Author: Lang JiWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?This project asks: How does ILG influence oxygen vacancy formation and carrier concentration in LaSrMnO₃/LaSrCrO₃ heterostructures, and how do these changes couple to their structural, magnetic, and transport responses? Ionic liquid gating (ILG) in transition metal oxides offers a reversible route to tune electronic and structural properties through electrostatic carrier modulation or oxygen… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Lang Ji »
Author: Laila Khan-FarooqiWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?My major research question for my DSRF project was: can we eliminate sodium-glucose cotransporter 1 (SGLT1) in the intestine to alter sugar preference and feeding behavior? This summer, I worked heavily with a transgenic mouse line lacking intestinal SGLT1, demonstrating that complete loss of this protein in the gut leads to glucose malabsorption and a failure to thrive. I also… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Laila Khan-Farooqi »
Author: Jane DingWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?I was specifically studying how astrocytic delta-catenin may influence astrocyte development, a very important glial cell in the brain. During the summer, I found a trend where KO of astrocytic delta-catenin increased Zbtb20 expression, a transcription factor mainly found in upper-layer astrocytes, across all cortical layers. However, I need to increase the n of this experiment and optimize… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Jane Ding »
Author: Giovana da SilvaWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?This summer, my major research question for the DSRF project was whether we could develop and refine behavioral methods that might serve as a complementary tool for tinnitus detection. Through this work, I not only learned more about how academic research is conducted but also gained hands-on experience with specialized behavioral software. Our initial results were promising,… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Giovana da Silva »
Author: Jerry ZouWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?For my DSRF project, my major research question this summer was through what general directions did the oil industry between 1892 and 1930 influence the social structure and everyday community identity in Los Angeles County and northern Orange County. Using DSRF to travel to multiple local or municipal archives, I learned that there were three major… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Jerry Zou »
Author: Samantha RichterWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?My project asked: what political and cultural barriers shape the implementation of small- scale detention houses across different European contexts? Over the summer I visited facilities in Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Ireland, and Portugal, and conducted dozens of interviews with policymakers, prison administrators, and… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Samantha Richter »
Author: Tarik BurlinghamWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?The core question that we asked was "Across the scales of life, how much energy can biology harvest from a gradient, and what does it cost to build and sustain that gradient?" I learned that gradients are ubiquitous and exist everywhere. We used a tool from statistical mechanics to quantify how much energy is dissipated per time in an… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Tarik Burlingham »
Author: Shivam JainWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?The research question was "What role does GALE have in regulation of NS flux?" We found that genetic knockout of the enzyme GALE in A549 cells leads to significant reduction in MUC5AC presence in the cell. Further, GALE expression is correlated with MUC5AC expression in control cells but loses its correlation under GALE knockout. Based on these… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Shivam Jain »
Author: Jiae KimWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?My major research question for the DSRF project was "How do Koryo Saram women in Uzbekistan understand their educational experiences, identities, and cultural belonging across generations?" Through interviews and archival work, I learned much about the community’s history and resilience. I discovered how Koryo Saram have both assimilated into Uzbek… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Jiae Kim »
Author: Ellie ArmstrongWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?How do early childcare center directors and educators foster a sense of belonging among children and families who are Latin American immigrants in Buenos Aires? Over the course of two weeks in Argentina, I interviewed eight staff members from the non-profit Pilares at two different ECE centers and engaged in roughly ten hours of observations. I… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Ellie Armstrong »
Author: Quinn GirardWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?My initial research question was: Is the transportation of poultry to market influencing the spatial distribution of influenza viruses? This summer, I helped sample over 800 animals and survey almost 300 people in rural northeastern Madagascar with hopes of investigating this question, along with many others. While processing of samples is still in… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Quinn Girard »
Author: Lila TeitleWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?Our primary research question was how could we induce ferroptosis in endometrial cells and how would the presence of peritoneal fluids in the environment influence the efficacy of ferroptosis inducers. We were able to successfully induce ferroptotic cell death in both types of human endometrial cells and also found that presence of peritoneal fluids greatly reduced these effects in vitro… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Lila Teitle »
Author: Joshua DuttonWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?Is there detectable political bias in Large Language Models (LLMs)? And if so, what is the correlation between the political valence of the input and the political valence of the model output? And how does this differ by model? I learned quite a bit about text-as-data methods, and as part of my project, am updating a dataset and reproducing a method… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Joshua Dutton »
Author: Bashir SbaitiWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?My major research question was whether our two-dimensional electronic spectra (2DES) simulation software could be expanded to model biological light-harvesting systems. Over the summer, I successfully implemented this capability, generating spectra that represent photosynthetic quantum dynamics for the first time and gaining confidence in quantum… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Bashir Sbaiti »
Author: Emma PophalWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?This summer, my research focused on understanding aspects of epilepsy through hands-on laboratory techniques. I specifically looked at quantifying the change of parvalbumin (a type of inhibitory neuron) cell density in mouse hippocampus after being seizure induced through optokindling. I gained exposure to procedures I wouldn’t have had time for… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Emma Pophal »
