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 2016
Darcy Mishkind, Biology (BIOL) 2016, A Codon of Silence: The effects of synonymous codon optimization and de-optimization on translation
Anya Moradian, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Commissural axons require additional cues that modulate the Netrin pathway and ensure proper guidance
Christopher William Nootenboom, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Whale Falls and the Species-Energy Theory: Dual Resource Pulses that Promote Global Diversity as Evolutionary Stepping Stones
Jordan Marie Pruszenski, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Examining migratory ungulates as a resource pulse and their effects on the species in their migratory range
Shraddha Raghavan, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Extracellular matrix components play a critical role in the segmental migration of trunk neural crest cells
Andy Rodgers, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Understanding host shifts in phytophagous insects and their role in diversification
Brittany Salazar, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Effect of gut microbiome on TH17 cell activation and Toll-like receptor signaling in rheumatoid arthritis development
Roberto Stephen Sande, Biology (BIOL) 2016, The Netrin-1/DCC/ERK Pathway and its Effects on Axonal Branching
Grace Marie Sassana, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Feeding Our Immune Systems: Microbiota-Derived Short Chain Fatty Acids Regulate Colonic Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cell Generation
Cameron Meyer Shorb, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Factors regulating invasive plant responses to resource pulses
Bing Shui, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Gastric Cancer Metastasis: Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Promoted By Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts
Ximou Song, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Synonymous Codon Bias in Translational Elongation and Protein Folding
Christopher Ely Sundquist, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Commensal Communication: An Examination of the Bacteroides fragilis Polysaccharide A Dependent Immunosuppressive Pathway
Gail J. Waltz, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Synonymous Codon Use: Effects on Ribosome Speed, Protein Folding, and Protein Function
Ryan David Wegner, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Periodic Cicadas as a Resource Pulse
Samuel West, Biology (BIOL) 2016, The roll of the cytokine CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 in the metastasis of tumor cells in breast cancer
Samuel William White, Biology (BIOL) 2016, Maintenance of DUOX-pathway Homeostasis in the Drosophila Gut
Richard Michael Yeker, Biology (BIOL) 2016, ROS/RNS impair sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release and decrease calcium sensitivity to induce skeletal muscle fatigue
Submissions from 2015
Shamis M. Adam, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Antiviral Immunity: Interactions between Inhibitory Killer-Cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptors and MHC-I Molecules in HIV Infection
Jae Ahn, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Canonical and Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathways Regulate Dendritic Morphogenesis and Synaptogenesis in Hippocampal Neurons
Laura Christine Arneson, Biology (BIOL) 2015, From Burger to Tumor: The Role of Diet-Derived Glycans in Cancer
Hillary Kraemer Barbetta, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Exploring and enhancing the regenerative potential of the mammalian heart through exogenous cardiomyocyte differentiation and transplantation
Emily Virginia Buckner, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Making Connections in Human-dominated Landscapes: The Ecological Role of Subsidies in Recipient Systems
Colette Celichowski, Biology (BIOL) 2015, The Great Xscape: How and Why Genes Escape Inactivation on the Eutherian Xi
Ruisu Chen, Biology (BIOL) 2015, N-ε-carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) binds to the receptor for AGE (RAGE) and activates multiple pathways that lead to the development of atherosclerosis complications in diabetes patients
Louis David Cohen, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Dosage Compensation Models in C. elegans compared to those in D. melanogaster
Laura Legendre Colbran, Biology (BIOL) 2015, An Exiting Existence: mechanisms of mammalian sex chromosome inactivation
Wenyue College, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Multiple pathways are required for hypoxia-induced autophagy - a survival mechanism of cancer cells
Alison Carol Coogan, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Nephron segmentation and its application in advancing regenerative therapies for kidney disease
