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 2015

 

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

 

Anna Catherine Nisi, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Top predator effects on spatial heterogeneity: A potential mechanism for biodiversity maintenance

 

Annika Lea Hakala Ord, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Sea ice: A dynamic mediator of biotic carbon cycling in Polar Regions

 

Dylan Robert Powell, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Generation of Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons by Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells

 

Emma Ruth Purfeerst, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Stem cells and Wnt signaling: Implications for the treatment of abnormal neural crest development

 

Anna Grace Quinlan, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The Role of Interkingdom Signaling in Stress

 

Rashed Rab, Biology (BIOL) 2014, A Controlled Mechanism of Cell Cycle Progression: Ubiquitin- mediated Degradation of CDKN1B/p27

 

Samantha Lipson Sharpe, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Evolutionary and ecological consequences of polyploidy in biological invasions

 

Cameron Eldridge Bacon Smith, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Biological Control of Cotton Aphids in Bt Cotton Systems Requires Additional Management Considerations Beyond Reducing Insecticide Use

 

Angel Solis, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Binding NEMO: Analyzing the Role of Ubiquitin in NF-κB Activation by TNFɑ

 

R. Cameron Stahl, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Gut Microbiota Contribute to the Regulation of Cellular Inflammation in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Anxiety/Depression: A review of current literature.

 

Maria Carson Sterrett, Biology (BIOL) 2014, IT's A GUT FEELING: Analyzing the "balancing act" between cell-cell and cell-ECM adhesions during Enteric Neural Crest Cell migration

 

Leia Weikam Swanson, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Semaphorins and Cardiac Neural Crest Cell Migration: A Role in Targeting the Outflow Tract and Normal Outflow Tract Septation in the Developing Heart.

 

Kelsey Rose Swyter, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The effect of malarial co-infection on mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the placenta

 

Hannah Arnold Tremblay, Biology (BIOL) 2014, The effect of pollinator loss on plant species diversity in nested and non- nested plant-pollinator interaction networks

 

Madison S. Willert, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Coral to Macroalgae: Phase Shifts Facilitated by Algal and Anthropogenic Stressors

 

Claire Mariah Wilson, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Forest ecosystem carbon dynamics following the loss of a tree species

 

Erin Hillary Wilson, Computer Science (CS); Biology (BIOL) 2014, A benchmark standard for predicting the gene targets of chemical perturbants

 

Jessica Wu, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Gut microbiota and Autism: The role of propionic acid in inflammation and intestinal permeability

 

Shanna Xue Yang, Biology (BIOL) 2014, You Are What Eat You: Gut Microbes In Diet-Induced Obesity

 

Eleanor W. Youngblood, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Plant physiological responses to altered nitrogen availability

 

Evia Lee Zack, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Elements of Intentional Communication in Cotton-Top Tamarin Calling Behavior

Submissions from 2013

 

Emily Erickson Ager, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Gluttony goes (anti)viral: Neuronal autophagy as a noncytolytic mechanism for viral clearance during neurotropic viral infection

 

Sarah Katharine Allan, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Estrogen, Testosterone, and Bone Health: Challenging Perceived Sex Biases in Osteoporosis

 

Kristin Rose Andrykovich, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Regulation of Proliferation in Colorectal Cancer and Lesion Regeneration by Wnt-Hippo Crosstalk

 

Akemi Kushida Arzouman, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Gender differentiation in activation of thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue through sex hormones

 

Beth Ashinsky, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The endoplasmic reticulum stress response to type I procollagen misfolding in osteogenesis imperfecta

 

Jaymes D. Awbrey, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Flipping the Switch: The Mechanism for Trophic Shifts in Estuaries Due to Anthropogenic Nutrient Loading and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and the Effects of Anthropogenic Nutrient Loading

 

Andrew Alexander Bacon, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Paternal Age Effect and Selfish Selection in The Male Germ Line

 

Alice Woodward Barber, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Re-Evaluating the Role of Dosage Compensation in X-Chromosome Inactivation

 

Jennifer Sara Borchardt, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Zinc Fingered Nucleases: A Novel Approach for Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria Research and Treatment

 

Colin Pablo Borsh, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The Pleistocene's massive hairy landscapers: Megaherbivore grassland maintenance and the disappearance of the mammoth steppe

 

Arden Porto Caffrey, Biology (BIOL) 2013, How HIV Crosses and Destabilizes the Blood Brain Barrier: The mechanisms of the HIV protein Tat

 

Thomas Cai, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Neuronal Death Mechanisms Induced by Viral Protein Secreted from Cells of Monocyte Lineage

 

Joshua Christian Campbell, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Engineering the Eradication of HIV: Inhibiting Viral Entry Using Zinc Finger Nucleases

 

Sarah Elizabeth Carter, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Flavivirus-induced neuronal chemokine and cytokine signals: the signals’ effects on the immune system and host survival

 

Julissa Chavez, Biology (BIOL) 2013, A Molecular Mechanism of Estrogen‐Mediated Sex Bias in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

 

Charles Robert Dale, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Evidence for the fast-­x effect, and faster-­x evolution of gene expression

 

Bridget Mary Doyle, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Zinc
 Finger 
Nucleases:
 The
 Key
 to 
CCR5 
Gene 
Disruption
 and
 Consequent 
HIV 
Eradication

 

Ellen Elizabeth Drews, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Decline of insect biodiversity due to nitrogen loading in grasslands: reduced plant diversity as a driver of consumer species loss

 

Anne Elizabeth Duncan, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Xylem and Xylella fastidiosa: Understanding Infection and Resistance Through Vascular Tissue Development

 

Dennis Ea, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Engineering T Cells with Cancer-specific T Cell Receptors: A Zinc-Finger Nuclease-based Therapy for Leukemia