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).
Submissions from 2020
Kamran Kelly, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Driving Out Autoimmunity: Generating a CAR T Regulatory Cell Against Multiple Sclerosis
Hannah Kennicott, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Confirming Diurnal Oscillations and Scrutinizing the Potential Circadian Rhythm of the Gut Microbiome
Caroline Kern-Allely, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Inclusion of the Landscape of Fear and Mesopredator Release in a Trophic Cascade Model to Predict Effects of Apex Predator Extirpation
Rebekah Kissel, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: GABA Mediated Neuroendocrine Origins
Oleksandr Kyrysyuk, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Boolean Logic-Gated CAR T Cells with TCR Mimic Recognition Overcome Critical Antigen Targeting Barrier in Solid Tumors
Emma Lederer, Biology (BIOL) 2020, CD28 CAR Regulatory T cells Prevent Graft Rejection and Graft-Versus-Host Disease
Joe Lewis, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Pleistocene Megafauna Extinction: Combining Prehistoric Data with Modern Experiments to Determine the Impact on Vegetation
Brendon Lin, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Oxygen and Temperature May Be Able to Predict Size-based Responses to Global Warming in Polar Waters
Quinn McVeigh, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Complex Interplay of MicroRNAs and N6-methyladenosine Modifications for Precise Control of Messenger RNA Levels
Tanvi Mehta, Biology (BIOL) 2020, A Twisted Gut: Understanding Left-Right Asymmetry in Gut Morphogenesis
Cameron Meikle, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Alternative Roles for m6A Modifications During Flaviviridae Infection
Fletcher Metz, Biology (BIOL) 2020, A Bispecific CD8+ CAR-T Cell Therapy Optimized for Persistence, Exhaustion Resistance, Immunity from HIV, and Prevention of HIV Immune Escape
Ada Meyer, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Impacts of Microplastics on Particle Flux and the Biological Pump in a Warming Ocean
Keenan Moore, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Plastic Pollutants: Bisphenol A and Its Effects on Male Fertility
Sarah Newsham, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Predicted Increase in Phytoplankton Abundance due to Climate Change: Importance of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Controls
Fin Ouweleen, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Plumage Problem: Presence of Bird Display Is Affected by Selective Pressures from Parasitization and Predation
Annalise Peebles, Biology (BIOL) 2020, From Surface Water to Sediment: How Warming Temperatures Influence the Deposition of Microplastics in Marine and Freshwater Systems
Conrad Phelan, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Cytoskeleton Is the Decisive Factor in C-Looping in the Chick Heart
Maya Powell, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Branching Corals Are Disproportionately Susceptible to Ocean Acidification Based on Diffusive Boundary Layer Variation
Peter Richieri, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Molecular to Organismal Chirality; a Possible Blueprint for Establishing Left-Right Asymmetry in the Bilateria
Katherine Rigney, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Effects of Vessel Noise on Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops sp.): Energetic Costs and Budgeting
Brian Rivera, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Indole Be All: E. coli Indole Production in Response to Stress
Mikkel Sawyer, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Structural RNA Against the World (of Antibiotic Microbial Resistance): Riboswitches and Ribo- Regulators as Targets for Novel Antibiotic Therapies
Kaylin Steinberg, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Harnessing PD-1 in the Construction of HIV-Specific CAR-T Cells to Induce a Localized “Shock and Kill” of the Latent Viral Reservoir
Nina Strand, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Invasive Marine Predators - Why Are There Not More of Them?
