Comps, honors papers, and prize-winning works of the Biology Department are featured here. All works have been self-submitted by the student authors. Descriptive information about each work is available to search or browse. Access to the full text of the works is limited to current Carleton affiliates with faculty permission. Learn more about how to submit your work and how to request access to the full text of works.

In addition to this digital archive, physical copies of past Biology comps are available for browsing in the Biology office (Hulings Hall 214).

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Submissions from 2022

Eve Farrell, Biology (BIOL) 2022, The complex roles of plant-soil feedbacks in promoting and maintaining biodiversity in native grassland restoration attempts

Brie Forster, Biology (BIOL) 2022, The Utility of Trans-splicing as a Treatment for Genetic Disease

Elijah Goldberg, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Hyperexpression of TNF-α Due to Severe Infection Promotes a STAT5 Mediated Reduction in T Follicular Helper Cells and Immune Memory

Emily Hall, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Mutated Ciliary Ultrastructure: Dysfunctional Motility and Implications for Clinical Outcomes

Yelena Hallman, Biology (BIOL) 2022, The Relationship Between Diet and Genomic Plasticity in the Human Gut Microbiome

Julaluck Intasin, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Two-speed Genome Theory in Fungi

Sydney Marie Jones, Biology (BIOL) 2022, When Fire Feeds Fire: Evolution of Flammability Induces Positive Fire-Vegetation Feedback Loops in Subgenus Pinus

Alec Kotler, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Alternative Splicing: A Focus on Disruptors to the Mechanism Leading to Disease and Illuminating Therapeutic Possibility

Todd Laffaye, Biology (BIOL) 2022, The Role of Cilia and Hedgehog Signaling in Medulloblastoma: Complex Drivers and Advantageous Targets for the Treatment of Shh-Dependent Oncology

Nghi Lam, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Alternative splicing: determinative role of cis elements and trans factors in disease and therapy

Serena Lee, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Disturbance Amplifies Predator Pressure: An Analysis of Predators in Restoration Projects

Alec Leonetti, Biology (BIOL) 2022, The Evolution of the Role of Cilia in Asymmetric Left-Right Axis Patterning

Zachary J. Lewis, Biology (BIOL) 2022, The transcription factor Bach2 drives memory B cell differentiation from the germinal center as a result of low-affinity B cell receptor signaling.

Carly Lo, Biology (BIOL) 2022, An Explosion of Aquatic Life: A Comparative Evaluation of the Impact of Wildfires on Freshwater and Marine Phytoplankton Communities

Nothando N. Mangena, Biology (BIOL) 2022, In malaria, Interferon gamma induced T-bet expression increases B cell affinity but reduces their capacity to clear infection

Sydney Marsh, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Therapeutic Application for Cis and Trans Splicing Mutations

Katherine McFerrin, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Genomic Signatures of Virulence: The Effects of Pathogenicity Islands on Pathogen Fitness

Ben Mellin, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Faunal Biodiversity and Pyrodiversity in Western North American Forests: Flaws in the Current Literature

Colleen Milligan, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Restoring Patchy Coniferous Forests through Prescribed Fires and Thinning Efforts to Better Prepare Them for the Effects of Climate Change

Ella Milliken, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Unique E. globulous Chemistry in Eucalypt Forests Influences Abnormal PyOM Production in Response to Fire Severity

Katherine Nowak, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Optogenetics as a Means to Improve Human Perception

Mark Paine, Biology (BIOL) 2022, A Comparison of the Ciliary Mechanisms and Genetic Mutations Underlying Situs Inversus and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia

Jackson Piccirillo, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus Improves Plant Health, Productivity, and Tolerance to Environmental Stress By Influencing Plant Physiology, Soil Ecological Interactions, and Soil Structure Engineering

Isak Poulsen, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Fire-Induced Evolutionary Traits and How They Will Fare Against Short-Interval, High-Intensity Fires

Paul Ready, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Pancreatic cancer as a ciliopathy: the role of primary cilia in driving and suppressing tumorigenesis and metastasis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas

Anna Roberts, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Optogenetic and Chemogenetic Approaches to Studying Neural Circuitry and Therapeutic Mechanisms in Parkinson's Disease

Jevon Robinson, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Exploring the Viral-Cilia Interface

Leah R. Snidman, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Interactions Between Insects and Other Organisms Impact Grassland Ecosystems and Restoration Efforts

Andrea Tartaglia, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Disruption of RNA splicing: A pathway to disease and a target for modern therapeutics

Zichen Tian, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Changes in B cell populations in the Dura Mater meninges: Homeostasis VS. Multiple Sclerosis

Finn Uyeki, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Application Of The Stress-Gradient Hypothesis to Restoration Efforts

