Interdisciplinary – Page 42 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Interdisciplinary

Active for Life with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): Physical activity and anxiety

Individuals with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), tend to live a sedentary life which can increase the risk of mortality and heighten symptoms of COPD. In attempting to prevent this sedentary lifestyle in COPD patients, many exercise programs focus on vigorous physical activity which is not sustainable in the long run. The Principal Investigator of this study, Janet Larson, developed an exercise program, called Active Life. The Active Life program emphasizes light physical activity for patients with COPD. The study conducted is a randomized controlled clinical trial where COPD participants are randomly placed into two groups, the Active for Life intervention and the control intervention. The study is conducted to determine if the Active Life intervention is an effective program in promoting physical activity in COPD patients. The participants in the Active Life intervention complete an exercise program including functional circuit training (FCT), health education, and self-regulation strategies. The participants in the control group complete an exercise program that includes chair exercises, relaxation promotion, and health education. The participants complete 10 weeks of lab-based exercise, then a one-year follow-up which measures activity levels and home-based exercises. Through the data collected from the Active Life study, I decided to look into the effect that physical activity has on anxiety levels in patients with moderate to severe COPD. In the study, data was collected on anxiety levels throughout the study as well as different measurements of physical fitness and activity. I examined the long-term (52-week post-intervention) impact of light physical activity on self-reported anxiety compared to the control group.

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Effect of aging on human induced pluripotent stem cell generation

Coronary stents are used to relieve patient symptoms of angina, or chest pain, due to obstruction of blood flow in coronary arteries. After stents are implanted, endothelial cells grow over the stents. Before that occurs, patients are at risk for developing a clot, or thrombus, inside of the stent. We are seeking to find novel ways to accelerate the coronary stent endothelialization process. We aim to understand if human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC-ECs) are a viable option for pre-endothelializing stents prior to implantation. In addition to aiming to determine stent growth properties on coronary stents, we aim to discover if there is a phenotypic difference between the endothelial cells created from hiPSC-ECs taken from younger and older patients by using a sample of their mononuclear blood cells. We are currently taking blood samples from older subjects having a procedure in the cardiac catheterization lab. After obtaining consent for the patient, approximately 8 mL of the patient’s blood is drawn from the patient’s IV into a vial with an anticoagulant. The vial is centrifuged for 30 minutes at 1800 RCF in order to isolate the mononuclear blood cells. Afterward, the sample is transported to the Cardiovascular Regeneration Core Laboratory, where the cells are converted to hiPSC-ECs and placed on commercially-available coronary artery stents to observe their growth. Thus far, one blood sample has been recently collected, with results from the cardiovascular regeneration core lab pending. Separately, subjects in the young age group will be recruited through the www.UMHealthResearch.org website. In total, we aim to test cells from blood samples acquired from 20 different patients over the course of the year. Potentially, hiPSC-ECs from older patients can be reprogrammed to more closely resemble cells from younger patients.

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Promote breast and Cervical Cancer Screening in Asian American Women of Metro Detroit, MI

Breast and cervical cancer is one of the most common diseases among Asian American women; thus, it is extremely important for women to be vigilant about breast cancer prevention, by being well aware of the habits they must exercise such as regularly attending screenings and consulting healthcare providers. However, Asian American women are statistically less likely to receive mammograms and pap smears than non-Asian Americans. Bangladesh-American immigrant women specifically tend to have high breast cancer rates, as there is a lack of awareness for breast cancer screenings and little motivation to pursue screenings and treatment in Bangladesh, and these patterns translate after immigration, causing Bangladesh-American women to continue to have these mentalities. Additionally, due to a lack of English proficiency, Bangladesh American women are less susceptible to adapting to new mentalities and more fearful of taking action. The purpose of this project is to better understand the practices of breast and cervical cancer screenings in Bangladesh American women in the Detroit metropolitan area, and the role that bilingual community health workers play in facilitating Bangladesh Americans in the enrollment of the Michigan Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Navigation Program (BC3NP).

