SURE: Student Undergraduate Research Experience
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SURE (Student Undergraduate Research Experience) is a USask co-curricular 10-hour credit program supporting centralized student research and professional skill development as a complement to course-based and faculty-supported disciplinary training, research assistantships, co-ops, or internships.
The SURE collection in HARVEST includes selected posters from the SURE and USSU Symposiums, which happen throughout the year.
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Item The True Complexities of “Standard” Family Medical Practice Unmasked: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study in Regina(2023) Heidel, Mackenzie; Clay, Adam; Dash, Megan; Cutts, DanielleItem Quantifying variability in plant soil interactions across Saskatchewan grasslands(2023) Henning, Leonardo de Lima; Wasan, John Paul; Farzadfar, Soudeh; Bennett, JonathanItem Quantum Simulations of Quantum Materials: A Proof of Concept(2023) Shvets, Mykyta; Rayan, StevenItem Lattice Models of RNA-DNA R-loop Complexes(2023) Numedahl, Olivia; Schmirler, Matthew; Ferrari, Margherita Maria; Soteros, ChrisTwo models are combined to explore the formation and stability of DNA-RNA structures called R-loops. The first is a formal grammar model (FGM) developed by Ferrari and coworkers. The second is a simplified lattice model developed for studying R-loop formation and geometry by Soteros and coworkers for a PIMS VXML project. We combine these into one model and explore the model both theoretically and via computer simulation using Markov chains. The general goals are to explore the probability of R-loop formation and geometric properties of the R-loops.Item DNA Origami Nanotechnology(2023) Guarin, Angie; Mohammadi, Ozra; Stevens, Amy L.Item Exploring History with Augmented Reality: VR Simulations in Historical Heritage(2022) Ortiz Buitrago, Cesar DavidDevelop Virtual Environments to explore the History with new digital tools and engage the publics with the story of commodities and explain the supply chains between Canada and United Kingdon during late XIX and early XX Century from London Docks to Port of Quebec and Prairies in Saskatchewan.Item SIR Infectious Disease Modelling with Vaccination(2022) Chen, Cindy; Cheviakov, AlexeiItem Novel dimers as inhibitors of alpha-synuclein aggregation(2022) Ruiz, Priscila; Krol, EdParkinson’s Disease is characterized by the death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra as a result of the aggregation of alpha synuclein (AS) Nicotine from smoking and 1 aminoindan (a metabolite of Rasagiline) seem to be neuroprotective compounds and both have been associated with the reduction of the risk to develop Parkinson’s disease These compounds bind to AS at both the N and C terminus, forcing the protein to adopt a loop conformation, which appear to contribute to the neuroprotective activity of the drugs Dimer molecules linked with two neuroprotective compounds should increase the binding constants to AS and increase the efficacy to prevent AS aggregation Phase 1 metabolic studies using hepatic microsomes in vitro are needed to determine the susceptibility of the compounds to biotransformationItem Magnetic Force Layouts for Cytoscape(2022) Shvets, Mykyta; MORADI, EHSAN; Mondal, DebajyotiItem INTEGRATING AND RUNNING COGE’S SYNMAP IN VIZSCIFLOW: A VISUALLY GUIDED SCIENTIFIC WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK(2022) Vu, Chi; Roy, Banani; Hossain, Mainul; Falamarzi, AliItem The On-Going Conflict Between APOBEC3 Immune Factors and HIV-1 Vif(2022) Minhas, Tanvir; Gaba, Amit; Chelico, LindaItem Identifying Protein-Protein Interactions of DDX41 by BioID(2022) Toliat Zavareh, Seyed Mohammad Mahdi; Charaya, Ananaya; Xiang, Jim; Wu, YuliangHelicases are known as enzymes that separate double-stranded(ds) nucleic acids to single-strand(ss) nucleic acids by hydrolysis ATP; and some of them also can anneal ss nucleic acids to ds nucleic acids in an ATP-independent manner. DEAD-box helicases are characterized by containing an Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp (DEAD) sequence in their motif II that is required for ATP binding and hydrolysis. DEAD-box helicase 41 (DDX41) is a member of DEAD-box helicases with multiple functions, including acting as a sensor for intracellular DNA in myeloid dendritic cells1 and for bacterial secondary messengers (c-di-GMP or c-di-AMP) to trigger type 1 interferon production2. Recently, the Dr. Wu’s lab discovered that DDX41 modulates the balance of dsDNA and ssDNA, in which regulates the activation of the cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS)3. Mutations in DDX41 are linked with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML)4, two blood caners. The most recurring mutation in DDX41 that lead to AML or MDS