Who: I was born and have stayed in Salt Lake City my whole life. I am studying at the U so I can stay close to the mountains and my family while saving up to go to grad school.

My scientific interests: I’ve always loved science and have had an insatiable drive to explore and create since I was young. I want to be able to be a part of innovation and have seen science – physics more specifically – as the perfect conduit for that desire.

Academic goals: I am a Physics and Math double major and, through ACCESS, am currently working in Shanti Deemyad’s condensed matter physics research lab. After earning my degrees, I plan to attend graduate school to continue my research and studies.

Career goals: Although I am still in the discovery portion of my degrees, I have the desire to become a professor so that I can continue asking and answering questions both in research and the opportunity to teach others.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: I loved the opportunity this summer to meet with and discuss the work of such accoladed faculty. I have been given the opportunity to explore my interests and figure out what paths will guide me to where I want to go.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: Beyond the sciences, I have a deep love of the humanities and art. I love painting and music – specifically the piano – and also very much so enjoy the culinary arts.

We’ve pursued studying the pressure effects on electrical properties of a material called EuCd­­₂P₂ which displays CMR as an as-grown crystal despite possessing none of the usual certain properties of extremely magnetoresistance materials. Thus far, the lab has performed some preliminary experiments on the crystal structures under pressure. We have redesigned and prepared improved systems to perform conductivity measurements on the sample under varying extreme pressures. We are now trying to determine the electronic properties of this material under pressure to obtain a full picture of the mechanism of CMR and its dependence on density in this compound.

Who: I was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and immigrated to the US when I was 12. My parents made the move in hopes of finding opportunities that would allow for personal and academic growth, making me and my siblings capable of giving back to the community we come from. Enrolling at the University of Utah allows me to achieve this goal by forming my own unique path as I explore my interests and learn from exceptional faculty and focused peers.

My scientific interests: Since early childhood, I have been captivated by how fascinating the world is. People in particular have always been very captivating for me: from anatomy to psychology and sociology, I love learning about what makes us human. My high school Anatomy and Physiology class as well as my Psychology class helped me solidify my interest in combining STEM and the humanities and how an education that combines the two allow me to gain a perspective that will help me be successful in my quest to work towards establishing better healthcare systems in the parts of South Asia that really need them.

Academic goals: I am pursuing a Biochemistry major and a possible double major in Sociology, with an Honors Integrated Minor in Health. I work as an undergraduate research assistant in the Werner Lab, where I study developmental phenotypic plasticity in nematodes. Upon graduation, I hope to attend medical school and become a surgeon.

Career goals: I want to be on the forefront of helping people and I want to do it hands-on; not from behind a screen or in a lab. I hope to work for Doctors Without Borders or other organizations who seek to provide medical help and attention to people in areas of the world that really need help. I want to travel the world and be of service to others.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: ACCESS has given me a community of people who share my passion for science, but also have unique experiences and ideas that I can learn from. My favorite parts of this experience have been working on various experiments and projects with my peers. It has shown me how in this cohort, everyone wants to help each other succeed. I absolutely love how we have bonded because ACCESS has become a built-in support system for me and many others as we navigate higher education. The  support, motivation, and encouragement that is mutually given and received in this cohort helps us be better leaders and innovators.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: In my spare time, I enjoy playing the ukulele, dancing, playing badminton, and spending time with my family. I also work on the occasional crochet project while watching a crime documentary.

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a singular genotype to elicit discrete phenotypes in different environments. Although it is a physiological phenomenon, phenotypic plasticity can manifest as variability in morphology, life expectancy, and behavior [1]. Here, we employ the model organism Pristionchus pacificus, as it displays the unique molecular and genetic tools that are required for plasticity research that are absent in other models [2]. Depending on the conditions experienced as a juvenile, Pristionchus pacificus can have one of two mouth forms. A stenostomatus morph, which presents with a narrower buccal cavity and one tooth, or the eurystomatus morph presents with a wider buccal cavity and two teeth. In nature, the morph is dependent on adult pheromones [3], however in the lab, the phenotypes are controlled by the culture condition during the developmental cycle; nematodes grown on agar plates are mostly eurystomatus, while those grown in liquid culture are mostly stenostomatus. We amplify DNA collected from P. pacificus on agar plates and in liquid culture and utilize a method called Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin sequencing, or ATAC sequencing. This method uses a hyperactive transposase Tn5 which is integrated into regions of open chromatin, which can then be sequenced and analyzed using bioinformatics [2]. We expect to see peaks of open chromatin that vary between eurystomatus and stenostomatus nematodes. If a significant peak is visible in the genome of eurystomatus but not stenostomatus nematodes, that peak indicates the beginning of a gene that contributes to the decision of the eurystomatus mouth form. The same can be said if a peak in the stenostomatus genome is inconsistent with the eurystomatus genome. Performing this experiment on samples from both eurystomatus and stenostomatus nematodes at different points in the developmental cycle will allow us to determine when the decision for the mouth form is made and what genes are involved in this process. As an evolutionary phenomenon, phenotypic plasticity gives great insight into how genetics and the environment collaborate to form stronger phenotypes [2]. 

[1] Whitman, Douglas W., and Anurag A. Agrawal. "What is phenotypic plasticity and why is it important." Phenotypic plasticity of insects: Mechanisms and consequences (2009): 1-63.

[2] Sommer, Ralf J., et al. "The genetics of phenotypic plasticity in nematode feeding structures." Open biology 7.3 (2017): 160332.

[3] Werner, Michael S., et al. "Chromatin-enriched lncRNAs can act as cell-type specific activators of proximal gene transcription." Nature structural & molecular biology 24.7 (2017): 596-603

Who: Hello everyone! I am Quinna Nguyen. I am from Salt Lake City, Utah and came to the U of U for the top tier research opportunities, such as the ACCESS program. I love meeting new people and socializing with a wide variety of folks. 

My engineering interests: Growing up, I have always been interested in the expanding world of STEM and technology. Since entering high school, my interest grew as I attended workshops and camps such as Code to Success and SheTech. My love of math and design drew me to pursue a future in engineering.

Academic goals: I am an Electrical Engineering major with plans to minor in either Applied Math or Computer Science. I would love to explore my interests by continuing to work in my ACCESS lab and possibly searching for internship opportunities. I am unsure of whether I want to reach for a Ph.D, Master’s, or just industry work, but I am excited to search out what the future holds for me!

Career goals: Someday, I would like to use my skills and abilities to perform research and design innovative products among fellow nerds such as myself. I aspire to design and improve electronics and technological systems to create a more sustainable and equitable future. And who knows? Maybe I could start a business along the way!

Highlights from my ACCESS experience:  My favorite part of ACCESS was doing the home experiments together. Being able to collaborate and “geek-out” with the ACCESS students made the experience more fun and memorable.

My hobbies and interests outside of STEM and academics: In my free time, I like to ski, kayak and volunteer at the animal shelter.

With the continued miniaturization of high-performance electronics there is increasing demand for improved thermal management systems, as current cooling technologies are inadequate to meet the demands of these high power density circuits. For example, according to the technology roadmap from the 2004 International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) [1], the maximum power dissipation and heat flux from high performance microprocessor chips was projected to reach about 360 W and 190 W/cm2 by 2020; such high heat flux exceeds the limits of current cooling systems. In the Drew Research Lab, I plan on investigating the use of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jets for thermal management of integrated circuits. 

Electrohydrodynamics refers to the motion of fluid due to interactions with charged ions under an applied electric field. In an electrohydrodynamic flow, neutral air particles are accelerated through collisions with ions, generating an “ion wind”. We plan on using this wind on individual circuit components for pinpoint thermal convection cooling via jet impingement. EHD devices show promise for impingement cooling of integrated circuits (IC) within mobile electronics because of their potential for downward scalability, low noise levels, and lack of mechanical components. We envision having EHD jet impingement cooling devices integrated directly with individual ICs for in-situ thermal management modulated down to the component level.

Who: My name is Rachel Muhlestein and I am from Utah. I am currently pursuing an honors double major in Biochemistry and Biomedical Physics with a minor in Math.

My scientific/engineering interests: I am currently working as a research assistant in the Minteer Lab. In January, I started working on optimizing deaminative reaction cascades to find more efficient ways to create electrochemically valuable molecules. I’ve loved working in the Minteer lab and I’m excited to learn more about the intersectionality between organic and electrochemistry and sustainability!

Academic goals: As an Eccles Scholar and a member of the 2021 ACCESS cohort, I am committed to deeply investing in my education and applying what I’ve learned in impactful ways. I am currently exploring the possibility of pursuing an MD/Ph.D. which would allow me to continue in research while also being an active member of the medical community. I find biological chemistry fascinating and would love the opportunity to explore it further while working towards a Ph.D.

In the past year, I’ve learned the importance of seeking a STEM education rooted in ethics and the liberal arts. I plan to continue seeking experiences that will broaden my perspective and view of the world while also challenging myself academically. I want to be intentional with how I spend my undergraduate career so I can become a more aware, empathic medical professional.

Career goals: At the start of my undergraduate career, I was sure that I wanted to attend medical school and become a physician. However, through my experiences in ACCESS, I’ve realized that I love chemistry and research. Over the past few months, I’ve reconsidered my initial career goal and worked to find a way to be involved in research while working as a physician. My plan right now is to pursue an MD/Ph.D. so I can continue to work in both research and the medical field.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: My favorite part of ACCESS is the relationships I’ve created with the other cohort members and my mentors. This support system was invaluable as I started college and adjusted to big life changes. I am also very grateful for the directors, TA’s, mentors, and organizers of ACCESS. This program has influenced my life in many ways and helped me develop more confidence to achieve my goals.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: I love hiking, camping, and anything to do with the outdoors! I also love playing the piano and painting. I am very passionate about advocating for wellness and mental health and I’ve been involved in many suicide prevention and awareness organizations and events.

