The Eleventh Annual Science Research Symposium University of Illinois Springfield Brookens Auditorium & Brookens 1st Floor Concourse April 15, 2011 8:30 - 9:00 INFORMATION TABLE & REFRESHMENTS Brookens Auditorium Concourse MORNING ORAL PRESENTATIONS from 9:00 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. Brookens Auditorium 9:00 - 9:10 Opening Remarks – Dr. Harshavardhan Bapat Director of the Natural Science Division, UIS Moderator : Dr. Lucia Vazquez Schedule of Morning Oral Presentations 9:10 - 9:30 (O1) VIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF ORCHID MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI IN PROLONGED COOL (4-6 C) STORAGE TO BENEFIT CONSERVATION Jenifer Fortney 9:30 - 9:50 (O2) STATUS AND TRENDS OF WHITE BASS Morone chrysops AT LA GRANGE REACH, ILLINOIS RIVER USING LONG TERM RESOURCE MONITORING PROGRAM (LTRMP) DATA Nathan T. Grider 9:50 - 10:10 (O3) PROTOCORMS OF AN EPIPHYTIC ORCHID (EPIDENDRUM AMPHISTOMUM) RECOVERED IN SITU, AND IDENTIFICATION OF ASSOCIATED MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI USING MOLECULAR MARKERS April Y. Ross 10:10 - 10:30 Refreshment Break 2 Moderator: Dr. Rebecca Landsberg 10:30 - 10:50 (O4) NFKB ACTIVATION INHIBITS PLACENTAL GROWTH FACTOR EXPRESSION AND INCREASES SOLUBLE FMS-LIKE TYROSINE KINASE RECEPTOR-1 EXPRESSION IN HUMAN TROPHOBLAST Timothy J. Murphy 10:50 - 11:10 (O5) MECHANISMS OF NEUROPROTECTION IN THE SCN2.2 NEURONS Sumedha W. Karmarkar . 11:10 - 12:00 Lunch - On Your Own *For our guests, we suggest dining at the UIS Cafeteria, First Floor, Public Affairs Center 12:00 - 1:30 Poster Session Exhibits - for listing, see pages 7 - 8 Lower Corridor Outside Brookens Auditorium AFTERNOON ORAL PRESENTATIONS from 1:30 p.m. - 2:10 p.m. Brookens Auditorium Moderator: Dr. John Martin 1:30 - 1:50 (O6) EXOSOMAL MICRORNAS: MEDIATORS FOR CELL-CELL COMMUNICATIONS Ramesh Singh 1:50 - 2:10 (O7) RESVERATROL INHIBITS CELL GROWTH AND INVASION BY UPREGULATION OF PDCD4 IN BREAST CANCER CELLS Jianguo Huang 2:10 - 2:30 Refreshment Break 3 2:30 - 3:30 KEYNOTE ADDRESS Dr. Elena Kramer “Genome Level Views of the Evolution of Floral Novelty” Brookens Auditorium 3:30 - 4:00 Award Presentations Best Student Poster and Oral Presentation Closing Remarks: Dr. Layne Morsch 4:00 - 5:30 Reception & Social Brookens Auditorium Concourse 4 KEYNOTE ADDRESS DR. ELENA KRAMER Professor in the Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology Harvard University 5 Dr. Elena Kramer Elena Kramer received her B.S. in biology from Brandeis Uni- versity in 1993 where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She re- ceived her Ph.D. in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Bi- ology from Yale University in 1999 and is currently a Professor of Biology at Harvard University in the Department of Organis- mic and Evolutionary Biology. Dr. Kramer uses a combination of molecular, morphological and phylogenetic techniques to study the evolution of flowers, one of the most fascinating and controversial issues in plant evolution. Since 1998 she has pub- lished more than 35 peer-reviewed articles in prominent jour- nals including Genetics, Plant Cell, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America. 