Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an allergic disease characterized by eosinophilic inflammation, tissue remodeling (e.g. fibrosis), and dysfunction of the esophagus. Symptoms include trouble swallowing (dysphagia), food getting stuck in the esophagus (impaction), regurgitation, abdominal pain, and GI distress/vomiting. Clinical limitations include: 1) Diagnosis and monitoring of EoE requires multiple invasive upper endoscopic procedures to retrieve esophageal biopsies for histopathological assessment of eosinophilic infiltrate. 2) The manual quantification of tissue eosinophils is a laborious and subjective process. 3) The disease mechanisms of EoE are not well understood and treatment options are limited. Mouse models that recapitulate pathology seen in human EoE have been critical in advancing our understanding of EoE to help address these limitations. Recently, there have been efforts to develop pig models of EoE, as pig esophageal anatomy better resembles that of humans. We designed and optimized an immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining protocol targeting eosinophil peroxidase (EPX), an eosinophil-specific granule protein, to assess esophageal eosinophilia in a pig model of EoE. The optimized IHC protocol demonstrated successful positive staining of eosinophils in pig esophageal tissue samples and distinguished a pig model of EoE from controls. EPX staining is a useful tool for evaluating pig eosinophils by IHC. This novel IHC staining protocol provides the opportunity to further our current understanding of the histopathology, immunologic mechanisms, and potential treatment options for EoE.

This project is an investigation of the gene by environment (GxE) interactions’ effect on substance use outcomes among refugee communities. Substance use disorders (SUDs) are a major public health concern, affecting individuals and communities worldwide. The etiology of SUDs is complex, involving a combination of genetic, environmental, and social factors. In recent years, there has been growing interest in the role of gene by environment interactions in the development of SUDs, particularly in vulnerable populations such as refugees. Refugee populations are exposed to a range of environmental stressors that may interact with genetic factors to increase their risk of SUDs. However, a number of studies describe a “refugee paradox,” where despite having been exposed to risk factors that can lead to SUDs, they are less likely to develop SUDs. Understanding these gene by environment interactions in refugee communities is crucial for not only understanding this phenomenon, but developing effective prevention and treatment strategies for this population. This thesis aims to investigate the gene by environment interactions underlying substance use in refugee communities and to analyze different methods for gene by environment analyses, ultimately determining which method is best suited for this population.

The COVID 19 pandemic has highlighted the necessity of accurately and simply relying scientific discovery and information to the public. Among scientists, the practice is to reduce jargon, engage the audience through storytelling, and include enough detail to give a broad understanding of a narrow topic. Conflict between journalists and scientists leads to a creation of a different narrative for the general public. The news site CNN.com was searched with the google archive function by year for articles that included the keyword vaccine. Articles were sorted into categories of main focus such as political, cultural and scientific or mixed. Results were analyzed and conclusions made about the amount of content in each category for the kind of narrative being written about vaccines, with most years having most articles in the political category. Possible effectiveness of mixed categories were discussed and areas future research identified.