Life Sciences - Undergraduate Research

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The Undergraduate Forum has provided a venue for students majoring in animal sciences, biology, biochemistry, natural resources, nutrition, plant sciences, and psychology. Faculty mentors in the life sciences disciplines have academic appointments in Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources; Arts & Science, Engineering, Health Professions; Human Environmental Sciences; Medicine; and Veterinary Medicine.

Thanks to the support of the MU Libraries staff, we are able to offer a comment feature to the digital Forum and encourage you to leave questions and comments July 30-August 5, 2020 keeping in mind MU’s Statement of Values (Respect, Responsibility, Discovery, and Excellence - missouri.edu/mission-values)

We also encourage the students to check-in periodically over the 5 days and respond to questions.

A meta-analysis of behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for episodic retrieval mode (Suárez)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Jack Suárez, Biological Sciences (BA) and Psychology (BS), Senior, Bryant, Arkansas, Faculty mentor: Jeffrey Johnson (College of Arts and Science, Psychological Sciences), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Jack Suárez and Jeffrey Johnson
Accelerated gene discovery through automated hydroponics (Swartz)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Landon Swartz, Computer Engineering (BSCoE), Junior, Springfield, Missouri, Faculty mentor: David Mendoza (College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), Plant Sciences), Funding source: US National Science Foundation (MCB-1818312) to David Mendoza and a Cherng Summer Scholar grant awarded to Landon Swartz, Collaborators: Landon Swartz, Chris Zachary, and David Mendoza
Adipose tissue-specific effects of dopamine receptor 1-specific Esr1 deletion in mice (Frazier)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Elyse Frazier, Health Science (Health and Wellness Services) (BHS), Junior, Ferguson, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Victoria Vieira-Potter (College of Human Environmental Sciences, Nutrition and Exercise Physioloy), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Elyse Frazier, Rebecca Welly, Dusti Shay,and Vicki Vieira-Potter
Association of body mass index and thyroid stimulating hormone levels with thyroid cancer among genders in the MU-Thyroid Nodule Electronic Database (MU-TNED) (Shawn)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Donia Shawn, Biological Sciences (BS) and Psychology (BS), Junior, Columbia, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Iris Zachary (School of Medicine, Health Management and Informatics), Funding source: Honors College- Cherng Summer Scholars, Collaborators: Donia Shawn, Iris Zachary, Uzma Khan, Magda Esebua
Changes in respiratory-sympathetic coupling during hyperinsulinemia in healthy young adults (Ivie)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Clayton L. Ivie, Secondary Education (Mathematics Education) (BSEd), Junior, O'Fallon, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Jacqueline Limberg (Nutrition and Exercise Physiology), Funding source: MARC/IMSD - NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity; (NIH) F32 HL120570, American Heart Association Grant 15SDG 25080095, NIH R00 HL130339, Collaborators: Clayton L. Ivie, D.W. Jacob1, B.D. Johnson, T.B. Curry, J.K. Limberg
Characterizing variants of Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) to further elucidate mechanism of resistance against soybean cyst nematode (SCN) infection (Daghlas)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Bana Daghlas, Biochemistry (BS), Senior, Columbia , Missouri, Faculty mentor: Lesa Beamer (College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), Biochemistry), Funding source: Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (LS UROP), Collaborators: Bana Daghlas and Lesa Beamer
Eaat1 and sleep in the fruit fly drosophila melanogaster (DeLong)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Thomas DeLong, Biological Sciences (BS) and History (BA), Senior, Kansas City, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Bing Zhang (College of Arts and Science, Biological Sciences), Funding source: Cherng Summer Scholars Program, funded by Peggy and Andrew Cherng and the Panda Charitable Foundation, Collaborators: Thomas DeLong, Paul Shaw, and Bing Zhang
Effect of diet variability on reproductive traits of Drosophila melanogaster (Jones)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Andrew Jones, Biological Sciences (BS), Senior, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Faculty mentor: Elizabeth King (College of Arts and Science, Biological Sciences), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Andrew Jones, Enoch Ng'oma, and Elizabeth King