6 Poster Session Exhibits (P1) DEVELOPMENT OF DNA BARCODES FOR OAKS SPECIES Heather Dyer (P2) ANTI-PROLIFERATIVE EFFECTS OF JUNIPER EXTRACT Amy B. Johnson (P3) SEED ADDITIONS FAIL TO INCREASE PLANT BIODIVERSITY IN AN ESTABLISHING TALL-GRASS PRAIRIE Justin D. Ramey (P4) ASSESSING OPTIMAL SAMPLING METHODS FOR ILLINOIS FRESHWATER MUSSELS Zachary Rasche (P5) PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY AND TAXONOMY OF THE METOPOSAURIDAE (AMPHIBIA, TEMNOSPONDYLI) Dennis R. Ruez, Jr. (P6) NANOSHELL ENCAPSULATION OF BLISTER BEETLE TOXIN AS A POTENTIAL CANCER THERAPIC AGENT Lindsey Baxter (P7) THE EFFECTS OF TERATENOGENIC ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRECEREBELLAR SYSTEM Leslie Worrell*, Kelly Sheehan*, Kelli Oyler, Dr. Rebecca L. Landsberg (P8) STRUCTURES OF ORDERED TUNGSTEN- AND MOLYBDENUM-CONTAINING DOUBLE PEROVSKITE OXIDES Bradley E. Day (P9) PRESSURE-INDUCED STRUCTURAL AND OPTICAL CHANGES IN YIn1−xMnxO3 Zachary Hays & Denise Freeman (P10) COUNTING GOLD: USING ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY TO CHARACTERIZE GOLD NANOPARTICLES Steven Hurth (P11) INHIBITION EFFECTS OF ZINC-IMIDAZOLE ON CARBOXYPEPTIDASE B Ifad Noor (P12) ACID EROSION OF TOOTH ENAMEL Paige Wallace 7 Poster Session Exhibits Cont. (P13) PREDICTION AND DETECTION OF SMALL MOLECULE INTERACTIONS WITH GOLD NANOPARTICLES Tina Weder (P14) G(ALPHA)12 IS REQUIRED FOR THROMBOXANE A2 TO REGULATE TUMOR CELL MOTILITY Babar Malik (P15) TLR4 AS A NOVEL DETERMINANT OF PACLITAXEL SENSITIVITY IN METASTATIC BREAST CANCER Sandeep Rajput (P16) PSEUDOKINASE TRB3 EXERTS AN ANTIPROLIFERATIVE EFFECT AND PROMOTES A G2/M PHASE ARREST IN PROSTATE CANCER CELL LINE, PC-3 Djamilatou Saidou Hangadoumbo (P17) LOSS OF G-PROTEIN COUPLED CALCIUM SENSING RECEPTOR AUGMENTS MALIGNANCY AND BESTOWS CANCER STEM CELL-LIKE PROPERTIES IN HUMAN COLON CARCINOMA CELLS Navneet Singh (P18) RETENTION OF INSULIN SENSITIVITY, GLUCOSE TOLERANCE, AND PYRUVATE CONVERSION PERFORMANCE IN FEMALE MIDDLE-AGED GROWTH HORMONE RECEPTOR KNOCKOUT (GHR-KO) MICE ON AN INTERMITTENT FASTING DIET Mike Zerkle (P19) REGULATION OF MIR-145 EXPRESSION BY FOXO3A, C/EBP-Β AND P53 IN CANCER CELLS NanJiang Zhou (P20) THE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN DIMENSIONS OF IMPULSIVITY AND COMPULSIVE BUYING Millie Doran (P21) DIMINISHED AUDITORY CAPACITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON ATTENTION AND CONCENTRATION Kaley A. Graves (P22) PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS RELATED TO EARLY OR LATE PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH Sara D. Lubeno (P23) COMPONENTS OF IMPULSIVITY AS PREDICTORS OF FRUGALITY Matthew R. Murphy & Kayla J. Bimm 8 ABSTRACTS (O1) VIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF ORCHID MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI IN PROLONGED COOL (4-6 C) STORAGE TO BENEFIT CONSERVA- TION Jenifer Fortney*, Amber N. Furness*, and Lawrence W. Zettler. Orchid Re- covery Program, Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois 62650 All members of the Orchidaceae have an absolute requirement for mycorrhizal fungi as a carbon source (mycotrophy) to complete their life cycles in situ. In the wake of ongoing habitat destruction worldwide coupled with climate change, re- serves alone will not be enough to safeguard plants in peril this century. This is especially true for orchids which depend heavily on co-associating organisms for survival (e.g., mycorrhizal fungi). To augment orchid conservation, a blend of different approaches will be needed including the recovery and long-term storage of mycorrhizal fungi for the purposes of artificial propagation (e.g., symbiotic seed germination). Cryopreservation is often used to preserve important strains of orchid mycorrhizal fungi in a viable state indefinitely and is preferable to continu- ous subculturing and/or cool storage (i.e., refrigeration). For some researchers, however, cryopreservation may not be an immediate or