
A Complex Ingestion In Analytical Polystore: The ChinaLab Case Study.
POSTERS ~ Session B
Poster #: 6
Shannon Laub ~ Bioengineering & Rinoka Sato ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Dr. Peter Yingxiao Wang, Bioengineering Dr. Kathy Shaoying Lu, Bioengineering
Epigenetic Changes due to Drug Resistant Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and Related Analysis Using Fluocell Software Package
Poster #: 7
Sydnee Hyman ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Dr. Shengqiang Cai, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Dr. Koichi Masuda, Orthopaedic Surgery Dr. Peter Newton, Orthopaedic Surgery
Frequency-dependent modulus of porcine spinal motion segments varies with scoliosis surgical modification
Poster #: 8
Ivan Ibarra ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Dr. David Kunkel, Medicine Dr. Hyat Mousa, Pediatrics Dr. Larry Smarr, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Mathematical Modeling of Gastric Electrophysiology
Poster #: 9
Arya Iranmehr ~ Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Mentor(s): Professor Brian Palenik, Marine Science Professor Vineet Bafna, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Detecting evolutionary selection on model cyanobacteria
Poster #: 10
Teryn Johnson ~ Cognitive Science
Mentor(s): Dr. Andrea Chiba, Cognitive Science Dr. Marcelo Aguilar-Rivera, Bioengineering Dr. Laleh Quinn, Cognitive Science
Hardware and Software Tools for Social Neuroscience Research
Poster #: 11
Cagri Yalcin (presenting on behalf of Saisri Padmaja Jonnalagedda) ~ Qualcomm Institute Mentor(s): Dr. Harinath Garudadri, Qualcomm Institute Professor Tse Nga (Tina) Ng, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
An Instrumented Glove for Improving Spasticity Assessment
POSTERS ~ Session B
Poster #: 12
Sara Kerosky ~ Political Science
Mentor(s): Dr. Christina Schneider, Political Science Dr. Lisa Ballance, National Marine Fisheries Services
Does Local Governance Matter for Global Ocean Health?
Poster #: 13
Lara Labarta-Bajo ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Elina Zuniga, Biological Sciences Dr. Rob Knight, Pediatrics
Mechanisms of Intestinal Adaptation to Chronic Viral Infection
Poster #: 14
Kelsey Lindner (presenting on behalf of Edward Matios, Gwendolyn Jordan, Abdurrahman Amin) ~ Communication Mentor(s): Professor Keith Pezzoli, Communication
Urban Agriculture Food Disparities
Poster #: 15
Reina Mizrahi ~ Cognitive Science
Mentor(s): Dr. Sarah Creel, Cognitive Science Dr. Tamar Gollan, Psychiatry
Two languages or one: Children's use of language as a cue for talker identification
Poster #: 16
Eric Morgan ~ Cognitive Science
Mentor(s): Dr. Virginia De Sa, Cognitive Science Dr. Anders Dale, Neurosciences, Radiology
Modelling Individual Differences in Brightness Processing
Poster #: 17
Perry Naughton ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Mentor(s): Professor Ryan Kastner, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Professor Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Scaling the annotation of subtidal marine habitats
Poster #: 18
Qiangzhe Zhang ~ Nanoengineering
Mentor(s): Professor Liangfang Zhang, Nanoengineering Professor David Gonzalez, Pharmacology
Neutrophil membrane-coated nanoparticles for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and profiling of neutrophil-stimulating inflammatory factors
POSTERS ~ Session B
Poster #: 19
Mridu Sinha ~ Bioengineering
Mentor(s): Professor Stephanie Fraley, Bioengineering Dr. Shelly Lawrence, Pediatrics Professor Todd Coleman, Bioengineering
Early diagnosis of polymicrobial infection in neonates using fast DNA sequence fingerprinting
Poster #: 20
Ryan Spence ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Leanne Chukoskie, Institute for Neural Computation Dr. Jeanne Townsend, School of Medicine
Engagement of Children with ASD using a Tactile Robot
Poster #: 21
Maxine Tan ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mentor(s): Dr. Andrew Allen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Nitrate sensing with a model pennate diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum
Poster #: 22
Michael Tift ~ Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentor(s): Dr. Tatum Simonson, Medicine
Everything is good in moderation: Carbon monoxide (CO) as a protective agent during low-oxygen exposure
Poster #: 23
Winnie Kuang ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Mentor(s): Professor Michael Yip, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Dr. Jun Zhang, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Force Sensing Method using Ellipse Acceleration Profiles of Resonating Cantilever Rod
Poster #: 24
Young Sung Moon
Mentor(s): Professor Susan Hopkins, Medicine Dr. Rebecca Theilmann, Radiology
Assessment of pulmonary structure in healthy untrained controls and endurance athletes using MRI measures of T2*
POSTERS ~ Session B
Poster #: 25
Aishwarya Venkatramani ~ Chemistry & Biochemistry, Division of Physical Sciences
Mentor(s): Professor Andrew McCammon, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Molecular Dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum Geranyl-geranyl Pyrophosphate Synthatase in apo and product bound forms
Poster #: 26
Jericho Hallare ~ Bioengineering, Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Preetham Suresh, Anesthesiology (Hillcrest)
Educational Value of an Adjustable and Life-Like Laryngoscopy Simulator
Poster #: 27
Zixuan Lan ~ Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Mentor(s): Dr. Preetham Suresh, Anesthesiology (Hillcrest) Dr. Randolph Hastings, Anesthesiology (Hillcrest) Dr. Nathan Delson, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Predicting Clinical Procedural Competency in Direct Laryngoscopy via Data Collected in a Simulation Lab: An analysis of trajectory and force
Poster #: 28
Jinyan Guan ~ Cognitive Science
Mentor(s): Dr. Angela Yu, Cognitive Science
Statistical Modeling of the Social Perception of Faces
Poster #: 29
Nicholas Bouck ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Mentor(s): Professor Ryan Kastner, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Professor Curt Schurgers, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Eric Lo, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Automating Mangrove Classification Using High Resolution, Multispectral UAV Imagery
Poster #: 30
Alexander Haggart ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) & Vishal Venkatraman ~ Biological Sciences Mentor(s): Dr. Pamela Reinagel, Biological Sciences
Delayed Gratification and Success: A Rat Model of the Marshmallow Test, Biology and Math Components
POSTERS ~ Session B
Poster #: 31
Yifeng Bu ~ Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Mentor(s): Professor Pamela Reinagel, Biological Sciences
Delayed Gratification and Success: A Rat Model of the Marshmallow Test, Electrical Engineering Component
Poster #: 32
Yadira Basaldua ~ Biological Sciences & Blaine Novak Pilch & Nancy Tomka ~ Biological Sciences
Mentor(s): Dr. Heather Henter, Biological Sciences & Natural Reserve System
Multilingual instructional videos for DNA barcoding
Poster #: 33
Yuanchi Ha ~ Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Mathematics Mentor(s): Professor Gene Yeo, Cellular & Molecular Medicine Professor Amy Pasquinelli, Biological Sciences
Large-scale Tethering Screen Identifies BOLL and MEX3C as RNA Stability Regulators
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 13 Marshall College Room
Abebe, Megulo, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Sixth College, Structural Engineering Mentored by Dr. Falko Kuester, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Structural Engineering
Crack Detection and Recognition a Deep Learning approach
Afternoon
Deep learning has both evolutionized and revolutionized many fields including computer vision, medicine research, and automated systems. The advent of sophisticated hardware and the accumulation of massive datasets has allowed deep learning techniques to provide treasured insight into many fields such as those aforementioned. The goal of this research is to apply those same powerful techniques into the context of structural analysis. Structures suffer numerous damages from various events (earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, etc), therefore, to an engineer or first responder, quantifying these damages is imperative to understanding the health of the structure. This research takes the first step by implementing a crack detection and recognition deep learning classification algorithm to identify and discriminate cracks on a structure. These cracks are then quantified and recorded for further processing.
Poster Session A
Adrian, Julia Anna, UC San Diego
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #27
Department/Major: Cognitive Science Mentored by Professor Gedeon Deák, Cognitive Science Professor Tzyy-Ping Jung, Bioengineering
Reward processing during dyadic social interaction: An EEG study of parents and young children
In our everyday life, actions are often motivated by the expectancy of a certain outcome. Of special interest is the effect of reward expectancy and its violation during social interaction. We investigated neural correlates of collaborative actions between parents and their children through EEG recordings. Dyads of one parent and one of their children (mean age: 4.6 years) played a turn taking game with high and low reward outcomes. After learning the rule of the game, the reward contingency was randomly reversed in 20% of trials, thereby eliciting a prediction error. Independent component analysis (ICA) was used to determine and exclude non-brain components. Children exhibit strong P3a positivity in response to their own high vs. low reward. Interestingly, during parents’ observation of their children’s action, the P3a component is effected by the expectation of high or low reward, but not the actual outcome. We conclude that this event related potential dependence might be an indication of the parents’ increased attention for the consequences of their children’s actions. Furthermore, parent-child dyads exhibit patterns more closely related to each other than to other subjects of their population.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room
Alcantara Valadao, Fatima, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Urban Studies & Planning Mentored by Dr. Keith Pezzoli, Urban Studies & Planning
Clean Soils, Healthy Communities: Testing Soil and Plants in Community Gardens for Heavy Metals in San Diego
Morning
Community gardens in urban spaces function as sources of nutritious, affordable food for its members. These spaces are especially important for communities located in food deserts, or low-income areas that lack access to affordable, nutritious foods. The soil from these urban gardens may be susceptible to contamination of heavy metals from current and legacy pollutants. When ingested or inhaled, pollutants could lead to health problems for the gardeners. This research evaluated the level of heavy metals in both the soils and edible plant tissues in two community gardens in the San Diego area: Ocean View Growing Grounds and Roger’s Community Garden in UCSD. The data generated informed community gardens of the health and safety of their soil, and will help find solutions to the pollution in the near future.
Poster Session A
Amador, Andre, UC San Diego
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #10
Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Geno Pawlak, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Dr. Falk Feddersen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Sarah Giddings, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Observations of Inner Shelf Turbulence and Boundary Layer Flow Structure
Turbulent eddies generated at the coastal boundary layer play a crucial role in cross-shelf exchange and mixing processes by transferring tracers (heat, sediment, entrained gases, nutrients, pollutants, pathogens, larvae, and phytoplankton) and momentum through the inner shelf region. These turbulent eddies are generated by shear stress and bottom friction, and are conventionally described by the structure of the turbulent momentum fluxes (Reynolds stresses). However, direct measurements of inner shelf turbulence are rare, and the complex dynamics of the coastal boundary layer are not well understood. Here, we present data of tidally-forced, coastal boundary layer flows from field observations carried out in Makua, Hawaii and Imperial Beach, California. A fixed instrumentation array was employed to resolve velocity fluctuations associated with the inner shelf turbulent flow. Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)-based hydrodynamic measurements were used to describe the spatio-temporal variability of the coastal boundary layer flow structure. Preliminary results highlight the methodology developed for estimating the turbulent Reynolds stresses and turbulent eddy viscosities in coastal boundary layers.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 2 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Morning
Amit, Moran, UC San Diego Department/Major: Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Mentored by Professor Tse Nga (Tina) Ng, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Dr. Leanne Chukoskie, Institute for Neural Computation
Characterization of Finger Tapping Patterns in Autistic Children with Flexible Wearable Sensors
Autism disorder includes not only deficits in social communication, but motor skill deficits and repetitive behaviors as well. In order to develop appropriate interventions for individuals with autism, we need the ability to objectively characterize movement. Our collaborative project aims to engineer low-cost, flexible, integrated circuits embedded with sensors used for movement characterization in autistic children. We have fabricated a flexible resistive glove and programmed a user-interface to characterize finger tapping patterns. The glove enables the objective characterization of finger tapping by counting how many times a finger touches the thumb and the tap duration during a specified time interval. We showed that autistic children tapped their index finger fewer times than typically developing children in a given time frame, and are more likely to be uneven in both duration and counts per finger when patterned tapping is required. We have further modified our program to gamify it, aiming to motivate the children to participate, and improved our glove by creating a capacitance-sensor glove to enable pressure sensing of each tap. Such wearable sensors offer objective characterization of movement patterns, which could provide a platform for future novel motor interventions.
Oral Presentation Panel 4 Red Shoe Room Morning
Arar, Rawan, UC San Diego Department/Major: Sociology Mentored by Dr. David FitzGerald, Sociology Dr. Wael Al-Delaimy, Global Health
Leveraging Sovereignty: Syrian Refugees and the Jordanian State
How do developing countries that bear the refugee burden for the rest of the world maintain their sovereignty? The study investigates refugee hosting in Jordan, a country with 2.7 million refugees in a total population of 9 million people. The challenges of providing shelter, education, health care, and protection to refugees are exacerbated as Jordanian citizens face high unemployment and strained social institutions including overcrowded hospitals and underperforming schools. Refugees and citizens alike are affected by growing national security concerns and the threat of terrorism along the Jordanian-Syrian border. While Western sovereignty is foundational to political sociology and the sociology of international immigration, the sociological literature neglects the sovereignty of developing states that host most of the world’s refugees. Jordanian sovereignty is indispensable to refugee protection, regional stability, and the global flow of refugees.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 13 Marshall College Room Afternoon
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #1
Azad, Aman, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentored by Dr. Marta Jankowska, Qualcomm Institute
Reviewing Methodologies for Analysis of GPS-Based Human Movement Tracking
Developments in movement tracking sensors has provided researchers a variety of options to record human travel information. A variety of efficient solutions and methodologies have been proposed to parse the significant amounts of data retrieved by these movement tracking sensors. However, currently research and literature on this topic is dispersed throughout the geographic, computer science, and data science communities. To better equip researchers in furthering the development of more efficient algorithms, we completed a literature review of methodologies for quantifying human movement from Global Positioning Systems (GPS) sensors in an attempt to broadly unify research done in this space. The literature reviewed encompasses solutions used to extract meaningful semantic locations, trips, and behaviors from an individual's movement patterns. Key word searches were employed in databases and journals encompassing geography, computer science, ubiquitous computing, and data science. Articles were included in the review if they had developed an algorithm for defining locations, trips, or movement behaviors utilizing GPS data.
Badona Cavalheri, Hamanda, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Jonathan Shurin, Biological Sciences Professor Ronald Burton, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Molecular mechanisms underlying the evolutionary potential of Daphnia response to warming
Understanding the mechanisms by which organisms are adapted to present day climate variation throughout their ranges is paramount to predict extinction and persistence of populations in a rapidly changing climate. Lakes in Sierra Nevada Mountains vary naturally in temperature across an elevational gradient, and Daphnia, a key species in freshwater ecosystems, can be adapted to their local temperature. Daphnia occurring in lakes at high elevation might therefore respond differently to warming from those from low elevation lakes. One of the fastest ways to respond to increase in temperature is adjusting expression of important genes related to thermal stress. To address these questions, Daphnia pulicaria from lakes that vary in elevation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains were collected during the Summer and are being cultured in the lab. After clonal lines are established, clones will be acclimated to different temperatures in a common-garden experiment to test the genetic basis for plasticity among different lake populations. Phenotypic traits and gene expression will be measured to reveal which genes show altered transcription in response to temperature and how these effects vary among populations.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #6
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #32
Bartholow, Thomas, UC San Diego Department/Major: Chemistry & Biochemistry Mentored by Dr. Mike Burkart, Chemistry & Biochemistry Dr. Larissa Podust, Pharmacy, School Of
Engineering the synthetic systems of Fatty Acid Biosynthesis for increased biofuel production
The development of biofuels poses the opportunity to develop carbon neutral petroleum products. However, despite industrial interest biofuel yields remain inefficient due to gaps in knowledge of the algae’s biosynthetic systems. Our project seeks to study native fatty acid synthase, and design enzymes to increase the production of shorter more desirable fatty acid molecules for biofuels. Enzymes from the fatty acid synthase will be studied in order to design mutants which will yield increased short chain fatty acid content.
Basaldua, Yadira, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Heather Henter, Biological Sciences
Multilingual Instructional Videos for DNA Barcoding
A team of undergraduate students have created multilingual instructional videos for use in a course-based original research project entitled the San Diego Biodiversity Project. In this project, students in science courses contribute to an international effort to document the world’s unknown biodiversity. We know that biodiversity is critical for ecosystem functioning, yet most biodiversity remains undocumented and unknown. Undergraduate students have been using DNA barcoding to address this biodiversity knowledge gap. Just like products in a store can be identified by their barcode, most organisms can be identified by DNA sequences (“barcodes”) with variations that are unique to that species. Students at UCSD and collaborating community colleges have been participating, but language skill can be a challenge to implementing this research in the community college science courses. In response, UCSD students have created a series of how-to videos in English, Spanish, and Arabic that show the DNA barcoding process from beginning to end. By making original biodiversity research accessible to more people, UCSD students will make a real contribution to conservation
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 11 Red Shoe Room Afternoon
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #11
Bender, Erica, UC San Diego Department/Major: Sociology Mentored by Dr. Amy Binder, Sociology
' Thank You For Your Service: The Rise of the Veteran Nonprofit Sector'
My study explores the intra-organizational dynamics of military- and veteran-serving nonprofit organizations in San Diego, California. Following the expansion of the post9/11 American military, the adjacent field of private-sector veterans' support services experienced a sudden and dramatic shift. A more crowded and complex field demanded that organizations around the country find new ways to establish themselves, compete for funding, and create a niche for their organizational survival. In San Diego, entrenched and well-networked institutional entrepreneurs have responded to these catalysts by building coalitions and making new meanings that confer legitimacy through coalition membership, thereby turning the expansion into a new opportunity for mutually-ensured survival. Through in-depth interviews and observations, I trace the development of these new rationalities in the field of veterans services and how they are shaping organizational practices and service provision for veterans.
Bock, Yehuda, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Yehuda Bock, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Professor Tara Hutchinson, Jacobs School of Engineering Professor Falko Kuester, Qualcomm Institute
Digital Surrogates of Structures for Improved Disaster Resilience: Integration of Complementary Sensors
We address the need to build resilient infrastructure to prepare for the impacts of disaster on our quality of life. Our focus is to improve disaster resilience by quickly assessing the damage to structures from earthquakes and fires through the development of timevarying digital structural surrogates created with an integrated system of sensors that can detect subtle centimeter-level changes not apparent to visual inspection by trained engineers. Buildings are tagged as red, yellow or green, according to their severity of damage. If the building has exceeded a threshold, then immediate structural or geotechnical stabilization may be required before physical inspection can occur. If not, the building can be returned to use sooner, thus reducing costs and risks. We report on a unique set of data collected from a full-scale six-story building that was tested at the UCSD Large High Performance Outdoor Shake Table (LHPOST) facility in 2016. It was subjected to nine earthquake tests and six post-earthquake fire tests and observed with UAVs to record real-time high-resolution video footage of a building’s exterior, and GPS instruments and MEMS accelerometers on the roof to record precise point displacements.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #29
Bouck, Nicholas, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentored by Professor Ryan Kastner, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Professor Curt Schurgers, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Eric Lo, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Automating Mangrove Classification Using High Resolution, Multispectral UAV Imagery
Mangroves are very important to many coastal ecosystems. They play a big role in fisheries production, coastal protection, and produce organic sediments of significantly high importance to global carbon sequestration. One hectare of mangrove forest in the Gulf of California provides $100,000 USD in service per year. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness about mangroves has led to global losses in coverage of over 35% in the last three decades. This year, we are a part of the Gulf of California Marine Program "Satellites in Conservation" initiative that utilizes satellites to develop ecosystem monitoring programs with conservation impacts. We are currently building a platform to detect distribution change of overall mangrove habitats on a broad scale. Additionally we have been able to enhance the data collection on mangrove environments using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs provide orders of magnitude higher fidelity data than satellites: 1-100 cm2 pixel resolution vs. 1-100 m2 pixel resolution. We ultimately aim to understand questions like: can we give precise spatial estimates on the different mangrove species? Can we better determine the health of the mangroves? And can we provide 3D (volumetric) information about these ecosystems?
