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.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 52
Description
Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is seen in up to 90% of cases of cervical cancer, the third leading cancer cause of death in women. Current HPV screening focuses on only two HPV types and covers roughly 75% of HPV-associated cervical cancers. A protein based assay to test for antibody biomarkers against 98 HPV antigens from both high and low risk types could provide an inexpensive and reliable method to screen for patients at risk of developing invasive cervical cancer. Methods: 98 codon optimized, commercially produced HPV genes were cloned into the pANT7_cGST vector, amplified in a bacterial host, and purified for mammalian expression using in vitro transcription/translation (IVTT) in a luminescence-based RAPID ELISA (RELISA) assay. Monoclonal antibodies were used to determine immune cross-reactivity between phylogenetically similar antigens. Lastly, several protein characteristics were examined to determine if they correlated with protein expression. Results: All genes were successfully moved into the destination vector and 86 of the 98 genes (88%) expressed protein at an adequate level. A difference was noted in expression by gene across HPV types but no correlation was found between protein size, pI, or aliphatic index and expression. Discussion: Further testing is needed to express the remaining 12 HPV genes. Once all genes have been successfully expressed and purified at high concentrations, DNA will be printed on microscope slides to create a protein microarray. This microarray will be used to screen HPV-positive patient sera for antibody biomarkers that may be indicative of cervical cancer and precancerous cervical neoplasias.
ContributorsMeshay, Ian Matthew (Author) / Anderson, Karen (Thesis director) / Magee, Mitch (Committee member) / Katchman, Benjamin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The amount of connection one has, whether it is digitally or in-person can have an overall affect on a person's business, their being, and their interaction- these interactions are considered social capital. The main premise of social capital is that social networks have value. This means that the collective value of which people know will affect their inclination to do things for each other. In this case, social capital is not about the warm feeling one gets when someone does something for them, it refers to the information flow and mutual aid that bonds people who are interested in the same things. With technology at an all time high, these connections are made infinitely possible through social media. This project uses Cuisine of Arizona, a regional restaurant guide, to exemplify how strategies of social capital can be used via social media in order to build trustworthy and valuable connections and build a larger audience for the brand. Research on the benefits of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for social media marketing was conducted and was then adapted to benefit the Cuisine of Arizona restaurant guide. A social media calendar was implemented for organizational purposes and the social media sites were updated to keep their look current. Research on how business websites keep their audience was conducted as well. The current Cuisine of Arizona website was outdated, but still useful. A mock-up website was created on Wix.com to give the website a new look and bring in new interactive features, like the online flipbook version of the restaurant guide and a dynamic homepage, but still gave the audience the same useful information as the old site. The mock-up website was also mobile optimized for use on smartphones and tablets. The three social media methods were chosen because of their capabilities to interact with one another. For example, Instagram posts can be shared on both Facebook and Twitter, resulting in more unique viewers for each site. If the website's content is shared on any of these sites, it will build a larger audience for the Cuisine of Arizona website as well. If used carefully, the proposed social media plan will draw a larger audience to the entire Cuisine of Arizona brand and in turn, build trust and credibility among its audience.
ContributorsGuillen, Alejandra (Author) / Gilpin, Dawn (Thesis director) / Bovio, Sonia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Advertising persuades people to change some part of their life. Whether it is promoting one presidential candidate, or buying one kind of ketchup over another. Advertising expands in how it's presented based on societal changes socially, economically and technologically. AMC network's critically acclaimed show, Mad Men, revolves around the personal lives of ad executives during the golden age of advertising, the 1960's. Everything that's compelling has change. In the show, character developments, change within the industry, and various social events impact the advertising work that is done throughout the show. By examining the clients and ads produced in Mad Men, and the process in which they were produced, to the actual process and actual ads that ran in the 1960's, will give a sense of how accurate or inaccurate the show is. By creating modern ads for these clients and products, obstacles that are encountered based on the current industry and social state will become visible. Doing this will allow for a comparison of artistic styles from the past and now, observing what design elements may have changed or stayed put.
