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<strong>INQUIRY</strong> • Volume 19, 2015 significant physiological advantages over continuous aerobic exercise (CAE). These advantages include significantly higher average heart rates; increased levels of circulating catecholamines, cortisol and growth hormones; increased lactate levels; and enhanced blood glucose utilization (Boutcher, 2011). While the enhanced cardiopulmonary benefits of HIIT are well known, it is unknown if HIIT has superior cognitive, mood and brain-related benefits relative to CAE. Through a randomized controlled trial, this study examines whether the enhanced physical benefits of HIIT are accompanied by enhanced cognitive and mood benefits at the behavioral and electrophysiological level. 48 subjects will conduct a variety of mood questionnaires and neuropsychological tasks while having their brain signals recorded through electroencephalography (EEG) both before and after either a 44-minute session of HIIT, CAE or walking (control). As HIIT produces heightened physiological responses over CAE, it is hypothesized that an acute bout of HIIT will also produce greater mood, cognitive and electrophysiological enhancements over an acute bout of CAE. Inhibition of Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Kinase (CAMKK): Effects on Akt Signaling and Fear Memory Processing Candan Yasemin Eren, Neural Science Sponsor: Professor Thomas Franke, Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase (CaMKK) is involved in many signaling pathways and important for learning and memory. CaMKK phosphorylates the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinases (CaMKI, CaMKIV) during memory consolidation and synaptic plasticity (Wayman et al., 2008). Akt, a serine-threonine kinase, is involved in biochemical pathways that promote cell survival. Mutations in the human AKT1 gene have been found in familial schizophrenia (Huang et al., 2014). Some of the key features of schizophrenia are decreased cell function, cell survival, decreased long term potentiation (LTP) and impairments in fear memory tasks (Shen et al., 2008). Akt has a similar activation-loop site as CaMKI but little is known about CaMKK-dependent regulation of Akt. This study hypothesized that CaMKK inhibition will result in Akt inhibition in the brain. To see the impact of CaMKK on Akt regulation, one dose of the CaMKK inhibitor STO-609 will be injected bilaterally into the hippocampus of mice and decreased Akt phosphorylation will be measured. STO-609 will also be injected into the dorsal hippocampus of mice prior to their training in Pavlovian fear conditioning. The effect of CaMKK inhibition on fear memory acquisition will be tested. Freezing responses to conditioned auditory and contextual cues require both the amygdala and hippocampus, respectively. After hippocampal CaMKK inhibitor injection, it is expected that impaired contextual fear memory will be seen when Akt is inhibited. Such a result may suggest CaMKK-dependent Akt regulation as a therapeutic target in schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric diseases. Implementation of Binary and Inducible Transgenic Systems in the Tunicate Ciona intestinalis Anthony Filipovic, Biology Sponsor: Professor Christiaen Lionel, Biology A large variety of heterologous transgenic systems are used in research on model organisms. Established systems include two-component binary systems (e.g., split-Gal4, LexA, TrpR and QF) and hormone-inducible systems (e.g., LexPR and XVE). Some of these transgenic systems can be turned into repressible systems by adding a repressor, such as Gal4-80 and QF-QS. This project aims to determine which of the available transgenic systems show successful expression at low toxicity in Ciona and to characterize their temporal and spatial expression patterns. Ciona embryos will be transfected by electroporation and fixed for direct visualization. The amount of reporter expression will be visualized with fluorescence microscopy, and toxicity of transgenes assessed by the extent of change to nuclear morphology. The ultimate goal is to develop protocols for effective use of heterologous transgenic systems in Ciona. For these viable transgenic systems, the author expects to identify optimal transgene amount, onset and duration of expression, efficacy of spatial control and optimal hormone concentrations for inducible systems. These systems offer the potential for tighter regulation of transgene expression over that of more traditional systems such as Gal4. This would contribute greatly to developmental research on the chordate model C. intestinalis. Triplex-Directed Recognition of a Self-Assembled 3D DNA Crystal Nina Fisher, Chemistry Sponsor: Professor Nadrian Seeman, Chemistry DNA can self-assemble into three-dimensional structures through Watson-Crick base pairing via sticky ends. Triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) have recently been shown to bind to a DNA tensegrity triangle motif by forming base triplets at an oligopurine site (Zheng, Birktoft et al., 2009; Liu, Wang et al., 2004; Rusling, Chandrasekaran et al., 2014). Since it has been demonstrated that TFOs can also bind to oligopurine sites spanning crossovers within double-crossover motifs, this study examines whether the same is true for the triangle (Rusling, Nadhakumar et al., 2012). Both asymmetrical and symmetrical triangles were redesigned to include a 81
