Tag: Julie Weise

The Bracero Program: Recordando A Estos Guerreros

Presenter(s): Monique Falcon — Sociology

Faculty Mentor(s): Julie Weise

Session: (In-Person) Poster Presentation

In 1942, the Bracero Program, a bilateral agreement between Mexico and the United States to bring in Mexican male laborers was created. This program brought over 4 million braceros to the United States and provided contracts for these men to legally enter the US and provide manual farm labor. They worked in many different states like Texas, Washington, Oregon, and California. Within this agreement, the US promised to house, feed, and protect Mexican workers’ rights. However, as the program went on, it was quickly noticed that this promise would be broken as these braceros faced harsh discrimination in the states and extremely poor working conditions, resulting in horrendous injuries. During the Summer of 2021, I had the amazing opportunity to conduct deeper research for my history professor, Julie Weise. In total, I worked 8 weeks, averaging around 35 to 40 hours a week combing through documents and listening to prerecorded interviews with former braceros via the Bracero History Archive. These braceros endured hip injuries, concussions, sore and cracked feet, dehydration from going hours without water breaks, sunburns, and in some cases, were diagnosed with cancer due to lack of protection from toxic pesticides. This is an extremely important piece of US history, yet it is hardly talked about as much as it deserves to be. It is extremely important to remember these braceros and give credit to all their hard work and sacrifices, and acknowledge our mistakes.

OptiDicer reduces CUG RNA accumulation in corneal endothelial cells affected by Fuchs’ dystrophy

Presenter: Sanjana Basak − Biochemistry

Faculty Mentor(s): Julie Weise

(In-Person) Poster Presentation 

Fuchs’ endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) is a genetic disease which leads to eye pain, significant loss of vision and corneal lesions called guttae.

Late-onset FECD is characterized by the expanded repeat trinucleotide sequence (CTG)n (n>30- 40) in the TCF4 gene. The accumulation of CUG RNA in the nucleus forms cytotoxic RNA foci. Recently, we developed a recombinant variant of DICER, OptiDicer, which can degrade double-strand RNA through RNaseIII activity. In this study, we examined whether OptiDicer can decrease CUG RNA accumulation in corneal endothelial cells from patients with Fuchs dystrophy.

F35T cells, Human corneal endothelial cells from an FECD patient with (CTG)n n>1000, were used in this study. The cells were transfected with OptiDicer and a control, and then subjected to in situ hybridization in order to detect CUG RNA accumulation. The images were obtained with an EVOS fluorescence microscope, and the number of CUG RNA accumulation was counted. The average number of CUG RNA accumulation was 1.9+/-1.4 in OptiDicer-F35T and 2.9+/-1.7 in D2A-OptiDicer control F35T (p<0.001), respectively.

We found that OptiDicer significantly decreased CUG-RNA accumulation in late-onset FECD patient derived corneal endothelial cells, although the low transfection efficiency may underestimate OptiDicer effect. Our result suggests OptiDicer can be a potential treatment for long CUG RNA repeat derived FECD. Future studies will explore OptiDicer in other cell lines from FECD.

The recent history of PCUN and the victories of farmworkers in Oregon

Presenter: Odalis Aguilar Aguilar − History, Latin American Studies, Spanish

Faculty Mentor(s): Julie Weise

(In-Person) Poster Presentation 

For this project, I was approached by PCUN’s executive director to document the last few years of the history of the organization. About 10 years ago, a professor from the University of Oregon partnered up with the organization and since then, historic victories have been secured for the farm working and Latinx immigrant community. My approach was to analyze the ways in which organizers and staff retell their experiences working in legislative processes and also expand on what PCUN is and how they carry its mission. These interviews were done in both English and Spanish and are transcribed. While being in conversation with the folks I interviewed, I found that there was a turning point in PCUN’s recent history that really catapulted their success and put PCUN on another playing field where usually dominant culture organizations are overwhelmingly present. This project not only serves as a historical piece, but it also strives to provide new and coming PCUN staff a document that can ground them and visualize themselves as leaders who will continue the legacy of PCUN elders.