The malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, develops into sexual-stage gametocytes within the human host. Next-cycle conversion in the gametocyte development of P. falciparum hints at the presence of sexual markers during early developmental phases. Despite this, many of these early sex markers remain uncategorized. In this poster, using single-cell transcriptomic data, slingshot analysis, and differential analysis, early sex markers are identified across P. falciparum strains in the stalk and the schizont developmental phases.

Lifelong bilingualism is one factor that may influence age-related cognitive decline. However, existing research regarding bilingualism is widely focused on younger adults. Our study aims to shed light on how bilingualism impacts language production among younger and older adults. Executive function is often examined in bilingualism literature, but these effects are less frequently explored in naturalistic speech. We gathered data on speech production through a naturalistic speech elicitation assessment. Monolingual (50 younger, 48 older) and bilingual (26 younger, 16 older) participants were asked to speak about their favorite season. We transcribed the speech samples and will use graph theory to model and analyze the relationships between linguistic elements. We hypothesize that bilinguals will outperform monolinguals on executive function tasks measuring inhibitory control, and that although age will be associated with a decline in linguistic network integrity, bilingualism may moderate this effect.

This research investigates the impact of temporal variability on soil health by assessing short-term fluctuations in Permanganate Oxidizable Carbon (POXC) and soil moisture under different tillage management practices. Weekly soil samples were collected and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of frequent POXC assessments compared to single time-point tests. The findings highlight the need for frequent soil sampling and or soil sampling prior to planting at the same time each year.

This poster showcases my engagement experience in India during Spring Break 2025 as part of the course ASIA 199. I had the opportunity to travel to Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur, where I explored one of the world’s oldest civilizations—its culture, architecture, and daily life. The experience was eye-opening and deeply enriching. I highly encourage other Penn Staters to take part in similar programs, if they are able, to gain a broader perspective on life beyond the United States.

It is known that there is a one-to-one mapping between oriented directed graphs and zero-sum replicator dynamics (Lotka-Volterra equations). We investigate the problem of determining whether these dynamics are Liouville-Arnold integrable. Building on prior work, we establish two families of integrable graphs. With these results and numerical methods, we classify the dynamics generated by almost all oriented directed graphs on six vertices, except for three graphs that are integrable but not part of the taxonomy.

Oxford Nanopore Technologies offers cutting-edge long-read DNA sequencing technology that enables rapid, portable and accurate DNA sequencing of environmental samples in the field. We evaluated the efficacy of field-deployed Oxford Nanopore sequencing for analyzing environmental DNA (eDNA) while identifying gram-negative bacteria associated with upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana) collected from Buttonwood Sound in Key Largo, Florida. The results shed light on microbial communities in this unique marine ecosystem, offering valuable insights into microbial interactions within Cassiopea.

A silent and burgeoning epidemic which has affected over 850 million people worldwide and growing at such an alarming rate to become the fifth leading cause of death in almost a decade- Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), a condition characterized by aberrations in renal tubular metabolism resulting in decreased or even sudden loss of kidney function. Although AKI affects 1 in every 5 individuals worldwide and up to 67% of hospitalized patients, there is no treatment and only very little supportive care. In the epicenter of the metabolic derangements causing cellular disruption and renal insult, lies Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+), a co-factor involved in more than 500 enzymatic reactions and evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways such as cellular respiration, DNA repair, lipid and glucose homeostasis and mitochondrial survival. NAD+ also serves as a co-substrate for enzymes such as sirtuins, poly-ADP-ribose polymerases (PARPs), and CD38, which regulate key biological processes making this a mighty and indispensable molecule for maintaining cellular and metabolic homeostasis. Previous studies in both human and animal models have shown that renal NAD+ levels decline in ischemic, septic, and chemo toxic AKI. There is also suppression of all three NAD+ biosynthetic pathways, with de novo synthesis being majorly altered resulting in the accumulation of metabolites causing bottlenecks in the pathway, a fact also supported by preliminary data from our studies. The question that we are attempting to answer here is whether the renal NAD+ decline in AKI is driven by increased consumption of NAD+ by CD38s and PARPs to combat inflammation and DNA repair or decreased biosynthesis due to alterations in the pathways. Based on evidence from published literature put together with our studies, here, we hypothesize that understanding the stress-driven disturbances in the NAD+ metabolism and homeostasis is crucial towards bridging the connection between NAD+ dysregulation and restoring the kidney’s metabolic needs. To achieve this goal, we employ a cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury mouse model to study flux changes of NAD+ and related precursors across the whole body through stable isotope tracing using [2, 4, 5,6- 2H4] nicotinamide (NAM) coupled with liquid chromatography- mass spectrometry (LC-MS). This approach not only provides steady state measurements of metabolites but also measures NAD+ metabolic flux in the whole body. Our data revealed that NAD+ synthesis from NAM is perturbed only in the spleen across the whole body indicating impaired NAD+ turnover. Furthermore, we also found an accumulation of NAM catabolites- methyl nicotinamide (mNAM), N-Me-4PY and N-Me-2PY which are considered potent uremic toxins. These findings will substantially illuminate metabolic shifts and NAD+ perturbation in AKI and guide translational efforts towards identifying the protective role of supplements and nutraceutical therapeutic strategies for AKI. Our future research efforts would be directed towards identifying novel targets and biomarkers for kidney injury and elucidating mechanisms for restoring renal function.

