Skin condition assessment of wildlife can provide insight into individual and population health. Yet, logistics can limit skin condition assessment of large whales. We developed a standardized, quantitative protocol using photographs to assess skin condition of blue whales in New Zealand, and demonstrate the value gained by testing hypotheses, documenting...
Research poster for Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium 2019. Research was conducted with CURE funding in the Perez lab studying cellular senescence in the PS19 mouse model.
Succinate dehydrogenase (Sdh) inhibitor fungicides, such as boscalid, are effective for the management of gray mold caused by the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. Unfortunately, resistance to boscalid was common among isolates of the pathogen from small fruits grown in Oregon. Boscalid-resistance is commonly associated with mutations in Sdh, especially in...
Sablefish is a highly sought after seafood delicacy for which aquaculture of this species has recently been developed. By understanding the immunological functions in sablefish, our goal was to develop a mammalian fluorescent bioparticle assay that can viably analyze the efficiency of phagocytosis, an important function of the immune system....
Oregon is the number three producer of strawberries in the nation despite the fact that Oregon strawberry acreage dropped from 2,600 acres in 2005 to 2,000 acres in 2014 (Beeles, 2015; NASS, 2019, Losh, 2017). With over three billion pounds of berries grown nationally each year, strawberries are an important...
A great variety of topologically protected defects exist in ordinary and exotic states of matter. Some of them are promising candidates for technological applications such as magnetic memory or quantum computers. Others possess some properties of elementary particles that could lead to potential applications in quantum fields. Nematic liquid crystals...
In 1877 John Kerr described an experiment that demonstrated a quadratic change in refractive index in a plate glass placed in a strong external electric field. This results in a nonlinear relationship between the average electric polarization within the materials and the intensity of the applied electric field. This opened...
Gamma ray bursts are some of the brightest events in the entire observable universe. Since the late 1960’s, thousands of gamma ray bursts have been observed and they have been researched extensively. However, there are still many mysteries which remain unsolved. One such mystery is whether or not the viewing...
Phytochemicals from the genus, Fagonia, have been attracting increasing attention due to their potential beneficial effects on human health, particularly, anti-cancer properties. Certain Fagonia species contain various types of phytochemicals such as saponins, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, terpenoids, and tannins. In this study, we investigated the phytochemical composition of a...
Bacterial endophytes have the potential to confer benefits to Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii
), for instance drought tolerance. Bacterial endophytes originating from seeds are
especially important. This is because seed endophytes are more likely to be the first endophytes
to get established within the young host plant. The goals of...
Exciton polaritons are quasiparticles composed of a quantum superposition of matter and light states that arises from the coupling of a standing wave photon and an exciton. This research has two primary objectives: to design and fabricate a Fabry-Perot microcavity system in which to produce exciton polaritons; and to show...
Biogas can be used to generate energy from a wide variety of sources. Wastewater treatment sludge is an effective source of waste to be used for generation of biogas to make energy which can be used to heat homes and run businesses. This would help decrease the use of fossil...
Currently multi-canonical, and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations exist, but do not always give all of the necessary information of the system. When using a 1-D (only changing in one variable) broad histogram Monte Carlo method a user would need to run a range of simulations in order to get...
The ability to focus light through strongly scattering materials is opening up exciting new avenues in many fields, such as optics, computer vision, biology, and medicine, which utilize light delivery and imaging techniques. Efficient, high resolution wavefront shaping and optimization methods are crucial to enabling this new capability.
In this...
Plasmon induced transparency (PIT) describes a spectral response of coupled plasmonic resonators in that coupling between bright and dark modes leads to a destructive interference resulting in a narrow transparency window. This process has many applications in material characterization and advanced optical devices such as slow light devices or ultrafast...
The dynein molecule is a peculiar motor protein recognized for its unique stepping behavior. Sometimes it steps forwards. Other times it steps backwards. It has even been observed to occasionally shuffle by beginning a step with the same domain many times in row. These motions make dynein an interesting object...
The current American free-roaming horse (Equus caballus) population far exceeds the appropriate population limit set by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to preserve resources on public lands. Several techniques have been tested to assist in decreasing repopulation rates. The purpose of the present study was to analyze two contraceptive...
Endophytes, foliage inhabiting fungi, are an unexplored source of fungal biodiversity and a potential resource for the production of bioactive natural products. In this research, leaf tissues from the species Arbutus menziesii, Rhododendron macrophyllum and the genus, Ilex and Salix were collected for the isolation of endophytic fungi. Fungal extracts...
Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy is a great tool not only to study fundamental physical processes such as many-body Coulomb interaction but also to develop ultrafast electronic devices. More specifically, intense THz fields interacting with semiconductors have exhibited strong nonlinear effect involving extreme carrier dynamics. In this experiment, intense THz radiation was...
Postpartum uterine inflammation (endometritis) is not uncommon in beef cattle, resulting in infertility and culling. Prolonged calving may contribute to the increased incidence of endometritis in heifers. Commonly used methods to treat endometritis in beef cattle include intrauterine antibiotics and/or hormone injections, which can result in meat residues. Platelet rich...