2010 - Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity

emetic responses. It has been shown that THC
mimics some of the pharmacological actions of
anandamide, an endogenous cannabinoid
neurotransmitter. Unlike THC, the pharmacological
effects of anandamide are short lived.
Anandamide remains active only for 30 minutes
before it is degraded by the fatty acid amide
hydrolase (FAAH) enzyme, which causes
anandamide to have poor affinity for its recaptor.
To further investigate the pharmaceutical
application of anandamide, the development of a
potent and stable analog is necessary. We are
currently designing metabolically stable
anandamide analogs that will result in increased
affinity to the cannabinoid receptor and
potentiate the effects of naturally occurring
anandamide. Our goal of developing a stable
anandamide analog will provide insight about
the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of
cannabinoid receptor ligands which can be used
in future studies, in order to further investigate
the pharmaceutical applications of cannabinoids.
have minimal amount of female programmers.
Consequently, women are excluded from the
science and technology of video games because
of gender expectations and the traditional
occupations associated with gender. This paper
will demonstrate the sexism and sexual
symbolism involved in the video game industry
and the industry‘s marketing of the female body
only as inferior supporting characters compared
to their male counterparts. I will argue for the
presence and knowledge of women
programmers in the video game industry to
increase the quality of female characters and to
create gender equity in realistic gaming
experience.
A Novel Synthesis of Cannabinoids Allowing
Customization of the Side Chain
Mackenzie Alvarez, Biological Sciences
Mentor: Michael J. Marsella
Department of Chemistry
Gender Divide in Video Games: Gender
Equity
Kevin Alvarez, Women's Studies
Mentor: Caroline Tushabe
Department of Women‘s Studies
The video game industry is one of the fastest
growing entertainment industries that
specifically target male audience. Recently,
however, women have emerged as important
consumers as they are introduced to video games
at an early age or by their partners. Even so,
good role models in video games enforce male
power and male generated stereotypes of women
as exploited sex symbols. Women characters are
not incorporated into many titles and are shown
as lacking to play, thus, used as ―side
characters‖ and considered unimportant as is
evident in Crackdown 2. Playable female
characters are often unrealistic and most do not
make it to the final version of the game.
GameInformer Magazine claims that many
female characters often do not make it as
playable characters because of cost, the
―complexity‖ of making female characters, and
the lack of knowledge of female anatomy. Most
video game companies are male dominated and
The alkyl side chain of cannabinoids is known to
be crucial to the potency and effect of bioactive
cannabinoids such as THC. Structure activity
relationship experiments have been performed,
but due to the difficulty of effectively modifying
the side chain, very few of these studies have
been performed and the results are often
contradictory. Here we report a novel synthesis
of cannabinoids in which the side chain is added
at a later step in the reaction. The advantage of
this approach is that starting materials are
readily available, or can be easily synthesized.
The synthetic methodology applies to both THC
(a psychoactive cannabinoid) as well as CBC, a
cannabinoid with activity against MRSA
(Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
Fourth Annual UCR Symposium for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity
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