Category: Cellular and Molecular Science

Biology, Cellular and Molecular Science, Embryonic Development, Molecular Biology

GlycoSwitch: Signaling Tuner O-Glucosylation 

Author: Sajia Athai, Class of 2026 Looking through URECA presentations every year, posters detailing scientific protocols and findings of undergraduate students cover the corners of the room.  Undergraduate Advisor for Biochemistry and Animal Development Professor, Dr. Bernadette Holdener, leads her team of mentees in understanding how protein O-glucosyltransferase 2 and 3 (POGLUT2/3) is integral to separation of digits during limb development in mice.  Dr. Holdener’s … Continue reading GlycoSwitch: Signaling Tuner O-Glucosylation 

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Biology, Cellular and Molecular Science, Genetics, Molecular Biology

Genome Grazing: lcWGS Across Livestock and Agricultural Landscapes

Author: Sajia Athai, Class of 2026 Just as cells comprise the fundamental units that make up an organism, livestock acts as the core of agriculture—anchoring growth across the world. As providers of food security to sustainability, livestock is an integral part of economic prosperity and animal diversity. Livestock is assessed on measures in the agricultural industry such as disease screening, mobility, fertility, and birth weight. … Continue reading Genome Grazing: lcWGS Across Livestock and Agricultural Landscapes

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Biology, Cellular and Molecular Science, Chemistry

Decoding the Lon Enzyme’s Protein Recognition Code

Author: Antonia Truta, Class of 2028 Lon protease is an important enzyme within the mitochondria’s inner membrane. This enzyme specifically regulates protein homeostasis, meaning it helps keep the protein levels within the cell balanced. The Lon protease acts by breaking down damaged or misfolded proteins that lack proper structure to function correctly and may harm the cell. Lon also degrades certain regulatory proteins whose levels … Continue reading Decoding the Lon Enzyme’s Protein Recognition Code

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Exercise, Health, Health and Medicine, physiology

Whiskers, Weight, and Wheat: Is it the Carbs?

Author: Sajia Athai, Class of 2026 Walking through the streets of the city, every New Yorker knows the best spots: the thrift stores, the restaurants, parking lots to chill at, but most importantly, the cat cafes. Everyone loves cats, especially the big, cute, and fluffy ones. With cat videos always going viral across the country, viewers are often quick to judge the health of seemingly … Continue reading Whiskers, Weight, and Wheat: Is it the Carbs?

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Ecology, Health, Natural World, physiology

The Ethics of Animal Use in Research

Author: Antonia Truta, Class of 2028 Is the use of animals in research for human benefit morally justified? If so, how can experiments maintain ethical integrity while still advancing scientific goals? Professor Marcel Mertz at Hannover Medical School and a diverse range of colleagues, including scientists, philosophers, and legal scholars, explore these questions with a focus on animal models in research. The emerging field of … Continue reading The Ethics of Animal Use in Research

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2024-25, Cellular and Molecular Science, Molecular Biology

Cysteine-Rich γ-Crystallins Evolutionary Role in Lens Transparency and Function

Eimaan Bilal, Class of 2028 Cysteine (Cys) is a sulfur-containing amino acid found in crystallin proteins that compose our eye’s lens. When Cys is oxidized, it can lead to crystallin protein misfolding and unwanted disulfide bonding, causing light-scattering aggregation. Light-scattering aggregation in crystallin proteins is one of the main contributors to cataract disease, which clouds the lens and can even develop into blindness. Since Cys … Continue reading Cysteine-Rich γ-Crystallins Evolutionary Role in Lens Transparency and Function

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2024-25, Genetics, Molecular Biology, physiology

Osmotic Stress Alters Circadian Rhythm

Asher Agarwal, Class of 2027 The circadian rhythm regulates many physiological processes via transcriptional feedback loops involving proteins such as Bmal1 and Clock. Circadian rhythm is closely tied to cell-cycle progression, and disruptions in one can affect the other. Hypoosmotic stress causes water to rush into a cell, triggering changes in gene regulation to adapt to the stress. Caveolae, protein invaginations in the cell membrane, … Continue reading Osmotic Stress Alters Circadian Rhythm

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2024-25, Biology, Cancer, Cellular and Molecular Science, Disease, Health and Medicine, Molecular Biology

Linking Stress with Poor Cancer Prognosis

Sean Krivitsky, Class of 2026 Stress is a common response many experience amidst various physical, emotional, or psychological challenges. Beyond its significant short-term impacts, chronic stress has been demonstrated to impact cognitive function as well as the health of various systems within the body, including the immune system. Cancer patients in particular often fall victim to chronic stress, which, in turn, has been associated with … Continue reading Linking Stress with Poor Cancer Prognosis

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2024-25, Biology, Cellular and Molecular Science, General Neuroscience, Health, Health and Medicine, Molecular Biology, Neuroscience

Flavonoids to the Rescue: Combating Age-Related Neurodegeneration

Sean Krivitsky, Class of 2026 Neurodegeneration, which is often associated with aging, leads to the development of serious diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, that afflict more than 50 million people worldwide. In addition to their devastating impact, neurodegenerative diseases are particularly problematic regarding their prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment. One of the primary factors underlying the development of neurodegenerative diseases is mitochondrial dysfunction. This … Continue reading Flavonoids to the Rescue: Combating Age-Related Neurodegeneration

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2024-25, Cellular and Molecular Science, Molecular Biology

From Cooking Up Lab Reports to Setting Up Petri Dishes

Sajia Athai, Class of 2026 All organisms possess a myriad of mechanisms associated with homeostasis and osmotic adjustment to regulate water flow and content. The Photosynthesis Lab Report —an integral component of the BIO 205 course—allows students to test different variables such as salinity on function of chloroplasts under osmotic stress. In a similar study conducted on a much larger scale, a group of researchers … Continue reading From Cooking Up Lab Reports to Setting Up Petri Dishes

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2024-25, Cellular and Molecular Science, Health and Medicine, Medicine and Physiology

Implementation of Nitric Oxide Protein and Signaling Pathways for Prevention of Bacterial Infection in Medical Implants

Eimaan Bilal, Class of 2028 Many individuals rely on medical implants to improve their quality of life, but such internal devices are prone to bacteria attaching to the implant’s surfaces. This can create a biofilm that produces an exopolysaccharide matrix, increasing one’s risk for certain chronic infections and resistance to antibiotics. It has been hypothesized that biofilm regulation could be achieved by targeting how biofilms … Continue reading Implementation of Nitric Oxide Protein and Signaling Pathways for Prevention of Bacterial Infection in Medical Implants

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2024-25, Cognition, General Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, Neuroscience

Amyloid Burden in WTC Responders: Unraveling the Effects of Air Pollution

Tiffany Ang, Class of 2026 Amyloid-B (AB) proteins, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, have been linked to air pollution exposure, potentially contributing to neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Kritikos and colleagues at Stony Brook University investigated whether exposure to particulate matter (PM), particularly from the World Trade Center (WTC) site following the 9/11 attacks, was associated with increased cerebral amyloidosis, a condition characterized by the accumulation of … Continue reading Amyloid Burden in WTC Responders: Unraveling the Effects of Air Pollution

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