Faculty Mentor: Jeffrey Erickson Student: Robert Myers Pet-1 gene deletion results in a significant loss of neurons that comprise the brainstem serotonin (5HT) system. This selective loss of 5HT neurons results in abnormal autonomic function, particularly during early postnatal development. Pet-1 mutant (knockout) mice exhibit a lower resting breathing rate, a higher incidence of apneas,… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: June 2012
Effects of urbanization and extreme weather on the life cycle of a common songbird, The Carolina Chickadee
Faculty Mentor: Luke Butler Students: Sydney Hope & Frank Stabile Urbanization has important effects on the biology of a wide variety of organisms. Likewise, global climate change has altered the timing of important steps in the life cycles of many organisms. In birds, the annual replacement of the plumage is a critical life stage and… Continue Reading
Expanded Investigations into Remediation of Metal-Contaminated Water Through Electrospun Biopolymer Nanofibers
Faculty Mentor: Matthew Cathell Student: Melissa Bradley This project began during MUSE 2011 and is an expansion of ongoing research dealing with remediation of polluted water. The goal of our research is to create biopolymer fiber mats that successfully filter toxic metals out of water. These mats were made from the biopolymer alginate, a water-soluble polymer… Continue Reading
Development of a Damage Model for Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials
Faculty Mentor: Karen Yan Students: Daniel Christiansen A fiber reinforced composite (FRC) consists of two parts: high strength fibers and the resin that hold layers of these fibers together. The directional specific strength and relative lightweight nature of these materials are perfect for advanced applications such as aerospace and automotive engineering. While in most practical… Continue Reading
Modeling of friction-induced squeak of Ceramic-on-Ceramic Hip Implants
Faculty Mentor: Manish Paliwal Student: Mark Sidebottom Ceramic-on-Ceramic (CoC) bearings are an ideal choice for a total hip replacement because the ceramic bearings long wear life than Metal-on-Metal or Metal-on-Polyethylene bearings. Recently CoC hips have been reported to squeak in 1-10% of the patients. A study by Chevilotte et al. showed that in vitro testing… Continue Reading
Bio-Inspired Wind Energy Harvester
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Grega Students: Kevin Hynes & David Talarico Continue Reading
Effect of Inlet Flow Conditions on Flow Uniformity Within a Fuel Cell Manifold
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Grega Students: Manthan Kothari & Andrew Specian Fuel cells have the potential to become the next leader of renewable energy and have been researched in many areas of science to maximize this potential. Over the summer our lab worked with a scaled up model of a PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell… Continue Reading
Wirelessly-Controlled Relay System for Power Engineering Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Anthony Deese Student: Tyler Wardlow The goal of the project was to design and build a wireless three phase relay controller for use in the new Smart Electric Power Systems Laboratory in Armstrong Hall. This device will be an addition to the lab and will provide an increase in capabilities for future experiments… Continue Reading
A computational stochastic model of breathing embedded with fractal-like scaling
Faculty Mentor: Brett BuSha Student: George Banis While conscious, there is a stochastic feature of cardiorespiratory control that is responsible for natural variability, which can be expressed as a distribution of breath-to-breath (BBI) or heartbeat-to-heartbeat intervals (RRI). The integrative nature of the brain imparts memory into this system, where any present BBI or RRI is… Continue Reading
Fabrication of polymer and cellular composite constructs for tissue engineering applications
Faculty Mentor: Christopher Anderson Students: James Ferrie & Pamela Hitscherich Tissue engineering is a promising aspect of regenerative medicine that is aimed at constructing functional tissues and organs. This requires the integration of living cells, biodegradable materials, and biologically active molecules to promote cell and tissue growth. Currently, challenges remain for more complex tissues/organs that… Continue Reading