What is the purpose of making dishes that take a long time to make? With such easy access to food nowadays, is there any reason to put in the effort to make things from scratch? By testing and learning about recipes that require a long time to make, I try to answer the reason behind all the effort. In doing so, three main reasons were found. First was the tradition behind the recipe. The second was the useful nature of preservation. The third is the tastes that are developed in the process.

Aging is a universal process that every being encounters on their journey of life. The effect of dance as a form of improvement of physical and well-being on the aging body brings upon the question of the impact of somatic-based movement, specifically gestural movement on the perceptions of aging within older and younger adults through a bi-cultural lens of the United States and India. This was investigated using a series of creative partnership workshops that included listening, drawing, and culminating movement activities, followed by a group discussion about the creative process. There were four different participant groups: a group of college students taking an Aging in American Culture collegiate class, a Somatic Practices collegiate dance class, a group of older adults at the Tempe Multigenerational Center, and a group of older adults in Bangalore, India. Inter-generational and cross-cultural observations were discussed, and it was seen that the workshops were able to foster feelings of community and camaraderie among participants depending on the group’s relationship to dance-making. From the research, a dance performance was developed and performed specifically with women of color in ASU’s Dance program with the choreographic process discussed in detail, along with key takeaways about facilitating a multi-dimensional experience for the dancers and choreographer. Future directions for the work include working with intergenerational populations and researching community effects on gendered aging experiences across cultures in the dance world.

Protein misfolding is a problem across all organisms, but the reasons behind misfolded protein (MP) toxicity to cells are largely unknown. To better understand toxicity, I investigate if toxicity from MPs affects all cells equally or affects some cell subpopulations more than others, such as older cells. To define cell subpopulations, I optimized a cutting-edge single-cell RNA sequencing platform (scRNAseq) for yeast. By using scRNAseq in yeast, I studied the expression variability of many genes across populations of thousands of cells. I studied how the transcriptomes of single cells differ from one another in various conditions: at different stages in the growth phase and with different engineered MPs. Differences in gene expression between strains expressing misfolded vs. properly folded proteins were found, confirming previous proteomic data. Further, I found a greater number of cell subpopulations in a MP expressing strain compared to a properly folded protein expressing strain, implying more differentiated subpopulations, potentially in response to toxicity from MPs. This observation is consistent with previous observations that heterogeneity within microbial populations can be beneficial to their fitness by allowing that population to thrive in stressful environments. Thus, my data provide insights about evolutionary biology and how strains respond to stress. Further, after identifying subpopulations with a more severe transcriptional response to MPs, I studied the cells’ physiology to gain insights about why that subpopulation is sensitive to MPs and found an upregulation of markers of aging, stress response, and shortening of lifespan. Observing characteristics of cell subpopulations, I also found differences dependent on stages of the cell cycle. Overall, this study provides insights on the gene regulatory responses associated with MP toxicity by revealing which type of cells are most sensitive to this intracellular threat.