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #29
Breuer, Joseph, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Hanne Hoffmann, Reproductive Medicine (Hillcrest) Dr. David Welsh, Psychiatry
Circadian modulation of histamine receptor-mediated synaptic transmission
The ability of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a small brain structure of the hypothalamus, to control the body's natural rhythmic cycles is largely accredited to the ability of neurons to undergo synaptic plasticity. Indeed, neuronal activity changes during the day, and is higher during the day than the night in the SCN. The unique feature of the SCN to align its activity to the time of day, and thereafter transmit such information to the body, gives it a role as the master coordinator of physiological rhythms and hormone release. We have previously found that the histamine H3 receptor (H3R) is able to modulate synaptic transmission in the hippocampus, a key structure for memory formation. Due to the high expression of H3R in the hippocampus and the SCN, and the key roles of these two structures in memory formation and hormone release, respectively, we here propose to study how time of day affect H3R function in mice. These studies will be instrumental to understand how drug administration are differentially "perceived" by cells at different times of day, and can potentially identify a time window where H3R drugs are more efficient, allowing to decrease drug dose reducing side effects.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #31
Oral Presentation Panel 4 Red Shoe Room Morning
Bu, Yifeng, UC San Diego Department/Major: Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Mentored by Professor Pamela Reinagel, Biological Sciences
Delayed Gratification and Success: A Rat Model of the Marshmallow Test, Electrical Engineering Component
In this project, we sought to measure the ability of rats to accept reward delays. We hypothesize this ability is important for optimal performance on cognitive tasks and might be modulated by the drug Ritalin. In order to test this, a new apparatus was required that could offer two reward options with different quantities and delays. As the electrical engineer on the project, my role was to design and build new electrical equipment to realize these functions. In the first half of the year, I built a working Choice Testing device with visual and audio cues, rat lick sensing, calibrated and timed water reward delivery, data collection, and software for task control. I also designed and built a Locomotion Test apparatus which was needed to determine the effective dose of Ritalin. The second half of the year I built a second generation Choice Testing device adding features requested by user feedback including testing mode, result display, and a real-time clock (RTC) chip. This research produced a fully functional device based on the Arduino platform that is reliable, easy to use, and robust enough for daily use in the laboratory.
Carreras, Maria, UC San Diego Department/Major: History Mentored by Dr. Pamela Radcliff, History
Play, Dance, Learn: Socializing Children, Forging Identities, and Rearing Citizens in Modern Spain from the Franco Regime to the Transition
Creating ideal through manipulating the minds of young children was the Franco regime’s (1939-1975) strategy for bringing Spain back to an idealized past in the wake of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Franco had unified Spain around the capital of Madrid, where his party designed a national education policy and curriculum that aimed to reach all of the nation’s children. The efforts of the state did not go uncontested. Political authorities in Andalusia and Catalonia used various regional cultural institutions to socialize its children and create either parallel or alternative loyalties as Andalusian and Catalonian citizens. I use childhood as a lens of analysis to understand how political authorities used education in Madrid, dance in Andalusia, and sport in Catalonia to define and contest multiple meanings of nationalism, identity, and citizenship from 1939 to the first years of Spanish democracy. This project goes beyond simply understanding how individuals and groups socialized into their respective spaces, how they experienced citizenship, and how they were conditioned reared to become a Spaniard, Andalausian, or Catalan. Rather, it attempts to understand how socialization efforts, citizenship, and identity were shaped at the societal level.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #12
Oral Presentation Panel 8 Muir College Room Afternoon
Castaneda, Macy, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Professor Shu Chien, Bioengineering
Effects of Apelin-APJ on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived-cardiomyocyte Contractility and Electrophysiology
Heart failure is attributed to the death of cardiomyocytes. Since cardiomyocytes are nonregenerative, damaged cardiomyocytes lead to heart disease. A most promising solution to compensate for lost cells is to differentiate human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into cardiomyocytes. The ability to control stem cell reprogramming and differentiation in vitro is critical in tissue repair, disease modeling, drug testing and biological development. In this research, we conducted experiments to investigate the progression of contractility and electrophysiology changes during hESC-tocardiomyocyte differentiation. We tested the effects of Apelin in cardiomyocyte differentiation. Apelin, a peptide ligand for orphan G-protein coupled receptor, has been implied to be an important regulator in the differentiation of hESCs into cardiomyocytes. We analyzed the beating colonies of these differentiated cells using electrophysiology and Traction Force Microscopy, and the data were quantified using fast Fourier Transform. We found that Apelin treatment causes a lower amplitude and an increased frequency for the beating colonies in comparison to the non-treated groups. The results suggest that Apelin enhances the beating activity of hESC-derived-cardiomyocytes. Further research can be conducted to determine the role that Apelin plays in signal transduction to promote contractility.
Ceto, Steven, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biomedical Sciences PhD Program Mentored by Dr. Mark Tuszynski, Neurosciences Dr. Axel Nimmerjahn, Salk Institute
Synaptic connectivity between host and neural progenitor cell graft-derived neurons after spinal cord injury
Neural stem cells (NSCs) have the potential to reconstitute adult spinal cord tissue lost by spinal cord injury (SCI), and they may ultimately act as a new relay for communication between neurons above and below the site of injury. To gain insight into synaptic mechanisms associated with neural stem cell implants, we performed calcium imaging in mice to characterize the nature of synaptic connectivity between host and graft neurons after SCI. After grafting neural progenitor cells (NPC) into an acute spinal cord injury, we were able to image the simultaneous activity of populations of neurons within NPC grafts in anesthetized and awake, behaving animals. Thus far, we have observed spontaneous activity in both neurons and glia, as well as hindpaw pinch- and cold air puff-evoked responses. Spontaneous activity and electric stimulation-evoked responses were also observed in acute spinal cord slices. Activity patterns included large-scale events and independent, single-neuron activity. Currently, we are optimizing methods for interrogating host-to-graft inputs through optogenetic techniques. Future directions will probe the host response to graft output by stimulating graft axons and imaging host cells in the areas which they innervate.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #13
Chang, Geoffrey, UC San Diego Department/Major: Pharmacy, School Of Mentored by Professor Geoffrey Chang, Pharmacy, School Of
Real time sensors for monitoring global marine pollutants
Nearly one-third of the world’s population relies on seafood as the major source of protein. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) threaten safety of this food source. Several classes of POPs, including those found right along the coast of San Diego, have been detected at high concentrations in seafood. Current detection technologies of POPs require specialized instrumentation and specially trained personnel, and are costly to implement both in terms of time and money. A rapid and immediate method for on-site detection of POPs in seafood and the ocean is necessary. Addressing the problem, we will apply and further develop a new powerful cell-based sensor technology to detect POPs as a collaborative effort between the laboratories of Drs. Amro Hamdoun (SIO) and Geoffrey Chang (Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine). We have already identified “10 high-risk POPs” in yellowfin tuna, which is very popular in the US for consumption. Our vision is to co-develop a novel biosensor technology to produce robust genetically-encoded probes that can be used to rapidly detect man-made pollutants, including the organochlorine pesticides PCBs and PBDEs. These same probe molecules can be used to study impact of toxicants on human and marine biology using state-of-the-art imaging and biochemical techniques.
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #14
Chen, Melody, Department/Major: Mentored by Dr. Christopher Oveis, Rady School of Management Dr. Charles Taylor, Psychiatry
How Gratitude Expression Influences the Emotions, Relationship Quality, and Stress Levels Of Socially Anxious Individuals Under Social Stress
Recent research in the fields of social anxiety and positive emotion expression has revealed minimal and conflicting evidence on gratitude’s effects on those high in trait social anxiety (SA). This current study further delineates the nature of high SA individuals when placed under a social stress situation and investigates how gratitude affects their emotionality, their perceived relationship quality, and their stress levels. This study provided evidence that high SA people experience heightened negative emotions, lessened positive emotions, and less responsiveness, regardless of condition. These findings also reveal the first-known empirical evidence on gratitude expression’s interaction with SA in increasing levels of anticipatory stress before a stressful task.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #4
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #15
Cheng, Kevin, UC San Diego Department/Major: Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Mentored by Dr. Michael Yip, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Screw Propelled Endoscopic Robot
Modern endoscopes still require high levels of skill and precision to operate as they apply significant forces on small areas in order to move deeper into their environments. This often results in complications as those forces accumulate and begin to stretch, bruise, or even perforate the body. In this paper, we propose a novel design which utilizes a series of discrete propulsion modules which evenly distribute forces along the body. Each module is comprised of a screw-like shell that is driven to provide the propulsion as well as an IMU to obtain the orientation of each module. These segments can then be individually manipulated in order to control and visualize the shape of the overall robot. This allows the surgeon to derive valuable information such as the shape of the environment traversed and accurate localization of problematic areas, increasing the overall safety of the procedure.
Chin, Austin, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Mentored by Dr. Hanne Hoffmann, Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Professor Binhai Zheng,
Determine the role of the transcription factor VAX1 in establishing the neuronal circuit regulating pubertal onset and fertility
Despite an improved understanding of the neuronal circuitry regulating the reproductive axis many infertile couples rely on fertility treatments to become pregnant, where prime treatments only have a 40 percent success rate. A greater understanding of the brain circuitry regulating reproduction can improve life of children with abnormal pubertal onset, as well as infertile couples, by identifying the origin of their problem, and help develop treatment strategies. This project is aimed at understanding the maturation of the brain circuit regulating pubertal onset and fertility. Based on our recent identification of the transcription factor Vax1 in establishing correct levels of kisspeptin and GnRH, two neuropeptides required for pubertal onset and fertility, we hypothesize that Vax1 is required for normal kisspeptin and GnRH neuron circuit formation, pubertal onset and reproduction. To understand the mechanisms and roles of Vax1 in establishing this brain circuit we will initiate a novel collaboration with Dr. Binhai Zheng in the Department of Neurosciences. The final goal of our project is to understand by what mechanism Vax1 regulates the brain circuit required for pubertal onset and fertility in both males and females, and determine how the sexual difference in these circuits affect pubertal onset and fertility.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #7
Oral Presentation Panel 11 Red Shoe Room Afternoon
Cravotta, Maegen, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. Robert Sah, Bioengineering Dr. Koichi Masuda, Orthopaedic Surgery
The measurement of iron concentration in synovial fluid and articular cartilage
Background. In synovial joints, articular cartilage (AC) covers the end of long bones and is bathed in a lubricious synovial fluid (SF). SF is an ultrafiltrate of blood that contains vital nutrients, regulatory factors, and lubricating molecules (Schmidt, 2007). In healthy knee joints, SF has 21.75Âą6.35 ug iron/dL, or 0.2 ppm (Yazar, 2005). During injury, blood typically enters the joint space, exposing the cartilage and synovial fluid to its contents, one of which is iron, that are normally excluded (Hettinga, 1979). Objectives. Determine the iron content in AC and SF. Methods. Samples of bovine SF (bSF) were solubilized and then analyzed (1) directly, or after spiking with (2) iron or (3) blood. Samples of bovine AC (bAC) were analyzed (1) directly, or (2) after incubation overnight with blood. Portions of samples were then analyzed for iron by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results are pending.
Crockett, Damon, Yale University Mentored by Dr. Lev Manovich, California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2) Dr. Jonathan Cohen, Philosophy Dr. Edward Vul, Psychology
Crowd Culture: Analyzing Massive Social Media Image Data
Social media platforms like Twitter, Flickr, and Instagram manage massive collections of crowdsourced cultural data. Studies of social media in social science have tended to focus on textual data, while research on social media image data has come primarily from computer science, where the goals are different; much of the existing literature focuses on well-defined problems like object detection and prediction. But social media platforms are increasingly important sites for crowd participation in visual culture. We discuss some of the challenges of using massive social media image datasets for the analysis of culture, and we describe several techniques we've developed for this work, in the context of several particular projects.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #25
Oral Presentation Panel 6 Warren College Room
Cui, Laura, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Pamela Mellon, Neurosciences Karen Tonsfledt, Biological Sciences
Temporal regulation of ovulation: Role of suprachiasmatic nucleus vasopressin neurons
Ovulation depends on a hormone surge, initiated by the secretion of KISS from kisspeptin neurons onto gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. The preovulatory hormone surge occurs when there is sufficient estrogen, but only at the start of the subjective day in humans and rodents. While estrogen is required for the preovulatory surge, the timing cue believed to initiate the surge is unknown. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) synchronizes and coordinates time-dependent phenomena throughout the body. Vasopressin (AVP) neurons in SCN project to and activate kisspeptin neurons. This projection was hypothesized to be the temporal component that initiates the preovulatory surge. This project studied this hypothesis by disrupting SCN AVP neurons to determine if this causes abnormal kisspeptin neuron function and irregular ovulation in female mice.
Dao, Khoi, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Medicine Mentored by Dr. Mohit Jain, Medicine
Quantification of endocannabinoids in human plasma by mass spectrometry. [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
Morning
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #5
Dasgupta, Subhasis, UC San Diego Department/Major: San Diego Supercomputer Center Mentored by Dr. Gupta Amarnath, San Diego Supercomputer Center
A Complex Ingestion In Analytical Polystore: The ChinaLab Case Study.
Most of the Social science data are mixed modeled data. After collections, the data is interpreted, transformed, augmented, extracted, indexed, modeled and finally stored into different model specific storage. However, the goal of the ingestion process is to prepare the data for the query. Often the ingestion process is complex and optimizable. We have two items for this presentation. First, we described and modeled different steps of an analytical polystore ingestion process. Likewise, we found polystore is the promising concept to handle mixed modeled data. Second, we assumed that the complex ingestion process would improve query performance and data inside view .i.e. various data operations during the ingestion process, improve the query performances. We established our claim with the help of a few examples from our ChinaLab setup. The presentation also contains ingestion architecture and other technical aspects as a part of our AWESOME System.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 10 Sixth College Room Afternoon
de Abreu Maia, Lucas, UC San Diego Department/Major: Political Science Mentored by Professor James Fowler, Political Science Professor Abraham Palmer, Medical Genetics, Division of Dr. Murray Stein, Neurosciences
A Matter of Morality: Evidence that ideological labels generate more polarized social attachments than other group identities
This paper tests whether affective polarization has an effect in ideological selfidentification. I measure the association between the two main ideological labels in American politics -- ``liberal'' and ``conservative'' -- and an accepted marker of group attachment: morality. In an experiment, participants were randomly selected into four forms of social affiliation: ideology, party identification, religion and sports team. Participants were then asked to describe individuals belonging to different identities within each treatment, such as liberal, conservative and moderate for ideology. I also collected a sample of over 40,000 tweets containing words denoting ideology and four other social attachments. I use automated text analysis to count the number of moral words associated with each identification. Across samples, I find that individuals are as likely to use moral words when discussing ideology as when discussing religion -- and significantly more so than all other conditions. Moreover, ideology strength significantly increases moral judgments. Finally, participants in the ideology treatment were more likely to describe co-ideologues as virtuous and opposing ideologues as vicious. These findings indicate that, contrary to previous theories of political identification, ideological labels are a powerful, polarized social attachment.
Oral Presentation Panel 8 Muir College Room Afternoon
Denholtz, Matthew, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Cornelis Murre, Biological Sciences Professor Paul Insel, Pharmacology
Neutrophil chromatin organization and NETosis
Neutrophil genomes are stored in multi-lobed nuclei. This polymorphonuclear (PMN) shape influences global chromatin organization. Upon activation, human neutrophils undergo a unique form of lytic cell death termed neutrophil extracellular trap formation (NETosis). During NETosis the neutrophil nucleus loses its PMN shape, the integrity of the nuclear envelope is compromised, and chromatin and extruded into the extracellular space. The resulting cytotoxic granule-laced “NET� confines and kills pathogens in vivo. In order to gain a clearer understanding of the molecular processes governing NET formation we utilized an integrated genomics approach to define the linear and spatial dynamics of neutrophil chromatin during the early stages of human NET formation. Utilizing two distinct activating stimuli we demonstrate both shared and divergent paths to chromatin disassembly in NETosis, with both modes of activation resulting in a reduction in the spatial segregation of euchromatin and heterochromatin prior to NET release. In summary we demonstrate an activation-dependent targeting of distinct features of chromatin topology during the early stages of NET formation. This data supports a controlled process of neutrophil chromatin disassembly in response to human pathogens prior to nuclear lysis and NET extrusion.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 2 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 9 Revelle College Room Afternoon
DePalma, Lindsay, UC San Diego Department/Major: Sociology Mentored by Professor John H. Evans, Sociology Professor Wendy Liu, Rady School of Management
Precarious Work: The Effect of the Loss of Stable Career-Paths on the Professional Middle Class
This project is concerned with how the changing nature of work affects how professionals define good work, good employers, and good employees, and how they construct the meaning of work in their lives. It asks: how do professionals negotiate the contradictions between cultural narratives about success, agency, and passionate work, and structural changes that render their work precarious? In order to answer this question, the research team conceptualized two broad experiences of work: Work within the market economy is characterized by more instability, risk, flexibility, and precariousness; Work within the organizations economy is characterized by more stability, less risk, rigidity, and security. Using 74 in-depth interviews, as well as a survey measuring self-identified levels of precarity, we compare professionals who experience work as precarious to those who do not by analyzing three occupations that have positions in both economies: engineers, graphic designers, and nurses. The broad impact of this research is to generate insights about how changes in work are changing workers, which will help to develop new structures that grant employers the flexibility and skills that the market demands and grant employees the securities, satisfaction, and cultural coherence they need to thrive in a market economy.
deVries, Maya, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Professor Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Professor Michael Tolley, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Turning the coral reef inside out: exploration using soft robotics
Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Despite the incredible biodiversity that has already been documented, true reef diversity remains largely a mystery, because current technology has limited the study of reefs to only their outer surfaces. Yet, coral reefs are massive, three-dimensional structures with tunnels and crevices that have not been rigorously explored. The majority of the species living within reefs and the properties of their unique environment remain undiscovered, simply because it has been technically impossible to access internal reef structures non-destructively. With the advent of soft robotics, which seeks to design automated robots composed primarily of soft materials, we have begun constructing an autonomous robot that is inspired by squid locomotion and uses jet propulsion to move inside of reefs. This robot will be able to record video to document reef organisms and take environmental measurements of temperature, pH, and oxygen. In addition to robot construction, we are collecting preliminary data on biodiversity inside coral reefs to help inform future analyses. Together, these efforts will facilitate the discovery of processes yielding reef biodiversity and contribute valuable technology to future coral reef conservation strategies.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 6 Warren College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 11 Red Shoe Room Afternoon
Ding, Jeffrey, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Biological Sciences, Medicine Mentored by Professor Mohit Jain, Biological Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacology Professor Aitor Aguirre, Medicine
GPX4 Lipid Signaling in Cancer
Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of men and women in the United States, ahead of breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. It is also a hard to detect, extremely deadly disease. More than half of the patients die within one year of diagnosis. Novel therapeutic strategies have been developed for its treatment with a certain degree of success, such as receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (e.g. erlotinib). Unfortunately, these treatments have proven insufficient due to tumors becoming resistant and highly aggressive after a few months of continuous treatment. However, in the process of becoming more malignant, cancer cells also develop new specific characteristics as a consequence of their novel adaptations, a molecular “re-wiring� process that can lead to novel vulnerabilities. Genes driving these vulnerabilities constitute an Achilles Heel of cancer. Recently, while performing a CRISPR-Cas9 genome-wide screen, we identified lipid peroxidation processes as novel vulnerabilities in highly chemoresistant lung cancer cells. We employed cutting-edge liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze the cancer cell lipidome searching for this novel class of lipid peroxides, in an effort to characterize them and identify their involvement in cancer cell signaling pathways. In the near future, pharmacological targeting of lipid peroxide signaling pathways could revolutionize our options for treatment of aggressive chemoresisitant tumors.
Dixit, Anvita, UC San Diego Department/Major: Medicine Mentored by Dr. Anita Raj, Medicine Dr. Prashant Bharadwaj, Economics
Association of unintended pregnancy with infant deaths among women in Nigeria DHS 2013.
Background: Globally, the majority of child deaths occur in infancy, with Nigeria carrying a large burden of one in five of these deaths. Evidence on the association of unintended pregnancy and risk of infant mortality are inconclusive nor has this been examined specifically for Nigeria. The objective of this study was to assess the association between pregnancy intention and infant mortality among women in Nigeria. Methods: This study used the population based cross-sectional Nigeria Demographic Health Survey from 2013. Simple and adjusted multivariable logistic regression modelling was carried out. Results: There was a significant bivariate association between wanting no more children and infant death (OR=1.68, p=.03). The multivariate analysis revealed a slightly attenuated and more marginal significance for this association (AOR=1.60, p=.06). Wealth index, parity, birth interval, post-natal care, sex of child, and multiparous birth were also significant factors in the model. Conclusions: Women’s intention of wanting no more children increased odds of infant death. This is an important risk factor to improve child survival, as policies to improve access and use of modern and limiting contraceptives may need to be reassessed in light of the association of limiting pregnancy intention with infant death.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 6 Warren College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 2
Dong, Stephanie, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Medicine Mentored by Dr. Michael Matthias, Medicine
Survival of the Water-Borne Human Pathogen, Leptospira interrogans, in Cultured Acanthamoeba Species
The interplay between ecology and evolution is an emerging theme in microbial ecology. Perhaps the most well-studied of such interactions are those occurring between bacteria and free-living ameba (FLA), which may be either harmful or beneficial. Several, welldescribed in vitro, co-culture models, e.g., Legionella–Acanthamoeba, Legionella– Hartmannella, Mycobacteria–Acanthamoeba and Salmonella–Naegleria, have firmly established that, apart from their role as predator, FLA also provide a replicative niche for certain bacteria [so-called “amoeba resisting bacteria” (ARB)] that include known and emerging human pathogens. More importantly, in vitro experiments show conclusively that survival within FLA enhances bacterial virulence. Moreover, once ‘infected’, FLA are able to transmit bacterial “cargo” to susceptible vertebrate hosts, implying that such associations could influence transmission dynamics. Here, using an in vitro Acanthamoeba-Leptospira co-culture system, we show that Leptospira interrogans, like other macrophage-infecting human pathogens survive within FLA implying a previously unrecognized mode of survival and transmission.
