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 2013
Brianna Jean Engelson, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Indirect Effects of HIV Tat on Neuronal Apoptosis Through Increased TNF-α Expression: Implications for HIV-Associated Dementia
Madeline Welker Epping, Biology (BIOL) 2013, 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
Gabrielle Keating Flamm, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The crossroad of TLR signaling, interferon induction, and CD8+ T cell priming in the prevention of herpes simplex encephalitis
Maria D. Garcia, Biology (BIOL) 2013, rom WAT to BAT: Regulation of PGC-1alpha as a Potential Therapeutic Approach for the Treatment of Metabolic Diseases
Jessica Meghan Gick, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Using the Present to Decode the Past: Phylogeography Reveals the Origin and Extent of Early Quaternary Migrations Following Deglaciation of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in Extant Pacific Northwestern Mammals
Rebecca Lang Greenstein, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The RORA Story: One Gene's Potential to Explain the Sex Bias in Autism
Keenan Thomas Hartert, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Y so Deleterious? The Destructive Evolution of the Mammalian Y Chromosome and its Path to Salvation
Marlena Sara Hartman-Filson, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The Perpetuation of Human Homosexuality: A Darwinian Paradox?
Edward Fitzgerald Heckman, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Female Pubertal Timing: Possible interactions in the Kiss1/GPR554 System Leading to Precocious Puberty
Ian Henry Hollyer, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Sex Specific Organization of Estrogen Receptors and the Sex Bias of Parkinson's Disease
Stephanie Nicole Kravitz, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Let's Talk About Sex, Baby: The Role of Gonadal Hormones in Bipolar Mood Cycling
Alexandra Long, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in the Intestinal Epithelium: A New Model for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Erin Ramirez Lopez, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Sex-Brain Plasticity: Altering the Theory of Permanence
Marisa Luck, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Friend or foe? Regulatory T cells in viral infections of the CNS
Dhilhan Umayanga Marasinghe, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The Biology of a Sexy Chromosome: Implications of syntenic mapping on the evolution of sex chromosomes
Claire Angela Milsted, Biology (BIOL) 2014, Biotic and Abiotic Factors Influence Phosphorus Limitation in Tropical Forests
Sarah Louise Nielsen, Biology (BIOL) 2013, A NO/RyRs/CaMKII signal transduction pathway may be responsible for phase delay during photic entrainment of the circadian clock
Adriana Orland, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Investigation of the MeCP2 Gene: Rett's Syndrome as a Model for Autism?
Ashley Rose Paquin, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Autism Spectrum Disorders and the Psychological Extreme Male Brain: An Exploration of Biological Mechanisms
Sarah Krafft Rempel, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Circadian Clock Regulation of Dopamine in the Ventral Tegmental Area
Brian Harrison Rhodes, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Advantages of the Use of TAL Effector Nucleases Over Zinc Finger Nucleases in the Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease
Samuel Koehnline Rosenberg, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The Role of Melanopsin-Containing Cells in Mammals: Pupillary Light Response, Photoentrainment of the Circadian Cycle, and Implications for Disease
Ruby Leigh Russell, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Preventing and Protecting Against Alzheimer's Disease: An Independent Role for Androgens
Amelia Bullard Schlossberg, Biology (BIOL) 2013, A Pain In My Astrocytes and Microglia: A Biological Mechanism for Sex Bias in Chronic Neuropathic Pain
Alec Scott, Biology (BIOL) 2013, An Evaluation of Nitrogen and Phosphorus as Drivers of Cyanobacterial Blooms
Anisa Abdi Suleiman, Biology (BIOL) 2013, B3-Adrenergic Receptor Agonists as a Treatment for Obesity by Inducing Thermogenesis in Brown Adipose Tissue
Nana Tanamoto, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The endoplasmic reticulum as a modulator of cellular metabolism: A novel metabolic paradigm for Alzheimer disease
Breanna Jane Tetreault, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The roles of relaxin and hyaluronic acid in the extracellular matrix during cervical ripening, and their control on the timing of parturition
Souriya Thao, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy Using MicroRNA-1, -499, -155 for Heart Regeneration
Sarah Gardner Thappa, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Taking Sex Bias in Disease to Heart: Female Sex Bias in Cardiovascular Disease and Coronary Heart Disease
Elissa Ann Walter, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Species Loss from Nitrogen Deposition in Grasslands: The Differing Environmental Conditions that Cause Competitive-Exclusion-Driven vs. Acidification-Driven Declines in Species Richness