Anika Thomas, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Asymmetrical Mammary Gland Development: A Genetic Predisposition to Left-Sided Breast Cancer
Tam Tieu, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Understanding Stem Memory T Cell Development and Differentiation to Combat HIV
Kevin Tran, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Orphan Methyltransferase CcrM Is an Epigenetic Regulator for Multiple Bacteria
Hannah Uttley, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Role of Microglial Ion Channel P2X7 in Depression
Margriet VanDerwerker, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Role of HLA-A2 CAR T Regulatory Cell Therapy, Foxp3, and CTLA-4 in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Alex Whitis, Biology (BIOL) 2020, Marine Sessile Animals: Adaptations For Feeding And Implications Of Climate Change
Evan Wright, Biology (BIOL) 2020, The Therapeutic Potential of Kv1.3 Inhibition by PAP-1 for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
Submissions from 2019
Proud Chanarat, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Tracing Back to the Gene Content of the Last Universal Common Ancestor: Approaches in Taking Horizontal Gene Transfer into Account
Kristina Conrad, Biology (BIOL) 2019, The behavior of nectar robbers and effects on flowering plants for mutualism maintenance
Amanda Crawford, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Epigenetic Regulation of APOE in the Etiology and Progression of Late Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
Jackie Culotta, Biology (BIOL) 2019, How is honesty maintained in colorful condition dependent mate quality advertisements? The roles of costly signals and indicator traits
Mallika Dargan, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Langerhan cells, Langerin, and HIV transmission in the Female Reproductive Tract
Tris Dodge, Biology (BIOL) 2019, The curious case of the cane toad (Rhinella marina): using local context to predict top-down trophic cascades driven by invasive, allelochemically-defended prey
Fayzeh El Banna, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Epigenetics of BDNF Gene in PTSD Intense Fear Memory Formation and Lack of Extinction
Logan Emholtz, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Enhancing Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Biogenesis: The Effects of Endurance Training and Glycogen Levels
Roger Faust, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Invasive Ecosystem Engineers in a Non-Native Habitat: Ecological Impacts of Zebra Mussel Induced Nutrient Shifts
Lauren Goboff, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Gene Expression Disruption as a Model for Tissue Specificity in Laminopathies
Clara Hobbie, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Zika Virus Infection of Placental Macrophages Leads to Placental Dysfunction and Subsequent Fetal Demise
Anna Huber, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Relating Nutrition to Alzheimer's Disease Pathology Through Sirt1-Dependent H4K16 Deacetylation
Adriana Hudson, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Induction of Senescence by Progerin in Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) Cells is Not Reliant on Oxidative Stress
Lon Hutchinson, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Epigenetic Modulation in Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics: The Potential of SIRT1
Phuoc Thuan Huynh, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Inhibition of Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 Reduces Tumor-Initiating Ability of Cancer Stem Cells and Induces Proinflammatory T Cell Responses in Glioblastoma Multiforme
Callen M. Inman, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Why are some mimics more precise than others?: how predator psychology drives the evolution of imperfect Batesian mimicry
Anna Karmel, Biology (BIOL) 2019, The Evolution of Sexually Deceptive Pollination in Orchidaceae
Pavana Khan, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Lamin A/C Uses Two Pathways to Synergistically Regulate Mechanosensitive Differentiation
Dimitri Laing, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Stress, Trauma, and ACEs Define Epigenetic Fate
Annabelle Leahy, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Lung Resident CD8+ T cells: Crucial Players in Rapid Clearance of Influenza Infection
Cecilia Ann Leone, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Chronology of Selective Responses against X-Chromosome Meiotic Drive Determined by Existing Climate and Population Genetics: Temperature and the Evolution of Mating Behavior, Suppressors, and Female Choice
Kaitlin Libbey, Biology (BIOL) 2019, The direct and indirect effects of warming on methane emissions from peatlands
Henry Liedl, Biology (BIOL) 2019, A Review of Histone Dynamics in the Nucleus Accumbens as a Result of Cocaine Exposure
Viola Li, Biology (BIOL) 2019, New Model for the Origin of Animal Multicellularity: From Temporal to Spatial Cell Differentiation, Advancements in GRNs
Will Loner, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Insect Outbreaks as a Potent Control Over Carbon and Nitrogen Flux: Effects, Feedbacks and Complications of Climate Change
Becky Luh, Biology (BIOL) 2019, HIV Initiation of a Microbial Translocation and Inflammation Cycle
Hailey Mair, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Interplay of DNMT3B and TET enzymes in reducing differentially methylated regions of iPSCs and hESCs
Jessica Makori, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Phenotypic Plasticity as a Metabolic Strategy for Plasmodium falciparum in Malaria Transmission
Aislinn N. Mayfield, Biology (BIOL) 2019, On Protocell formation: The co-assembly of a lipid compartment, informational polymer and catalytic network
Alief Moulana, Biology (BIOL) 2019, The pangenome paradox of the environmental microbes: between the adaptive accessory genome and the within-species genomic diversity
David O'Dea, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Oxidative Stress Prompts Macrophage Polarization Toward Inflammation in Obesity