Prior to the advent of cross-coupling methodologies, amines were viewed as reliable templates for joining two molecules together. With cross-coupling technologies, two molecules can be  readily linked together by C–C bond formation. Amine-derived electrophiles (C–N bonds) could be utilized for the synthesis of dimethylbiaryl atropisomeric cores found in complex natural products. In this project we use amines to build successive C–C bonds by reductive cyclization and deaminative reactions. Intermediate amines are used as reliable handles for joining two molecular scaffolds together by reductive amination and substitution reactions. The amine intermediates are also precursors for chiral resolution by diasteromeric salt formation. Finally, post-cyclization amine remove (deamination) would provide access dimethylbiaryl atropisomeric molecules.

Who: My name is Autumn Hartley and I’m from Midway, Utah.

My scientific interests: I grew up in nature’s hotspot of geologic wonder with Mt. Timpanogos right in my backyard, so naturally I became fascinated with the subject of earth science. My interests are a wide range of things from magma composition to paleontology.

Academic/career goals: As of right now, I plan on either going onto graduate school and becoming a researcher or finishing my bachelor’s degree in Geoscience with a Creative Writing minor at the University of Utah and starting a career with the Utah Geologic Survey while also writing and publishing novels.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: As a student involved with the ACCESS Scholars program, I have enjoyed many things about my experience at the U so far. My favorite thing about ACCESS is my cohort. I’ve made so many great friends who have been incredibly supportive and kind during my first semesters of college. I have also enjoyed connecting with the faculty and being able to conduct research in labs that pertain to my interests.

My hobbies and interests outside of STEM: Outside of my academics, I enjoy writing fantasy novels and illustrating characters. I devote myself to every one of my passions, be it STEM or more artistic pursuits, and am always looking for new things to learn.

Excess magmatism is a common occurrence near areas of tectonic rifting, but a region off the coast of Norway was found to have a much greater degree of magmatism than typical circumstance permits. To investigate the cause of this excess magmatism, the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) launched Expedition 396 to take core samples from ocean floor basalts that erupted about 56 million years ago. There are three leading hypotheses for the source of excess magmatism in the Northern Atlantic: a thermal anomaly caused by an interaction with the Icelandic mantle plume, small-scale convection at the base of the lithosphere, differences in the mantle source, or a combination of all three. Our research focuses on detecting thermal anomalies by using the Lee et al. (2009) and PRIMELT3 (Herzberg and Asimow, 2015) geothermometers as well as electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The Lee et al. (2009) thermobarometer helps us determine the last temperature of equilibration of our magma and the PRIMELT3 thermometer gives us the mantle potential temperature of our magma. By analyzing bulk rock data obtained by crew members onboard the IODP expedition, we were able to predict the last equilibria temperatures of the magma these oceanic basalts were derived from. Our analyses have helped us determine that a thermal anomaly could have occurred during the deposition of these basalts, but the degree of the anomaly does not explain the sheer amount of magmatism that occurred during this time.

Who: I am from Draper, Utah, and I chose to pursue my undergraduate degree at the University of Utah because of acceptance into the ACCESS Scholars Program! My family also has a history with the U, and I felt like it was the perfect university to work towards my dream of becoming a doctor.

My scientific interests: My love for science started when I was very young. My dad would take my family to Zion National Park, and we would look at the bands of the Milky Way Galaxy. Throughout my childhood, I wanted to become a marine biologist. While my career path has changed, I still find myself enthralled with biology–especially genetics! Over the last year, I have also become passionate about applied mathematics. Mathematics explains how the world around us works, so to see mathematics elucidate biological processes is fascinating to me!

Academic goals: I am a Biology and Mathematics double-major. I am currently working in Distinguished Professor Sandy Parkinson's genetics lab. My lab studies E. coli with the goal of better understanding the complex signaling machinery of this organism.

Career goals: After completing my undergraduate degree, I plan on attending medical school in hopes of becoming an OB/GYN.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: My favorite part of the ACCESS program has been working in my lab, directly under Professor Parkinson. He has taught me an unbelievable amount about genetics and pushed my thinking. I look forward to continuing research in his lab.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: I love spending time hiking in the mountains and visiting national parks, so Utah is the place for me! I also enjoy competitive golf, reading, painting, and spending time with my friends and family.

I am grateful for the opportunity to study what I love at an incredible university. I am excited to see what my next three years at the U will hold. GO UTES!

Every motile cell and organism is able to monitor and track its chemical environment, a behavior known as chemotaxis. The chemotaxis machinery of bacterial cells like Escherichia coli enables them to move toward beneficial chemicals (attractants) and away from harmful ones (repellents). The "central processing unit" of the E. coli chemotaxis machinery is the CheA signaling protein. In my project, I attempted to find CheA mutants that could perform chemotaxis at one temperature (the "permissive" condition 25°C) and not at another (the "non-permissive' condition 37°C). I did this by inducing random mutations in a plasmid that carried the cheA gene, using a bacterial host strain that makes frequent replication errors. I then transformed the mutagenized cheA plasmids into a bacterial host that lacked the cheA gene and screened for colonies that could not perform chemotaxis at 37°C. I then retested the mutant strains at 25°C to identify those with temperature-sensitive defects. Of 103 mutants with chemotaxis defects at 37°C, three regained chemotactic ability at the permissive temperature. The DNA sequences of the mutant plasmids revealed that each temperature sensitive mutant had a single base pair substitution in the cheA gene. With the genetic code table, I determined that each temperature sensitive mutation produced a different, single amino acid replacement in the CheA protein. Further characterization of the functional defects in these temperature sensitive CheA mutants should elucidate the signaling role that the CheA protein plays in the chemotaxis machinery of E. coli.

Who: I was born and raised in Utah. I came to the University of Utah for several reasons, but the two most prominent are the ACCESS Scholars program and the fact that U of U has one of the best engineering programs in the state. 

My scientific/engineering interests: I have always enjoyed learning science and math. In my 10th grade year, I attended the Explorer’s Day event put on by the Women Tech Council that was focused on helping girls find an interest in STEM fields. It was at that event that I was introduced to engineering as a discipline. After that event, I started attending many different engineering camps, and realized I like knowing how and why things work.

Academic Goals: I am a Mechanical Engineering Major and am considering a Computer Science minor. I really love learning, so I would like to continue working in research labs that align with my passions in engineering.

Career Goals: In the future, I would love to oversee designing machines that can help change the world for the better. I want a fulfilling job that I love, and I want to be able to help people as much as I can.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: Through the summer course, I learned so many new and interesting things. One of my favorite activities was led by the electrical engineering department where we used playdough, clay, and LEDs to create light-up sculptures. I also enjoyed the Mines and Earth Science lecture about rock formations and the different sounds they make. Besides the things we learned, I also enjoyed being able to connect with the other ACCESS Alumni through the social events and activities.

My hobbies and interests outside of STEM and academics: Besides learning, I like drawing, playing video games, and playing tennis. I have dabbled in many different types of crafts, from beading and jewelry making to papercrafts and room decorations. I enjoy music, and I play piano, guitar, ocarina, kalimba (thumb-piano), and used to play the flute. I have also begun to compose my own music.

With the increased use of photovoltaics as a source of energy, it’s important to maximize the efficiency of these systems. One way these systems lose energy is through ground and intermittent faults. We are looking for the most efficient way to test for these faults. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to test for these faults. Most electrical test systems require the system to be de-energized before testing, but photovoltaics can’t be deenergized. I will use Spread Spectrum Time-Domain Reflectometry (SSTDR), which is designed for testing on energized systems. We have been working on creating an emulation model of photovoltaic cells to test faults using SSTDR. The model makes use of a relay that controls when the fault is present, and when it is not. The relay’s timing is controlled with an Arduino. Thus far, the model hasn’t been working as expected. The Arduino and the relay have seemed to be working, however the signal from the SSTDR hasn’t made it past the relay, causing a false fault reading. When completed, our model will allow safe testing for faults without the need for access to a full photovoltaic set-up, allowing for more algorithms to be tested.

Who: Hi, I’m Julia! I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, and I’m so excited to be going to the U and participating in the ACCESS program! I’m looking forward to exploring this beautiful state even more during college, and making the most of my time here! I love hiking, camping, theatre, photography and climbing in my free time.

My scientific/engineering interests: I’ve been curious about science and engineering for as long as I can remember! I love building and tinkering with things, and solving creative problems. I’ve also been fascinated by astronomy and space travel for years!

Academic goals: I am planning to major in Physics and/or Engineering, and am beyond excited to get some hands-on experience working in a lab this spring! Moving forward, I hope I can continue working on impactful projects that excite and inspire me. I would love to gain experience working in my field, and eventually continue on to grad school!

Career goals: A general personal goal has been to work in a career where I can make a positive impact with my work, especially with regards to climate change and the environment. Climate change has been, and will continue to be, the most pressing issue of my lifetime, and I hope I can contribute to resolving it in some way, shape, or form. I know that whatever path I choose within STEM will help me get there, and find a discipline I love!

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: I loved the incorporation of climate change topics woven throughout the summer experience. It tied in so well with my interests and passions, and gave me a taste for what my future tackling this issue may look like. Additionally, I’ve loved the support and community built by all the professors and mentors contributing to this experience, they have all made it so enriching and personal!

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: Despite being a STEM nerd, I’ve always loved the arts! I think there’s a unique relationship between these disciplines that is truly impactful and unique. I’ve been involved in theatre for a number of years, I play the guitar for fun, and I’m taking a pottery class this spring! I definitely jump at the chance to do anything creative, and these artistic endeavors help me find balance while taking a bunch of STEM classes!

