Undergraduate Research Posters

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  Making a Point!

  Sarah Perdue

  There are a great number of chipped stone artifacts in the archaeological record and the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL) at Virginia Commonwealth University is one place that stores and categorizes them through digital means. As an Intern with the VCL, I help add to the existing data collection of chipped stone artifacts along with the virtual curation of these artifacts. The VCL uses the NextEngine Desktop 3D scanner for digitally archiving each of the chipped stone artifacts. Besides providing a digital archive, the VCL also prints out plastic replicas of the artifacts by using a Makerbot Replicator. This digital way of archiving allows for further analysis and conservation that one might not have been able to achieve because of a lack of funds. Another benefit is that the archaeological record can be made more accessible to the public as many artifacts cannot be handled personally.

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  GABRA2 and frequency of alcohol consumption in a college population

  Marcus-David Peters

  Spit for Science: the VCU Student Survey aims to understand how genes and the environment come together to influence substance use and emotional health. Many studies have investigated the potential relationship between genetic variants in the GABRA2 gene and an individual’s subjective level of response to alcohol. Evidence suggests that individuals with specific GABRA2 variants have a lower subjective level of response to alcohol thus causing them to drink more, which in turn increases their risk for becoming alcohol dependent. The goal of the current study was to investigate the association between specific GABRA2 variants and alcohol use frequency in a sample of college students. VCU freshman in the 2011 fall semester were given the opportunity to complete the Spit for Science survey and provide a DNA sample. Linear regression was used to test the relationship between alcohol use frequency and GABRA2 variation. We also investigated the possible moderating effect of peer deviance on this relationship. The proposed questions addressed in this study are highly important because they may provide us with information on how to potentially help young adults from developing alcohol dependence.

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  Advertisements Effects on Childhood Obesity

  Sarah Peters

  Junk food advertisers spend billions of dollars every year on advertising aimed at children. These foods are known to be major contributors to the obesity epidemic, a growing problem around the world. Food advertising should be regulated to exclude advertisements that appeal to those under twelve as these children do not have fully developed cognitive defenses. This paper investigates the effects of cartoon characters, packaging, and branding in television advertisements on childhood obesity by analyzing various pieces of literature related to obesity, cognitive defenses, home environments, and advertisements. Advertising and branding overcome children’s cognitive defenses and thus negatively influence childhood obesity and the adiposity levels of children. There are many factors that determine the cognitive defense level of the children including the food environment created by the family, family situation, and modeled behavior. Children respond to advertisements differently than adults and are more susceptible to food branding and advertisements due to their low level of cognitive defense. Children’s cognitive defenses are not fully developed, even at the ages of seven or eight, and thus they cannot evaluate advertisements like adults can. Children create food brand bonds at incredibly early ages and are drawn in for life, creating a cycle of bonding that is hard to break. Various factors influence children’s defenses and response to advertisements including the effects of food environments created by parents on food behaviors. Overweight children may also have lower cognitive defenses than children at a healthy weight level and are thus more vulnerable to the advertising and branding targeted at them. Parents may not be aware of the effects their behaviors have on their children’s eating habits and often do not discuss critical thinking with their children. Advertisements aimed at children take advantage of these low levels of cognitive defense and the factors that lead to these low levels of cognitive defenses and should thus be regulated.

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  Comparative Analysis of Ancient Ritual Sacrifice

  Alexandra Price

  I am studying ritual human and animal sacrifice using Winkleman’s 1998 Standard Cross Cultural Sample method because I want to analyze similarities between cultures with sacrifice in order to help my reader understand why ritual sacrifice developed in civilization’s that had little to no contact with each other.

