Interdisciplinary

COVID-19 hidden stories

Despite the vast studies that exist concerning marginalized populations and discriminatory concerns within the healthcare system, there are little to none focusing on the first-hand narratives of Hispanic individuals who face barriers to accessing healthcare services. Most importantly, there is not enough research that delves into the perspectives of Hispanic immigrants who have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, this study, “COVID-19 Hidden Stories,” served to extensively analyze and investigate the various factors that play a role in accessibility to healthcare that has yet been captured by the media. This investigative study was a platform for Hispanic individuals within the Detroit and Grand Rapids communities of Michigan and from Chicago, Illinois, to share their experiences with COVID-19. Through non-contact interviews covering aspects of COVID-19, substantial journalistic research was gathered and analyzed to draw commonalities between the respective recounts of the interviewees; by far, there were high relevance of themes such as loss of family, strained health, financial constraints, and fear of deportation amidst the pandemic. Through this research, there were several barriers and factors that resulted in the silencing of Hispanic immigrants during this difficult period, suggesting a systemic fault in the American healthcare system. Their stories humanize existing statistics and add nuance to the understanding of the intersectionality between immigration policies and health care services. In documenting first-hand accounts of Hispanic individuals, these stories will be compiled to create a podcast that will help the Hispanic community trudge through isolation during the pandemic.

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Role of STING pathway in photosensitivity and interferon-kappa responses in keratinocytes

jmusai

Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (CLE) is an autoimmune disorder marked by scarring skin lesions, often triggered by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light resulting in a significant loss of quality of life for CLE patients. Better understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving CLE is needed as currently, the lack of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapies for CLE presents a fundamental challenge in the treatment of CLE patients. The outermost layer of the skin is known as the epidermis, which consists of mostly keratinocytes. Interferon kappa (IFN-?), a member of the type I IFN family, is constitutively expressed in keratinocytes. IFNK overexpression in lesional lupus skin predisposes CLE patients to inflammation and photosensitivity, thus it is an intriguing target for novel therapeutics. Previously, we had observed a significant delay in IFNK expression relative to IFN-ß, another member of the type I IFN family, following stimulation with poly-IC, an activator of the antiviral TLR3 signaling pathway, or UVB. In addition, upregulation of IFNK was dependent on STING, an endoplasmic reticulum adaptor protein. We thus sought to further understand the regulation of different IFNs in keratinocytes. Using CRISPR-Cas9, we generated knockout keratinocytes for IFNB expression. Here, we reveal that in the absence of IFN-ß, IFNK expression is significantly reduced in keratinocytes treated with poly-IC or UVB. Elimination of mediators downstream of the type I IFN receptor, such as STAT1, also abrogated IFNK but not IFNB expression. Further, IFNK, but not IFNB, expression remained dependent on STING signaling upon UVB-irradiation. Given this information, therefore, we suggest that early triggering of IFNB is required to drive a STING-mediated upregulation of IFNK. Currently, we are examining whether this regulation is aberrant in CLE vs. healthy control keratinocytes, which would provide a mechanism for dysfunctional overexpression of IFNK in CLE skin. If so, this pathway would serve as a target for reducing inflammation and photosensitivity in CLE patients.

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Targeting Candida albicans Virulence

kmetzner

Fungal pathogens like Candida albicans can cause devastating human disease. Treatment of candidemia is complicated by the high rate of resistance to common antifungal therapies and the toxicity of many antifungal compounds due to the conservation between essential mammalian and fungal proteins. As the number of immunocompromised and hospitalized patients vulnerable to fungal infections increases, it is essential to discover new targets and approaches for targeting these deadly fungal pathogens. An attractive new approach for antimicrobial development is to target virulence factors; these are non-essential processes that are required for the organism to cause disease in human hosts. This approach expands the potential target space while reducing the selective pressure towards resistance, as these targets are not essential for viability. In C. albicans, the key virulence factor is a morphogenetic switch from yeast to filaments. We have developed a high-throughput image analysis pipeline that can readily distinguish between yeast and filamentous growth in C. albicans and identify cytotoxic molecules. Based on this clear phenotypic assay, we have screened compounds for their ability to inhibit this important virulence factor or cause fungistatic or fungicidal effects. Also, to avoid host cell toxicity, the compounds screened are compounds used as treatments for other medicinal purposes. We have begun to use these compounds to screen for resistant mutants of C. albicans, and in the future we will use these resistant mutants to leverage the tractable genetic systems of C. albicans to determine mechanism of action, thus allowing for targeted development of new antifungal therapies. Overall, this approach will build a platform for rapidly developing new molecules for antifungal therapeutics.