Superconductors are unique materials with the ability to conduct electricity with zero resistance and exhibit perfect diamagnetism. Application of high pressure allows for tuning the density of materials and is an important method for studying superconductors. High pressure conditions similar to those present at the core of the Earth can be achieved in a laboratory by using a Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC). Raman spectroscopy is a good method that is applicable for studying superconducting samples in Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC) measurements, and allows for data collection under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. The superconducting gap changes with temperature, starting from zero at transition temperature and increasing to maximum value at T=0K. As such, the samples are held within a cryostat in order to achieve these temperatures. Additionally, the sample size in these experiments is very small, about 10-100 microns in diameter. Therefore, it is necessary to create a Raman spectroscopy setup that can work at a long distance from the sample and still produce high-quality images from outside the cryostat window. Using a dual-parabolic mirror setup, we created an imaging system in order to achieve electronic Raman spectroscopy at a long distance. This is achieved by doing precise alignment with a laser, and using several optical standards to create a light path that is accurate and level. Once this setup is fine-tuned and ready for imaging, we will utilize the optical imaging setup to study the superconducting gap of several known materials below their critical temperatures, including MgB2 (Tc=39K), Pb (Tc=7.2K), and Nb (Tc=9K). Once these preliminary calibrations have been performed, this method will be used to study new superconducting materials in the lab.

Who: I was born in Salt Lake City and found ACCESS through my high school chemistry teacher. 

My scientific interests: I got interested in chemistry in high school, because my chemistry teacher encouraged my curiosity in chemistry. She also got me into a summer chemistry program, right before my junior year of high school, and that got me interested in nuclear chemistry. 

Academic goals: I am a chemistry major, and I am hoping to get a minor in Nuclear Engineering. I hope to continue working in my ACCESS lab and find out more about my interests and my own goals with nuclear chemistry. 

Career goals: Right now, I want to work with nuclear waste and figure out more efficient and environmentally friendly ways to dispose of it. I am also interested in studying the effects nuclear waste has on the ocean and marine life. 

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: My favorite part about my SCI3000 experience was being able to meet and learn about new people and have fun at the social hours together. 

My hobbies and interests outside of STEM and academics: My hobbies include crocheting, learning about sharks, reading, and watching movies. I really enjoy ice skating as well.

Molten salt reactors use uranium (III) chloride (UCl3) as a primary fuel source. This project explored a new method to recycle uranium (IV) oxide (UO2) waste into UCl3 using zirconium chloride (ZrCl4). However, due to the low sublimation temperature of ZrCl4 it is difficult to work with in high temperature environments without volitalizing the ZrCl4 out of the system. To ensure that the ZrCl4 remains in the salt throughout the chlorination process, while still reacting with the UO2 to form UCl3, a volatilization reactor was used to volatilize the ZrCl4 and bubble it into the molten salt. The chlorination was achieved by placing UO2 on a zirconium plate submerged in the lithium chloride-potassium chloride (LiCl-KCl) eutectic salt and heated up to the salts melting temperature of 450 degree centigrade. The volatilization reactor then supplies the ZrCl4 into the salt over the course of the chlorination. Salt samples were taken every hour and samples dissolved in concentrated nitric acid and diluted for testing using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Using ICP-MS, the concentrations of zirconium and uranium in the samples were used to determine the weight percent of zirconium and uranium in the samples. It was observed that ZrCl4 reached its solubility limit in the molten salt and a complete chlorination of UO2 into UCl3 was achieved using this volatilization method.

Who: My name is Anuhya Yalavarty. I have been living in Utah for about 8 years now. I love the mountains, the snow, and all of the national parks!

My scientific/engineering interests: I first got excited about science from a Phineas and Ferb science experiment book I got in third grade. I was fascinated by the world around me and wanted to learn about how it works. Later, in ninth grade biology, I found that I was most interested in life sciences. I absolutely love learning about cells and genetics and the microscopic functions of the human body.

Academic goals: I am double majoring in Health Policy and Biology with an emphasis in Cell and Molecular Biology. After my undergraduate studies, I plan on going to medical school.

Career goals: Medicine is where my passion for science and service overlap. As a doctor, I hope to make a positive difference in my patients' lives. I hope to be empathetic and kind and to serve as strong support for patients struggling with their health.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: My favorite part of the SCI 3000 course is the collaboration aspect. It was hard to get to know everyone in the cohort due to the online format, but working in groups for the capstone and other cool assignments has been really fun! I’ve gotten to make a lot of new friends!

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: In my free time, I love watching movies with my family, going on hikes, painting, and ring making.

GCaMP is a genetically encoded calcium indicator that fluoresces as calcium moves into neurons when they are excited, and has been used extensively to study the activity of neuronal networks. Transgenic African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) with pan-neuronal expression of GCaMP6s created by the National Xenopus Resource center are a powerful tool for analyzing the neuronal activity of frogs.  However, we previously observed that GCaMP expression is high in tadpoles but low in adult frogs. The goal of this project was to characterize the age-dependent decrease in the expression of GCaMP in neurons from tadpoles to froglets. We hypothesized that GCaMP expression in the soma decreases over time while those in the dendrites remain high throughout the development due to the age-dependent decrease in the tubb2b promoter used to drive the expression of GCaMP in these animals.  As a first step, we monitored the changes in GCaMP fluorescence in neurons.  To this end, we bred transgenic males and females to obtain tadpoles. They were first screened and sorted using fluorescence microscopy to identify GcaMP-positive animals.  We next identified the intracellular localizations of GCaMP using two-photon imaging.  We observed tadpoles in the early stages of development had GCaMP expression concentrated in the cell body of the neurons, whereas tadpoles in later stages of development had GCaMP concentrated in the neuronal processes. In the future, we plan to perform immunohistochemistry to determine if tubb2b expression in the nervous system decreases over time as shown in mammals.

Who: Hi! I am Maggie Pozo and I was born and raised in Salt Lake City. 

My scientific/engineering interests: I joined the 2021 ACCESS program because I love all the different fields of science and ACCESS is a great way for me to explore my interests. 

Academic goals: I am pursuing a major in biomedical engineering as well as fulfilling pre-medical requirements. Learning more about technology and medicine with its role in healthcare continues to inspire me to pursue medical school. 

Career goals: My goal is to address the lack of accessibility in medical resources in low income and developing communities by creating new cutting-edge technology and gaining experience in my lab to acquire a better understanding of neurology to improve epilepsy treatment. 

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: My favorite part of ACCESS was meeting professors from different departments and learning about the research that they are passionate about! I am grateful to be part of this year's cohort and have the opportunity to research with amazing people. 

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: For hobbies, I enjoy playing the drums, trying to cook different cuisines, and playing soccer.

Epilepsy surgery is a treatment option for patients who experience drug-resistant seizures. Patients may undergo intracranial monitoring to identify the seizure onset zone prior to laser ablation or resection surgical treatment. Due to the high variation in the seizure onset zone and the difficulty to sample a patient’s seizure onset zone with electrodes, quantifying the extent of overlap may explain variation in post-surgical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to correlate the volume of the treatment area and its overlap with the contacts of the seizure onset zone with postsurgical outcomes to improve the success of therapies in epilepsy patients.

We analyzed a cohort of patients (n=9) who received a laser ablation or resection within the last 4 years. We acquired their pre-operative and post-operative MR scans (FLAIR and T1). We used non-linear (n=8) and linear (n=1) registration (ANTs software) to shift the T1 and FLAIR into the pre-operative imaging space, in which the seizure onset zone was defined by board-certified epileptologists. We manually segmented the ablation and resection areas using 3D Slicer. Using the segmented areas, we calculated the volume of therapy from the total brain volume and measured the volume of overlap with the seizure onset zone. 

The average volume of overlap for the laser ablation patients was 0.504 cm3 (44.9%) and for resection patients was 1.29 cm3 (55.2%). The average patient outcome for the laser ablations was 88.6% seizure reduction and for the resection procedures was 100% seizure reduction. We found that while there was an approximate 10% difference in the lesion area that overlapped the seizure onset zone and a better patient outcome for the resection lesions, the data set was not statistically significant (t-test, p > 0.05). Future work will include quantifying the networks influenced by the therapy area and compare to surgical outcomes.

Who: I was born in northern Maine, but grew up in Utah for the majority of my school-age years. I have lived in Heber City, Utah for almost 12 years now and I love it! Although I do miss the incredible seafood and wild blueberries of Maine, nothing beats the extraordinary mountains, national parks, and amazing people here in Utah.

My scientific interests: I’ve always had an interest for science and understanding how the world works - but it wasn’t until I took my first Chemistry class in my junior year of highschool that I found a real love and motivation for the subject.

Academic goals: I am a Chemical Engineering major. Throughout my experience at the U, I hope to expand my knowledge of chemistry, physics, and engineering while continuing to work in a research lab - hopefully getting the chance to publish before graduating.

Career goals: I would love to make a career in cosmetic chemistry; researching, designing, and manufacturing fragrances and cosmetics. A degree in Chemical Engineering would provide me with the integral knowledge of chemistry as well as process design and formulation - all important for such a career. I also plan to pursue a graduate degree in business as well as a specialized program specifically for the chemistry of cosmetics and fragrances.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: Possibly my favorite experience from ACCESS has been connecting with like-minded women who are motivated by the same things I am - and can totally nerd out with me about anything and everything STEM.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: On the rare occasion when I am not busy with school or work, I spend my free time adventuring outdoors. I enjoy cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, hiking, camping, rock climbing, and simply spending time outdoors.