Drotman, Dylan, UC San Diego
Eleanor Roosevelt College Room
Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Professor Michael Tolley, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Professor Andrea Chiba, Cognitive Science Dr. Deborah Forster, Qualcomm Institute
Morning
Soft Actuator Modules for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
The field of soft robotics has gained significant momentum recently due to the potential applications for human-robot interaction. In contrast to rigid robots, soft robots have soft and extensible bodies that are able to interact with unknown environments and absorb energy from collisions. This work presents a practical approach to the design and fabrication of customizable soft actuator modules. We have designed a soft 3D printed actuator composed of three parallel, connected bellowed chambers rotated 120 degrees about the longitudinal axis of the actuator. The soft pneumatic actuator operates when the actuator chambers are inflated with controlled input pressure for multi-directional bending. We modeled the motion of the actuator modules analytically and computationally and compared the models to experimental results. We demonstrated two applications of the actuator modules by using them as fingers for manipulation tasks and as legs for walking over obstacles. The results shown here present a framework for developing soft robots that are able to interact with the world in an adaptable and safe way.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 4 Red Shoe Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 12 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Afternoon
Dunai, Suzanne, UC San Diego Department/Major: History Mentored by Dr. Pamela Radcliff, History Dr. Hanna Garth, Anthropology
You are What You Eat: The Politics of Francoist Nutrition
The consolidation of power under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco brought many changes to social life in Spain at the end of the civil war, 1936-1939. Scarcity necessitated government intervention into the food supply, but the ideological motivation of the ultraconservative dictator greatly influenced intervention as well. As a basic human need, control of food signified control of the population. Much of Franco’s food regulation had a direct impact on how Spaniards lived their lives. The rationing program was “family style” so that men controlled household consumption. Women received 20% less food than men, justified by biological sciences. As a consequence of the food policy, doctors found that gendered divisions in food provisioning caused gendered trends in malnutrition. Patriarchy motivated the distribution of the state’s resources and the regime used its food supply to indoctrinate Spaniards with ultra-conservative ideology. In this presentation, I connect the food policies to their consequences for public health to reveal the gender bias in society. Far from controlling the population through food, the regime caused gendered malnutrition epidemics in Spain in the 1940s.
Duran, Francisco, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Political Science Mentored by Dr. Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Urban Green Spaces Network
In Summer 2017, I conducted research at the UCSD Community Station at Divina Providencia in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. In this presentation, I will discuss my project on the establishment of an urban green spaces network throughout the community of Los Laureles Canyon.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 8 Muir College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 5 Sixth College Room Morning
Einstein, Jaclyn, UC San Diego Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. Gene Yeo, Cellular & Molecular Medicine Dr. Prashant Mali, Bioengineering
Identification of RNA-binding proteins that control Myc-dependent survival in cancer.
Cancer is a progressively disabling condition caused by chromosomal rearrangements that induce uncontrolled cell growth due to the amplification of oncogenes or silencing of tumor suppressors. However, many of these abnormalities are poorly understood and the availability of therapeutic agents specifically targeting the products of diseasecausing mutations is limited. Myc is an oncogenic transcription factor that is among the most highly amplified oncogenes in many human cancers, yet a precise understanding of its molecular targets responsible for transformation and growth has mystified scientists for decades. Due to the difficulty of using targeted therapies to limit Myc oncogene addiction, recent studies have explored the concept of synthetic lethality to identify pathways that are essential to support Myc-induced growth. Previous observations raise the possibility that RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) comprise a key node within the oncogenic signaling network that supports Myc-induced cell growth, and that posttranscriptional RNA processing events contribute to cancer cell transformation. This project aims to apply leading edge genome-scale and functional assays to identify RBPs that control Myc-dependent growth and survival in cancer by employing a targeted CRISPR/Cas9 screen in the setting of Myc-driven breast cancer.
Fattet, Laurent, UC San Diego Department/Major: Pharmacology Mentored by Professor Jing Yang, Pharmacology Dr. Adam Engler, Bioengineering
Dissecting the dynamic mechanoregulation of breast cancer metastasis using a newly engineered biomaterial
Breast tumors are detected through physical palpation due to their apparent “hardness� compared to normal mammary tissues. Recent studies show that breast tumors show a 10 to 50-fold increase of tissue rigidity compared to normal breast tissues and mechanical force generated by increasing hardness of breast tumors promotes cancer progression and metastasis. However, it is unknown how mechanical force directly regulates tumor metastasis on the molecular level. Our project aims to dissect the molecular components of a novel mechanotransduction pathway in tumor invasion and metastasis. To mimic dynamic stiffening of extracellular matrix during tumor progression, we use a novel tunable hydrogel as a platform to study the dynamic interplay between stiffness and tumor cell invasion. To study how mechanical forces regulate cellular signaling pathways, we combine cell and molecular biology, tumor xenograft in mice, with various bioengineering tools to manipulate mechanical properties and matrix stiffness. Applying interdisciplinary approaches to breast cancer research is critical to address the role of matrix stiffening in tumor progression. Given that metastasis is the leading cause of lethality in breast cancer patients, the proposed interdisciplinary research could lead to new therapeutics targeting the mechanotransduction pathway to halt breast cancer progression and metastasis.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 11 Red Shoe Room Afternoon
Fauvelle, Mikael, UC San Diego Department/Major: Anthropology Mentored by Professor Guillermo Algaze, Anthropology Professor Dominique Rissolo, California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2) Professor Elizabeth Newsome, Visual Arts
Exploring the Origins of Global Inequalities: Art, Archaeology, and Digital Heritage at Fracci贸n Mujular
Scholars working from a variety of traditions across the sciences and humanities are realizing that in order to understand how global inequalities shape our modern world, we need to explore their origins and antecedents in the past. This project represents a collaborative effort to explore the expansion of the ancient Central Mexican state of Teotihuacan; one of the most powerful and far-reaching civilizations in the history of the New World. Our research focuses on the site of Fracci贸n Mujular in coastal Chiapas, where art historians have argued that glyphs and stylistic elements found on ancient stone sculptures indicate that Teotihuacan may have established a long-distance trade colony during the first millennium CE. With support from the FISP our project is testing this possibility by conducting the first ever excavations at Fracci贸n Mujular. Additionally, we are using cutting-edge x-ray florescence technology to geochemically source hundreds of artifacts found at the site. As a collaboration between art historians, archaeologists, and engineers, work at Fracci贸n Mujular is expanding our knowledge of the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica, testing models for the formation of social disparities, and preserving important artistic monuments for future generations.
Oral Presentation Panel 9 Revelle College Room Afternoon
Finlay, Alyssa, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Andreas Andersson, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Vicki Grassian, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Identifying Factors that Control the Dissolution of Biogenic Carbonate Sediments
Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth and provide immense ecological and economic services. Ocean acidification (OA), the lowering of seawater pH in response to increasing anthropogenic carbon emissions, is expected to have a negative impact on coral reefs. Coral reefs persist when production of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) by marine organisms exceeds physical loss and dissolution of CaCO3. As a result of OA, CaCO3 dissolution could exceed its production, which implies that coral reefs may begin to disappear. Despite this potential outcome, few studies have addressed this topic and little is known about the rates, drivers and mechanisms of CaCO3 dissolution under current and future oceanic conditions. This understanding is essential to forecasting the response of coral reefs to future OA. Using state-of-the-art instrumentation, we investigated the rates and mechanisms of coral reef CaCO3 dissolution under carefully controlled laboratory conditions. By combining expertise from an oceanography laboratory with a surface chemistry laboratory, we were able to explore novel and transformative concepts of the mechanisms of CaCO3 dissolution. This knowledge will be necessary to improve future management and protection of coral reef ecosystems.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room
Frausto, Cynthia, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Biological Sciences, Public Health Mentored by Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Transportation Justice
Morning
In Summer 2017 I conducted research at the UCSD Community Station at Casa Familiar in San Ysidro. In this presentation I will discuss the community advocacy that ultimately led to the Otay Mesa Road project getting accepted by the City of San Diego.
Poster Session A
Gacasan, Erica, UC San Diego
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #16
Oral Presentation Panel 10 Sixth College Room Afternoon
Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. Robert Sah, Bioengineering Dr. Koichi Masuda, Orthopaedic Surgery
Chondrogenesis of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease affecting articular cartilage, impairs quality of life, and is a major healthcare burden. Tissue engineering approaches, wherein afflicted articular cartilage is resurfaced with functional biological tissue, are a promising alternative to current treatments but require a considerable number of cells which have the chondrogenic phenotype. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), can be expanded in vitro, have chondrogenic potential, and may be a useful cell-source for tissueengineered cartilage. The objective of this study was to determine the effects on hMSC proliferation and chondrogenesis of (1) alginate vs monolayer culture and (2) medium supplements, fetal bovine serum (FBS) and defined factors. hMSCs were expanded and then incubated in monolayer or alginate beads, and cultured in chondrogenic media containing 10% FBS, defined factors, or both. Proliferation and chondrogenesis were assessed by quantitation of DNA and sulfated glycosaminoglycan content respectively. Enhancement of chondrogenesis by hMSCs is an important step in the successful creation of tissue-engineered cartilage for biological joint replacement.
Gao, Richard, UC San Diego Department/Major: Cognitive Science Mentored by Professor Bradley Voytek, Cognitive Science Professor Alysson Muotri, Pediatrics
Network oscillations spontaneously emerge in human iPSC-derived cerebral organoids
Cognition and behavior require flexible and dynamic coordination of neural ensembles across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Oscillations in the ensemble electric field are a candidate mechanism for how such coordination is instantiated, with oscillatory disruptions associated with a variety of disease states. Although network oscillations are readily observed in the intact brain and in cortical slices, the development and physiological mechanisms leading to their emergence are not well understood, primarily due to the experimental inaccessibility of living human brains at early stages of the development.
ABSTRACTS Human induced-pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology has recently been adapted to study early neural development. Here, we observed low-frequency oscillations (1-4 Hz) in 3D cortical organoids derived from human iPSCs. Robust and reproducible oscillatory activity, in both population spiking and local field potential (LFP) recordings, spontaneously emerged after 4 months of development. We characterize the development of network activity over time by analyzing single and multi-unit activity, and find that population-wide oscillatory network activity became more complex as the organoids matured and developed into multi-layered cortical structures. Functional neural circuitry was achieved in vitro and resembled dynamic features of the human brain under special conditions, such as deep anesthesia. These findings have the potential to bridge the gap between the microscale in vitro neural network electrophysiology and non-invasive human electroencephalography (EEG), especially with regards to the mechanisms and functions of population oscillatory activity.
Oral Presentation Panel 4 Red Shoe Room Morning
Garcia Hernandez, Yessica, UC San Diego Department/Major: Ethnic Studies Mentored by Dr. Jillian Hernandez, Ethnic Studies Dr. Julie Burelle, Theatre
Foto-Knowledges of the Borderlands: Autoretrato as a Method to Explore Transnational Latina Girlhoods
The participatory action research program Rebel QuinceaĂąera Collective (RQC) was institutionalized at UCSD in the AY 2015-2016 and creates spaces for economically disadvantaged girls of color to both embrace and critique the meanings of culture, gender, race, and ethnicity they navigate in their lives. Our workshops focus on establishing a pipeline program between youth and UCSD. The research questions that guide our collective work are: Can cultural activities such as creative writing, art, music, and film provide students with effective vehicles for expressing and researching their experiences as girls while also increasing their graduation rates and college enrollment? Part of our research goal is to establish community partnerships with educational and social service institutions that work with girls. As of fall 2016, we have collaborated and volunteered with other community partnerships like Las Fotos Project and this presentation focuses on how LFP inspired our incorporation of photographic methodologies to RQC and pushed us to think about transnational girlhoods in Tijuana, Mexico.
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #17
Georges, Alex, UC San Diego Department/Major: Physics Mentored by Professor David Meyer, Mathematics Professor Thad Kousser, Political Science
Stratification and Voting Behavior in Congress
Topological data analysis and machine learning methods are relatively new approaches to analyzing the structure of high dimensional datasets. In this research, we develop a new method based on these approaches to make voting predictions for members in Congress. Additionally, this allows us to uncover relevant and significant features that encapsulate information about the current political atmosphere. In turn, this approach can be useful in making voting predictions of the general public in elections.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 8 Muir College Room Afternoon
Getz, Michael, UC San Diego Department/Major: Nanoengineering Mentored by Professor Padmini Rangamani, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Professor Pradipta Ghosh, Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Guanine-nucleotide Exchange Modulator, GIV/Girdin, Serves as a Tunable Valve for Growth Factor-Stimulated Cyclic AMP Signals
Cellular levels of the versatile second messenger, cyclic-(c)AMP are regulated by the antagonistic actions of the canonical G protein->adenylyl cyclase pathway that is initiated by G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and by phosphodiesterases (PDEs); dysregulated cAMP signaling drives many diseases, including cancers. Recently, an alternative paradigm for cAMP signaling has emerged, in which growth factor-receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs; e.g., EGFR) access and modulate G proteins via cytosolic guanine-nucleotide exchange modulator (GEM), GIV/Girdin; dysregulation of this pathway is frequently encountered in cancers. Here we present a comprehensive networkbased compartmental model for the paradigm of GEM-dependent signaling that reveals unforeseen crosstalk and network dynamics between upstream events and the various feedback-loops that fine-tune the GEM action of GIV, and captures the experimentally determined dynamics of cAMP. The model also reveals that GIV acts a tunable controlvalve within the RTK->cAMP pathway; hence, it modulates cAMP via mechanisms distinct from the two most-often targeted classes of cAMP modulators, GPCRs and PDEs.
Oral Presentation Panel 5 Sixth College Room Morning
Giffin, Erin, UC San Diego Department/Major: Economics Mentored by Dr. Isabel Trevino, Economics Dr. Craig McKenzie, Rady School of Management Dr. Joel Watson, Economics
Memory and Economic Decision Making: Theory and Experiments [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 2 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room
Golinski, Chris, UC San Diego Department/Major: Music Mentored by Dr. David Borgo, Music Dr. Karsten Hansen, Rady School of Management
Funding the Arts in the Digital Age: What Voluntary Payments Tell Us About the Future of Creative Economies
Morning
The ubiquity and expectation of free music in the digital domain has created a significant challenge for musicians seeking to fund their work and support themselves through their art. However, as the internet has decimated the music industry, it has also given birth to new channels for arts funding, such as Kickstarter, Bandcamp, and Patreon, in which fans choose to voluntarily support artists. My research examines the motivations and characteristics of Bandcamp users who support musicians, in order to determine if these alternative avenues of funding can scale to become the dominant paradigm for financing the arts in the 21st century. I also investigate the types of music that are supported through voluntary channels, asking the question of whether or not new financial incentives will lead to changes in creative practices.
Poster Session A
Gonzalez, Celene, California State University, San Bernardino
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #8
Department/Major: Psychology Mentored by Dr. Viola StĂśrmer, Psychology
The Speed of Visual Attention
Visual attention can be deployed endogenously (i.e., with deliberate effort) or exogenously (i.e., reflexively). Here, we test the hypothesis that shifting attention exogenously is fast and independent of distance, while shifting attention endogenously is relatively slow and dependent upon distance, such that it takes longer to shift attention to a far location relative to a nearby location. In our task, participants saw 8 distinct circles with continuously changing colors, located near (close eccentricity) & away (far eccentricity) the central fixation point. In addition, one of the circles was cued with either an exogenous (white circle) or an endogenous (a central cue template); participants were then asked, to report the color of the target circle when the cue appeared. Attentional shift times were computed by taking the difference between the color of the target circle at the time of the cue and subjects’ color response. Exp.1 & 2, suggested that for exogenous attention, responses were fast & close towards the target color, regardless of eccentricity. In contrast, responses in endogenous attention were slower. In Exp. 3 & 4, an eye-tracker was implemented to further examine variances as a function of distance.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #2
Gu, Yumeng, UC San Diego Department/Major: Rady School of Management Mentored by Dr. Christopher Oveis, Rady School of Management Dr. Charlie Taylor, Psychiatry
A Potential Intervention for Improving Relationships and Reducing Social Anxiety’s Negative Impact on Social Connection, Creativity, and Performance in Teams
Recent research on psychopathology and emotion has revealed minimal and conflicting evidence on gratitude’s effects on people high in trait social anxiety (SA). The current study (N=200) examines how individuals high and low in SA respond to gratitude expressions from others, and how gratitude expressions influence high and low SA individuals’ later responses to social stress. In the study, 100 dyads were randomly assigned to a gratitude expression or control expression condition prior to engaging in a collaborative performance task in which they designed a product and then pitched their design to stone-faced evaluators. Regardless of whether or not they received a gratitude expression prior to social stress, individuals high in SA experienced more intense negative emotions, less intense positive emotions, more anticipatory stress toward a collaborative task, and felt that their dyadic partner was less responsive to them. We also found that gratitude expressions interacted with SA in increasing levels of anticipatory stress before a collaborative task. The current study is the first-known empirical evidence connecting gratitude expressions, social anxiety, and performance under stress.
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #28
Guan, Jinyan, UC San Diego Department/Major: Cognitive Science Mentored by Dr. Angela Yu, Cognitive Science
Statistical Modeling of the Social Perception of Faces
People can readily recognize human faces and make unconscious social judgment almost instantaneously when seeing other people's face. Understanding social perception of human faces does not only have profound impacts in psychology but also benefits the development of intelligent systems in the AI community. We propose a computational statistical approach to study: 1) how people form social perception of a particular face; 2) What visual features drive these social perception; and 3) how people of different racial background view the same face differently. By using two publicly available face datasets of US adult face images, among which a subset are rated by MTurk workers for more than 40 social traits, we build a low-dimensional statistical face model that captures the variations in shape and texture of human faces. This generic face representation is sufficiently rich to allow good prediction performance on social traits via simple regression. Using our model we can also generate faces that are perceived as desired (such as more friendly, trustworthy and sociable). It also allows us to statistically examine how the underlying facial features contributed differently to social traits judgments of withinrace and cross-race faces.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room
Gutierrez, Mayra, Mentored by Dr. Camille Nebeker, Family Medicine & Public Health, Dept of
Building Research Integrity and Capacity: Integrating a Social Media Platform to Reach and Educate Promotores/Community Health Workers (CHWs) involved in Community Evaluation and Research
Morning
Promotores de Salud/Community Health Workers (CHWs) are integral to community evaluation and research. CHWs are experts in their communities and participating in the development and implementation of research studies is vital to the success of the studies. Several issues may arise in their involvement in research: 1) CHWs may not realize they are part of a research study/team and may not have complete understanding of the research process, 2) Program Managers and Principal Investigators (PIs) may not view CHWs as part of the research team and may not provide research ethics training, or training is limited, 3) available research ethics trainings may not be culturally appropriate, or 4) developing a culturally appropriate research ethics training curriculum may take a lot of time and money to develop. The purpose of this study is to test the dissemination and implementation of Building Research Integrity and Capacity (BRIC), a culturally-grounded research ethics training course “by and for Promotores,” using Mobile, Imaging, pervasive Sensing, Social media and location Tracking (MISST) strategies. Specifically, the BRIC training will be tested within the Facebook social media platform, an accessible and widely used platform, by a diverse population worldwide. The proposed study will examine the engagement, perceptions and willingness of Latino and underserved communities’ use of MISST technologies, which may help reduce health disparities and improve the health of individuals and communities.
