Undergraduate Research Day 2024

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/31825

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    Understanding the Extracellular Matrix Structure of Lymph Nodes During Immune Reponse
    (2024) Patolia, Reina; Abbouchi, Yassmin; Ramirez, Ann; Maisel, Katharina
    Lymph nodes (LNs) are integral in the human immune system, as they facilitate the movement of lymphocytes to areas of the body experiencing immunological challenges. During inflammation, research has shown that LNs expand up to 10 times their initial volumetric size and go through major changes. Most importantly, it is known that the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the LN contributes to its structure in addition to cell activities such as proliferation and migration. With the ECM being critical in LN function, we hope to understand how it changes throughout the stages of inflammation. To do this, we are optimizing a procedure to image lymph node samples and quantify the ECM’s interstitial spacing through the inflammatory response. While conducting this project, mice are injected with lipopolysaccharide (the cellular wall component of gram-negative bacteria), and LNs are collected during the 14-day inflammatory period. The tissue is sliced and stained using immunofluorescence. The images acquired from a confocal microscope are then processed using Fiji software and put into a gap analysis MATLAB code, provided by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute. After converting the interstitial space and ECM to zeros and ones (binary), the code quantifies the empty space and structures within the ECM. This information allows us to see how interstitial spacing within the ECM during inflammation correlates to the LNs’ mechanical properties. This insight into the inner workings of LNs will provide more details about their physiology and how changes in architecture, due to disease and age, can ultimately change LN immune function.
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    Assessing Porcine Gastric and Trachea Mucin Antimicrobial Activity Against Pseudomonas Aeruginosa
    (2024) Sokol, Zoe; Yang, Sydney; Duncan, Gregg
    Mucus is present throughout the human body, lining all wet epithelia, making it a native, familiar material to the innate immune system. The biocompatibility of mucus opens the possibility for therapeutic applications. Existing research has shown that exposure to mucus triggers the downregulation of virulence genes in some bacteria species and rapidly disintegrates biofilms. The aim of this project is to test the innate antimicrobial activity of porcine gastric mucin (PGM) and porcine trachea mucin (PTM) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We examined the antimicrobial activity of mucins by quantifying bacteria growth and viability at numerous time points after mucin treatment. To test this hypothesis, PAO1 cultures were grown in LB broth overnight. Mucin was added to the planktonic PAO1 cultures at various concentrations, 8%, 4%, 2%, 1%, and 0.5% w/v, with each concentration tested in triplicates. At the 3 hr, 6 hr, and 24 hr timepoints after mucin addition, samples were taken from each culture, diluted, and spot-plated. The plates were grown overnight and counted the next day to calculate the colony-forming units. Preliminary results suggest that increasing mucin concentration correlates with decreased bacterial growth, as hypothesized. Additionally, PGM possibly shows a greater degree of antimicrobial effect than PTM. This research has a great potential impact. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen often developing antibiotic resistance making it extremely difficult to treat and a high priority for novel treatment development. Therefore, a novel treatment method against P. aeruginosa can have broad implications and improve bacterial infection treatments.