Doctors are always telling us to exercise more - because exercise is healthy! Everytime we go for a run or a ski, or even a walk around the block our body is taking in more than the normal amount of oxygen and is therefore experiencing oxidative stress. This oxidative stress is good for us: it helps our body run more efficiently and, every time we exercise, slowly increases our ability to handle more and more of that stress. Which means, the more you exercise, the better your body's chances at being able to handle and recover from enormous amounts of stress like running a marathon or giving birth to a child. As it turns out, a similar phenomenon occurs in E. coli when exposed to oxidative stress. Our research group is aiming to discover why E. coli can become resistant to oxidative stress. We hypothesize that this resistance might occur due to chemical changes in the ribosome when exposed to stress. In order to prove this, we have been conducting a series of experiments comparing the response of E. coli to varying levels of oxidative stress. We will then extract the RNA from these samples and directly sequence it in hopes of finding indications of chemical modifications that occur in the E. coli ribosome. We test each stressor by comparing 4 different levels of stress on a solution of E. coli bacteria at the stationary growth phase: 1) no stress, 2) primer dosage (low level of stress), 3) trigger dosage (nearly lethal level of stress), 4) primer dosage, wait 2 growth generations, then trigger dosage. So far, we have completed one complete round of experiments with hydrogen peroxide as the oxidative stressor. The results indicated that when administered after the priming dose, the trigger dose was no longer lethal. This indicates that E. coli have the ability to become resistant to lethal levels of oxidative stress. We will be repeating this experiment with different oxidative stressors to determine if E. coli has the same response, as well as continue to sequence the RNA of E. coli under many different stress conditions in hopes of finding evidence of chemical modifications to the E. coli ribosomes that could account for this resistance.

Who: My name is Challis Connally, and I am from Boise, Idaho. I came to Salt Lake mainly for the amazing undergrad programs and opportunities, and for skiing of course. I am so excited to meet new people and learn more about the Salt Lake area during my college career!

My scientific/engineering interests: I have always had an interest in STEM, and I have participated in several STEM related clubs and camps since I was young. I was on a FIRST robotics team during high school, which was very fun, and I have always loved my science and math classes!

Academic goals: Currently, I am pursuing a Computer Science major and a Mathematics minor. I am working in Professor Matthew Sigman’s chemistry lab doing data science, so I may end up studying more chemistry in the future as well! I am considering going to grad school to obtain a PhD, but I still am not set on my major so that could change.

Career goals:  My main goal for my career is to find something I am truly interested in and I enjoy. So far I have enjoyed working in Professor Sigman’s lab, so continuing research is definitely an option I am considering.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience:  This past summer, I really enjoyed getting to know people in the program! I also found all of the lectures very interesting, since they all demonstrated the many different implications of a degree, and how subjects relate to each other. This allowed me to explore how computer science could be applied to other fields and how diverse the topic really is, which caused my interest in it to grow exponentially.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: Outside of school, I love running, skiing, and climbing, especially with my friends! I also enjoy watching Netflix, reading, camping, and playing Fortnite with my boyfriend. I also have a cat named Loki who I spend a lot of time with when I am back home.

The field of laboratory automation is rapidly expanding, and it is being integrated into all fields of research. Chemistry labs are ripe for automation as many processes are repetitive, such as picking up and placing things, stirring mixtures, or heating and cooling. The Sigman Lab recently acquired a robotic arm and is in the process of setting it up to run reactions and characterize products. Initial work has focused on understanding and adapting existing python libraries for our configuration and supplying the robot with waypoints and actions that can be used to program reaction sequences. With our improved understanding of code architecture and a growing library of waypoints, we are prepared to integrate more advanced equipment in the system.

Who: I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. I enjoy exploring new subjects and meeting new people at the University of Utah while being close to home. In my free time, you may catch me laughing at “terrible” dad jokes.

Scientific interests: I am fascinated by the natural world, and I love understanding how it works. I dream of learning about the underlying forces that create and maintain the abundant biodiversity of Earth’s countless ecosystems.

Academic goals: I plan to graduate from the University of Utah with an Honors Bachelor’s of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Ecology and Evolution and a Media Studies Communications Minor. During my time at the University of Utah, I aim to publish research and prepare myself for a successful career in graduate school to complete a PhD. I hope to amplify my love for the natural world through research, inquiry, and collaboration.

Career goals: After successfully completing graduate school, I hope to ask questions, design experiments, and pursue answers while inspiring the next generation of STEM students as a professor at a University. I would love to continually contribute to the scientific community through research, outreach, and education.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience:  ACCESS has been an eye-opening, once in a lifetime experience. ACCESS has allowed me to meet a like-minded yet diverse cohort while exploring the versatility of STEM and its applications for battling local and global issues. My favorite part of the program is learning first hand the importance and roles that inquiry, research, and innovation play in the scientific community and society.

Hobbies and interests outside of STEM: I spend my free time at All-Star Karate as an instructor, coach, and competitor. I hold ten World Championship Titles in various divisions such as sparring, self-defense, forms, and more. I recently won the Adult Blackbelt Grand Championship with my sword kata at the IMAC World Championships in January, 2022.

Neotropical ants of the Attini tribe evolved the innate ability to farm fungi. Agaricomycetidae (mushroom forming fungi) contains two clades that are cultivated by ants: the lepiotaceous and pterulaceous cultivars. However, there are free-living relatives phylogenetically distributed throughout each cultivar clade. Comparison between the free-living relatives and attine system cultivars may identify the evolutionary differences caused by, or initially enabling, agricultural symbiosis. Our research compares free-living relatives and cultivars through phylogenetic relationships and growth on different nutrient compositions. Attines undertake significant cultivar maintenance through the regulation of pathogenic contamination of their fungal “gardens” as well as the provision of specific growth substrates, including frass (insect feces). Noting the apparently specialized substrates cultivars receive from the ants, we conducted a pilot test for a growth media preference between a lepiotaceous cultivar, a pterulaceous cultivar, and a free-living pterulaceous relative. We placed the fungi on regular PDY media and PDY media infused with caterpillar frass, and measured and compared growth of the fungi on the different media types to gain insight to a cultivar preference and further distinction from free-living relatives. We also phylogenetically classified free-living relatives in hopes of finding the relatives closest to the cultivars for future comparative genomics. We performed DNA extraction, PCR testing, and then Sanger sequencing of the ITS region. The results from Sanger sequencing allowed us to build a phylogenetic tree to examine the relationship of the free-living fungi to the cultivars. The media preference test results showed the free-living relative filled the regular PDY plates first suggesting a preference for the regular PDY media. In contrast, the lepiotaceous cultivar on the frass infused plates had a larger area of growth, indicating a preference for the frass infused media. The pterulaceous cultivar had similar growth on both media types, but it presented a compact structure with vertical growth on the frass infused plates. The suggestion of media preference brings further insight to the cultivars relationship to its free-living relatives.

Who:  Hi! I am Sarah Crago. I was born in Japan but have spent the majority of my life in Utah. I am glad I can continue living near the beautiful, snow-capped mountains while attending the University of Utah. I selected this university so I could dive into scientific studies and participate in cutting-edge, meaningful research. 

My scientific interests:  In elementary school, I participated in Kumon, an after-school math program. I learned to love solving equations and understanding mathematical concepts. I later read an article about stem cells, which sparked my curiosity in biology. I cultivated this interest by performing science fair projects on planaria, learning about parasitic worms in Science Olympiad, and reading about the spread of viruses. I continued exploring these interests in high school by taking advanced STEM courses. Now, I am eager to integrate my interests of biology and mathematics in the field of neuroscience.

Academic goals:  I am a Math major with a Spanish minor. While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I will also take biology and chemistry courses to help me better understand my research and feed my interests in these fields. I hope to continue studying in the Caron lab and would like to publish before graduating. After earning my undergraduate degree, I plan on enrolling in a Ph.D. program that accommodates my dual interests.

Career goals:  I will pursue a career where I can explore and use both math and biology. Through my research, I have begun to see how math can be applied to neuroscience, and I am excited for all I may learn through my time in the Caron lab. 

Highlights from my SCI3000 ACCESS experience this summer:  My favorite part of the SCI3000 ACCESS experience this summer was collaborating with my capstone group. We created and presented possible strategies for our group’s countries to combat climate change. This also helped me better communicate and connect with other students in my cohort. I am thankful for the friendships I was able to make during the summer and continue to develop throughout this academic year.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics:  During my free time, I enjoy writing music, gardening, playing with my golden retriever, and engaging with Asian American communities on campus.

One prominent characteristic of brain evolution is encephalization, also known as “brain-to-body size ratio,” which varies among species. Encephalization is well documented in vertebrates.  Some species, including corvid birds and cetaceans, have high degrees of encephalization.  This poses the question: how does encephalization affect behavioral and cognitive abilities? To begin to answer this question, we compared neuron numbers in different species.  Brain volumes of different species have been measured; however, the quantity of neurons in each brain remains unknown, except in the fruit fly species Drosophila melanogaster and the mosquito species Aedes aegypti, Anopheles coluzzii and Culex quinquefasciatus (Raji & Potter, 2021). This phenomena of encephalization can be studied in two species: Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura. They have similar body lengths but vastly different brain sizes. We stained neurons using a primary antibody, a secondary antibody, and DAPI. For primary antibody staining we used ELAV, a marker of differentiated neurons. For secondary antibody staining we used GFP, which allowed us to visualize the primary antibody. Finally, we stained with DAPI, a marker for DNA, thus staining the nuclei of cells.  We then mechanically dissociated the brains, creating a single-cell suspension and counted the neurons using a hemocytometer under a fluorescent microscope.  Quantifying the neurons in these two species will help us begin to understand how additional neurons are integrated into neuronal circuits.  Preliminary data have shown that D. pseudoobscura brains have more neurons than D. melanogaster brains.  In the future, we will quantify neurons in other Drosophila species and further investigate how encephalization affects brain evolution.

