Cellular and Molecular Biology
Optogenetics is technique that uses light to regulate biological processes in living cells. It is based on genetically engineered proteins that are activated by light. Due to high spatial-te…
Translational Medical Science
Programmed Death Ligand 1, or PD-L1, is a transmembrane protein upregulated in numerous tumors. By binding to the PD-1 receptors on CD8+ T-cells, these tumors can evade T-cells’ cytotoxic ef…
Translational Medical Science
MIT researchers stimulated gamma waves in genetically modified mice brains with flashing lights to trigger microglia to clean up beta amyloid plaques (the cause of Alzheimer’s Disease). The…
Environmental Engineering
Fourth Award
In April 2017, a US District Court overturned the exemption concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) enjoyed from air emission control rules. Odor, ammonia and/or hydrogen sulfide emis…
Environmental Engineering
Current wastewater treatments are complex, costly and leads to secondary pollution. Algal bioremediation is a viable alternative to removing heavy metals and toxic organic compounds from was…
Plant Sciences
Our 2016-2017 research found negative effects to radish seeds from a low-orbit, 30-day space flight and verified those results with independent treatments of beta radiation and vibration. Fo…
Animal Sciences
Third Award
Textiles have become the second most polluting industry in the environment, after petroleum. As a $772 billion field, businesses will need to find green, alternative solutions, due to the 2.…
Plant Sciences
Banana peels are a high starch fruit with a molecular composition that allows the peel to be broken down and remade into a biodegradable plastic. These plastics are an economic way to help f…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Hot Springs National Park implemented controlled burns in the old growth areas of Sugarloaf Mountain in March 2010 and February 2016 with the intention of restoring habitat for shortleaf pin…
Engineering Mechanics
The purpose of this experiment was to test the importance of four separate factors in a hyperloop system and to see if a combination of all of the factors produced greater velocities than th…
Materials Science
This study was done to establish appropriate methods for creating microcracks in concrete. Establishing these methods allow for further investigation on the factors that effect self-healing…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Fourth Award
Topotecan (TPT) is a chemotherapeutic drug frequently used to treat lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the US. However, the development of drug resistance in…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have greatly devastated the world’s aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, it is an objective to find a viable solution to a detrimental problem. The root of the problem…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) present a high degree of clonal heterogeneity, making it difficult to identify which cells are capable of repopulating tissues versus those more prone to underg…
Engineering Mechanics
Designs for scrubbers to be deployed on a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) were evaluated for speed and efficiency of removing sea growth from ship’s hulls without damaging the underlying pai…
Environmental Engineering
Fatbergs are deposits of fats, oils, and greases that are formed through the same process by which soap is made. They are responsible for major sewer blockages throughout the world, and requ…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Purpose: Vessels, lined by endothelial cells (ECs), supply oxygen (O2) to our bodies. When tissues are devoid of enough O2, Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) is stimulated to induce >200 genes…
Microbiology
Purpose: Green algae can be used to combat increasing carbon emissions, since they reproduce and photosynthesize rapidly. An alteration in temperature can be stimulated to examine its effect…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Purpose: Lung Cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death among men and women. M2 macrophages are known suppressors of host anti-tumor immune functions and promote primary growth and…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Fourth Award
Stroke is the leading cause of severe disabilities in the developed world, often leaving people physically shut out from society despite their functional minds. Current solutions for rehabil…
Physics and Astronomy
The Moon is cratered with thousands of well-preserved impact basins. Shared geologic history with Earth makes lunar basins a good proxy for the processes affecting early Earth. Porosity, the…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
First Award
Though cell cycle regulation plays a key role in numerous developmental processes, including morphogenesis and differentiation, the regulatory systems that control the cell cycle remain poor…
Plant Sciences
Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn) and members of the family Lumbricidae (earthworms) are two invasive species to Minnesota that negatively affect native plant growth and contribute to ov…
Microbiology
Pseudogymnoascus Destructans, the fungus that causes White nose syndrome, has killed more than 6.7 million bats in the US since 2006. Local extinction of multiple bat species in the Northern…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
This research broadens the understanding of the murine immune system in inflammatory bowel disease simulations, highlighting the presence of a newly classified cell group, Myeloid Derived Su…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Because most government regulation is based on arguments about “externalities” (effects on third parties), understanding how externality arguments affect public opinion and support for regul…
Embedded Systems
First Award
The goal of this engineering project was to investigate and design an affordable system capable of controlling an electric wheelchair with ocular tracking. Based on electrooculographic (EOG)…
Materials Science
A novel flexible MoS2-based biosensor with patterned 10 nm single antibody size periodic line channel has been fabricated for the first time. In order to confine singular biomolecule movemen…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
First Award
A novel diagnostic tool was developed that identified and digitized facial changes that differentiate Essential Tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with 99.9% accuracy as compa…
Physics and Astronomy
The Faraday’s Bicycle apparatus an engineering project based upon Faraday’s Law of electromagnetic induction which states that an rotating magnetic field generates an electric charge within…