Senior Thesis Titles 2008

MEGAN BARBER

Investigating the Use of Inquiry as an Effective Teaching Tool
Maria J. Donoghue, Department of Biology

DOMINIC D. BAULA

Methylene Blue as an Inhibitor of α-synuclein Aggregation
Anita Sidhu-Hough, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and, Joseph H. Neale, Department of Biology

LAUREN BLATT

Factors Influencing Retention of Scientific Information.
Ronda J. Rolfes, Department of Biology

ADAM BOBEL

Affects of Various Diets on Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) Induced Seizure Thresholds in Rats
Douglas A. Eagles, Department of Biology

JOHN J. BROCKLAND

Helping or Hurting? The Role of G-CSF in Breast Cancer and Neutropenia
Anne G. Rosenwald, Department of Biology

LAUREN CADWALLADER

The developmental impact of orthographic knowledge on phonological awareness.
Rhonda B. Friedman, Cognitive Neuropsychology; and, Joseph H. Neale, Department of Biology

KRISTEN COREY

Investigating the Nature and Purpose of Student Inquiry
Maria Donoghue, Department of Biology

CHRISTINE M. CUTILLO

Interaction of Intracellular Nitrite with the Hormone Binding Domain of Estrogen Receptor-α Results in the Recruitment of Transcription Coactivators
Mary Beth Martin, Departments of Oncology and Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology; and Anne G. Rosenwald, Department of Biology

JAMES DIPIETRO

Agonist activities of Sazetidine-A on α4β2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
Yingxian Xiao and Ken Kellar, Department of Pharmacology

ZACHARY C. DOBBIN

Caveolin-1 regulation of Bcl-2 in paclitaxel-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer
Ayesha Shajahan and Robert Clarke, Department of Oncology; and, Lori G Estes, Department of Biology

ERIN DOHERTY

Novel Treatment Modalities for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Steven Singer, Department of Biology

AMINE EL-AMRAOUI

Learning and Brain Development in Monarch Butterflies
Martha Weiss, Department of Biology

MICHAEL W. FASHINPAUR

Traumatic Brain Injury: An Overview of Current Research and Treatment Theory
Maria J. Donoghue, Department of Biology

ROBERT J. FECZKO

Developmental Time Course for the Formation of the Indirect Striatofugal Axonal Projections from D2-Dopamine Receptors Expressing Medium Spiny Neurons in Mice
Lawrence F. Kromer, Department of Neuroscience; and, Maria J. Donoghue, Department of Biology

GEORGINA FERZLI

The analysis of the relationship between scientific understanding and scientific writing in student work
Ronda J. Rolfes, Department of Biology

PHILIP FUJIMOTO

Immune function of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus
Peter Armbruster, Biology Department

JOSEPH CARL FUSCO

The Effect of Giardia lamblia Infection on the Expression of Villin Protein in the Small Intestine
Steven Singer, Department of Biology

DOMINICK GADALETA

Determination of the sensitivity of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) DNA probes for Short Stature Homeobox (SHOX) gene deletions
Jan Blancato, GUMC Cytogenetic Department; and Elena Casey, Department of Biology

GAURAV GARG

An Ultrastructural Survey of the Toe of Xenopus laevis
George B. Chapman, Department of Biology

SERWA GYAMFI

The Role of Leptin as the Metabolic Signal for the Onset of Puberty and the Gender Specificity of Leptin During Puberty
Douglas A. Eagles, Department of Biology

MOIRA HILSCHER

The impact of FGFBP1 on mammary gland development in a primary epithelial transplant model
Anton Wellstein, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

NIELS V. JOHNSEN

The Role of Ephrins and Eph Tyrosine Kinase Receptors in Regulating the Topographic Organization of Striatal Axonal Projections in Mice
Lawrence F. Kromer, Department of Neuroscience; and, Lori G. Estes, Department of Biology

YOUN-HOA JUNG

Phenethyl ethanol and tryptophol as potential quorum sensing molecules in Candida albicans
Richard Calderone, Department of Microbiology & Immunology; and, Ronda Rolfes, Department of Biology

NIKOLAS S. KAPPY

Ketogenic and Calorie Restricted Diets Provide Resistance to PTZ-Induced Seizures in Rats Returned to Normal Ad Libitum Diets.
Douglas Eagles, Department of Biology

CLAIRE E. KREYCIK

The role of Csfrb in the growth and differentiation of the CBFB-MYH11+ cell line ME-1
Paul Liu and R. Kate Hyde, National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH; and, Anne Rosenwald, Department of Biology

KRISTYN KROLIKOWSKI

The Effect of NAAG Peptidase Inhibition in PCP and Amphetamine Animal Models of Schizophrenia
Joseph H. Neale and Rafal T. Olszewski, Department of Biology