Who: I am from northern Virginia and am ecstatic to be studying at the University of Utah! I cannot wait to shop at Weller Book Works bookstore and pursue through the Dreamscapes art gallery and Leonardo Museum of Creativity and Innovation. I love seeing the deer and black-billed magpies on my walks to class and research.

My scientific interests: Medical education has fallen short on addressing properly identifying integumentary conditions on darker skin tones. Some diseases, such as transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy and heart disease, affect the black community at disproportionate rates. Various factors contribute to certain health issues that particularly strike the black population, ranging from economic to environmental justice. My life-long struggle to find a proper treatment for my condition of atopic dermatitis sparked a strong interest in how the healthcare industry has impacted black patients. There is a stubborn belief that there are major biological differences that classify and isolate the black race. The biomedical research industry has failed to place the blame for observed health trends on the proper cause. Racial identity has become a scapegoat for the issues that cause poorer health, however, the blame must be placed on systemic inequities which have been forced on the black community. The fine line of what and how to address the social construct of race in the healthcare system is a prime interest of research. I have also always been fascinated with how the human body functions.

Academic goals: I am pursuing a degree in Honors Biology with a minor in African American Studies and Pediatric Clinical Research. My interests lie in neonatal-perinatal medicine, public health, pediatrics, ethnoecology, and postnatal developmental anatomy and physiology. As an undergraduate, and in my career, I hope to contribute to research that advances our understanding of health disparities in the African American population tied to systemic racism and generational trauma. I would like to merge my deep interest in the complex social challenges faced by the African American population with biological research in the areas of disease and genomics. Ultimately, I would like to participate in illuminating and breaking down inequities in our healthcare system, particularly with regard to persons of color. It is my hope that I will be able to conduct individual research that focuses on the effects of racial bias in healthcare on expecting black mothers throughout their pregnancy and the development of their child(ren), should the mother carry to term. As it pertains to my primary research interest, seeking out the biological, especially neurological, effects of generational trauma as well as daily stressors of living in a racist society provides an overarching theme to my research aspirations once I get to the graduate level of my education.

Career goals: I want to become a neonatologist, pediatric anesthesiologist, or pediatric physician. I would also consider working in hospital administration and/or public health policy. 

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: My favorite activity from ACCESS has been starting my research lab. Currently, I am joining the Lamb Lab at the University of Utah’s Medical School. Working with Marshall Roedell, a graduate student, I will be involved in a project regarding astrocyte involvement in cerebral malaria. I look forward to engaging deeply in this research and my undergraduate education at the University of Utah.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: I enjoy teaching myself the French language. I also love collecting stationery, reading young adult novels, cooking for my family, and binge-watching Disney films.

Cerebral malaria, a form of severe malaria, is a disease which is caused by infection with parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Novel therapies to address cerebral malaria are desperately needed, as the mortality rate is about 19%. Those who have cerebral malaria suffer severe and often fatal swelling of the brain, which is the result of blood brain barrier disruption. The blood-brain barrier is a selectively semipermeable layer made up of endothelial cells with embedded tight junctions that limit the passage of unwanted solutes. The endothelial cells are supported by other cells types such as astrocytes, pericytes, and microglia. Infecting C57Bl/6J mice with Plasmodium berghei ANKA provides an effective model of human cerebral malaria, as infected mice die of brain hemorrhage six to 10 days after infection. This model is called experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) in the literature. Work in this model has shown that the presences of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and interferon-gamma are necessary for death and BBB disruption. Interferon-gamma is a signaling molecule, or cytokine. These interferons bind to type Il interferon receptors to induce signaling within a cell. An inflammatory response typically occurs as a result. Past research has demonstrated that CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells are an important source of interferon-gamma in the brain in the cerebral malaria mouse model. However, astrocytes and microglia, both of which are important for brain immune signaling and blood brain barrier maintenance, have not been investigated to see if they make a significant contribution to interferon-gamma production in ECM. Utilizing flow cytometry, single-cell RNA sequencing, and in vitro assays, we show that microglia and astrocytes do not increase production of interferon-gamma protein or transcript in the brains of mice with ECM, suggesting that they are not important sources of interferon-gamma in ECM.

Who: I’m from Ashland, Oregon by way of Moscow, Idaho, and I have lived in Salt Lake City, Utah for the past eight years. One of my favorite things about Utah is hiking in the mountains, and I love all of the opportunities I’ve found here!

My scientific interests: My passion is in exploring the diversity and complexity of life, especially insects and other arthropods, and at the University of Utah I have also started to pursue interests in computer science, mathematical modeling, and their applications to biology. I’m fascinated by how different areas of biology, from biochemistry and cell biology to ecology and evolution, interact, and how we can use our knowledge of biology and natural history to help humanity deal with some of its biggest problems.

Academic goals: I am a Biology major with an emphasis in Ecology, Evolution and Environment, and I’m minoring in Mathematics. I plan on continuing research in my ACCESS lab and publishing before graduation. After I graduate, I plan to pursue a PhD in invertebrate zoology.

Career goals: I want to be a researcher and professor, making new and exciting discoveries about the vast majority of animals on Earth that don't have a backbone. I plan on  focusing my scientific research on the invertebrates of Latin America and increasing awareness of the importance of invertebrates.

 Highlights from my ACCESS experience: ACCESS has been a great way to meet students who share my interests and passion for science, learn about graduate school and careers in the sciences, and increase my science knowledge. I started in my lab in August, where I’m studying the life cycles and classification of army ants. ACCESS has been a tremendous opportunity throughout the summer and first semester of college!

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: I love to play piano, and I’ve been taking lessons for ten years. I also enjoy reading science fiction, drawing, hiking and camping in the mountains, and watching documentaries.

Army ants are keystone insect predators in the tropics and subtropics. Reproduction is by colony fission, in which robust males fly to reproducing colonies to mate with the new, unmated, wingless queens. The males of most species are attracted to lights, and thus their presence and the timing of reproduction can be monitored using light traps. Previous studies have examined the seasonality of army ant male reproduction and its relationship to climate factors at a variety of sites. However, the variation of seasonality across latitudes and sites with different climate regimes has not been explored. We examined army ant male flight seasonality at three sites: (1) the state of Paraná in southern Brazil, a site with very strong temperature, rainfall, and day length seasonality, (2) La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, a site with weak temperature seasonality and moderate rainfall and day length seasonality; and (3) Yasuní National Park, Ecuador, a site with no temperature or day length seasonality and very weak rainfall seasonality. Army ants showed strong seasonality at the Paraná and La Selva sites, and very weak to no seasonality at the Yasuní site. In Paraná and La Selva, flight times varied among species, but were very predictable from year to year, which suggests day length or temperature as predictable cues rather than rainfall. Lack of seasonal cues near the equator may be a challenge for army ant species that need to synchronize colony reproduction, and thus may have conservation implications for minimum population sizes needed to ensure stable populations.

Who: My name is Ashlyn, and I am from Roosevelt, Utah! I enjoy both the arts and STEM, and have loved my freshman year here at the U.

My engineering interests: For as long as I can remember I have loved science, math, and logic puzzles, so computer science has been a great fit for me. Even with my little experience with coding, so far, I have really enjoyed my CS classes.

Academic goals: I am a Computer Science major, with an intended minor in Arts Technology. I want to make the most out of undergraduate research and other great experiences to use and grow my skills in all areas!

Career goals: I hope to incorporate my interest with design and psychology into CS and become a User Interface/ User Experience Designer. I love graphic design so I hope to explore careers that will allow me to incorporate that into my job.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: I loved getting to know other girls in STEM and have a built-in community on campus. Also hearing from the many professors and students in each discipline, really helped me understand more about all the possibilities in STEM.

My hobbies and interests outside STEM and academics: My hobbies include graphic design, drawing, reading, and weightlifting. I also love the outdoors- especially going to the lake and boating, tubing, paddle boarding, and cliff jumping!

Smart hospitals are arriving, driven by the vision to enhance the patient experience, reduce operational burden, and improve hospital workflow. The University of Utah’s newly built Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital contains patient rooms where the lights, blinds, thermostat, door, and TV are all controlled through an app on a hospital furnished iPad or personal device. This novel implementation supports varying control abilities through touch, voice command, sip and puff controller, or physical switches and remotes. This technology is potentially transformative for patients experiencing motor or mobility impairments, helping them regain lost freedom and control of their surroundings. We explored how the technology employed in patient rooms affects - and can better support - patients' and other stakeholders' needs through semi-structured user study interviews. Preliminary results indicate that: (1) Although most patients agreed that the technology promoted independence and autonomy, a tension exists between the freedom gained and the lack of “at-homeness” in a hospital setting. (2) Hospital-provided usage adaptations based on user abilities are critical in supporting users of varying abilities. (3) There is a lack of integration between the intended functionality of smart home technology and the unique needs of a hospital setting, creating an often frustrating and overcomplicated experience for users. We propose design considerations to efficiently and seamlessly integrate smart technology into the hospital environment and describe how hospitals can adapt this technology to meet patients' unique physical abilities, encourage rehabilitation, and support independence. The potential outcomes of this new research area within human-centered computing foreshadow life-changing results for patients and other hospital stakeholders. Through this continuing work, we can discover how to build smart hospital rooms rather than simply hospital rooms containing smart home technology and guide future designers in integrating technology into the hospital environment - enhancing the patient experience and promoting independence.

Who: I was born and raised here in Salt Lake City. 

My scientific interests: I was born and raised here in Salt Lake City. 

Academic goals: I am a Chemistry major and have been very interested in the different applications of chemistry since I was first exposed to it in eighth grade. 

Career goals: Currently, I’m part of a biology lab that deals with gene MutY. This appeals to my career goals in that I want to be a forensic scientist for a crime lab. 

