URSP Student Luc Tran Researches the Role of Toxic Metabolite from Acetaminophen and NAPQI on Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

My name is Luc Tran and I am currently a senior within the Biology and Neuroscience Departments of George Mason University. My current OSCAR project is focused on the role of a toxic metabolite from acetaminophen, NAPQI, on the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). IPF is a fatal lung disease that is associated with scarring of the lung tissue over time and increased secretion of collagen. My current project stemmed from my previous research regarding the role of oxidative phosphorylation on apoptosis of the IPF fibroblasts. I completed my previous project as a member of the Biology Research Semester in Dr. Geraldine Grant’s lab. Prior to the beginning of the Research Semester, I had to choose from three different labs to join. I chose Dr. Grant’s lab as my primary choice because her research directly dealt with a medical issue which best correlated with my future goal of medical school. By the end of this project, I could warn my future patients about the risks of acetaminophen and how it may contribute to the progression of IPF. I can also use my findings to help identify potential therapeutics to cure IPF.

From the Research Semester project to my OSCAR project, I have worked most closely with Sarah Bui, who is currently a PhD student within Dr. Grant’s lab. Sarah has always been there to guide me through my research. It is through her patient guidance and detailed directions that I have learned so much about the lab techniques and article readings. On a weekly basis, I have collected RNA from the fibroblasts and synthesized cDNA. Next, I performed quantitative PCRs to determine the effect of NAPQI on the expression level of certain IPF markers. I would like to thank Dr. Grant and Sarah for giving me this opportunity to improve my laboratory techniques, continue my IPF research, and expand my horizon in the fields of IPF and biochemical research. I hope to have the opportunity to continue my research in the summer.          

URSP Student Jenna Cann Researches Jupiter-sized Exoplanets

My name is Jenna Cann and I am a senior studying astronomy. One of the things that initially got me interested in astronomy, and my OSCAR project, is the idea that there are so many other worlds and places out in the Universe that are so different from what we see in everyday life on Earth.  My current project deals with Hot Jupiters, which are Jupiter-sized exoplanets that are orbiting very close to their host stars.  Despite having a sizable atmosphere that could feasibly circulate the heat this planet receives from its star, astronomers have found that there is a large day-night side temperature change – sometimes up to 1000K in magnitude.  My project deals with trying to find a physical mechanism to explain this.

This project has helped me confirm that I do want to continue on to a research-based PhD program.  The skills I’ve honed over the course of this semester, in modeling and theory, will prove invaluable as I start research at a higher level.  Besides working with my advisor here at GMU, Dr. Michael Summers, I also collaborate with an advisor, Dr. Prabal Saxena, at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center.  Visiting Goddard and working with my advisor there has provided me with several contacts that could be research collaborators in the future.

My project consists of several different parts, using both theory and models, so on any given week I spend almost equal amounts of time working out pen and paper derivations as I do running transit simulations or plotting real K2 data from the Kepler telescope.

This semester, I learned a lot about energy transfer and tidal processes in atmospheric physics.  I’ve also learned that a lot of the questions scientists are looking to answer about exoplanets were the same ones asked decades ago about Titan, Europa, and other planets and moons in our Solar System.  Knowing that we now know the answers to those questions with respect to Solar System bodies, despite them seeming so out of reach decades ago, it is extremely inspiring to think of what we can learn from the thousands of new exoplanets we’ve discovered so far.

URSP Student Marla Lauber Examines Relationships Between Different Elements of Personality, Creative Ability and Creative Activity

My name is MarLa and I am a senior at George Mason. I am majoring in Psychology and English, with a concentration in Creative Writing. Through my OSCAR project, I examine the relationships between different elements of personality and both creative ability and creative activity. More specifically, the personality is often divided into five qualities, called the Big Five, which an individual might either be high or low on. Because creativity is a much desired and highly marketable skill, much research has been done on different aspects of it, but to research to date only consistently correlates it with one of the five qualities. However, it may be that creativity have a nonlinear relationship with other characteristics within the Big Five, that have previously been overlooked due to a tendency of researchers to look strictly for linear correlations.