Taylor Daniel Ward, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The Identification of Irisin as a Potential Novel Treatment for Obesity in Humans
Janie Chan Wong, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Tamoxifen Resistance in Breast Cancer: The Search for the Missing Receptor
Marika Xydes-Ââ€Smith, Biology (BIOL) 2013, The Role of Chronodisruption in the Development of Type Two Diabetes Mellitus
Kenneth Wade Zillig, Biology (BIOL) 2013, Mother Nature in Australia with a Dry Spell: How a Climate Change caused the Australian Megafauna Extinction Event
Submissions from 2012
Sameena Nasim Ahmed, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The Cancer-Obesity Link: How Insulin and IGF Stimulate Aerobic Glycolysis through the PI3K Pathway
Margaret Rose Alexander, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The Role of the Wnt Pathway in Cancer Stem Cell Formation and the Opposing Function of Wnt Antagonists
Steve C. Amaefuna, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Understanding the Warburg Effect
Emmaline Jiang Ashley, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Mind over Matter: The Role of the Endogenous Opioid System in Placebo Analgesia
Sean Lu Beckwith, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Chromatin Architecture and Gene Expression: Remodeling and Recruitment in the Gal4 System
John David Christensen, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Regulation of Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1 (HIF-1) and the Glycolytic Phenotype in Cancers
Mike Aaron Clark, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Induced Plant Responses: Impacts on Arthropod Herbivore Community Composition
Amelia Christine Clement, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The Role of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer Stem Cell Development: Implications for Metastasis
Maegan Lori Mariko Doi, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Training the Mind: How Expectancy-Mediated Conditioning Affects Placebo Analgesia
Elise Pamela Erickson, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Transdifferentiation of Adult Cell Types to ?-cells: Therapeutic Potential for Type 1 Diabetes
Haley Mae Golz, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Landscape diversity and natural pest control: Does increased landscape diversity lead to increased pest control in agroecosystems? Landscape diversity and natural pest control: Does increased landscape diversity lead to increased pest control in agroecosystems?
Rachel Elisabeth Gottesman, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Myostatin Inhibition: Potential Therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Ian Holmen, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Mature IGF-1 precursor isoforms have varying roles in skeletal muscle myogenesis
YeJi Jun, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Ready, set ... Go!
Brian Thomas Kaletka, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Priming Induced Defense Against Herbivory and its Effects on Plant Fitness and Community Composition
Angela Hye-Jee Kim, Biology (BIOL) 2012, UCP2 Mediation of the Warburg Effect in Chemoresistant Cancers
Djem Ulian Kissiov, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The Epigenetic Basis of Cocaine Addiction: Chromatin-Mediated Differential Gene Expression in the Dopaminergic Reward Pathway
William Henderson Ladner, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Expectation-Driven Placebo Analgesia
Chelsea Elizabeth Lau, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Good Things Come to Those Who Expect Them: Neurobiological mechanisms of placebo analgesia
Nancy Kay Liu, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The Heart of Cell Regeneration
Matthew Christopher Matsunaga, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Adeno-associated viral vectors: turning agents of disease into agents of healing in hemophilia B
Kellan David McLemore, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The Effects of Climate Change on the Role Bark Beetles Play in the Carbon Cycle
Robert L. Mills, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Kristine Nachbor, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Manipulation of gene expression: controlling dopaminergic neuronal reward pathways through optogenetic regulation
Ava Therese Litton Navasero, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The chicken or the egg, which came first? Insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction in Type II diabetes induce skeletal muscle atrophy.
Kayla Rose Nygaard, Biology (BIOL) 2012, From dam to pup: The epigenetic modification of maternal care across generations
Susan Pham, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Altered Calcium Homeostasis is Responsible for Non-Normal Aging and Dementia
Diedre Faye Reitz, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Critically examining our understanding of cancer metabolism: Evidence for the reverse Warburg effect?