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  How Diagnostic Terms may Catalyze or Extend the Duration of Anorexia Nervosa

  Leslie Pyo

  Anorexia nervosa (AN) predominantly affects adolescent females and has the highest rate of mortality among psychiatric disorders. It is categorized as an Axis 1 Clinical Disorder in the DSM-IV and a Mental/Behavioural Disorder in the ICD-9. No research, however, has been conducted on how the diagnostic terms and linguistic categorization of AN may psychologically and neurobiologically contribute to the etiology or duration of AN. Peer-reviewed scientific articles, case studies, and books were used to investigate this relationship. Medical terminology loses its original context when used in non-medical society, gaining the power a label that may catalyze the development of AN in individuals who are diagnosed early, or extend the duration of AN in established patients. Three related factors make patients with AN uniquely susceptible to the impact of language: body image disturbance, information processing bias, and hyper reactive amygdala function. Due to body image disturbance (BID), which is one of AN’s four diagnostic criteria, patients with AN are fundamentally unable to create a stable self-image. This results in a body image that fluctuates with external stimuli, particularly language. Testing using the modified Stroop test and the dot-probe methods has found that patients with AN demonstrate a hypersensitivity to AN-related words, indicating an information processing bias that increases their susceptibility to language-induced body image fluctuations. Patients with AN also demonstrate hyper reactive amygdala function. This area of the brain coordinates and initiates responses to perceived threats. In individuals with AN, the hyper reactive amygdala catalyzes AN tendencies in response to the perceived threat of negative evaluation by others, a fear that is perpetuated by labels like “disordered” and “diseased”. These AN tendencies are catalyzed because patients view thinness as a positive factor that will induce positive feedback; ironically, their thinness is what brings the label of "disordered" in the first place, resulting in a self-perpetuating cycle. Though diagnostic labels are necessary, more research on the linguistic etiological component of AN is necessary so that future treatment methods for AN may address and work to prevent the patients' negative response to the language of diagnoses.

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  Receptor of Advanced Glycation Endproducts (RAGE) is Positively Correlated with Tumor Necrosis Factor-α in Adolescents with Obesity

  Tasnim Rahman, Daniel H. Conrad, and Anshu Gupta

  Introduction: Obesity in childhood is associated with an increased prevalence of diabetes and other traditional cardiometabolic risk factors, suggesting an epidemic of premature cardiovascular disease among today’s youth. Glycotoxins, known as advanced glycationend products (AGE’s), activating via the membrane-bound receptors (mRAGE), have been implicated in the pathophysiology of inflammation, (increased tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α ]), insulin resistance and vascular dysfunction in adults, but the role of RAGE in the early stages of metabolic disorders is unknown. In this study, we assessed relationship of cardiometabolicrisk factors, mRNA expression of TNF-α and RAGE in peripheral monocytes in adolescents with obesity.

  Methods: Thirty three adolescents,11-16 years of age, with body mass index (BMI) Z-score≥2 were admitted following a 12-hour overnight fast for anthropometrics, lipid profile , fasting peripheral blood sample collection, and a 2-hour 75 gm, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) positive for CD14 were isolated from blood. Cells were further analyzed by quantitative PCR for mRNA expression of RAGE and TNF-α. Pearson's coefficients were calculated to assess the associations between RAGE mRNA and cardiometabolicrisk factors as well as TNF-α mRNA levels.

  Results: The participants had a mean age of 12.7±1.41 years and BMI-Z score 2.32±0.35 SD with 81 % participants being female; 62 % were Black, 28% Caucasian, 10% were Hispanic. We observed a positive correlation between mRNA levels of RAGE and TNF-α in CD14+ monocytes in blood (r=0.62, p<0.01). However, we did not observe a correlation of BMI, cholesterol or triglyceride with RAGE mRNA levels.

  Conclusion: The positive relationship between the monocyte mRNA levels of RAGE and TNF-α suggest involvement of AGE-RAGE axis in obesity-associated inflammation and needs to be further investigated with larger sample size as well as studies in healthy adolescents.

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  A Performance Effectiveness Model for the Assessment of Anxiety's Effect on Muscle Activation in Trumpet Players

  Hannah Rumsey, Sahil Aggarwal, Erin Hobson, and Jeeyun Park

  The purpose of this research study is to analyze the relationship between anxiety and muscle activation in undergraduate trumpet players. sEMG will be used to measure three muscle groups: the upper trapezius, sternoclidomatoid, and masseter. This data will be analyzed along with State Trait Anxiety Inventory anxiety reports of each subject, and with VAS data of perceived anxiety after performing the repeated playing trials. Through covariate data obtained from the anxiety reports and an anxiety-induction experimental protocol, we hope to discover what effect anxiety will have on general muscle activation and fatigue in trumpet players. We hypothesize that subjects with higher anxiety levels will display greater levels of muscle activation and fatigue over the course of playing the trumpet as compared to subjects with lower anxiety levels. Preliminary data analysis has shown that there is no significant difference in VAS scales between the anxiety-induced group and the control group; the rest of the data analysis is still in progress.