Engineering of high-oil plants and characterization of their resistance to biotic and abiotic stress (Gordon)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: John Gordon, Biochemistry (BS), Junior, Manchester, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Abe Koo (College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), Biochemistry), Funding source: Cherng Summer Scholars Program, Collaborators: John Gordon, Aidan Ireton, and Abe Koo
Evaluating environmental influence on T-cell development in type one diabetes (Ball)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Brendan Ball, Biological Sciences and Psychology, Junior, O'Fallon, Missouri, Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Brendan M Ball, Alexis N Cattin-Roy, Tobechukwu K Ukah, and Habib Zaghouani
Evaluating neuronal migration in Celsr1 and Wnt5a double mutants (Becks)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Author information: Alexandria Becks, Biological Sciences, Junior, Naperville, Illinois, Faculty mentor: Anand Chandrasekhar (Biological Sciences), Collaborators: Alex Becks and Anand Chandrasekhar
Evaluation of levels of circulating mitochondrial DNA in maternal blood as markers of Intrauterine Growth Disorders (Johnson)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Cayla Johnson, Chemistry (BS), Sophomore, Chicago, Illinois, Faculty mentor: Rene Cortese (School of Medicine, Child Health), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Cayla Johnson; Kylie Hohensee; Mackenzie Giunio-Zorkin, MD; Mistie Mills, MD and Rene Cortese, PhD
Examining interactions between the tassel-less4 (tls4) mutant and auxin in maize (Koenigsfeld)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Leo Koenigsfeld, Biochemistry (BS) and Plant Sciences (Breeding, Biology and Biotechnology) (BS), Senior, Frankenstein, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Paula McSteen (College of Arts and Science, Biological Sciences), Funding source: Cherng Summer Scholars- Honors College, Collaborators: Leo Koenigsfeld, Janlo Robil, Mika Nevo, Dennis Zhu and Paula McSteen
Hepatic short chain fatty acid (SCFA) oxidation in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (Perry)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Author information: Alisha Perry, Biological Sciences, Senior, South Bend, Indiana, Faculty mentor: Elizabeth Parks (Nutrition and Exercise Physiology), Collaborators: Alisha Perry, Justine Mucinski, Majid Mufaqam Syed-Abdul, Jennifer Snawder, Ayman Gaballah, Randy Scott Rector, Jamal A. Ibdah, and Elizabeth J. Parks
Histological response to myostatin and activin-A antibodies in the G610C osteogenesis imperfecta murine model (Joseph)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Author information: Dominique Joseph, Biological Sciences and German, Senior, Faculty mentor: Charlotte Phillips (Biochemistry), Collaborators: Dominique Joseph, Catherine Omosule, Sandra Kleiner, Charlotte L. Phillips
How does selection for increased exercise in mice impact mandible and tooth shape and size? (LaChance)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Madison LaChance, Biological Sciences (BS), Junior, Chesterfield, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Kevin Middleton (School of Medicine, Pathology and Anatomical Sciences), Funding source: Cherng Summer Scholars - Honors College, Collaborators: Madison LaChance, Faye McGechie, Anna Hardin, Scott Kelly, Theodore Garland, Jr., Kristina Aldridge, and Kevin Middleton
Improving the production of oil in an underutilized crop : Crambe hispanica (Hall)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Garret Hall, Plant Sciences (Breeding, Biology and Biotechnology) (BS), Sophomore, Elsberry, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Chris Pires (College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), Biochemistry), Funding source: Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (LS UROP), Collaborators: Garret Hall, Chris J. Pires, An Hong, and R. Shawn Abrahams
Influence of environmental conditions on lifespan and alcohol intake in Drosophila melanogaster (Donnell)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Social Sciences and Humanities, Author information: De'anne Donnell, Nutrition and Physiology (Physical Activity, Nutrition and Human Performance), Junior, Kansas City, Kansas, Faculty mentor: Elizabeth King (College of Arts and Science), Collaborators: De'anne Donnell, Enoch Ng'oma, and Elizabeth King