Daniel David Cook, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Regulation of the Ferric Uptake Regulator through Extracellular Cell Wall Iron Storage Drives an Accumulation of Intracellular Iron during the Lag Phase of Staphylococcus aureus
Hannah Marit Curtiss, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Aberrant O-Mannose Initiated Glycosylation of ?-Dystroglycan Underlies Congenital Muscular Dystrophies
Leigh Dairaghi, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Mechanisms of mammalian dosage compensation: X-chromosome inactivation and reactivation
John Alexander Ficklin, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Predation in the City
Lily Rose Gage, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Effects of human-mediated habitat change on parasite prevalence and transmission
Alexandra Nicole Guy, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Mechanisms behind the disintegration of the midline epithelial seam in palatogenesis and implications for cleft palate
Alison Elizabeth Hall, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Ecosystem and Community Consequences of Size Selective Fishing
Anthony Lamar Harris, Biology (BIOL) 2015, An Increase from the Normal Homeostatic Temperature of Photorhabdus asymbiotica Induces Weakened Virulence Capabilities
Emily Jo Hillmer, Biology (BIOL) 2015, The Role of Aberrantly Glycosylated MUC1 in Mechanisms of Breast Cancer Metastasis
Kyle John Kasten, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Variation in corridor habitat requirements between predator and prey species
Shiou-Yuh Lin, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Dosage Compensation through X Chromosome Inactivation
Jacky Lu, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Got Guts to be a Killer? The Role of Natural Killer Cells in Gut Mucosal Immunity
Noah Mason, Biology (BIOL) 2015, The Role of Epigenetics in Ventricular Septal Defects
Elisabeth Anne Massey, Biology (BIOL) 2015, This Is Tau We Do It: The Role of Tau O-GlcNAcylation in Alzheimer's Disease
Emiri Matsuda, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Killing the Messenger: NK cell editing of APCs as a therapeutic target for MS
Claire Elizabeth McDonald, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Mammalian Solutions to an Xistential Problem: Dosage Compensation in Eutherians and Marsupials
Terese M. Nelson, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Paternal imprinting plays a key role in embryonic X chromosome regulation differences between mammalian infraclasses
Corina Dominga Perez, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Top-Down and Bottom-Up Controls on Trophic Status of Freshwater Systems
Alyssa Christine Puritz, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Changes in foraging patterns due to urbanization affect reproductive success in terrestrial vertebrates
John MacVeagh Raynolds, Biology (BIOL) 2015, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Green Fish, Orange Fish: The Significance of 3 Evolutionary Factors on Rapid Diversification in Fish
Kathryn Emily Richards, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Cancer's Sweet Tooth: The Role of O-GlcNAcylation in the Metabolic Reprogramming of Cancer Cells
Emily Sarah Semaya, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Building a Better Valve: Endothelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Tissue-Engineered Heart Valves
Sofia Shrestha, Biology (BIOL) 2015, The role of natural killer cell receptor NKG2D and its ligands in tumor surveillance and receptor mediated anti-tumor immunotherapy
Dimitri Smirnoff, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Trans-Differentiation of Skeletal Muscle into Electrocytes: Innervation Is a Driver of Phenotypic Plasticity via a Notch Pathway
Shaun Demoy Stewart, Biology (BIOL) 2015, NK Cells and Adaptive Immunity: A look at NK cell modulation of T-cells
Phuoc Tien Tran, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Connecting Genotypes and Immune Regulations through the Licensing Effect of Natural Killer Cells
Chun-Che Tseng, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Reversing tumor microenvironment induced natural killer cell exhaustion via T cell immunoglobulin mucin molecule 3
Abraham Villarreal, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Temporal and Spatial Mismatch by Anthropogenic Climate Change
Marina M. Watowich, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Complexities of elevated atmospheric CO2 effects on marine predator-prey dynamics
Ben David Wedin, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Cyclic electron flow is a crucial component in maintaining photosynthetic efficiency in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Taylor Katharine Wells, Biology (BIOL) 2015, The role of monocyte-derived macrophages in central nervous system regeneration
Rachel Womack, Biology (BIOL) 2015, The roles of endothermy and the tribosphenic molar in the ecological diversification of mammals: Potential key innovations
Jocelyn Meredith York, Biology (BIOL) 2015, How and when does organic farming affect pollinator diversity?