Poster Session B
Ha, Yuanchi, UC San Diego Muir College
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #33
Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Mathematics Mentored by Professor Gene Yeo, Cellular & Molecular Medicine Professor Amy Pasquinelli, Biological Sciences
Large-scale Tethering Screen Identifies BOLL and MEX3C as RNA Stability Regulators
Cytoplasmic RNA binding proteins (RBPs) regulate mRNA stability and translation to control cellular protein levels. However, among the ~1,500 RBPs in the human genome, only a few have assigned functions in these processes. To identify RBPs with novel roles in modulating mRNA turnover and translational rate, we constructed a library of 953 RBPs, and conducted a tethered function screen. By either knocking down or overexpressing top 14 candidate RBPs, and performing RNAseq, we confirmed the role of the candidate RBPs. Using enhanced cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (eCLIP), we identified the transcriptome-wide target genes, and evaluated the strength of the RBP binding. As a result, we confirmed that several of our candidate RBPs regulate mRNA expression levels of target genes. Among these candidate RBPs, BOLL and MEX3C are novel regulators that modulate RNA stability by binding strength.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #9
Hableel, Ghanim, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Nanoengineering Mentored by Professor Jesse Jokerst, Nanoengineering Fang Chen, Materials Science Program
A multi-purpose silica and iron oxide hybrid nanoparticle for ultrasound-guided cardiac stem cell therapy
Stem cell therapy is a promising concept in regenerating diseased hearts, but current methods are inefficient for a number of reasons. Implanted cells suffer from low survivability due to ischemia and mis-injections into fibrotic tissue. At the same time, they are not retained well within the heart due to continuous blood circulation. We used porous mesocellular foam (MCF) silica nanoparticles and conjugated them with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) to create magnetic hybrid nanoparticles that act as contrast agents for ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). By combining all of these elements, it is possible to image myocardial injections in real-time with ultrasound, retain the cells in specific site using an external magnet, and load MCF-SPIO with pro-survival drugs. We show that MCF-SPIO particles are engulfed by human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) with low cytotoxic effects. Furthermore, these nanoparticle-labeled cells resist the shear stress of the heart’s environment with the help of an external magnet. With this method, there could be an improvement in stem cell viability and treatment efficacy, leading to more widespread clinical applications.
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #30
Haggart, Alexander, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentored by Dr. Pamela Reinagel, Biological Sciences
Delayed Gratification and Success: A Rat Model of the Marshmallow Test, Biology and Math Components
We hypothesize that individual differences in the capacity to tolerate delayed reward could explain differences in cognitive performance. We further hypothesize that Ritalin improves cognitive performance by increasing delay tolerance. To test this in an animal model, we proposed to measure the ability of rats to accept reward delays, which has been classically studied in human children using the “Marshmallow Test�. The project required an electrical engineering student to develop new testing apparatus, a biology student to perform rat experiments, and a math student to develop a computational model. Here we present progress so far on the biology and math components. Using the apparatus built by our EE teammate, we are measuring locomotor effects of Ritalin to determine a minimal effective dose for rats. We have begun collecting data on reward delay tolerances of rats with and without Ritalin. We are also measuring cognitive performance with and without Ritalin using pre-existing methods. On the math front, we have been analyzing behavioral data during the time before reward collection to determine how accurately different rats can estimate when delays will end, and test if this correlates with ability to tolerate delays.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 6 Warren College Room
Hahn, Hye Jee (Lily), UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Revelle College, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences Mentored by Dr. Anjan Debnath, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Targeting Mevalonate Pathway for the Treatment of Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis
Morning
Primary amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM) is a fulminant disease caused by the pathogenic, free-living amoeba Naegleria fowleri. Prognosis remains poor for those affected, with survival rate of around 1%. The primary drug of choice for PAM is amphotericin B, but it has concomitant side effects, such as use-restricting renal toxicity, poor aqueous solubility and nonspecific distribution. Therefore, development of novel and efficient drugs is a time-critical need. In vitro studies have shown that both farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI) and HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors potently suppressed amoeba proliferation. Follow-up experiments showed high synergy between an FTI and a statin against N. fowleri. These data demonstrate that enzymes in the mevalonate pathway of N. fowleri are promising molecular targets for future drug development against PAM.
Poster Session B
Hallare, Jericho, UC San Diego, Marshall College
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #26
Oral Presentation Panel 5 Sixth College Room Morning
Department/Major: Bioengineering, Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Preetham Suresh, Anesthesiology (Hillcrest)
Educational Value of an Adjustable and Life-Like Laryngoscopy Simulator
Anesthesiologists are often responsible for the initial teaching of airway management techniques to various providers and trainees. Recent evidence has demonstrated the benefit of simulation training on skill acquisition but research still needs to be done to optimize how this approach is implemented. Our project aims to improve patient safety by augmenting laryngoscopy training on airway manikins by electronically analyzing the trainee's technique to allow for targeted feedback on the aspects where the novice deviates from the expert. Furthermore, we aim to examine if this data can be utilized to evaluate procedural competence and likelihood of success in clinical practice. These goals are realized through the use of technology developed at UCSD that monitor data regarding force and trajectory during a trainee's laryngoscopy in simulation as well as data collection on a trainee's laryngoscopy technique in the clinical setting.
Hariri, Ali, UC San Diego Department/Major: Nanoengineering Mentored by Professor Jesse V. Jokerst, Nanoengineering Dr. Daniel L. Chao, Ophthalmology
Photoacoustic Ocular Imaging of Retina Oxygen Gradients In Vivo [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #18
Oral Presentation Panel 6 Warren College Room Morning
Hashi, Aziz, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Hillcrest-UCSD Medical Center Mentored by Dr. Samuel Pan, Antiviral Research Center (AVRC)
Vital Sign Measurements using Maxim Integrated Mobile Phone-embedded BioSensor are Accurate and Comparable to Standard-of-Care Monitor in Clinical Settings [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
Heinrich, Erica, UC San Diego Department/Major: Medicine Mentored by Dr. Tatum Simonson, Medicine
Cognitive Assessment Following Sleep Apnea Treatments at High Altitude
Poor sleep quality is common at high altitude and likely influences memory consolidation and daytime cognitive function. The contribution of poor sleep versus hypoxemia to cognitive impairment is unknown. We hypothesized that supplemental O2 and adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV), which reduces apneic events, would improve sleep quality and/or cognitive performance at high altitude. Nineteen subjects were studied at the UC White Mountain Research Center, Barcroft Field Station. Subjects slept with ASV, supplemental oxygen, or no-treatment randomized across three consecutive nights. Sleep quality was evaluated with polysomnography and subjects were given a battery of cognitive tests in the morning. Thus far, data indicates no effect of treatment on the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) or the amount of time spent in stage 3 sleep. Supplemental O2 increased blood oxygen saturation overnight and ASV decreased sleep efficiency. This may indicate that participants require additional acclimation time with the ASV device prior to study. Acute mountain sickness was highest following nights with no treatment. Neither treatment resulted in consistently improved cognitive performance on the following morning. We conclude that hypoxemia at high altitude may play a larger role in reducing cognitive performance than poor sleep quality.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 3 Revelle College Room Morning
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #3
Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room Morning
Hetherington, Elizabeth, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Carolyn Kurle, Biological Sciences
Impacts of anomalous oceanographic conditions on the California Current food web
Evaluating ecological impacts of the recent marine heatwave and 2015-2016 El Niño event in the northeastern Pacific Ocean is crucially important for predicting ecosystem responses to future events. Nitrogen stable isotope values (δ15N) can be used to evaluate the diets of consumers, food web structure, and changes in isotopic baselines and primary production. We analyzed δ15N values of quarterly-collected zooplankton samples in the central California Current to evaluate the response of the copepod, Calanus pacificus, to recent anomalous conditions. Our analyses suggest an overall increase in δ15N values with the onset of positive ENSO conditions in the California Current. We found high seasonal variability, and differences between nearshore and offshore stations, with overall lower δ15N values at the nearshore station. Our study provides insight into the effects of anomalous conditions on food web dynamics and the trophic ecology of an abundant zooplankton consumer, which can be used to predict future ecosystem responses to ENSO events.
Ho, Nelson, UC San Diego Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentored by Professor Ryan Kastner, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Dr. Sonia Ramamoorthy, Surgery (Thornton)
A ground truth 3D video dataset for Augmented Reality Robotic MIS algorithms
Minimally Invasive Surgeries (MIS) allow patients to recover significantly faster than traditional open surgeries, reduce trauma to the body and improve patient post-operative pain. Recent advances in Computer Vision have the potential to improve guidance in MIS. In particular, Augmented Reality (AR) is a promising method to improve image guidance in surgery.
Hodge, Tevon, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Communication Mentored by Dr. Angela Booker, Communication
Democracy Lab
The democracy lab gives students, and community members, in the inner-city access to media tools to produce their own original content. The lab empowers and encourages the attendees to express themselves in the way that they see fit. With the help of students from UC San Diego, they will also be taught the skills to produce their visions
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #32
Oral Presentation Panel 1 Muir College Room Morning
Hope, Audrey, UC San Diego Department/Major: Visual Arts Mentored by Professor Anya Gallaccio, Visual Arts Dr. Sherice Clarke, Education Studies
Artists of Our Own Existence: Developing New Pedagogical Models that Draw upon Art Practice
Our three part project highlights new models for engagement between artists, educators, and students in order to better address the creative needs of diverse populations. Through outreach work with an underserved school on the northeastern edge of San Diego County, an artist project, and work with educators, we have developed new curricular resources that bring the process-oriented nature of contemporary art practices into the classroom. The presentation will give symposium attendees the chance to experience a cross-section of our research and the results of the trainee’s field work. We will present lesson plan takeaways within an art installation that emphasizes tactile and sensory experience. Both the lessons and the artwork have been directly informed by the discoveries of participating students. Throughout this work our aim has been to demonstrate the value of youth voices to art and education, while offering students a hands-on introduction to what it means to think like an artist today.
Hsu, Po-Ya, UC San Diego Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentored by Dr. Mingxiong Huang, Radiology Dr. Chung-Kuan Cheng, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Dr. Dewleen Baker, Psychiatry
Blast Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Study on Veterans in Chronic Phase by using Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Machine Learning Technique
The vast majority of battle casualties are victims of blast mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and it can lead to long-term neurological, cognitive, and behavioral disorders. Sadly to speak, no medical treatments are developed specifically for blast mTBI, largely owing to the lack of fully understanding of the neuronal mechanisms underlying blast mTBI. However, a well-designed neuroimaging experiment with appropriate analyses can assist on the understanding of blast mTBIs’ mechanisms. In this study, we recruited 19 healthy military controls (HMC) with combat exposure and 22 active-duty service members or Veterans with chronic blast mTBI. Their diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data were collected and voxelwise statistical analyses were carried out using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). Subsequently, the data attained from TBSS were treated as tract-based (TB) or cluster-based (CB) features for support vector machines (SVM) for classification analysis. TBSS results showed increased Fractional Anisotropy (FA) in blast mTBI in comparison to HMC. Furthermore, TB results had 82.93% correctness on classification between HMC and mTBI, while CB results had 95.12% correctness. To sum up, the structural abnormality resulting from mechanical force might lead to increased FA in blast mTBI. Plus, regions near Anterior Thalamic Radiation, Corticospinal Tracts, Forceps Minor, Inferior Frontal-Occipital Fasciculus, and the splenium were potential candidates to distinguish HMC from blast mTBI. Different mechanisms that contributed to the increased FA in blast mTBI were discussed.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 13 Marshall College Room
Huang, Oliver, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Mathematics Mentored by Professor Falko Kuester, California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2)
Immersive Exploration on Lost Remains
Afternoon
In the spirit of visualizing archaeological sites on an immersive level, head-mounted displays(HMD) offer users a unique opportunity to explore and interact these lost remains. HMD give users a stronger control in terms of telling the narrative. Users have a sense of direction as well as the ability to do empirical measurements, things to really enhance the storytelling in an immersive environment.
Poster Session A
Hui, Nathan, UC San Diego
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #24
Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), Qualcomm Institute Mentored by Dr. Ryan Kastner, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Dr. Curt Schurgers, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), Qualcomm Institute
Application of Drones for Radio Tracking Sister Islands Rock Iguanas (Cyclura nubila caymanensis)
Many iguana species live in areas with dense vegetation or difficult to access terrain. Such obstacles present difficulties when conducting radio telemetry studies, as access to tagged individuals can be severely limited. Most existing methods of radio telemetry tracking, which include radio direction-finding and triangulation, are therefore expensive in terms of man-power and effort, and can result in localizations with high probability of error. Over the past couple years, we have developed a proof-of-concept drone that is capable of locating tagged individuals with greater precision than triangulation and less effort than radio direction-finding. With this technology, the team studying Cyclura nubila caymanensis tracked up to 24 iguanas dispersing from various nesting sites in a single day with an average error of less than 20 m. This technology tracked iguanas in a variety of difficult habitats including dense mangrove, tropical dry forest, and bushland vegetation. Existing tracking techniques would have taken more time and effort to achieve similar precision. In addition to providing faster tracking capabilities for single individuals, the drone is capable of simultaneously locating multiple individuals. We have been able to demonstrate simultaneous localization of as many as 10 unique transmitters. Adopting this technology and continuing development of such capabilities could enable order-of-magnitude increases in scientific data returned from radio telemetry studies.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #7
Hyman, Sydnee, UC San Diego Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. Shengqiang Cai, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Dr. Koichi Masuda, Orthopaedic Surgery Dr. Peter Newton, Orthopaedic Surgery
Frequency-dependent modulus of porcine spinal motion segments varies with scoliosis surgical modification
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is a debilitating condition of abnormal curvature and rotation of the spine, and severe cases require corrective surgery. Although dynamic testing in 6 degrees-of-freedom has been used to characterize spinal motion segment (SMS) stiffness within a range of frequencies, biomechanical characterization of structural modifications introduced during scoliosis surgery (decortication, facetectomy, posterior ligament resection, and Ponte osteotomy) has not been performed. To determine the stiffness of immature porcine thoracic SMS in (A) axial rotation, (B) flexion/extension, and (C) lateral bending from (i) 0.001—2 Hz and (ii) 1—10% strain throughout the steps of spinal structure modification during surgery. Using a repeated measures study design, immature porcine thoracic SMS will be dynamically tested about two strain offsets in (A), (B), and (C) from (i) and (ii) with two stress relaxation cycles. Following one test, a surgical technique will be implemented, and the cycle will repeat. Decrease in SMS stiffness following decortication, facetectomy, posterior ligament resection, and Ponte osteotomy, but not decortication, are expected. Changes to spinal biomechanical properties during surgery will serve as inputs for a computational model of scoliosis surgery and could improve postoperative spinal shape.
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #8
Ibarra, Ivan, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. David Kunkel, Medicine Dr. Hyat Mousa, Pediatrics Dr. Larry Smarr, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Mathematical Modeling of Gastric Electrophysiology
Our group is focused on the research of the human gastrointestinal (GI) system, including the development of new and innovative analysis methods. The GI System is often over looked by many researchers looking into creating robust and non-invasive tools for medical analysis. Using passive bio-potential electrodes, like those used for analysis of the heart and brain signals, our goal is to image the dynamic activity of the gastric system. Using CT data, the abdomen and the stomach are identified from the rest of the organs and the three dimensional model of the stomach, and an abdomen shell are then extracted using different computer programs. Data collected from the electrodes are then combined with the three dimensional model of the stomach and abdomen to create a simulation that show the dynamic activity of the gastric slow wave. With this analysis tool doctors will have an optimal visual representation on where a patient's stomach is being negatively affected.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #9
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #19
Iranmehr, Arya, UC San Diego Department/Major: Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Mentored by Professor Brian Palenik, Marine Science Professor Vineet Bafna, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Detecting evolutionary selection on model cyanobacteria [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
Johnson, Alexander, UC San Diego Department/Major: Cognitive Science Mentored by Professor Douglas Nitz, Cognitive Science Dr. James Connor, Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine
Brain Mechanisms for Spatial Insight: The Role of Interactions Among Hippocampal and Cortical Brain Regions in Learning the Hidden Structure of Environmental Paths
Rats in the wild travel in packs and hunt small prey, activities that require tracking and pursuit of moving targets. Previous work, in the laboratory, has shown that rats in an open arena will pursue a moving laser target and can learn to run a particular, stereotyped path, even in the absence of other path constructions such as tracks. Under conditions where the repeated path is interspersed among random paths, rats will identify the repeated path and traverse it stereotypically. The present work will examine the registration and neural activity in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and retrospenial cortex (RSC) of the laser target relative to the animal’s head. Data suggest that, after controlling for the PPC and RSC correlates for the animal’s movement, neurons in the PPC and RSC encode the position of the laser target relative to the animal’s head - within a particular (40 cm long x 60 cm wide) spatial window extending from the rat’s head. Neurons exhibited biases according the relative distance and angle of the laser target to the animal’s head, effectively generating a mapping of the target position that is integrated with the animal’s movement.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 3 Revelle College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 12 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Afternoon
Johnson, Andrew, UC San Diego Department/Major: Marine Biology Research Division Mentored by Dr. Octavio Aburto, Marine Biology Research Division Professor Craig MacIntosh,
RecFish − A fish landings recording application to secure robust catch statistics for fisheries management.
The world’s oceans support millions of people every day, whether it be for food or employment. Understanding the impacts of our ocean use requires knowledge of how much we take from them. In the case of fisheries, this knowledge is still very limited and often non-existent, particularly in less-developed nations, making sustainable resource management a challenge. RecFish is a project that addresses this issue by designing and implementing an innovative mobile phone application that can be used in the field by fisheries officers to record daily catches. Accurate catch data will be logged by a series of touch buttons and a number pad. The data will then be transmitted and stored to a centralized government database. RecFish will be launched in early-2018 and tested in several communities along the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. The data will also be recorded at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and used by the Gulf of California Marine program to help better understand whether or not Mexico’s current fisheries management plans are sustainable. This will have an Impact on Mexico's management of marine resources and how important data is collected in the future. Following the initial test phase, the platform will be further developed to incorporate dynamic, graphic outputs of catches providing an educational component for stakeholders. Long-term goals are to implement the technology throughout Mexico and advertise it's use in other developing countries where data collection is a low priority for governments which leads to the mismanagement of important resources and ultimately reductions in human well-being.
Johnson, Lauryn, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Political Science Mentored by Dr. Thad Kousser, Political Science
All the President’s Tweets: Studying the Big Data of Twitter Political Communication with a Small Data Approach
How do presidential candidates use social media to connect with voters, and how to voters respond? As we move from the Twitter Campaign to the Twitter Presidency, UC San Diego has compiled a complete database of all tweets by every presidential candidate and the campaign SuperPACs, analyzing them using a combination of human judgment and machine learning algorithms. What issues do candidates tweet about, and do they offer factual claims or opinions? Do they stake clear ideological positions, and how do these change from the primaries to the general election, and then after a presidential inauguration? What sorts of tweets go viral, and what does this say about what voters really want from their civic discourse?
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #10
Oral Presentation Panel 13 Marshall College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 5 Sixth College Room Morning
Johnson, Teryn, UC San Diego Department/Major: Cognitive Science Mentored by Dr. Andrea Chiba, Cognitive Science Dr. Marcelo Aguilar-Rivera, Bioengineering Dr. Laleh Quinn, Cognitive Science
Hardware and Software Tools for Social Neuroscience Research [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
Kamat, Shreyas, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Aerospace Engineering Mentored by Dr. Falko Kuester, Structural Engineering
Towards Autonomous Marine Vehicle Systems
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have long been established as vital tools for data acquisition and disaster response. Although much progress has been made in the UAS industry, UAS have difficulty providing vital data from underwater environments. Our project focuses on the research and development of an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) optimized to collect data while partially submerged. Our design enables the ASV to operate in shallow environments (otherwise inaccessible to larger watercraft) and maintains a form factor that can be transported to remote locations. We will discuss stabilization techniques utilized on the vessel, required sensors and how collected data will be transmitted/visualized. Furthermore we explore the possibility of utilizing this platform as a high-endurance staging point for ROV's, submersibles and other autonomous vehicles.
Kang, Jinyoung, UC San Diego Department/Major: Nanoengineering Mentored by Professor Michael Sailor, Chemistry & Biochemistry Professor Jesse Jokerst, Nanoengineering
Enhanced Performance of a Molecular Photoacoustic Imaging Agent by Encapsulation in Mesoporous Silicon Nanoparticles [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #12
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #26
Kerosky, Sara, UC San Diego Department/Major: Political Science Mentored by Dr. Christina Schneider, Political Science Dr. Lisa Ballance, National Marine Fisheries Services
Does Local Governance Matter for Global Ocean Health?
A recent global assessment of human impact on ocean ecosystems found that no area is left unaffected by human influence and that over 40 percent of the world’s oceans is strongly affected by multiple human influences (Halpern et al 2008, 2013). Humans rely on the ocean for valuable resources and services, and human activities have direct and indirect implications for ocean health. Ocean-based activities, such as fishing, shipping, and oil drilling, disrupt ecosystems through extraction and pollution. Land-based activities, such as agriculture, produce run-off that further alter the natural order of the marine environment. This project addresses two major challenges of ocean resource management: measuring human impact, and regulating human activity. First, we conduct a cross-national assessment to test two competing approaches to ocean governance, one emphasizing the role of international institutions and the other emphasizing the role of local-level institutions. In this study, we use an innovative and comprehensive measure of human impact on the ocean environment to estimate the effects of political institutions across governance scales. In a complementary study, we examine the relationship between local governance and human impact on the coastal environment in the Philippines, using satellite data to investigate cases of illegal black sand mining.
