The Pingry Community Research (PCR) Journal
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The Pingry Community Research (PCR) Journal A Journal of Scientific Research at The Pingry School Volume 2: Spring 2014 Page 1: Siemens and Intel WinnersContents By Akash Kumar’17 2: How Naked Mole Rats May Help the War on Cancer By Brad Hong’16 3: The Role of Alcohol Dosage on HPA Axis Functionality By Jackson Artis’16, Julia Friend’15, Avery Hatfield’14, and Luke De 5: The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Anxiety in Danio rerio By Stacy Chen’14, Kathleen Murray’15, and Allison Yu’14 7: Soil Variations to Maximize Arabidopsis thaliana Yield By Erica Cheung’14, Tammy Gu’14, Rabia Khan’14 9: Melanin Protects Sordaria fimicola Spores From Ultraviolet Light By Katherine Curran’14 11: The Effects of Various Iron Concentrations on Algal Growth By Rachel Davis’14 and Melanie Naratil’14 13: Recycling Waste CO2 to Grow Algae By Sofia Deak’14, Alli Dorneo’14, and Ben Kaminoff’14 15: The Effect of UV Radiation on Bacterial Tolerance in Escherichia coli By Natalie Gilbert’14, Stephanie Yeh’14, and Aigner Mizzelle’14 16: Are We as Smart as We Think We Are? By Lauren Graves’14 18: CG-3634 Notch Phenotype Screen By Amol Kapoor’14 21: Purification of Salmonella Transcription Factors HilD and HilC By Teddy Leithead’14, Elizabeth Kraeutler’15, Jessica Day, F. John Kull, and Morgan D’Ausilio 22: Modeling ToxT to Explain How Cholera Toxicity can be Regulated by Fatty Acids: The 2014 Pingry SMART Team Project By Rachel Wu’16 and Emily Kwon’16 25: Effect of Methane Digesters on Global Greenhouse Gases By Pradyuth Maganti’15 and Matthew Rice’15 27: Effect of Coffee Grounds on Lettuce Growth By Rebecca Muller’14 and Lauren Ru’14 29: Comparing the Effects of Simple and Complex Fish Diets on Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) Growth By Christina Ou’15 Page 30: Using Olive Oil to Improve the Effectiveness of Nepetalactone as an Insect Repellant By Adriano Taglietti’14 and Charlie Wollmuth’14 32: Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase S (PTPRS) Is a Growth Suppressor in Lung Adenocarcinoma Cell Lines By L. George Zachary’14, Alexandra Snyder, Logan Walsh, and Timothy Chan Cover photo courtesy Gianna Arata’15 For Materials and Methods sections, please visit www.pingry.org/pcr Lucy Miao’16 1 Siemens and Intel Winners By Akash Kumar’17 The iRT, Pingry’s own research team, cur- brain. The test uses stress levels to determine addic- rently has 18 members who have gone through a tough tion. A project testing the effects of a particular drug selection process to become part of the team. In order against the motility prostate cancer cells is led by to get onto the team, students must pass a select list of Karuppur in collaboration with the Robert Wood John- criteria. Those students who actively ask questions at son Medical Center. Another project, led by Kapoor, Journal Club are put into a pool of possible candidates. is testing the Wnt and Notch pathways in fruit flies, They are allowed to participate as temporary members in collaboration with New York University. Finally, for a semester in order to see what the iRT is like. As Leithead is experimenting with salmonella cells and Mentor to Independent Molecular Biology Projects creating different strains. Mr. Luke De said, “If you don’t enjoy it, iRT will be This year, Pingry had 3 semifinalists and 1 torture.” regional finalist in the Siemens Math and Science New members are elected to the iRT by the Competition. The semifinalists were Karuppur, An- current members. The entry-level position is the drew Verdesca’15, and Kapoor. Peter Shim’15 was the “Scrub.” Scrubs help clean equipment and watch the regional finalist. Lab Heads and Minions work on the project. They Shim conducted research along with a student each have a Lab Head who they learn from. The next from Choate Rosemary Hall on Fibonacci numbers. step in the hierarchy is the “Minion.” They are func- He built upon the work of acclaimed mathematician tioning members of the team who are able to conduct Paul Erdos, who attempted to find the smallest number experiments in the lab. They have goals for each week which could not be expressed as the sum or differ- and work under the Lab Heads. The highest level is ence between a Fibonacci and a prime number. Shim the Lab Head. The Lab Heads have their own proj- discovered a 6-digit number which fit this criterion, ects that they research and work on. The current Lab making it the smallest such number. Heads are Amol Kapoor’14, Avery Vella’14, Avery Karuppur conducted an experiment on a drug Hatfield’14, Edward “Teddy” Leithead’14, Derek for prostate cancer at the Robert Wood Johnson Medi- Hong’14, Brigit Harrison’15, and Abhiram Karup- cal Center. The first experiment observed