My OSCAR project was developed as a means of engaging with my passion for both of my majors. My interests in art (literary and visual) and psychology developed almost simultaneously, when I was very young. It is perhaps because of this that I came to think of creative production as a key component of the human experience, and developed the desire to understand it more completely.

I have been working on this project for what will be a year and a half at the end of this semester, and it has gone through immense changes. The data I will be analyzing will come from a larger study on psychological flexibility, led by my mentor, Dr. Todd Kashdan. My week consists of lab meetings, refinement of the surveys and interviews we will give our participants, and a great deal of reading, writing, and rewriting. In the coming weeks, we will begin running participants, at which point my duties will involve scheduling participants according to research assistant availability.

This term I have learned a lot about the process of conducting and then presenting research. Specifically, I have gained a substantial amount of experience writing abstracts and considering the genre differences between posters and papers. I could not have learned any of those things with the theory alone; this program has given me the chance to learn by doing, for which I am very grateful.

URSP Student Mercy Wheeler Analyzes Potential Correlations Between Long Distance

My name is Mercy Wheeler, and I am a senior in the Communication department. My OSCAR project is a survey study that seeks connections and potential correlations between satisfaction in long distance relationships and computer mediated communication channel choice. Computer mediated communication channels are any and all methods of communication that are mediated via a computer, such as instant messaging, Skyping and audio calls; and many long distance relationships rely solely on these methods to communicate. While this may sound somewhat complicated, the reason that I chose the topic is rooted in personal experience. The picture is of myself and my partner, and we’ve been long distance for the entire duration of the relationship. When I began studying interpersonal relationships in my communication courses, I was curious to see if there had been studies done on relationships like mine. To my surprise and sadness, there was and still is an incredible lack of credible research done on long distance relationships. When I was given the opportunity to create my own study, I immediately chose this subject because of the need for research and my own personal experience in the subject.

Over the course of this research project, I’ve learned how to create an effective and ethical survey that has both validity and reliability. This is a skill that I’ve learned to be a relative rarity and incredibly helpful in my internships and current positions when my employers want feedback from their customers, and I expect it to continue to be a helpful skill in the future. I’m hoping that the data collected will be helpful for future studies in long distance relationships as well.

On a weekly basis, my time is dedicated to refining my literature review, working on survey questions and ensuring the validity of the questions asked, and in the coming weeks most of my time will be dedicated to analyzing and verifying my collected data.

One important thing that I learned over the course of this term is that part of research is uncertainty. Even though I’m incredibly invested in my study because of the academic value and the personal nature of the topic, I am still very uncertain about what kinds of responses I’ll have and if any of it will be interesting or surprising. Despite this, I have learned to accept what I cannot control and take my data as it comes, without the expectation that I’ll find anything groundbreaking at first glance. Flexibility and forgoing expectations about results will ultimately make my research less biased and more objective.

URSP Student Nicholas Sanders Creates and Checks the Viability of Devices Using Computer Designs Programs

My original interest in beginning this project stemmed from a desire to attain a more in depth knowledge on the workings of the brain on the cellular level.  With a greater understanding of how the human brain functions, from a biochemistry perspective, I believe I will be better able to achieve
my future goal of working in the field of psychiatry.

The work that I am currently undergoing involves creating a device using several computer design programs, checking the design for validity between programs, actually creating the design physically, and then checking for viability of the design.  If there are any errors or unintended outcome during any stage I then circle back to the last successful stage and begin again.

Over the course of this semester I have discovered that the more intricate a design is the more difficult it can be to produce.  This semester’s goal of creating more nuanced and a larger quantities of devices has been hindered by the exponentially more difficult task of bringing the designs to a viable end state as the margin for error on each system is within the scale of microns. This project may have applications in a variety of instances, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and spinal cord/nerve cell regeneration.  With continued perseverance, and a bit of luck, the results of this work may be published and put to further use of other scientist in their respective field in the very near future.