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  The Role of Television on Early Onset Puberty

  Salman Salman

  The trend of early onset puberty has been increasing in recent years. As several studies have shown, a strong link between diet and puberty has been established in animals as well as in humans. However, not much attention has been paid to the cultural influences that have emerged recently such as television, computers, and gaming devices. Several different aspects of this trend were carefully studied and analyzed such as television and diet habits, children with early onset puberty, hormonal changes in children with early onset puberty, as well as the methodology of administering treatment. By connecting television to early onset puberty, pediatricians can reconsider treatment options for children maturing at a faster-than-normal rate and the harmful effects of early puberty (i.e. increased risk for breast/testicular cancer, insulin rejection, etc.) can be better averted. After careful analysis of reports from a wide range of persons all over the world, increased television viewing time was shown to be associated with a higher intake of fatty foods, a higher BMI, and in turn higher leptin levels. These high leptin levels predisposed the child to early puberty and the most effective way to treat this proved to be providing a detailed prescription outlining how to cut down on television and poor food habits in order to maintain healthy growth.

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  Le Corbusier’s Urban Planning and its Lasting Effects on City Design in Colonized Countries Abroad

  Davis Scherer

  In the both the periods between and after the World Wars, the French government expressed an increased interest in redeveloping Paris and the surrounding suburbs. It was during this push to renovate the wreckage and to improve the living situation of the impoverished that modernist sentiment first flourished in the country. This paper examines not only the effects of modernism’s rise in France, as well as Le Corbusier’s urban planning efforts therein, but also the diffusion of modernist principles into colonial holdings of major European powers touched by modernism. Using both analyses of Le Corbusier’s work and case studies of modernism in countries such as India, Brazil, Mexico, and China, and iterations both in and outside of France, I have come to the conclusion that as modernism was absorbed into the architectural vernacular of countries such as this, it took on new ideologies based on cultural values. This adaption, often necessary growths in order to promote the acceptance thereof in each country, created distinct forms of architecture and urban planning unique to the cultural context they promulgated in.

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  Biological Feasibility of Interstellar Travel

  Matthew B. Schneck

  Exposure to the space environment has resulted in numerous alterations to homeostatic mechanisms within the human body. Immune suppression, musculoskeletal degradation, decreased cardiac output and fluid redistribution have all been reported throughout short and long term space flight. The goal of this review is to discover if long term interstellar travel is biologically possible for humans. The relative influence of cosmic radiation, microgravity, and high velocity travel on homeostasis has not been previously established for interstellar space travel. Real-time space flight data and ground-based studies were compiled from other researchers. This data was analyzed with the goal of establishing the relationship between the aforementioned environmental pressures and the corresponding homeostatic consequences. Meta-analysis revealed that the predicted homeostatic consequences of interstellar space flight do not significantly inhibit the body’s ability to function in the space environment. Although interstellar travel is mechanically restricted, it is biologically plausible provided proper defense mechanisms are applied. Further research must be directed towards eliminating mechanical restrictions including but not limited to propulsion mechanisms, circular sustainment systems, environmental protection and interstellar communication.

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  Aftermath of the Hobby Lobby Decision: Implications for Women in the Workforce