Kopcho, Noah, UC San Diego Department/Major: Chemistry & Biochemistry, Pharmacology Mentored by Dr. Geoffrey Chang, Pharmacology
Characterizing Amyloid Beta Clearance in Alzheimer’s Disease
P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is a gatekeeper protein which lies on the outer membrane of cells in many tissues. This protein extrudes toxins and metabolic by-products from cells, leading to eventual clearance from the body. In the nervous system, P-gp activity maintains the integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). It has also been identified as a potential mediator of amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) clearance from the brain. The accumulation of this peptide is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and characterizing its interaction with P-gp is a key step forward in developing therapeutics for AD. For this project, we propose to confirm an interaction between P- gp and Aβ with an analysis using Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (HD-MS). From there, we will characterize the molecular architecture of binding with a 3-D crystal structure of Pgp bound to Aβ, offering atomic-level resolution of this interaction for the first time. Additionally, we will couple these structural interrogations through the use of cell-based functional assays with our co-mentor, Richard Daneman. Collectively, these studies will not only show the existence of a P-gp/Aβ interaction, but will also map that interaction at the atomic level.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #23
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #20
Kuang, Winnie, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Professor Michael Yip, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Dr. Jun Zhang, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Force Sensing Method using Ellipse Acceleration Profiles of Resonating Cantilever Rod
Force sensors are vital in industrial, medical, and academic settings; they enhance the precision and reliability of digital systems that require manipulation. This paper presents a new method in detecting transverse and axial force applied onto the tip of a uniform, anisotropic structure. Previous research has characterized the ellipse motion profile of such a structure induced by vibration. However, to the best of our knowledge, no research has utilized this phenomenon in force sensing. In this research, the correlation between ellipse motion profile responses to forces applied transversely and axially to the tip of a cantilever rod was developed. Further analysis on this relationship was performed via eigen-decomposition of the parameters from least squares and examination of the resulting eigenvalues and eigenvectors.
Kubo, Kent, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Professor Susan Hopkins, Medicine Dr. Rebecca Theilmann, Radiology
Endurance Athletes Have Larger Lung Volumes But Similar Lung Structure to Sedentary Control Subjects
Endurance athletes have larger lungs than controls matched for age, race, and height but the structural basis is unknown. Lung density measures allow the lung to be characterized into two compartments: air and tissue (including blood). The larger lung of athletes may have more air, more lung tissue or more of a similarly structured lung than controls. We hypothesized that athletes have more lung tissue in terms of surface area (higher density) thus gas-exchange units, potentially explaining high oxygen flux rates. Ten endurance athletes (6M/4F, age=24±4y, height 175±9cm) and ten nonathletic controls (6M/4F, age=22±2y, height 174±9cm,) underwent spirometry, maximal oxygen uptake (V. O2max) testing, and MRI to obtain measures of lung density at functional residual capacity. There were no significant differences between groups for age (p=0.09), height (p=0.88), or weight (p=0.98). Forced vital capacity [% predicted] (Athletes: 110±12, Controls: 94±12, p=0.01) and V. O2max (Athletes: 57±7ml/kg/m, Controls: 35±6ml/kg/m, p<0.001) were both greater in athletes. There was no significant difference in whole lung density between groups (Athletes: 0.20±0.02, Controls: 0.21±0.02, p=0.4). This suggests that athletes have a greater volume of a similar structured lung compared to controls.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #13
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #27
Labarta-Bajo, Lara, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Elina Zuniga, Biological Sciences Dr. Rob Knight, Pediatrics
Mechanisms of Intestinal Adaptation to Chronic Viral Infection
Chronic viruses such as HIV or HCV currently afflict hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Some chronic viruses are able to infect mucosal surfaces such as the gastrointestinal tract, which act as barrier tissues that allow selective interaction of the host’s mucosal immune system with environmental factors such as microbiota, food antigens or pathogens. It is well established that chronic infections and diseases such as obesity or autism are associated with gut pathology, but mechanistic evidence for the causes and consequences of gut pathology for the chronically-infected host is still lacking. By combining 16S metagenomic sequencing, metabolomics and immunological approaches we have found that infection of mice with Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCMV) profoundly alters the gastrointestinal tract. With this model, we have been able to identify CD8 T cells and type I interferons as the mechanism driving gut adaptations upon chronic LCMV infection and thanks to our omics data, we propose new future directions aimed at testing the functional role of the microbiome and metabolome in modulating chronic infection. These findings support the use of LCMV infection as a small animal model to perform mechanistic studies in this field.
Lan, Zixuan, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Dr. Preetham Suresh, Anesthesiology (Hillcrest) Dr. Randolph Hastings, Anesthesiology (Hillcrest) Dr. Nathan Delson, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Predicting Clinical Procedural Competency in Direct Laryngoscopy via Data Collected in a Simulation Lab: An analysis of trajectory and force
As one of the metrics to predict the clinical Laryngoscopy skill, this study aims to quantify the amount of force on the mannequin’s teeth during a simulated intubation using a force sensing system. Parameters including peak force, time duration and the integration of applied force over time are analyzed to evaluate the performance of experts and novices during simulation. Finally, comparison of force data in simulation with clinical performance data is being used to create a predictive model of laryngoscopy skill.
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #6
Laub, Shannon, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. Peter Wang, Bioengineering Dr. Kathy Lu, Bioengineering
Epigenetic Changes due to Drug Resistant Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and Related Analysis Using Fluocell Software Package [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 5 Sixth College Room Morning
Laughlin, Justin, UC San Diego Department/Major: Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Professor Padmini Rangamani, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Professor Daniel Tartakovsky, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Using Feedback to Model the Oscillating Vasomotion of Blood Vessels
The shear stress experienced by endothelial cells leads to the production of NO, a potent vasodilator. Dilation caused by NO increases the tension in the vessel walls, which results in vasoconstriction. This model couples compartmental ODES originating from biochemistry and biophysics to quantify the temporal dynamics of vasomotion, specifically in arterioles. Modeling the oscillatory vasomotion of arterioles using fundamental equations may prove useful in applications such as predicting blood vessel behavior after inserting a stent.
Oral Presentation Panel 12 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Afternoon
Laz, Nabta, UC San Diego, Eleanor Roosevelt College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Gerald Mackie, Political Science Dr. Holly Shakya, Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine
Assessing the Role of Social Norms in Child Marriage: Cameroon
Adolescent marriage is a global problem with long-lasting and negative consequences on the social, educational, and health trajectory of girls. While research on adolescent marriage underscores the important contribution of cultural practices and social norms to its continuation, very little rigorous research has actually explored this problem in depth. Because of its prevalence in Cameroon, UNICEF commissioned research on the problem by a research team headquartered at UCSD. The study includes extensive descriptive analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data from Cameroon, and the application of four different qualitative methods – key informant interviews, focus group interviews, qualitative social network analysis, and cultural domain analysis – to villages among four different ethnic groups. The FISP fellow made important contributions to the analysis social-network and cultural-domain data, and to the general effort. The final report and related publications will describe and explain social-normative and other factors perpetuating adolescent marriage in Cameroon, and offer program recommendations to UNICEF and the country of Cameroon.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #30
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #3
Li, Xin, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Cognitive Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Mentored by Professor Gedeon Deák, Cognitive Science Professor Tzyy-Ping Jung, Institute for Neural Computation
Automated Coding of Human Gaze Direction Using Deep Learning Method
The use of machine learning algorithms to code events in videos can expedite, regulate, and systematize quantification of events for social science research.To identify human gaze direction in videos from a study of adults playing a game, we developed automated coding procedures using Deep Learning networks. Images were sampled from the first 3 min. of videos of study participants. Different expert-tagged video segments were retained as a testing set. The trained networks accurately classified gaze direction in a mean of 92% frames (N=10 videos). Thus, from 18000 training frames, a deep learning network achieved accurate gaze direction classification. This will save approximately 25 min of labor per video which expedites ongoing studies of relations between social behaviors (e.g., eye-contact) and EEG (electroencephalogram).
Li, Adam Mentored by Professor Truong Nguyen, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
Development of Quantitative Analytics for Parkinson’s Disease using RGB-D camera
The goal of this project is to measure the severity of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) using RGB-D cameras to provide clinicians objective, reproducible measures of gait and associated upper extremity movement.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #14
Lindner, Kelsey, UC San Diego Department/Major: Communication Mentored by Professor Keith Pezzoli, Communication
Urban Agriculture Food Disparities
Edward Matios (Spatial Analysis and Scenario Planning), See Poster Title:Green Infrastructures Implementation Mapping on Cholla Creek Watershed Region via GIS Scenario Analysis Abstract: Assembled data to begin quantifying, geospatially mapping, and visualizing the benefits as well as costs of urban agriculture and efforts aimed at reducing food disparities. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AbdurRahman Amin (Urban Agriculture and Environmental Public Health) Title: Using a Community Based Participatory (CBPR) Approach to Address and Improve Health Outcomes: The OVGG Food Forest Model Abstract: Conducted exploratory research asking how re-localized food production systems could be integrated with public health policy to lower obesity rates and amplify demand for healthy locally-produced food. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gwendolyn Jordan (Race and the Informal Food Economy) Title: The Role of Race and Ethnicity in the Informal Food Economy Southeast San Diego and City Heights: mobile food carts Abstract: Documented the magnitude of informal economic activity in urban agriculture in Southeast San Diego and City Heights. Explored prospective pathways to formalization for local micro entrepreneurs in the food sector.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 4 Red Shoe Room Morning
López-Arenas, Araceli, UC San Diego Department/Major: Family Medicine & Public Health, Dept of Mentored by Dr. Camille Nebeker, Family Medicine & Public Health, Dept of Dr. Nadir Weibel, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Building Research Integrity and Capacity: Integrating a Social Media Platform to Reach and Educate Promotores/Community Health Workers (CHWs) involved in Community Evaluation and Research
Promotores de Salud/Community Health Workers (CHWs) are integral to community evaluation and research. CHWs are experts in their communities and participating in the development and implementation of research studies is vital to the success of the studies. Several issues may arise in their involvement in research: 1) CHWs may not realize they are part of a research study/team and may not have complete understanding of the research process, 2) Program Managers and Principal Investigators (PIs) may not view CHWs as part of the research team and may not provide research ethics training, or training is limited, 3) available research ethics trainings may not be culturally appropriate, or 4) developing a culturally appropriate research ethics training curriculum may take a lot of time and money to develop. The purpose of this study is to test the dissemination and implementation of Building Research Integrity and Capacity (BRIC), a culturally-grounded research ethics training course “by and for Promotores,” using Mobile, Imaging, pervasive Sensing, Social media and location Tracking (MISST) strategies. Specifically, the BRIC training will be tested within the Facebook social media platform, an accessible and widely used platform, by a diverse population worldwide. The proposed study will examine the engagement, perceptions and willingness of Latino and underserved communities’ use of MISST technologies, which may help reduce health disparities and improve the health of individuals and communities.
Oral Presentation Panel 12 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Afternoon
Lu, Kara, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Education Studies, Environmental Studies Program, Literature Mentored by Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: STEM Thinking Outside the Classroom @ EarthLab
In Summer 2017, I conducted field research at the UCSD EarthLab Community Station in Encanto. This presentation is based on my experience teaching two summer academies for elementary aged students in the Lincoln Cluster. I will discuss the various modes of experiential learning implemented to make science and math engaging and accessible for students, the challenges and strengths of teaching in an outdoor classroom, and the many important components that make specialized educational programming possible for the community of Encanto.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 9 Revelle College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 13 Marshall College Room Afternoon
Lucero, Sara, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Mission for Nutrition: A Community Collaboration on Nutrition and Sustainability Curriculum in San Ysidro
In Summer 2017, I did research in San Ysidro. In this presentation I will be discussing the social and economic factors that affect access to nutrition in San Ysidro and the plan that I developed with the community promotoras to help increase individual and community interest and accessibility to nutrition, the slow food movement and sustainability.
McCormick, Lillian, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Lisa Levin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Nicholas Oesch, Psychology
Oxygen dependence of visual physiology in marine larvae
Vision is an essential and metabolically demanding (oxygen intensive) process for both vertebrates and invertebrates; in the marine environment this is true for arthropods, cephalopods, and fish that possess complex eyes and ‘fast vision’ (high temporal resolution). Oxygen loss in the ocean, termed 'ocean deoxygenation', is occurring as a result of ocean warming effects on solubility and stratification, intensified upwelling, and increasing eutrophication. Additionally, both light and oxygen concentration exhibit strong gradients with depth in the ocean. This research examines the consequences of oxygen loss for visual function in larvae of different representative taxa that rely on vision for survival. Hypotheses that oxygen stress changes the physiological capability of the eye to respond to light are tested using electrophysiology experiments. Results show a marked effect of oxygen on the wave metrics of the visual response to light stimuli, with visual decline occurring at oxygen values higher than traditional physiological critical limits and definitions of hypoxia. The effects of these visual oxygen limits on visual behaviors and ecology of marine larvae in the current and future climate may consequently include changes to phototaxis, prey capture and predator avoidance, and habitat compression.
Meyer, Dominique, UC San Diego Department/Major: California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2) Mentored by Dr. Curt Schurgers, California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2)
Designing a Remote Controlled Paraglider to Aid Wildlife Conservation. [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #15
Oral Presentation Panel 13 Marshall College Room Afternoon
Mizrahi, Reina, UC San Diego Department/Major: Cognitive Science Mentored by Dr. Sarah Creel, Cognitive Science Dr. Tamar Gollan, Psychiatry
Two languages or one: Children’s use of language as a cue for talker identification
A central question in language development is how bilingual children form separate representations of the languages they speak. The current studies address this question by testing whether English monolingual (n=32), English-Spanish bilingual (n=23), and bilinguals that speak English and another language not including Spanish (n=32) between 3- to 5-years-old children differ in their ability to associate speakers with particular languages. Participants were familiarized with 2 characters and the language each spoke (English or Spanish); then after listening to a sentence in either language participants were asked to select the character they thought said the sentence, as their eye-movements were tracked. Results suggest that while all children are above chance (p<0.001), bilingual children that comprehend the languages spoken by the characters can more readily use language as a cue for talker identification, visually fixating the target character, p=0.008. Such findings have important implications for bilingual and monolingual language representations throughout development.
Mohamed, Abdolhakim, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences Mentored by Dr. Anjan Debnath, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Effect of NLRP3 Inhibitor on the Growth of Entamoeba histolytica and the Parasite’s Capability of Infecting Macrophage Host Cells
Entamoeba histolytica is a parasite that infects the colonic epithelium leading to inflammation in the human host. Infection is transmitted by cyst in contaminated areas through the fecal-oral route. Deaths resulting from E. histolytica infection are estimated to be 100,000 per year. The current method of treatment requires both metronidazole and paramomycin. However, this treatment causes side-effects that make it difficult for patients to finish the treatment. Therefore, identification of alternative methods of treatment is required for E. histolytica infection. In this project, we investigated an alternative method in which the parasite can be inhibited from attaching and infecting human host cells. NLRP3 inflammasome has been discovered to be a major component in the pathway of how the parasite infects hosts. We will explore whether NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors can prevent infection by E. histolytica.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #24
Moon, Young Sung, UC San Diego Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Professor Susan Hopkins, Medicine Dr. Rebecca Theilmann, Radiology
Assessment of pulmonary structure in healthy untrained controls and endurance athletes using MRI measures of T2*
Endurance athletes are known to have larger lungs when compared to controls. This larger lung size may be due to an alteration in lung structure than controls or may have more tissue with a similar structure to that of controls. When using a fast gradient echo sequence, we can characterize lungs using two MRI metrics: proton density and T2*. T2*, a MRI decay constant, changes with the concentration of lung tissue. We hypothesized that athletes have more lung tissue and thus a different lung structure when compared to controls. MRI was used to measure lung density and T2* of ten endurance athletes (6M/4F, age=24±4y, height=175±9cm) and nonathletic controls (6M/4F, age=22±2y, height=174±9cm). MRI data were acquired in duplicate at functional respiratory capacity (FRC) and total lung capacity (TLC). Matlab was then used to determine the mean T2* at each lung volume. There were no significant differences between groups for age (p=0.09), height (p=0.88), or weight (p=0.98). There was no significant difference in whole lung T2* between groups at FRC (Athletes:1.24±0.14ms, Controls:1.18±0.11ms) and TLC (Athletes:0.95±0.08ms, Controls:0.96±0.09ms). These results suggest that athletes have more of a similar structured lung compared to controls.
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #16
Morgan, Eric, UC San Diego Department/Major: Cognitive Science Mentored by Dr. Virginia De Sa, Cognitive Science Dr. Anders Dale, Neurosciences, Radiology
Modelling Individual Differences in Brightness Processing
It is well known that individual differences exist in the perception of optical illusions. The FLODOG model, developed by Robinson et al. attempts to explain contrast illusion perception as arising solely from the interaction of cells in V1. It is a reasonably successful model, but it is unable to match individual differences in perception. We have made several models based on FLODOG, each improving upon FLODOG's biological plausibility and variability in an attempt to find parameters that match individual perceptions. We then compared the models' outputs to previously collected psychophysical data on individual perception of contrast illusions. Our new models showed improvements in matching individual variations in perception across 14 subjects and 33 illusions, while only using parameters that were mappable to neurophysiological properties, such as connection strength and extent. While the new models were not able to fully match individual differences, they showed improvement over the original model while utilizing components and connections more easily mappable to biological structures and connections.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #17
Oral Presentation Panel 3 Revelle College Room Morning
Naughton, Perry, UC San Diego Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentored by Professor Ryan Kastner, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Professor Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Scaling the annotation of subtidal marine habitats
Visually documenting seafloor habitats has the potential to answer challenging questions in several maritime disciplines including: ecology, geology, and archaeology. Unfortunately, the attenuation of visible light underwater limits the imaging footprint of a single image to square meters. This limitation makes representing large habitats, on the order of hundreds of square meters and beyond, an intensive process requiring the collection, storage, processing and annotation of thousands of high resolution images per hundred square meters of seafloor. This work describes a pipeline for dealing with these challenges efficiently and effectively using visual data of coral reef communities processed into a three dimensional model. We evaluate the resources and technological advancements required to scale this problem to orders of magnitude larger than the current state of the art and motivate the need for networked underwater data collection platforms to push the scalability of this method.
Neely, Wesley, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Adrian Borsa, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Jennifer Burney, School of Global Policy & Strategy
From surface to what lies beneath: monitoring our groundwater resources from space
Dependence on groundwater has increased in the agricultural production regions of California’s Central Valley due to recent and persistent droughts. To protect the longterm reliability of groundwater resources in California, the state passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in September 2014. In situ observation of subsurface reservoir levels is ideal for monitoring aquifer health at a water district scale, but is limited by the low density of monitoring wells and temporal gaps between measurements. An alternative to well measurements relies on the fact that groundwater extraction may lead to surface subsidence due to the compaction of the aquifer at depth. Such surface displacements can be resolved using geodetic techniques. We present an integrative approach using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and continuous Global Positioning System (cGPS) station observations to characterize surface deformation related to extensive pumping at a farm-level resolution every 12-24 days. We demonstrate our technique in the southern Central Valley where we observe subsidence upwards of 25 cm/yr from late 2014 to early 2017. Our methods offer an inexpensive supplement to in situ measurements that allows for the detection and deterrence of water mismanagement.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 7 Warren College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 6 Warren College Room
Nguyen, Andrew, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Mathematics, Physics Mentored by Professor David Meyer, Mathematics
Using light through haze to model air quality using only image data
An central problem in computer vision is the inference of human-interpretable results facts from a collection of images. Often this is done without regard to the physical factors that originally generated the image. For us, statistics joins optics as we propose and test an alternative physics-based approach, deriving a model of light attenuation to quantitatively characterize haze present in an image, and then approximating the model using image data of the same scene in a set of hazy images from Beijing, taken over approximately one year. These results will then be used to predict the air quality in a test set of hazy images of the same scene on different days, using government-published values for air quality.
