URSP Student Brendan Wiggins Corrects Strabismus with Computer Simulations

I’ve been a part of Dr. Wei’s lab, since the spring semester of my junior year. I wanted to have some sort of research experience before I graduated and before working with her I haven’t really done much other than a tutoring job.  We regularly have lab meetings and she suggested that I sign up for the URSP program in the fall semester.  I’m glad she showed me this as it was a great opportunity to continue to do research and I’ve been enjoying the project. Since this project is mostly coding it has been a great opportunity for me to increase my coding skills as I’ve always been a little weak.

I see this project as a way for me to get some real world experience in research before I graduate. Not many students actually do this kind of level of work and it always looks good to future employers that you already have prior experience. This is also a chance for me to have my work published in various scientific journals, I’ve already been co-authored for the work I’ve accomplished last semester and it’s really exciting to see what else I can accomplish.

For my project I’m trying to build a program in Matlab that can analyze Ultrasound images of extraocular muscles (EOMs) and use that to track the movement of the muscles.  This project is entirely code base and can be frustrating at times to do as it can take me a while to figure out what the next line of code will be and sometimes I have to re-write everything when things don’t work out as planned in the end. Just last week I finished up the coding for tracking the EOM movement using the intensity of the ultrasound images, now I just need to test this and then I can move on to the second phase and write the code for predicting the movement using the various features within the EOMs. It’s been stressful at times, but this has been a great learning experience and I can’t wait to finish this project.

URSP Student Erica Aileen Ty Conducts a Choreographic Study of Balancing Stillness and Motion in Order to Move Through Space

My idea for this project began through the childhood memories I have of trying to solve a rubix cube. On each side of the cube there are nine squares and each have a specified path and placement amongst the puzzle. I wanted to create a choreographic challenge for myself as an artist by using this inspiration in a dance piece. I wanted to create a study that demonstrates the maximum amount of movement I am able to place with set points throughout a given space. There is a mentality of dance focusing on “constant movement”, in my study I want to go against this mindset by playing with the idea of motion versus stationary and symmetry versus asymmetry. I am taking on two opposing choreographic techniques and using them at the same time. I believe that it is possible to have an equalized balance between two opposing ideas instead of centralizing oneself to a specific theme. The piece I created is entitled Fixation, this past semester I have been working to present this project through a film. I wanted to demonstrate how a choreographer sees a piece through the lens of a camera, and focus on the little details I want to be noticed.

For my long-term goals, I see this entire experience as a challenge to my leadership skills. I have been in multiple group projects before, but this by far has been an eye-opening endeavor into how to be an effective leader. I had the pleasure to work with some amazing dancers and film personnel who had the highest of work ethics. Although they were able to give their opinions or suggestions, in the end they turned to me for the final decision. Having this kind of recognition was new and I wanted to take advantage of it by being not only an affective leader but also a smart one.

           

During the beginning of the semester I would work on my project by planning out where we would be shooting the dance and what sections. I went over the list of shots we needed to get with my cinematographer and what equipment we would be using. Then on Saturday mornings we would all meet at the specified location and film for 3 to 4 hours. Currently, I now meet with my editor every Thursday to edit through and piece together the film. This week I discovered how truly meticulous the process of editing a film is. We had to narrow down one of our shots frame by frame in order for it to be perfectly synced with the music. I found out that having patience even with myself and those I work with will achieve more than remaining stressed by the problem.

URSP Student Kathryn Snyder Researches the Efficacy of Artesunate for Malaria Treatment in the Peruvian Amazon

This week I had the opportunity to travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to share the findings of my research at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) annual conference. Thanks to the Undergraduate Student Travel Fund (USTF) I was able to afford the cost of attending the conference. I had the opportunity to network with physicians and researchers well-respected in their fields and learn from them. Most importantly, I was able to explore the city of brotherly love and eat some incredible food. ASTMH is the nation’s leading professional society for infectious disease and as an undergraduate it was a great opportunity to not only attend, but to present.

My poster was on “Multiple Episodes of P. vivax Malaria in the Peruvian Amazon: Relapses or Frequent Reinfection?” This summer I had the opportunity to do research with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit-6 (NAMRU-6) in Iquitos, the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon. Some of the findings for my project are explained below, but the most important concept and take away for me is that health and infection unequally impact the poorest individuals in society the greatest.