  Hirsh Shah

  Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. is a landmark Supreme Court case in which it was ruled that the contraceptive mandate from the Affordable Care Act was an unnecessary and substantial burden on Hobby Lobby’s corporate exercise of religious freedom. This is the latest of many court cases that have expanded corporation’s rights to equal those of humans, giving them individual status without the responsibilities that come along with it. By citing religious liberty rights, closely held corporations such as Hobby Lobby can impose their religious viewpoints on their employees, specifically by not providing certain contraceptive care coverage. Other corporations are forcing women to choose between careers and families by imposing certain preventative care guidelines, such as egg-freezing methods among others. In order to determine the future implications of this case, I researched the history of corporate personhood, women and usage of contraceptive care, and gender-based workplace discrimination. My research shows that by not supporting female employees who have different health needs, Hobby Lobby sets up a model for corporations to be discriminatory towards women by portraying the idea of an anti-family and unsupportive workforce environment. In addition, the Hobby Lobby case has broader implications, with increasing corporate power causing economic and political ripples. Solutions can be found outside the US, by looking at European guidelines concerning women preventative services as a template. On the home front, the US Government should stand its on ground on the Affordable Care Act mandate concerning women care, by requiring all corporations to adhere to those rules through mandatory legislation, and the American Medical Community should properly inform physicians and patients of all contraceptive options, including Long-acting reversible contraception. This will allow women to be rightfully given access to the full range of preventative care services and a supportive and nurturing environment, and will also keep corporate power in check, preventing future possible cases of workplace discrimination.

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  Gene Therapy Evolution: How Gene Therapy has Evolved Preventive Medicine

  Kayuri Shah

  Gene therapy technologies offers a prospect for preventive medicine; before the trait can harm the recipient, genetically engineered transgenes will either alter the genetic disorder beforehand, or allow for regeneration of the tissue. The basic goal in bone formation and regeneration is to find a quick, easy, and cost-effective method to help bone growth, formation, and regeneration where surgery may be impossible or too risky. Gene therapy provides that, whether as a technology or product. Cells have the ability to be engineered, or manipulated, within the recipient’s body, or by removal and reimplantation. While treatments such as surgery are available, sometimes it is extremely difficult for those methods to reach certain areas of the body. Not only that, preventive medicine has advanced to the stage where genetic bone disorders can be eliminated before it is passed down to offspring. By comparing scholarly sources regarding the different in vivo and ex vivo methods, researchers have shown how bone formation and regeneration can be done easily through gene therapy. Between the two methods, both viral and non-viral methods have been tested. Results show that in vivo methods have many safety implications, however, it is the less expensive method. Regardless, ex vivo has been tested and could be taken to clinical trial level, unlike the others that have yet to be taken beyond pre-clinical trail and animal testing. Currently, legislation only supports the use of gene therapy on somatic cells, but in the long run, gene therapy could solve the problem of chronic hereditary genetic disorders if the alterations could be made in gamete cells. Not only that, but there has been no final definition of gene therapy, and therefore there is no stopping someone from altering an unlikeable physical trait in comparison to an actual physical challenge. The only thing stopping gene therapy and therapeutic products from hitting the market is the red light on clinical trials. Several methods have yet to pass the pre-clinical trial stage, and be tested on large animal models. Until then, there will not be an actual advancement to the human stages of clinical trials, helping no one, let alone the role in preventive medicine advancement.

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  The Correlation of the Order Effect and Anxiety in Relation to the Carbon Dioxide Challenge and Screaming Lady Task

  Tulsi Shah

  In the current study, juvenile twins aged 9-13 were asked to perform two psychophysiological tasks, referred to as the carbon dioxide (CO2) challenge and the Screaming Lady task. In the CO2 challenge, participants were asked to breathe enriched air for eight minutes that contained 7.5% CO2 for. Subjective anxiety was assessed every two minutes during a baseline, CO2 inhalation, and recovery period using the subjective units of distress scale (SUDS). The Screaming Lady task was designed to assess a fear-potentiated startle response. Participants were exposed to a classical conditioning paradigm in which loud screams were paired with images of a woman’s face. Air puffs delivered to the forehead were used to induce a startle response, and participants were unaware of when either stimulus (scream or air puff) would be administered. A SUDS rating was taking before the Screaming Lady task began, after the acquisition period, and after the extinction period. Based on previous research, it has been shown that sustained inhalation of CO2 can trigger physical symptoms similar to those experienced during a panic attack (Blue, 2014). In the current study, the CO2 and Screaming Lady tasks were also administered one after the other though the order of what came first was randomized. It is hypothesized that the anxiety generated by the CO2 task could lead to greater distress and anxiety during the Screaming Lady task. This would be demonstrated by higher SUDS ratings during the Screaming Lady task by those who did the CO2 task first. The data was divided in two parts: one in which the carbon dioxide task was performed before the screaming lady task and one in which the screaming lady task was performed first. The SUDS ratings will be used to examine if indeed such an order effect exists for these tasks, and these analyses will be used to inform study procedures in the future.