Will Walsh, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Antisense Oligonucleotide-mediated Manipulation of the Alternative Splicing Regulatory Machinery Corrects Disease-causing Aberrant Splicing

Walter Williamson, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Evaluating the Importance of SARS-CoV-2 Respiratory Droplet Dispersal and Persistence in Indoor and Outdoor Environments

Talia Williams, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Ciliary Intraflagellar Transport in Embryonic Craniofacial Patterning

Xavier Xiong, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Exploration of the Effect of CRISPR-Cas Systems on Horizontal Gene Transfer: A Cost and Benefit Analysis

Mathew Zappa, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Impacts of Fire on Fluvial Macroinvertebrates; The Effects of Resource and Habitat Shifts

Mary Zhang, Biology (BIOL) 2022, Toolkits for Controlling Microbial Consortia

Submissions from 2021

Sarah Allaben, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Complex Interactions between the Coral Holobiont and Environmental Stressors Necessitate a New Paradigm of Disease Research

Kano Amagai, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Bats Exhibit Suppressed Inflammation Upon Viral Infection Due to Flight-Induced Oxidative Stress

Jessalyn Ayars, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Evaluating the Mechanisms of the Dilution Effect Hypothesis of Pathogen Prevalence for Hantavirus, Leptospirosis, and Lyme Disease

Asha Bozicevich, Biology (BIOL) 2021, The Positive Feedback Loop between IL-10 Production, STAT3 Activation, BLIMP-1 Expression, and T cell Exhaustion

Brevin A. Clark, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Small Change, Big Impact - the Role of a Four Amino Acid Addition to the S1/S2 Site of SARS-CoV-2

Josephine Conn, Biology (BIOL) 2021, It's Batty! The Unique Antiviral Response of Type-I Interferons in Bats

Maris Daleo, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Black and White Patterns Deter Biting Flies: An Analysis of Zebras and Related Ungulates

Nina Denne, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Key Epigenetic & Transcriptional Factors Regulating T Cell Exhaustion Indicate Exhausted CD8+ T cells Cluster Into 4 Distinct Subsets

Danielle Dudley, Biology (BIOL) 2021, SARS-CoV-2 Induced Cytokine Storm Inhibits mTOR Function in CD8+ T cells

Eliana Durnbaugh, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Mood – Modifying Microbes: Bacterial Production of Anti-Inflammatory Tryptophan Indoles Link Probiotic Use and Reduced Depression

Kate Engel, Biology (BIOL) 2021, A Mechanistic Approach to PD-1 Metabolic Restriction of CD8 T Cell Fate and Function

Ben George, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Genomic and Epigenetic Variance in HPV16 Affect Viral Carcinogenicity and Cervical Cancer Outcomes

Emma Greenlee, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Invasive Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Alter Biogeochemical Cycling in Native Ecosystems

Glenn Peter Gullickson IV, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Cephalopod Crypsis: The Production of Camouflage Patterns in Response to Photoreception in the Eyes and Skin

Alec Jacobson, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Spike Mutations in B.1.1.7 and Other SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern Modify Viral Pathogenicity and Interfere with Antibody Neutralization

Erin Jenson, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Tracking Transmission of Measles Virus by Sequencing Various Regions of the Genome

Helen Keithahn, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Tolerating Viruses Right Off the Bat: The Unique Innate Immune Response in Bats

Zach Kulstad, Biology (BIOL) 2021, PD-1 and Tim-3 Cooperate to Inhibit TCR Signaling in Severely Exhausted CD8+ T Cells

Grace Leuchtenberger, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Every Breath (of COVID-19) You Take: Aerosols Driving COVID-19 Superspreader Events

Amy Lin, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Porphyromonas gingivalis Induces MyD88- and LPS- Independent Inhibition of PROS1 Anti-Inflammatory Function

Kaela Mali, Biology (BIOL) 2021, ARF We There Yet?: The H. pylori Driven, Subnuclear Translocation of ARF Protein

Maxime Munyeshyaka, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Uncovering Mechanisms of Oligodendrocytes in Learning and Memory

Lucy Neumann, Biology (BIOL) 2021, The Applicability of the Costly Signaling Hypothesis and the Index Hypothesis as Adaptive Explanations for Honest Quality Signaling in Carotenoid-Based Male Bird Plumage

Rose Newell, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Fungal and Viral Coinfection: The Impact on Viral Shedding in Bats

Lucy Newman, Biology (BIOL) 2021, R-loop Structures Are Implicated in Epigenetic Dysregulation Characteristic of Trinucleotide Repeat Expansions in Non-Coding Genomic Regions

Maggy Osha, Biology (BIOL) 2021, The Role of Repeat RNA in TriNucleotide Repeat Disease Pathology and Treatment