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Gamification of Diversity Training in STEM: Testing the Efficacy of the Academe Dream Board Game

Now, more than ever, diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the forefront of the change happening in society. Our project explores and presents current structural discrimination, aggressions, and inequities people of a vast array of communities face every day. The project itself is important because it not only displays these degrading structures in broad daylight, but it also facilitates discussion between people to help open their eyes to privileges they hold, or at the very least to recognize that these things do in fact happen in real life. As of now, the project has been developed (or is currently in the process of polishing over minute details) and is almost ready to perform pilot testing. The project consists of a “board game” or rather virtual game (due to COVID-19) which has people choose character cards, action cards, and game upgrades – simulating a competitive game atmosphere. The characters themselves are intended to be very unrelated from the player so as to produce a new perspective to consider. Inevitably, the players that make it the furthest/complete the game first are the more privileged communities of people and the people that fall behind are the players that experience discrimination in various settings. Because this study is in the stage of development, we haven’t collected much usable data – this will take place soon this Winter 2021 semester and in the coming 2021-2022 academic year. The hope is that our findings will be one of the contributing factors to much-needed change within the STEM field (specifically with the IRB and research mentorship).

Gamification of Diversity Training in STEM: Testing the Efficacy of the Academe Dream Board Game Read More »

Gamification of Diversity Training in STEM: Testing the Efficacy of the Academe Dream Board Game

Now, more than ever, diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the forefront of the change happening in society. Our project explores and presents current structural discrimination, aggressions, and inequities people of a vast array of communities face every day. The project itself is important because it not only displays these degrading structures in broad daylight, but it also facilitates discussion between people to help open their eyes to privileges they hold, or at the very least to recognize that these things do in fact happen in real life. As of now, the project has been developed (or is currently in the process of polishing over minute details) and is almost ready to perform pilot testing. The project consists of a “board game” or rather virtual game (due to COVID-19) which has people choose character cards, action cards, and game upgrades – simulating a competitive game atmosphere. The characters themselves are intended to be very unrelated from the player so as to produce a new perspective to consider. Inevitably, the players that make it the furthest/complete the game first are the more privileged communities of people and the people that fall behind are the players that experience discrimination in various settings. Because this study is in the stage of development, we haven’t collected much usable data – this will take place soon this Winter 2021 semester and in the coming 2021-2022 academic year. The hope is that our findings will be one of the contributing factors to much-needed change within the STEM field (specifically with the IRB and research mentorship).

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The Detroit Square: Is There an Engagement Process?

The Museums and Publics project is looking at how public spaces are integrated in urban cities. We are trying to answer the broad question of “Who decides the future of the city?” We want to understand how the futures of post-industrial cities are determined; more specifically, we want to understand the decision making and design process and how that is shown in the final built environment. Currently, we are following the design and engagement process of the Detroit Square. The aim of the Square is to recreate the cultural district in Midtown Detroit and link the existing cultural institutions together in one space. The goal of the project is to create a film and answer the question, “What will the designers implement in the design process that will allow the Detroit community to have a voice?” This study will try to answer this question through qualitative interviews over Zoom with the project designers and the Detroit community. The interviews will help us understand if there will actually be public engagement or if it is only said for show. This film will also continue the conversation of who gets to be a part of the design process and start to hold designers accountable for not engaging the long-term residents of the city. As the Detroit Square is still in the beginning stages, future researchers on this project will continue to follow along with the design process and later with the building process.