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  Do Coping Mechanisms Affect the Quality of Life in Adolescences Who Have Experienced Trauma?

  Anne Simmons, Brianna Epps, and Tess Davis

  The objective of this secondary analysis was to examine whether positive reframing moderates life satisfaction in children who have experienced victimization in the past year. Previous studies found that children who are frequent targets of peers’ bullying are at risk for a variety of adjustment problems including depression, loneliness, and anxiety (Boulton & Underwood, 1992; Graham & Juvonen, 1998; Hawker & Boulton, 2000). Moreover, coping plays a direct role on the adjustment of children and may be used as a moderator in the effect of a stressor on the life satisfaction of an individual (MacCann, Lipnevich, Burrus, & Roberts, 2012). Following this research, the experimenters conducted a secondary analysis on Dr. Wendy Kliewer’s Project CARE data. The results indicate that, although victimization is a significant predictor of life satisfaction, positive reframing does not effectively moderate the relationship between victimization and life satisfaction. The lack of self-report victimization and life satisfaction heavily contributes to the statistical insignificance of this test. However, with a more robust sample size, the data will aide in establishing effective coping mechanisms.

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  The Implications of Patrilineal Surnames

  Raymond Smalara

  Current Western tradition dictates that a woman is to take her husband’s surname upon marriage and pass it along to her children. In order to explore the reasons behind today’s relatively unchanging adherence to this trend of patrilineal surnames, surveys on marital name choices as well as publications on historical origins of the family and of family names were consulted. Some view this patrilineal trend as sexist, citing societal pressure and the patriarchy as forces compelling women to follow the tradition. While these factors do affect surname trends, the oppressive roots of the patrilineal surname run deeper than sexism. Further research revealed that sexism is not a main motivator or cause of patrilineal naming; the establishment of the permanent, patrilineal surname is linked to imperialist oppression, forced assimilation, and racism. In order to combat the oppressive structures working within surname tradition, it is suggested that people critically examine the naming practices they adhere to, and use that insightful analysis to break down said structures.

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  The Fluidity of Human Intimacy: A Look at Relationship Orientation and Identity with a Focus on Polyamory

  Briana Spangler

  Polyamory (or “Poly”) is an alternative way that people conduct their relationships. My research was aimed at discovering what role relationship structure has to an individual’s identity. In this presentation, identity is defined as characteristics, beliefs and behaviors that make up a person’s self-image. To answer this question, I conducted a small case study involving personal interviews to find out how personal relationship structure played a role to their individual identities, particularly in the case of Polyamorous relationships. According to my findings, it seems that relationship structure has its own orientation, separate from sexual or gender orientation. The importance of this orientation varies on personal opinion from individual to individual, but that does not make relationship orientation insignificant because it still exists as a characteristic of a person’s identity.

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  Diagnostics of Brain Rehabilitation

  Nathalie Spita

  Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of long-term morbidity among the young resulting in significant societal impacts. Yet advances in TBI therapeutic care have been largely limited by the complexity of the pathobiology, heterogeneity among patients, and imprecise endpoint assessments with which to evaluate efficacy. Thus, there remains a significant need for improved diagnostics, particularly for guiding novel therapeutic use and outcomes. So-called theragnostic assays are of particular interest in the new area of TBI rehabilitation, which ideally would target a window of heightened brain plasticity during which circuit remodeling would support recapitulation of lost function. The biochemical processes associated with brain plasticity following TBI produce metabolized components that are small enough in size to passively diffuse into peripheral fluid and by natural means are excreted into urine. We employ high performance mass spectrometry to quantify these byproducts, comprising a “TBI urinary signature” of some 2,500 TBI selective molecules. In this study we hypothesized that the urinary signature would evolve with the advent of a plasticity window during the course of inpatient rehabilitation. Urine samples from eight TBI patients were collected at admission and discharge from the VCU Health Science Center Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit. Application of non-supervised dimensional reduction analysis demonstrates that the TBI urinary signature is highly effective at classifying TBI patients from non-traumatized age / sex matched individuals. Further, our data demonstrate that the TBI urinary signature evolves distinctively between admission to rehabilitation (mean of 22 days post-TBI) and discharge from the unit (mean of 32 days post-TBI), clearly differentiating the point in recovery. Results further suggest individualized features grouping subjects into recovery classes that are being evaluated for functional correlates. Future research with these results will further evaluate the prognostic capacity of the TBI urinary signature as subjects are followed out one year from their injury.

