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

Investigating the Unexpected Results of Ape1 Inhibitors

Julia Chivu ’23 Figure 1  DNA strand unwinding causing the formation of the replication fork followed by DNA replication. Genomic DNA is constantly at risk of molecular decay. To address this issue, base excision DNA repair (BER) plays a critical role in fixing the minor DNA damage. In particular, Ape1 (or apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease) is a multifunctional protein that is a key component in BER. Ape1 … Continue reading Investigating the Unexpected Results of Ape1 Inhibitors