Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: School of Life Sciences
Environmental and genetic factors influence schizophrenia risk. Individuals who have direct family members with schizophrenia have a much higher incidence. Also, acute stress or life crisis may precede the onset of the disease. This study aims to understand the effects of environment on genes related to schizophrenia risk. It investigates the impact of sleep deprivation as an acute environmental stressor on the expression of Htr2a in mice, a gene that codes for the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR). HTR2A is associated with schizophrenia risk through genetic association studies and expression is decreased in post-mortem studies of patients with the disease. Furthermore, sleep deprivation as a stressor in human trials has been shown to increase the binding capacity of 5-HT2AR. We hypothesize that sleep deprivation will increase the number of cells expressing Htr2a in the mouse anterior prefrontal cortex when compared to controls. Sleep deprived that mice express EGFP under control of the Htr2a promoter displayed anteroposterior gradients of expression across sagittal sections, with concentrations seen most densely within the prefrontal cortex as well as the anterior pretectal nucleus, thalamic nucleus, as well as the cingulate gyrus. Htr2a-EGFP expression was most densely visualized in cortical layer V and VI pyramidal neurons within the lateral prefrontal cortex of coronal sections. Furthermore, the medial prefrontal cortex contained significantly cells expressing Htr2a¬-EGFP than the lateral prefrontal cortex. Ultimately, the hypothesis was not supported and sleep deprivation did not result in more ¬Htr2a-EGFP expressing cells compared to basal levels. However, expressing cells appeared visibly brighter in sleep-deprived animals when compared to controls, indicating that the amount of intracellular Htr2a-GFP expression may be higher. This study provides strong visual representations of expression gradients following sleep deprivation as an acute stressor and paves the way for future studies regarding 5H-T2AR’s role in schizophrenia.
In order to measure the aerosolization efficiency of each spray method, an air sampler was placed opposite to the position of the sprayer, on either side of a sealed box. Each sprayer was filled with E. coli concentrated at 104 CFU/ml in a PBS solution and sprayed for a time span of 1 and 5 seconds. For each of these time intervals an air sample was collected immediately following the spray as well as 5 minutes after the spray. Compared to the other two methods, the air spray method consistently showed the highest number of bacterial cells aerosolized. While all three methods resulted in the aerosolization of bacteria, the results determined the Air Spray method as the most efficient means of bacterial aerosolization. In this study, we provide a practical and efficient method of bacterial aerosolization for microbial dispersion in air. The suggested method can be used in future research for microbial dispersion and transmission studies.
In addition, a humidifier was filled with a spiked solution of E. coli and operated for a period of 1 and 5 seconds at its maximum output. Air samples were collected after 0 and 5 minutes. Immediately after the humidifier operation was stopped a small number of colonies were detected in the air sample and no colonies were detected in the air sample collected after a 5-minute elapsed time. This experiment served as a proof of concept for airborne pathogen’s transmission by a humidifier.