Nguyen, Jacqueline, Department/Major: Mentored by Dr. Leanne Chukoskie, Institute for Neural Computation Dr. Jeanne Townsend, Neurosciences
Gaze-Contingent Games for Vision Therapy
Morning
Vision is not defined as seeing 20/20; rather it is the ability to successfully coordinate and control eye movements to achieve visual fluency in a dynamic environment. Currently, vision therapy utilizes various tools to address vision problems such as convergence insufficiency, ocular motor control, and eye movements (saccades and smooth pursuit). In this study, we looked into how we might develop more sophisticated and effective gamebased technology to support active vision in an individual with cerebral palsy. Utilizing the attention training games already developed by the Research on Autism and Development Lab (RADLab) at UC San Diego, we collaborated with a local optometrist specializing in vision therapy to identify attributes of our games that align with the goals of vision training and assess the efficacy of the game-based technology as a tool in vision therapy setting.
Poster Session A
Nichols, Mandy, UC San Diego Warren College
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #33
Department/Major: School of Global Policy & Strategy Mentored by Professor Jennifer Burney, School of Global Policy & Strategy
Assessing Agricultural Conservation Practices in Zimbabwe with GIS
Farmers in a semi-arid region of Zimbabwe incorporated conservation practices such as mulching, no-till farming, and crop rotation to combat the effects of drought and land degradation in 2016. This study explores the years before and after these conservation implementations to analyze their effectiveness in creating sustainable and successful farming systems. NDVI, SAVI, NWDI, and precipitation indices captured from satellite imagery were used as parameters to compare the before and after conservation time periods. As it is only a year out from the start of this examination, future analysis will be required to come to a substantial conclusion about the effectiveness of conservation practices in semi-arid regions.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #32
Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 1 Muir College Room Morning
Novak Pilch, Blaine, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Heather Henter, Natural Reserve System
Multilingual instructional videos for DNA barcoding
A team of undergraduate students have created multilingual instructional videos for use in a course-based original research project entitled the San Diego Biodiversity Project. In this project, students in science courses contribute to an international effort to document the world’s unknown biodiversity. We know that biodiversity is critical for ecosystem functioning, yet most biodiversity remains undocumented and unknown. Undergraduate students have been using DNA barcoding to address this biodiversity knowledge gap. Just like products in a store can be identified by their barcode, most organisms can be identified by DNA sequences (“barcodes”) with variations that are unique to that species. Students at UCSD and collaborating community colleges have been participating, but language skill can be a challenge to implementing this research in the community college science courses. In response, UCSD students have created a series of how-to videos in English, Spanish, and Arabic that show the DNA barcoding process from beginning to end. By making original biodiversity research accessible to more people, UCSD students will make a real contribution to conservation.
Okwuosa, Ifunanyachukwu, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Public Health Mentored by Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Clinic and Community Garden
In Summer 2017, I conducted research at the UCSD Community Station at Divina Providencia in Tijuana. In this presentation, I will discuss my project on increasing patient turnout and access to health care in the canyon's free mobile clinic as well as developing a multipurpose community garden for food produce and medicinal plants.
Ornelas, Gladys, UC San Diego Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. Philip Weissbrod, Otolaryngology Dr. Todd Coleman, Bioengineering
Non-Invasive Throat Electrophysiology Monitoring for the Assessment of Neuromuscular Health
Invasive, needle, electromyography has demonstrated great promise in the assessment of neuromuscular health, for instance in characterizing over-activation of the laryngeal muscles in patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). However, such invasive testing methodologies are challenging, painful, and not appropriate for widespread use. This study utilizes standard, non-invasive, EMG electrodes to evaluate laryngeal muscle overactivation to assess neuromuscular health. Using PD as an exemplar population, we aim to determine, through the use of flexible electronics sensors and standard electrodes, whether laryngeal muscles activation patterns recorded with EMG can assist with the assessment of neuromuscular health.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #31
Oral Presentation Panel 12 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Afternoon
Osborn, Zachary, UC San Diego Department/Major: Communication Mentored by Dr. Keith Pezzoli, Communication, Urban Studies & Planning
Automation and Aquaponics
Aquaponics, the process of using fish as the main fertilizer source for hydroponic crops, is quickly becoming a very popular 21st century method of sustainable, organic food production. However, aquaponics is a very complex and requires a mutually supportive ecosystem between plants, bacteria, and fish that can be difficult to maintain. By integrating computer science and microprocessor technology, we have created a sensor system that relays data to a web server to monitor real-time data collected from specific conditions of the aquaponics system. From this data a smart system can be created to automate everything and help those from different backgrounds to produce food in this way.
Panda, Subhankar, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Mathematics Mentored by Professor Thomas Levy, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute Sowparnika Balaswaminathan, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute Margie Burton, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute
Crafting Narratives: Experimentations in Ethnographic Storytelling and Ethnoarchaeological Analogy
This digital humanities project uses ethnographic and archaeological data to experiment with pedagogy and anthropological storytelling. The Swamimalai bronze-casting sculptor community in Tamilnadu, India claims an artistic heritage dating to the 9th century CE, tied to the Imperial Chola’s temple building projects. With data collected over an 8-year period, consisting of multimedia, 3D models, and GIS, the website is a digital archive to be used to craft narratives. The site has been created using website development technologies, including HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, and MySQL. These technologies allow the site to be interactive and allow users to create their own narratives in an engaging user experience. Visitors to the site, envisioned as students, choose an anthropological category ("Tradition", "Governmentality”) and put together materials from the archive to create and publish their anthropological narrative about the Swamimalai sculptors. The published narrative will be open for review and comments from the public, thus encouraging the writers to be reflexive about their position as unilateral narrators of the stories of "others" and encouraging empathy and critical thinking. Furthermore, by opening the practice of anthropological writing to the public, this project aims to reintroduce experimentation into anthropological writing. The project contributes to the University of California Office of the President’s Research Catalyst initiative for “At-Risk Cultural Heritage and the Digital Humanities” by helping to develop an online curation program for both tangible and intangible cultural heritage that can be a source for ethnoarchaeological analogy relevant to ancient metallurgical craft organization in the Levant and Mediterranean.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #12
Oral Presentation Panel 11 Red Shoe Room Afternoon
Peng, Da, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. Shu Chien, Bioengineering
Effects of Apelin-APJ on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived-cardiomyocyte Contractility and Electrophysiology
Heart failure is attributed to the death of cardiomyocytes. Since cardiomyocytes are nonregenerative, damaged cardiomyocytes lead to heart disease. A most promising solution to compensate for lost cells is to differentiate human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into cardiomyocytes. The ability to control stem cell reprogramming and differentiation in vitro is critical in tissue repair, disease modeling, drug testing and biological development. In this research, we conducted experiments to investigate the progression of contractility and electrophysiology changes during hESC-tocardiomyocyte differentiation. We tested the effects of Apelin in cardiomyocyte differentiation. Apelin, a peptide ligand for orphan G-protein coupled receptor, has been implied to be an important regulator in the differentiation of hESCs into cardiomyocytes. We analyzed the beating colonies of these differentiated cells using electrophysiology and Traction Force Microscopy , and the data were quantified using fast Fourier Transform. We found that Apelin treatment causes a lower amplitude and an increased frequency for the beating colonies in comparison to the non-treated groups. The results suggest that Apelin enhances the beating activity of hESC-derived-cardiomyocytes. Further research can be conducted to determine the role that Apelin plays in signal transduction to promote contractility.
Peterson, Johanna, UC San Diego Department/Major: History Mentored by Dr. Michael Provence, History Dr. Gershon Shafir, Sociology
' A Measure of All Nations' : Citizen, Nation, and Education in Lebanese Girls' Schools, 1919-1951
In 1925, students from Ahliyya National School, a Beirut girls’ school, marched against the French mandate government. Though their demonstration was explicitly in objection to the closing of their school, it was also about the importance of girls’ education in ensuring an independent state. This project deals with a number of questions that arise from this event related to the role of girls’ school, and female education, in informing conceptions of nation and female citizenship in mandate Lebanon. By looking at discourses on girls’ education in the women’s press, French mandate and Lebanese government aims in promoting girls’ education through textbooks and policy, and at the debates that took place within the schools themselves as seen through correspondences, student work, and curriculum, we argue that the physical space of girls’ schools served as sites for discussions about nation and citizenship, and that girls’ education served a discursive function as an arena for the rhetorical discussion of female citizenship and women’s role in the emerging nation. It is in these material and discursive functions that girls’ education played a central role in nation-state and citizen making in French mandate Lebanon.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #2
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #4
Pister, Kaiser, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2), Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Mentored by Professor Falko Kuester, California Inst for Telecomm & Info Tech (Cal-(IT)2)
Preserving World Heritage Billions of Pixels at a Time
Documenting the current state of archaeologically important sites has become ever more important in our increasingly geologically tumultous world. Through the use of high quality drone cameras, and Agisoft stitching software, we create 3D digital records of archaeological sites in Puerto Rico. Our work became immediately more relevant over the last two months after Hurricane Maria devastated the small island. Comparing recent images from NOAA with our own, we can measure the coastal erosian. In addition, we mapped graffiti from colonial times at multiple sites inside El Morro Fortress using LiDAR and Cavecam technologies. The primary purpose of documenting the fort is to allow for further study from remote locations and allow the general public to experience the cultural history of Puerto Rico in an entirely new way. Much of the data is still being processed, however we hope to distribute our findings in order to raise awareness for Puerto Rico’s rich heritage.
Priestley-Milianta, Christopher, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Biological Sciences, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences Mentored by Professor Geoffrey Chang, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences Dr. Kathy Barbeau, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Koustav Maity, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Characterization of Fe(III) solute binding protein in marine bacteria
Marine bacteria habituate an environment that is extreme for bacteria in terms of iron scarcity. In large swaths of ocean, bioavailable dissolved iron occurs at vanishingly low concentrations and complexation of iron with strong organic ligands further hinders accessibility. In light of these difficulties, abundant populations of bacterial species in these ocean regions rely exclusively on inorganic iron Fe(III) transporters to satisfy their iron requirements. While iron acquisition pathways have been characterized in pathogenic bacteria, there is little functional precedent for understanding Fe(III) acquisition in marine bacteria. Furthermore, how these organisms manage to survive by ostensibly utilizing only free Fe(III), the scarcest form of oxidized iron in the ocean, is a mystery. Here, we aim to characterize a ubiquitous Fe (III) solute binding protein, PBP2 Fbp-like 3, as a means to elucidate crucial Fe(III) uptake pathways in a host of marine bacteria.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 6 Warren College Room
Qiu, Yutong, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Computer Science w/Specialization in Bioinformatics Mentored by Dr. Alon Goren, Medicine Dr. Melissa Gymrek, Medicine
Characterizing histone modifications restoration dynamics along S-phase
Morning
Histone proteins are associated with DNA molecules as part of the chromatin, which, during DNA replication, gets disrupted. Next, histone modifications organization is restored to allow proper regulation of key cellular activities, such as gene expression. Little is known about the way histone organization restoration is achieved. Here, we employed technological advances including cell cycle synchronization and highly robust ChIP-seq to produce reliable spatial data on histone modifications, such as H3K4me3, at multiple time points along the S-phase of the cell cycle. My work is focused on developing computational methods that extracts information regarding organization of H3K4me3 from ChIP-seq data. To address the challenge posed by the noises inherent to ChIP-seq, we processed data with peak filtering and read count normalization. These enabled us to focus only on regions associated with H3K4me3 and to embody distinct replication timing along S-phase. My next steps are to implement statistical analysis and data visualization such as cross correlation and heat maps depicting H3K4me3 deposition on the whole chromosome over time. These would enable better capturing of the dynamics of histone modification restoration and provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying epigenetic memory.
Poster Session A
Qu, Ashley, UC San Diego, Revelle College
Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #21
Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Professor Robert Dynes, Physics Professor Mark Ellisman, Medicine, Neurosciences Professor Shane Cybart, Materials Science Program, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Analysis of Amazonian Frog Node of Ranvier using a Superconducting Quantum Inference Device-Based Microscope
In order to understand how the brain truly works, we must be able to measure and map out neural networks precisely and accurately in real-time. None of the existing techniques provide accurate, real-time quantitative data with the simultaneous ability to achieve short temporal and high spatial resolution. Individually, neurons make and receive synaptic contacts from hundreds or thousands of other neurons; this neural activity is closely linked to human thought and perception. Thus, we propose to use a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) microscope for non-invasive biomagnetic imaging to map out a mesoscopic level neural network more accurately, with higher spatial and temporal resolution than is possible with electric (invasive) techniques. Magnetic imaging is not affected by capacitance of the samples like electrical sensors, and thus operation frequency can be as high as MHz. This translates to a temporal resolution of 100 nanoseconds! With its sensitivity much greater than a magnetic flux quantum, SQUID microscopes represent the opportunity for a better understanding of the smallest units of life and its structural functions, and allow for another outlet to answer the uncertainties of our human knowledge. We will be performing our initial experiments on an ex vivo Amazonian frog myelinated neuron.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #5
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #26
Ray, Sunayan, UC San Diego Department/Major: Ophthalmology Mentored by Dr. Karl Wahlin, Ophthalmology Dr. Alysson Muotri, Pediatrics
Molecular studies on the pathogenic effects of Zika virus on early retinal development using pluripotent stem cells derived 3D retinas.
Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging global concern. ZIKV can be transmitted from an infected pregnant woman to her fetus, causing microcephaly (small head size of the fetus) and other severe brain abnormalities in the infant. Increasing evidence suggests that ZIKV also affects several regions of the eye and can cause severe eye complications, eventually leading to permanent blindness. To date, there have been no studies addressing how infection with ZIKV affects eye development. We used human pluripotent stem cell-derived 3D retinas to study the effect of ZIKV. Using CRISPR-Cas9 editing, we have generated lines that express SIX6-GFP (early eye field marker) to validate early eye formation. Retinal organoids, when infected with ZIKV, showed increase apoptosis by Cas9 activity. We tested a drug SOF (Pinar et al., in review) which significantly decreased cell death in the infected samples. This will not only be the first study of ZIKV infection in the context of the eye but will also provide valuable insight for later development of diagnostic and therapeutic treatments to prevent virus-induced blindness and other eye complications.
Rees, Steven, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biomedical Sciences PhD Program Mentored by Dr. Geoffrey Chang, School of Medicine
Characterizing Amyloid Beta Clearance in Alzheimer’s Disease
P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is a gatekeeper protein which lies on the outer membrane of cells in many tissues. This protein extrudes toxins and metabolic by-products from cells, leading to eventual clearance from the body. In the nervous system, P-gp activity maintains the integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). It has also been identified as a potential mediator of amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) clearance from the brain. The accumulation of this peptide is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and characterizing its interaction with P-gp is a key step forward in developing therapeutics for AD. For this project, we propose to confirm an interaction between P- gp and Aβ with an analysis using Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (HD-MS). From there, we will characterize the molecular architecture of binding with a 3-D crystal structure of Pgp bound to Aβ, offering atomic-level resolution of this interaction for the first time. Additionally, we will couple these structural interrogations through the use of cell-based functional assays with our co-mentor, Richard Daneman. Collectively, these studies will not only show the existence of a P-gp/Aβ interaction, but will also map that interaction at the atomic level.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #28
Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room Morning
Rivas, Alexiss, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Cognitive Science, Philosophy Mentored by Dr. I-Wei Shu, Psychiatry, VA Medical Center Dr. Jaime Pineda, Cognitive Science
Using EEG neurofeedback to target PTSD-related brain network abnormalities
About twenty percent of trauma victims will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is associated with brain network abnormalities; for example, greater theta activity from fear-related areas, decreased alpha activity from areas associated with calm self-reflection (e.g., default mode network). To target PTSD symptoms associated with these abnormalities, in this pilot study, we use EEG neurofeedback to train subjects to either decrease frontal theta (n=2) or increase posterior alpha (n=1). For all subjects, EEG neurofeedback for 20-30 min 2x/week over 6 weeks was associated with a 37% decrease in PTSD severity. Furthermore, clinical improvements were associated with normalization of abnormal EEG activity; more specifically, decreased frontal theta (p<0.05) and increased posterior alpha. At the single-subject level, normalization of frontal theta and posterior alpha correlated with improved PTSD symptoms, especially with improvements in the Avoidance symptom cluster. These promising early results suggest that frontal theta and posterior alpha may serve as markers of PTSD severity and of response to treatment. Furthermore, targeting these markers using EEG neurofeedback may lead to novel, neuroscientifically-informed treatments for PTSD in the near future.
Rosenfeld, Aya, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Chemistry & Biochemistry Mentored by Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: EPIC (Electric Program Investment Charge)
In Summer 2017, we conducted research at the UCSD EarthLab Community Station in Encanto. In this presentation, we will discuss our project on the potential of the Encanto region to become a zero-net energy community through solar energy.
Saiag, Valerie, UC San Diego, Marshall College Department/Major: Visual Arts Mentored by Professor Christine Hunefeldt, History
Re-reading Chronicler Guaman Poma de Ayala through Art and History
Research has led to a reinterpretation of Guaman Poma de Ayala, an Indian chronicler of the 17th century who wrote a 1,000-page letter to the King of Spain that included 398 illustrations denoting an Andean cosmovision. These illustrations/drawings stand in stern contrast to a Western worldview brought with Spanish colonization and signal a unique path to better understand the Andean past and present.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 12 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 8 Muir College Room Afternoon
Sampath, Aditya, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Qualcomm Institute Mentored by Professor Thomas Levy, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute Sowparnika Balaswaminathan, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute Margie Burton, Anthropology, Qualcomm Institute
Crafting Narratives: Experimentations in Ethnographic Storytelling and Ethnoarchaeological Analogy
This digital humanities project uses ethnographic and archaeological data to experiment with pedagogy and anthropological storytelling. The Swamimalai bronze-casting sculptor community in Tamilnadu, India claims an artistic heritage dating to the 9th century CE, tied to the Imperial Chola’s temple building projects. With data collected over an 8-year period, consisting of multimedia, 3D models, and GIS, the website is a digital archive to be used to craft narratives. The site has been created using website development technologies, including HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, and MySQL. These technologies allow the site to be interactive and allow users to create their own narratives in an engaging user experience. Visitors to the site, envisioned as students, choose an anthropological category ("Tradition", "Governmentality”) and put together materials from the archive to create and publish their anthropological narrative about the Swamimalai sculptors. The published narrative will be open for review and comments from the public, thus encouraging the writers to be reflexive about their position as unilateral narrators of the stories of "others" and encouraging empathy and critical thinking. Furthermore, by opening the practice of anthropological writing to the public, this project aims to reintroduce experimentation into anthropological writing. The project contributes to the University of California Office of the President’s Research Catalyst initiative for “At-Risk Cultural Heritage and the Digital Humanities” by helping to develop an online curation program for both tangible and intangible cultural heritage that can be a source for ethnoarchaeological analogy relevant to ancient metallurgical craft organization in the Levant and Mediterranean.
Sanchez, Alison, Univeristy of San Diego Department/Major: Psychiatry Mentored by Professor Lisa Eyler, Psychiatry Professor Todd Coleman, Bioengineering Professor Colin Depp, Psychiatry
Neuroeconomics and Psychiatry: Modeling Information Search and Decision Processes in Bipolar and Healthy Patients
Which health care plan should I choose? Should I take medications for my illness? If so, which medications should I take? When making decisions such as these, people often search for information about that will aid them in forming a decision. The aim of the Prometheus Project is to explore biases in the processes involved in seeking out information and the impact of different types of information on decision behavior. It is also well known that biases exist in the search process. For example, some information is weighted more than alternative information; “information overload” can cause key information to be ignored. Impulsive decision-making can cause catastrophic errors and is a hallmark feature of psychiatric illnesses such as bipolar disorder, in which risky choices can range from overspending to suicide. Through a novel collaboration between economics, psychiatry and bioengineering, the Prometheus Project is an innovative fieldtested behavioral economic platform that will be used to catalog decision making biases in bipolar disorder and ultimately to forge novel treatment paradigms targeting the fundamental cognitive processes in this devastating illness.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #1
Sanchez, Lillie, UC San Diego Department/Major: Anthropology Mentored by Professor Janis Jenkins, Anthropology, Psychiatry Professor Steffanie Strathdee, Medicine Professor Thomas Csordas, Anthropology
Time Perspective and Treatment Experience in Tijuana’s Community-Based Drug Rehabilitation Centers
Over the past 30 years, Tijuana, Mexico has experienced an unprecedented proliferation of residential, locked-door drug rehabilitation centers, with inpatients from both sides of the United States-Mexico border. The majority of these centers describe themselves not as biomedical, but as evangelical or Narcotics Anonymous/Alcoholics Anonymous. For periods ranging from three months to a year or more, inpatients find themselves interned, often against their will, to accomplish rehabilitation as it is understood by that center. This project investigates how the cultural environment (the specific constellation of conceptions, practices, institutions, and interactions that exist in specific times and spaces) forms treatment expectations that shape individual experience within these community-based centers. It uses both ethnographic methods (Levy and Hollan 1998) and a psychological questionnaire designed to measure individual differences in perceptions of the past, present, and future (Zimbardo and Boyd 1999). This study seeks to shed light on the importance of the organization and control of both time (how it is managed) and space (possibility of movement) to the healing process of drug addiction, specifically the treatment response.