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  Effects of dissolved and dietary Microcystin on clearance rates of Wedge Clams (Rangia cuneata) in the tidal fresh James River

  Spencer Tassone, Paul Bukaveckas, and Joe Wood

  Benthic filter feeders are important organisms in estuaries due to their ability to remove algal and non-algal particulate matter from the water column. Microcystin (MC) is a cyanotoxin that is known to have adverse effects on diverse consumers, though its effects on benthic filter-feeders are not well-studied. In this study, we examine the effects of microcystin on the filtering activities of Rangia cuneata, a common and often dominant filter-feeder in tidal freshwaters. Clams and seston obtained from the James River were used along with commercially-available microcystin to measure clearance rates of Rangia across a gradient of dissolved microcystin concentrations. We also compared clearance rates of James River clams to natural food sources in the presence and absence of microcystin. Our results show that dissolved microcystin inhibited Rangia clearance rates. Even at the lowest concentration tested (0.40 μg MC L-1) clearance rates were significantly lower than controls. Dietary experiments showed that when elevated microcystin was present in the James (September), clearance rates were lower for clams fed James River seston relative to clams fed seston from another source. Our results suggest that the presence of microcystin may diminish ecosystem service provided by benthic filter feeders.

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  Virtually Scanning Jamestown 1607-1610

  Lauren Volkers

  The Virtual Curation Laboratory, located at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been 3D scanning artifacts in collaboration with Jamestown Rediscovery from a very narrow period of time,1607 to 1610. This short time period includes the founding of the Jamestown colony and the Starving Time, where colonists consumed dogs, their seven horses, and at least one young woman. The intersection of Native Americans and Europeans can also be seen with native-made artifacts found in European contexts or altered by European contact. This poster will feature a butchered dog mandible and a butchered horse tibia from the Starving Time, native-made and European-made pipes and ceramics, a projectile point, and a jeweler’s mold.

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  The Undermining of Females in Video Games

  Samuel West

  Video games as a form of entertainment have been rapidly evolving over the past few decades. Female presence in video games has grown exponentially along side this evolution. This paper focuses on how women are presented in games, the roles that they play within the games and their physicality while performing leadership roles. Scholarly articles have been analyzed on topics including the design of cover art used to sell games, the part that women play in the storyline, the physical nature of women in video games, and the effects sexualized women can have on the gamers. Women have matured from the simple “damsel in distress” character into influential leaders in recent games, but at a cost. While they may be the leaders in a game, they are seen in exiguous outfits that emphasize their perfectly shaped bodies. They are hypersexualized and are often seen as objects and rewards, rather than leaders, because of their body. I argue that while women are starting to take on more leadership roles in video games; their physical portrayal completely undermines any leadership ability the character has. Many scholarly authors agree that these images of women have far more detrimental effects on players rather than promoting women as strong capable leaders.

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  Alternative Artificial Vein Graft Biomaterials

  Alexander Whitehead

  Current artificial vein grafts for long-term dialysis and bypass surgeries suffer from atherosclerosis and restenosis, and they tend to thrombose after initial patient recovery. The alternative materials, coatings, and polymer interfaces being explored in stents may be useful in graft applications, increasing both the quantity and quality of the patient’s life. To better comprehend the clinical standards and developing alternatives, I collected previously identified physical and chemical venous properties, as well as the corresponding synthetic materials that would support them. I compiled studies of primary and secondary endpoints (such as death, myocardial infarction, thrombosis, and target-lesion revascularization) in various graft materials, polymer coatings, and drugs to gauge efficacy. Based on my findings, I suggest that everolimus coatings linked to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts by poly(n-butyl methcrylate) (PBM) should be subjected to further clinical research and in-vivo trials.

