The reserach symposium held each fall the same weekend that the Berea College Trustees visit campus is an opportunity for the students and faculty to share research work with each other as well as these important campus visitors. This has been organized by the science departments in the past but participation is open to all members of the college community. In recent years we have structured the symposium with both talks and poster presentations as well as a plenary session.

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The program for Fall 2009 has not yet been set, but the event will be held on Friday, October 23rd starting after lunch and concluding with a plenary talk by Dr. Kimbery Nixon who works at the University of Kentucky in the college of pharmacy. Kim studies how alcohol interacts with neural stem cells. Students and faculty interested in this event should either contact Matthew Saderholm of the Chemistry department or Dawn Anderson of the Biology department. Alternatively a student may elect to register online via the link on the Chemistry department web server.

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We will start at 2:30 PM with a poster session in the lobby of the science building with posters from various fields (in the past this included chemistry, biology, physics, psychology, industrial arts, computer science, physical education & health, and mathematics.) We then move into dual lecture sesssions at 4 PM while continuing the posters in the lobby. Generally one seminar section is devoted to biological sciences and the other to physical sciences. Other disciplines are also welcome to give a talk and are placed in one section or the other based on research topic.

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The following students have registered to do presentations for 2009

Name	Title	Type	Major	Edit/Display
Kayla Kinker	Characterizing the Anti-tumorigenic Properties of Novel KRAS Peptide Based Inhibitors abstract	either	biology	edit data
Dikshya Bastakoty	Role of myelin-specific antibodies in PLP 91-110 induced EAE in HLA transgenic mice	oral	biology	edit data
Miluka Gunaratna	Differential responses of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells to superantigen stimulation	oral	biology	edit data
Crystal Thomas	The Role of YlaJ on the Function and Localization of SleB in Bacillus anthracis abstract	oral	biology	edit data
Theint Theint	Study of the Influenza A M2 Transmembrane Peptide and C-terminal Chain by Solid-State NMR	oral	chemistry	edit data
Kabindra Kafle	Identification of Breast Tumorigenic Cells in a Three Dimensional Bone Colonization Assay In Vitro abstract	oral	chemistry	edit data
Tichaona Chiwandamira, Sara Evans	Mathematical problems in super-resolution image reconstruction abstract	oral	mathematics	edit data
Jeta Rudi	Appalachia has got talent, but why does it flow away? A study on the determinants of brain drain among Appalachian students abstract	oral	other	edit data
Oliver Munyaradzi	A system for quantifying MutYh-mediated repair activity in mammalian cells using luminescence assays abstract	oral	other	edit data
Ramesh Adhikari	Magnetic Shielding for Neutron EDM Experiments	oral	physics	edit data
Mohammed Yusuf	Measuring Coronal Magnetic Twist Injected by Photospheric Rotation abstract	oral	physics	edit data
William Norris	The Transitions between the Normal, Superfluid, and FFLO states in a Fermi gas. abstract	oral	physics	edit data
Emily Worinkeng	A re-examination of mid-infrared ISOCAM images of HII regions in M33	oral	physics	edit data
Jimmy Rop	Etching of single Layer Graphene	oral	physics	edit data
Christine Morris	The Effects of Personality and Preparedness on Group Work abstract	oral	psychology	edit data
Adam Meador, Kelly Mouapi, Krystina Sandefur, Lee Ware, Cecilia Albers, and Adam Chambers	In-Vitro Retraction Of The Distome Body Of Proterometra macrostoma Into Its Cercarial Tail: Effect Of Selected Ions, Light, And Subsequent Cercarial Swimming abstract	poster	biology	edit data
Cecilia Albers, Adam Chambers, Adam Meador, Kelly Mouapi, Krystina Sandefur, and Lee Ware	Effect Of Praziquantel On Natural Infections Of The Snail, Elimia semicarinata (Gastropoda: Pleurocerida) With The Trematode Proterometra macrostoma (Digenea: Azygiidae) abstract	poster	biology	edit data
Alisha Holmberg	Analysis of the Defect in B-catenin in Dendritic Cells from NOD Mice	poster	biology	edit data
James Brian Hamblin	Analysis of TGF-β mediated expression of ALCAM in human prostate cancer cell lines	poster	biology	edit data
Matthew Meter	Synthesis of Proline-containing Peptides	poster	chemistry	edit data
Justin Baldwin, Clarin Ellard, Samuel Rosolina	Normal and Abnormal Binding in Carbene Complexes in Reactions of Imidazolium Salts With [Ir(H)2(PPh3)2(acetone)2]BF4	poster	chemistry	edit data
Lauren Lane	Analysis of Alpha Galactosidase, the Active Ingredient in Beano	poster	chemistry	edit data
Amanda Rood	Steroid-induced Fetal Programming Increases Reactive Oxygen Species to Angiotensin II within the Cell Nucleus	poster	chemistry	edit data
Jessica Carnes, Amy Jones, Chris Yaluma	The Development of a Nature of Science Curriculum for Teachers	poster	other	edit data
Brandon Brown	A Study of Ultra-Cold Atoms in the Strongly Interacting Regime abstract	poster	physics	edit data
Hodari-Sadiki James	Mid-infrared observations of IC133 abstract	poster	physics	edit data
Bozhidar Bashkov	The Effects of Physical Attractiveness, Gender, and Job-type on Personnel Selection abstract	poster	psychology	edit data
Megan Rodgers	Read’n, ‘Rite’n, and Residue: Using the Cloze Procedure to Explore the Persistence of Memory abstract	poster	psychology	edit data
Alyssa Seibers, Rob Smith, Debra Blaacker, Hope Reuschel	Thinking Creatively in Education: The Role of Thinking Styles and Creative Self-Efficacy abstract	poster	psychology	edit data
Caleb Wetmore	Exploration of Digital Infrared and Black & White Photography	poster	technology & industrial arts	edit data

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A system for quantifying MutYh-mediated repair activity in mammalian cells using luminescence assays
Oliver Munyaradzi
Mentor: Sheila S. David
Performed at University of California, DavisMutYh associated polyposis (MAP) is an autosomal recessive condition characterized by numerous polyps (5-100) within the colon with an attendant predisposition to colorectal cancer. MAP is the result of germ-line mutations within the MutYh gene resulting in a loss of function. Under cellular conditions, reactive oxygen species (ROS) oxidize guanine in DNA to 7,8-Dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG), a lesion which causes mutation due to the pairing of 8-oxoG with adenine during replication, with subsequent insertion of thymine opposite this adenine during the next replication cycle. MutYh “rescues” 8-oxoG lesions in DNA after the first replication cycle by removing the adenine paired to 8-oxoG, after which cytosine is inserted at the abasic site, allowing OGG1 to recognize the OG:C mismatch and excise 8-oxoG ultimately preventing a potential G:C to T:A point mutation. While previous work has studied the repair activity of MAP variants in the bacterial MutY homolog as well as in cell lines derived from MAP patients via OG:A repair assays, the repair activity of MAP variants in mammalian cells has not been explored quantitatively. Therefore, the ultimate aim of our work is to quantitatively determine the repair activity of different MAP variants in mammalian cells with an isogenic MutYh -/- background to control for other factors. For this project, we developed an assay in mammalian cells using a luciferase-expressing plasmid that was modified to contain a defined OG:A lesion such that repair of the lesion would convert a stop codon to the wild-type codon, allowing luciferase expression. We present initial data from transfection experiments that characterizes the sensitivity and accuracy of this approach.