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #6
Sato, Rinoka, UC San Diego, Warren College Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Dr. Peter Yingxiao Wang, Bioengineering Dr. Kathy Shaoying Lu,
Epigenetic Changes due to Drug Resistant Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and Related Analysis Using Fluocell Software Package [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 3 Revelle College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 3 Revelle College Room Morning
Sayyari, Erfan, UC San Diego Department/Major: Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Mentored by Dr. Siavash Mirarab, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Professor Greg Rouse, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Cost-effective characterization of biodiversity using novel phylogenomic methods
Understanding and protecting the planet is possible only if we can characterize the vast diversity of life. Characterizing biodiversity requires understanding evolutionary relationships between organisms, commonly documented in phylogenetic trees. Computational techniques have revolutionized phylogenetics and have enabled accurate reconstruction of the tree-of-life. A major obstacle to reconstructing phylogenies of all living organisms is that accurate inference requires data from many genomic positions, but the cost of sequencing full genomes for thousands of species remains prohibitive. One desired solution is to select minimal sets of genes sufficient for the accurate phylogenetic reconstruction. However, no principled approach for a priori selection of these genes exists. Biologists are forced to spend unnecessary levels of time and money on arbitrarily chosen gene sets that are neither optimal nor minimal. In this project, we will develop computational approaches that can predict a minimal set of genes optimally chosen for genome-wide reconstruction of phylogenies. We will collaborate to test our methods on new and existing datasets gathered by our group from ~200 species in two poorly-studied groups of marine invertebrates. We will assess the methods in relation to other groups and provide an approach that will be applicable for a wide range of organisms.
Schlenger, Adam, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Lisa Ballance, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Dale Squires, Economics
An Ecosystem-Based Approach to Fisheries Management
Linking the economic and biological components of human interactions with natural systems is a vital part of effective fisheries management. This study utilizes a trophic network model of the eastern tropical Pacific to compare multi-species fishery management strategies by varying the efforts of individual fleets to optimize specific policy objectives. This approach highlights the cascading, indirect effects of fishing across an entire ecosystem and incorporates a holistic perspective to quantify their economic and ecosystem health impacts. Results of this study show that varying management scenarios can lead to a diverse combination of economic and ecosystem health effects. This study also highlights the potential for different management strategies to achieve similar economic results, but through alternative mechanisms with significantly different ecosystem-level impacts.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #30
Oral Presentation Panel 1 Muir College Room Morning
Shen, Yu, UC San Diego Department/Major: Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Mentored by Professor Gedeon Deรกk, Cognitive Science Professor Tzyy-Ping Jung, Institute for Neural Computation
Automated Coding of Human Gaze Direction Using Deep Learning Method
The use of machine learning algorithms to code events in videos can expedite, regulate, and systematize quantification of events for social science research.To identify human gaze direction in videos from a study of adults playing a game, we developed automated coding procedures using Deep Learning networks. Images were sampled from the first 3 min. of videos of study participants. Different expert-tagged video segments were retained as a testing set. The trained networks accurately classified gaze direction in a mean of 92% frames (N=10 videos). Thus, from 18000 training frames, a deep learning network achieved accurate gaze direction classification. This will save approximately 25 min of labor per video which expedites ongoing studies of relations between social behaviors (e.g., eye-contact) and EEG (electroencephalogram).
Shih, Benjamin, UC San Diego Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Professor Michael Tolley, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Professor Andrea Chiba, Cognitive Science Dr. Deborah Forster, Qualcomm Institute
Custom Soft Robotic Gripper Sensor Skins for Haptic Object Visualization
Robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in our society in forms where they are assisting humans with activities of daily living, and thus they should have the ability to detect objects via touch. We present a soft robotic hand composed of 3D printed actuator modules that function as fingers. Each finger consists of three pneumatic chambers which can be inflated independently to achieve a range of complex motions. Three fingers are combined to form a soft robot hand. We manufacture and attach modular, flexible sensory skins on each finger to measure bend and contact. These sensor measurements are used in conjunction with an analytical model to construct 2D and 3D tactile object models. Our results are a step towards soft robot hands capable of a complex range of motions and proprioception, which has the potential to help robots better understand their environment and increase safety in physical human-robot interaction.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 12 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 2 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Morning
Shimamura, Tokio, UC San Diego, Eleanor Roosevelt College Department/Major: Environmental Systems Mentored by Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
Raising Awareness of Sustainable Waste Management Plans in Tijuana' s Informal Communities
Sediment and marine waste has been a central issue in San Diego-Tijuana Border region's sustainable development. Expansion of Tijuana’s population will push more newcomers into informal settlements in unstable canyons, and today’s water treatment and sediment collection technology will not be able to keep pace with it. The focus of this internship was the role of communities in creation of a bottom-up sustainable policy for waste management at the source, instead of relying on a top-down government infrastructure building. The initial interview with community members revealed that only half of them found trash to be an immediate concern for them. Yet after a co-production and screening of an educational film with community members, they were successfully able to learn about their role in bigger picture of environmental crisis in the region.
Sim, Yi Hong, UC San Diego Department/Major: Communication Mentored by Professor Robert Horwitz, Communication Professor Nancy Guy, Music
Artistic Metaphors for Labor: Orchestra and String Quartet Metaphors for Work, Leadership, and Organization in Academic Business Journals, 1946-2015
Given how the image of the artist has endured in the West as a figure of both priceless genius and worthless poverty (a strange, contradictory pair of economic cultural tropes), I begin from the assumption that artists, as a cultural idea, do something for the core economic functioning of capitalist society. My question: What is it that they do? And how do they do it? In short, the premise of my research—to quote Claude Lèvi-Strauss’ pithy anthropological observation—is that artists are “good to think.” Specifically, I argue, they are good for a predominantly capitalist society to think capitalism with. In this paper, I discuss the findings from my qualitative content analysis of orchestra and string quartet metaphors for work, leadership, and organization found in academic business journal articles published between 1946 and 2015.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #19
Sinha, Mridu, UC San Diego Department/Major: Bioengineering Mentored by Professor Stephanie Fraley, Bioengineering Dr. Shelly Lawrence, Pediatrics Professor Todd Coleman, Bioengineering
Early diagnosis of polymicrobial infection in neonates using fast DNA sequence fingerprinting
DNA melting analysis provides a rapid method for genotyping a target amplicon directly after PCR amplification. Our previous work focuses on developing a platform for reliable melt curve generation with minimal run-run and well-to-well variation. The ability to control ramping rates for digital melt curve generation revealed rate dependent melt curves. We demonstrate melt curve profiling at different rates provides to disambiguate curves that may be similar at a ramp rate. In addition, we develop a framework for classification and anomaly detection.
Oral Presentation Panel 13 Marshall College Room Afternoon
Sinkovich, McKenna, UC San Diego Department/Major: Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Mentored by Dr. Erica Schoeller, Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Dr. Pamela Mellon, Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility
Pheromone Production in Circadian Mutant Mice
Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that coordinate physiological processes with time of day. Rhythms are regulated by a molecular feedback loop, of which Bmal1 is a core member. In many species, behaviors such as aggression and reproduction are driven by pheromones. Major Urinary Proteins (MUPs) in mice are a subclass of pheromones produced in the liver and secreted in urine. In circadian mutant mice (Bmal1 KO), pheromone-driven behaviors are absent, leading to our hypothesis that Bmal1 is important for driving MUP production. We measured MUPs in Bmal1 KO and wild-type (WT) males, and found that MUPs were decreased and non-circadian in Bmal1 KO mice. As growth hormone (GH) is known to regulate MUP expression in the liver, we measured serum GH levels, and found that GH is abnormally expressed in Bmal1 KO males. To determine if the peripheral molecular clock in the liver plays a role, we used a liver-specific Bmal1 KO. MUPs in the liver-KO were also decreased and non-circadian, indicating a role for Bmal1 regulation in the liver. Altogether, the data indicate a novel role for Bmal1 in the regulation of the GH axis and MUP pheromone expression.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #20
Oral Presentation Panel 9 Revelle College Room Afternoon
Spence, Ryan, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Leanne Chukoskie, Institute for Neural Computation Dr. Jeanne Townsend, School of Medicine
Engagement of Children with ASD using a Tactile Robot
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have challenges in social communication. Social robots may provide an alternative tool for engaging children with ASD. We used CARBO (CARetaker roBOt) to characterize behaviors indicating engagement interactions. We recorded multiple sessions of children and adolescents interacting with this tactile robot to test if interactions with CARBO modified sensory and motor behaviors and/or engagement and communicative behaviors in individuals with ASD. Using video data, we employed a dictionary of behaviors (including gestures and utterances) that we created for video-based coding and compared behaviors observed while each participant interacted with CARBO and another interactive toy. We also examined how behaviors changed over multiple visits. All coding was conducted using the multimodal annotation tool ELAN. We characterized interactions in 6 children and adolescents with ASD. These individuals spanned the continuum from non-verbal to very facile with verbal communication, and ages 9-17. Participants exhibited longer duration engaged interactions with CARBO than with other toys. We also noticed fewer instances of repetitive behaviors while participants were engaging with CARBO. Responses to CARBO’s requests to change movement direction or speed were responded to promptly in most cases.
Stock, Brian, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Brice Semmens, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Nuno Vasconcelos, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Dr. Jules Jaffe, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Mapping fine-scale processes in the ocean with a novel plankton imaging system: dispersal and survival of eggs and larvae from an endangered reef fish spawning aggregation
Much of the tremendous fluctuation in fish population sizes is due to variable conditions experienced by their tiny eggs and larvae—currents, food, and predator distributions. Fine-scale (1-10m) patchiness is likely important to egg and larval survival, but is impossible to resolve using traditional net sampling techniques. Thus, developing new tools capable of observing fish egg distributions at fine scales is important to our mechanistic understanding of why fish populations decline and recover. We are investigating how such fine-scale patchiness affects an endangered reef fish, Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus) in the Cayman Islands. Nassau Grouper populations have drastically declined throughout the Caribbean, primarily due to overfishing at their spawning aggregations. The aggregation off Little Cayman Island is one of the largest remaining for the species, and has increased in size since protections took effect in 2003. Yet, it remains unclear if and how this increase in eggs will translate into further increases in adults. Mechanistic understanding of how eggs survive to become spawning adults will allow for appropriate management to help protect this species.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 9 Revelle College Room Afternoon
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #22
Suiter, Matthew, UC San Diego Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Dr. Michael Tolley, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Turning the coral reef inside out: exploration using soft robotics
Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Despite the incredible biodiversity that has already been documented, true reef diversity remains largely a mystery, because current technology has limited the study of reefs to only their outer surfaces. Yet, coral reefs are massive, three-dimensional structures with tunnels and crevices that have not been rigorously explored. The majority of the species living within reefs and the properties of their unique environment remain undiscovered, simply because it has been technically impossible to access internal reef structures non-destructively. With the advent of soft robotics, which seeks to design automated robots composed primarily of soft materials, we have begun constructing an autonomous robot that is inspired by squid locomotion and uses jet propulsion to move inside of reefs. This robot will be able to record video to document reef organisms and take environmental measurements of temperature, pH, and oxygen. In addition to robot construction, we are collecting preliminary data on biodiversity inside coral reefs to help inform future analyses. Together, these efforts will facilitate the discovery of processes yielding reef biodiversity and contribute valuable technology to future coral reef conservation strategies.
Tan, Jing, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Professor Teevrat Garg, School of Global Policy & Strategy Dr. Greg Mitchell, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Robert Frouin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Atmospheric correction of Sentinel-2 optical imagery for water quality monitoring in the coastal zone
Declining water quality has become a world issue due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. Remote sensing provides ways to periodically monitor water quality at large spatial scales by relating water reflectance to water quality parameters. Atmospheric correction is a key step in obtaining accurate water reflectance from satellite optical imagery. Two atmospheric correction algorithms are tested in the coastal zone, an algorithm based on principal components analysis and the POLYMER algorithm. These algorithms are applied to Sentinel-2 imagery at 10-30 m resolution acquired over the Gironde estuary, France and the New Caledonia lagoon where coral reefs exist. The preliminary results indicate that retrieval accuracy strongly depends on the water reflectance model or how realistic (i.e., representative of expected conditions) the possible reflectance spectra are. Instead of employing complicated inversion schemes for reef problems (e.g., bleaching), it may be more appropriate to perform a simple atmospheric correction and make efficient use of change detection algorithms.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #21
Oral Presentation Panel 10 Sixth College Room Afternoon
Tan, Maxine, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Andrew Allen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Nitrate sensing with a model pennate diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum
Nitrate sensing mechanisms have been studied for more than 30 years in organisms such as heterotrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria, green algae, yeast, fungi and plants. However, mechanisms by which diatoms sense and respond to nitrate availability are currently not known. We have identified a putative nitrate sensing protein, undescribed or characterized to date, in the genome of the model pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Using P. tricornutum as a model for functional investigation, we localized the hypothesized nitrate sensing protein (NitK) within the cell to help determine how diatoms sense intracellular nitrogen and nitrate status. NitK contains a nitrate sensing Pfam (NIT) and a kinase domain. A search of available data indicated that this domain combination is prevalent in marine diatoms, dinoflagellates, haptophytes, and is also found in various green lineage prasinophyte species. In P. tricornutum, NitK transcript abundance appears to be regulated by addition of nitrate and nitrogen stress. Results suggest that NitK may interact with both cell membrane and vacuolar membrane nitrate transport proteins, assisting in maintaining cellular nitrate homeostasis. An enhanced understanding of nitrogen metabolism and sensing mechanisms in major groups of marine primary producers will improve our ability to forecast the impact of environmental change on marine ecosystems.
Tang, Min, UC San Diego Department/Major: Nanoengineering Mentored by Professor Shaochen Chen, Nanoengineering Dr. Alysson Muotri, Pediatrics
A Multi-Modal 3D Neural “Disease-In-a-Dish� Platform
In vitro replication of neural circuitry may help elucidate essential parts of the neural milieu and facilitate testing of connectivity models that contribute to higher-level processes. Conventional means for neuronal patterning are often restricted to a 2D context and use substrates that do not reflect native mechanochemical properties. On the other hand, methods to generate soft 3D scaffolds can be costly, time-consuming, or limited to simple geometric features. We present a platform for facile, rapid fabrication of 3D-patterned hydrogels using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-derived neurons that exhibit: 1) directed arrangement of neural clusters and guided neurite extension, 2) positive expression of markers associated with functional connectivity, and 3) spontaneous electrical activity that shows correspondence with spatial patterning in a proof of principle model. Further development of the platform to incorporate high-density recording and stimulation techniques has the potential to provide a high-throughput means for deterministically controlling and systematically investigating the network dynamics of fundamental neural circuits. This general approach can find myriad applications in fundamental neuroscience, clinical diagnostics and drug screening, and comparative investigations of artificial vs. biological neural networks and neuromorphic hardware.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #22
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #32
Tift, Michael, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Dr. Tatum Simonson, Medicine
Everything is good in moderation: Carbon monoxide (CO) as a protective agent during low-oxygen exposure
Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced in the body from the natural breakdown of hemoglobin. Surprisingly, moderate doses of CO have recently shown protective properties in low oxygen situations (hypoxia), reducing common injuries such as inflammation and cell death. The doses and cytoprotective mechanisms behind the protective properties of CO are still not well understood. This has increased the demand to find model organisms which naturally produce elevated CO in a manner which appears to be protective. We have recently shown that species adapted to tolerate hypoxia (high altitude humans and diving mammals), exhibit increased hemoglobin stores and CO production. Similarly, these species exhibit minimal symptoms from hypoxia exposure. We will assay potential biomarkers from hemoglobin turnover and the inflammatory response and use comparative genetic analyses to determine candidate genes involved in the role of CO as a cytoprotective gas. Insights from this work have broad implications for understanding the protective effect of CO for hypoxic and inflammatory diseases such as hypoxic pulmonary hypertension and sleep apnea, which affects millions of adults worldwide.
Tomka, Nancy, UC San Diego, Sixth College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Henter Heather, Biological Sciences
Multilingual instructional videos for DNA barcoding
A team of undergraduate students have created multilingual instructional videos for use in a course-based original research project entitled the San Diego Biodiversity Project. In this project, students in science courses contribute to an international effort to document the world’s unknown biodiversity. We know that biodiversity is critical for ecosystem functioning, yet most biodiversity remains undocumented and unknown. Undergraduate students have been using DNA barcoding to address this biodiversity knowledge gap. Just like products in a store can be identified by their barcode, most organisms can be identified by DNA sequences (“barcodes”) with variations that are unique to that species. Students at UCSD and collaborating community colleges have been participating, but language skill can be a challenge to implementing this research in the community college science courses. In response, UCSD students have created a series of how-to videos in English, Spanish, and Arabic that show the DNA barcoding process from beginning to end. By making original biodiversity research accessible to more people, UCSD students will make a real contribution to conservation.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 1 Muir College Room Morning
Torres-Tiji, Yasin, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Stephen Mayfield, Biological Sciences Dr. John Chang, Medicine
Edible algae therapy for the treatment of gut related diseases
We will test the idea that edible green algae expressing colostrum proteins can positively impact gut health, potentially attenuate bacterial and viral diarrhea and reduce intestinal inflammation. In preliminary studies we have demonstrated that orally administered green algae expressing colostrum proteins to either mice or pigs can greatly reduce diarrhea in these animals and allow them to more rapidly recover from intestinal challenges. This offers the opportunity to address one of the leading killers of children in the developing world, namely diarrhea caused by contaminated water and food. This therapy could also potentially impact gut health issues in this country, specifically Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). IBD is a group of chronic conditions involving inflammation of all or part of the digestive tract, while IBS is less severe form of digestive disorder that is still very debilitating for the roughly 15% of the adult population that suffers from this syndrome. Here we propose to deliver colostrum proteins to the gastrointestinal tract via edible green algae and measure the impact on the gut microbiome, diarrhea, and any impacts on gut markers for IBS and IBD.
Oral Presentation Panel 10 Sixth College Room Afternoon
Tsang, Tin Ki, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Chih-Ying Su, Biological Sciences Professor Mark Ellisman, Medicine, Neurosciences
Beyond the Connectome: How Non-Synaptic Neuronal Mechanisms Modulate Circuits
Understanding how our brain processes information is one of the most important challenges of this century. Despite advances in our knowledge of brain connectivity, wiring diagrams detailing synaptic connections between neurons cannot fully account for how neural circuits convey and process information. One reason for this limitation is that numerous neuronal types communicate with one another not only via synapses, but also via direct electrical interaction, known as ephaptic interaction. Previously, little was known about how ephaptic interaction regulates circuits and behavior, because it was impossible to disrupt this robust interaction in vivo. Recently, using genetic manipulations in Drosophila, we demonstrated that ephaptic interaction is more important and widespread than previously thought. However, the principles that govern the strength of ephaptic interactions remain unclear. In this project, we combined Drosophila genetics with a cutting-edge electron microscopy approach we recently developed to test the hypothesis that the relative size of the neurons determines the strength of ephaptic interactions. Our findings will define general principles of ephaptic interactions that apply throughout the animal kingdom and will thus broadly enhance our understanding of neuronal circuit interactions that underlie our brain function.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 12 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 10 Sixth College Room Afternoon
Ullah, Anika, UC San Diego, Marshall College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: Impacts of the U.S-Mexico Border on Air Pollution and Community Health in A Border Town
In Summer 2017, I conducted research at the UCSD Community Station at Casa Familiar in San Ysidro, CA. In this presentation, I will discuss a documentary I produced with local residents about border pollution, environmental justice, and respiratory health in San Ysidro (the world’s most trafficked land border) in the context of impending expansion of the border and increase in border security. Research with community activists to identify mitigation strategies for air pollution linked respiratory disease in San Ysidro children and seniors will also be presented.