CHRISTIAN LARSEN

Effect of Midline Transcription Factors Xnot, Pintallavis, and Xbra on Sox3 Expression during Early Neural Development
Elena Casey, Department of Biology

MICHELLE M. LORICA

Colon Cancer: A Retrospective Investigation of Potential Genetic and Environmental Causes in a Single Case Study
Maria Donoghue, Department of Biology

PRISCILLA LUI

Potential Id2 Binding Partners and Their Role in Cell Proliferation
Dean Rosenthal, Georgetown University Medical Center; and, Lori Estes, Department of Biology

DAVID LY

Polymorphism of promoter and coding regions may play a role in expression level variation observed with different alleles of KIR2DL5
Carolyn Hurley and Noriko Steiner, Lombardi Cancer Center; and, Anne Rosenwald, Department of Biology

SARA A. MADANIKIA

Tazarotene-Induced Gene 1 (TIG1) Is A Putative Tumor Suppressor Gene Which Shows Carboxy-Terminal Targeting To The Midbody During Cytokinesis.
Stephen Byers, Department of Oncology; and, Anne Rosenwald, Department of Biology

CAITLIN B.L. MAGRAW

The Effects of Ephrin-B3 Ligand Deletion on Corticospinal Tract Regeneration after Spinal Cord Injury
Lawrence F. Kromer, Department of Neuroscience; and, Maria J. Donoghue, Department of Biology

STEPHANIE MAJESKI

The Effects of Provisioning on the Development of Foraging in Wild Bottlenose Dolphin Calves (Tursiops sp.)
Janet Mann, Department of Biology

PATRICK G. MANNING

Determining the regions in Bas1 and Pho2 required for regulation and protein interaction necessary for the transcription of the ADE genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Ronda Rolfes, Department of Biology

LAURA R. MATTHEWS

Mutations in the Dimerization and Multimerization Regions of the Hepatitis Delta Antigen Disrupt Binding to the HDV Genome in Vitro
John L. Casey, Department of Microbiology and Immunology; and, Steven M. Singer, Department of Biology

ERNICA NOEL

Understanding genetic variation in Giardia lamblia: the microsatellite approach
Heidi Elmendorf, Department of Biology

JAMES O’HARE

FGF-2 in Neural Stem Cell Cultures
Maria Donoghue, Department of Biology

CHRISTOS POLYMEROPOULOS

Study of changes in gene expression patterns of astrocyte cultures using ligands for the mGluR3 receptor
Dr. Joseph H. Neale, Department of Biology

SAMANTHA POWELL

The Use of Innovative Literature Sources to Improve Students’ Reading Comprehension and Scientific Understanding
Heidi Elmendorf, Department of Biology

HEMAL N. SAMPAT

A New Cell System for Studying the Biochemical Activity of HIV-1 Nef
Jon W. Marsh, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Regulation, National Institute of Mental Health; and, Steven M. Singer, Department of Biology

IRENE SAY

Investigating the Spatiotemporal Regulation of Sox3 in Xenopus laevis by an Evolutionary Conserved Region
Elena Casey, Department of Biology

MAURA M. SCANLON

The role of caveolin-1 and survivin in drug resistance of breast cancer cells
Ayesha Shajahan and Robert Clarke, Department of Oncology; and, Lori G. Estes, Department of Biology

KATHERINE A. SPERLE

The Role of Calcium as a Physiological Activator of Estrogen Receptor-alpha
MaryBeth Martin, Department of Oncology & Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology; and, Dr. Anne Rosenwald, Department of Biology

LAURYN MICHELLE STEVENS

Skeletal Muscle Fiber Diameter and Systemic IGF-1 Alterations in AIBΔ3 Transgenic Mice with Physical Activity
Priscilla Furth, MD, Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center; and, Anne Rosenwald, Department of Biology

NICHOLAS STOLER

The Extraction of Native Giardia lamblia Actin through Differential Detergent Treatment
Heidi Elmendorf, Department of Biology

KATHLEEN ELISABETH TUMELTY

The effects of exercise on muscle fiber diameter, mammary gland proliferation, and morphology in wild-type, rtTA transgenic and rtTA/AIB1-∆3 transgenic mice
Priscilla Furth, MD, Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center; and, Anne Rosenwald, Ph.D, Department of Biology

DANIEL F. VANCE

Tabanid Flight Seasonality, Abundance, and Habitat Distribution in the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, Virginia
Edward M. Barrows, Department of Biology

AMELIA WESSELINK

Current Treatment for HIV Infection
Steven Singer, Department of Biology

JAMES T. WILLIAMS

Early Life Exposure to Metalloestrogens and Development
Mary-Beth Martin, Department of Oncology & Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology