Tag: Poster 52

Western Pond Turtle Habitat Ranking and Assessment in the Southern Willamette Valley

Presenters: Rebecca Winard, John Rogers, and Robin Clemen

Mentor: Peg Boulay

PM Poster Presentation

Poster 52

The 2011 Turtle Conservation Team ranked sites that were likely to have existing turtle populations, as well as some previously unevaluated ponds. We evaluated sites in the Eugene district of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The goal of the project is to gain a better understanding about where western pond turtles occur in the southern Willamette Valley, and the locations of suitable habitat, so that the species can be protected from the variety of threats they face. The team scored the overall quality of the sites visited and reported the findings to the BLM. The team also conducted basking surveys to monitor the populations of western pond turtles on selected suitable habitat sites. Turtles were only observed at Mosby Pond. Man-made sites like this have high potential for restoration work to create suitable habitat for western pond turtles.

Investigation of the Effectiveness of Offensive Computer Security Techniques through Group Self-Study

Presenter: Adam Pond

Mentors: Jun Li and Kathleen Freeman, Computer Science

Poster: 52

Major: Computer Science 

Computer security, otherwise known as cyber security, is a broad and dynamic subfield of computer science. It
is concerned with protecting computing systems, embedded devices, networks, and data from unintended or unauthorized access. While computer security was not one of the fundamental ideas at the beginning of computing, it’s now one of the most interesting fields of computer science, especially the arms race between computer security defense personnel and hackers. One of the most important ways we can learn to defend against adversaries such
as hackers is by learning how to think like them. An effective way of thinking like your adversary is by performing penetration tests against the computing system you’re trying to protect. These penetration tests require a unique skill set that is best acquired through trials and tribulations (commonly called capture the flag events). During a capture- the-flag event, you simulate an adversary trying to gain access, or change data on a computing system that you should not be able to. Since this type of studying was not an option through standard academic courses, I set out to create a group environment in which to study and apply offensive security techniques. I will present the curriculum that I created and used during our weekly meetings of UO Security Club and the results and suggested changes from this experience.

The Effects of Inhibiting Neurons in Layer-II of the Medial Entorhinal Cortex on Hippocampal Place Cells in CA1 and CA3

Presenter: Roshan Chikarmane

Faculty Mentor: Daniel Avesar

Presentation Type: Poster 52

Primary Research Area: Science

Major: Biochemistry, Biology

The hippocampus and medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) are brain regions important for the formation and retrieval of episodic memories. Problems with hippocampus, MEC, and other related brain regions underlie neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Dementia (1). Therefore, it is important to understand how these brain regions work and interact. Neurons called place cells in the hippocampal CA3 and CA1 regions fire whenever an animal is in a certain location (place field), relative to landmarks in that local environment (2,3). The population level activity across all place cells represent an entire local environment, forming a comprehensive cognitive map of an environment (4). The MEC receives inputs from many regions of the cerebral cortex and projects into the hippocampus from Layer II (5). The MEC Layer II (MEC-LII) itself contains spatially responsive neurons called grid cells (6). While the behaviors of spatially responsive cells types in the MEC-LII and the hippocampus have been well established, it is unclear whether place cells utilize information from MEC-LII that contributes to their spatially selective nature. To investigate the relationship between MEC-LII activity levels and place cells, experiments will be conducted with a transgenic lines of mice that have had either HM4 or HM3 Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD) expressed in the MECLII. Activation of DREADD receptors by administration of the pharmacologically inert ligand clozapine-n-oxide (CNO) decreases (the HM4 line) or increases (the HM3 line) neuronal activity. Using this method, we can examine how changes in MEC-LII activity impact the spatial properties of places cells in awake behaving mice as they explore their environment. This experiment will measure the transfer of information between two important brain regions that give rise to learning and memory. Understanding the brain networks involved in memory is a necessary step towards determining the causes of Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Controls on glacial retreat in the West Antarctic Peninsula

Presenter(s): Ryan Obermeyer − Math, Spatial Data Science And Technology

Faculty Mentor(s): David Sutherland, Kiya Riverman

Poster 52

Research Area: Physical Science

Funding: NSF grant no. 1543012

The West Antarctic Peninsula has over 300 glaciers, all with unique environmental conditions. The peninsula is losing ice, but it is not fully understood what drives retreat rates for individual glaciers. The Antarctic Peninsula is rich in available data, but comparatively little analysis of glacial environmental controls has been performed. We used a Landsat-7 and laser altimetry derived grounding line, infrared temperature data, bathymetry swath data, Regional Ocean Modeling runs, and calculated retreat rates to find correlations between retreat and environment. Previous work has shown that glaciers in the region are sensitive to ocean temperatures. Glaciers in the northern portion of the peninsula interact with cooler ocean currents and have lower retreat rates than the glaciers in the south. We found a latitudinal cut off, north of which floating glaciers rarely exist. Warmer air temperatures in the northern portion of the peninsula may limit the prevalence of floating glaciers. In contrast, the south with cooler air and warmer water allows glaciers to interact with the ocean. Model runs of Circumpolar Deep Water flow highlight which glaciers are in contact with warmer water. There is correlation between glacial retreat and contact with Circumpolar Deep Water. These findings allow us to predict that as air temperatures in Antarctica continue to rise, the latitudinal cut off for floating glaciers could move south, and less ice will be interacting with the ocean. This means that there is potential for retreat rates to temporarily decline as glaciers will be less affected by ocean temperatures.

Testing the Centromere-Drive Hypothesis in Primates.

Presenter(s): L. Gomez Gomez

Faculty Mentor(s): Kirstin Sterner & Emily Beck

Poster 52

Session: Sciences

Chromosomal centromeres play a critical role in the process of cell division. Centromeres act as binding sites for microtubules that pull chromosomes apart during mitosis and meiosis. Despite this conserved function, the centromeres themselves can vary in size and sequence content between species. Rapid evolution in these regions can also drive rapid evolution in centromere- associated proteins. Previous work has suggested these rapid changes are likely to accumulate in one of two essential centromere components; either CENP-A or CENP-C. Through compensatory coevolution, positive selection can subsequently cascade into other essential protein complexes resulting in hybrid incompatibility. Cascading selection from the centromere to CENP-A was previously reported in Drosophila by Beck et al. 2015 demonstrating the extension of positive selection to the essential Condensin I complex (SMC2, SMC4, NCAPD2, NCAPG, NCAPH orthologs). To test if kinetochore-associated proteins evolve rapidly in other animals, we examined the sequence of CENP-A and CENP-C and their associated protein complexes, Condensin I and Mis12 (DSN1, MIS12, NSL1, PMF1) respectively, across primates. Sequences were mined from publicly available genomes (21-25 individual species per gene), aligned using Clustal-Omega and manually checked in Mesquite to ensure that protein-coding sequences conformed to codon boundaries. We then used the codeml (PAML) to test for positive selection. Our preliminary data suggests CENP-C may be evolving rapidly showing evidence of positive selection in components of Condensin1 and Mis12 complexes. This finding supports the centromere-drive hypothesis, which suggests the presence of an evolutionary tug-of-war between centromeric DNA and centromere-associated proteins that may shape karyotype evolution.