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: One of my favorite parts of my ACCESS summer experience was exploring the different types of STEM pursuits. 

My hobbies and interests outside of STEM and academics: Outside of school, I enjoy reading, writing, playing video games, and playing with my cat.

MutY is a DNA repair enzyme that nearly all living beings have and is responsible for starting the process of repair for our DNA and prevents mutations from happening during the damage. MutY initiates the repair sequence when an oxidized purine 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine is mispaired with an adenine. MutY will accelerate the removal of adenine by hydrolyzing the N-glycosyl bond. This will then be further corrected by a series of enzymes in this base excision repair pathway to pair a guanine with a cytosine. In this project, we want to examine how FDA approved medicines affect MutY in the repair process and how it affects the mutation rate of our microbiota. This has been examined through two processes; 1) a toxicity test to determine what medicines are toxic to bacteria, and 2) an optical density of bacterial growth test to measure the replication rate constant. These tests set a baseline for a mutation suppression assay experiment. They help decide which medicines should be tested and how the replication rate will affect the mutation rate measured in the mutation suppression assay when MutY has more time to correct the damage. Through these tests, it can be seen that there may be an impact on DNA repair enzymes, like MutY, done by FDA approved medicines. This will be explored more through the mutation suppression assay with Aspirin and other medicines with similar chemical properties as Aspirin.

Who: My name is Abhilasha Khatri and I’ve lived in Salt Lake City for 6 years. 

My scientific interests: I love biology because it is a science that demystifies the functions of life, and one that is so key to issues that impact our daily lives, from health and medicine to environment and ecology. 

Academic goals: I am a Biology and Health, Society & Policy double major, as well as a student in the Honors college. I plan to continue doing research while earning my undergraduate degree and hope to attend medical school in the future. 

Career goals: I hope that eventually I can work to help close social disparities in health, both in practice as a physician and through research and policy work. 

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: My favorite part of the ACCESS experience has been the people I’ve met, including incredible mentors, and being part of such an amazing community of warm, intelligent, fun, and passionate peers. 

My hobbies and interests outside of STEM: In my spare time, I write for the Daily Utah Chronicle.

In the 12-month period ending in April 2021, over 75,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdose. [1] Opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD) is the primary cause of these deaths, a condition caused in part by the binding of opioids to mu-opioid receptors, which has an inhibitory effect on respiratory neurons. [2] However, preliminary results from the Yamaguchi Lab demonstrate that the respiratory system of the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis are more resistant to these effects.  The goal of this project is to identify the types of receptors expressed by the opioid-sensitive respiratory neurons in X. laevis to gain insight into mechanisms underlying opioid resilience in frogs, a knowledge that may ultimately be applied to reverse opioid-induced respiratory suppression in humans. To characterize the molecular profile of the opioid-sensitive frog neurons in the amphibian homologue of Kölliker-fuse (KF) nucleus, we used constellation pharmacology to monitor intracellular Ca2+ levels of dissociated neurons in response to the application of a series of pharmacological agents.  In this project, we applied agonists whose receptors are known to be expressed by the neurons in the mammalian KF nucleus; somatostatin, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and DAMGO, which is a mu-opioid receptor specific agonist. The results showed that some neurons showed an increase in intracellular Ca2+ in response to DAMGO and a decrease in response to somatostatin. Norepinephrine exhibited both an increase and a decrease in intracellular Ca2+ amongst the neurons. This suggests that the neurons express receptors for these agonists as seen in mammalian neurons.  Interestingly, our results suggest that the activation of mu opioid receptors in frog neurons may have an excitatory effect on the KF neurons, which differs from the inhibitory effect seen in mammals. This may explain the opioid resilience of the frog respiratory system.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. top 100,000 annually. (2021, November 17).
2. Wei, A. D. & Ramirez, J.-M. Presynaptic Mechanisms and KCNQ Potassium Channels Modulate Opioid Depression of Respiratory Drive. Frontiers in Physiology 10, 1407 (2019).

Who: I am from Salt Lake and decided to stay in state for college due to the U’s great engineering program and the opportunity to do research! I love living in Utah where we are surrounded by beautiful scenery and there are lots of opportunities to be in the city and to get out in nature!

My scientific interests: I have always enjoyed math and problem solving even if that seems weird to most people! Some of my best memories from high school are from being in the MESA (Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement) club where I discovered my passion for engineering. I love all types of science, but I am especially interested in computing and robotics.

Academic goals: I am a double major in Computer engineering and Applied Mathematics. I also plan to minor in Drawing and to graduate with honors. I have found that I enjoy doing research, so I plan to stick with my ACCESS lab while I am an undergrad and possibly look into doing a graduate degree or continuing with research in some other form after I graduate.

Career goals: I want my career to be fulfilling and to help the people in my community. I have been inspired by my ACCESS lab to look into jobs where I can merge engineering with medical applications, possibly through surgical robots, medical devices, or medical imaging. I also have aspirations of starting my own company someday.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: I really enjoyed learning about all of the different STEM disciplines this summer and having the opportunity to apply everything that I learned in addressing a real-world problem during the capstone. I also loved meeting the cohort and mentors. I am great friends with some of the other students now!

My hobbies and interests outside of STEM and academics: Outside of STEM I am very interested in art and music. I love to paint and to make things. I play the violin and the piano and love to listen to all different genres of music. I also love to read and try to make time to do so for pleasure and not just for school.

Lung nodules are found in over 1.5 million patients every year in the United States. Of these cases, 10% are likely to be malignant, but only about 1.7% of patients are offered immediate surgery due to associated risks [1,2]. These risks can be partially attributed to the commonly used tools in minimally invasive surgery being large and rigid, which can lead to complications. Flexible, continuum robots address this problem with an elastic structure that enables them to traverse a patient’s anatomy with increased precision and delicacy. Our lab investigates a specific type of continuum robot, the tendon-driven robot, which has a flexible backbone with tendons threaded through. More specifically, we use a disk-style robot that is made up of a thin rod connecting a series of disks. We robotically actuate the tendons to shape the robot based on randomized goals, and then use a magnetic tracking system to evaluate the accuracy of the real-world robot compared to the computational model. We have used machine learning to improve the model, but it remains inaccurate. We hypothesize that a major contributing factor to this inaccuracy is torsional deformation (twisting about the long axis), which causes the robot to behave differently than can be easily modeled. To test this hypothesis, I extended the work of Childs and Rucker to design a robot that bends similarly to the disk-style robot but has increased torsional stiffness [3]. The new design has no clear backbone, unlike traditional tendon-driven robots, but is made up of a series of cells that give it an accordion-like shape. The next step is to compare the tip position prediction accuracy of the new robot design to the existing disk-style robot to see if the error was reduced. We also plan to experiment with the scale of the robots to find how small they can be manufactured while retaining functionality, opening the door to more delicate, small-scale operations, such as eye surgery.

[1] M. Gould, T. Tang, I.-L. Liu, J. Lee, C. Zheng, K. Danforth, A. Kosco, J. Fiore, and D. Suh. "Recent trends in the identification of incidental pulmonary nodules." American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 192, 07 2015.

[2] N. T. Tanner, J. Aggarwal, M. K. Gould, P. Kearney, G. B. Diette, A. Vachani, K. C. Fang, and G. A. Silvestri. "Management of pulmonary nodules by community pulmonologists a multicenter observational study." Chest, 148(6):1405–1414, 12 2015.

[3] J.A. Childs and C. Rucker, “Leveraging Geometry to Enable High-Strength Continuum Robots.” Front. Robot. AI, doi: 10.3389/frobt.2021.629871.

Who: Sophie Downey

My scientific interests: I am interested in biochemistry

Academic goals: I plan to get a PhD in Biological Chemistry

Career goals: I hope to enter a career in pharmaceutical research.

Highlights from my ACCESS experience: Meeting people who are like me.

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are a promising technology for grid-scale energy storage. RFBs are advantageous because unlike conventional batteries which store charge in electrode materials, RFBs utilize inert electrode materials to charge active species in solution which are stored in external tanks, allowing for them to easily scale up energy storage without increasing electrode size. 

RFB energy storage capacity is governed by the number of electrons transferred per active molecule, concentration of the active species in solution, and the voltage between the two electrode redox couples. This makes redox active small organic molecules (SOMs) particularly useful to tailor RFB properties, given the potential to tune each of these battery characteristics by substituent modulation.

In our research, we examine substituent effects on pyridinium-based SOMs. By changing the substituted group on a 4,4’-bipyridine molecule, we aim to investigate and enhance the number of electrons transferred, solubility, and voltage of these molecules toward maximizing energy density capabilities of pyridinium SOMs. 

Who: I grew up in Westminster, Colorado after my parents immigrated from Brazil! I came to the U for the numerous opportunities presented here, including ACCESS, as well as to be more independent and explore life away from home.

My scientific interests: Ever since middle school I have been fascinated with science, especially organismal physiology. There’s so much to how an organism functions and reacts and when you apply that to humans it’s interesting how every being lives a different life based on “the way they’re built.” This is why I’m interested in going into the medical field to help others through diagnosis and treatment so that people can thrive as much as possible in their lives.

Academic goals: I am a biology major with an anatomy and physiology emphasis as well as a pediatric research minor. I have been with my ACCESS lab for about a year and plan to continue in this lab working on my project. After earning my degree, I plan to attend medical school and work toward an MD or MD-PhD degree.

Career goals: Medicine and research

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: ACCESS has helped me gain insight and access to so many different opportunities whether it be research based or career based. Without ACCESS I would not be as involved in the College of Science and would not be doing many of the things I am right now. ACCESS has also given me a network of students in STEM that I know are friendly faces that I can connect and study with in my classes..