Author: Srijan OduruWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?How does TCA cycle regulation of nucleotide biosynthesis impact breast cancer metabolism?I spent most of the summer refining my gene knockdown protocol, focusing on confirming its efficacy through Western blots and viability assays. After presenting at my lab's September Lab Meeting, I've identified several confirmatory experiments to pursue as well as… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Srijan Oduru »
Author: Sanjana KalagaraWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?In my research project with the Kolls Lab, I investigated how anticonvulsants affect mice undergoing traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). To achieve this objective, I have employed a controlled brain injury model in mice this past summer, specifically using a surgical technique that induces a scaled traumatic brain injury. Following the injury induction, animals were randomly assigned to… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Sanjana Kalagara »
Author: Jorge Mato FrontelaWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?Cells need to adapt to changes in available carbon sources, which may require rapid changes in gene expression. This regulation starts at the genomic level, when genes are transcribed. In eukaryotic cells, genes are wrapped around multimeric proteins called histones, which help pack all the cellular DNA inside the nucleus. To initiate… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Jorge Mato Frontela »
Author: Emily WangWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?Electron bifurcation (EB) is an elegant energy transduction mechanism evolved in some natural redox enzymes to efficiently produce biologically necessary low-potential products from high-potential reactants. To accomplish this task, the EB enzyme splits two electrons received from a donor substrate, sending one electron to a high-potential acceptor substrate to drive sending the other to a… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Emily Wang »
Author: Anna BrownWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?My major research question for the DSRF project was: how does mutual information between a black hole's radiation subspace and a reference qubits saturate as the black hole evolves? I investigated how the saturation depends on the choice of internal dynamics and initial state. I learned that the choice of each impacts how mutual information change… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Anna Brown »
Author: Shrey GoelWhat was your major research question for the DSRF project and where do you hope this project will go?My main research question was whether diffusion-based protein language models could be adapted for de novo membrane protein design, a historically difficult problem due to the scarcity of structural data and the unique constraints of transmembrane (TM) regions. Over the summer, I developed MeMDLM, a fine-tuned diffusion model with per-token guidance… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Shrey Goel »
Author: Yuzhe YuanWhat challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?Plant research generally take a long time, and some fungi are hard to study in the lab. I think the most important thing is to stay patient and keep trying.What sparked your interest in this field? My interest in fungi was inspired through reading and working as a research assistant in the Mycology lab. I am fascinated by the symbiosis between plants and fungi, and how this… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Yuzhe Yuan »
Author: Sophia LehrmanWhat challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?During my summer of research, I was challenged by the often slow pace of measurable progress in the field of science research. At times I was frustrated and felt like many of my efforts were in vain, as experiments would inevitably fail or lead to unexpected results. Working through these difficulties required me to adjust my perspective on… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Sophia Lehrman »
Author: Jenna YeamWhat challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?A challenge that arose stems from non-Death Doulas signing up for interviews and asking for compensation. My interview sample is US Death Doulas, I suspect people just trying to receive the compensation were filling out the recruitment and interview form, and so in response, I informed my advisor. Together, we came to the conclusion that I should continue… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Jenna Yeam »
Author: Grace Davis What challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?I was coding in R all summer, which I did not have much experience in. There was a significant learning curve. I am the kind of person that likes to ask a lot of questions and seek a lot of support, but given that there were not many lab members working in person with me, I was pushed to really struggle with the material on my own before asking questions. Asking questions is… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Grace Davis »
Author: Chase MathisWhat challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?There were some issues regarding simulations I did. I couldn't do it only on my laptop, so i had to seek other computing resources. I was familiar with Duke resources, so I used those and they helped a lot.What sparked your interest in this field? I've always be interested in mathematics. I'm unsure exactly where that enjoyment sparked from. This specific sub-… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Chase Mathis »
Author: Ashley AlcantarWhat challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?One of the challenges I faced was harvesting tissue that successfully demonstrated expression of the desired genotype, which was Pax6-CreER;Ai14. To achieve this genotype, I had to breed Pax6;CreER mice with Ai14 mice so the resulting offspring would have the reporter that would then be labeled through immunohistochemistry. There were some… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Ashley Alcantar »
Author: Ariana MatarangasWhat challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?This summer was mostly spent optimizing protocols given the time constraints I had in lab and the extent of western blot experiments I had planned. It set me up for being able to get a great start to the work this semester, but it was at times frustrating when the science doesn't work as planned. I ended up having to take a few steps back to confirm the presence of a valid status… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Ariana Matarangas »
Author: Angelina SalaWhat challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?When a stain did not work, I analyzed my process and when I tried again, I made sure to change one aspect of the procedure. Through trial and error of focusing on one step of the procedure, instead of several, I was able to ideantify the root of the issue.What sparked your interest in this field? I have pre-existing heart conditions in… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Angelina Sala »
Author: Amy FultonWhat challenges did you encounter during your research and how did you work through these difficulties?The biggest challenge for me was working with setback; for example, equipment malfunctions or materials being on backorder. Through working with my mentors and other students in my lab I found how common these setbacks can be in research and that patience and flexibility are extremely important.What sparked your interest in this field? I think I initially became interested in… read more about Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship (DSRF) Story: Amy Fulton »