Category: 2025-26

2025-26, Physics and Technology

Chromotherapy Meets Technology: Integrating Light-Based Art with Virtual Reality

By Maegan Diep, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  An image of the early cosmos, an example of what researchers may have based their virtual reality artworks on.  Since the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety disorders have become increasingly prevalent, affecting 4% of the world’s population and roughly 50% of the Taiwanese population. Anxiety not only impacts mental health, but also can have effects on the cardiovascular and … Continue reading Chromotherapy Meets Technology: Integrating Light-Based Art with Virtual Reality

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2025-26, Cellular and Molecular Science

Translating Spider Silk to Textiles: Intrinsically Colored Silk Fibers via Fusion Proteins

By Maegan Diep, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  An image of a spider on the web. Spider silk has served as an inspiration for a bio-engineered silk-based material in the textile industry. Its protein-based material opens possibilities for it to be designed to incorporate different functionalities, including different colors. In order to achieve intrinsically colored artificial spider silk, researchers from Sweden decided to investigate the … Continue reading Translating Spider Silk to Textiles: Intrinsically Colored Silk Fibers via Fusion Proteins

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

CaV3.2 Channels: Inducing Spinal Cord Injury Neuropathic Pain via Hyperexcitability and Spontaneous Activity in Nociceptors

By Maegan Diep, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  An illustration of pain localized along the lower spine. Following spinal cord injury, up to 60-70% of patients are affected by spinal cord injury neuropathic pain (SCI-NP). Despite the large population affected, there is a lack of effective treatment plans to combat SCI-NP. Currently, anticonvulsant and antidepressant drugs are typically prescribed to affected patients, but many still … Continue reading CaV3.2 Channels: Inducing Spinal Cord Injury Neuropathic Pain via Hyperexcitability and Spontaneous Activity in Nociceptors

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2025-26, Chemistry

Theoretical Modeling of Flower Colors via an Anthocyanin Approach

By Maegan Diep, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  An image of petunia flowers. A flower’s color is more than what meets the eye. When considering how this variable trait comes into play with the very pigments that give rise to it, little mathematical models exist that explore the theoretically possible colors and its phenotypic limitations. A recent study published in the American Journal of Botany … Continue reading Theoretical Modeling of Flower Colors via an Anthocyanin Approach

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2025-26, Cellular and Molecular Science

SBFI-1143: The Step to Inhibiting Prostate Cancer

By Maegan Diep, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  An image of fatty acid-binding protein 5 (FABP5) As the second leading cause of death for men, prostate cancer refers to the uncontrolled growth of cells that begins in the prostate gland. Current treatments, such as surgery and radiotherapy, are limited in their effectiveness, especially in patients with metastatic (cancer development that spread from its original site … Continue reading SBFI-1143: The Step to Inhibiting Prostate Cancer

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2025-26, Cellular and Molecular Science

White Fur, Hidden Cells: The Albino Rat Mystery

By Adil Ali Khan, Class of 2029 Figure 1: A male albino rat  Melanocytes in the hair matrix produce melanin, which gives hair its color. The various color combinations within their fur, which depend on the distribution pattern of hair follicles containing melanocytes, give rise to the coloration patterns observed in most terrestrial mammals. Albino rats do not genetically produce melanin, leaving their coats white, but … Continue reading White Fur, Hidden Cells: The Albino Rat Mystery

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

Protecting the Brain: How a CRISPR Mutation Safeguards Neurons

By Adil Ali Khan, Class of 2029 Figure 1: A Niemann Pick cell in the spleen Acid sphingomyelinase (aSMase) is an enzyme that hydrolyzes sphingomyelin (SM) to ceramide and phosphocholine. Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by impairment or loss of aSMase. It presents in two forms: Type A, which is severe, and Type B, which is milder. The gene that codes … Continue reading Protecting the Brain: How a CRISPR Mutation Safeguards Neurons

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2025-26, Cellular and Molecular Science

Reclassifying the “Waste”: Phenotypic Characterization and Clinical Insights into Cancer-Associated Macrophage-Like Cells

By Adil Ali Khan, Class of 2029 Figure 1: Schematic view of the tumor microenvironment Polyploid giant cancer cells (PGGCs), found in tumors, have long been dismissed as excessive inflammatory waste with no biological or clinical relevance. Yet recently, numerous researchers have described the existence of PGGCs in solid tumor masses that appear to correlate with tumor progression, also appearing as cancer-associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) … Continue reading Reclassifying the “Waste”: Phenotypic Characterization and Clinical Insights into Cancer-Associated Macrophage-Like Cells

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2025-26, Health and Medicine

Color Vision Recovery: an overlooked aftereffect of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

By Adil Ali Khan, Class of 2029 Figure 1: Papilledema, a form of optic disc edema (swollen optic nerve), often mimicking bilateral optic disk swelling, which is characteristic of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease Figure 2: Macular OCT depicting serous retinal detachment in the left eye, a symptom of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease is a systemic inflammatory condition characterized by autoimmune responses that target melanocytes and affect … Continue reading Color Vision Recovery: an overlooked aftereffect of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

My Brain Is Shrew-nking: Connections Between Eurasian Common Shrew’s Evolutionary History and Their Seasonal Neuroplasticity

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  Image of the Eurasian common shrew The Eurasian common shrew (S. araneus) has two rare traits. One is seasonal brain size plasticity, where the brain shrinks during winter and regrows in spring. The other is extensive chromosomal rearrangements, or structural differences in chromosomes, within the species. In a study examining S. araneus, William R. Thomas and his … Continue reading My Brain Is Shrew-nking: Connections Between Eurasian Common Shrew’s Evolutionary History and Their Seasonal Neuroplasticity

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

A Real Eye-Opener: How Demyelination May Be Linked to Poor Color Vision

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  Retinal fundus photographs of the right and left eyes in a patient with acute optic neuritis, a common presenting manifestation of multiple sclerosis. Acute optic neuritis (ON) is a common first symptom for a later diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). It is known that high-contrast visual acuity—the ability to read black letters on a white background—tends to … Continue reading A Real Eye-Opener: How Demyelination May Be Linked to Poor Color Vision

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2025-26, General Psychology

Feeling blue: How different colors on campus can affect student mental health

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  An image of the Stony Brook University campus depicting natural green tones and strong warm colors. College students experience many changes in their mental and physical health while on campus, and the colors of a campus may directly contribute to their health. Yingjie Li and his colleagues at Shandong Agricultural University and the Shandong Academy of Forestry … Continue reading Feeling blue: How different colors on campus can affect student mental health

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