Tag: Poster 74

The Effects of Exogenous Testosterone on Cardiovascular Stress

The Effects of Exogenous Testosterone on Cardiovascular Stress

Presenter: Kevin Lai

Faculty Mentor: Pranjal Mehta, Erik Knight

Presentation Type: Poster 74

Primary Research Area: Science

Major: Biology

Although testosterone has recently been discovered to play a role in the biological stress response, its exact function is unclear. With the increased number of annual deaths around the world being attributed to heart disease, it is important to discern how hormones like testosterone influence the magnitude of the cardiovascular stress response. It is also critical to acknowledge the possibility of biological and psychological factors that may moderate these differences, such as anxiety: a state of inner worry or uneasiness that may be present prior to stressor exposure. This experiment examined cardiovascular and autonomic responses to psychosocial stress in healthy males aged 18-45 (n = 120) that were either given exogenous testosterone or placebo before being subjected to a social-evaluative stressor. Individual levels of trait anxiety were used as a moderator of testosterone’s effects to the stress response. Results showed no significant effects of exogenous testosterone on heart rate and heart rate variability, suggesting that testosterone does not play a direct role in modulating the cardiovascular response to stress.

Synthesis of 7,14-Diarylfluoreno[3,2-b]fluorenes

Presenter(s): Tristan Mistkawi − Biochemistry

Faculty Mentor(s): Josh Barker, Michael Haley

Poster 74

Research Area: Organic Chemistry (Natural/Physical Science)

Funding: UROP Mini-grant

The Haley group is interested in a class of organic molecules, known as the indenofluorene (IF) scaffold, for potential use as organic semiconductors (OSCs) in electronic devices. IFs show great promise as OSCs because of their ability to easily and reversibly accept electrons. Similarly to the well-known class of acene OSCs, we are interested in studying the effect of extending IF scaffold -conjugation to discover trends in electronic properties. While other researchers in the literature have studied compounds with similar properties, no one has performed a rational, systematic study. This work requires exploring the synthesis of several 7,14-diarylfluoreno[3,2-b]fluorenes (FFs) to compare to structurally related molecules in the IF scaffold. Along with affecting the optoelectronic properties of FFs, substituting different aryl groups at specific positions on the molecule is important for crystal engineering, which will help improve our understanding of this novel scaffold. Many derivatives have not been explored yet, and studying solid-state packing interactions may improve device performance and influence our ability to implement these compounds as organic semiconductors.

Variation in Severity of Cartilaginous Fusions in fras1 Mutant Zebrafish Following Independent Transgene Insertions

Presenter(s): Alexander Wind

Co Presenter(s): Sam Ahlquist, Whitney Oliva

Faculty Mentor(s): Charles Kimmel

Poster 74

Session: Sciences

This study assesses the effect of the fli1a:gal4vp16 transgene insertion on fras1 mutant zebrafish. The Fras1 protein stabilizes craniofacial development and is studied to understand Fraser syndrome in humans. Fraser syndrome is a fatal disease that results in facial deformities and hearing loss. Zebrafish facial cartilages are homologous with human ear bones, making them good model organisms. The fras1 homozygous mutation causes fusions between the Meckel’s (m) and palatoquadrate (pq) cartilages in the zebrafish jaw. In previous experiments, we found that fras1 mutant embryos containing the transgene increased m-pq fusion severity. One hypothesis is that increased severity results from changes in host DNA sequences at the insertion site. An alternative hypothesis is that increased severity results from function of sequences within the transgene. In this study we hope to distinguish between these hypotheses by generating independent insertional lines with the expectation that the transgene has inserted in a unique location in each line. Mutant eggs were injected with the transgene and raised to score severity between transgene-containing and control groups. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) can be used to verify the location of the independent insertions. As predicted by the second hypothesis, the majority of genetic lines with new transgene insertions exhibited increased m-pq severity, suggesting importance of the transgene sequences. This study gives us insight on the widespread variation of mutation in Fraser syndrome in humans to help us treat/prevent it, and helps us gain a better understanding of transgenic effects on mutants in general.