Currently, the predominant species of malaria in South America is Plasmodium vivax, which is difficult to control or eliminate due to the prevalence of relapse cases. To compare potential differences in exposure, I carried out geospatial analysis of malaria cases in a village named Padrecocha, which is located 6 km from Iquitos City. Malaria cases presenting at the local health center from 2010 –2015 were defined as cases if they experienced more than one episode of P. vivax in a 12 month period, whereas those with a single episode during the study period were classified as controls, 56 controls and 48 cases were identified. The spatial distribution for cases versus controls was significantly different. Relapse cases lived closer to water bodies (p < 0.001) and lived further from the health post (p = 0.166) than cases  with a single malaria episode. Nearest neighbor analysis showed increased clustering of patients experiencing single infections in the center of the city compared to relapse cases that were more dispersed.

Further analysis is needed to determine what is leading to the relapse of these patients. Clustering in frequent malaria patients could be caused by an increased risk for infection, genetic similarities in individuals living farther from the city center, lack of access to medical resources, or increasing poverty with increased distance from the community’s economic center. Increased distance from the health center could contribute to relapse by making it more difficult for infected individuals to access antimalarial drugs for the duration of the recommended treatment course. Similarly, living further from the city center could contribute to reinfection through more frequent interactions with vectors (increased vector density outside the city center and poorer housing construction, leading to increased exposure).

Attending the conference and networking with professionals from around the globe enabled me to hear about incredible research and opportunities occurring far from Mason. Who knows where I will go next, maybe Africa or back to Peru.

URSP Student Sasha Pierre-Louis and the Perception of Task Leaders

I became interested in my current topics of research (leadership and diversity) through being involved on campus in the Leadership, Education and Development office and working as a Diversity, Inclusion and Multicultural Education creating community facilitator.  By working in these positions I began to want to learn and understand more about leadership and diversity in the context of organizations. I also wanted to answer some of my own questions that came up while working in these positions of leadership such as: What makes a good leader?  Are there things that hinder people from being good leaders?  Could race and gender potentially play a role?  These questions inspired me to enact upon my interest in leadership and diversity.

I am currently working under the direction of Dr. Eden King and doctoral student Ashley Membere in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Department to complete this research project.  This semester we are highly focused on collecting data and presenting the proposed study in my Psychology Honors Research class.  I am also working to complete a written thesis based on this project and the research findings. Through this entire research process I have learned a lot about myself and what it takes to research what I am passionate about.  I am most grateful for the lesson of perseverance and determination because I believe that these qualities distinguish one from others who may be striving for the same goal.

My research project is a starting point to help me get to where I would like to be in future.  I plan to continue research in the topics of leadership and diversity in graduate school, becoming a scholar in the field and creating best practices for leadership and diversity in organizations and in the workplace.

URSP Student Michelle Moore Seeks to Improve Hybrid Voltage Sensor Imaging Increases Neuronal Specificity in Targeted Cells

I was first introduced to this project during the spring of last semester. As a newly admitted student in the psychology honor’s program at George Mason, I was faced with a decision on what kinds of research appealed to me, as this would serve as the basis for an undergraduate thesis. Confident that I wanted to pursue neuroscience further, I sought out my current mentor, Dr. Ted Dumas, to see if there were any available positions for an honor’s student in his lab. It was during that time that I was first introduced to the hybrid voltage sensor imaging project, or as it commonly referred to as, the “hVoS project”. In sum, the purpose of the hVoS project is to create a hybrid voltage sensor genetically modified to express a cerulean fluorescent protein (CeFP) localized to the soma in neurons. By localizing the fluorescent protein to the soma, we hope to achieve greater S/N ratios, and thereby be able to better match the action potential with respect to time. In doing this, we seek to further the development of the technology which will allow us to image activity in large networks of neurons.

A typical week in the lab involves performing a core set of molecular biology protocols on rotation, until the desired results are obtained. Typical protocols used on a regular basis include transformation of plasmid DNA into bacteria, setting up minicultures, isolating plasmid DNA through minipreps, setting up restriction digests, gel electrophoresis, PCR, and T4 ligation. Additionally, before the majority of these procedures can take place, we must work on the refinement of our gene design, along with primer design before PCR can occur. Gene sequencing is typically accomplished by the use of large gene databases such as GenBank, decoding plasmid maps, and looking more in depth into the literature.

The unique asset of skills which I have acquired over the course of this project is something that is unparalleled to any other professional or academic experience which have undertaken before.  Furthermore, this project has taught me a great deal about myself, and just how far I will push myself for the betterment of myself and society as a whole. I am eternally grateful for the time which I have spent working on this project, and for the valuable lessons that I have learned along the way. Go science!