ContributorsDemano, Gian-Franco Alcantara (Author) / Gilpin, Dawn (Thesis director) / Roschke, Kristy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Background: Measles virus (MV) infections are the main cause of vaccine-preventable death in children younger than 5 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated there are over 20 million cases of measles every year. Currently, diagnostic methods rely on enzyme immunoassays (EIA) to detect IgM or IgG Abs in serum. These commercial assays measure reactivity against the immunodominant N antigen and can have a false negative rates of 20-30%. Centralized testing by clinical labs can delay rapid screening in an outbreak setting. This study aims to develop a rapid molecular diagnostic assay to detect IgG reactive to five individual MV proteins representing 85% of the measles proteome. Methods: MV genes were subcloned into pANT_cGST vector to generate C-terminal GST fusion proteins. Single MV cistrons were expressed using in vitro transcription/translation (IVTT) with human cell lysate. Expression of GST-tagged proteins was measured using a sandwich ELISA for GST expression using relative light units (RLUs) as readouts. Single MV antigens were used as bait to determine the IgG-dependent reactivity in 12 serum samples obtained from immunized animals with previously determined neutralization titer (NT) and the correlation between NT and ELISA reactivity was determined. Results: Protein expression of five measles genes of interest, M, N, F, H, and L, was measured. L exhibited the strongest protein expression with an average RLU value of 4.34 x 10^9. All proteins were expressed at least 50% greater than control (2.33 x 10^7 RLU). As expected, reactivity against the N was the highest, followed by reactivity against M, F, H and L. The best correlation with NT titer was reactivity against F (R^2 = 0.62). Conclusion: These data indicate that the expression of single MV genes M, N, F, H, and L are suitable antigens for serologic capture analysis of measles immunity.
ContributorsMushtaq, Zuena (Author) / Anderson, Karen (Thesis director) / Reyes del Valle, Jorge (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the cause of 99.7% of cervical cancers. Research of cervical cancer has made this disease mostly curable in the developing world. Head and neck cancer, which is increasingly caused by HPV, still is associated with a mortality rate of 50,000 in the US annually. This study proposed to evaluate the biology of HPV-16 in head and neck tumors by using RT-qPCR to measure the RNA expression and its relation to physical status of the virus. Methods: This study was to develop an assay that uses RT-qPCR to determine the quantitative expression of HPV-16 RNA coding for proteins E1, E2, E4, E5, E6, and E7 in tumor samples. The assay development started with creation of primers. It went on to test the primers on template DNA through traditional PCR and then on DNA from HPV-16 positive cell lines, SiHa and CaSki, using RT-qPCR. This paper also describes the troubleshooting methods taken for the PCR reaction. Once the primers are verified, the RT-qPCR process can be carried out on RNA purified from tumor samples. Results: No primer sets have been confirmed to produce a product through PCR or RT-qPCR. The primer sequences match up correctly with known sequences for HPV-16 E1, E2, E4, E5, E6, and E7. RT-qPCR showed results consistent with the hypothesis. Conclusion: The RT-qPCR protocol must be optimized to confirm the primer sequences work as desired. Then primers will be used to study physical status and RNA expression in HPV-positive and HPV-negative head and neck tumor samples. This assay can help shed light on which proteins are expressed most in tumors of the head and neck and will aid in the development of future screening and treatment options.
ContributorsKhazanovich, Jakob (Author) / Anderson, Karen (Thesis director) / Mangone, Marco (Committee member) / Sundaresan, Sri Krishna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Background: High risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV) are known to cause cancer, including cervical (99%) and oropharyngeal cancer (70%). HPV type 16 is the most common subtype. Three antigens that are critical for integration or tumor progression are E2, E6 and E7. In this study, we developed a systematic approach to identify naturally-processed HPV16-derived HLA class I epitopes for immunotherapy development. Methods: K562 cells, which lack HLA expression, were transduced with each HPV16 antigen using lentivirus and supertransfected with HLA-A2 by nucleofection. Stable cell lines expressing each antigen were selected for and maintained throughout the investigation. In order to establish a Gateway-compatible vector for robust transient gene expression, a Gateway recombination expression cloning cassette was inserted into the commercial Lonza pMAX GFP backbone, which has been experimentally shown to display high transfection expression efficiency. GFP was cloned into the vector and plain K562 cells were transfected with the plasmid by nucleofection. Results: Expression of K562-A2 was tested at various time points by flow cytometry and A2 expression was confirmed. Protein expression was shown for the transduced K562 E7 by Western blot analysis. High transfection efficiency of the pMAX_GFP_Dest vector (up to 97% GFP+ cells) was obtained 48 hours post transfection, comparable to the commercial GFP-plasmid. Conclusion: We have established a rapid system for target viral antigen co-expression with single HLA molecules for analysis of antigen presentation. Using HPV as a model system, our goal is to identify specific antigenic peptide sequences to develop immunotherapeutic treatments for HPV-associated cancers.