practical option. In this study, we assessed the survival of 132 strains of orchid mycorrhizal fungi that were stored 4-6 years in refrigeration. The majority of the fungi were assignable to two ubiquitous anamorphic genera of orchids worldwide: Ceratorhiza and Epulorhiza Moore. Using agar slants within screw-cap tubes, cultures were main- tained on a variety of different media (e.g., oat meal agar, malt agar), with and without subsequent addition of mineral oil. More than half (36/55 or 65.5%) of the Epulorhiza strains were successfully restarted on potato dextrose agar (PDA) after prolonged storage, whereas less than half (24/56 or 42.9%) of the Ceratorhi- za strains had survived. In general, immersing cultures in mineral oil resulted in lower viability especially for Ceratorhiza strains. NOTE: For each abstract, the name of the presenter is underlined and the student presenter is identified with an asterisk. 9 (O2) STATUS AND TRENDS OF WHITE BASS Morone chrysops AT LA GRANGE REACH, ILLINOIS RIVER USING LONG TERM RESOURCE MONITORING PROGRAM (LTRMP) DATA Nathan T. Grider1* and Kevin S. Irons2. Biology Program, University of Illinois Springfield, Springfield, Illinois 62703.1 Illinois River Biologi- cal Station, Illinois Natural History Survey, 704 N. Schrader Ave., Ha- vana, Illinois 626442 Fish populations in the Illinois River have been monitored by the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) since 1989. There is a gen- eral lack of knowledge regarding population metrics of White bass Moro- ne chrysops in the Illinois River in which they are a valuable spotfish. The purpose of our study was to test for status and trends of white bass using the wealth of standardized LTRMP data collected from the La Grange Reach, Illinois River. Relative weights (wr) of White Bass over the time period were variable with a mean of 95.1, which is slightly less than the regional average (100). Proportional stock density (PSD) ranged from 15 to 77 (mean 45). Relative stock density (RSD) for the length ranges of preferred, memorable, and trophy produced means of 17, 5, and 0, respec- tively. Our RSD analysis suggests that large fish are present in the Illinois River; however, trophy fish are absent. White Bass catch per unit effort for day electrofishing (y = -3.1548x + 61.768, P = 0.0054, n = 17, d.f. = 1, 14, F = 10.41, r² = 0.410) and fyke netting (y = -2.5497x + 50.76, P = 0.0045, n = 17, d.f. = 1, 14, F = 10.94, r² = 0.421) showed a significant decline in catch rates. Our results highlight temporal trends yet suggest that additional research may be needed to determine abiotic and/or biotic factors influencing the white bass population in the La Grange Reach of the Illinois River. 10 (O3) PROTOCORMS OF AN EPIPHYTIC ORCHID (EPIDENDRUM AMPHISTOMUM) RECOVERED IN SITU, AND IDENTIFICATION OF ASSOCIATED MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI USING MOLECULAR MARKERS April Y. Ross1*, Lillian L. Moller-Jacobs1*, Laura L. Corey1, Law- rence W. Zettler1, and Larry W. Richardson2. Orchid Recovery Pro- gram, Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois 626501, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, 3860 Tollgate Boulevard, Suite 300, Naples, Florida 341142 Epiphytic orchids have received considerable study, yet little has been published on their germination requirements in situ involving mycorrhi- zal fungi. Such research has been hampered by the small, dust-like size of seeds and leafless seedlings (protocorms) which are difficult to pin- point on natural substrates, especially those on arboreal substrates (tree limbs).