Alex Poeschla, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Tim-3 Mediates Cytotoxic T Cell Exhaustion in Cancer but Beneficially Maintains Maternal-Fetal Tolerance in Pregnancy

Thomas Rubino, Biology (BIOL) 2021, An Assessment of the Factors That Modulate Household Transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Ben Schnieders, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Critical Factors Predict Whether Evolutionary Rescue Will Occur in Bats and Amphibians Threatened by Novel Fungal Pathogens: Chytridiomycosis and White-nose Syndrome

Claire Schregardus, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Effect of a Strong Type I Interferon Response on Interferon-Stimulated Gene Expression and Viral Persistence in Bats

Lakshya Seth, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Blimp-1: A Key Transcription Factor in Mediating T cell Response to Persistent Antigen Stimulation

Emma Shedd, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Shifting U.S. Temperate Forests from Ecto- to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Associations: How Will Carbon Stocks Respond?

Raba Tefera, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Role of Constitutive Expression of Type I Interferons and the Effects of Virus Coevolution in Bats

Maria Thurow, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Catching My Breath - Aerosol and Droplet Deposition of SARS-CoV-2 in Lung Tissue

Matthew Watowich, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Chronic Type-I Interferon Stimulation Accelerates Established HIV-1 Infection and Progression to AIDS

Parmida Yazdanpanah, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Bats Avoid the Pathologies of Viral Infection via Immune Dampening

Gavin Young, Biology (BIOL) 2021, Predicting Pathogen Danger Through the Use of Biodiversity Metrics

Cloris Zhang, Biology (BIOL) 2021, The Contradictory Role of Reactive Astrocytes in Alzheimer’s Disease

Submissions from 2020

Daniel Alexander, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Optimizing CAR T Cell Signaling Domains to Modify Metabolism and Increase Efficacy Against Neuroblastoma

Nof Babajide, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Incidence of Autism in Response to Changes in Brain Asymmetry

Nicholas Baer, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Role of Ion Channels in ATP-Induced Microglial Chemotaxis

Julie Bailard, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Cation Channels Cooperate to Influence Microglial Necroptosis and Inflammatory Signaling in White Matter Neurodegenerative Disease

Stan Birdsong, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Effects of Habenular Nuclei Asymmetry on Behavior

Caroline Boroughs, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Initiation of Parturition in Humans

Am Bovornvirakit, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Cascading Effects of Intraguild Predation and Refugia on Animal Behavior

Julia Braulick, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Why Plants Become Invasive: Enemy Release, Resource Availability, and Herbivore Preferences

Christian Cavan, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Reduced Age and Premature Juvenile Salmon Migration Impacts a Decrease in Adult Size

Celeste Chen, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Role of β-NGF in Induced Ovulation in Camelids

Cecily Choy, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Role of Autoimmunity in Primary Ovarian Insufficiency: A Proposed Mechanism of Attack

Darryl Colcol, Biology (BIOL) 2020, KV1.3: An Ionic Driving Force for Neural Degradation

Thais Del Rosario Hernandez, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Role of Asymmetry in Epithalamic Structures on Psychiatric Disorders

Hannah Eglinton, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Regulating Antigen Stimulation to Improve Memory Formation and Mitigate Exhaustion in CAR T Cells

Jithran Ekanayake, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Preliminary Model for a Biomimetic Space Radiation Shield

Estee Emlen, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Helminth Parasites and Allergens Initiate Type 2 Immune Responses by Inducing IL-25 and IL-33 Signaling to Type 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells

Maria Fairchild, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Redox or Detox? The Role of the Ladderane Lipid Membrane in Anammox Metabolism

Emma Ferrer, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Mechanisms for Modulating Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS) after Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell Therapy

David Galambos, Biology (BIOL) 2020, RNA Transcripts Assemble Nuclear Bodies That Regulate Chromatin Organization and Transcription Machinery

Seth Greengo, Biology (BIOL) 2020, N-6-Methyladenosine Promotes HIV Replication through Its Interactions with Host YTHDF Proteins

Josh Hauser, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Wingbeat Frequency Negatively Correlates with Flexural Stiffness to Mitigate Damage in Birds with Rapid Wingbeats

Adam Hruby, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Is This Canon? Both Replicative and Oncogene-Induced Cellular Senescence Activate the Canonical NF-κB Pathway, but Only Oncogene-Induced Senescence Activates the Noncanonical NF-κB Pathway

Christopher Jabbarpour, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Destabilization of Fish Schooling Behavior Due to a Changing Climate

Abby Jackson, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Allogeneic DAP12-based CAR NK Cells as an Anti-HIV Immunotherapy to Target the Latent Viral Reservoir

Daniel Johnson, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Engineering Safety Switches to Manage the Toxicities of CAR T Cell Therapy