ContributorsVarda, Bianca Marie (Author) / Anderson, Karen (Thesis director) / Borges, Chad (Committee member) / Krishna, Sri (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Identifying immunoreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) by current technologies (cytokine secretion, intracellular cytokine, ELISPOT, and MHC tetramer assays) is often difficult when probing for multiple target antigens. CTLs activate and induce apoptosis of pathogenic cells when T-cell receptors (TCRs) specifically bind to antigenic peptides and major histocompatibility complexes (pMHCs) presented on the target cell’s surface. Flow cytometric MHC class I tetramer assays allow for the direct quantification and sorting of most CD8+ T lymphocytes whose TCRs recognize bound peptides, regardless of effector function. Class I tetramers are traditionally produced using BL21-DE3 E. coli expression, denaturation and folding in vitro, which is technically challenging, time-consuming, and low-throughput. We are developing an assay amenable to rapid, high-throughput screening of peptide libraries to characterize and quantitate antigen-specific CTLs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Baculovirus expression systems, utilizing host eukaryotic chaperones and isomerases, are capable of producing soluble, properly-folded protein complexes with high yields. The HLA-A*0201 heavy chain and beta-2-microglobulin genes were cloned into pIEx baculovirus expression vectors. Recombinant HLA-A*0201 and β2m viruses were synthesized using the BacMagic-3 DNA/pIEx method and transfected into Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells, and protein expression was confirmed by Western blot. To prepare T cells for testing, PBMCs from a healthy HLA-A2+ donor were collected and pulsed with DMSO control or CEF peptide pool (a mixture of CMV-, EBV-, and Flu-specific HLA class I epitopes). After 5 days, the CD8+ and CD8- fractions were sorted by MACS-based magnetic separation, and the frequency of FluM1-specific lymphocytes in the CD8+ populations was determined (0.1% of DMSO control vs. 0.772% of CEF-pulsed cells) using a commercial tetramer. We are optimizing HLA-A*0201 and β2m baculovirus co-infection ratios and evaluating the efficiency of intracellular MHC folding.
ContributorsRoesler, Alexander Scott (Author) / Anderson, Karen (Thesis director) / Blattman, Joseph (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
DescriptionA qualitative analysis that compares the social media usage, perceptions and measurement tools of public relations practitioners across a variety of industries.
ContributorsO'Hara, Leila Terese (Author) / Gilpin, Dawn (Thesis director) / Candello, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Eichler, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Menopause is reproductive senescence characterized by a loss of ovarian estrogen and progesterone. Women can experience cognitive decline and other negative symptoms with the loss of ovarian hormones (Sherwin, 2006). While hormone therapies (HT) can treat symptoms of menopause and may have neuroprotective properties, such as the potential to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's Disease (Behl & Manthey, 2000), there are many effects of current HTs that are not ideal. Indeed, optimizing conventional HTs has proven complex, indicating a need for alternative therapies. Phytoestrogens are estrogenic compounds found naturally in plants such as soybeans, that could provide new treatment options. Dietary phytoestrogens can benefit memory in the rodent model (Luine, 2006), although the mechanism underlying these effects is unclear. Basal forebrain cholinergic projections have been shown to mediate the cognitive benefits of estrogen (Gibbs, 2010); we hypothesize that phytoestrogens act similarly, via the cholinergic system, to impact memory. We administered varying doses of phytoestrogen-containing diets to ovariectomized female rats, and used the place recognition task to evaluate spatial memory. Brains were then analyzed for choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), the synthesizing enzyme for acetylcholine, in the vertical-diagonal bands (VDB) and the medial septum (MS) of the basal forebrain. Results showed that ChAT cell counts in the VDB were marginally higher with dietary phytoestrogen treatment. Further, VDB ChAT cell counts positively correlated with place recognition performance, indicating that animals with more VDB ChAT neurons exhibited better spatial memory performance. These results suggest that phytoestrogens might act similarly to natural, endogenously circulating estrogens, and identify phytoestrogens as a direction for investigation as a HT.
ContributorsMousa, Abeer Abdul (Author) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Thesis director) / Olive, Foster (Committee member) / Deviche, Pierre (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School for the Science of Health Care Delivery (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This study looked at college-age students' ability to comprehend and retain information learned from news articles depending on what platform they read from. Fifteen participants read three local New York Times articles on each of the platforms provided: iPad, laptop, and paper. They took one test immediately after to test comprehension and another two weeks later to test their retention. Participants were also asked if they found the articles interesting, enjoyable, clear, etc. Results showed that participants' views on each format had little, if any, affect on their number of correct responses. The most consistent results on the participants' perceptions of the formats came from the laptop and paper, whereas the iPad received a bimodal pattern of responses. Participants were also asked to share their news habits while taking the test by selecting how frequently they gain news from various sources such as social media or television. These habits also seemed to have very little effect on their scores.
ContributorsKillin, Jamie Faye (Author) / Gilpin, Dawn (Thesis director) / Russomanno, Joseph (Committee member) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor)
Created2014-05