Opioid induced respiratory depression (OIRD) is a major cause of opioid related death. In mammals OIRD is, in part, caused by a hyperpolarization of respiratory neurons in the brainstem due to opioids binding to mu-opioid receptors.  However, preliminary results obtained from the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) suggested that their respiratory system may be less susceptible to opioids compared to mammals. Here, we hypothesized that the respiratory system of X. laevis is resistant to opioids. Isolated Xenopus brains generate respiratory activity that can be readily recorded via the laryngeal nerve over 12 hours.  Taking advantage of this preparation, we examined the breathing activity of the ex vivo frog brains in the presence of variable concentrations of a mu-opioid receptor agonist (DAMGO) to test this hypothesis. The results reveal that the respiratory system of X. laevis is indeed tolerant to opioids compared to mammals; in neonatal mice, the Pre-Bötzinger complex (which is responsible for respiratory inspiration in mammals) stops its activity in the presence of 100nM of DAMGO whereas the application of 500nM of DAMGO did not block the respiratory activity of Xenopus. The results of this research sets the stage to explore the neural mechanisms of Xenopus opioid resistance.

Who: I am from Reno, Nevada and I have an identical twin! In my free time I enjoy skiing, biking, and reading. I am also involved in Greek Life as a member of Pi Beta Phi and the Vice President of Membership Development on Panhellenic Council.

My scientific interests: Biomedical engineering is creative and technical, developing new technology that can help people in numerous ways. I am interested in powered prosthetic devices and exoskeletons, and my current research aims to assist those suffering from hemiparetic stroke.

Academic goals: I am a third-year majoring in Biomedical Engineering with a biomechanics emphasis. I also have a chemistry minor. I am pursuing the biomedical engineering BS/MS degree here at the U, so I will complete a fifth year to earn my master’s degree.

Career goals: Long term, I would like to work in industry on developing, improving, and working with prosthetic devices and exoskeletons. These devices are interesting to work with, and it is so rewarding to help the people who use them.

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: ACCESS gave me the opportunity to begin research early! This gave me time to explore my interests and make sure I was happy in my major and field. And I am! I have continued working in the Utah Bionics Lab and have had opportunities to make incredible
connections, complete internships, be published, and learn so much because of the start ACCESS gave me.

Individuals with above the knee amputation exert more effort while walking than nonamputees. Their biological ambulation patterns are disrupted, and the loss of ankle energy is compensated for by increasing the effort of the prosthesis-side hip. Powered exoskeletons have been proposed as a possible solution to this problem. A recent study has shown that a powered hip exoskeleton can improve walking economy in individuals with above-knee amputation by providing assistive torque to the prosthesis-side hip during ambulation. However, the mechanism underlying the observed improvement in walking economy is still unknown, and further analysis is necessary to evaluate the biomechanical adaptation to exoskeleton assistance of the prosthesis-side hip. Here we show that the assistance provided by a powered hip exoskeleton while walking significantly decreases the mechanical energy generated by the biological hip joint on thee prosthesis side. We analyzed the gait biomechanics of eight individuals with above-knee amputation walking with and without a powered hip exoskeleton. Participants walked on a treadmill for six minutes at 1 ms-1 with and without a unilateral powered hip exoskeleton. Kinetics and kinematics were examined through motion capture and data analysis with Vicon Nexus, Visual3D, and MATLAB. Our results show that the reduction of residual hip energy is likely a major factor in improving walking economy of individuals with above-knee amputation. This research provides knowledge necessary to improve prosthesis-side hip-assistance for individuals with above-knee amputation. Future research will test the efficacy of the device for assisting ambulation of hemiparetic stroke subjects.

Who: I’m Ava (she/her), and I’m from Boise, Idaho! I fell in love with Salt Lake’s beautiful scenery, and the U’s fantastic science programs, and am so happy to be pursuing my education alongside such a supportive community. 

My scientific interests: I have always been interested in the science of diseases and vaccines, which led me to dive into the studies of chemistry and biology. Chemical and biological processes on the molecular level are fascinating to me, and my current research deals with cell signals and biosensors. I am particularly interested in pursuing how to apply biosensor tools to disease diagnostics.

Academic goals:  I’m pursuing an honors BS in biochemistry and a BA in psychology

Career goals: My ultimate goal is to attend medical school in pursuit of specialty in pediatric psychiatry.

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: I’ve been fortunate enough to serve as a mentor and TA for ACCESS, as well as participating in the program in 2020. ACCESS gave me the tools and the support to reach for the stars in my undergraduate education, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the program. 

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) senses displaced DNA within a cell and activates innate immune responses by producing the secondary messenger 2’,3’-cGAMP. This initiates a cascading immune response. Targeting the response has high therapeutic potential for treating diseases that damage DNA, such as viruses or autoimmune conditions. Thus, developing in vivo imaging techniques to study 2’,3’-cGAMP dynamics is highly relevant. While there exists an RNA-based fluorescent biosensor for quantitation of 2’3’-cGAMP, this sensor requires exogenous addition of both dye and sensor. I seek to use a fluorogenic dye system that is fully genetically encoded into the cell.

Who: My name is Andelin Beishline. I am from Ogden, UT, and I transferred to the University of Utah from Utah State University to study Medical Laboratory Sciences. In my limited free time, I like to arrange music, read, and spend time with friends and family. A fun fact about me is that I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Arkansas.

My scientific interests: My scientific interests broadly include studying the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. In my lab, I focus on malaria pathogenesis. 

Academic goals: After graduating at the end of this year from the Medical Laboratory Sciences program, I plan to pursue a PhD studying microbiology and immunology. 

Career goals: I hope to gain the knowledge and skills for a career in medical research in academia or industry.

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: ACCESS has truly changed my life! Being a part of my lab for the last year has taught me so much about being a researcher. I have enjoyed every part of the research process from experiment set up, to data collection, to data analysis, to presentation. Because of these experiences, I can truly see myself in a career in medical research.

Since my experience in ACCESS last year, I have presented my research at the Division of Microbiology and Immunology Retreat in fall of 2021, and at the Utah Conference for Undergraduate Research earlier this semester. I have also been awarded two semesters of funding for my research through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).

Malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium, which infects red blood cells. In 2019, there were 229 million cases and 409,000 deaths caused by malaria, with sub-Saharan Africa carrying 94% of the world’s malaria burden. Thrombocytopenia is a drop in the circulating platelets and is a frequent symptom of malaria.

The mechanisms underlying thrombocytopenia in malaria are unknown. While thrombocytopenia itself is not a severe complication regarding bleeding issues, it is a sign of poor prognosis of malaria.  More research is needed to determine the underlying mechanisms of thrombocytopenia.

Possible reasons for thrombocytopenia are 1. consumption and 2. lack of production. Here, we use mouse models of malaria to show that platelets are activated in blood-stage Plasmodium infection and adhere to infected red blood cells. We also show that platelets are consumed by infection upon transfer. Additionally, we show that megakaryocytes in the bone marrow, which are the main producers of platelets, decrease in number during infection. The cause of the drop is unknown but may be related to inflammation.

Who: Hello! My name is Sophia Blankevoort, a second-year student pursuing a dual honors degree in Mechanical Engineering and Operations and Supply Chain. I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and my hobbies include exploring local cafes, record shops, and fairs/farmers’ markets. I love to play piano, ski, and travel while being immersed in diverse cultures and experiencing new cuisine!

My scientific interests: Part of succeeding in both engineering and business disciplines requires a balanced understanding of engineering fundamentals and business. It is my goal to be proficient in both to understand complex technical problems and be able to apply them in a business environment. 

Academic goals: Mechanical Engineering, Operations and Supply Chain dual major

Career goals: Therefore, my post-graduation plans include acquiring a joint MBA and engineering degree. The parallels of business and engineering will open an incredible variety of career opportunities where I hope to apply my passions for travel, languages, and cultural appreciation. I look forward to being challenged and contributing my problem-solving skills to these exciting career opportunities.

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience through exposing me to the varied fields of engineering and opening my mind to the diverse career opportunities offered to women in STEM. I was able to be placed in a research lab led by Dr. Jessica Kramer in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Throughout my experience, I’ve been able to support the research aims of graduate students in the lab through investigating recombinant protein expression of glycosyltransferases, cell culture, and DNA experiments towards applications in mucin studies. Since ACCESS, I’ve been accepted as an scholar of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and have presented research in a university-wide symposium.

This research project optimized purification of a sialyltransferase through immobilized metal affinity chromatography. Sialyltransferases are enzymes that transfer sialic acids, bioactive sugars, onto the end of glycan chains found on glycoproteins, glycolipids, and mucins. Sialic acids have roles in viral binding, cell communication and recognition, and have implications in cancer. The role of a sialyltransferase is to take the active form of sialic acid, cytidine monophosphate sialic acid, and transfer it onto a sugar to donate sialic acids. The specific enzyme of interest for this project is an α2,6 sialyltransferase, which appends sialic acids at the 2,6 linkage of glycan chains.

Enzymes with terminal histidine tags have a strong affinity for the divalent metal ions nickel and cobalt. Commercially available kits are used that contain nickel or cobalt charged spin columns. The enzymes bind to the ions in the column through histidine tagging, where the proteins are released from the column using an elution buffer containing high concentrations of imidazole. In changing the concentrations of imidazole used in wash buffers, we can determine the optimal concentration for future protein purification. 

The purification conditions tested were a cobalt column and 4 nickel columns with 50 mM, 5 mM, 100 mM, and 200 mM concentrations of imidazole in the wash buffer. It was observed that the 200 mM nickel column and the cobalt column conditions resulted in the highest purification, although lowest concentration.

In the future, this methodology can be applied to the purification process of other sialyltransferases. One such is a sialyltransferase that appends sialic acids at the 2,3 linkage, which is another enzyme of interest of the Kramer Lab. Additionally, the methods used in this project can be applied to improve enzymatic activity. Purification of these sialyltransferases will aid in future studies of glycan analysis, glycoprotein engineering, and mucin research. 

