Author: Young Investigators Review

The Young Investigators Review is Stony Brook University's undergraduate-oriented, all-inclusive science journal. Founded in 2008, our mission is to provide the student community with a way to learn more about the research currently being done on-campus by their faculty and fellow peers. We feature articles that span all fields, from Physics to Neuroscience, as well as original student research reports straight from the campus laboratories. Our journal offers aspiring talented future researchers and physicians a way to hone their science writing skills and spread word of their experiences to inspire incoming students to think about devoting their futures to the various fields of science.
Brain

Presence of Seizure-Inducing Lesions Observable with Brain Tonometry

Vignesh Subramanian ’24 Cortical dysplasia (CD) is a congenital disorder involving improper organization of layers of the brain, which generates pathological lesions on the organ’s surface and renders developing neurons unable to mature and connect with one another. Lesional tissue significantly increases risk of refractory epilepsy (seizures not responsive to medication) in the pediatric population, and complete surgical resection of this deformed tissue is a … Continue reading Presence of Seizure-Inducing Lesions Observable with Brain Tonometry

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Biology

Hearing Loss and Cognition: The Role of Hearing Aids, Social Isolation and Depression

Sabah Bari ’24 Individuals with hearing loss have been correlated with low cognitive functioning and incident dementia. Cognitive impairment includes problems with memory, having trouble with learning new tasks, concentrating or making decisions that affect their everyday life. Dementia is a form of cognitive impairment, in the sense of, loss of memory, language and problem solving. Both conditions can limit an individual’s function and interfere … Continue reading Hearing Loss and Cognition: The Role of Hearing Aids, Social Isolation and Depression

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Biology

The Tubarial salivary glands: A potential new organ at risk for radiotherapy.

Thumyat Noe ‘ 23 Production of saliva by the salivary gland system is important for speech production, chewing, swallowing, tasting, and maintaining dental hygiene. Previously, physicians and scientists were only aware of the existence of three paired major glands and 1000 minor glands in the salivary gland system. However, researchers from the Netherlands have recently discovered an unknown bilateral structure posterior in the nasopharynx with … Continue reading The Tubarial salivary glands: A potential new organ at risk for radiotherapy.

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Biology

Spatially Distributed Representation of Taste Quality in the Gustatory Insular Cortex of Behaving Mice

Sabah Bari ’24 The brain’s response to taste is found within the gustatory cortex. The sense of taste can be affected by our other senses such as smell, hearing, and sight. The purpose of this study was to understand the processes of visual, auditory and somatosensory cortices and how they respond to similar sensations. The somatosensory cortex has a role in processing somatic sensations, which … Continue reading Spatially Distributed Representation of Taste Quality in the Gustatory Insular Cortex of Behaving Mice

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Biology

Cannabis Use and the Course of Schizophrenia: 10-year Follow-Up After First Hospitalization

Thumyat Noe ’23 The relationship between cannabis use and course of schizophrenia have been extensively studied by researchers, as increased consumption of cannabis is often observed in individuals with schizophrenia. For the most part, results of these studies have been inconclusive. Some studies have reported that cannabis use is associated with less severe negative symptoms of schizophrenia, while other studies have suggested that cannabis users … Continue reading Cannabis Use and the Course of Schizophrenia: 10-year Follow-Up After First Hospitalization

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General Neuroscience

Anatomical Etiology of AR Subtype of Parkinson’s Disease Linked to Altered Functional Connectivity

Vignesh Subramanian ’24 Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder causing progressive loss of motor control that afflicts over ten million people worldwide. The disease is characterized by a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra region of the brain, contributing to widespread network alterations that disrupt communication with the body’s muscles. PD patients are classified by their most prominent resulting clinical symptoms, … Continue reading Anatomical Etiology of AR Subtype of Parkinson’s Disease Linked to Altered Functional Connectivity

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Health and Medicine

The Effects of Racial Discrimination in Health Care

Ayesha Azeem ‘23 Doctors take an oath to treat all patients, regardless of their identity, equally. Unfortunately, this oath is often broken. While this may not be intentional, it still affects a large number of people who put their faith in the healthcare system. Psychologists have attributed this phenomenon to implicit bias, or our subconscious beliefs about other people, which can affect the way healthcare … Continue reading The Effects of Racial Discrimination in Health Care

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Cognition

Deaf People and Sensory Compensation

Ayesha Azeem ‘23 Through neuroimaging, previous studies have shown that sensory deficits in one modality can cause amplified performance in sensory processing of other modalities in a phenomenon known as sensory compensation. This is often seen in people with extreme sensory deficits, such as people who suffer from deafness, those who experience a loss of auditory cues. However, not much is known about whether sensory … Continue reading Deaf People and Sensory Compensation

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Health and Medicine

Maternal Transfer of Allergies to Offspring

Aditi Kaveti ’23 It is estimated that anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the world’s population is affected by allergies, with thousands more learning to manage their new condition every week. These allergies occur when the immune system, in response to a foreign substance, produces antibodies that bind to cells, which release chemicals that trigger a reaction. Many infants experience allergic responses closely linked … Continue reading Maternal Transfer of Allergies to Offspring

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Health and Medicine

Effect of Radiation Exposure on Trabecular Bone

Aditi Kaveti ‘23 Radiation exposure is extremely harmful because it results in stem cell depletion and compromised bone marrow. These effects contribute to long-term deterioration of many physiological systems and cause the degradation of skeletal systems, which can lead to many fractures.   In a study done in part by Dr. Mei Lin Chan, an assistant professor at Stony Brook University, the interrelationship between the damaged … Continue reading Effect of Radiation Exposure on Trabecular Bone

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General Neuroscience

Bilinguals’ Ease of Lexical Access Related to the Switching of Languages

Sooraj Shah ’24 Over 43% of the United States population is bilingual and speaks more than one language. A skill fostered at a young age, bilingual speakers can converse and switch freely between multiple languages, but the root cause of why and when this occurs is not clear. A study conducted in Spain in collaboration with Stony Brook University’s Psychology Department explored the relationship between … Continue reading Bilinguals’ Ease of Lexical Access Related to the Switching of Languages

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General Neuroscience

The Correlation Between Urinary Growth Factor and Brain Growth in Relation to Postnatal Development

Sooraj Shah ’24 Premature births occur in nearly 1 in every 10 cases in the United States, which can lead to numerous diverse health effects in the future. Two neurotrophic proteins which are responsible for the survival of neurons, Nerve Growth Factor(NGF) and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor(BDNF), are crucial for the development of the peripheral and central nervous systems. NGFs and BDNFs are critical for … Continue reading The Correlation Between Urinary Growth Factor and Brain Growth in Relation to Postnatal Development

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