In neurons, intracellular trafficking, signaling, and cell structure depend on microtubules (MTs), which are also thought to play key roles in the development of neurodegenerative disease. Since they work with MTs during mitosis, we suspect spindle matrix (SM) proteins may regulate microtubules at steady state and in repair. Using an injury assay to trigger upregulated microtubules and genetic tools such as RNAi, I investigate communication pathways between MTs and SM proteins across the nuclear envelope.?

Escherichia coli combats polymyxin B exposure by modifying lipopolysaccharide in the outer membrane. The arn operon is one of these pathways. Surrounding this operon is Insertion Sequence 1-18 (IS1-18). IS1-18 is able to produce a transposase when a -1 ribosomal frameshift occurs during translation. This can then duplicate IS1-18 and the operon. Aminoglycosides are antibiotics that bind to the ribosome, halting translation. Here, the effect of aminoglycosides on IS1-18-mediated polymyxin B resistance is investigated.

Cassiopea xamachana, commonly known as the upside-down jellyfish, maintains an obligate symbiosis with photosynthetic zooxanthellae. In this experiment, microbes from one jellyfish in Key Largo, Florida, are identified using environmental DNA extraction and PCR to amplify extracted DNA, then Oxford Nanopore MinION to sequence DNA. Data was processed and analyzed, and species were identified to match microbes identified from Cassiopea and other Cnidarians in existing literature, specifically with families Endozoicomonadaceae, Flavobacteriaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, and Litoricolaceae. ?

RNA thermometers (RNATs) regulate gene expression by sequestering the ribosome binding site at low temperatures and exposing it at higher temperatures. Work by the Bevilacqua lab discovered two novel RNATs in Bacillus subtilis that import glycerol (G) and glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) at high temperatures. Using UV melts, we will test whether these imported solutes stabilize RNA structure. The purine riboswitch (xpt) from Bacillus subtilis has a known secondary structure and will be used for these studies.

Adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency (ASLD) is an inborn error of purine metabolism that causes severe neurological and muscular symptoms in humans and does not currently have viable treatments. Symptoms of the disorder include psychomotor delay, autistic characteristics, and seizures. Having previously established C. elegans as a model for ASLD, we are now interested in testing the use of the drug ara-Uracil as a potential treatment for the disorder.

Malaria, a global disease characterized by fever, fatigue, and potential fatality, is caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. This research investigates the roles of specialized S-Type ribosomes (S1 and S2) within the Plasmodium life cycle. Using molecular cloning techniques, we modify plasmids derived from the Plasmodium genome with 3xMango-II tags. These RNA tags provide a physical 'handle' for us to remove the ribosomes from the parasites and study them in isolation.

The research focuses on state policy ideology’s impact on health outcomes in the United States, with a focus on the variation of life expectancy. In using data from the U.S. Mortality Database and state policy datasets, the research explores the policy areas of Medicaid, education, minimum wage, the environment and their impact on public health outcomes. The findings suggest that liberal policies correlate with higher life expectancy due to the focus on welfare initiatives.

Listeria monocytogenes is a gram positive non-spore forming bacteria that is present on poultry products and on chickens themselves. It is zoonotic and raises many concerns for individuals who raise and interact with chicken. L. monocytogenes lives in the intestinal tract of many healthy animals, and is shed in higher amounts due to illness or stress. Beak trimming can lead to excess shedding of this disease, so backyard poultry owners should understand the dangers and the risks of stressing out their backyard flock. This disease has two forms, a septicemic form and an encephalitic form, both are serious and life threatening. In humans especially owners of backyard poultry the disease can bring out major gastrointestinal upset. Those that are most at risk are pregnant women, individuals over the age 65, and those with weakened immune systems. The purpose of this research is to highlight the importance of maintaining good sanitation practices while handling poultry, so that those interacting with backyard birds are aware of the risks associated with listeria monocytogenes.

Poly(ethylene oxide) or PEO has a dispersity of 1.07 which is close to a perfect dispersity of 1. This makes it the perfect candidate to study the effect that adding long chains to a melt has on polymer crystallization. Some of these effects may be crystallization time, higher moduli ceilings, and morphology changes in the crystal. Taking rheological measurements will give us our answer of what effect long chains have.

This research aims to understand quality of life as a socioeconomic variable crucial for community stability, particularly in communities facing population decline. By analyzing rural and urban quality of life measures, this research aims to identify key disparities and opportunities at a community level. A key aspect of this research is understanding how these frameworks can be applied to rural and urban communities in the state and across the country.

Nanocrystalline metals are of interest for nuclear reactor components due to their small grain size and consequently high mechanical strength. However, grain growth occurs at high temperatures. Alloying with suitable grain boundary segregating solutes lowers the excess grain boundary energy which causes grain growth, stabilizing grain sizes at higher temperatures. In this study, hardness and microstructure were examined in friction stir processed iron alloys, to understand their stability.

Cardiolipin (CL) is a uniquely dimeric phospholipid found exclusively in the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). Its presence is critically important for the shape of IMM structures and oxidative phosphorylation, the means by which mitochondria produce energy. Though there are many ways to study cardiolipin, studying it within a flat lipid bilayer is not an established method. Due to CL’s unique structure, it is generally difficult to incorporate it into straight phospholipid bilayers. Thus, we sought to study if membranes could be formed with a significant concentration of CL. We hypothesized that membrane dynamics, quantified as diffusion coefficient and mobile fraction, would be decreased with increasing incorporation of CL.We created membranes of 0, 15, and 30 mol% CL fluorescently labeled with Texas Red DHPE (TR-DHPE) with the remainder of lipids being 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC). These membranes were each in buffers of phosphate and Tris at concentrations of 20 mM and pH 7.40. These membranes were assessed by their fluorescent recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). A small area on each membrane was subjected to intense light, causing its fluorescent emission to decrease. The photobleached phospholipids diffused with the fluorescently labeled ones over time, causing the spot to lighten. Analyzing these recoveries enabled us to quantify the diffusivity of each and what fraction of phospholipids are freely able to participate in diffusion. FRAP revealed that increasing the concentration of CL in POPC membranes led to less diffusivity. However, the decrease in diffusivity was larger in the Tris-buffered membranes, suggesting that the Tris buffer impedes phospholipid diffusion in the presence of CL. As for the mobile fraction, some membranes displayed bizarre values greater than 1. This was explained by over-recovery due to the interplay between self-quenching and photobleaching. The findings about mobile fraction values were most peculiar with the Tris membranes, demonstrating that Tris may cause more than one issue in model membrane evaluation.Our results indicate that the buffer environment might have a significant effect on membrane dynamics. However, further research is required to ascertain what kinds of buffer attributes give rise to such an effect.

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) diagnosis often relies on late-stage clinical symptoms, limiting early intervention. This study leverages multimodal machine learning to integrate speech and gait biomarkers for improved early detection. We preprocess speech data from UCI’s Parkinson’s dataset and motor movement data from Synapse.org, applying feature engineering, classification models, and feature selection techniques. Our approach utilizes ensemble learning and feature fusion, enhancing predictive performance and demonstrating the potential of multimodal analysis for non-invasive PD diagnosis.

The rock-dwelling cichlids from Lake Mala?i comprise a diverse group of haplochromine fishes within 14 genera. Within Petrotilapia, there are three species groups; a new species of Petrotilapia in the P. nigra group from Mumbo Island, Lake Malawi is described herein. Three Petrotilapia species are known to occur at Mumbo Island: P. mumboensis, P. nigra, and the new species. Males of the new species are distinguished by gold coloration in the cheek, and gular regions.

Despite the importance and lack of theoretical studies on BZT thin film, the effect of substrate induced strain on BZT thin film has remained largely unexplored. In this research project, we utilize phase-field modeling to construct a comprehensive phase diagram of (001)-oriented BZT thin films epitaxially grown PrScO3 substrate and analyze the dielectric and piezoelectric response across a range of temperatures and Zr compositions.