Jona Plevin, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Masculinization of the brain via epigenetic modifications of estrogen receptor-α
Jenni Rogan, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Trophic Dynamics, evolutionary maintenance, and predator cognitive patterns in two anti-predator adaptations
Ayumi Sakamoto, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Early Exposure General Anesthesia Induces Cognitive Impairment Through the Dysregulation of BDNF
Jacob Schwartz, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Retinoblastoma Protein Inactivation by the Human Cytomegalovirus Kinase UL97 May Compensate for Increased Nucleoplasmic Lamin During Capsid Nuclear Egress
Tamara Deanne Scott, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Dendritic Cell Susceptibility to HTLV-1 Infection in the Infant Gut Mucosa and Subsequent Development of ATL
Eliza Skoler, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Modulating the Antiviral Immune Response to Respiratory Viral Infection: Short-Chain Fatty Acids and T Regulatory Cells
Mackenzie Smith, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Epigenetic Regulation in Glioblastoma Multiforme by DNA Methylation, Non-Coding RNAs, and Post-Translational Histone Modification Reinforces Cancer Stem Cell Phenotype and Chemoresistance
Emma Stewart, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Mechanisms of microbiota-host crosstalk: how microbial short chain fatty acids influence host lipid metabolism and adiposity
Julian Szieff, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Repression of GABA Inhibition from Parvalbumin Containing Basket Cells in the Prefrontal Cortex as an Epigenetic Model for Cognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia
Maddie Talamantes, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Improving homing-based gene drives in Anopheles to prevent the transmission of Plasmodium falciparum
Zachary Trottier, Biology (BIOL) 2019, Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction Following Sleep Disturbance: Neurophysiological Mechanisms and Their Implications For Cardiovascular Function
Diana Tyutyunnyk, Biology (BIOL) 2019, The LINC is the Link: A New Hypothesis for Laminopathies
Andrew Wallace-Jackson, Biology (BIOL) 2019, GIT Th17 Cells and HIV: A Balance Between Supporting Viral Success and Combatting Disease Progression
Abby Walling, Biology (BIOL) 2019, DNA Methylation is a Dynamic Process Necessary for Creating and Storing Persistent yet Adaptable Memories
Submissions from 2018
Daniel Evan Atkins, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Blood Runs Thicker than Cerebrospinal Fluid: Interactions Between the Vasculature and B1 Stem Cells in the Neurogenic Subventricular Zone
Gray C. Babbs, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Fractured: Differential Cytokine Signaling in the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Bone-Bone Marrow Stem Cell Niche
Francesca Caracci, Biology (BIOL) 2018, The Mediating Role of Silent Synapses in the Incubation of Cocaine Craving
Sandra Elaine Carson, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Hematopoietic Stem Cells Adapt and Survive During Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Avery Cheng, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Functional diversity as a measure for the effects of climate change on ecosystem functioning
Donson Jeryco Allen Cook Gallardo, Biology (BIOL) 2018, The Neurological Basis for Cocaine Addiction
Merrick Thomas Ducharme, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Addiction Related Plastic Mechanisms: A Tale of Shifts in Receptor Permeability
Rebecca Jean Fairchild, Biology (BIOL) 2018, The Role of Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Formation in HIV Infection
Henry Jackson Fisher, Biology (BIOL) 2018, A Novel Mechanism of Eosinophil Recruitment, Activation, and Degranulation During Allergen Exposure in the Lungs and Gut
Michael William Frett, Biology (BIOL) 2018, The Coral-Algal Balance Between Temperature Induced Bleaching, Response, and Resilience
Vianne Ran Gao, Biology (BIOL) 2018, A different perspective on the intestinal stem cell niche: Gut microbes influence intestinal stem cell proliferation during intestinal regeneration
Andrew Addison Gerber, Biology (BIOL) 2018, NETosis facilitates the progression of rheumatoid arthritis through the release of PAD4 into synovial fluid
Michael Collins Hoffert, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Predicting the influence of stochastic and deterministic variables on hydrothermal vent communities after eruptions
Joshua Lee Johnson, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Elucidate Neurological Details on Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia
Katherine Paige Sheldrick Jones, Biology (BIOL) 2018, MITF: A Transcription Factor Key to Awakening the Dormant Traits of Melanocytes in Melanoma Tumorigenesis
Sophia Takemi Kawamoto, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Invasion Decreases Beta Diversity Despite Initial Differentiation in Freshwater Fish
Thanda Win Khin, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Traumatic mating as the basis for an evolutionary arms race
Belle Kinder, Biology (BIOL) 2018, The Impact of Genetic Diversity on Honey Bee Colony Productivity and Health
Benjamin J. Kopp, Biology (BIOL) 2018, The role of recently identified crosstalk mechanisms in conferring chemo-resistance to AML stem cells via activation of the NF-кB signaling pathway
Mikaela Kropp, Biology (BIOL) 2018, When pyrodiversity promotes biodiversity: Characterizing the mediators of community response to fire
Janis Joy Lee, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Metastasis in breast cancer is mediated by EMT, cancer stem cells, and niche-associated cytokines
Anisa Nicole Lester, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Rapid Eosinophil Apoptosis Promotes Obesity
Rory Ruoyu Li, Biology (BIOL) 2018, Neural Crest Cells: Development and Treatment of Treacher Collins Syndrome