is c.1574G>A (p.R525H). Despite concrete evidence suggests that DDX41 acts as a DNA sensor in innate immunity5,6; no innate immunity-related protein has been identified as a DDX41-binding partner. Therefore, we established a BioID system to identify DDX41-biniding proteins under virus infections.Item Classifying lentil testa (seedcoat) phenotypes using unsupervised learning(2022) Ewen, Amanda; Horovatin, Samuel; Najafian, Keyhan; Bett, Kirstin; Wright, Derek; Stavness, Ian; Jin, LinglingLentils have different seed coat colours and patterns. Accurate classification of lentils by testa patterns helps plant scientists understand the genetics of seed coats in lentils. Computers can be used for this analysisItem Validation of Flow Measurement in a Negative Pressure Ventilator for Prototyping of a Novel Transbronchial Biopsy Tool(2022) Yang, Bonnie Y.; Tyan, Chung-Chun; Boire, James R.; Montgomery, JuliaItem Toll-Like Receptor 10 in Human Lungs(2022) Fowler, Brooke; Singh, Baljit; Aulakh, GurpreetThe biggest infectious disease outbreaks have been respiratory diseases, which are a leading cause to death and disability in humans. Though the use of antibiotics has helped greatly, challenges occur due to the evolution of anti-microbial resistance. Fortunately, the body has an innate immune system that is the primary response when an infection invades the lungs. Toll-like receptors are important for this primary response. They recognize pathogens and initiate a cascade of events to activate an inflammatory response. Toll-like receptor 10, also known as TLR10, has a unique anti-inflammatory function. This is different compared to the other TLRs, since they have pro-inflammatory properties. TLR10 is the latest TLR to be discovered, therefore little data can be found on its expression and very little is known about its function.Item Using the lboxcox R package to fit a logistic Box-Cox model without using R(2022) Zbitniff, Mathew; Xing, Li; Li, LinaItem Exploring cholesterol crystallization and ER stress in human liver cells(2022) Bairos, Jordan; Widenmaier, ScottItem Examining the Effect of Inflammation on HDL-Cholesterol Uptake by the Liver(2022) Hydomako, Aidan; Trites, Mike; Widenmaier, ScottItem Does hive strength predispose honey bees to European foulbrood disease?(2022) Brown, Vanessa; Thebeau, Jenna; Masood, Fatima; Jose, Midhun; Obshta, Oleksii; da Silva, Marina; Markova, Sofiia; Bevelander, Breanne; Simko, Olena; Lester, Tessa; Biganski, Sarah; Raza, Fahim; Polizel Camilli, Marcelo; Moshynskyy, Igor; Guarna, Maria Marta; Gerbrandt, Eric; Wood, Sarah; Kozii, IvannaEuropean Foulbrood (EFB) is a bacterial disease of young honey bee larvae, caused by Melissococcus plutonius infection of the larval midgut. It occurs in times of nutritional stress when insufficient food is supplied to the larvae by the nursing bee population. EFB increases larval mortality, thereby limiting the colony’s growth, which can have consequences on the hive’s pollination services, honey production, and ability to reproduce. Recently, increased incidence of EFB has been observed across North America; however, the underlaying factors predisposing colonies to EFB remain largely unknown.Item Are honey bees a suitable model for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders?(2022) Bevelander, Breanne; Simko, Elena; Polizel Camilli, Marcelo; Thebeau, Jenna; da Silva, Marina; Markova, Sofiia; Lester, Tessa; Obshta, Oleksii; Biganski, Sarah; Brown, Vanessa; Kozii, Ivanna; Masood, Fatima; Jose, Midhun; Moshynskyy, Igor; Raza, Fahim; Roulin, Melanie; Simko, Elemir; Wood, SarahFetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a continuum of disorders caused by prenatal exposure to ethanol. They affect an estimated 4% of Canadians. FASDs are associated with a host of complications including, but not limited to, cognitive difficulties, developmental delay, increased mortality, smaller birth weight, smaller brain size, as well as gross and fine motor issues. It has been previously established that fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) are a suitable invertebrate model for FASDs. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) share many similarities to Drosophila as a research model, but with the distinct advantage of highly social behaviour, similar to that of humans. In this project we exposed honey bees to incremental, sublethal concentrations of ethanol during larval development and monitored their survival, developmental rate, and weight at adult emergence. We found that larval honey bees exposed to ≥6% ethanol experienced significantly higher mortality, developmental delay, and lower body weight at emergence. Accordingly, these results, in combination with ongoing neurobehavioural analyses of adult bees exposed to ethanol as larvae, suggest that honey bees may be an ideal model for human FASDs.