Investigating the role of ACTC1 in placental development (Leak)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Juliann Leak, Biological Sciences (BS) and Psychology (BS), Junior, Kansas City, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Laura Schulz (School of Medicine, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health), Funding source: Cherng Summer Scholars, Collaborators: Juliann Leak, Rowan Karvas, Jessica Milano-Foster, Toshihiko Ezashi, Danny Schust, R. Michael Roberts, Laura C. Schulz
Measuring aquatic photosynthesis and respiration by use of RStudio(R) (Jefferson)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Lydia Jefferson, Environmental Sciences (Water) (BS), Junior, Raytown, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Alba Argerich (College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), School of Natural Resources), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Lydia Jefferson and Alba Argerich, P.h.D
Multi-analyte liquid biomarkers for lung cancer detection and risk assessment (Perez)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Gilberto Perez, Biochemistry (BS), Senior, Van Horn High School, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Yves Chabu (College of Arts and Science, Biological Sciences), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Gilberto Perez and Yves C. Chabu
Muscle fiber-typing in the G610C mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta (Harrelson)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Emily Harrelson, Biochemistry (BS), Junior, Saint Peters, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Charlotte Phillips (College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), Biochemistry), Funding source: Cherng Summer Scholars Program, Collaborators: Emily Harrelson, Victoria Gremminger, Cate Omosule, and Charlotte Phillips
Optimizing the intermedilysin(ILY)- hCD59 receptor system of rapid cell ablation in zebrafish (Aleti)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Ganasri Aleti, Psychology (BS) and Biological Sciences (BS), Sophomore, Chesterfield, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Anand Chandrasekhar (College of Arts and Science, Biological Sciences), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Ganasri Aleti and Anand Chandrasekhar
Reduction of oxidative stress in astrocytes (Hamill)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Allison Hamill, Biomedical Engineering (BS), Senior, St. Louis, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Shinghua Ding (College of Engineering, Biomedical, Biological and Chemical Engineering), Collaborators: Allison Hamill and Shinghua Ding
Role of endothelin converting enzyme-1 and neprilysin in perivascular sensory nerve dysfunction with IBD (Jones)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Benjamin Jones, Biological Sciences (BS), Senior, Hebron, Kentucky, Faculty mentor: Erika Boerman (School of Medicine, Medical Pharmacology and Physiology), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Benjamin W Jones, Elizabeth Grunz-Borgmann and Erika Boerman
Sleep restriction and altered sleep timing on energy intake and energy expenditure (Mengesteab)
Presenter information: Senay Mengesteab, Biological Sciences (BS), Sophomore, Columbia, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Jill Kanaley (College of Human Environmental Sciences, Nutrition and Exercise Physioloy), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Senay Mengesteab, Rebecca Shafer, Jill Kanaley,
Succinoglycan production in agrobacterium tumefaciens (Mason)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Amara Mason, Biological Sciences (BS), Sophomore, Alsip, Illinois, Faculty mentor: Pamela Brown (College of Arts and Science, Biological Sciences), Funding source: MARC/IMSD‚ NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers/ Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, Collaborators: Amara Mason, Jacob Bouchier, and Pam Brown
Vascular recovery during ischemia (Ruff)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Presenter information: Margot Ruff, Biological Sciences (BS) and Romance Languages (Spanish) (BA), Freshman, Omaha , Nebraska, Faculty mentor: Shawn Bender (College of Veterinary Medicine, Biomedical Sciences), Collaborators: Margot Ruff, Shawn Bender, Scott Brown
Vibrational communication in juvenile enchenopa binota treehoppers recruits nymphs to initiate group foraging (Williams)
Material for an online presentation at the Summer 2020 University of Missouri Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held virtually from July 30-August 1, 2020., Project category: Life Sciences, Author information: Brandy Williams, Natural Resources Science and Management (Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences), Junior, St. Louis, Missouri, Faculty mentor: Reginald Cocroft (Biological Sciences), Collaborators: Brandy Williams, Sabrina Michael, and Reginald Cocroft