Points of Vascularization for Scaffolds by Decidualizing Endometrial Stromal Cells

Organ transplant is becoming difficult because of the lack of organs available, incompatibility, and immune system suppression. The current goal to solve this problem is the creation of artificial organs. One of the major roadblocks in creating organs is that blood vessel networks are not forming at the same rate that the tissues form. To begin a proof of concept, the cells responsible for the creation of the placenta were used to create inducible points of growth factor secretion. The specific cells from mouse uteri were first isolated, a scaffold was made by removing cells from mouse heart tissue, the specific cells were inserted into the scaffold, and induced them to secrete the growth factor. It was determined the that the cells remained viable within the scaffold and were inducible. This is a step toward the synthesis of blood vessels within dense tissues. Current solutions include particles that contain limited amounts of growth factor and scaffolds coated in growth factor. However, these are limited in the amount and timing of growth factor that can be secreted. An inducible system for growth factor secretion allows control of timing and amount secreted and is a starting point for solving this problem.

The unhealthy diets with high amounts of sugar and few nutrients present in Western nations can result in type 2 diabetes mellitus. This problematic condition can lead to Parkinson’s disease, a chronic illness that reduces locomotion. Onset of Parkinson’s has also been linked to paraquat, a poisonous weed killer, and excess amounts of a protein, named alpha-synuclein, in the brain. Caffeine, a drug found in many drinks, was proposed to limit the loss of motion in neurodegenerative illnesses and excessive oxidative stress. The experimental results seen in fruit flies indicate that caffeine reduces neurological impairment from Parkinson’s and delays neurodegeneration.

Analyzing the Efficacy of Anti-mycotic Plants on Their Ability to Act as a Bio-pesticide Against Fusarium avenaceum Growth and Mycotoxin Production

Worldwide, fungal infections have been responsible for 50% of lost crops. Mycotoxins released by fungi contaminate food leading to severe illnesses. This work aims to achieve an environmentally safe alternative to synthetic fungicides by analyzing Rhizophora mangle, Foeniculum vulgare, and Bidens alba’s potency against Fusarium avenaceum. Antimycotic activity was determined using standard disc diffusion digital image analyzing software. The plant extracts were compared to an industry fungicide acting as a standard. It was hypothesized that R. mangle extract will have the greatest zone of inhibition due to the plant and fungus thriving in a similar humid environment leading to natural defense against fungus. The results partially proved this hypothesis correct with R. mangle having the largest zone of inhibition among the plants yet remained to be one-third the diameter of the industry fungicide. Economic analyses were conducted on the agents to determine the most practical plant for biopesticide potential.

Testing the Efficacy of Mebendazole-Induced Apoptosis in a Pancreatic Cancer Cell-line, Hs 766t ATCC-134

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death and has a five-year survival rate of 8%. Previous research at John Hopkins and the National Institute of Health, has shown Mebendazole to be an effective treatment for brain, gastric and colon cancer.1Previous research evaluatedthe effect of Mebendazole (1, 3, and 10µM) on pancreatic cancer (ATCC UACC-462) and healthy pancreatic (Cell Biologics) cell viability. The study found that Mebendazole was effective at reducing cell-viability significantly (P<0.05) at all three concentrations without compromising the healthy pancreatic cell-line. This year, the research will study the pathways of Apoptosis3, a programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. The research will use a caspase-3 assay to determine activity levels in the pancreatic cancer cell-line Hs766T (ATCC HTB-134) causing the pancreatic cancer cells to die when exposed to Mebendazole at the three concentrations and measured using a microplate reader.

A Novel Approach to Combating Obesity: Identifying and Targeting the Antigen Presentation of Adipocytes and the Secretion of Autoantibodies 

The inflammation of adipose tissue--associated with obesity--complicates current treatment of obesity and leads to numerous other life-threatening conditions. To truly combat obesity, it is crucial to treat its inflammation first. Unfortunately, inflammation of the adipose tissue is not well understood. This study investigates the immunological role of adipocytes in obesity induced inflammation—the ability of adipocytes to present antigens and induce the secretion of pathogenic IgG autoantibodies—-and exploits these mechanisms with anti-TNF, metformin, or Vitamin D to enhance treatment of obesity. The results suggest that adipocytes act as immune cells to present lipid antigens and induce the secretion of pathogenic fat-specific IgG autoimmune antibodies, even when co-cultured with splenocytes. These results also established that the treatments tested in this study are potential anti-inflammatory agents that can target the adipocytes to reduce IgG autoantibody secretion. In conclusion, this study sheds light on potential mechanisms behind obesity-induced inflammation and therapeutic agents to treat it

Testing the Efficacy of Mebendazole Induced Apoptosis in a Pancreatic Cancer Cell, ATCC-462

Christine Gruttadauria attends Sarasota High School and is enrolled in the AICE Cambridge and MaST programs. She has been a member of the Florida Junior Academy of Science since 2015. Her projects on Testing the Effectiveness of Mebendazole on Pancreatic Cancer Cells and Testing the Efficacy of Mebendazole Induced Apoptosis in a Pancreatic Cancer Cell, ATCC-462 have won many awards and have been accepted into many competitions. Some include being able to participate at FJAS in 2017 and 2018 as well as winning the Dr. Carl Luer award for her research.  Throughout her years in the MaST program she has worked on finding an alternative way to treat pancreatic cancer for three years. She has been accepted to multiple colleges around the state of Florida and has decided to attend the University of Central Florida in the fall on a pre-med track. 