New York University • College of Arts and Science binding site(s) for the TFO. Preliminary results obtained on non-denaturing (native) gel analysis recently have shown that both the asymmetric and symmetric motifs can form with the correct target size. In addition, a 13-mer TFO was also capable of binding to both triangles resulting in a shift in the triangles’ mobility. The ability of the modified triangles to self-assembly into 3D crystals was also examined and preliminary results suggest that they are capable of crystal growth. The binding of the triplex strand to the asymmetric system has been assessed via the addition of a TFO containing a cy5 dye. The use of TFOs could enable further specific modifications to the triangle motif or possibly stabilize and reinforce the sticky-end interactions between neighboring tensegrity triangles. Nikola: Automatic Electricity Reduction through Behavioral Learning and Smart Energy Sensors Robert Gardner, Computer Science, Economics Adam Jackrel, Computer Science Sponsor: Professor Lakshminarayanan Subramanian, Computer Science Saving energy is hard. New York City has among the highest cost of electricity in the country, which makes conservation a priority. Consumers lack the information and the incentive to use electricity more efficiently. “Nikola” is a sophisticated energy management policy engine that automatically reduces excess energy usage with minimal disruption to users. To generate these policies, the system predicts user behavior from data collected by energy and environmental sensors. The energy sensors measure the power consumption of connected devices while the environmental sensors gather local conditions such as temperature, humidity and light. Both transmit to the central server. The sensors are ultra low-powered, are connected wirelessly and do not modify existing infrastructure. The system is designed to be minimally intrusive to the users and not interfere with their daily routines. Disaggregation models will generate device specific profiles in order to be able to accurately determine the kind of device connected and optimize the generated policies for that device. The system was tested in small deployments in New York University’s Computer Science Department and in the Leslie Entrepreneurship Lab. Finally, the utility of these automated energy management policies was demonstrated in synthetic experiments involving variable pricing models offered by Con Edison. In this field, existing research has focused on improving the quality of data collection. However, this research explores new ways of automatically reducing wasteful energy practices without action required from the user. Heat Stress Response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae MSN2 and MSN4 Mutants Daniella Giardina, Biology Sponsor: Professor Mark Siegal, Biology In a colony of genetically identical Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast) cells, growth rate is expected to have a normal distribution. However, there is consistently an abnormally large population of slow-growing cells in each colony, and these cells happen to be more resistant to heat stress. Two stress response proteins, Msn2 and Msn4, may play a role in the cell’s heat resistance. To study the relationship between Msn2, Msn4, and heat stress, a series of heat shock experiments was conducted. Four strains of yeast—non-mutant, ∆msn2 (lacking the MSN2 gene), ∆msn4, ∆msn2∆msn4—were kept at room temperature (control), heated to 51 o C or heated to 51.5 o C. By comparing the growth of the heat shocked cells to that of the control cells, the survival rates of the different strains could be calculated. Variation between strains illuminates how Msn2 and Msn4 (or the lack thereof) affect survival and growth in heat stress environments. Knocking out MSN2 and/or MSN4 is expected to weaken the stress response of the cell and make it more susceptible to damage. Targeting a similar mechanism in tumor cells may allow scientists to more easily treat cancer. Genetic Screen to Elucidate Meiotic Inter-Homologue Bias for Repair Ashima Goel, Biology Sponsor: Professor Andreas Hochwagen, Biology Meiosis is a process that results in the formation of haploid gametes from diploid progenitor cells. Crossover recombination between homologous chromosomes is essential for the proper assortment of chromosomes during meiosis and is initiated by programmed DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). A poorly understood inter-homologue (IH) bias pathway during meiosis promotes DSB repair through homologous recombination between chromosomes. The goal of this project is to identify novel mutations affecting meiotic DNA repair patterns by performing a mutagenesis screen in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This screen is based on the premise that in the presence of active IH bias, deletion of the DMC1 gene—a gene required for strand invasion and DSB repair—arrests meiotic progression. However, in the absence of IH bias (upon mutagenesis), strains with a dmc1Δ mutation are able to sporulate. In order to immediately uncover bypassing mutations, an engineered haploid strain that is competent for sporulation is used for screening. Point mutations generated by EMS mutagenesis that bypass the checkpoint arrest and sporulate are selected based on the spores’ ability to survive diethyl ether treatment. Spores that pass this primary screen will be analyzed 82
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