William Senn
Scientific Research
C. Elegans are worms about a millimeter in length used for their short lifespan and availability in larger numbers.
The Effects of Cranberry and Glucose Supplementation On Lifespan of C Elegans
Department of Microbiology, Yuqing Dong
Aging is catalyzed by a variety of factors, such as situational stress, genetic modifications, or diet. The rewarding features of foods plenteous in antioxidants and polyphenolic compounds have been determined by numerous experiments and it has been suspected that these foods can help inhibit aging progression. Preceding studies were carried out in which meals including cranberry, which is a fruit high in antioxidants and polyphenols, was fed to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), and a noticeable increase in lifespan was observed. Studies have also been done to show the negative effects of Glucose on the C. elegans lifespan. A lifespan assay was carried out to see if cranberry could counteract the life shortening effects of glucose.
Cyberbullying Among College Students
Department of Psychology, Robin Kowalski
The prevalence rates, individual differences, and patterns of involvement in traditional bullying and cyberbullying were examined across middle school, high school, and college in a survey administered to 145 male and female undergraduate students. Involvement in cyberbullying during middle school bore a strong relationship to involvement during later school years. Additionally, college cyberbullying victimization showed a strong relationship to a number of individual difference measures tested including core self-evaluation, positive and negative affect, depression, anxiety, loneliness, health, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The implications of these findings for college student well-being and for prevention/intervention efforts will be discussed.
This is the bio-reactor I built to simulate the environment of the mouth.
The Effects of Flow on Dental Pulp Stem Cell Differentiation into Osseus Tissue
Department of Bioengineering, Dr. Delphine Dean
Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSCs) are a relatively new area of interest in stem cell studies. DPSCs come from the ‘pulp’ part of the tooth. The pulp part of the tooth is the portion that has a blood and nerve supply as opposed to the dentin and enamel harder portions of the tooth. DPSCs have been found to be a source of stem cells that have the potential to be used similarly to other mesenchymal stem cells in tissue engineering and especially restorative dentistry. The pluripotent capability of DPSCs is what makes them useful in tissue engineering. Like with many types of stem cells, DPSCs can be induced by manipulation of their microenvironments. Stimulation of these DPSCs can come from inherent microenvironments in the mouth such as chewing, trauma and mechanical stresses. In this research dictated and specific micro environments were achieved through the use of a parallel plate flow chamber to study the 2D effects of shear stress on the DPSCs that is comparable to stresses in vivo. 3-Dimensional microenvironments were also created through the use of a bioreactor to hopefully more effectively simulate the in vivo conditions of DPSCs in hopes to help understand the stimulation and differentiation of DPSCs especially in the specific aspect of bone and dentin development.
These are assays I used to asses the results of the experiment.