Vasan, Ritvik, UC San Diego Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Professor Padmini Rangamani, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
The role of traction in membrane curvature generation
Membrane curvature can be generated by a variety of different molecular mechanisms such as protein scaffolding, heterogeneity, cytoskeletal forces, etc. These mechanisms have the net effect of generating stresses on the bilayer that are translated into distinct final shapes of the membrane. We sought to reverse this input-output relationship by using the observed shape of a curved membrane to extract physical quantities such as the magnitude of the applied forces acting on the bilayer. To do this, we first calculate the normal and tangential tractions along the membrane surface using the shape and material properties of the bilayer. Then, externally applied forces were computed by taking a contour integral of tractions on the region boundary. We then applied this approach to three different examples to demonstrate its utility - membrane tube formation, emergence of line tension at the interface of two spontaneous curvature fields, and the formation of podosome protrusions in human macrophage cells. These examples demonstrate that this analysis and accompanying workflow can be used to extract meaningful measurements of force and line tension from membrane shapes in a wide variety of biological contexts.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 2 Eleanor Roosevelt College Room Morning
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #30
Vazquez, Cynthia, UC San Diego Department/Major: Ethnic Studies Mentored by Dr. K. Wayne Yang, Ethnic Studies Professor Christine Hunefeldt, History Professor Olga Vasquez, Communication
Kumeyaay/Kumiai Transborder Education on the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
Venkatraman, Vishal, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Pamela Reinagel, Biological Sciences
Delayed Gratification and Success: A Rat Model of the Marshmallow Test, Biology and Math Components
We hypothesize that individual differences in the capacity to tolerate delayed reward could explain differences in cognitive performance. We further hypothesize that Ritalin improves cognitive performance by increasing delay tolerance. To test this in an animal model, we proposed to measure the ability of rats to accept reward delays, which has been classically studied in human children using the “Marshmallow Test�. The project required an electrical engineering student to develop new testing apparatus, a biology student to perform rat experiments, and a math student to develop a computational model. Here we present progress so far on the biology and math components. Using the apparatus built by our EE teammate, we are measuring locomotor effects of Ritalin to determine a minimal effective dose for rats. We have begun collecting data on reward delay tolerances of rats with and without Ritalin. We are also measuring cognitive performance with and without Ritalin using pre-existing methods. On the math front, we have been analyzing behavioral data during the time before reward collection to determine how accurately different rats can estimate when delays will end, and test if this correlates with ability to tolerate delays.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #25
Venkatramani, Aishwarya, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Chemistry & Biochemistry, Physical Sciences, Div of Mentored by Professor Andrew McCammon, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Molecular Dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum Geranyl-geranyl Pyrophosphate Synthatase in apo and product bound forms
Malaria, a life threatening disease affecting over 300 million people all over the world, is caused by the parasite Plasmodium spp. Over 2/3rds of the cases reported is caused by the species Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, with falciparum infections being far more lethal than vivax. Due to the genetic makeup of P. falciparum, the crystal structures of its proteins are extremely difficult to obtain, and most in vitro studies are performed with homologous vivax proteins. Therefore, obtaining three-dimensional, atomistic models of falciparum proteins can be of great help to identify new drug leads to treat Plasmodium falciparum infections. Many drug related studies target the Isoprenoid pathway, an important metabolic pathway which forms precursors to essential steroids. In Plasmodium species, Geranylgeranyl Diphosphate Synthase (GGPPS) has been identified to be a good drug target. In this work, we built a homology for Plasmodium falciparum (Pf)GGPPS based on the crystal structure of the analogous Plasmodium vivax protein, with which it shares 74% of sequence identity. We then investigated the main motions and dynamic behavior of PfGGPPS by means of molecular simulations, in apo- and product bound. Based on these simulations, we identified clusters of representative conformations that differ in terms of backbone conformation (RMSD) and pocket volume. We expect these structures to be valuable in silico models to be used in virtual screenings for potential new anti malaria drugs.
Oral Presentation Panel 3 Revelle College Room Morning
Wagner, Till, UC San Diego Department/Major: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Mentored by Professor Ian Eisenman, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Dr. Pietro Cicotti, San Diego Supercomputer Center
How icebergs traveled from North America to Morocco during the last ice age
From 100,000 to 20,000 years ago, much of North America was covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Ocean sediment cores in the North Atlantic indicate that massive volumes of icebergs were episodically discharged from the Laurentide Ice Sheet and traveled across the Atlantic. These episodes are known as Heinrich Events. A striking feature of these events is that a substantial fraction of the icebergs appear to have traveled all the way to the coast of Morocco, much further than would be expected based on present-day iceberg trajectories. In this project, we created a computational model of individual icebergs driven by ocean currents, winds, and sea surface temperatures. The icebergs are released in a global climate model simulation of the last ice age, as well as a simulation of the modern climate. The two simulated climates result in similar iceberg distributions, with the colder temperatures of the ice age having only a small effect. Both simulated iceberg distributions bear little resemblance to the ocean sediment record, with the simulated icebergs melting much too early.
ABSTRACTS We are proposing a physical mechanism that could have prolonged the lifetime of icebergs during Heinrich Events. The mechanism involves a surface layer of cold and fresh meltwater formed from, and retained around, densely packed armadas of icebergs. This leads to wintertime sea ice formation even in relatively low latitudes. The sea ice in turn shields the icebergs from wave erosion, which is the main source of iceberg ablation. We find that the model closely matches the sediment records when this mechanism is included. These results could also have implications for massive iceberg discharges in future climate scenarios.
Oral Presentation Panel 4 Red Shoe Room Morning
Wasef, Mirna, UC San Diego Department/Major: History Mentored by Dr. Hasan Kayali, History Dr. Gershon Shafir, Sociology Dr. Babak Rahimi, Literature
Copt Out: American Missionaries, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Questioning of Coptic Dual Loyalties in a Sectarian Egypt
How have those in the Middle East perceived American intervention in the region? In what ways have American interventions influenced Middle East affairs, national identities and nation-building policies? Examining these questions broadly, and particularly through contemporary Egyptian society, our project investigates the consequences of American missionary work on the social and political conditions that shaped the formation of modern Egypt (1953). Our research relates to larger community and societal issues of how groups, minorities or otherwise, are incorporated, or not, within a society— asking questions related to understanding links between religion and politics in Middle East cultures, addressing the political and social marginalization of minority groups and disparities in society produced by sectarian identities. Our study is beneficial in complicating current understandings of religious political movements and divisions, improving mutual relations and cultural understanding across Middle East-American lines. Our research addresses disparities in society created by modern nation-state sectarian systems that arose in response to foreign interventions and investigates the retaliatory consequences inflicted on minorities by Middle East colonial states as they fashioned national identities amidst the tension of competing foreign influences, particularly when minorities benefited from the foreign presence and protections.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 9 Revelle College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 1 Muir College Room Morning
Waterton, Joseph, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Elsa Cleland, Biological Sciences Dr. Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Germination timing and dormancy across an aridity gradient in California
The timing of germination within and among growing seasons is a key fitness-related trait in seasonal systems. In water-limited systems, increasing aridity might select for rapid germination, which allows individuals to quickly capitalize on available water, and also for greater levels of seed dormancy, which can buffer against reproductive failure during 'bad' growing seasons. However, a trade-off between rapid germination and high levels of dormancy might prevent the evolution of phenotypes that possess both of these characteristics. In a greenhouse experiment at UC San Diego, we investigated this potential trade-off between germination timing and dormancy, and explored how these two traits vary across an aridity gradient in two California grass species, the native perennial Stipa pulchra and the exotic annual Bromus diandrus.
Wozniak, Jacob, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biomedical Sciences PhD Program Mentored by Professor David Gonzalez, Pharmacology, Pharmacy, School Of Dr. Lance Prince, Pediatrics
Exploring the Hidden World of CA-MRSA Pathogenesis
Staphylococcus aureus remains the leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections in the US. During the course of S. aureus infection, the interplay between host and pathogen involves a complex crosstalk mediated by several protein factors. To date, many of the bacterial proteins remain beyond our limits of detection. In particular, unannotated genomic regions hold crucial information that may be overlooked in traditional experiments. Additionally, in the context of infection, high host protein background levels can mask the signal of bacterial proteins. This obscuration severely hampers the ability to directly investigate the proteins involved in infections at a systems scale. Therefore, new approaches must be undertaken to dig deeper into the hidden world of S. aureus pathogenesis. By using an unbiased peptidogenomic workflow, we have discovered a novel microprotein produced by S. aureus that has cytolytic and immunostimulatory functions. Furthermore, we have established a targeted proteomics approach to overcome the limitations of identifying bacterial proteins that are typically lost or discarded when analyzing host-pathogen interactions. These innovative approaches will provide biological insight into how S. aureus remains such a prevalent pathogen despite the fact that it has been the focus of intense investigations for decades.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 1 Muir College Room Morning
Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #11
Xu, Jun, UC San Diego Department/Major: School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences Mentored by Professor Dong Wang, School of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences
Molecular Mechanism of Eukaryotic Transcription-Coupled DNA Repair Initiation
Eukaryotic transcription-coupled repair (TCR) is a DNA repair pathway that removes lesions from the template strand that block RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription. This process is initiated by the recruitment of Cockayne Syndrome B protein (CSB) to the lesion-arrested Pol II. The function and molecular mechanism of this recruitment have remained elusive due to a lack of structural data. Here we report the first cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the yeast Pol II-CSB complex at near-atomic resolution. The structure reveals that CSB binds to the DNA upstream of Pol II where it dramatically alters its path, and suggests that the conserved Swi2/Snf2-family core ATPase domain of CSB promotes forward movement of Pol II. The work presented here provides a unified model for the roles of CSB in both TCR initiation and transcription elongation. CSB ensures transcription-coupled recognition of DNA lesions for TCR while also working as an elongation factor for transcription.
Yalcin, Cagri, UC San Diego Department/Major: Qualcomm Institute Mentored by Dr. Harinath Garudadri, Qualcomm Institute Professor Tse Nga (Tina) Ng, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)
An Instrumented Glove for Improving Spasticity Assessment
Spasticity describes a condition where certain muscles are continuously contracted which causes stiffness of the muscles. The standard method to evaluate spasticity clinically is a six-point rating scale named the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) which is a highly subjective measure. As the degree of stiffness determines how much medicine a patient receives, there is a clear need for an objective and sensitive measurement of spasticity. To meet this unmet need, we intended to develop the so-called smart glove, an instrumented glove worn by caregivers that can measure stiffness objectively and accurately. The glove is equipped with sensors that measure the amount of force the doctor needs to use to move a patient’s limb. The data is then computationally processed and the degree of spasticity is calculated. To validate and improve the smart glove we additionally developed a mock patient which is a robotic arm mimicking the motion of a patient’s arm and is also equipped with sensors to measure the simulated spasticity. By comparing the power measured by the sensors in the mock patient and the power estimated by the glove the system can be effectively validated and further improved.
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 7 Marshall College Room Morning
Oral Presentation Panel 13 Marshall College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 5 Sixth College Room Morning
Yee, Warren, UC San Diego, Eleanor Roosevelt College Department/Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Mentored by Professor Fonna Forman, Political Science Professor Teddy Cruz, Visual Arts
UCSD Blum Summer Field Internship 2017: EPIC (Electric Program Investment Charge)
In Summer 2017, we conducted research at the UCSD EarthLab Community Station in Encanto. In this presentation, we will discuss our project on the potential of the Encanto region to become a zero-net energy community through solar energy.
Yin, John, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: No departmental affiliation Mentored by Dr. Siavash Mirarab, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Implementing CPU/GPU Parallelization on ASTRAL
In order to consolidate gene trees into the best-fit species tree, Accurate Species TRee ALgorithm, or ASTRAL for short, essentially generates a species tree by using dynamic programming, one node at a time. In its process, each node must be weighed against all the gene trees to find the best-fit way to split the species at that node. Thus, a majority of the time in the program was spent weighing each node. However, as each node is weighed the same way against all the gene trees, there is an opportunity for GPU parallelization to take place. By making the GPU weigh batches of nodes instead of the CPU serially weighing each node, the speed of the program increased ten-fold, essentially making the pre-processing and post-processing the bottleneck of the program as opposed to the weighing. To counter this bottleneck, CPU parallelization was added to the preprocessing, post-processing, and the weighing. In total, we observed speed-ups from 30x40x with 1 GPU and 24 CPU cores. Multiple GPU is also implemented, but its application is rare as having a single GPU to weigh the nodes already causes the CPU pre-processing to be the bottleneck.
Zeng, Zheng, UC San Diego Department/Major: Neurosciences Mentored by Professor William Mobley, Neurosciences Professor Alexander Kleschevnikov, Neurosciences
Neuronal Activation Modulates Axonal Transport of BDNF [Abstract redacted owing to proprietary information.]
ABSTRACTS Oral Presentation Panel 8 Muir College Room Afternoon
Oral Presentation Panel 9 Revelle College Room Afternoon
Zhang, Lili, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Dr. Taras Nazarko, Biological Sciences Professor Yury Miller, Medicine
Deciphering the role of macrophage lipophagy in preventing atherosclerosis using zebrafish
Heart attack and stroke are the leading causes of death in the United States. Both are the manifestations of atherosclerosis, a slow, life-long buildup of lipids (cholesterol and fat) in the plaques of blood vessel wall. Eventually, the lipid-overloaded plaques rupture and clog the blood vessels in the heart or the brain, causing heart attack or stroke. Macrophages are the major type of lipid-loaded cells in the plaques. Proper removal of lipid droplets (LDs) inside the macrophages is critical for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis. However, the knowledge of LD dynamics in macrophages is very limited. Here, we are developing zebrafish as a novel model to study the role of macrophage lipophagy, the selective autophagy of LDs, in preventing atherosclerosis. We will present our progress on optimization of LDs, lipophagy and autophagy induction in larvae macrophages, as well as development of macrophage-specific autophagy and lipophagy reporters for quantification of the fluxes through these important recycling pathways in live fish embryos.
Zhang, Jingbo, UC San Diego Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor Julian Schroeder, Biological Sciences Professor Mohit Jain, Pharmacy, School Of Dr. Wouter-Jan Rappel, Physics
Regulation of plant water loss in the face of climate change: An interdisciplinary study focusing on CO2-regulation of stomatal conductance.
Climate change, and in particular the continuing increase in atmospheric [CO2], has global and profound effects on plant growth, plant water-use-efficiency, plant heat-stress and crop yield. Over 95% of plant water loss occurs by transpiration from stomatal pores. Stomatal pores consist of two kidney shaped guard cells, which control the size of stomatal aperture. Stomata control plant transpiration rate (water loss) and the diffusion of CO2 from the atmosphere for plant photosynthesis and plant-growth. CO2 is one of the main regulators of stomatal conductance. Elevated [CO2] in leaves cause stomatal closure. However, the genetic basis and the mechanisms mediating CO2 signal transduction remain largely unknown. The goal of this FISP-proposal is to elucidate the mechanisms that control [CO2]- dependent regulation of stomatal movement as part of complex interactions between the mesophyll and guard cells. A multi-disciplinary collaboration between the laboratories of Julian Schroeder; Biological-Sciences, WouterJan Rappel; Department of Physics, and Mohit Jain; Department of Medicine, will address this central question by combining mathematical modeling, metabolomics, genetics and physiology.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session B Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #18
Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #23
Zhang, Qiangzhe, UC San Diego Department/Major: Nanoengineering Mentored by Professor Liangfang Zhang, Nanoengineering Professor David Gonzalez, Pharmacology
Neutrophil membrane-coated nanoparticles for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and profiling of neutrophil-stimulating inflammatory factors
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic inflammatory disorder and a major cause of disability. Despite the progress made with recent clinical use of anti-cytokine biologics, the response rate of RA treatment still remains unsatisfactory, owing largely to the complexity of cytokine interactions and the multiplicity of cytokine targets. Here, we show a nanoparticle-based broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory strategy for RA management. By fusing neutrophil membrane onto polymeric cores, we prepare neutrophil membrane-coated nanoparticles (neutrophil NPs) that inherit the antigenic exterior and associated membrane functions of the source cells, which makes them ideal decoys of neutrophil-targeted pathological biomolecules. It is shown that neutrophil-NPs can neutralize proinflammatory cytokines, suppress synovial inflammation, target deep into the cartilage matrix, and provide strong chondroprotection against joint damages. In a mouse model of collagen-induced arthritis, neutrophil-NPs show significant efficacy, ameliorating joint damage in both prophylactic and therapeutic treatment regimens.
Zhao, Yuya, UC San Diego, Muir College Department/Major: Biological Sciences Mentored by Professor James Golden, Biological Sciences Dr. Roger Tseng, Biological Sciences
SynEco: A Xenobiotics-derived Co-culture System of S. elongatus and E. coli for Applications in Bioproduction
Currently, the biofuel industry uses glucose as feedstock for E. coli. Methods to prevent contamination require expensive process sterilization or excess antibiotics dosage which become ineffective over time by promoting antibiotic resistance. In our project, we use a xenobiotic approach to engineer autotrophic cyanobacteria, Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, to produce the rare sugar D-tagatose in a five-step enzymatic pathway. After detecting tagatose via HPLC, we will seek to engineer a transporter for tagatose secretion, a mechanism that is currently not known. The cyanobacteria will be harnessed in conjunction with genetically engineered E. coli that can metabolize tagatose; by using a multifaceted approach, we could leverage xenobiotic technology in a unique way to create a novel production platform that uses tagatose as a nutrient source and an anticontamination agent. Because our system utilizes photosynthetic cyanobacteria to cheaply produce the rare sugar carbon source, our co-culture system is both selfsustainable and cost-effective.
ABSTRACTS Poster Session A Price Center Ballroom A Poster Board #9
Zhao, Eric, UC San Diego, Revelle College Department/Major: Nanoengineering Mentored by Dr. Jesse Jokerst, Nanoengineering Fang Chen, Nanoengineering
A multi-purpose silica and iron-oxide hybrid nanoparticle for ultrasound-guided cardiac stem cell therapy
Stem cell therapy is a promising concept in regenerating diseased hearts, but current methods are inefficient for a number of reasons. Implanted cells suffer from low survivability due to ischemia and mis-injections into fibrotic tissue. At the same time, they are not retained well within the heart due to continuous blood circulation. We used porous mesocellular foam (MCF) silica nanoparticles and conjugated them with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) to create magnetic hybrid nanoparticles that act as contrast agents for ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). By combining all of these elements, it is possible to image myocardial injections in real-time with ultrasound, retain the cells in specific site using an external magnet, and load MCF-SPIO with pro-survival drugs. We show that MCF-SPIO particles are engulfed by human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) with low cytotoxic effects. Furthermore, these nanoparticle-labeled cells resist the shear stress of the heart’s environment with the help of an external magnet. With this method, there could be an improvement in stem cell viability and treatment efficacy, leading to more widespread clinical applications.
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AFFAIRS
Dr. Sandra A. Brown
Vice Chancellor (858) 534-3526 • sandrabrown@ucsd.edu ❊
Dr. Miroslav Krstic
Associate Vice Chancellor (858) 534-5556 • mkrstic@ucsd.edu ❊
Dr. Mark Lawson
Director of Training and Education (858) 534-7644 • mlawson@ucsd.edu ❊
Anna Gheissari
Business Manager (858) 822-5321 • angheissari@ucsd.edu ❊
Shannon Muir
Strategic Opportunities Research Analyst (858) 822-3144 • semuir@ucsd.edu ❊
Leticia Egea
Administrative Officer (858) 534-9467 • legea@ucsd.edu
ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS STAFF
David Artis, Ph.D.
Dean, Undergraduate Research Initiatives, Director, Academic Enrichment Programs (858) 822-4161 • dartis@ucsd.edu ❊
Veronica Bejar
Assistant Director, Academic Enrichment Programs/McNair Program (858) 534-8254 • vbejar@ucsd.edu ❊
Thomas K. Brown, Ph.D.
McNair Program Coordinator (858) 534-2937 • tkbrown@ucsd.edu ❊
Jessica Davis, M.A.
Faculty Mentor Program Coordinator (858) 534-5791 • jjd010@ucsd.edu ❊
Kirsten Kung, Ph.D.
Research Programs Coordinator (858) 822-3750 • kkung@ucsd.edu ❊
Adele S. Savage, M.A.
Health and Medical Professions Preparation Program Coordinator (858) 534-7579 • asavage@ucsd.edu ❊
Sophia Tsai, Ph.D.
Research Scholarships Coordinator (858) 534-9014 • stsai@ucsd.edu ❊
Heather Murphy
Executive Assistant (858) 822-0385 • hlmurphy@ucsd.edu
The Frontiers of Innovation Scholars Program (FISP) was launched after the UC San Diego Strategic Planning Process identified four research themes to focus on as we build the student-centered, research-focused, service-oriented public university of the future. These themes are:Â
Understanding and Protecting the Planet Enriching Human Life and Society Exploring the Basis of Human Knowledge, Learning and Creativity Understanding Cultures and Addressing Disparities in Society
FISP supports these research priorities and continues the university's investment in access and affordability for all students interested in an exceptional educational experience. This program will build the interdisciplinary expertise necessary to address society's greatest challenges and forge new intellectual enterprises, which increassingly rely on the ability to work across diverse disciplines, either individually or as members of multidisciplinary teams.
UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Dr, #0311, La Jolla, CA 92093-0311 http://research.ucsd.edu/fisp.html