RESEARCH Summer 2019 RESEARCH 2015 INTERNSHIPS, EXTERNSHIPS WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT Garden State-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (GS-LSAMP)Sixth Annual Edition & Minority Association of Premedical Students (MAPS) Celebrating Student Research Activities 2015 Sixth Annual Edition Research Internships William Paterson University Biology Department Adonis Rivie, ISSBB Scholar, Biology Biotechnology Club ( BBT) President Mentors: Dr. Kevin Martus ( Physics) and Dr. Jaishri Menon Title: Plasma Treatment Accelerates Tail Regeneration in Tadpole, Xenopus laevis Unnati Chauhan ISSBB scholar, BBT officer and Daniel Lupo ISSBB scholar, MAPS officer Mentor: Dr. Emily Monroe Title: Effect of High Light Intensity on Polyketide Synthase Gene Expression in the Florida Red Tide Dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis Neal Joshi, ISSBB scholar, Alec DeGraaf, Noor Eldabagh , ISSBB scholar Mentor: Dr. Jeung Woon Lee Title: Transplantation of islet of Langerhans cells reverses diabetic hyperglycemia in mice with diabetes mellitus type-1 Ammar Ali, ISSBB scholar, Minority Association of Premedical Students ( MAPS) President Mentor: Dr. Kendall Martin Title: Designing TaqMan Probes to quantify species-specific conifer DNA in real-time PC Barbara Abboud Mentor: Dr. David Gilley Title: Quantitate Natural Levels of a Foraging Pheromone within Foraging Honey Bee Patrick Fardella Mentor: Dr. Emily Monroe\ Title: Genomic Investigations of Natural Product Rich Marine Cyanobacteria Alison Caceres Mentors: Dr. Carey Waldburger and Dr. David Slaymaker Title: Genetic Structure of Native and Restored Populations of American Beachgrass (Ammophila breviligulata Fern.) Along the New Jersey Coast Rebecca Atencio and Erin Connor, ISSBB scholars Mentor: Dr. Jeung . Woon Lee Title: The Role of Cortisol in Mediating the Pain Response of Children with Austism Spectrum Disorder as Modeled in BTBR T+ tf/J Mice De Graaf, Alec . Joshi, N., Eldabagh, N. Mentor : Dr.J.W. Leee Title: Xenotransplantion of Islet of Langerhan cells from Sprague Dawley rat to diabetic C57 mouse to reverse diabetes-induced hyperglycemia Noor Eldabagh, ISSBB scholar Mentor: Dr. Jeung Woon Lee Title: Transplantation of islet of Langerhans cells reverses diabetic hyperglycemia in mice with diabetes mellitus type-1 Brittany Simon, FHP President Mentor: Dr. Carey Waldburger Title: Studying PhoQ-PhoOP Signal Transduction System in E.coli William Paterson University: Physics Department Joyce June ,ISSBB scholar Mentor: Dr. Kevin Martus Title: Helium Plasma Exposures: Analysis of the Variation in Tadpole Tail Regeneration and PC12 Neuronal Growth William Paterson University: Chemistry Department Bryant Catano, ISSBB Scholar Mentor: Dr. Yalan Xing Title: Transition Metal Catalyzed Functionalization of Terminal Alkynes Benjamin Onyechi, Qiaxian Johnson and Swetha Matam Mentor: Dr. Bhanu Chauhan Title: A New Approach to Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes Decorated With Metal Complexes and Nanoparticles William Paterson University: Environmental Sciences Department Bryan Gonzalez Mentor : Dr. Michael Griffiths Title: Reconstructing seawater Sr/Ca through the late Phanerozoic from fossil shark teeth Daniel Pagano Mentor, Dr. Martin Becker Title: A Tale of two submerged cities: Modern sharks in an ancient forest, ancient sharks in a modern forest. An observable model of sea level change. Nicole Kern Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Callanan Title: Clay Mineral Weathering in the Post-Fire Environment Ralph Scimeca Mentor: Dr. Martin Becker Title: Fish remains from the Tallahatta–Lisbon Formation Contact (Middle Eocene–Lutetian) Pigeon Creek, Covington County, Alabama University of Maryland Horn Point Laboratory Center for Environmental Science Adrian Plummer , ISSBB scholar Mentors: Dr. Jamie Pierson, and Dr. Louis Plough. Title :Consequences of Diversification among Acartia tonsa in the Chesapeake Bay William Paterson University: Noyce Internship Ian Campbell Computer Science Major Meeting Presentations Conferences Photographs Student awards Introduction This is the seventh year the Garden State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation ( GS-LSAMP) program has put together such publication in order to recognize the research efforts and successes by William Paterson University science majors. As in previous years, Summer Research Internships and Externships have provided students with the opportunity to work on or off campus, in a laboratory or in their field of interest , under the supervision of a faculty. Such opportunity has allowed them to experience firsthand “how scientists work” and how to conduct scientific research. Many actively participated in specific projects, learn new techniques including the use of elaborate laboratory equipment, computer -assisted analyses, animal husbandry and handling, to name a few. Others have spent their summers volunteering or shadowing physicians in Hospitals and Health Clinics. Such internship has proven to be a valuable asset for students applying to Graduate or Professional school, or in job placement or career selection following graduation. Many of the students included in this publication are ISSBB ( Increasing Student Success in Biology and Biotechnology) scholars , an NSF funded scholarship to promote research and teaching careers among Biology and Biotechnology majors.. All the summer interns have presented their summer experience at one of our monthly, well attended, meetings in the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 semesters. Additionally, several GS-LSAMP students presented their work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium which took place at WPU in April 2014. Others have gone to Regional meetings, including GS-LSAMP Annual STEM meeting at Rutgers ( October 2014), National meetings ( Society for Neuroscience, October 2014) , ERN meeting in Washington DC ( March 2015) to present their work and have received major recognition for their research. Most of these abstracts or summaries are in their own words and represent an honest and candid account of their work. Other abstracts are more formal and were presented at a national scientific meeting. These summer internships would not have been possible without the support of the Biology , Chemistry and Environmental Sciences faculty who have volunteered to mentor our students. Others have provided contacts for off campus opportunities. This past summer, GS-LSAMP was able to provide stipends to 15 students. This support as well as this publication would not be possible without the support of Dr. Kenneth Wolf , Dean of CSH and of Dr. Jean Fuller-Stanley, Associate Dean of CSH, LSAMP project director at WPU. Many thanks to the Provost, Dr.Waren Sandmann , for providing the additional funding which was needed. Thanks to his support, an additional 10 students were funded. A total of 25 students were involved. A big thank you as well to Rita Levine for assisting in all matters related to GS-LSAMP and to Andres Salazar of the Science Enrichment Center for his technical and graphic support with this manuscript. We hope that next’s year publication will include many more interns and mentors. Dr. Danielle Desroches Professor Human Physiology and Neuro-endocrinology, PhD Anatomy and Physiology Coordinator Minority Association of Pre Medical Students ( MAPS) Coordinator Biology Biotechnology Club ( BBC) Faculty Co Advisor Increasing Student Success in Biology and Biotechnology ( ISSBB) Head Mentor Garden State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority in Sciences, ( GS-LSAMP) Academic Coordinator desrochesd@wpunj.edu (973) 720-2329