The Effect of Hinokitiol in Combination with Lemna minor on the Removal of Heavy Metals From Water

Around the world, water pollution continues to present a major environmental problem. The use of plants for the removal of heavy metals from polluted areas is an important topic. Lemna minor (duckweed) has properties that increase absorption of iron, copper, and zinc from contaminated water. Separate research on hinokitiol, an extract from a cypress tree, indicates its ability for iron transport. This research tests the effect of hinokitiol in combination with duckweed to remove iron, copper, and zinc from water. To test this, seven different solutions were used. After 8 days, the number of fronds and the metal levels were recorded. In all cases, the number of fronds increased, the metal level in the plants increased, and the metal level in the water decreased. Duckweed and hinokitiol made the greatest difference in the iron solution, with an 86% improvement in iron removal. This study shows the benefit of using hinokitiol and duckweed to remove heavy metals.

The molecular effects of Pichia kudriavzevii (Issatchenkia orientalis) yeast on cell viability, apoptosis, cytokine levels (IL-6), and mucus secretion of A549 alveolar epithelial cells.

Asthma is a multicellular respiratory disorder that is mainly characterized by the obstruction of the airway through increased mucus production of alveolar epithelial cells and inflammation of the respiratory tract smooth muscle. Today, asthma affects more than 8.6% of children in the United States, and that number increases in other, lesser developed countries (CDC, 2014). In this study, the molecular asthmatic effects of Pichia kudriavzevii, a low-pH spoilage yeast with abundant presence in the commercial and natural environments, were tested on A549 alveolar epithelial cells through a series of assays in attempts to establish a direct correlation between the yeast secretions and asthmatic cell behavior. Results from the conducted assays exhibited a direct correlation between magnification of asthmatic indicators (increased apoptosis, decreased cell viability, increased mucin production, hypersecretion of IL-6 inflammatory cytokine, induced cell lifting) and increased time of infection.

Novel Drug-Based, Emergency Treatment for Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Strokes

Stroke is the leading cause of disability and the third leading cause of death in the developed world. Since the two types of stroke, ischemic and hemorrhagic, are functionally different, the purpose of this study was to develop a novel drug-based, emergency treatment that alleviates the symptoms of both types of strokes by targeting common molecular pathways of oxidative stress, hemoglobin degradation, and inflammation. The model organism C. elegans was induced stroke-specific oxidative stress, and a fluorescence-based assay was used to quantify alleviation of the stroke-related symptoms. Overall, metastat, a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor from the inflammation pathway, appeared to be most effective and consistent and could potentially supplement surgical treatment for up to 6.5 hours. Applications of this study further the development of a drug-based treatment applicable to both types of stroke, allowing for greater chance of survival for those afflicted in emergency situations.

Every year, 500,000 people seek medical attention for burns in the United States. Of these, roughly 17% of deaths are caused by infections.  The purpose of this experiment was to use hyaluronic acid, silver nanoparticles, and a bacteriophage cocktail to create a hydrogel. Unlike traditional hydrogels which only aid in the protection and healing of wounds, this hydrogel promoted wound healing by increasing cell proliferation while simultaneously disrupting biofilm formation and breaking down Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This finding is important because it offers a cost effective, non-invasive approach to improving wound healing without the use of antibiotics.  The hydrogel created in this project is able to target strains of bacteria that have adapted to antibiotics without affecting the viability of the cells.  Bacteriophages for a specific strain can be isolated from local sewer treatment plants or even the patients and can be added to a hydrogel for a more targeted and specific treatment.

Deep Learning Control System Using an Air-Gapped Optical Input Stream

The problem of minimizing risk in industrial plant settings is a research interest. Long hours in industrial control rooms induce fatigue and drowsiness, posing risk for failure. Recently, deep learning has proven successful on a host of applications, including robotics and image recognition. This research aimed to develop a deep learning control system that learned to attain human performance on a task with only air-gapped optical input, serving as a prototype for controlling a power plant from only optical feed of dials and gauges. To accomplish this, a convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained on 6 hours of pre-recorded expert play data to return the optimal keystroke given a still image of the task. When tested, the CNN achieved 91.5% accuracy. When incorporated into a cohesive control system, it achieved near-human performance on in-game performance metrics, demonstrating the system’s capacity to achieve human-performance when applied to an actual power plant scenario.

THE GENETIC ENGINEERING OF ALGAE FOR INCREASED EFFICIENCY AS A BIOFUEL SOURCE

Increasing lipid content in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Chlorella vulgaris, two green algae species, can increase the efficacy of algae as an alternative fuel source. The retinoblastoma (Rb) gene has been implicated in the development of multicellularity in eukaryotic cells and the acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC) gene product, a rate-limiting enzyme, is a key component of the fatty acid synthesis (FAS) pathway. In addition, prior research has demonstrated an increase in lipid synthesis in nutrient starved algae. Two exogenous genes, retinoblastoma (Rb) and acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC) on separate plasmids were transfected into algal cells. Subsequently, microscopy was conducted on Rb-transfected cells to determine if the gene induced multicellularity, and enzymatic spectrophotometry was conducted to determine if the ACC gene was transfected successfully. Wild type and transfected cells were analyzed for lipid content with chromatography after being starved of nutrients. Compared to wild type algae, transfected and nutrient-starved algae had increased aggregation frequency and higher lipid content. This more potent algae can increase the quality of algal biofuels and commodity chemical production.