Kelsey Elizabeth Ross, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Coral reefs and algal states: phase shifts and feedbacks in a changing world
Vaughn Alexander Schmid, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Looking at Viral and Non-Viral Vectors in Gene Therapy: A Description and Comparison
Christine Jaclyn Stewart, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Rise and Demise -- Extrinsic and Intrinsic Factors in the Diversifications of Dinosaurs and Mammals
Emily Lauren Sykes, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Testosterone Action on Skeletal Muscle: Declining Testosterone Levels in Elderly Males Contribute to Sarcopenia
Erik Skidmore VanDis, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Zinc-finger nucleases targeted to CCR5: A gene-based therapy to treat HIV-1 infection
Katherine Rachel Wahl, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Immunomodulatory Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A promising new treatment approach for type-1 diabetes mellitus
David Paul Walker, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The Modulatory Role of the Nucleus Accumbens in Placebo Analgesia
George Robert Wheeler, Biology (BIOL) 2012, The Impacts of Defensive Traits on Plants' Mutualistic Interactions
Alex William Wirta, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Myostatin Inhibition: a Potential Target for Attenuating the Effects of Obesity
Tristan Allen Zimmerman, Biology (BIOL) 2012, Ecological Interactions With Ant-Plant Defensive Mutualisms
Submissions from 2011
Katlynn Z. Adkin, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Maternal behavior and the mesolimbic dopamine pathway
Tim Bielecki, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Male Response to Prostaglandin F2α Components of Female Postovulatory Pheromone in Cyprininae Fish
Carter Biewen, Biology (BIOL) 2011, A workout for your cells: Exercise as a means of preventing and treating cancer
John Murray Cossette, Biology (BIOL) 2011, The evolutionary impact of range expansion: implications for the study of invasive species
Marjorie May Dixon, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Native evolution in response to exotic invasives: a potential check on invasive growth
Nathan Vincent Doremus, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Hypersexuality: A Neurobiological Look at Sexual Addiction
Alexandra Sarah Dunn, Biology (BIOL) 2011, The effects of exercise on the overactive TLR4 signaling associated with obesity-induced insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
Ellen Huiskamp Esch, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Novelty in Biological Invasion: Disrupting Co-ÂEvolutionary History
Stefan Garrido-Shaqfeh, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Cocaine's affect on dopamine releasing neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area beyond the "DAT-is-it" theory, with a focus on changes in cellular dynamics and membrane protein makeup.
Theodore Malone Gelderman, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Chronic impacts following oil spills : rethinking ecological disturbance
Hannah Leigh Hayes, Biology (BIOL) 2011, BDNF: An Exercise-Induced Biochemical Mechanism for Mitigating Alzheimer's Disease
Erin Jones Heydinger, Biology (BIOL) 2011, The Impact of Drought on Mangrove Trophic Structures
Elizabeth Susan Jarrett, Biology (BIOL) 2011, PGC-1α Mediates Exercise-Induced Relief of Peripheral Arterial Disease
Hana Rose Kazunas, Biology (BIOL) 2011, The Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability (EICA): a proposal for invasive species success
Carter Washburn Kittleson, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Dysregulation of Dopamine in the Mesolimbic Reward Circuit: A Possible Link between Food Addiction and Obesity
Kyungwon Lee, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Posttranscriptional Regulation of RNA-Binding Hu Proteins in Association with Neuronal Development
Madelyn F. Lenhard, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Exercise Regulates Astrocytes and Allows for Neuronal Remyelination and Symptom Mitigation in Multiple Sclerosis
Tadayoshi King Littleton, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Interindividual Vulnerability: Understanding Basal Differences in Addiction
Jeremiah John Mondragon Locquiao, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Development of the mammalian auditory sensory epithelium: Insight on hair cell regeneration
Hillary Creagh Lyons, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Hybrid Invasion: The role of multiple introductions and hybridization in the evolution of invasiveness
Nora Claire Elizabeth Maddy, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Mammalian Hair Cell Regeneration: Possible Therapeutic Techniques for the Inner Ear
Hunter Lenon Martin, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Autism and the reward pathway
Chloe Alexandra Meisner, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Binge eating disorder, obesity, and the dopamine reward pathway
Morgan Calvin Moy, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Alzheimer's Disease: Is Combination Therapy Currently the Best Treatment?
Lenesia Leann Nelson, Biology (BIOL) 2011, The Ventral Striatum and the Reward Pathway
Anna Hare Newman, Biology (BIOL) 2011, Investigating flowering in Chamaecrista fasciculata: Unpacking genetic and environmental influences
Anna Hare Newman, Biology (BIOL) 2011, The gene regulatory model of floral induction in Arabidopsis thaliana: distinct pathways or interconnected web?