the motil- pur’15. ity of prostate cancer cells on fluorescent beads. The Each research group meets once a week with drug, PD03, was administered to half of the cells. The Mr. De and spends time in the lab conducting experi- motility of the cells was quantitatively examined by ments and completing weekly lab jobs. They are also measuring the average area that each group of cells obligated to attend Journal Club. According to Mr. cleared. When the cells moved, they would ingest the De, he is very proud of the iRT members because they fluorescent beads and leave a black trail behind. After show how high school students can dramatically affect the cells sat on the beads for 12 hours, the areas of the the scientific world. “As we get older, our minds be- dark sections were measured. The average area of the come more closed off. As children we are much more cells that were administered PD3 was significantly creative.” smaller than the area of the untreated cells. This means Mr. De puts these creative minds to work in that PD3 was successfully able to slow the spreading the form of the iRT. The iRT works in collaboration of the prostate cancer cells. PD3 made the cells flat- with many universities including Rutgers, Dartmouth, ten out by increasing intracellular actin expression Rockefeller and hopefully Princeton in the future. and stuck down, which greatly decreased the mobil- The iRT is currently working on several proj- ity. The graph below shows the results of the experi- ects. The first, led by Harrison, is testing a fertilizer, ment, with PD3 being the drug that decreased mobility which would mechanically digest food in a liquid the most. This experiment was done in collaboration form. This project is in collaboration with the Uni- with Dr. Ramsey Foty at Robert Wood Johnson Medi- versity of San Diego and Scotts Fertilizer Company. cal Center. One problem they faced was that when Another project, led by Hatfield, is using Zebra fish to the fibronectin (the protein that the cells attached to) observe the effects of alcohol addiction on the human inhibitor, HFN 7.1, was applied to these cells, they did 2 not regain the original levels of motility. Only 50% of tremely careful about the modifications. Many diseas- the motility was recovered. The current task is to find es, including cancer, can come from mutations in this out how to revive the other 50%. Karuppur currently pathway. In order to test the results of mutations, Ka- works with Verdesca and Jackson Hoit’16 in order to poor tried to delete the CG3634 gene. He could see the continue the experiments. effects of this deletion in the bristles on the fly. These feelers are part of the nervous system and abnormali- ties in them show the effects of the gene deletion. In the Wnt experiment, the effects of miRNA 310/13 were tested. These changes were shown through the wing disks of the flies instead of the bristles. Both experiments were conducted with the aid of Professor Ramanuj Dasgupta from New York University’s Lan- gone Medical Center. Kapoor conducts the research on the iRT with Sharanya Pulapura’15 and Gaurav Gup- ta’15. According to Kapoor, the biggest challenge was coming up with a good recipe for fly food. As these flies are accustomed to the laboratory, they are quite sensitive. Many of the earlier versions of the food just Kapoor also took part in the Intel Competition killed the flies. and is Pingry’s first repeat Siemens semifinalist and Overall, the students in iRT, Siemens and Intel Intel finalist. His work was on the Notch pathway and Competitions are working extremely hard to make a Wnt pathway in fruit flies. The Notch pathway con- difference in the scientific community. Their research trols the creation of several types of cells in the flies’ extends from slowing cancer to discovering addiction bodies and is also involved in intercellular communi- tests. We should appreciate their work on these topics cation processes. Any mutations in the Notch pathway and the aid they are giving to our society. could result in death, so it was necessary to be ex- How Naked Mole Rats May Help the War on Cancer By Brad Hong’16 Naked mole rats have both high life expectan- synthase (the enzyme which produces hyaluronan), cies and a marked resistance to cancer. These rats were the naked mole rat cells became susceptible to malig- the subject of Andrew Verdesca’s (V) Journal Club nant transformation and tumor formation. However, presentation. Published in Nature, the article “High- unaltered cells, which retained high hyaluronan, were molecular-mass hyaluronan mediates the cancer resis- not affected. These in vitro findings assert that the tance of the naked mole rat” identifies the mechanism effects of highly-accumulated hyaluronan discourage that provides naked mole rats with cancer resistance.