Anna Zimmer, Biology (BIOL) 2015, Weapons of natural killers: the role of KIRs and their cognate ligands in progression to AIDS
Submissions from 2014
Sakr Hanan Abo, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The End is Just the Beginning: The Ubiquitin Proteasome System and the Transcription of Estrogen Receptor Alpha
Stephanie Allen, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Stress-Induced Diet Preferences and Associated Microbial Changes
Adit Bipin Alreja, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Gut Microbiota Influence Systemic Inflammation And Eating Behavior Associated With Obesity
Amber Gelena Armstrong, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The role of mTOR signaling and ER stress in the development of type 2 diabetes in obese individuals
Madeline Long Arnold, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The UPS, Autophagy, or Both: Tau Degradation Pathways and the Role of p62 in Alzheimer's Disease
Kaitlin Kuehn Bagley, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Insulin-like growth factor 1, mammalian target of rapamycin, and the system A amino acid transporters: possible treatment targets for intrauterine growth restriction
Jared J. Beck, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Phylogenetic community structure and the functioning of ecosystems
Ross Jeffrey Brown, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Puzzle of Primary Plastids
Adrienne Keith Bruder, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Role of Increased Placental Expression of Soluble Fms-like Tyrosine Kinase-1 (sFlt-1) in Preeclampsia
Sylvie Nguyen Cohen, Biology (BIOL) 2014, mTORC1 as a Nutrient-Dependent Regulator of Autophagy in Mammalian Cells
Tony Carlos Daza, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Depression: A pro-inflammatory cytokine response to commensal bacteria
James Thomas Dibb, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway in advanced hormone receptor positive breast cancer
Brianna Audrey Farley, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Womb of requirement: The role of placental hormones in myometrial activation
Gillian Fitz, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Every time we touch: Cell-to-cell contact allows BMP signaling to establish primordial germ cells in embryos
Brendan Haughie Fowl, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Too much of a good thing: chronic activation of mTOR-1 complex leads to the development of obesity and Type-2 diabetes mellitus
Molly Rachel Gallop, Biology (BIOL) 2014, A Gut Response: The Influence of Diet and Gut Microbes on Fat Storage
Julia Elise Gamache, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Impact of Gut Microbiota on Memeory Through Cholecystokinin (CCK)
Chase James Gottschalk, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The role of PDK1 activation in the Warburg effect and apoptosis evasion under hypoxia and nutrient deprivation
George Adam Jacob Guenthner, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Changes in Pollinator Diversity Reduce Insular System Resilience
Hannah Catherine Happ, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Common sensing: the role of class-3 semaphorin/neuropilin signaling in trunk neural crest cells and metastatic tumor cells
Naozumi Hiranuma, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Early Evolutionary Origin of Spliceosomes
Drew Farrington Holmen, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Origin of Tubulin
Michael C. Holter, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Pluripotency and differentiation: A look at a potential iPSC-derived motor neuron treatment for familial ALS
Jessica Huang, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Gut-Brain-Enteric Microbiota Axis from an Ecological Perspective: The Role of Microbiota Biodiversity in Immune Functioning and its Implications in Chronic Inflammatory Disorders
Cassandra Bryce Iroz, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Escaping a nutrient deprived environment: mTOR-dependent pathways involved in cancer metastasis
Shamir Amir Kansakar, Biology (BIOL) 2014, NK Cell: Receptor ligand interaction for immune-tolerance in pregnancy
Clara Elizabeth Kappelman, Biology (BIOL) 2014, HLA-G-mediated immunomodulation at the fetomaternal interface permits successful growth of the semi-allogeneic fetus
Kelly Elizabeth Kapsar, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Trait mediated interactions among sympatric carnivores and their effect on behaviorally mediated trophic cascades
Hyungjun Kim, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The role of the ubiquitin-proteasome system pathway in JA and GA signaling and response regulating plant development and defense
Naeh Lyron Klages-Mundt, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Role of the ubiquitin-proteasome system in forming ionizing radiation-induced foci at DNA double-strand breaks
Jonathan Michael Knowles, Biology (BIOL) 2014, UPS degradation of IR and IRS in the develpment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Eva Hirsh Koeller, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Relationship between Maternal and Fetal Nutrition and its Role in the Developmental Origins of Disease
Emily Susan Kolenbrander, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Intercellular communication is required for collective migration in neural crest cells
Arielle Koshkin, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Is The Maternal-Fetal Conflict Hypothesis a Driver of Placental Evolution? Analysis of Interdigitation, Invasiveness, Brain Allometry and Life History Strategies of Eutherian Mammals
Claire Hallett Leichter, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Importance of Decidual Natural Killer Cells in Spiral Artery Remodeling During First Trimester Pregnancy
Frederick James Neher, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Impaired clearance or over induction: The role of AMPK and mTOR in control of autophagy in Alzheimer's Disease
Emily Christine Ness, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Role of Parkin in the Disposal of Proteins