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Transcription of Historical Archival Letters from UM’s Excavations in Egypt

One of the lesser-known gems of the University of Michigan is our extensive Papyrology Collection with approximately 18,000 texts and documents. A large portion of this collection was acquired by Professor Kelsey through his collaboration with Dr. David L. Askren in the early 1900s. This study allows researchers to better understand the acquisition of these papyri by transcribing the correspondence (in the form of letters, cablegrams, telegrams, etc.) between these two men into Google Docs in order for the information to be searchable on the internet. An analysis of this correspondence as they are being transcribed reveals the relationships between other notable men who played a significant role in the extensiveness of our collection today, such as Mr. Charles L. Freer, Maurice Nahman, and B. P. Grenfell. These transcriptions add to our understanding of how The University of Michigan’s Papyrology Collection came to be, broaden our knowledge of 20th-century travel and correspondence, and will contribute to further research about similar topics.

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Systemic discovery of rare, pathogenic, germline variants in pediatric neuroblastoma.

Pediatric cancers often appear pathologically similar to their adult counterparts, yet they have different genetic makeups. Germline variants are common in pediatric cancers with approximately 7-8% of malignancies carrying a germline mutation.While it is understood that germline variants are important pathogenic drivers of pediatric cancers, there have been few studies to systematically identify pathogenic variants in pediatric tumors. Identifying pathogenic germline variants will play a central role in advancing understandings of pediatric cancer. This project seeks to systematically identify statically significant rare, pathogenic germline variants from a cohort of pediatric nuroblastoma tumors. Both patient tumor and genetic information was sequenced using with a matched normal. Variants were then annotated to produce a list of calls that were then matched with relevant database information when applicable. Following annotation of variants, functions were developed in R in order to sort and filter which variants are germline, pathogenic by both known association and protein impact, and rare using a GNOMAD allele frequency of less than 0.005. A separate filter was applied for variant quality. The resulting high confidence calls were then queried against databases to identify their relevance in nuroblastoma. Finally, the rare, pathogenic, germline variants were visualized using various plots. The project has yet to finish, however we hypothesize a moderate number of rare pathogenic germline variants to be present in each tumor sample based upon preliminary data. Identification of these rare variants will aid in oncologist’s understanding of the genetics of neuroblastomas and inform the development of personalized medicine

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Promoting Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening among Asian American Women in West MI

Breast and cervical cancer disparities are growing issues among Michigan’s Asian American communities due to various barriers. Early detection and screening play an essential role in decreasing cancer morbidity and mortality, nevertheless, Asian American women are less likely to receive pap smears and mammograms due to language, cultural, socioeconomic, and healthcare access barriers. This reveals the pressing need for services tailored for ethnic groups to increase breast and cervical cancer screening for Asian American (AA) women in Western Michigan regions. The purpose of this study was to explore and compare the differences in perceived barriers for breast and cervical cancer screening and study the roles bilingual community health workers play in facilitating three Asian American groups. Specifically, our study includes Chinese, Vietnamese, and Nepali patients in Western Michigan enrolling in the Michigan Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Navigation Program (BC3NP). Research Questions are 1. What are the major barriers related to receiving breast and cervical cancer screening among AA women? and 2. What are the roles that bilingual community health workers in Western Michigan have in facilitating women’s enrollment into the Michigan BC3NP. Tracking form that measures demographic including insurance status, age, as well as screening status and results, will be collected. The results and conclusion of the survey are yet to be determined. The results will yield evidence-based recommendations to effectively promote breast and cervical cancer screening among AA women in Western Michigan, ultimately increasing screening rates in this population.

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Political Beliefs and Bias in Social Network Formation

This project investigates how social networks change during divisive political discussion. In a behavioral experiment, we place student participants in a random communication network with up to 20 others. Participants discuss campus social issues over the course of several rounds. At each round, participants are exposed to differing opinions of their connections and make decisions to “rewire” their network, or to add, drop, or request new social connections to communicate with in the next round. We measure how individuals make these network decisions at both the individual and group level. We also experimentally manipulate a social cue that reveals the closeness of another person in relation to the participant. Experimental sessions are conducted remotely and anonymously, simulating interaction as it might occur on social media. Our data help understand the biases that lead people to form echo chambers, which may contribute to downstream consequences of biased information sharing, misinformation spread, and misbeliefs about public opinion.

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