Spotlights

Miranda Schene

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Biochemistry
Research Mentor: 
Shanteri Singh
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

The prenyltransferase CdpNPT, a member of the DMATS superfamily, was investigated as a tool for chemoenzymatic synthesis of prenylated secondary metabolites. Site-directed mutagenesis was performed to generate mutant enzymes that had expansions of the enzyme’s hydrophobic binding site. Pseudo-first order kinetic studies were then performed with all the mutant enzymes and a variety of non-native synthetic alkyl donors in order to determine the effects of the mutations on the enzyme’s promiscuity towards alkyl donors. From these results, three major criteria were found to determine CdpNPT’s affinity for an alkyl donor: carbocation stability, steric hindrance, and hydrophobic interaction within the active site. The mutations performed here not only expanded the promiscuity of CdpNPT, but also altered its regiochemistry, creating a wider range of prenylated products than the wild-type enzyme was able to.

Awards and/or presentations:

Schene, Miranda. "Rational Design and Substrate Specificity Study of Prenyltransferase CdpNPT." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Ana Santeliz

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Spanish
Research Mentor: 
Julie Ward
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Although power, oppression, and social protest have always existed at all times in history, with victims of yesterday and now in different parts of the world. Young people like Antigone, Lupita and Miguel bet on revolutionary change and civil strife. However, the art of lying remains a favorite tactic of men with power to obtain the approval and obedience of the masses without them realizing that they are being deceived, manipulated and oppressed. However, youth want changes, for example, Antigone, Lupita and Miguel represent the now where young people fight for social justice, the value of individual conscience and end the tyranny of state power.

Awards and/or presentations:

Santeliz, Ana. "Antígona, Lupita y Miguel Mártires del ayer y el ahora." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Jacob Richardson

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Chemical Biosciences
Research Mentor: 
Chung-Hao Lee
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Heart valves are composed of three main constituents: collagen, elastin, and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). While collagen and elastin contribute mostly to the biomechanical properties of heart valves, the biomechanical role of the GAGs in the atrioventricular valves is a topic that is very underrepresented. The goal of this research project is to determine whether GAGs influence the biomechanical properties of the heart valves. To accomplish this, we will need to acquire tissue from each leaflet of each valve. This includes the anterior and posterior leaflet from the mitral valve (left atrioventricular valve) and the anterior, posterior, and septal leaflet from the tricuspid valve (right atrioventricular valve). Porcine (pig) hearts will be the hearts of choice for this project.

Awards and/or presentations:

Richardson, Jacob. "The Essential Role of Glycosaminoglycans in the Biomechanics of Heart Valve Leaflets." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Stephanie Prado Carbonell

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
AME
Research Mentor: 
Dr. Wilson Merchan-Merchan
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Biodiesel (BD) is a new emerging fuel created from vegetable oils and animal fats. BD is considered renewable, a great alternative to petro fuels, and less harmful to the environment and human health. It is well stablished that the combustion byproducts of BD results in less concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and of particular matter (PM) or soot particles. Although there are many advantages of BD over petro-fuels, recent research has shown that there are also some disadvantages such as high viscosity, instability and corrosiveness. A large amount of petro-fuel is being used in the transportation field. Such as in diesel engines of buses, heavy and light duty trucks, tractors, and many more. The corrosive property of BD could lead to higher degradation of diesel engine components. This research focuses on the measurement of the acid number (AN) of several types of BDs and No. 2 diesel. The AN of the diverse types of BDs are compared to each other, No. 2 diesel, the various blend...

Awards and/or presentations:

Prado Carbonell, Stephanie. "Measuring The Acid Number of New Emerging Fuels." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Diego Perez

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Spanish
Research Mentor: 
Julie Ward
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

This Spanish poster presentation will detail the research conducted on sexual political history in Argentina. The research features a synopsis of historical background in Argentina, a comparision to geographic neighbor Brazil, an analysis of current trends and possible future outlooks. One of the key facets is the identification of pride parades as a form of activism and performance-based art. The art is powerful because it is a glimpse into complex lives represented in a performance.

Awards and/or presentations:

Perez, Diego. "Sexual Politics in Argentina." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Brandon Maples

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Geology/Geology & Geophysics
Research Mentor: 
Hernan Moreno
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Given that classical in-situ direct surveying for geomorphological subsurface information in rivers is time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly, and often involves high-risk activities, it is obvious that non-intrusive technologies, like UAS-based, LIDAR-based remote sensing, have a promising potential and benefits in terms of efficient and accurate measurement of channel topography over large areas within a short time; therefore, a tremendous amount of attention has been paid to the development of these techniques. Over the past two decades, efforts have been undertaken to develop a specialized technique that can penetrate the water body and detect the channel bed to derive river and coastal bathymetry. In this research, we develop a low-cost effective technique for water body bathymetry. With the use of a sUAS and a light-weight sonar, the bathymetry and volume of a small reservoir have been surveyed. The sUAS surveying approach is conducted under low altitudes (2 meters from the...