Who: I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. I came to the University of Utah for ACCESS Scholars, research opportunities, and its diversity. I graduated from Olympus High School during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. I love doing art, being outdoors, and listening to music. I collect vinyl, and I love to go to live concerts. 

My scientific interests: I am fascinated by the intersection between data science and the physical world. I really enjoy understanding the details and background of data and what data can be used for.

Academic goals: I am a candidate for an Applied Math major with a minor in physics, and I expect to graduate in May 2023. I have enjoyed learning problem solving skills through my classroom experience.

Career goals: I strive to work in data science and analysis in industry, following my graduation. While I have a fascination for forensic analysis, financial analysis, and bioinformatics; I am eager to learn as much as I can about data in any area of industry.

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: The ACCESS Program helped me gain meaningful opportunities in research at an early stage of my academic career that greatly impacted my career and graduate schooling decisions. The mentorship received through my research laboratory helped me flourish both academically and in extracurricular research. 

Since my ACCESS year, I have been awarded additional research funding for two semesters of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program as well as funding from the Department of Physics & Astronomy Summer Undergraduate Research Program. I have grown incredibly as an individual and as a student, and being a part of the ACCESS Scholars program gave me a solid foundation to do so.

Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound objects in the universe, containing hundreds to thousands of galaxies, which grow by merging with other galaxy clusters. Within galaxy clusters, galaxies make up a small portion of the total mass. Hot gas-part of the intracluster medium (ICM)-exists between the galaxies and emits light in the X-ray regime. NuSTAR is a X-ray satellite whose mission includes the study of ICM. This poster details the NuSTAR observation of Abell 2319 (A2319), which is a galaxy cluster undergoing a merger event. The goal is to understand the merger aftermath inside the ICM. Relativistic particles and magnetic fields in the ICM produce radio halos and X-rays due to Inverse Compton (IC) scattering. NuSTAR is the best telescope for analyzing IC emission, since it measures at high X-ray energies, where non-thermal IC emission dominates over thermal Bremsstrahlung emission produced by the ICM. The magnetic field of a galaxy cluster can be constrained using data from its radio halos and IC emission. Magnetic field strength in clusters is poorly understood, so constraints on it are vital. Components of the background were analyzed prior to selecting regions of interest used to understand components of A2319. The Xspec program helps analyze data; via xspec, multiple models can be fitted to selected regions. While there isn't enough evidence to make firm conclusions about A2319's ICM, preliminary evidence cannot confirm nor rule out detection of IC emission. A2319 contains complex temperature structure thus improved models are necessary for exploring IC existence. Future work will clarify this inconclusivity through a temperature map. This map helps to explicitly determine the temperature structure within A2319. Through this process, it will be straightforward to determine IC existence and its constraints. From either a detection or upper limit on IC, estimations of the global magnetic field in the ICM will be determined.

Who: Hi, my name is Alex Strich. I grew up in New Jersey. For hobbies, I like to run and volunteer at the Food Recovery Network. We are a student-run organization at the University that takes the food from PHC and KV and donates it to a half-way house in Salt Lake City.

My scientific interests: Research

Academic goals: Biology Major, Psychology minor

Career goals:  I hope to pursue a career in research, in the neuroscience field, hence my major and minor.

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: ACCESS has impacted my social life as I still hang out with the people from my ACCESS cohort and it provided me with my first research experience at the University of Utah. Since ACCESS, I have been in two labs. One, last year, was under Dr. Naveen, but I noticed that it was not a good fit and this year I began the current project under Dr. Wachowiak, which I really enjoy!

As marijuana’s regulations decrease throughout the country, researchers have begun having a peaked interest in the plant. Currently, little is known about how we perceive marijuana’s terpenes, a class of odorants found in many plants including marijuana, especially at threshold concentrations. The Wachowiak Lab aims to further understand marjuana’s odorant perception through understanding how some of marijuana’s terpenes react with neurons. To do this, we hope to map mouse glomerulus neurons and output neuron responses to several terpenes. Second, we hope to determine how the structure of certain odorants may influence the glomeruli responses. Third, we may record the glomeruli responses in awake and asleep mice. This analysis may help determine if responses differ when an animal is asleep or awake. So far, we have selected several odors to test, have found glomeruli responses to certain odors, and have begun to analyze our results. Currently, further analysis is being conducted to understand the difference in the odorant structures and which glomeruli may be triggered by the same odorants and to ensure that the same glomeruli are responding to a terpene across several trials. Additionally, plans to add more odors are underway. 

Who: I’m Samantha Nestel and I am proud to be from Ogden, Utah.  Since a young age, I’ve tried to remain well-rounded and get involved in a lot of activities. I am passionate about many hobbies but I tend to spend most of my time performing on stage in musical theatre productions, learning American Sign Language, baking, and serving the community through various volunteer opportunities. I am a third generation University of Utah Student

My scientific interests: I have fallen in love with biology and the amazing mechanisms that run all life. I hope to continue in biological research, studying epigenetics in the Werner lab, throughout my undergraduate years.

Academic goals: Biology Major, Chemistry Minor. I am active in the Honors College and plan to be a Bennion Center Scholar.

Career goals:  Ultimately, I hope to earn an MD, with a focus on women’s health issues. I really enjoy government studies and politics. I hope to run for political office someday so that I can work on passing legislation that makes quality health care easier to access and more affordable.

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: I can thank ACCESS for introducing me to research opportunities in biology and encouraging me to be fully immersed in the science. Being in my research lab is my favorite thing to do while on campus everyday and it has already opened up so many opportunities, including scholarship support and  chance to participate in a paid research internship in Germany during the summer of 2022. 

The effect of the environment on development is critical to human health, and animal and plant ecological strategies. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate developmental (phenotypic) plasticity remain poorly understood. When exposed to different environments, the nematode Pristionchus pacificus expresses one of two possible mouth forms: either the ‘Stenostomatous’ morph with a narrow buccal cavity and one tooth-like denticle, or the ‘Eurystomatous’ morph that has a wide buccal cavity and two teeth-like denticles. In my project, I have been assessing whether morph choice, an experimentally tractable example of developmental plasticity, is mediated by nutrition. Specifically, I am performing two experiments to test the putative connection between nutritional status and phenotype: 1) grow and collect P. pacificus on different environments and measure potential changes in metabolism, and 2) conduct dietary restriction experiments with different Pristionchus species to assess the generality and conservation of the diet:phenotype connection. For the first project, I initiated the growth of ten worm-pellets collected from each NGM agar and liquid culture dietary conditions, that result in differing phenotypic expression, and submitted samples to the University of Utah Metabolomics Core Facility for GC-MS and LC-MS metabolomics, to assess what metabolite differences are apparent among the two conditions. In the second project, I phenotyped four different species grown on high- or low-bacterial food conditions.  Results thus far from the first experiment demonstrate that the LC/GC-MS metabolomics does work on our worms, and that 500-microliter pellets provide optimal quantification of metabolites.  Results from the second experiment show that all four species exhibited significant differences in mouth form under dietary restrictive conditions. Collectively, these results suggest that 1) conducting metabolomics on our worms in different conditions is viable to address the connection between diet, gene regulation and development, and 2) that the effect of diet on morph choice is a deeply-rooted phenomenon.

Who: Hi! My name is Muskan (Moose-Con), and I call Utah home. I love to garden, listen to podcasts, make pottery, bird watch, and explore Trader Joes!

My scientific interests: I have been captivated by the STEM field ever since I was a young girl. As I furthered my interests in the field, my excitement grew exponentially. The vast amounts of information in science became clear, and I had a desire to learn more. My fascination with mathematics, and mathematical modeling, was prompted by my ACCESS summer, and I have loved getting to explore those interests with my research group!

Academic goals: As a mathematics and philosophy double major, I look forward to studying math principles through a justice-related lens. I will continue working in my ACCESS lab and ensuring that the research I contribute to works to create a more just and equitable society. I plan to attend graduation school where I will enroll in a dual degree program.

Career goals:  To have had a glimpse of the depths of mathematics is motivating! I foresee that mathematics has vast potential in my own generation. That I will have the opportunity to contribute to its growth by pursuing a career involving mathematical research is thrilling! I also want to serve as a mentor to youth within the STEM disciplines. My mentors have provided me the confidence to be a primary force in the progression of STEM research, and I hope to give back.

How ACCESS impacted my undergraduate experience: I am immensely grateful to be at the U and to be part of the ACCESS Scholars program as a student and mentor! ACCESS has advocated for my curiosity and reinforced my passion for science through involvement in innovative research on campus. ACCESS has also informed me about the  intersections of science, communication, and policy and how scientists can practice the art of advocacy.

Testing has been critical for quarantine, contact tracing, and surveillance measures for the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as the number of vaccinations increase, robust testing measures need to remain in place to track the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to track because no test has perfect sensitivity (no false negatives) and perfect specificity (no false positives), and the sensitivity and specificity change over the course of an infection. We adapted the fundamental epidemiological SIR model for spread of disease to model the number of cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a closed population. Preliminary models reveal that PCR tests, while currently regarded as the gold standard, are likely to produce false positives (and therefore falsely recommend people for quarantine) because these tests are extremely sensitive and detect dead viruses long after a patient has recovered from COVID-19 and is no longer infectious. Conversely, our model predicts that antigen tests may produce false negatives early in an infection before infected cells have released a large number of viruses. We extended these findings to simulate the time when tests are administered relative to the duration of true positivity, integrating scenarios where there is variation across people in infectious periods and symptom onset. This variation generates patterns of sensitivity and specificity that create uncertainty about the course of the pandemic, even with robust testing.