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  Building Student Leaders Through Peer Advising

  Holly Whitt

  As an undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University I have seen both the positive and negative impacts peer advising can have on students. My research and experience will show the benefits of peer advising from a student perspective. Understanding the benefits of this method of advising to both the peer advisor and the student is critical in measuring its impact. Peer Advisors in the LIberal Studies for Early and Elementary Education (LSEE) program at VCU are students who have completed the majority of their program requirements and have met the required GPA and testing benchmarks. Furthermore, these students have also demonstrated a keen interest in mentoring their fellow students. Peer advisors gain invaluable leadership skills through their experience and are an invaluable asset to the LSEE program at Virginia Commonwealth University.

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  Relationships Between GABRA2, Alcohol, and Peer Deviance

  Kenyada Williams

  Kenyada Williams Spit for Science 24 March 2014 Mentor: Dr. Dick Title: My friends made me do it: peer deviance, alcohol, and GABRA 2 Abstract The Spit for Science research study aims to understand how genetic and environmental factors unite to influence substance use and environmental health. This research was done in order to determine the relationship between the GABRA2 gene and alcohol use along with the effects of peer deviance and amount of consumption. To determine these results, the Spit for Science research team has collected survey questions and DNA samples from voluntary first year participants at Virginia Commonwealth University in spring 2011. We are examining the amount and frequency of average alcohol consumption in conjunction with the amount of deviancy shown in the majority of ones peers. We also examined 8 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) in the GABRA2 gene for significance in increased alcohol consumption among students who drink. The regression results showed zero correlation between peer deviance and the frequency of alcohol consumption. In addition, we were also unable to identify a moderating effect of peer deviance on the relationship between alcohol use and GABRA2 variation. Since GABRA2 is most commonly associated with more severe alcohol-related outcomes, such as Alcohol Dependence, further analyses must be done in order to determine the genes relationship with simple or limited alcohol use.

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  New Media: Web Series, Creating and Sharing

  Paislee Winkler and Jerid Prater

  VCUarts New Media Project as a class that connects students in a variety of school departments together to make a web series. This web series is similar to a television show as we create five short episodes , that add up to a thirty minute pilot show . This class is the only one at VCU and addresses television and web show creation. This class builds future television content creators. Students in the class currently come from the Theater Department, Kinetic Imaging, Film and Photography, and Richard T. Robertson school of Media and Culture. We are making content that is original work, we are writers, editors, film crew and actors. We come in early before class and stay late to create original work that has gone through the process of copyrighting and in the Writers Guild of America. This cross culture class is researching the process of a viral video. Watching and doing work similar to a web series on the Internet today. We encompass social media, engaging in local businesses, as we partner up for locations and promotions. Currently we have worked with the Lair and Sugar Shack Donuts. We read works of successful television writers and creators we hope to build work the reflects and challenges the way people watch video content. In our current work, the series we are creating is “Imaginerapy,” a group of people “breathers” meet in a therapy group to discuss having a life with a imagery friend “figment”. The imagery befriended fall in love and realize who they truly are. As a producer and script supervisor in the class, I see and learn every aspect of the program. Leading in planning a shooting schedule, connecting with businesses, and playing the extra. The professors of the program work as the network do review the finish product before it airs. The web series will be online by April this year, and from this present we will be able to find out how a web series gets a buzz, how to we engage with viewers and what people like to see when watching online content. The product we are making in this class provides research in the future of visual content.

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  VIGS (Virus Induced Gene Silencing)

  Cameron Winn

  ABSTRACT Virus induced gene silencing (VIGS) is an efficient technique to quickly evaluate gene functions. VIGS utilizes the mechanism(s) of RNA interference (RNAi), which the virus vector carrying the gene of interest will be silenced through posttranscriptional gene silencing. Agrobacterium is used to carry the constructed vectors to infect the plants . Here, I summarized several inoculation methods have been reported recently to infect the plants. We are working on evaluating the efficiency with these different methods in our study system. Our lab uses Nicotiana obtusifolia (desert tobacco) as a model to studygene regulating plant development. I report the result of leaf inoculation by using syringe. PDS gene was silenced show a phenotype with bleached leaves . We are working on evaluating the most effective inoculation methods for our system. VIGS, PDS, plasmid, agrobacterium, inoculation, vector, transmission