Awards and/or presentations:

Maples, Brandon. "Combining Cluster Analysis and Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) for Accurate and Low-cost Bathymetric Surveying." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Devin Laurence

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Research Mentor: 
Dr. Chung-Hao Lee
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

The tricuspid valve (TV) helps facilitate the unidirectional blood flow through the heart during regular function. About 50,000 Americans undergo surgical repair annually to correct leaflet regurgitation; however, there is a disappointing recurrence rate (15-20%) of tricuspid regurgitation approaching 10 years after the initial repair1-3. The objective of our research is to better understand the distinct leaflet contributions to TV mechanical behavior through a multi-scale computational model. The computational model is built and refined through an experimental-computational approach with three key ingredients: (i) biaxial experiments to quantify the TV leaflets' mechanical behavior, (ii) development of a post-mortem beating heart apparatus for imaging functioning valves, and (iii) application of the acquired experimental information to validate the computational model. This approach will provide the groundwork for future extensions into patient-specific heart valve modelling...

Awards and/or presentations:

Laurence, Devin. "Development of a Multiscale Computational Modeling Framework for the Tricuspid Valve." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Robert Kunkel

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Mechanical Engineering/AME
Research Mentor: 
Dr. Chung-Hao Lee
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

The objective of this study is to investigate the use of a novel aliphatic urethane based shape memory polymer (SMP) in the endovascular embolization of intracranial aneurysms. We hypothesized that a decrease in the catalyst ratio in the SMP would increase the ductility and lower the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the material. To test this hypothesis, we synthesized polymers using eleven monomer ratios and analyzed their respective mechanical properties and shape memory behavior. Using temperature-controlled tensile failure, cyclic testing, and other characterization techniques, we have determined their failure stress & strain, glass transition temperature, shape fixability, and the shape recovery rate. Our results showed that SMPs with a smaller concentration of catalyst showed a glass transition temperature approaching body temperature and a larger failure strain. Such ductility and low Tg allow for embolic device design that can handle large, complex deformation while...

Awards and/or presentations:

Kunkel, Robert. "Synthesis and Characterization of Aliphatic Urethane Shape Memory Polymers for Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Katherine Kramer

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Biomedical Engineering
Research Mentor: 
Chung-Hao Lee
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

The mitral valve (MV) and the tricuspid valve (TV) are comprised of four morphologically distinct tissue layers as determined by the microstructural components, such as collagen and elastin. The objective of this study is to delineate the relationship between the mechanics and morphology of each individual layer of the anterior leaflets (AL). Microdissection of the MVAL yielded three layers: Atrialis/Spongiosa, Fibrosa, and Ventricularis; the TVAL yielded two layers: Atrialis/Spongiosa and Fibrosa/Ventricularis. The mechanical properties of each layer were elucidated using biaxial mechanical testing with multiple loading protocols that mimic various physiological loads. Dissected specimens were fixed in formaldehyde for histology analysis to identify collagen distribution in MVAL and TVAL tissue layers. Our biaxial mechanical testing results have indicated that the individual layers exhibit nonlinear anisotropic mechanical responses. Histological analysis has shown the fibrosa layer...

Awards and/or presentations:

Kramer, Katherine. "Layer-specific mechanical responses and morphological structure of atrioventricular valve leaflets." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK

Published Work:

n/a

Tylor Killingsworth

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Research Mentor: 
Wilson Merchan-Merchan
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

This study focuses on understanding the morphology on the surface of leaves and their effects on the wettability properties (Hydrophobicity and Hydrophilicity) of selected leaves. The type of leaves for this study were selected using a visual and touch inspection of their surfaces (i.e. rough vs smooth). The experiments were conducted to help understand which surface characteristics contribute to the wettability properties (hydrophobic or hydrophilic) of leaves. The goal of this study is to mimic naturally formed structures on the surface of the leaves to obtain information to develop surfaces with improved wettability properties for industrial applications. Water contact angles (CA) were measured from droplets placed on the adaxial (top) and abaxial (bottom) surface of the leaves, these contact angles were then compared and correlated with structure/morphology in order to determine which type of structures enhances wettability properties.

Awards and/or presentations:

Killingsworth, Tylor. "Wettability Effects on Heat Exchangers." Curiosity to Creativity Spring Symposium, 25 April 2018, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Pages