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Searching for Single Event Upsets in Muon Spectrometer Data for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC

lugatop

ATLAS is one of the four major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It ia general-purpose particle physics experiment run by physicists from all around the world. ATLAS physicists test the predictions of the Standard Model, which encapsulates our current understanding of what the building blocks of matter are and how they interact. These studies can lead to ground-breaking discoveries, such as that of the Higgs boson, physics beyond the Standard Model, and the development of new theories to better describe our universe. ATLAS is made up of many different instruments and subsystems, and this research focuses specifically on the Muon Spectrometer. Specifically within the Muon Spectrometer, this research analyzes data from Monitored Drift Tubes (MDTs). In short, muons are one of the very few things that get through the first three detectors within ATLAS, and MDTs work to trace the curved path of the muon as it passes through, which then allows for the calculation of its momentum. MDTs are filled with gas, and as the muon passes through a number of tubes, it leaves a trail of charged electrons that drift to the center of each tube. Recording the time of this drift process is what leads to the tracing the muon’s path. The goal of this research is to understand the issues that may develop in these drift tubes while everything is running and data is being taken. An example of this is a Single Event Upset (SEU). SEUs occur when a large energy deposition from one of the charged particles disrupts the functioning of the electronics, specifically, a state change of a logical element (a memory bit). The study will produce and compare a large variety of histograms from the beginning and ends of runs, and checking for any discrepancies. The research will look at different types of issues and their frequencies in 2018 proton-proton collision data.

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Eye tracking to determine cognitive load during programming practice

shahpari

Novice programmers need scaffolded instruction to maximize their ability to learn how to program. Parsons problems are an increasingly popular solution. These problems require learners to place mixed-up code blocks in the correct order to solve a problem. We are conducting think-aloud sessions and a within-subjects experiment to understand the efficiency and cognitive load of solving adaptive Parsons problems versus writing the equivalent (isomorphic) code. We are also investigating the impact of prior programming experience on students’ experiences and changes in students’ self-efficacy. This study will report on cognitive load and self-efficacy ratings before and after the task for the two problem times. We expect students to exhibit greater learning gains on fixing code with errors when solving Parsons problems with distractors than without. We also expect to find a correlation between self-efficacy and cognitive load ratings. The implications of this study are to improve programming learning tools for novice programmers.

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Species Distribution Modeling of Pseudopipra pipra in the Neotropics

wangca

The Neotropics is one of the most species-rich regions in the world (Condon et al., 2008). Its diverse landscape and complex history has allowed for population isolation and subsequent diversification (e.g. Berv et al., 2021). While our knowledge of phylogenetic diversity in the Neotropics has dramatically increased in recent years (e.g. Berv et al., 2021; Tello et al., 2009), our understanding of how species’ have adapted across a myriad of climate regimes in the Neotropics is less well understood (Weir, 2006).

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Predictions of Core Dynamo Formation in Super-Earths

cfweber

As we continue to search the galaxy for habitable planets, our attention has turned to super-Earths, large rocky planets with the potential to support life. The increase in size and mass is expected to change several significant properties, including the planet’s magnetic field. Planetary magnetic dynamos are crucial for life to develop, and scientists have long debated the mechanics of dynamo formation and operation. Utilizing data on the planetary composition in our solar system and relevant material properties under high pressures and high temperatures, we will predict the likelihood for the development of a super-Earth dynamo. Earth, the largest of the four rocky planets in the Solar System, may have sustained its dynamo the longest, but Mercury, the smallest, is the only other planet to have a still-functioning dynamo. This indicates that size is only one of many factors that impacts dynamo evolution. Thus, various corroborating effects must be accounted for in our analysis. To model the internal dynamics of exoplanets, samples of core material will be compressed to high pressures. The experiments will offer data on whether a planetary core would be molten, how it would transfer heat and undergo changes with pressure. Additionally, models will be created to form predictions about the impact of mass, radius, and other properties on the formation of core dynamos. Once the extent of internal convection is defined, the model will allow for the estimation of a range of masses or radii for a super-Earth to produce a magnetic field.

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C++ Programming for Data Packaging

crus

The University of Michigan’s Direct Brain Interface Laboratory has a backlog of raw data that needs to be systematically processed and saved into a standardized format for later analysis. This project was to create a new Graphical User Interface (GUI) in MATLAB which would allow any user to simply process and package the raw BCI data. The GUI also needs to take in information gathered from surveys for each session for each participant and save them for later use. Using MATLAB’s design environment App Designer, a new GUI was created that incorporated code from previous data packaging projects. The GUI currently allows the user to load in raw data then process it, and administer and save surveys or load in survey data that was administered elsewhere, then save all of the processed data together in a standardized form. This new GUI will work for the lab’s data collected during the keyboard replacement study, with the ability for data from different protocols to be added in the future.

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C++ Programming for Brain-Computer Interface Evaluation of Choice-making

dharivib

A Direct Brain Interface provides a direct connection between the human brain and various other kinds of technologies. The University of Michigan- Direct Brain Interface (UM-DBI) Laboratory’s current work focuses on creating practical clinical tools for people with physical disabilities. These tools include electroencephalogram (EEG)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The UM-DBI laboratory has been working on software for cognitive testing and is creating additional test question formats . As a single term project, I have limited goals to achieve in a short time frame. I have picked up on this project and am working on improving the overall layout of the question formats and adding more usability features to the software. The existing code for the BCI to generate questions for cognitive testing is written in C++ and uses the Visual Studio 2010 compiler. It uses Cmake and QT creator to simplify the GUI application development. I used an agile method to work on improving the code and met with my mentor regularly to fix issues. As a result of my work, the lab will now be able to skip certain training pages that are not required during the testing process. The program instead will start from the base level of questions. There are parameter error checking features that are still being implemented. Once completed, it will lower the chances of the software crashing while in use and will make things run smoother.

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